Autism battled in different ways Grafton family's autistic son recovers

Jay Whearley, "Autism battled in different ways Grafton family's
autistic son recovers", Worcester Telegram & Gazette News, June 18,
2006,
Link:
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dl...606180525/1116

The coast-to-coast, nearly 3,000-mile move the Romaniecs made from
Orange County, Calif., to this quiet Central Massachusetts community
three years ago was a long, hard trip for a family with two elementary
school-age children. It was nothing compared with the journey made by
their son Daniel.

Most medical experts maintain that an autistic child writhing on the
floor and banging his or her head against a wall will never make the
journey to full recovery; that the child never will be healthy,
attentive and energetic. The American Autism Society, for instance,
offers parents hope by stressing various treatments and educational
approaches that lessen the severity of autism, but makes it quite clear
in its preamble that there is no cure.

Daniel's mother, Mary Romaniec, begs to differ.

The boy, now 8, attends public school, communicates well, laughs,
plays, studies, teases his mother and older sister, and isn't at all
shy about hamming it up for a photographer. He undergoes some speech
therapy to help his articulation and adheres to a strict diet that his
mother enforces more stringently than a radar cop enforces the speed
limit in a cash-strapped backwater town.

"He has recovered from autism," Mrs. Romaniec told an interviewer
in the kitchen of her Grafton home. "I had refused to say that for a
long time ... always afraid that something would go wrong. But now I
know that it's true."

While the best of the best-case scenarios has occurred for Daniel, his
mother is convinced that it will continue only as long as he adheres to
the lessons they have learned along the way to his recovery. Those
lessons came through countless tears and hours on the Internet, on the
telephone and meeting with anyone who would talk to her about autism.

That journey taught Mrs. Romaniec volumes about the subject,
information that she now is glad to share with any parent of an
autistic child or anyone else who may be able to help. Her lessons
frequently fly in the face of the conventional wisdom expressed by the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, as well as professional medical organizations
such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of
Pediatrics, and major pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Included in that conventional wisdom is the insistence that the mercury
used in childhood vaccines is safe. Pushed by parents of children with
autism, a bill is before the state Legislature to ban the use of
thimerosal, a preservative that contains ethylmercury, in vaccines
given to children younger than 3 in Massachusetts.

Statements issued by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics,
Mrs. Romaniec notes, suggest that thimerasol no longer is used in
childhood vaccines. As the authors of the bill in the Legislature point
out, it still is used in flu vaccines and other shots routinely given
to children in the state.

Mrs. Romaniec firmly believes that the mercury in the thimerosal
contained in those vaccines was a factor in Daniel's autism.

She remembers being given the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine not
long after her daughter, Theresa, was born and at about the time Daniel
was conceived, then taking a flu vaccine in the second trimester of her
pregnancy with Daniel. The two children are 14 months apart in age.

The mother is adamant that at no point prior, during or after those
vaccinations was she told of possible complications. Withheld from her,
she said, were warnings about possible neurological damage if a child
is conceived shortly after receiving the MMR vaccine, and that the
mercury in the flu vaccine could cross the placenta.

"I was told the shots would protect my son, and I didn't have any
reason then to doubt that. These were my doctors. I trusted them."
Now, she points out, even doctors who advocate the vaccinations say
they are shocked that she wasn't told of possible side effects.

Therein, Mrs. Romaniec believes, is the crux of the problem. Parents
often accept unconditionally what doctors and the medical community
have to say, even when there's other evidence suggesting that
accepted thinking and treatments simply won't work for many autistic
children.

"You've done everything you were told to do to protect and care for
your child," she said. "Then that child is diagnosed and you
immediately question yourself: 'What did I do wrong? Is this my
fault?' "

Beyond passing the proposed ban on thimerosal, Mrs. Romaniec and
several other parents interviewed want a full, independent
investigation into the effects of vaccines given to children,
particularly the MMR shot routinely given to children. She cites
research and several studies conducted by those who support her views,
but she acknowledges that those who oppose those views cite other
studies and research.

The MMR vaccine, she noted, does not contain thimerosal, but it is
considered by many parents and some researchers to be a "trigger,"
a catalyst that launches the downward spiral of once healthy children.
The live MMR vaccine, in combination with the childhood vaccines that
contain mercury, create a toxic overload in a genetically predisposed
child's immune system that can lead to autism or autism-related
disorders.

"Please, I'm not anti-drug or anti-FDA or anti-CDC. But we're
experiencing an epidemic of autism and related problems in this country
that keeps getting worse," she argues. "It's time to find out,
independently and conclusively, why."

Mercury, in particular, is labeled a severe health risk in practically
everything but the vaccines, Mrs. Romaniec points out. "Is it any
wonder why so many people are questioning its use here?" she said.

Asked why mercury would continue to be used in the vaccines if there
were any hint of risk, she suggested that any such admission could lead
to incalculable financial liability.

Mrs. Romaniec has started a local support group, Helping Our Children
Achieve, for families of special needs children. HOCA meets monthly
with a goal to provide families with a full list of therapy options,
counseling, education concerns, and dietary and biomedical approaches.

Frequently discussed are her own experiences with Daniel. In his case,
the mother maintains, recovery occurred because of special diets and
intravenous immunoglobin therapy, which repaired Daniel's immune
system. The diets, often arrived at by trial and error, totally
eliminated glutens, caseins and various metals from her son's intake.

"Mary is more than mentor," says a Blackstone Valley mother of
twins who were diagnosed with autism a year ago. "She gives us more
than hope; she provides knowledge."

Is that knowledge working?

"The best way I can describe it," the mother responded, "is
something my father said to me a few days ago. I know my boys have made
progress but I was feeling down, wondering if it was enough."

"You know," she said her father told her, "it wasn't that long
ago that I couldn't go out for a walk with one of my grandsons in my
arms. Now I'm out walking with both of them on their feet holding my
hands.

"Yes, it is getting better."

Contact Jay Whearley by e-mail at .