Make a Microloan for 2-yr old Alano's Health!

This loan has been repaid in full!

Photo: Alano (left) & his older brother Legend.

First Posted On: September 14, 2009

Name: Alano

Age: 2 years old

Location: New York, USA

Diagnosis: PDD-NOS

Loan Sought: $1,500

Loan Needed For: Initial appointment with DAN! Doctor ($165); one follow-up visit ($165); Organic Acid Test from Great Plains ($240); Comprehensive Stool Analysis Test from Great Plains ($330); IgE Food Allergy Test from Great Plains ($270); Travel costs (tolls) to & from DAN! doctor ($30); Supplements, including multi-vitamin, probiotics, omega 3s, enzymes for the first 2-3 months ($300).

Note: Alano's mom is looking into a different doctor as well. If she decides to see a different doctor, the amount and the details of the need may change. It is anticipated that the amount needed will be decreased. This loan request will be updated as needed once the decision is made.

Repayment Terms: 24 months ($62.50/month).

Other Notes: Alano's mom, Alida, writes: "Alano will be two years old this October. He is my little "pollo" (Spanish for chicken), full of curiosity and loves to be outdoors! He loves to run with his older brother, Legend, and play cars together. Although he was diagnosed with PDD when he was 18 months old, he's very affectionate and loves having people visit our home. I felt that all he was missing was the words he so desperately wants to say everyday but would babble and yelp a lot instead.

After his diagnosis, we started with early intervention with speech therapy, special instruction and occupational therapy in our home. It's been helping for the past three months so far but not enough. He's getting another evaluation in a few weeks, which will add more therapy to his schedule as well as an ABA. Right when therapy started, I became homebound with an ankle injury. It's been difficult but we've had a great support system and Alano will get the extra help he needs. We started the GFCF [gluten-free casein-free] diet over a month ago and it's been great but we're not there 100%. Between my doctor's appointments, shopping for GFCF products & supplements, we're getting hit hard financially.

Dr. Elaine Hardy is a nurse practitioner but she follows the DAN! protocol and she charges much less than most DAN doctors in NYC. We just want to get the ball rolling with biomedical treatment as soon as possible so the appointment is for November 3rd.

Alano has been uttering word-sounds like "achoo" and "dadoo" for balloon but otherwise, my husband and I are dying just to hear him call us Momma and Daddy. He looks forward to seeing his therapists, loves to eat, does a cluck-cluck dance (why I call him pollo!) before he gives you a nuzzley kiss. I also started a blog about his journey (read it HERE).

I believe every child with autism has a better chance at recovery once their parents are given the tools they need and the means to afford it! Of course life is not that simple but I'm willing to try through this site and God willing, this will open up your heart and be able to give whatever you can to help. It would mean the absolute world to me and to all the children here on Lend4Health! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and God bless!"

Reference Provided By: Michele T, Elizabeth M, and the office of Dr. Elaine Hardy.

Alano's Community of Lenders:

Thomas: $20
Beth: $5 ["Blessings to Alano!"]
Karen F: $5
Paula: $5
Sara: $25 ["God Bless Your Family!"]

UPDATES - UPDATES - UPDATES

October 5, 2009: I received this awesome email from Alida: "Tori, I can't believe I'm writing this email NOW! I can't believe it actually happened and as soon as I get the money, I STILL won't believe it. I've been in touch with a friend of mine named Enzo from high school on Facebook. He saw Alano's profile posted a few weeks ago. He wasn't one of my closest friends but a very nice guy nonetheless. He felt for me when he read Alano's story and offered to help. But what he did to help out was what you would only see in the movies!! He works as a long shoreman in a large company with over 200 workers. Being a father of three, he told me how blessed he always felt to have three healthy children and that it would break his heart to hear about his friends going through hardship with sick children. He has done this before for a friend whose daughter had leukemia and had to take time off from work to be with her. His friend was deep in debt and so he collected $5-$10 from each person at his company and ended up with over $2,500! So he did the exact same thing for my son! I couldn't believe it. He collected about $1,200 in a week and a half!! Then my brother-in-law decided to chip in the remaining $300 as soon as I told him and the rest of my family the story. By the grace of God, I could not imagine this would happen to me. But you know Tori, it was your organization that prompted this to happen! You helped make everyone aware of the need for biomedical treatment for children under the spectrum, especially for those that don't know that there are ways to help them and that it's not easily covered under insurance. I did have a hard time explaining to Enzo about the website and what biomedical treatment is but he didn't care. I brought up Jenny McCarthy and he thinks it's all BS! So I hope with Alano's recovery process, he will understand better in the near future. God works things in a beautiful way. Now I'm at a loss as to how I'm going to thank him and his company for this incredible donation! Tori, THANK YOU for giving my son a chance at recovery by being such a blessed part of the autism community and for creating Lend4Health from the goodness of your heart and for your beautiful little boy!"

October 5, 2009: The total amount received in loans on Lend4Health is $60. I will talk to Alida about how she would like to structure this new loan amount.

October 5, 2009: Alida plans to use the $60 for supplements recommended by the DAN! doctor. She plans to pay the loan back over 3 months, at $20/month.

October 6, 2009: Promissory note sent to Alida for signature.

October 21, 2009: Signed promissory note received.

October 21, 2009: Loan of $60 disbursed via check in the mail. The first repayment on this loan is due November 1, 2009.

October 22, 2009: Thank you note from Alida:

The past few weeks have been one long emotional roller coaster ride. My family and I are on cloud nine over the fact that we have the funds to be able to start the biomedical treatment for Alano, a blessing that couldn't have happened if it weren't for Lend4Health! In the past few days, we had a meeting with the NYC EIP (early intervention program) in their office and just got approved for extra speech therapy time, occupational therapy and for ABA (applied behavioral analysis) which is going to be a crazy schedule for Alano starting next week. We really hope he can tolerate it! Then we went to the orientation as of last night at the Path Family Center (PFC) in Staten Island. My husband and I felt very much at home the minute we stepped into this beautiful place! After meeting Dr. Gabriel and his staff, I was overwhelmed with tears and felt inspired by their stories of how they were led to the center to help children and adults under the spectrum and other disorders. To have the services they'll provide, the laid back, cozy atmosphere of the place, the play gym for the children so they can interact and socialize with one another and the parent support group meetings, all in ONE PLACE, is an incredible opportunity to have and an investment of a lifetime for our son! Before we become members of PFC, we do have challenges to deal with, like the possibility of surgery for my ankle next month. It could keep us from joining until I recover. Regardless, we're sooo happy we found this place!! A HUGE THANK YOU to Alano's Rescue Angel (from generationrescue.org) Elizabeth Monterosso for telling me about PFC! We will update again before the holidays! Thank you for reading and God bless! THANK YOU
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After the visit to the Path Family Center where Alano will get his treatment, it got me thinking so much about the families I saw at the meeting and how I wonder about the families I saw at the NYC EI office. I ask myself where could our family be if it weren't for the technology of the world wide web. Even more so, I ask where would we be if it weren't for an open mind to the possibility of biomedical intervention. I am taken back by the thought that I am so thankful that God has brought us here to this point in our lives, to where Alano especially needs to be. Not every child with autism is lucky. Not every parent of those children have a computer to be able to do the research AND have an open mind. Our family feels truly blessed everyday with everything we have...and don't have. Ever since I found Lend4Health online a few months ago, I bookmarked it and went back to it so many times with the hope that one day, I will be able to put my son's profile on it. Here we are and here I am saying thank you Thomas, Beth, Karen, Paula & Sara for taking the time to invest in getting Alano one step closer to recovery. Thank God for each of you and for Tori Tuncan for creating Lend4Health from her heart. We will never forget it!!!

P.S.: Please bookmark my blog @ http://madmomaboutautism.blogspot.com for updates about Alano's progress as well as a "before" video of him that was taken at the end of September which will be posted on my blog very soon. Thank you so much XOXO!!

October 31, 2009: 1st repayment (due Nov. 1) received. Amount $20, received early.

December 1, 2009: 2nd repayment (due Dec. 1) received. Amount $20, received on-time.

January 1, 2009: 3rd repayment (due Jan. 1) received. Amount $20, received on-time.

January 1, 2009: This loan has been repaid in full!

January 1, 2009: Original loan amounts have been sent to Alano's Community of Lenders via PayPal.

January 1, 2009: This family is considered to be in good standing on Lend4Health. They are eligible to request a 2nd loan in the future if they would like.

January 11, 2010: Update from Alida: "Happy New Year everyone! It's been over two months since my last update about Alano. Based on my latest blog post at http://www.madmomaboutautism.blogspot.com, you can imagine what we all had to endure as a family. As of today, I'm recovering from foot surgery just fine. We did become members of the Path Family Center and had the second round of bloodwork done as of this morning. I posted about Alano's latest accomplishments as well as an update on his early intervention therapy. I'm so happy for my little "pollo" (chicken in Spanish lol!)! He's a tough kid with so much heart, a love for learning new things and has an insatiable need to play, play, play all day, especially with his big bro Legend! I'm looking forward to a year full of promise, hope and of course, RECOVERY!!!

From our family to yours, many blessings in 2010 & thank you again!!

Much love,
Alida (Alano's mom :-D)"