Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Younger members of the forum will be saddened to hear of the unexpected and untimely death last night of Dennis Savage, a recent OB , after contracting E Coli.

I believe that recent members of the Band , in which Dennis was a key musician for a number of years, are being notified seperately.

I take it he was quite young, Janet.

Any more details ?

He was a Grecian last year.

My son was very sad; he said Dennis was one of the nicest boys he had ever met.

So young ...

He was.

Without becoming too personal, I'm intrigued how someone so young died from e-coli !

I fully appreciate it can quickly kill elderly people, (and infants), usually in hospital.

The young usually respond rapidly to treatment.

J.R. wrote:Without becoming too personal, I'm intrigued how someone so young died from e-coli !

I fully appreciate it can quickly kill elderly people, (and infants), usually in hospital.

The young usually respond rapidly to treatment.

Hi JR

It depends on the strain. There is one particularly virulent one that can cause kidney failure (haemolytic uraemic syndrome, I think). We had some fatalities in South Oz a few years ago that were traced to consumption of some disgusting spicy sausage that is quite popular here (thanks to german migrants I guess). Meat is fermented to make the sausage - yuk - and hygiene practices at the factory were less than satisfactory.

My thoughts are with Dennis' family and friends.

I guess we'll have to wait until we hear the full story !

It really is very sad, i hope the school have done something given the recentness of his time there.

He was down at Southampton with me, I didn't know him very well. I think he must have been the Fresher the Wessex Scene (uni paper) reported on that was a while back though, I believe he was found in his room.

Laura M wrote:He was down at Southampton with me, I didn't know him very well. I think he must have been the Fresher the Wessex Scene (uni paper) reported on that was a while back though, I believe he was found in his room.

That must be a different person Laura.
Dennis had been in hospital for a few weeks, and I know that his girlfriend, and presumably his parents, managed to spend some of his final hours with him.

That's good to know then his family was with him (the thought of dying alone in halls is very saddening), although of course this means that this year another poor fresher has sadly passed away. Thats the thing about uni really especially in halls, if you don't get on with your flatmates or if you are meant to be going away how long would it take before people notice you're missing.

At the evensong service last night, there was quite a mention of him and there was a brief service for his friends afterwards as well. His parents were at evensong - I think the school are supporting them both in this very difficult time.

Apparently it wasn't e-coli -- he had stomach cancer and didn't tell anyone.