Childhood diseases return as parents refuse vaccines - United States of America

Health care providers report the biggest outbreak of measles they have seen in more than a decade.

Doctors diagnosed 152 cases so far this year.

Experts met in Overland Park Friday to debunk the most common vaccine myths.

Maggi Pivovar, a survivor of a vaccine preventable disease shared her life-changing story.

“In 2007 I woke up with what I thought was the flu. It was not the flu. It was a deadly bacterial illness called meningococcal meningitis,” she said.

Pivovar’s family rushed her to the emergency room where doctors delivered horrible news.

"I was given a 2 percent chance to survive and I had a very high risk of disability including blindness and deafness.”

Maggi Pivovar lived but doctors amputated her legs.

They told her the illness she suffered was preventable if she had vaccinated herself against it.

"I never knew that I needed to get this vaccine. I did not know this vaccine could save my life,” said Pivovar.

Hear from meningococcal meningitis survivor Maggi Pivovar in a video that continues this report.

Source: NBC Action News