February 28, 2019
I’m going to be very careful as I write this. In return, I’d like to ask for a degree of care from you.
I’d like to ask you to be careful about how you talk about the hysteria happening right now because of measles cases in the news. I’m asking this kindly, from the bottom of my heart, and I’m going to try to thoughtfully tell you why.
There’s a label going around, very well publicized: anti-vaxxers. The label portrays a certain subset of the population as a sort of cartoon stereotype. Think ignorant, tinfoil-hat-wearing, science-denying, superstitious crazy people. That’s us.
It is very easy to mock this image, this leitmotif. If I didn’t have a certain perspective forced upon me because of some events in my personal life, I’m pretty sure I’d find myself in the mocky mockerson category. Politically, I’m a lefty, and it’s right-wing conspiracy theorists who are most widely portrayed as “anti-vaxxers,” so that’s probably what I’d believe if it weren’t for, as I said, my certain perspective.
My “certain perspective,” well, what does that mean, exactly? It’ll take more than a conveniently repeatable phrase or two to tell you about it. I have two beautiful children. Both came into the world hale and healthy. Both were vaccinated on a schedule that was very aggressive and uncompromising, but wholly sanctioned and approved by the large corporate pediatric practice we used at the time.
Some of the vaccines were for diseases like hepatitis B—something you normally have to worry about if you’re an IV drug user or having lots of unprotected sex or are around needles a lot—and they were really little babies when it was given, but okeedoke.
Both my babies received a vaccine called Proquad (measles, mumps, rubella, and chicken pox all in one shot) that was later recalled—not that my doctor’s office ever told me this. I found out years later when my new pediatrician filled me in on that little tidbit, much to my surprise and wondering eyes. If you look up why it was recalled, some sources say there were too many febrile seizures. Other sources say, poppycock, but don’t give any other reason that I’ve been able to find.
And both my babies had bizarre and unexplained medical issues following these heavy heavy hits of “medicine.”
For example, I was told time and again that it was totally normal for an infant to have green diarrhea for several weeks following vaccines. It’s called toddlers’ diarrhea. Maybe you’ve heard of it? My mother, a registered nurse and mother of three, never has, but I’m sure it was nothing. And the all-over body rash was just some baby virus working its way out. And the fevered screaming spell my daughter had like she was on fire but couldn’t recognize or make eye contact with us for hours—well, on that front I was told over the phone to see whether there was a hair wrapped around her tiny finger. And her inability to make eye-contact with most adults without screaming “Don’t look at me!” like a crazed creature from age two to five was pretty normal, I guess. And there were the trips to the ER when the kids were unable to pass bowel movements the size and consistency of bricks—those were interesting. We went from pillar to post with those irritable bowels of theirs.
And then there’s my son’s profound non-verbal autism that began to manifest when he was two. Well, that’s a story and a half. Not many professional answers out there about the hows and whys of that, let me tell you. Leads you to do a lot of research on your own, you betcha. If you’re a reasonably intelligent, educated, discerning reader, you know that not every bit of information you find on Google University is trustworthy. But, because you’re a reasonably intelligent, educated, discerning reader—and you’re motivated by the terror of a health threat to the versions of your beating heart marching around outside your body—you do learn things. Things that you can’t unlearn. You may be able to dismiss some of the “vaccines can be dangerous to some kids” cries in the dark, but you can’t dismiss them all. Because, sure, some of them read like the ravings of ignorant crazy people, but by no means all of them.
Are there intelligible, peer-reviewed studies showing that the very large bloated entity of a vaccine protocol we’ve found ourselves swallowing hook, line, and sinker could be risky to certain kids? To their developing immune systems? To their developing brains? Yes, there are. You don’t have to believe me; do your own research. Is there a gastroenterologist from the UK named Andy Wakefield who looked into terrifying symptoms his patients were experiencing and uncovered some noteworthy things happening in the guts of these kids that involved the vaccine strain of measles from the MMR? Yes, there is. You can say he’s been debunked, defrocked, ripped a new one, but if you read his work and still think there’s nothing to it . . . well, go ahead and say what you like. But I’m telling you, if you start yelling and screaming that he’s a demon and you have not read his work, don’t talk to me. Do. Not. Talk. To. Me. If you want to accept the mainstream sound bytes that have destroyed him, that’s your business, but don’t drag me into that kind of idiocy.
Am I “anti-vaccine”? Nope. If I or anyone I love gets bitten by something that might have rabies, we’re getting that shot. If my kids get into their late teens and early twenties and their blood titers show that they no longer have immunity to, let’s say, chicken pox (which while mild in a small child can be an unbelievable horror in a young adult; trust me, I got it at 18 and wished I was dead with all my might), I’ll encourage vaccination. You see, some of the dismissed research about varicella (chicken pox) suggests that vaccine immunity to that bug isn’t as permanent as having had the illness, so they may be at risk in ways they wouldn’t have been if they’d gotten chicken pox in the sandbox or their preschool or what have you.
I’ve had a lot to say here. I could say a lot more. I’ve done a lot of research. I’m a mom whose babies got sick and nobody could help, what the fuck else could I do?
But I’m not writing this to convince you of the validity of the science I’ve delved into, or the case studies I’ve pored over, or the mountains of evidence I’ve perused that point to problems with the mountains of vaccines kids get before they cut their first teeth.
I’m writing this to ask for your care.
When you post something that, in a few words, demonizes many of us as ignorant wackos, you might wonder for a second who you’re talking to. You might think about how there are plenty of drugs out there, penicillin for example, that are brilliant lifesavers and life-enhancers to some of us, but deadly to others. You might think, hmmmm, big pharma is so bad and greedy when it comes to all those pills they’re pushing, but the fluids in the vaccine vials, those are a-okay, across the board, no exceptions, no substitutions?
Big pharma is evil big money personified, right? Many people think this, right John Oliver? Well, yes, all except for vaccines—those products that are pushed onto every single solitary child by law (some of them are required as “boosters” for every kindergartner entering school, most of whom likely still have the immunity awarded by the first dose, which a simple blood test would show). No, those pharmaceuticals are the good ones, the exception to big pharma greed, beyond reproach. This sits right with everybody? Okay.
You might consider that you cannot sue the manufacturer of a childhood vaccine —this is true, in real life—even if it clearly, unequivocally maims or kills you. Instead, you are referred to something called the Vaccine Court (officially known as the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program), a real thing invented to take care of those countless individuals who played the same roulette that so many of us do—but unlike so many of us, they lost. Maybe think about that for a minute. You can’t sue the manufacturer over a vaccine injury. Not so with any other medicine. Just vaccines. Just vaccines.
Are you really sure they’re fine and safe as a glass of water? For all of us? Are you sure the volume, the timing, the combinations, the adjuvants, the preservatives—are you sure it’s all fine and there are no lifelong consequences to a huge number of children, fast becoming adults, that’s growing exponentially by the second? Rampant autism, rampant deadly food allergies, rampant asthma, rampant mysterious polio-like disorders—all of which seem to be connected to something in a body’s immunity going terribly wrong. Once you’ve read through all the data I’ve read through, the peer-reviewed studies, the case histories, once you’ve done all this and consulted your own common sense . . . are you sure?
Before you post that meme that makes fun of us, of me, maybe you could read up on things. Just to be sure.
If you don’t have an injured child, you might not feel the need. So go ahead, post away. And if it doesn’t bother you that there may be mothers and fathers all over your news feed that will take it like a knife to the gut, more power to you.
But maybe you could care.
~ The Ace
The Ace, Tracy Stroh, is a freelance writer, editor, singer, and stress-crocheter. She’s working on a book with a working title of Mothering Autism: It’s Not Funny & It’s not Pretty . . . Except For When It Is. She lives in utter chaos—I mean, upstate New York—with her husband, Mike, their two kids, Grace and Calvin, and a guinea pig named Pippa.
I’m an autistic teenager and I received the same vaccine, and I’m fine! I have a job, lots of friends, and believe in science. So I ask you, why do you go around spreading lies and mis-information?
P.S. I never experienced these “horror episodes” of overreactions of minor things.
(and yes, ALL 2-51 year-olds are rude and obnoxious.)
*2-5 year-olds
Dude, you have to get over yourself. Someone describing a different experience from yours does not equal “lying.” Period. It is simply a different experience from yours.
It’s clear the you have not experienced the “horror episodes” you are referring to as most of the kids who have do NOT have jobs, lots of friends, or the ability to seek out arguments on the Internet.
The phrase “believe in science” is a ridiculous one with no meaning whatsoever. Science is not a religion. It does not require unquestioning “belief” from anyone. The very nature of science is questioning and exploration. Please stop “believing” in science and start exploring it. There’s so much you don’t know even about your own condition that has already been explored by scientists who are actually doing science rather than trying to command unquestioning “belief.”
No, not all 2-5 year-olds are rude and obnoxious, but clearly some “autistic teenagers” are.
Yep. My mother smoked, no cancer of any kind. My father never smoked a day in his life, and lung cancer is on his death certificate. One example is an anecdote. Thousands and thousands are a pattern.
God Bless You. Thank you for being brave and writing such an articulate and thoughtful and thought provoking piece.
I would be careful about too much vitamin A and D, as they are stored in the fat and may cause toxicity over time. Vitamins B and C are water soluble, and excreted in the urine, so not toxic in excess (though various diseases are associated with deficiencies (pellagra, scurvy, certain anemias, for example)
You can take quite a lot of fat soluble vitamins without harm, but yes you need to be educated on the safe doses. When a person is sick the body uses up those vitamins pretty quickly though.
So true. With the exposure to other toxins in the environment such as glyphosate and pharmaceuticals (antibiotics, antifungals, accutane, etc..) the pathways to excrete toxic doses of vitamin A are shut down. See nutritionrestored.com and ggenereux.blog
Rely on vitamin D from the sun not a pill.
Fascinating stuff. I have two sons who are homeschooled due to autism. We live off the grid as much as possible. Never vaccinated, no fillings. Someone on this site told us about a reflex treatment which may be effective in helping our sons with their disease. I guess there are no vaccines that are safe for kids, not 100% anyway. We avoid crowded places which are hotbeds of infection, and try to avoid unnatural exposures. I really don’t care what people think of us; their dislike or even hatred allows us to live tentfree in their heads, but isn’t my concern at all.
Ellie – sounds like you’ve really had a hard time of it. Itynot impossible to live off the grid as much as possible. Certainly healthier for you. Sounds like you connected with a naturopath who tested you for copper toxicity. Glad your experience was better than ours (wanted to see us proprietary products only available from their office). You might want to be tested for Wilson’s disease, one problem that affects copper metabolism.
I believe my high copper was from a few years of vegetarian/vegan diet (it’s great for a temporary cleanse, but disastrous long-term!), and a chocolate addiction. I wasn’t consuming enough zinc, so my body craved chocolate, besides it tastes pretty darn good! Copper is close to zinc in properties. When the body doesn’t get enough of what it needs, it will hold on to what it gets, that is close to it. Chocolate is at top of list of foods with high copper. I ate organic, dark chocolate, regularly. It’s a good antioxidant, right? I over did it, with antioxidants, with food, supplements and drinking alkaline water. Companies selling alkalyzing water filters don’t talk much about becoming too alkaline! My body didn’t have enough oxidation, necessary for healthy metabolism/digestion.
Now I drink spring water. I rarely drink tap water, and when I do, I feel the vibration from EMFs more than when I keep it out of my system. All public tap water (in US) contains fluoride, an industrial aluminum waste-product. I’m still trying to remove a slightly elevated aluminum level.
i politely disagree. i’ve been vegetarian since i was born and vegan now for 6 years. i’m 30 and healthy as a ox. it’s all about eating the right things. my wife has been vegan for 6 years and is about to deliver our first baby girl after eating a vegan diet during the whole pregnancy. she’s healthy and feels great. doc approved. anything is possible with the right know how.
About half the population have Gene mutations that would make avoiding animal products detrimental to their health. You must not have one of those or don’t realize yet what it’s doing to you. Eating lots of veggies is good. What you’re not getting is fat soluble vitamins and cell membrane strengthening phospholipids,
I agree wholeheartedly wit your post. i do not have an injured child however i began researching te issue while pregnant(16yrs ago). what made me continue to dog deeper was use of deception, trickery, outright lies and threats that the medical providers used to force us or go around us(myself and mynhusband) & our educated decision not to vaccinate according to the recommended schedule. The deeper I dug te worse i thought of them and contnue to researc,h I have yet to be convinced of the flip sides position
TMR, Tracy, Thank you for sharing your stories. Commentor …our lives begin to end the day… Thank YOU for bringing up the reality of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect children with heavy metal toxicity.
I was a morning driver for an 11-yr old with high-functioning ASD. The special needs school I delivered him to was FULL of children sitting under fluorescent lights on vinyl flooring with iPads in all their laps. The outdoor play-space was covered with plastic astro-turf! I feel sorry for all of those children, and their parents – who pay a lot of money to have their children in that toxic environment day after day, year after year.
I am a 60-yr old with electrical hyper-sensitivity (EHS) for past 7 years. I haven’t received a vaccine in over 5 decades. With hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) I discovered I had a toxic copper level, which made me a walking, conductive, antenna. Through balancing my mineral ratios (diet, supplements, coffee enema, near red infrared sauna), I reduced the high copper to a ‘normal’ level and reduced my EHS symptoms of extreme fight/flight anxiety, heart palpitations, headaches, and finally went to sleep to the sweet sound of silence after 6 years of constant tinnitis. However, I still FEEL frequencies in my body when I’m in areas with high ‘electrosmog’, like in my home when certain electrical appliances are running simultaneously. I’ve spent $1000s trying to find an EMF consultant/electrician to redo the wiring that is causing the electrosmog, to no avail.
The other morning my furnace clicked on and I took a deep breath, and exhaled deeply. I could jump out of bed and turn it off, but my house was cold from it being off all night and I wanted to get it warmed up. I lay there breathing deeply, feeling the ‘buzz’ throughout m body, and I thought, is this what a seizure feels like to a vaccine-injured baby or child — that is much smaller than I am? Are they having seizures while trying to sleep with a body/brain full of heavy metals and polysorbate 80, on a metal crib mattress support, with a baby monitor beaming down on them, a Smart Meter cycling on/off 24/7 on the other side of the wall, and/or every-time the furnace or A/C cycles on in their home or school?
Biological effects from EMFs and WiFi are real! Heavy metal toxicity compounds the reality! ~Sent via ethernet-wired device.
Good read. I can not help to wonder though if you sit back and think out that our autistic children have a life expectancy of 50 that you would seriously reconsider your position. My other thought is no matter where you stand on this topic, forced medical treatment in any form should scare every single person reading this! Informed consent, which includes the right to refuse, is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT. Every single human deserves this.
Reconsider which position? She’s not intending to vaccinate further, and she certainly isn’t in favor of vaccine mandates.
Did you read her article? She’s opposed to vaccinations after her children were vaccine injured. She’s obviously opposed to forced vaccination programs.
Awesome writing. Same mantra we teach our kids -PLAY NICE 💕. If adults can’t hold a civilised discussion about a topic they disagree about, how will the next generation ever learn. 👍😞
Thank you for your article. I read loads about vaccination, from yes and no side. I decided to go for yes. And I think I would do it again – despite of fact our boy is autistics. And yes, it became more obvious after the vaccination. But I can’t positively say it was due to vaccination or if it was there anyway, just waiting to show up. We travel fair amount and I wanted to protect him. I don’t think I would forgive myself if something would happen to him thanks to no-vaccination. And no, I am not blaming myself for his autism – because I will never know if he would be autistics anyway, with or without it. And I am not blaming anyone for their yes or no choice.
I can’t help but wonder what your research sources were.
Here are two excellent sources, each with hundreds of research studies:
Miller’s Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers by Neil Z. Miller
Vaccines: A Reappraisal by Dr. Richard Moskowitz
Thank you ❤️
God bless you.
Thank you for your article I agree with everything you have written.
Beautifully put with the emphasis on caring and sharing to have people not be reactionary but thoughtful in their responses – which applies to everything we come across. Thank you.
Thank you for your heart-felt and honest reporting of events that happened to you, and your family…and especially, for your encouraging people to CARE. My children have been vaccine-free since my first child had a reaction at age two, many years ago. I didn’t know it was a vaccine reaction at the time, but I was blessed with this incredibly strong voice in my head that said “Do. NOT. Vaccinate.” The studies weren’t out there like they are today, there were only a few of us objecting. It was hard. Getting past the front desk at school when I had to ask for and sign the waivers was harder. Finding a doctor was the hardest, but we persevered. I now have five adult children and three grandchildren, all vax free, all healthy, all educated, all informed-choice makers. Currently, my work takes me around vaccine-injured children a lot. Those parents are also informed-choice makes….not crazy people, as the media portrays us. I just wish the folks on the other side of the debate could do some real research, and not be so hateful. Thank you again for your article, and for pushing forward with this very necessary work.
Last night Lewis Black on the Trevor Noah’s Daily Show horrifically blasted anti-vaxxors as morons, idiots, anti-science! He did it with such a venomous rhetoric that I got pissed at Trevor Noah for letting this happen on his show.
Such inconsistency in The Daily Show (and their alums) for many years. It’s a tremendous shame. Huge amount of cognitive dissonance. I think these people really need to understand HOW lucrative vaccines are for their manufacturers.
This is eye-opening: https://theethicalskeptic.com/2018/12/26/six-vaccinial-generation-trends-already-well-underway/
I was saddened by the Lewis Black spot, too. Broke my heart along with John Oliver. I’ve been a huge fan of their comedy forever, and wish with everything I’ve got that they’d just pay some attention to everybody who’s talking (i.e. US) and not go for the automatic knee jerk reaction on this topic.
Thank you so much for sharing that! I disagree with him about any vaccines being an act of mercy, but the analysis was informative and interesting
My child will never be cured unless they figure out how to reverse the damage that was done unto him. His central nervous system is very effected, his microglia are primed and his mast cells sensitized. He has a low threshold for non native electrosmog which further injures him in his classroom. People say “homeschool” your child. So because my child is disabled by something that was done to him that was inhumanely marketed and sold under the pressure of fear to parents, so because my child is being further disabled in a classroom because of a corporation that would rather see profits, so because my child has a medical condition I cannot be in that special classroom every day because of privacy laws it is ok to just do something because a corporation said it was ok? We are not standing up enough, we are overly censored, and this is far from over.
Just like vaccines are not properly safety tested; neither is the countless barrage of non native electrosmog fields that we bathe in daily. That we send our kids to school to bathe in. Non ionizing radiation has many effects on already compromised children and we are ignoring this issue. It is a very relevant issue. People laugh and would rather accept a disease label than accept the cause and prevent the cause of the problems they acquire. This electrosmog is going to effect many and people are going to wonder what happened to everyone’s IQ? Why is everyone so sick? What is happening to people? They will keep looking into biochemical problems when above that a very huge issue of biophysics is occurring creating a great deal of issues.
The biggest contributors to the symptoms are the interplay of the systems biological functional disability created by exposures that stimulated a mass inflammatory insult and then bathing in electrosmog from RF, dirty electricity, EMF, and the harmonics from this. The body cannot even begin to recover the more the individual is exposed to electrosmog, artificial blue lights, flourescents and minimal outdoor stimuli.
The exposure is lowering the already compromised immune function, creating further ROS, dysautonomia, further sensitizing the mast cells and microglia, further sensitizing the individual to multiple chemical sensitivity, further creating damage in the body and because of this increased outward symptoms of ASD and the co-morbid conditions that go with it.
No the acquired brain injury –ASD isn’t fun but it is not fun either when you see the full picture and you see the problems and so much is in your way to try to stop the problems. Please help and sign the International 5G appeal. Please help by speaking to your school who will minimize your knowledge in regards to electrosmog, who will deny your ability to know the measurements, and who will stand by the unsafe outdated guidelines of the FCC despite tons of research to the contrary. Please research this thoroughly and if you need places to look please write back here.
Someone has to stand up for the injustices of the many. What are you willing to give up? How many will step forward? While they may be able to stop one of us, they wont be able to stop an army. Be brave and do something~!
Expose the evils, leave no truth untold.
Do you have a blog to follow or on FB? I am heartbroken by your story and thank you for sharing it!! we have our own story that gives me such empathy for all you have been through. I love how you crafted this piece and want more to hear this side of the issue!
Thank you so much for the loving words. I’m woefully behind on blogging, but I am on Facebook (Tracy M. Stroh), let’s find each other there until I get my energy and discipline up to get my writing out there on the regular.
Watch the High wire with Del BigTree, he has done the research and has doctors on his show that say vaccines are dangerous and are killing our kids! They say measles were irraticated but that’s a lie and you can look it up yourself and see that there’s been outbreaks of the measles every year and they are trying to scare people into vaccinating!
Not eradicated, “eliminated” in the Western Hemisphere. That means that measles is no longer endemic in the population and has to imported. Each outbreak for the past couple of decades began with a traveler to a country where measles WAS endemic. The hope was that measles COULD be eradicated, but that is looking more and more impossible because originally it was assumed that vaccine-induced immunity to measles would last a lifetime. It is more and more apparent that that is not true. Vaccine-induced immunity wanes over time at an unknown and variable rate, which means that highly vaccinated populations now have a large number of adults walking around who could potentially be infected. This, plus measles’ high degree of contagiousness makes it very unlikely that measles can ever be eradicated through mass vaccination.
I think you’ve overlooked those recently vaccinated with the mar SHEDDING the virus for days and weeks. Where do you get your information that all measles had to be brought here from a traveler? I would rather get the wild measles virus and be immune for life. Extra Vitamin A, C, and D work wonders to help support the immune system. And now there is evidence that the Measles can have long term benefits, certainly among nursing moms.
No, I’m not overlooking shedding. I have diligently searched scientific literature and the CDC. The vaccine-strain virus is much weaker than the wild virus, and there is little-to-no evidence of it ever causing an “outbreak.” It can most certainly be picked up by someone who is immunocompromised, but as far as I have been able to ascertain, there is only one example of vaccine-strain measles being transmitted more than once.
Wonderfully said!!! Thank you for your work!