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A DOTING mother last night paid an emotional tribute to her son who was killed by a deadly strand of meningitis just hours after complaining of a sore throat.
Marshall Watkinson died in hospital just 24 hours after he was struck down with a vomiting bug when he returned home from school on Wednesday.
But the following morning when his mother, Gemma Eastlake, took Marshall’s younger brother to school, the 11-year-old’s condition had rapidly deteriorated.
When she returned to their home in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, his little body was covered in a rash and he was struggling to breathe.
Paramedics raced to the family’s home and Marshall was taken to Wansbeck General Hospital where medics frantically fought to save his life.
However, after he was transferred to Newcastle’s RVI doctors were unable to save the youngster and he died in the intensive care unit with his parents at his side.
Last night his mother Gemma, 30, paid an emotional tribute to the “cheeky and beautiful” youngster and revealed how he had dreamed of being famous.
From the home of Marshall’s grandparents Frank and Sylvia, on Latimer Way, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, she said: “I’m devastated, just heartbroken. Everyone is just devastated and we can’t believe that he’s gone. First he was complaining of a sore throat. Then I thought he was suffering from a stomach bug because he was being sick through the night.
“He couldn’t sleep and I went to sleep with him. I woke up and took his little brother to school and when I came back my next door neighbour had got him out of bed.
“He was covered in a rash and he couldn’t breathe. We called 999 and went straight to hospital. They thought they had stabilised him and they tried to move him to Newcastle but the journey was too much for him. We were in the car park and they told me his heart had stopped.”
Fears of a meningitis outbreak were quashed by medical experts last night who said the meningococcal strand of meningitis did not spread easily.
