A Minnesota Army veteran’s battle with Guillain-Barre syndrome is reaching a national audience through a new documentary released June 30.
“Duty to Disobey,” a Children’s Health Defense film by Tommy Burrowes Productions, tells the stories of military service members who were affected by the military’s COVID-19 vaccine policies. Among them was Drew Carpenter, an Army combat veteran who says his life changed dramatically after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.
Carpenter enlisted in the Army after high school and deployed shortly after in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After a four-year break from service, he joined the Minnesota National Guard and deployed again to Kuwait and the Middle East in 2018.
But his career would come to an unexpected turning point in 2021.
According to Carpenter’s GiveSendGo fundraiser, he was “highly encouraged” to receive two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in April 2021, being told that the vaccine would protect him and his elderly mother from COVID-19. Within weeks, his healthy state devolved into flu-like symptoms that escalated into numbness, tingling, and gastrointestinal problems, the fundraiser explains.
Doctors diagnosed him with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. Severe cases can leave patients temporarily paralyzed and unable to breathe without assistance.
Carpenter was rushed to the hospital, where he was intubated and connected to a ventilator while doctors treated him with intravenous immunoglobulin and plasmapheresis, a procedure that filters antibodies from the blood.
He recalls the weeks that followed in a Moving Tree Media interview.
“It could have been the last phone call and it was just a lot of handholding, a lot of hugging,” Carpenter said. “But I guess I didn’t stay with the being scared moment. I felt it, acknowledged it, and now it’s like ‘what do we need to do? Let’s get going. Let’s do the thing.’”
Although he was out for roughly seven days on heavy drugs, Carpenter said he experienced vivid dreams during a medically-induced coma and could sense the plasmapheresis treatments taking place. The experience changed him.
“[The coma dream] did shift the way I look at life, and more of a balance as well of being grateful for everything I have, everything that I will have, and still striving to keep going,” he said.
When Carpenter awoke, he found himself completely paralyzed.
Unable to speak or move, he faced the possibility that his condition could become his new reality.
“I just remember they were telling me to wiggle my toes, and then I couldn’t do it,” he said. “And then another doctor would come in a couple hours later — it felt like a revolving door. And the more they asked, the more I realized that I couldn’t do it. They were not moving, and not without me trying. I was telling my brain, I was telling my toes to do it, and it wasn’t happening.”
Initially, Carpenter wanted to keep his condition private, asking his wife Christa not to tell many people. As his hospitalization continued, however, family, friends and members of the community rallied around them, providing support throughout his recovery.
According to the fundraiser, Carpenter said he was still facing significant challenges more than a year later. He told Alpha News in February 2024 that he felt like he was in “somebody else’s body now.”
“I’m in constant pain, nerve pain, neuropathy, immobile, unless I have assistive devices,” he said.
Carpenter said in his fundraiser that he was disappointed that his case was not reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and that he felt his concerns about a vaccine connection were not fully addressed by his medical providers.
He continues to speak out on government policies and in support of others damaged by similar vaccines, determined to still serve his country and his fellow Americans in any way he can.
Rachael Van Rossum
Rachael Van Rossum is a journalist and author who studies political science in the Twin Cities. She previously interned with the Illinois House of Representatives and recently published her debut fantasy novel "The Hellburner of Sovi." Rachael is passionate about telling compelling stories and bringing to life the voices of political figures, athletes, and members of her community through engaging writing. She is the Alpha News journalism fellow for the summer of 2026.
