Jamie R. Daniel
Day 4 · September 11, 2026 · 0:25:26
Key points Jamie Daniel is a 36-year-old former advanced care paramedic and practical nurse who was fully functional and active before vaccination at age 31. As a first responder she was among the first vaccinated and says she was excited, but developed severe back and leg pain within a day. She recounts losing sensation in her groin, urinary and bowel control, and being unable to walk, presenting like a severe spinal cord injury. She says she was repeatedly dismissed in emergency, called a drug seeker, left on the hospital floor, and told it was anxiety or her arthritis. She testifies her neurologist diagnosed MRI-negative transverse myelitis caused by the COVID vaccine. She says that during a pain crisis, instead of treatment, staff offered her medical assistance in dying, an event that broke her faith in the system. She describes ongoing disability, PTSD with a service dog named Kevin, a denied and unresolved VISP claim, and reliance on CPP disability of $1,600 a month.
Speaker 4
0:01 So our next witness is Jamie Daniel. 0:05 Jamie, will you please take the Bible in your right hand? 0:09 Jamie Daniel, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Speaker 4
0:21 I'd like to introduce you to the inquiry that want to get out up front that your neurologist 0:28 tells you quite clearly that this is a vaccine injury that you're going to be sharing with us. Speaker 1
0:33 Undoubtedly. Speaker 4
0:34 You are currently 36, which means you were 31 at the time of these events. 0:40 You've got two children and your husband, Jeremy, who is the fellow with you. 0:47 You were an advanced care paramedic and practical nurse. 0:53 You've been in that role since you were 18. 0:56 you were paramedic first, like this is your passion, was to be a first responder. 1:03 And there are different levels of paramedic. 1:05 But an advanced care paramedic, like that's the full scale. 1:09 That's like four years of training to get to that level. 1:13 So I just want people to understand that we have a first responder. 1:16 And thank you for your service. 1:21 And as far as health went, prior to what you're going to describe for us, 1:27 You had rheumatoid arthritis, but that was being managed. 1:30 I mean, we're going to get into, I mean, you were working full-time 12-hour shifts, moving people and doing all the ambulance things. 1:37 You were 100% functional. Speaker 4
1:39 So there were no restrictions on your lifestyle. 1:42 You're managing home, your family, your daughters. 1:45 You're going to the gym two or three times a week. 1:47 You would swim, rock climb, camp, outdoor stuff. 1:51 And basically, no health concerns whatsoever. 1:55 prior to these vaccines. 1:58 Can you tell us about your journey with these vaccines? Speaker 1
2:02 So at the time of the vaccines, as you said, I did have some stable health things, but they were all well managed and I was not disabled. 2:09 I was fully functioning. 2:11 I was working 12-hour shifts as a paramedic. 2:13 I held a 0.5 line, which is part-time, but I quite often picked up to full-time hours. 2:18 I just liked the flexibility of picking when I could work. 2:22 We were managing our home together, about 50-50 responsibilities. 2:27 At the time, our daughter was 18 months old, our first daughter. 2:31 Parenting, looking after her, doing extremely well. 2:37 Being a first responder... 2:39 I was one of the first waves of people chosen to go get the vaccine. 2:43 And I was excited. 2:44 I was over the moon excited that I could go and do this service for my country, get the vaccine that we'd been told had been very similar. 2:53 It's been studied. 2:54 It's safe. 2:54 It's effective. 2:55 And as a healthcare practitioner, I worked with people who are high risk. 2:58 We have high risk members of our family, and this is something I could do to help. 3:03 And I was so excited to go get that vaccine. 3:05 And I went, um, 3:08 I have a picture of me smiling at the vaccine clinic being like, yes, everybody go get your vaccine. 3:12 Vaccines save lives because they do. 3:14 But this is not a vaccine. 3:16 This is something completely different. 3:18 Within hours, I had flu-like symptoms. 3:22 I was in bed. 3:24 I remember clearly with a bucket because I was nauseous. 3:26 I was throwing up. 3:27 I had fevers and chills. 3:29 I just felt generally unwell. 3:31 Flu-like symptoms, normal vaccine. 3:35 I chose not to take any Advil or Tylenol at that time because my knowledge knew is that's the immune response. 3:40 This is what's supposed to be happening. 3:42 Went to bed that night, very uncomfortable, woke up the next morning in excruciating pain, severe pain to my back, down to my legs, some weakness. 3:54 It felt like I had previously herniated my back years ago that had been fully rehabbed and it felt like I was herniating my back. 4:01 and over and over again. 4:02 And I knew something was wrong. 4:05 I did everything I could think of at home to manage it. 4:08 Advil, Tylenol, heat, ice, compression, doing some Z-line, like you name it. 4:15 I did everything I could because I was not going to go to the hospital for this because I don't go to the hospital for things. 4:21 I take people to the hospital. 4:23 But 4:24 Within about 24 to 48 hours, it became very clear that I needed to go do a merge. 4:29 I started presenting with something called saddle paresthesia. 4:32 So if you think of when you're sitting on a horse, anything that would touch the saddle of the horse went completely numb. 4:38 And it felt like I had an ice pick going into my spinal cord over and over again. Speaker 4
4:42 Jamie, can I just slow you down? 4:44 And the reason is, is we have some very nice people in the translation booth that are trying to translate in real time. Speaker 4
4:53 what you're saying in English into French. 4:55 And they've been very nice to us. 4:57 So I'm asking you to be nice to them. 4:59 So if you can try, I know it's stressful to be here and speak to people. 5:05 And we're so grateful that you're here. 5:08 But if you can just try and slow it down a little bit. 5:10 Thank you. Speaker 1
5:12 So I knew something was wrong. 5:14 I had medical knowledge. 5:15 I could tell this was presenting like a severe spinal cord injury. 5:19 I went to the hospital. 5:21 My husband had wanted to call an ambulance, but I would not let him because it would have been one of my co-workers that would have picked me up. 5:28 So we went to the hospital and I remember being taken back to a room right away. 5:31 Can I just slow you down? Speaker 4
5:35 Because I want people to really understand what's going on. 5:39 My understanding is you're experiencing extreme weakness to the point that you're having trouble walking. Speaker 4
5:47 So can you explain that for us? Speaker 1
5:50 It was so severe that my husband, like I said, wanted to call an ambulance and I refused. 5:55 So I was so weak and in so much pain, I was literally crawling across the floor to get out of the house. 6:03 I needed a wheelchair once we got to the emergency department and they took me straight back to a room because it did present like a severe spinal cord injury. 6:12 I was having overflow urinary incontinence. Speaker 4
6:15 Urinary, that's what I was going, you were losing sensation. Speaker 1
6:18 I lost all sensation into my groin, my inner thighs, still with the extreme pain, and I started having overflow urinary incontinence. 6:26 I could not feel when I needed to void, so I did not void, so then it would overflow. 6:32 And they took imaging at the hospital, but determined that it was most likely surgical, something called cauda equine. 6:39 So they transferred me to a different hospital via ambulance, my worst nightmare, to a different hospital so I can meet with the spinal surgery team. 6:49 Once I got there, they finally had my imaging results and I met with the spinal surgeon and he said that there is nothing obvious on my MRI. 7:00 that it was probably just a bad day. 7:05 Not quite sure how that works. 7:06 They ended up releasing me from that hospital. Speaker 4
7:09 So I just need to stop you here. 7:11 So you're, what, 31? 7:15 You're in excruciating pain. 7:18 You're so weak. 7:21 There's times you cannot walk. Speaker 4
7:24 You've lost some sensation in your groin and really bladder control because you don't know. 7:31 You didn't talk about, but your bowels have stopped working also. Speaker 4
7:34 So for most of us listening to this, we would be thinking that you are in an absolute medical crisis. Speaker 4
7:43 And yet you are sent home. Speaker 1
7:48 They made me walk out of the emergency department, and I clearly remember collapsing on the floor. 7:54 And the emergency didn't do anything about it, but security eventually brought me a wheelchair to wheel me to the front door for my husband to pick me up. Speaker 4
8:00 Okay, we need to unpack this. 8:02 So the emergency people are telling you you have to leave, and they're expecting you to walk. Speaker 1
8:08 Because my imaging was normal. Speaker 4
8:11 Right, so they're totally ignoring what you're telling them. Speaker 4
8:15 And so you try to walk, but you can't walk. Speaker 4
8:19 So you fall to the floor. Speaker 4
8:22 So you are now on the hospital floor. 8:26 Am I right? 8:27 And there's nurses around. Speaker 4
8:30 And they just leave you on the hospital floor. Speaker 4
8:34 But eventually security feels sorry for this woman laying on the floor. Speaker 4
8:42 So they bring a wheelchair. Speaker 2
8:46 Yes. 8:46 Yes. Speaker 4
8:50 I think everyone participating in this is feeling some collective guilt over how you were treated. 8:56 Can you carry on and let us know? 8:59 You eventually figured out what was wrong. 9:03 They eventually gave you a diagnosis. 9:06 Not that day. Speaker 1
9:07 So I went home and I ended up presenting. 9:10 I can't remember if it was two or three more times to the emergency department. 9:14 I was called a drug seeker. 9:17 I was told I was having anxiety. 9:20 I was told it was my rheumatoid arthritis, but none of these symptoms were any of those things. 9:25 Eventually I got admitted, not due to the severe pain, but because I was peeing myself. 9:31 And I got belittled in the emergency department by several healthcare members being like, why did you just pee the bed? 9:41 What do you mean? 9:42 Why did I pee the vet? 9:43 I have no sensation. 9:44 I have no control. 9:46 I ended up being admitted for a week. 9:48 I needed in and out catheterization. 9:50 I needed extensive bowel management to be able to get my bowels to work again. 9:55 They did eventually treat my pain. 9:59 There was a hush about maybe it's transverse myelitis, but nobody would ever come out and actually say that while I was admitted. 10:08 They released me. 10:09 I went back and looked after our conversation of back pain and urinary incontinence, not yet diagnosed. 10:16 That was my discharge papers. 10:19 Luckily or unlikely, I had previously had migraines, had been discharged from neurology entirely because my migraines were managed. 10:27 But my neurologist had said, if anything ever comes up, call me. 10:31 And I knew that this was neurological. 10:32 So I called his office. 10:34 And he got me in as soon as he could. 10:35 It was a month or so. 10:38 It was a while anyways. 10:40 But eventually I remained off work. 10:44 I had severe pain, fatigue, overflow incontinence. 10:48 I still had no sensation to my bladder, but I could manage it with three hour time going to the washroom. 10:54 Um, I could barely walk a lot of days. 10:56 I was so fatigued. 10:58 I could barely get out of bed, but eventually I saw my neurologist and bless this man. 11:02 As soon as he assessed me, as soon as he went over my history, it's like, but this is Trump first, my latest. 11:07 I was like, I know that it's like, but why didn't they know that at the hospital? 11:12 There's other treatments we could have given you in the hospital for TM because nobody wanted to associate it with my vaccine. Speaker 4
11:21 Which would be the explanation for it in the first place. Speaker 1
11:24 Yes. 11:24 And so he it was I can't remember how long until I had seen him. 11:29 But he was the first one who actually came out and said, like, for sure, 100 percent, you have MRI negative transverse myelitis from the COVID vaccine. Speaker 4
11:38 Right. 11:39 And he had no trouble reaching that conclusion. 11:41 You had heard whispers of that when you were being what I would describe as mistreated. Speaker 4
11:48 In emergencies. 11:49 So. 11:50 Do you think this is a case where basically you were left to suffer and not being treated properly because nobody could admit that this was vaccine injury? Speaker 4
12:04 So recently you went to emergency in July. Speaker 1
12:09 Yes. 12:10 I have approximately yearly relapses of my transverse myelitis, although my symptoms have never fully gone away. Speaker 4
12:16 Right. 12:16 So you're in back pain every day. Speaker 4
12:20 You're in pain now. Speaker 4
12:26 On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you now? Speaker 1
12:28 Today, my pain's about a 5. 12:31 I take multiple medications to manage that. 12:35 Most of my time is spent managing my medical conditions. 12:39 It has evolved into multiple medical conditions outside of the transverse myelitis. 12:46 Most people refer to it as a neuroimmune problem. 12:49 So one thing has cascaded into another, into another, into another. Speaker 4
12:53 Right. 12:54 And you also have what's called post-exertion malaise. Speaker 4
12:59 And basically that if you exert yourself in any way, basically you get fatigue that's completely out of proportion to your exertion. Speaker 4
13:12 What are going to be the consequences to you physically for coming here to testify at the Ellison Affair? Speaker 1
13:19 Well, to start, before I even came here, I had to start prepping. 13:22 I removed anything from my schedule for several days so that I could rest. 13:27 I arranged child care for my children to make sure that somebody was available to drive them back and forth to school. 13:35 Next week when I go home, 13:38 And I've also arranged child care every single day for my children because I will probably be too exhausted to get out of bed to care for them. 13:47 We'll have grandparents drive them to and from school. 13:50 My husband almost exclusively does all of our cooking now. 13:54 We have a housekeeper once a month because I can't maintain heavy housekeeping. Speaker 4
13:58 I just want to slow you down. 14:00 So so just to be able to come here today. 14:03 you had to basically clear responsibilities, including childcare from your schedules. 14:07 Your kids cannot interrupt you and you've been resting for days. Speaker 4
14:13 So that you could kind of put some energy in the bank to be able to come here. Speaker 4
14:18 And you've already cleared your schedule for a week so that, because you expect basically being in bed for a week, including heightened pain, flare up, um, 14:31 You basically anticipate suffering. Speaker 1
14:33 Yes. 14:34 And I also anticipate a worsening of my complex post-traumatic stress disorder as well from this experience. 14:41 Even though I feel like it's very important for me to be here and the stories are very powerful, I know it will affect me psychologically as well. Speaker 4
14:48 Okay. 14:49 Do you want to tell us about your PTSD experience? Speaker 1
14:52 So I was a first responder and even before the COVID vaccine, I still had a diagnosis of PTSD, but I was just seeing a therapist and working. 15:00 I was functional. 15:01 They had no concerns about me continuing to serve as an ACP. 15:08 The medical gaslighting and destruction that I went through with our healthcare system was horrific. 15:16 It was nothing I could have ever anticipated. 15:19 I proudly served our medical system 15:22 And it abandoned me. 15:25 And there was exactly one moment that every ounce of faith I had in the system was destroyed. 15:32 And it's also the moment that my severe PTSD became such a significant problem that I was partnered with Kevin. 15:39 I was admitted to the hospital again. Speaker 4
15:41 And I'm just going to stop because the camera doesn't show this. 15:44 Oh. 15:44 You basically have an emotional support dog named Kevin. Speaker 1
15:47 He's actually a fully certified service animal. 15:50 So he is recognized by the Alberta government and placed with an organization for full service animal status to mitigate a disability. Speaker 4
15:59 Right. 16:00 And in your case, it's PTSD. Speaker 4
16:03 So it's Kevin being with you all the time. Speaker 4
16:07 Helps you, you know, remain calmer and less fearful and stressed. Speaker 1
16:13 Yes, we've been partnered for a year now, and he's been wonderful. Speaker 4
16:16 And we had to put Kevin on the list to get in the building. Speaker 1
16:19 Yes, he has his own ID. 16:21 He had to have his own tag to get in. Speaker 4
16:24 Just because people watching don't know, this is a parliamentary building, and so you have to get through security and the metal detector and all of that fun stuff. 16:32 You have to be on the list. 16:34 So carry on talking about 16:37 So mental trauma. 16:38 So you're describing starting to describe that for us. Speaker 1
16:41 So I remained off work and about a year and a bit after my initial injury in June 2022, my infant had been hospitalized. 16:51 She almost died. 16:52 She was in ICU. 16:55 When she got out of ICU, she had had a virus that also affects the immune system, which is a known trigger for relapses of transverse myelitis. 17:05 Between the virus, the stress, the physical task of being in ICU and in the hospital for a week, caring for her when I have complex pain, emotional issues, I myself ended up being readmitted to the hospital for a week with a complete relapse of my transverse myelitis. 17:21 My neurologist at the time was like, absolutely, it is. 17:25 a relapse of your transverse myelitis, you need to go get pain management and you need to go get steroids. 17:30 The first time I went to the hospital, they agreed. 17:33 But when they call and my husband had had to go out away for town, so he was trying to arrange a flight to come home to care for our children. 17:42 The first time I went to the emergency department, the emergency physician agreed. 17:46 Yeah, this sounds like TM. 17:48 We'll get everything sorted. 17:50 They sent a neurologist to consult on me. 17:53 He was like, no, absolutely not. 17:54 She's a drug seeker. 17:56 She's just here for pain management. 17:58 Yes, I'm here for pain management because my neurologist told me to come to the hospital for pain management and steroids. 18:06 And then at that point he said, and it's, you know, she's a drug seeker. 18:10 It's probably not even her TM. 18:13 It's obviously her rheumatoid arthritis. 18:16 which is why I'm peeing myself, which is why I have no sensation, which is why I feel like there's an ice pick stuck in my spine. 18:23 So I got sent home. 18:24 Luckily, I had had an appointment with my rheumatologist that week. 18:29 And my husband basically, again, had to carry me into that appointment. 18:34 And she looked at me and she was horrified. 18:36 She had never seen me like this. 18:38 She had never seen me in such significant suffering that she called the hospital. 18:43 doctor to doctor immediately and was like, you will admit her, you will treat her for pain and you will get this figured out. 18:50 So we went back to the hospital and luckily I did get a bed. 18:53 I got treated. 18:54 I got admitted. 18:56 They preferred a functional pain disorder instead of the transverse myelitis, even though all of my other providers were like, this is TM. 19:05 And I remember breaking down crying after all of this being happening. 19:10 I was crying and bawling to my team saying, I can't live like this anymore. 19:14 I can't live like this. 19:16 I was not suicidal. 19:17 I was asking for help. 19:19 And at this moment, instead of helping me, they brought in a psychologist to talk to me about MAID, medical assistance in dying. 19:29 I was in my early 30s. 19:32 I had a baby at home that had just been in ICU. 19:34 I was barely out of the postpartum period. 19:37 My hormones hadn't settled. 19:38 I was admitted for pain crisis on heavy-duty narcotics. 19:43 And I was asking for help, and instead they offered to euthanize me. 19:56 three-year-olds old and three or four months old was my little one at the time. 20:00 And they were just, instead of treating my pain, instead of finding me help, they wanted to euthanize me. 20:12 That moment broke me. 20:15 It broke my husband. 20:17 It broke my family. 20:19 That was the moment that any faith in the medical system that I so proudly served for years 20:26 was gone. 20:30 And then it just continued because after that I still had severe pain, severe disability. 20:38 That was in summer 2022. 20:40 And then I held out hope that maybe the government, all my faith in the medical system was gone. 20:48 All of my faith in, you know, even my coworkers, the people who 20:53 our friend group, the people who are supposed to have me outside of my husband, our immediate family, and a handful of people, my faith in everything was gone, but I held out faith that the government, they're like, we got you. 21:05 If something goes wrong, we've got you. 21:08 And then in January of 2023, so six months after this event, of which I had walked with a cane for most of this time as well, um, Speaker 3
21:18 Jamie, can I interrupt you for a second? 21:20 Yeah. 21:20 We want to ask a couple questions. 21:21 It may be related just because I've got a couple of the MPs that want to ask you some information. 21:27 Mr. Watts. 21:30 Thank you for sharing your experience. 21:36 We have lost our way. 21:38 Yes. 21:40 And I'm sorry that you have had to go through what you've gone through. 21:48 It's important that voices like yours don't get lost. 21:52 And what would you like to see happen as a result of this inquiry? Speaker 1
21:58 Transparency. 22:00 We need to talk about what happened. 22:02 People need to have their stories heard. 22:05 And we need to have checks and balances in place to help people. 22:09 There was supposed to be the VISP, and that's about where I was about to go. 22:13 In January of 2023, they sent me a letter, didn't even have my name on it. 22:19 They said that my injury, even though my neurologist said it's transverse myelitis, yeah, there's a causation there. 22:25 We believe that, you know, it's transient related to your vaccine. 22:31 But we don't really see that it's transverse myelitis. 22:34 It's probably your rheumatoid arthritis. 22:37 And regardless, your injury is not severe or permanent. 22:41 Denied. 22:44 I appealed within 60 days, and that was in March 2023, and I still have no resolution. 22:54 So I've been off work since February 2021. 22:58 I was removed. 22:59 I had a long-term disability through my employer for two years, but then they found 23:04 that I could not return to being a paramedic. 23:06 I could maybe do a job, any employment, because I didn't have the healthcare backing from any professionals to be, my neurologist to be like, yeah, you have transverse myelitis. 23:16 And my family doctor was like, yeah, you have this, and you have this, and you have this, but there was nobody to cumulatively bring it together to be like, hey, everything put together means you can't work anymore. 23:24 So I went without income for two years until I was finally approved for CPP disability. 23:32 But to give you an idea of CPP disability, I make $1,600 a month. 23:36 My out-of-pocket just medicine costs are $500 a month. 23:41 That doesn't include physio. 23:42 That doesn't include any therapy. 23:44 That doesn't include anything else. 23:46 But when the government, basically, OXERO, the government was... 23:53 represented by Oxero, and they said, no, your injury is not severe. 23:58 It's not permanent. 23:59 It broke the last bit of faith that I had. 24:02 The government said, we've got you. 24:05 But nobody has us. 24:07 There's not one besides the people in this room. 24:11 There's no one here to support us, to help us get through this, to help us navigate. 24:17 I'm a well-educated, well-spoken person, and I still struggle to get help. 24:21 I still get called a drug seeker. 24:23 I still get called, oh, she's crazy. 24:26 Oh, she had pre-existing conditions before she got sick. 24:31 So that's obviously why she's sick. 24:32 It has nothing to do with the vaccine. 24:34 Even though I have black and white medical documents that state transverse myelitis from COVID vaccine. 24:41 So if I can't even get help, how does everybody else get help? 24:45 I have support. 24:46 I have a husband and family who have moved mountains. 24:49 We were able to remortgage our house so that we could survive, but there's so many people that don't have support. 24:56 What about them? Speaker 3
24:58 Jamie, thank you very much. 25:00 And once again, you know, I'm reminded of you as a first responder, we thank you for the work that you do and have done, you know, and having your own community, you know, give you a hard time or turn on you as well. 25:12 And that, that, 25:13 That's troubling, but at every level compounds that as well. 25:17 So thank you very much for coming and sharing your story.