Make a Microloan for 4-yr old Sabrina's Health!

This loan has been repaid in full!

First Posted On: October 22, 2008

Name: Sabrina

Age: 4 years old

Diagnosis: PDD-NOS [Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified]

Loan Sought: $660

Loan Needed For: 3-month supply of doctor-recommended supplements. Some of these Sabrina is already taking but has run out; some are new to be added. (1) Pro Bio Gold, (2) DHA Liquid, (3) Threelac, (4) Acetyl carnitine, (5) Chewable calcium, (6) Magnesium, (7) CoQ-10, (8) Vitamin D, (9) Vitamin C, (10) Vitamin A, and (11) Ambrotose.

Repayment Terms: 12 months ($55/month)

Other Notes: Sabrina's mom writes, "Sabrina is a very loving, adorable, and energetic 4 year old girl. She is the loving sister to an older brother Richie and a younger brother Vincent. At the age of three, Sabrina was diagnosed with PDD-NOS - a form of autism. I read Jenny McCarthy's book "Louder Than Words" and it gave me all the hope and inspiration I needed to help my daughter. Since that day, Sabrina has been receiving biomedical treatments to help her recover from autism. She follows DAN! [Defeat Autism Now!] protocol and is on a gluten-free casein-free, preservative-free, dye-free, and high fructose corn syrup-free diet; has regular cranial sacral therapy & chiropractic treatments; is in a neurodevelopment program from Active Healing under the supervision of Mr. Sargent Goodchild; and attends a full day, fully integrated ABA preschool program. She sees a variety of doctors including a developmental team who monitors her progress, a pediatrician, a neurologist and GI doctors (we are very excited about our upcoming visit with Dr. Buie). Most recently, Sabrina was found to have a genetic mutation on her MECP2 gene and is considered A-typical Rhett's. She has already received a battery of tests including hearing, colonoscopy, endoscopy, EEG, MRI, and a slew of bloodwork. Through all her visits (which are usually at least three per month), she always has a huge smile on her face.

Through recovery we help address and heal her body as a whole, and the results so far have been amazing. Sabrina suffered from constant gas pains, loose stools, frequent night wake ups, had a lot of sensory issues, almost no eye contact, one word utterances and outbursts with all transitions. This was not always the norm. Sabrina was born a happy baby. She met all her milestones and was cheerful, playful, sang songs and just enjoyed life. After shots at her 15 month & 18 month checkup, Sabrina slowly started losing skills. Within two weeks of each round she got very sick and was vomiting horribly. After her 18 month checkup she developed intolerance to all dairy and many grains, fruits, and vegetables. However so many things slid under the radar, and loss of skills were dismissed as typical 2 year old or second child behavior. It wasn't until she started receiving Early Intervention Services that autism was mentioned. Once Sabrina started the biomedical approach, she finally slept through the night, went to bed easily, had better eye contact, improved speech, and her sensory issues lessened.

Sabrina shows a great love for people and really enjoys being with all her friends & teachers at preschool. There is not one person who meets Sabrina who doesn't immediately fall in love with her adorableness! However, in a typical day Sabrina spends more time trying to adjust to the task at hand than really focusing and doing hands-on learning. It hurts in many ways, confuses her, and doesn't allow her to focus. It also limits her ability to be social, develop relationships with other children/peers, and play with purpose. Sabrina loves to play outdoors, on her swing, slide, and tending to her gardens or just playing with her brothers. She LOVES to visit Chuck E Cheese as a treat to play games. She really enjoys going to school & loves all her friends. She would love the chance to play with them socially and typically if her body wasn't bogged down with all the gut issues that end up affecting her brain & abilities. She just wants to be healed.

Sabrina is on a variety of supplements and that is why we have come to Lend4Health. We need a little help with the upfront costs of purchasing the true amount of supplements Sabrina needs in order to help heal her body.

That is where you can help! Through this amazing lending site we will have the ability to purchase what we need & help my little angel move towards the life she was meant to have -- to be freed from the world of autism that she did not ask for or want. Help her just be "Sabrina."

Loans Received as of 1:00pm Friday, November 7, 2008

Petra: $15
Kenna: $40
Joy: $5
Victoria: $20
Renee: $25
Bagley Productions: $1
Edith: $20
Kel: $25
Theresa: $50
"Grandma Gini" (in memory of parents' wedding anniversary Oct. 27, 1938): $20
Diane: $25
Noel: $25
Henry: $10
Sheri: $40
Dhun: $10
Lisa: $50
Dana C: $10
Petra: $10 ["Trick or Treat"]
Dhun: $10
Anne: $24
Patricia: $25
Karen: $10
Cathleen: $25
Mia: $50

[Sabrina's family received a $50 gift from a former classmate. The family is using this to supplement the loans received on Lend4Health. Because it's a direct gift to the family, though, the amount will not be included in our site lending statistics.]

Noel: $15
Petra: $50

Amount Loaned: $610 [+$50 direct gift]
Amount Still Needed to Receive Loan: $0!!!!

UPDATES - UPDATES - UDPATES

November 7, 2008: Promissory note sent to Sabrina's mom.

November 7, 2008: Signed promissory note received from Sabrina's mom.

November 7, 2008: Loan of $610 sent to Sabrina's mom via PayPal. Loan repayments will begin in December 2008.

November 9, 2008: Sabrina's mom, Bonnie, writes to her lenders: "I sit here as tears of joy stream down my face. You have touched my heart. You are helping make it possible for me to continue my quest to recover my little angel Sabrina from autism. I will forever remember your generosity & kindness. You are my rescue angels. With much thanks, Bonnie"

December 6, 2008: First loan repayment installment of $50.83 received. Repayment was made nine days early.

January 16, 2009: Second loan repayment installment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received ontime.

January 27, 2009: Update received from Bonnie:

As I write this Sabrina is battling a cold and fever. But unlike my other children she seems more attentive and talkative with a fever. One of those autism mysteries. We've had alot of ups and downs in the last few months. Over Christmas break Sabrina's lack of progress really hit me hard. I got frantic, upset, worried, the works. I was an emotional wreck. Sabrina had been out of school alot prior to break due to the horrible weather we had - ice storms & snow storms. She was appearing to regress. She wasn't talking much, was not interested in playing with anything and had very very little eye contact. I was worried. The worrying unfortunately clouded my judgement and didn't allow me to see the whole picture - academic & physical aspects needed to be looked at. I was merely looking at the picture. We returned to Sabrina's private Occupational Therapy class two days before Sabrina returned to school. One hour of treatment and it was as if Sabrina was back. She was looking at me the entire session. Laughing, saying "Hi Mama," talking to the therapist and completing tasks. I asked the therapist what was the reason behind why she does so well at these sessions but has no gains at school. She does wonderful in her private OT classes. The answer - sensory diet. Sabrina's sensory needs were probably not being met properly. Without the proper sensory diet Sabrina will not be able to focus at school and never have the attention span to learn. I immediately requested a progress meeting with the school. They were wonderful and responded within a day with a meeting for that week. ALL of her support at school was in attendance - teacher, all three therapists, ABA supervisor & preschool coordinator. Sabrina had no progress at school since our IEP meeting in October. We talked about how sucessful her private OT classes were going and the school decided to change Sabrina's daily routine. Sensory routine would be started at the start of her day before even entering the classroom. She will spend time on the platform swing, peanut ball, therapy ball, etc. for approx. 20 minutes and then join in daily routines. The pattern is followed throughout the day. The first week showed no improvement. Her teacher and OT therapist joined one of our private sessions which we have added an additional session during the week. By the end of the week Sabrina was starting to talk a bit more at school. A weighted blanket is now being used as she lays down for nap and she for the first time ever at school has fallen asleep. I hope and pray this new sensory program continues to give Sabrina the gains she has bottled up in her little body just waiting to share with us. I have also biomedically increased her yeast protocol and antiviral routines and see that we were also dealing with some yeast overgrowth. It seems to have decreased a bit but we are still working on it. It appears to be a never ending battle. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and we hope to have more to share with you soon! Thank you all so much!

February 9, 2009: Third loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received six days early.

March 1, 2009: Fourth loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received two weeks early.

April 15, 2009: Fifth loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received on-time.

May 15, 2009: Sixth loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received on-time.

June 2, 2009: Seventh loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received two weeks early.

July 8, 2009: Eighth loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received one week early.

August 12, 2009: Ninth loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received three days early.

September 17, 2009: 10th loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received 2 days late.

October 9, 2009: 11th loan repayment of $50.83 received. Repayment was received 6 days early.

October 9, 2009: 12th loan repayment of $50.87 received. Repayment was received one month early.

October 9, 2009: This loan has been repaid in full!

October 9, 2009: Update from Bonnie:

Hi Everyone

Well its been a very eventful year for Sabrina. As you know she was diagnosed with Atypical Rett Syndrome with Preserved Speech Variant last year. She is being seen by the best of the best doctors for her Rett Diagnosis (Dr. Omar Khwaja of Children's Boston) & her GI Issues (Dr. Timothy Buie of MGH Boston). I feel so blessed to have her in their care. We had quite the scare back in April and May with what many suspected to be "seizure activity." My motherly instinct told me no. After consulting with our many doctors we decided to wait and see what Dr. Buie thought. Our pediatrician highly suspected it was reflux and it sure sounded more likely to me especially since each episode revolved around eating. Well sure enough he told us how it is a very under-diagnosed disorder - reflux and that is did affect alot of girls with Rett Syndrome. He treated her with Prevacid and we saw a huge decrease in her bloating. We have yet to see a repeat episode as well.

After many trial and error meds, Dr. Buie put Sabrina on a two week scrip of Flagyl. Well within a week we were hearing music to our ears - two, three and FOUR word sentences! I then added back her Nordic Naturals Fish Oil Supplements and we saw more attention and more speech. The other day she was eating an apple and I had to put it down in order to help her remove her coat. As we were finishing she said, "Mama, me eat apple." I cried tears of joy. She is displaying lots of echolalic speech as well as more interest in toys, books, and social interactions in general. We are continuing to move in the right direction.

Early in the summer we noticed that Sabrina was tiring earlier than usual in our 1-3 mile walks. Luckily it coincided with a visit to Dr. Khwaja. He explained that it was so crucial to keep the cell to cell communication strong and to keep her ambulatory. The cells are so fragile in girls who have Retts and if not treated could result in Sabrina losing the ability to walk. He put her on Alpha Lipoic Acid and wanted her to remain on CoQ10 and L-Carnitine. Within a few weeks her energy rebounded!

One huge gain for Sabrina this past year was the acquired skill of riding a trike! One skill she gained at school. If you travel Sabrina's school hallways be sure to watch out as you just may witness her zoom past you!

Sabrina continues to warm the hearts of all those she meets with her bright smile and infectious laugh. Sabrina couldn't have done it without you! Your support and encouragement is beyond priceless. You will remain a legacy in Sabrina's life and we will be eternally grateful. We will continue our fight to recover Sabrina from all that ails her. Thank you Lend4Health, Thank you Family & Friends!

Forever Grateful,
Bonnie