A TEENAGER who lost her baby son to meningitis has left the North-East for university vowing to dedicate her life to charity in his memory.

Amy Hayes, of Tanfield, near Stanley , County Durham, was devastated when seven-month-old Oscar contracted the deadly disease and died suddenly in February.

She was in a photography lesson when she learnt he was desperately ill and took him to hospital.

The doctors did not detect meningitis straight away and believed Oscar had a 48-hour bug that was going around, so she took him home.

But the next day, Oscar began moaning, so Amy rang an ambulance and he was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

Amy said: “Oscar’s brain had swelled so much that even the brain stem was affected, which is the part that controls breathing.

“The doctor told me in his opinion there was no chance he would wake up. I could barely breathe.

“I walked straight back to the room in floods of tears and just picked him up and held him as I cried.”

The family suffered a second tragedy in June when Amy’s father, John, 52, who lived in the Philippines, died of a heart attack.

The 18-year-old, and 11 friends and family, did the Great North Run last weekend and have raised more than £5,000 for Meningitis UK in memory of Oscar and John.

Despite her heartache, Amy, who attended Tanfield School, completed her A-levels and last month learnt she had achieved an A* in photography, an A in graphics and a B in fine art.

Yesterday, she left for Bath, where she will be studying for a degree in fine art.

She now wants to settle in to university life, but is already planning to tackle a triathlon next year as well, as the Three Peaks Challenge.

Amy said: “I was completely broken, as any mother would be. But I have decided I am going to continue on in Oscar’s memory raising money and living the life he didn’t have the opportunity to live.

“I am going to make him proud.”