Watch our new series featuring ordinary people across the region, whose lives have been altered completely by a life-changing experience.
Our first piece is the story of how a family tragedy 30 years ago started one man's crusade to eradicate the deadly disease of meningitis.
Here is a guide to the main warning signs and symptoms of meningitis
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The country's two leading meningitis charities have announced plans to merge. Bristol-based Meningitis UK and the Meningitis Trust in Stroud will join forces next month. They're planning to keep their individual names until a re-launch at the end of the year.
Onor Crummay fell ill with meninigitis B when she was a student at the University of Bristol. It left her with learning difficulties which she managed to battle and now supports Meningitis UK's campaign to get the Government to have children immunised against strain B of bug.
Here is her message about how important a vaccine is.
Hannah Smart's five-year-old daughter Kelsey died of meningitis B last February. She says Kelsey's life would have been saved if she had been immunised.
She was at the launch of a campaign by South Gloucestershire-based charity Meningitis UK to persuade the Government to immunise children against strain B of the bug.
The Little Theatre cinema in Bath is to screen a special film highlighting the risks to children of developing meningitis. It's called Meningitis: Keep Watching - and will be shown to mothers and babies coming to the "Big Scream" screening.
It's part of a major new awareness campaign which is being co-ordinated by three west-based charities. Every week six families in the UK lose a loved one to meningitis and its associated diseases.
Here's a short version of the film, which has been produced jointly by the Meningitis Trust, Meningitis UK and the Meningitis Research Foundation.
The UK's three meningitis charities have joined forces to launch an awareness campaign. They want parents to stay vigilant for signs of the disease, even if their children have had injections.
An information film to be shown at the Little Theatre cinema next week in Bath will warn that children aren't protected against all types of meningitis.
The parents of a baby girl who survived meningitis are urging others to be on their guard against the disease. Cherie and Darren Thorn are helping to promote Meningitis Awareness Week which starts today.
It comes as a petition was handed in to Downing street this afternoon calling on the Goverment to introduce vaccines for the disease.
The Thorn's baby, Amelie, was diagnosed at just five weeks old, but early intervention and treatment helped her to make a full recovery. Others, though, aren't as fortunate.
The parents of a baby girl who survived meningitis are urging others to be on their guard against the disease. Cherie and Darren Thorn are helping to promote Meningitis Awareness Week which starts today.
It comes as a petition was handed in to Downing street this afternoon calling on the Goverment to introduce vaccines for the disease.
The Thorn's baby, Amelie, was diagnosed at just five weeks old, but early intervention and treatment helped her to make a full recovery. Others, though, aren't as fortunate.
A mum from Bristol whose baby daughter survived meningitis is encouraging her community to Be Meningitis Wise.
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