On October 28th I had the unique experience of sitting down in the CTV Your Morning studio for an interview with Ben Mulroney and Dr. Scott Gledhill. We had more than six full minutes to talk about Jude, the flu, the flu shot, and other ways to prevent contracting and spreading the flu to those around you. I have quite a few other publications and appearances to update about here (this has been a busy ten days!), but I want to specifically talk about this one right now.
Going in very early on Friday morning I was feeling nervous. I’ve been spending a fair amount of time talking about For Jude, For Everyone, but usually this happens in my living room, or my kitchen, or sitting at my table in a room filled with pictures of my family and friends. My space. And they tape it and only pick the parts that best fit the story, or it’s live radio and no one can see that I’m in a hoodie and my hair is a mess.
But while I was a little worried that I wouldn’t nail my points with the clock ticking and no way to try again, I was also looking forward to something that I don’t usually get – a chance to get out our message in my own words, and drive home something that I think is really important. Are you ready? This is something that I try desperately to share every time I sit down to talk about our campaign.
This isn’t about blame or pointing fingers. This isn’t any one person’s fault, and we don’t feel angry at anyone out there for whatever choices they’ve made. There are no bad people here – just a conversation that we think is worth having.
We get that the flu shot is a tricky one, and we understand why people are skeptical about being asked to get a vaccine every year, a vaccine that will never be 100% effective, a vaccine for something that sounds as benign as the flu. We get that it just doesn’t seem like a big deal and it’s something that we don’t often personally see the effects of, firsthand.
But what happened to Jude was terrible and preventable, and he was only one of thousands of Canadians who die every year from something that we, as a whole, tend to blow off as no big deal if you’re young and healthy. We did everything that we were able to do and it wasn’t enough, but maybe if we all have this conversation, start talking, get answers, hear about the real human cost of influenza. Maybe if we do all those things and get a better understanding of how serious the flu is, then we can all figure out what changes we might be able to make to change how we see the flu, and change what those numbers look like every year. Maybe someone won’t lose their grandparent, or pregnant wife, or their friend battling cancer. Maybe someone won’t put their giggling two year old down for a nap for the last time.
So live interviews are a little intimidating – there are no re-takes or do-overs. But they’re also a fantastic opportunity to talk about this in my own voice, and get my meaning across as clearly as I can. I’ve always felt that one of the key parts of this discussion, if it’s ever to be successful, is to recognize that this is about how we can all work together to keep all of us as safe as possible. So let’s do that. Let’s drop the tension and instead take a fresh look to consider if there’s something we can do that may end up saving someone’s life. We can never know the extent of the ripples we cause by our own choices, but we can make informed choices and hope that those ripples affect people positively.
I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped give us our voice during this campaign. We know that vaccines are a sensitive topic and it can be a difficult conversation to take on. But we also know that nothing ever got better when no one talked about it. Respectful, compassionate discussions can always help us reach new understanding and find solutions that can make life better for people. We can’t have Jude back, but maybe if we talk about what happened to him, someone will make a different choice this year that might save someone’s life. And that is everything.
As a final note, a huge thank you to Dr. Gledhill for his fantastic points about how easily the flu spreads and what we can all do, and to Ben Mulroney for giving us this opportunity to talk about Jude and the flu. You are far too kind, sir, but thank you for your kindness and compassion. You are fantastic at what you do and you made me feel at ease right away.