My wife, my hero.

Hi, I know this is my racing blog, but I couldn't be bothered to go on the laptop and setup a new page. I wrote a piece about my job a short time ago and received some decent feedback, from that I have gained an enthusiasm to open up a bit. So you'll find a few random musings posted here now and then. I'd like to share this story with you all.
So Sunday 2nd June. It started as a normal day. A little sore from a combination of 2 good friends getting married the day previous, and Dawn Approach deciding he didn't fancy it. So I get up, do my blog as always, place my bets, feed the kids. I had the 2 babies with me as Shelley took our eldest to the cinema in the morning. They played in the garden, had fun, fought, a normal morning. Shelley and Piper came home bearing lunch in a bag with a golden M, we ate said fast food and I headed off to work. So, at work discussing with my punters how Dawn Approach failed so miserably I received a text. "How was the boy this morning, he isn't very well" followed by an avocado message with a picture of my boy snuggled into a blanket. I showed the picture to my Deputy Manager saying "ah bless my little man, probably manflu again"
I get home around 8. My boy is still in mummy's arms, wrapped up. He wasn't right. Very hot, complaining of pain and struggling to settle. He won't take medicine so just TLC can be administered. We got in a takeaway and sat watching the weekend's episodes of The Voice, while the boy drifted in and out of sleep between us. Moving on we went up to bed, the smallest stirred and got unsettled around midnight, so I dealt with her, while the boy just got hotter and hotter and complaining of pain more frequently. Shelley knew something was wrong and just kept him close to her. Suddenly a rash appeared, almost instantaneously, it wasn't there and then it was. Bit of background, my wife is a highly qualified child worker, and currently teaches antenatal and baby classes. She reached for a glass immediately. The rash still hugely prominent under depression of the glass. The colour drained from her as she asked me to get her phone. I ran downstairs and back up and she immediately dialed NHS and rattled off his symptoms. A Paramedic was sent out. The paramedic was on site within 5-10 minutes (apologies timings maybe a little off as was quite a surreal few moments), he came in, took one look and called for an Ambulance. Then he carried out his procedures. No more than 20 minutes after my wife checking the rash were she and my son whisked away under blue lights at about 2am-ish, maybe a little earlier. I cannot possibly describe how I felt, needless to say I didn't get a lot of(any) sleep. Fast forward....the blood results confirmed what all the doctors were pretty sure of, Meningococcal Septicaemia. Not nice. You'll be pleased to know that despite a couple of shaky days and a few regressions, my son has been released home and is recovering nicely. A doctor spoke to us yesterday with these words. "I've never seen a child come in as bad as Charlie and not go into intensive care, and I've never seen one recover from this so quickly" She closed, turning to my wife and saying "and you, you saved his life". I knew this already, but for her to hear it from a medical professional must have really hit home. My boy still has recovering to do, it will take time, but it doesn't bear thinking about how he might be with any delay that Sunday night/Monday morning. So you see my wife, who I already knew to be an exceptional mother, confirmed her place as my hero. She, along with an exceptional paramedic whose name sadly escapes me and the incredible doctors and nurses at Ipswich hospital, saved my son's life. They are the reason I will be able to take him to White Hart Lane, Newmarket races, to his kids footy matches and so forth. No words can explain the relief I feel.
I'd like to close with a small statement. Meningococcal bacteria is very common, a large number of people carry it, lying dormant doing nothing. Then one day it can strike, bringing with it some nasty diseases. Most common symptoms are, soaring temperature/fever, aversion to light, pain in the base of the neck/top of spinal chord, and the rash. The rash is caused by blood leaking from the muscles and vessels and therefore does not clear under depression. If your child suffers these or similar symptoms then please don't delay. You could be a hero too.
Thank you for reading, I just wanted to share that.