A woman has spoken of how her husband’s life was saved thanks to a campaign set-up in the wake of the tragic death of a 21-year-old.

The much-loved University of Liverpool graduate and talented sportsman, who was affectionately known as ‘Looky’ to many, had been playing football just days before his passing.

In the weeks after his untimely death, Lucas’s family spoke out about the Manxman’s battle with the infection in the press in a bid to raise awareness of the symptoms.

And luckily for Charlie Briars, one of those articles would go on to play a crucial role in saving her husband Craig’s life.

After returning to the couple’s Ballasalla home from a family holiday in Lanzarote with their three children in January, Craig began to feel under the weather.

However, Craig initially shrugged off his symptoms ‘in typical male fashion,’ according to his wife, and continued to live life as normal.

But as the days went by, his symptoms worsened and led the usually fit and healthy Craig to experience pains in his head and neck and bouts of vomiting.

Mrs Briars was at a loss as to what ailment her husband might be suffering from.

‘I still didn’t think that’s what it would be’, she said.

‘I kept going to check on him and it’s like he was vacant’.

Lucas Martin, aged 21, died suddenly last year

However, when Charlie stumbled on an article online about Lucas’s battle with meningitis, she began to research the condition and noticed similarities.

‘I couldn’t get Lucas’s’ story out of my head,’ she added. ‘That’s when I decided to ring an ambulance.’

After raising the alarm, paramedics arrived at the family home and told Charlie that they suspected her husband had contracted an infection on the brain.

Mr Briars and the family was rushed to Noble’s Hospital in an ambulance where medics gave Charlie the news she had been fearing - her husband was being treated for bacterial meningitis.

‘I can only describe it as absolute fear at that point, because I’d already read what happens after reading Lucas’ story,’ said Mrs Briars.

‘I knew this wasn’t going to be good’.

While Craig received treatment, Charlie and her children were sent home from the hospital during the early hours of the morning, not knowing if they’d see the much-loved father and husband again.

But just hours later, the family received a phone call from Craig himself.

Speaking about the call, Charlie said: ‘It was amazing, I just felt absolute relief.

Craig had suffered inflammation of the brain, known as encephalitis, and had Charlie not acted when she did, it could’ve been fatal.

‘Another 24 hours and our story would’ve been completely different.’

Craig is now back at the family home and despite experiencing ‘horrendous brain fog’ and bouts of low-energy, his health is slowly improving.

Once Craig was over the worst, the Briars’ family reached out to Lucas Martin’s family’s to express their gratitude for raising awareness about the 21 year-old’s plight.

Lucas Martin’s father Brett said it was ‘really heartwarming’ to be told of Craig’s recovery and to known that his son is still having an impact on people’s lives to this day.

Prior to his passing in September, Lucas had signed up to become an organ donor and had actively encouraged his friends to do the same.

Lucas Martin with his mum Nicola after his graduation last September

Following his death, his liver and kidneys were all donated to three strangers who were in desperate need of an organ transplant.

Mr Martin said that he takes solace in how Lucas’s story has helped spread the important message of how serious infections can be.

He said: ‘Nothing can ever compensate for the loss of Lucas, but the fact is as things stand he’s saved at least one life with his organ donation and he’s improved or saved two other lives, and now this.

‘It gives us some consolation that our loss is helping somebody else through very, very difficult circumstances. It was a lovely message to receive and it heartened us all, the family and everyone else who’s involved in the charity.’

Since his death, Lucas’s family have also set up ‘Looky’s Aid’, a registered Manx charity which aims to give life-changing opportunities to young people facing adversity.

And in a bid to boost the campaign’s coffers, Mr Martin says he and a group of Lucas’s friends are planning to embark on a fundraising trip up Mount Kilimanjaro early next year.

Next January or February with some of Lucas’s friends.

He said: ‘Our aim is to raise £20,000 before we start distributing (the funds to individuals) because we think it’s probably going to cost around £6,000 per child per year to support them.

‘So we want kind of three years of support in the bank before we before we really sort of start dispersing and we’re working on getting sort of educationalists and social experts to help us choose who we should support.’

To find out more about the Looky’s Aid charity, visit the website www.lookys-aid.org.