Honouring Sara: A Mother’s Journey to CHD’s “Moment of Truth” Conference
Let me introduce myself…
My name is Gloria Dignazio, and I am Provincial Director for Children’s Health Defense Canada (CHDC) here in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
I’ve been involved in the vaccine risk awareness movement for 31 years now.
My first-born daughter, Sara Stevie was left suffering with post-vaccinal encephalitis and demyelination aka vaccine-induced autism, following her 18-month DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-polio) vaccinations back on December 18, 1993. I could write a book and probably will at some point (and will be writing an article for CHDC shortly) regarding my journey with Sara, and her story as the second-only vaccine litigation case filed here in Canada in 1995.
A bit more of my background: I served on the original Board of Vaccine Risk Awareness Network (VRAN), and of course, I follow the exceptional work of Vaccine Choice Canada up to this very day. I am also a citizen journalist for Winnipeg Alternative Media (WAM).
In early 2023, I was invited to a Justice for the Vaccinated Conference in Toronto, Ontario where I was finally able to meet in person my fellow warrior mothers, CHDC co-founders Amanda Forbes and Christine Colebeck! When I returned to Winnipeg, Amanda asked me to join the CHDC as a Provincial Director, and I was beyond thrilled and proudly accepted, thus began my journey with CHDC.
Attending the “Moment of Truth” Conference
I’ve been asked to report on my experiences attending the Children’s Health Defense “Moment of Truth” Conference held November 7-9, 2025, in Austin, Texas at the beautiful JW Marriott Hotel.
First of all, I must say that I don’t believe in coincidences, only synchronicities, and this trip not only facilitated my being able to attend CHD’s incredible conference, but I was also able to attend a live taping of Del Bigtree‘s show, The Highwire. I watch The Highwire every Thursday at 1:00 p.m. CST and have never missed a show!
While at The Highwire studios, I met investigative journalist Jefferey Jaxen and ICAN’s incredible team members, including Patrick Layton and Kris Armstrong, the director of Del Bigtree’s new award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Study. We were treated like royalty by Del and his team. To say it was a thrilling experience would be an understatement! Here are a few photos:
On this day I was also able to finally see the brick that I had purchased a couple of years ago for a fundraising drive for Del Bigtree’s nonprofit the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). When I purchased the brick, which has a special message with respect to my daughter Sara, I had tears in my eyes and thought to myself, one day I will be outside of The Highwire studio in Austin, Texas and actually look at her brick with my own eyes. Well, that moment happened, it was an incredibly special and emotional moment for me.
Meeting Fellow Leaders and Heroes
To see and spend time with CHDC President Christine Colebeck in Austin and get to know her better was absolutely amazing! I also got to catch up with Rick Dignard, former CHDC B.C. Provincial Director and meet CHDC Vice President Jen Berman Diaz for the first time, truly a delight!
Work hard, play hard…
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The CHD conference was exceptionally high-end and very well organized! The hotel was absolutely gorgeous!
Ballroom photo by CHD
I am estimating there were at least 1,000 folks who attended this conference, and they were from all over the world, including Europe!
I met so many other parents of vaccine-injured children, along with several who did not have vaccine-injured children, but cared enough to be in the movement…that always impresses me. Also of note, many people who were in attendance had only become aware of CHD and CHDC because of what happened during COVID, which appears to have woken up a lot of people.
For me personally, to meet so many of my heroes in the movement was just humbling and totally miraculous!
One of the heroes that I’ve always wanted to meet is Dr. Andy Wakefield.
I interviewed Dr. Wakefield last year for WAM, but I had never met him in person. I remember over the course of the last 30 years thinking…I am going to meet this man one day and look into his eyes and tell him how much we moms of vax-injured children want to express our gratitude and thanks for ALL he has done and endured. I was finally able to do so, and it was quite the emotional moment for me.
Over the weekend, I also had the extreme blessing, honour and pleasure of meeting the following medical freedom heroes and absolute legends in my world:
Mary Holland, Esq., CEO of CHD
Brian Hooker, PhD, CHD Chief Scientific Officer
Polly Tommey, CHD.TV Program Director
Dr. Suzanne Humphries
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
Dr. Pierre Kory
Dr. Peter McCullough
Catherine Austin Fitts
The Honourable Brian Peckford
Henry Hildebrandt
Conference Highlights
It was a very cool experience to meet the other CHD chapter leaders from across the United States and listen to what they had to say on the first informal day of the Conference.
The next two formal days of the Conference were filled with unbelievable speakers, including the entire panel from the Vaxxed movie!
There was a special panel of Spellers, that was absolutely incredible and quite moving!
A panel called “Breaking the Mainstream Media Measles Narrative” was especially moving as two of the parents from the Mennonite community who suffered the loss of two of their children from the supposed 2025 measles outbreak in Texas were present.
Other notable speakers included: Gavin de Becker, Dr. Ben Edwards, Senators Ron Johnson
and Dr. Rand Paul, Steve Kirsch, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Dr. Meryl Nass,
Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, Jessica Rose, PhD, Leslie Manookian, Dr. Bret Weinstein, and members of the U.S. military who spoke out against the COVID-19 vaccines.
A Night to Remember
On the Saturday night of the conference, there was a “Champion” dinner, hosted by Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines. She was an absolute delight, and I had the pleasure of meeting her as well.
The dinner was co-hosted by Russell Brand; it was such a blessing to meet him. He actually listened to me when I told him what happened to my daughter Sara, and we talked about our mutual love of Kundalini Yoga.
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All in all, the conference was an incredibly informative, and I would dare say, life-changing experience which I will never forget!
I’m extremely grateful to CHD Canada for inviting me to be a part of this amazing organization and for their kindness and generosity in facilitating my being able to attend this historic conference and event!
Reunited with my Sara on the one week anniversary of visiting The Highwire!
About the Author:
Gloria Dignazio is the Manitoba Provincial Director for Children’s Health Defense Canada. A dedicated advocate for vaccine risk awareness for over three decades, Gloria continues to share her story and champion informed consent for all families. You can follow Gloria on Facebook here.
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