Nicole Shanahan: My daughter was diagnosed with autism when she was 18 months of age.

"My daughter was diagnosed with autism when she was 18 months of age. And I swear to God, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. It was all I ever wanted was this healthy baby girl. And she was healthy. I mean, she smiled, she did all these things. It was, she was healthy. And then she got a shot at seven months of age and by 10 months, she was a different kid. And I had an enormous amount of grief.

But then set in the confusion because I was not allowed to consider the fact that the shot caused anything. Andy Wakefield is here, guys. He's right there. Yeah.

Andy Wakefield, if you don't know him, was canceled 25 years ago for pointing out that the MMR causes gut inflammation in certain children, which leads to symptoms like autism. He's a big deal.

So my grief was also a very lonely period because no one around me could be someone I could trust with even this notion that perhaps the shot caused an adverse reaction. This is a no-go for progressives. You cannot talk about these things amongst these communities. And the loneliness plus COVID, because this happened around COVID too, led me to a place of utter destruction.

And I was alone in that process. And, you know, we don't have to talk about my ex-husband. It's very therapeutic to be here. It's kind of like therapy right now. But it's, you know, coming out of that completely alone with a child that you feel helpless to help is a position that either leads you to total hermitage or makes you a warrior, mom."