We’ve all been there – long nights with sick kids – but if you had to see your child gasping for air, would it encourage you speak out like this?
A mother has shared a video of her four-month-old baby struggling to breathe in the hope of encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated against whooping cough.
Rebecca Harreman, from Australia, shared the clip on her Facebook page on Saturday. As of today, it has over one million views and 25,000 shares.
She explained: “I’ve been on duty for over 3 weeks having to wake every single time my baby boy coughs for fear he will stop breathing. Every. Single. Time. I cannot and will not pass that duty to anyone else, because I just can’t sleep.
“So for those of you sitting on the fence on whether to vaccinate yourself and your kids or not… maybe this video will convince you.
“This is a GOOD coughing fit in a 4 month old with Pertussis, or Whooping Cough – 23 days after his cough started which is when it’s supposed to be getting past the bad stage.”
The mother-of-two continued: “Now when I say this is good… I mean that’s absolutely nothing. Not even long enough to be called a coughing fit. Nothing compared to watching him turn blue from coughing for so long and so much he can’t take a single breath…”
She finished her “rant” (as she called it) by saying: “So please share this and spread some awareness… not nonsense. This is getting worse because people are not vaccinating!
“Oh, and no matter what you believe – if you have a cough while out in public – cover your damn effing mouth!!!”
Okay so I know I said I’d let the hate go. But I’m tired. Damn tired. I’ve been on duty for over 3 weeks having to wake…
Posted by Rebecca Harreman on Friday, 13 November 2015
