A YOUNG model has told of her horror after what she thought was a headache turned out to be a life-threatening brain infection.

Dannielle Herman, of East Oxford, started to experience severe headaches just before Christmas.

Miss Herman, a pupil of the Cherwell School, said she was reluctant to bother her doctor and instead relied on painkillers to see her through the agony.

The 17-year-old, who is signed to Storm modelling agency, which launched the careers of models Kate Moss, Jourdan Dunn, Cindy Crawford, Lily Cole, and Eva Herzigova, said: “I never really go to the doctors.

“I think the last time I went I was about four.

“I just assumed I was stressed because of my upcoming AS-Level exams.”

In the end the pain got so bad she did go to the doctors.

She said: “They told me it was probably sinusitis and put me on a week’s worth of antibiotics.

“But they didn’t work.”

Miss Herman was eventually taken for tests at the John Radcliffe Hospital after doctors expressed concern that there was an infection in her body.

Just hours later she was called by medics and told she had to come back to the hospital urgently.

She said: “They said the infection was resting on my brain and that I’d need surgery.

“I was scared, but it didn’t really hit me how serious it was to begin with. I was more concerned that they were going to shave my head.

“But when I asked if it was necessary they basically said I wouldn’t survive if they didn’t operate.”

Miss Herman had to have her skull opened to clear the infection and then spent a week in the Oxford Children’s Hospital before being nursed at home for a further six weeks.

She has recently started back at The Cherwell School, where she will be starting her A-Levels again.

Miss Herman said she still suffers from fatigue, and still cannot feel the top of her head, but has been told both symptoms will improve with time.

Now, by way of saying thanks to the hospital which saved her daughter’s life, mother Karren, 44, will take part in a fundraising abseil down the side of the John Radcliffe.

Miss Herman said: “We wanted to do something to say thanks.

“Everyone at the hospital was brilliant. They couldn’t do enough for me.

“We’re so grateful.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk l To take part in the abseil on September 18, call 01865 743445 to register, or see oxford radcliffe.nhs.uk/get involved/charitablefunds