Triple amputee Olivia marches through life on her prosthetics

Now 18, Olivia was just two-and-a-half years old when she developed a cold.

Her mum, Kimberly Brown, gave her a children's medicine to help her sleep but also decided to spend the night with her.

At 5am, little Olivia's breath was becoming laboured and Kimberly phoned the doctor, who only had to hear her breathing to send an ambulance.

The ambulance crew gave her penicillin - something they had not long ago started carrying.

Olivia was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary and then to Newcastle. She had meningitis and the outlook was not good. Parents Kimberly and Mike Story were warned that their daughter might die.

Both her legs and an arm were amputated. She cannot remember much of what happened but she did know that she suddenly had just one arm and no legs.

She became a selective mute for about two weeks - neither smiling or saying a single word. It was another worrying blow for her parents, but doctors reassured her that it was just the result of going into shock.

"Mum says before the meningitis I wouldn't use my push chair," she said. "I had to walk everywhere which made a trip into town a nightmare."

Nothing will stop Olivia Story from living life to the full (Image: Submitted)

Olivia was given prosthetic legs at the age of three and has gone through several different types of prosthetic arms.

"The arms just get in the way. I manage better without them," she said, but added that she wears her legs every day.

"It was harder when I was little. I didn't have the words to say that my stump was hurting, for instance."

Olivia has had the courage to face life head-on and she and her friends and three siblings usually forget about the prosthetics.

"They treat me the same way as they treat each other."

She does whatever they do but does have one limitation: "I went to the Leeds Festival and Solfest this year. I had to leave the Leeds event after one day because my stump got really sore from standing around all day."

Despite those limitations, however, Olivia is living proof that life can be lived to the full, even after the trauma she faced.

And she owes her life to a watchful mother and an ambulance crew who were carrying penicillin on board!