Jayne says people moved away from her when she went to hospital
A woman who was covered ‘head-to-toe’ in a rash after falling ill had to remove her contraceptive patch due to the outbreak – and fell pregnant. Jayne Walmsley noticed a rash spreading across her face and thought it may be chickenpox or an allergic reaction, but it was “tripling” each day.
It reached the point where the 37-year-old was unrecognisable, resembling a “tomato” and looking as though she had suffered chemical burns. Jayne was taken to A&E, where she was told that, despite being vaccinated, she had measles.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Jayne, a carer and artist from the West Midlands, “Measles in this day and age? I was so shocked that at the [then] age of 35, I had measles. I thought this was only something Victorian kids had to deal with.
“I didn’t know anybody who had it. I was the first case I’d known of in 35 years. The nurse was as shocked as I was at how severe the rash was.”
Jayne first noticed a change in her skin in mid April 2024, following a house move, describing it as a “few spots randomly across my face”. The next day, it had ‘tripled’ and turned bright red. She said: “I considered chickenpox, but they didn’t seem to be the same shape, and I’d already had chickenpox twice as a child, so I was hoping to rule that out.
“I’d also had shingles in my 20s and it didn’t look like that either – these were bigger. I thought it must be an allergic reaction to some of the harsher cleaning products I had used when I moved in and started cleaning.
“I took antihistamines, but there was no change. Each day I woke up, it just tripled again.”
Jayne described the spots as “very red, raised and itchy” but she had no other symptoms, so was perplexed. But a few days on, she woke up and found it had “exploded” across her skin.
Jayne said: “It wasn’t just a rash – it looked like I’d had a chemical burn. The rash was eating its way across my skin and was wrapped around my forehead. It had gone down my neck, covered my ears, and was even in my ears.
“My lips were so swollen they were beginning to crack. The spots were showing up on my chest and back, all the way down my torso. They had also accumulated in one large, square, irritated lump under my contraceptive patch.
“I took it off and placed another one on my thigh. When I looked in the mirror that day, my face had become so distorted and swollen I hardly recognized myself. It was so itchy.
“Typically, I have a very pale complexion, but at this stage, I looked like a tomato – I was bright red.” Jayne called 111 and was advised to go to A&E right away. She said: “I remember walking into the waiting room and everyone stared at me. I was so embarrassed, and in that moment, I realised how severe it actually was.
“It felt like I had two heads. One person literally got up and moved away from me because they didn’t want to sit in my vicinity.”
After the diagnosis, Jayne was prescribed calamine lotion and advised to stay at home, as well as remove her contraceptive patch and use another form of contraception in the meantime, due to it irritating her skin. The rash continued to spread in the days that followed.
Jayne said: “Over the next week, I had more spots than a pack of Dalmatians – I was completely plastered in them. No amount of moisturizer helped at all; calamine lotion only helped for a matter of seconds.
“I would sit in a cold bath for hours just to ease the itching.”
Jayne stayed home to focus on her recovery, and didn’t leave the house for nearly two months. Throughout that time, she didn’t put her contraceptive patch back on, and in early July got a shock when her period was late, and a pregnancy test found she was expecting.
Jayne said: “I couldn’t believe it – I did so many tests because it wouldn’t sink in. My fiancé and I had talked about having a child in the future, but it wasn’t in our plans for that year. Given my age and the fact that I have PCOS, I never considered that I would get pregnant so quickly – I assumed it would be a much longer, more difficult journey when we were ready.
“We were both so happy, even though it wasn’t planned. I was very anxious, though – you have to wait until 10 weeks to get in with the midwife, and I had concerns that the measles may have affected the baby in some way.
“We went for a private scan at seven weeks and, thankfully, everything was OK and looked normal. That really put my mind at ease and took some of the anxiety away. This wasn’t either of our first children, but when we told our kids, they were very excited.”
While Jayne’s pregnancy was marred by the scarring her measles had left her with, she was thrilled to welcome her son, Jude, in March 2025. She said: “He is absolutely perfect and has brought so much joy to our lives. I’m so proud of him, and if I had to go through measles to have him, I have no regrets. I had to go through something ugly to get the most beautiful reward.”
Nearly two years on from first contracting measles, Jayne still has some scarring and “blotchy” patches on her skin, and after not appreciating the severity of it herself prior to getting it, is speaking out to warn others.
She said: “What I want people to realise is that this disease is back, it’s real, and it’s not just children that get it. I’m actually so glad I was vaccinated as a child. If I wasn’t and I caught it, I dread to think what the outcome would have been.
“With the protection of the vaccine, the illness was clearly less severe in all aspects other than the rash, which was still devastating. I would not wish this on anybody, let alone a child. I will absolutely be vaccinating my son, Jude, to protect him.
“If everyone is vaccinated, it lowers the risk of this type of thing happening to others and protects them if they get it. Don’t assume that because everyone else is vaccinated, you’re covered – we all need to do our part. Measles is back, and it’s brutal.”
