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by Stephani's mum
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 From the day we heard the exciting news that we were going to have a
new baby, the 9 months of waiting and preparing began. Then suddenly it
was time. Stephani was born on April 14,1998 weighing 7lbs. 2 oz.
- healthy as ever. We were so happy to finally meet her, the newest
addition to our family. She was progressing so well, just beginning to
smile and show all her cuteness. Then 2 months later, I got a reminder
in the mail that said "its time for your child's immunizations" . I
thought I was doing the right thing . I had always made sure my other 2
children were immunized on time. This wasn't ever an issue in our
family. It was just something that you do to keep your children safe
from diseases.
So I called, got an appointment, and we had her immunized. Then on the
sixth day after her immunizations, she was very cranky crying all
day. She didn't eat much, nothing seemed to satisfy her. That
night we put her to bed letting her cry herself to sleep since nothing
else would calm her down.
That was the last I saw of my daughter ALIVE. All that night I kept
waking up waiting for her to wake up to eat. It never happened. I
thought to myself ,well maybe she is getting to that age where she is
going to sleep longer at night, so I let her be. That morning, she
never awoke so I went and made her a warm bottle of milk and went to
her bedside to wake her up to eat.
I grabbed my baby and she was ice cold her lips were blue , her skin
was so white. It was my worst nightmare. I ran to the phone and dialled
911 and began CPR.
Just a week ago she had a well baby check-up and was perfect in every
way and now she's dead. I kept thinking how could this be? She was just
fine, no illnesses, no problems at all.
An autopsy came back as Hemophilus influenzae. We didn't even know what
that was and hadn't even suspected the shots until I was putting away
her things and came upon her shot record. I opened it remembering how
we just took her in to be immunized then that's when I saw the big
letters right there on her shot record HIB (HEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE
B) . It all came to me. There's what happened to Stephani. I made
a hundred phone calls that day to doctors, health care providers and
nurses. All of whom seemed to have the same answer and seemed to be
very defensive "No that rarely happens"
I went to the library and started to do some research and WOW! The
information I found was just like putting together a puzzle when you
just need those last few pictures and then you see the final picture.
That's what it was like. The information I found was unreal! The
thousands of kids that die each year and that are left mentally
challenged, have seizures ,convulsions, are paralysed and the problems
these children suffer are all from the wonderful thing called
immunization.
I am sharing my story in hopes that you will investigate for yourself
before it happens to you next. It's like playing the lottery only the
odds are greater of you losing a child.
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