A mother today told of her "little angel's" comeback from a flesh-eating strain of meningitis.

"She's a miracle" - Lisa Home and her daughter, Leale, who suffers from a flesh-eating form of meningitis. Picture: NICK OBANK (47644-2)

Lisa Horne said her 21-month-old daughter Leale is fighting her way back from meningococcal septicaemia which left her "dead for 13 seconds".

The disease attacked her skin last summer - when she was just 14 months old - and turned her skin purple.

Little Leale survived weeks of treatment at three different hospitals after contracting the strain, which affects the bloodstream. The youngster now receives skin grafts for the affected parts of her body.

Miss Horne said: "I'm taking life as it comes. Lots of people stare and think Leale's been in a fire. I want people to know what she's come through. She's a little angel - she's a miracle.

"She's really funny, she really makes people laugh all the time. We see beyond the scars."

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Published Thursday, February 9, 2006

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