This loan has been repaid in full!
This is Adam with Miriam and Sophia, his twin sisters. They are enjoying a GFCF cake mom made!!
Adam enjoys the pandas at the national zoo.
Adam loves to ride his bike... getting better each day, and faster!
First posted: July 30, 2008
Name: Adam
Age: 5 years old
Diagnosis: PDD-NOS [Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified]
Loan Sought: $1,200 [Note: Loans totaling $1,014 were collected for Adam. A friend made a gift of $200 (not a loan) to the family. That $200 is not included on the Lend4Health statistics, but the family will use it to supplement the loans made here.]
Loan Needed For: To pay for biomedical lab work already preformed with DAN! doctor (Dr. Mumper).
Repayment Terms: 12 months
Other Notes: Adam was born on August 13, 2003, as a healthy baby. He was a very happy and active little boy. He hit all normal developmental marks -- talking, walking, self-help skills, and engagement -- during the first year and a half. Mommy and Daddy have wonderful memories of 14-month old Adam saying “bye-bye Daddy” at the door as Daddy left for work, and hungrily feeding himself whatever Mommy cooked for dinner. Adam would easily play with his twin sisters, who are only one year older.
Things started to change for Adam between 15 and 18 months of age, after he received multiple vaccinations, including MMR, Dtap, HepB and influenza. By 18 months, Adam began to drift away -- losing language, self help skills, and engagement. Over the next 6 months, Adam didn’t feed himself anymore, he lost most of his words, and was no longer interested in his twin sisters. His behavior changed dramatically, he was easily agitated and began to “space out” -- he would wake in the middle of the night screaming. By 24 months of age, there was clearly a problem and the pediatrician advised we begin developmental evaluations.
Upon the advice of a developmental pediatrician, Adam began receiving ABA therapy in a home based program. School based intervention was considered, but ultimately rejected. After all this turmoil, and with much patience, Adam finally made it through the multi-month waiting list for John Hopkins and Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore in the summer of 2006. After extensive evaluations, he received the diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Delay – Not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). In layman’s terms, there was something wrong, but they couldn’t tell us why! We continued our intervention of several therapies, continued to see specialists and ended up in the same place. PDD-NOS. Adam also deals with sensory processing disorder and auditory processing issues. After visiting KKI, we moved from the ABA to the floortime/DIR approach and have seen good progress. Adam receives community based speech and OT therapy.
In late 2007, Mom and Dad became aware of the DAN! [Defeat Autism Now!] protocol and the biomedical approach to treating and recovering children from Autism Spectrum Disorders, including PDD-NOS. Adam began his DAN! intervention in January 2008, with extensive and detailed testing. The results revealed digestive issues, metabolic/mitochondrial issues, heavy metal overload (mercury and lead) and intestinal Candida (yeast). The original testing totaled more than $1,200. Subsequently, his DAN! doctor - Dr. Elizabeth Mumper, established his personal regimen of supplements, minerals, probiotics and more. ("We have suffered financial hardship, like all families in our position," says Adam's mom, Katherine, "yet we also have dealt with a solid year of unemployment. This Lend4Health loan is for the lab bill, which is past due.")
Adam has responded to the gluten-free, casein-free diet, and has made progress with MB12 shots. He is more verbal, and overall more calm. He loves to ride bikes with his sisters and is so much more aware of his surroundings since we started DAN! Adam will soon be retested for candida since he has completed a round of anti-fungals. Once we heal his gut, we will turn toward the heavy metals.
Adam has started kindergarten at the local school and we are thrilled to report he is responding very well. After coming home from the first day of school, Adam used a 6-7 word sentence to request going to the store to buy a toy! His typical sentence length is 2-3 words. So Mom was thrilled! If this was any sign of Adam's improvement in school and with DAN! we were definitely going in the right direction.
Adam is fighting to recover from this injury. He and his family struggle to bring him back to “typical” and God Willing, will complete this long journey back to the way he was one step at a time! DAN! is like taking little steps forward -- really truly forward, and we are so glad we discovered biomed!
Thanks to all who care enough to help us out!
Note: Adam and his family live in the Washington, DC, area. His mom, Katherine, uses her location to her advantage and has been actively lobbying Congress for safer vaccines. The write-up above is part of the materials she uses in those efforts.
Loans Received as of 10:50am Thursday, October 2, 2008
Willem: $50
Catherine: $125
Petra: $25
Anonymous: $25
Patti: $5
Hassan: $100
Sara: $50
Dana: $20
Jeanne: $5
Anonymous2: $5
Dana: $4
Noel: $10
Summit to Sea: $25
Kelvin: $5
Dana: $5
Megan: $5
Petra: $10
Running 4 Lend 4 Health: $10
Cathleen: $50
Running 4 Lend 4 Health: $5
Uma: $20
Ethan, Alex, & Megan: $5
Jeanne (CINCO DE LINCO LOAN): $5
Jeanne: $36
Tori (CINCO DE LINCO LOAN): $5
Heather (CINCO DE LINCO LOAN): $5
Diane: $20
Petra: $9
Petra: $40
Bob R.: $15
Patricia: $20
Petra: $5
Tori: $5
Cathleen: $10
Cathleen: $20
Valerie: $50
Dana C.: $10
Diane: $50
Jeanne: $10
Noel: $15
Heather (Brock's mom): $10
Paul: $10
Lyman: $25
Mary: $20
Dana (again!): $50
Running 4 Lend 4 Health: $5
[The family received a $200 check from friend as a gift! Note: This $200 will not be included in this site's statistics, but the need for loans has been fulfilled! Thanks!]
Amount Loaned: $1,014
Amount Still Needed to Receive Loan: $0!!!
UPDATES - UPDATES - UPDATES
October 3, 2008: Promissory note sent to Adam's mom, Katherine, for signature.
October 8, 2008: Signed promissory note received.
October 8, 2008: Loan in the amount of $1,014 sent via PayPal to Katherine.
October 24, 2008: First payment of $84.50 received (early).
December 3, 2008: Second payment of $84.50 received (on time).
January 1, 2009: Update from Katherine: Adam is enjoying kindergarten! It's hard to believe we've gotten half way through the year. He continues to become more verbal and his love of music is really emerging. Over this winter break, his teacher sent home a CD of math and phonics songs he likes to sing. During school, they sing the songs every day, and also enjoy doing some yoga in the morning, another activity Mom has continued over the winter break.
But school is not all play, Adam is doing good academically too, scoring well on standard tests. He's learned is ABCs and to count to twenty. Mom enjoyed watching him play the part of a Pilgrim in his class' Thanksgiving show.
Adam will start chelation, God willing, by the end of January. We need to do yet another round of tests to see where we are with the candida, intestinal function, and we are going to look at food allergies as well. A recent, second heavy metal test revealed both lead and mercury. We'll be targeting the lead first, then the mercury.
Adam has had some trouble with eating, he's been sick with colds lately and has really restricted his diet. Mom is trying really hard to get him to eat a balanced diet, but it is proving to be a great challenge. We have to believe that this will all be straightened out with this next round of testing. We may be dealing with another bacteria in his intestine. God willing, we'll find out.
Mom has really kicked up the advocacy work. Here's a link to a recent article on Age of Autism with the details:
When Autism Leads to Advocacy
Posted: 13 Dec 2008 11:22 PM CST
By Katherine Walker There was no dramatic incident. No very serious reaction in a short time frame. My son just slipped away, little by little. When I went to the 24-month check-up, I wondered with my pediatrician “Why isn’t he talking?”...
January 6, 2009: Third payment of $84.50 received (on time).
February 3, 2009: Fourth payment past due.
February 6, 2009: Fourth payment pending (eCheck payment via PayPal).
February 6, 2009: Update from Katherine: "I started working part-time as a substitute teacher for Alexandria Public Schools, I do a lot of work w/ the special ed preschools! I LOVE it!! I see a third career ahead!!! We started chelation w/ Adam - on the second day he came up, hugged me, and said "I love you." Is that awesome or WHAT!!! Please share w/ my lenders!!!! I've also joined SafeMinds -- did I tell you yet? I am on the government affairs committee of SafeMinds. This Monday I was at the IOM [Institute of Medicine] meeting on vaccines, Tuesday I was on the Hill w/ Lyn Redwood and Theresa Wrangham of SafeMinds -- Wednesday the IACC [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee] meeting and I gave a public comment again...today is a conference call on the national vaccine plan....So whoa -- I mean my head is spinning!!!!"
February 11, 2009: Fourth payment received (eCheck payment via PayPal cleared). This payment was 8 days late. (Although I did forget to send the reminder email to her.)
February 28, 2009: Fifth payment received 4 days early.
March 27, 2009: Sixth payment received one week early.
April 29, 2009: Seventh payment received 5 days early.
May 26, 2009: Eighth payment received 8 days early.
June 27, 2009: Ninth payment received 6 days early.
June 27, 2009: Update from Katherine:
Adam is doing exceptionally well! Thank God! He has excelled in school, earning awards such as "Most Improved" and "Citizenship." He passed his PALS standardized testing and is rising to the first grade! We are so blessed to have an outstanding partner in his teacher, Ms. Buonamico, as well as the aide, Ms. Sturgis. These two ladies have done a world of work for and with Adam. I will always be grateful. Adam will be back with Ms. B and Ms. Sturgis for 1st grade, so that is exciting.
Adam is looking good on the biomedical side too!! In the past six months, we've had visits with Dr. Stephanie Cave and Dr. Jeff Bradstreet -- two heavy hitters in the autism/biomedical community. We've heard comments like "let's take him all the way to recovery!" As you can imagine, we are just floored with happiness and anticipation. Thank God, and if God is willing, you'll all be a part of a recovery story! I want to thank you all for supporting us, and I look forward to being a part of Lend4Health. The costs for this never seem to stop....
Katherine has continued to work with SafeMinds, advocating for the autism community and helping to raise awareness about the toxins in our environment and how those toxins impact our children. She also helps parents with IEP [individual education plan] issues, and supports local fundraising and advocacy groups in Virginia. She's spent time substitute teaching, focusing on special needs children, and believes a future career could very well be teaching and working with these wonderful kids!"
August 13, 2009: The tenth payment (due August 3rd) has been marked past-due.
August 13, 2009: Update from Katherine: "I've hit a hard spot financially. I will be late this month for sure, obviously, as I already am. I'm not working right now, since I'm a substitute teacher, and my husband isn't getting paid either. I did get to work a bit in summer school, and I'm waiting for that paycheck to get the August payment to you. Summer school ended at the end of July, but I don't know how soon I'll get paid. Substitutes have a lag in pay, up to three weeks sometimes. Then I hope to get enough to finish off the payments in September. My goal is to pay it off ahead of schedule, even though I'm terribly late this month.
Despite this set back for me financially, this investment that my supporters have made is PAYING OFF! My son's language is EXPLODING. We've seen so much improvement in terms of actual conversation and empathy being expressed by Adam towards others. For instance, when his sister Sophia woke up crying yesterday morning because of a bad dream, Adam came to her and said: "Aww, Sophia, why are you crying?" IS that AWESOME or what?
Now, this is behavior he has seen in videos and such, but the big change here is that he uses it in the appropriate situation, WITHOUT PROMPTING, and he genuinely cares about his sister's feelings, and expresses that!
He is just making such great progress! When we recently spoke to Dr. Stephanie Cave in a follow-up appointment, she said "It's coming" -- "it" being these important changes pointing towards a correction in his biochemistry and body functioning! We are seeing all the signs we need to and, God Willing, Adam will get to recovery! My gratitude and thanks to all my investors. This is so MUCH MORE than money! God Bless!"
August 19, 2009: The 10th payment (due August 3) has been received. It has now been marked "late" instead of "past due."
September 17, 2009: The 11th payment (due September 3) has been marked past-due.
October 7, 2009: The 12th payment (due October 3) has been marked past-due.
October 24, 2009: The 11th payment (due September 3) has been received. It has now been marked "late" instead of "past-due." There is one more installment due!
December 2, 2009: The 12th payment (due October 3) has been received. It has now been marked "late" instead of "past-due."
December 2, 2009: This loan has been fully repaid!
December 2, 2009: All lenders have been sent their original loan amounts via PayPal.
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