What do you think of when you hear the word meningitis? College age students? People in 3rd world countries? Low income families? When I think of meningitis I think about my precious baby girl, Mary, who contracted pneumococcal meningitis when she was 7.5 months old. Mary spent the last 18 days of her life in a pediatric intensive care unit having seizures, strokes, breathing on a ventilator, and eating through a feeding tube. I could not hold her for days because she was too medically fragile and had too many wires attached to her body. When I think about meningitis I think about how I never cared about it until it struck my family, I think about living our life with a void forever. My daughter Mary was a healthy baby, she wasn’t in day care, she wasn’t exposed to anything out of the ordinary, and she was vaccinated for meningitis. That’s right, she was vaccinated for meningitis and still contracted the disease. You see, there are over 90 strains of pneumococcal meningitis and the vaccine only covers 13 strains of bacteria, and only covered 7 strains when my daughters were vaccinated. This “rare” disease came into our home quietly, looking like an innocent cold, without our family or our doctors ever suspecting anything until it was too late.
Today is World Meningitis Day. It’s a day to raise awareness about a horrible disease that kills and debilitates people of all ages every year. This year, I want you to know about meningitis and not because of a tragedy in your family. Educate yourself on the symptoms of meningitis and the vaccines available that help prevent this deadly disease. If you suspect someone has meningitis, it is considered a 911 emergency. The classic signs are headache, fever and stiff neck, however, vomiting, confusion, lethargy, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to loud noise, skin rash and seizures can also occur. Symptoms are more difficult to detect in infants and younger children. They may show signs of fatigue, fever, irritability, poor appetite, high-pitched cry, stiff neck, swelling of the fontanel (soft spot), and a rash.
