Reply To: Need help getting the word out

My dad had a hard time of it, his last decade or so of life. First, he lost a kidney to cancer, but we all thought he was so lucky because he didn’t need chemo or radiation after surgery. A few years later, the other kidney failed, why, we don’t know why. He was on dialysis, and was aboout to be put on a list to recieve a new kidney. to do so, he had to get all his vaccinations up to date. A titre showed all he really needed was a flu shot, which he got. Shortly afterwards, he began to experiance weakness and numbness in his legs. His doctor almost immediately suspected GBS, and got him in with neurologists at the University of Buffalo. They very shortly diagnosed him with CIDP. He had a vast improvement-he went from being barely able to walk with a walker, to being able to go up stairs unaided. And then, a relapse. this time, the paralysis and numbness spread to his hands and arms. In the end, he could barely swallow, and died of aspiration pneumonia, a little more than 5 years ago. the neurologists agreed, it very well could have been the flu shot. All the while my dad was going through all this, we wondered, what did he do to anyone, to deserve this? When my dad was younger, he was the first to step up when he saw a barroom bully picking on someone smaller. He was the first to help build your deck, your new garage, fix your car in the driveway, change your flat tire on the coldest day of the year so you could get to work. He was always there, to help anyone, to offer a shoulder, to give advice. He was funny, he had street smarts, he had a definate sense of right and wrong. He loved dogs and kids, and they loved him on first sight. Why do things like GBS or CIDP happen? Who knows. All we can do, is try to find not just cures, but preventions.