THE FAMILY who lost their ‘exceptional’ teenage son, Aaron, to meningitis are going to the highest levels of government to ensure no other family has to deal with the heartbreak they have faced.
Aaron Mills, aged 18, was fulfilling his dreams by studying in Liverpool, and surprised his father, Anthony, for his birthday before staying for Christmas 2025- but just days later, tragedy struck.
After having a great Christmas, Aaron began to feel a bit run down on December 29 before waking up with a headache the next day.
He was given paracetamol and went back to bed, but minutes later, his father, Anthony and mum Deniz heard screaming coming from upstairs.
They realised Aaron was having a seizure and was unresponsive, so they called the ambulance.
Staff immediately suspected meningitis and treated him on the scene, before he was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
As there was too much pressure on his brain, Aaron was later transferred to Coventry for brain surgery, but despite their best efforts to drain his brain, he passed away on January 3.
Anthony said: “When they said it was meningitis, we panicked, we thought, ‘did we get him vaccinated? ‘ and we had, but there was a different strain, Meningitis B, which his vaccine did not help him with.
“We didn’t know there were even different strains of meningitis, and hardly anyone we have spoken to knows anything about it either.
“I have emailed all the universities and student unions in the country, as well as all 650 MPs.
“I want to try and get this information into a student pack for new university students, because if we had this information, we would have gotten Aaron vaccinated for Meningitis B, and this could have been prevented.”
The current outbreak of meningitis in Kent has seen a university student and a sixth former die, with the Health Security Agency saying the situation was unprecedented.
Anthony is meeting with Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier this week, with the ultimate aim being to meet with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to try and make information about the different strains of meningitis available to all students before starting university.
He added: “Seeing this outbreak in Kent hurts because I did try to contact them, as well as all other universities.
“There’s panic all over the country.
“It hurts me even more because something will happen now, and for my son, it has all come six months too late.“
A charity match in memory of Aaron will take place at 2pm on Saturday, May 16, at Stourport Swifts FC, which wil look to raise money for Meningitis Now.
Anthony added: “Aaron was an exceptional lad; he was the best of us.
“Football was his life; he wanted to go on to become a coach at Liverpool.
“He was clever and so full of joy and laughter.
“We never get to know the man he was going to become because it would have been special.”
