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A heartbroken mother has pleaded with parents to immunise their children after her little girl died from measles.

Little Nadja Petrovic, two, was diagnosed with autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1, also known as Whitaker syndrome.

Due to Nadja’s illness she could not get common vaccines like MMR – an immunisation against mumps, measles and rubella.

Her family hoped that the collective immunity would protect her in the course of a serious epidemic.

Her mother, Serbian woman Dragana Petrovic, contacted Perth-based not-for-profit organisation Light for Riley to share Nadja’s heartbreaking story.

Ms Petrovic told Yahoo7 since her little girl turned one in 2016 she had been in and out of hospital “a few times a week”.

The mum-of-two and little Nadja were admitted to the intensive care and isolation unit on January 6 but could not get a room of their own.

“They (medical staff) admitted a boy into our room,” the 23-year-old said. “He was nine months old.”

It was three days later Ms Petrovic found out the baby boy was infected with the measles and on January 12 Nadja became sick with the disease too.

“By the time we were transferred to another floor it was too late,” she said.

“My world collapsed; I knew that she would get it but in the depths of my soul I hoped she wouldn’t.”

Ms Petrovic said she was angry with doctors who made a mistake and believed the boy did not have the measles.

Nadja’s condition got worse and on January 12, in the words of her mother, the little girl “drowned in a dream from which she never woke up”.

Nadja’s struggle for life would last almost three months. She began to suffer from lung and respiratory problems until her left lung ruptured. She also had sepsis.

Sadly on April 4, Nadja’s heart stopped and she died. Her heartbroken mother said Nadja was “full of life”.

Dragana added, “I shared this story with you in order to educate parents who have doubts about the vaccination of their children. Every child has the right to be protected from infectious diseases. Nadja became a victim, giving up her own life, to show how this harmless child’s disease can endanger one’s life. Now it’s up to us to share her story so that nobody suffers like she did. My angel left me too early, but I will fight so no one forgets here and goes through what I went through.”

Due to a growing anti-vaccine movement in Serbia, the country is in the midst of a measles outbreak with thousands and thousands of cases reported.

The post has attracted over 4200 shares and 5100+ reactions.

Please vaccinate your babies! This is heartbreaking to see.

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  • Please immunize

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  • Vaccinations are so important to protect these kids.

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  • RIP Little one – you have gone too soon, but your pain is now over. Immunization is a must for all children in my view.

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  • Mm it can be hard trying to keep up a facade, but surely she could have accessed some kind of services for financial hardship. I think the fear of going to jail may be enough to stop her reoffending but in the meantime she needs to get some assistance also.

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  • Poor little thing. Brace mum to share story. Immunization is important !

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  • Heartbreaking !!
    I was immunized when I was little and still got the measles.

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  • There is too much of this happening. I think by now stupid people that don’t believe in it should see that immunisation is definitely a must do thing!

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  • I feel so sorry for parents who have to go through this tragic loss of a child.

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  • How terribly sad. Very brave of her mother to talk about it. A good warning to show people the impact of their choices on others.

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  • When my first was a bub they changed from giving the measles vaccine at 12mths to 15mths …my daughter developed measles in-between this time frame, (Dr was waiting till she turned 15mths) she was one very sick little girl but luckily had no lasting side effects. Needless to say when my son turned 12mths I insisted on him being vaccinated at that time and NO later.

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  • How brave of her to share her story.

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  • How sad this story is. Poor little one I feel for her family even though I wish they had immunised her.

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  • How appalling. The doctors should be ashamed too.

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  • Terrible what she had to suffer. Dying of measles in 2018. This shouldn’t happen. :-(

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  • This is exactly the kind if situation anti vaxxers don’t think about. It’s not just their kids they’re putting at risk by not vaccinating. I wish they could see that

    Reply

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