May 2007
Jonny
| Before | Injured | Recovering |
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Sierra
| Before | Injured | Recovering |
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| Family |
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Both Jonny and Sierra were born healthy and well developed. As a long time environmentalist, I was very careful about not consuming any toxins during my pregnancies. I never ate fish, never drank tap water, and wouldn’t take something as simple as Tylenol.
When he was born, July 17, 1999, Jonny raised his head to look around the room. We were amazed at Jonny’s immediate eye contact and smiles. His first months were a joy. Jonny was “colicky” after his 1 and 2 month shots, but we were told it was not uncommon and that he was fully healthy. We knew nothing about the potential dangers of vaccines and brought him in for his 4 month shots on November 17, 1999.
We now realize that at that visit he received twice the recommended vaccine schedule and therefore many more viruses and over 100 times the amount of mercury considered to be “safe”. That was when his life-long medical nightmare began. Within two hours Jonny became hysterical, was convulsing and having about 10 bloody diarrheas per hour. It was so bad that he was admitted to the hospital. We believed it was an obvious adverse reaction to the vaccinations, but when we questioned the vaccinations he had received we were told, “no connection”.
During his hospitalization Jonny had a blue-toxic diaper that resembled Windex. The nurse ran out of the room scared while she held Jonny’s toxic diaper open, hands extended as though it were dangerous but we were told by the pediatrician that he had learned in medical school to never analyze or make a fuss over diapers. During that first hospitalization the only finding was an "unexplainable" viral infection throughout his system. Jonny was put on antibiotics and soon after, a strong muscle relaxant to calm his constant screaming and crying and painful spasms. Weeks went by with no improvement. He never slept. The only help his pediatricians could offer was to recommend that we find someone to watch Jonny so we could get a break for a couple hours.
At six months of age Jonny had upper and lower GI scopes. "LNH" (lymphoid Nodular Hyperplasia of the colon) was confirmed. The pediatricians did nothing and had no recommendations except to continue the muscle relaxant. His doctor continued to vaccinate. Despite everything that happened after those four month shots, and despite the fact that Jonny's medical state was rapidly declining, our local peds continued to pump these vaccinations into Jonny's frail, sick, vulnerable body.
It was Jonny's 12 month shots that immediately caused him to regress into Autism, losing all developmental milestones and later to be diagnosed with "Autistic Enterocolitis". Jonny’s 12 month shots also included more than the “recommended schedule”, and he became terribly ill in hours with projectile vomiting and a high fever. We questioned his reaction to the vaccines and were told that fever, vomiting and skin rash are common symptoms after vaccination. Jonny slipped into his own world. Within a few days he completely stopped saying “daddy” and he started to call daddy, “mommy” as if he were mentally confused. He soon stopped talking all together. He lost all speech, socialization, eye-contact, development and… happiness. We questioned the speech concerns and were told by the pediatrician that some children are late talkers and go through periods without talking – we had nothing to worry about.
In the months that followed Jonny's damages he would hide in corners and under tables screaming for hours on end. He would hold his belly in absolute pain while in a fetal position. The only speech he had left was, "tummy boo-boo"… and then he stopped saying that. Jonny eventually made the connection that eating food caused his gut pain so he stopped eating ALL solid foods for over 2 months (self elimination). Our dismay and anxiety continued to build, and we saw another doctor for a second opinion. We met with the head doctor of our only local pediatrics office and he flatly refused to help or offer anything except that ‘Jonny was having a terrible 2 tantrum’ – completely ignoring our son’s suffering and our pleas for help. I left the office crying and swore to find doctors willing to help our damaged children.
Over Jonny’s first 3 years we had on-going office-visits, often daily phone calls to the doctor’s office, but never received the care he needed. Physicians would never examine, help, or treat Jonny’s every day pain and suffering. We always heard excuses that Jonny had colic and would outgrow it, or ‘there’s nothing we can do to help him’, or ‘let’s just keep bringing him in for follow-up appointment so as to monitor him’. In other words – bring him in almost weekly for “weight checks” and that’s it.
Since his 4 month vaccine reaction Jonny’s bowels were always watery,
bloody, and filled with mucus. From 4 to 12 months of age, Jonny had
disgusting diapers ranging from 17 to 20 plus per day. It was after
Jonny's vaccinations at 12 months of age that these horrific diarrheas
would intermittently mix with the most painful constipation anyone could
imagine. This lasted many months. Jonny would sometimes lay in bed for
days at a time, unable to move while screaming in horrific pain.
Nothing would help. Again, local peds told us that Jonny would outgrow
it. We pressed his doctor, citing the LNH finding. Eventually a GI
Barium x-ray was performed and the LNH had flared up to the point our
local hospital could view it even with this basic test. LNH can usually
only be detected through GI scopes, but Jonny's was so severe it could
be seen using standard x-rays.
Jonny went through procedures and hospitalizations across the East coast. Specialists would always leave us largely without answers, not even allowing us access to our son's medical records. Jonathan has been misdiagnosed with terminal illnesses such as homocystine and porphyria. He has muscle wasting and is losing muscle mass. Every GI scope showed inflammation, LNH, and later colitis was confirmed as well.
An honest GI Pediatrician from Boston, a knowledgeable specialist willing and able to help our children, was able to shockingly identify serious pancreas dysfunction. Jonny’s pancreas does not produce the basic enzymes needed to absorb/digest foods. He was also prescribed what was described as “basic” medication to reduce the inflammation in his digestive system. Also with each meal, we orally administered enzyme supplements to ensure he could digest foods and absorb vital nutrition (we continue with this medication today). The GI Pediatrician could not believe the medical neglect Jonny had endured. He believed that Jonny was lucky to be alive and that it was amazing he was surviving those damages.
To this day, Jonny is white as a ghost with dark circles around his eyes. He is frail and resembles a starving child with a bloated gut... despite the fact that he 'eats like horse' all day long. Specialists have told us that Jonny resembles a child with Leukemia and that his immune system is damaged like someone with AIDS.
As for our Sierra… we could have prevented her damages. By the time she was getting the last of her vaccinations, we were more 'keen' to the issues, constantly questioning our local peds about the risks involved with vaccinating. We were told there is no vaccine connection and that vaccines are completely safe and have not caused any damage to our children. We were parents doing the right thing, following all of the rules and procedures and listening to everything our pediatrician told us. I also come from a family of MD’s so we then believed that we should trust medical professionals.
We had started doing research after Jonny’s 12 month shots. We were told by some activists to avoid the “mercury” in vaccines – and to get mercury-free shots. At Sierra’s 12 month vaccination appointment we demanded mercury-free shots. In fact, we really wanted to refuse all vaccines, but we couldn’t shake our life long beliefs in the medical establishment. In the face of so much endemic misinformation and blatant ignorance we almost felt as if questioning vaccines as a whole was a leap too large for us to take at that point, so all we questioned was the mercury. We were reassured that all mercury had been removed from vaccines, which we later learned was not the case. They strongly told us that our children were “required” to be vaccinated, and made us feel as though we had no choice. Other comments made us feel as though we would be putting our children at risk if we did not vaccinate. We now understand that NY State has 2 legal vaccine exemptions, but felt strongly pressured at the time and we were not aware of the vaccine exemptions then.
They insisted Sierra get vaccinated, took her from my arms, and injected her. I went into shock and left the office in a daze from denial as I held my frantic screaming child. Sierra was supposed to be our “healthy normal" child. However our family was just deceived and tricked twice.
The night of Sierra’s last vaccinations she broke out in a purple-red body rash from head to toe, suffered violent projectile vomiting and a high fever. She swelled up so much she could not move. And like Jonny, she completely stopped developing mentally, physically, and emotionally the night of her last vaccinations.
That same night we reported the adverse vaccine reaction to our local peds and they "explained" that mild vaccine reactions are common and to keep an eye on her over the next week. I stressed this was not a “mild” reaction, but I was literally ignored. The doctor’s office never even reported Sierra’s adverse vaccine reaction to VAERS (the government program: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). Sierra developed the same diapers that Jonny used to have… 15 to 20 bloody, watery, mucus-filled diarrheas per day. Again, her doctor showed no concern or alarm, despite knowing everything Jonny endured with his GI disease.
Over the course of weeks and months, Sierra’s health rapidly declined. Her doctor was leaving her to suffer. We continued to hear the same lines we heard for Jonny – the typical: ‘she’ll outgrow it’, ‘there’s nothing to be concerned about’, and ‘there’s nothing we can do to help her’. The local ped kept reassuring us Sierra was fine, despite her horrific symptoms, and that we should just watch her and visit the office for regular weight-checks.
In that time-frame Jonny was diagnosed with developmental damages and “Autistic Enterocolitis” – the gut-brain axis. We were beginning to heal and recover him through the GF/CF diet, natural regimens, and intense therapy methods. When Jonny was 3 we retired our dining room set to the basement and turned that room into Jonny and Sierra’s in-house therapy room. We now use their therapy room for homeschooling. The most successful therapy method for Jonny and Sierra has been Dr. Greenspan's DIR, Floor-time, working with the child on their individual level. It is comparable to Maria Montessori's classic method. We took professional DIR, Floor-time classes with a private psychologist who once worked with Dr. Greenspan. Although the many therapists who worked with Jonny and Sierra were very close to our family and the best in the area, we were constantly fighting the educational system, board, and school for "adequate and appropriate" services. At times, it almost became a legal issue.
Within one week of removing gluten from Jonny’s diet, he seemed to gain back all lost speech. The first week we removed casein from Jonny’s diet, he laid on the couch shaking and sweating as though he was coming off of drugs. Within two weeks of removing casein, he gained back his lost eye contact, socialization, and began to speak in sentences. Traditional doctors could not believe his miraculous recoveries yet they would not support us or recognize it… even though they noted Jonny’s recoveries in his medical charts.
When we explained Jonny’s drug-like withdrawal to milk, nutritionists at the in-state children’s hospital told us, ‘there’s no such thing as a food addiction’, and ‘it’s not possible’. When Jonny would go for GI visits at the same hospital (even though they wouldn’t admit to his GI disease) we would tell them what WE were doing to help recover Jonny’s Autism and medical damages and they would take notes. Even the supposedly great specialist would say, “You’re doing a good job and keep up the great work,” but offered absolutely no advise, support, medical recommendations, help, feedback, or solutions for Jonny’s illnesses.
In fact, I will never forget the dreaded phone call from our local pediatrician asking us to make an appointment to finally discuss that he believed Jonny had Autism. He made his reasons clear for wanting to communicate about Jonny’s ongoing health issues. He started the conversation by saying, “A local family is suing a few doctors and the hospital and they’ve experienced some of the same medical problems as your family. This was discussed during our weekly meeting this morning and I thought of you so I wanted to arrange for an appointment to discuss what I believe is happening to Jonny.”
At the visit we confronted the doctor about the adverse vaccine reactions, but he refused to address it. He was flustered at times and kept refusing eye contact. The discussions were rather heated, to say the least. Strange that a local family finally sued for medical neglect and the doctor’s office “suddenly” thinks of us. We were not charged for that office visit even though it lasted well over an hour and a half.
At another visit, we were requesting an exemption from vaccination and the doctor received an “urgent” fax from one of our in-state developmental specialists. The fax referenced Dr. Andy Wakefield and Jonny’s “Autistic Enterocolitis”. The doctor turned red in the face, stuttered, and asked, ‘Did the developmental specialist tell you that Jonny’s Autistic Enterocolitis is a direct result of the MMR vaccine?’
All of this was the backdrop as Sierra grew more and more ill. Jonny was showing amazing recoveries, but Sierra’s medical conditions were going undiagnosed. Her body was turning yellow (her local doctor asked if her eyes were turning yellow and believed that the rest of her yellow color was nothing to worry about). She was also eating and drinking more than twice normal servings. Without any support from our local Pediatrician we put Sierra on the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet because her conditions mimicked Jonny's. We insisted that Sierra be hospitalized at our in-state children's hospital (2 hours away), and they acquiesced and made the arrangements. Family members wanted to report her doctor for medical neglect and abuse… but to whom? Who would help and who cares? What good would that do? They are the only pediatrician office in this entire area.
Before she was admitted to the hospital we took Sierra to the doctor’s office one more time. She was suffering so much we didn’t know what else to do. We knew she would be ignored but the skin yellowing was at its worst and her body rash was back. She was once again purple/red from head to toe and was so swollen she could barely open her eyes or move her little fingers. It was late at night and a different doctor examined her. He asked why her current doctor wasn’t doing anything to help. We explained the ongoing neglect and the refusals to help either of our children during their illnesses and suffering. He immediately started to make arrangements for specific hospital tests.
At the only upstate children’s hospital that has functioning GI Pediatrics, the hospital staff told us that Sierra might not survive several more days due to the extent of her damages. She was immediately diagnosed with liver failure, kidney damages, pancreas failure, and protein loss enteropathy so severe her levels were near-terminal. Sierra was also diagnosed with Kwashiorkor (starvation), however she was not starving – she had been eating about twice as much as she should but was no longer “digesting” any food nutrients.
Her intestines were so damaged they could not perform internal scopes
because of the risk they might do damage. For several weeks she fought
for her life. In time they believed she had healed enough to do the
scopes. The results showed GI disease, Colitis, possibly Crohn's and a
damaged ileum. She was also diagnosed with allergic enteropathy
(allergic reaction to anything ingested – even water).
We asked if they had found LNH and 3 separate doctors told us they had not. We were later able to obtain just a few of Sierra’s medical records from that hospitalization and LNH was indeed found throughout her intestines. They lied to us and told us they did not find any LNH. We later questioned the GI Specialist about it and were ignored.
Some of the hospital’s interns had told us that if we had not followed our instincts and brought Sierra to the hospital, she would have died. They could not believe the ignorance, abuse, and neglect from her doctors. In fact, some staff members told us that most of the near-terminal children that get admitted are from our local area and that their conditions are typically due to severe neglect and a lack of preventative care.
During Sierra’s one-month hospitalization there were so many sick children being admitted on a daily basis, they did not have enough beds to hold them. Sick children were piling up everywhere, and most of them were being diagnosed with ‘unexplained GI disease’. All of the children were infants and toddlers – of vaccinating age. As our children and family suffered without help or answers we saw countless children and families suffering the same grim fate… all on the same hospital floor.
They put Sierra on a highly specialized formula containing nutrients that were already broken down so that she might digest and absorb it. She could not handle any oral food or liquid intake due to the extent of her damages. To control Sierra’s liquid food intake, they inserted a NG tube into her nose, down her throat, and into her stomach. A machine regulated the amount of the formula she was “fed”. We were told she would likely survive on the feeding machine without anything oral by mouth for at least 5 years, perhaps indefinitely.
They also periodically gave her albumin via IV to combat her protein loss enteropathy. They also put Sierra on very high levels of steroids to rapidly heal her severely damaged gut and intestines.
Eventually Sierra was cleared from the terminal prognosis. After a long month of fighting for her life Sierra was released from the hospital. Leading up to her release we were never given any answers and no real direction. We requested copies of her medical records, but were refused.
Before she was released they did, however, give us a crash course in inserting her NG tube. We were instructed to change it every 3 days. She had to be pinned down. We would then measure the length to be inserted by placing one end at the base of her sternum, lightly stretching it taught to the tip of her nose, and from there to the top of her ear. We marked the length with a pen. This measurement had to be precise enough to avoid over-extension of the tube into her stomach for fear of irritating or damaging her stomach or entering her lungs. Having measured it, sterile surgical lubricant had to be used to facilitate insertion. Then, still pinning her down, we had to carefully insert the tube into her nostril until it reached the top of her throat. At this point we had to try to get her to swallow to ensure it would not be inserted into her lungs instead of her stomach. Once it was inserted, we had to quickly place tape on her face to hold the tube in place, otherwise her gag reflex would force it up and out of her stomach. Lastly, we had to use a syringe to send air through to tube and into her stomach while listening with a stethoscope. We had to listen very carefully for gurgling sounds in her stomach while doing this to confirm that the NG tube was properly inserted into her stomach… not in her lungs… and that it was straight and not looped back up into her throat.
Changing Sierra’s NG tube was a nightmarish experience. She screamed and thrashed in a panic. She begged and pleaded with us to stop. It was the most painful thing we’ve ever experienced.
We had to put Sierra through that experience every 3 days and she was on the NG tube and feeding machine for 3 long years. She never accepted it or got used to it. The first year she ate nothing orally. Every time we tried to decrease medicines or remove the feeding machine, Sierra would relapse again.
During that time Sierra was also diagnosed with developmental delays, Autistic Enterocolitis, and Apraxia. She went from losing all speech on the night of her last vaccinations to eventually babbling and mostly refusing to communicate.
In time she began to recover however some of her developmental
damages still remained. One night after we began biomedical
interventions, Sierra suddenly started to talk… out of nowhere… as
though the speech was always there but she could not get it out. She
did not just speak one or two words but spoke full sentences. To this
day Sierra has serious speech clarity issues due to her Apraxia. Many
people cannot understand what she’s saying however we see regular
improvement. She made the most developmental progress after we were
finally able to discontinue the steroids, later discontinue the use of
the NG tube and feeding machine, and stop the GI meds that once saved
her life.
Our journey up to this point has lasted almost eight years. We saved
Sierra and Jonny's lives with the help of the right Specialists and
through unbelievably hard work, determination, sacrifice, complete
devotion and love. Traditional doctors had told us that Sierra would
never survive off of the feeding machine, and they also told us that
Sierra and Jonny could never survive without GI and organ pharmaceutical
medications. But we’ve proven otherwise. Through the use of a
biomedical protocol, natural regimens, the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet,
natural/organic dietary interventions, and the HBOT we have been able to
remove all pharmaceutical medications. Mainstream doctors told us it
would never be possible, but we know better.
How we found answers
About 5 years ago, when Jonny was 3 and Sierra 1, the only "medical"
information we had on Jonny was that he had LNH. Local doctors told us
this was like strep throat and that Jonny would outgrow it, but as we’ve
described it worsened. The worsening of his LNH coincided with his
developmental loss and regression into Autism. I eventually did an
internet search for "Lymphoid Nodular Hyperplasia of the Colon" and
found David Thrower’s Autistic Enterocolitis briefings (located on our
web site under Science & Research). The piece described Dr. Andy
Wakefield's research. We at once contacted The Royal Free Academy in
London hoping to locate Dr. Wakefield. Dr. Roy Pounder immediately
responded to our email. He explained that Dr. Wakefield recently left
the Royal Free and directed me to Rosemary Kessick with the Visceral
Foundation and then, AIA. We contacted Rosemary and she referred us to
Dr. Jeff Bradstreet at ICDRC, then called The Good News Doctor
Foundation (for information on ICDRC and other crucial information
please see our Resources page).
If not for Rosemary Kessick… if she had not directed us to Dr. Bradstreet, both children likely would not have survived. Jonny & Sierra were wasting, suffering, and slowly deteriorating. Our gratitude to Rosemary, Dr. Wakefield, and Dr. Bradstreet cannot be expressed. Dr. Bradstreet used to tell us that we were the ones who saved Jonny and Sierra’s lives and that he had never seen such medical neglect. He put our children into his charity programs because we could not afford the care for 2 damaged children. He never gave up, and neither did we. Through his safe and natural treatments, diligent research, and tireless work he helped Jonny and Sierra miraculously recover in ways that no one ever thought possible.
Both Jonny and Sierra are vaccine-injured and are in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) passed by US congress in 1986 for vaccine-injured individuals.
Like most parents, we believed that we were "doing the right thing" when we followed the mass-vaccination schedule. We trusted their doctor, the medical associations and federal agencies. As a result Jonny and Sierra faced near-terminal diagnoses of immune dysfunctions, metabolic disease(s), severe intestinal damages, gastrointestinal disease, organ failures and dysfunctions, muscle wasting and mitochondrial disease, and allergic enteropathy.
Since those catastrophic events we have devoted our lives to saving our children. We’ve traveled the country in our search for help. Like most families of vaccine-injured children, we sacrificed everything in a desperate search for answers… a desperate and frantic search for the truth. We realized that it had to be our responsibility to save our children from a grim future… and perhaps death.
We have since become diligent researchers in the field of vaccines, autoimmunity, and Autism. We sought out and found researchers who understood our children's complex damages. The ordeal has been costly, but we have saved Jonny and Sierra's lives and with close to no assistance from mainstream medicine professionals.
There was one developmental specialist who completely supported our dietary and biomedical efforts. In fact she was the only MD in upstate NY who recognized our children's damages and supported our efforts. She gave us information about Dr. Wakefield and also Dr. Bernard Rimland of ARI (the Autism Research Institute). She was also a close friend and a big supporter of ANDI (Autism Network for Dietary Intervention of the GF/CF diet). She told us that she knew Jonny and Sierra would benefit from the GF/CF diet due to their specific damages. In Jonny's medical records she noted Dr. Andy Wakefield and "Autistic Enterocolitis" and acknowledged Jonny's damages and amazing recoveries on the diet and vitamins. She also noted that the diet had saved Sierra's life. She soon after began a research project on the GF/CF diet and anticipated it would be tremendously successful for the University and hospital. She admitted that Autism recovery was possible after seeing Jonny and Sierra's amazing progress. She had no doubt in her mind that our children were "damaged" and the GF/CF diet and biomedical protocol would absolutely help their medical and developmental damages.
She requested that we communicate in private because the University/hospital would never admit to or recognize these controversial issues related to our children's damages, GI disease, and their amazing recoveries. She agreed that our children's new specialist in Florida, Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, was the best Autism doctor in the field. After receiving money from the NIH for the GF/CF diet research study, she completely changed her position. This once supportive developmental specialist no longer supported our family or the diet for these many damaged children... even though she witnessed and noted our children's amazing, life-saving recoveries in their medical records. At this turn of events we lost the only local traditional medical professional who understood our children's conditions.
Through years of sacrifice, unimaginable pains, determination, and most importantly, love, we saved our precious children. Jonny and Sierra are now miraculously "Recovering Autism". There is hope. Except for those pharmaceutical drugs mentioned in the very beginning that were used to literally save Jonny and Sierra’s, we have since used safe and natural treatment options. As with nearly all children with an Autism diagnosis, our children had very serious underlying medical problems. After treating their medical problems their Autism symptoms have miraculously improved.
As they “Recover Autism” they continue to suffer some developmental
damages and may never fully recover. This is due to their underlying
medical conditions. Their immune systems have been severely damaged and
compromised, compared by some doctors to AIDS. They are still frail,
sickly, and often weak. We started homeschooling them this year because
whenever they were exposed to other sick children they would get sick
for weeks and sometimes months, causing their illnesses to further
progress. They have trouble fighting off common viruses and colds and
their other medical conditions worsen as a result. Words cannot
describe how fortunate our children are to be recovering, yet we do not
know if all of their developmental and physical damages will ever heal
or if they will ever be able to live healthy and productive lives.
Autism is an epidemic. There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. ALL childhood disease and autoimmune dysfunction, often undiagnosed, is rapidly on the rise. Unfortunately, what’s happened to Jonny and Sierra is common. Families face this same crisis every day around the world. Children are needlessly suffering.
Our population is over-wrought with devastating illnesses. There’s not enough investigative research into these massive outbreaks. We are living in a polluted world and a toxic environment. Increasingly, traditional medicine is touting more vaccines and more drugs - these are not the answer but rather the problem. As environmentalists of almost 20 years, we firmly believe that humanity's exposure to these countless harmful substances is damaging our immune systems, altering our metabolic functions, changing our genetics, and this is leading to the stunning rise in disease and disorders.