'I thought I had freshers' flu but nearly died and lost my legs - my warning signs'

A teen who thought she simply had 'freshers' flu' but nearly died having actually contracting deadly meningitis has issued a stark warning to other students.

Ketia Moponda has explained that putting illness down to a common cold could be deadly after surgeons were forced to amputate both her legs in a desperate bid to save her life. The 19-year-old had only been at university for eight days when she was struck down with what she initially thought was a mild cough.

She thought it was a common ailment with new students, with many reporting they experience similar in their first few weeks. But when family and friends couldn't reach her the following day, concerned security staff and a fellow student at De Montfort University in Leicester found her unconscious in her room.

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Ketia was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia, which led to bacterial meningitis and sepsis, and she underwent amputations of all ten fingers and both legs in January. Meningococcal septicaemia - a potentially fatal blood poisoning - can be transmitted from person to person through coughing and sneezing.

The teen, from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, is now speaking out to warn other students who are starting university this month. "Don't mistake everything for a common cold," she stressed. "I have no memory of any of this, but I'm lucky to be alive. When I got to hospital my blood oxygen level was at 1%.

"The blood wasn't circulating around my body and my skin was colourless. My feet were green and swollen. My organs were failing and doctors told my family that if I woke at all I'd likely be brain dead." Ketia's health ordeal began with a simple cough on September 25, 2024. After feeling unusually tired while eating her dinner pizza, she took some medicine and woke up the next day feeling even worse.

By midday, she rang her cousin, confessing that she felt faint and they agreed to check in again the following morning. However, by 8pm, she called her best mate, expressing her fear that she was "going to die".

Doctors performed a skin graft from her thighs to her backside. In December, Ketia was moved to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she underwent amputations of all her fingers and thumbs and both her legs just below the knee on 7 January.

"Basically my legs had died because of a lack of blood going to them," she explained. "It was terrible. I just kept crying all the time. I felt so hurt, it was killing my spirit. I woke from the operation and just cried. I felt like my whole life had just begun and now I had to start all over again differently."

Ketia, a gym enthusiast who aspired to be a model, was discharged from hospital on February 24. By May, she had received prosthetic lower legs and was attending a rehabilitation centre in Wolverhampton. She is still awaiting the decision on whether she'll receive prosthetic fingers.

She shared that it typically takes a year to learn to walk again, but the determined young woman is already strolling through parks without assistance.

She has plans to return to her gym routine when possible and remains committed to pursuing her modelling career. She said: "They don't know how I got the illness - it's heartbreaking. I loved being active and I will be again. At first I thought I'd give up on modelling, but I won't. You don't have to hide who you are.

"This doesn't make me less of a person. I am unapologetically me and I want to help others to feel confident about who they are and how they look. I'm very headstrong and I plan to break all the barriers of disability."