Your beliefs almost killed me. I spent a week in hospital with measles and could have died

Rebecca was one of those mothers who refused to give her baby son the MMR jab after being spooked by the autism scare. Sixteen years later, disaster struck — and she’s still haunted by his accusing words...

have been much worse.

As many as one in 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from the disease in the young. In the most serious cases, the measles virus can cause other complications too, including meningitis and seizures and, although rare, even blindness and encephalitis — swelling of the brain which can lead to permanent brain damage.

It is also highly risky for pregnant women, potentially leading to miscarriage, stillbirth and premature births.

Louis spent a week in a sealed room being given a cocktail of medicines. Rebecca doesn’t recall what they were — ‘it was all a bit of a blur,’ she says — but believes they included paracetamol to control his temperature, antibiotics, for the ear and chest infections which can be a complication of measles, and steroids to ease his respiratory issues.

So infectious is the disease that anyone who entered his quarantined space, including Rebecca, had to remove their clothes and replace them with protective plastic suits, hats, socks and gloves, which then had to be thrown away before leaving.

Luckily, Louis, who was discharged after eight days, has suffered no long-term physical effects. However, as a teenage boy, he was embarrassed about having such a highly infections virus, which meant he didn’t broadcast news of his hospital stay once back at school, following the midterm break.

Their GP had informed the school there had been a case of measles, without giving Louis’s name, so that anyone he may have come into contact with could be vigilant about checking for symptoms and seeing a doctor, if necessary.

One can only imagine how mortifying it must have been for Louis, seeing posters on the college walls, warning of the risk of infection and knowing he was the source.

Indeed, a few years later, in his early 20s, Louis made his feelings about his mother’s rejection of the MMR, and the frightening consequences of that decision for him, very clear.

‘I hadn’t realised how much he resented it,’ says Rebecca. ‘But we were talking about something, I don’t recall what, and he got angry and said: “Your beliefs almost killed me. I spent a week in hospital and could have died.”

‘It hurt hearing that. I told him I hoped that one day he would be a parent and understand that we only do what we think is best for our children.

‘If another mum had told me, “I almost lost my son to measles. Be careful”, of course I may have done things differently. But, at the time, I believed I was doing what was right.’

REBECCA says she fell for Wakefield’s claims ‘hook, line and sinker’. She is not proud to admit that she even persuaded a friend with a child the same age as Louis to decline the MMR.

How, I wonder, does she feel about Andrew Wakefield now?

‘Of course, we now know that his report was complete nonsense,’ she says.

‘Maybe he was negligent, or stubborn, but was he malicious? I’m not sure. He may have thought that he was on to something but, unfortunately for parents like me, who paid a price, he was completely wrong.’

If she could turn back the clock, Rebecca would certainly take her GP’s advice and let her son have the jab, sparing him the trauma of measles.

‘I’m hearing news reports about more people becoming infected every day and find it quite traumatic as they bring memories of that terrible time flooding back,’ says Rebecca.

‘In talking about my experience with my son, I hope I can persuade other parents to get their children vaccinated, whatever age they are now, because it’s never too late.

‘Please learn from our awful experience,’ she begs, ‘before this measles outbreak becomes an epidemic.’

NAMES have been changed