On the 16th of July 2025 our daughter Charli suddenly became unwell spiking a high temperature, headache and struggled to stay awake. Charli had spent the whole morning being her usual bubbly self dancing around the house enjoying the summer holidays. My wife called our GP and asked if it was possible to get an emergency appointment and we were told to give her ibuprofen and monitor her. As her parents we knew something wasn’t quite right so after some back and forth we were told to bring her in to see the GP.

All of Charli’s symptoms were thought to be down to a viral infection but due to her temperature being 39.9 and not coming down we were sent to the children’s ward at Forth Valley hospital. Charli’s temperature continued to climb despite medication and then she also started vomiting. Doctors couldn’t find any source of infection so we got settled on the ward to be monitored and at 11pm we were woken for routine observations to be done and Charli had now developed the dreaded rash that no parent ever wants to see. I won’t ever forget the look of dread in the nurses face as we removed Charli’s clothes to see the extent of the rash.

The staff at Forth Valley hospital were incredible and Charli had a whole team now working on her and it was explained to us that they believed Charli had Meningococcal Septicaemia. This is not something we had heard of before but in the hours to come it became clear that our little girl was now fighting for her life.

Whilst trying to remain calm for Charli in the single room we had now been moved to we could hear just outside that the consultants were now on a conference call to the Glasgow Royal Children’s hospital where we were told Charli would need to be transferred to for specialist care. The ScotStar retrieval team arrived in the early hours of the morning and it was decided that Charli had to be put to sleep and ventilated before transfer. We had to watch as our little girl was wheeled away, saying our goodbyes to our baby girls unknown how she was going to respond to treatment.

After what felt like the longest journey by blue light ambulance we arrived at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Glasgow Royal Children’s Hospital. Charli was stabilised before we could get in to see her. To see our baby girl so poorly and to have all these machines, tubes and wires coming from her was something we won’t ever forget. The 1-1 care Charli received over the coming days was incredible. It was explained to us more about what meningococcal septicaemia is, the prognosis and what to expect. The consultants were open and honest with us, despite this being very hard to hear.

Due to Charli already being in hospital when the rash was discovered meant she was started on necessary treatment quickly. Over the next 5 days in intensive care she remained stable and was able to be taken off the ventilator. We got to see our baby girl open her eyes again after what felt like a lifetime.

We were finally stepped down from the PICU and we were moved to a ward where Charli began her recovery. She had to build her strength to walk again. She started to eat and drink and got her NG tube out and finally had a tube free face.

On the day we were expecting to be discharged it was discovered that Charli now needed multiple surgeries to wounds on her hand and leg cause by the meningococcal rash. She endured 2 surgeries within 3 days and we finally got discharged. Our little girl came home with a return date for her final surgery in 2 weeks time to have skin grafts done.

For a 6 year old girl to have been through so much, she asked no questions. Charli had a smile on her face every day despite the pain and trauma her body had been through.

Without the incredible Crossbasket House, where we were given a room to stay whilst Charli was in Glasgow we would never both have been able to be by our girls side every single minute. We owe so much to Glasgow Royal Hospital for saving Charli’s life and hope to raise as much money as possible to give back to such an incredible charity.

Im helping raise funds, to help support those who helped us through this horrendous life experience our Charli and family had to endure.

To mark a year on from her diagnosis, I'll be taking on the Golf-a-thon challenge. This is where I will play 72 holes of golf, walking across the course (No buggies to be used). This 4 rounds of golf, to be completed in a single day. Any donations would be greatly appreciated to help a fantastic charity that helped save our daughters life.