After Annabelle’s symptoms appeared, she first she thought it was Covid, but tested negative.
Then she became delirious, became “really sensitive to light”, and stopped making sense, she said.
She realised something was wrong and called the NHS service 111, which told her to stay at home and to go to hospital if her symptoms grew worse.
“I just had a gut instinct that something wasn’t right,” she said.
Annabelle said her housemates helped her down the stairs because she had lost the ability to walk and by the time she got to Canterbury Medical Centre, she was unable to talk.
She was taken by ambulance to A&E and given antibiotics, before tests revealed she had bacterial meningitis.
“I was just in so much pain in my body that I didn’t have time to process that I couldn’t see, but it was definitely really scary for my family and my friends,” she said.
Speaking to the BBC after leaving hospital on Thursday, she said: “I feel so grateful to be alive.”
Annabelle said she was only at the nightclub for less than an hour, had one drink and did not share vapes.
She also said she was outside for “pretty much the whole time”.
