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At 14, Holly Oakley was full of life and energy. She performed well in school and dreamed of becoming a doctor. Outside the classroom, she was competitive and athletic, playing sports like rugby and soccer.
All of this changed when Holly vomited on the field during soccer tryouts. “She threw up on the pitch,” her mother, Vicky Oakley, remembered, “and carried on playing. We put it down to a one-off, but as the months rolled on the vomiting got worse and worse.”
That was when Oakley took her daughter to the hospital, hoping to get some answers. The doctors, however, could only diagnose Holly as having a stomach bug and send her home.
Oakley continued to monitor Holly’s health and soon realized that Holly’s poor health episodes always occurred just before she began her period each month. Oakley returned to the doctor, explaining her speculation that Holly’s health was a hormone-related problem, so the doctors prescribed the teen with contraceptive pills and other anti-nausea medication.
But this treatment didn’t change anything. Holly’s symptoms were just as bad as before, so her doctors decided to intensify the treatment by giving Holly a contraceptive injection every 12 weeks.
Oakley said that this had “catastrophic effects” on Holly’s health. “Holly was in an episode the entire time. We were in and out of the hospital because she was so poorly.” It got to the point where Holly was vomiting up to ten times a day and couldn’t even speak because she was so fatigued.
Her doctors decided that Holly should be hospitalized at least two days before her period came, in order to stabilize her condition. For six months, this seemed to improve Holly’s condition. She would rest and wake up, “and it was like her body reset. She would seem absolutely fine,” her mother recalled.
The success didn’t last very long.
At this point, Holly’s entire body was weak. Any illness, minor or large, took a huge toll on her health and energy levels. She had given up sports completely, and everyone in her family simply hoped that she could leave the house every once in a while, to get some fresh air, despite her extreme fatigue.
Oakley says the doctors are still testing Holly for other illnesses and symptoms, but thus far, no improvement has been made. Their family is “praying to see some results.”
What does Holly’s mother ultimately suspect to be at the cause of her daughter’s sudden decline in health? The last of three shots for the HPV vaccine that Holly had received at school, as part of the national cervical cancer screening program.
Holly’s bad reaction to the vaccine isn’t the first to be reported. In fact, Oakley has found support in The UK Association of HPV Vaccine Injured Daughters online where other parents are also talking about their daughters’ declining health and conditions.
Oakley now says she wants “to see proper discussion in government about whether this vaccine is safe. Somebody needs to stand up and not be scared to talk.”
