Hello friends.
I have attached a little article I wrote up on TrailSite News (https://www.trialsitenews.com/) the other day for you to read and get a closer look into my life with Kristin and our journey. Feel free to share it, quote us, and send it around.
Jaimie
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I have been on a long journey these past two years with my best friend, Kristin Ditzel. She was severely injured by her Pfizer Covid vaccination on March 16, 2021 and has not been the same since.
The first few days were surreal. Not sure how to process what was happening, I sat at home with my newborn babe and anxiously awaited updates from friends as I was not able to get to her to see her for myself. When I finally arrived at her house four days later, I found Kristin curled in a ball on her sofa with her head cradled in her hand and her eyes closed in pain. I went to her side and held her hand and cried with her as I listened to her attempt to explain to me how she felt. Her head, neck and jaw were in excruciating pain. She wasn't able to turn her head to one side, or lift it up to a level position. She was scared.
Her initial reaction was similar to an anaphylactic reaction; she had a slack tongue, hives, and lost full control of her limbs. She was taken from the college gymnasium where she received her shot, and transported by ambulance to the local hospital. There, she was treated with Benadryl and an EPI pen and sent home. The following day, approximately 24hr after her hospital treatment, once the meds wore off, her initial symptoms returned. She went back the hospital and was given the same treatment and sent home once again. From there, her symptoms evolved; she developed pain in her skull at the base of her head, in her neck and her jaw. She then found she could no longer lift her head or look up, and became light sensitive and had to close her eyes to concentrate when she spoke. She was taken back to the hospital for a third time, about five days after her shot, when during a visit from friends she lost her words mid-sentence and fell to the floor in confusion. She was kept in hospital care for a week and given multiple tests by staff and a local neurologist, then transferred to a larger hospital in a nearby city about an hour away for an MRI.
The local neurologist was unsure how to proceed, and not able to give a proper diagnosis based on her medical experience. She referred Kristin to a neurologist in a larger city, Kelowna, B.C., to be assessed by a specialist in that field. While she was in the hospital here in Nelson, I contacted Kristin's family. I knew something wasn't right, and felt that her family should be notified as they live out in eastern Canada. I told them it was time for someone to come out and be with her as I saw the need for extra support. Her dad and stepmom flew out immediately to be with her. From there, they took Kristin by car to her appointment with the neurologist in Kelowna, which was about a five hour drive away.
Kristin developed further symptoms during her travel, as she found the movement of the car to be overwhelming, loud, and disturbed her nervous system. She was not able to handle the constant movement of the road and scenery around her, and her body began to seize. Her brain function was affected; she began to have brain fog, confusion, more extreme sensitivity to sound, light, and movement, and her pain increased in her body, spreading to her spine. She felt as though she had an axe in her back, and began having strange convulsions.
The neurologist in Kelowna was brass and cold to Kristin and her family. She refused to acknowledge any link to the vaccine, and would not sign papers on her behalf. She asked very few questions, spent less than 15 minutes with her, and sent her away. This was a huge turning point for Kristin, and the stress of not being seen aggravated her illness. Her symptoms elevated, and by the time she returned home to Nelson she was not the same person she was when she left. She traveled home wearing sunglasses, a large hat, and earphones to help block out sound, light and movement. She needed a pillow under her head to prop her up, and had to sit in the back curled in a ball to avoid the constant motion of objects going by.
Her health deteriorated from there, and now, two years later, she is still struggling to find answers for her ailment. A full list of her symptoms includes: brain fog, blurred vision, neck pain, spinal pain, joint pain, migraines, convulsions, frozen jaw, slack tongue, hair loss, low blood pressure, irregular heart rates, dizziness, extreme fatigue, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, MS like symptoms, Parkinson's like symptoms, an uneven gait, and depression.
I have been filming Kristin's life through her injury for two years now, documenting her symptoms and recording her battles with our Canadian Government and healthcare system. As her best friend and videographer, I began to film her in order to have visual proof of her symptoms and show doctors what she was experiencing, as we had difficulties finding medical support for her. Since then, I have teamed up with a friend and local cinematographer, Nathan Beninger of Film Our Path Media, and for the last year together we have been creating a documentary called Invisible Fences. This is the personal tale of my and Kristin's journey.
This documentary is about our friendship, our love for one another, and our daily lives since Kristin has fallen ill. We have captured her encounters with medical professionals, government officials, her children, her community, and the profound family of injured we have discovered along the way across the world. Now at the two year mark, we are looking to expand our story and connect with our other injured friends, tell the stories of how Kristin connected with them, what their relationships mean, what they have been through in their lives, and continue our search for medical care and acceptance.
To complete this film, we need your help. We need supporters, backers, allies, friends, and more. We are currently running a fundraiser on IndieGoGo to raise the remaining finances to complete our project. This story is important, and we will not stop until we complete it. To get there, we must be able to showcase the vastness of the impact of these injuries, what they entail, and how they have affected people around the world. These are our neighbours, our friends, our family members, and our children.
There have been other documentaries made regarding the pandemic, and they are all vital to us. Invisible Fences offers a unique perspective, as it comes directly from the eyes of Kristin, and myself as someone who has been by her side as a support since the beginning. We are filming this from a place of love, connection, and humanity. Our goal is to show the world our hearts, allow them into our homes, and let them see us as humans in need of help, navigating a troubling time. We are all people. It is important that we see one another, come together with love, and understand all sides of the pandemic. We believe that humankind is good, and at the core of each one of us, we can relate to the need to help someone we love.
Please assist us in the completion of this film. We cannot do it without you. If you know someone who may be willing to contribute in some way, whether financially or otherwise, please share this with them. If you have contacts in the media world, the influencer world, or the medical world, please send them our information. We would love to be interviewed or brought onto a podcast. We want to get the word out about this, and continue what we have started.
Our contacts are listed here:
IndieGoGo Campaign:
Website:
Youtube Trailer:
Email:
Facebook:
Instagram:
LinkTree:
Please help us spread the word.
Much love & light,
Jaimie Killen
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