Cases of horror meningococcal disease on rise as family honours Chris Toms
IT took less than two hours for a husband and father to be lost to a deadly disease — an illness that has quadrupled in Victorian cases since this time three years ago.
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IT took less than two hours for a deadly disease to claim the life of a husband and father.
Chris Toms thought he had gastro.
But the Swan Hill dad, just 46, was battling meningococcal — an illness that has quadrupled in Victorian cases since August three years ago.
”I took him to the doctors at 4.15pm and by 5.50pm he was gone,” wife Alison Toms said.
“I don’t have the love of my life anymore.”
Doctors took three weeks to work out Chris died of meningococcal W — just in time to treat their youngest daughter Waverlee when she broke out in a rash.
Alison was told the reality was she could have buried her 15-year-old girl weeks after burying her husband.
Chris is among four Victorians to die of meningococcal this year.
Already, 51 people have contracted the disease.
About half of those have been new strain meningococcal W.
FREE JABS FOR TEENS TO FIGHT OFF SCOURGE
When Chris returned from a weekend at the V8s in Winton with mates and son Dion on May 22, he was feeling unwell but OK.
But by morning it developed to gastro and he stayed in bed while Alison made soup, which he couldn’t keep down.
“His face went purple within 10 minutes and I said, ‘That’s it, I’m taking you to the doctors’,” she said.
When they arrived his feet were also purple.
“The doctor did a blood test and gave him a prescription for anti nausea medication and told me to take him home,” Alison said.
“But when your husband’s face is purple and his lips are blue ... I knew I couldn’t.”
TEEN’S SUSPECTED CONJUNCTIVITIS WAS MENINGOCOCCAL
She drove him to the hospital at 4.45pm.
Half an hour later he arrested and by 5.50pm hospital doctors pronounced him dead.
For weeks after, in shock and denial, Alison sat at their front porch with German Shepherd, Chardy, waiting for Chris to come home.
Eventually, she stopped following Chardy to the door each night at 5pm.
“The dog is still looking for him,” she said.
One thing Alison is grateful for is she took Chris to the hospital instead of following the doctor’s orders.
“He would have collapsed on the floor and me and our three children would have had to try and bring him back,” she said.
They now know even if he had survived he would have lost his limbs from the knees and elbows down.
BALLARAT TEEN DIES FROM DISEASE
Alison wants doctors to learn the signs and symptoms of meningococcal so treatment isn’t delayed and for families to vaccinate to prevent deaths.
“Our son was his best mate, his two teenage daughters were his little princesses,” she said.
“He can’t go fishing with his son or walk his daughters down the aisle.
“It’s not even making sense yet.”
Free vaccines are being rolled out statewide for those aged 15 to 19.
Donate towards the fight against meningococcal in Chris’s honour at everydayhero.
VICTORIAN MENINGOCOCCAL CASES*
2017 — 51
2016 — 35
2015 — 33
2014 — 14
*DHHS figures to August of each year
MENINGOCOCCAL SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Fever
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Rash
Larger bruises
Drowsiness
Appetite loss
Discomfort from light
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