One woman’s fight against the debilitating side effects of Gardasil

Yesterday I told you how thousands of women in Thailand are avoiding cervical cancer with a simple, easy, and inexpensive test.

Today we’ll move 3,000 miles Southeast of Thailand, to Melbourne, Australia, where a young woman lost two years of her life after getting the Gardasil vaccine in hopes of avoiding cervical cancer.

And now she’s fighting back.

Naomi Snell was 28 when she suddenly found she was unable to walk. She also experienced convulsions and extreme back and neck pain. Her doctors’ diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis.

But then she read an article about an Australian neurologist who singled out Gardasil as the potential cause of MS symptoms in other young women.

When Naomi looked back over her timeline of symptoms, she realized they had started shortly after getting her first shot of Gardasil.

Naomi told the Sunday Mail that her doctors were baffled at first, and then… “They did actually diagnose me with Multiple Sclerosis, but have since retracted that and said it was just a neurological reaction to the vaccine.”

JUST a neurological reaction!?

That sounds like a nervous doctor trying to convince a patient that her reaction to the shot he gave her is no big deal. But a “neurological reaction” that robs you of healthy years during the prime of your youth could hardly be a BIGGER deal!

Naomi recently launched a class action suit against Merck, and seven other women may soon join the suit.

I hope they do, and I hope it gets enough attention to send a very loud message to parents and young women Down Under and beyond.

Sources:
“Gardasil in court: drug’s maker sued” Brigid O’Connell, The Sunday Mail, 10/23/11, couriermail.com.au