On the last day of school before Christmas break 2007, Jessica Elkins took a test and then started feeling sick at lunch. As the day progressed, she started to ache and throw up. Initial thoughts were that it was the flu. A doctor suspected meningitis and sent Jessica to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. Her health continued to deteriorate. She died on Dec. 26.

This year would have been her 30th birthday.

Now, each year her family honors her memory at City Hall proclaiming Jessica’s birthday, Sept. 23, as Meningitis Awareness Day in Athens and Limestone County. Throughout the years they have held fundraisers for a scholarship in her memory and to promote vaccine awareness.