Ross Jamieson beat odds of 4 million to 1 to survive

LOCAL actor Ross Jamieson is lucky to be alive. The 21-year-old who is making his professional debut at the Fringe was aware of just serious things were at the time, well, he was only two-years-old, but he has learned since.

Ross Jamieson in The Mould that Changed the World

“Only as I got older and saw pictures, read news articles and heard stories from my parents did I truly realise how lucky I am to be alive and how it all could have been so different,” he says.

“My dad told me a story about my mum being told to hold me in the ambulance as that may have been the last chance she ever had to do so. Hearing things like that puts life into perspective.”

Jamieson had contracted meningococcal septicaemia and doctors told his family to prepare for the worst.

Beating ‘4 million to 1’ odds of survival, antibiotics saved his life which makes his Fringe debut in The Mould That Changed The World, a musical about the threat of antibiotic resistance all the more poignant.

“Without a doubt I owe my survival to antibiotics, working with healthcare professionals and sharing my story they’ve been discussing what treatment I would have had...”

If the topic seems unusual sunject matter for a musical, the piece carries an important message insists the actor.

“I didn’t realise how big the problem is and what better way to send out a message than with an all-singing, all-dancing musical?”

That’s he’s spreading the message to his home audience makes it all the more special.

“Being brought up in Edinburgh, getting treated for my meningitis in the Sick Kids and now doing a musical about antibiotics and bacteria at Surgeons Hall...

“It’s amazing and I can’t wait to hopefully be with The Mould... as we spread the message further afield.”

The Space, Sugeons Hall, until Saturday, 12.30pm, £10, 0131-226 0000