Getting Started.

Hi everyone!

So, I decided to start this blog for my son, Gabe, who is battling autism. A friend, who also has a son battling autism, started a blog site and I just thought it was a WONDERFUL idea to copy her. :) We are just getting started on our journey away from autism, and it may be a long one. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to recover Gabe.

I'll give you a little bio on our family.

I was 18 years old when I had Gabe. From the moment he was born he has been my entire world. It is really true what they say about how having a child changes everything. It truly does. I went from playing three sports in high school and have tons of friends to devoting every second of the day to this little boy I loved so much. Gabe was born on April 15th, 2004 and was 9lbs 5oz, 22inches long. I know, huge baby, right? :) Gabe developed very typically, hitting every milestone on time until around 7 months. We noticed that after his well-child check-up he got sick and wasn't babbling as much as he had been before. Being a young mom, I trusted our doctor (who had been my doctor my whole life as well since birth) when he said that it was probably nothing. We celebrated Gabe's first birthday party with friends and family who saw this bright eyed, happy little boy eating his first taste of birthday cake and watching/playing with the other kids invited. Four days after the party I took him in for his one-year well-child check-up and he received his MMR shot. A few days after that shot, we began losing our bright-eyed little boy. I believe that after each shot, we lost Gabe more and more. His immune system just could not keep up with the radical vaccine schedule we give our babies these days. When I was born in the 80's, my mom gave me TEN vaccines, now we are expected to give our babies 36 vaccines before the age of 3. That is insanity to me looking back now. Why didn't I do more research or question it? Every mom who is in my shoes feels some sort of guilt or regret about that very same question I've found....

Gabe was officially diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in August of 2006. We had known since around 15 months of age that something was terribly different about Gabe. After his MMR, flu shot, and 2 DTAP vaccines within a 6 month time frame, he had regressed and pretty much lost all speech, eye contact, and social behavior he had gained in his short life. Since then we have been fighting to bring him back to us.