Lucky to be alive 'MY MENINGITIS NIGHTMARE'

Shocked Southlander Aleina lost a leg and had to have a kidney transplant

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The first time Aleina Beer walked into the hospital complaining of a sore, stiff neck and a headache, she was told to go home and take some paracetamol.

Less than 24 hours later, the fit and active then-23-year-old was critically ill with meningococcal meningitis, in multi-organ failure and fighting for her life.

"I'd had colds before where you get sore glands, but this felt very different," recalls Aleina. "All around my neck was sore and I couldn't turn my head, so I called Mum to take me to the emergency department because I couldn't drive. They said it was probably just a cold and sent me home."

Raised on a Southland sheep station, Aleina grew up "pretty hearty". She tells, "Unless you were dying, you just got on with it."

But what Aleina didn't realise was just how close she'd come to dying. After deteriorating overnight, she knew she had to get back to the hospital - and quickly.

"I remember telling Mum to drive faster because I could feel my mind slipping away, coming in and out of consciousness."

Being carried through the hospital doors is the last thing Aleina remembers.

By the time she was admitted to Southland Hospital, her blood had stopped clotting and her kidneys had shut down.

Airlifted not long after to Dunedin Hospital in critical condition, Aleina spent nine days in an induced coma as her family willed her to survive.