While her doctors still dispute the reasons for her drastic behavioral changes, her mom has no doubts.
“The speech is what led everything off,” Pelham Bay resident Dawn Malavase said about her 14-month-old baby’s sudden inabilities. As words turned to sounds, the little girl began banging her head, biting herself and having major adverse reactions to everyday activities.
On June 4, Malavase will join thousands in Washington D.C. for “Green Our Vaccines,” a walk and rally led by Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey to urge the government to take toxins out of vaccines.
“The American Medical Association has to change their practices,” Malavase said. “This affects children and children are the future of society.”
Becky Estepp, national manager for Talk About Curing Autism, said in 1983, children received 10 vaccinations before the age of five – a drastic change from the 36 they receive now, 33 of which are before a child reaches one and a half years old.
Along with high dosages, Estepp said the mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and antifreeze used as preservatives in many vaccines are damaging today’s youth.
“I really don’t feel it’s a radical idea to ask the government for safer vaccines,” she said.
Malavase agreed. “These things; they break down your immune system and the children are becoming neurologically challenged.”
Long time Locus Point native Natalie (Stokes) Carpentieri said she too has seen the destructive effects of vaccinations in her own son Jake.
At one, he received a series of shots when sudden projectile vomiting alerted his mother of a serious problem.
“We just lost him,” Carpentieri said. “Each vaccine, as we kept going back, we lost something more.”
Deeply scared for her little boy, Carpentieri said she immediately took Jake to the doctor, who in turn said he had the 24-hour flu.
While the symptoms never went away, his words did. From October 2005 – June 2007, Jake didn’t say a word.
He subsequently developed strong allergies and now lives on a gluten and casein free diet – the only solution to help his uncontrollable tantrums.
“I think the vaccines just killed his immune system,” Carpentieri said.
Now three and a half, Jake was formally diagnosed with autism in October of 2006.
“I’m not saying for people not to vaccinate,” Carpentieri explained, “but people need to look into the vaccinations.”
Estepp said a staggering one out of six children is attending special education classes, a number that won’t decrease without change.
“When it comes to medical procedures, one side does not fit all,” she said.
For more information visit www.talkaboutcuringautism.org.
To donate, for further information or to get involved, call Carpentieri at (917) 435-8182.
