Witnesses
EN
Allison Inquiry | Shannon Holmes | Day 4 September 11th, 2026
A 50-year-old Ontario movement therapist who walked up to 17 kilometres a day describes painful tingling in her legs during the wait after her second Pfizer dose, then violent electric-shock-like episodes that night. She describes being told she was a "medical question mark", rejected referrals, several diagnoses under "vaccine-induced long COVID", and daily pain and dependence on her daughters.
Shannon Holmes, 50, a mother of two daughters, was a movement therapist teaching Pilates and yoga and doing Thai massage, specializing in clients with neurological conditions, working six days a week and walking 5 to 17 kilometres a day. She has an autoimmune condition that was well managed and says she never had COVID. After a first Pfizer dose with a sore arm, she received the second on August 27, 2021 at a hospital clinic and, because of her autoimmune condition, waited 30 minutes, during which she developed painful vibrating and tingling from her thighs to her feet. She says a doctor told her she was a giant medical question mark, did no tests and sent her home. That night she says she had violent electric-shock-like episodes that threw her body around the bed, clothes that felt like burning, a stabbing back pain, a choking sensation and an inability to eat, and a friend called an ambulance the next day. She shows a video of a mild episode and says they continue today. Holmes says an emergency doctor told her to pick one issue, that morphine did nothing, and that 12 to 15 specialist referrals were rejected, some because she was called a long hauler. She says her doctor diagnosed vaccine-induced long COVID, with all three types of POTS, ME/CFS, functional neurological disorder and mast cell activation syndrome. She describes daily pain, post-exertion malaise, not being able to go out alone, brain fog, and daughters who now help with cooking and cleaning. She says a hospital ketamine program helped her neurological symptoms but she can no longer afford it. MPs thank her.
Shannon Holmes, 50, a mother of two daughters, was a movement therapist teaching Pilates and yoga and doing Thai massage, specializing in clients with neurological conditions, working six days a week and walking 5 to 17 kilometres a day. She has an autoimmune condition that was well managed and says she never had COVID. After a first Pfizer dose with a sore arm, she received the second on August 27, 2021 at a hospital clinic and, because of her autoimmune condition, waited 30 minutes, during which she developed painful vibrating and tingling from her thighs to her feet. She says a doctor told her she was a giant medical question mark, did no tests and sent her home. That night she says she had violent electric-shock-like episodes that threw her body around the bed, clothes that felt like burning, a stabbing back pain, a choking sensation and an inability to eat, and a friend called an ambulance the next day. She shows a video of a mild episode and says they continue today. Holmes says an emergency doctor told her to pick one issue, that morphine did nothing, and that 12 to 15 specialist referrals were rejected, some because she was called a long hauler. She says her doctor diagnosed vaccine-induced long COVID, with all three types of POTS, ME/CFS, functional neurological disorder and mast cell activation syndrome. She describes daily pain, post-exertion malaise, not being able to go out alone, brain fog, and daughters who now help with cooking and cleaning. She says a hospital ketamine program helped her neurological symptoms but she can no longer afford it. MPs thank her.
