On Monday I wrote about Heather Dexter, the naturopathic quack who proudly (proudly??!!) boasted about the severe medical neglect that nearly killed her children.
Heather refused to vaccinate her three small children against pertussis (whooping cough), in her quest to provide them with “natural” immunity.[pullquote align=”right” color=”#555555″]Children who survive pertussis DON’T develop permanent immunity.[/pullquote]
Her children suffered bitterly for months:
At this point, Madilyn’s cough was beginning to scare me. She would wake in the middle of the night, multiple times a night, coughing so hard that she would puke over the side of her loft bed, followed by turning purple and then finally gasping for air.
What was Heather doing during this time? She was consulting with other naturopathic quacks on how to “treat” her children. Their stupidity defies belief.
Turns out the best way to clear out the lungs is through the rectum … enemas.
After it was over Heather celebrated … herself:
It took a good 120-150 days from the start of the coughing for each of them to eliminate the bronchial damage and lung weakness caused by the bacterial infection, Pertussis. We spent hundreds of dollars on natural health products and consultations with various Naturopathic Professionals. It was a living HELL. Every day. It had an intense effect on my marriage and relationship with my husband. It caused me to question everything I knew about Natural Health.
Apparently, she didn’t learn a damn thing:
We made it through using only natural remedies. Seeking no medical attention. We did it. My children developed REAL and TRUE immunity from being exposed to this bacteria and fighting it off naturally. It has been my biggest challenge to date as a mother. This mother conquered. (my emphasis)
There is a bitter irony to this story. Actually two bitter ironies. Heather thinks she “treated” her children with her quackery, but the fact is that their clinical course was dramatically prolonged compared to the typical clinical course for pertussis. Second, and perhaps more important, Heather accomplished absolutely nothing! Children who survive pertussis do NOT develop permanent immunity, and each of her three children are no more protected from pertussis now than they would have been had they gotten the vaccine and avoided the 6 months of torture altogether.
What is the typical clinical course of whooping cough?
The CDC explains:
The clinical course of the illness is divided into three stages:
Catarrhal
Paroxysmal
ConvalescentPertussis has an insidious onset with catarrhal symptoms that are indistinguishable from those of minor respiratory tract infections. The cough, which is initially intermittent, becomes paroxysmal. In typical cases paroxysms terminate with inspiratory whoop and can be followed by posttussive vomiting.
Paroxysms of cough, which may occur more at night, usually increase in frequency and severity as the illness progresses and typically persist for 2 to 6 weeks or more… After paroxysms subside, a nonparoxysmal cough can continue for 2 to 6 weeks or longer.
Unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated infants younger than 12 months of age have the highest risk for severe and life-threatening complications and death. In infants, the cough may be minimal or absent, and apnea may be the only symptom.
Apnea means the baby stops breathing for a period of time.
They also offer the following chart; I’ve highlighted the length of each stage.
The typical clinical course lasts 12 weeks (84 days). According to Heather, each of her children was sick almost twice as long. So much for natural “treatments.” Turns out that enemas are NOT best way to clear out the lungs.
And how about the children’s “real and true immunity”? That doesn’t exist.
According to the CDC’s frequently asked question about pertussis:
Getting sick with pertussis … doesn’t provide lifelong protection, which means you can still get pertussis and pass it onto others …
The bottom line is that Heather’s children endured 6 bitter months of medical neglect and the only thing that was “treated” was Heather’s ego. In her arrogant ignorance, she let her children suffer the horror of coughing until they vomited and being unable to catch their breath over and over and over and over again for no benefit at all.
During the course of the children’s illness, Heather’s father begged her to get treatment for the children:
Heather, there is a time and place for every thing and the time to go get an antibiotic is now. It may be that your pride has got you confused …
No doubt Heather loves her children very much. Nonetheless, her pride and her need to believe the naturopathy nonsense on which she has staked her self-esteem were more important to her than her children’s intense suffering. What she did was monstrous, but some good could come of it.
This story should serve as a wake up call to anti-vaxxers. This is the suffering that awaits your children if you refuse to protect them.
