Freshman athlete contracts meningitis

By Erin Brodbeck
Collegian Editor
September 26, 2007

A resident student who is a member of the men’s soccer team was released from the hospital Sept. 24 after contracting bacterial meningitis. Freshman education major Colin Whalen should be returning to classes within the next week or so, according to an announcement on the mylasalle portal. Whalen’s quick recovery was credited to his seeking treatment immediately after coming down with symptoms.

“This is a tremendous story,” La Salle men’s soccer coach Pat Farrell said. “I told him to go to the Student Health Center, and it saved his life.”

According to Director of the Student Health Center Dina Oleksiak, time is of the essence when it comes to meningitis.

“It was a sequence of events at all the right times that saved his life,” Oleksiak said.

Now that Whalen is out of the hospital, he will be spending the next few days recuperating at home before he returns to classes. It won’t be long before he returns to the soccer field either.

“He will be competing again eventually,” Farrell said.

Meningitis is highly contagious, but caught only through mouth-to-mouth contact. Kissing, sharing lip balm, cigarettes or straws are some of the ways to pass the disease to others. Major symptoms, according to Oleksiak, are high fever, severe headache, stiff neck and vomiting.

La Salle students are expected to get the meningitis vaccine before moving into the residence halls, and have been even before it became a state requirement, said Oleksiak.

However, it is important to note that the vaccine does not completely prevent a person from ever getting meningitis.

“The vaccine, while good, is only about 80 percent effective,” Oleksiak said. “The vaccine only covers four of the five types of meningitis. In fact, Colin had the vaccine.”

Oleksiak advised students to keep track of any meningitis-like symptoms and to seek treatment if they think they might have the illness.

“Go to the emergency room or Student Health Center as soon as possible,” she said.

brodbecke1@lasalle.edu