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BREMERTON, Wash. – A devastating disease infects children across the country.
A mother in the state of Washington said that there was still a lot to be done to fight MFAs, which causes debilitating paralysis in children.
She leads a group of mothers to involve Congress.
"The CDC gave it a name in 2014," said Heather Werdal of Bremerton.
"AFM means acute flaccid myelitis," she said.
The disease resembling polio is back in the news. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that nearly 80 people in 24 states have been diagnosed with AFM this year.
Many of the victims are young children, like Heather's son, Hayden, was in 2014.
"He was 13," she says. "He was in perfect health, he caught a cold."
She said that even the doctors were not sure of what had caused her to fall so ill.
"Doctors working on this issue in Colorado, Nebraska, have discovered two types of enteric-type viruses that they suspect have had many children tested positive," she said.
What they found are different forms of the enteric virus that usually cause a minor illness but rarely become catastrophic.
"What is unique in our children?" she asked. "Why our children? Why? We think that this small number is greater than what they say, but we still recognize that it's rare. It's just that it can be one in a million But he is my 100%. "
And even the CDC can not provide answers.
"Our biggest problem is that there is no mandatory reporting to the CDC," said Werdal. "I know that there are more cases solely based on the number of parents who join our board of directors." Their state health departments are diagnosing them with AFM, but they do not necessarily submit these cases to the CDC – it costs money. "
At the center of it all is his son and the remarkable way he sees his situation.
"As a minor setback in my life journey," he said.
He says that he did not ask, "Why me?"
"We've never had this mentality of 'Why me?'" Said Hayden. "It was always – it sucks, what can we do to work on it?"
The work that his mother is now planning to do will have to be done in the other state of Washington. She and several other AFM mothers plan to go there to talk to Senator Patty Murray and other members of Congress to convince them to take action.
"The CDC does not have the power to require that every state be obliged to report cases of acute flaccid myelitis or even suspected cases," Werdal said.
She thinks that if the CDC had followed the AFM, her son could have been treated sooner. And the paralysis could have been stopped before becoming a quadriplegic.
In this case, the future is more promising for Hayden. He regains movement in his limbs. And he is in college now, hoping to be a computer scientist.
"He's everything to me," she says. "And I have to fight for him, and I have to fight for the other kids who are going to be diagnosed in the future."
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