Leamington mother’s headache turned out to be deadly meningitis bug

This week, friends and family packed St Mary’s church in Warwick for the funeral of 18-year-old Lauren Taylor, who died on New Year’s Eve after suffering a pounding headache for hours and having an ear infection a few weeks before.

Her great nan Molly Sedman, died aged 57 in 1982 of meningitis brought on by an ear infection.

Speaking after the funeral, Lauren’s mum Lisa Taylor said: “It’s very uncanny. They shared the same birthday and died exactly of the same thing.

“They were in many ways similar types of people.”

She said Lauren, who lived in Radford Road, Leamington, with her son Ryley, aged one, went into Warwick Hospital at 7.30pm but was pronouned dead at around 4.15pm the following day.

Lisa, aged 35, of Byron Avenue, Warwick, said: “It all happened so quick. The ear infection had been treated and Lauren just thought it was a bad headache and felt like she had the flu. She had slept all day and took paracetamol. They say if you think it’s meningitis look out for a rash – but Lauren had no rash.

“People of all ages should realise that if they have a pounding headache for hours, but there’s no rash, don’t rule out meningitis.”

Lisa, who has five other children aged from 19 to five, said: “You need to be checked and if you can’t get a doctor’s appointment, go to hospital because it can happen so quick.

“As a mother I would sooner be moaned at by a receptionist or a doctor than lose a life.”

The family have been talking with the charity Meningitis Research about raising money to combat the disease and a recent no-uniform day at Newburgh Primary in Warwick has raised at least £190 in Lauren’s memory.

“We need to raise awareness of the dangers of meningitis and what to look out for.”

Lauren attended Campion and Aylesford schools and a nails and beauty course at Warwickshire College, but her ambition was to join the police service.

Lisa said: “After she had her little boy, she put it on hold but her dream was to join the police.

“She would always talk to the police and she had spoken to the community support officers about joining.

“As a little girl she would have a notebook and pretend to be a police officer. She would say ‘I’m going to arrest you for lighting up a cigarette’. Thinking back it was a little weird that she was saying that years before a smoking ban was even thought about.”

The family took comfort from the many floral tributes and the hundreds who packed St Mary’s in Warwick and the streets outside for the funeral, many of them wearing leopard print in the form of clothing or jewellery in her memory.

Lisa said: “Lauren loved leopard print – she had it on clothes, shoes, jewellery and furnishings. Even now I always carry a leopard print scarf wrapped around my handbag in her memory. “The bag might change, but the scarf is always the same.”