'From a 5% Survival Chance to Gold Medal Paralympian: My Daughter's Incredible Journey' - OK! Magazine

When Paul Challis’ 16 month old daughter, Ellie, became extremely lethargic with a temperature that just wouldn't come down, he knew that something was wrong. While at 6pm she was wanting to climb up to him for lots of cuddles, by 10pm she was vomiting and wouldn’t take a bottle.

Trusting his instincts, Paul rushed Ellie to the hospital. While there they were told that it could be a water infection and were sent back home, a rash appeared on Ellie’s back a few hours later. As they returned to the hospital for a second time, things were different. “I took her back to the hospital and showed them the rash and just ran through triage. Suddenly there were doctors coming from everywhere,” says Paul. “Within the first half hour of us arriving, we had it confirmed that Ellie had meningitis.

“It was like an out of body experience - signing forms to say ‘yes’ to doctors coming to see her and them drilling into her shins. As they were working on her, they were taking calls from doctors at St Mary’s Hospital in London who were advising them. I couldn’t see much, but sometimes they would part and every time they moved I could see the rash was just covering her. She wasn’t responsive.”

While on the way to St Mary’s, things weren’t smooth sailing. As Ellie was being transferred, the ambulance had to stop twice so they could resuscitate her. Upon arrival, Paul was told that her condition was “very serious”, though it was only “much, much later” that he was told she had around a 5% chance of survival.

“Ellie was in a coma for 21 days, yet, remarkably, she was only in hospital for a total of six weeks. One of those days was my birthday and I remember it was the first day she was allowed a cuddle. I’ve never had a better birthday than that,” he explains.

To save her life, Ellie had her legs amputated above the knee and her arms removed below the elbow. But despite having to learn how to speak again and taking an hour the first time she tried to climb the stairs, Ellie hasn’t let meningitis stop her and she secured a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics in the S3 50m backstroke final.

“I have always seen photos of myself - one of my favourite photos I have is one of me smiling and it was taken just after my amputations. It was helpful to have everything out in the open, and it was normal, I never knew anything different,” says Ellie.

She adds: “As a family, we’ve always been pretty resilient. My attitude is that I can do what I can do and figure out what I can or can't control. And from that, I do what I want to do. This has definitely helped me and made me confident in what I do.”

And it’s clear that her dad Paul can’t be prouder. In addition to her gold medal at Paris 2024, Ellie was the youngest member of ParalympicsGB in Tokyo in 2021 where she won a silver in the S3 50m backstroke when she was 17.

“The way Ellie is, is quite incredible. I have been very lucky to have someone like her. What meningitis took away, has also presented some amazing experiences that she wouldn’t have had,” adds Paul.

“To go from being so close to dying, to the life she has lived, is an incredibly positive story and it’s important to tell it – when things have gone from being so bleak, to see such a positive life can come from it. From the day that happened, one life stopped and another one started.”

5th October marks World Meningitis Day. For more information and to learn the symptoms, visit meningitis.org