Lucas Martin, a 21-year-old graduate from England, recently awarded a degree in international business from the University of Liverpool, tragically died on September 12, 2023, less than a week after he began feeling unwell. His family had initially mistaken his symptoms for freshers’ flu and have since issued a grave warning to young adults not to dismiss illnesses.
Lucas had in fact meningitis, which manifested with a bad headache and feverish symptoms. His brother Connor spoke to BBC explaining that “ultimately we and him didn’t think much of it, we just thought it was freshers’ flu.”
“Looking back, the only thing that could have changed things would have been that knowledge of meningitis,” he added.
Further, Connor explained, “He had no distinct signs of any illness. He became poorly a week or so before he was admitted to hospital and we all thought it was the equivalent of freshers flu.
“[Lucas] was up in his room a lot of the time and we weren’t monitoring him on a super close basis unfortunately.
“He would go up and down and we’d think he was on the mend, and then he’d regress again – but never to a point where we were seriously concerned.”
What made it harder to spot that Lucas had meningitis was that he hadn’t displayed some of the most common signs of the life-threatening inflammation such as sensitivity to light or rash.
“He just had flu-like symptoms,” his 29-year-old brother added.
Connor believes that his brother’s busy lifestyle could have played a role in catching the disease.
“He was working hard, so I don’t know if it played a part,” he said.
Lucas had been feeling sick for five days when his father, Brett, called him and noticed he had difficulty speaking. Since he and Lucas’ mother were in Edinburgh and Connor in Birmingham, they asked Lucas’ uncle to go check on him at his family home on the Isle of Man where he was temporarily residing while doing a part time job.
Sadly, when his uncle saw him, Lucas was in an awful state.
He was then taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with meningitis and placed in an induced coma from which he never regained consciousness.
Lucas’ family is now urging others to never ignore unusual symptoms and to seek medical help immediately if something feels off — whether it’s about your own health or that of someone you love. They hope that by sharing their painful experience, others might act faster and avoid a similar tragedy.
“If you’re worried, take action. Don’t just dismiss it as flu or something minor,” a family member said, their voice heavy with emotion. “We work hard not to blame ourselves — we just didn’t think of it. You never imagine something like this could happen until it does.”
Those who knew Lucas remember him as “a force of nature,” someone whose energy filled every room he walked into. His family described him as deeply motivated and endlessly curious, the kind of young man who was always dreaming up new ideas or trying to start something of his own. “He was very entrepreneurial… just a very driven, personable young man,” they said. “He had big plans for his future — and he was taken far too soon.”
In their grief, the family is focusing on turning their loss into a message of awareness — a reminder that even the smallest symptoms can matter, and that listening to your instincts can sometimes save a life.
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