Shoutbox

Yesterday was my last day in school, and to celebrate the that the whole class was going on a two-day cruise to Sweden and back. However, one of my classmates, a guy liked my all of the class, really friendly and talented, got a high fever on Wednesday and chose to stay home so that he could get better, as he was planning on going for a one-week skiing holiday tonight. This morning, on the second day of the cruise, one of my classmates had been in touch with the guys parents, and they said he had meningitis (for those too lazy to read, it's a inflammation in a part of the brain). He was lying on the bed unresponsive to everything, eyes looking really strange, and he was rushed to hospital, where he was put to sleep. They were going to try to wake him up tonight. The whole class was very shocked when we heard about it.
I've read and heard that there are two types of meningitis, one that is caused by a virus and one caused by bacteria. The one caused by the virus is more common and it doesn't have that severe consequences. The one caused by bacteria is, however, really dangerous and even with good and fast treatment the person can die from it. So, I'm worried about him having the version caused by bacteria, as the symptoms he had seemed really bad.
I don't really know why I wrote this, I guess it was to get it off my chest. Another one in our class had meningitis caused by virus a few years back, and even if it wasn't anything severe (he had troubles moving his head around) he couldn't do anything for a month (he couldn't even come to school by doctor's orders). Does anyone of you have any experiences with this? The thing I would most want to hear is about people surviving the disease caused by bacteria. The bottom line is I'm really worried until I know anything more.