Giving a Shot@life to More Proms and High School Graduations

Motherhood is Universal and as mothers we prepare to receive our children with love and and excitement.  We see their little faces, smile and dream of their future.  We anticipate and enjoy every milestone in our children’s lives.  It all starts with their first smile, then their first word, a first step (of many), their 1^st day of school, birthdays,  holidays … proms and graduation. 

Our younger daughter Xochitl will graduate this year from High school.  As her mother I have been privileged to see each step she has taken to become the beautiful young lady that she is now.  Next week is prom time and I am excited to be part of this special day for her!  We’ve been looking at dresses, choosing the right one, shoes to match and accessories.  This can be one of the most rewarding experiences a mother can enjoy!  I love seeing dresses with my girl and listening about matching colors and corsages.  Most of all I am very grateful to see her and her siblings healthy and alive to enjoy these milestones in their lives.
Do you know that in developing countries many mothers never see their children live to have their 5^th birthday?  Many mothers lose their children to childhood diseases like polio, pneumonia, measles and diarrhea before they reach the age of five.  These mothers never see their children enjoy their first day of school or reach other important milestones in life.  Unlike me, they will not see them go to a prom.  They accept that their children will die too young to celebrate many birthdays; shopping for a prom dress or tuxedo… instead they have to prepare their children for burial.  I have seen their stoic faces as they hold back their tears while holding a dead child in their arms.  The pain these mothers go through when they lose a child is heart-wrenching and would be no less than my own sorrow in the same situation.  Mothers and children in developing countries seem a world far away from our own, but they are no different than us and the children in our own lives.

I know many of you share my love for children and my passion for ending preventable childhood diseases.  Beyond knowing that vaccines are needed, many just don’t know what to do.  During the month of April I am participating in a Shot@Life campaign called Advocate2Vaccinate a coast- -to-coast challenge for global vaccination. 

Think of it as a nationwide callout encouraging mothers, fathers, Shot@Live supporters and all who love children.  Together we can join or voices and stand up for global childhood vaccinations.  

Here are some ways you can help and support our cause for saving young lives:

1.    Hold in-district meetings with your senators and representatives;

2.    Send a letter to your area newspaper editors,

3.    Call the US Congress using the Shot@Life app for your phone;

4.    Make an online pledge at the Shot@Life website;

5.    Host a digital or community event;

6.    Write a post about vaccines on your social media;

7.    Tweet this: “Take action! Join @ShotatLife's Advocate2Vaccinate, a coast-to-coast challenge for global vax”;   http://ctt.ec/Uf0Ol+ #adv2vax

8.    Make a donation to the cause here:

9.    Read this post, share it with your friends and post comments to keep the conversation going;

10.  Ask me how you can become a Shot@Life champion.

Our congressional representatives need to know that this global issue can become a national issue that can affect our entire country, because we are part of a global society.  Worldwide travel and contact with many people from all over can easily bring this issue home.  We need to call to their attention that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria still have polio in their countries and that now there have been recent outbreaks of polio in the Horn of Africa, Syria and Cameron.  Also, there was a recent outbreak of measles in Orange County, California and we a total of 116 cases here in United States.
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/measles/a/measles-outbreaks.htm

It is critical that we use our voices to tell congress that:

·       Around the world a child dies every 20 seconds from a preventable disease by a vaccine.

·       In developing countries the number of children dying every year from preventable diseases is nearly equivalent to half the children entering kindergarten in the US.

+shotatlifecampaign