# What ever happened to those high school girls that were suddenly unable to walk right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842 "2017-11-17T04:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842/1 "2017-11-17T04:15:32Z")
I may some of the details wrong, but I remember several years ago, maybe 10 years ago, there was several news stories about a group of high school cheerleaders (?) in New York state (?) that all started having problems walking right, and being able to speak clearly. It was a story for several months, and I remember some of the focus of the possible cause was on some chemical sprayed on the football field before they practices one day? I tried to search for this on google but had no luck. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I just going crazy? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842/2 "2017-11-17T04:31:26Z")
You might be thinking of one woman, Desiree Jennings who claimed that she was brain-damaged by a flu shot. The consensus of doctors was that is was psychogenic illness, either imagined or faked. A TV show caught her walking normally and when they confronted her, she began speaking in some sort of Cockney or Australian accent. If I remember correctly, I think she claimed publicly that some sort of alternative medicine was helping out. (Edit: here: [Desiree Jennings’ Road to Recovery with Dr. Rashid A. Buttar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRw5s_04lMw) ) [Is Desiree Jennings Flu Shot victim a liar?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwlRwGQl5x4) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842/3 "2017-11-17T04:36:02Z")
I remember this story, or at least a similar one. The one I remember was one woman who reported speech and mobility problems after getting a flu vaccine. Her name was Desiree Jennings. She was an aspiring NFL cheerleader, and in her 20s (not high school age). After the initial reports, there were many questions about the whether her symptoms were physical, psychological, or hoaxed. This was in 2009. Many who believed it was a deliberate hoax thought she was driving an anti-vaccination agenda. I don’t know if there was ever a definitive answer. > **[Flu Fears, Vaccine Fears, and Cheerleader Desiree Jennings’s Story](https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2009/11/02/flu-fears-vaccine-fears-and-cheerleader-desiree-jenningss-story)** > > Vaccine shortage sparks worry too, though more H1N1 vaccine is (slowly) coming. [https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.com/amp/2020/desiree-jennings-fake-muscle-disorder/story%3Fid=11228285](https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.com/amp/2020/desiree-jennings-fake-muscle-disorder/story%3fid=11228285) [https://www.google.com/amp/www.insideedition.com/headlines/159-flu-shot-woman%3Famp](https://www.google.com/amp/www.insideedition.com/headlines/159-flu-shot-woman%3famp) > **[Desiree Jennings](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Desiree_Jennings)** > > Desiree Jennings (c. 1984–)\[1\] is an American woman from Ashburn, Virginia, who became part of the vaccine manufactroversy in 2009. That October, the aspiring cheerleader claimed she had acquired a rare disease from a flu shot. Her story went... ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842/4 "2017-11-17T04:37:08Z")
> [@nate](#): > > I may some of the details wrong, but I remember several years ago, maybe 10 years ago, there was several news stories about a group of high school cheerleaders (?) in New York state (?) that all started having problems walking right, and being able to speak clearly. It was a story for several months, and I remember some of the focus of the possible cause was on some chemical sprayed on the football field before they practices one day? I tried to search for this on google but had no luck. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I just going crazy? With something like that, I always think of mass hysteria first. So I went to the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria#North_Carolina_.282002.29) and the 2002 North Carolina one sort of looks like what you’re mentioning. Has cheerleaders, anyway. [This article references Le Roy, New York, so may be more of the same](http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2012/02/mass_hysteria_rare_but_usually.html). [Here is an article about 2011 incidents in NY](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/teenage-girls-twitching-le-roy.html). And [Wikpedia article on the location](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Roy,_New_York) says one girl diagnosed with Tourette’s, and most others back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-those-high-school-girls-that-were-suddenly-unable-to-walk-right/801842/5 "2017-11-17T05:03:55Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > With something like that, I always think of mass hysteria first. So I went to the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria#North_Carolina_.282002.29) and the 2002 North Carolina one sort of looks like what you’re mentioning. Has cheerleaders, anyway. [This article references Le Roy, New York, so may be more of the same](http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2012/02/mass_hysteria_rare_but_usually.html). [Here is an article about 2011 incidents in NY](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/teenage-girls-twitching-le-roy.html). And [Wikpedia article on the location](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Roy,_New_York) says one girl diagnosed with Tourette’s, and most others back to normal. That’s it! The story about the Le Roy, NY girls! Conversion disorder… hmm. Crazy that it mainly affect groups of female teenagers. That’s bizarre.