A HEARTBROKEN dad is encouraging young people to make sure they get the meningitis jab after his beloved daughter Isabel died of the condition just days after falling ill.

Paul Gentry, from Stratton St Margaret, spoke out as part of a campaign by Meningitis Now to reach the estimated one million young people who have missed out on getting vaccinated against the deadly disease.

“Words cannot describe the pain and loss of losing Izzy," said Paul. "There’s hardly a day that we don’t think about her. It is a hideous, hideous disease and acts very rapidly. I didn’t know much about it before. You just never think it will be your child.

“If we had been aware of the vaccine, we would have got Izzy vaccinated and she would still have been alive today. It’s that simple."

Isabel was 16 at the time and would have celebrated her 20th birthday yesterday.

Isabel, who attended St Brendan’s College in Bristol, first felt ill on a Tuesday in May 2016 with a headache, nausea and aching limbs.

“She had sat an exam on the Monday, so we put it down to her being tired and overworked,” added Mr Gentry

As the day progressed, her symptoms worsened to the point where she passed out. Isobel was taken to Bristol Royal Infirmary, arriving in the early hours on Wednesday. She had a severe headache, a temperature over 100, a heart rate of 120 and low blood pressure.

After receiving a litre of fluids and intravenous pain relief, Isabel was judged to have improved and was sent home later that morning. By the afternoon she began to suffer convulsions and was readmitted to Bristol Royal Infirmary’s intensive care unit. She was heavily sedated and on a life support machine.

That evening the family were informed that Isabel’s condition had deteriorated so much that there was no chance of recovery. Her brain had expanded and herniated on to her spinal cord, causing multiple organ failure.

Isabel remained on life support, and died on Friday, May 20.

A coroner concluded that Isabel’s death was contributed to by medical neglect from the hospital. Her mother, Claire Booty, added afterwards that the BRI had failed to give Isabel a "thorough and logical" assessment.

Paul said: “It just makes it so much harder. But the hospital is now using Izzy’s case to train doctors about how the disease presents itself.

"At least that is something positive to come from it, if we can prevent another family going through what we did."

“I do not want Izzy’s death to have been in vain,” he added.

Mr Gentry has taken part in a number of challenges in aid of Meningitis Now, including climbing the three highest peaks in the UK in under 36 hours, walking the Cotswold Way and running the London Marathon.

“That was an experience an a half," he said. "But I like to do as much as I can to keep the message out there about this disease and keep people safe. That’s what Izzy would have wanted.”

Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. There are about 22,000 cases of bacterial meningitis in the UK and 6,000 cases of viral meningitis each year – equivalent to 22 a day.

Dr Tom Nutt, chief executive of Meningitis Now, said: “We want to promote this vaccine to the one million eligible young people who have not been vaccinated. Teenagers are the second most at risk group of contracting meningitis, after babies and toddlers.”

Julie Marshman, chief nurse and director of infection prevention and control at the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Meningitis is always a difficult infection to spot and symptoms can develop suddenly.”

They include a high temperature with cold hands and feet, a headache or stiff neck with a dislike of bright lights, vomiting, muscle pain and a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it.

“We urge teenagers and new university students to have their free MenACWY vaccine at their GP surgery to avoid the risk of infection, because many of them will mix closely with lots of new people, some of whom may unknowingly carry the bacteria that causes meningitis,” added Mrs Marshman.