I feel silly for saying this, but I cannot believe that I am sitting here about to write my own vaccine injury story. I was so against getting the it.
My best friend got the AstraZeneca jab. She ended up with blood clots and a stroke. She wasn’t expected to live.
Let me preface my story by saying that both of us are extremely healthy people.
We grew up on the farm in Tasmania. We have always been hard workers, fit, active and healthy. We are both 45 years old and single mothers. We are the type of people who would do anything for anyone. We care about the world we live in and are very sociable.
I have my daughter 100% of the time because I am the only parent in her life.
My daughter and I have had a very unfortunate life and for many years, we lived in fear and danger. We have both had a lot of trauma to deal with and we had to fight for our freedom for so many years, but life was moving on and looking brighter. I have worked hard many years and sacrificed so that I could save to build a house for us. This year I was able to do that, and my small home is currently being built.
I wasn’t considering getting the vaccine after what had happened to my friend, and I had heard so many other stories like hers.
I was told that if I didn’t get the jab, the Government wouldn’t allow me to work, due to the mandates. I was also told that I wouldn’t be able to visit my family. I felt so much pressure, so much stress. I am the only source of income for my daughter and I was building a house! My family also mean the world to me.
I was so upset that I had to get it, but I really felt at that point, my choice had been made for me and that I had no choice. I couldn’t stop working and because of the huge love I have for my family, I couldn’t imagine not being able to go visit them. I remember telling my 9-year-old daughter that I had to go get it. She screamed out, “NO MUM PLEASE DON’T GET IT!” She was so scared and grabbed me, pleading with me not to go, with such fear in her eyes. She was sobbing uncontrollably.
If only I had listened.
I got my first Pfizer jab on 27th November 2021. For the first three days I had headaches and extreme pain at the site of the jab.
My whole arm hurt and I couldn’t lift it. I worked a few days and started getting brain fog. I was asked if I had completed a specific task at work and I couldn’t even recall if I had done it or not. That was so unlike me. I later found out through the post register, that I had in fact done that task and posted it. Even when I found it in the register in my handwriting, I still couldn’t recall completing it. I was very confused by this, as I have never experienced this type of memory loss before.
I worked that weekend as usual and felt really off. I am really busy on the weekends and I just felt like my brain was not working properly, or as fast as usual. I also felt like I couldn’t react or speak as quickly as usual. I was having trouble saying what I was thinking, trouble forming words and sentences…. It’s hard to explain.
That Monday I worked all day. Around lunchtime I started feeling weak all over and nauseated, which was very unusual for me. I sat down, which I never do, and phoned a friend who is also a co-worker. I told her I wasn’t feeling well. I also forgot that I had done this, until I was reminded by the friend, after I left the hospital. Then a customer came in, so I jumped up and just kicked back into work. I was busy all afternoon. I drove home and had a nice family BBQ with one of my brothers and his family, who were up visiting from Tassie. We had a great night, I felt fine, we were talking, laughing, reminiscing. I remember thinking before I went to sleep, that this was the nicest night I had had in a very long time.
I abruptly woke at 4am on the morning of 7th December 2021. I immediately knew something was wrong. I had an extremely loud, high-pitched ringing in my left ear and I had lost my hearing on that side. The whole room was spinning. I felt nauseated, extremely sick to my stomach and confused. I eventually got myself up and went to the bathroom, but I kept hitting into the walls and falling over. I fell back asleep and woke up an hour later much worse. I was so scared.
The ringing was so loud and the spinning and nausea so much worse. I started throwing up. I got up and tried to walk, but I just kept falling over. My daughter saw it all and she was trying to help me. I remember seeing her scared little face.
I ended up crawling to the main living area, my brother found me and called the ambulance.
The ED got me straight in for a CT scan and a CT with contrast. It all looked clear. The stroke team was called as I was also experiencing blurry and double vision. They admitted me to the stroke ward. While I didn’t have any headache or pain when in the ED, that soon came and I was now suffering with a migraine as well.
That afternoon I was taken for an MRI. At that stage they did not do it with contrast, as they didn’t feel it would add any more to the story.
I spent 10 days in hospital, so very sick. My daughter struggled so much with this. I remember her crying and looking so scared. She asked me, “Mum, what if Nana and Pop weren’t here? Who would look after me then?” My heart sank.
I was treated for all case scenarios, as none of the tests were conclusive as to what had happened. I told them that the only thing I had done differently was get the vaccine. They initially said, “Well it could have been from the vaccine as we have no definitive answers yet”. As time went on though, they seemed to not want it to be vaccine related and before discharging me, said that they thought it was an infection. Initially the first thing they thought it wasn’t, was an infection, and there was still no evidence that it was an infection.
That really upset me because we all knew it wasn’t that. I had no signs or symptoms pointing to an infection at all and even the neurologist, who came to see me, said he didn’t believe it was that.
So, after relearning how to walk again, I left the hospital with complete loss of hearing in my left ear, tinnitus, vertigo and recurring headaches and migraines. I was unable to drive, work, or walk for long distances without supervision.
The day before I left I got an MRI done with contrast. I was left a voicemail on my phone from the stroke team, saying that they’d had a meeting to go over my MRI results and they had found I had suffered a stroke in my inner ear, an intra labyrinth haemorrhage and a bleed.
I now have a long, slow journey back to recovery. I have rehab with a physio, who is trying to help me regain my balance. However, I have had to stop the balance exercises as they trigger migraines.
I have been to a vestibular specialist who has told me that I will not get my hearing back and that my left inner ear has absolutely no function. He told me that due to the blood supply being compromised, that neither of these will return.
So now it’s time to rehabilitate and recalibrate my brain basically, which he says takes a very long time.
I will be out of work for who knows how long.
I’m so upset, stressed out, mad. I have so many emotions. I’m also coping with the stress of being halfway though building a house.
I lived pay cheque to pay cheque and that is now gone. This was meant to be an exciting and happy time for my daughter and I. My reality now is the complete opposite. Most of the doctors and specialists have been saying that they don’t think it’s the vaccine, but I know that it is.
I’ve been feeling so alone and pretty beaten down by the system and by the professionals involved. Feeling so sick and in pain for the last few weeks, it’s hard to speak out and find my voice. I had been praying for strength and for the truth to come out.
Yesterday a miracle happened. I went to my first ear specialist appointment. The doctor was amazing. He wanted to go through exactly what had happened and how it had happened. I’ve had so many doctors ask me questions like, “Were you lifting heavy weights? Did you fall? Did you sustain an injury to that ear, or your head?”
This doctor asked me if I was listening to loud music.
My reply was, “Doctor, the only thing I have done differently for the past 10 years is get the COVID vaccine!” I told him that I felt certain that is what caused it.
He stopped, looked up and asked me straight away when I got it and which dose. I told him. I let him know my symptoms post jab. He then proceeded to look at my file and told me that after the meeting that the doctors and specialists had had regarding my MRI result, that they had filed a report with the TGA stating possible vaccine reaction!
I nearly fell out of my chair! It was like music to my ear, the one that one works, LOL. I then started to wonder why the doctors hadn’t told me this? I also am yet to see the report. I know it’s going to be a long process and I just hope the TGA do their job properly and that it is reported correctly.
I would like to finish my story by pleading with all who read this, that if you feel in your gut you should not get the vaccine, please do not get it. Listen to your own intuition and follow it. My biggest regret is listening to all the noise around me, to buckling under the pressure and getting the vaccine due to the government’s mandates and limitations on people who are not fully vaccinated.
It is my hope that by sharing my story, that I may prevent this experience from happening to someone else. Please, there is nothing more important than your life and your health.
If I had not made it, if my reaction had been worse, my daughter would be without any parents and that upsets me more than anything else in this world. I remember calling my boss, distraught about the decision I was making to get the vaccination. I literally said to her I felt like I was playing a game of Russian Roulette… please don’t play the game.
These reactions are happening far more than people realise, or than are being reported. You do have a choice. Please choose yourself.
I would like to thank all those who have shared their stories and for all those who are assisting us. The depth of gratitude I feel for you is impossible to express. While I have witnessed so much darkness in this world, it’s through these trying times that I am so humbled by the outpouring of support and love, that so many amazing people give, many of whom are strangers. That brings me to tears and it fills me with hope.
I would love to hear from anyone who can offer me guidance as to what I should do now and from anyone who is suffering with similar conditions or experiences. Let us all stand together. Thank you for your time x