Less than a fortnight ago little Brogan-Lei was a bridesmaid for Aimee and Craig - now she is battling to survive a horrific disease
Shocking pictures of a seven-year-old girl battling meningitis just days after she celebrated her parents' wedding will hit home to mums and dads everywhere.
Less than a fortnight ago little Brogan-Lei was a bridesmaid for Aimee and Craig Partridge - now she is fighting for her life.
The horrific disease struck as Brogan and her brother and two sisters joined the couple for a family honeymoon in Cornwall.
Aimee and Craig bravely allowed Mirror Online to publish pictures of their daughter in Birmingham Children's Hospital - where they say her life has been saved “100 times already”.
Brogan, from Bartley Green in Birmingham, is responding to treatment - but needs numerous skin grafts and surgery to remove her toes on her left foot.
Writing on Facebook, Aimee, 25, said: “This week has totally changed my outlook on life.
“It’s shown what’s important and what isn’t, who’s there and who isn’t and people who just want a bit of gossip in comparison to those who genuinely care."
“All the little things we thought were important to us suddenly aren’t anymore," she continued.
“Me and Craig just want to remind everyone how overwhelmed and grateful we are for all the help and offers we’ve received from people near and far.”
Brogan went down with a suspected eye infection after her parents’ wedding, which took place in the Malvern Hills on June 18.
She was given antibiotics but was rushed to hospital on June 27, after the family returned from Cornwall, when Aimee noticed a rash on her daughter’s skin and went to their GP.
The Woodgate Valley Primary School pupil was diagnosed with Miningitis B and initially faced losing her foot completely.
A petition demanding all children be vaccinated against the strain – rather than those in their first year only – generated more than 800,000 signatures earlier this year.
Friends and relatives launched a fundraising campaign for Brogan and the children’s hospital.
They had drummed up almost £1,800 by Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking through a friend, trainee midwife Aimee and car parts worker Craig, 29, said: “We would like to raise awareness for Meningitis B and the symptoms.
“There isn’t a standard immunisation through the NHS and a lot of people are unaware of the dangers as the infection disguises itself in among common bugs, making it difficult for parents to differentiate.”
Aimee’s cousin Lisa Reece, 28, from Castle Bromwich, said she could not hold back the tears when she visited Brogan.
She said: “Nothing can prepare you for what meningitis does to a body, let alone a little seven-year-old girl.
“You see it in pictures but in reality, it’s much, much more than just a ‘rash’.
“Dark and deep tissue damage is visible and a lot of surgery will be required to help the healing process.”
To donate log onto www.gofundme.com/SuperheroBrogan
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