Through A Glass Darkly

George W. Mead and his wife Tory are the parents of two children, Eleanor and William, who was born in May 1998. George is an attorney who at one time practised medical malpractice defence (defending doctors and hospitals). Tory is a writer and an advocate for children with special needs. They live in Portland, Oregon.
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"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians

There is a Starbucks in our neighborhood that we sometimes visit to take our minds off our son's medical condition. On our last visit, there was a plastic donation box for children stricken with autism, and a little plaque that read, 'Autism strikes one child in every 5,000.' I ordered my double latte and thought for a minute. Then I pulled out a red pen and deliberately defaced the sign, writing: 'In Oregon, autism strikes one child in 150!'

Two years ago, shortly before his second birthday, our son William went to his doctor's office and received a standard set of 'catch-up' shots, several of which contained a mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, which is 49% ethyl-mercury by weight. Since that day, our lives have been profoundly changed in a way that none of us could have anticipated.

During the following summer William suffered from constant diarrhoea, unexplained bumps and welts, reduced speech, bloating, binge eating, bloody lesions, 'croup attacks', and lost interaction and eye contact. These conditions progressed into rocking, teeth grinding, eye squinting, spinning, hand flapping, gross motor problems, and a total loss of language. Twenty weeks after his shots, William, then two years old, was diagnosed with 'regressive autism', perhaps the most devastating disorder a toddler can suffer.
But this is not a story of grief, it is one of hope. Through a combination of medical and educational treatments, our son has made great strides. Full story at
http://www.redflagsweekly.com/mead/2003_mar17.html