Liverpool student, 18, dies of meningitis as devastated dad issues plea
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Aaron Mills' dad described how his son had embraced life in the city before his sudden deathA dad said he feels like he is living in an 'alternate reality' after losing his 'Liverpool FC-obsessed' son to meningitis. Aaron Mills, an 18-year-old student at Liverpool John Moores University, died on January 3 after falling ill with the infection.Aaron's dad Anthony, from Kidderminster, described how he and his son were fanatical fans of Liverpool and said supporting the Reds had become his son's 'religion'.Mr Mills said: “I had taken Aaron to go and see Liverpool vs Barcelona in 2019; famously when the corner was taken quickly, and that’s when I knew that he felt it like I did.
I looked over and he had tears in his eyes."Mr Mills said that he and his wife Deniz had tried to do the best for their son and described how they were excited for him to find himself during his studies at Liverpool John Moores University.He said: “Me and his mum made a near-perfect human. He was kind and funny, and he always left the house as the best version of himself."He had become my best friend."Aaron had been studying sports science at LJMU and had come back home a day early from the winter term to surprise his dad for his 50th birthday, taking him on a night out in Worcester with his friends.The family then spent Christmas together, but Mr Mills said he first noticed signs of the illness in his son on December 29 when Aaron became bedbound.
His dad said he seemed "tired" and "run down" but he put his symptoms down to freshers' flu.Mr Mills said: “I went into his room to tell him off because he woke me up moaning; that’s when I realised something was wrong.”He described how Aaron's basic brain function was then deteriorating and described seeing him become “delirious”, stating that the time window was around 30 or 40 minutes between him talking to his mum, to him calming down in the ambulance and then losing all brain function.He added: “He didn’t know that we were there."It was just an hour before Aaron was put into an induced coma at Worcester Hospital. He was kept on life support for a couple of days before he tragically died.As Mr Mills continues to come to terms with his son's death, he urges parents of university students to vaccinate against meningitis - especially after seeing the deadly outbreak of the infection in Kent.He added: “Aaron would be alive now if he’d had it"Following his death, Aaron's family agreed to donate his organs; since then, they have received letters stating that his son saved six people.