JAMES Johnson was a popular, healthy teenage lad who dreamed of becoming an architect.

Sadly, he would never see his 16th birthday.

One afternoon, the 15-year-old went to bed with a headache.

Two days later, his parents were at his bedside in Southend Hospital, tearfully saying goodbye to their only son.

His killer was meningitis, which had developed into septicaemia.

It invaded his body and destroyed it within hours, leaving his devastated parents, Bob and Barbara, powerless to stop it.

The couple, of Whitehall Road, Great Wakering, were forced to go through every parent’s nightmare.

They held their son’s hand as his life support machine was switched off.

Since then, the couple have devoted their lives to helping other families who have to endure the loss of a loved one from the killer disease.

Bob, 63, has been a trustee of the Meningitis Trust since James, who was a pupil at the King Edmund School, Rochford, died on May 1, 1991. Barbara is also a member of the national charity.

Both work to promote the trust, from raising money, whether it’s organising fundraising balls or jangling collection tins in the street, to offering hands-on support to victims of meningitis and their families across Essex.

Bob, a retired Ford mechanical engineer, said: “As a parent you cannot explain the pain of losing your child. You can’t ever see this coming. The day James died changed all our lives.”

James was at home with his parents when he complained of a headache. He went to bed but he continued to deteriorate.

Bob added: “He kept getting hot, so we would mop him down and give him some paracetamol. He didn’t go to school the next day. We were concerned, but had no idea that it could be meningitis at the time. He didn’t have a rash at that stage.”

Over the next few hours, Barbara became increasingly worried and rang 999. Bob rushed home from work to find an ambulance on the driveway.

He recalled: “The paramedics were about to take James to hospital, but our GP arrived and told them it wasn’t that serious and James should just stay in bed, so they went.”

That night, James collapsed and began showing signs of a rash. Bob rushed him to Southend Hospital himself. From there, things got worse.

Bob said: “I remember the nurse’s face as she looked at us and just said ‘I’m so sorry’. In hindsight she obviously knew how serious it was.”

James was diagnosed with B strain meningococcal septicaemia and was soon declared braindead. Bob and Barbara were told he would never wake up and the only option was to turn off his life support machine.

This moment is still too emotional for Bob to describe.

He said: “We held his hand. We said goodbye. How do you put that into words?”

The couple, although obviously angry their son was not taken to hospital earlier, did not pursue any legal action against the doctor involved.

Bob said: “What would it have achieved? It wouldn’t have brought James back.

“To give the doctor his dues he came round and talked to us about why he made the decision he did.

“We just don’t want other parents to go through this. If they do, we want to help them as best we can.”

Bob found out afterwards just how popular his son had been.

He said: “There were coaches full of school pupils attending the funeral. There wasn’t even space to stand.

“James had so many friends. He loved skateboarding and he was just a lovely person. He wanted to be an architect.

“We raised a sizeable slug of money from donations at the funeral, which we donated to the Meningitis Trust.”

Twenty years on and the couple, who have a grown up daughter and are now grandparents, still feel the pain of losing James, who would have been 35.

Bob said: “When you lose a child, you don’t ever get over it. You just find a way to get through the days.

“Some of James’s school friends still keep in touch, but it’s bittersweet.

“We love to see them and it’s lovely of them to stay in touch, but sometimes there’s also that pain thinking ‘what would James have been doing now?’ “We meet parents now who have been through the same thing and we are able to show them support.

“In fact, we feel the Meningitis Trust is doing a lot for us by letting us help others.

“People don’t realise meningitis affects so many people – one in ten people know someone who has had it.

“We hold out hope that one day there will be a cure, but it’s such a complex disease, there are so many strains.

“Effective vaccines are available to prevent some types of meningitis, but not all, so it is important to know the signs and symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia so you can take action.

“I meet victims of meningitis who have lost their limbs or who have brain damage all the time and I’m so humbled by them.”

l Bob has organised a fundraising ball for the Meningitis Trust at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend on Saturday, November 26.

Tickets cost £45 which includes a three course meal and disco.

To book tickets, call 01702 218240 or e-mail christmasball@whitehall100.fsnet.co.uk