The report was issued today, but since the vaccination occurred last April, the vaccine was likely the seasonal flu vaccine, as no H1N1 vaccine existed at that time.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3461612/Shared-strength-from-illness-story
Shared strength from illness story
By TANYA KATTERNS - The Dominion Post Last updated 08:40 17/03/2010
A former Lower Hutt man struck down by a rare disease has found strength and courage through a Wellington man's battle with the same affliction.
Ian Aikman, 43, a father of two who now lives in Sydney, ended up in hospital last April after the paralysing illness Guillain-Barre syndrome struck.
It causes the body's defence mechanism to turn on itself, affecting the central nervous system and causing temporary paralysis and respiratory problems. It usually follows a viral or bacterial infection, but in rare cases has been associated with vaccinations.
The syndrome affects about 190 New Zealanders a year, from mild to severe cases. Up to 10 per cent die. Some are left with permanent part- paralysis, others recover fully.
The disease hit Mr Aikman just two weeks before his wife, who had recently given birth to a son, was due to have a hysterectomy in a fight against cancer.
Partly paralysed and racked with pain, Mr Aikman turned to Wellington lawyer Ken Daniels for strength after a family friend saw his story in The Dominion Post last year.
"I had to ring him. To find a way through the fears."
Mr Aikman's disease gradually took hold over several weeks after a flu injection which the self-employed quality controller took to ensure fewer days off work sick.
He still has numbness in his feet and suffers from extreme tiredness, but the ability to talk to another sufferer, to know that it can be beaten, has made him determined.
"I tracked Mr Daniels down to his office and I must have sounded desperate because I was given a way to contact him. We talked and we talked. I suddenly didn't feel like I was going through this alone.
"His story of recovery was an inspiration and I now feel this brotherhood."
Mr Daniels, who spent three months in hospital in 2008, unable to move and living in a drugged haze to ease the pain, is now 95 per cent back to full fitness after a year-long rehabilitation programme.
He says though he was embarrassed to tell his story, it has been an inspiration for others living in fear and uncertainty.
"Ian is just one who has contacted me. I've been up to the hospital to see others and had a call just the other day from a woman in the US whose son has also contracted this weird illness. It has been so good for all of us to be able to share. The word has spread."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3461612/Shared-strength-from-illness-story
Shared strength from illness story
By TANYA KATTERNS - The Dominion Post Last updated 08:40 17/03/2010
A former Lower Hutt man struck down by a rare disease has found strength and courage through a Wellington man's battle with the same affliction.
Ian Aikman, 43, a father of two who now lives in Sydney, ended up in hospital last April after the paralysing illness Guillain-Barre syndrome struck.
It causes the body's defence mechanism to turn on itself, affecting the central nervous system and causing temporary paralysis and respiratory problems. It usually follows a viral or bacterial infection, but in rare cases has been associated with vaccinations.
The syndrome affects about 190 New Zealanders a year, from mild to severe cases. Up to 10 per cent die. Some are left with permanent part- paralysis, others recover fully.
The disease hit Mr Aikman just two weeks before his wife, who had recently given birth to a son, was due to have a hysterectomy in a fight against cancer.
Partly paralysed and racked with pain, Mr Aikman turned to Wellington lawyer Ken Daniels for strength after a family friend saw his story in The Dominion Post last year.
"I had to ring him. To find a way through the fears."
Mr Aikman's disease gradually took hold over several weeks after a flu injection which the self-employed quality controller took to ensure fewer days off work sick.
He still has numbness in his feet and suffers from extreme tiredness, but the ability to talk to another sufferer, to know that it can be beaten, has made him determined.
"I tracked Mr Daniels down to his office and I must have sounded desperate because I was given a way to contact him. We talked and we talked. I suddenly didn't feel like I was going through this alone.
"His story of recovery was an inspiration and I now feel this brotherhood."
Mr Daniels, who spent three months in hospital in 2008, unable to move and living in a drugged haze to ease the pain, is now 95 per cent back to full fitness after a year-long rehabilitation programme.
He says though he was embarrassed to tell his story, it has been an inspiration for others living in fear and uncertainty.
"Ian is just one who has contacted me. I've been up to the hospital to see others and had a call just the other day from a woman in the US whose son has also contracted this weird illness. It has been so good for all of us to be able to share. The word has spread."