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Allison is a meningococcal disease Advocate and mother to her son, Keegan, who was diagnosed with meningococcal disease. She is not a healthcare provider. This is her story in her own words. Allison was compensated by GSK for her participation in this program. This is one person’s experience. Other people’s experiences with meningococcal disease may be different. Vaccination may not protect all recipients.

Allison:

My son Keegan almost never got sick growing up. He loved to roller skate, to play sports. He wanted to make sure everybody knew who he was, and he wanted people to love him. He never wanted to miss a thing. He liked being right in the middle of everything, the center of attention.

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ALLISON

MOM & ADVOCATE

Allison:

One morning when Keegan was 17, he woke up not feeling well. He complained of a headache, sinus pressure, stuffy nose, and just not feeling well, so we decided to take him to the doctor. They told us that it was a cold, and that he should just go home and rest. The next day I took him to the second doctor's appointment, and they basically said the same thing. My intuition as a mom, I knew something was wrong. Keegan was staying in the bed and just lounging around, and that's not him. He's a busy body. And the next morning my husband got up to go to work and I went in to check on him, and Keegan was actively having a stroke. I called 911, screaming at them to please hurry to come and get him. We got into the emergency room. They started running tests, checking blood work, everything that they could think of. The neurologist literally came busting in the room and looked at us and told us that he needed to be rushed into emergency surgery. It turns out that it was a rare disease called bacterial meningitis. The emergency surgery needed to be done right away to release pressure on his brain. Keegan's brain continued to swell. And the next morning he had an emergency CT scan about 4:00 AM, and the neurosurgeon came in, and she had tears in her eyes, and she looked at us and told us that we needed to call our family in, that she had done all she could do. In the last few hours I had with him, I- I got to be a mom. I got to be just- just mom and Keegan. I got to- to lay there and love on him. I got to snuggle him. I soaked in every single moment. I- I didn't-- I didn't wanna forget his smell or his-- the way his hand felt holding mine. I just– I wanted to remember everything about him. There's nothing normal about burying your child. I struggled very hard. I didn't sleep for the first five months. I- I suffered a lot mentally, emotionally. I wish that I could have saved him. I feel like I failed him. I told him that he was gonna be okay. I had no clue that I would never talk to him, or that he would never tell me that he loved me again. I would've held him a lot longer, and I would've made sure he knew how much he was loved.

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Adolescents/young adults need vaccines to help protect against the 5 vaccine-preventable serogroups for meningitis—Men A, B, C, W, & Y. Vaccination may not protect all recipients.

Allison:

Bacterial meningitis is rare, but it can happen. We thought that Keegan was protected. He was up to date on all his vaccines. We did not realize that his vaccine did not cover him against meningitis B. It's important for me to share Keegan's story with other people, to help educate them, and to hopefully that no one else will have to go through what we've had to go through.

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Talk to your teen's doctor about meningitis B vaccination today. Vaccination may not protect all recipients.

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NPUS-MNUVID240001 May 2024

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Get to know the real-life impact of meningococcal disease