Measles And A Deadly Diagnosis
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Measles And A Deadly Diagnosis
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About this listen
When Cecily Johnson took her then seven-and-a-half-year-old daughter Laine to hospital with symptoms of confusion and forgetfulness, she didn’t expect to be told a common childhood illness had now become a death sentence.
Laine had caught — and recovered from — measles as a baby, when she was too young to be vaccinated amid an outbreak of the disease in the 1980s.
Seven years later, Laine was diagnosed with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis — a rare, progressive brain disorder that would rob her of her ability to walk, talk and even to see.
Despite doctors saying she had just weeks to live, Laine survived — and was cared for by her mother — for another five years.
Cecily is one of two mothers who spoke to 7NEWS.com.au about the devastating aftermath of their children catching a simple dose of measles.
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