A brave nine-year-old girl will have her right leg amputated just two years after losing the other foot to deadly meningitis.
Brogan-Lei Partridge originally contracted the disease while on her parents’ honeymoon in June 2016.
Her heartbroken mum and dad released graphic photographs of their daughter lying in a hospital bed covered with the rash in order to raise awareness about meningitis B.
Brogan-Lei had her left leg amputated in order to save her life and had a prosthetic limb in its place.
Just two years after undergoing the life-saving operation, her family have revealed she will lose her other leg to alleviate Brogan-Lei’s pain.
The disease caused the remaining leg’s main blood vessel to die which caused circulation problems which left Brogan-Lei in constant pain.
Mum Aimee, 27, from Bartley Green, Birmingham, said: “Alongside the doctors, we all, including Brogan, decided that this was the best decision going forward for her.
“The remaining leg was 50/50 and it required major surgery but she had a reoccurring infection at the being on 2017.
“The infection has spread up to her knee and the leg is just too weak and could put her at risk later in life if we keep it.
“The main blood vessel in her leg died and it is not getting blood to her foot – also the tendon for the toes died too.
“The weaker the foot gets the more susceptible it is to damage.
“Ironically the leg that she had amputated was actually stronger – the other one sometimes causes her pain.
“It’s horrible because truly Brogan just wants to be a normal nine-year-old girl.
“She’s knows the process and it’s not nice but children tend to adapt quicker to situations and I think that’s what Brogan is going to do.
“At first she was really upset but now she is realistic and really just wants it done and dusted.
“Having one foot to having none is going to be very different for Brogan – she’s going to lose the last bit of independence she has.
“There are always risks in everything but this is the sole solution that we and the
doctors came too.
“They can never guarantee it won’t come back.
“One thought we had was that maybe Brogan contract the meningitis first somehow and that’s how she contracted conjunctivitis – because meningitis attacks the immune system and makes you more susceptible to other diseases – but we can’t be sure.
“We always hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this but after seeing the impact it was having on her we thought it’s the best option we have.
“We’ve had numerous conversation with doctors and specialist over the past two years.
“We don’t know if we keep that leg that in the next five years the disease might have gotten worse and spread further.
“It’s looked nothing like a rash, it looked more like bruising – at the time I never thought it was meningitis and that’s the problem.
“When people are what symptoms to look out for with meningitis, they say look for a rash but that’s not what it looked like to me.
“We want to take all the children to Disneyland later this year but we can’t really plan ahead just in case Brogan had to go back to hospital, or she started to feel worse.
“We don’t even know if she would be well enough at the time to even fly – we are pretty much taking it day by day.
“We can really make any long-term plans – it feels like our lives are on hold.”
Signs of Brogan-Lei’s crippling condition first emerged when she suffered a suspected eye infection while on her parents’ honeymoon in Newquay, Cornwall, on June 18.
The youngster was given antibiotics, but 12 days later a rash showed up on her skin and after seeing a GP she was rushed to hospital.
Brogan-Lei had her left foot removed as she was treated for the life-threatening infection at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Her parents decided Brogan-Lei would have her remaining leg amputated last month after their daughter had been suffering more pain.
Dad Craig, 31, a mechanic, said: “At first it was a big shock for all of us but at the moment we are at the point where we just want to get it over and done with really.
“The younger children are only three and four and this is all the can remember – they’ve grown up with Brogan having meningitis.
“But they don’t bat and eye lid they just see Brogan as their big sister.
“We’ve not yet got a set date for the operation but Brogan is on a waiting list and we are hoping that a slot becomes open sometime soon.”
