By Christie Lynn Moore

Editor’s note: More than 1,400 Canadians applied to testify at the Allison Inquiry. With only four days available, the inquiry heard from 50. These are some of their stories.

Vaccine injury is more than a story about medicine, policy, statistics, or controversy. It is a story about people whose lives were divided into two parts: Before and after.

For four days in September 2026, Canadians entered a room on Parliament Hill for The Allison Inquiry and, one by one, told what had happened to their bodies, their families, their careers, and their lives after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

Some arrived in wheelchairs. Some walked with canes. Some had lost the ability to work, run, see, eat, or live without constant medical care. Some had spent their savings searching for treatment. Some had lost their homes and businesses. And some came carrying photographs of people who could no longer speak for themselves. A mother spoke about her daughter. A sister spoke about her brother. A widow spoke about the husband she had loved since childhood. A son spoke about his mother.

They described paralysis, strokes, blood clots, neurological damage, heart failure, blindness, kidney failure and deaths they believed were connected to the COVID-19 vaccination. Their testimony also revealed another kind of suffering: Years spent trying to be heard. But for four extraordinary days, they sat before cameras and told the country what happened to them.

Here are 18 of their testimonies. Before the statistics, the arguments, and the politics, look at the people at the heart of it all. Learn their names. Read their stories. See their faces.

Photo #1. Dan Hartman, Beeton, ON · for his son Sean, 17: Sean was a healthy 17-year-old hockey player and team captain who hoped to continue playing the sport he loved. Dan testified that Sean received a Pfizer shot so he could participate in hockey. Four days later, Sean went to the emergency room suffering from vomiting, a rash, dark discoloration around his eyes and severe pain, but was sent home without blood work. Thirty-three days after vaccination, Sean was found dead beside his bed. His official cause of death was recorded as unascertained.

Photo #2. Kelly Shorkey, BC · community nurse, wound and palliative care: Kelly’s symptoms began within roughly 48 hours of her second Pfizer dose. She developed Bell’s palsy, multiple cranial nerve problems, and weakness and paralysis affecting the right side of her body. Her eyes no longer work together, and she continues to experience severe fatigue along with other neurological and autonomic problems that dramatically restrict her daily life.

Photo #3. Jasmine Comeau, Miramichi, NB · was 16 and in high school: Jasmine was 16 and in high school when she received her second dose so she could continue playing volleyball after vaccination became mandatory in New Brunswick. She described standing in a queue of crying parents and students. Her symptoms began immediately after the second dose, starting with a cold sensation spreading from the injection site, pins and needles in her legs and light-headedness. She subsequently lost sensation in her legs and was hospitalized, with Guillain-Barré syndrome among the conditions initially considered. She later required a wheelchair and said she was denied access to some rehabilitation services after identifying her condition as post-vaccination. She continues to experience pain and tremors, and uses a cane. Navigating disability has profoundly affected her education, friendships, and mental health while navigating disability as a teenager.

Photo #4. Jamie Daniel, AB · 31, advanced care paramedic: Jamie developed severe neurological symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination, and was subsequently diagnosed with transverse myelitis. She experienced intense pain, loss of sensation, bladder dysfunction and periods when she could not walk. While hospitalized and suffering severe pain, a psychologist was brought in to discuss Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). Her illness ultimately ended her paramedic career, and the financial strain became so severe that her family eventually had to remortgage their home.

Photo #5. Carol Messenger, Comox Valley, BC · former Vancouver Fire Rescue captain: Carol developed sudden lower-body paralysis 24 days after her second dose and was subsequently diagnosed with transverse myelitis after imaging revealed a spinal lesion. She has spent years working to rehabilitate. She continues to experience spasms and a loss of feeling in her lower body.

Photo #6. Noah Barclay, Kemptville, ON · was 23, student electrician: Noah was 23, studying electrical work at Algonquin College and physically active, with no significant medical history when he took a Pfizer shot. Roughly one month later, he suffered a heart attack and spent a week at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute during pandemic restrictions without family visitors. After a second heart attack, he was diagnosed with myocarditis.

Photo #7. Dawood Al-Janaby, Toronto, ON · 34, software engineering student at York University: Dawood was 29 and a physically active student when he received his first Moderna dose. That night, he experienced what he described as fire-like pain spreading the entire length of his spine. Now 34, he continues to experience sensations resembling electric shocks throughout his body, involuntary tremors, severe muscle spasms, masses in his hands and feet, a swinging heart rate and speech difficulties. He can no longer walk independently.

Photo #8. Carrie Lynn Sakamoto, Lethbridge, AB · mother of three, seed farmer: Following the Pfizer dose, Carrie developed fever, swollen lymph nodes, vomiting and severe head pain she describes as “fire in her brain,” which she continues to experience. Her condition progressed to facial paralysis, an eye that would not close, and an inability to chew or swallow. She spent 17 days in hospital and required tube feeding. She continues to live with facial and eye problems, vertigo, pain and memory difficulties. While dealing with the financial consequences of her illness, her family eventually sold their farm, home and businesses.

Photo #9. Patricia Leidl, Salt Spring Island, BC · former WHO communications director: One week after her second dose, she got out of bed and collapsed. She was subsequently diagnosed with POTS and continues to experience severe pain, hearing problems, cognitive difficulties, autonomic symptoms and extensive skin lesions. She has spent more than $250,000 pursuing treatment and recovery.

Photo #10. Lisa Lavoie, QC · 68, retired nurse, driving instructor: Lisa developed severe cardiac problems after receiving two Pfizer doses in 2021, which she said she took because of Quebec’s vaccine passport requirements and in order to continue working. She was subsequently diagnosed with heart failure, with an ejection fraction of approximately 10%, indicating severely weakened heart-pumping ability. She later required an implanted pacemaker/defibrillator and suffered multiple thromboses in her arm.

Photo #11. Crystal Denomme, Ontario · 48, support worker for adults with severe disabilities: Crystal began experiencing extreme skin pain and what she described as “melting” bone pain within a day of receiving her second Pfizer dose. She was eventually diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome.

Photo #12. Joseph Pritchard, York Region, ON · was 41, construction project manager: Joseph was a healthy, physically active 41-year-old construction project manager when he developed severe pancreatitis, sepsis, thrombophlebitis, and liver and kidney damage after vaccination. His condition became so severe that he was placed in a medically induced coma and ultimately spent six months in hospital. His weight fell from ~240 to 150 pounds, and he continues to experience serious mobility and digestive problems. At the time of his testimony, he was still waiting for meaningful assistance through the federal Vaccine Impact Assistance Program (VIAP).

Photo #13. Lisa Watson, PEI · Canada Revenue Agency: Approximately 12 days after receiving a single Pfizer dose, Lisa developed weakness in one arm followed by loss of function in her legs. She was diagnosed with transverse myelitis and spent approximately ten weeks in hospital. She has since had to relearn how to walk and continues to use a walking aid. Her husband stopped working so he could help care for her.

Photo #14. Julie Ivan, Hampton, ON · Canada Post letter carrier, endurance athlete: Julie worked a physically demanding job and was an avid long-distance runner. After receiving her second Moderna vaccination, she began experiencing numbness, electrical sensations and burning nerve pain. She said doctors told her that imaging revealed a spinal lesion resulting from her immune system attacking her spinal cord.

Photo #15. Robert Denesiuk, Comox, BC · 56, clubhouse janitor: Approximately two weeks after receiving a Pfizer vaccination, Robert collapsed and awoke the following morning unable to use his lower body normally. He spent more than six months in hospital with Guillain-Barré syndrome, gradually learning to walk again, and lost approximately 60 pounds during his illness. He continues to experience tremors and unsteadiness and requires daily assistance.

Photo #16. Thor Hart, Ingersoll, ON · General Motors group leader, bodybuilder: Thor was a highly active bodybuilder and martial artist who was training for a strongman competition. He got vaccinated after his employer told him vaccination was required to remain employed. Following his second Pfizer dose, he developed severe joint and body pain that rapidly progressed until, within roughly three days, he could no longer stand and had to crawl to the bathroom. He now lives with permanent disability, uses a cane and suffers from multi-joint inflammatory disease.

Photo #17. Mark Chapman, Halifax, NS · helicopter pilot trainer: The day after Mark received his third Pfizer dose, his smartwatch alerted him to atrial fibrillation. He testified that he immediately knew his flying career was finished. He continues to experience tachycardia, profound exhaustion, severe cognitive difficulties affecting memory and concentration, pain extending from his ears to his toes, numb feet, and episodes in which muscles throughout his body lock into full contraction.

Photo #18. Stéphanie Giguère, interior BC · psychotherapist: Stéphanie developed symptoms within hours of receiving a Moderna vaccination. Her hands stopped functioning normally, and she later developed serious problems affecting her speech, movement, memory and vision. She continues to experience head pain, tachycardia, difficulty finding words and loss of motor control.

No family should have to lose their health, their savings, their home, their livelihood, or someone they love because of a vaccine injury. Canadian governments and employers urged—and, in many settings, required—people to be vaccinated. Canada therefore has a duty to ensure that those who were injured are not left to carry the medical and financial burden alone. They deserve timely, adequate compensation, proper medical care, and enough support to keep their homes, provide for their families, and live with dignity. We also owe it to future generations to do everything in our power to ensure that fewer families ever have to tell stories like these again. Let’s take care of our citizens. Listen to them. Learn from them. And please, Canada, do better.

See the Allison Inquiry website: CovidTestimony.com

Watch the video clips at: YouTube.com/@Canada-Info