Emma shares her story of daughter, Aurora’s, encephalitis diagnosis.

Our daughter was born at 34 weeks premature. I had bleeding and premature rupture of my waters, hence her early birth.

Before labour, I had steroids, so she was ready for a premature birth. To this point, there were no concerns.

Although she was born 6 weeks early, everything was well! I spent nearly 2 weeks feeding her and watching her grow. At 13 days old, everything changed.

Aurora didn’t wake for feeds.  I noticed she was cold and unresponsive. Due to her prematurity, the hospital said that “babies have down days” and dismissed my concerns. But, 48 hours later, out daughter is transferred to an intensive care unit at a different hospital in a coma.

Aurora was diagnosed with stroke and herpes simplex virus encephalitis. I had no idea what this was; her dad had no idea. The hospital staff were amazing, but we haven’t had an easy road, well, Aurora hasn’t.

She is blind, has cerebral palsy and a feeding tube. She is non-verbal and her life isn’t what I envisioned.

I envisioned sight. Free movement. Speech. Feeding.

Aurora’s lack of vision gave me kindness, grace, understanding and no judgement.

We don’t know, truly, what people are going through. Encephalitis can affect people in so many ways and Aurora’s story is only one of them.

Story published April 2026

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