Tricia Johnson
What was your life like before you received the COVID-19 vaccine?
My daughter Sydney is the injured. Before the vaccine, she was a healthy and very happy and active 12 year old child. She did sports, was very active physically and socially. She played softball, baseball, flag football, rode bikes, ran a 5k, walked her dog, loved animals and aspired to be a vet someday, she had a garden, loved loved loved anything and everything involving the outdoors.
Sydney is the youngest of my 3 children. The other 2 children are in college. She was just about to start 7th grade. It was August of 2021, and it was her second dose of the vaccine.
Sydney was always healthy, with the exception of a problem that stemmed from a sprained ankle when she was about 8-9 years old. She had a problem with pain in her heel and they mentioned something called CRPS (Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome), but never really put it into writing until recently when they were grasping to give some reason for her issues.
Describe the symptoms and the timeline of the reaction.
She received her 2nd dose on a Saturday around 11AM at a CVS pharmacy. She and my husband both received together with the same batch number. She felt a little light headed and they gave her an apple juice and sent her on her way. She was tired and slightly achy for the rest of Saturday and into Sunday and Monday, but no major symptoms. Tuesday, she started with a slight stomach ace and it continued into Wednesday, August 25th. I just thought it was running its course. On Thursday, I went to work and my mother, Sydneys grandmother, came to the house to sit with her. Her stomach ache started to get really bad, and I was with a patient, so my mom took her to Urgent Care. I then got a call that she needed to go to the hospital, they thought it was appendicitis. After an ultrasound, and then a cat scan, she was transferred to Boston Childrens Hospital to investigate further. She was screaming in so much pain she was given fentanyl to tolerate the 30 minute ambulance ride. It didn't work. She screamed the entire way. Once at the hospital, they started morphine. After a bunch of tests, scans she was admitted for pain control. At this time she was in from Thursday and sent home Monday the 30th of August I believe. She left the hospital with 5 different diagnoses... all the doctors that saw her ( I lost count at 27), told us it was unlikely the vaccine. I know my child. She was unable to walk because the pain was so bad, just the wheelchair going over the bumps in the threshhold of the door would cause tears. She was sent home on a bunch of medications for pain in hopes it would pass. Every pothole or bump we hit on the way home sent her screaming in pain. It is a very localized spot on the right side of her belly button about the size of a nickel in diameter.
Sydney was home for a total of 8 hours before we had to bring her back to Boston Childrens. It was so bad, we had to pull over on the highway and call 911 to have an ambulance transport her. This time she stayed in the hospital for atleast 2 more weeks. I saw the life sucked out of my child when this happened. I have pictures, videos, witnesses etc.... the pain never left. We are over a year now. Countless hospital trips, procedures, and most recently abdominal surgery to remove a section of her nerve.
Most recently we have discovered that 60% of her liver is diseased. They are in the process of testing to see if this could be something called autoimmune hepatitis
Describe the solutions that helped your symptoms
Nothing really helps. the pain is always there and never goes away. It is a horrible stabbing burning pain. Somedays her pain is low, like a level 2, and others, usually right before a viral infection it shoots up to an 8 or 9 and we have to rush her to the hospital where they will give her morphine. The medicines they give dont take the pain away, they really only make her sleepy enough to be able to rest a bit.
It seems as though about 2-3 days before she got covid, the flu, or something else viral the pain shoots up. I always know she is getting sick before she tests positive. Her nerve pain tells us something is coming.
She is currently on 900mg of gabapentin per day.
Over the last year she went from ZERO health issues to: Celiac Disease, Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Functional Abdominal Pain Syndrome (FAPS), Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES), Severe non alcoholic fatty liver disease, "Central Nervous System Disease", and neuropathy. She has a GI team, a pain team, a liver disease doctor etc.
Which solutions were not helpful?
Pain meds
They also put her under general anesthesia to do a nerve block twice, and then in July, she had surgery to remove part of her nerve.
What would you like others to know?
I want people to know that this is real. Adverse reactions are real. In our experience, many doctors seem to dispute what caused all of Sydneys problems. I always say, maybe she had underlying issues, but WE TRULY BELIEVE the vaccine was the catalyst that set her body on fire inside and we need help putting it out. We are desperate for answers and help. I have been out of work since July 11th because of this. We are normal, everyday people who have suffered tremendously...it has affected our whole family physically emotionally and financially.
I was scared to put our story out there before, but now I know I must be a voice for my daughter and others out there like her.
If you need more pictures to choose from I have plenty. I have chosen a picture of Sydney and I shortly before her vaccine and the other 2 are in the weeks after.
