Jenny McCarthy: On a Mission from God
Early in the show, Jenny explained her motivations to Oprah. When her son Evan was diagnosed with autism, Jenny said, she made a pact with God. If God would show her how to heal her son, she would share that knowledge with the world. Jenny, it seems, believes that God has kept His end of the bargain. Now, she is keeping up her end by sharing her experiences with everyone she can reach. In other words, God has given Jenny the knowledge of how autism can be cured - and Jenny is now on a mission from God to spread the good word.
Surprisingly, Jenny did not then provide mothers with a clear directive for action. Instead, she described herself - and all mothers - as "warriors" who will do anything, no matter how difficult or extreme, to help their children. If special diets don't work, Jenny says, mother warriors will try supplements. If supplements don't work, they'll go to the next thing and the next - until their child is cured of autism.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding - and please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - but it sounds to me as if Jenny is exhorting mothers to try any and every purported cure for autism because somewhere, somehow, they WILL find that treatment which will "recover" (or at least significantly improve the functioning of) their child. What's more, she seems to be saying that God has sent her with this message - a message of hope for all children with autism, who can all be cured in one way or another. By continuing to try one treatment after another - and keeping the faith that a cure is possible - mother warriors are fighting the good fight.
What was your sense of Jenny's message? Am I understanding her correctly? And - if I am - what's your feeling about Jenny's mission? Does it make sense to you? Will you follow her lead?
Comments
I’m curious, where does that Indigo Child fit into the God part of that bargain? I feel a little left out, why would God only send her a message when many before her child was diagnosed with autism? God waited until she prayed but didn’t listen to the rest before her? I am sorry, to me it sounds like book hype. I don’t consider trying all kinds of different options a Warrior. I consider it desperate for that recovery. I must not be a Warrior mother then, since I did not try everything and went on to the next when what I choose didn’t result in recovery. I choose what made sense and then stuck with it. Maybe the issue is recovery isn’t instant as one thinks it should be. I did fight a good fight, although I do not qualify Warrior status, and still do since my child is not recovered/ cured nor do I expect him to be.
I understand her thinking. At least try everything you can think of, in case your child’s symptoms are the result of some negative problem in the environment — rather than the natural way that child really is. Especially if there is no one on either side of the family with similar issues, or autism-like behaviors, you might want to dig as deep as you can.
But, if you none of the supplements, treatments, etc. have a great impact, I think it’s best to accept your child for who they are, while at the same time helping them to function as best they can in our complex world — while still loving, being loved, and having fun.
I get pretty annoyed when people assume they were “chosen by God”. For every Jenny who was able to “recover” her child, there are millions of others who were as nice and prayed just as much and tried just as many treatments and still their kids remained low functioning. The fact that he got better and the other kids didn’t – it was not God’s will, it was just random, a matter of genetic predisposition to become high functioning or not.
The suggestion that Jenny’s message is somehow reckless is a bit disingenuous, in that it shows a lack of understanding about the reality of autism from a bio-medical standpoint. If medical science wishes to protect these kids from supposedly dangerous treatments, they need to get their thumbs out of their collective keysters and start giving parents real answers.
Looking at the treatments which are available (discounting ABA for this conversation as being out of the reach of 75%+ of families with autistic kids), they are really not dangerous. Yes the Diet can be very difficult, especially if not all caregivers are vigilant (i.e. the schools), but some children really do respond to no small degree to ahving the gluten and casein removed from their diet. Medical science supports this for people with recognized allergies and intolernaces, but somehow all these PhDs and MDs act as though once a person is diagnosed autistic nothing else could possibly be wrong with them and have not bothered to investigate the hundreds and hundreds of reports by parents whose children did indeed improve with the Diet.
Supplements likewise are largely unstudied in this population. Recent studies have shown how specific supplements can indeed improve neurological function in people with other conditions (one example is fish oil and ADHD in the UK), but again this is largely unstudied with autism.
Jenny is absolutely correct in telling people (Moms) to network, exchange ideas and to try the unconventional to help their kids. If they sit around and wait for the “experts” to help, their kids are going to be teenagers with no chance of recovery heading into residential care where the only thing that awaits them is a headful of heavy sedatives as a chemical straitjacket, the great likelihood of physical and sexual abuse, and an abbreviated lifespan from poor care.
DadFourKids – I completely understand your point that diets and supplements really can make a difference.
But Jenny wasn’t simply suggesting specific supplements or diets. Her message is, in essence, God has told me to tell parents to try everything and anything until your child is cured.
More significantly, IMHO, she implied that any parent not willing to try every possible treatment to cure their child is somehow unworthy. In other words, parents who choose NOT to try out hyperbaric oxygen or lupron or what-have-you are literally ignoring the word of God.
That does trouble me.
Lisa (autism guide)
I didn’t hear Jenny’s comments firsthand but from what you are saying it sounds like she is saying to not stop fighting against autism. Or in other words, don’t give up and say that autism is who your child is and the two are inseparable.
And I find that sort message very refreshing when compared to the ND message of “its who they are and there isn’t anything you can or should do about it – and you don’t accept/love your child if you try to help them”.
If God would show her how to heal her son, she would share that knowledge with the world.
I hope God has a good agent, because he/she deserves a healthy cut of Jenny’s book royalties.
Relax on the “God” comments. That is clearly her just letting people know she has faith, and it’s her belief, she not professing you all need to believe it… she has enough confidence in herself to share her thoughts with the world, that takes guts.
And not once does she ever say the word cure. She says recover. These kids have extremely sick immune systems and what she means by continually trying things, is that these mothers will not stop until they find what it is that will help their individual child. My doctors never had ONE answer for my questions on my son’s physical nature of his autism. It was always “I don’t know” or “It’s probably behavioral”. Severe digestional pain with toxic explosive non stop stool, is behavioral? I don’t think so…No matter what you think of Jenny she is just trying to get someone in the medical community to pay attention to the fact that these kids are sick and they should be studied and so should the kids who got better. What is so outrageous about this thinking?? Is it just the fact that it might in many cases involve and the mainstream medical religion.. vaccines??? You can’t talk about the physical nature, regression, the toxicity, immune dyfunction without including one of the contributing factors, vaccines. So instead they deny and don’t read studies about the biology and pathology of the children themselves. This in itself is a crime from intense ego protecting. I do not do an intervention with my son without intensly studying it and making sure it fits his profile and working with a doctor to help me make sense of it. There are tons of scientific studies available, biological science. I don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t take my child to a large scale epidemiologist for treatment, or an answer to what’s going on with him. I’d want someone to take in his symptoms, family history, where the onset occurred, why it might have occurred, what’s happening biologically, metabolically, on a cellular level and try and develop treatments that could help turn it around.
It would seem that moms with kids diagnosed with autism would hardly need reminding that they have to do everything in their power to help their children, but then there’s Joan, who wrote not too long ago that she felt her autistic child was “a waste of human life” and that “God ruined him.” Before having her child, Joan prayed to God for kids with “no mental or social problems.” Have we heard again from Joan?
But the part of her message that greatly disturbs me is when she seems to be telling mothers to try EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in the pursuit of “fixing their kids.” Something about the exhortation to “fix my kid” is disturbing to me. Taking that advice can lead to dangerous and at the very least, crushingly expensive, desperate measures. She claims her kid, Evan, is “recovered.” Even though she will cop to having provided him with every possible therapy such as OT, PT, speech, and Behavior Modification, she’s convinced that it was the GFCF diet and supplements that did the trick. Her advice to others who have tried GFCF and saw no results? Move on to the next thing! What next thing, Jenny? Chances are, anyone doing the diet is also already doing the OT, Speech, PT, ABA, etcetera. What’s left after that is what some of us would consider dangerous, like chelation, hyperbaric, and exorcism (yes, people try that). Those, and expensive and unproven supplements, supplements, and more supplements.
That’s where Jenny really loses me. It’s all fine and good to tell mothers to fight for their children, but what about those fragile, vulnerable people who think just because she’s on TV and she says her kid has autism and that he’s supposedly recovered, that makes her an expert? Those moms need to remember this: Jenny McCarthy pays for all HER kid’s treatments and therapies by selling books.
Allison, can you cite any credible sources that show kids with autism suffer “extremely sick immune systems” any more than neurotypical kids?
It’s hard to get past the God thing when Ms. McCarthy considers herself a “Indigo adult,” and considers her son a “Crystal child” which is the belief that “indigo/crystal phenomenon is the next step in our evolution as a human species’.
There’s many sites I scroll to, one all the time that had an ad that once stated “Autism is Curable Jenny McCarthy’s organization. Thousands of children recover.” They now changed it to reversible as well as when I read Oprah’s site. I read the word cure within it as well but now I don’t. Seems a little editing has been taking place.
We all must also remember medical issues are not related to autism and not part of the criteria for autism. One should really only speak about their own child and their experiences than including al with autism into it. Don’t include my child. I know many kids with autism that have no other medical issues as well as those that do have co-morbids but then so does many other people in this world. Not all kids are made up of the same genes either, nor does some one always know they’re a carrier of some dormant gene, as my brother is. Until we’re all tested, all us siblings could also be carriers. My kid is sick all the time, catches every germ known to man. Has nothing much to do with his immune system but autism. He mouths every non food item around. Puts him at a higher risk for getting sick. Has nothing to do with the vaccines he’s had.
Allison, can you cite any credible sources that show kids with autism suffer “extremely sick immune systems” any more than neurotypical kids?
Ok, I’ll bite. Yes, I do have credible sources to claim immune system issues in my twins with autism. For the past two years that have both blood work done to look at a variety of issues. And for the past two years they have both have had results that indicate that their immune systems are not working correctly. Parts are over active and other parts are under active.
I have also seen several studies on pubmed that deal with immune system issues in children with autism.
Now if you want to redefine credible to be only the list of source that you agree with or like then I guess you can claim there isn’t any credible evidence.
I’ll try again: Allison, can you cite any credible sources that show kids with autism suffer “extremely sick immune systems” any more than neurotypical kids? I’m not talking about an irrelevant and unpublished n=2 twin study. Allison claims that “these kids have extremely sick immune systems,” which I take to mean autistic kids in general. What evidence does Allison have that autistic kids have “sick immune systems” at a greater rate than NTs?
Then let me try again as well. If you open your eyes and look at what is out there you will see that there is evidence.
So try this, go to pubmed and try a simple query like : “autism immune dysfunction” which yields 183 results. That was the first phrase that I thought of and amazing, there are relevant studies. Lets look at the first hit of the results :
“Altered gene expression and function of peripheral blood natural killer cells in children with autism”
Hmm, lets look at the abstract, first sentence:
“Immune related abnormalities have repeatedly been reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), including evidence of immune dysregulation and autoimmune phenomena.”
Wow, would you look at that. But I know, that wouldn’t be “credible”.
Stop attacking parents trying to help their children to further your own ideological agenda. Be part of the solution, not the problem.
What you really want is for people to stop asking inconvenient questions, and just blindly accept any and all claims made for bio-medical treatments. That’s not going to happen.
It doesn’t matter now many hits “auto immune dysfunction” turns up on pub med. The question still stands – what proof do you have that auto immune disfunctions are any more prevalent in ASDs? More importantly, is there any reason to suspect autism is caused by vaccines, as you suggest.
MJ~ from where you cited: “These findings suggest possible dysfunction of NK cells in children with ASD. Abnormalities in NK cells may represent a susceptibility factor in ASD and may predispose to the development of autoimmunity and/or adverse neuroimmune interactions during critical periods of development.”
This study consisted of 79 subjects, 52 children with ASD and 27 typically developing control children.
This would lead one to think it’s at the cellular level, “predispose”. This is not a good cite for what you’re trying to present. In fact, this study suggests otherwise.
Here’s a better pubmed for MJ and maybe AutismNewsBeat. This study did not include those with autis at all and the results are interesting.
Prevalence of Allergies in Children With Complex Medical Problems.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18519921?ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
This would lead one to think it’s at the cellular level, “predispose”. This is not a good cite for what you’re trying to present. In fact, this study suggests otherwise.
This is the problem with a pick-up game of Pub Med abstract toss – if you don’t have a solid science education, then it’s easy to misinterpret the studies, or to mislead others. It’s best to leave these kinds of judgments to the experts.
Well, it was said “wow would you look at that” so I did. You cant just read the one-liners from a search result. Even though that’s all that was read, the key word given was “gene”. If scientists cant figure out how to tweak a gene after a person is born, I doubt vaccines can do it and if they could, it would go well beyond autism and to include many more individuals.
This line of thinking is not attacking parents or not being part of a solution. Looking at the susceptibility factor and predisposed is very important to the autism community.
Asking questions is central to the scientific method. It’s also about the scariest thing in the world to true believers whose fragile world view depends on universal assent. If vaccines caused autism, then that would have been revealed through robust scientific investigations, which is to say by asking questions. But the questions have been asked, the studies published. No link has been found. It’s time to move on. Covering the same ground over and over doesn’t help the children. Neither does repeating improbable conspiracy theories spun by charlatans. The kids need accommodation and acceptance, not magical thinking.
I’m not sure how the message of “autism is treatable so keep trying” is so controversial. I think it’s much more controversial that doctors have been referring to the gastro problems of kids on the spectrum as “the diarreah of autism” or “the constipation of autism” – but never trying to connect the dots. Chronic bowel issues are a health problem whether or not you are verbal.
We have to encourage parents to try, try, try – because normally we are told “nothing can be done – nothin, nothing, nothing”.
Also Jenny (and others) are not saying we are “curing autism”. It’s called recovery – and everyone recovers differently. Just like with other diseases or accidents.
So I don’t agree that hope is dangerous – hope is all there is.
I’ve seen it.
I live it.
ANB:
There have been no “robust” scientific studies about autism and vaccines by impartial parties. Even Dr. Healy conceeds that NIH folks don’t want to ask the questions b/c they are terrified of the answers.
Forget about the NIH or any other USA government. Other countries, many of them, conducted tests not relating to the US at all. That’s as impartial as any can get.
Autism is not a disease, and recovery… cure… it’s all the same to me and Ms. McCarthy has used the term cured many times. Recovered or cure both mean the child no longer has autism. Using the term recovered more protects the person from a lawsuit.
Other than actually medical causes for diarrhea and constipation, emotions can cause this. Some one not potty trained can cause this or just refusing to use the bathroom except for at home. And yes, there’ smany treatments for both those issues and if a doctor says there isn’t, find another doctor.
Dr. Healy was a political appointee. She is not a research scientist. Immunology and pediatric neurology lie far outside her expertise.
“Autism is treatable” becomes controversial when lay people like McCarthy play doctor, and major media outlets give her a platform.
I’d been A Fan of Jenny McCarthy ever Since
MTV’s Singled Out!! I recently watched an
Interveiw on Acess Hollywood with Billy Bush!
I Really Think Jenny is Really Great Mother
to her Son Evan because I Know What is Like
because I Voulunteer at Working With Kids
with Special Needs.I also want to say on Jenny’s Behalf of HomeSchooling her Son is
a Very Good Choice just because of her Son’s
Special Needs Needs to be The First Priority
in her Son’s Education.!! Keep up The Good Job
Jenny..!! Kassy
Katherine Glover~ This kind of contradicts what Ms. McCarthy is stating. If Ms. McCarthy’s son is recovered, (which is her claim) then he’s not special needs any more and home schooling then would be of a personal choice, as many parents home school and don’t have special ed children.
I’m a big Jenny McCarthy fan (Jim Carrey — not so much) but I wish she would stop bothering god and pursue more actionable ways to further the cause.
For the benefit of other parents with ASD children, Autism News Beat has a blog whose agenda opposing investigation into the possibility that autism and vaccines are related. Just read any of the links in the blogroll or an entry of your choosing.
Our son was inconsolable following his MMR, ran a high fever within an hour and by the next morning was unable to walk. In the coming days he broke out head to toe in measles and lost all language. He didn’t speak again for a year.
Was this solely the fault of the vaccination or its preservatives — no. Like an increasing number of children with a predisposition to poor detoxification, immune disfunction and digestive/metabolic disorders, our son’s autism was triggered by an exposure to illness and toxic preservatives which his body could not handle.
Not all children respond as dramatically, but if you consider the increasing rates of asthma, allergies and digestive issues, especially among children, there should be more credible, impartial study of why since the late 1980s, so many children are increasingly ill. Also consider that all of the above listed ailments, as well as many children with autism, display an unregulated inflammatory response.
Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, ulcers, impotence, even acne — all are recognized by mainstream medicine as a predisposition that is triggered by acute or prolonged environmental, lifestyle and dietary factors. Is it then so far fetched for Autism News Beat to concede that another spectrum of illness could share this accepted biological mechanism which makes some individuals more likely to develop autism than others?
The recent NIMH halt of a study of chelation as a therapy for autism had the promise of bringing more information on the subject of toxicity. It was canceled for safety concerns, as it should have been, as it was poorly designed. But rather than correcting it, they have no intention of pursuing this point of investigation. (Don’t believe me? Email kaucherc@mail.nih.gov for the same token response I got.)
To date, the only human studies of Thimerosal’s safety were conducted at the Indianapolis City Hospital in 1930. In the midst of a meningococcal meningitis outbreak, Eli Lilly seized the opportunity to test mercury as a vaccine preservative on twenty-two patients. Thimerosal was deemed safe for human use after none of the patients died immediately after injection, despite the fact that all died within two months, preventing any follow up.
Thimerosal isn’t used in canine vaccinations because of the body weight to mercury ratio. But they’ve injected it into 30 million American children.
AutismNewsBeat said :
It doesn’t matter now many hits “auto immune dysfunction” turns up on pub med.
So peer reviewed research does not matter for answering the question of whether there is a relation between immune dysfunction and autism? I will have to remember that line.
The question still stands – what proof do you have that auto immune disfunctions are any more prevalent in ASDs?
Since peer reviewed research doesn’t constitute proof, I am not sure what you are looking for. And I never said more prevalent in ASD – I simply said that there is evidence of immune problems in children with autism.
So try this, prove you aren’t an alien from outer space. So what proof do you have? I’ll bet that you wouldn’t be able to prove it to your own level of “proof” concerning autism studies. Because that would rule out the evidence of your mother giving birth to you (observer bias), other people saying that you aren’t (anecdotal evidence), or medical tests (flawed methodologies, sample size too small).
More importantly, is there any reason to suspect autism is caused by vaccines, as you suggest.
Where did I suggest that? Please quote the exact line that I gave that implication. It sounds more like you are attempting to paint a discussion about immune function into one about vaccines.
It’s best to leave these kinds of judgments to the experts.
And you are one such expert? Funny thing that I have found in life – the more someone says that they are an expert the less they actually know.
If vaccines caused autism, then that would have been revealed through robust scientific investigations
Not that I was talking about vaccines, but since you keep going on about them; so in your mind every possible reaction that a vaccine can caused has been determined so any further research into what exactly it could do to the body is wasted. You must be the expert then.
The kids need accommodation and acceptance, not magical thinking.
Exactly. This “acceptance” that will supposedly make the world better place and allow people with autism to live normal lives is one such example of magical thinking. Autism is a disease and needs a cure, not a magic “acceptance” wand. That is akin to saying that all cancer patients need is acceptance, they don’t need to be treated.
Some more food for thought, this one just popped up on pubmed :
Potential for early-life immune insult including developmental immunotoxicity in autism and autism spectrum disorders: focus on critical windows of immune vulnerability.
Sounds like more quackery to me.
Apparently Google is considered God now…
Before anyone judges J. McCarthy. Read her BOOKS!! To me they were a great inspiration to my family. My son is 5 now and like most i was told about his autism when he was 1ish by my sister who was his vaccine nurse and worked w/ a great pedi.(at least i thought at the time) They told me it wasnt vaccine and gave no hope just to put him in a few behavioral things and expect to raise and take care of him forever!! I Love Jenny for coming out and speaking and making this a mainstream topic! If you read her books you will have full understanding for her mission and if she wants to say GOD sent her, I really don’t think its a big coeincidence. And if you want to harp that she’s a big dizt ball and bc she was a loof in hollywood, SHE STILL IS A MOTHER WHO HAS AN AUTISTIC CHILD!! She provides hope and i can go on w/ my life caring for my son and having more hope than i ever could that he will make some sort of recovery. maybe not to the extent of her or other children but I HAVE HOPE AND FAITH AND I HOPE EVERY FAMILY THAT DEALS W/ AUTISM ON A REG. BASIS DOES TOO!!
Before anyone judges J. McCarthy. Read her BOOKS!! To me they were a great inspiration to my family. My son is 5 now and like most i was told about his autism when he was 1ish by my sister who was his vaccine nurse and worked w/ a great pedi.(at least i thought at the time) They told me it wasnt vaccine and gave no hope just to put him in a few behavioral things and expect to raise and take care of him forever!! I Love Jenny for coming out and speaking and making this a mainstream topic! If you read her books you will have full understanding for her mission and if she wants to say GOD sent her, I really don’t think its a big coeincidence. And if you want to harp that she’s a big dizt ball and bc she was a loof in hollywood, SHE STILL IS A MOTHER WHO HAS AN AUTISTIC CHILD!! She provides hope and i can go on w/ my life caring for my son and having more hope than i ever could that he will make some sort of recovery. maybe not to the extent of her or other children but I HAVE HOPE AND FAITH AND I HOPE EVERY FAMILY THAT DEALS W/ AUTISM ON A REG. BASIS DOES TOO!!
AND PS many of us mothers were probly not the warriors jenny sets out to be but we can now w/ the knowledge that we have been provided. Her book is not a hype, its truely amazing!
OH anyone w/ an autistic child should def. read Mother warriors, the beggning where she talks about how CDC views autism and there priorities are sickning to me.
Wow, I am shocked at the controversy that has been triggered amongst all of us parents of children with autism. It has facinated me how all of us differ on our opions of what causes autism and if a child can “recover”. I have observed this from the day my child started at a school for children with autism and the parking lot had it’s 2 groups of moms. The group of DAN mom’s or shall I say, Biomedical Moms and the group who were not or who had tried it and had no success. It is sad– as I have noticed as a parent of a child who has “recovered” (which in our world means mainstreamed without assistance and medically healthy–just for the record, this does not mean we don’t deal with many issues socially, emotionally, and endless calls from teachers). But I have endured comments such as “well he never really had autism anyway!” or “you are just not dealing with the same thing”. All comments that are hurtful, but I understand the pain. If my child did not respond to diet, supplements, hyperbarics, and therapy after therapy, I might be wounded and spiteful as well. Don’t throw people like Jenny or my family under the bus because our children responded well. And by the same token, if you are the parent of a child who has “recovered”, reach out to others who are not as fortunate, and find out what they are going through because it is not easy. Listen to one another, and don’t make this a war amongst ourselves. We will not accomplish anything if we continue this bickering and battling one another. There is one mom on this blog that is just going after someone for proof about autism and immune systems–why are you so angry, and why badger someone about that. There are no experts in autism yet. They will come about over the next decade or 2, as it is neccessary, but there are no true experts right now, as we are still searching for answers. I pray good, level-headed mature individuals come togethere to solve this in a manner in which ideas and opions are respected and researched. I am not the most intelligent person on the planet, but I am not the dumbest either, and I believe that my son’s vaccines had a profound affect on him in a negative way. I don’t know why, or what part of the vaccine hurt him, or if he was more succeptible than the next child that walked into the doctor’s office, but I know in my heart that something happened to him that day. That thought and feeling should be respected and not negated or attacked. We will not get to the root of this issue if we don’t act like adults with a common goal of helping our children. As for Jenny, you may not agree with her, but she has done an incredible job of bringing the issue of autism to a new level. I thank God for that. Jenny could have gone back to her Hollywood world and not endured any of these attacks. Her life would have been easier. I am sure she does not need the $ from her books while dating Jim Carey, so give her some credit where credit is due.
one more thing–Sic Semper–thanks for your post. I couldn’t agree more.
Good grief, it seems like any time someone actually tries to do something for the betterment of mankind, they get criticized. Jenny has a HUGE heart and a big mouth (that is a compliment Jenny), and she is using those attributes to help some very discouraged parents. I am the mommy of a recovered 5 yr old son as well, and I do consider myself a warrior mommy because I am a “do whatever it takes” type of person. Jenny is being the natural cheerleader that she was born to be and telling parents “Don’t you dare give up on your child. Recovery is possible, and they are counting on you to make that happen!!” God Bless You, Jenny!!(and Evan and Jim):)
As a parent of a child with autism it is undeniable that we want desperately to draw that little person back to us via any method we feel may be benfical. Having said this, my husband and I realize that we have a precious child in our care and not a medical experiment. Maybe Jenny wants to assure the rest of us that God created this child and can heal him/her as she feels was the case with her son. GOD LISTENS TO ALL OF OUR PRAYERS, BUT SOMETIMES WE INTERPRET HIS RESPONSE VERY DIFFERENTLY! Keep the faith, a cure will come and while you wait enjoy that extraordinary child in your life!
Lisa; I guess your being the Devils advocate is appropriate and it does draw a great variety of responses. The last time I checked [ not that I have a special plug] GOD can do whatever he wants to.I think it’s great that Jenny puts so much faith in our Father not only believing in his help but sharing her faith with others. Lisa I believe in your Great work too.
So peer reviewed research does not matter for answering the question of whether there is a relation between immune dysfunction and autism?
No, that’s not what I’m saying. I said it doesn’t matter how many hits a particular search phrase turns up on PubMed. A search for autism+measles yields 350 hits, although the MMR connection has been debunked. Autism +cannibas yields 2 hits, so I guess it’s time to dust off the hyperbaric oxygen bong. For those of you into the black arts, it might be good to know that exorcism +medicine yields 26 papers on PubMed.
Why shouldn’t Jenny have a God-ordained purpose? I believe we all do. Jenny has found hers. Good for her. You go, girlfriend.
And, why shouldn’t we ask God for help in dealing with autism? He’s moved mountains before and brought down some towering giants. Why not now?
Ok I know I will catch a lot of flack but here we go. First off we ALL were Autism Warriors way before Jenny came along. We all have fight for our kids everyday since the diagnose came along. But the mere fact that we dont have the money or Celeb status we cant get out voices heard. Jenny has given parents false hope since she first come on the scene about Evan, she said her son was CURED from Autism by changing his diet, and other things but then she had to retract that statement when parents such as myself came out and said NO there is no cure for Autism there are ways to control the behaviors through diets (mind you not everything that works for one child will work for them all) so then she stated no he is “RECOVERED” Now a couple of days ago she was back on tv telling parents that as soon as her son had his vaccinen shots she could “see him become Autistic” then she said after the shot her Evan “died for 2 seconds from the shot” What is the world would you say that for?
I have four kids three girls then my son Eric who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2 he is now 13 my question has always been why him? Why didnt the girls have Autism they all had the same shots? No answer on that one yet. Why did it take a famous person to come out and get Autism on the map so to speak. Why didnt they hear the voice of us parents the Orginal Warriors God didnt just put Jenny here to speak for us. Why dosent she come and talk to the school boards and school districts to get better funding and care for our kids if she is such a voice? No one is knocking Jenny but she truly needs to choose her words more carefully dont give false hopes to parents and Sandy made a great point if Jennys son is Cured then he no longer has Autism then the home schooling is a personal choice not one due to her son having Autism
Katherine Glover please dont take this the wrong way but working with kids with Autism and living with them is two seperate things. Teachers have no idea what we deal with on the weekends, holidays etc. The little time you spand with our kids is a blessing dont get me wrong but come spend a day at our house and you will agree with me.
The thing with Ms. McCarthy is on many different accounts, she recounts the events differently as to when she noticed autism. They never completely match. Some of them don’t even include a recent vaccine jab at all in relation to her son. On many accounts she’s made, it was the seizures that caused 2 minutes of non breathing. Her idea of recovery in statements she’s made means her child doesn’t have autism any more. She speaks of it in past tense.
Her message would also only apply then to those children who are thought to have autism due to vaccines and were ‘taken’ there after. Kids like mine must then wait for another Hollywood resident to speak for them?
I’m glad Ms. McCarthy and other’s found ways to remove autism from their children but for the majority of the rest of the children, their autism may remain, since no one does know of a true recovery cure for autism.
I am telling you, if it was all so great and worked for every one, we’d all be running out there doing it for our kids. So far nothing out there has ever been so grand. My kid asked me today if autism ever will go away. His brain keeps making him feel like it was yesterday. Then he went on to smack yesterday out of his head, not sure if that worked. Instead of getting my hopes hope for what ever recovery might be, I am better off helping my child realistically deal with his autism that’ll be with him his life time and if yesterday is stuck in his brain, maybe that was a better day than today was?
As for that mission from God, every person on Earth has a mission, depending on ones beliefs. Ms. McCarthy’s use of God is what I feel is an attention grabber for those who are also religious. The deal with her mission and vaccines is many states have waivers and parents do have a choice. She could have chosen not to vaccinate, no one twisted her arm. So probably the greenest of vaccines is decide for yourself but look into it far more than one source and consider family history. Some families are prone to things than other’s and also keep in mind with the MMR scare, what happened as a result in the UK. One has to be careful when depicting what a whole community should or shouldn’t be doing before even more mistakes are made as a result.
autism is really scary for alot of parents and hope that we can pursue a form of normalicy for a kids is a refreashing idea, why is it so scary to some people that just MAYBE our kids can beat this thing. my son is on the diet and take s supplements and is doing well.
Not sure how long ago Jenny recieved her sons diagnosis, but she is no different to all of us parents who look for a cure at some stage along the way before having to come to terms with the way they are. The only difference for Jenny is she has a platform to voice her beliefs, bless her she is in the same boat as the rest of us stressed out parents , holding on to hope.
Just like to add the omega oils have proved effective for our daughter, the school noticed improvements also.
Linda Pope
In my opinion, Jenny McCarthy is using her son’s autism and his so-called “recovery” as a way of “upping” her celebrity status. Sorry to be so callous, but I’ve been living with my son’s autism since 1996 (when he was diagnosed at age 4). I’ve been a “warrior” for my son for the past 12 years. He’s an amazing, funny, happy, smart, friendly (I could go on) 16 year-old, who goes to public high school and wants to get a job and have money to buy video games, but he is still autistic!! He has his struggles, and I get frustrated with trying to find the best therapies to help him cope; I don’t need Jenny’s books and appearances on Oprah to tell me about treatments and networking with other parents. There are enough of us out here with teenagers with autism who have been networking and researching treatments, along with a lot of amazing parents who are trying to fight for more funding for education and health insurance coverage. If you love your kids and you’re semi-intelligent, you know that you have to do whatever you can to help your children succeed, no matter what their weaknesses may be. I realize that receiving the autism diagnosis can knock you off your feet; but like any “roadblock” in life, you catch your breath, get up and find a way around or through the “potholes” of life. Sorry, but Jenny turns me off, so when I see her, or hear her name on TV, I turn it off!!
Jeff’s Mom, I hear ya. Jenny’s little crusade is all about Jenny – her career, her income, her status. Evan is just her ticket off the D-list. It’s the classic example of turning life’s lemons into lemonade.
i realy don’t know why we spend so much time criticizing and judging each other. this is what she beleives. take the good that she has offered if it appeals to you and be motivated. if not, move on and spend your energy on your child. i’m happy for her. hopeful for me. all the rest of you land where you want.
I have read every comment on here and I now have some questions and hope they can be answered with factual information and real thoughtfulness.
I have a sister with autism and she is now 28 yrs old. She has been diagnosed as a highly functional, low maintenance requirement person. Her autism basically has her as someone on the comprehension level of 10-12 yrs old, periods of zoning in and out and talking to herself, wobbling her head and shaking her body as if a nervous twitch or cold chill, and just an overall hyper behavior, unless she just took her medication which makes her like a zombie until it wears down over time.
So my questions are, is this the type of autism this comes from a vaccine shot or something else and what would that be? If not sure, can she have blood work to find out, and what other test would reveal what she is lacking in her genes or chromosomes? What foods have gluten and casein, and are there other names if one is reading ingredients? Does one type of omega oil pill work for those who notice the difference and if not, what are the different types?
If someone has a person with the same reactions, and they became treatable please let me know.