Andrew Ransom's story

Andrew felt ill the night before he died and had an episode of vomiting. The following morning I got him a doctor’s appointment as he still felt unwell. He said he had a rash on his shins but it was barely visible and had gone by the time we got to the doctors’ surgery. The doctor said he had a virus and it would run its course and he didn’t give him antibiotics. Andrew’s temperature reached 39c despite paracetamol.

By the afternoon he said he was feeling cold and went to bed. I then heard a bang, rushed upstairs and he was incoherent and his pupils were unequally dilated. It was as if he had had a stroke.

We phoned for the ambulance and within 20 minutes he was in casualty. They ventilated him straightaway and put him on IV drugs but it was too late. Within 24 hours the ventilator had to be turned off as he was classed as brain stem dead.

He was a very gifted university student studying for a degree in biomedical science. The whole family were devastated and four years on we still are.

SHEILA RANSOM
AUGUST 2012