A man aged 22 died of a brain infection after refusing to see a doctor about severe headaches.

Popular Darren Hutton, from Chartham, suffered intense migraines for three weeks before collapsing at home on March 20.

His distraught mum Karen called an ambulance but he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

A post-mortem revealed that he had a 6cm abscess on his brain.

Speaking after an inquest into his death, Karen told how her son had refused to see a doctor despite her making appointments on his behalf.

She said: “That’s the type of boy he was. He didn’t like to trouble anybody else or waste their time. He was quite stubborn and would never moan or complain about anything. I just wish I’d made him go or called the doctor out.”

At the inquest on last week, pathologist Salim Anjarwalla said the abscess on Darren’s brain could have been detected by doctors.

He said: “It’s difficult to say for sure, but it probably would have been. Given his symptoms, the doctor would have at least thought of excluding meningitis and carried out some tests and maybe a brain scan.

“His temperature was very high, up to 40 degrees at one point, so I would have thought this would be the case.

“He could have been given antibiotics, but it’s really difficult to say for sure.”

Karen, 48, said Darren’s headaches had gradually got worse in the week before his death.

She said: “They were very bad. It got to the point where he was just sitting in bed and wasn’t getting up."

His sister Natasha, 24, added: “Everytime he had something to eat or drink he threw up. He said he just wanted to relieve the pressure in his head.”

On Saturday, March 20, Karen told Darren she was taking him to the hospital but again he refused, saying he would go the following day.

Later that night he collapsed and died.

Karen said: “I found him face down on his pillow. I tried to unblock his airways and called an ambulance, but it was too late.

“I was just in shock - everyone was. He was just a normal, healthy man.”

Brother-in-law Pete Cahill, 25, said they suspected he’d had a brain abscess.

He said: “We looked his symptoms up and everything suggested an abscess. There was just a massive feeling of disbelief. Even now, three months on, no one can believe it’s happened.

“It just feels like he’s gone away for a few weeks and we’re expecting him to walk through the door.”

Coroner Rebecca Cobb agreed with a pathologist’s findings and ruled Darren had died of a bacterial infection in his brain. She concluded the infection had not been introduced by an outside source.

Verdict: Natural causes.