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Being mom to five is fun but can be tiring.  These kids of mine love to sign up for things – sports, clubs, afterschool activities.  I look forward to the summer months where I can take a break from their busy schedules.  This time of year, we scale back on things because we can.  That includes me, too.  I take time away from activities that I do during our family’s busier months, including some of the reading I do about vaccines, about autism, and about special needs parenting.  I need a break from some of that like the kids need a break from school. 

As much as I sometimes think I’ll remove myself from all things advocacy, I don’t think I could ever fully rest from it.  I’m constantly reminded of what vaccines did and also what they took away.  I’ve tried, but to walk away completely just isn’t an option.  Wouldn’t I rather just put my feet up and stop the madness for a minute or two.  Sure!  But if I stop, who’ll pick up where I left off?  Some of my friends and family will (thank you!), but how long will they last?  They know a lot about Ronan, but they won’t know everything there is to know until they step in my shoes 24/7/365. 

I pray I never have to ask anyone to be me each and every day for all of my kids.  But if I do, I’d want that someone to also pick up the advocating that moms like me do.  Would my family be able to do that?  Those closest to us most likely would.  Would my friends?  I think so, but I know not everyone shares the same thoughts and opinions as I do about certain topics.  That doesn’t stop us from being friend, but it has limited some topics of conversation in the past. 

I was thinking about how some topics are better left “off topic” when I saw Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Del Bigtree’s recent announcement.  If you’re part of the vaccine-autism community, you’ve probably already heard all about it.  For those who are not part of this community but who’d like a quick rundown of what that document states, hold onto your seats. 

What it comes down to is this:  Much of what you’ve been told about vaccines is a lie, and everything parents of vaccine-injured children have informed you of or reminded you about vaccines is true. 

From the ICAN (Informed Consent Action Network):

…since 1986, HHS has had the primary and virtually sole responsibility to make and assure improvements in the licensing, manufacturing, adverse reaction reporting, research, safety and efficacy testing of vaccines in order to reduce the risk of adverse vaccine reactions. In order to assure HHS meets its vaccine safety obligations, Congress required as part of the 1986 Act that the Secretary of HHS submit a biennial reports to Congress detailing the improvements in vaccine safety made by HHS in the preceding two years. “The result of the lawsuit is that HHS had to finally and shockingly admit that it never, not even once, submitted a single biennial report to Congress detailing the improvements in vaccine safety.”

Basically, your government does not have your best interest in mind when it comes to vaccines, and it hasn’t for a long time now. 

If this news shocks you like it shocked me, fear not!  Something can be done about it.  I was made aware of a call to action that anyone can submit through the Autism Action Network.   Send in a comment today, then share the link with 10 people.  It shouldn’t hurt to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, which is why I’m also encouraging friends who still believe and trust in their country’s vaccine program to ask for some clarification of this discovery.  Who knows?  When friends get a reply, maybe future conversations about vaccine safety will be a little bit different. 

Up until now, conversations about vaccines can be awkward, especially with those who have typical children who’ve been vaccinated.  Since the mainstream news is slow to report this type of information, I wonder if the next time you or I get caught in a convo with friends, a doctor, or a school district staff member about vaccine safety, we might show them the link to the lawsuit.  If they’re so sure that vaccines are as safe as they claim them to be, I wonder if you’d ask them to produce the HHS’ every-other-year safety reports, you know, the ones that don’t exist.  I’m not a vindictive person, but I’d love to see their expression when they realize that they can’t. 

I may not be vindictive, but I am tired.  Having to keep an ever-watchful eye on my child with special needs is exhausting.  Defending my parental rights can add to that exhaustion.  But if I back down or if I walk away from my son, like the HHS walked away from their responsibility and from the public, I could never live with myself.  Dollars to donuts, HHS is okay with that. 

Why?

Because the very people running the vaccine program are also the ones guarding the hen house?

Because mainstream doctors depend on vaccines for job stability?

Because politicians are bought and paid?

I know the answer to those questions, but I still can’t help but ask why.  Why would the HHS have allowed decades to go by with nary a reply to Congress or to the people they serve?  I think the long and the short of it is because they can.  It’s a shame because I trusted the government long before I learned to trust myself.  Mother’s intuition started to scream one thing, but that government of mine assured me of something different.  Sadly, I didn’t listen to my mother’s intuition.  My son’s vaccine injury has reminded me of that every single day since. 

What happened to my son didn’t have to be.  It really didn’t.  Which is why I can never completely walk away from advocating or from speaking up to whomever will listen to me talk all about vaccines.