Joshua
Place of Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Joshua was 30 years old and living in Chicago when he developed a high fever and a rash. His doctors prescribed antibiotics, but he just got sicker.
Joshua was 30 years old and living in Chicago when he developed a high fever and a rash. His doctors prescribed antibiotics, but he just got sicker.
Josh got measles in May 2016 at his sister’s graduation from the Northern Illinois University College of Business. The source of his measles was later determined by the Illinois Department of Health. It was spread by a guest who traveled to the graduation from outside the United States and had measles.
Joshua went to the emergency room, where a doctor said it looked like measles and asked him if he was vaccinated as a child. Joshua texted his mother the question, who sent back a “thumbs-down.”
Joshua ended up in an isolation room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He became so weak that at one point he couldn’t walk without assistance. He lost 25 pounds, and it took him months to fully recover.
It makes me so angry. My parents thought they were doing the right thing. They were persuaded by the anti-vaxers.
They thought they were doing the right thing.
Joshua, who grew up in the 80s without the internet, doesn’t blame his parents. He says they were believers in alternative medicine and couldn’t go online to check what they were being told.
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