Meningitis wipes whole life from 18-year-old student Lucy Scott's memory

Every day battle: Lucy Scott, now 20, along with her mom Alison. Lucy's reminiscence was worn out after she contracted meningitis when she was 18

The paintings Lucy Scott has unfold on the kitchen desk is astonishing. Inform her that she has a rare expertise, although, and he or she offers a bit smile. 'I had,' she says, correcting the tense.

Her sense of detachment is heartbreaking. There isn't any proud recognition right here. She seems to be at her work as if they're the work of a stranger, which in a approach they're.

One portrait — highly effective and piercing — is of her grandmother. However to Lucy it may very well be of a complete stranger. She has no childhood reminiscences of her.

'How did I do this?' she wonders.

Three years after she created the spectacular artistic endeavors, Lucy, now 20, can nearly maintain a pencil, and even that may be a battle. 'When you cross it to her the wrong way up, she's more likely to attempt to write with the mistaken finish,' says her mom Alison.

That is the key legacy of meningitis. Most individuals know that the consequences of the possibly deadly illness may be devastating: survivors may be left with everlasting injury, mostly misplaced limbs.

However Lucy has misplaced one thing few of us can think about life with out.

When the meningococcal B micro organism swept by her physique in October 2014, it reached her mind and unleashed havoc, wiping each reminiscence she had, and just about each talent.

She went to mattress feeling mildly unwell and when she awoke correctly once more — weeks later, after an induced coma — she was, as she places it, 'like a new child child'.

She didn't know tips on how to brush her tooth, what a fork was for, what Christmas was. She didn't know who her dad and mom had been, by no means thoughts who her grandmother was.

Most tragically, Lucy didn't know who she herself was. In some methods she nonetheless doesn't.

In October 2014, Lucy went to mattress feeling mildly unwell and when she awoke correctly once more — weeks later, after an induced coma — she was, as she places it, 'like a new child child'. She is pictured, centre, along with her mom and elder sister, Cara

The sense of loss on this home, a neat semi within the city of Kirkintilloch, close to Glasgow, is palpable.

Due to intensive speech remedy, Lucy can now speak you thru the copious pictures on the wall, documenting birthdays and Disney holidays, however she has no recollection of being current at any of them.

'Folks received't perceive how I can say this, however I'd somewhat have misplaced a limb. I believe I might have coped with that higher,' she says, as her mom tries to carry again her tears.

'I don't look as if I've received a incapacity. Folks don't realise, till I do one thing that makes me look daft. I hate that. I hate them considering I'm silly.'

She is something however. Maybe essentially the most extraordinary side of this story is that Lucy has regained sufficient of herself to have the ability to speak brazenly, even eloquently, about what she has been by.

She makes use of her voice — which docs stated she would by no means get well — to name for a nationwide vaccine for meningitis B, to be obtainable for all ages.

Forgotten childhood: Lucy, aged two (left), with Cara, 4. On waking from her coma, Lucy didn't know tips on how to brush her tooth, what a fork was for, what Christmas was. She didn't know who her dad and mom had been, by no means thoughts who her grandmother was

In the intervening time, solely infants are provided the MenB vaccine on the NHS. But it's obtainable on the Excessive Avenue. Had she walked into Boots and handed over £220, all this might have been prevented.

But, like most households, hers didn't know they'd that possibility.

This horrible journey began when Lucy, a preferred and succesful scholar in addition to a gifted artist, was beginning the second yr of a instructing diploma at Strathclyde College.

The youngest of two youngsters (her sister Cara is 2 years older), she lived at residence along with her dad Steven, a Royal Mail employee, and mum Alison, a dental nurse who had not too long ago began working as a carer.

On October 9, Alison returned from an evening shift to search out that Lucy hadn't gone off to uni and was complaining of dizziness and a headache. She gave her some paracetamol. Later, Lucy went again to mattress and when her mum checked on her, she was sleeping soundly.

The youngest of two youngsters, Lucy, from Kirkintilloch, close to Glasgow, lived at residence along with her dad Steven, a Royal Mail employee, and her mum, a dental nurse who had not too long ago began working as a carer

At round 9pm, nonetheless, Lucy's dad handed her room and heard her making 'odd noises'. When Alison went as much as examine, her daughter was incoherent, 'thrashing round within the mattress and grunting'.

When she pulled again the bedclothes, she observed a rash on Lucy's toes which had began to unfold up her legs.

'I knew instantly. Meningitis. I yelled "get an ambulance".'

And so the nightmare started. In hospital, Lucy was positioned in an induced coma and remained unconscious for per week, her life hanging within the stability.

We've needed to re-do that 'the cow-says-moo' factor you do with toddlers. But it surely's fairly onerous to do this on the bus with an 18-year-old

Step by step the sedation was diminished however Lucy didn't wake as anticipated. 'She did begin to transfer, pull at her bedclothes, however there was nonetheless no actual consciousness.

'Her eyes would open but it surely was as if her mind wasn't waking up,' remembers Alison. Then a mind scan introduced devastating information: there was proof of scar tissue — proof that the mind had been broken.

The prognosis was dire. Even when Lucy survived, she would haven't any form of life.

'I bear in mind the registrar saying we would have to simply accept that this was pretty much as good as it might get. Then he stated we must always hope and pray. That's by no means what you need to hear from a physician.'

Lucy can't bear in mind the early days in hospital, the barrage of checks, however what her mum remembers most is the flailing — her daughter's desperation to get away from bed.

'As soon as she was allowed out, issues improved no finish. Although she couldn't eat or converse or talk, we received her shifting. We received to the purpose the place she might stroll up and down the hall with us.'

There was nonetheless no eye contact, although, nor any sense that Lucy was conscious of something round her.

A household selfie by the ocean: 'I bear in mind getting her a drink of juice someday. I received a cup out, and the jug, and he or she turned the cup the wrong way up. She didn't know what the jug was for,' stated Alison

About seven weeks after Lucy had fallen unwell, when she was moved to a specialist mind damage unit regardless that she was nonetheless being fed by tube, her dad and mom pleaded for her to be allowed residence for a weekend.

'I believe they ultimately stated sure solely due to my medical expertise,' says Alison. 'However afterwards they informed us they didn't suppose we'd handle. It will be too troublesome.'

They did handle, but it surely was a brutal lesson in what was to return.

Lucy begins to affix within the story. Her earliest reminiscences stem from this time. 'I bear in mind being within the automobile with Cara however I didn't know who she was. I bear in mind considering she was a nurse. Once we received residence and he or she was nonetheless there, I believed "when is that nurse going to her own residence?" '

Alison had come residence with the feeding paraphernalia however took the choice to take away her daughter's feeding tube and feed her mashed-up correct meals as a substitute. Each mouthful felt like a triumph.'

Feeding herself could be a great distance off, nonetheless. 'I bear in mind getting her a drink of juice someday. I received a cup out, and the jug, and he or she turned the cup the wrong way up. She didn't know what the jug was for. However we plugged away. By the tip of that weekend, she might fill the cup herself.'

If I had a wheelchair folks would see I used to be disabled and perhaps wanted assist, however they don't

So it has been, for 2 years. The household inched from the caring-for-a-newborn stage to dealing with a toddler. For the primary yr Lucy's restoration was hospital-based however with occasional weekends at residence. For the previous yr the household have been primarily on their very own, albeit helped by therapists.

Given the preliminary prognosis, Lucy's enchancment has been miraculous. She talks fluently immediately, and her studying progress ('as soon as she'd realized the alphabet') has been spectacular.

A stranger speaking to her wouldn't essentially know something was mistaken. However there are nonetheless enormous gaps in her data and skills.

Early in her restoration, Lucy's dad and mom handled her to an outdated favorite — a burger takeaway meal. She tried to eat the cardboard field somewhat than the burger.

'We had horrible hassle attempting to get her to make use of a knife and fork. It took weeks. And getting her to recognise which toothbrush was hers within the toilet was horrible. In the future she got here in and stated the toothpaste tasted humorous. She'd put handwash on the comb. The phone was an odd one, too. She knew that she wished to carry it however didn't perceive what it did.

'Each day, nonetheless, we uncover one thing Lucy simply doesn't learn about. Right now we went to the park and there was a hen's egg mendacity on the bottom. I requested if she knew the place eggs come from. She didn't.'

Lucy confesses she 'nonetheless finds animals troublesome'.

'We've needed to re-do that "the cow-says-moo" factor you do with toddlers,' says Alison. 'But it surely's fairly onerous to do this on the bus with an 18-year-old.'

To their credit score, they each chuckle, albeit generally by the tears. 'In eating places she'll nonetheless have a look at the menu and ask me "do I like this, Mum?",' says Alison.

'I attempt to idiot her and say "sure, you like mushrooms" (she at all times hated them), simply to see if she'll eat them. However she doesn't.'

So are her tastes — in meals, books, TV programmes, music — the identical as they had been earlier than?

'Sure, largely they're. When it got here to her TV programmes, we purchased field units of all of the issues she used to observe — Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow — and began from the start once more. She clearly didn't have a clue what had occurred however there was a way of familiarity there.'

So it has been in reintroducing Lucy to her household, a painful course of for everybody. A household tree was drawn and pictures of pals caught up everywhere in the partitions.

'My greatest buddy Gemma would say: "Come on, Lucy, subsequent time let's see if you may get my identify proper." '

Gemma continues to be a daily customer however, maybe inevitably, different pals have fallen by the wayside. 'I don't see a lot of them now,' admits Lucy.

'It's fairly onerous. I can't exit with them as a result of I nonetheless want loads of assist. I don't need to be depending on them, however I'd be.'

Her mom additionally finds this side troublesome — watching Lucy's friends embark on the following chapter of their lives, whereas she is in limbo.

The lack of her confidence is difficult to bear. The outdated Lucy was outgoing and sociable; the brand new one wants her mom by her aspect. 'You're who you're due to your life expertise,' Alison factors out

'Confidence comes from simply stockpiling experiences. Lucy misplaced all that. She's the identical individual — I can see that. However she will be able to't see it, as a result of she doesn't know who that individual was.'

She will handle quick journeys out alone, simply to the nook store. The larger world is terrifying, although. Lucy can deal with easy transactions ('instructing her about cash was one of many biggies') but when something goes mistaken, she struggles.

'We had a horrible expertise in River Island not too long ago. They didn't have one thing in her measurement, so I inspired her to ask the assistant if she might order it however the lady was very brusque and barked "retailer or residence?" and Lucy simply didn't perceive.'

Lucy nods in settlement. 'I simply needed to get residence then. I panic. I discover it upsetting.

'If I had a wheelchair folks would see I used to be disabled and perhaps wanted assist, however they don't.'

Meningitis not solely swept away her previous however has left a giant query mark over Lucy's future, too.

The human mind is a notoriously fickle organ. There isn't any approach to inform how far more enchancment Lucy can count on, if any. Whether or not she is going to ever be capable of paint once more, or train ultimately, is unclear.

What hasn't gone, although, is her dedication. 'There's no level trying again, even when I might,' she says with a smile. 'So I've to maintain going ahead and constructing on what I do have, someday at a time.'