Mary's Rescue Fund

Healing Winds Inc. at Crosswinds Stables offers Therapeutic Horseback Riding for Adults and Children with Developmental Delays and Handicaps. Visit their website to learn more! http://www.healingwinds.org/

We took Mary there for the first time on Saturday, with a group my friend SueAnn manages, called Friends on The Spectrum (http://friendsonthespectrum.com/). She has been talking about horses for a few weeks now, so we have been wanting to take her to see some, to see how she would react and what she wanted to do with them. Based on experience, I thought she would like the thought of it but would be horrified to touch or sit on one. I was delightfully wrong! She loved the horses, and couldn't wait to ride and in fact we had to scrape her off one when her turn was over! They are very close to us in location and we are scouting out the prices to see if we can take her there 1-2 times a month to ride-for therapy from stress and anxiety...and to just see her smile about something! We will keep you posted. See pictures below...just adorable!

Why Choose Alternative Biomedical Treatments?

In her book Children with Starving Brains, McCandless invites parents to visualize the choice of trying alternative treatments or the lack of conventional treatments, to standing on a pier while watching their child drown.

"You desperately look for help or a life preserver (a physician or treatments that might work). You find a rope tied to the pier (special diets, nutritional supplements, anti-fungal/anti-viral treatments, secretin, chelation for heavy metal toxicity--all of which you have learned are safe and help many of these children). However, authorities warn you not to use it because it has not been proven that the rope is strong enough (the treatment option has not received final approval by "authorities" who are waiting for reports of completed scientific studies appearing in peer-reviewed journals). Meanwhile your child is still drowning (exhibiting autistic/ASD symptoms).

Within weeks of Mary's shots, her light dimmed and soon turned off completely. The sweet little noises and words she had made were gone. The response to her name and other exciting things around her faded into the background to the point where she was unresponsive. Time progressed, and as a naive young mother, wasn't sure what change I noticed. When her 2 year old appoinment came and her pediatrician asked about her language, saying she should know about 50 words--I was shocked. She didn't have more than 2 or 3! This is where her doctor led us to PRIDE for kids, where we could get her evaluated with a speech and occupational therapist. After that meeting with the specialists, we realized where Mary was (also being able to compare her to her older cousin) and started to see our new journey ahead of us.

The puzzle pieces were shaped together as we meet daily and weekly with her speech therapist, occupational therapist, and specialized teachers who dealt with children with developmental delays. That is where the Autism word came into our vocabulary. After many hours of research, observation and learning, we knew Mary was on the spectrum somewhere, and was determined to find help for her. Jared's diligence in research about recovery, "cure", learned behaviors and speech lead us to her doctor, her new school and her treatment plan. It has also lit a light of hope in our long tunnel ahead.