A DEVASTATED widower whose wife died of meningitis has told how the disease took her life within hours of her falling ill.

Richard Masefield, 73, is keen to make people more aware of how quickly meningitis can take hold and the deadly threat it poses, as part of Meningitis Awareness Week 2016 this week.

His wife Mary, who was aged 75, died of meningococcal septicaemia, a blood poisoning form of meningitis, about 18 hours after the mother-of-two and grandmother-of-three started suffering from severe back pain.

After she was taken to hospital Mr Masefield said, doctors didn't spot that she had meningitis, which caused her to suffer internal organ failure.

Mr Masefield, of Sheriff Hutton, was left "shocked" and "distraught" by Mary's death.

He said: "I couldn't believe how quickly it took hold.

"I had no idea what the symptoms of meningitis were before that. It never even crossed my mind that it could be meningitis.

"Her back was hurting and she felt ropey. There was no rash. With meningitis you always look for a rash, diarrhoea or a fever.

"When in hospital they managed to contain the pain. The doctor was unaware he was looking at a patient with a terrible condition. He just thought she had back pain and a temperature.

"Among the public there is a lack of awareness about the disease. Thousands of people across the world die needlessly every day because of this.

"It is a real issue. It is vital that we raise awareness. it's not something that can be easily identified, that is the tricky bit."

Richard and Mary were visiting their daughter Nicola's house in Perth in Scotland on December 27 last year when Mary first started feeling ill. She was out shopping with Nicola when she began suffering from severe back pain at about 2.30pm. An ambulance took her to A&E at Perth Royal Infirmary at about 4pm. Richard was with their other daughter Alex and two grandsons Callum and Euan at a rugby match in Edinburgh when he first received a text saying Mary was unwell. He arrived at the hospital at 7pm and by 8pm she was in bed at the hospital.

She had been given various medications, including morphine, to relieve the back pain.

Richard says he left the hospital at about 9.30pm that day believing she would recover and that he would see her feeling much better the next morning. At 6.30am the next day he received a call from the hospital telling him that Mary had taken a turn for the worse.

He arrived shortly after but by 8.30pm Mary had died, after suffering two heart attacks and organ failure.

Subsequent tests revealed she had meningococcal septicaemia.

Meningitis can affect anyone, but is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.

Former Royal Air Force pilot Richard, who was also a flight instructor for British Aerospace, has lived all over the world with Mary, who worked as a nurse before becoming a housewife. The pair moved to Canada, Germany and Saudi Arabia because of Richard's career before moving back to the UK in 1994.

Richard, who is now retired, has also worked as the business manager of the Bar Convent in York's Blossom Street.

Meningitis Awareness Week is a week of action to get people to think meningitis, particularly before autumn, when cases begin to rise in the UK and Ireland.