Euros star’s horrific meningitis battle after doctors thought they’d taken drugs
ok.co.ukPresenter Seema Jaswal is a familiar face to millions of sports fans worldwide. She fronts coverage for the Premier League and is currently presenting the action from the women's Euro 2025 qualifier.
But one night as a teenager, she felt as though she had been on the wrong end of a fight as a virulent form of meningitis knocked her unconscious, and she believes her love of sport helped keep her alive. "It was only my fitness and my mum's quick reactions that saved me from suffering lasting brain injury or losing a limb or, and I dread to think about it losing my life," said the 34 year old in 2019, reports the Mirror. "It's realising how lucky I am to have survived and having the life and career I have that makes me want to raise awareness for other young people and their parents." "Eighteen years on, what happened that night is with me every day and just talking about it makes my mum and dad very emotional." Seema, from West London, was 16 and in her first year of A levels when illness struck. "Life was busy.
Sport was a big part of it so when I wasn't studying I'd be on the tennis court, playing and coaching, playing netball or at my dance class, " she said. "I also had a part-time job in a coffee shop because I wanted to save up for a gap year in Mexico." There was no time for being ill, but she could do nothing about what happened on April 16, 2001.
Seema, recalling her harrowing experience at the coffee shop, shared, "I got a really bad headache around midday and it wouldn't go," adding, "I just thought I was going down with a cold or flu." She continued, "I took a couple of painkillers.
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