I’m writing this for my son Xavier who is 14-years-old. Xavier played rep basketball for the last four years and he is also a runner. He trained extremely hard for up to eight hours a week with competitive matches on top. He was in prime health and fitness for his age.
As parents, we believed it was the right thing to do, so we were jabbed ourselves. We wanted to contribute to what we thought was a good cause backed by the mainstream narrative that this was perfectly safe and effective. We also had the pressure of everyone around us who came off perfectly fine after having their jabs, which made us feel safe. Xavier was also unable to enter stadiums that adhered to government jab mandates at the time.
Xavier got the Pfizer jab on the 21st of October 2021 (left arm). It wasn’t until 10 days post-jab that he came home from school and put himself to bed. He mentioned that he felt very lethargic and not himself, which was unusual for him. Later that night, his temperature went up to 39 Celsius, his heart raced and he grew feverish. We gave him Ibuprofen and he went back to sleep to wake up with diarrhoea which continued for three days.
During these three days, we made a trip to the GP. He told us that it was more than likely food poisoning, which didn’t sound right because I do the cooking myself and none of the rest of my family was sick. He told Xavier to keep up his fluids and rest.
It crossed our minds that it was a bit coincidental that he’d just had the jab, but it was unclear until the following weekend that this was an adverse reaction. Xavier had gone to basketball training. We later found out he experienced sharp chest pains that made him breathless. He came off the courts and rested. He tried to play after he recovered, but he had the same reactions.
When he got home, he told us what happened and we took him to the GP. The GP ran tests, including an ECG and Bloods. Everything came back normal. I mentioned to the doctor that I thought this was from the jab, but the doctor said that he couldn’t make the link even though the only thing that had changed was that he’d had the jab. We left empty handed and frustrated.
Xavier continued with his very physical lifestyle, trying to manage the pain himself. But his symptoms worsened with increased chest pain, shortness of breath, and erratic breathing due to a high heart rate. He also experienced aching in his extremities. We took him back to the GP who ordered an echocardiogram and a Holter monitor to wear for the next 24 hours. The result came back with everything in ‘normal range.’
At that point, we went to a paediatric cardiologist in Melbourne to get advice on whether we should approve of Xavier getting the second jab. He advised that everything looked normal. He said he felt confident that if there was an issue, it would have shown up on the echocardiogram. He advised to wait six weeks instead of three weeks before getting the second jab.
Xavier had the second Pfizer jab on the 2nd of December (left arm). Again, no instant reaction. At this time of the year, there was no basketball for the next four weeks, so he wasn’t very active at all. But once he got back into training, all the symptoms came back harder. After a training session, he would be extremely fatigued. We knew we had to take him back to the GP again and we presented him with all the same symptoms. The GP said that everything was fine with the results he received from the cardiologist, but we were still concerned because there was obviously something not right and being missed.
On the 26th of March, 2022, Xavier was playing a basketball match, and, being the competitor that he is, pushed himself to the point of collapse. He was conscious, but his heart rate was through the roof and it stayed at 120bpm for a good half-an-hour. The ambulance arrived and paramedics gave him fentanyl for the chest pain, put him on oxygen, and took him to the hospital
On arrival, the doctors took him straight in. They ran an ECG, did some blood work, and gave him a CT scan. His blood test results revealed high troponin levels, the ECG revealed a heart irregularity, and the CT scan came back clear. They kept Xavier overnight for observation and released him with a plan to have further testing at the Children’s hospital. We returned to the same paediatric cardiologist. He recommended an MRI, which Xavier had on the 11th of April. Everything came back clear and he advised Xavier to just stop playing basketball altogether.
Over the following weeks, Xavier started, bit-by-bit, to incorporate light activity into his daily life in an attempt to reach the level he was at before without playing competitively. It was while running a relay that he suddenly collapsed again with a racing heart and sharp chest pain.
We returned to our GP quickly. They did an ECG, but the result came back clear again. After presenting to the GP and having the results return normal, we consulted with the cardiologist again. We pushed for stress testing as all his cardiac responses were tested under physical exertion and not while at rest.
The next step was to wait for an appointment at the Children’s hospital. In the meantime, we tried alternative therapies such as acupuncture. When it came time for the stress test, he felt a sharp pain. They tried to feel around but came to the conclusion it was a muscular skeletal issue and everything was fine. We aren’t sure if it is the acupuncture working or what it is, but this brings us to the current day and he’s doing okay. He returned to training this week and seems to be fine, but we are monitoring him closely as this is all still very fresh.