How the common flu virus left Southam mum fighting for her life

A MOTHER-OF-TWO from Southam who almost died and had to learn how to walk, talk and feed herself again is urging people to get themselves vaccinated against the flu.

Louise Lyle missed out on celebrating Christmas with her family last year as she was instead in intensive care, being kept alive by a life-support machine and fed via tubes. She also had to be put on dialysis after her kidneys had failed.

The otherwise fit and healthy 39-year-old had contracted flu and the virus had attacked all her major organs. She said: “It was scary how quickly I went from having what I thought was just a cold to becoming extremely poorly. My symptoms started out as those typical of a cold – sore head, throat, aches and pains - but then I developed a really nasty cough and went rapidly downhill from there.