L-R: Eva Catchpole, Barry Young, Amanda Saunders with Thomas Catchpole,Lorraine Young and Jorja Coultrip-Ehleis.
Camera IconL-R: Eva Catchpole, Barry Young, Amanda Saunders with Thomas Catchpole,Lorraine Young and Jorja Coultrip-Ehleis. Credit: Supplied/Marcelo Palacios

Raising awareness

Staff ReporterCanning Gazette

As part of National Meningococcal Day on Friday, August 30, 304 early childhood education centres and kindergartens across WA will be provided with educational resources on how to prevent the disease, which can take the form of meningitis or septicaemia.

The program, known as Kiddy Canter, teaches children, aged two to five years, about good hygiene practices ” a major defence against meningococcal.

It is one of the many initiatives developed through the Amanda Young Foundation, which is dedicated to providing support, raising awareness and reducing deaths caused by meningococcal disease.

Lorraine and Barry Young started the foundation a year after Amanda died.

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In October 1997, the vibrant 18-year-old UWA student returned home from an inter-varsity rowing regatta in Penrith, Sydney, where she contracted meningococcal disease.

‘About four to five days before the onset she became very tired, later she started experiencing pain in her muscles and joints and went very cold and couldn’t warm up while experiencing a fever, then commenced vomiting, she found difficulty walking and her skin went pale,’ Mr Young said.

Mr and Mrs Young took Amanda to the hospital, but it was too late ” she had meningococcal C.