My five-year-old son developed a rash, an hour later he had died from meningitis

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 16:13 EST, 12 January 2011

Ethan Scholes, 5, complained of a headache but showed no other symptoms until an hour before his death

Ethan Scholes, 5, complained of a headache but showed no other symptoms until an hour before his death

A five-year-old boy died of meningitis just an hour after a rash began developing on his body, his parents revealed today.

Young Ethan Scholes could not be saved by medics after his family rushed him to hospital.

His father Stuart Walters, 54, said there were no warning signs that his son was so gravely ill when he first started complaining of a headache on New Year's Day.

He thought Ethan was suffering from German measles because he had been fine all day, before going upstairs to try and sleep it off.

A rash did not appear until late in the evening on the back of his neck between his shoulder blades - but by that time it was too late and he died within the hour.

Stuart, from Penhill, in Swindon, Wiltshire said: 'I realised something was wrong when I went upstairs and tried to pick him up.

'I tried to call an ambulance but because I was panicking I couldn't dial so I went to my neighbour.

'The ambulance arrived quickly and when we got to the hospital they tried to revive him using CPR but he was flat lining and they asked if I wanted them to continue but I could see he had already gone.

'From the rash appearing to him dying, it all happened within an hour - it was so quick.'

Stuart paid tribute to his son, who was a popular pupil at the Swindon Academy, which caters for children from birth to 19 years.

He said: 'He was a proper five-year-old boy, who didn't like girls and was running around every chance he got.

'We used to do everything together and used to just generally mess around and have a laugh.

'It just seems so unfair, it is a really big loss and leaves a hole in my life.'

Enlarge   Graphic displaying the warnng signs of the disease meningitis.


The heartbroken father now hopes that something good can come out of the tragedy by getting the symptoms of the killer disease back in the forefront of parents' minds.

He said: 'I want to raise awareness again of meningitis because there was a big campaign two years ago but it all seems to have died down again.

'I know all the symptoms to look out for but by the time the signs started showing it was too late.

'It's such a nasty disease and there is so much out there that people don't know about.

'I want to raise money for the Meningitis Trust because they rely completely on donations and they are not well known.

'If we can do something by raising the awareness for other parents and raising money then it wouldn't be a total loss and something good would have come from it.' 

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