{"id":298,"date":"2026-03-01T22:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/?p=298"},"modified":"2026-04-10T22:07:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:07:04","slug":"the-measles-virus-is-spreading-in-spartanburg-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/?p=298","title":{"rendered":"Being vaccinated could have changed my life."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"298\" class=\"elementor elementor-298\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f7028d3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5f7028d3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-331c82e8 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"331c82e8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Being vaccinated could have changed my life.<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cfbfb40 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-author-box\" data-id=\"cfbfb40\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"author-box.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-author-box\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-author-box__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"elementor-author-box__name\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJamie Schanbaum\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-author-box__bio\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Tallahassee Democrat,  March 1, 2026,<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-77d27c9a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"77d27c9a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-24d5bdde elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"24d5bdde\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong>I didn\u2019t know I was seriously ill. As a college student, I assumed the fever and fatigue were temporary \u2014 something I could push through. Instead, within hours of going to the hospital, my family was told I might not live through the night. What began as mild symptoms became meningococcal disease, a rare but highly aggressive bacterial infection that violently attacks the bloodstream.<\/strong><\/p><p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">I survived, but at an unimaginable cost. I lost both legs below the knees and my fingers. My life changed forever in a matter of days.<\/p><p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">For the last few months, I have been meeting with Florida lawmakers, speaking with community leaders, and recently testifying before the Florida Department of Health \u2014 because what happened to me is preventable, and decisions being made here could determine whether other families face the same outcome.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-561907e0 elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"561907e0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/opinion\/2026\/03\/01\/urge-desantis-legislature-to-protect-vaccine-requirements-opinion\/88887711007\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Read More<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being vaccinated could have changed my life. I didn\u2019t know I was seriously ill. As a college student, I assumed the fever and fatigue were temporary \u2014 something I could push through. Instead, within hours of going to the hospital, my family was told I might not live through the night. What began as mild &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_block_theme_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-news","8":"without-featured-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationfund.diseasepreventionnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}