Mark McNamee, a man from Omagh in County Tyrone, developed bacterial meningitis in January 2026 after going to bed with a sore ear and a fever. His symptoms included fever, headaches, dizziness, vomiting and confusion. He spent six days in a coma and two weeks in ICU at the South West Acute Hospital (Swah) in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. His wife, Ellen, initially thought he was showing signs of sepsis but a CT scan showed inflammation of the brain and he was seriously ill. Despite this, Mark was able to fight through the illness and is now hoping to recover from severe headaches and memory loss.