Health
Headlines
Get
the latest news in prevention and health matters. This
feature includes daily postings and recent archives to
keep you up to date on health reports and wires around
the world.
Weekly
Wellness
Get
informed with weekly wellness facts in a diversity of
health topics from prevention to fitness and nutrition.
Tips
Great
tips on what you need to know about keeping healthy and
active all year round.
Doctors Confirm Flu Shot Disabled Woman
Doctors have confirmed that a seasonal flu vaccine led to a Virginia
woman becoming severely disabled as actors Jim Carrey and Jenny
McCarthy offered their support through their Generation Rescue
charity, an organization attempting to raise awareness about the
link between vaccines and autism.
Former Redskins cheerleader Desiree Jennings was a fit and healthy
cheerleader up until two months ago when she got a seasonal flu
shot.
Ten days after the shot she began experiencing flu like symptoms,
followed by severe convulsions and black outs.
Now she can barely talk or walk and her life has all but been
destroyed.
After seeing around 60 doctors, Jennings was eventually diagnosed
with dystonia, a paralyzing neurological disorder that causes
the muscles to relentlessly contract and spasm.
Bizarrely, increased physical activity causes her heart rate
to decline, meaning she can run for hours, however, her resting
heart rate is 90 and walking a few steps is exhausting and almost
impossible. There is no cure for the disease and it gets worse
over time.
Doctors at Fairfax Inova and Johns Hopkins diagnosed her
with a rare neurological disorder called dystonia. They think
it was caused by a severe reaction to the flu shot, reports
Fox 5 News.
Desiree now has difficulty speaking, walking, and even
eating. During an interview with FOX 5, she had several seizures.
The effects are irreversible.
However, Jennings has bravely vowed to fight the illness and
her case has garnered the attention of celebrity campaigners Jim
Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, who have reached out to her in offering
the support of their organization Generation Rescue, which has
led efforts to green the vaccine by removing dangerous
additives like mercury from shots that have been linked to autism.
They are extremely helpful, Desiree told Fox 5 News.
They have a lot of doctors that deal with vaccine interactions,
and they have sent us so many other stories similar to mine. Unfortunately
a lot of theirs are with children, which is worse. I can understand
it happening to an adult, but not a little child that hasnt
had a chance to live their life and cant speak, so I want
to speak. They cant, and I want to help them, too,
says Jennings.
McCarthy was prompted to found the charity with Carrey after
her own 7-year-old son Evan became autistic after receiving a
vaccine. Generation Rescues President Stan Kurtz said that
the organization is hoping to fly Jennings to L.A. for treatment.
The story is, anyone that sees it is just so compelling,
Jenny was crying over it, says Kurtz.
Jennings told Fox 5 that the treatment was a chance to get her
life back, but she also said that what happened to her should
serve as a warning to other people who are considering taking
both the seasonal and the H1N1 vaccine.
Watch videos concerning the heartbreaking case of Desiree Jennings
below.