LETTER TO EDITOR - Mother’s Day plea

Dear Editor,

Every year 260 people living in Northern Ireland will get meningitis. It’s a devastating disease that can affect anyone, of any age, at any time - striking in minutes and killing within hours.

This Mother’s Day will be my first without my wonderful son, Alex. He was taken from us on August 1st 2012, 11 years after contracting meningitis. The disease left him wheelchair-bound, with memory issues and in constant pain. Alex was only 18 when he died.

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Alex spent most of his short life passionately raising awareness of meningitis and the work of a charity very close to his heart, the Meningitis Trust. The year before he died, Alex became a Young Ambassador for the Meningitis Trust – a job he loved to bits.

This Mother’s Day, I am continuing his work – raising life-saving awareness of meningitis across the UK – hoping to appeal to every Mother (and indeed Father, grandparent and carer) out there. I am urging everyone to learn about the disease that took my wonderful son. Knowledge can save lives when it comes to meningitis. Visit www.meningitis-trust.org today. They have free credit-card sized symptoms cards for your purse and free apps for you to download to your smart phones.

When you visit the Meningitis Trust’s website, you will see Alex – so happy and smiling. He always was! During his life he inspired so many people with his positive attitude, including the staff and supporters of the Meningitis Trust and they have set up an appeal in his memory, ensuring that his important work with the charity continues. They aim to raise £1 million over the next four years.

His motto following the disease was “Believe and Achieve”. And despite everything meningitis threw at him he considered himself to be lucky and he achieved so much. He used to say to me: “There is no way I am going to let anyone go through what I did and feel it’s the end; it’s only the beginning, believe me.”

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Please don’t let my son’s death be in vain – help us today to help others. Please donate as much as you can online at www.meningitis-trust.org/alex. Every penny will help in the fight against meningitis.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Williams

Alex’s proud Mum

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