Colin Andrew Main

December 23, 1980 - April 27, 2007
Colin was a young adult with many friends and many passions, ranging from cooking to the Dalai Lama to the Canucks.

The first eight years after graduation from High School were spent pursuing a career in the food service industry. He decided in 2006 to pursue a different path and enrolled at S.A.I.T. in their Broadcast Engineering Course.

He went to Calgary in August 2006 and ended up staying in Strathmore at his Uncle's and commuting into Calgary for school. We found out later he was one of the best students in the course, helping others with their work. We knew he was doing fine, but didn't know he was excelling. He had found his passion.

He was just about to write his first year's final exams in April 2007 when he came into contact with Meningitis. We talked to him for the last time on the evening of Sunday April 22. He was happy and feeling fine. So excited about getting home!! His Aunt and Uncle had traveled to Vancouver for that week, so he was alone in the basement suite.

On Monday April 23rd he emailed his instructors asking if he could postpone the writing of his exams until Tuesday because he wasn't feeling well.

That was the last communication from him. He was found on the evening of Friday the 27th. We were informed on the evening of Monday April 30th that Colin had died sometime Tuesday from meningitis and Waterhouse Friederichsen Syndrome. Because of the delay in finding him and location of his death, the particular strain that he had wasn't positively identified.

We got hold of the Calgary Regional Health and S.A.I.T. on the Tuesday morning May 1st.  We were told that everything possible was being done. We found out later that the extent of "everything" was an email was sent out to classmates and staff of S.A.I.T. saying they had nothing to worry about, and phone calls from C.R.H. to classmates asking if they were o/k.    

Our son's death has been the worst thing that's ever happened to us.  There was no effort to find out how or where he contacted this awful disease. This poor response to Colin's death left the very real possibility of having this happen to someone else's family and that is unforgivable.

The story of his death only serves as a warning to other parents. It doesn't even start to explain the loss of our very special boy and how it's affected us.

We miss him so much!!! 

Vic, Norah & Steve Main

vmain@shaw.ca

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