MENINGITIS survivor Mary Kate McDonagh sits silently, not moving her hands or feet because the movements are too painful. Her tiny three-year-old body is a mass of sores acting as a horrific reminder of the nightmare she has had to endure over the last two weeks after contracting bacterial meningitis. Just two days after the tragic baby death storyline in Coronation Street, Mary Kate was rushed into the Royal Bolton Hospital with the deadly infection.

She was the second youngster from the New Bury area of Farnworth to be admitted with the septicemia strain of meningitis after the Granada programme.

But little Mary Kate was not as lucky as Farnworth baby Shannon Comiskey whose extraordinary survival story was reported in the BEN last week.

Although both youngsters survived, Mary Kate suffered extreme skin damage and has been left without the use of her legs and hands.

The Spice Girls fanatic, described as "mischievous and flamboyant" by her family, now sits listlessly without any interest in her surroundings.

A series of painful skin graft operations is in the pipeline.

Heartbroken mum-of-five, June, said: "We brought her home thinking the other children would stimulate her into moving. But she still isn't walking.

"Her body is a mass of sores left behind from the blotches caused by the meningitis. We have no idea what permanent damage has been caused. We just have to wait and see."

Nurses visit Mary Kate every day to change dressing and bandages and administer medication.

Mary Kate lay in the next bed to eight months old Shannon Comiskey in the specialist Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Ironically, June knew Shannon's mum and grandmother and followed Shannon's recovery with delight.

"When they both started getting better it was wonderful. But it was heartbreaking to see Shannon playing with toys when my three-year-old just sat there unmoving."

June added: "I want parents to realise that children who do survive often have to deal with awful side effects."

The hellish experience for the St James Street family started on the Friday following the tear-jerking episode in The Street.

Mary Kate had been taken to the doctors the day before and was diagnosed as having a viral infection.

But June knew that the disease had struck when she woke her own daughter on the Friday morning.

She said: "I didn't have to do a glass test. I knew. I called an ambulance straight away and rushed her into hospital.

"I was told that she was extremely poorly and might die. It was very frightening."

June said: "Don't get me wrong, she is lucky to have survived. But I want parents to realise that the rash is not a simple rash but bleeding under the skin.

"Doctors say look for a rash - but by that time it can be too late.

"The septicemia works throughout the body. We now have to wait and see what damage it has done to her organs.

"Not all children recover and not all children recover unscathed. I think this is an important message to get across."

The New Bury community has rallied around raising money for both families.

June said: "We have been treated wonderfully by everyone from medical staff to our neighbours.

"Even people who don't know us have helped us. It has restored my faith in human nature."

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