‘My son’s childhood is gone – parents who don’t vaccinate their children need to hear this’

A mother whose son’s childhood has been “destroyed” after he contracted chickenpox, leading to “lifelong disabilities”, is urging parents to think twice before deciding not to vaccinate their children.

Rebecca Homewood, 49, and her husband Jason, 52, who live just outside of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, described their son Tom as an “outgoing” and “effervescent” boy who enjoyed “everything about school life”.

However, three days after contracting chickenpox, just before his sixth birthday, his temperature rose to above 42 degrees, he had a seizure, and he later began slurring his speech.

After undergoing many tests at hospital, Tom was eventually diagnosed with myasthenia gravis – a condition that causes muscle weakness