This is our story

 

This is our beautiful son and brother Leo James Good who died on Sunday 14th February 2010 from Meningococcal Septicaemia. He was just 2 years 9 months and brought delight to everyone he met. We cannot express in words the devastation this tragedy has brought to our family, friends and community. Meningitis and Septicaemia are cruel diseases that gave us no warning, no time to say goodbye and a hole in our lives that can never be filled.

 

Meningitis and septicaemia are deadly diseases that can kill in hours. Leo developed a mild temperature around 12.30 on saturday afternoon. We gave him children's paracetamol which he threw up so we cleaned him up and comforted him on the sofa. Although he was feeling poorly and vomitted 4 more times that afternoon he still got up to play with his older brother for over an hour and was interacting as normal - his temperature seemed to have returned to normal and he gave no indication of stiff neck or headache or anything more severe than a tummy bug. We even noted that there were no marks on his body when we bathed him at 5pm. At 8pm he fell asleep and we decided we would put him in his cot. He woke up when we lay him down and asked for "Juice, please!", this would be the last thing he would ever say. We checked him every 30mins or so until we went to bed just after midnight and he appeared to be sleeping comfortably, we were concerned about him as he was obviously weak from vomitting and not eating for 12 hours, but there were no other symptoms so we decided it was ok to go to sleep. How wrong we were. 

 

Our nightmare began at 3am when we heard him moaning and rushed through to find him cold, unresponsive and purple from head to foot. We rushed straight to hospital, never left his side and watched helpless as the doctors and nurses desperately worked on him for nearly 90 minutes. They were unable to save him. He died less than 18 hours after his first symptom.

 

We now must deal with the misery, pain and guilt that we sat with our beautiful boy all day oblivious to the deadly disease destroying him. It is vital that more people are aware of just how quick meningiccocal septicaemia can kill with no warning until it is too late. Don't assume you have tomorrow. And doctors need to trust parent's instincts regarding the health of their children. We didn't phone for advice that day since it was the weekend and we have previously taken Leo to the doctors with much more extreme temperature and been sent home with the advice - give calpol and calprofen and come back if it gets worse. We thought that if he was worse on Sunday or still poorly on Monday we would go to the GP then. We were told by Leo's consultant that if we had brought him in that day it is very likely that we would have been sent home with this same advice. We stayed away, and now our wonderful wee boy is gone forever and we are unable to contemplate life without him.

 

The Meningitis Research Foundation funds research into new methods of prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia, supports those affected by the disease through their helpline, befriending scheme and membership and raises awareness of the diseases through a range of resources for the public and health professionals.

 

This page is to allow us to tell our tragic story but if you feel that you do wish to donate, thank you so much. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails and it is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - more money is raised, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

We never want this to happen to anyone else - Thanks for taking the time to visit Leo's page.