Every mother wants what’s best for their children. When they get sick, moms are the first ones who worry. Alex Dempsey went to pick up her son Killy up from daycare because her 4-month old baby had a fever. She thought that it was just a cold or a stomach bug so she let him rest and relax for a while. Little did she know that her son was in grave danger.

After Alex brought her son home, Killy started to show some serious symptoms and she grew a bit concerned. Tylenol was not helping with his fever and she knew that something was seriously wrong. She immediately rushed him to the hospital where Killy was quickly diagnosed with meningitis.

Meningitis is an infection that can be life-threatening for babies but for adults, it is typically prevented with a vaccine. The doctors made Alex understand that the infection didn’t just appear out of nowhere. There was a report that another person from the same daycare school also suffered from the same infection but this infected person had not been vaccinated. Meningitis can be fatal because it directly affects the brain.

It can infect the membranes that are covering the brain, leading to death in serious cases. Meningitis symptoms include fever, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, muscle pains, and also rashes.

The symptoms may unfold over the course of one to four days making the diagnosis more threatening because of late detection which reduces the chances of survival. The viral form of infection is the least frightening, as the bacterial form is more deadly.

According to the CDC, it is recommended that all children should be given a meningitis vaccine when they are between 11 and 12 years old, and another ‘booster’ shot when they are 16 years old.

An unvaccinated adult can carry the bacterial infection in their throats or sinuses and there might not be be visible symptoms. Killy was quite young and this is the reason why his immune system was not strong enough to fight off this life-threatening infection. Sadly, this baby passed away because of the infection in less than 24 hours after he was brought in to the hospital. Killy’s mom shared her thoughts:

“The moment they said meningitis I knew there was a really strong possibility that we were going to lose him… He was only four months old he didn’t really have an immune system to help us with that.”

Alex clarified that the doctors and health officials confirmed that they have been tracking this issue down and according to their theories, an unvaccinated person is to blame. Alex now is trying to warn other parents to get their kids vaccinated.

Losing a child is extremely heartbreaking especially when you know that as a parent, you did everything on your part to make sure that your baby is safe from any harms and dangers.

As the family mourns the death of Killy, please keep them in our prayers!