Witnesses
EN
Allison Inquiry | Carol Messenger | Day 3 September 10th, 2026
A 58-year-old retired Vancouver fire captain describes losing feeling and bladder and bowel control on a boat trip about three weeks after her second dose, leading to a diagnosis of transverse myelitis with a 5 cm spinal lesion. She describes rehab, lasting nerve symptoms, and a compensation process with lost files and a record that declared her dead.
Carol Messenger, 58, spent 22 years with Vancouver Fire Rescue Service, eight of them as a captain, was in excellent health and had a husband who served 27 years in the same service. She received Pfizer in April 2021 and Moderna on June 24, 2021, under her employer's vaccine mandate. On July 18, three weeks and six days after the second dose, she says she felt pins and needles from her buttocks to her feet while on a boat at Quadra Island, lost control of her bladder and bowels, and could not stand. At Campbell River Hospital she had no feeling below the waist and needed a catheter, and she was transferred to Victoria General, where she says a 5-centimetre lesion between T10 and T11 was found. Doctors diagnosed transverse myelitis and treated her with high-dose steroids. Messenger describes months of rehab, self-catheterizing, lasting numbness, a limp, muscle spasms up to five nights a week, thermoregulation problems, swollen feet and the effect on intimacy. She says her neurologist told her to apply to the Vaccine Injury Support Program, where she describes lost files, months without contact, and a records letter that declared her dead. She received a small award but says costs including catheters and counselling were denied. She says she has recovered about 90% and speaks to help others feel less alone.
Carol Messenger, 58, spent 22 years with Vancouver Fire Rescue Service, eight of them as a captain, was in excellent health and had a husband who served 27 years in the same service. She received Pfizer in April 2021 and Moderna on June 24, 2021, under her employer's vaccine mandate. On July 18, three weeks and six days after the second dose, she says she felt pins and needles from her buttocks to her feet while on a boat at Quadra Island, lost control of her bladder and bowels, and could not stand. At Campbell River Hospital she had no feeling below the waist and needed a catheter, and she was transferred to Victoria General, where she says a 5-centimetre lesion between T10 and T11 was found. Doctors diagnosed transverse myelitis and treated her with high-dose steroids. Messenger describes months of rehab, self-catheterizing, lasting numbness, a limp, muscle spasms up to five nights a week, thermoregulation problems, swollen feet and the effect on intimacy. She says her neurologist told her to apply to the Vaccine Injury Support Program, where she describes lost files, months without contact, and a records letter that declared her dead. She received a small award but says costs including catheters and counselling were denied. She says she has recovered about 90% and speaks to help others feel less alone.
