Mother keeps promise to son who died of sepsis in heartbreaking video

William Mead died of sepsis in December 2014 after a series of failings meant his illness was not recognised Credit: Family

A mother from Cornwall has fulfilled a promise to her son who died from sepsis, by creating a heartbreaking video to raise awareness of the disease.

Melissa Mead's little boy, William, died in 2014 when a string of NHS failures led to his case of sepsis not being properly recognised.

A report into his death criticised GPs, out-of-hours services and a 111 call handler who failed to spot the symptoms. In January, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt apologised in the House of Commons on behalf of the NHS for William's death.

Now Mr Hunt is backing Melissa's campaign which officially starts on Tuesday 13th September - World Sepsis Day.

Watch the heartbreaking video below where she fulfils her promise to her son:

The video is part of a wider project called the 'Think Sepsis and Ask Sepsis campaign' which is aimed at recognising warning signs in both adults and children. The Department of Health has agreed to run it independently of a similar campaign to raise awareness of meningitis.

Sepsis, also known as septicaemia or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body's immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight an infection.

There are about 150,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year, 44,000 of which are fatal, according to the UK Sepsis Trust.