My true story (as follows) was published by the Meningitis Foundation of America
http://www.musa.org  

I woke up on a Tuesday morning, surprisingly, almost falling out of bed to the floor almost unable to see from double vision.  I had left the television on the night before, from passing out from my high fever.  I was soaked in sweat and all I could concentrate on was two women talking on an early morning preaching show about how they felt that there were people out in the world at that moment who needed to get right with God.  Through my excruciating pain, that's exactly what I did.  

I asked God to forgive me for all of my sins and to please not take me out of this world.  I asked him to forgive me for all of the things I wasn't even sure were sins.  I prayed until I felt at peace with myself and almost felt if I was going to die that it I didn't have to be afraid.  Of course, I was still afraid and the pain had not stopped and I had no clue, never experiencing any thing close to death before, if I was dying or not.   

I crawled to the phone and called my mother who lives an hour and a half away from me.  As a child my sister and I were brought up just knowing you don't call Mom and Dad off work for nothing.  All I said to my mother was Mom, I am sick and you gotta get here now and bring Dad.  She asked me what was wrong and I just plainly said I am dying and you gotta get here.  She told me to call an ambulance but my only thought was there wasn't any time to call one.  I knew I was leaving this world and I told her I was walking to the hospital a block or two away.  

In my pajama's I opened my door, barely able to see, and I started walking.  I wasn't walking alone.  God was with me.  I could feel in my heart that it wasn't my time and at some point in that walk I didn't even feel as if I was walking.  Frankly, all I really remember from that walk was asking the cars as I crossed the street not to hit me because I knew there wasn't anytime to wait for a walk signal.  

I entered the wrong side of the hospital and accidentally wound up in the Spinal Cord Trauma Center.  The lady receptionist rudely told me that I was in the wrong place pointed me to a hallway that connected the Hospital to that wing.  Well, the hallway was honestly longer than the walk that I had just made.  I started my journey down the hallway and I couldn't take the pain anymore.  I tried to speak and all I could do was vomit.  

A nearby orderly dropped her broom I think, maybe a mop, and she ran to my side.  I could hear her screaming “get a wheel-chair -- get a wheel-chair”.  She told me everything was going to be okay.  At this point I wasn't so sure.  I wasn't vomiting like this before and the pain was so draining that I couldn't function anymore.  

My arrival at the ER was quick, except I knew I had to do something to get attention fast.  I began by telling the man I couldn't see I was going blind.  I vomited more by allowing myself to think about all the pain I was in.  I purposely fell in the floor and was admitted at once ahead of others.  (I have never been over dramatic and don't believe in over dramatizing but I knew I needed help immediately).  

I don't remember much at all until about two weeks ago, and honestly these last few weeks are still blurry.  I remember lying on a table and though my parents were still on their way I dreamed I could see them staring at me through a window beside the bed I was in.  Maybe internally this was an image I produced to fight it.  The ER doc interrupted my image and told me she thought I had Meningitis and that she was going to try to make this as painless as possible.  They hooked me to an IV and the rest is somewhere in the month I lost. 

Every time I could open my eyes for the following month, someone different was in the room.  Though I couldn't see them, I knew they were either family or friend and that I was alive and that I was very sick.  I knew I had to lie there and keep faith that my vision and my mind would find its way to the surface of all the crazy things that danced around me.  I was in serious hallucination.  I talked to people who were not there and I saw them too. 

Now, almost back to normal I have been out to dinner, still with a catheter in my arm, just in case I need more antibiotics I have heard so many stories of others loosing their loved ones to Meningitis.  I am only twenty-one years old and I have tried so hard to be careful to never get hurt or hurt anyone else.  I don't drink and drive.  I don't do drugs and I don't have promiscuous sex.  I have goals and dreams I want to accomplish.  I thank God everyday that I made it through this to see my book selling and to see myself headed toward going back to school from the year I took off to publish it. 

I do wonder though why I lived from such a serious disease after finding out I had it for over at least thirty-six hours for sure with no medical attention.  My heart breaks to know that others have died and such a little time.  I recently heard of a child who is in a comma for life because of this and I am so sad to know this.  Honestly, I wish I could take her place even though I don't know her because I know how scared I was and how much pain I went through. 

I have sent this website to all my friends in order for others to find out about Meningitis, what the symptoms are and what to do.  I didn't even know what it was.  I only knew you could die from it.   

I extend my heart to all the families that have lost anyone from this terrible disease and will always have a broad prayer for the world and anyone who may encounter it.  I do believe that my prayer that morning was what saved me.  Though I made it to the hospital walking, there wasn't much life left in me.  I send my love to my earthly parents (mother and father) and to my heavenly father who were all there with me.  I offer my sympathy to anyone who has ever seen anyone go through this.

Ronnie Lee Mickle Jr