April 2015

It was September of 1951, the year I was born. I was only five months old — too young to remember the details — but as I grew older I watched the aftermath. My mother often told me the story of the worst day of her life. My brother, Mike, was in kindergarten. It was […]

We got our flu vaccines before I found out I was pregnant. Our provider had their flu clinic in September, and we all went. It’s an annual ritual at this point. The line was long, and our little boy ran back and forth from us and (as usual) chatted non-stop about a whole variety of […]

Not knowing if our little boy was going to make it was the worst. Looking back at the moment when his heart stopped, I remember feeling like my life was ending. I felt hopeless and guilty. I felt guilty, even though none of it was my fault. Angel was only a baby when he contracted […]

I’m writing this from quarantine, the irony of which isn’t lost on me. Emotionally, I’m a bit raw. Mentally, a bit taxed. Physically, I’m fine.  All seven of my unvaccinated children have whooping cough, and the kicker is that they may have given it to my five-month-old niece, too young to be fully vaccinated. We’d […]

I have always been pro-vaccine. My father worked in International Development, so I grew up and traveled all over the world in my youth, meeting children my age who had suffered from diseases that most of my friends back in Canada were lucky never to have even heard of. Later on, when I was going […]