Roald Dahl's daughter contracted measles and died from complications, this is their story.

[Swede]

"Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.
'Are you feeling all right?' I asked her.
'I feel all sleepy,' she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.
The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was...in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles.
...I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was ‘James and the Giant Peach’. That was when she was still alive. The second was ‘The BFG’, dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children."
Roald Dahl, 1986

[Irish_Dem]

1. Parents are going to have a painful and steep learning curve if they do not get their kids vaxxed.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. What a tragedy! How awful for all of them in that family.

And the yahoos who are about to take over our government want to eliminate vaccines.

I am horrified and sickened and ANGERED.

K&R

[Ms. Toad]

3. The measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, one year after her death.

My brother, a Native American in the foster/adoption system, was one of the "volunteers" on whom the vaccination was tested. I'm not sure if his biological sister was, as well.

[jeffreyi]

4. Damn.

That's about the same year I had measles. Sick in bed for 3 weeks. Messed up my eyesight. The vaccination was not available. Kids tried to get measles, mumps, chicken pox to get them over with.

[Texin]

20. Yeah, I did as well. I had what my doctor said was a "light case." And I contracted encephalitis.

I made it through it and my doctor made house calls for about a week or ten days to check on me to see if my condition was worsening. It's a very serious infection, as is polio and it makes me staggeringly infuriated that there is so much misinformation circulating in such a dystopian and shockingly ignorant population. My cousin who is a year older than me was infected with polio as a child prior to the vaccine. She spent time in an iron lung and had a very rough and long recovery from the infection. She made it out of the iron lung, but to this day (as far as I know, as she relocated to California when I was a teen and we've not had contact) she is still using a leg brace.

[gopiscrap]

5. Wow! I never knew that.

My wife taught for 44 years and used his books often. The other connection I have is that I got German Measles at 3 weeks old and it turned into encephalitis. It almost killed me and I am still dealing with issues from it this day.

[slightlv]

8. My uncle had German Measles and ended up

criminally-inclined mentally retarded for the rest of his life. I used that word "retarded" on purpose, not to be divisive in this thread. Although most mentally challenged individuals are not violent or criminally inclined, the measles did leave my uncle that way. He was in a mental hospital for the criminally inclined until Reagan turned out all the patients. Magas are gonna re-learn a lot of things that their parents knew, and evidently didn't pass on to the kids. It's going to be painful learning, I assume. But that assumption is based on magas loving their kids like we love ours -- but not getting them vaccinated makes one wonder...

[MacKasey]

6. Her mom was actress Patricia Neal

I got the measles in the late 1950's
Got it from the kids next door and then I gave it to my cousin

Didn't know then that you could die from it

[MLAA]

7. I didn't know that they were married.

My high school earth sciences teacher in Atlanta was Patricia Neal’s brother.

[MLAA]

9. I just google Roald Dahl and this article popped up.

It’s tragic about his daughter and all others who died before the vax was available.

I was surprised and disheartened to read about his antisemitism.



https://www.newstatesman.com/diary/2024/09/i-exposed-roald-dahls-antisemitism-seeing-it-play-out-stage-was-surreal

[niyad]

12. Not registering, not allowing newstatesman to access anything.

[MLAA]

14. I should have posted a few paragraphs, sorry.

“Stephenson asked me, the youngest journalist in the office, to “have a chat with him and see if he regrets any of that nonsense.” I did. He didn’t. The author of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox and the rest told me, “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews,” and “I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere. Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason”. He said that when he was in the forces during World War Two, he and his friends never saw any Jewish fighting men.

I told him my father was Jewish, that Jews were over-represented in the Allied armies, and that what he had said was repugnant. He muttered something and then – always clinically polite – said goodbye. But it wasn’t goodbye to the article and for almost 40 years it has regularly resurfaced in articles and books about Dahl.

Larger than life

Now it’s in the news again as the basis for a major play, Giant, at the Royal Court, starring John Lithgow as Dahl. That’s why I’m in the UK a little earlier this year. The playwright, Mark Rosenblatt, first contacted me three years ago and at the time I assumed little more would come of it. I was clearly wrong. I’m mentioned in it of course, and the wonderful Richard Hope plays my voice on the phone. I knew about this, but it all felt far more eerie on press night, sitting in my seat at one of the world’s major theatres, watching a drama about my interview play out on stage. Part of me wanted to disappear into the floor, another to jump up and shout, “That’s me!” When John Lithgow, as Dahl, said, “Who’s Mike Coren?” I think I blushed. Thank God it was dark. But the play is far more important than that – it is a vital discussion of anti-Semitism, a wound more open now than at any time in my life. I expect reactions to it will say a great deal about the bitter reality of it all. That, frankly, isn’t entirely reassuring.”

[niyad]

15. Thank you for this. I only knew that he was a very popular author of

children's books ( never read any of them), and that he had been married to Patricia Neal. The anti-semitism is deeply disgusting and disturbing. "stinker hitler"???

[Hekate]

10. When I was 15 I met a girl my age who had survived mumps encephalitis. She was blind, crippled...

It affected me deeply. My sibs & I had all gotten mumps and were completely miserable — our baby sister especially. But I had no idea until meeting this girl how bad it could be — and I vowed right then that if there were ever an immunization for mumps, my kids would get it.

And they did, as part of the MMR vaccine — the vaccine that would have saved Roald Dahl’s little girl.

[WinstonSmith4740]

11. Truly tragic.

I don't think most people know that the common childhood diseases could turn deadly...I know I didn't. I was fortunate enough to only get chicken pox (but twice!)...my sister got them, plus measles and whooping cough. Personal theory, but I honestly think part of the anti-vax idiocy today is due to the fact we're now in what, the 4th or so generation of parents who never had any of that stuff because they were immunized! They don't know how freaking miserable those things are, much less the deadly part. Why would anyone want their child to go through that when they don't have to?

And BTW, for those damn fools we all know who connect autism to vaccines. I work with autistic kids. (First of all, there's something magical about those kids.) I have to assume that boys and girls are vaccinated at about the same rate, but boys outnumber girls approximately 3-1 in autism. Lots of theorys and possible reasons, none of which involve vaccinations.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

13. I've heard that nonsense about Vaccinations causing Autism. You should see the faces of the IDIOTS when I ask them to

me how, if Autism is caused by vaccinations, what caused it before the era of LIFE SAVING VACCINATIONS?! I often follow that question up with, "Take your time...Don't worry, I'll wait.."
How many UNNECESSARY deaths and disabilities will we have to undergo because of this stupidity? Funnily enough, ALL the morons raging against vaccinations are VACCINATED and have NEVER seen the horrors of Polio, Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough, etc ad nauseum.
When a cretin slid into my conversation with someone else about the stupidity of NOT getting vaccinated against a DEMONSTRABLY deadly disease. I let them rant about things thet CLEARLY knew nothing about. I came back with " Tell you what.. If you believe that vaccinations cause more problem than they solve, why don't you stagger out in the back of beyond, (you know, where there are plenty of RABID animals or better yet, hug & kiss a bat). Make sure you let them chew on a finger or two. Then, go home and sit WITHOUT THE POST EXPOSURE prophylaxis vax... If you REALLY believe in your nonsense, you'll sit there until you become symptomatic BUT I suspect that that would NOT be the case because it would get real REAL fast....SMDH

[Bluebelle76]

16. Thank You for Posting.

I had the usual childhood illnesses (Boomer, 1946 vintage). Parents who skip vaccines had better factor in the weeks of recovery time their children will require with each illness. And modern schools are not sympathetic toward sick children. And employers definitely don't want employees gone for weeks at a time.

I had miserable cases of all the usual now-preventable plagues. The only one that didn't interfere with school was whooping cough. I got that as a toddler. And it nearly killed a toddler I grew up with. Still, we were lucky. Many children weren't.

[The Wizard]

17. GQP conspiracy nuts

have the blood of innocents on their hands. The world would be a better place with these nuts in FEMA camps.

[Unladen Swallow]

18. I have first order family members

who are on or approaching the right who had a major medical issue with one of their kids right after (within minutes) of a childhood vaccine administration. As of that moment they were totally done with vaccines. Two of their kids have only had a handful, and one has had zero. So far so good, and I will continue to pray for good health for each of them. I certainly don't want them in FEMA camps. In fact we just had them over for Christmas and it was wonderful.

[Clouds Passing]

19. Olivia