A vaccine volunteer’s heartrending chronicle of a life destroyed [25/11/24]

A WOMAN who suffered a severe adverse reaction during Oxford- AstraZeneca’s covid vaccine trial was so badly injured that it was four months before she could walk again. Within an hour of receiving the jab she developed paraesthesia, an autoimmune condition that attacks the nerves. It left her in excruciating pain, unable to eat, and so sensitive to light and noise that she was confined to a darkened room with sunglasses and earplugs.

A mother of two young children, Brianne Dressen, from Utah, USA, considered suicide to stop the pain, a common reaction in the vaccine-injured community. Her husband Dr Brian Dressen, who has a PhD in chemistry, and children Cooper and Hannah kept her going, although at one time even a cuddle from them was too painful.

For months, Mrs Dressen, who received the trial vaccine in November 2020, could not bear anything moving near her or touching her body, and the children were instructed to stay out of the spare room where she spent her days and slept. Hannah came in one day, curled around her mother promising, ‘Mommy, I won’t speak. I’ll be less wiggly. Please let me lie here next to you. Just for a bit. I’ll be good. I miss you.’

Mrs Dressen was 39 then, a preschool teacher who ran her own nursery school. She had no choice but to text her husband to ask him to retrieve their daughter. Despite her best efforts, Hannah was too young to stay still, and her chatter felt like ‘a knife cutting through my brain; the feeling of her snuggling up to me was too much,’ Mrs Dressen said. 

Hannah was six when her mother was vaccine-injured, and her brother Cooper was eight. Now ten and 12, they no longer remember a time that their mother was not ill. Mrs Dressen, now 43, who is unable to work and permanently disabled, said: ‘This has been incredibly traumatic for them, and they wear my pain in their hearts. You can see it in their faces and hear it in the things they say. They try and be strong and happy for me and I try and be strong and happy for them, but it’s not easy. This time of year, they say, “Mom, I really want you to be better by Christmas.” Or “I think I’m done with you being sick, I’m ready for you to be better”.’

Before Oxford-AstraZeneca destroyed their lives the Dressen family were immersed in their close-knit community. When lockdowns hit, they focused on helping others cope with the grim isolation and fear, and spent hours painting animal faces on small rocks to cheer people up. 

Mrs Dressen said: ‘We would go around the neighbourhood and place the pet rocks somewhere on people’s front yards, ring doorbells and run away, smiling at the thought of our friends finding these cute little gifts.’ 

Before she was injured, Mrs Dressen was active and sporty. She hiked, snowboarded, swam, and climbed mountains with her  husband, now 47. Her older sister, an obstetrician who was on the front line during covid, recounted a story which made Mrs Dressen determined to do her bit. A woman pregnant with twins was admitted to her hospital. She was miscarrying and haemorrhaging, with clots in her placenta caused by covid. While Mrs Dressen’s sister saved the mother, the premature twins were dying with no one to hold them. Most healthcare workers were told to stay home during the pandemic leaving only emergency cover. There was a frantic hunt to find any staff who could cuddle the twins as their lives ebbed away. 

This tragedy had a profound effect on Mrs Dressen, who had always believed in vaccination. When Facebook published a form asking for volunteers to test AstraZeneca’s new covid jab, she immediately applied. The form was simple and asked for her name, profession, location and contact details and she was invited to participate subject to health checks, which she passed. 

Read More – A vaccine volunteer’s heartrending chronicle of a life destroyed [25/11/24]