How Important is Hepatitis B Vaccination at Birth?

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/managing-editors-note-below-is-the-story-of-iam-gromowski-a-boy-who-lived-47-days-after-his-hepatitis-b-vaccination-thank.html
See above link for full story.


Managing Editor's Note: Below is the tale of Ian Gromowski, a boy who lived 47 days after his at birth Hepatitis B vaccination. Thank you to his mom Deanna for sharing her agonizing story with us. I am proud that Age of Autism is here to publicize stories like Ian's. (And there are many more stories. I'm thinking of a darling girl in NJ named Gianna who succumbed to her vaccinations.) Autism One Radio featured Ian's story last week. Download Deanna GromowskiFINAL

Deanna and her husband have a healthy baby boy named Vance. Deanna is now battling thyroid cancer. You can read more of Ian's story here: www.iansvoice.org.

By Deanna Gromowski

There are days I cannot believe what happened to my son Ian Larsen Gromowski.

It almost seems as though it was a bad, horrible nightmare that I cannot wake up from. My name is Deanna Gromowski and I am just a mom.




I live in Wisconsin and have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UW-Milwaukee and my husband Scott has his bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from UW-LaCrosse. I work in Human Resources and he decided to get a 2nd degree in Fire Science and is now a full-time fire fighter. We dated for 3 years and then got engaged and a year later married in Hawaii in 2005. We decided to hold off on children for the first year to enjoy married life.

We ‘did everything right in life’, we planned and prepared and educated ourselves about all our major life decisions.

Then June 25, 2007 and our son Ian was born completely healthy. Well, there was a slight mishap at birth and it is very common. Ian swallowed meconium (his stool) as he came through the birth canal. He was originally brought back to our room with us, but then the nurses noticed he was having trouble breathing.

The meconium is like tar and it was in his lungs. So Ian was admitted to the NICU, discharged the next day to our room, but yet again went back because he hadn’t worked all of the meconium out quite yet. Scott and I were worried, as new parents, who wouldn’t be, but we knew it was common and we were told this many times. Some babies need 2 to 3 weeks to work the meconium out of their lungs.

Ian was having a hard time getting this tar worked out, but you cannot imagine our JOY when the doctors told us on his 5th day of life, June 30th, 2007, that he would be able to go home. All he needed was his hearing test and his Hepatitis B vaccination.



We couldn’t wait for both of them to happen so we could go home. Looking back Scott and I get frustrated because we weren’t really given an option about the vaccine. We were told to sign a form (in which we were not given any instructions on vaccines) and I remember it seemed strange because the form we signed didn’t have an area for a parent signature, the nurse had to physically write in “Parents Signature” and “draw a line”. Hardly seems professional or right, but I signed it anyway. I look back on that form to date and still get sick to my stomach.



Ian was given his Hepatitis B vaccination on July 1st, 2007 even though he was fighting off the meconium, even though he had a fever ABOVE 100 degrees on June 30th, and even though he had a fever above 100 degrees the day of July 1st they STILL VACCINATED HIM. It states on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website this : “Some people should not get hepatitis B vaccine or should wait.



Anyone with a life-threatening allergy to baker’s yeast, or to any other component of the vaccine, should not get hepatitis B vaccine. Tell your provider if you have any severe allergies.

• Anyone who has had a life-threatening allergic reaction to a previous dose of hepatitis B vaccine should not get another dose.

• Anyone who is moderately or severely ill when a dose of vaccine is scheduled should probably wait until they recover before getting the vaccine. Your provider can give you more information about these precautions..”



So how are parent’s to know if their child is allergic to baker’s yeast? Do you want to just risk it? I would consider Ian moderately ill because he was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and still had a fever. Shouldn’t the experts know this information. Isn’t it there job? Well, that is all hindsight and immediately after Ian was vaccinated the following happened:



FACT: After receiving the Hepatitis B shot these symptoms also appeared:

• Platelets dropped from 248,000 to 131,000 – severe thrombocytopenia
• Scalded-like rash appeared
• Seizures noted
• Irritable, crying non-stop
• Stopped eating
• Viral-like symptoms

His pictures speak a million words. Within 12 hours of his vaccination he had the rash, within 24 hours the severe thrombocytopenia set in, and then he was in a fatal state from then on. NO DOCTORS, NURSES, STAFF would even consider the vaccination as the source.



Nothing else happened, no medicines of any kind because he was supposed to be going home! It even lists on the CDC website that 1 in 1.1 million have a severe reaction and on the Merck website it indicates that thrombocytopenia is a typical reaction of a person with a vaccine reaction. Why didn’t they know this? Why wouldn’t they consider the vaccination? It is possible. It even states so on the form from the CDC that they were SUPPOSED to give us and didn’t!!

Ian lived for 47 days. My son suffered nearly his entire life. Look at the pictures. Imagine watching your child going through this pain and not being able to do anything. No one would listen to us….we are just parents, what do we know? We didn’t leave his side for one moment. We lived at the hospital, literally. I couldn’t save my first born son, I couldn’t make the ‘ouchie’ better. I sat there day in and day out and watched this vaccination destroy his organ one at a time.

But I want you to know that Ian was an old soul. He had a peaceful presence about him. He received edema massages 2 times a day for his swelling and he loved it! The therapists said most babies in his situation do not do well with massages, but he was relaxed, peaceful, and accepting. He fought so hard. He is the strongest person Scott and I have ever met. He took our admiration to a level we didn’t know existed in the world. He was and is our little Sunshine, but more importantly he is OUR HERO.

We now are blessed with another son, Vance. Vance shares his brother’s blonde hair and has blue eyes that glisten like the sky. Vance is almost 6 months old and Vance is not vaccinated yet. Pending on the future of vaccines, we don’t know if he ever will be. Hopefully Ian’s story will touch the lives of others including people who care for children. His case is not as rare as one would think.

Ian Larsen Gromowski
June 25, 2007 - August 10, 2007

Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Resided In: Brookfield Wisconsin USA
Funeral Home: Max A. Sass & Sons Funeral Home
Visitation: August 14, 2007
Service: August 14, 2007

Gromowski, Ian Larsen

Returned safely to the arms of Jesus on August 10, 2007. Precious son of Scott and Deanna Gromowski. Cherished grandson of Lawrence (Pamela) Gromowski and Gregory (Anita) Lehrkamp. Beloved great-grandson of Eugene Gromowski, Patricia Larsen and Bill Betlinski. Loving nephew of Paul (Amy) Gromowski and Melissa Waszak. Further survived by other relatives and many amazingly dear friends.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Tues. Aug. 14, 7:30 PM at ST. JOHN VIANNEY CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1755 N. CALHOUN RD., BROOKFIELD. Visitation AT THE CHURCH on Tues. from 6 PM until time of Mass.

Special thanks to the NICU nursing staff of St. Joseph�s Hospital and Children�s Hospital. Ian was a fighter with a strong spirit. He will be forever loved and never forgotten.

Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know.
You will always be our sunshine.