At the GMC Monday from Alli

[Guest guest]

I found the sight of Max, with his fists clenched to the sides of his face straining to cope with the noises around him, terribly upsetting - another handsome young man robbed of a normal life subjected to a severe and regressive autism - another mum, coping, THEN finding the strength and energy to come to a London rally to take on the world. It is no mean feat getting to the GMC with an autistic teenager. Your sheer courage, and 's with Josh, and Deb Nash's with at showing the media the devastating truth of the havoc MMR has wreaked is a visual that will stay burnt into my mind, hotter than a real branding iron could inflict. Our boys and girls having astonishing families - far from normal too - nearer extra special. I was proud to stand beside such devoted parents and grandparents who waved banners for hours until their arms ached, their poignant purpose lost on the fickle media. One recently bereaved mum; there for her autistic son aged 20 given a drug, without parental permission to calm him, but instead made him die from one of it's side-effects, heart failure; gave out a pained cry which I found myself quelling to soothe. All I actually wanted to do as I stared into her eyes filled with agony, was to scream, yell and lash out too - because the excrutiating pain a parent can feel when their child is dead or damaged is an unanaesthetized dis-embowelling....but it's not the way....our dignity must be kept at all costs in order to be understood. Crammed in by our penned barrier, covered in banner slogans and with Dr Wakefield heads-on-sticks we waited as the results of the decisions to strike Dr Wakefield and Dr - came with resigned expectancy. The true shock of the morning was when news of the vindication of Dr Murch came which sent a cheer of delight right throughout the throng. His jublilant smile couldn't have been wider if he'd popped a submarine in his mouth sideways! I couldn't help but think of young Beth, who suffers terrible gut pain everday, whose mum, seeks his expertise in desperation. What a relief!At 11.45 , Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Fitness to Practise emerged, a smart suit indeed, and was handed three important petitions, one from myself representing a collaboration of autism groups started by Teri Arranga in the USA, another handed in by Dr Halvorsen from Jacquelyn McCandless MD in the USA. The Nigel petition was given but held onto firmly by Nigel, until Mr had heard his excellent and heartfelt message hammered home from the 15,000 people who had signed all three. He vowed to read them all and respond. Let's wait and see. I think we could all have shouted the line "I'm not here for the good of my health!" ...... but we were....there for the good health our children don't have, there for our own need to vent, and for the children who, because of this awful injustice to scientific research and understanding we will see many more of: more like Max, Josh and , and my own son Jon, (who could never stand at a demo he would run off like a two year old does) appearing......sadly, our group will only ever grow - into a huge army.News reports failed consistently and incorrectly throughout the day by stating Wakefield sparked the MMR scare, he didn't, we did, we sparked it, he responded like the best of the best doctors should do. Vowing to the letter of the hypocratic oath to heed the patient - he merely carried out his duty.Heaven knows what the next step is - but we will never allow ourselves to be invisible - not ever! What a fantastic band of truly brave warriors, well done. (Nina made a great little portrayal of red indian brave by face-painting stripes on herself and her brother during the SKY News report, the cameras loved it). It's not over, the fight will go on for science, governments, media and the world to hear us, because make no mistake this is war!by Alli