Vaccine Stories

These are stories of Washingtonians who are personally affected by vaccine-preventable diseases and/or stories about why people choose to get themselves or their family vaccinated. If you would like to share your own story, please check out the organizations listed under Other Stories, and reach out to any of them to submit your story.

We are thankful for all vaccine advocates who are willing to share their stories in the hopes that lives will be protected. We hope their stories encourage you to choose vaccination.

Stories by Disease

If a disease is missing from the list below, it means we couldn’t find a story from Washington state for that specific disease yet.

Flu

Latasha Haynes survived the flu. Read about The Haynes Family. Source: Families Fighting Flu
Piper Lowery died from the flu. Read about The Lowery Family. Source: Families Fighting Flu
Nathan Hamilton survived the flu. Read Nathan’s Story. Source: Shot By Shot
Rebecca Hendricks lost her daughter to the flu. Read Scarlet: A Flu Story. Source: Vaccinate Your Family

HPV

Keleyna is an HPV and cervical cancer survivor. Read her story, Monogamy is No Failsafe: HPV and Cervical Cancer. Editor’s note: This post deals with sexual matters, including non-consensual sexual assault and may not be suited for all audiences. Source: Voices For Vaccines
Paul Benedict is an HPV cancer survivor. View his video: Snohomish County HPV Video Short or Snohomish County HPV Video Long. Source: American Cancer Society and Granite Falls High School Advanced Multimedia Club
Stewart Lyman is an HPV cancer survivor. He hopes parents will vaccinate their kids because cancer prevention beats cancer treatment. Read Stewart’s Story on his website. Source: HPVCancerResources.org. You can also read Stewart's opinion piece on vaccinations from Scientific American.

Measles

Jaxon Abalahin had SSPE, the measles complication that caused his death. His parents share their son’s story. Source: Kitsap Sun, Parents who lost son in 2008: Be informed on measles vaccine

Meningococcal Disease

Carl Buher is a meningococcal disease survivor. Read Carl’s Story. Read his wife, Anna’s Story. Read his mom, Lori’s Story. Source: National Meningitis Association
Jan Caliman’s daughter, Harmony, died from bacterial meningitis. Read Jan’s Story. Source: National Meningitis Association
Melody Albrecht’s son, Drew, died from meningococcal disease. Read Melody’s Story. Source: National Meningitis Association
Gail Bailey’s son, Eddy, died from meningococcal disease. Read Gail’s Story. Source: National Meningitis Association
Samantha Hutchinson, miraculously survived serogroup B meningococcal disease. Read Samantha’s Story. Read her mom, Dana’s Story. Source: National Meningitis Association

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Natalie Razore is a whooping cough survivor. Meet her mom, Michelle, and watch her video. Source: Sanofi Pasteur & March of Dimes, Sounds of Pertussis

Polio

Marcia Jacobsen Comer survived polio. Read her story, My Experience in the Polio Ward. Source: Voices For Vaccines