Being an anti-vaccination parent is never an easy task. You are constantly judged, your rights are always precariously positioned, and you’re always an outcast. I think the hardest part of choosing to not vaccinate your children is being alienated from family, which is often the case. Deanna Vito Tringali lent us some of her frustration and we felt it really hits home. We wanted to put it up this morning for everyone to take it. There are 1000’s upon 1000’s of stories like these, they are never easy to read, but sometimes it feels good to know we aren’t alone. We have a support system. We have friends who look out for our best interest.
Deanna Vito Tringali:
I have to come here to vent tonight because this is my only outlet where I won’t be judged, and it’s been a while since I let off some steam.
It’s VERY hard having one side of my family’s support and the other side so pro-vax it’s actually literally utterly sickening and nauseating. I left my Aunt’s house tonight with 3 articles about how vaccines don’t cause autism, shoved in my son’s Halloween candy bag. That on top of my grandfather gasping at the fact that I didn’t get the flu shot. I looked at the articles and said “Ohhhh you know that Autism is only one of many reasons I don’t vaccinate, right?” My grandmother just looked baffled and said “well what other reasons could you possibly have?” I said do you have a few hours??? She shut right up. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about her ever bringing it up again.
And I really hope not, because this my thing. It’s the ONE thing that will set me off faster than gasoline to fire. The thing that turns my sweet, loving, and compassionate personality into someone you won’t even recognize. The thing that changed how I will forever view the medical profession that I so willingly involved myself in. The reason my next child won’t have a pediatrician. The reason I contemplated leaving the country when SB277 passed. The reason I NEVER worried that my son would stop breathing in his sleep. The reason that I’m not worried he’ll turn up with some form of childhood cancer. The reason he’s NEVER had more than a runny nose. The reason I know he won’t wake up one day and forget how to walk and stop calling me momma. The reason he’ll never have type 1 diabetes or asthma. The reason I gave him peanut butter at 9 months old without batting an eye. The reason I wake up every morning feeling like I gave my child the ABSOLUTE BEST start in this entire world. All because I had a question. All because one thing led to another and I couldn’t stop. I’ll never let anyone, not even my family, make me feel like I didn’t make the best decision in this world for my son. Because I know that I did. In my HEART, in my SOUL, in my GUT… I know I made the right choice and I would make it over and over and over and over and over again. Never once have I thought twice about it and I never ever will. So stop. Just stop with your JUNK science. You have no medical background and couldn’t contemplate half the reasons I have for doing what I’m doing even if you had the time.
It’s my thing. It’s my ONE thing that I will never, ever change my mind about. NOT NOW, NOT EVER.
Damn that felt good.
image credit: pixabay