Kaitie Mayberry Hauser
ASMP Advocate

I was a freshman at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, when I contracted meningococcal meningitis in 1996.

I became ill while on spring break visiting friends at Arizona State University. A few days after returning to Muhlenberg for the spring semester, I developed flu-like symptoms—fever, migraine, vomiting, and a strange purple rash. When I went to the ER, the doctors initially suspected Toxic Shock Syndrome or chickenpox and planned to discharge me back to my dorm. Thankfully, a doctor doing her final rounds before leaving for the night decided to admit me for observation. If I had been sent back to my dorm, I would not have survived.

Within 24 hours of my first symptoms and just a few hours after arriving at Sacred Heart Hospital, I was fighting for my life. I was given less than a 1% chance of survival. My heart stopped, my organs failed, and I was placed in a medically induced coma on a ventilator. I even received my last rites. My family was flown in from Illinois to say their goodbyes. I spent the next 11 days in the hospital and miraculously survived without visible side effects. However, I still live with the internal residual effects of the disease every day.

In the summer of 2008, I was introduced to the National Meningitis Association and spent the next 10 years advocating and speaking to groups across the nation and in Illinois. I share my personal story to educate others about meningococcal vaccines and the importance of prevention.

Today, I work in the nonprofit sector in training, education, and events. I live in the suburbs of Chicago with my husband, two dogs, and two goats.