CASPER, Wyo. -- A Loveland college student's sudden meningitis death inspired high school students to write a bill to vaccinate Wyoming seventh-graders against the disease.
State Sen. Bill Landen, a Republican from Casper, planned to introduce the bill Tuesday, when the legislative session begins.
The Casper Star Tribune reported Sunday that students from Casper's Roosevelt High School began crafting the bill after learning about the 2007 death of 20-year-old Sierra Krizman, a college student from Loveland, Colo. She died from bacterial meningitis a day after she began feeling sick.
Bacterial meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. The illness can progress quickly after initial flu-like symptoms.
Krizman's father, who talked about his daughter's death last semester at the Casper high school, praised the students' work.
"What they are doing is amazing," Jon Krizman said. "You just don't know how many lives they are going to save. You can't put a figure on it."
After the death of his daughter, Krizman's family started a foundation to raise awareness and provide free vaccinations.
The Krizmans didn't want others to experience the loss of a child from a disease that can be prevented with a $12 shot.
"She is missed by a lot of people and we are pretty sure she has already saved a lot of lives," Jon Krizman told the Star Tribune. "It gives you a lot of solace (but) it doesn't take the pain away."
Susan Griffith, a social studies teacher at the school, said Krizman's story resonated with the students. Bacterial meningitis often afflicts young people.
"Most teenagers think they are invincible," Griffith said. "They don't think they can die. This is something that really hit home with them because of the age of this person."
The students' proposal to vaccinate every seventh grader in Wyoming's public schools would cost the state about $574,000 annually, the Department of Health estimated. It also would require that children 13 to 18 get vaccinated during the bill's first year if it becomes law, a move that would cost $2.3 million.
"We will have to see what kind of support it will receive," Landen said. "I think it is a really important discussion to have."
Students from Griffith's class and the class of Michelle Nicol, another social studies teacher, worked for two months on the project, researching the illness, interviewing medical providers and speaking with parents whose children had died from the disease.
Griffith said her students doubted they would be taken seriously when she suggested the bill as a class project. She said she told them they needed to try if they wanted to be heard.
"If you truly believe something needs to be changed, do it," she said.
