GENESEE COUNTY -- The family of a Genesee County 7th grader says he has a case of meninigitis and want other parents to be on alert.
Brenda Perry says her 13-year old son Jesse had been sick for several days with flu-like symptoms. He was given medication but did not get better.
Brenda says the weekend of March 10th he got worse. He became lethargic and starting vomiting.
"He was throwing up and had a fever and Sunday it was the same thing."
He was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint and fell into a coma. Brenda says Jesse was diagnosed with streptococcus pneumoniae which causes bacterial meningitis.
Jesse, a student at Armstrong Middles School in Genesee Township, had to have surgery to remove fluid from his head on Wednesday.
Jesse's aunt, Pam Hixenbeaugh said Jessie had been at school when he was sick and wanted to notify the school so they could warn other parents.
Pam, who has children that also attend school in the Kearsley Community Schools District, said parents were never given a notice of Jesse's case of meningitis.
"I have great concern for other children because his symptoms were very mild and I just want other parents to be aware."
Kearsley Schools Superintendent Jeff Morgan told NBC25 that they were never notified by a parent of physician of Jesse's illness. Morgan told NBC25 they only send a warning to parents if they receive a written notification from a health official.
Late Monday afternoon Morgan released this statement to NBC25:
"Kearsley Community Schools has received confirmation that a student at the middle school has a non-contagious form of meningitis. This confirmation is per a Hurley Medical Center physician."
Jessie's family maintains that he was contagious the first few days he became ill and the school should have notified parents.
School officials say they monitored the situation prior to receiving a notice from Hurley and no other students reported symptoms.
