My 3 year old nephew, Taven, was diagnosed with autism in December. Here is an excerpt from my sister's blog:
He has gone from speaking 30 words to more than 100, his eye contact has improved, he is greeting family and friends (with "hi"), his compliance has increased tenfold and he is hugging his brother goodnight. These improvements are a result of the treatments and therapies developed due to research funded by Autism Speaks; knowledge sharing among parents through an autism support group (Talk About Curing Autism, TACA); and education and treatment from our Defeat Autism Now(DAN) doctor and the Marcus Autism Center.
When I first heard about Taven, I was heartbroken. College was not that long ago for me and I learned about autism. However, in the 5 years or so since I did my research, it's amazing how far autism has come. In both good ways and bad. Autism is not what we once thought it was.
We'll start with the bad news.
In What to Expect the First Year, published in 2003, it is stated that there are an estimated 2 to 6 cases of autism per 1,000 babies.
Todays numbers: (seen as recently as last week on the news) 1 in 150 babies, and 1 in 138 in Georgia.
I'm not O.K. with that.
However, there is good news.
What I learned growing up was that autism was something you were born with that could not be cured. However, thanks to organizations like the ones my sister listed above, THERE IS HOPE!! Taven has been given an 80% chance of improvement, and there are some kids that even recover completely. That alone is something to celebrate. It's requiring a lot of prayer, patience, check writing, and more doctor's appointments than any one person should have in a lifetime, but as you saw above, Taven is improving! There are still more steps Karri and Michael plan to take to get their son back.
So what's this mean for Isaac?
I know you all follow our blog because you have an interest in Isaac's life. So how will our experience with our nephew affect the way we raise Isaac? For one, we are being MUCH more cautious with what goes in our son's body. Yes, that means we are examining vaccines much closer and looking at alternative vaccine schedules. The majority of doctors do not believe there is a link between vaccines and autism. And I understand why. The research doesn't show it. However, my nephew has high levels of mercury and other toxins (which are used as preservatives in some vaccines, including the flu shot) in his system. They tested him again after 30 days to see if levels changed (showing there was something in his environment to cause the high levels) and the levels stayed the same. Most kids can process the toxins. But some kids can't. Taven's body can't process that out. So now they have to help him get it out of his system. For some kids, once the toxins are out, so goes the autism with it.
The bottom line is, they don't know what causes autism and they can't figure out why the numbers are jumping out of control. So until they do, I am going to be very cautious. Isaac will be vaccinated, but it won't be with vaccines that have toxins and he will not follow the CDC's crazy schedule. It just doesn't make sense. The vaccine schedule so overwhelmed me that at each check-up, I just said, "You do what's supposed to be done" because I could not handle looking at all the different vaccines he was supposed to get. I don't care if there are trace amounts or large amounts of mercury in a vaccine, I will not knowingly put a toxin into my little boy's body. That's just ridiculous.
Stepping off my soap box...
I will be walking on May 3 in the "Walk Now For Autism" to raise support for Autism Speaks, along with my sister and her family. Michael and Karri have a goal of $2,000 and I have a goal of $250 that will help them reach their $2,000. If you would like to donate to support, I would greatly appreciate it!!!
Go here: www.walknowforautism.org/georgia/summerlin if you would like to support with a donation.
You can also visit my sister's blog at http://atlantaden.blogspot.com/ to read her most recent post where she gives more details about Taven's journey.
Thanks for reading :)
2 comments:
Whether one believes vaccines lead to Autism or not, they are nothing to sneeze at. Instead of letting a baby's immune system develop properly, we bombard it with dead viruses and preservatives from the moment they are born. Why? Because a Biotech company says so? What's their bottom line? Is it really about health or money? Why not let babies build their own immunity so that every year during cold season, they can actually combat it and barely be phased instead of catching the worst of it each year?
(Ames)
Thanks for sharing! I have a cousin right now who is thirteen living with autism. She was fine until she turned two. It was a complete shock for our family because we all had children who developed according to their appropriate stage of development. I wish that we would have taken a more proactive approach rather than be in denial. When I look at Amanda my heart breaks because I feel that if early intervention would have taken place she would be so much farther along than where she is. So I donate on her behalf and the many other children and adults who are living with this disease. Knowledge is truly power!
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