Dear Moms who do not vaccinate your children,
You and I have more in common than you might think. My
children are my sun and moon. I know you love your children extravagantly
too. Like me, I believe you would go to any extreme if it could ensure
your child a long and safe life. I feel the exact same. Yet on the issue of
vaccines, we differ.
I would vaccinate my children if I could. My daughter Grace
is currently unvaccinated because I am not given the choice. Grace was
diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia a few weeks after her fourth birthday.
It was the day time stood still for my family and me. Because of her cancer she
is the most susceptible to catching diseases, the most likely to die from them,
yet she is not allowed to have vaccines to prevent them. The irony of the
situation is not lost on me.
Before cancer became a member of our family I was on the
fence about vaccines. I have never seen a case of polio or measles but I have
seen plenty of children with autism. I was hesitant to trust “traditional
medicine” but I was very comfortable using herbal and homeopathic remedies. I
even grew our own organic vegetables. It just seemed the claims against
vaccines were so accusatory, so loud, so confident. Everyone had an opinion. I
didn't know who to trust.
When cancer hit we researched every kind of treatment for
Grace. My husband and I decided we would use whatever worked, traditional or
alternative, as long as it had documented proof of working consistently. Grace
had a 20% chance of survival and we were willing to do whatever it took to get
her a cure. We researched herbal remedies, including marijuana. We researched
juicing, vitamins, raw foods, cooked foods, essential oils, you name it…no one
could prove they consistently cured children of cancer. But chemotherapy did.
Dreaded chemotherapy, the treatment we both hate and love, became our answer.
It would bring Grace’s survival rate up to 80%. That was the day we decided to
start trusting traditional medicine.
But it wasn't just medicine I didn't trust. I thought
doctors were “in it for the money” and that they skewed research results in
order to get funding from pharmaceutical companies. Now we had to trust doctors
for the life of our daughter. Because of cancer we got to know our medical team
very intimately. We spent over one hundred days living at Children’s Hospital
Los Angeles (not to mention the days we spent there for outpatient treatment).
I can’t speak for all doctors, but the doctors and nurses who work at
children’s hospitals are there for the kids. Nothing else. They work tirelessly
with cranky kids, exhausted parents, and with dying children that the doctors
know they shouldn't get emotionally attached to, but they do anyways. Because
they love kids.
And after they finished taking care of my daughter for the
day, they went home and took care of their own children. They went from being
our medical team to family. I found that everything that was said about them
was wrong. I discovered that doctors recommend certain medicines for a reason.
It’s because they want children to have the best chance at survival and to have
healthy and happy lives. They don’t have a hidden agenda. They don’t rely on
wishful thinking or hopeful remedies. They use what works. I wouldn't trust
doctors to save my life. I trust them even more than that. I daily trust them
to save my daughter’s life.
I wouldn't wish what we've gone through on my worst enemy.
We saw our daughter too sick to eat, too weak to play, too tired to smile. We
spent sleepless nights wondering if we would hear our beautiful daughter’s
laugh in the morning. There is no pain like seeing your child suffer while
fighting for their life.
Actually…there is one pain worse, and that’s only the
anguish of finding out that you could have prevented it. I know I did
everything to prevent my daughter from getting cancer and cancer still found
her. I would give anything to have my daughter vaccinated today. I would do anything to spare her from disease.
There are vaccines for your child. You can protect them from
having to fight for their lives against life threatening diseases. These
diseases are monsters. They steal life from even the bravest and strongest of
children. Please don’t risk your child’s life. You can do what I can’t.
You can vaccinate and save your child from suffering or even death.
From one mom to another, if you have the chance to save your
child from a life threatening disease, please, please, from the bottom of my
heart, please…vaccinate your child.
Very sincerely,
Melissa Bumstead, aka Gracie’s Mommy
Read more about Gracie here: www.TeamGraceEllen.com
