Robbin Thibodeaux Nunez
ASMP Advocate

My 19-year-old son, Thomas James Kent, was an active college student with a passion for surfing when he contracted a serious and deadly bacterial infection, called meningococcal disease. On Christmas Eve 2005, I received a call urging me to rush to the hospital because my son was falling in and out of consciousness. I had spoken to my son, who had been sick, earlier in the week, but thought he just had the flu. Once I arrived at the hospital, I learned that Thomas had been diagnosed with meningococcal disease. Thomas passed away on Christmas day, just hours after experiencing his first symptoms.