HPV VACCINE NEWS FROM SCOTLAND  [SaneVax: Scottish parents who disagree with their national health authorities' opinion that HPV vaccines are safe and effective have embarked on their own fact-finding mission.   They began to actively solicit data only after submitting their concerns to the appropriate national health authorities and political representatives without being able to obtain scientifically documented answers to the questions they posed.  Why has it been left to parents to bring these concerns out in the open? Why have those charged with protecting the health and welfare of their constituents not taken up the quest for answers?]  Excerpts from: Mother’s concern over anti-cancer jab for girls By Tom Ramage PARENTS in Badenock and Strathspey are being advised to request patient information leaflets on an anti-cancer vaccination before signing their children up to it. The advice has come from health campaigners who have visited towns and villages throughout the strath in recent weeks including Kingussie, Grantown and Nethy Bridge to highlight their experiences with Cervarix. It has been widely administered to 12 and 13-year-old girls as part of a UK immunisation programme. Their concerns for the treatment remains for the vaccine which recently superceded it, Gardasil. The companies behind both insist their vaccines offer protection from the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the most common cause of cervical cancer, and the UK and Scottish governments as well as health chiefs have maintained they are perfectly safe. However, Sherrell Halliday said that thousands of recipients reported a wide range of adverse reactions to Cervarix including her daughter, Deborah, and she had serious concerns over the possibility of side-effects of the new drug. When the family’s poster-packed campaign vehicle spread its message in Kingussie’s High Street, Mrs Halliday’s 16-year-old daughter Deborah told the “Strathy”: My life was turned upside down after I took the first two jags of the three-jag course. There were so many problems and I was in such pain that I really thought I would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Share your HPV vaccine experience with us. I just don’t want any other girls to go through what I did. We need to help them help themselves. I was in terrible pain and I still suffer, although I’m more stable now that doctors finally began to listen to me. But since I’ve been through hell I’m desperate to stop others going through it. I had no choice – we simply didn’t know any better and there was no one to warn us – but now we do know more and we simply have to offer other girls the choice. They must decide for themselves whether they want to take this drug or not. This is the poster we have used here in Scotland:  poster-packed campaign vehicle  They are being put up in shops, hairdressers, libraries – any suitable place that the general public can get a chance to read.  It hopefully will raise awareness and get the general public to ask questions Cervical Cancer – HPV (human papillomavirus) Vaccination: How Safe Is It? By Sherrel Halliday, Nairn, Inverness, Scotland   My perfectly healthy, academically bright, fun loving, sporty, active 13 year old daughter, Deborah, who enjoyed doing typical teenage things had the HPV vaccination, Cervarix, the 1st dose in September and the 2nd dose in November 2010.  She did not follow up with the 3rd vaccine. Why? Like every parent I wanted to protect my daughter from Cervical Cancer.  I read the leaflet, looked up the NHS website and spoke to the school nurse and her superior.  It’s safe.  But was it? Now 1 year on I look back at my daughter’s life of pain, suffering, misery, doctor, A&E, hospital, rheumatologist, podiatrist, physiotherapist and hydrotherapy appointments.  The sleepless nights, the worry and my guilt!  Because, yes, I do feel guilty, that I did not do more research before I agreed to let my very precious daughter have the HPV vaccine.  More than 1 year of our lives wasted.   I am questioning the safety of this vaccine.  How safe is it?  Every parent should question the validity of this vaccine and its safety record. One by one her activities stopped:  Judo, Roller Bowl, Cycling, Badminton, Basketball, Guitar, Piano and PE, to name but a few.  Stiffer and stiffer she got.  Unable to rake leaves in the garden or hoover the sitting room floor or open a bottle of water! Unable to go walks on the beach or in the woods with our two dogs.  Her enjoyment of life RUINED, taken from her. Panicked by the realization that I thought she had some type of paralysis, I had started taking her swimming every day before going to school.  A girl who was once agile, and had been able to swim 64 lengths reduced to 2 lengths using a float.  Day by day we attended the swimming pool building up the lengths.  Until one day out of the blue, at school, she collapsed.  She’d abdominal pain.  Rushed by ambulance to hospital she underwent an emergency operation for the removal of her appendix.  She had acute suppurative transmural appendicitis with peritonitis.  This was followed by 2 infections.  She missed 10 weeks of school.  Whether the appendix was associated with this I do not know for sure but I do wonder as it nags at the back of my mind. Despite the removal of the appendix, she was becoming sicker. She walked with aid of a walking stick and could hardly put one foot in front of the other.  We got special insoles for her shoes to absorb the shock, similar to what the Police wear.  We bought a memory foam bed to help comfort the aching joints. She had to wear dark glasses because of light sensitivity.  This is so NOT COOL for a little girl of 14. Then we watched a video by Grace Filby about mineral water. It seemed at first unbelievable that perhaps a simple mineral water could help.  But I was desperate for a remedy.   Why mineral water?  Well it is rich in silica and silica is antidote to aluminum poisoning.  Aluminum being a neurotoxin contained within the HPV Vaccine.  I had to try it. 28 weeks ago my daughter started drinking 1.5 liters of a specific mineral water each day. 28 weeks ago we were in the depths of despair.  But gradually we saw improvements.  After 3 weeks of just little things like small movements, I could feel hope coming back into my life. I started researching foods that contained silica.  It was in everyday things like potatoes, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, porridge, cereal, strawberries.  The improvement continued.  I worked hard – mineral water, foods, exercises, swimming, tiny walks, kept her motivated when things were bad, and she was determined to keep up with her school work. Now she’s back in school with all teachers recently reporting how well she had done after missing 10 weeks of school.  She’s not fully recovered.  She can’t do PE.  But she can play the piano again and she swims a lot.  But we are not out of the woods yet.  We still have a lot of problems, obstacles to overcome like the fatigue, but I have faith.  We take each day as it comes. So parents – after reading our story would you call this long list of illnesses a co-incidence? Or would you question it as possibly a very severe adverse reaction to the HPV?  Please think very carefully, think twice, research from independent sources and ensure that when you make this huge decision, that it is the right one for your child.  In the meantime I’m trying to create awareness of the devastating impact that a vaccine can have when it goes wrong. I’ve written to various MSP’s with my concerns and asked them very serious questions. I would urge parents with any concerns to do the same.  I have also written to the First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond who has kindly replied and indicated that I shall receive shortly a reply from the Minister for Public Health, Mr Michael Matheson. I have to say a special thank you to Dr P Coulter from Lodgehill Clinc in Nairn.  This GP has given us an outstanding service and has supported as consistently throughout this ordeal and done every test in the book to find a solution to her current unexplained symptoms.  His support is greatly appreciated. If parents are looking for support, contact Freda Birrell via email at info@sanevax.org.  She too has been of tremendous help – just when I thought it was only me – she put me in touch with other parents with this unfortunate and horrible life changing experience.