Advocate Profile, Krista Whitson

Krista Whitson’s 5-year-old daughter, Tess, was an active and happy young girl when she contracted a dangerous and deadly form of bacterial meningitis known as meningococcal disease, in March 1999. One morning in March, Tess told Krista that she was too sick to go to school, which was unusual because she loved going to school and playing with her friends. By that evening, the purplish rash had spread onto Tess’ torso. Unfortunately, the disease had spread too quickly and caused too much damage to save Tess’ life.