OUR SON FELL ASLEEP AND NEVER WOKE UP FAMILIES ON THEIR MENINGITIS TRAUMAS

Anna McKee (61), from Antrim, works part-time in insurance. She is married to Samuel (63) and they have three children, Leslie (33), Lyndsay (30) and Christopher who passed away from meningitis aged 21 in March, 2011. She says:

Christopher was a happygo-lucky student studying sports journalism at Sunderland University. He loved student life and we spoke every day on the phone.

Six years ago he phoned me one Thursday evening and told me he was very sick. He told me it was just a bug or the flu and not to worry, but as a mum, I checked in on him again about half an hour later.

He said he felt terrible and was going to go to bed. I told him to look after himself and get some painkillers. That is the last time I ever spoke to my son.

The next day I was in Portrush with friends and I tried to call him but he wasn’t answering his phone.

I thought he must be sleeping but I kept trying. I also phoned home and got Lyndsay to try from home as I had bad service.

Lyndsay couldn’t get him either and by Saturday morning, when we hadn’t heard anything, I knew something wasn’t right. It wasn’t like Christopher not to phone to say he was okay and not to worry.

I rang the student accommodation centre but they couldn’t get any answer and I got my daughter-in-law to send a message to one of his friends on Facebook to go round and check in on him.

Next thing I got a call from Christopher’s phone to say: ‘Is this Christopher McKee’s mum. This is a paramedic I am with your son and he is dead.’

I was standing in the middle of a street in Portrush and I couldn’t take in what I was hearing. I rang my husband and told him about the phone call and he rang the police, but they couldn’t tell him anything.

I know the way the paramedic did it was probably wrong and it was a terrible shock, but maybe he just thought that as his mum I needed to know. And I did.

The university contacted us later that day to confirm the worst news we have ever received. At that stage they didn’t know the cause of death.

A friend had looked in on him on Friday night and thought he was sleeping and when they checked again on Saturday he was in the same position.

Apparently at 3pm on Friday he told his housemates he was going to bed as he had a headache. The next day he was dead.

We were told he fell asleep and just didn’t wake up again. It was 10 days before we got Christopher home and they were the longest of our lives. We were just in limbo waiting to have our son home so we could say goodbye.