On July 26, 2018, my son Shaquille Hodge lost his wife Percilla Hodge to pneumococcal meningitis. The family traveled to South Carolina the weekend before to celebrate Percilla's uncle. He was retiring from the Navy. During the trip, Shaquille and Percilla decided to take the kids to the beach. But the morning of the beach trip Percilla had a major headache. She thought it was a migraine. So she encouraged my son Shaquille to take the kids while she rested in the hotel room. When my son returned to the room Percilla did not recognize who he was nor did she remember who she was so Shaquille rushed her to the hospital.
I will never forget the phone call. My son was literally screaming he was so frantic. My heart instantly broke. He asked us to pick up the kids because Percilla was rushed to the emergency room. By the time we drove the four and a half hours to South Carolina, Percilla was in a medically induced coma. She'd been diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis. She never recovered.
My son was left with three little ones. Kayden was seven, Korey was five, and Khalani was three months old. Our village of neighbors has helped us along the way. We're working together to raise awareness so this doesn't happen to anyone else. And "our" kids are growing up with the help of those in Cherokee County who've grown to love our family and our story.
Our prayer is that they find a cure for meningitis. But until then we are doing all we can to make people aware of the dangers of not getting vaccinated. We ask everyone we meet to join the meningitis movement. And as our logo so eloquently states we strive to "advocate, educate, and vaccinate."