In October 2007, our lives were changed forever when we lost my nephew Calum to meningitis.

Calum was twelve years old. He was a bright, intelligent boy who was full of life and loved his family and friends. He was a boy who always had to be doing something and was thoughtful and attentive to all who knew him. He would be the organiser of events. Weekends were always filled with doing things, days out to the laser quest, the  park etc. He loved company and especially that of his younger sister Kirsten and his cousins, Morven, Isla and Emma.

In September 2007 he had just started his second year at the secondary school. He was full of ambition and loved school. He went to an outdoor activity course in the Trossachs with the school and it was shortly after this that Calum fell ill with a flu virus and had been off school for a couple of weeks.

The weekend before he passed away he had been feeling a lot better and went back to the school on the Monday. I called and spoke to him and he was full of the joys at being back in school seeing the teachers and being part of his group again. On the Wednesday morning I awoke to the phone ringing just before 7, it was with news that Calum had been taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, the day seemed to drag without any news of what was happening. Then at 2 pm I got a call from my brother Sinclair, I had to make my way to the hospital,  it was meningitis and it wasn’t good. Calum was in intensive care and I had to go as soon as possible.

Later that day my brother and sister-in-law were told that Calum had no brain activity and that there was nothing they could do. Many discussions and conference calls had taken place between the consultants at the Southern General Hospital and the Children’s Hospital. They were asked about donating Calum’s organs. Sinclair and Kim agreed to organ donation and the wheels were set in motion to allow the transplant teams/patients to be notified.

That night and all of the next day we were in disbelief how could this happen to Calum our bright shining intelligent boy. A Further two test legally had to be carried out to prove that Calum the boy we all knew and loved had gone.

 On the Friday morning we all got to say our goodbyes to him and left the hospital for the final time.