“He was like my best friend, my everything” - The family raising awareness of meningitis after the loss of their son 

Alex Williams was seven when he contracted meningitis. He ended up in a wheelchair after months on life support. 

Before contracting meningitis, Alex was really passionate about sport. Allison Williams, Alex’s mum said: “he was a keen footballer and was the healthiest young man I’ve ever known really”. 

Alex had his meningitis vaccine just two days before he fell ill with the infection.  

“He had the meningitis vaccine at school when he was seven on the Thursday as I was getting married on the Saturday and Alex took poorly during our wedding so obviously, we didn't get through the full day of the wedding.”   

Allison left her teaching job to look after Alex: “I was teaching at the time and I was off work so really not long after Alex we decided that Alex really couldn't be at home on his own he was due to come out of education and basically been told he was nothing that he would be able to do so I gave my job up to be at home with Alex but eight weeks after that Alex passed away he had a stroke in the middle of the night which was an after effects of meningitis which we didn't know”.  

Allison said: “Alex was the most inspirational young man that I think anybody would ever meet, he was one of those people that if you ever met him, you were sort of taken in by his big smile his just love of life, he was my best friend my everything.  

“So, when Alex took ill, he then basically became a different totally different person and both me and him were inseparable really.” 

Meningitis didn’t stop Alex doing what he loved. He volunteered at a disabled dance group three nights a week and was the sports ambassador for Tameside. As well as this, he was the Meningitis Trust’s first ever young ambassador.  

Alex won many awards and was the only person nominated more than once to carry the Olympic torch on the parade through Tameside in 2012, he was nominated 24 times.  

He also went on visits to schools in Tameside for a month and spoke to the children about his motto ‘believe and achieve’.  

The Williams family found that after Alex ended up in a wheelchair there weren’t a lot of sporting opportunities for children with disabilities. 

“It was something that Alex was really passionate about and then we used to try and get him in different clubs and also raise awareness of meningitis along the way.” 

Allison set up the Believe and Achieve trust in 2014 after Alex has passed to help raise awareness of meningitis and broaden the opportunities for people with disabilities: “When Alex very suddenly at 18 had a stroke and passed away I knew that I had two ways to go whether I could just sit and feel a bit sorry for myself or I could make a difference and carry on the work that Alex believed in and that was to obviously try and support sport with young people with a disability and raise awareness for meningitis so that's when I decided that I would set up the charity to continue his work.” 

To cope with the loss Allison tried to keep as busy as she could, by working for her own small business and running the charity: “We had a business ourselves which my husband ran and then when Alex passed away I didn't feel that I could be at home without Alex so I came into the business and that's where I am today but for me I'm really lucky that I can do my job and do the charity so no matter whatever point of any day I want to do the charity I'll just get on and do bits and pieces and it's my work is my coping mechanism because if I keep busy I don't think and that's my way of dealing with Alex really.”  

The main aim of the Believe and Achieve trust is to give out grants to young people with disabilities. A few ways they help people are by paying for specialist wheelchairs or tutors to help with a sport. 

They also have grants to pay for counselling and adaptations for those who have had meningitis.  

“The first thing we do is raise awareness so whatever we do we give out meningitis symptoms cards.”  

The charity is volunteer run so doesn’t get any government funding: “Which is really important to me, and I know it would be to Alex because I believe that if somebody donates some money, they don't want it to pay somebody's wage they want it to go to where it needs to be and that's what they're trying to support.”  

The charity raises money themselves by holding events such as walks; in a few weeks they’re hosting a carol concert to raise some more money for the charity and also to spread more awareness of meningitis.  

The symptoms of meningitis include; a high temperature, being sick, headaches, a rash that doesn’t fade when a glass is rolled over it, stiff neck, dislike of bright lights, drowsiness, seizures. Not all of these may happen. 

The NHS estimates that one person in every two or three that survive bacterial meningitis are left with at least one long term health issue.  

Meningitis is most common in babies and young children, teenagers and young adults, older people and those with a weak immune system. However, anyone can potentially get meningitis, so it’s very important to know the symptoms and spread awareness like the Believe and Achieve trust do.   

If you want to find out more about the Believe and Achieve trust and help support them you can do so via their website: https://www.believeandachieve.org.uk/