By Alicia Davis Boone, Bel Air, Maryland
Before Gardasil my daughter was an outgoing, super funny, confident, soccer athlete, practicing 3-4 hrs a day. She planned to play HS soccer and move on to college soccer. Autumn was a free spirit and so full of life. Her love for animals and passion to save the mistreated drove her to want to open her own animal shelter. She had dreams, goals and a plan. That is until she had the Gardasil vaccine.
In January of 2010 she began the series of Gardasil shots. Her second shot was on 3/31 and by 5/10 we had her back to the doctors due to shortness of breath, along with horrible rib and back pain. From then on, our nightmare just kept getting worse.
Autumn’s life after Gardasil
She experienced excruciating rib/back pain episodes and was unable to stand up straight or breathe deeply. Pain episodes lasting as long as 4 weeks, requiring many ER visits. During one of these visits a mass measuring 6x12x9 was found in her abdominal muscle under her rib. The doctors thought it was possibly bone cancer. They kept her overnight to do a bone biopsy but by morning the mass was gone. It literally disappeared overnight! Her doctors could give no explanation and conducted no further studies.
So, her life continued with constant leg/knee pain, intense muscle contractions, painful joints, chronic congestion, sore throats, ear pain, reoccurring hearing loss, bladder infections, heat sensitivity, feeling faint in showers/baths, shortness of breath walking one flight of steps/talking too long, unbearable migraines leaving her screaming in pain, light/sound sensitivity, chest pains, racing heart,
lymphadenopathy, tiny cuts bleeding over 20 min, bruising, petechial rashes, cold purple feet, heavy menstrual cycles, paralyzing pelvic pain with lumps that come and go, cycles lasting 3 weeks or longer. Chronic fatigue, sleeping sometimes 20 hrs a day, night sweats, strange skin sensations, lips going numb, reoccurring rashes covering her body including the mucosa of her mouth/nose making breathing difficulties requiring ER visits. Gastroparesis- stomach paralysis causing severe bloating appearing as if she was 6 months pregnant, debilitating pain, no appetite, severe weight loss, weight gain from body going into starvation mode, constant nausea, vomiting blood/bile leaving her begging for mercy and pleading for death.
Autumn will live with stomach paralysis for the rest of her life. Can you imagine being unable to absorb nutrition and suffering malnourishment as a result?
Autumn fought hard to keep the life she had prior to Gardasil, but eventually was forced to quit soccer and withdraw from school.
She has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Autumn suffers from extreme memory loss, anger, insomnia, and severely diminished cognitive processes. She has self-harmed, cutting and branding her wrist/hips to cope with the suffering she endures daily.
Did the benefits of Gardasil outweigh the risk for Autumn? Absolutely not!
Where is the medical community now? They casually say our daughter is a complicated case and offer no answers, wish us luck then send us on our way.
Like so many other families we have been left to try and cope the best we can. No recognition is ever given to the possibility that the Gardasil vaccine may be the cause of Autumn’s long list of terrible side effects.
This young lady has to suffer and wonder why this has happened to her and why no one in the medical community appears to care.
We, as her family, are left to try and pick up the pieces and keep her as safe as we can. This is no easy task but she is our daughter and we love her so much.
In our hearts, we know if we could go back in time our daughter would never have had these three shots of Gardasil. Life at this moment in time would be perfect for her and for us. If only ……!!
PLEASE SHARE AUTUMN’S STORY – HELP SAVE OTHERS FROM SIMILAR DEVASTATION.
