How measles can change a life

Ruediger Schoenbohm

Ruediger Schoenbohm

March 9th, 2013

Ruediger Schoenbohm
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‘A father’s story of pain and loss, and a plea for prevention’

Ruediger2In the early 1990s we lived in Berlin, Germany. We were young and full of plans for the future. My wife Anke was working as a nurse and I had just started my professional career as an engineer. We became a little family when Julian, our older son, was born in the spring of 1992. We built our “nest”, had great friends and neighbours, and simply enjoyed life as a young family.

As most parents probably are, we were very grateful and thankful. Two years later, during the summer of 1994, our second child, Maximilian, saw the light of day and made our family happiness complete. Back then, we had not the slightest idea of how dramatically our lives would change some years later.

Max turned out to be a blessing and a challenge at the same time: he was so full of energy and life that it was sometimes hard to keep him under control. But he was very charming, even as a baby. He won the hearts of the people around him in no time.

Max in 2005

Max_Hockey_2005

When he got sick in the winter of 1994/1995, we were a bit worried because of his young age. After all, he was only six months old when measles hit him badly. It had been way too early for vaccination, but not too early for infection. He spent several days with a high fever while his paediatrician feared that he would develop some sort of complications. And he did: his lungs got affected, he developed a dry cough, and sometimes he even had difficulties breathing. We were concerned, but had no clue and nobody had ever mentioned anything about potentially fatal measles complications.

After a few weeks everything was over. Max had recovered and as spring came around, the vivid, high-energy boy was back. What we did not know back then was that he would only stay with us for another 10 years.

When Max was in third grade of elementary school his performance in math suddenly dropped.

Initially we thought that it might have to do with his high energy level and his difficulty concentrating sometimes. But then he started showing some strange behaviours – only for short moments, but becoming more frequent. We did not realise that these were the first signs…

In October of 2004 the first seizure occurred. Max would stop doing anything – from one second to the other – he would sit and stare. Just for a few seconds or sometimes a minute. When the seizure was over, he could not remember anything. We learned that this kind of seizure is called ‘absence’.

The doctors told us that sometimes children would develop this kind of epilepsy when they were just about to enter puberty. So we thought that maybe it would be temporary and eventually go away. But there was a bad sign: Max’s EEG that was taken shortly after his first seizure was entirely abnormal. There were curve patterns that did not belong there. The doctors tried to control the seizures by a special mix of anticonvulsants. And actually it did help – for a few weeks.

Between December of 2004 and February of 2005 our beloved boy seemed to be back. We thought that finally we had everything under control and that the seizures would eventually go away. We didn’t worry about him not going to school anymore, because he couldn’t keep up with the lessons.

We ignored the fact that he could not remember things that had just happened a few hours before.

We ignored the fact that his behaviour became more…We just didn’t want to realise what was happening.

The seizures came back in March. Heavy, frequent and different. The doctors sent us to one of the best epilepsy centres in Germany at Kehl-Kork. They only needed a few examinations to confirm the worst suspicions: Max was diagnosed with SSPE, Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis, a late complication of an early age measles disease. Rare, but fatal – in any case, without exception.

It was very hard for us to realise that they were talking about our bright, happy, vivid 10-year-old boy.

We were numb, desperate, did not understand that the doctors were telling us that we would lose our child – no matter what, just a matter of when.

We fought hard for a long time. We spent nights on the internet seeking for rescue, for some sort of treatment that would stop us from going down the path of the inevitable. We established contacts with medical scientists in India, Turkey and the US. We imported homeopathic medicine from India; we applied ß-interferon, vitamins, fish oil, minerals – all the good stuff.

But fate sometimes is relentless: in April of 2006 our boy said good-bye forever. An unexpected thrust of brain inflammation put him into a vegetative state. Within only hours he lost everything he had learned during his young life. His last words were: “I don’t know who you are”. It’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives.

The following years were characterised by despair, disbelief, unrealistic hope, and many illusions, by anger, and by a very slow process of realising that he will never come back. But above all, there was and still is the everlasting daily struggle to somehow survive as a family. After all, Max’s brother

Julian had just turned 12 when our family was hit by this tragedy. Didn’t at least he deserve to spend his teenage years in an environment that provided as much normality as possible?

Max in 2012

Max_Wheelchair

Today – at the age of 18 – Maximilian is still with us. His condition has slowly, but steadily worsened over the years. He can no longer sit or hold his head up. After all those years in which he could at least be fed like a baby, his chewing and swallowing capabilities have lately ceased significantly. His body temperature regulation is unstable; he has many seizures, unpredictable, sometimes strong, sometimes barely noticeable. We feed him by a stomach tube and carry him around in his wheel chair. His level of reaction to his environment varies from little to none. When a day is exceptionally good, he would laugh at Mom or Dad, or his brother, or his nurse when they caress him and talk to him.

Max will die. Nobody knows when or how, but it is inevitable. And we have no idea, if and how we as a family are going to survive this… But what drives us crazy is the fact that all of this could have been avoided, had obligatory vaccination protected more children from getting infected by measles and other dangerous “childhood” diseases.

The measles virus is extremely dangerous. Thousands of children around the world suffer from acute complications such as heart problems, deafness, eye infection, meningitis, hepatitis, bronchitis, Krupp cough, and of course the rare ones like infections of the optic nerve or SSPE.

Other severe diseases such as pox, plague, or poliomyelitis are almost eliminated on this planet, because better hygiene and protection by vaccination has successfully pushed back those infections.

So why don’t we learn? Isn’t it a shame for a developed country like Germany that measles are still an issue?

When it comes to vaccination, parents are not responsible for their own children only – their decision pro or against vaccination may have a significant impact on others! There are proven cases of babies being infected by measles while sitting in a pediatrician’s waiting room. Isn’t that cynical? One of these children died a year ago, from SSPE.

Looking back and considering how life could have been is hurtful. Max did not deserve what has happened to him. It is almost unbearable to accept the fact that under different circumstances or if we had lived in another country back at that time our child would most likely still be healthy. We have lost him forever and it is breaking our hearts. Only in our memories we still see him and he makes us smile. Sometimes the thought of him is choking us. We do not know how long Max will still stay with us, but we will care for him until the end.

*Editor’s update: It is with sadness that we report the death of Max in February 2014*

Comments

  1. AndreaReuschle

    AndreaReuschle

    January 31st, 2013

    Lieber Rüdiger, Ihr seid so tapfer ! Ich denke an Euch alle !
    Andrea

  2. Shellie

    Shellie

    March 7th, 2013

    Thank you for sharing Max’s story. I was wavering on getting my 9 month old vaccinations this week and now he will definitely be getting them. Thank you for that. My heart goes out to your family & Max. Xo From Canada

  3. Maureen Johnston

    Maureen Johnston

    November 13th, 2013

    Please Please remember that when you make a decision like not having your child vaccinated for what ever reason you as a parent have taken that decision not your child! In this day and age I truly believe that the policy of America should be implemented everywhere. They have too have there children vaccinated for them to be able to attend school. This is not about a parents rights this is a fundamental right to have a child healthy. I also thing that before parents say no they need to look at the implications of that decision film photos etc maybe that might help them! I remember as little girl back in the 60s seeing a friend of mine who had polo, her mum regretted not having her vaccinated and the guilt stayed with her for the rest of her life.

    • DB

      DB

      November 13th, 2013

      A parent can fill out a “conscientious objection” form in the US and still send his or her children to school unvaccinated. We are having outbreaks of diseases that were made rare by vaccination in communities where a large percentage of people are against vaccination. The most recent I heard of was an outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) in a Texas town where everyone attended the church that thought vaccines were the mark of the devil.

      My heart breaks for the author of this article and his family. This and thousands of other stories like his are why we need to keep vaccinating and keep educating people on the importance of vaccines.

  4. Sarah [NurseLovesFarmer.com]

    Sarah [NurseLovesFarmer.com]

    November 13th, 2013

    I just wrote a blog post on why we should vaccinate our kids especially because the MMR diseases can affect young babies who aren’t old enough to be vaccinating. Thank you for sharing your story, I am sharing it with my readers and I’m praying that people will learn that this is completely preventable.

  5. Willy Smolka

    Willy Smolka

    November 13th, 2013

    Thank you for sharing your story; my heart goes out to you and your family, but I applaud your courage for sharing this with the world. More people need to educate themselves about not only the risk to their child for not vaccinating, but the risk for babies, people with immune deficiencies or receiving cancer treatments that compromise the immune system. It is a very timely story as right now in our province of Alberta, Canada there has been an outbreak of measles brought here courtesy of a young man whose family did not vaccinate him, and who traveled to the Netherlands, where he was exposed to the measles outbreak there (in the so-called Bible Belt). Who knows the untold harm his parents may have done to their community.

  6. Charlene

    Charlene

    November 14th, 2013

    Geting your kids vacinated should. Be law!! Not a decision!!!!! I’m sorry for your loss it makes me so mad when people don’t believe in vaccinations !!!

  7. April

    April

    November 14th, 2013

    Having my son vaccinated had the opposite , I almost lost him because his blood count dropped he is allergic to the vaccine which we didn’t find out till three months later unbeknownst to us his blood count kept dropping to the point where u touched him and he would bruise significantly . The doctors thought we had abused our son when we carried him into the hospital and my hand print was on his back from just carrying him if the nurse hadn’t of came into the room slowly and my son the ball of energy he was had not accidentally bumped his head lightly and the giant bruise that she watched developed in five seconds we would not have our son . The doctors immediately started doing blood work when I told them about his vaccinations a couple months prior, to find out that if we had of took him home he could have rolled over in his crib and not woken up all it would have took is one bump to his head one more time and he would have died . He is 13 now and cannot have the vaccine due to him being allergic to it . The school nurses are not allowed to give him shots I must take him to the hospital so that the right shots are given he is flagged in the health system and by the cdc so that this never happens again .

    But that being said I have five children and only one became sick from that and I am not against vaccination at all and I believe that all kids should get vaccinated. My aunt didn’t get vaccinated in the mid sixties and she almost died from polio . So there are ups and downs but the safest is to get vaccinated !! I truly believe that . I am so sorry about your son ;( xoxox from canada

  8. Ursula

    Ursula

    November 14th, 2013

    I am very sorry about your son, it is a tragedy this happened.

    But to those saying that vaccinations should be law I want to say that unfortunately, first of all the measles vaccine will NOT prevent measles (nearly all the children in measles outbreaks are fully vaccinated), and secondly, many more children end up dying, with seizures, autism and autoimmune illnesses from vaccines than from getting the measles.

    Max’s case is a very rare occurrence. Damage or death from the MMR vaccine is not.

    • Caitlin

      Caitlin

      November 14th, 2013

      As to your first point about vaccines not being a guarantee against the disease, I agree. But even if one does get the disease, it will not be as severe and maybe side effects, such as in the tragic story above, would not occur.
      As to your second point, where on earth are you getting your information? The seizures I could see happening would PERHAPS occur due to fever, but there is no proof for autism and autoimmune disorders with vaccination. And even with the seizures as a potential side effect, re-read the above article! If you don’t get vaccinated and instead get the disease, you have the potential of having seizures anyway, so what exactly are you saving your child from?!

    • TheMom

      TheMom

      November 14th, 2013

      BS. You are not quoting statistics. You are repeating what some TV personality has spouted off. You have your own brain – use it. Do research from reliable sources.

    • sta

      sta

      November 14th, 2013

      Ursula,

      You are WRONG! There is solid research evidence from multiple sources around the world that vaccines DO NOT cause autism. The ONE study that indicated they did was fabricated and the doctor who wrote it no longer has a medical license – which is a blessing. Vaccines save lives. This family experienced an unimaginable due to some other parent’s lack of responsibility. Leave your ridiculous spouting of lies and propaganda somewhere else.

      To Max and his family – I am so sorry for all that you have endured. Thank you for sharing your story. If the one person above who commented that she will now vaccinate her child because of this story – you have made a difference.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      November 14th, 2013

      Where are you getting your information from? Do you live with your head in the sand? Autism…are you seriously still stuck on this suggestion that has been proven to be incorrect multiple times? Look it up and get our facts straight before you spout off complete nonsense.

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      In New South Wales (Australia) recently we had 69 people identified as having measles. Of those, only 1 was identified as fully vaccinated. I do not believe the claim that most infected children are fully vaccinated as the evidence does not support it.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      November 29th, 2013

      seriously Ursla where are the facts that you are spewing out….you really need more facts…Austism in NOT cause by Vacctions…yes his case might have been rare but Austism…Autoimmunie siezure etc from VAcctions are even rarer…really…

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      March 2nd, 2014

      You are a total idiot. It is a proven fact that autoimmune illnesses, autism and seizures are not caused by vaccinations.

    • Tammy Knapp

      Tammy Knapp

      May 3rd, 2014

      I want to start by saying ,” I am not against your view!” What I am against is spread of incorrect information. You are incorrect about “nearly all the children in measles outbreaks are FULLY vaccinated”. Please use facts to back your positions, not more propaganda.

    • Johanna

      Johanna

      May 5th, 2014

      What is your medical background, to make this analysis please? Thanks

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      May 6th, 2014

      I agree full heartedly to your post. I myself was vaccinated in the early 80’s for whooping cough and measles and got both at 17 years of age very badly and was sick growing up with many flu bugs, etc. My husband and I chose not to vaccinate our son for many reasons but educated ourselves on both sides before making the decision. Our son has only had one cold that lasted more than 4 days since he was born and he is going to be 3 years old. This is just our testimony of course and losing a child would be unbearable ….but to judge and try to make the parents of unvaccinated people feel somehow responsible is not right…god works in his way and I have to believe with all my heart that what is meant to be shall be no matter what we try and do to fix things….I believe in his works. Lots of love goes out to this family this is so unfortunate.

      • Dr. S

        Dr. S

        December 5th, 2014

        Much like the Tetanus vaccine, the immunogenicity of certain vaccines (acellular pertussis and a rubella for example) wanes with time and that’s why many years after original vaccination you can get infected. We must get boosters for both those infections in out late teens. Immunizations work, but many need periodic read administration to reprime the immune system.

      • Anonymous

        Anonymous

        February 11th, 2015

        You don’t truly believe in his works if you’re afraid of vaccines. Vaccinate your kids so your neighbors are happy, and trust in God’s works, truly believe with all your heart that what is meant to be shall be, no matter what.

      • spinzgirl

        spinzgirl

        February 17th, 2015

        Please don’t consider reading internet blogs as educating yourself. If you want to go to medical school and specialize in infectious diseases and THEN come back and tell us you educated yourself be my guest. But anecdotal evidence is just that. I had multiple vaccines growing up and had no problems. I also have two children who are fully vaccinated who also happen to be high functioning autistic. I know that the vaccines didn’t cause it because medical studies have eliminated vaccines. I also know that my children will live long, healthy lives as a result of my decision as will other children who benefit from my choices. No one, NO ONE, benefits from your choice to not vaccinate your children. Stop being so selfish and think of others when you make your “educated” decisions.

  9. Ria Powney

    Ria Powney

    November 14th, 2013

    I can feel for this family. In 1986 my husband was in contact with the measle virus and ended up at the age of 30 with pan encephalitis . He lived debilitated and suffered for 19 years before his passing. His file showed that he was never vaccinated. Sad as he left 3 children and his wife to watch him suffer. Please get your vaccination!

  10. Laura

    Laura

    November 14th, 2013

    I live in Canada in a large city and we currently have an outbreak of measles ( last I heard 28 confirmed cases) and more to come as more people are having to go into isolation and its spreading from this city into the outlying areas now. I heard on the radio that none of these people have had any vaccinations. Im not sure what the rational is these days for not vaccinating. I have heard everything from goverment conspiracy as a way to “track us” to it all being a hoax. In any case your story is very moving and I hope more people read it and see what can really happen and do what is best for the kids.

  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous

    November 14th, 2013

    What about all the children out there who have been vaccinated and have now lost normality, ex: autistic. They didn’t deserve it. And it has now been proven that MMR vaccine is the cause. I think the measles vaccine is fine (single vaccines), it’s the other junk that they’re putting in these vaccines that are messing with these little childrens’ minds. Be careful, these are your children and you will be held accountable. Plus who will there be to take over when you’re gone?

    • Caitlin

      Caitlin

      November 14th, 2013

      It has not been proven that the MMR vaccine is the cause of Autism!! That study was made up and the author (now Mr. Wakefield) has lost his medical license BECAUSE he admitted he made up his study results! MMR DOES NOT CAUSE AUTISM!

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      November 14th, 2013

      There is no connection or proof that any Vaccination causes autism. There is no legit study to prove this in any sort of way. When you choose not to vaccinate your child, you are putting other children in danger. Especially those who are too young to be vaccinated. We live in a world now where these things are available to us. We have the technology to eradicate many dangerous illnesses. If you would get your head out of your nether regions you would realize that.

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. Indeed, after some greedy doctor released a fraudulent study some years back lots of people have tried to prove the link and every one of them have failed. What a shame that your anti vaccination agenda closes your mind to the horrendously tragic story above and how easily it could have been prevented had he not caught measles.

  12. There really is no proof there is such a thing as a slow virus and that measles virus actually does this (also there are reports of this after measles vaccine) . I’m so sorry for this boy but to use this to scare you into measles vaccine is pretty bad.

    His first big opportunity to take a crack at slow viruses came at the end of the 1960s. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a mouthful of a name for such a rare condition, attacks a small number of schoolchildren and teenagers each year, causing dementia, learning disabilities, and finally death. Doctors first recognized SSPE in the 1930s, and by the 1960s the virus hunters were searching for an SSPE germ. At that time, the most fashionable viruses for research belonged to the myxovirus family, which included the viruses that caused influenza, measles, and mumps. Animal virologists therefore started by probing for signs of myxoviruses. Excitement mounted after trace quantities of measles virus were detected in the brains of SSPE patients, and in 1967 most of the victims were found to have antibodies against measles. The facts that SSPE affected only one of every million measles–infected people and that this rare condition appeared from one to ten years after infection by measles were no longer a problem: Researchers simply hypothesized a one- to ten-year latency period. Little wonder they could also easily rationalize that one virus could cause two totally different diseases.
    http://www.whale.to/vaccine/slow_viruses.html
    About 1/2 way down talks about the insanity of relating SSPE to measles virus. This is a great article showing how real the whole issue of viruses is and how baseless the issue of vaccines for so-called viral illnesses are. This will blow your mind! Similar to what they said about so-called AIDS

    http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sspe1.html

    http://www.whale.to/a/sspe_h.html

    http://www.cibtech.org/J%20Medical%20Case%20Reports/PUBLICATIONS/2013/Vol_2_No_1/10-012..Apratim…An..SSPE…Vaccination…30-33.pdf

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      Sorry, but using whale.to as evidence on this subject is unacceptable. It is a well known dishonest anti vaccination website that is run by a farmer without medical or scientific background. All the information on whale.to has been debunked many times over.

    • Sue

      Sue

      March 2nd, 2014

      There is really no such thing as homeopathy having any beneficial effect beyond placebo. The only reassuring thing is that this person is no longer a registered nurse.

    • Andy

      Andy

      March 2nd, 2014

      whale.to also claims the world is controlled by lizard people. It even offers photos as evidence that world leaders are really shape-shifting reptilian aliens. Hardly the place I’d be doing research on serious issues relating to potentially fatal diseases. But then, I’m not a homeopath.

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      Sheri, I note you have not disclosed your vested financial interest in people not vaccinating. What are you trying to hide?

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      One unvalidated article is not evidence, it’s merely cause for further investigation which when done shows that sometimes measles is so mild people don’t know they’ve had it.

  13. Think

    Think

    November 14th, 2013

    Really? I’m very sorry about what happened to your child, but in all fairness, even with a measles vaccine this outcome still could have happened. Vaccines are NOT 100% and you really shouldn’t believe everything you see or hear for those of you saying the outbreaks are caused by the unvaccinated. The outbreak in Alberta, 8 of the 12 infected people were vaccinated, the other 4 were not. How do you justify injecting tiny little babies with live diseases, sometimes 5 in one sitting, and harmful substances they don’t even allow in food? Do your research people. If I don’t get my child vaccinated, it should have no affect on your vaccinated child. Yours is protected correct? I seriously doubt someone is going to bring their whooping cough positive kid to your house after you’ve given birth.

    • Caitlin

      Caitlin

      November 14th, 2013

      But your unvaccinated child DOES have an effect on my vaccinated child. Because vaccines are not 100 % successful, but they are the best thing we have to prevent these diseases. So, if your child gets Measles, they can pass it to my child, even though mine’s been vaccinated, and then we get outbreaks, like the one happening in Alberta right now! The idea behind vaccination is to protect the herd, meaning that the fewer people that are in theory able to contract it protect those who the vaccines didn’t work in.
      Also, you don’t need to bring someone who has pertussis to visit my new baby in order for my baby to get it. If whooping cough is around, the virus can be carried, like any other virus, even by a vaccinated person to my house and infect my baby.

      • Denise

        Denise

        November 14th, 2013

        Caitlin,
        You are absolutely right. Herd immunity only works if the majority of the population has been vaccinated. The vaccine is not 100% effective, but if most people are vaccinated you are NOT going to get large numbers of people coming down with the measles as the vaccine IS very effective. If you are not vaccinated you can almost be sure you will get it. I live in a place in Canada….see reference above by Laura. There is a very large population of people who don’t vaccinate for religious reasons. I am not sure what God would think of people putting their child and every other person they come in contact with at risk. They are the population now spreading the disease as “voluntary isolation” is not working. My grand daughter is less than 6 months old and thus is very much at risk of contacting the disease, just like Max did. My heart goes out to his family. You don’t vaccinate your child, it should be the law they don’t go to school in Alberta or anywhere for that matter. It is science based that vaccinations do work, but you NEED herd immunity for it to be effective. People get your heads out of where ever you left them and vaccinate your kids.

      • Rennie

        Rennie

        December 22nd, 2020

        I do not understand the fuss and panic when I read about an outbreak of measles. Growing up in the 60ies, measles was something you just got. I can only speak of my experience but I have never ever heard about anyone having any problems after having had the measles. No one! You were definitely ill with the measles but afterwards you were better.

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      I have been unable to find a single instance where a child fully vaccinated against MMR has been diagnosed with SSPE. I think there is a huge distance between possibility and probability and your offensive disregard of their suffering to ply your agenda is offensive and inappropriate. In NSW (Australia) 1 of the 69 infected patients was fully vaccinated so I’d like to see your evidence regarding the outbreak in Alberta. I note that you used the term “vaccinated” rather than “fully vaccinated”, is that a standard anti vaccination deception given that the children need 2 doses to be “fully vaccinated”.

      Your research is flawed and statements deliberately emotive to fear monger. If you had truly researched the subject, you wouldn’t make half statements. I justify vaccinating my children to keep them protected against diseases that can maim and, as indicated above, kill in the most horrendous of ways. I have done my research, but unlike you did not rely on anti vaccination websites.

      Sure, my child is protected against your poor decisions, but the kids who are babies and who are immunocompromised are at the mercy of your poor decisions. In NSW (Australia) 2 parents took their pertussis positive children to a childcare centre where a 3 week old baby (visiting to collect an older sibling) was infected and later died. So it most certainly does happen.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      May 3rd, 2014

      Your ignorance is astounding …you should do your research..live virus is never used. All studies linking mmr to autism have been debunked by authentic scientists in the medical field. Misinformed self serving people like you are dangerous…do your research

    • Debbie

      Debbie

      January 30th, 2015

      Infants don’t need to catch whooping cough from infected children, they are more likely to catch it from infected adults. Whooping cough is not so severe in a healthy adult. We can have it and not even know it, but we can pass it on to a baby. When my granddaughter was born 4 years ago, my husband and I, my mom, and my 2 sisters got the vaccination to make sure none of us unwittingly infected the baby with this deadly illness. It also includes a tetanus shot. Bonus.

  14. mike

    mike

    November 14th, 2013

    having to get vaccinated by law is not democracy and fails to stop the govt from implementing any health program in “their” interest. pro choice.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      November 15th, 2013

      You right Mike. It isn’t a democratic society if we are told we have to vaccinate. But if you choose not to vaccinate at least make an informed, intelligent decision based on real evidence based facts rather than speculation and what you read on google.

    • Linda Whyard

      Linda Whyard

      November 15th, 2013

      If you don’t immunize your child/children for diseases that are proven to be effectively controlled by immunization your medical costs for anything associated with any treatment for the illness should not be covered by any insurance policies.

  15. Bev

    Bev

    November 14th, 2013

    So sorry for your loss dear family. But others beware. What about all the little infants that got measles at an early age and haven’t suffered problematic minds? And what about all those little ones who received the multi vaccines and have problematic minds ex: they call it autism? These didn’t deserve it either. It has now been proven that the MMR vaccine can cause autism, they are actually but quietly admitting to it. I think single vaccines wouldn’t be as hard on the little ones compared to the multi ones. Plus it’s all the other crap they put in the vaccines to preserve them that causes a lot of digestive intolerance, thus causing toxic blood to flow through the brain. So be careful, blaming others is not where it’s at. And forcing is not where it’s at. Your decision is where it’s at. If you go for it, you did it because you feel your child is now safe from the disease and you need not worry or condemn those who decided otherwise.

    There are those of us who have lung cancer and never smoked a day in our lives, and we can blame those who smoked in our environment, but what would it help…people still smoke in our environment regardless of a law. And many a child has a disease because of it too.

    So remember, you will be held responsible for your decisions for your children and yourself, God will see to it . You will not be held responsible for someone else’s decisions for their children and themselves. Don’t put yourself in a position where you will be to blame or you will blame others. God sees all and He will see to it that justice is served, and it will all be done in love because God is love.

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      November 14th, 2013

      The “clinical trial” and “doctor” that undertook and published the study that “proved” the vaccine “caused” autism has been discredited, the physicians license revoked and exposed as a 100% fraud and embarrassment. He made up the data. He made up the cases. It was a fraud and people like Jenny macarthy believe and propagate the lies. There is a reason that doctors and researchers guide the course of modern medicine rather than celebrity b list actresses and the Internet. Please ask a real doctor not dr. Google.

    • LW

      LW

      November 15th, 2013

      Bingo! was waiting for that word to come up….BLAME. Quite frankly I feel that most people with an autistic child are more than willing to jump on that now refuted bandwagon which stated vaccines, in particular MMR caused autism and blame it for their child’s condition as well. Problem is, they don’t realize that long ago study was refuted when the Dr who did it admitted he fudged it!

      I’ve spent a life time working with children with problems and if there is one thing I’ve learned it is that parents love to play the blame game. It doesn’t matter if it is autism, hearing problems, mental illness whatever. I swear it makes them feel better to say it is someone else’s or something else’s fault. But why does anyone have to be to blame?? Some things just happen and we’ll never know how or why. I think people blame because they fear the fact that there is something ‘wrong’ with their child reflects on them as a parent somehow.

      I would never say with 100% certainty that a vaccine could not cause autism or any other problems but this one has been researched well at this point and disproven. Not to mention the disaster created by this schmuck of a Dr. who fudged his research – was it the post below this one that outlined what happened after his research went public? How about the outbreaks that occur in areas where a good deal of the population is against vaccination?? Good lord, is there any other proof necessary to convince people vaccinations ARE necessary!

      Realistically, the risk of autism vs. the risk of life threatening disease and a life time of medical issues from NOT vaccinating I’d say autism is pretty low risk, let alone the very really concern that you are NOT making a choice just for your child but for an entire community…its a no-brainer, vaccinate!! So many of these diseases would be eradicated if we all did and then there would be no risk of any kind for anyone! Is that not why Polio is no longer a concern?

    • Illryia

      Illryia

      November 16th, 2013

      Beware of what Bev? The misinformation spread by people? I agree. Those little infants who get measles with no side effects are the lucky ones. Over 150,000 children still die every year as a direct result of measles. It is not a benign childhood disease, it kills.

      Those children who are vaccinate and who have autism are in exactly the same position as those who were not vaccinated and have autism. It has certainly not been proven that MMR causes autism. What about people who lie Bev?

      In Japan they tend to over react and they removed the MMR at the height of the Wakefield fraud, and they introduced single shot vaccination. On a study of 300,000 children (299,988 more than Wakefield studied) they found that the removal of the MMR and introduction of the single shot vaccines had no impact at all on the instance of autism in Japan.

      Ah, I see your veneer of ‘legitimacy’ flushes down the toilet and you fall into the standard anti vaccination lies of ‘toxins’ and ‘crap’ with regards to vaccination. Dishonest emotive words designed to fear monger, which have no basis in fact. Of course we can judge people who lie and cheat.

      Smoking is an interesting example that you give, given it disproves your point. The damage caused by cigarettes was unknown, but science has made it known and steps have been put in place to protect those who don’t smoke, and they are enforceable. People do not still smoke in our environments where it is banned, at least where I live.

      I’m not interested in waiting until a fictional deity holds people accountable. I’d rather save the children before it gets to that. Many people live every day with the end results of the actions of other people. My brother is dead because someone in a hospital passed diphtheria into the nursery.

      Personal responsibility is an interesting concept, perhaps you can educate yourself on it ?

  16. Danni

    Danni

    November 14th, 2013

    First off I am so sorry for what’s happening to your family.
    Quote from Wikipedia “The claims in Wakefield’s 1998 The Lancet article were widely reported;[14] vaccination rates in the UK and Ireland dropped sharply,[15] which was followed by significantly increased incidence of measles and mumps, resulting in deaths and severe and permanent injuries.[16] Physicians, medical journals, and editors[17][18][19][20][21] have described Wakefield’s actions as fraudulent and tied them to epidemics and deaths,[22][23] and a 2011 journal article described the vaccine-autism connection as “the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years”.[24]”

    Maybe people should stop reading what’s on the internet and start speaking to their doctors. I believe that everyone has the right to make their own choice but I also believe that the govn’t needs to step in and make a stand. If a parent wants to be exempt than they should have a note from a doctor agreeing with them

  17. Karen

    Karen

    November 14th, 2013

    I am so sorry forty for your loss!
    I am 52 and reacted badly to all the immunizations when I was young. My parents were told I couldn’t have vaccines. When I was in my 30s I had a surgery that had complications and I needed blood transfusions. Through these blood transfusions I am happily now protected for all the illnesses that I was unable to be immunized for.
    There was a silver lining for an unfortunate situation for me.

  18. Cathy

    Cathy

    November 14th, 2013

    Shame on the lot of you for taking an opportunity to tout your anti-vaccinations on this man’s post. He’s obviously been given his information by doctors and his wife is a nurse. These people have more access to professional information than the people who educate themselves on Google.

    The risks of adverse reaction to vaccination for the many clearly outweigh what these diseases do to our children.

    I would really love to see the statistics of all the autism cases linked from, let’s say 1960 vaccinations to today. Because if there is a direct correlation – the numbers should prove it.

    Let’s look at a different analogy:

    Seatbelts save lives. Everyone should wear a seatbelt. But wait, there are a few cases where wearing a seatbelt didn’t save their life. Perhaps people should choose to stop wearing seatbelts because a couple people had an adverse reaction to them. So if you think you’re protecting your child, take their seatbelt off and you can 100% guarantee that your child won’t have an adverse reaction to seatbelts.

    Maybe a big bad like polio needs to come back to remind people that the slight chance of a reaction is FAR PREFERABLE to the deadly disease.

    • Denise

      Denise

      November 15th, 2013

      Amen Cathy….a wonderful analogy!

    • keith Kelley

      keith Kelley

      March 2nd, 2014

      Cathy i believe people are just trying to get the truth out about vaccines.

      Many a time I have seen pro vaxxers severely criticize a mother who does not vaccinate. And if they have lost a child through the effects of vaccines it usually means little to the attacker/critic.
      That’s what i call shameful.

    • Andy

      Andy

      March 2nd, 2014

      It would also surprise some people to know that the vast majority of people who die in motor vehicle accidents are wearing a seat belt. That’s not because seat belts don’t work, it just the way statistics work in our imperfect world. I am always amazed when people who oppose vaccinations don’t also oppose seat belts.

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