LUCY Tong sips tea in the kitchen of her family home in Great Boughton, Banbury. She is a pretty, vivacious teenager, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, who speaks with a self-possession beyond her 17 years.

To anyone watching she appears like any normal young woman, relaxing at home on a Tuesday afternoon. It is only when she reaches for the cup that you notice the missing fingers that betray an experience few people could even begin to comprehend. Last summer, Lucy had just completed her first year of a nursery nursing course at North Oxfordshire College. She had a wide circle of friends, an active social life and many plans for the future.

On the night of June19 she returned home as normal after a busy day and shortly after began to feel achy and unwell. Thinking it might be the start of 'flu she went to bed, but these innocuous symptoms were to develop into an illness that was to turn her life upside-down.

Lucy's condition deteriorated rapidly, to a high temperature, shivers, sickness and increased aching. Eventually she began to slip in and out of consciousness and was rushed to the Horton Hospital in Banbury.

Doctors soon realised the seriousness of her condition and she was put straight into intensive care. She was diagnosed with meningococcal septcaemia, an illness caused by meningococcal bacteria entering the bloodstream. Meningococcal bacteria can also cause meningitis if they enter the lining surrounding the brain. She was transferred to St Mary's Hospital, London, a specialist centre for the treatment of meningitis, where surgeons were forced to remove her legs below the knee because of the blood poisoning.

It took four weeks for Lucy to regain consciousness, hampered by medication sickness and memory loss, and enter a new reality very different from the one that she had left behind just a few short weeks ago.

She says: "At first it was just so hard to believe. People were having to explain it to me again and again. It was alternatively hazy and then clear. Sometimes I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. It was only five days after I woke up that I really knew what had happened." Lucy speaks without a hint of self-pity, as she recalls her first thought.

She says simply: " I didn't know what I was going to do."

"They told me that they had to take my legs off to save my life, and I look at it that way because it is easier to think about. It was frustrating though because at the time it seemed like yesterday I was completely normal and then I had woken up and everything had changed."

Lucy's fingers and thumbs had also been attacked by the septicaemia, and also later had to be removed just below the knuckles.

She describes her hospital stay - how she was trussed with tubes and a ventilator, eyes shut and unaware of the world around her.

She says quietly: "It feels like a different world now."

One of the things that helped Lucy to deal with her new situation was talking to the nurses at St Mary's Hospital. She says: "They have seen so many people with meningococcal septicaemia and knew what the physical and emotional stages were. I had never heard of this before and I hadn't seen or heard of anyone who'd had it. I didn't have a clue what I was going to be like afterwards."

Other valuable support came from visits by recovered meningitis sufferers, who came to see her in the hospital after their check-ups, some of which have since become friends.

At the beginning of October, Lucy was finally able to return home to her family - mother Elaine, father David and her two sisters Helen and Sarah to begin the long process of full recovery. Since then she has spent her time being fitted for artificial limbs and adjusting to her new situation. A particular priority has been to see her friends and sisters and to get back to living as close to a normal teenage life as possible. But it is not only Lucy that has had to adjust to the aftermath of this devastating illness. Family and friends have been amazing in their love, support and compassion for the challenges she faces, says Lucy.

She says: "My friends haven't changed at all in the way they relate to me or talk to me. Before the illness I was supposed to be going on holiday with them, and they brought me stuff back and showed me photos to cheer me up".

I cannot help but be drawn to look at Lucy's missing fingers as she picks up her cup. How does this kind of attention affect her now?

She replies with a smile: "I would much rather people just say 'Can I have a look?' and ask me what happened than try and pretend they're not looking."

"People don't know whether to talk about it or look sometimes, but they're usually fine once they've got used to it."

With inspirational courage and determination Lucy refuses to let her disabilities affect her life more than is strictly necessary. "In the beginning I would go to pick up something with the tips of my fingers and misjudge the distance, which was really hard at first. One of the hardest things of all was learning to write again. I've practised a lot and my handwriting really isn't that different from what it was. It's really only the small things now that I can't do, like doing up necklaces and opening cans, but I can usually get around most things".

One of her biggest challenges now is to raise enough money to buy special lifelike prosthetic legs and fingers to help her to resume a normal life. She currently wears NHS artificial limbs - her "trunks" as she calls them, banging the sides to show me how heavy they are. They are essential for Lucy's mobility, but are uncomfortable to wear and she has her heart set on a pair of lighter, more comfortable silicon artificial limbs. The special limbs are extremely lifelike and matched to the surrounding skin tissue. Versions are also available for sports and as a keen swimmer, Lucy is aiming one day to get a pair of these as well. However, even basic silicon limbs cost £10,000 a pair, and family and friends have been fundraising to raise the money. So far £8,000 has been raised through raffles, collections and a disco, arranged by family friend, Jim Lawrence.

Lucy says: "At the moment I have to wear baggy trousers to hide the artificial limbs because they aren't attractive. With these legs I would be able to wear skirts again as you cannot even see the join with tights on, and even sandals."

She is also aiming to raise money for silicon prosthetic fingers, for cosmetic use as she does not have any finger joints with which to bend them. The fingers will cost a further £10,000 and are so lifelike you can even paint the fingernails, she tells me with a smile. Such small things are something that the majority of us take for granted. For Lucy, they are a now a luxury.

As we finish our tea, Lucy tells me of her plans for the future, which include going back to college to resume her course as soon as possible. After qualifying she plans to take more courses with a view to working as a care specialist in a hospital or with child amputees.

There is little doubt that she intends to live as full a life as possible after a traumatic seven months.

As she says: " Having this experience has made me see life in a different way. You have to take every opportunity you get in life and make the best of it every day. For now, I am just taking every day as it comes."

Facts about meningitis

Meningitis is inflammation of the meninges, the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It may be caused by either bacteria or viruses. Septicaemia is blood poisoning caused by meningococcal bacteria entering the bloodstream and multiplying uncontrollably.

The under 5's, 14 to 25 year-olds and those over 55 are most at risk.

Symptoms in adults and children can include: vomiting, fever, headache, stiff neck, light aversion, drowsiness, joint or muscle pain, fitting. In babies these can include: fever, refusing feeds, vomiting, dislike of being handled, fretfulness, neck retraction with arching of the back, blank, staring expression, difficult to wake, lethargy, pale, blotchy complexion.

If someone you know is ill and you suspect meningitis or meningcoccal septicaemia contact your GP immediately. Describe the symptoms carefully and mention that you think it might be meningitis/meningococcal septicaemia. If your doctor is not available go straight to your nearest Accident and Emergency Department and insist on seeing somebody. If it is meningitis/meningococcal septicaemia, treatment with antibiotics is vital. Do not wait for a rash. It may be the last symptom to appear and in cases of meningitis without septicaemia it may not appear at all.

By Anna Melville-James

Story date: Tuesday 15 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.