UK: Miracle man: Builder survives deadly meningitis ELEVEN times in 16 years

[Guest guest]

Odd...his immune system can't be up to much...

http://www.dailymail.co

uk/health/article-1177581/Miracle-man-Builder-survives-deadly-meningitis-ELEV

N-times-16-years.html

Miracle man: Builder survives deadly meningitis ELEVEN times in 16 years

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:51 AM on 06th May 2009

Comments (0)

Former builder Phil Parry, 49, spent four days in a coma when he was first

struck down by meningitis

A man hailed as a medical miracle has revealed how he survived the deadly

brain bug meningitis - a staggering ELEVEN times.

Former builder Phil Parry, 49, spent four days in a coma when he was first

struck down by the killer disease 16 years ago.

Since then he has beaten the illness a further ten times - leaving doctors

baffled.

He has been diagnosed with Lymphocytic Meningitis - a viral strain of the

bug - which effects just a handful of people in the UK.

The condition means the disease lies dormant in Phil's system until it

flares up again every couple of years.

He has learned to recognise the symptoms of the bug - which kills 400 people

in Britain each year - and casually checks himself into hospital whenever he

starts feeling ill.

Phil, from Balsall Common, near Coventry, Warks., said: 'Every time I go

into hospital I know it might be the time it kills me. I try not to think

about it.

'My mates call me the cat because I've had so many lives but I've already

used up my nine lives - I just hope I have a few more left.'

Phil was diagnosed with flu when he was first admitted to Heartlands

Hospital in Birmingham in 1993 and was discharged.

But he was rushed back to hospital just three months later when he collapsed

at home and doctors diagnosed Lymphocytic Meningitis.

He said: 'The first time it happened I was in bed and my partner couldn't

wake me up.

She called an emergency doctor who told the paramedics if you don't arrive

in half-an-hour he'll be dead.

'Now my partner notices the symptoms when I start to become irritable and

ratty and I snap at her.

'I develop raging mouth blisters and feel very uncomfortable which is when

we ring the hospital to let them know we're coming.

'Doctors and nurses joke that I'm a medical miracle.'

Rare blood type

Phil was last struck down by the bug last May when he spent three nights in

intensive care in hospital.

Usually patients who have viral meningitis need just one dose of anti-viral

drugs to stop the disease returning.

But despite having hundreds of blood tests doctors are no closer to

understanding why Phil keeps getting the disease.

He now has regular blood samples taken at the hospital's infectious and

tropical diseases ward to monitor his condition and try to find a cure.

Phil reckons the illness is down to his rare blood type O and a genetic

problem after his brother died from the bug 30 years ago aged just eight.

He now raises money for the Meningitis Trust as well as being a full-time

carer for partner Josie Howe, 58, who suffers from black-outs.

Phil added: 'I've become used to living with the threat of a meningitis

attack living over me and learned to deal with it.

'My brother died from the big when he was just a child which suggests that

it could be something that runs in the family.'

Phil has organised dozens of charity events to raise funds for the

Meningitis Trust - the latest was shaving his head.

A spokesperson for The Meningitis Research Foundation said: 'Somebody

getting over the disease 11 times is very unique and we haven't heard of it

before.

'From what we can gather it's probably a viral form of the illness rather

than a bacterial strain.

'They are very frightening and can be a very nasty disease but are not as life

threatening as the bacterial form is.'