BETHEL – There’s a very rare yet deadly bacteria that tends to strike young, healthy people. Its symptoms come on suddenly and appear at first to be a lot like the flu – aches and fever, headache and nausea.

But with bacterial meningitis, once the infection takes hold and the body breaks out in a rash, death or permanent disability can occur within hours.

Jerry and Jeri Brooks Greenwell of West Bethel Road lost their son, 23-year-old Jerry Jr., to the disease nine months ago while he was working as a restaurant supervisor in the Portland area.

Jerry Jr., a 1998 graduate of Telstar Regional High School, was a happy, healthy, hardworking young man, his parents say, with a knack for making lots of friends.

Since his death, the Greenwells have devoted their energy to getting the word out about the disease. They especially want to reach incoming college students who live in dorms – a group considered statistically to be at higher risk for exposure.

They’ve met with state politicians and health officials, especially those in charge of health immunizations. There’s a vaccine available that could have saved the life of their son, and the Greenwells want college students to know about it.

“We’re not trying to say ‘Oh, poor us, we lost a child’,” said Jeri. “We want to give something so Jerry’s death wasn’t in vain, so something good would come of it.”

Through their efforts and the sponsorship of state Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, a meningitis education bill will go before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee in January.

The proposal, modeled after legislation in North Carolina, would require public and private colleges in Maine with residential dorms to provide vaccination information on bacterial meningitis to incoming students. The information would be given out on a form that the student or their parent would be required to sign.

Because the vaccine is expensive – between $60 and $100 – under the bill the colleges would not be required to provide the vaccine, but would let students know where they can get it.

“Bruce has really taken a very strong interest in this,” said Bryant aide Dan Shagoury. “It’s a real high priority for him.”

Shagoury said the law should pass easily, since it is strictly informational. “This is a low to no-cost solution, and the good thing about the vaccine is that it’s relatively benign.”

Jeri Greenwell said she and her husband, who own the local Brooks Brothers Inc. hardware store, wanted the bill to make the vaccine mandatory. There are two required immunizations for incoming college students, now, one for measles, mumps and rubella, and the other for tetanus and diphtheria.

“We wanted a bill that had some teeth in it, but at least it’s a first step,” said Jeri. She and her husband believe their son might have lived if he hadn’t passed off his symptoms as the flu.

He woke up early April 11 feeling sick. By 1 the next morning he’d developed a rash on his legs and he could not stand up.

His friends took him to the hospital where, despite antibiotic injections, doctors were unable to stop the disease from infecting his organs. He died April 14.

The state Bureau of Health recorded only about a dozen cases of bacterial meningitis, two of them fatal, last year, said Shagoury.

Meanwhile, the Greenwells are continuing their informational campaign. They’ve become a major resource in Maine for people who want information about the disease, and will be manning phones next month for the National Meningitis Association.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give a little bit to get something done,” Jeri said.

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