A mum whose daughter has battled through meningitis says her youngest child would not be here today had it not been for the quick action of staff at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary.

Donna Little, 31, has spent the last few months caring for her eight-month-old daughter Evie after she fell ill with meningitis in April.

She says that when her daughter started to feel unwell she had no idea that Evie was suffering with the disease, despite working in the medical profession herself as a nursing assistant.

Donna's told her story in the hope that she can provide a unique insight for other parents.

Evie was admitted to hospital on April 16 when she was just four-and-a-half months old.

But to get that stage Donna had a fight on her hands, as she explained.

"She had a very high temperature, she was irritable and had a droning cry," she said.

"I took her to Cuedoc on the Friday night and they said she had a viral infection so I brought her home and she went to bed. It was about 3am on the Saturday when she woke up and I could tell she'd really gone downhill, we couldn't get her temperature to go down.

"Around 8am I decided I would ring Cuedock back again and see if I could get her seen to. I got an appointment for 10am.

"The doctor agreed with the diagnosis from the night before and he was happy for her to go home. But I wasn't happy with that and wasn't happy taking her home because I knew something wasn't right at that point.

"So he offered us the chance to take her up to the children's ward but it was my decision, so I said yes.

"Within about 10 minutes of being going in straight away they knew what was wrong.

"They just picked her up and took her off for a lumbar puncture to take some fluid from her spinal cord to test for meningitis. They then fixed her up to a device to give her antibiotics.

"After about half an hour they came back and they said she tested positive for meningococcal meningitis group B, which people know as MenB."

Brave Evie had to stay in hospital for 10 days.

"She was really poorly, we couldn't even pick her up because she was so sore but she responded well to the antibiotics. After those 10 days she was back up and doing well," Donna added.

Since going back to her home in Castlerigg Drive, Morton, plucky Evie has had spells where she's picked up viruses and colds but has been continuously improving and her beaming smile shows she's the picture of health.

"It has set her back in her development a little bit but they say she'll be able to catch up," said Donna.

Donna and her husband Adam, 35, who works for Northern Vacuums are not critical of the doctors who'd seen Evie before her admission to hospital, but urged other parents if they feel something has been missed to keep pursuing it.

"What I would say is never to wait for a rash. Whenever you see advertising about meningitis you're always shown a rash. But it doesn't mean a rash will appear, it can happen otherwise," Donna continued.

"People need to trust their instincts when they know something is wrong. If you think you need a second opinion then get it, there's nothing wrong with that. I've always put my trust in doctors but they don't always get it right.

"If I hadn't taken her upstairs [to the children's ward] I don't think she would've been here today."

The youngster picked up the disease despite having the meningitis B vaccine at eight-weeks-old and 16-weeks-old.

Donna said: "It's rare to catch meningitis anyway, it's just been some bad luck. The vaccine doesn't give 100 per cent protection though, we were in a group of about two or three per cent who catch it.

"But if people stop getting the vaccine then there's even more chance of getting it. It's definitely better than nothing.

"The nurses and the doctors there saved her life.

"She wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them, they don't get enough credit. You always hear bad things but I wanted to tell people about them saving lives. They acted really quickly.

"I never thought in a million years she would have had meningitis. When they told me it was like my world falling apart around me."

Now Evie is well and truly on the mend, Donna and her family have turned their attentions to raising some money to support the fight against meningitis.

They've organised a charity night at Morton Manor on February 4 in aid of Meningitis Now who support people and their families during tough times.

Donna and Adam have three other children - Lewis, 10, Kacey, seven, and Chloe, five.