STEPHANIE Vickery is on a mission -to raise awareness of a devastating disease that almost claimed her daughter's life.

No-one seemed to know what was wrong with seven-year-old Megan Vickery when she fell ill in June.

She complained of headaches, became extremely tired and made three trips to the doctors.

During the course of a week she developed worsening dizziness, became unstable on her feet and could not walk or sit down unaided. Several days after she had been rushed to hospital in a near lifeless state, doctors discovered she had potentially fatal encephalitis.

"She'd been getting more and more sleepy and the night we took her to the Royal Gwent we were having real trouble waking her," said Mrs Vickery.

"We took her into hospital ourselves because we didn't want to risk waiting for an ambulance. She was pretty much lifeless, like a rag doll."

Around 2,000 people a year in the United Kingdom fall victim to encephalitis, a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain caused by viral infection.

The death rate is high, and those who survive take a long time to recover and are often left with some brain damage.

Megan spent 12 days in hospital, a combination of the Royal Gwent and the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

She is now back home in St Arvans, near Chepstow, but four months on is still suffering the consequences.

"She went back to school in September, but couldn't cope and started going backwards in terms of her health," said Mrs Vickery.

"At the moment she's just going part-time.

"The worst thing is not really knowing how she will be affected in the long term. We can't really tell how much damage the encephalitis has done, but she is not the child she was. "She has mood swings which are very difficult to deal with and she tires very easily. "It has been a very scary and worrying time.

"Everyone knows the symptoms of meningitis and this disease can be just as dangerous. It's time people were aware of it."