By Charly SHELTON

Meningitis can be either a bacterial infection or a viral one – and each is deadly. The infection causes a swelling of the membranous tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord, which puts pressure on the nervous tissue and can lead to limb loss, paralysis or death. One local resident and Glendale Unified School District administrator has seen the impact of the disease during her nine-month battle with the disease.

“Last year, I came down with meningitis C and was hospitalized for the next nine weeks or so, [and was] very close to dying,” said Roxanne Ouweleen. “All my organs had shut down and, because of that, my blood pressure had become very low, dangerously low, so they put me on medication to raise my blood pressure. Those medications caused my extremities to become necrotic. I had to have parts of my hands and my feet amputated, as well as the tip of my nose.”

Ouweleen said that for the next eight or nine months, she went through the actual amputation procedures, having them done at separate times. As of February, she has been using both of her leg prosthesis and has been seeing a doctor in Tucson to reconstruct her nose.

With her reconstruction surgeries nearing completion, Ouweleen is looking forward to getting back to work sometime in September. Prior to her medical leave, she served as assistant principal at Balboa Elementary and she hopes to return to an administrative role, wherever it may be.

“It depends on what my doctor clears me to go back to, and what are the limitation modifications or any other accommodations I need to have,” she said. “It’s up to the district to take that doctor’s note and see how they can fit it into whatever positions fit the best. So I’ll still be an administrator, but I’m not sure if it’ll be a site administrator or district administrator, or what position I’ll have.”

Ouweleen is not the first case of meningitis to impact GUSD. Ashley Insalaco contracted meningitis in her senior year of high school at Crescenta Valley High. After a day at a theme park left her feeling ill, she tried to recover the following day but to no avail. Her headaches got worse, her nausea increased and other odd symptoms arose.

“I went to bed, and that night I ended up wetting the bed twice. That was really strange. Then apparently I was telling my sister to spin around in circles to make time go faster, but I don’t remember any of this. So I guess that’s the neurological side of it,” Insalaco said.

The following day, her nausea became uncontrollable and, when she was found seizing on the floor, she was rushed to the hospital and put into a medically-induced coma for two days to manage the infection. Luckily, it was caught in time and her residual effects amounted to six months of headaches, a bit of hearing loss and memory issues.

“I got really lucky. People lose limbs and people die, so if this is the alternative, I’m really lucky,” Insalaco said.

While meningitis is more rare than other health problems, it is deadly. But it is also avoidable. Vaccinations can fight against the bacterial strains meningitis B and C, and it is vital to have children vaccinated for it. Both Ouweleen and Insalaco, after going through the experience, vehemently advocate for vaccinating children to avoid this preventable disease, as do doctors across the country.

“It’s much more common in slightly older adolescent groups. Babies can get a different type of meningitis. That’s a different bacteria and that’s covered under some of the normal vaccinations that young children receive. What we’re talking about is meningococcal vaccination; that’s the one that adolescents and often kids going off to college will get,” said Dr. John Rodarte of Descanso Pediatrics, part of Huntington Health Physicians. “It is not a super common illness but it’s an illness that, when you get it, it can kill you – and rapidly. And that’s why it’s so important to get vaccinated. Because it may not be the most common illness that we see, but it can be extremely life-threatening, extremely rapidly.”

To donate to Roxanne Ouweleen’s GoFundMe page, which helps defray medical expenses, visit gofundme.com/help-roxanne-recover.

  Charly Shelton