Thanks to Tanya for sharing her story with us.
My son developed severe eczema and life threatening allergy to tree nuts.
List of the vaccines he got:
2 months: 5 in 1 (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio (IPV), Hib), Pneumococcal conjugate-13 and Rotavirus
4 months: 5 in 1 (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio (IPV), Hib) , Pneumococcal conjugate-13 and Rotavirus
6 months: 5 in 1 (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio (IPV), Hib)
14 months: pneumococcal conjugate-13
19 months: 5 in 1 (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Hib)
His last vaccine was MMR at 27 months
Note: he never got influenza vaccines, Varicella and Meningococcal conjugate-C
Our story began before conceiving my son. We had a stillbirth in 2013. It is important to my son’s story to understand how much determination I had to protect him from any harm. We went far and beyond for preparing for his arrival. I spent countless hours researching every single thing that I bought for him. Cloth diapers, glass bottles, organic mattress, eliminated as much as I could all plastic (eg. toys), rubber soothes, natural bum creams, the list goes on and on. My prenatal vitamins were all organic. My diet before conceiving and during pregnancy was carefully planned. I never took any kind of medication (even Tylenol for my headaches). We were excited for his arrival to say the least, which happened one day shy of a year from our tragedy in 2013.
Looking back now I feel incredibly foolish about how I missed one the most important things in my research – medical care for my child. We believed that doctors and government wouldn’t harm our child.
At the two month appointment the doctor administrated all shots based on the Ontario vaccine schedule. She also asked if we would like Rotavirus as well. We asked if she thought he needed it, to which she obviously said yes. We did not know any better. I was never aware that vaccines can cause any kind of harm besides a little bruise and maybe headache.
After that shot, not right away, but around the 3 month mark he developed eczema. He was always uncomfortable. He always wanted to be picked up.
I had no idea what was going on with him. I was breastfeeding him from day one. We didn’t really have anyone with eczema in our families (besides some dry skin in the winter season for one person).
On the fourth month we asked doctor about his rash; she reassured us that it is normal and that lots of babies have it and outgrow it in their toddler years. She injected another set of vaccines.
One day I came across a video about possible link between autism and vaccines. I started to look into that. I shared my few findings with my husband and we decided to talk to our doctor about creating a different schedule for the rest of the vaccines. We wanted to delay some and not do all of them in one day when possible. And we wanted to stay away from Chicken Pox and Influenza vaccines. We brought it up to her on our 6th month appointment and she literally yelled at us.
We decided to search for a different doctor who would be more open to our decision, which we realized was harder than I thought it would be. We settled on one friendly looking doctor. We had more visits with the new doctor to spread out all the rest of the vaccines.
We were somewhat managing to deal with his eczema with the help of naturopathic treatments which seemed to work. My baby had a period of time when he was pretty comfortable for a month or two. But it didn’t last long as we kept pumping him with more vaccines.
After MMR (which we waited to give him until he was over 2 years old) things started to look worse. Naturopathic treatments, his diet, salt baths, nothing seem to work now. He would go into itchy fits (every parent who has a child with severe eczema would know). That look on his face, almost glassy-eyed, just staring into an empty space and his little nails just scratching with all his might until it would bleed. We were forced to see a dermatologist and start routine steroid cream applications.
One day we were having lunch and after lunch I gave him a single piece of chocolate with hazelnut in it (he had peanuts and most of the tree nuts prior with no issue). He instantly complained about his throat. I brushed it off as a cold symptom because he constantly seems to have a runny nose. He was very mellow for the rest of the day. Again I brushed it off, thinking he was just feeling under the weather and let him nap. In the evening his speech seemed off and he was itchy.
After a warm bath he got covered with very itchy blotches. I rushed with him to the ER. The doctor gave him Benadryl and said it looked like a typical allergic reaction to something. After that we had an allergy test done and it was confirmed that he is severely allergic to Hazelnut, Walnut and Pecans.
All doctors that we saw (with an exception of naturopath doctors) reassured us that everything is normal and that it is very common and nothing to be concerned about. And when I openly raised my concern over the link to vaccines and allergies, they of course denied this as a possibility.
My second son (Jaxon) was born in 2016. He arrived a month early. He was in intensive care for a week. When I asked the doctor about our concerns about vaccinating him at the same schedule as the rest of the kids, she stated that he would be fine on the same schedule, to which I smiled politely but was in shock. My second son only had one 5 in 1 vaccine after his first birthday.
Just a week ago I came across a video on your website with Heather Fraser explaining the cause of all of this. It was a huge relief to know that, no, I am not crazy! Needless to say no more vaccines for my kids!
To describe what I feel is impossible but is something that every parent with a vaccine injured child understands. It is a feeling of betrayal, feeling of guilt (I was supposed to protect them!) and just plain ANGER. We need to be heard. We need to educate parents.
With that I thank you from the bottom of my heart for representing parents like my husband and I and we will do everything in our power to help you win this battle.
Tanya, Ontario – March, 2018
FYI: I found this presentation file on “how to deal with hesitant parents”, and there are tons of them online. But what makes this one different is that they call parents like us “idiots” through a comic insert (3rd page from the end). Thought I’d share this “gem” with you.
