Vaccinations are a hot-button topic right now. The debate about whether or not they cause debilitating side effects later in the life of a child is to blame. Childhood vaccines are essentially small doses of dead or inactive versions of the disease which they treat, like meningitis. There is no evidence whatsoever that vaccines cause any of the major side effects touted by the media and certain celebrities.
There are still many parents out there who choose to forgo childhood vaccines for one disease or another simply because they don’t understand the real issue. The result is that some diseases are able to take hold in children where they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, just like the case of Faye Burdett.
Faye Burdett was just two years old when her parents were forced to go through one of the most painful experiences of their lives. Their daughter succumbed to meningitis on Valentine’s Day of 2016 after a mere two-week battle with the horrible condition.
The decision by Jenny and Neil Burdett, Faye’s parents, to forgo meningitis vaccination for their daughter was due to the fact that the vaccine wasn’t covered under the National Health Service of the UK. The organization recommends meningitis B vaccination at two months old and four months old with a booster shot at one year.
The vaccinations, however, were only covered for those born after September of 2015. Children like Faye who were born before then weren’t so lucky. Their parents were forced to choose between forging childhood vaccines or paying an exorbitant fee out of pocket. They couldn’t possibly predict what was going to happen to their precious daughter.
Meningitis is currently enjoying one of the lowest points in history for infection rate, mainly due to the prevalence of modern childhood vaccination. According to the National Meningitis Association, less than 1,000 people contract the disease in the United States each year, and less than 15 percent of those infected end up dying from the disease. Those that survive tend to experience extreme disabilities that are permanent, like loss of limb or brain damage. If the truth about the meningitis vaccine were to become common knowledge, the disease may very well be eradicated in the lifetime of many people reading this.
The Burdetts allowed a friend to post photos of their daughter on Facebook in the hopes it would help spread the word about the disease. Charlene Reed, the friend in question, posted the photos along with a petition for the government of the UK to pay for vaccines for all children. Their current policy only covers newborns to be vaccinated, but the goal is to make it available for any age.
Meningitis is a debilitating disease that causes inflammation in the brain and around the spinal cord. Patients with the disease often have to undergo limb amputation as a result of sepsis, along with lesions across the entire body. When Faye Burdett was diagnosed, her doctors gave her a one percent chance of living through the condition. There were moments when it seemed like she may pull through, but they were quickly shattered by the reality of her progressive disease.
Her parents were forced to allow doctors to remove one entire leg, part of one arm, and areas of her skin that needed to be removed or replaced. After such an ordeal, her parents decided not to put their daughter through any more trauma. Instead, they allowed her to peacefully slip into a deep sleep before the disease finally claimed her. The decision to watch their helpless daughter die before her third birthday was horrifying to the Burdetts, but they had no other options.
The family has since made it their mission to spread the truth about the meningitis vaccine and vaccines in general. The original post by Charlene Reed has been shared more than 128,000 times, and it will continue to spread through social media as more people share the story.
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