Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis after vaccination caused girl to have one and a half hour seizure

She’d complained of a slight headache, and perhaps seemed a little more tired. However, this was the holiday season — kids stay up later, eat differently and are out of their routine with the anticipation of Christmas.

But in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, it was clear that something far more serious was happening to 6-year-old Kya Scholler.

A noise had awakened Ryan Glennie. At first, he thought it was baby Pahtynn, the 9-month daughter he shares with partner Kyra Briggs. But the unusual thumping sound he heard was coming from Kya’s room. He found her there, having a violent seizure.

His call of alarm ripped Briggs from her bed and she said the sight of her daughter convulsing was a mother’s worst nightmare. She screamed for Ryan to call 911. Kya, still in seizure, was delivered by ambulance to Falls Memorial Hospital.

Clueless as to what was happening to the first grader, her family began to gather as they waited for some news. Kya’s father, Harold “Chopper” Scholler was notified in Hibbing. Dr. Jay Knaak, on staff at FMH, ordered strong anti-seizure medication for Kya, but it would take a quadrupled dosage to finally end the torment — one and a half hours later.

She was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis or ADEM.

Kya’s tests showed that there may have been a weak mononucleosis link to her viral ADEM. And, she had received an immunization at the beginning of December. She was started on heavy doses of corticosteroids for the swelling as well as antibiotics, in addition to the anti-seizure medication.

Another child, a 5-year-old girl with symptoms similar to Kya’s, was admitted to the same intensive care unit. The little girls’ stunned families waited together outside the unit. “We prayed for each other,” said Briggs. Tragically, because her illness had progressed, Felicia Jade Jordan of Nashwauk died on Dec. 29 due to complications of ADEM.

Reportedly, public debate over vaccinations and ADEM has led some parents to avoid recommended vaccinations for their children.

Source: The Daily Journal, 4 February 2009, written by staff writer Faye Whitbeck.

Girl Gets Encephalitis After Tetanus and Flu Shots

Phoenix resident Melissa Ellingson said tetanus and flu shots she received this summer nearly cost her her life.

“I couldn't talk. I couldn't walk. I couldn't feel my whole body. It was like I had an epidural of something,” Ellingson said.

She developed encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, about a month after the two vaccines.

At one point, she was so sick she couldn’t swallow and had to have a feeding tube inserted into her throat, she said.

“All of my symptoms matched as if I would have been affected by a flu shot or a vaccine,” she said.

Dr. Geoffrey Radoff said it is possible Ellison experienced an extremely rare side effect of the vaccines.

After spending close to one month in intensive care, Ellingson is home recovering.

She said her bout with encephalitis has left her both tired and weak.

To recover, she is going to physical therapy three times a week and taking steroids to stop her immune system from attacking itself.

She said she is still shocked that vaccines aimed at keeping her healthy could have cost her her life.

"I thought I wasn't going to come out of it,” she said.

Source: KPHO News, 12 October 2009.