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Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions

Posted on Sep 18, 2007 7:48 PM

Hi, you were both awesome and inspiring today on Oprah's show. I am the mother of a 5 year old boy with autism and he is making great progress through all of the therapie I have found that work. My problems come in the form of paying for these therapies, they are very expensive to maintain. My husband and I recently separated and I am struggling to take care of my son and find a way to keep paying for his therapies. We live in South Florida and I have him on Medicaid which thankfully pays for his Speech and OT but I have to pay for his ABA therapy and horse therapy and swimming therapy and music therapy. Right now I can't even pay my bills nevermind his therapies, his father is broke and has no money, my mother-in-law and my parents have been trying to help but they are running out of money, and my house is mortgaged to beyond what it is worth in today's market. I meet a lot of parents down here who would love to do more for their kids and give them more therapies but they can't afford it. I can't work a normal full time job because I pick my son up from school at 2pm and I run him around all afternoon to his different therapies. Most of the Autism organizations I have looked into raise money for research and I can't find any that directly help the families afford the therapies for their kids. I have just started looking into trying to start a non-profit organization that will raise money to help pay for therapies for the families down here. Even maybe like a sponsor a child's therapy program. As I am looking into starting this endeavor I see that it is going to take a lot of work. I was wondering if you had any advice for me in starting this type of organization or advice on how to keep paying for these extra therapies that I know have made a difference for my son. He is awesome! I also related to your story Jenny about feelilng alone after your husband left and feeling like you were never going to meet anyone who could love you and your son. That is how I feel right now and hearing how you have met someone and are happy has given me hope. Thank you for that.
Replies: 33
1. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 8:52 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny & Holly, I was more than inspired by both of your stories tonight. I have a 6 year old son who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3. My son does not have any language and eats very little by mouth. He is fed via g-tube. He has speech therapy at school as well as after school. He seems to be getting a little better,because at one time he would not allow you to come anywhere near is mouth. The problem that I am having is that I do not feel that the public school system in GA that my son attends is doing anything more than just babysitting. My son qualified for a scholarship for special needs children and I received a list of private schools that my son could attend, however after calling these schools none of them catered to children with Autism. My son's father died in May of 07 and I am trying to work full time to keep a roof over our heads and still making all therapy appointments. My son has the potential and wants to eat,talk and be potty trained. I need to know if there is any government funding or state funding that will help me to get the education and training my son needs and deserves. Something Holly said was, with the right teaching our children came come out of this. If the is any info that you can give me or a path that either of you could advise me to take I am all ears and would truly appreciate it. I am a Certified Biller,Coder and Medical collection specialist and could work in just about any state, so if I need to relocate I will. I trust god and I know that AJ will overcome this, I just need the right help and some good direction. Thank you for hearing me. I will continue to keep your children and all children with autism or not in my prayers. God Bless you both!!!!.

2. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:04 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny,
I am amaze to see ur effort. I have 5 year daughter with autism. I don't know how to bring out from her world? how to find the window to get in her world. Secondly I have a daughter 6 months old. I don't have any information about MMR. Can i delayed this vacination. My father guts says vacination could be a trigger. I don't trust on vacination. What statistics you have child with autism without vacination. Do you any forum or email address where people could ask question to you.
Thanks
Rashid

3. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:06 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny and Holly, I'm currently a mother of a 9 month old son, expecting baby #2 in February. Just wondering, if you were to go back and repeat this, would you choose not to vaccinate your children? I'm trying to decide what is best as my son has his MMR vaccination coming up in December. Thanks so much for your input, I thought today's show was great!

4. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:06 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny and Holly, I'm currently a mother of a 9 month old son, expecting baby #2 in February. Just wondering, if you were to go back and repeat this, would you choose not to vaccinate your children? I'm trying to decide what is best as my son has his MMR vaccination coming up in December. Thanks so much for your input, I thought today's show was great!

5. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:06 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny and Holly, I'm currently a mother of a 9 month old son, expecting baby #2 in February. Just wondering, if you were to go back and repeat this, would you choose not to vaccinate your children? I'm trying to decide what is best as my son has his MMR vaccination coming up in December. Thanks so much for your input, I thought today's show was great!

6. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:09 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny and Holly, I'm currently a mother of a 9 month old son, expecting baby #2 in February. Just wondering, if you were to go back and repeat this, would you choose not to vaccinate your children? I'm trying to decide what is best as my son has his MMR vaccination coming up in December. Thanks so much for your input, I thought today's show was great!

7. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:13 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Hi Jenny and Holly,

I'm a mother of a 9 month old son and expecting baby #2 in February. I'm just wondering, if you were to go back, would you have chosen NOT to have vaccinated your children? And is there anything else you feel that would be effective in preventing autism? Thanks for your input, todays show was great!

8. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:29 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

You both were very inspiring and it touched my heart to hear you stories. I do not have a child with autism. I have a 6 year old son and a two year old daughter. We just recently found out that our daughter is allergic to wheat, corn, milk, and eggs. It is very expensive to buy her foods that she can eat. We can barely make ends meet, but are doing our best. My question is more for advice. We recently went out of town to visit family. We packed a lot of food for our daughter. We also stopped and ate on the way. I am interested in how to go about trying to get resturants to offer more allergy food foods. It's really hard when my daughter knows what a happy meal is, but can not have one, and my son can. He's getting chicken nuggets and she gets to have a salad without dressing. How fair is that in a 2 year olds eyes. And of course, it's all about to toy anyway. We have to worry about corn oil, corn starch, butter, eggs baked in something, I am sure you understand. I just wanted to see if their is any way to try to get resturants to be more allergy friendly. Even if it is just putting out a menu with all the ingredients in their foods listed including cooking oil. Although it would be nice to see them offer a meal for kids that would be allergy free. Thanks for any help. Kasey

9. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:31 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

10. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:31 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

You both were very inspiring and it touched my heart to hear you stories. I do not have a child with autism. I have a 6 year old son and a two year old daughter. We just recently found out that our daughter is allergic to wheat, corn, milk, and eggs. It is very expensive to buy her foods that she can eat. We can barely make ends meet, but are doing our best. My question is more for advice. We recently went out of town to visit family. We packed a lot of food for our daughter. We also stopped and ate on the way. I am interested in how to go about trying to get resturants to offer more allergy food foods. It's really hard when my daughter knows what a happy meal is, but can not have one, and my son can. He's getting chicken nuggets and she gets to have a salad without dressing. How fair is that in a 2 year olds eyes. And of course, it's all about to toy anyway. We have to worry about corn oil, corn starch, butter, eggs baked in something, I am sure you understand. I just wanted to see if their is any way to try to get resturants to be more allergy friendly. Even if it is just putting out a menu with all the ingredients in their foods listed including cooking oil. Although it would be nice to see them offer a meal for kids that would be allergy free. Thanks for any help. Kasey

11. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:32 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

12. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:32 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

13. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:32 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

14. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:32 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

15. Re: Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete Answer Your Questions
Sep 18, 2007 9:32 PM   |   In response to: yolanda629

Great show !! Thank you for opening our eyes and making us be more aware and sensitive about autism.
My question is this, my daughter has had all of her vaccines except the one that you get at 4 years old.
Is there danger with the vaccine with every immunization or just a particular vaccine, or a particular age and does autism affect mostly boys?

Thank you again for your courage and inspiration.

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