IIt was just a scratch. Of all the feelings and thoughts she's had to contend with since the summer, disbelief is the emotion Robin Thomson still struggles with the most. “You never think something like this could happen to you,” Robin said. “You don't really think this happens to anyone.”
Robin's mother, Yvonne Ford, showed no signs of illness for several months after returning from holiday in Morocco in February. She spoke highly of the country and its people and recommended it for future trips. She didn't realize that a seemingly harmless interaction with a puppy sitting in the sun would cause so much harm.
Yvonne's symptoms remained dormant for several months until June, when she developed flu-like symptoms. The headaches and fever that followed quickly worsened, and the 59-year-old man soon lost the ability to walk or eat.
Robin, a registered nurse, didn't know what caused her mother's illness, and neither did her doctors. By the time she was hospitalized and diagnosed with rabies, there was nothing anyone could do to save Yvonne's life.
“It felt unreal,” Robin said, recalling her disbelief that such a small mark could bring her world down. “I remember thinking it must be something else, she wasn't bitten or attacked.”
When Yvonne died on June 11.she became only the seventh person since 2000 to die in the UK from rabies, a virus transmitted through saliva that causes inflammation of the brain. However, outside the UK, around 60,000 people die from rabies every year, with the virus almost always proving fatal as soon as symptoms appear. In memory of her mother, Robin vowed to reduce this number to zero by 2030.
Yvonne, yes Barnsley native, died in hospital in Sheffield. “They have a department of infectious disease specialists, and one of the consultants there knows the CEO of Mission Rabies,” Robyn said. “He contacted me and asked if I would be interested in doing something with their band and I just said, 'Absolutely.' It was like something I had to do, I felt like I needed to do something to help and make a difference.”
By partnering with Mission Rabies, Robin has committed to traveling overseas and vaccinating dogs in countries where the disease is widespread. She believes that because “it's on the other side of the world, people don't really care, you won't see it in the papers or on TV because it doesn't affect people here. But it affects people somewhere, and that's why we do it.”
Her first stop was Cambodia, where she and her husband Andrew, fully vaccinated themselves, volunteered in October. The goal, the couple said, is to immunize 70% of the local dog population, mostly strays, to break the cycle of transmission. It was a lot of work, but the couple stayed motivated by testing who could deliver the most vaccines each day.
“It was hard to determine which of us could handle the most dogs,” said Robin, who couldn’t remember who won. “It's a bit of a blur because we've done so much. This year we had a goal of 10,000 dogs in one day and we achieved that and it's a record for the most dogs ever vaccinated in one area.” The Anti-Rabies Mission says it has vaccinated nearly half a million dogs in Cambodia.
The couple's plan to visit Malawi next year is dependent on fundraising, but Robin hopes they have created a new annual tradition in memory of her mother.
“I wish we could do this every year, helping different people each time,” she said. “I want to turn what happened into a positive and I want to help people like my mom.”
Luke Gamble, executive director of Mission Rabies, who first contacted Robyn, praised the work she and her husband did and praised them for turning their grief into something that helps other people.
“Both Robin and Andrew were an inspiration to us all. They worked tirelessly and made a huge contribution to the charity,” he said. “It's not an easy job – we go door to door, from dawn to dusk in extreme heat, to get to every dog we can. I'm incredibly grateful to them and all the other wonderful volunteers who make this possible.”
