Bonnie Jean Feldkamp and her family at Jingle Bell Arthritis 5K in 2010, the same year she was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. Autoimmune disease makes it vulnerable to influenza and other viruses. (Photo courtesy of Bonnie Jean Feldkamp)

Announcements urging people to get the flu shot start to appear in local pharmacies.

Autumn has come and with the leaves falling, there is the flu season and the virus. I have never been afraid of falling until I get diagnosed psoriatic arthritis. It is an autoimmune disease and immunosuppressive drugs have become my new reality.

All the practical advice I have said to avoid communicable diseases. It seemed logical enough if I chose to live in a bubble. But as a wife and mother, it was not plausible.

My iron stomach never succumbed to the 24-hour virus that was rampant in my daughter's school. No worries here. My supermaman hood has doubled as an antiviral shield.

"More now," said my rheumatologist. "You will need to get the flu shot and you may as well get a pneumonia shot while you're there."

MORE: Children 6 months and older need a flu shot now, warn doctors

Once my immune system was vaccinated, I started looking for other ways to prevent it. The hand sanitizer was on sale at the grocery store. I've bought a bottle for every room in the house, both cars and each backpack.

I moved away from a sick child instead of holding him close to comfort him. It was scary. Although pneumonia is still dangerous, it would almost certainly kill me. At the first sign of cold, you will find me in bed by pushing liquids.

"Although pneumonia is always dangerous, it would almost certainly kill me, and at the first sign of a cold, you'll find me in bed, pushing liquids," says mother Bonnie Jean Feldkamp. (Photo: Tero Vesalainen, Getty Images / iStockphoto)

I felt defeated and survival was no longer a given.

My supermom cape has found a new use as a nap blanket. I feared that my children would suffer because I asked them to harden. I had to be careful every turn. I no longer opened the doors with my bare hands and I dropped my feminist side a bit, hoping that the others would open the door for me.

It's been a few years since this first viral season and I'm not that fearful anymore these days. I've been dealing with some strange infections and a lot of colds that have lasted too long. Both are excited by a good dose of fear to which I am always used.

I also became a free mother to vaccinate your family.

If your children are not vaccinated, they can not come to my home. It's funny how we become passionate about something once it's really home. I am saddened to learn that someone falls unnecessarily sick or dies of a preventable disease. According to the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, last year's flu season was one of the worst we've ever seen. A total of 180 pediatric deaths have been reported. About 80% of these deaths occurred in children who were not vaccinated against influenza.

Please. Please! Do not think this can not happen to you or your family.

We all benefit from your good health decisions. Get your flu, hepatitis and other recommended vaccines. I will be sure to have mine. Protect yourself and your family. In doing so, you will also help protect me and my family. It means everything to me, really.

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is an independent writer and a regular contributor to the Cincinnati Enquirer Education and Family Roundtables. She is Director of Communications for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and is a member of the Parent Media Association, Journalism and Women's Symposium and the Society of Professional Journalists. Based in Kentucky, she is married and has three children.

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