A CHARITY football match is set to be held in memory of ‘amazing’ Kidderminster teenager Aaron Mills to raise awareness of ways to combat Meningitis B, the virus which tragically took the youngster’s life.
Aaron, aged 18, died at the start of the year, just days after beginning to feel run down.
As Aaron had already been vaccinated for meningitis, his parents believed he was protected, but he had caught a different strain, Meningitis B, which his vaccine did not help him with.
A game in his memory, which will raise funds and awareness for charity Meningitis Now, will take place at Stourport Swifts Football Club at 3pm on Saturday, May 16.
The game will see Team Asbo play against Team Swaz – teams named after two of Aaron’s nicknames.
Football was Aaron’s true passion, playing every day at school with his friends as well as several local teams, including Kidderminster Lions and Stourport Swifts.
The Liverpool FC fan gave back to grassroots football by becoming a referee and coaching younger children at Wolverly Swans.
He set out to study football and science at Liverpool John Moore’s University and he hoped to be part of the coaching staff at his beloved Premier League club.
His parents, Anthony and Deniz Mills, said: “We play this match in the spirit of Aaron, hoping to reflect the joy and laughter he gave to so many of us.
“We have many players – his school friends, who knew him as Swaz, his team-mates who knew him as Asbo, along with close family and friends, teachers and coaches.
“Aaron’s last act of kindness was to donate several of his vital organs. His beautiful heart beats on.”
After waking up with a headache on December 30, Aaron’s father, Anthony and mum Deniz found him having a seizure and was unresponsive, so they called the ambulance.
He was taken to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and later Coventry’s University Hospital, but there was too much pressure on his brain and he passed away on January 3.
Anthony and Deniz added: “Our lives, hopes, and dreams have been shattered by meningitis.
“It is preventable through awareness and we want to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
“We are personally working with the charity to help with the ‘no plan for MenB’ campaign, trying to push for a national vaccination programme for those at risk.
“Until this happens, we are determined to get vital information out to students, and hopefully clearer guidelines for sixth-formers applying to university.”
Visit: meningitisnow.org/support-us/donate/ to donate to Meningitis Now.
