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Bob and Dee Dee Werner, Becky Werner Meningitis Foundation, Wisconsin, USA
On February 25, 2004, our otherwise happy life took a dark turn! Our healthy, 20 year old daughter, Becky, died unexpectedly from meningitis. Becky's death was, and continues to be, an unfathomable concept. We still cannot grasp the idea that she is gone and that we are facing the rest of our lives without her! It all happened so fast!
When we started to talk to others about what happened to Becky and our family, it was amazing to us that no one really knew anything about this silent killer, yet we ran into numerous people that knew of someone that had meningitis but still knew nothing of the disease.
It became apparent that we needed to bring awareness of meningitis to other families and to spare other families the pain of burying their child or sibling at such a young and vibrant age! We also knew that Becky would have wanted us to do something about this . . . to save other lives! We created The Becky Werner Meningitis Foundation and our message is "Don't Share!" Our Foundation's primary goal is to speak to students, community/medical groups and whoever else will listen to a meningitis story from a parent's perspective.
By speaking to the various groups, it allows us a process in our grieving journey. Everyone who has lost someone wants to talk about their loved one's life. This affords us the opportunity to talk about Becky and remember who she was and to bring her life to others. Doing presentations also allows us to bring something good to the world out of something so terrible!
Every person should know the risks and dangers pertaining to meningitis! Educate yourself so that you do not become a victim. Don't share things like food, soda, water bottles, lip stick, etc as this is the open doorway for many diseases not just meningitis!
To date, our Foundation has reached out to literally millions of people through speaking engagements, articles on various web sites, TV/radio appearances and commercials, newspapers and magazines, etc. However, our biggest achievement is that we have personally touched the lives of over 15,000 high school students! Thru our fundraising efforts, we have had the opportunity to donate over $25,000 to the WI Medical College for meningitis research.
Our greatest goal is to bring about worldwide meningitis awareness. Early detection is the key to this disease as well as vaccination. Every parent should be afforded the opportunity to protect their children by getting them vaccinated against every disease, including meningitis.
Dee Dee Werner
In Loving Memory of Becky
