When it comes to vaccinations, there are more opinions out there that I can count. My friend recently lent me a new book "The Vaccine Book" by Robert W. Sears , which I have yet to read. Overall I feel vaccinations are very important, though many raise questions about how many a person should get, when they should get them, etc.
And that brings me to the flu shot. This is not a "mandatory" vaccine, though it is often recommended. I had influenza once as a teenager and let me tell you, it was miserable. Since then I have been motivated to get my flu shot annually, though I missed a few years of it in college.
Today I am attending the funeral for 13 year old Katie Haggard. Their family used to live in our ward (before we moved here) and we actually met them when we moved to Connecticut. They are an amazing family. While visiting some friends here in Washington with her mom, Katie started feeling sick. Her mom took her to the doctor and within an hour she had almost passed out from lack of oxygen. Katie had MRSA pneumonia. MRSA is a drug resistant form of staph. The disease hit her lungs hard and she was put on ECMO (life support). ECMO is okay for awhile, but if you are on it for too long, it can create problems of its own.
So how does this relate to the flu shot? Doctors in this area are saying when immunocompromised by something like influenza, people are more susceptible to MRSA (which normal healthy people can be carriers of). They are encouraging people to get their shots.
So would a flu shot have helped Katie? I don't know. I don't think you really can spend too long on questions like that, because you really don't know what the circumstances were that led to the disease.
My heart has broken over and over this week for their family.
Katie passed away on Easter with her parents by her side, bitter-sweet in light of the holiday and the hope that comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal families.
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4 comments:
I'm so sorry. This post breaks my heart. As you know, my family has been struggling with something similar, so this really touches home. I will include them in my prayers.
Mel
Oh Christine - I am so sorry. You just don't figure that a 13 year old will get a "virus"/infection and die. It shows you how fragile life is. I hope your friends will manage! What a terrible thing!
Easter has been bitter sweet for us too in the last two years. I know there is power in our prayers and love for those grieving.
This story really makes you think! My heart goes out this family and for those of you touched by the grief of this situation!
I've heard lots of things about MRSA, but hadn't heard about it's link to the flu vaccination--interesting.
To vaccinate or not, is I think, a rather unfortunate debate. In response to the recent outbreak of the measles in San Diego, I heard a lady interviewed on a news program last week expressing her many opinions supporting why she chooses not to vaccinate her children, her main reason I felt was flawed and frustrated me: "I have to weigh the risks of having my children immunized for diseases that don't even exist anymore, against the perceived benefits to society." Um, isn't the reason certain diseases don't exist anymore because we've been immunized against them? We no longer carry them, therefore we can't spread them--isn't that the "perceived benefit"?! Another "perceived benefit" I see, eliminating unneccessary suffering for people in general, but especially those in the highest risk categories. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now...thanks for letting me share.
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