Southsea mum lauds "amazing" son who raised the alarm after she collapsed with bacterial meningitis

Alicia Smith, of York Street, Southsea, had been suffering with an ongoing ear infection and going into one late August evening last year she found herself incredibly restless and unable to sleep. Her last memory was standing in her kitchen at 4am, the next thing she remembers is waking up in hospital unable to move and wondering where her son was.

Dempsey Smith, 9, woke up and knew straight away that something was not right with his mum. Alicia said: “Apparently, he had woken up in the morning and I was acting weird, I wasn't being myself. He was trying to talk to me and I wasn't responding. I was awake at some points but it was like I wasn't there. He contacted two of my neighbours, using my phone, saying ‘can you help me, mum is being weird. I’m really scared’.”

It turns out that Alicia had been suffering from bacterial meningitis and had been passing in and out of consciousness in a hallucinatory state. The disease started to affect her spine which led her to collapsing and being unable to move. Her two neighbours rushed over and called an ambulance with a specialist spinal doctor flown from Southampton to ensure she was safely moved from her flat.

Alicia said: “I was taken straight into critical care and luckily they were able to get me stable. Afterwards they said that my son had saved my life.”

She is incredibly proud of how her son acted in a scary situation. Alicia said: “He has ADHD and has some learning disabilities, so he is brilliant at things like football, but he's quite detached sometimes, so this was a big deal for him.

“Usually he will get up and go on his PlayStation so for him to notice something was wrong and to do something about it, he knew straight away something was not right. He really deserves to be recognised for how amazing and brave he is.”

The incident happened at the start of the school holidays meaning Dempsey was limited in what he could do with Alicia recovering in hospital and then at home. Alicia is looking to make that up to him with a visit to Fratton Park tonight (Tuesday, February 11). Not only will he be watching Pompey take on Cardiff, but he will be a mascot and have the chance to meet his Pompey heroes.

Alicia does not want to stop there though, she is in contact with Stephen Morgan MP about setting up a charity for young heroes. Alicia said: “I feel like it's something that would benefit the city and raise awareness for other young children that may find themselves in a situation that they may be too scared or worried about what to do.”

It is an incident that still troubles Dempsey, with the emotional toll combined with the stress and anxiety experienced on that day still hanging over him. One thing is for sure though, without his quick actions the situation could have had a very different outcome.

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