Luke Adams is simply lucky to be alive. A pain in his hip was the start of a "living nightmare" for his parents, Graham and Evelyn.

He yelled for them when the pain woke him in the middle of the night on Easter Friday, 2005.

Mrs Adams, 44, from Tarragon Way, South Shields, said: "He had been playing football the night before, so we just thought he had taken a knock.

"We went out the next morning, but our younger son, Blair, rang up and said Luke was really ill and we needed to come home.

"He was shaking and Blair knew there was something wrong. We came home and it was obvious Luke was desperately ill.

"We rang NHS Direct and they told us to ring an ambulance, which we did. Even the paramedics weren't aware of how ill he was."

Within an hour of arriving at South Tyneside District Hospital, Luke was on a life support machine.

Septicaemia – blood poisoning that causes the tell-tale rash in meningitis cases – had set in.

Doctors diagnosed the Group B strain of meningitis, which accounts for 60 per cent of all meningitis cases in the UK, and for which there is no vaccine.

Mrs Adams, an information assistant at South Tyneside Council, said: "It was a waiting game as soon as the spots came.

"He suffered heart failure and they had to get a heart consultant, which didn't give us much hope.

"We didn't know which way it was going to go. We were in a living nightmare. It was horrendous, but after four days, he responded to the treatment."

Luke, who was a 17-year-old student at the time, had to re-sit all his exams, but now has three A-levels under his belt and is off to Sunderland University to study sports science.

He and his parents have raised money for meningitis charities and awareness of the disease, this week backing the Meningitis Research Foundation's B Aware campaign.

Mrs Adams said: "You have got be aware. It is the Group B strain that is really virulent.

"If you think something is wrong with your child, it is really best to get them to a hospital.

"They were absolutely fantastic at South Tyneside District Hospital once they realised it was meningitis and how bad it was.

"They said it was the worst case of meningitis they had seen in South Tyneside because it was so fast.

"If he hadn't been in hospital, he wouldn't be here now."

There were more than 3,000 cases of meningitis and septicaemia in the UK last year.

Tragically, this resulted in the deaths of some 300 babies, children and adults, and left many more with after-effects, some as serious as brain damage, deafness and loss of limbs.

Most of these cases were caused by the Group B strain of the disease.

Denise Vaughan, chief executive of the Meningitis Research Foundation, said: "Meningitis and septicaemia are devastating diseases, which within just a few hours can leave a baby, child or adult fighting for their life. Knowing the symptoms and acting fast will save lives."

Contact the Meningitis Research Foundation's free 24-hour helpline on (0808) 800 3344 for a free B Aware symptoms pack.

You can also visit the website www.meningitis.org.