On December 15, 2021, Larry Rowe’s life changed.
He was 54 years old, rarely sick, healthy and running 10km almost every day until he was given the Pfizer coronavirus booster.
Within a few days, he started feeling numbness and pain on the right side of his face.
“I had lost all feeling in my face, my teeth, my nose, my tongue, my eyes, the whole side of my head,” he said.
These symptoms have spread throughout his body and worsened over the years, and doctors across the UK say they are caused by the vaccine.
Lowe said that although he was not against vaccines, his life had been destroyed.
The Public Health Agency (PHA) said the vaccine’s benefits in preventing coronavirus infection and its associated serious complications far outweigh any currently known side effects in the majority of patients. .
Mr Rowe was referred to Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where he was told the vaccine was “recognized by my body as a toxin and that is what was causing the problem”.
he broke down in tears.
“My wife and I were sitting in this little room in Westminster and seven or eight consultants told us that the vaccine had destroyed the nerves in the right side of my face and that there was very little chance of my recovery. ” he said. Said.
In a letter obtained by BBC News NI, pain management experts in London confirmed that the onset of symptoms could be caused by the coronavirus vaccine booster.
In April 2024, Mr Rowe was diagnosed with ‘Painful Trigeminal Neuropathy’ by a consultant neurologist at Southern Health Trust, with ‘the coronavirus vaccine being the main causative factor’.
He also developed small fiber sensory neuropathy, which the consultant said was “another neurological symptom associated with post-vaccination”.
“It hurts to think about what the next 10 years are going to do for me, because in the almost three years I’ve had this disease, it’s destroyed me and it’s getting worse,” Lowe said. Ta.
“Just leave it alone and let it rot.”
Ms Lowe, from Omagh, said her small fiber neuropathy affected her whole body from her toes to her fingertips.
He also suffers from dry eye syndrome and is sensitive to light, so he wears sunglasses both indoors and outdoors.
“There are clamps on each side of my head and it feels like they’re constantly compressing me,” he said.
“I was told my condition was progressive and would get worse.
“I didn’t ask for this.
“I took the vaccine in good faith.
“I’m just rotting away.”
“Life is hardly worth living”
“I am suffering so much. My life is hardly worth living, except for my family,” he said.
“I’m not myself anymore.
“The other day I was in a rock band, I was playing lead guitar, singing, writing songs, recording albums, and I loved it.
“Now it’s just a memory.”
A former university lecturer and musician, he was forced to retire for medical reasons.
“It’s very difficult to explain what it’s like to live with chronic pain because people think of toothaches and broken legs.
“Even if you break your leg, you start to get better after that.
“In fact, my pain is getting worse every day.”
Mr Lowe praised all the medical professionals he had seen, saying they had “tried everything” to help him but all they could offer was medication.
“My primary care doctor was amazing,” he said.
“But he doesn’t have the magic wand I need.”
“They destroyed me”
Lowe said he wants to remove the stigma associated with injuries caused by the coronavirus vaccine.
“When you tell people they have vaccine injuries, they seem to roll their eyes and think, oh, that’s not another injury,” he said.
“This is a real thing that I have been in therapy for several years.
“When I tell people about vaccines, they say, oh, you know what? Vaccines help more people than they hurt.
“The vaccine is fine, but not for me. The vaccine destroyed me.”
Lowe said he had never opposed proven vaccinations.
It added that no further vaccinations are permitted.
Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said vaccines were “absolutely essential” for society to move forward from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Once the vaccine became available, mortality rates decreased significantly,” he said.
Professor McKee said all vaccines carry the risk of reactions and if a large number of people are vaccinated there will be a “minority of reactions”.
He said he could not comment on individual cases but said reactions like Mr Lowe’s were “extremely rare”.
Mr Lowe said he had exhausted all medicines and treatments available in the UK, but to no avail.
“I want medical and psychological help,” he said.
“That’s the compensation I want.
“I want someone to acknowledge that the vaccine brought this about.”
His wife, Gini, said life had been very difficult.
“Our world has been turned upside down from our wonderfully normal lives,” she said.
She said Larry cries out in pain at night.
“We’ve really lost a part of Larry, and that’s hard to accept,” she said.
Dr. Louise Herron, PHA’s deputy director of public health, said all vaccinations and treatments can have some side effects.
“The most common side effects of the coronavirus vaccine are mild and get better within a week,” he said.
“As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is being continuously monitored.”
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is responsible for regulating medicines, including vaccines, and is responsible for ensuring the safety monitoring and oversight of all coronavirus vaccines in the UK.
The report said vaccination is the single most effective way to reduce death and severe illness from COVID-19.
Pfizer said patient safety is its top priority and it takes reports of side effects very seriously.
The report said that with hundreds of millions of doses administered worldwide, “the vaccine’s benefit-risk profile remains positive across all approved indications and age groups.”