My Story:

My son Jake was a healthy and happy baby, and met key milestones at ages 3 months (smiling), 6 months (sitting) and 9 months (standing). By 12 months, he was using basic toddler words and I have a photo of him laughing at his one year old birthday party. That was the last time we would see him smile and look at us for a long time. By 18 mos, he had regressed significantly and lost all speech and eye contact, as well as began toe-walking, flapping his arms, making high pitched sounds and lining up toys. He did not speak again until age 5, when we began biomedical intervention and VBA/ABA. Today, he is making progress and recovering from many physical and neurological symptoms associated with autism. There was a time when we could not even leave our home because of his tantrums. Today, he is happy and enjoys horseback riding and kayaking, and especially loves to visit the Austin Zoo to see his animal friends.

Special Acknowledgements:

We have been abundantly blessed, which may sound strange if you knew what has happened in our family in the past. I once asked God why we had to endure this tough road. For several years, we struggled to cope with Jake’s autism and major crises in our families. It seemed there was no escape from tragedy. In the midst of it all, I never stopped praying, nor did my family and friends. God gave me strength and perseverance and healing for Jake and the rest of my family. My husband, a brain tumor survivor of five years, really is the one who I admire and appreciate. In addition to overcoming his own serious illness, he became the best father to Jake and worked day and night on his recovery and put everything else aside. My family and friends are my rock. They have learned more about autism than they probably ever wanted to, and have supported me through it all. For Angela, you are the most amazing and dedicated warrior mom that I know and we are very blessed to have you as our President of NAA. For Dr. Stewart, thank you for listening to us and your compassion. I don’t know where Jake would be if we had not found you, and he is making such great progress under your care. For the other parents who never, ever give up, please know how much I draw from your strength and energy. I get tired and defeated sometimes, and you always lift me up with your encouragement.

How I am trying to help other families in the journey:

Parents who are new to the journey of autism become quickly overwhelmed and discouraged by the vast amount of information given to them by various professionals, conferences and websites. Couple this with the financial, emotional and family issues which accompany having a child with special needs, and the result is exhausted parents who often feel defeated before they even begin the journey. Understandably, many turn to medicines which control behavior or symptoms, but do not treat the underlying neuro-immune disorder and do not help to recover their child.

I consider myself to be an avid learner, and continually seek the most recent scientific and evidence based research available by speaking with key opinion leaders around the world, attending conferences, and reading many books and articles on biomedical intervention for autism and other neuro-immune disorders. My goal is to translate the more complex scientific concepts into actionable information for parents.

My message for parents and professionals is that autism is treatable. However, it takes an entire team of family, friends and professionals to help recover these children. The best advice I can give for parents is to build an energetic recovery team through your network of family, church, friends, neighbors, teachers, therapists and physicians. You cannot be your child’s parent, teacher, therapist, dietician, physician and advocate and keep your strength or sanity for the long term. Find help, and know that there are plenty of us here to help you.

My Current Projects: I am usually researching and writing at all hours of the night, when the family is asleep and after I have caught up on my office work from the day. I make a rule to put God first, family second, and career last, which has worked so far as long as I don’t rearrange those priorities. I attend a few autism conferences per year to network with the brilliant minds that are fighting to recover our children. My favorite part of the conferences, especially Autism One, is to see my old familiar friends and meet new ones and share stories on how our children are progressing. The conferences always invigorate me, give me new knowledge, and many new friends.

I occasionally meet with my legislators, if needed, but leave the politicking for our amazing friends at Texas Autism Advocacy. I have provided comments in several NVAC (National Vaccine Advisory Committee) meetings, and vaccine safety is an initiative which I feel very strongly about. I have written several articles, and now have decided to start writing a book. Dr. Stewart and I have taken a team approach to Jake’s recovery, with him as the quarterback much to my relief. We have both learned much in this journey, and decided to share our story on a new monthly radio show on Autism One Radio.