How we came to educate ourselves . . . Gabriel's Story

We often hear that vaccines and the current childhood vaccine schedule are "safe and effective" and that serious adverse effects are "one in a million." If that were true, stories like Gabriel's and the others that you'll find at "Families Speak" and "We Remember" would not exist.  Many thanks to Gabriel's mom for sharing his story.

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Gabriel's Story . . . as told by his mother, Erin

"His world and ours are still just barely overlapping."

Gabriel was born in the summer of 2006. I had a perfect pregnancy, and after an uneventful 12 hour labor, Gabriel was born on his due date, beautiful and healthy. He nursed soon after birth, and we all went home two days later.

I noticed in those first few days that when Gabriel looked at me he seemed so aware for a newborn. He would look me straight in the eyes, almost speaking to me with them. I had high hopes for my new little guy, my second child but first son. He continued to do everything early, from rolling over and walking, to potty training before he was a year old. His doctor was even impressed at how he exceeded his milestones, as Gabriel was doing things his own daughter wasn't doing yet who was several months older. We started teaching him baby sign language, but stopped around 12 months because his verbal skills were excelling so quickly.

Our whole world changed the day we took him in for his 12 month well baby checkup. We didn't know then that we were about to make the biggest mistake of our lives. After receiving his MMR vaccine in the muscle of his leg (I later learned that MMR is to be given subcutaneously, not intramuscularly), the injection site became inflamed and red, and tender to the touch for several weeks. Gabriel was irritable like never before. He seemed agitated and cranky much of the time, wanting to be held constantly.

Click here to continue reading Gabriel's story . . . 

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