A New Zealand mother is warning parents to protect their children against meningitis after it nearly took the life of her son.
October 5th marks World Meningitis Day, a deadly condition that causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, caused by viral or bacterial infections.
Ashleigh Moore (Taranaki, Ngāti Tama, Ngāi Tahu ki Waikawa) recalls the start of a traumatic period, uncertain if her son would pull through.
“I had no idea what meningitis was. I remember it at school because one girl passed away from it, and that’s all I ever heard about it and until my son got it, and it was horrific,” she says.
A life-threatening disease
240 cases of meningitis have been recorded between 2021 and 2025, resulting in 12 deaths.
Māori and Pasifika make up between 60 and 70 percent of meningitis cases. Other than fatalities, 1 in 5 of the total survivors end up with permanent after-effects, including amputations.
On February 15th 2015, Moore says she found her 2-month-old son limp and motionless in his play cot.
“He was just laying there doing absolutely nothing...We took him to the hospital, and they originally said that he had bronchitis and a tummy bug, so they sent us home,” she says.
Moore had a feeling soon after that the diagnosis wasn’t showing the full picture, and she took him back.
“I just thought to myself, this is not right, Suede is not right, something is really wrong with him. He’s still not moving around, he’s not doing anything, and if he had a tummy bug he wouldn’t be able to sleep through it.”
Upon returning, Suede suffered through a seizure and a spiked fever, which helped reveal that he had meningitis.
Suede was soon sent to Starship Hospital, where the symptoms continued after his body showed no improvement despite medication. He suffered more seizures and fell into a coma for days.
“They couldn’t find the right antibiotic for Suede to respond to, so Suede was left to lay there, and he had to wake up on his own and come out of the coma on his own,
“The hospital pretty much told me to just prepare for the worst and start thinking about how we’re going to take him home from Starship.”
However, one night while watching Jungle Book in the hospital, Moore turned to her baby and found his eyes open.
Recovering after devastation
The whānau returned home after two months, but Moore was left grappling with the trauma and anxiety, saying that she stopped receiving support after six months.
She says Suede is a healthy 9-year-old now who loves motorbikes and sports but still deals with the aftermath of the disease, like scarring to the brain.
“He doesn’t like bright rooms; he gets really tired all the time.”
Her message now is for all to become aware of it and to take your child to a doctor or hospital if you’re unsure, saying the symptoms could manifest as a simple cold or headache.
“Your gut instinct as a mother, your maternal instinct, follow that. That’s what keeps you strong as a parent. Our babies feed off our mana, so if we lose faith, they lose strength. Stay strong, ask questions. Whatever you think, don’t be afraid to say it.”
A huge cost for immunisations
Gerard Rushton, Chairman of the Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, lost his daughter to the disease in 2014 and says one of the biggest barriers for adolescents who are some of those more at risk is affordable access to immunisations.
“It’s $600 to protect an adolescent,” he says.
“What are we looking at now in New Zealand with vaccinations? It’s free for all our infants; there’s a catch-up program for under 12 months old; there’s a catch-up program for 3 to 5-year-olds.
He says the only adolescents that qualify for free vaccinations are those in first-year halls of residence or first-year boarding schools, prisons or barracks.
“It’s just the real concerning thing for us is that Māori and Pasifika have a high rate of cases. Of the 31 cases so far this year, half of them are European, 39 percent of them are Māori, and 12 percent were Pasifika,
“Do you think those Māori and Pasifika people are represented in first-year halls of residence or boarding schools?” he says.
Rushton says the disease has the ability to kill within 24 hours, which is why it needs urgent attention.
“We’ve been lobbying the government. It’s election time coming up, but it all comes down to dollars and cents,
“Anyone that gets meningitis has a high dependency in hospital. So it just makes sense all around. These are our young people that are dying unnecessarily”.
