Breaking News from Japan: International Symposium on the Adverse Reactions Experienced by those Vaccinated with Human Papillomavirus Vaccines... Plus...Gardasil: Ashlie’s Near-Death Experience

Breaking News from Japan: International Symposium on the Adverse Reactions Experienced by those Vaccinated with Human Papillomavirus Vaccines FEBRUARY 24, 2014 By Norma Erickson, President SaneVax Inc. Tuesday, February 25, 2:30 p.m. Tokyo time marks the beginning of an International Symposium on the adverse reactions experienced by girls who have been vaccinated by Human Papillomavirus vaccines.  This symposium was organized on behalf of The Researchers’ Organization Sounding a Warning concerning the Adverse Reactions induced by Human Papillomavirus Vaccines, through the collaborative efforts of Dr. Harumi Sakai, former Professor at the Tokai University School of Medicine, Dr. Shohei Matsuzaki, Professor Emeritus at the Tokai University School of Medicine, Mutsuo Fukushima, Kyoto News International Department, and SaneVax Inc. This event will give a voice to the thousands of young women and families around the world who have suffered debilitating side effects, sometimes death, after using HPV vaccines. Many of these families have been told these events are psychosomatic or coincidental. In fact on January 20, 2014, the Japanese government’s advisory council released an official report quite typical of those issued in other countries in which they dismissed all of the symptoms that have shown up in the bodies of vaccinated girls as the consequences of psychogenetic “psychosomatic reactions” – in other words, the consequences of mental reactions of girls who the council suggested in a sophisticated manner may have been spoiled by mothers who do not know how to give discipline to their girls. According to Kyoto News Reporter, Mutsuo Fukushima, the key proponent of this theory is Dr. Yutaka Ohno of Keio University, who has stated publicly: “It is impossible to find physical causes for the alleged and presumed adverse reactions at those vaccinated girls, so we cannot help concluding that their so-called adverse reactions are the mere consequences of psychosomatic reactions.  The government should provide counselling to the girls so that they may be freed from their psychosomatic reactions.” The organizers of this symposium, along with countless others, find this callous lack of concern for the victims of adverse reactions to HPV vaccines appalling. They want the world to know there are several biologically plausible mechanisms of action via which Gardasil and Cervarix could precipitate these events. They want the world to know what their research shows in the hope of halting HPV vaccination campaigns until these mechanisms of action are identified, and quantified, so those most at risk can be eliminated from any future HPV vaccination programs. Above all, they want the world to know there are those who will not give up working until the devastation following in the wake of mass HPV vaccination programs is stopped. Symposium Calendar of Events: 1.      International Symposium on the Adverse Reactions experienced by girls who have been vaccinated with Human Papillomavirus Vaccines (Gardasil and Cervarix) – February 25th from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. – Tokai University Extension Center, 35th Floor, Kasumigaseki Building, Tokyo, Japan 1.      Complete information is available here. 2.    Press Conference for reporters from newspaper companies and TV broadcasters – open to the public – February 25th from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. – same venue as above 1.      Dr. Lee, Professor Authier, Lucija Tomljenovic PhD, Dr. Sasaki, Dr. Shiozawa, Dr. Uhide Kiyoshi, Dr. Hama and Mutsuo Fukushima will be available to answer questions from the public and the press. 3.    Government-Sponsored Public Hearing of the Health Ministry’s Advisory Council for the Deliberations on the Reported Adverse Events of HPV Vaccines, the advisory panel consisting of 15 scientists – February 26th, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. (Evidence to be presented by scientists and medical professionals from the United States, Canada, France and Japan regarding potential mechanisms of action between HPV vaccines and serious adverse events.) 4.    Briefing on HPV Matters to Influential Lawmakers of the Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – February 26th from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. – at the room of Chairman Eriko Yamatani of the LDP Policy Deliberations Committee at the House of Councilors in the upper chamber of Japan’s bicameral parliament. 5.     Press Conference – February 26th beginning at 5:45p.m. In the press room of the Japanese Health Ministry. Symposium Participants: §    Organizer:  Harumi Sakai, MD, former Professor, Tokai University School of Medicine §    Co-organizer: Shohei Matsuzaki, MD, Professor Emeritus, Tokai University School of Medicine §    Interpreter: Mutsuo Fukushima, Reporter, Kyodo News, International Department §    Sin Hang Lee, MD, former Yale University Associate Professor, Pathologist at Milford Hospital, Director of Milford Medical Laboratory, Inc.  §    Franҫois-Jerome Authier, MD, Universite Paris XII, Systeme Hospital Henri Mondor de Paris §    Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD, Research Associate, British Columbia University, Canada §    Mirna Hajjar, MD, Department of Neurology, Hartford Hospital, Hartford Connecticut §    Masayuki Sasaki, MD, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Director of Child Neurology §    Shunichi Shiozawa, MD, Professor, Kyushu University Hospital §    Uhide Kiyoshi, MD, Assistant Professor, Kanazawa University §    Rokuro Hama, MD, Director, Japan Institute of Pharmacovigilance (non-profit organization) How And Why Was This Symposium Organized? Early in September 2013, the Secretary General of the Nationwide Liaison Association of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Victims and Parents in Japan, and Mr. (Francis) Mutsuo Fukushima, journalist with the Kyodo News, informed the SaneVax team that there were rumors of a delegation from the Japanese Ministry of Health planning to visit London in October to have discussions on the HPV vaccines with officials in the UK Department of Health and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).  It was thought that this delegation may be willing to speak with scientific and medical experts who were independent of pharmaceutical industry ties. Knowing what this delegation would hear from the official sources, the SaneVax Team felt it would be critical for this delegation to speak with medical and scientific professionals who had no ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to official confirmation of this meeting, Norma Erickson, President of SaneVax Inc. and Freda Birrell, Secretary provided their new contacts with information relating to many cases of young girls who had also been harmed by the HPV vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil, in other parts of the world.  The adverse events being reported in Japan were almost identical to those being reported in every country where these vaccines were administered.  This fact alone seemed to indicate that the adverse events should not be regarded as a coincidence. The entire SaneVax Team thought it critical to demonstrate that this was a global problem. The young women of Japan were not the only ones suffering after HPV vaccinations. The more information sent to Japanese contacts, the more everyone agreed that independent experts had to be heard. Following many discussions, SaneVax obtained confirmation from Mr. Tetsuya Miyamoto, Director of the Office of Vaccination Policy at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Health Policy Bureau and a qualified medical doctor in his own right, that he was leading a team embarking on a fact finding mission regarding HPV vaccines. He indicated that he and his team would be willing to meet with independent scientists and a doctor from London on Monday, 7th October 2013 at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in London. This meeting was scheduled to begin at 2 pm and last for 2 hours.  His team consisted of first class medical doctors from two of the six university hospitals in Japan which had been entrusted with official research efforts to shed light on potential cause-and-effect relationships between HPV vaccines and adverse effects being experienced by young girls in Japan.  Those attending this very important meeting on behalf of SaneVax were:  Dr. Sin Hang Lee, MD, Pathologist, Milford Hospital, Director, Milford Medical Laboratory Inc., and former associate professor of pathology at Yale University; Professor Francois Jerome Authier, MD, PhD, Reference Center for Neuromuscular Disorders, Henri Mondor Hospital, Paris and Dr. Damien Downing, MB BS, MIBiol from London who is a pioneer of Ecological Medicine.  Also in attendance at this meeting were Mrs. Freda Birrell, Secretary of SaneVax Inc. and her husband David Birrell, VAERS Research Analyst for SaneVax Inc.  Our team in London was treated with the greatest of respect by Mr. Miyamoto and his fellow doctors. They listened attentively to all that was said and watched diligently the excellent power point presentations – stopping many times to ask very important questions.  A Japanese interpreter was also in attendance.  At that time, we understood that there would be the opportunity for a further meeting organized by SaneVax to be held in Washington, DC when the Japanese delegation visited officials from the FDA and the CDC.  The Japanese delegation did visit Washington, later than expected because of the breakdown in the U.S. government administration. There was no opportunity for a second meeting with SaneVax representatives to take place.  Therefore, the London meeting became very important as it has proven to be the catalyst for the historic events now scheduled to take place in Japan on the 25th and 26th February 2014.  For the first time in the history of public immunization campaigns, government officials are willing to listen to the voices of truly independent scientists and medical professionals regarding vaccination policy and immunization practices. This is something that should have happened decades ago. Perhaps the meetings in Japan will herald the beginning of a new medical paradigm. At the very least, the meetings will provide a voice for thousands of young people and their families who are having to cope with the sometimes debilitating effects of HPV vaccination use. The SaneVax Team would like to express their sincere appreciation to those who organized this symposium for allowing us the opportunity to assist in the planning and coordination. It has been an honor to be a part of such a historic event. This may be the beginning of the end to the devastating health changes experienced by some families after HPV vaccinations. Gardasil: Ashlie’s Near-Death Experience  FEBRUARY 17, 2014 By Shawna Snyder, Big Bear City, California ASHLIE AND GARDASIL Who would have ever thought a single injection of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, could bring my precious daughter to the brink of death? My daughters, Ashlie and Lyndsie, were both injected with the Gardasil on the same day. Lyndsie had no adverse reaction. Ashlie was not so lucky. Ashlie has always been bigger than life.  A girl who we know can handle anything.  At the age of 4, Ashlie decided she wanted to dance. She was shy and didn’t like people staring at her, so we knew that this little endeavor would be short lived.  We could not have been more wrong. As Ashlie became older, we knew she had found her passion and career in life. She was going to be a professional dancer and she was on her way. How Could We Have Known One Vaccine Would Change Our Lives And Her Life So Drastically? In the middle of June 2009, Ashlie received her first and only Gardasil vaccine.  Ashlie’s older sister Lyndsie was also vaccinated with Gardasil on the same day and had no adverse reaction. For that I am thankful. However, approximately 16 days later Ashlie began to complain that her legs were not working correctly.  Looking back, I am not sure what I thought it was, but I had her take some Tylenol.  The next morning, I came downstairs and Ashlie was lying on the couch watching TV.  She told me that she had crawled from her room and down the stairs to get to the couch.  She informed me she could not walk. I asked her to stand. She tried and fell to the floor.   She was quickly taken to our local ER. The doctor threw his hands in the air saying he had no idea and it must be growing pains. She was given crutches and a prescription for steroids.  I took her home convinced the doctor was wrong, as I am a mother of 5 daughters and had never witnessed growing pains like that. Ashlie had been diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 10-years-old.  I thought she perhaps had had a new seizure I was not aware of, so I called her neurologist. I was assured it was not a seizure, but to bring her to the ER (a different ER) in the morning as they were very crowded and she would be seen faster in the morning and we would get home quickly.   Later that night, I helped Ashlie in and out of the bathtub because she could no longer walk. I went to hand her something and to my horror discovered that her arms and hands were not working either. She literally could not pick up what I was handing her. After a few phone calls, I rushed Ashlie to an ER over an hour away, the same ER we were to visit in the morning.  I carried her in, and for a crowded ER on a Saturday night, she was seen within 1 hour. One of the phone calls I had made was to my dad. His friend is a doctor, who told my dad that I needed to ask if it was “ascending paralysis”.  While we were with the doctor, I asked him if it was “ascending paralysis” and he said yes. It appeared she had Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome (GBS).   I was asked if she had been sick and I informed them she had not. I could not figure out how she got this. She was kept in the ER until a room became available in the “step-down” unit or intermediate ICU.  At this point I still had no idea how serious this was.  Once she was admitted to the hospital and not an ER patient, they handed me a bunch of literature on GBS. My answer to how she contracted GBS was in the first sentence that I read, and it said that you can get GBS from a vaccine. She had just had a vaccine, the Gardasil vaccine earlier that month. Ashlie after one injection of Gardasil As Ashlie lay in the hospital bed I watched her go from a vibrant young girl to a shell of non-existence. She was unable to walk, she was unable to get up to use the bathroom and as she couldn’t eat, an NG tube was placed in her nose so they could feed her. She was given intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), in the hope that this would stop the paralysis and start it descending.  She became delirious, and she began talking like a baby in her sleep. She was in extreme pain and I had no idea what to do, or even still did not realize at this point how serious GBS was.   Within 24 hours things went from bad to worse. Her respiratory system was shutting down. The GBS was paralyzing her to the point that she could not breathe. She was rushed to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Within minutes of being there she stopped breathing and they had to “bag” her.  I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I WAS SEEING. MY BABY GIRL WAS DYING BEFORE MY VERY EYES.  She could no longer talk and would finger spell (sign language) to communicate. They put her on a bi-pap machine to help her breathe and on July 1, 2009 Ashlie was intubated.  She could no longer breathe on her own to keep alive, a machine had to do the work for her.  Her heart was racing, ranging between 160-180 bpm. It seemed as though her heart would come through her chest.  For the next 2 1/2 weeks, I sat and watched as she continued to get worse. Guillain-Barre Syndrome is most common in older people, not children. It was the worst case the children’s hospital had seen in over 3 years. All treatments done to “reverse” GBS are done on adults. The hospital had to take adult treatments and alter them for a 12-year-old. She had more IVIG treatments done, she had plasmapheresis, MRI’s, and nerve tests done. The damage done to her nerves was horrific. The GBS not only destroyed her myelin, but it went into and began destroying the axon. Slowly her body began to “heal” and the GBS started to descend.  After 3 weeks of being intubated, she began to breathe on her own and was extubated. However, as the feeling came back, she was in excruciating pain. Pain so bad she felt like we were ripping her skin off if we touched her.  We remained at the children’s hospital for another week. She was then transported to Orange County to Healthbridge Children’s Hospital for rehabilitation. Ashlie spent another 4-weeks away from home doing physical and occupational therapy 7-days a week. She was tired, her body hurt, her body would not cooperate at times, and we had lots of tears.  After spending her 13th birthday in the hospital we decided it was time to go home and start our new lives.   Once at home Ashlie began physical and occupational therapy at home with an in-home health service. We tried to keep life as normal as possible for her. She started going back to dance class immediately, although participation was limited. She went to our local hospital for physical therapy. After 6-months the therapists said there was not much more they could do for her and she was as good as she was going to get. That was not the answer I wanted to hear. She was only 13-years-old.   I began making phone calls and from there carried out more research. We were told to get her into Pilates with an instructor who had a dance background. We did just that and things started to fall into place. Although some things fell into place, we noticed that Ashlie’s health began to change also. She was unable to keep foods down. Anytime she ate, she became very ill and everything came out one way or another. We noticed that she would have dizzy spells and pass out. She would have severe nerve pain at times, to the point that she could not be touched by anyone anywhere on her body. She said it felt as if her skin was being pulled from her body again. I have watched her go in and out of consciousness and struggle to breathe.  She now has a rapid standing/sitting heart rate. We have taken Ashlie to many different doctors and specialists. At one point they almost did heart surgery on her to try and stop her from passing out. She has been hooked up to heart monitors for 30 days and at the same time as this was happening, trying to continue to dance.   She has been seen in different emergency rooms over the last 4 years only to be told time and time again, that there is nothing wrong with her and that it is all in her head.  ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY Finally, during the summer of 2013, I was reading a story about a girl who had been injured by the Gardasil vaccine. I never read the comments below because I find them to be rude or critical. This particular day, I decided to read one.  A lady mentioned a doctor who helped her niece. I contacted her and then the doctor. We saw him in Sept 2013 and started treatment in October 2013. It has been a long hard road.  Ashlie has completely changed her eating pattern and takes many supplements. She has phone appointments with him every 4-6 weeks. One of her goals was to become flexible again. A silly thing to most, but to her as a dancer it is everything. She is slowly but surely getting it back. I even watched her do a backbend from a standing position a few days ago. Something I thought I would never see again. I regret every day giving her this vaccine, but I am so glad she is such a fighter and has not given up.  Both mom and daughter are in this together and we will never give up.  We hope too that whatever we can achieve for Ashlie can benefit so many other girls and boys who have also been badly injured by the Gardasil vaccine. Dear Ashlie and mother Shawna, Despite immense suffering your are sharing your story of pain and struggling to warn others about the dangers of the HPV vaccine. Bless your hearts. Prayers for dear Ashlie’s complete recovery. Like many others you have no doubt been given the impression that cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrom (GBS) after vaccination are rare. (In fact we are often also told this about cases of other “rare conditions” after vaccinations). The truth is that GBS after vaccination is not rare at all. This is because we are given misleading statistics by health authorities and other vaccine promoters: They present a far higher number of cases of GBS in normal populations as a whole than there is in reality. When cases of GBS appear after vaccinations we are then incorrectly informed that they do not exceed the numbers which are normal for the population. Here is a more detailed, excellent explanation which I have received from Dr. Lawrence B.Palevsky. I take the liberty of posting his complete comment: ARE RARE SERIOUS ADVERSE EVENTS (FOR EXAMPLE GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME, GBS) REALLY SO RARE AFTER VACCINATION? “In response to Sandy L. It is often stated that there is normally no higher number of GBS after vaccination than is found in the population as a whole,” this statement is more than dubious. We are told that vaccine safety studies are designed to evaluate whether or not vaccines contribute to the development of adverse events. When authorities accumulate data in a cohort of people who are given a vaccine or a group of vaccines, they closely monitor them for a period of time to observe any symptoms of illness, usually 2-4 weeks. They then compare the incidence of any reported symptoms in the vaccine study group to the incidence of the reporting of these symptoms in the general population. The incidence of symptoms in the general population is normally referred to as the background rate. In every vaccine study performed in this way by the vaccine manufacturers, they have come to conclude through their statistical analyses, that the symptoms reported in the study group after vaccination are no higher in incidence than the rate at which these symptoms would occur in the general population. Therefore, they conclude, the onset of these symptoms in the vaccinated study group is not necessarily due to an adverse reaction to the vaccination(s) being studied. In other words, the symptoms in the vaccinated group were most likely to have occurred by chance, unrelated to the effects of the vaccines. The next step in the process is to then conclude that the vaccine(s) being studied is(are) safe. Here’s the problem. The vaccine manufacturers are using background data from the general population; a population that is also vaccinated. In this type of study design, the investigators are studying a group of vaccinated people and comparing the data to a background population of people just like them, who are also vaccinated. We can’t conclude anything about the vaccinated population in this type of study design because the data are being compared to themselves, and not to a set of data from a proper unvaccinated control group. Yet, this is the main type of study design that is used to evaluate vaccine safety. In order to do a proper study, investigators would need to accumulate data in a cohort of people who are given a vaccine or a group of vaccines, by monitoring them for a period of time to observe any symptoms of illness, and comparing the incidence of the reported symptoms in the study group to the incidence of these symptoms that are reported in a cohort of people who are demographically similar, and who are unvaccinated. This is the type of study that would help us to understand the frequency and severity of adverse reactions that could possibly occur in a vaccinated population. This type of study, however, has never been done by the vaccine manufacturers. Many attempts to set up this type of scientific study have been thwarted by the courts, the vaccine manufacturers, medical organizations, and the ideology that vaccines are nothing other than safe and effective, and appropriately studied with the highest of scientific standards”.

Gardasil: The Decision We Will Always Regret

Gardasil: The Decision We Will Always Regret By all accounts, our daughter was normal before receiving the HPV vaccine.  Katie performed very well in school.  She was conscientious, hard-working and took pride in getting good grades.  She loved dancing having taken dance classes since she was 3 years old.  Katie always danced and twirled throughout our home and anywhere else she happened to be.  When Katie was 10, she joined cheerleading and became involved in competition cheerleading.  She was very active, taking four hours of dance class every week plus spending many more hours practicing with her competition cheer team.  Katie was healthy and vibrant. We were very diligent with our children’s health.  We never missed an annual check-up and we also followed the pediatrician’s recommended vaccine schedule including annual flu shots.  Our pediatrician recommended the Gardasil vaccine.  The Gardasil vaccine was heavily advertised on TV.  We read the vaccine Disclosure.  It said that the vaccine should not be given to those with HIV.  Katie did not have HIV so we signed the Consent.  On September 2, 2010 at the age of 11, Katie received the first Gardasil vaccine.  Katie’s first day of middle school was September 7, 2010.  Initially, we believed that her fatigue and headaches were being caused by having to get up much earlier in the morning for middle school.  However, she never adjusted to the new schedule and soon her symptoms began exploding.  Katie would often tell us “I don’t know what’s wrong, I just don’t feel good.”  She began sleeping a lot – over 12 hours a day and even more on the weekends, which would allow her gather enough energy to go to school a few days before she crashed again.  She missed days at school, dance lessons and cheer practices.  Soon her illness was visible on the outside too.  Katie didn’t look good – constant dark circles under her eyes, her skin color was ashen and she appeared listless.  To us, it seemed that her symptoms must be related to the Gardasil vaccine.  Katie’s earliest symptoms began after receiving this vaccine.  We searched the internet but only found vague information – nothing that matched our daughter’s symptoms.  We asked Katie’s pediatrician and other specialists if the Gardasil vaccine could be related to her symptoms but our inquiries were quickly dismissed as not having any correlation to her illness.  Katie’s earliest symptoms were a constant headache or migraine that did not respond to pain relievers, stabbing 24/7 bilateral ear pain, fatigue not relieved by sleep, abdominal pain, nausea and joint pain.  We called and visited her pediatrician repeatedly.  We began taking Katie to specialists including Neurologists, ENT’s, GI, and an OBGYN and made several visits to the Emergency Room.  Katie also received many blood tests, CAT scans and an MRI.  Nothing any of the doctors did relieved Katie’s symptoms.  As a matter of fact, the drugs prescribed to alleviate her symptoms only made her feel worse.  Our pediatrician and other doctors involved with Katie’s care began suggesting that her illness was psychosomatic and recommended that we take her to a psychologist.  We soon found that we were on our own, dealing with a medical issue we did not understand but trying desperately to help our daughter.  When searching the internet with Katie’s symptoms, Lyme disease would always come up as the search result.  In addition to asking all of Katie’s doctors if the Gardasil vaccine was the cause of Katie’s illness, we also began asking if Lyme disease could be the culprit.  In October 2010, Katie was first tested for Lyme disease.  The results were negative as were two later rounds of testing.  We read on the internet that ELISA and Western Blot tests for Lyme disease are unreliable and that many people who actually had Lyme disease tested negative.  Since this information is all over the internet, we thought it was common knowledge to doctors as well.   Instead, we were emphatically told by doctor after doctor that this was not true, that the testing for Lyme disease is highly reliable and that there was no way Katie had Lyme disease.  In April 2011, Katie could no longer go to school or participate in dance or cheerleading – the pain and fatigue was all consuming.  Nothing any of the doctors did provided any relief yet every doctor refused to consider Lyme disease or that the Gardasil vaccine was related to her illness.    Katie’s list of symptoms included the following:  24/7 headaches and migraines, 24/7 stabbing ear pain, hyperacusis, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, all over joint pain, constant sore throat, visual disturbances, light sensitivity, cognitive issues such as memory and severe comprehension problems, random numbness and tingling, weird “bug crawling” skin sensations, generalized weakness throughout her body (it was difficult for Katie to just sit in the shower to bathe), dizziness, fainting and heart palpitations.  She slept long hours and stayed in her bedroom shielding herself from the noise of everyday living.  In May, we requested testing through a lab specializing in tick-borne disease testing.  Katie’s pediatrician reluctantly signed the lab Requisition Form.  This time the test results showed that Katie was highly positive for Bartonella Henselae, a tick-borne disease also known as a co-infection to Lyme disease.  She was also highly positive for Mycoplasma Pneumonia and the testing showed that her immune system was struggling.  Katie’s Western Blot for Lyme disease was negative.   Katie: My Gardasil Nightmare We took those results with us to a long awaited CHOP Diagnostic Center appointment (think the “Dr. House” of the Children’s Hospital) and also to her CHOP Neurologist.  Katie even had the classic Bartonella rash (looks like purple and red stretch marks) surrounding her breasts and hips which is confirmation of an active Bartonella infection.  Both doctors told us that these test results only showed that Katie was “exposed” to Bartonella – it did not mean she had an active infection.  Both came to the same conclusion that her Bartonella rash was actually just stretch marks.  That was particularly hard for us to believe.  Katie was muscular and lean from years of dance and cheer.  Neither doctor was concerned about her blazing Mycoplasma Pneumonia infection nor was the fact that the testing showed her immune system impaired.  Instead, CHOP Diagnostic Center diagnosed Katie with the beginning stages of Dysautonomia (a malfunctioning automatic nervous system).  We were told that there was no cure and that symptoms were managed with medications. The CHOP Neurologist wasn’t in agreement with CHOP Diagnostic Center; instead she stuck to her prior diagnosis – Chronic Migraine Disorder with Chronic Ear Pain Neuralgia.  The Neurologist recommended that we continue with the same treatment of 20 pills a day even though it did absolutely nothing for Katie other than increase her nausea and head pain.   We felt utter disbelief, despair and anger. We found our way to a local support group for those suffering with tick-borne diseases, which provided recommendations to LLMD’s (Lyme Literate Medical Doctors).  Katie’s first appointment with an LLMD was in June 2011.  This physician spent an hour reviewing blood tests and other medical reports we collected and asked a lot of questions that had never been asked before.  He clinically diagnosed Katie with Lyme disease and agreed with the test results that reported active infections with Bartonella Henselae and Mycoplasma Pneumonia. He told us that Katie was very sick.  Ironically, upon hearing that news we felt utter relief.  This was the first doctor, since Katie’s illness began over nine months before that acknowledged she was ill.  Since that time, Katie was diagnosed with chronic Strep, HHV6, hypo-coagulation, susceptibility to bio-toxin illness (mold and environmental sensitivities) and has acquired autoimmune thyroid disease.  It has been three and a half years since Katie received the Gardasil vaccine and she still remains chronically ill.  She was unable to attend school in 7th and 8th grades.  This year, Katie decided to repeat 8th grade again rather than begin high school still sick.  Katie has an IEP plan in school which reduces her daily schedule to three core classes only.  Unfortunately, Katie is still too sick to attend school with any regularity.   Most days, a teacher comes to our home to review the lessons she missed at school.  Some days, Katie’s pain levels are too high so that she can’t even tolerate home tutoring.  Although she longs to get back to dancing again, she spends most days in her room sleeping or resting and trying to cope with chronic pain.  At 14 years old, Katie’s life closely resembles a sick elderly person instead of an active vibrant teenager she should be.      After Katie was finally diagnosed with tick-borne diseases, we put our initial suspicion about the Gardasil vaccine aside.  Since the treatment of tick-borne diseases is considered emerging medicine, I am always combing the internet for new information on tick-borne diseases, the latest research or treatments.  To our utter disbelief, I came across an article reporting that the Gardasil vaccine can activate a latent Bartonella infection that was otherwise being suppressed by a properly functioning immune system prior to vaccination.    We now believe our earliest suspicion was correct. We found many stories about devastating health changes post-vaccine.  These stories are eerily familiar to our daughter’s.  The Gardasil vaccine is known to activate latent infections and viruses, such as Epstein Barr and Bartonella.  The Gardasil vaccine deregulates the immune system and that allows latent infections and viruses, which were kept in check pre-vaccine by a then properly functioning immune system, to activate post-vaccine.  Now, there is evidence that the HPV vaccine is linked to the onset of autoimmune diseases.  We recently consulted Katie’s LLMD and also her Primary Care Physician, who reviewed Katie’s vaccine log and extensive medical records.  Both agree that Katie’s immune system was injured by the Gardasil vaccine and that it was the catalyst to her cascading health problems and chronic illness.  Katie’s LLMD is now treating her for a vaccine injury in addition to treating multiple tick-borne diseases, other infections/viruses and autoimmune thyroid disease.  At this point, we are totally outside our insurance company and most everything is out-of-pocket.  The overall expense of Katie’s illness greatly outpaces our income so many expenses are put on credit cards.  But the biggest cost by far is the toll that the Gardasil vaccine has taken on our daughter’s health and well-being.  We wonder if she will ever be able to reclaim her health and get back to living a normal life free of pain. We deeply regret consenting to the Gardasil vaccine.  We had no idea of the severe side effects some experience post vaccine.  Every day, we wish we had been more informed.  Parents beware of blindly following your doctor’s recommended vaccine schedule.  Do not rely or expect your doctor to know everything.  You must do your own research and ask plenty of questions.  Our family found out the hard way that it is possible for a vaccine to have lasting and devastating effects.