About Shots 4 Meningitis
Twenty years ago, a father’s love sparked a movement. After losing his vibrant daughter, Becky, to meningitis, Bob Werner transformed his grief into action by launching an annual event in Milwaukee to raise awareness of a disease neither he nor Becky had even heard of before it devastated their lives. For two decades, Bob has carried that torch with heart and purpose, building a loyal community committed to protecting others from a similar fate.
Now, Bob has passed the torch to John to take Shots 4 Meningitis to the next level—and beyond. Their shared mission is deeply personal. Like Bob, John had never heard of meningitis until it changed his life forever.
As a 19-year-old sophomore, John was a typical college student—like most teenagers, he felt ten feet tall and bulletproof. Everything in his life seemed to be following an orderly path. Then he got sick with what he thought was the flu. He took some medicine and went to bed.
Eight days later, he woke up in the hospital—blind, disoriented, and lucky to be alive. Miraculously, his fraternity brother had found him unconscious on his bedroom floor. John isn’t the only person with a story like this from college, but this wasn’t the result of a party. It was meningococcal disease, also known as bacterial meningitis.
John lost most of his vision. His bladder no longer functions properly. For the past twenty-eight years, he has lived with permanent neurological damage and invisible disabilities that shape every part of his life. The mental and emotional toll has been even heavier—because survival isn’t the end of the journey; it’s just the beginning.
Meningitis doesn’t just steal lives—it steals futures.
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1 in 10 people infected will die, sometimes in less than 24 hours.
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2 in 5 survivors will live with permanent disabilities, including vision or hearing loss, neurological dysfunction, limb amputations, and brain damage, to name a few.
Today, we invite you to stand with us as we grow Shots 4 Meningitis into a nationwide movement. Our goals are ambitious—and urgent.
No one expects it, but being better informed can make the difference. Let’s make that difference together.
Our Goals
Raise awareness so no one else is blindsided and unprepared.