Vaccine Advocacy: My Survival Story in The Columbia Missourian

Encephalitis International contacted me a few weeks back to ask me if I could help with media to promote World Immunization Week. I said, Sure! I was told The Washington Post and a local paper, The Columbia Missourian, would be in touch. They each wanted an interview and a photoshoot.

The papers would cover my story about surviving measles encephalitis at age 6 and going on 7. One day, probably 10 days after the onset of measles, my legs gave out and I lost the ability to speak because of brain swelling called encephalitis. I went into a 30-day coma. When I woke up from the coma, I was able to speak but not to walk. I was told I would never walk again, but at age 7, I taught myself how to walk because I wanted to play with my friends. Also, I felt very vulnerable and unsafe, being unable to run from danger, such as from the child predator reported to be in the area one day.

Because I had shared my story with Encephalitis International for their website, they invited me to help raise awareness of the need for vaccination against measles, which is on the rise due to vaccine hesitancy and problems delivering the vaccine abroad during the pandemic. Because measles can be accompanied by encephalitis, I wanted to give my perspective from the point of view of a helpless child. In 1958, when I fell ill, there was no vaccine. If there had been one, my parents would have made sure we were vaccinated. After the MMR vaccine and polio vaccines came out, my parents rushed to get us vaccinated. They almost lost me to encephalitis and didn’t want their children in harm’s way.

Back to the photoshoots. I was told they would take time. Each editor asked if I could show my daily life. I felt anxious because I tend to have boring days. I sit on my a** all day reading, answering emails, editing, publishing people, and writing. I have to cook and clean of course. However, with the joint failures, I fell behind on deep cleaning. Our house is an old woman in a tattered floral dress stained by time.

“Can we take pics of you gardening?” Our garden is smothered by shade. All we have growing is oregano and nettles. Oh, yes, and grass, ivy, and lazy garden tools recline on an old hose where we used to have tomato plants.

“Gosh, I’ve had a knee replacement and can’t garden. Anyway, my husband is the gardener. I can do some Tai Chi in the backyard if you like.”

The backyard. We have stopped mowing it to allow a meadow to grow. And the ivy, periwinkle, and vinca groundcovers encircling the yard are spilling over the rubber lining meant to restrain them. In one part of the yard, we have a small but unsightly mulch pile consisting of things like watermelon rinds and egg shells. In a corner of the yard sits a dog house with a water dish for food for the raccoons. My husband likes nature taking over everything. It does look lush!

Alongside the house, we have a stone patio which is often overgrown with weeds. Dierik filled the cracks between the stones with concrete in one part of the patio. But in the other part, weeds and saplings take over because he hasn’t filled the cracks yet. We also feed the squirrels and birds on the patio, so seed hulls are scattered everywhere. I have to give him credit for cleaning up the patio thoroughly for the photo shoots, while I cleaned the inside of the house, especially the kitchen.

The editors asked me to bake something! That means the kitchen would be highlighted. I can’t recall the last time I scrubbed down the cupboards and the outside of the refrigerator. Our kitchen counters are slightly warped, the windows need replacing, and we keep the bags of bird seeds and dog food for the raccoons by the back door. I swear, we are the worst for upkeep!

Did I say we still have our Christmas tree up! What will the world think? But I swore I would leave it up until the wars ended. The poem I wrote about my tree for Paddler Press was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and I haven’t heard of winning a prize yet. Maybe I should leave the Christmas tree up until I win a Pushcart! I digress.

Have you ever had a nightmare in which you suddenly appear naked in public? That sums up how I felt about the upcoming photoshoots. However, the photographers were very respectful as I baked, played Tai Chi, showed them pictures from my albums, acted like I was editing, and jabbered away about measles encephalitis, and so on. I enjoyed the interviews, as well, which were on Zoom and the phone.

The article in The Columbia Missourian came out today, and I expect the article in The Washington Post to launch in the first part of June. I’ll share that article, also. For the Missourian photoshoot, I made baked oatmeal. It was raining, so no Tai Chi. The photographer got some shots on the patio. Otherwise, we were inside. The photos next to the Christmas tree and in my study upstairs didn’t ‘make the cut’.

You can access the Columbia Missourian article via the link below.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/measles-survivor-becomes-vaccine-champion/article_2eda6246-0bde-11ef-9d56-7be56b649cdd.html

—–

In my book, Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir, I have some poems about how I was affected by measles encephalitis. My case of encephalitis was an interesting parallel to Mom’s Alzheimer’s because both diseases affect the brain and memories. Mom took care of me when I was sick, and I took care of her.

Three-Penny Memories: Book Premise

Her uncle asks, Do you love your mother? Can a daughter doubt her love for her mother who is navigating Alzheimer’s? Can she learn to love the stranger her mother is becoming?