One year without Blair
It’s been almost a year since Warrick and Natalie Magon found their 14-year-old son dead in his bed, less than 24 hours after he’d left school feeling sick.
Now the Taranaki couple are urging others to look out for the signs of the disease that killed their boy Blair.
‘‘We’ve experienced the worst of not knowing something,’’ Warrick said. ‘‘From walking, talking, to dead, is something I still can’t comprehend.’’
Blair, who attended New Plymouth Boys’ High School, died in his sleep on March 9, 2018, after contracting meningococcal strain C. His parents are urging other families to become aware of the symptoms.
Ten Kiwis died of meningococcal disease last year, and the Magons don’t want any family to suffer like they have.
The couple thought Blair had the flu. He didn’t have a rash and had received the meningococcal immunisation when he was little.
But the Magons were unaware that the vaccination covered only one strand of the disease and wore off after a couple of years.
Blair, an avid football player who his parents say had a kind nature, started to get a cold on the Tuesday, went to his school athletics on the Wednesday, then went to school Thursday and Friday morning.
‘‘A sick kid does not volunteer to go to school, especially not a teenager,’’ Warrick said.
Natalie picked Blair up from school on the Friday with what she thought was a really bad flu. In the hours that followed he had a temperature, sore legs, exhaustion and vomiting.
But his temperature dropped after he took Panadol and his sore legs were most likely due to his participation in sport the days prior.
‘‘There were so many things that countered themselves to tell you that it was OK,’’ Warrick said.
At 10pm on Friday Natalie checked on him and he was sleeping, so she decided to do the same. But when the Magons checked on their son at 7 am on Saturday, he was gone.
The couple’s message to other parents is to ensure their child gets seen by a doctor and not leave until they’re medically cleared.
‘‘If you’ve got two of these symptoms, go to the doctor and insist – don’t go home – because the doctors said they would have sent him home,’’ Natalie said.
Meningococcal, which includes meningitis and septicemia, is caused by the bacterial germ meningococcus which up to 15 per cent of people carry in their nose and throat without being sick, the Ministry of Health’s deputy director of public health Niki Stefanogiannis said.
Stefanogiannis said it’s still not known what makes certain people contract the disease while others don’t.
‘‘We do know it can develop suddenly and it can include a high fever, headache, sleepiness, joint and muscle pain and sometimes more specific symptoms like a stiff neck or dislike of bright lights, vomiting and in young children being really floppy, and that rash.’’
Stefanogiannis said there were
120 cases of meningococcal in New Zealand in 2018.
She said there’s also been an increase in reported cases since
2014.
Meanwhile, the past year has been difficult for the Magons.
Natalie has Blair’s name tattooed on her left arm and a necklace with a photo of him in it; she’d hold it and run her thumb across it often.
Warrick couldn’t show you his favourite photo of Blair – there are far too many. But one thing they struggle with is the fact they’ll never be able to take another.
‘‘That’s the horrific thing. There are no more now.’’