Folks who choose natural immunity - Magda Taylor

24 March 2010
 An interview with a mother who decided not to vaccinate her children.

One in four children aren’t fully vaccinated against measles in Brighton and Hove. Last year, the NHS issued warnings of an epidemic. Russell Honeyman asked mother-of-two Magda Taylor why people choose not to vaccinate.

According to Department of Health figures, in December 2009, only 76% of Brighton and Hove’s five-year-olds had received the recommended double dose of MMR vaccine. The national average is 82%. This was after the 2008 ‘catch-up’ campaign to get parents to vaccinate their children. Before that only 65% of the city’s five-year-olds had received the double dose of MMR. The NHS warned of a possible measles epidemic. Last year that seemed to be coming true when 69 people were diagnosed with measles. 56 of them were had no record of vaccination, five had one dose of MMR, one had both doses, and the vaccination status of the others was not known. The outbreak didn’t turn into an epidemic. The total of confirmed cases was 69, though the Brighton and Hove PCT estimated that more cases would not have been reported.

Despite the NHS warnings, mother-of-two Magda Taylor questions whether vaccination is an effective way of preventing disease. Magda, 50, lives in Worthing and edits a magazine and website called Informed Parent, which collates information and press reports about vaccination. She has been interested in alternative choices to vaccination since she read a 1991 article, by Andrew Tyler, in the Evening Standard.

Magda grew up on the outskirts of Harrow, in a house that didn’t have medicines in it. “We didn’t even have aspirin,” Magda said. “This was not the result of a belief in a holistic life. My family dealt with illness in a commonsense way.

“With my own children, Ruby and Nancy, I didn’t have any knowledge; I just wanted to be a good mum. I went along with what the doctor told me to do at first, and so my first child had some vaccinations including the first dose of MMR. Then I read the Standard article in 1991 and my second child didn’t get any MMR jabs.

“I don’t think either of them suffered long term complications from the vaccinations they did have, but when I look back on their growth charts, I can see that one stopped thriving after each vaccination. I don’t know if that was related. The other one developed eczema after the early vaccination, although there is no history of eczema in my family.
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Happy stories: trapeze mum

I wrote this happy story, about a high flying mum, as an antidote to the frustrations of trying to make sense of the 'hard news' leads I am following. Happy stories can be interesting and informative to read, and fun to write, and bring blessings to all involved! Also, showing other lifestyles can be as effective an agent of change as telling people to live better. I will do more of them.

Trapeze Mum original copy

By Russell Honeyman

March 19, 2010, corr March 23, published March 27

A high-flying Brighton mum returned to her dream job as a trapeze artist and is facing up to the changes brought on by the birth of her first child.

Aerialist Hazel Maddocks gave her last public performance dangling from a rope 20 feet off the ground, two months after her daughter, Mea Maeve, was conceived. Hazel, 35, of Hollingdean, Brighton, gave birth to Mea on July 1, 2009, at home in a water pool.  Eight weeks after the birth, she was back in training. Now, eight months later, she is within 80% of her pre-pregnancy strength. She is teaching aerial performance on trapeze, ropes and silks to children and adults in Lewes and Brighton, and is applying for funding to stage a cabaret and children’s circus show in Lewes.

“I’m still battling to get the balance of being a working mum,” she said. “It’s hard to manage when you’re not living close to your family.”

Hazel is self-employed in her own company, Zu Aerial Dance, and is part of the Firecracker Circus, Lewes.  She gives lessons at the sports centre at Falmer University, and the All Saints Centre in Lewes, where the ropes, silks and bar hang from the high rafters of the converted church. She worked right through her pregnancy, giving lessons, then doing admin, and starting training again after the birth.

Some people might think trapeze is a risky job for a new mum. Hazel said: “My mum does think this job is very risky. But then any physical job is risky. Having a child makes you think about it. It is dangerous, and it’s too easy to become complacent, even experienced people can forget to tighten karabiners (safety clips), or experience equipment failure. But this is what I do and I just try to be mindful always.”

“When you have a child you loose so much of yourself. I need to maintain who I am other than being a mummy. I hope Mea will be inspired by what I’m doing, to do the things she wants to do in life.  I’ve been taking her into the studio since she was eight weeks old. [Laughs]. Who knows maybe she’ll be a banker.”

Hazel trained as a dancer. She re-trained as an aerial artist six years before her pregnancy. “One of the really difficult things was letting my body go,” she said. “I was just starting to get to a professional level, when I noticed my body clock ticking away. It was really scary to let go of my professional standing.

“I’m still missing 10-20% of my abdominal strength. But the good thing is that I managed to teach throughout my pregnancy, that didn’t involve any heavy physical work, so training has become my secure income. The teaching has become a real blessing. It’s great showing people how to do things they thought they could never do.

“I was desperate to become a performer, but teaching has become a comfortable nest. And now I’m less desperate, the performance side is really developing. Since having my baby, I’m getting some of my best work.”

You can learn more about Hazel’s work at www.zu-aerial.com or search for Zu Aerial in www.youtube.com.

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