17. Kayla Jones.mp4: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

17. Kayla Jones.mp4: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Kayla Jones:
I was contacted and asked to share my story today. I got the vaccine due to my employment. I'm a law clerk or was a law clerk, and I interacted with a lot of seniors. My bosses were seniors. I had to go to places like Banks and City Hall and all these places that the the vaccine was going to be mandated. I was informed the courthouse was sending out memos, letting us know we were essential. We needed to get this vaccine. So I got my first vaccine in May, and my second vaccine I proceeded with because I had no reaction to the first one. I got that one on June 28th, my second vaccine.

Trish Wood:
Do you know which one you got?

Kayla Jones:
Pfizer.

Trish Wood:
Pfizer.

Kayla Jones:
Three days following my vaccination, the second dose I started experiencing left hand numbness. Confusion. I lack a concentration, chest tension. So I called telehealth and they told me I was experiencing symptoms of strokes or possibly a heart attack. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance and I had a CT scan run that came back clear. I had bloodwork done that showed I had low potassium. And the doctor said that the arm numbness could be related to just a nick of the needle. When I got vaccinated, I was essentially sent home, told I was young and good health and there was nothing wrong with me to eat bananas. I was told to get potassium pills from the pharmacy and off I went. So I followed up with my family doctor. About a week later, he backed up the hospital, saying that there was really nothing wrong with my bloodwork. My CT scan was fine and then so I wasn't happy with that result that I got. Obviously, I know my body. I know something's wrong. I went to a walk in clinic that I had never been to before. They requested medical consent to get all my records from the hospital and my family doctor.

Kayla Jones:
They followed up with me by telephone and the doctor I spoke with on the telephone told me I was not a monkey. Bananas would not help my problem and I should be going to a neurologist. So he referred me to a neurologist after this was about August. By the time I finally met with the neurologist, they ran some tests on me. They conducted a nerve test on my hand. All my fingers were moving when the machine was going, so they told me I was fine. She couldn't find any problems, so wanted to run an MRI. My first MRI was scheduled for October 8th in the waiting period between August and October 8th, I turned left into a vehicle, got in a car accident. I have very little recollection of the event, totaled my vehicle, got a careless ticket driver or charge. And it was just a big ordeal for me because I've been driving my whole life and never cause an accident. October 8th, I went for my first MRI and a couple of days later my family doctor's office called me, told me that there was some abnormal abnormalities. They wanted me to go back for a second MRI with contrast I this time.

Kayla Jones:
So that was scheduled for November 1st. And on October 20th, just before my second MRI, I had a grand mal seizure at work. I was convulsing for over 5 minutes, waiting for the paramedics to come. I was taken to the hospital. They did another CT scan, ran some blood work, told me I was fine, sent me home. No medication, no explanation, nothing. I went for my follow up MRI, which was on November 1st. And on November 3rd I got a call from my neurologist telling me that I had lesions, several lesions all over my brain, that I needed to get to Sunnybrook Hospital right away. I got out to Sunnybrook Hospital that day. I had to go through emergency department. They admitted me, and from there I was riddled with doctors, specialists, overly happy residents to be studying me. I went through painful tests like lumbar taps, angiograms, bloodwork, constantly. They were trying to rule out anything and everything that they could. Before I was finally diagnosed with CNS Vasculitis, essentially the vaccine caused my immune system to attack the central nervous system in my brain, and that was the reasoning for all of this happening to me.

Trish Wood:
Was that a finding that they made, that it was a vaccine caused? They say the vaccine did that.

Kayla Jones:
They by the time I was discharged, they agreed to sign off on the COVID injury vaccination package or the COVID vaccination injury package for me. But they wanted to do brain surgery to take a biopsy of the lesions, mostly above my right eye. So they removed a piece of my skull. They took a brain biopsy of the lesions, and that was on November 15th. And I was discharged on the 23rd because that finding didn't change my diagnosis or the course of treatment they were going to take. I was started on a very high dose of prednisone, which in itself ultimately changed my life. I mean, no sleep, mood swings, weight gain, moon face, you name it. I got all the side effects from prednisone, finally started weaning down from the prednisone. This whole time I've been my own doctor, basically, I've only had telephone appointments with my neurologist from Sunnybrook. I take my own blood pressure and report it back to them. I tell them when I don't want to take the medication and tell them what medication I feel like I should be on. I'm on Gabapentin. They had me on Topiramate as well as seizure medication, so the two medications together were making me completely unfashionable. Yeah. So I. I'm at a loss for words. Sorry.

Trish Wood:
So. Well, let me just inquire. So. So you've been diagnosed with CNS Vasculitis? Yes. Does that go away? What is the remedy? How?

Kayla Jones:
They don't know much about it. So I'm in what they would say. A very rare case. I think it was like three in a million cases of CNS vasculitis, if I recall when I was looking it up. They don't really know how to treat it. They don't know if I will recover. In the interim, I've been put on methotrexate, which is a cancer medication. They're just throwing medications at me, trying to see what's going to work and what doesn't. And as I come down from the prednisone, my CNS vasculitis flares up, so I start getting worse symptoms. So they're just flipping around on medications and different treatments, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. I'm feeling essentially like a lab rat. I don't really have any answers. I don't know if it'll go away. I don't know if I'll eventually just die from this one day. I really don't have much answers. Kind of left me in the dark.

Trish Wood:
I'm going to pass to the panel. But I just wanted to ask you before we did that, what is your life like now as.

Kayla Jones:
Compared to it's awful. I have daily symptoms. Like, I still can't use my arm, I can't cook, I can't put my hair up. I'm going through occupational therapy. I can't get back to work. I've been off work since October of 2021. They the I only covered me for so long, so I was forced onto social assistance, which doesn't even pay my rent. So obviously if I can't pay my rent, I can't buy food. So I'm living off of whatever the food banks give you and it's moldy bread and rotten produce by the time it gets to your door, it's it's been tough, to say the least. You go from a certain comfortable living situation to having next to nothing and living on scraps. It's definitely a big change. And I'm left feeling like my life's never going to go back to normal because I still don't know exactly how to get back to normal.

Trish Wood:
Okay. Throw it to the panel. Thank you.

Dr. Susan Natsheh:
I'm Kayla. I want to thank you as well. You've been very honest and open and we really appreciate it. Actually, the questions I had, I think you just answered most of it in your previous statements. But I was wondering for your medications, are you getting any financial assistance for them?

Kayla Jones:
Since I've been on social assistance, like government assistance, they are covered. But prior to that, I was spending a lot of my income on medication. I applied for Trillium, but because my income prior to all of this was higher than what I was even giving me, they wanted me to pay a certain deductible, which I was paying out of my little bit of money I was getting from EI. So, I mean a point there is coverage, but even my migraine specialist gave me medication, lidocaine to try to help with my migraines. And that was over $100 just for that. And that's not covered by Ontario Works or any type of medical coverage that I do have. So there are still out-of-pocket expenses that I'm covering that nobody helps with. I'm a single mom of two, so I mean, it gets pretty hard to explaining it to them. What's going on when they're used to living a certain lifestyle? Definitely.

David Ross:
Thank you, Kayla, for sharing your story. It's it's a. It's a life. Life altering story, that's for sure. And we've heard a few. So do I understand that your former employer mandated the vaccine vaccines or or strongly suggested them or strongly suggested?

Kayla Jones:
It wasn't like I drove with my boss to get my second vaccination. So it was strongly encouraged. I mean, I work with elderly people witnessing wills, going into hospitals to witness wills. Sometimes I primarily do real estate. So I'm running in and out of bank city halls and going into city hall. They wanted you to show your vaccination records in order to get in just to pay taxes for a client. So it really came down to whether or not somebody else was willing to do my duties and get vaccinated. If I wanted to keep my job, I was going to get vaccinated.

David Ross:
So, again, I'm not a lawyer. But you worked for a lawyer.

Kayla Jones:
They won't touch it. They won't touch it. And all of their friends around it will not touch it. It comes back to the consent that I gave when I got vaccinated. So if I had fully been informed and known, what possibly could have happened to me? I obviously would not have given consent. But I mean, I feel like they kind of covered their own bottoms when they gave you that spiel right before they put the needle in your arm. So.

David Ross:
Well, I. I think it's worth going back to your your employer, your boss who drove you for your vaccine and saying how you can you do nothing for me or can you do something for me? And if you can do something, what can you do?

Kayla Jones:
Mm hmm. For sure. Yeah.

David Ross:
And that will. That will reveal to you what kind of people they are, rather than just guessing or wondering. Yeah, I think it's worth. It's worth worth determining. So if you've been. Left twisting in the wind on this one. Then it's worth knowing. And I think it's worth looking at them eye to eye. Yeah. And I think that any employee who has had any employer who has done that and again, I'm not a lawyer, but I mean, it just it just seems to me like. Like being a decent human being. Is for employers, and I've been an employer. For decades and. If you if you're a coward. Then you won't get a meeting. But if they're not a coward, then they will meet you and they will talk to you. That's worth it's worth knowing.

Kayla Jones:
Yes, I agree with you.

David Ross:
Thanks so much for sharing.

Trish Wood:
Thank you. Can I just ask you one thing before I go just quickly, because Max mentioned this, but I'm just wondering, how do people treat you when you say that your problems are vaccine related? Because there's a huge cultural resistance to even acknowledging people like you exist. Right.

Kayla Jones:
So yeah. So I've gotten reactions ranging from your stupid you even got vaccinated to how can you possibly blame it on the vaccine? Because you're one of a kind, everybody. It really depends on the person you talk to. Some of my family members still swear by it and are going to get booster shots when they come available. Other people I know look down on me for getting the vaccination and basically blame me for what I'm going through because I got vaccinated.

Trish Wood:
So you're not getting a lot of support?

Kayla Jones:
No, not at all.

Trish Wood:
No, I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks.

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