[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 24, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL MENINGITIS AWARENESS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to 
support a resolution that I am introducing to raise awareness of the 
danger of meningitis B.
  Nearly 1,000 Americans contract the meningitis disease each year, and 
for more than 15 percent of the victims, it is, tragically, fatal. I 
want to share the stories of two of those victims here today.
  Emily Stillman was born on September 11, 1993. She used to joke that 
she had the unluckiest birthday, but her mom, Alicia, was always quick 
to reply: No; it was one of the luckiest days of our lives.
  Emily was a 19-year-old sophomore at Kalamazoo College in Michigan 
when she contracted meningitis B, and on January 31, 2013, Emily called 
home complaining of a headache. She was hospitalized for just 36 hours, 
and then she passed away.
  Emily had a rare strain of meningitis for which there was no approved 
vaccine yet in the United States. It was a shock, of course, to the 
Stillman family that their young daughter, who was so vibrant and full 
of life, was taken away at such a young age.
  Then, in 2014, just a little later, the vaccine for meningitis B was 
finally approved by the FDA and made available here in the United 
States after I and several other of my colleagues had been advocating 
for its approval. Yet, even today, fewer than 10 percent of young 
people receive the meningitis B vaccine.
  Emily's mother, Alicia, who is in the gallery with us today, founded 
The Emily Stillman Foundation to help preserve her daughter's memory 
and also advocate both for vaccination and organ donation.
  Mr. Speaker, Patti Wukovits also lost her 17-year-old daughter 
Kimberly in 2012. Patti is also joining us here in the House gallery 
today.
  Her daughter Kimberly Coffey was a high school senior on Long Island 
and was just 17 years old when she contracted meningitis B back in 
2012. Her parents, of course, were blindsided, thinking she had been 
vaccinated. Within hours of being hospitalized, she went into cardiac 
arrest and her organs began to fail. Her mother had to make that 
agonizing decision to actually remove her from life support.
  To honor Kimberly's memory, Patti founded The Kimberly Coffey 
Foundation, with the mission of also educating others about the 
importance of vaccination against meningitis B.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution that I am introducing today will 
designate April 24 as National Meningitis Awareness Day to help educate 
other parents and other young people about the dangers of meningitis 
and the important need for vaccination.
  Alicia Stillman and Patti Wukovits already know that alerting 
families about a simple vaccine can prevent a tragedy. It is also time 
for us, Mr. Speaker, to broaden the awareness so that they are not just 
doing this on their own.

                          ____________________