Meet Timmy

Meet Timmy

Above: Timmy in the NICU

Meet Timmy. He is a loving boy with big eyes and the longest eyelashes you ever did see. Timmy’s smile makes people happy. And in order to properly meet Timmy you must meet his twin brother, Xander who is handsome and compassionate on a level that most adults fail to achieve.  They are quite simply, the loves of my life.

As twins often do, the boys came 7-weeks early. Xander was the “sick” one; was intubated and I was not able to hold him for the 1^st week of his life. Timmy was the healthy one; on room air within 24 hours and bottle-feeding by the end of the week. Our second night in the hospital, I was awoken at 2 am by a doctor asking me to sign vaccine consent forms and was told that they would be given in the morning. The NICU nurse confirmed that they were given that day. After a couple weeks in the NICU Timmy was close to coming home or so we thought. He was the epitome of good health: out of his incubator, breastfeeding, crying appropriately, healthy blood work, no bradycardia and gaining weight.

But then suddenly a couple weeks later, his health began to decline and was nowhere near ready to come home. He stopped crying; he stopped making any noise. He could not stay awake for more than 10-15 minutes. He could no longer bottle-feed much less breast feed. He had to have a nasal gavage put back in.  And then his head began to grow rapidly. Everyday it was bigger. Everyday it was a different shape. I, not the doctors or nurses, discovered this. Every day I went to the NICU and took pictures of my twins. Every night I went home and hooked myself up to the breast pump and would flip through the pictures on the camera. It was kind of like looking at an old-fashioned flipbook because I would change the pictures so quickly to see how they grew each day.  Then one night I panicked. It was not Timmy’s body that was changing; it was his head. His head grew so rapidly in a few days that I could see it on camera.

I called the NICU at 2am and said they need to get the doctor because something was seriously wrong. By the time I got into the NICU in the morning, they said that after an ultrasound of his brain, they saw no explanation for the head growth especially since his Grade1 IVH had completely resolved.  I asked if this head growth was related to his this decline and these multiple changes. They said they did not think so but that even though those were all common matters in the NICU they were still concerned that they were happening.  Timmy’s head continued to grow.  One day his head was so misshapen that I had to leave the NICU to throw up; I was terrified.  And he was definitely not coming home soon. Xander came home at 4 weeks. Timmy however did not come home until his 5th week since he continued to have feeding problems. We were at a level 5 NICU, at what is considered to be a top-notch hospital. I trusted them when I should not have.

It was not until years later that I discovered the truth behind my son’s first serious regression.  But since I had assumed what I had been told was true, I continued to vaccinate him. 4 years later (too many vaccines later and too many regressions later) I finally pulled his NICU files, read through them with horror and had a few new doctors look over them. All three doctors have told me he was clearly vaccine injured. It never gets easier to be told this.

What I found out from his hospital files was that he did not have a Hep B shot on July 16 like I was told. Rather he was given the Hep B shot on July 31, a few days before he was going to come home.  At this time, he was 2.5 weeks old meaning he was still 4.5 weeks prior to his due date. Within a day he started having negative reactions; slept constantly, could no longer breast feed and stopped making noises. Shortly thereafter he could barely bottle feed and was re-gavaged. Within 5 days of the Hep B vaccine you could visibly see that his head had grown inches.  Within 7-8 days he and his brother both had a blood transfusion because their vitals were too low and they were both having bradycardias again. Xander went home at 4 weeks. Timmy finally came home on August 18 after a 5 week NICU stay.

Once home I could never get him to breastfeed again even with lots of help from the lactation consultant, but I continued to pump. On September 15, which was 9 weeks after he was born and only 2 weeks after his due date he was given DTAP, IPV, Prevnar, and HIB.  His head size increased even more and he could barely lift it anymore. He had been struggling with tummy time but now it was nearly impossible; his neck and core muscles had not strengthened quickly enough to match the size of his head. As a result he developed torticollis and we began physical therapy and quickly added Occupational Therapy. Thus began our life of figuring out what therapies he needs and what doctor to see next.

By 6 months his head was so big that the Neurologist sent us to the Neurosurgeon to look over his MRI to determine whether he needed a shunt. Luckily the growth had tapered off by then and he saw no extra fluid on the brain to indicate hydrocephalus.    He was very weak, had low muscle tone and was not developing like his brother in any way. The doctors kept telling me that he would catch up.  He did not sit up on his own until his first birthday. By two years old he still had not said a word and was delayed developmentally.  Plus he was not walking and there were no real signs that he would soon. Around that age his PT was doing an assessment and noticed his hand flapping. She asked me slowly if he did this all the time. I said it was brand new. We went over the list and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, I think my company needs to refer you to someone who can provide you with more help than “just” OT, PT and ST; we needed hours of ABA. I made her say the words, “autism”.

We started ABA when he was 2.5.   He began to make improvements and he began to say a few words!!   Just before age three, his personal Neurologist and Regional Center’s Neurologist both diagnosed him with Autism. Just before his 3^rd birthday he started walking. Then one month after his third birthday he had another major regression. He lost all his newly formed words, he lost all interest in watching TV, he no longer could do simple puzzles, he barely responded to his name, he was barely sensitive to pain. So much of him was lost that month.  I don’t know what caused that regression but his current doctor believes it could be due to seizures.

Today, Timmy does OT, PT, ST and ABA therapies. He has done numerous biomedical treatments to help heal his health issues.   Timmy is still non-verbal. He has seizures. He has PANDAs. He has gastro-intestinal issues. He is hypotonic. He is still very delayed. But in the past few months there have been so many improvements: he has started making an approximation for “Hi” from time to time, he can now do simple puzzles much better, he is looking at books for the first time ever, he can now walk up and down the stairs, he is starting to dress himself, he shows affection to his family, he is sleeping better, he is a pretty happy boy. But he is still fragile, he is still vaccine injured.

Some days I struggle with releasing myself from guilt. I should have looked over all the hospital files when in the NICU. I should have seen what is now so blatantly obvious; I should have figured all this out before I continued vaccinating him. I should have….. Guilt gets you nowhere and becomes debilitating if you let it. I don’t have time to be debilitated. Timmy does not have time for me to be debilitated; he needs me pushing to help heal his body, he needs me energized to help him teach him how to put his pants on, he needs me happy so I can love him without guilt.

The Hep-B Vaccine injured my son. I did not have Hep-B and there for I could not have passed it to him at birth. My baby did not have promiscuous sex or do IV drugs and I don’t know of any babies who do. There was zero reason for him to have the Hep-B vaccination. NONE.  I share my story with you in hopes you will think twice about giving your child this vaccine or any other for that matter. The Hep-B Vaccine injured my son; don’t let it injure your child.

Love,
Timmy’s Mom

Timmy’s sign was displayed in downtown LA for one full week starting April 23rd 2012.  

Thank-you to Timmy's Mom for sharing his story, in the hope that other children will be spared. Congratulations, Timmy! Here's your sign!

For more information about the So. California billboard, please click here. 

Click here to return to read more stories of vaccine-injured children.

Click here to learn more about Hepatitis B vaccines and the risk/benefit ratio.