THE mother of a little boy who was rushed to hospital suffering from meningitis says it is too early to say whether any permanent damage has been caused.

Sam Field, aged five, from Dalton, was diagnosed with a rare form of the condition Group A streptococcal meningitis.

He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and underwent a series of exhausting tests to discover the extent of the infection.

His mother Laura said he is now out of the intensive care unit.

She said: “He is not brilliant but at least he is out of that unit and on the children’s neurology ward, but he has a long way to go.

“He can barely speak or move. The doctors have said it will be a long journey back to health for him.

“His brain was quite swollen and it will take a long time to heal.

“I am just in robot-mode at the moment as my way of getting through it.”

Laura and her husband Paul are well-known to Examiner readers through their fundraising campaign for their youngest son Oliver who himself was in the unit only weeks ago.

He is undergoing chemotherapy treatment to combat a rare form of cancer.

Laura said she was pleased when Sam suddenly said “Ow! Mum”.

“Most of the time he just stares into space,” Laura said. “He just needs to sleep a lot, it is like an adult who has had flu, they need a lot of rest.

“With it being a brain injury it will take a lot of time for him to get back to his full self.

“He is going to be in hospital for at least another two weeks or so. At the moment he can’t pick his arms up and there is no movement in his arms or legs.

“Paul has just gone home for the first time in a week. For the first few days he barely ate or slept.”

And Laura relived the moment every parent dreads when she realised Sam needed emergency help.

She said: “It happened last Saturday. He had been hot the day before and then I noticed his eyes were rolling in the back of his head.

“I told Paul and he phoned 999. When we were told it was meningitis I thought someone up there doesn’t like us, I couldn’t believe how much bad luck we have had.

“With what happened to Oliver and now this, we are totally gutted. It feels like someone is trying to take both of our children away from us.

“But we will have to wait and see what happens to Sam. Hopefully he will bounce back.”