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Dec 9, 2025
'My cold triggered infection which could have killed me'
Somerset Live
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A teen who found she kept rubbing her eye was horrified when she learned it was a killer infection triggered by a cold - and needed brain surgery. Sophie Bell had been suffering from a cold and daily headaches for around a month in October, which left her bedbound in debilitating pain.
The 17-year-old, who worked as a pharmacy assistant, believed she was simply under the weather, until she woke up on October 29 with a swollen, bulging left eye. Sophie's mum, Carol Wright, believed her daughter had been rubbing her eye so much due to the persistent headaches that it had caused an infection.
But after taking antibiotics, Sophie's eye worsened, leaving her in excruciating pain and unable to see. Concerned the infection was not improving, Sophie was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with orbital cellulitis - a serious infection of the fat and muscles around the eye.
After undergoing numerous tests Sophie was told the infection, caused by a cold that had developed into a sinus infection, had started spreading into her brain and she would need urgent neurosurgery. Shocked, doctors told the sixth form student that the condition was life-threatening and were concerned it may develop into meningitis.
After a nine-hour surgery, in which a part of Sophie's skull was cut out to remove the infection, the student made a "miraculous recovery". Now, Sophie wants to raise awareness of the potential dangers of sinus infections after nearly losing her life to what started as a common cold.
Sophie, who lives in Enfield, London, said: "I felt really unwell while I was at work. I had a headache and just didn't feel 100%. This headache I had was from a common cold, I had a headache basically every day.
"There was a week where I couldn't get out of bed, I was in so much pain. I woke up on the morning of 29th October and my eye had com
