BBC Sport presenter Seema Jaswal says she was gifted a ‘second chance’ at life after contracting meningitis – and things could have been very different.
Jaswal, 41, who fronts the BBC’s snooker coverage, was only 16 when she caught an aggressive case of meningitis B and was plunged into a coma.
She describes the pain as ‘debilitating’ and her parents were told to expect the worst when she was rushed to hospital.
But after having made a full recovery – something for which she feels ‘eternally grateful’ – Jaswal went on to build an impressive career in sports broadcasting. You may have seen her presenting the World Cup, Champions League and Premier League, working with giants such as the BBC, ITV, and Amazon.
Now she is imploring people to educate themselves and the government to make vaccinations mandatory amid the outbreak which has killed two students in Kent.
‘It changed my outlook on things. I feel so grateful that I’ve been given a second chance,’ Jaswal exclusively told the Daily Mail.
Top sports presenter Seema Jaswal is calling on the government to make jabs mandatory
The sport-loving teenager was working part-time at a coffee shop one Saturday in April 2001 when she was hit with a pounding headache
In the middle of the night she started throwing up bile and experiencing pains in her neck. Within minutes she was fading in and out of consciousness and she ended up in a coma
‘I spent a couple of weeks in hospital and lost a lot of weight. I felt competely drained but being 16 I just wanted to get back to normal life. I was so lucky that I was able to do that.
‘If you have Meningitis B, many people come out of it with something that could be long-lasting: a disability, you lose a limb, lose your sight or hearing. That happens to a lot of people.’
Jaswal was studying for her A-Levels and working in a cafe to save up for her gap year when, one day, she got a headache.
She thought little of it but, as the headache progressively worsened, her mother, Raziya, grew concerned. Eventually, Raziya called the night doctor – but he passed it off as a case of the flu.
However, her mum still knew something was off. Jaswal was uncomfortable whenever the lights were on and it was this detail that made her fear it might be meningitis. Raziya called the ambulance.
‘It felt really debilitating. I went to bed early that night. My mum kept checking on me and it felt so painful, awful,’ says Jaswal, who is an ambassador for the charity Meningitis Now.
‘I was throwing up bile. I’d never seen anything like it. My mum turned off the light and I was like, “mum, please turn off the light, I can’t look at that.”
‘She called the ambulance. The paramedics came and took me to hospital. I don’t remember any of this part. I was in a coma for between 24 and 48 hours. My parents were told all of the worst things that might be the outcome.
‘I cannot thank my mother enough for acting so quickly. The doctor himself said I had the flu. The signs can be very similar at the beginning to a flu. When you’re on the go non-stop, you just put it down to that.
Jaswal says if it wasn’t for her mother Raziya’s quick reactions, things could have been much worse
Mrs Jaswal (pictured with her father Monty) does not suffer any long-term consequences
She has gone on to build a prolific career in broadcasting and presenting
‘My mum really trusted her instinct. You’ve got to trust your instinct. If something doesn’t feel quite right, even if it’s a degree off a normal cold or flu, you’ve got to run with it and get it checked. That’s my advice.
‘It was obvious to her that I wasn’t normal. I was very lucky my mum acted so quickly.
‘The signs and symptoms to learn are fever, a stiff neck, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, severe headaches. A lot of people think it’s the rash, but the rash happens last when you get to the stage where it gets into the blood. That’s really bad.
‘There are lots of resources on the Meningitis Now website and Instagram to understand what it could be.’
Babies can get the meningitis B vaccine on the NHS but children born before 2015 missed out unless they paid privately.
Some 40 MPs have signed a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting urging the government and the UKHSA to work with universities on a catch-up vaccination programme for meningitis.
In 2016, a popular petition for all children to be given the vaccine was rejected by the Conservative government.
On Wednesday morning, the National Pharmacy Association industry group revealed that there was no stock of meningitis B vaccines available for people to pay for privately.
And Jaswal says: ‘I don’t know why they haven’t put it [the jab] as mandatory. We have a problem with that.
‘For some reason, it feels like something big has to happen for people to realise how awful this is. There has been a lack of understanding about it from those in decision-making positions.
‘I hope this will be a turning point and that they will take it seriously.’