THE devastated family of a baby boy who tragically died from meningococcal meningitis have praised staff at the Alexandra Hospital who battled for hours to save him.

Ten-week-old Braydon Higgitt showed no signs of being ill until the morning of Sunday, November 30, when his condition deteriorated rapidly after being taken to Alexandra with a slight temperature.

A member of the Abbeydale family said Braydon, who was born one month prematurely, had been fine on the Saturday night.

She said: "I was looking after him and he was fine and feeding as normal. On the Sunday morning I got him up and noticed he had a temperature and was quite hot but he was still feeding."

Shortly before 9am the family decided to take Braydon to the Alexandra to get him checked over by doctors.

At first staff were treating Braydon for a bronchial infection but a while later they began treatment for suspected meningitis.

But the strain of meningitis was just too aggressive.

"The staff at the hospital tried desperately to save Braydon, they did the best they could and we would like to thank them," the family said.