The family of an 11-year-old boy who died of sepsis and meningitis have recently donated over £4,000 to charities, after fundraising in his memory.

When Ieuan Pugh fell ill, his mum Samantha Watkins thought he had a typical winter bug and put him to bed.

She checked on him throughout the evening, but things took a turn for the worse later that night.

"I went into his room one last time as I went to bed, and thought he'd just been sick on the floor. But when I turned the light on, I saw he was covered head-to-toe in this purple rash," said Samantha.

"We called 111, but then his breathing became very strange so they dispatched an ambulance. We got to the hospital about 11.10pm and Ieuan went straight to the treatment room.

"They tried their best to save Ieuan, and attempted to resuscitate him, but on the last time they had to give up," she said.

Ieuan died on 25 November 2019. He had meningococcal septicaemia and sepsis, and he had gone into organ failure.

The death of a child is a tragedy that no family, or parent, ever wants to face. As the anniversary of Ieuan's passing approached, Samantha created a list of activities to distract her, sharing her ideas online.

"It just sort of escalated; other people got involved and it became massive," she explained.

"As Ieuan was 11 when he passed away, we focused a lot on that number.

"There were 11 different challenges that we completed throughout November 2020. Most of the physical ones were completed virtually because of Covid."

The challenges were:

1. A ninja warrior obstacle course
2. Read 11 David Walliams book
3. A 21-mile row, the equivalent of the English Channel
4. Complete 11 Joe Wicks HIIT workouts
5. Do 1,100 bounces on a trampoline
6. Complete a virtual mountain climb
7. 90-mile cycle ride
8. Swim 11 lengths
9. Run 26.2 miles
10. A 12-hour gaming marathon
11. Wear and eat only yellow things for a day

"The yellow day was on 25 November, the anniversary of Ieuan's passing. Everyone was making their Facebook profile picture yellow, and his school all wore yellow," said Samantha. "Sitting and gaming for 12 hours was quite hard for me, because I'm constantly moving. We did that with Ieuan's friends. "The last challenge was swimming the 11 lengths. The pool staff kindly let us go in during lockdown, and a lifeguard came in on their day off too. That was awesome." Ieuan's nine-year-old sister Seren also joined in, reading 11 books, completing an 11-mile running, rowing and cycling challenge, and scaling a virtual mountain climb. In total, the family raised £4429.54 for three charities: the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, 2 Wish Upon A Star and The UK Sepsis Trust. "We chose the Poppy Appeal because that's what really meant the most to Ieuan. He loved being in Barry Sea Cadets and taking part in the Remembrance Service. "Then as a family, we've had a lot of support from 2 Wish Upon A Star and The UK Sepsis Trust. "The level of support that we've received from both has just been absolutely immense. "We managed to raise so much money for the charities, so we were really pleased with how well it went." Samantha and Seren presented cheques to each of the charities last week. "If it was me, I would have just posted the cheques off, but Seren is nine years old and the things she's achieved are above and beyond," said Samantha. "So, we just wanted to make it a bit more special, and we got some photos for her memory box." As well as raising money, Samantha's goal was to raise awareness of sepsis and meningitis symptoms, which can include a fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue, blotchy or discoloured skin, a rash, and a high temperature. "If one person reads this and thinks 'could it be sepsis?' and gets it checked, then it's worth it," said Samantha.