Everything was going great – I was running cross country, holding up my responsibilities as Student Body President, and maintaining my GPA to stay on honor roll. You could say that I was thriving. Until I got my physical and my doctor gave my mom and I a lecture about the importance of getting the Gardasil vaccine to protect from HPV. We caved, and I received the shot. I passed out right there in the office, completely unaware of the residual pain that single poke would have on the next four years and inevitably the rest of my life.

The plans I had were completely derailed. I only showed up to school about half the time I was supposed and just getting out of bed took all my energy. I could barely walk up the stairs to my classes, much less compete in a 3-mile race. When vertical, I deliriously attempted to regain all the social time I had missed out on by attending bonfires and parties. Completely worsening my situation, but I was freshly 18 and desperate to continue thriving.

My cognitive function was declining rapidly (still completely unaware that I was experiencing immune damage from the Gardasil shot). I would often lose focus and veer off the road or get so completely overwhelmed behind the wheel that I had to pull over; my dad took my keys and began driving me everywhere. After visiting a series of doctors, whom all said that it was depression, anxiety, and nothing else, my parents and I made the collective decision to go ahead and pursue college as I had always dreamed.

All drugged up (on god knows what from the doctors who didn't pay attention), I left for school, which was the biggest waste of scholarship efforts and money because I could barely get out of bed. The scariest part is, I honestly don’t remember much about that time other than what my friends have told me or I’ve seen in pictures. About three months in my parents responded to concerned call from my roommates and quickly drove six hours to my dorm room, packed my things up, and admitted me to the hospital.

There is no doubt in my mind that my roommates saved my life, I was so dehydrated and weak my blood pressure had to be monitored three times a day, and still, no one connected my symptoms to anything more than stress. Two years later, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that I should have been tested for before receiving the vaccine. Auto-immune diseases and bacteria are often dormant and managed by our immune system until our bodies experience stress, such as chemical filled vaccines like Gardasil, meaning that you could be just like me, high-functioning and seemingly healthy, until getting this shot.

Please, please, PLEASE before you (or your sister/friend/mom/daughter) let the most recent commercials guilt you into getting this vaccine, DO YOUR RESEARCH, because the CDC says that 1 in every 912 will die from the Gaurdasil vaccine, but only 1 in 40,000 will die from HPV that can be prevented by wearing a condom.