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All of you as well. This is serious. The other day, I came upon a group on Facebook that supposedly encourages not vaccinating children. Well, bad news for those guys, their claims are baseless and dangerous to the lives of their children and others around them. This heart breaking story proves that, yet again.
Nicole Stellon O’Donnel, mother of an 8-year-old girl, shared what her daughter went through. Her tweets have not only gone viral but have also stressed upon the importance of vaccination.
Dear parents of children who do not have cancer: a casual measles exposure in a grocery store caused the following things to happen when my child was in chemotherapy:
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
A casual measles exposure is preventable. Parents can get their children vaccinated at the right time. Definitely, that was not the case here. Nicole continues with her story.
1: My daughter was quarantined for one month. It's enough to be bald and chemo stricken at 8, but add being unable to leave the house.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
The consequences of the beliefs and actions of a family that does not believe in vaccinations do not stay limited to just them. Measles spreads fast, usually without any conclusive symptoms on the infected person for quite some time. One grocery visit in proximity of someone sick cost Nicole’s daughter the last amount of freedom she had.
2: When we arrived at ped/onc they had to cancel appointments and shut down the infusion room while they sorted out the details of her exposure. The treatment of all the other patients (children with cancer) that afternoon was disrupted.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
There were other children with cancer who had to be moved and their treatment was disrupted.
3: The exam room we were in had to be shut down and given a "terminal cleaning," disrupting the ped/onc department's ability to serve other outpatient children with cancer.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
That was not all. Nicole shed light on her daughter’s ordeal. She wrote, “This may not seem like a big deal, but imagine being eight, bald, skeletal, without eyebrows and eyelashes *and* having to wear a face mask in public.”
Other children in the clinic were at risk of getting infected and could have needed Neulasta shots. Thankfully, it did not come to that.
5: There was a possibility that other children could have been required to have shots of Neulasta to boost their white blood cell counts. The side effects include terrible bone pain. Fortunately, my daughter's WBC count was high enough that no children had to go through that.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
6: Our oncology team spent much time working with state epidemiologists to decide what to do. Both for our child and all the other children in the clinic that day. I cried with relief when the told me none of the other children had to take Neulasta.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
It would have been even more distressing for Nicole’s daughter had this happened during her school term. She has already missed out a lot.
We were lucky it was summer. She didn't have to miss school. She had missed three months while we lived 350 miles away during the first months of chemo. She would have been crushed to miss more.
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
Our son spent a week in isolation after measles exposure. He had a heart transplant and can’t get the MMR. Your tweet sums the chaos and panic of an exposure up perfectly.
— Elizabeth Holloway (@RegStrategist) November 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/afwaller/status/1065475536544239621
From someone who is going through chemo, please get yourself and your kids vacimated, even if you don't think that it is effective. I'm worried every time I have to pick up my 7 year old at school.
— Stephen Battista (@StephenBattista) November 22, 2018
I'm still gobsmacked that people choose not to vaccinate their kids and are so blasé about it.
— Aleen 🚀 (@Aleen) November 22, 2018
This, a thousand times this!
That vaccination is not only a health security for one's own child, IT IS PART OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT one makes to live alongside other humans.Personal/religious beliefs?
What if someone's beliefs were to burn their kid? Law and society wd step in.— Geneva Christie (@GenevaChristie) November 22, 2018
They're not only foolish regarding their own children's health, they're incredibly selfish regarding the health of others.
— Judy ''tested positively towards negative'' (@Siubhan_H) November 22, 2018
Please #vaccinate your kids. Please get your #flushot. It's an act of compassion for the many children who need herd immunity because their immune systems are not working. #VaccinesWork
— Nicole Stellon O'Donnell (@SteamLaundry) November 21, 2018
You don’t want to be someone who is ignorant and selfish to such a degree as to refuse vaccinations for your kids. The world does not need conspiracy theorists on this matter.
