Rebecca Adlington Reflects on Family's Medical Crisis
Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington has revealed the profound impact of her older sister Laura's sudden encephalitis diagnosis twenty-one years ago, describing how her family's world was shattered by the terrifying uncertainty surrounding the condition.
The Moment Everything Changed
At just fifteen years old, Rebecca witnessed her sister become seriously ill with what initially appeared to be flu symptoms but rapidly escalated into encephalitis – a dangerous inflammation of the brain that remains poorly understood by many.
"It was so unknown," Adlington recalls quietly. "They just kept saying loads of different things. It's meningitis, it's this, we don't really know what's wrong with her. And I think that's the scariest bit because you're like, well, how can you treat something which you don't know what it is?"
The situation grew increasingly dire when Laura suffered a seizure and was placed into an induced coma in intensive care. Rebecca, then a teenager, received the devastating news through her parents after doctors delivered a grim prognosis.
"Prepare for the Worst"
"They told us... you have got to prepare for the worst. She might not make it through. And if she does... pull through, we don't actually know what damage has been done," Adlington explains. "When it's associated with the brain, you don't know the damage that's been left behind."
What remains etched in her memory isn't just the fear for her sister's survival, but watching her parents struggle with the situation. "I'd never really seen my dad cry or be upset before ever," she shares. "You idolise your parents so much when you're younger... your parents know everything, your parents are superhuman. And when my parents didn't have the answer and seeing how worried and upset they were, it naturally affected us."
Family Response and Recovery
Her elder sister Chloe, then twenty, took charge of household responsibilities while their parents remained at the hospital. "Chloe was like, 'right, I need to go get Becky home'... we just kind of had to step in," Rebecca remembers.
Her mother responded by switching into what Adlington describes as a fiercely practical "mum mode," ordering books online to research the condition at a time when information was scarce compared to today's resources.
Advocacy and Awareness Campaign
Now thirty-six, Adlington is using her platform to raise awareness about encephalitis ahead of World Encephalitis Day on February 22nd. She's partnering with Encephalitis International to launch F.L.A.M.E.S – an acronym designed to help people recognize critical symptoms.
"I don't want a family to be in a situation that we had, which was we never heard of it, didn't know what it was, took ages to get diagnosed," she emphasizes. "It's just that awareness piece... making people go, 'Oh, OK, I've heard of that.' I think that's the biggest, most powerful thing."
Despite three people being diagnosed globally every minute, approximately seventy-seven percent of the population remains unaware of what encephalitis actually is.
Personal Life and Recent Challenges
Today, Adlington's life looks dramatically different from those frightening hospital days. She's married to Andy Parsons, whom she met on Bumble eight years ago, and they share a four-year-old son, Alby. She also has a ten-year-old daughter, Summer, from a previous relationship.
However, she has faced significant personal challenges, including two miscarriages – one in August 2022 and another in October 2023. The first miscarriage at twelve weeks was complicated by sepsis that required hospitalization.
"I got sepsis... I was in hospital for about four or five days and I just... it just floored me," she reveals. "Not only are you dealing with this emotion of losing a child, you're also dealing with, I'm just not well."
The second loss occurred at twenty weeks, requiring her to go through labor despite knowing the outcome wouldn't be positive. "You go to the maternity unit where everyone else is having their healthy babies and you're there going to deliver something that you know isn't a happy ending," she explains.
Current Pregnancy and Family Support
Currently pregnant again, Adlington acknowledges the experience is shadowed by persistent anxiety. "Just bags of anxiety all the way through," she admits. "Until that baby is in your arms, this isn't gonna feel normal."
Her husband marks each week beyond twenty-two weeks with thoughtful notes and small gifts to maintain hope and excitement. Their children are processing the pregnancy differently – Summer understands its significance while Alby wonders practical details like whether the baby will wear shoes.
Reflection and Advice
When asked what she would tell her teenage self in that hospital corridor, Adlington offers measured wisdom: "I was gonna say something like, 'It will be OK,' but it's not always OK. I'd probably say just lean on your family as much as possible... just recognise that everyone's going through their own process and really just be there to support each other. That's all you can do."
Through sharing her family's experience, Adlington hopes to prevent others from facing the same frightening uncertainty that marked her sister's encephalitis diagnosis two decades ago.
