A note from Bump Club and Beyond Founder, Lindsay Pinchuk
I was incredibly saddened this week when I heard the news that an old friend of mine from middle and high school lost her 12-week old daughter to Pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough. In memory of their daughter, Francesca McNally, Sean and Veronica McNally have started the Franny Strong Foundation, and have made it their mission to educate the public, especially parents, parents-to-be, grandparents and grandparents-to-be on the importance of the D-TAP vaccine and the booster for adults.
According to the article from Detroit’s NBC4 affiliate, The American Academy of Pediatrics says children should get five doses of the D-Tap vaccine starting at two months old. The CDC says teenagers should start getting the booster vaccine at age 11 or 12. It is recommended that pregnant women who have not been vaccinated should get one dose and adults should get the vaccine at least two weeks before coming into close contact with a baby – if they haven’t had it in the last 1- years.
Francesca caught this very contagious bacterial infection from someone who carried it into the McNally’s house. As you will see from this courageous interview, Veronica noted that it may have been her. She wasn’t offer the D-TAP booster at the hospital and didn’t know that she needed it. The point of their foundation and outreach is to generate awareness that a baby’s parents and those in close contact with a baby can prevent something like this from happening by vaccinating themselves.
I share this with our community as this tragedy has changed the life of someone I have known for a very long time. It is not to start a debate about vaccines or what you should do for your family and your child. I share this purely as a way to spread awareness and share the knowledge that was taken from this tragedy. As it is the McNally’s mission to educate and raise awareness about Pertussis and how it can be prevented, I wanted to spread their courageous message as it is one that is incredibly important and certainly hits close to home for all of us. If their message can prevent this situation from happening to another family, I know that it will continue to bring them peace during this sad time.
My thoughts and prayers go out to V and her family. We are thinking of you.
What a terrible tragedy. Thank you for sharing and bringing this to my attention. I am 6 months pregnant and had no idea about this. My heart is with her family.
I am so very sorry. My heart goes out to them.
Thank you for sharing and bringing awareness. I will talk to my friends and family about this to try to prevent it from happening to any other little ones.
This is just heartbreaking. To think it is preventable if others would get vaccinated. I was a the pediatrician yesterday and she told me there is a Pertussis outbreak right now. My thoughts and prayers go out to this family and I appreciate them sharing their story so that others may avoid the same fate.
I am so sorry for yours and your friends’ loss Lindsay. Thank you so much for sharing this information and the awareness that they are spreading with their story. Our thoughts and prayers are with them <3