PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 16, 2010 – When one thinks of vaccine injuries, they normally think of the person who received the vaccine. This is not the whold story. Vaccine injuries impact family, friends, and everyone around the person sho actually got the shot. Consider this story of a single mother with four children, one of whom was completely disabled after receiving Gardasil. This mother watched her daughter change from the girl in the first photo, to the girl in the second and worse. Please take time to read the story in her own words.
I am a single mother of four
children, 2 boys and 2
girls. We live in Lake
Station, Indiana. Before my
oldest daughter Zeda got
sick, we had a normal life.
I worked a full-time job. 13
year old Zeda was a
cheerleader and straight A
student. She was also a big
help to me with my other
children.
I have always done my best
to keep my kids healthy. I
had them get their wellness
check-ups and they always
got whatever vaccines the
doctor suggested. All my
kids were completely
healthy, other than the
simple colds here and there.
Completely healthy, that is,
until it was time for Zeda's
well visit on November 5th,
2008. And then her life, as
she knew it, completely
changed along with the rest
of our family.
Zeda’s pediatrician
suggested the Human
Papillomavirus (HPV) or, as
I know it now, the Gardasil
vaccine. I thought “OK, this
is what I am supposed to do
to keep her healthy.” My
doctor said to do it and so
we did it. I knew absolutely
nothing about the vaccine,
other than it was for girls
her age. I was not told of
any side effects, other than
the potential for soreness
around the injection site.
A week after Zeda got the
shot, she started to
complain here and there, of
a headache and of feeling
sick to her stomach. Perhaps
like some of your own
daughters at her age, Zeda
was a Drama Queen. So when
she would tell me these
things, I would tell her to
lie down, murmur to her that
she had probably had a long
day, or I would give her
some Tylenol. It never would
have occurred to me that
those little signs were red
flags. Not until November
28th, 2008, when we were on
our way to pick up her
little sister from a
friend's house. While in the
car, Zeda kept dropping her
phone. Suddenly, my son
said, "Mom, I think
something is wrong with Zeda!"
She was crying, she was
drooling, and her eyes were
not looking right. She
looked to me as if she had
just had a seizure. I knew
this because my brother had
seizures. I rushed her to
the ER.
This is where the confusion
started with her diagnosis.
First, they accused Zeda of
overdosing on drugs. They
yelled at her, in her face,
that she needed to tell them
what she had taken. I was so
scared. I had no clue what
was going on, and these
doctors and nurses screaming
at my daughter. Zeda was as
scared as I was. I believe
she knew that something was
seriously wrong. She was
confused and not able to say
what she wanted. And then
she had another major
seizure in the middle of the
ER. That is when they
finally started to take us
seriously. By then, they had
her drug test results which
were negative for any
illegal drugs.
After those horrible few
hours, they transferred Zeda
to our local hospital, along
with a pediatric neurologist
and Zeda’s pediatrician. I
thought we would surely get
some answers there. They
started running all kinds of
tests. At this point, Zeda
was unable to say a whole
sentence; she could only say
a few words at a time. She
was so scared and was crying
very hard. We had an MRI, a
CAT scan, an EEG, and a
spinal tap done. Whatever
they were looking for, they
did not find, all the tests
were negative. The MRI did
show a "shadow" on the right
side of her brain, which
they were now treating as
viral encephalitis. But as
Zeda's health deteriorated,
our pediatrician continued
to say she was doing this to
herself, that she was
"faking" it.
In the four days we were at
our local hospital, Zeda had
stopped talking, stopped
eating, stopped walking, and
was now urinating on
herself. It was the nurses,
NOT our doctor, who said
something was truly wrong!
Her symptoms were not taken
seriously until a
psychiatrist came in, tested
her and issued a
professional opinion that
she wasn't faking it. One
nurse suggested we go to a
specialty hospital, as we
were getting nowhere.
We agreed.
Within 45 minutes, we were
flown to Riley Hospital for
Children in Indianapolis.
There, they continued to
accuse her of doing this to
herself. They installed
24-hour video surveillance
on Zeda for about two weeks
to try to catch her in the
act of faking it. And they
continued to perform test
after test, all of which
came back negative. She
developed had uncontrollable
movements, extremely high
heart rate (up to180 bpm),
high fevers including one
that was 108.7 degrees, and
at one point she was placed
in a medical induced coma.
Yet they couldn’t tell us
what was wrong or why it was
happening, so they instead
spent most of their time
blaming us and trying to
prove that she was faking
it. No one would go on the
record to say that the
Gardasil vaccine did this to
Zeda.
Zeda eventually lost lung
functioning and was placed
on a ventilator for several
months. A tracheotomy and
feeding tube were put in as
she could no longer eat or
breathe on her own. We were
at Riley Hospital for four
months and her doctors still
could not tell us what
happened to her, only that
they are sure it was not a
vaccine reaction. This
despite dozens of cases of
similar reactions in
previously healthy girls
following the HPV vaccine.
Today, Zeda still breathes
through her trach and eats
with a tube. She lives her
life in a hospital bed in
our living room, mostly
non-responsive, with round
the clock care and daily
nursing visits. This has
become the defining struggle
of my life… I struggle every
single day to do what I can
to get her better.
I am here to tell you that I
didn’t know. And I think
many parents are like me,
and they don’t know either.
I thought vaccines would
keep my children safe and
healthy. I didn’t know that
vaccines could do this. No
one ever told me. My doctor
never told me the risks. I
never saw anyone or anything
that told me this could
happen. I’m not telling you
not to vaccinate. But I am
telling you that people who
pressure you to vaccinate
don’t own the consequences.
Only you, as parents, do.
And if you do vaccinate, you
better be really comfortable
about the need for each
vaccine. Because every time
you vaccinate your child,
there is a risk. It’s
important that parents
understand what’s at stake.
I deeply regret my decision
to allow Zeda to get this
shot. She has lost all
quality of life. I would do
anything to get her better,
but no one has any answers
for me. They still don’t
believe it was the vaccine.
And now that she’s sick, no
one knows how to help my
baby girl.
Go to
http://sanevax.org/
Please visit our site at
http://sanevax.org/.
See also:
The journey of a Gardasil victim's mother from trusting vaccines to vaccine activist
Merck Sponsored Study Returns Dubious Gardasil Autoimmune Safety Results
Mainstream Support of Vaccinations - Another Chapter in an Old Story
