A widower is warning others of a deadly disease after his wife succumbed to meningitis just 18 hours after falling ill. 

Richard Masefield, 73, said his wife Mary was suffering from severe back pain when she went to hospital and received morphine for the aliment. 

But even doctors didn't spot that Mary Masefield was actually suffering from mengingococcal septicaemia - a form of blood poisoning from meningitis. 

Retired pilot Richard visited his wife in hospital and left again believing she would get better - but received a call from doctors the next morning to say Mary had taken a turn for the worse. 

Grandmother-of-three Mary, who was 75 at the time, then died suddenly after suffering from organ failure and two heart attacks - just hours after the pain first started. 

Richard, of Sheriff Hutton, North Yorks., said: "I couldn't believe how quickly it took hold. 

"I had no idea what the symptoms of meningitis were before that - it never even crossed my mind that it could be meningitis. 

"Her back was hurting and she felt ropey but there was no rash - with meningitis you always look for a rash, diarrhoea or a fever. 

"When in hospital they managed to contain the pain. The doctor was unaware he was looking at a patient with a terrible condition. He just thought she had back pain and a temperature. 

"Among the public there is a lack of awareness about the disease. Thousands of people across the world die needlessly every day because of this. 

"It is a real issue and it is vital that we raise awareness - i's not something that can be easily identified, that is the tricky bit." 

Richard and Mary were visiting their daughter Nicola's house in Perth in Scotland on December 27 last year when Mary first started feeling ill. 

She was out shopping with Nicola when she began suffering from severe back pain at about 2.30pm. 

An hour later the pain became so bad Nicola called an ambulance and Mary was taken to A&E at Perth Royal Infirmary. 

Richard was with their other daughter Alex and two grandsons Callum and Euan at a rugby match in Edinburgh when he first received a text saying Mary was unwell. 

He arrived at the hospital at 7pm and an hour later Mary being given various medications, including morphine, to relieve the back pain. 

Richard says he left the hospital at about 9.30pm that day believing she would recover and that he would see her feeling much better the next morning. 

But at 6.30am the next day on December 28 he received a call from the hospital telling him that Mary had taken a turn for the worse. 

Richard arrived shortly after - but by 8.30pm Mary had died after suffering two heart attacks and organ failure. 

Later tests revealed she had meningococcal septicaemia. 

Former Royal Air Force pilot Richard, who was also a flight instructor for British Aerospace, has lived all over the world with Mary, who worked as a nurse before becoming a housewife. 

The pair moved to Canada, Germany and Saudi Arabia because of Richard's career -before moving back to the UK in 1994. 

Meningitis Awareness Week is a week of action to get people to think meningitis, particularly before autumn, when cases begin to rise in the UK and Ireland. 

Meningitis can affect anyone, but is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.