winterstinks - Sorry, I haven't had the pleasure of living out of state or of having had "better" medical care. Okay, I'll move.

Another tid bit of information about meningitis...i HAD the vaccination for the bacterial meningitis but still got VIRAL meningitis. While the deaths aren't as frequent with the viral meningitis; it is still very dangerous untreated. I was away at school in Kenosha when i woke up with THEE worst headache i have ever had. My neck and back were stiff as well. I drove myself to the campus clinic (which wasn't open) waited in my car for it to open, went inside, wrote my name down on the paper, and the last thing i remember was walking into the bathroom and getting sick. I had 3 spinal taps in a month and it is not a fun illness to have. A couple of weeks after i got over the meningitis i got sick again with what they diagnosed as Encephalitis which is swelling throughout your whole brain not just the meninges. When this illness set in i felt like i was having a stroke. The whole left side of my body (mostly face) went numb, i couldn't talk very well, and i had EXTREME tunnel vision (pretty much all my peripheral vision was blackness) these symptoms would affect me then go away then come back so don't be fooled if they reside momentarily. Just pay attention if you feel the onset of the worst flu of your life and your temperature spikes out of control. I don't think i will ever forget that feeling...im just glad i don't remember all of it =)

Very sad. My sister-in-law died from meningetis at the age of 25. She came home early from work one day and complained of flu like symptoms. By the following evening she had died. It's just incredible how quickly it can happen.

Swisschick, Obviously you probably have never lived anywhere but Wisconsin. I find the medical help here, inept and the doctors uncaring. Either that or not smart, or not afraid enough, to make the right diagnosis.

From what call1 said, it appears to have systoms that are similar to other non-threatening medical conditions. She might have had systems, thinking it was the flu and didn't think it was serious enough to seek earlier medical attention. We have some very fine medical institutions in this state so I'm thinking it just wasn't caught soon enough. So sad for family and friends.

vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate!!! so sad, my thoughts & prayers to the family.

Why couldn't they have saved her??? I know people that have had this and they were helped and are still alive!! I believe they take spinal fluid to check for this. I'm not pleased with medical care in Wisconsin at all.

This is a long story that all of us should read. I found it very worthwhile and educational. Thank you for sharing it with us.

call1- That was a very personal and emotional post. Thank you very much for sharing.

My condolences to this family. I had Meningococcal meningitis when I was a child,& to me whats sad is the death ratio of this disease has been consistent since I had it in 1975. 99 people out of 100 (usually children, & young adults,& the elderly) die, because they, or their parents don't seek treatment within the 18 hour or so, Window from the onset of .I remember one case back in the 90's where the parents did seek help for their daughter in a E.R.,& the doctors sent her home with a stomach flu diagnosis. This is a very deceptive disease, & even doctors sometimes decide not to do a Spinal Tap (required to diagnosis Meningitis). The symptoms in of themselves are dangerous because when they are first noticed, they seem innocent, and parents usually give their children Acetaminophen, or Tylenol, and have them go to bed. Where, sometimes they end up dying by the next morning. I first noticed a mild to moderate headache about 7 hrs after swimming in a lake one weekend in the middle of June in the Carolina's. I was spending the weekend at a friends house, and thought nothing of it, but my friends mom gave me a Tylenol before going to bed. The next morning when I woke up, my head hurt so bad I just rode me bike home as fast as I could (2.5 miles). By the time I got home, my head was so bad I was crying. It was getting hard to hold my head up. My mothers first, "Mom Diagnosis" was the Flu. She took my temperature, and it was 100.5 to 101. So she gave me someone Tylenol, ice for my head, and made me lie down on the couch. It wasn't much longer laying on the couch, & I started to shake uncontrollably. Mom took my temp again, & it had spiked to somewhere around 103+. My memory from after the couch gets scratchy, but years later I got my medical records so I could read. The E.R. doc's in the small rural hospital the ambulance took me to, first thought I had Rocky Mountain Spotted tick fever. My boy scouts troop has returned recently from a camping trip in the mountains. Long story short.. Even if a child lives through a disease like this, there is long term damage to the body from the 107+ temp (i got to 107.5). good possibility of brain damage, Limb, & digit amputations, skin grafts, etc. I guess the point I'm trying to get across is, if you notice your child, or yourself with any combination of these three symptoms.. High Fever, a headache that doesn't let up, & gets worst, & or a stiff neck. Go ahead and "Over React"! Take them to the nearest E.R. be assertive, if the E.R. doc isn't as concerned as you, the parent.. & demand the spinal tap. The worst thing that can happen if you are wrong, is... "You’re Wrong". If your concerns are correct, and the Spinal Tap isn't done, the worst thing that can happen is, "The death of your loved one." BTW, In no way am I suggesting any doctors, or parents are responsible for this girls, or anyone else’s death, for not doing something quick enough.

Very sad. I am glad that her family from overseas was able to be at her bedside.