Since her daughter’s death, Beth has campaigned on the disease, warning a lack of education about it and awareness of vaccines compounds the problem.
Beth has since campaigned to legislate on booster jabs for over-16s, along with a greater understanding of the disease.
She said: “The thing with meningitis is, you think ‘oh I’ve got a headache, flu or an ear ache’, but within a few, very short hours it takes hold of you and there is nothing you can do.
“That’s why it’s so important to know the symptoms and that [young people] have had the vaccinations.”
On the morning of the funeral for Emily, who her mother described as a “happy, healthy 18-year-old”, the family received something through the post.
Beth said: “She got a letter from UCAS with a stamp on the front saying ‘there’s a deadly strain of meningitis doing the rounds, make sure your child’s vaccinated’.”
She admitted she had not been aware of such a vaccine, which could have potentially saved her daughter’s life.
“I’ll never get over the fact that I didn’t know about this,” she said. “She didn’t need to die but it’s just something we’re just going to have to deal with.”
In the near nine years since her daughter’s passing, Beth said life had been “unbearable”.
She said: “I’ll never get another Emily, she’s always missing.”