Marina Jane McQuaig
May 14, 2000 – November 26, 2008
I was given a flu shot with thimerosal [a mercury-containing preservative] when I was eleven weeks pregnant with Marina. The flu shot was recommended because I’m asthmatic. After the shot I felt wretchedly ill to the stomach and had nausea and diarrhea. Normally, I avoided using asthma medication because I didn’t want to harm my developing baby, but then I had to use it because the flu shot gave me oculo-respiratory syndrome and I couldn’t breathe.
I guess I never considered vaccines a medication because of the way they’re advertised. Marina was born with cutis applaisia [improper skin development] on her hands and feet, which to me is an obvious result of the vaccine because the last layer of skin forms at around the eleventh week of pregnancy. At two months she was diagnosed with epilepsy; but she usually would never have more than one or two seizures a day. Because health authorities do not withhold vaccination for something they consider such a minor health problem [i.e., an evolving neurological condition], Marina was injected with all the usual infant vaccines on schedule at 2, 4, 6 and 12 months. Looking back, she did have reactions to most of the vaccines, but we never linked it the way we should have.”
Read the rest of Marina’s Story here (PDF format)