Manager says rare brain condition has made him a 'kinder man'

High-flying manager claims rare brain condition brought on by common herpes virus that made him hallucinate conversations with neighbours in the bath and dress for work in shorts and a tie has made him a ‘kinder man’

Martin Bailey was working when he developed flu symptoms in December 2014
Manager, 49, was diagnosed with a chest infection and given antibiotics by GP
Began hallucinating he had conservation with neighbour while in the bath
Found to have Encephalitis, a rare condition in which the brain is inflamed
He quit high-flying career for a simple life, and now says he is a nicer person

A high flying operations manager has revealed how a terrifying brain condition that saw him imagining conversations in the bath, wearing odd socks, missing meetings and dressing for work in shorts and a tie made him a ‘kinder man’.

Martin Bailey, 49, from Hartlepool, County Durham, was heading up the metering operational management centre for Anglian Water when he started feeling shivery and strange back in December 2014.

‘I thought maybe it was the flu, although my mind was telling me there was something seriously wrong,’ he said. ‘I felt quite peculiar and very tired.’

As he started feeling more peculiar, father-of-two Martin – who was then working in Cambridgeshire – noticed his colleagues constantly asking if he was alright.

Martin Bailey, 49, from Hartlepool, County Durham, was heading up the metering operational management centre for Anglian Water when he started feeling shivery and strange back in December 2014. He is pictured on wedding day with wife Angella

Martin (pictured with wife Angella) revealed how a terrifying brain condition that saw him imagining conversations in the bath, wearing odd socks, missing meetings and dressing for work in shorts and a tie made him a ‘kinder man’

‘They told me I was missing meetings and turning up for meetings that weren’t happening,’ he said.

‘I was feeling shattered and by the start of the 2015 New Year, I knew I was sick and went to the doctor, who diagnosed a chest infection and sent me away with antibiotics.’

But soon after he began taking the tablets, his behaviour became strange – leading to his wife, Angella, 37, who works in motor insurance, advising him to stop work.

‘Then things started to go really a bit crazy,’ Martin recalled. ‘I’d come down from the bedroom in the morning wearing different coloured socks, or a shirt and a tie and shorts.

‘I wanted to get back to work, but Angella stopped me and said, “You’re not going anywhere.”

WHAT IS ENCEPHALITIS?

Encephalitis is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed (swollen).

It can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment in hospital.

Anyone can be affected, but the very young and very old are most at risk.

Encephalitis sometimes starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache, but these don’t always occur.

More serious symptoms develop over hours, days or weeks, including: confusion or disorientation, seizures (fits), changes in personality and behaviour or loss of consciousness.

Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these more serious symptoms.

It’s not always clear what causes encephalitis, but it can be caused by viral infections. Several common viruses can spread to the brain and cause encephalitis in rare cases, including the herpes simplex virus (which causes cold sores and genital herpes) and the chickenpox virus.

Source: NHS

‘One evening she got back from work and I was in the bath. She asked what I’d been up to, as I was still on sick leave, and I told her Geoff from next door had been in and had talked to me about a problem with his water bill, while I was in the bath.

‘That hadn’t happened at all, but my mind was telling me it had. It was absolutely nonsensical.’

Convinced something more was wrong with him, Martin returned to the GP, who advised him to finish his course of antibiotics.

As he started feeling more peculiar, father-of-two Martin – who was then working in Cambridgeshire – noticed his colleagues constantly asking if he was all right. ‘I was feeling shattered and by the start of the 2015 New Year, I knew I was sick and went to the doctor, who diagnosed a chest infection and sent me away with antibiotics,’ he said. He is pictured with his dog, Roary

He continued: ‘Things got worse over the next week or so, until my wife called an ambulance.

‘All I remember is getting progressively slower. My mind wasn’t working at all. It was like walking through treacle.’

Martin was taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, where the results of MRI and CT scans showed something abnormal happening to his brain.

‘The doctor said it might be a brain tumour or brain cancer or encephalitis, which I had never heard of,’ he said.

Martin said that while on antibiotics he began hallucinating. ‘One evening, she got back from work and I was in the bath. She [Angella] asked what I’d been up to, as I was still on sick leave, and I told her Geoff from next door had been in and had talked to me about a problem with his water bill, while I was in the bath.’ He is pictured with Angella

‘I now know it’s an inflammation of the brain which can be caused either by the body’s own immune system going into overdrive and attacking the organ, or by a virus – such as those causing measles, flu and even cold sores.

‘I remember feeling like the doctor was talking to someone else and as if I was just watching it happen.

‘I also said I hoped it was encephalitis, because I didn’t know what it was, whereas I knew the other things could kill you.’

Diagnosed with encephalitis, Martin was told his condition was the result of an infection brought on by the common herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, even though he had never had one in his life.

Martin was in hospital for the whole of February 2015.

‘I don’t remember a lot about that whole period, but I do recall feeling like it wasn’t happening to me,’ he said.

‘Angella was fabulous. She was there all the time at the hospital and her employer allowed her to take three months off work to look after me.’

When Martin returned to his old job seven months later, in September 2015, he soon realised he was no longer well enough to work there.

‘I have had to accept I am a very different person now,’ he said. ‘It’s like my brain has been completely redesigned. I’m not driven by the same things. I don’t think in the same way.

‘At first, I thought my life was over. I thought I’d struggle to work again and wouldn’t be able to do much at all. It took a good 18 months to accept that I was now a different person.’

But Martin, who has two sons aged 19 and 16 from a previous relationship, soon realised how lucky he was to be alive.

When Martin returned to his old job seven months later, in September 2015, he soon realised he was no longer well enough to work there. He is pictured on holiday with Angella

According to the Encephalitis Society, 6,000 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with the condition, which will be fatal in 20 per cent of cases.

Worldwide, there are half a million new sufferers each year, which equates to one new case every six minutes.

And because encephalitis attacks the brain, it can change both a person’s personality and their outlook on life.

In Martin’s case, he believes that voluntary work putting stories together for local media for Christian Aid, before he was well enough to return to full-time employment, made him far more compassionate.

Still volunteering for the local fire service as part of a befriending scheme visiting the elderly, he said: ‘The biggest change is that I now care about other people.

Martin, who has two sons, aged 19 and 16 from a previous relationship, soon realised how lucky he was to be alive. According to the Encephalitis Society, 6,000 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with the condition, which will be fatal in 20 per cent of cases

‘When I was really successful and living in the corporate world, I was so focused on results, I just never thought about the people.

‘I wasn’t a bad manager. I tried to treat people well, but these days, all I do is think about people.’

A practising Christian, one of the people Martin met and befriended, following his recovery from encephalitis, was a man who sold the Big Issue.

‘Like everyone else, I used to just walk past and ignore him, then one day, he said to me, “Have a good day, be lucky”,’ he recalled.

‘That made me stop. I thought, “This is a Big Issue seller telling me to be lucky. Who am I to just walk past him?”‘

In the two years between coming out of hospital and returning to paid work, Martin also took on an allotment, which he said greatly helped with his recovery.

‘I was there 12 hours a day every day,’ he said. ‘It played a key part in my mental health recovery – just having the peace and having the time to sit and watch the bees and the birds.

‘I’d never done anything like that before and would have laughed if you had told me in my previous life that I would be spending time on an allotment.’

Martin’s first paid job in 2017 was working as an usher in the magistrates’ court in Hartlepool. After that, he became a legal representative for people who had just been arrested and eventually, as he grew stronger, in July 2018 he took a full-time job working in a bank.

He is now about to move into the civil service, working as a pensions adviser.

Before he got ill, Martin got engaged to Angella, who he met at work, after proposing to her on her birthday in May 2014 at York Minster.

‘I was relatively successful until I had encephalitis and the future looked really great. I realised back then, when I was climbing the career ladder. I thought I had to be successful to have a partner like Angella, but now I know she’s nothing like that,’ said Martin, who tied the knot in December 2016 at St Mary’s Church in Easington, County Durham, 10 years after they met.

‘I’ve had to battle to come to terms with the person I am now, and I couldn’t have done that without Angella’s support. We have a very strong relationship, we laugh at the same things and I’ve always been very positive, even though that has been challenged.

‘There were times when I must have been extremely difficult to live with because of the encephalitis. Your mind plays tricks but if I was questioned, I would get quite angry. I’d never been like that before, so part of me wondered why on earth anyone would stay with me.’

Martin has nothing but praise for his wife and for the loyalty and love she has shown him.

He continued: ‘I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her, not knowing whether she was going to have to become a full-time carer, because in those early stages, there was no guarantee I would recover.

‘I’ve always loved Angella but this just shows what a diamond she is. I feel lucky to be alive.

‘Encephalitis is a life changing event which makes you reappraise what is important. Life is short and everyone is on a different journey. You don’t know what they’re going through so just try and be nice.’

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