More candles were lit

A few days ago I mentioned that I lit a candle for one of Colin's teammates. He was summoned to talk to our hockey club's management about his future on the team. I have no update on him, other than he's still on the training schedule. Which could either mean he wasn't fired, or administration has not removed him yet. 

What I wasn't ready to write about just yet, was the fact that I lit another candle the week before, for a reason that is much more serious than belonging to a sports club.

What happened?

On September 14,  Mom of an 11 year old boy posted in one of the Facebook Mommy Groups I am part of. Here's what she said:

Please light a candle for my son.

He was admitted to the hospital at 4am with severe blood poisoning and meningitis, and he is still fighting to survive. 

We can use every prayer 🙏

Of course there was an outpour of candle and guardian angel gifs, people posted words of support and concern, and some dared to ask questions like "how old is he, what happened, was he sick?"

The Mom went on to explain.

He had a fever and aching limbs like the flu in the evening. I found him unconscious and convulsing on the floor at 4:00 in the morning, he probably wanted to go to the bathroom and collapsed.

It happened so fast that even the doctors didn't know what to do. We have been transported three times by ambulance, because of storms and poor visibility, the chopper could not fly. Each team did its best, but it is such a bad course that we can't say whether it will get better or worse.

The weekend went by, and a lot of people asked how the boy was doing, was there any development?

Monday morning, September 18:

He is stable at the moment, but still critical as far as survival is concerned. What other consequential damage he will suffer, can not yet be foreseen.

Later that day:

Considering he was practically dead on Thursday and they couldn't tell if he would survive the next hours, after all it is now day 5, but he is struggling.

It's a race against time, his body needs time to get back to full circulation, and at the same time he doesn't have time because his hands and feet are still not supplied with blood, and it's getting worse and worse.

Later that day:

The feet are no longer supplied with blood, nor are the hands. No one can currently tell us what this even means in terms of brain function.

Final update:

He did not make it: May 12, 2012 - September 18, 2023 💔

Of course the shock, consternation and sympathy among the community was huge. Most of us have never met the lady, but over the course of these few days, we all felt like she had become a friend of ours. We certainly felt her pain.

A real life friend reached out to me to talk about it. We were wondering what may have caused it in the first place, so we turned to Google. This is what it said:

Meningococci are bacteria that can cause meningitis in two-thirds of all cases and sepsis in one-third of all cases. They enter the air in small droplets from the nasopharynx when people talk, cough or sneeze and can be inhaled from a short distance. The pathogens can also be transmitted as a smear infection during close contact with sick persons, for example by touching the nasal secretions.

(Sounds a lot like Covid, btw.)

This poor boy had both! 

My friend said "do you know there's a simple trick you can do as a Mom if you suspect your kid has meningitis? He will have a characteristic stiffness of the neck, which is caused by the inflamed membranes of the brain and spinal cord. In this case, bending the head towards the chest is hardly possible due to pain caused by inflammation."

I did not know this, but will always remember - and hopefully never have to use.

Immediately I was like "isn't meningococcus and pneumococcus something you can get vaccinated against? Could this have been entirely prevented? Also, this is contagious before you even show symptoms. His classmates, family members, friends and neighbors should probably get tested." 

We checked our kids' vaccination passes and exhaled.

It also made me think of this case that is being discussed in Switzerland these days. 

There's a family H (whom we don't know) that lives in a neighbour state of ours. They have six kids.

The parents are separated and share custody, and they could not agree on the issue of measles vaccination for their two younger children. The older four were vaccinated. 

The father requested that the children be vaccinated, while the mother opposed this. During the couple's 2019 divorce proceedings, the father requested that the court rule on the dispute.

According to the Federal Supreme Court, (that's how far they took the case) in a situation like this, the Federal Office of Public Health is the competent guiding authority. In its ruling, the court argued that the Health Department recommends measles vaccination because the disease causes a pronounced weakening of the immune system in practically all sufferers. Severe complications even occur in ten percent of cases. The Federal Court therefore argued that not vaccinating children endangered their well-being.

For more than a year, the authority had repeatedly tried to resolve the matter amicably. So far, this has not succeeded. The matter escalated a while ago when it became known that the children's measles vaccination could also be carried out under police coercion if the childrens' mother did not fulfill her obligation within the set deadline, which expired Friday, September 15. 

The children have not been vaccinated until today.

The court-ordered vaccination is not going down well with opponents of vaccination. Around 200 people, among them a group of "sovereign people", made a pilgrimage to this town and demonstrated against a vaccination measure prescribed by the authorities. 

Apparently up to this day, you can spot coffee in thermoses, kitchen utensils, garden furniture and sleeping bags on public ground in front of CPS' premises: For several days, they have been holding a vigil, and community police officers secure the building.

Politicians are (unofficially) debating about it as well. 

"The question of proportionality was completely left out. So a lack of measles vaccination is a threat to child welfare, but forced vaccination enforced by the police is good for child welfare?" One lady from the Green Party said. While she's got a point, let's not forget that the whole situation escalated because the parents could not hatch it out on their own and asked a court to decide. 

I did a lot of research because I was wondering if anybody cared to ask the Mom why she's so opposed to vaccinations. It has to be stated that apparently this goes beyond just measles. She doesn't want any vaccinations done. Maybe she has legitimate reasons? Did one of her older kids have severe complications from vaccinations? Do the younger kids suffer from neurological diseases, such as epilepsy?

Finally I found an interview Mrs H gave on a TV channel that is known to have been opposed to Covid measurements and covers similar topics. 

• My boys (9- and 11-year-old) say that they do not want to be vaccinated.
• The court will not ask my boys directly. The court determined, they are minors, and they are conflicted because their Dad and I have different opinions. 
• I have my own, internal vaccination study that showed that my older children had colds all the time, 5 - 6 times a year. And the little ones, they don't have anything, and if they happen to be sick, they only stay at home for one single day to recover. And this confirms that my feeling was right.

OK. *Sigh*

Do her boys also say whether they want to do homework or not? Do they have a self-determined bedtime? Did these children also do their own, internal study? Do they even know what the health consequences of a severe course of measles can be? 

While it's not as bad as the ones in connection with meningitis we talked about above, it certainly doesn't stop at high fever, diarrhea or an ear infection. You do not want pneumonia or encephalitis, which is a swelling of the brain that may leave you dead, deaf or intellectually disabled. Back then, a girl in my neighborhood had a bad course of the measles and had to be treated in the intensive care unit for some time. 

I watched the entire interview with Mrs H. She also mentioned that in the meantime her older kids are of legal age. Meaning during her internal study, these kids were teenagers. Teenagers wearing sneakers and hoodies no matter the temperatures because boots and jackets are uncool. Teenagers whose diets consist in burgers and fries. 

Maybe I am implying something here ;-) 

Fact is my fully vaccinated teenager is barely ever sick.

The lady works for a daycare. Upon dropping off their toddlers, parents will tell her "my kid isn't feeling too well today", and on inquiry it turns out that the child had his vaccinations a couple of days ago. The woman says this triumphantly as if this was proof for how dangerous vaccinations are. Hello? Since the vaccine mimics the infection, a feeling of malaise, for example with fever and headache, may occur days after vaccination. It means it works! 

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe doctors and health authorities have been wrong for decades.

Some other things to consider:

I am unsure whether a pure (monovalent) measles vaccine is even available. The vaccination commission recommends a combination vaccine against mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) - especially for boys in order to avoid painful testicular inflammation that can limit fertility or cause hearing loss.

These boys are now in elementary school. Before they enter junior high school, there is a compulsory medical examination, to which they must take the vaccination certificate. Even if they get away with their self-imposed decision not to vaccinate, (in Switzerland there is no compulsory vaccination, unlike in Germany where you need to have your shots in order to start Kindergarten) they will be required to enlist in the military at age 18. There they will be confronted with the same issue again. The army may not force you to catch up on your vaccinations, but they most probably can't accept you either. Swiss citizens who do not fulfil their compulsory military service, have to pay a substitute levy that amounts to 3% of the taxable income. This also applies to members of the civil defense, whose service is 1.5 times longer than regular army duty. 

So even if you're lucky and stay healthy throughout all these years (not least by the fact that the majority of well-behaved citizens are vaccinated) your decision will bite you in the butt in one way or another later. 

I'm wrapping this up here. With whom am I even arguing? 

May the 11-year old rest in peace, and may the internal study family stay healthy!