Lethal bug lingers in Clark's life

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Seven-year-old Clark Hughes still suffers from the effects of a disease that almost killed him as a baby.

The little Whangaparaoa Peninsula boy has a weak immune system and bears the dark rings of tiredness under his eyes.

His mother, Michelle Hughes, says Clark was ill every night for 18 months after he contracted meningococcal disease.

And for three years "he was hyped" - which his mother says may have been the result of taking steroid drugs.

The national co-ordinator of the Meningitis Trust, Michelle Hughes says she became suspicious when she put Clark down for a nap one winter afternoon in 1995, when he was 10 months old.

"He woke up 45 minutes later screaming. I thought he had another ear infection. I tried to settle him but it didn't work.

"I took him to a GP, a locum in the area. He thought Clark had a stomach bug, a viral thing.

"By the time I brought him back home he was starting to vomit. He was really, really sick. He wasn't interested in food or drink."

She noticed he was quite sleepy and put him down.

"About 10pm he made a very funny noise on the intercom. I rushed into his bedroom and he was lying in the foetal position."

Michelle Hughes, a nurse, rang the GP and asked him to ring the hospital, but he said to bring Clark in to his clinic the next morning.

She went to hospital anyway and the staff said they did not think Clark had meningococcal disease, which is notoriously hard to diagnose.

But she insisted on a lumbar puncture, a diagnostic test in which fluid is taken from the spinal canal through a needle, and it quickly showed he had the disease.

"From then the nightmare started," Michelle Hughes said.

Clark was rushed to an isolation room and started on antibiotics and steroids. He spent six days in the hospital.

"After coming out of hospital, his immune system was so low he got 10 ear infections, laryngitis and pharyngitis within six weeks."

Clark has learned the safety messages about avoiding sharing spit, by not sharing drinks or food, and knows he has to get to bed no later than 7.30.

"But Mum still lets me watch Malcolm in the Middle [which runs from 7.30 to 8] on Monday," he says.

nzherald.co.nz/health