Helen Conroy - Evolution of a Revolution: Autism and the Path from Hope to Healing

Copyright 2017 by Helen Conroy and Laura Hirsch

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas

Cover photo: iStockphoto

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1194-5

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1195-2

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Preface

N ot very long ago, the friends behind the Thinking Moms Revolution wanted to share the support they had found in each other and decided to write a book. That small idea became a blog, and eventually a social thought movement. TMR is known for demanding action, so it felt natural to shift from offering hope and support to offering financial assistance as well. Team TMR, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, was born. The women that contributed to this book volunteered their stories without compensation because they believe in hope, in supporting others on this path, and in the Thinking Moms Revolution. I am awed and humbled to be in their company. When I read their stories of faith and recovery, I feel deeply connected to each of them. The funds generated from the sale of the book will benefit the Team TMR grant program and will fund treatments for children with autism and other related disorders. Thank you for supporting our mission. We remain committed to turning the tide of this epidemic, and your help is greatly appreciated.

Helen Conroy, Executive Director, Team TMR

Our goal with the Thinking Moms Revolution was to help parents understand they are not alone. We wanted to share our stories in the hopes they would inspire others to pursue recovery with the same fervor and tenacity we did. We dared to dream that, in doing so, we would inspire a thought revolution! Along came these incredible Thinkers: moms who have done the work, some having attained the magical R word (Recovery) we all strive for with each waking moment. I consider myself to be honored and blessed to be among such genuine greatness. We hope you see yourself in these pages. We hope the truth written here settles in your bones and becomes a part of you. Recovery is real. Believe it.

Lisa Joyce Goes, Board President, Team TMR

Introduction

T hrough a variety of avenues, both happenstance and intentional, each of us at Team TMR came to know and love the Thinking Moms Revolution. We wake up to their blog posts in our email boxes and read them over morning coffee. These mothers (and one dad) provide us with a much-needed voice, and we live vicariously through their epic adventures in the world of autism and related childhood disorders.

TMR has passed the proverbial torch, and we have been brought together and given the opportunity to share our stories of the emergence from struggle into hope and recovery. Now, the ties that bind usto each other and to TMRextend beyond our affected kids. We need each other like air and water. We share in each individuals successes because they might not have happened without our shared steadfast support and mountains of knowledge. The belief we hold in recovery only serves to make us stronger and make healing more realistic.

Our hope is that readers will find themselves in these pages, much in the same way we found ourselves mirrored in the Thinking Moms Revolution. We want our stories to give you strength to keep up the fight one more day and give you the confidence to overcome this unique but shared challenge. We would like you to turn to our words when you think you just cant do it anymore. We aspire to instill in you the faith and knowledge that TMR gave us, because it was this faith and knowledge that kept us from surrendering. We believe in our very core that all children deserve to live free from physical and emotional pain in whatever way they manifest, and collectively we can make it happen.

Phoenix

Journey to Acceptance

Y ou are doing everything you can, said our pediatrician when I told him of my sons autism diagnosis and confirmed that we were receiving Early Intervention services. Everything I can. Fifty to sixty hours of intervention services a month for a not-even-two-year-old. It wasnt helping. He was getting worse. More autistic, less the boy I knew. How could I resign myself to this, when just three months ago he was perfect? I had spent those three months getting Early Intervention services in place. A terrible agency, then a great agency, then an autism-specific agency. Months of paperwork, agonizing decisions, further regression. No progress.

Meanwhile, I was reading. I had gone to the library and taken out every book about autism they had. I didnt know anything about autism. I didnt know a single person with this diagnosis. I had no clue at that point that Andrew had about a 1-in-30 chance of becoming autistic in 2012 just by being born a boy.

I wept as I realized what had happened to my son. What I had allowed to happen. I learned about vaccines, the neurotoxins they contain, the heavy metals. But most importantly, I learned that there were things that I could do, that autism was a medical condition, and that I could improve his symptoms. I learned about biomedical treatments and diets, and later about GMOs. I convinced my husband to let us try a gluten-free diet with Andrew, just for a month, as it was expensive. I agreed that if nothing changed, Id drop it. Just three days after eliminating gluten from Andrews diet, we had eye contact from our sweet boy who hadnt looked at us in months, and we were hooked. There was no turning back.

Deeper and deeper I dug. As a stay-at-home mom of three, I didnt have a lot of spare time, but I was frantic to help Andrew. With every free minute, I networked, researched, and found mothers of children with autism on the same path. I was waking up, and I was very, very sad. I learned that thousands and thousands of children are sick here in the United States. You know the story now; youve read the first Thinking Moms Revolution book. You know about vaccines, about neurotoxins, about giving Tylenol before and after shots. You know about how GMOs create holes in the stomachs of lab rats. You know about methylation mutations and the risks of vaccinating when these are present. Back then, I didnt even know about regressive autism!

According to the mainstream view, autism is something youre born with, and my son wasnt. He was born unbelievably beautiful, with a full head of dark hair and two strong cowlicks on his hairline. He was happy and healthy, and he hit every milestone either on time or early. He was the earliest crawler of my three children. Sure, he was pretty cranky as a newborn, but he always had eye contact and smiles. As soon as he was mobile, he turned into the happiest child you could hope to meet. He spoke dozens of words, he took steps. Although he wouldnt officially walk until seventeen months, he had been adeptly cruising full-time since nine months.