‘Dead within an hour’: Teen athlete lucky to be alive after meningococcal misdiagnosis

An Aussie teenager was sent home from hospital and told to take paracetamol after a deadly meningococcal disease was not diagnosed.

Superstar athlete Kristy Appleton feels lucky to be alive after the Princess Alexandra Hospital failed to diagnose deadly meningococcal disease and sent her home.

The 17-year-old world champion waterskier could have been “dead within an hour” had her mother not sought a second opinion through the private health system.

Ms Appleton, of Yeronga, says she was made to feel “like a drama queen” when telling PA staff about her excruciating pain.

“My head was exploding and my whole body was in agony, I struggled to walk and was vomiting up huge amounts of fluorescent green stuff, but I felt they thought I was exaggerating.”

Kristy, in Year 11 at Somerville House, had tested positive for Covid but, having had the virus before, knew something else was going on.

“Due to my sport, I have a very high pain threshold but this was horrific,” she says.

“One of the nurses said, ‘you should be grateful you’ve got Covid, there are people in here with influenza A worse than you’.”

Kristy Appleton, 17, with mum Pamela Appleton. Photo: Steve Pohlner.

Meningococcal is a bacterial disease that kills up to 10 per cent of sufferers and maims one-third, destroying organs and limbs.

Speaking exclusively to The Courier-Mail, Ms Appleton and her mother Pamela say they were disgusted by their treatment at the large public hospital.

“Kristy and I were shot down every time we tried to speak up,” Mrs Appleton, 51, says.

“One of the doctors said to me, ‘I’ve got the charts, I know what I’m talking about’, and you do second guess yourself as a mother, you’re thinking, ‘well I’m not the learned one, I don’t have a medical degree’, so I was just devastated when Kristy was eventually diagnosed with meningococcal.”

Kristy did not immediately present with a reddish-purple rash, a sign of meningococcal, but was later told this was because the disease was in her brain and had not yet entered her blood stream, causing sepsis.

She was discharged from the PA Hospital – 12 hours after she arrived – at 4:36am on Friday, August 9, with a written diagnosis of Covid-19, advising her to rest and take paracetamol.

She was given a medical certificate for up to two days, and told her she’d be right for school on Monday.

Upon returning home, Kristy’s condition rapidly deteriorated.

Kristy Appleton skis during the IWWF U17 World Water Ski Championships at Predator Bay Waterski Club on August 2, 2024 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Photo: Johnny Hayward/Getty Images

By lunchtime, bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea were every 15 minutes and Mrs Appleton called Wellers Hill Medical Centre, which prescribed medication that didn’t help.

By 4pm, she suggested they go to Mater Private but “Kristy was exhausted and couldn’t be moved, she just wanted to go to bed”.

Mrs Appleton and her daughter were jet-lagged after coming home at 5am on August 8 from Canada, where Kristy won Girls Overall Champion in the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation’s under-17 waterski competition.

“I feel so guilty for being selfish and wanting to catch some sleep,” Mrs Appleton says.

“Had I not been awake for 35 hours straight, I’d have insisted on taking her then.”

Around midnight, Kristy woke screaming. She couldn’t move or tolerate being touched and was acutely sensitive to light.

Paramedics arrived and Mrs Appleton insisted they go to Mater Private.

She describes the experiences at both hospitals as “chalk and cheese”.

“The doctor at the Mater was straight on to it – I was so relieved someone was finally listening to me,” she says.

“He said, ‘I know she’s positive for Covid and, look, I don’t want to alarm you, but I’m going to treat it like it’s bacterial meningitis because with what you’re telling me, we need to act fast’.”

Kristy Appleton. Photo: Steve Pohlner

In the early hours of August 10, a range of scans were done as well as a lumbar puncture and blood cultures, and Kristy was given antibiotics.

Around 5am, Mrs Appleton noticed a purple mark on her daughter’s neck.

At 7am an infectious diseases specialist assessed Kristy and later confirmed meningococcal.

Mrs Appleton says the specialist told her the timing of the antibiotics may have saved her life as she could have been “dead within an hour”.

Kristy had been vaccinated against the A, C, W and Y strains of meningococcal but not B, which she contracted probably while competing in Canada.

“I had some flu-like symptoms in Calgary but when I landed in Brisbane I felt completely fine,” Kristy says.

“But by the afternoon, I was in a bad way. I could have died, and I want people to get fully vaccinated – I would hate anyone to get this awful disease.”

Today, Kristy battles lethargy and has hearing problems due to meningococcal but is expected to make a full – and miraculous – recovery.

She has been medically cleared by Mater Private to return to school on Monday.

Her mother wants greater awareness of the disease, which strikes mostly young people, and the government to raise the free vaccination age to 25.

In Queensland, the ACWY and B vaccines are free for Year 10 students through the school vaccination program while ages 15 to 19 can get the jabs via their GP.

“We want the school program extended to Years 11 and 12, and at GPs up to age 25,” Mrs Appleton says.

The relieved mum, who says she is fortunate to afford private health care, does not plan to take action against the PA Hospital.

“My action is talking to The Courier-Mail to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again – we need to keep challenging the state government to do better.”

Princess Alexandra Hospital executive director Dr Jeremy Wellwood said he wished Kristy a speedy recovery.

“We thank the family for raising their concerns and are currently reviewing the care provided,” he said.

“It is important for patients and families to raise any feedback and concerns so that it can be reviewed to determine if there were any opportunities to improve.”