![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/24\/17\/107383199-15675293-Aaron_Mills_left_with_his_sister_and_parents_The_18_year_old_die-a-3_1774372693544.jpg\")
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Aaron Mills, left, with his sister and parents. The 18-year-old died\u00a0on January 3 from meningitis B<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018It was nothing out of the ordinary for an 18-year-old who\u2019s been enjoying himself,\u2019 says Deniz. \u2018On the morning of the 29th, he said, \u201cI\u2019m really tired Mum\u201d and he spent most of that day in bed. But in the evening he got up and dressed, we ate together and watched a film, and he stayed up to watch something else \u2013 he was fine.\u2019<\/p>\n
But around 6am on Tuesday, December 30, Deniz could hear Aaron in the bathroom \u2013 \u2018he was muttering and moaning to himself as if in pain,\u2019 she recalls.<\/p>\n
\u2018He said he had a headache so I got him some paracetamol and a drink, and took his temperature \u2013 which was normal \u2013 and we chatted in the living room for half an hour about his plans for New Year\u2019s Eve, then he went to bed.\u2019<\/p>\n
Deniz has been over and over that morning in her mind a thousand times since.<\/p>\n
\u2018I can\u2019t pinpoint anything that alarmed me,\u2019 she says. \u2018He didn\u2019t have light sensitivity, a sore neck, painful joints or a rash. There was nothing to suggest anything serious.\u2019<\/p>\n
Yet 20 minutes after he went back to bed, Deniz heard Aaron screaming \u2013 and both she and Anthony ran to his room.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was having some kind of seizure, his hands were curled up to his chest, he was agitated and dysregulated with no control over his movements and trying to get his top off,\u2019 says Anthony.<\/p>\n
\u2018At one point, he sat up and looked me straight in the eye for about three seconds.\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an image Anthony can\u2019t forget, the last time he saw his son\u2019s eyes open.<\/p>\n
\u2018I thought he was about to snap out of it, but actually that was just the beginning of the end.\u2019<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago, Anthony witnessed his step-brother, Scott, then 20, in a similar state.<\/p>\n
Anthony recalls: \u2018He was agitated and trying to put something on a shelf that wasn\u2019t there.\u2019<\/p>\n
He called an ambulance. Scott was soon diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, and survived.<\/p>\n
\u2018So with Aaron, we didn\u2019t hesitate,\u2019 Anthony says. \u2018We suspected meningitis, called 999 and an ambulance was there in 14 minutes.’ The paramedics gave Aaron an injection of antibiotics and, in the ambulance, he seemed calmer.<\/p>\n
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![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/24\/17\/107383583-15675293-Aaron_was_studying_a_football_science_degree_course_and_his_drea-a-4_1774372693546.jpg\")
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Aaron was studying a football science degree course and his dream was to work as a coach at Liverpool FC. Pictured in front of the shirt of the team’s former player\u00a0Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/24\/17\/107383571-15675293-Aaron_at_home_in_Kidderminster_aged_eight-a-6_1774372693550.jpg\")
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Aaron at home in Kidderminster aged eight<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018I presumed the antibiotics were working,\u2019 says Deniz.<\/p>\n
\u2018But later that day a neurologist told us that by the time we got to hospital, 20 minutes away, most of his brain function was probably gone.<\/p>\n
\u2018So we\u2019d already lost him by the time we got there.\u2019<\/p>\n
Aaron was put on a ventilator. He had a CT scan and a lumbar puncture, which confirmed meningitis \u2013 and was blue-lighted to University Hospital Coventry for an operation to insert a drain that would release the fluid and pressure caused by the inflammation on his brain (the infection affects the meninges \u2013 the membranes that surround it).<\/p>\n
Throughout, doctors were ruthlessly honest about Aaron\u2019s chances of survival.<\/p>\n
\u2018At 6pm on Tuesday evening the surgeon told us they\u2019d done all they could, but his brain was so swollen it was unlikely he would survive,\u2019 says Deniz.<\/p>\n
\u2018On Wednesday, New Year\u2019s Eve morning, the critical care team told us Aaron had probably already passed away. He was only kept alive by the ventilator.\u2019<\/p>\n
Deniz, Anthony and Aaron\u2019s younger sister, Casey, 16, sat by his bedside, trying to come to terms with what had happened.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, January 3, Aaron\u2019s sedation was switched off so his brain activity could be tested.<\/p>\n
Doctors dripped cold water in his ears (if the brain is active, it stimulates the acoustic nerve and triggers rapid side-to-side eye movements), wiped his eyes and switched off his ventilator to see if he could breathe unaided. He couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was warm and his cheeks were rosy,\u2019 says Deniz, \u2018but he wasn\u2019t there.\u2019<\/p>\n
The memory is unbearable. Aaron was pronounced brain dead that evening, and the following day, six of his organs \u2013 including his heart \u2013 which the family agreed to donate, were removed for recipients around the country.<\/p>\n
\u2018From the moment he was born, Aaron was the most important thing in my life,\u2019 says Anthony.<\/p>\n
\u2018Everything I did was for him, and for Casey when she came along. Now he\u2019s gone I have no purpose. I haven\u2019t got it in me to be the dad I was. Our lives are broken. It scares me because I have no idea how to live.\u2019<\/p>\n
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![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/24\/17\/107383569-15675293-Aaron_leaving_for_prom_aged_16_as_his_mum_gives_him_a_kiss_on_th-a-5_1774372693550.jpg\")
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Aaron leaving for prom aged 16, as his mum gives him a kiss on the cheek<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Deniz sobs as she describes the clever, kind and generous boy Aaron was: \u2018School friends have told us if it hadn\u2019t been for his support, they wouldn\u2019t have passed their A-levels.\u2019<\/p>\n
Aaron had had the routine meningitis ACWY vaccine at school when he was 14. Deniz and Anthony had no idea, until lab results confirmed he had MenB, that another strain existed.<\/p>\n
\u2018If the dangers of MenB had been outlined by his uni or any official website, we\u2019d have paid for the vaccine privately,\u2019 says Deniz.<\/p>\n
After his son\u2019s death, Anthony emailed 164 universities \u2013 and their student unions \u2013 and all 650 MPs in the UK, \u2018to try to get information out there that I wish we\u2019d had\u2019.<\/p>\n
Only one MP replied personally: \u2018The Labour MP, John McDonnell, answered to say he\u2019d pass my email to the health secretary.\u2019<\/p>\n
Deniz and Anthony have watched in horror as meningitis student deaths were announced in Kent last week, just months after Aaron\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u2018It really hurts, because I wanted to get the information out and protect someone else\u2019s child,\u2019 says Anthony.<\/p>\n
The family are on a waiting list for bereavement counselling. Alongside their agonising pain and shock, there is anger.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s a preventable disease,\u2019 says Anthony. \u2018We feel badly let down. Aaron was an exceptional lad \u2013 every time he left the house, he gave the best of himself.<\/p>\n
\u2018We thought we were sending him to uni to fulfil his dreams \u2013 in fact, we sent him off to die.\u2019<\/p>\n
meningitisnow.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The main thing 18-year-old Aaron Mills\u2019 parents, Deniz and Anthony, worried about when he left their Kidderminster home to go to university in Liverpool in September was that he\u2019d be alone. He instantly proved them wrong. He loved his football science degree course and thrived on his new-found independence. \u2018He made friends, he went<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-disease"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6902,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882\/revisions\/6902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}