Girl of 12 ‘paralysed after bad reaction to cervical cancer jab’
A GIRL of 12 was left paralysed after suffering a reaction to the cervical cancer vaccine, her mother claimed yesterday.
Mia Blesky was a talented dancer and singer who dreamed of a career on the stage – but her mother says she became seriously ill the day after she had the routine injection.
Over the next six weeks her symptoms worsened and she began to lose all sensation from the neck down. She now hasn’t moved a limb in 14 weeks.
Her mother Gini Blesky, 37, said she fears Mia’s symptoms are linked to the Gardasil vaccine, which protects against the human papilloma virus behind most cases of cervical cancer.
Doctors insist it is safe, but hundreds of parents have claimed their daughters became ill after having the jab.
The day after her injection at school in September 2016, Mia complained her legs felt heavy, she had a burning sensation in her spine and her feet were shaky. Over the next few weeks she began to lose sensation in her body, but Miss Blesky claimed doctors insisted her condition was ‘all in the head’.
The schoolgirl is now in a wheelchair and barely able to shuffle in her specially-adapted bed at home. Yesterday she said: ‘I just want to be a normal girl.’
Hair and make-up artist Miss Blesky – a mother of five who is married to Mia’s stepfather, haulage firm boss Lee Choulef, 39 – said: ‘It’s horrendous. everyone thinks she’s been in a horrific car accident. People stop and say, “Oh my God, what on earth happened?”
‘When Mia was admitted to hospital, the doctors said it was a form of self-harm and she was doing it to herself.
‘They discharged her after a few days. They gave her no treatment. We had to buy her a wheelchair. I had to carry her to the car. Within six weeks her entire body had gone floppy – her legs, then her core body and then her neck and arms.
‘It has been absolutely awful, but the doctors say it’s psychological and down to bullying or sexuality issues, which is rubbish. The only thing they have offered to do is section her.
‘She has gone from being someone who sings and acts and dances – a normal 12-yearold girl – and now she can only blink, speak and sing.’
Miss Blesky said looking after Mia at home in Reading was costing around £4,000 a month. In addition to the paralysis, for which she is receiving private physiotherapy, Mia is incontinent, struggles to eat and suffers from involuntary spasms.
She said: ‘It’s hard... singing makes me feel a bit more normal but it doesn’t feel the same as it did before... I run out of breath all the time.
‘I would love to sing in the West end or have a career in music. That is my dream. I just want to find someone who can help me.’
The cervical cancer jab is routinely offered to girls aged 12 and 13 after the nationwide programme was given the go ahead in 2008.
Another vaccine called Cervarix was initially used, but this was replaced by Gardasil in 2012.
european Medicines Agency statistics show that up to February 2017, 11,867 reactions to Gardasil have been recorded across the continent.
More than 400 families, represented by the UK Association for HPV Vaccine Injured Daughters, want more research.
Chairman Freda Birrell said: ‘[The Department of Health] should start trying to find out why this is happening instead of saying it is normal for teenagers to develop illnesses of this kind or that they have mental health issues.’
earlier this month, talented dancer Chloe Brookes-Holder, 18, from Cheltenham, claimed she was also left paralysed after Cervarix triggered a severe immune system response.
Public Health england said: ‘The safety of the HPV vaccine is under constant review. every report of a suspected side effect is taken seriously.’
It said there was ‘no credible evidence’ of a link between the injection and chronic illnesses.