LAST year, cases of meningitis were the highest they have been for 50 years in the UK, with more cases in babies and very young children than any other age group. PATRICIA HALL looks at how the nightmare of meningitis can touch any family and how one mum whose little girl came close to death is looking to help other parents in the future.

IF Diane Carter ever needs reminding just how lucky she is, she only needs to look at her daughter, Natalie (pictured).

The six-year-old, full of life, is a constant wonder to her family -- as just a few months ago she was almost taken from them.

Natalie contracted meningococcal septicaemia in April.

It was touch and go for several hours and she was very ill for days after that but, thankfully, Natalie recovered and suffered no after-effects.

Now her mum Diane wants to help other parents who are going through the meningitis nightmare.

Diane, of Accrington Road, Blackburn, has joined the Meningitis Baby Watch campaign to help raise local awareness of the symptoms of meningitis and also to offer support to parents.

Diane and her husband Andrew have three other children -- Karl, aged nine, Kurtis, aged five and Siobhan, just three -- and they are ever vigilant of the signs of the onset of the killer illness.

Diane said: "I will never forget how close we came to losing Natalie. One minute she was running around in the sunshine of a lovely April day and the next she was feeling a bit sick.

"I put her to bed and I had convinced myself it was just the start of the flu which had been going around at the time. "When I went to look at her early the next morning she was ghostly white and seemed a bit stiff.

"Within 10 minutes her neck had swollen and she couldn't talk and a single purple spot had appeared on her pubic bone.

"Every time her touched her she screamed and then something in my head just clicked and I realised what was happening.

"I called my doctor and within minutes Natalie had been given an injection of penicillin.

"Just minutes after that she had come out in the telltale rash.

"We took her to hospital and she was given a blood transfusion because she had the blood poisoning form of meningitis and was put on antibiotics.

"Then it was a waiting game. We had to see if she could urinate -- if she couldn't it would have meant that her organs were not working.

"But within half an hour she stabilised and managed to go to the toilet.

"We were told that we had just caught the onset of the illness in time, even minutes later could have meant that Natalie may have died. "We'll never forget how lucky we have been and now we want to make sure other parents have the same chance we had."

Diane feels it's pay-back time now.

She added: "I feel like I have been given this chance to keep my daughter for a reason, that there is something I can do to help other parents.

"I want to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation but I also want to be someone that people can relate to if they are going through the meningitis nightmare.

"I don't know what it is like to lose a child through this terrible illness but I do know much more about meningitis now and I want to help in any way I can."

Diane can be contacted on 01254 690683.