THREE months ago, Michelle and Stuart Jackson were preparing to celebrate their first Christmas together as a married couple.

But days after first complaining of earache Stuart would be dead at the age of just 56.

Michelle said: "My heart broke that day - my life has changed completely without my husband.

"I was married and widowed in the same year.

"My whole future has been wiped out and I need to try and find a new one without him.

"This is devastating, and very difficult to get my head around."

Stuart and Michelle tied the knot on a beach in the Caribbean in February 2017 after 10 years together, having met at a mutual friend's wedding.

Michelle had moved to Fairfield from Scotland in order to be with the dad-of-two and granddad, who would propose on Christmas Eve 2015.

On December 10 last year, Stuart had been suffering from earache but was still well enough to attend Debenhams' staff Christmas party - with the couple both having worked in the Golden Square Shopping Centre department store.

Three days later, Michelle returned home from a shift and found Stuart asleep upstairs.

She went to do some Christmas shopping at Marks and Spencers, but when Michelle arrived home again she could not wake her husband.

The 45-year-old said: "It took me 10 minutes to try and rouse him, and when he did wake he was confused and not making sense.

"I then realised he had been sick in a bowl that he had tucked under the bed.”

Stuart was rushed to intensive care at Warrington Hospital suffering from bacterial meningitis, but took a turn for the worse four days before Christmas when doctors discovered he had contracted sepsis.

Michelle added: "The nurses were all around him trying to stabilise his blood pressure, but it just kept dropping.

"Eventually his heart just stopped due to the blood pressure dropping so much.

"They spent 15 minutes trying to revive him but he had gone."

Michelle is now working to raise awareness of the devastating condition, and set up Stuart's Forever Fund to support charity Meningitis Now.

She added: "Meningitis Now is a brilliant charity - within two weeks of Stuart passing they had sent a support worker to see me and offered money towards the funeral, but we wanted them to keep it.

"I knew there might be some complications from the meningitis but I never thought I'd lose him.

"He started showing signs of having sepsis in the morning and by 6.30pm he'd gone - it was that quick.

"Not many people have a good understanding of what sepsis is and what the symptoms are, and people could be saved if they did.

"I want to make sure people are aware of how serious sepsis is and what the consequences can be if it's not treated quickly."