Teenager's bubbly life nearly snapped by virus

On December 14, at 8.15 a.m., Madeline Chircop was working in the basement of her home when she heard a gurgling, choking noise coming from her daughter's bedroom.

Dashing upstairs she found Jackie, 18, in bed with her muscles stiffened and her azure eyes wide open, staring blankly. It was the first of many fits she would endure in the coming months.

Panicked, Mrs Chircop called an ambulance. On the way to hospital, the teenager, already weakened by her first seizure, had another two fits. She was rushed to the Intensive Therapy Unit where she was put into a medically-induced coma to let the brain hibernate and protect it from further injury.

"It was very frightening. I thought Jackie was going to die and I had no clue from what," Mrs Chircop said.

Sitting on a stone bench in the hospital grounds, her home for the past three months, she recounts how her perfectly healthy child had suffered a headache and fever two days before the fit. When these dissipated, she started throwing up.

Her husband Derek, a diving instructor, was working in the Maldives at the time, so she did not want to worry him unnecessarily. However, things changed when their daughter was admitted to hospital.

Doctors, who were awaiting test results from abroad, were not sure whether the girl had succumbed to meningitis or else to herpes simplex encephalitis. It was the second.

Herpes simplex encephalitis is a rare neurological disorder characterised by inflammation of the brain.

Herpes simplex 1 is actually a very common virus that causes small blisters or "cold sores" on the lips, inside the nose, in the eye, or on the eyelid. But, in very rare cases, usually when the immune system is compromised, the virus moves to the brain from the nasal cavity through the sinuses resulting in encephalitis (the inflammation of the brain).

Without realising, the girl had all the symptoms: headaches, fever, drowsiness, vomiting and general weakness.

"Luckily she started receiving treatment immediately, otherwise she would be dead by now," Mr Chircop said.

The girl remained in a coma for nearly six weeks and Christmas and New Year passed by without any celebrations or cheer.

"We still haven't opened our Christmas presents or hers... they're still at home," he said, his blue eyes welling with tears.

In the run-up to the Christmas festivities, the girl was extremely busy, cramming her life with serving at her uncle's bar in St George's Bay to finance her hairdressing course, and going out with her boyfriend and friends.

"She insisted on working to pay for her course, even though we offered to help. She was quite sensible with her money," her father added, waving to the ITU nurses.

The couple visit hospital everyday staying between 8.30 a.m. and noon, going home for a rest, returning at 4 p.m. for another round of three hours.

"We've both had to pack in our jobs. We cannot concentrate on anything else," he said in a weary voice.

Their other two children - Matthew, 23, and Christina, 21 - are pulling their weight, helping out with the chores and ensuring there is some semblance of normality. Relatives and friends have also been at hand offering tremendous support.

"The progress is slow. When she emerged from the coma she had a terrified look on her face.

"She had no idea what she was doing in hospital... She was stunned that it was already 2007. She didn't even ask about Christmas; I don't think she realised she had missed it," he said.

His daughter's memory varies from day to day and while she recognises people in photos, there are occasions when she fails to identify relatives.

Her parents hope the damage is not permanent, and that their daughter manages to emerge from this unscathed.

At the moment nobody can tell what the final outcome will be and her parents are resigned to the fact that anything can happen.

However, over the past days, the girl's condition improved and earlier plans to fly her to the UK for further treatment, especially for the recurring fits, have been shelved.

"There was a time when her fits, caused by scarring of the brain, were becoming severe. One day she had 32 fits between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thank God she has not had one for the past four days, which is a great relief," Mr Chircop said.

When not resting, the girl spends her day leafing through magazines or teasing the nurses, a sure sign that her bubbly spirit is slowly surfacing, together with a warm smile that lights up her face. She is eager to go back home and is forever asking when this day will come. She has started eating liquidised food and her parents prepare daily concoctions of pulped vegetables and protein to help her gain back her strength.

"She was always a fussy eater. Thank God at the moment she's eating whatever we give her, even though at times she turns up her nose a bit," Mrs Chircop said.

Getting up to return to their daughter's bedside, the Chircops manage a tired smile.

"It's a miracle she's alive. The doctors had warned us that if she didn't die, she could be severely brain damaged. At the moment there seems to be a ray of hope. We're taking things one day at a time." Those who wish to help the family in any way can send an e-mail to derek37@onvol.net.