A HEARTBROKEN mum is urging students to get a free meningitis vaccine after her daughter died from the illness.

Kym Lockett, 49, from Halifax, is sharing her first-hand experience of meningitis and septicaemia during national Meningitis Awareness Week.

Mrs Lockett’s daughter Penny was sent home from school in October 2015 with what seemed like a regular sickness and diarrhoea bug.

Penny was ill throughout the night, but her mum could not find a rash, and when she phoned the doctor she was reassured giving her paracetamol was the right way to treat the symptoms.

Penny then suffered a small seizure and her breathing became shallow. She was taken by ambulance to hospital but died later that night aged 17 from meningococcal meningitis type W.

The family later learned that Penny had died from meningococcal meningitis type W.

This disease hides behind symptoms that you would get with common everyday illnesses which makes it harder for doctors to know when it is something more dangerous.

Mrs Lockett said: “The MenACWY vaccine is available now for young people to prevent the MenW type of meningitis, and the thing that frustrates me is that uptake of this vaccine has been low among people who are Penny’s age.

“This seems staggering to me. People don’t appreciate what this disease can do if they haven’t been through it. It’s so quick to get the vaccine and can give that peace of mind.”

Teenagers are a high risk age group for meningitis and septicaemia and Mrs Lockett is urging students to get the MenACWY vaccine.

For more information about where to get the vaccine to www.meningitis.org/oneshot.