A HAMPSHIRE teenager has made a miraculous recovery from the deadly brain bug meningitis to be selected for England Schoolboys basketball squad.

Peter Knight was rushed to hospital after being struck down with the disease six weeks ago. Doctors believed he would die but the 14-year-old, from Hamble, stunned medics by fighting off the bacterial strain meningococcal septicaemia.

The 6ft 3in pupil at Cantell Secondary School in Bassett, Southampton, was fit enough to play in the England regional basketball finals last weekend where he impressed the national selectors who named him in a squad of 25 schoolboys.

But he has one more obstacle to overcome before he can play for the country - he has to become a British national as he was brought up in New Zealand.

Peter, of Meadow Lane, put his amazing recovery down to his fitness. He said: "The doctors could not believe that my average pulse rate is 45 per minute," he said.

"They expected me to die but because I am so fit and healthy I came through it.

"I spent ten days in hospital where I was given a course of antibiotics and then another few weeks recovering at home but I just wanted to get back out onto the basketball court," said Peter, who plays for Southampton Trailblazers - the city basketball club's under-16s side.

The teenager said his problems started with a sore throat after a game and by the next morning he had a rash and was experiencing painful bright lights.

His mother Michele Knight phoned the doctor who recognised the symptoms immediately.

Michele, 42, a former basketball coach herself and currently acting deputy head at Bassett Green Primary School, said: "I am proud of Peter because it is a real victory for him to come through this.

"The doctors said he was very, very poorly and would only repeat that when I asked if he was going to die.

"They said he made a miraculous recovery and he made progress as soon as he had his first dose of antibiotics.

"The England basketball selectors had no idea he had just overcome meningitis and it is brilliant that they picked him." She said his school had been very supportive in allowing him time off to recover.

Mrs Knight, who moved to England with her son six years ago, said the Home Office had told them there should be no problems with them gaining British citizenship in time for Peter to play for the national team in four months' time. Peter's team-mate Ashley Roberts, 14, from Netley Abbey, made it a double success for Southampton Trailblazers by also being named in the England squad.

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