Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Recommending New Zealand's Collection of Stories: Piercing Memories

Many of this blog's readers are hopefully familiar with the wonderful site Shotbyshot.org, collecting stories of survivors of diseases, mostly in the U.S.. Some of this blog's interviewees also interviewed with shotbyshot.org - for example, Jan interviewed with them before posting on this blog; Renay, who shared Jesse's story with our readers, then shared it with shotbyshot. So did Judith, here. Less familiar to you may be a New Zealand site also collecting stories, run by the Immunisation Advisory Centre, described as "a nationwide organisation based at the School of Population Health at The University of Auckland." I found this site thanks to Madeleine Ware, who provided the link - thank you, Madeleine - and thought it would interest my readers. 
The site collects stories of victims of vaccine preventable diseases, and has a collection of fascinating stories. One example is the story of Winifred, who at the age of 6 stepped on a nail and got tetanus. In a letter written shortly after the event to her grandmother, her mother describes the event. For the full version, read the story.  At some point, this happened: 

"At 4pm the doctor rang us and said if we wanted to see her we must go at once because they were expecting the spasms to commence any time. We went straight away and she was as bright as a bee. She had had dozens of injections all day and a needle put in her arm and she was already stiffening. She made no attempt to move and spoke awkwardly but said she was “quite quite happy” and had a nurse all to herself. As a matter of fact she had three. They took 8 hour shifts and hardly took their eyes off her. In addition the Sister was in there most of the day and the night nurse in and out. The doctor told me that the nurses had been wonderful.

That night, at 11 pm the spasms suddenly began. They put her under anaesthetic and kept her under lightly all the time. When the spasms came on they gave her more which made them less violent. She had several in the next few hours and twitched continuously. The brain is like a hair trigger and the slightest stimulus will set off another spasm. If they had left her conscious she would have gone from one in to another and of course had worn herself out in no time.. As it was it was touch and go each time. I was told that when Doctor Butcher the son of the fire brigade man received an urgent call to the Children’s ward, the whole hospital held its breath till he came out again and said all was well." 

1 comment:


  1. A world is enough for a wise. I'm SEN.BUKA MORRIS from DENMARK.I was a Herpes patient for 7years ,i suffered a great lost in applying medical treatment to get cure from the virus. It was too scaring having does sleepless nights with Herpes. I went through many hospitals seeking for the solution to my cure all my efforts where rendered useless. I was so frustrated, and lost my lovely wife along the line due to the bad effects of her virus. I became so ashamed of myself. I decided to check on the internet if there could be any possible remedy to this dangerous virus . Then,I came across lots of comments about Dr.CHUKWU MADU HERBAL HOME, who's patience have recommended him of his Good work,testifying how his medicine saved their lives, and there have been living happily negative of their virus. I thought and believe I could be cure as well. Then,I decided to give it a try. To my greatest surprise after contacting him.,I was very happy in our first chat and I believe in everything he said. He really proved to me after going through lots of pics and videos with his patients. I then ordered for his medicine , he prepared and sent it through the DHL service.It was like a joke,but now a dream come through that I'm Herpes free, I have recently been confirmed HSV negative. All thanks to God for showing me the way to Dr CHUKWU MADU HERBAL HOME the great and powerful herbalist. Reach this herbalist on his email [dr.chukwumaduherbalhome@gmail.com] or +2347030936239.

    ReplyDelete