iPhone app saves girl

Hollie was diagnosed with viral meningitis and received treatment within 20 minutes of showing symptoms thanks to her mother's quick actions. Image:Daily Mail

 

A girl of three was saved from meningitis thanks to an iPhone app.

According to The Sun, UK, Hollie Weeks suffered from headaches, severe vomiting and a stiff neck.

Worried mum Claire checked her symptoms on a programme she had downloaded on her phone — and called an ambulance straight away.

Medics, who treated her within 20 minutes of Claire raising the alarm, said her quick action saved the girl’s life.

Claire, 36, said: “I cannot thank the hospital staff enough as they helped save her life.”

Hollie, who suffered a stroke down her right side and lost her speech, spent weeks in hospital after falling ill during a family holiday on April 29.

She is now fighting back to health and has regained most of her movement, although she still has coordination trouble with her right hand.

Hollie, from Bristol, struggles to concentrate for long periods and tires easily, but the family are hoping that before the end of the year she will no longer need the steroids she is on.

Recounting her ordeal, Claire said: “Hollie was fine on holiday but then she woke up with heavy, horrendous vomiting. She had a really bad headache but no rash and no temperature.

"I went on my iPhone symptom checker from Meningitis Trust because something just didn't sit right. I had a feeling in my gut.

"I went through her symptoms — headache, vomiting and stiff neck — and they were on the app checklist so I decided I wouldn't take a chance and called an ambulance.

“The doctors said she was an hour away from not pulling through. She’s made a remarkable recovery.

“Hollie is a little fighter and is doing well learning to talk and walk with physiotherapy.”

Claire also told how the tragic death of a girl at Hollie’s sister’s school played a part in saving her daughter’s life.

Kelsey Smart died after being struck down by meningitis and septicaemia. A campaign launched by the girl’s parents Hannah and James in memory of Kelsey for Meningitis UK prompted Claire to download the free app.