This letter to the editor by Deborah M. Broussard was posted on The New Orleans Advocate. Read more here.
Over 21 years ago, the newspaper published my letter below regarding whooping cough and vaccines. I never dreamed that I would be requesting that it be published again over 21 years later. Please understand that I am not promoting all vaccines, just the ones that have been proven over the years to be effective.
Re: “Whooping cough is on the rise again: Vaccine wears off: teens, adults at risk,”
On March 8, 2003, my daughter and son-in-law buried their 52-day-old daughter because somehow she contracted whooping cough.
Their nightmare began when she was 26 days old and awoke with a severe cough. Five days later, she was transported from River Parishes Hospital to Ochsner by helicopter. Her cough was so severe that she turned blue around the mouth, and her oxygen dropped to extremely low.
A week after being admitted to Ochsner, she was diagnosed with pertussis. As her condition worsened, she was put on a life-support machine to help her survive. During her three weeks in pediatric intensive care, she reached high levels of infection and then began to leak fluid into her tissue, causing her to expand about 10 times her normal size. Eventually, she started to hemorrhage in her brain and had to be removed from the machine.
During her short stay at Ochsner, the disease spread rapidly to several people, including the helicopter nurse and a nurse and doctor in pediatric intensive care.
No one in our family ever thought of this deadly disease until it took away our special little angel, Gabrielle “Brie” Romaguera. Our only wish is that more people will immunize their children and adolescents will receive a booster to stop this deadly disease.