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After her teenage daughter passed away in her sleep after returning from a UK festival with the “worst headache” she had ever had, a distraught mother has shared her grief.
Before Livia Wilson, 19, started complaining of constant agony, she and her friends had gone to Manchester’s well-known Parklife festival in June 2022.
“I just thought the kid had ‘overdone it’ while partying at the music event,” her mother, Alison Goude, revealed.
However, a few days after returning home to York, the adolescent tragically died in her sleep, leaving her family devastated and in search of solutions.
On June 15, 2022, Livia made it to work at a nearby restaurant, but her employer sent her home since she was feeling “generally unwell” and had a recurring headache.
“She returned after the weekend and immediately got back to work,” Alison explained.
“She did report that it was the ‘worse headache’ she had ever experienced, but she felt generally ill and would take a Covid test in the morning.
“She had paracetamol, went to bed, and that was it.”
Livia never woke up again, according to the mother, an assistant accountant.
“[The next day] an ambulance came and then the police came, because they treat it as suspicious when there’s no explanation,” Alison said.
Tests later showed that Livia had meningitis B, but her family had to endure a torturous 16-week wait for explanations regarding the 19-year-old’s sudden death.
Because meningococcal group B bacteria attack the brain and spinal cord after they have penetrated the body, this lethal bacterial illness can quickly take a sinister turn.
Sepsis and septicemia are among the additional severe ailments that the strain can induce.
“We asked, ‘Was she suffering, was she in pain?'” Alison said. and they attempted to clarify that the brain works so quickly.
She was by herself. “It simply shuts down your main organs.” You simply never anticipated it.”
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, there is a vaccine that can prevent meningitis B, but it is only given to infants.
According to the NHS, in addition to their other regular vaccinations, toddlers are given three different dosages at eight weeks, sixteen weeks, and one year of age.
In order to prevent children at the time when they are most vulnerable to contracting MenB diseases, it is preferable to administer the immunizations on time.
“Until they turn two, they are still eligible to receive the MenB vaccine.
“Research has shown that the vaccine is very effective at preventing illnesses caused by these bacteria.”
Alison is now urging the NHS to make the medication available to teenagers in order to spare other families from going through what she did.
“It hurts to know that there is this vaccination out there,” she continued. You criticize yourself, asking yourself, “What could I have done to keep her safe?”
According to the mother, many individuals think they are immune to meningitis B because they received various vaccinations as children, but she emphasized that this is a “different strain.”
Sharing items such as food, drink, utensils, and toothbrushes can readily spread meningitis B because it is typically carried by mucous or saliva.
Alison wishes to alert children about the dangers of intimate contact at such occasions, as dance student Livia did, for those who may attend festivals as well.
She encouraged parents to think about vaccinating their kids with the MenB vaccine, saying that even though it can cost £220 if done privately, she thinks it is well worth the money.
“As Liv’s grandfather stated, it would have been the best money we had ever spent, and we would have definitely paid for Livia to be vaccinated,” Alison continued in a statement on the Meningitis Research Foundation.
“Please, just acquire it, keep them safe, and avoid being in our situation. We simply don’t want anyone to experience what we have.
“Your life is constantly changing. I would sacrifice everything to protect my child, even if I couldn’t afford it.”
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