Abbey Clancy's young daughter in hospital dash after 'terrifying' health scare
Model Abbey Clancy and her husband Peter Crouch were left terrified while on holiday in Portugal when Sophia, 12, had to be rushed into hospital suffering with viral meningitis
Abbey Clancy has told of her horror after her daughter was rushed to hospital with a potentially deadly virus.
Sophia, 12, who’s the daughter of Abbey and former soccer ace Peter Crouch, was taken to hospital with viral meningitis while they were on holiday in Portugal – and Abbey, 37, said the whole episode was “terrifying”.
The model recalled her horror in an episode of The Therapy Crouch podcast.
READ MORE: Abbey Clancy fumes as Peter Crouch says football game was better than kids' births
“The school holidays have been tough,” she said.
“We got to Portugal and Sophia was in hospital with meningitis, which was just the scariest thing on earth.
"Being in a foreign hospital, language barriers, the words like ‘meningitis’ being thrown around, lumbar punctures, brain scans.
“It was horrific – I felt so vulnerable – and scary. But I must say the medical care over there was just out of this world.”
The virus causes inflammation to the layers of tissue covering the brain and around the spinal cord.
However, while the virus is rarely deadly, some people who get it can suffer life-changing effects, and medical treatment should be sought immediately.
Abbey and Peter's son Jack, 3, was also experiencing coughing symptoms while the family was in Portugal.
The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant said: “These things always happen on a Sunday at one o'clock in the morning, just to add to that fear and that scariness of the situation. It can never be a normal hour.
"With Sophia I just knew something was wrong, like it wasn't like a normal bug. I was going to Pete 'meningitis', and it was. I actually couldn't believe it.
“So then having three babies at home I was thinking 'What if they catch it?' We were on, like, high alert – we didn't sleep at all.
"I was watching every child like a hawk, it was just terrifying.”
Abbey and Peter were left in disbelief after their other three children all then fell ill with “flu and coughs”.
The model said she had slept "four hours" out of about 30 and had "never been so scared".
The parents spent their holiday doing "shifts" to be with Sophia and their children, but things got even trickier after they arrived home.
Abbey said: "We got home from Portugal all exhausted, then get into bed, everyone's asleep and then Liberty comes in and goes, 'Mum, dad, I feel like I've got the vomiting bug'.
“And Pete went, 'F**k this, I can't be a***d with his', and he just stood up and walked out of the room and went into another bedroom.”
For more of the latest showbiz and TV news from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here
READ NEXT: