Heartbroken mum who lost daughter to meningitis issues warning amid outbreak

Livia Wilson's mum thought the teen had "overdone" it when she partied with pals at the Manchester festival but tragically the youngster never woke up.

A mum is speaking out amid the concerning meningitis outbreak after her teen daughter went to bed after a festival and tragically never woke up.

Livia Wilson, just 19, had enjoyed a weekend with her friends at Parklife festival in Manchester before she came home exhausted and complaining of "the worst headache".

Her mum Alison thought the teen had simply "overdone" it at the festival as Livia took paracetamol and went to sleep on June 15, 2022. However, tragically, the youngster, who worked as a waitress, never woke up.

It later emerged the teen, from York, had contracted meningococcal type B meningitis (MenB) - the same strain currently circulating in Kent.

Now her grief-stricken mother, who works in finance for the NHS, said the situation in Kent is heartbreaking and says the NHS should do more to offer free and available vaccinations to better protect young people.

Alison, 48, said: "Everything in the news brings it all back - not that it ever goes away, you just have to live with each day. That's hard enough in itself.

"It is just heartbreaking that there has been no change, and no action.

"It is tragic that this outbreak has happened and that so many people have been affected. I just have to hope that, from this, change will now happen.

“To know there is this vaccination out there, it hurts. You beat yourself up, like what could I have done to protect her?

“To think she would still be here if we had made ourselves aware and vaccinated her.

"They can find the money for other vaccinations, and I don’t get how many deaths they want of children that age before it becomes cost-effective for them.

“I just don’t understand it… It’s like they’re saying they’re not worth it. Why can it not just be included with that rollout at 13, 14?”

Livia, who worked at the Italian restaurant Lucia’s and had trained as a ballet dancer, was excited to attend the Parklife music festival in June 2022. But a few days after returning from the weekend event, she complained of a headache.

Alison, an assistant accountant, said she just thought Livia had “overdone it”. However, the evening of June 15 would sadly be the final time she would see her daughter alive.

Alison said: “She came back after the weekend, and she was straight back into work. She was working usual restaurant hours until late at night.

“She’d got herself to work, she’d drove. But she was sent home that day as she felt unwell. And for me, I think if I can get myself to work, I’m not that bad.

“So I just thought, ‘She just needs to really recover.’

“She did say it was the ‘worst headache’ she’d ever had but she would do a Covid test in the morning because she felt generally unwell.

“She had paracetamol, went to bed, and that was it.

“[The next day] an ambulance came and then the police came because they treat it as suspicious because there’s no explanation.”

Meningitis is usually transmitted to an individual via the mucus or saliva from a person who is carrying the virus but has no symptoms.

This can come, for example, from sharing drinks, food, utensils or toothbrushes.

Heartbroken Alison said it was extremely tough to learn how her sociable daughter who “loved life” had passed away so suddenly.

She went on: “It took a long time to find out what caused it, and we asked, ‘Was she suffering, was she in pain?’ and they tried to explain that it’s just so fast with the brain.

“It just shuts your main organs down… She was alone. You just didn’t ever expect it.”

Alison is now urging parents to consider getting their children vaccinated against meningococcal type B meningitis, even though it can cost £220 if done privately.

She felt it was particularly important for teens who may be at more risk of contracting the disease due to their close contact at places like festivals.

Alison said Livia had had the MenACWY vaccination at school but they had not appreciated that it did not cover all the strains of meningitis. She also had not known a MenB vaccine was available privately.

She added: "When we found out, the first thing Livia's grandad said was 'it would have been the best money we have spent'. It is so hard to know we could have done something for her to still be here.

"Protection needs to be made available for this age group. That's what's so hard. The vaccination is there and has been for quite a few years now. It seems so wrong that it is restricted to babies.
"We know what these families are going through. It is not just the families of those who have lost their life but also those affected by it.

"It is such a serious life-changing illness and they may not fully recover. Too many have been affected.
"I just can't believe it could be prevented and nothing has been done so far."

The UKHSA stressed there was plenty of NHS stocks of MenB vaccines after pharmacies reported they were struggling to obtain stock for people who want to pay privately.

For people seeking vaccines privately, Boots has a queuing system to enter its website, with a warning that demand is currently high.