Meet Kimberly

Kim's Meningitis Story
As told by her mom, Patti Wukovits

​As a healthy high school senior, Kimberly came home from school one afternoon complaining of body aches and a fever of 101. Her pediatrician recommended she come to the office the following morning if her flu-like symptoms didn’t improve. The next morning, it was clear that this was something much worse.

​She complained that her entire body hurt her from “my eyelashes down to my toes," and she felt like her ankles were "bleeding.” I saw a few tiny purple dots on her ankles, and as a registered nurse, I immediately knew it was very serious. She was rushed to the Emergency Room.

When the doctor in the Emergency Room told me she suspected Kimberly had bacterial meningitis and that the bacteria had infected her blood, I told her it couldn’t be possible because she had been vaccinated with the meningitis vaccine. I had ensured that both of my children were up to date on all their vaccines, including meningococcal vaccination. Kimberly was given antibiotics immediately, but the disease was already progressing at a devastating pace.

​​I later learned that the meningococcal vaccine Kimberly had received (MenACWY) did not protect her against meningitis B (meningococcal serogroup B). I also learned that, in 2012, there wasn’t a meningitis B vaccine available in the U.S. I was under the false impression that Kimberly was fully protected against meningococcal meningitis, when, in fact, she was not.

Within hours of Kimberly’s first symptoms, her heart and kidneys were failing, and she was in septic shock. By then, the purple dots had turned into a purple rash that spread all over her body, and she was rapidly losing blood flow to her extremities. Two days later, the official diagnosis was confirmed. Kimberly had meningococcemia — the meningococcal bacteria had infected her blood, and she was fighting for her life. After starting dialysis for her failing kidneys, she went into cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator. Kimberly still had brain activity, and we still had hope. As the days stretched on, it was apparent that if Kimberly survived, she would likely be a quadruple amputee.

​A few days later, it was determined that Kimberly had an impending brain herniation. Further testing declared her to be brain-dead. I made the most difficult decision of my life to remove my beautiful 17-year-old daughter from life support. Not one hour goes by that I don't think about her.

​Kimberly Coffey was buried three days before her high school graduation in the prom dress she didn’t get to dance in. She didn’t have the opportunity to be vaccinated against Meningitis B.