Hattie Timmer is proud to show you her collection of ribbons won in school for track and cross-country events…But that was before. Today, the 15-year-old high school sophomore is finding it difficult to walk, swallow or speak. She wears leg braces and uses a wheelchair at Mason City High School to get around…The Timmers asked to be referred to the Mayo Clinic…Toni questions whether it may have been a vaccination with Gardasil that Hattie had in eighth grade to prevent cervical cancer. But nearly all the medical people she consulted do not believe that is the cause. “And we have no proof that it is,” she said.

Globe Gazette, by Kristin Buehner, 10/6/11

Tags: General Internal Medicine, Psychology and Psychiatry