by Tara Shafer posted in Parenting

As a mom who cannot get a flu shot, I think a good deal about those families who opt out as a matter of choice.
I am not judging. I understand that few things make people lose their minds faster than a vaccine debate. This is not my intention here. I understand that my perspective is informed by my own out-of-the-ordinary experience. I know that I won?t persuade flu-shot-skeptical moms to vaccinate. I am not a medical writer, nor is this a medical post.
I rarely talk about the flu vaccine because I don?t like to put people on the spot. I don?t actually want to stump people, or make them uncomfortable. I believe that all moms are doing the best they know how to care for their kids. All I am asking is that, regardless of your decision about the flu shot, that you consider those who may be impacted and cannot be protected. When I was in my late twenties, I woke up one morning with foot drop -- a classic sign of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). (GBS is a potentially fatal sudden onset autoimmune illness that attacks the nervous system).

When I tried to walk I could not -- it was as though someone had literally snipped the muscles in my ankles. I could no longer flex my foot. My feet hung limply over the side of the bed. They felt like flippers. And the neurological wildfire was just getting started. It spread upwards through my legs, causing a terrifying temporary paralysis.
After much in-patient medical treatment and physical therapy I rec...