This is a very sad outcome when people refuse vaccines for non-medical reasons:
Teacher with Leukemia dies for COVID - CLL Support
Teacher with Leukemia dies for COVID
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whmk
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NewdawnAdministrator
A very sad outcome indeed for someone who was advised against having the vaccination for medical reasons 😔
‘She was advised not to get a COVID-19 vaccine by her doctor due to her leukemia treatment.’
Can I please request that this doesn’t turn into yet another acrimonious debate on the situation in Florida.
Newdawn
I was just coming on to ask how many people are getting their third Covid shot I did have a response to my first two but I can’t get a straight answer from doctors whether to get it or not I’m on watch and wait
I got my 3rd. Didnt ask doc. On WW as well, 10 yrs. No idea if it did anything it's supposed to, but willing to try, to give my body any fighting chance it can get... and then continue to behave as if I didn't 
Hi everyone: My oncologist recommended me to get the booster and I went to Walgreens and got it. (Moderna) I had the same reaction that my second one, pain everywhere, fever , etc but just for three days instead of four. I do not know if I have antibodies yet but I would like to find out. I am taking Imbruvica for almost a year and I am hoping for something good. Stay safe everyone.
Your reaction was the same as mine. Its a tragedy and we are all left to wonder if a vaccine would have saved her.
Vaccine hesitancy manifests in many ways, including among doctors. I suppose its possible there was something unique about her leukemia that contraindicated her getting a vaccine. Most top cll doctors encourage their cll patients to get vaccines.
It might be this is a doctor who said lets wait and see how the vaccines do. I have doctor friends who advise that I think unknowingly are likely killing people with that advice.
There are also cll patients who have vaccine hesitancy and are prone to misinterpret or even misrepresent exactly what their doctor's vaccine recommendations are.
The advice from my doctor was to take the vaccine but to be aware it might not produce antibodies. Someone with cll who has doubts about vaccines might report that same conversation to others as "my doctor told me vaccines do not work for me and not to get one".
I hate to be even discussing this when all that really matters is that a young teacher died and probably did not have to. But this is a forum where we exchange ideas to protect ourselves, and I was immediately suspicious of the comment that some doctor told this lady her leukemia made her ineligible for a vaccine. We just don't know how that conversation went.
I have seen a few cases on here where people say they are on cd20 antibody treatment and their doctor told them not to take the vaccine because it will not produce antibodies.
Another reason to be proactive about taking vaccines. Here in Florida some people are selfish about wearing masks and taking vaccines.... sad☹️
Win
Why would her doctor advise her against getting the vaccine? They don't say what kind of leukemia she had. How was her condition worse than the condition of many of the members here who were vaccinated? Looks like her doctor was not very well informed.
😢 so sad.
The poor lady likely needed to work for economic reasons. This is heartbreaking. I find it incredibly sad that she had no alternative but to be in an unsafe (due to her health condition) environment. May she Rest In Peace.
Mark
I am a high school teacher/librarian in the US (South Carolina), and we are back full swing in classrooms with no mask mandates. I have had all 3 shots and believe I did elicit some response to them. However, it is a circus here. I would guess that we have at least 25% of our school population either out with Covid or on quarantine because of close contact. I wish I could retire, but we desperately need my income for at least one more year. I am wearing a mask and sanitizing continuously. This article really hits home for me. It's just so sad.
South Carolina case count could set a new record next week as kids go back with no mask mandates. How does in-class, remote, in-class, remote... beat remote learning?
I am wondering if you have CLL or other medical conditions that make you immune compromised, doesn’t that make you have a disability essentially when it comes to Covid? And then shouldn’t your employer be required under the disability act to accommodate you. Which in the case of a teacher would mean that all people in the teacher’s class room would need to be vaccinated or wear a mask. I think if they refuse to accommodate what is essentially a disability, laws are broken and some lawyer is going to get a lot of money!
My childhood friend and her husband both have not been vaccinated and have no intentions in doing so. According to her, her husband's doctor recommended that he not get the vaccine. What type of doctor he went to, I have no idea. Her reason for not getting the vaccine for herself is her fear of what the vaccine might do to her system. Of course, the two are related, even though it may not be presented that way.
Knowing my friend, the basis for their decision is much more complicated than what might appear on the surface. What information they absorb is only information that will reaffirm their beliefs. This includes their 'religious' beliefs and 'other' beliefs, even though I know they would deny this.
All I can do is to encourage them to take precautions, which they seem willing to do. They are not anti-mask or resistant in taking precautions.
Some people box themselves in based on their beliefs - and it is nearly impossible to get them to do otherwise when their whole sense of self is based on those beliefs. And the tragedy is that often they are boxed in at their own expense and they pay the price for it.
Very articulated and sensibly put, even I could understand the sense of what you said.
Thanks, Vindicatrix. There is pain and loss involved when one does 'unbox' themselves where they have an open mind. It's a big reason people have a problem doing it.
There is the loss of time pursuing beliefs that you now no longer believe in; the loss of relationships those beliefs influenced you in giving up; sacrifices you made based on those beliefs; and the questioning of your own ability to know what is correct since you no longer support those beliefs. And the longer it takes, the harder it is.
I think I agree with most of what you said, Mystic75. My problem is that all my life I have analysed things to the point where logical reasoning is emeshed in confusion, followed by a feeling of helplessness, as I realise that I am never going to achieve a meaningful solution, and that the circle is always going to be a circle. That is probably down to me more than anything else. Since realising and accepting this, I find life is very much easier, especially now that I am retired, and do not have to solve too many difficult issues. All the very best to you. R.
Totally understand, R! You are wise to know how you want to prioritize your time. All the best to you as well!D.
Monty Python - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life 
are they (white) evangelicals? (I purchased many books on that subject over the past decade due to friendships of the past, broke up with all of them..) take care!
They wouldn't considered themselves as such. They are non-demoninational and do not consider themselves part of other groups as far as I know. They are sincere and caring people - but I know that I have no influence in trying to change their minds about getting vaccinated.
precisely Your friends belong to the Christian fundamentalist movement, a rather fascinating history from a sociological perspective. religion is pure politics, so we can’t go too deep into it all on this forum . Anyhow, The manuals of the psyche of your dear friends all derive from the mid 1800s since Darwin made his work public. The fundamentalists gained power in the 1920s and / or 1930s, went underground, And got back in the 1970s, and with Reagan in the 1980s they gained A lot of popularity as well. (The Tea party made them famous in 21st Century.)Tele and mega churches are mainly all Nondenominational, And those are very very popular in 21st century as well as you may know. Anyhow I bet your friends don’t accept evolution and they do take the Bible very very literally.
It is the non acceptance of evolution, their vehement disgust towards reality and science what made me decide not wanting to deal with any of them in my life anymore.
Our (as cancer patients) survival, medicine and cure, our quality of life depends on the knowledge and innovation (manipulation) of evolution. Period.
Thanks Longevity - I don't want to get off topic, which is easy to do and I probably already have (sorry), but I wanted to point out that there is a lot of complexity to how people are reacting.
no worries, and yep .. all to do with ‘worldview’ (complexity to how people are reacting), like epigenetics , study of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way genes work (the complexity of how cells are reacting)
While we don’t know the specifics of the teacher’s leukemia, her Doctor’s recommendation NOT to get vaccinated goes against the grain of most leukemia/lymphoma specialist recommendations on COVID 19 vaccination.
Well said kc193 good common sense.
It wasn’t the leukemia, it was the treatment. I am going through the same thing, post-treatment.
Very sad - "she touched hundreds of students' lives" . Unfortunately, hundreds of students touched her life in the worst possible way.
We can't judge whether the clinician's advice against being vaccinated was right in this case, but that clinician should have made sure that in the event of infection his/ her patient would have early access to monoclonal antibodies.
There is this recommendation to NOT get the vaccine during treatment for a certain two situations mentioned here cancer.gov/news-events/canc...
Article says people who got Stem Cell Transplant or CarT are recommended to NOT get the vaccine until 3 months after completing treatment.
We don't know what kind of treatment or leukemia this person had and how that affected the decision to delay the vaccine, and it is very sad that she got ill and passed away.
I understand her doctor’s advice because I had my last Obinutuzimab treatment on April 1 and the original advice (perhaps protocol) was to wait 6 months for any vaccine (even pneumonia ). With Covid surging, they changed it to 3 months, perhaps because they saw how anxious I was about Covid. But Dr Lamanna thought I’d do much better with the vaccine if I waited longer, til at least the end of the summer. And vaccinated or not, I would need to follow the same strict Covid guidelines. I don’t go anywhere indoors.
It’s tragic what happened to this woman, but I wouldn’t necessarily blame it on her doctor without knowing the full story. I wonder if she consulted with him about going back to school. In my opinion, walking back into the classroom was walking into her death.
Best to all,
NW
It is unfortunate that so many responses have been assuming what we cannot know from the article. And the comments about white Christian Fundamentalists is absolutely out of line. We do not need to be blacklisting people because of their health choices.
Jm954Administrator
This has been fully debated and is now in danger of going off track into the realms of politics and religion so replies are now being turned off
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