Oprah

Did anyone watch Oprah yesterday? Oh my gosh, it was amazing. For the first time ever, she did an episode on autism. I cried like a baby. It just really hit home, you know? To hear from families whose children regressed and all they're going through.... and to see that video of little Christian at 2 years and how well he was talking and how social and then to see him now (you can view him on Noah's website in the Autism Speaks video). It just broke my heart.

1 in 150 kids.

Can you believe it? They said autism is now more prevalent than breast cancer or AIDS. It's an epidemic. It truly is and I'm so glad that Oprah aired that b/c maybe more people will get an understanding of what's it like to be a family afflicted with autism. And, you know, it doesn't just affect the immediate family. It affects grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. It affects friendships, careers - every aspect of your life.

If you get a chance to watch it online, please do so. It's a real eye-opener.

Noah's Mom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Answer to Noah's Shirt Chewing...

NOTE: If you came across this page by googling "Shirt Chewing", please click here for the most recent post on Noah's shirt chewing. Thanks! Sugar. Who knew that five little letters could wreck such havoc? As I've mentioned before, Noah has a terrible shirt chewing habit. I can't quite remember when it all started, but we all noticed that it STOPPED completely when we were in Austin. The only thing that was really different was his diet - since we were living out of a hotel for a week. When we got home, we racked our brains to figure out what it was.... what food triggered Noah' s shirt chewing. We were home about 2 days when Noah started chewing again. Agave Nectar. Sim had put agave nectar on Noah's waffles. We took the agave nectar out of his diet and the next day, the chewing decreased. A few days later, I gave him a peanut butter and jelly rice cake. He started shirt chewing. It had to have been the jelly.. which goes to show that just because it's
Read more

Acceptance and Moving Forward

It's been so long since I posted here. I wasn't even sure that I would remember my password. And, actually, I really haven't planned anything to write out, but I just had this overwhelming urge to post today. Maybe so that I can look back on this post next year and see how far we've come, I'm not sure. But here we are... and here I am.... 2016 was a challenge. Not just for our family, but for everyone it seems. I look around and 2016 just seems to be a year of hurt. It was a tough year on so many levels.  A little over a year ago, on December 23, 2015, we were told that my husband most likely had a certain lung condition that gave him only three years to live. We are so fortunate that it was NOT what they thought, but it led us straight into 2016 full of fear and despair.... feelings which continue all the way through today.... and may lead into 2017. To condense a very long story that's full of grief and misdiagnoses and full on panic attacks (for me), I wi
Read more

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

I know that I haven't been blogging much lately. I don't know... I think I've just lost interest in it. In the past, I could blog about mindless, frivolous drivel - like how Sim didn't know who Rick Springfield was or my letter to Michael Phelps or how I'll drive across Texas in order to find a bag of special edition Hershey kisses . I could write about things that were fun and lighthearted - but I just can't find that place inside me anymore. Now, I did nearly blog the other day about how I almost had a panic attack when I thought that L'Oreal discontinued my favorite lipstick, but it just seemed pointless and unimportant - especially when compared to the real stuff going on in my life. I don't know what to blog about anymore. I know that blogs are meant to be for the blogger only and that you should be able to blog about anything you want - but I can't help but recognize that blogging about RAD is alienating me from the people in my real life
Read more