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One Family Making Sure Meningococcal B (Men B) Vaccination Is Available for Everyone

 

West Bloomfield, MI -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/09/2015 --What do you do with your sadness and your grief when faced with the loss of your child?

You stand up and make a difference so that others won't feel the same pain and that is what Alicia and Michael Stillman of West Bloomfield, Michigan have done for the past two years since losing their daughter, Emily. Emily was nineteen and attending Kalamazoo College when she passed away when she contracted Meningococcal B (Men B). This is the same disease that has had recent outbreaks on the campus of Princeton and the University of California Santa Barbra and so many other universities over the past few years.

Alicia and Michael created The Emily Stillman Foundation to preserve the memory of Emily Nicole Stillman and to assist in raising funds for both Meningococcal Disease and Organ Donation. Early in October the foundation was granted the 501c (3) status. "Our goal is to create a world where there is no "wait list" for organ donation, and where meningitis is eradicated," said Alicia Stillman. The Emily Stillman Foundation is a non-profit organization with 100% of all proceeds go directly towards the mission. With that goal in mind the Stillman family was already taking bus-loads of people across the border into Windsor to be vaccinated and gained national attention by all media outlets

The vaccine, which is produced by Novartis, is the same vaccine that the CDC and the FDA, by issuing a "compassionate release", provided for the students and staff on the Princeton and UCSB campuses. It is the vaccine that all incoming freshmen will be offered at Princeton this fall 2014. It is also the vaccine that has been approved for use in the UK, as well as Canada.

In the fall of this year Trumenba was approved in the United States by the FDA. The C.D.C., not the F.D.A., is charged with making recommendations about vaccine use.

The process has been slow and because the Stillman family is determined more than ever to have people of all ages be vaccinated. The Emily Stillman Foundation will be sponsoring a clinic to administer the Bexsero MenB vaccines on Saturday, March 28th beginning at 10:00am in Farmington Hills, Michigan. This coverage requires two doses at least 30 days apart. A waiting physician and nurses will administer the vaccine.

Suggested donation per dosage is $135.00 although assistance is available upon request. Advance registration is required.

For more information about The Emily Stillman Foundation http://www.foreveremily.org or If you are interested, please email the foundation at emilystillmanfoundation@gmail.com