It's up to YOU to help
your patients fight
meningitis
Help fight meningitis by helping your adolescent patients understand that they may be at risk for MenB1:
- Smoking tobacco
- Using marijuana
- Crowding (living in dormitories or barracks)
Help fight meningitis by understanding how this disease impacts real people
Katie’s Story
Katie was 18 years old when her life changed in an instant; she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. She went from being a 3-sport athlete to fighting for her life in the hospital. Today, Katie sees herself as “one of the lucky ones” who survived meningococcal disease.
On-Screen Text:
Katie is a meningococcal disease Advocate. She is not a healthcare provider. This is her story in her own words. Katie 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.
Katie:
So I was 18. It was my freshman year and I was at my desk studying one night. Stood up and had terrible pain in my back. Went to the doctor and you know, had scans and some consults and was told that I had a herniated disk. Two weeks after surgery I came down with the worst headache I had ever experienced. I got home and laid down, went to sleep, thought, you know, maybe if I get a good night's rest I'll feel better. But by the next morning, I was disoriented, very weak. I couldn't get up. And uhm.. was just in excruciating pain. The headache had gone beyond description. My mom was an ER nurse and called 911 and uhm.. ambulance came out immediately and uh.. took me to a local hospital. Towards the beginning it had gotten really bad and there were concerns of whether or not I'd even make it. (I) remember having to do spinal taps and tests which did confirm I had meningitis. I remember coming to, like, vaguely during that conversation between my doctors and my parents and I remember hearing my mom say, "I'm so worried if she goes to the ICU that she'll give up. If you put her in the ICU and you put her on the vent, she's gonna give up." Hearing how scared she was and the fear in my doctor's voice, I was legitimately afraid that I wasn't gonna make it through the night. The pain was excruciating. It felt like being set on fire from the inside-out. I would wake up and be screaming before I even opened my eyes. It was extremely intense. I do remember coming to after, like, the fourth or fifth week and realizing that, like, the entire world had just, like, kept moving. Like I had lost time. It was the wildest sensation. It's like I knew I was alive and, like, time had passed, but it was like all of a sudden I woke up and 5 weeks had passed. After about 6 weeks I was released back home but I was still receiving continual care. I had daily visits, multiple visits from home health nurses. I was still getting antibiotic infusions through a PICC line. So in that time, I had thrown myself into my studies. I uh.. transferred schools. I started doing internships. Very passionate about the arts and so having those opportunities and then going back and creating my own art in my apartment, you know, that was really how I searched within myself during that time. That was when Joseph met me. Dated very briefly before we got married. We were very sure of- of each other. And that was also when Joseph really, I think, started to understand the impact that meningitis was having on me. I deal with the lingering effects of meningitis it feels like every second of every day; I'm constantly reminded of it. I have a lot of lingering symptoms: severe headaches, motion sickness, nausea.
On-Screen Text:
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.
Katie:
Ever since I've had meningitis, it's been a mission of mine to help spread awareness so that other people know how devastating this disease can be. Especially talking to other parents that are making decisions for their children or preparing their children to go off to college or what have you is to know that there are vaccines; there are ways that we can help prevent this horrible disease.
On-Screen Text:
Start the conversation. Speak with your patients and their families about the risks of meningitis B. (Fade to black)
GSK LOGO
Trademarks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.
©2023 GSK or licensor.
BEXVID230055 December 2023
Produced in USA.
Allison’s Story
Allison is a mom of 3 whose life was changed forever after her son Keegan passed away from bacterial meningitis. Now, her mission is to spread awareness about the risks of meningococcal disease, so no other mom has to go through the heartache of losing a child.
On-Screen Text:
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.
On-Screen Text:
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 bursting 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.
On-Screen Text:
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.
On-Screen Text:
Start the conversation. Speak with your patients and their families about the risks of meningitis B. (Text fades)
GSK LOGO
Trademarks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.
©2024 GSK or licensor.
MNUVID230014 January 2024
Produced in USA.
The people in these videos are advocates for meningococcal disease vaccination who were compensated by GSK for their participation. These videos are personal experiences; other people’s experiences with meningococcal disease may be different.
Help fight meningitis by understanding the threat
In as few as 24 hours, meningitis can progress rapidly and potentially lead to death.1,2
Help fight meningitis with vaccination
Five serogroups of meningococcal disease—A, B, C, W, and Y—can be prevented with vaccines.3
According to CDC survey data from 20224:
- Only 29.4% of 17-year-olds had received at least 1 dose of a MenB vaccine
- Only 11.9% of 17-year-olds had received at least 2 doses of a MenB vaccine
Help fight meningitis with the power of a meaningful discussion
Patients and their parents count on you to be up to date on the CDC recommendation for MenB vaccination.
Vaccination may not protect all recipients.
CDC=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; MenB=meningococcal serogroup B; MenACWY=meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y.
References
- Pelton SI. Meningococcal disease awareness: clinical and epidemiological factors affecting prevention and management in adolescents. J Adsolesc Health. 2010;46:S9-S15.
- Thompson MJ, Ninis N, Perera R, et al. Clinical recognition of meningococcal disease in children and adolescents. Lancet. 2006;367(9508):397-403.
- Meningococcal vaccination for adolescents: information for healthcare professionals. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reviewed November 20, 2023. Accessed January 11, 2024. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mening/hcp/adolescent-vaccine.html
- Pingali C, Yankey D, Elam-Evans LD, et al. National vaccination coverage among adolescents aged 13–17 years—National Immunization Survey-Teen, United States, 2022. MMWR. 2023;72(34):912-919. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7234a3