Matt Dawson shares pictures of son's battle with meningitis
He described the ordeal as 'two weeks of hell'.
Former rugby union star Matt Dawson has shared pictures of his ‘2 weeks of hell’ as his youngest son Sami battled meningitis.
The pictures, taken at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, show the toddler lying in bed covered in red marks with tubes attached to his mouth.
In other pictures he’s being hugged by his older brother Alex as he began to recover.
Although the sports player admitted that he and his wife Carolin were hesitant to share the images, he said that they agreed it was important to raise awareness of the infection.
In a following post he said they’ve been ‘overwhelmed’ with the support and asked people to sign a petition to give all children the Meningitis B vaccine.
At the moment the NHS only provides vaccination for babies in three doses; at two months, four months and 12 months.
Parents who want their older children to be vaccinated must do it privately which can cost hundreds of pounds.
The petition on Thursday morning had more than 400,000 signatures, meaning it’ll be considered for debate in Parliament.
The petition is also supported by the parents of two-year-old Faye Burdett who died from the infection on February 14th, 11 days after contracting it.