Ep 44 Pertussis: Whoop Here It Is

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.8 • 17.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2020

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

[TRIGGER WARNING: see below] Whooping cough, that terrible childhood scourge, has been making an alarming comeback due to lapses in vaccination coverage across the globe. And in this episode, we’ll tell you why exactly its return is a cause for concern. From the devastation it wreaks on the body to the untold tragedy of past epidemics, pertussis is a dreaded disease that was nearly relegated to the past thanks to the amazing efforts of three incredible researchers, Pearl Kendrick, Grace Eldering, and Loney Gordon. But as the provider of our firsthand account illustrates, pertussis is still very much present today. We are joined by the incredible Catherine Hughes, who does us the honor of sharing her story about her son Riley and her efforts to raise awareness about the importance of childhood vaccinations.

Read more about the Light for Riley campaign and the Immunisation Foundation of Australia to see the hugely important work being done.

Trigger Warning: The firsthand account of this episode features the death of an infant. If you do not wish to hear this, skip to 5:10.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:04.2	My name is Catherine Hughes and five years ago I gave birth to the most beautiful gorgeous
0:15.6	little boy.
0:17.6	His name was Riley and he had soft blonde hair and gorgeous piercing blue eyes.
0:25.3	But when Riley was about three weeks old he started to get sick.
0:30.9	I really thought it was just a cold at first.
0:33.0	It was just a bit of a runny nose, a bit of a sniffle and I wasn't too worried but
0:38.5	then a couple of days later I heard this tiny little cough and I'll never forget the
0:44.4	sound it made.
0:45.4	It was so small, so innocuous but it was really a sign of what was to come.
0:53.9	My husband was way for work so I decided to call out a Lycan doctor to come visit our
0:58.4	house one evening.
1:00.2	Riley was about four weeks old at the time.
1:04.5	And Riley appeared perfectly healthy.
1:07.8	He was sound asleep and you just couldn't tell that there was anything wrong with him
1:12.7	in between the coughing valves.
1:14.6	So the doctor looked at Riley, reassured me that I was probably worrying too much that
1:19.6	Riley seemed to be perfectly okay.
1:23.0	That evening Riley slept and slept and slept and just did not want to breastfeed.
1:29.8	He didn't want to wake up.
1:31.0	He was so sleepy.
1:33.7	I was feeling really uncomfortable at that stage so my husband flew back in from work and
	...

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