Issue Number 24                                    October 14, 1998

UNPROTECTED PEOPLE: Stories of people who have suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Story #3: FAMILY REMEMBERS HEPATITIS B VICTIM AS A GIRL WITH PROMISE
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Two weeks after being diagnosed with acute hepatitis B virus infection, Kesha Johnson, a 15-year-old Minneapolis teenager, died of fulminant liver failure. Although Kesha's death occurred over four years ago, the Coalition continues to tell her story to illustrate why hepatitis B vaccine should be available for all children and teenagers.

To read "Family Remembers Hepatitis B Victim as a Girl with Promise," Kesha's story and her family and friends' reaction to her death, click here: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/archive/docs/hepb1002.htm. This story, which appeared in the "St. Paul Pioneer Press" on August 6, 1994, is copyrighted and has been placed on the Pioneer Planet website for our subscribers to read.
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Editors' note: The Immunization Action Coalition is collecting stories of people who have suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Please let us know if you have personal stories, or if you know of stories that have appeared in the media, of the suffering that occurred because someone wasn't immunized. We also request
case reports to help us illustrate the morbidity and mortality caused by vaccine-preventable diseases.

If you have stories and/or case reports that can help save lives, e-mail them to us at admin@immunize.org or fax them to 651-647-9131.

To read our previously published "UNPROTECTED PEOPLE" stories, click here, http://www.immunize.org/stories/unprot.htm.