How quick thinking over a rash saved young girl's life

A SCHOOLGIRL who went to bed feeling unwell has spent the last eight days sedated in intensive care, after she woke up with a 'bruise many parents wouldn't suspect as unusual.

- BY MEGAN BANNER, GRETA SIMPSON

On Wednesday, April 10,, Penelope Vidal-Walsh, 10, from Southport, told her parents she felt unwell before going to bed around 9pm. The ten-year-old woke up at around 2am and vomited.

Her dad, Ricardo Vidal, put her in the bath and "checked her over" but didn't spot anything of concern, so the schoolgirl went back to bed.

The family woke up the next morning and Penelope had breakfast but was sick again at around 8.30am.

Dad put her in the bath but this time noticed a small purple mark on her neck.

But after she got dressed after her bath, her mum, Elizabeth, and dad noticed another purple rash on her knee.

Penelope's aunt, Angel Walsh, 35, said how the quick-thinking parents tried 'the glass' test, which the NHS advises as a way to assess a rash, particularly when suspecting meningitis or septicaemia.