Meningitis

The long road to (almost) normal everyday life

Sarah has already been through a lot, but is on the road to recovery(Bild: Dostal Harald)

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Little Sarah fell ill with meningitis when she was four years old. She now undergoes daily treatment, but the family continues to fight. The four-week rehabilitation stay at kokon in Rohrbach helped the little girl. This care facility specializes in such young patients.

It started with a harmless headache, but then everything happened very quickly: in addition to the pain, Sarah, who was four years old at the time, developed a fever and was initially unable to move the right side of her body properly. Shortly afterwards, the girl stopped speaking and her breathing also stopped - emergency doctor! Only later was the diagnosis made: meningitis.

Sarah with her mom Anita.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

(Almost) normal everyday life again after two and a half years
"At the time, we didn't know how we were going to get Sarah home from hospital," says her mother Anita (41). Today, two and a half years later, the family of four from Hofkirchen is living a normal everyday life again. At least almost: Sarah has riding therapy on Monday, occupational therapy on Tuesday, plus daily electrical therapy, and the now six-year-old is still unable to lift her right arm. But: she is going to kindergarten again, is cheerful, bright and friendly.

The kokon in Rohrbach is well equipped(Bild: Dostal Harald)

It was a long road
It was a long road to get there. "Sarah thought she could walk again, but she fell over and was injured again," says mom Anita about that time. Or: "Sarah let herself down a bit because she realized that she was different from other children." The four-week rehab stay at kokon in Rohrbach, where Anita also works in administration, helped her daughter. A treatment approach is intensified there: "Every physical illness is associated with psychosocial consequences," says Liesa J. Weiler-Wichtl, head of psychosocial rehab in Rohrbach.

The psychosocial consequences must be treated just as naturally as the physical ones.

Liesa J. Weiler-Wichtl, Leiterin der psychosozialen Reha

At kokon, this is done with counseling from social workers or psychological support for both the young patients and their parents. "Open communication helps children, i.e. talking about what concerns them," says Weiler-Wichtl, or, if this is not possible verbally, communicating with drawings or other creative and playful methods. Adults could certainly learn something from this: "Children often don't even say that they are ill. They see everything that still works."