RIP Danny Alger: Vaccines, Injury, Autism and a 1977 Court Compensation
By Louis Conte
For Danny
On Tuesday, April 29, 2014, Danny Alger, age 37, went to heaven. He was surrounded by his mother, Joyce, and father, Ed. Danny got to see God knowing that he was loved.
Danny Alger is one of the most important people our community has ever known.
In case 89-31V, Special Master Paul T. Baird ruled Danny “sustained an encephalopathy, the first symptoms of which appeared within three days of the second DPT vaccine that he received on March 27, 1977.” The injury left Danny with seizures and developmental delays.
And the vaccine injury also left Danny with autism.
Danny Alger was one of the first cases to be decided by a hearing in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). It was a tough hearing but Ed, Joyce and their Attorney, Cliff Shoemaker, proved their case and managed to get Danny Alger compensated for his injuries.
The Algers weren’t trying to prove that vaccines caused Danny’s autism. Autism was barely understood in the late 1980’s because it was so rare. The Algers needed resources to care for Danny and managing his seizures was a never ending struggle. Autism was just another issue and a rare behavioral diagnosis is not your primary concern when you are fighting to keep your child alive.
Eventually, the money from the settlement ran out. It was never really enough and there is no way to petition the NVICP for additional assistance. Ed and Joyce went about their lives, took care of Danny, raised their other children and like all of us, did their best.
No one from the NVICP ever contacted them again. It seemed Danny and his family were supposed to fade into the fringes of the American landscape. It seemed they were supposed to become invisible.
Danny Alger was one of the first cases where the federal government, grudgingly, compensated vaccine injury victims. Danny was one of the first of those cases that also featured autism. As the years passed, there would be many more. The government wanted those cases to be invisible too.
I found the Algers after reading through dozens of old NVICP case decisions while doing the research that ultimately resulted in the publication of Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury, 28 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 480 (2011). Ed and Joyce were the first people I called and it was one of the most remarkable conversations of my life. One of my sons with autism was making a racket while I was talking with Joyce and she just happened to mention that Danny used to make all sorts of noises because he also had autism.
Amazingly, Danny Alger was no longer invisible.
This phone call was just the beginning. By the end of the investigation, we found many other cases like Danny’s. It is now crystal clear – despite the government’s denials – that autism is often a result of vaccine injury induced brain injuries. Those running the cult of vaccine denialism can issue all the press releases they want. The fact is that autism is a common feature of vaccine injury in the cases that the NVICP has compensated. This is why Every Child By Two and the other pharma-funded organizations fought so hard to derail Congressional Hearings last November.
I’ve learned a lot about the NVICP from Ed and Joyce. But I learned more about life. They’ve taught me plenty about moving forward and loving and caring for your family, no matter what, come what may. These lessons were another one of Danny’s gifts, first to Ed and Joyce, then to me.
In May of 2011, Ed Alger stood in front of the US Court of Claims and spoke from the heart about Danny’s vaccine induced autism. He did this for his son and because he wanted what happened to him to serve a greater purpose. Danny had inspired his family to speak out.
Ed held up a photo of his son and showed it slowly to those in attendance. He said that he could “Our Danny Louis . . . was born a perfect baby. . . . He was a loving, bubbling, babbling, beautiful baby boy. And we only got to enjoy that for four months.”
Ed recounted that the same day that he was vaccinated, he let out “a terrible scream.” His son became inconsolable, constantly screaming and his body becoming stiff. Danny was having seizures. He stopped making eye contact and became hyperactive. “He enjoyed waving his hands in front of his face for no apparent reason.”
“Right now, as a result . . . from the initial shot, another injustice, Danny is also paralyzed on the right side. He’s confined to a hospital bed. He’s on every medicine you can imagine but he continues to seizure.”
“We believe vaccines are not always safe for everybody. . . . and we believe they can cause autism. Our son Daniel is proof.”Ed said that parents today are still being told vaccines don’t cause autism. “We proved them wrong then and I think we can prove them wrong now.” Ed asked Congress do something.
Danny and his parents have overcome those who seek to silence the truth about vaccine injury and autism. They have overcome the vast power and influence of an industry that has manipulated our government into forgetting who they are really supposed to serve. They have even overcome the massive public relations machine that just turned Autism Awareness Month into Vaccine Exoneration Month.
Because Danny inspired his parents to speak out, Americans are starting to listen. There are now many more families like the Algers - real people who are fighting for their kids and fighting for the truth. They are everywhere.
Danny Alger is no longer invisible. He is victorious.
Ed and Joyce have asked us to honor their son by continuing to speak out.
Louis Conte is the author of The Autism War: A Novel, from Skyhorse Publishing.
For getting to the truth, I hope there is a credible list with documentation of diseases, fatalities, and autism which occurred shortly after a vaccination. While such coincidences do not prove cause and effect, they warrant further investigation. My concern is government and drug company corruption in such documentation.
Posted by: Law | February 12, 2015 at 03:14 AM
Thank you and Heaven's peace to the Alger family.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | May 06, 2014 at 04:02 PM
Mr. Conte As someone that has known the Algers for many years and seen the battles they have gone through to keep there son happy and at home I want to say thank you what a beautiful way to memorialize Danny. If this helps just one family Danny did something else he was sent to us to do educate that along with the unconditional love and acceptance and understanding he taught so many.
Posted by: Marie Morrison | May 06, 2014 at 02:26 PM
God Bless you Danny, so sorry for your pain, your passing will not be in vain, many are fighting for your story to be told, parents know what happened to you and we are eternally sorry for suffering. Love you and your family always.
Posted by: Dawn Tollefson | May 06, 2014 at 08:32 AM
Not a sign of the existence of this boy, Danny Alger on the NVICP site!
And indeed the notion by them that there is no harm from vaccines except temporary and transient problems.
No formal science or proof needed they claim, just 99.99 recurring per cent rejection of any or all vaccine harm claims.
A few years ago a good example of one transient adverse effectthat lasted for 47 days is here:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/managing-editors-note-below-is-the-story-of-iam-gromowski-a-boy-who-lived-47-days-after-his-hepatitis-b-vaccination-thank.html
Of course the mum drank coffee also that first day so there is a get out for the non-believers of vaccine harm?
He probably didnt even qualify for compensation as you cant spend moeny on dead people for their future benefit can you?
The injection of a new born baby at birth is just a cover up to prevent links of vaccines to adverse effects. These rare cases just prove that the crying is a real threat to future healthand not just a silly and temporary phenomenon.
But in the best NVICP tradition anything after 4 hours cannot be linked back to vaccines and anything in even this time frame is going to be disallowed in all probability.
And most people just dont believe in vaccine harm so all is well or is it?
Posted by: John Fryer | May 06, 2014 at 05:34 AM
This case highlights one person only and lays the cause for adverse health effects clearly on VACCINES.
By expanding this one case with every person vaccinated we get to todays medical, economic and political opinion of NO HARM from vaccines.
The harm from vaccines is today merely the hunt for the gene or genes that are causing what here is clearly apparent.
Because vaccines unarguably save us from infectious illness let no one call them into question.
Let the carnage continue!
But amazingly huge studies cannot totally avoid the notion that something in our environment is clearly WRONG.
Let us remember always the hundred year failed hunt for the cause of Pinks Disease and the total disbelief that any medical treatment could possibly be at fault. Today, while mercury is an accepted cause of this condition it is just fine for inclusion or in the process of some vaccines even in 2014.
Posted by: John Fryer | May 06, 2014 at 04:30 AM
May Danny RIP. A special thanks to his family for sharing. Your son is an angel who will always shine on all!
Posted by: Teresa Fresco | May 06, 2014 at 12:07 AM
many non-verbal adult autistic living in group homes become invisible... as parents aged administration don't feel the need to report to them. they are kept asleep for 18 or 23 hours a day with drugs! ... i am told that they do that because they can...
Posted by: josie muller | May 05, 2014 at 07:50 PM
Another kindred spirit gone; may he rest in peace. Bless the Algers for their decades of loving dedication to their son's well-being.
I assume no one from the VICP, CDC, vaccine manufacturing or medical trade unions ever offered condolences, apology, or suggestions for medical treatment.
Posted by: nhokkanen | May 05, 2014 at 05:45 PM
Working with the Alger Family during the Unanswered Questions project was pure joy. My heart breaks for the loss of their dear son Danny. RIP Daniel Alger.
Posted by: Rebecca Estepp | May 05, 2014 at 03:22 PM
To The Alger's .... thank you. And God Bless Danny. You now have an angel in heaven.
Posted by: Maureen | May 05, 2014 at 01:47 PM
Rest in peace with God's angels sweet Danny. I'm so sorry for Danny's and his family's suffering. Blessings to the Alger family for speaking out through all their pain.
Posted by: Theresa Cedillo | May 05, 2014 at 01:19 PM
Bob, 'war against disease'? If only it was that noble. Try war for profit and ego.
Greg
Posted by: Greg | May 05, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Thank God there are people who will continue this work to make it obvious to all that vaccines did this to our kids. Time and time again I hear the same accounts of parents describing their alarms very soon after vaccinations. Fobbed off by medics, who in our daughter's case in the sixties, made out that autism almost never happened but when it did it was a simple coincidence despite her hospitalisation for a week. I see that now as appalling complacency and I regard it as grossly implausible that forty years later 'no one knows the cause of autism'.
It is wonderful that one in three US parents believe vaccines cause autism (doubled in three years) and it is astonishing that we may actually see the cause of autism being revealed by the utter belief of the majority of the population.
Tony Bateson, Oxford UK
Posted by: Tony Bateson | May 05, 2014 at 11:28 AM
Thank you, Louis, for bringing Danny Alger's story to light and to our attention. Thank you, also, to Danny's loving parents for speaking out about what happened to their precious son in hopes that others might be spared.
What will it take for our government and medical professionals to acknowledge this vaccine holocaust against our children?
Posted by: Laura Hayes | May 05, 2014 at 11:21 AM
It is hard not to be deeply moved by just the opening line here.
The government shows no interest in the children damaged by the one-size-fits-all, experimental, ever-expanding vaccination schedule. While the medical community promotes the benefits of vaccination, they're oblivious to the disabled and chronically ill children everywhere. They aren't interested in where they're coming from. They don't want to find out why Danny reacted the way he did to his vaccination.
I'm so happy to hear that Ed and Joyce are willing to speak out. It will truly honor Danny's life and memory.
Anne Dachel, Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | May 05, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Our nation has a history of building monuments to remember those loved ones we lost in various national tragedies .. such as .. the Vietnam Wall Memorial, WTC memorial, Oklahomoa City memorial, etc.
If the day ever comes .. when it is proven beyond any doubt that thousands of our most precious people .. our children .. were lost due to the "unintended consequences" of public health policies gone horribly awry .. we should demand the same memorial for them as for all other national tragedies.
God forbid .. I hope I am wrong .. but .. if thousands of children like Danny Alger have paid the ultimate sacrifice to "protect the herd" .. those children deserve better than being callously dismissed and forgotten as merely "collateral damage" in our nation's war against disease.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | May 05, 2014 at 09:41 AM
Thank you for bringing the Alger family out of the darkness where our government, and the industrial interests they serve, want them to dwell. God bless Danny Alger and his family.
Posted by: John Gilmore | May 05, 2014 at 08:27 AM