Aidan, we are not alone

 "Imagine you are seated at a table among several people. Right beside you, your child is choking helplessly. You are frantic, doing everything in your power to save him. The clock is ticking. He is turning blue and the life is draining out of him. Some of the folks at your table tell you to calm down. Take it a day at a time. The rest? They just look away." 

-Lisa Joyce Goes

From the moment we started Aidan on his biomedical journey, I have read reports from fellow Warrior Moms and Dads about finding heavy metals, oxidative stress, methylation impairment, stealth viruses, and major gastrointestinal issues in their children. Every day since, I find myself carving time out of my day just to obsess analyze what is causing Aidan’s Autism. I know it is something. I know that we had a typically developing child that began to slip away from us over a period of months.  And I can look back at videos and pictures to illustrate my once engaged child turn into a lost boy.

Why doesn’t anyone believe this? Why is it impossible to explain our situation to Aidan’s teachers, therapists, and worst of all friends and family? You get the obligatory head nods and the look of pity when you say that your child’s autism was brought on by environmental factors.

I know that more people like me exist. I chat with hundreds of them on the Yahoo! Autism boards and read their comments on the Age of Autism, but why is it so hard for some people to grasp that a child could be helped by biomedical intervention? My husband has always had a theory that these are the people who believe whatever their mainstream doctor (along with the evening news) tells them. I know he is right and it has always been frustrating to me that there is not more news coverage on families touched by Autism that look like ours. Families that are truly in the trenches trying to help their child in EVERY way possible.  Enter Alison MacNeil on the PBS News Hour. FINALLY! A fellow Warrior Mom who is sharing her son Nick’s story, that eerily sounds like so many others that have gone unnoticed and undocumented.

If you haven’t seen Nick’s story, you can watch it below. Be prepared to cry like a baby. I have watched it about twenty times now and I cry every time! It takes me back to the days of fighting Aidan’s doctors, and getting no answers. 

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.