A RELIEVED mum today told of her baby's amazing recovery from the killer bug meningitis and admitted: "I didn't think he would see his first birthday."

Laura Reed was over-the-moon when doctors at Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital gave little Leon the all clear last Monday before allowing him home at the weekend.

Mrs Reed, who lives with her husband, John, Leon and elder son Jac, in Green Lane, Blackburn, said she thought the 10-months-old tot was going to die.

"The two days I spent in hospital with Leon were the longest two days of my life. I cannot describe exactly how I felt, but life passes before your eyes. I kept thinking he was not going to see his first birthday and how I couldn't live without him.

"It seemed like a lifetime before the doctors told me he was OK and we were so relieved. You just don't think this kind of thing will happen to you."

Mrs Reed, 27, a cook at Hazeldene Nursing Home in Wilpshire and part-time barmaid at the Railway pub in Pleasington, Blackburn, said every parent should know the symptoms of the killer disease and trust their instinct if their child is unwell. She went on: "I am aware of the symptoms because I like to be very clued up about things when it comes to my kids, but Leon wasn't showing any of the normal signs.

"I came home from work about midnight and John said he was really poorly but there were no other symptoms. I picked him up and went downstairs and the spots were there. It was that quick.

"I was pressing them and they didn't disappear. I knew then what it was and telephoned an ambulance immediately. I was hysterical by the time they arrived. I just thought he was going to die."

Leon was given antibiotics and monitored in the hospital's high dependency ward on the children's medical unit, where he progressed well.

Mrs Reed said: "The doctors said the first four hours are the most crucial and it's thanks to my quick reactions and Leon being a big baby that he's OK.

"I just can't believe it to be honest. You don't think anything like this will ever happen to you, but it can. I keep thinking I could be burying him this week but, thanks to the brilliant ambulancemen, doctors and nurses and everyone who helped us, he's all right.

"You wouldn't even think he had been ill to look at him now."

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