'People lose their hearing, limbs, their lives'

A woman who lost her hearing to meningitis says it is important to raise awareness of the disease.

Julie Braithwaite from Stroud contracted meningitis when she was 14 years old, which resulted in her losing her hearing.

She took part in a train ride on Tuesday, run by charity Meningitis Now and Great Western Railway (GWR), to raise awareness of the infection.

"Meningitis is still occurring. People are losing their hearing, their limbs, their lives. We still need to be there for them," Ms Braithwaite said.

A dedicated carriage on the service from Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington picked up people affected by meningitis at Gloucester, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Didcot and Reading.

Along the route they shared their experiences.

Julie Braithwaite has been the senior designer at Meningitis Now for 37 years.

"When I left hospital I had 100% hearing loss," Ms Braithwaite said.

"I have a cochlea implant now. It's amazing. When I remove it I'm 100% deaf, when I wear it I can make phone calls.

"It made me who I am, but meningitis changed my future."

Jane Wells, founder of the charity, said her son Daniel contracted Meningitis in 1984 when he was two years old.

She said they did not know anything about the disease at the time.

"We had so many questions," Ms Wells said. "Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone to answer our questions.

"It was very difficult for us. How could this have happened to us? It was so bizarre.

"We were grateful he survived. But we were on this journey to find out information and there was no charity."

Ms Wells decided to set up the charity to help others in her position.

"There are so many myths around and we wanted to spread the right information," Ms Wells said.

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