College student has legs amputated after her ‘freshers’ flu’ was actually deadly meningitis

A 19-year-old marketing and advertising student at De Montfort University in Leicester had both legs amputated after what she initially believed was a case of freshers’ flu turned out to be meningococcal septicemia, a life‑threatening infection that can cause meningitis and sepsis. Ketia Moponda arrived at university eight days before falling ill, and colleagues and security staff found her unconscious in her room when family could not reach her the following day.

Moponda was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia, a condition that can be spread through coughing and sneezing. She endured a rapid deterioration, with doctors reporting that her blood oxygen level was at 1% and that circulation to her organs had effectively stopped at times. She spent days in an intensive care unit, slipping in and out of consciousness. “I couldn’t see or speak, and it was a whole week before I started speaking,” she recalled. “Most of the time, I didn’t know where I was.”

The illness began with a cough on September 25, 2024. Over the next day Moponda felt extremely drowsy and, after taking medicine for her symptoms, woke feeling worse. By the evening of September 27, family members had been unable to reach her, prompting a call to university staff who checked her room and found her unconscious. An ambulance carried her to Leicester Royal Infirmary, where she was placed in an ICU coma and woke two days later.

Two weeks after the initial collapse, Moponda developed a flesh‑eating infection on her buttocks, requiring skin grafts from her thighs. She was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, in December, where surgeons amputated all ten fingers and both legs—below the knee—on January 7, 2025, after doctors determined the limbs had no usable blood flow. “Basically my legs had died because of a lack of blood going to them,” she said later. “It was terrible. I woke from the operation and just cried.”

She left hospital on February 24 and, by May, had prosthetic lower legs and was undergoing rehabilitation in Wolverhampton. Doctors said it can take up to a year to relearn walking, but Moponda was already walking unaided in parks and hoped to return to running and pursue modeling. “They don’t know how I got the illness – it’s heartbreaking. I loved being active, and I will be again,” she said. “You don’t have to hide who you are. I am unapologetically me, and I want to help others feel confident about who they are and how they look.”

Health officials emphasize that meningococcal infections can spread through respiratory droplets and urge students entering university to seek prompt medical care if they develop flu‑like symptoms that do not improve. Moponda has taken her experience as a cautionary tale to warn peers starting the new term that even common illnesses can become life‑threatening if not treated quickly.