Michelle from Galway describes what life has been like for her daughter over 4 years since she received her third shot of Gardasil. 

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this in relation to the Gardasil vaccine which my daughter Leanne received on:
1st dose  27/09/10  NM11420
2nd dose 17/10/10 NM11420
3rd dose 14/03/11 NN01990

Prior to my daughter receiving the vaccine she was a happy girl attending school every day - she received three awards three years running for attendance (never missing a day).  Leanne was involved in many sports, hockey, basketball, swimming, football and badminton. 

Leanne received her vaccinations while in her first year in secondary school.  She was doing well at school and settled in well.  She did not feel 100% after both her first two injections, which we were told about and we were told it would take a few days.  But when she received the third she had a lot of bleeding in the injection site the nurses which administered her vaccine had to spend some time to stop it.  The school phoned me to send her home.  When I arrived she had blood all over her shirt, which was quite alarming.  Her injection site was very sore, red and there was a lump.  She said the nurse said to go home and rest.  Which is what she did.  Leanne is a child who would never complain but over the next few months she began to get a lot of sore throats, headaches and swollen glands.  Leanne was of normal weight during this time 135lbs.

In October 2011 Leanne became worse.  We taught she had a fever or flu, she would sleep for the day and night.  She began complaining of total body pain.  By Jan 2012 Leanne's situation became worse.  She was not eating as everything she ate would make her vomit or get extreme diarrhoea but she was putting on a lot of weight very fast, total of 35lbs.  I continued to bring her to the doctor he did blood test and nothing was showing up.  I felt we were not been listened to.  It was and still is a very distressing time.  

Over the next year Leanne I think only made it to school two months.  She was constantly in bed sleeping.  She would go to the toilet and we would find her on the floor fast asleep.  That’s when we paid for her to get an MRI on her brain to make sure everything was ok.  Again they could not find anything causing all these problems.

Her symptoms were:
Extremely bad headaches - which pain killers would not help - daily
Dizziness
Swollen neck glands
Extreme fatigue - daily
Blurred vision- daily
Nausea - daily
Diarrhea - daily
Vomiting - daily
Poor concentration - Couldn't finish a lot of sentences
Muscle weakness - problems opening pre-opened bottles of water
Pressure in the chest and neck
Sore skin
Sore joints
and many more...

We would have to lift her from her bed to a sitting position and help her down stairs.  As soon as she would be sitting she would be asleep again.  She had lost interest in everything, her siblings, friends and schooling.

On bringing her to the doctor’s office again I went in with a full A4 page of her complaints, again more blood tests were done when these all came back negative they sent her to a paediatrician, who diagnosed CFS (March 2013) and sent her to counselling.  After numerous counselling sessions the psychologist said definitely her sickness was not to do with any psychological issues.

Leanne has been struggling through life since then, trying to go to school, but more often than not, sent home.  She is falling asleep in school, or as soon as she arrives home.  

In June 2014, with all the symptoms listed above, her headaches started getting worse.  She lost the sight in her left eye for a half hour which was a very frightening experience. It slowly came back but we spent hours in A&E doing tests etc. That week we spent 30 hours in the eye clinic, but again they couldn't see any reason why this happened.  They sent her to the MAU for observation.

September 2014, and again with all the same symptoms she lost the sight again in the left eye.  This time her peripheral vision did not fully return.  In November they did another visual eye field test and said the peripheral vision had gotten worse since September.  And again on Friday 23rd January 2015 she lost the sight again momentarily and has now started to get pain in the right eye.

Its an awful situation when you see your child in constant pain and there is nothing you can do to help them.  No answers, No help.  I wish someone would investigate this vaccine more.  It may suit a lot of people but I feel it is a major cause in my daughters mysterious illness.

Tests are ongoing with her.  She now attends regularly:
Neurology
Ophthalmology
A Paediatrician
Rheumatology
G.P.

We are waiting on a gynaecology appointment as since she has become sick also her periods have all but stopped she may get one every 6-8 weeks for a half day.  But has extreme sharp pains in her lower abdominal area.

I was self-employed but had to finish in June 2013 so I could be available to care for her.  I would love to get answers to all this. 

Michelle, Galway

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