Memorial
Those who have died following Gardasil vaccination
Jenny Tetlock (California – Northern) was a 15-year-old girl battling a rapidly degenerative neurological disease that some MDs think MAY be linked to the HPV vaccine she received shortly before her first symptoms appeared. (There is no scientific proof one way or the other but Dr Diane Harper, leading researcher who helped design and carry out Phase II and Phase III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved and acted as a consultant to Merck, believes that the possibility of a ‘triggering of a genetic disorder within a family has to be considered seriously”.
Jenny passed away on March 15, 2009 surrounded by her family.
Jenny’s Journey gives more details of the events surrounding this young girl’s sudden illness following her Gardasil vaccination.
Moshella Roberts, 20, a student from Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, (Carolina – North) . She died from the Gardasil vaccination, her first day on the job at Trinity Home Care, April 5, 2008. Shelly appeared to have died in her sleep while on the job that morning.
Shelly was a funny, quiet and easy-going person. Although she had a ’laid back’ personality, she loved to help other people. In her spare time, she enjoyed doing hair and spending time with family and friends. In High School she was a varsity cheerleader, an active volunteer for her community (Special Olympics, make-up artist for a major play, and various town functions) and she received her C.N.A, all while maintaining a honor status. She received her post-secondary education at Fayetteville State University, majoring in psychology.
During her sophomore year, she sought employment through a home health care agency, and suddenly died at her first day on the job, coincidentally four days after receiving the Gardasil vaccine.
Brooke Petkevicius (Florida) who was 19 when she died while at the University of California, Berkeley where she studied social work and was involved in many extracurricular activities including co-ed volleyball and ballroom dancing. She played on an intramural volleyball team, went to kickboxing classes. She also was a social welfare major. She died 14 days after her first dose of Gardasil from a pulmonary embolism or blood clot on March 26th, 2007. There is no family history of this.
Brooke’s story: “Brooke did not smoke,” said her school friend, Megan Sedowski. “She was possibly one of the healthiest people I’ve ever met. She never did drugs and rarely drank alcohol. She worked out daily, and took a lot of classes at the gym. She never complained about anything, really, certainly not her health. She was an amazing, upbeat, caring, healthy young woman and her death was a complete shock.” Brooke had dressed to go running with a friend because they were training for a half-marathon. She walked to the elevator, collapsed against the wall and had a seizure. Brooke was rushed to the hospital and passed away.
Brooke never had any problems with blood clots, nor did her family have any history of clotting problems. Subsequent tests of her younger sister and her mother showed nothing genetic. Brooke had no allergies, no tobacco use, and no past substance abuse problems. Drug tests came back negative. Cynthia Janak, who wrote this piece on Brooke, spoke to all her family. They told her what a wonderful, kind-hearted young woman she was. She had dreams and aspirations for her future and how her laughter was contagious and how her smile lit up a room. This was a girl who had it hard growing up, as many of us, but became a stronger person for it. The phrase Cynthia likes to use is “she took sour grapes and made fine wine.”
(Email address: gzsrocks@yahoo.com )
Christina Richelle Tarsell (Sparks, Maryland). Chris was a girl on the go; a girl with a vision. She loved being at Bard College where she was an honor student. She loved studio art, philosophy, the tennis team, visits to New York City and hanging out with her caring, fun-loving friends. She was generous, compassionate and always gave back to others. Between her junior and senior years, Chris had a summer job working at the college art museum while living with classmates in a house in Tivoli, NY. So after a short visit home to Maryland, Chris returned to Bard and her job on June 13, 2008. During the visit home, on June 3rd, Chris had gotten her third shot of Gardasil. A few days later, Chris complained of feeling dizzy, tired and she developed a rash on her neck. She had a post-vaccine cough and sinus congestion that wouldn’t go away. We were never told of any side effects to Gardasil so we did not know these signs were significant. Chris was found dead in her bed 18 days after her third shot. What could have happened? Chris was always a healthy, wholesome girl, a non-smoker, an athlete. She didn’t take drugs or medication. As of this writing, the cause is “undetermined”. Further investigation suggests that Chris, like other girls who died following Gardasil, may have had an autoimmune related response triggered by the vaccine. The CDC wants you to dismiss them as “coincidences,” while our beautiful, innocent daughters die needlessly.
(Email address: chriscares@live.com)
Amber Kaufman (St Louis, Missouri) was a perfectly healthy 16 year old teenage girl who collapsed on her way into work with a seizure and her heart then stopped. Amber played volleyball, track, bowled and loved hanging out with her boyfriend, family and friends. She was up beat fun and loved life. She was the last in the nest, she was my best friend. She looked forward to joining the military like her older brother and sister. Her cause of death was listed as “cardiac disturbance of undetermined etiology.”
Amber’s story – March 31st 2008, Amber went to the doctor for a sore throat and at the same time she was administered her second shot of Gardasil, she also had a shot of Rocephin and was put on Erythromycin (Z pack). Being her mom, I asked if she should have the shot since she was sick and her nurse practitioner said it would be no problem. She was also in the middle of her menstrual cycle when she received this shot. She stayed home from school a couple of days as she complained of headaches, being tired and slept a lot.
I attributed it to her illness. She went to school on 4/3/08. Amber was on her way to work after school and I was on my way home, she called to let me know that the road to our house was closed due to water. That was the last time I ever talked to her, about 15 minutes later I got a call from her work saying she had collapsed on her way into work. I live only a few blocks from where she works. When I arrived they were just getting ready to start CPR. Amber was taken to the hospital about 15 minutes away, they did not get a heart beat until they reached the emergency room. She was transferred to St. Louis Children’s Hospital where she did not come off life support. Her brain had swelled and without a breathing tube or tube feeding she would not be able to live, she was brain dead. Amber was an organ donor on April 7, 2008. I sat at her head in the surgery room while they removed her breathing tube, she tried breathing for a while, I’m the one that had to tell her to go and to just be at peace and I was with her at the end. No mother should have to do that for her child, it was the hardest thing I have ever done or ever will do in my life! I am so glad my Amber saved at least five other lives. I get up every day because I know she would want me to let others know not to get this vaccine to prevent this from happening to any other young woman or mom.
(Email address: teri6248@yahoo.com)
Megan Hild (Los Lunas, New Mexico) (died aged 20 in November 2008)
Megan loved children especially her nieces and nephew. Her family was her life and she never missed an opportunity to spend time with them. She especially liked to be at home just hanging out with family and friends. Megan was a student at CNM working towards her Associates degree in radiology and general studies. Megan’s beautiful smile will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
She was a very healthy and happy young lady and loved going to college.
Here is an excerpt of an email from her mother.
“On her death certificate it will read, Cause of death unknown. She’s my daughter and I loved her!!!! I will never see her graduate college. I will never see her wear a wedding dress and hold her babies in her arms.
Other information about Megan: Symptoms – rash “severe stomach pains” “severe headaches/migraines” “extreme fatigue” vaginal bleeding. Her mother Karen adds this additional comment: “We have a sixteen year old son who says, “life does not matter, what you do in life does not matter”. This is how this vaccine has changed our family’s life forever! Megan was 20, happy and healthy. She was attending College with a promise of marriage after graduation. She held her life in the palm of her hand.
Now all this family has is a certificate with an unexplained cause of death on it. Something that was to protect her health may have taken her life. There needs to be an investigation right away before more young women are injured, or worse, die. Please do not allow another family to have to live the life we have been made to live.”
(email address: snowflakes18454@yahoo.com)
Santana G. Valdez (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
She was beautiful, sweet, kind and always thinking of others first. She loved kids and was always surrounded by them. She helped teach catechism at San Martin de Porres Church. She had just graduated from Nuestros Valores High School. Because of a great personality, she had many friends. Not only was she my daughter, she was my best friend. We did everything together. I miss her and that beautiful smile of hers. She always believed in Angels and that they take care of us. Well, I know for sure she made it to Heaven because the morning of her rosary, a hummingbird was inside our house. It let us catch it and when we released it, it looked at all three of us and flew straight up into the sky. She had to come to let her Mom know that she was okay. She died August 31, 2007 at the tender age of 18 years old. She just went to bed normally and never woke up. Autopsy and toxicology show nothing. Her heart and liver were a little enlarged. Death certificate says she died of natural causes but inconclusive due to toxicology and autopsy reports.
Santana’s autopsy report did say that the pathologist had found the papillomatosis in her airways. Is there a possibility that Santana had Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP) which causes wart-like growths in the airway passages caused by the human papilloma virus? These growths usually form on the vocal folds, causing a voice disorder. Just before my daughter’s death I noticed strange breathing and a whistling noise which is very significant. If this condition had been there months earlier I would have noticed this change in my daughter’s breathing noises and even swallowing difficulties. However, this is not the case, I only noticed it after her Gardasil vaccination and before she died.
(Email address: liliancrunk@hotmail.com)
Jessica Ericzon (Alexandria Bay, New York)
(Died February 22, 2008 – age 17)
I guess I will start with Jessie’s first Doctor’s visit where we went because of Jessie’s acne. She had heard that sometimes birth control pills did wonders for acne. So in April of 2007 we went to the Family doctor. At this appointment she was put on the birth control pill Yazmin. Her Doctor did mention the Gardasil vaccine and what it was for, but they didn’t push it at all. Jessie and I decided that we would take the pamphlet home and read it first, before we made a decision. On July 16, 2007 we went back to the Doctor for a re-check on her progress with the birth control pill and her acne which was clearing up quite nicely. We decided then to go ahead with her first Gardasil vaccination. I thought I was doing the best for Jessie, I mean who wouldn’t want to do everything they could to prevent any kind of cancer when it came to their kids. Side effects were discussed and it was the usual nausea, fever, headache, same as if you were to get a flu shot. If I had known at the time that there was even the slightest chance of death, I would have never allowed Jess to have the shot. There were no side effects after her first shot. We went in on September 17, 2007 for her second vaccination. The only complaint that she had was that it hurt to get the shot. I’m not sure when Jessie started complaining about her head hurting, plus she was always tired and her joints ached. She even felt dizzy once in a while. I did write in my diary on October 23, 2007 that she complained of a very severe headache. She spoke once in awhile of a spot on the back of her head that bothered her. She felt like it was a tumor, but I felt nothing when I checked. On November 20, 2007 I took her to the same family Doctor who prescribed her 2 previous vaccinations to check on why she could be having these headaches. He felt nothing and said it may be due to stress that she is having headaches and she was to take some Tylenol when needed. At no point in this conversation did side effects and Gardasil come up, it didn’t occur to me or obviously the Doctor that Gardasil could have anything to do with it. After that visit she was still tired and her joints still ached and a few headaches here and there, I attributed the joint ache to Cheerleading as she was a base and did a lot of lifting. In February 2008, 18th-24th, Jessie was on a winter break from school, but she did take Distance Learning Classes thru the local community college. A few days that week Jess went to her school to practice pitching for the upcoming softball season. She loved to pitch and practiced as much as she could. On February 20, about 5pm Jess had her 3rd Gardasil vaccination and everything was fine until the night before she died, when Jess and I were sitting on the couch playing a Sudoku game on her laptop, Jessie said the spot on the back of her head hurt again. I told her to take a couple of Tylenol and hopefully she would feel better in the morning. At 9pm I kissed her goodnight and told her I loved her and went to bed. My other half Tim and I work at the same hospital so we left at about 5:10 that Friday morning February 22, 2008 and Jess was sleeping as usual. When we got home from work around 3:20 pm, I found Jessie dead on the bathroom floor. The shock to my body and brain are nothing I ever want to experience again. Although I relive them everyday of my life now. I see the blue of her eyes which were open slightly as if she were watching me as I lay on the bathroom floor with her knowing there was nothing I could do for her. When the troopers showed up Tim said I did mention the fact that Jessie had the Gardasil vaccination although I don’t remember. I do remember telling someone about the pain in the back of her head before she went to bed. The next morning the Medical Examiner, Dr Livingstone called me to tell me they found no reason for Jessie’s death. He said she was dead before she hit the floor. I do remember telling him about the 3rd Gardasil vaccination she had just had not 2 days ago. He said that he had not heard of any negative findings with Gardasil. After that Tim went home (as we were staying with my dad across the road) and Googled Gardasil. The information that came up was devastating to me. I felt I had killed my daughter. I will stop here because the rest is basically much grief and much research. Respectfully,
Lisa Ericzon.
Lisa Ericzon would also like to add: “Losing your daughter at the age of 17 is indescribable. It is something that I will live with for the rest of my life. Knowing that it could have been prevented is a guilt I will carry also. Jessie was the All American teenager – happy, healthy, never did drugs or smoked. She was so full of everything life could offer her and did everything life would allow. She participated in all the sports and cheer leading in her school. Jess was an honor student and #8 in her class. I could go on and on because she was someone who I was ALWAYS proud to call my daughter. She was the best of the best and was on the road to becoming a success story in today’s world. Now she is gone and my life is empty without her.”
“Gardasil killed my daughter Jessie and it is my hope that Gardasil will end soon, so no other family has to suffer with losing their daughter.”
(Email address: laknights7@westelcom.com)
European Gardasil Death
Jasmin Soriat (Germany)
04.14.1988 – 10.12.2007
The 19-year-old succumbed to respiratory paralysis after she was vaccinated against HPV. “She was fit, happy and fun-loving. She never had any serious illnesses, had no lung disease, and she never smoked. There were also previously never problems with vaccinations.”
The last night:
Meticulously the parents have reconstructed the final hours of Jasmin: “She was at a concert a Spanish band, before midnight she was at a fast food restaurant, then drove with her flatmate home by taxi to Döbling. Two o’clock in the morning drank some tea. Her girlfriend came by to check up on her the next day but Jasmine, according to her friend who said, “She must have died a few hours earlier in her sleep.” (This was a rough translation from German)
This is the most disturbing website that I have come across in a while. Nothing can be said to comfort a mother from grief so overwhelming as that of losing a child. Truly, to lose a child at the hands of the very people that you trust and turn to for care can only be described as an ultimate act of treason. Any mother that has lost a child because of this should not blame herself under any circumstances. Remember, you were betrayed. Something that is equally as frightening as these stories will be discovering places in America where the government mandates the force inoculation of a child. All the while, an opt-out clause is not being fully disclosed. That is not only misleading, but it is also frightening in what is supposed to be a free society. Are we supposed to become accustomed to our children dying, as we must become accustomed to other things like body scanners at the airports? My biggest fear is that we have crossed the point of no return in America concerning this type of madness. These changes are happening so gradually that not many people are noticing them until it is having a direct impact on their lives. However, when enough women become fed up with the direction America is going we might begin to see some real changes. Let us hope so.
To find out why it got approval, just follow the money as usual. Many politicians not unlike Gov. Rick Perry mandate it, then they get BIG donations from people like Merk!
I had HPV, and had to be monitored closely for some time. Thankfully, the infection went away completely on its own within 2 years. I did get all three Guardisill shots to protect against different strains of HPV and had no negative reaction. However, if you are diligent about getting pap smears every year, I don’t see why this vaccine is necessary. HPV can be detected easily in pap smears and can be treated in a variety of ways.
Last post was February 16, 2011….what happened?
Thank you so much for sharing this!
I can assure you that this site is updated on a regular basis. There is some sort of glitch that will not change the date of the original post. It’s very frustrating, I know!
Another death is Natalie Morton, aged 14 in UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/28/hpv-cervical-cancer-vaccine-death
She dropped to the floor 75 minutes after the shot. She died within the hour in hospital.
Could the recent Collapse and death of a 16-year old Los Angeles Cheerleader be related to this Gardasil vaccination??
We have heard this question from several people, and unfortunately do not have any answers. So tragic! Our hearts and prayers are with the family of this young girl.
Gardisil did not kill these young people. I had a colleague, a muscular 24-year-old man, who died out of the blue from an undiscovered heart defect. Had he taken a vaccine beforehand, it wouldn’t have been the vaccine’s fault.
I am sorry for your losses, but don’t blame a vaccine on what happened. Out of the hundreds of thousands of girls who have been vaccinated, including my own daughter, only a handful happen to have died after receiving it? And not at any predictable interval afterwards? It is indeed coincidence.
I personally contracted HPV and didn’t realize I had till it flared up during my first pregnancy (when my immune system was weak). The doctor watched my paps, then I had a biopsy, then it was decided that I need a LEEP procedure to avoid its future development into cancer.
Had the vaccine been available, I wouldn’t have gone through that at all. And those women who are not lucky enough to catch it early enough – including those women who may have gotten it from one of my partners – couldn’t they also benefit from the vaccine?
And frankly, especially since no one seems to be afraid of contracting HIV/AIDS anymore, guys and girls are much more at ease not using condoms. That’s a fact. I would advise people to take advantage of modern medicine.
There have already been studies debunking the widely-held belief of parents of autistic children than MMR vaccines were at fault for their children’s condition.
Don’t go after a drug company just because you need an explanation for the senseless death of your daughter.
I’m sorry about the loss of your colleague and for all of your health problems. I’m also happy to hear your daughter didn’t have any issues after her vaccination. However, that doesn’t mean that many girls AND boys have been as lucky. Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but you can not tell me that after hearing from countless people who have had either an adverse reaction or lost someone after getting this vaccine – most perfectly healthy prior to the vaccination – with only the vaccine in common, and all suffering from the very same side effects listed on the vaccine insert, that these illnesses are not caused by the vaccine.
I also want to clarify that this site is not about “going after a drug company”, it’s about savings lives and giving a voice to people who have been injured by a vaccine. Truth About Gardasil is telling the side of this that most people don’t know, because the information is not widely known.
I am also very concerned about this outrageous attack on the vaccine. I acquired HPV when I WAS RAPED 24 yrs ago and at the age of 47 now,many years later, I still have problems related to it. The vaccine DID not cause these deaths. My daughter received the vaccine and she is fine. These people would have died even if they did not receive the vaccine.Unfortunately, things happen, not related to the vaccine. The virus also does NOT go away to the poster saying it does. Mine did not go away. I am very sorry for these people that lost a child ( I have also buried a child) but it was not because of the vaccine. Would you not vaccinate your kids for the other diseases like polio, rubella etc? This is just ridiculous and you will not find a doctor around ( at least one that is competent and board certified) that does not agree with me.
@Susan I am sorry for trauma that you experienced so many years ago. I am also sorry for so much tragedy recorded on this board. However after reading your post, its clear that your emotion clouds your judgement. I will never say that ALL vaccinations are harmfull. However just to take the establishments assurance that its safe, is just labeling yourself another sheep. Please, these people shared there stories with us in hope that more research will be done, and truth be told. If 20 years from now when enough data has been collected and it has been shown to cause these deaths and more…will that cause you to think about what ever new drug is being pushed on us?
my doctor wanted me in this drug trial and now im glad that i went and looked gardisil up,i am so aorry for all yalls losses but thank you all for posting these coments
So many tragedies. When will they all end?
Many serious injuries after Gardasil are due to autoimmune conditions and also symptoms which are appear to be brain damage.
In drug targeting polysorbate 80/Tween 80 is used to assist in the delivery of certain drugs (especially psychiatric, nano-drugs or chemotherapeutic agents) across the blood-brain barrier and into the brain tissue. Polysorbates act by rendering the barrier more porous (“open it up”).
The obvious deduction is that this is likely to happen regarding vaccines.
In Gardasil there is the risk of passage being facilitated of neurotoxic aluminium and other substances crossing the blood-brain barrier and gaining contact with the brain tissue. Aluminium does not belong in the brain!
Many young girls have died after Gardasil vaccines. Autopsies rarely if ever include investigation of brain tissue. This may be of paramount importance towards revealing the truth about this vaccine.
There is little or no support by the authorities for autopsies, sometimes there is direct resistance. Parents of the girls who have died are in a desperately unhappy situation and many would maybe wish for but do not have the resources for autopsies.
A special fund would perhaps be a good idea and would bring us closer to knowing the reasons for all the tragedies which are caused by this vaccine.
I just got my daughter her second shot today…I am so scared now after reading this site. Is there anything I need to watch for? I am not having her get the third dose.
Thank you so much for this information. I have a 13 year old daughter and have been unsure about starting the vaccine. After reading this website and many others both positive and negative there is no way I am making my daughter have this. The bad far outweigh the good. As for the previous poster… You do not know that these deaths weren’t from the vaccine! These were healthy girls! You have no right saying that to these grieving families! I only wish all of you had this info before having the vaccine done. My heart goes out to all of you. As parents we all want the best for our kids…you were doing what you thought was best.Much love to all of you.
There are worse things then death! You can ask my daughter who lives but her life was over after getting the first shot of Gardasil. Living in hell paralyzed from the neck down is worse i am afraid. Would you not choose death over that?
Our young and healthy daughter begged and scremed to let her die so loud that the hallways were filled with it night and day as the drug induced an auto immune reaction in her brain making her feel as if she was on fire and when they gave her pain meds she coded.
We live with the echos of our girl screaming and begging for death for the rest of our lives and grieve for a death that will take years more to end.
Her body curled up into a painful ball of cramped muscles so violently that they had to use Botox to paralyze her muscles just to get her flat again before she coded.
They brought her back and did a brain biopsy the old way since machines might be contaminated. They drilled a hole the size of your thumb with a hand drill while she was awake the whole time becasue sedation had alrerady stopped her heart.
They left the hole in her head and now she bounces from expert to expert as each tries to discover the obvious: A perfectly healthy 21 year old with no history or family history of serious medical problems went to a clinc one day and got one shot of a vaccine. The rest is too hoorifying for description!
I will say that as a stastics major this may be rare and relatively as safe as many other vaccines assuming one in a million will be destroyed along with entire famalies as collateral damage to some kind of limited protection scheme. One would be better off playing Russian roulet because at leats the loser gets to die quickly!
Oh and for Susan above whos daughter was not killed by the vaccine and therfore has proven that no one dies from this drug. Are you serious?
I can show you people who have fallen from aircraft wihtout a working parachute and walked away! Therfore jumping out at 10,000 feet is perfectly safe! I am sorry you got raped and got HPV but i hope you’re not thinking that gives you a fraction of the information needed to dismiss what I have personally seen happen.
I am glad your daughter is safe for now and I feel sorry for you if later she becomes the one in a million you dismissed, that gets destroyed because of your emotional and singular experience and opinion.
Sky diving is of course more dangerous then Gardacil but my paralyzed daughter would love to try it and many other things if she could just move after her singlular experience with Gardasil.
People need to wake up and stop being naive. It doesn’t take too much research to find that one of the people involved in getting Gardasil approved through two of it’s phases is questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine which as a three course program of shots, offers only 5 years of cover. She has stated that the possible side effect risks are not outweighed by any benefits. I have always had my children vaccinated, but this is one they won’t be having. Even if it’s only a small number who die, if it were your child, the statistics would mean nothing.
I am so very sorry for the losses of each of your daughters. There are no words to take away your pain. Thank you for sharing your stories. It is so important for parents of young girls to have this website!
For those that have said there is NO WAY the vaccines could have caused these deaths, I wonder how many of you have actually READ the warnings on the vaccine inserts? There you will find many of the possible complications/ issues that the drug companies are aware of and legally have to share. Drug companies have funds set up to pay out to families of victims of vaccine reactions. If there were no risk, why would they need to warn us, and why would they need to have funds set up to compensate families. Do your homework, don’t be naive or ignorant. There are risks to ALL medications, especially for those that might have some sort of underlying autoimmune condition. Be thankful you didn’t have to write a story on this page about your daughter(s), and respect those who have lost theirs.
Well, this is truly sad and I give my heart felt condolences to all of you parents left behind. I have not lost a child, but have two that have been affected by vaccinations. Both boys and both around the age of 2 1/2. They are now 16 and 18, but have “issues” relating to their vaccinations to this day. Of course, no doctor will say definitively, but I know. I am their mother and I know them very well. We all know in our hearts.
To you two women who blindly advocate vaccines, you should be ashamed of yourselves. First of all you are uninformed. There is much information out there regarding vaccines and the serious complications and deaths that surround them, you obviously either work for a pharmaceutical company and feel threatened or are just plain ignorant, Either case, you have no business responding as you did on this site.
These families are grieving and they KNOW what killed their daughters, they don’t need any doctor or autopsy to prove that. Although it would be nice if the industry would finally face all the hundreds of thousands of people negatively affected by their chemicals, make an honest apology and change their tactics. No more chemicals in the vaccines. Until that happens, stay away from any injection, so called medicine and research natural alternatives and cures. They are out there, for everything that you can think of. Peace and Love