Tragic Christmas memories for husband who lost wife to meningitis

THEY were married just six months short of 50 years.

When Richard Masefield, an RAF then BAE pilot, met his wife Mary she was a Casualty sister at St James’s Hospital in Leeds.

The couple went on to have two daughters, Nicola, 48, and Alex, 45, and were happily settled in retirement in a village just outside York.

Mary, 75, was super-fit, running, going to the gym and a stalwart of the local church where her flower arrangements were always admired.

But their happiest times always included being with their girls, both of whom lived in Scotland, Nicola in Glenfarg, Perthshire and Alex in Edinburgh.

That happiness, and the couple’s cherished time together, came to a tragic end in shockingly sudden circumstances one year ago when Mary died of meningitis.

They’d spent their traditional Christmas Day at Nicola’s. On the 27th, Mary and Nicola had gone sales shopping in Edinburgh, while Richard had gone to the rugby at Murrayfield with his son-in-law.

“Nicola texted me at half-time to say Mary had been taken poorly with her back. She’d called an ambulance but it was OK and to stay at the game,” explained Richard, 73.

As soon as it was over, they raced to the hospital in Perth where Mary had been give oral morphine for back pain.

“It was beginning to take effect and I had no reason to think anything other than the poor girl was having one of her back turns,” said Richard.

“I just sat and held her hand as she was very sleepy. We thought it was the medication but it turned out it was one of the symptoms of meningitis.

“She was chilly and had a slight temperature but the doctors were happy that it was linked to the muscle spasms they’d identified.

“They said they’d let me know of any problem and I Ieft safe in the knowledge I’d see her in the morning.”

But just after 6am they got an urgent call and arrived at hospital to find medics battling in vain to save Mary’s life. With his son-in-law a doctor and Nicola a nurse, Richard stayed out of the way until the awful news was broken around 8am.

“Her body had been ravaged overnight by the meningitis and it took her so suddenly,” said Richard.

He requested a post-mortem but just before it was due, blood tests showed it was meningococcal septicaemia.

The Meningitis Research Foundation warns of an expected rise in cases over the festive season and is encouraging everyone to be aware of the symptoms.

It can be mistaken for flu and half of children with the condition are initially turned away by their GP.

While not faulting Mary’s care, Richard is speaking out in the hope that everyone, doctors included, becomes much more aware.

“It has to be tackled straight away with the right antibiotics,”he said.

“The past year has been incredibly tough. We did everything together.”.

Richard is heading abroad this Christmas as staying in Scotland would be simply too hard.

“It’s important to raise awareness so no one else has to go through this,” he added.

Visit http://www.meningitis.org/symptoms or call 080 8800 3344.