Vaccine Injury Testimonial
Vaccine Injury of Linda Ayers
What was your life like before you received the COVID-19 vaccine?
I was described as an Energizer Bunny. I just won a sprint triathlon for my age group. I would run, swim, bike, skateboard, surf, and go to trampoline parks. I just got awarded sailor of the quarter for all of FORCOM in the Coast Guard. I was entering my 10th year of the military and was the top 3 prospect in the whole coast guard to go to coast guard diver school. I hardly ever got sick. the only issues i had was sometimes i had mild stomach aches.
Describe the symptoms and the timeline of the reaction.
I dreamed of either being a rescue swimmer or diver in the Coast Guard. I trained for 3 years and had applied twice for diver. I was one of the top 3 picks to be selected for the job but both years my supervisors didn’t do my paperwork properly and was denied going to school.
I had be given a large award being selected as Sailor of the Quarter for the entire Coast Guard FORCECOM and then pushed up nominated as Sailor of the Year. This is a testament to my work ethic and dedication to my military service.
I also volunteered multiple times a week at church with different groups. One most notably was volunteering for the Youth Program and was going to become a leader there.
Unknown date- Was scheduled (without me knowing) to receive the vaccine, when I didn’t show up for the appointment I was verbally counseled by immediate supervisor (E-7) that I am supposed to attend all scheduled appointments and would be further reprimanded if it happened again.
August 24th 2021- USCG mandated to receive Vaccine, but continued to refuse.
August 25th 2021- Was sat down with immediate supervisor and another E-9 Gunner’s Mate, with counseling paperwork, the mandate message and told me to get the vaccine or I would face consequences like being discharged without receiving benefits. I was told I could try to apply for a religious waiver or get an officer to write me a medical exemption, but would more than likely be discharged before they could get approved. The Coast Guard at the time was also denying all religious waivers. So my only other option than discharge was to get vaccinated.
September 1st 2021- Got 1st dose of vaccine
September 21st 2021- Got 2nd dose of Vaccine
September 28th 2021- I first noticed that I was not feeling well because of brain fog (forgetting simple work tasks or things I needed to do), my eyes were unable to focus on my computer for longer than 30 minutes, heart palpitations multiple times a day, muscle weakness and random muscle tears, breathlessness and inability to work out. Easily overwhelmed and on edge.
My activity levels before vaccination were:
● Gym once or twice a day
● Run 5 miles every other day
● Swim 1500m on the other days
● then either skate or surf afterwards
● Played on the underwater hockey team
● Mountain Biked on weekends
● tried out and was selected to play semi-pro soccer
● this was on top of my normally physical job of lifting ammo and weapons daily.
October 2021: For 7 straight days while visiting family in Florida, I had insomnia and would throw up uncontrollably for hours on end. A week after getting back from Florida, I went to the ER for extreme stomach pain. The hospital at first thought I may have been having gallbladder or kidney failure, but all my tests were coming back normal, so they released me.
November 2021: In traffic headed back to the airport from visiting my sister in Louisiana, I experienced my first panic attack. I felt like I was having a heart attack and about to die.
Over the next few months I was working on getting a certification as a lifeguard since diver didn’t work out. I constantly fought anxiety and heart palpitations. During my final examination I was having a severe panic attack for no reason.
I then decided to get out of the military since it was becoming impossible to work and I was seeing my dreams as a diver fading away. I began the out-processing with my medical review. I mentioned that my ears had began ringing and hurting since October, but they were skeptical of me and I believe they thought I was trying to get a higher disability rating. I was denied for having tinnitus.
January 22nd 2022: Separated from the Coast Guard. We were told we needed more proof of her illness in order to file for disability and should try when we moved to California.
22FEB22- I went to an Army medical urgent care near my house because I was told all my symptoms were because I had anxiety. The doctors prescribed me Zoloft and to take it at night before bed. That night I was unable to sleep and had convulsions/tremors throughout my body for 2 hours.
At this point, I was afraid to go to doctors. And have been unwilling to take medication.
June 2022- My husband first got COVID from work and had the normal symptoms for a week with some lingering chest discomfort for a few months afterwards. But shortly after he first got it, I got it BAD. We had to travel across the country to California while I was still sick, and took recovering from the illness many months.
July 2022- We got to California, and my symptoms id been experiencing since the beginning of the vaccine lingered on and very slowly continued to get worse.
December 2022:
● Had incredibly awful “flu” (could not be confirmed at urgent care with a viral test). We now suspect that to have been a respike of EBV (Epstein Barr Virus).
● fought off multiple infections and had severe allergic reactions to 2 different antibiotics
● Got Poison Oak outbreak on 70% of my body. Steroid creme helped it go away.
From there we used my husbands Tricare to see doctors. I had a primary care physician, cardiologist and an OBGYN. They ran multiple tests all coming back negative or no result.
April 2023- HUGE drop in health. This was the turning point of my life. I was painting in class, and I could no longer stand with my own strength. It took everything you had to get to the car and drive 5 minutes home without passing out. Once I got home I couldn’t walk upstairs from the garage. My husband had just gotten home and carried me upstairs to the bed, where I didn’t get up from for 8 months except to use the bathroom.
My doctors through Tricare saw that I had a serious decline in health and out of concern for my life, they wanted to admit me to the hospital to make sure I wasnt going to die from some unknown cause. At this point though, Tricare was being very difficult to deal with and with medical bills stacking up waiting to be processed, we decided to enroll me in the VA.
My VA Doctor was in charge of the Womens Health Clinic at Palo Alto VA in California. During our very first visit, she told me she suspected I might have “long covid” (which was new at that time). She still made sure to run multiple tests through cardiology, neurology, rheumatoid, gastro, bloodwork, MRI/CAT Scans and other clinics to make sure my body was still healthy, and of course no results were given. I was supposedly perfectly healthy.
She had a blood test done to see if I still had spike proteins of the Covid Virus or Vaccine remaining in my body, and that was actually still elevated after nearly a year since Covid and a year and a half from the vaccine. This was the test she needed to enroll me in a Long Covid Clinic, which allowed me to get more tests done, but still no answers for recovery. I was told I may have to live this way the rest of my life.
My Doctor continued studying and running any tests she was allowed to order. She was able to help me file a disability claim that states I have “Chronic fatigue due to the residuals of a vaccine”. At this point, there was nothing else that could be done within the VA besides continue to be monitored.
December 2024- So we searched for outside clinics and came across a Neurology Clinic (Spero) that specializes in Chronic Pain and has a high recovery rate for Long Covid/Vaccine Injuries. We have now moved from California to Fayetteville Arkansas to participate in that.
Jan 2025 now have been experiencing seizures/tremors most days which began when I started doing positive and negative oxygen therapy at Spero. They seem to be triggered with my Chronic Fatigue as well as over stimulation via sensory. I had temp blindness in my right eye for a few hours that had no conclusive diagnosis at the Fayetteville VA ER, they deemed it as an "ocular migraine". Spero Clinic has been doing Neuromuscular Reeducation on me daily and i seem to be getting stronger but it doesn't help with my chronic fatigue.
April 2025 We have discontinued seeing Spero after a plateau in progress, and will now be moving to Mooresville NC to see Carolina Functional Neurology Center (CFNC).
July 2025 CFNC suspects that my “seizures” is myoclonic dystonia but the VA’s Infections Disease specialist thinks they are true seizures that wasn't detected on the previous EEG in January 2025. CFNC has few treatments that help me at this point, they recommend “brain training” and Hyperbaric mostly. After continuing to rest in bed for months now, my health has declined back to how it was before Spero Clinic and I have also be developing nerve pain across my right back, side and back of my right arm. It had progressed across my chest to the center and slightly on my left forearms, but those spots went away after a couple days. We are now enrolling in Bohdi Clinic for additional opinions. We are also awaiting a Neurology consultation at the Salisbury VA, if that comes back inconclusive, then my PCM at Salisbury VA will enroll me into the Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN) at Duke University.
Describe the solutions that helped your symptoms
rest, ivermectin(maybe), nicotine patches, B vitamins, probiotic, meditating breathing tequniques. praying
Which solutions were not helpful?
physical therapy, medication, stressing, hyperbaric,
What would you like others to know?
That no matter how much pain you're in, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. to hold on to hope and try and stay away from stress if you can. Lean on the Lord, He is getting me through this.
