Vaccine Testimony
This letter was written to be presented at the Vaccine Hearings in Louisiana in May 2000.
Honorable John T. Schedler and Honorable Rodney Alexander
I am writing to you today to inform you of my son's story and how it relates to the MMR vaccination. Kyle was born full term and healthy in 1993. We had no reason to believe that he would have any medical problems. He was diagnosed with right side hemiplegic cerebral palsy from a stroke in utero at 10 months of age.
He had no seizures at birth or up until 15 months. At 15 months when he received his first MMR vaccination we had given no thought to any vaccination causing any problems. Eight days after his MMR vaccination Kyle had his first febrile seizure, grand mal. The reaction period for the MMR is 8-10 days after receiving the vaccine. We feel that it is way to coincidental that Kyle had no seizures previously and then within the reaction period he had his first febrile seizure.
Kyle went on to have 3 or 4 more febrile seizures. He outgrew these at 2 1/2 and was seizure free for one year. He then began having simple partials, misdiagnosed as migraines and then had a series of complex partials that wound up putting him in the ER to stop them. Because of these he was diagnosed with epilepsy in November 1998 and started taking Dilantin.
The Dilantin has given him good control of the seizures. We did not want to medicate him but had no choice. We know that the brain injury predisposed him to an increased seizure risk and that the MMR vaccination pushed this over the edge. Our neurologist believes Kyle will need medication for life, which is not what we wanted for him.
Parents should be better informed of the risks of vaccinations. Children at increased risk of seizures from neurological damage should be told to be extra cautious and should have physicians who will back them in any decisions they make regarding vaccinations. We are lucky to have a pediatrician who is very supportive. Kyle will never have another MMR or another Pertussis vaccination. The risks the vaccinations pose to his health outweigh the benefits we would get from them.
Parents have the right to be better informed on the issues of vaccinations and the affects they can have on their children's health. Please help to make this the basic practice instead of the exception.
Sincerely,
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