Stories of Hope

I RUN 4 KEONA

I have wanted a tattoo since I was 16 years old. (I am now 27). I have always wanted a Phoenix, because it represented that no matter how many times I got burned, I came back from it. When the opportunity came around for me to FINALLY have a chance to get one (I got this gem on July 28, 2014, my 27th birthday) I had decided that there was ANOTHER symbol that meant more to me.

I am part of a group on facebook called "I Run for Michael" It is a group that matches runners with a child or adult with special needs. When I say "match" it means that you dedicate your miles, workouts, hugs, smiles, well wishes and prayers to them. I am honored to say I am matched with an amazing little superhero Princess named Keona. Over the last 8 months I have been keeping in contact with her and her mom letting them know how my day went, what workout I did etc. Every time I do a run, I mail the race bib and finisher's medal to her.

Early this year, I hit my lowest of the low of low points mentally. I had completely given up on myself and life. I won't go into too much detail, but at the end of it all, I imagined her face and thought of the sadness, and maybe not even completely understanding what my "decision in life" had been and I changed. A little girl I had never met personally, who lives thousands of miles away, saved my life. She saved my life with a smile.

So having that realization, my phoenix tattoo had been put on the back burner. This one I came up with (purple is my favorite color, and my Superhero princess favorite color is pink) She is in my heart always.

Melissa
Groton, CT

Nothing Will Hold Me Back

Hello everyone, my name is Anthony Miller. I am 22 years old and I have Autism. I was diagnosed when I was two years old and wasn't able to speak until around 4-5 years old. I have struggled with socially communicating with people my whole life. I have also struggled with dealing with the everyday routines in life such as going to the store, going to the bank, going to work, talking to strangers, etc.

Even with all these struggles in my life, I am currently a junior at West Texas A&M University where I study Mass Communication. I am the Sports Director and host of the sports talk show "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" for the college's radio station KWTS The One 91.1 FM, president of the college's National Broadcasting Society chapter, PA announcer for the college's sporting events, and sports announcer for the KWTS as well.

The doctor told my parents to throw me in the mental institution because I had "no chance of succeeding in life". I'm here to tell you to never listen to the people who tell you that you "can't do it". If you have Autism, don't let Autism hold you back from anything. You can do whatever you want in this life. Is it going to be hard? Yes it will be, but you can be successful in life if you just believe.

With that said, Autism is the best thing to ever happen to me. It has shaped me into the man that I am today. While I struggled with this myself, if it wasn't for the love and support of my family, friends, and teachers, I wouldn't be here today. I owe everything to them for all they have done for me. My family sacrificed so much in their lives to help me succeed. My friends and teachers never judged me on having Autism. Instead, they supported and cared for me.

To everyone with Autism, don't ever give up. Anything's possible in this life.

To my family, friends, and all who has helped me in my journey, thank you. I love you all.

Anthony Miller
Canyon, TX

"Normal is Just a Setting on a Washing Machine."

Hello, my name is Joshua Tamburro. I am twenty years old and I have Asperger's. I wasn't exactly verbal until the age of three & was diagnosed w/AS at four y/o. Many sensory occurrences that could be seen as no problem for the "average" child were terrors to me and an issue easily resolved was an enigma meltdown combo (with a toy of course).
I was a secluded child other than around my family and would primarily only speak if spoken to. Since then, I was mainstream since third grade, finished my first year of college with a 3.4 GPA, regularly speak on my experiences with AS, was voted "Most Likely to Become Famous" by my senior class and have amazing friends. I have 2 jobs & my passions include music, performing, "useless information" and nature. I also regularly take part in theatrical performances.Tremendous considering my evaluators once said I'd never speak properly and I'd always struggle with coordination.
You never hear much about AS and love, but here's my take. Social skills are 200% necessary, but I think we all(not just ASD/AS) need to work on our cyber skills. We don't realize how much words can hurt when not in person. We need to learn when to put the device down. Like an AS child's adoration for a specific thing, she was mine. I failed to see any flaws in her and it was a year of wonders for me. Where the average person may view something as a standard Starburst container, I saw her as a Starburst container with only the red and pink ones instead of acknowledging flaws(orange/yellow :p), but enjoying the entirety thanks to those red/pink aspects. We broke up, but I made it much worse. There are pivotal moments coming in her life that I wish to help her in. It's the least I can do, really. Of course it won't be like it was, but if that works, there's no threat of losing her as a friend.
Anyway, I have no idea how parents/guardians/teachers/therapists/paras do it, but thank you:).
Nothing's impossible, never lose hope.

Joshua Tamburro
Forked River, NJ

Our sweet Journey

Ever since our Journey was 3, we knew there was something unique with her. She would mimic answers, and only answer yes or no to questions that asked for explanations. We took her through quite a few venues to find answers, but it was when she was finally 7 and receiving many therapies and help that she was diagnosed autistic. We may have not had the right diagnosis at first, but we did everything we were supposed to to get her the help she needed. We enrolled her into occupational therapy, she received speech and social skills classes within her IEP in her school for four years. It has done her a world of good. Journey always had trouble expressing herself, but she does so much better now than ever before. Journey's eye contact used to be minimal, but now she holds your gaze for even a few minutes! She is so special! Cats are her most favorite things, she studies and pays attention to them, and collects stuffed animal cats. She loves Hello Kitty, and anything to do with her. She is also a Brownie Girl Scout, and it has helped open up a world that I never thought possible for her. She has made a group of amazing friends, who love her, support her, and will do whatever they can to help her achieve success. Journey has, in turn, taught the girls so many things! She has raised autism awareness within her Girl Scout troop, within her class, and within her grade. She's willing to share her story and experiences with the girls for them to gain an understanding of how the world is for her. I'm so proud of all the skills she's gained, and who she is. She's a beautiful, imaginative, funny, bright, happy little girl. I'm so grateful she's ours.

Jamie R
Leonardtown, MD

Our Dyl Pickle

My husband and I had been blessed with two wonderful sons in our 13 year marriage. We always thought about one more child, and in 2012, that wish came true. Dylan Robert was born October 15, 2012 and our family was complete with our trio of boys. He was a perfect little bundle of joy and we just loved him to pieces. Our older sons were 11 and 9 at the time, so there was a bit of an age gap, but they loved having a new little brother. It really brought us all closer feeling like we were all somewhat 'raising' him. Dylan met every milestone timely, some even early. Crawling, walking, climbing.....however, he never made strong eye contact with anyone in our family and he wouldn't say any 'real' words, even after his first birthday. He mouthed everything he could get his hands on, he walked on his tiptoes, he only ate 'certain' foods and he loved to stack and un-stack tiny items over and over. We grew worried as we would look back at baby books and videos of our older sons and see Dylan was no where near either of them in certain areas. It just didn't seem 'normal'. I had friends and family who supported us and even brought up odd behaviors they had witnessed as well with Dylan. In December 2013, after multiple visits with neurologists, developmental pediatricians, psychologists, you name it. Dylan was diagnosed on the autism spectrum and sensory processing disorder. He currently does speech and occupational therapy weekly. This fall, he will be attending the Autism school in our state, which is a wonderful program for children and we are ecstatic he was able to get early intervention. Autism is not a disease. My son is perfectly happy and healthy. He shows us the world from a different perspective. He has made me a better person. Our family is closer. We are more patient. We celebrate the little things. We are his biggest supporters and we always will be. The world is a better place with Dylan in it!

Jennifer Sparks
Middletown, DE

My Mentor, My Son

CJ just turned 4 and was diagnosed at 2 1/2 yrs old. His Dr. recommended we contact Early Invervention at age 2 because he only had use of 1 actual word. They came in and within 3 months of working with him suggested we have him evaulated for Autism. When this came, I was thinking they were going to suggest ADHD (which his doctor mentioned would probably be diagnosed at age 5). He has the energy level for 20 kids wrapped up in 1 body. He keeps us on our toes and running after him! As I've always been a little different myself, I just accepted that he was never going to be the "typical" kid before we even got the diagnosis. So there was no greiving period for me as I had never had any expectations besides him to be the best that he can. He's now in Preschool Disabled program at school and loves it. All of his teachers and aides have fallen in love with his enthusiasm and character. It really is a joy to see him progressing so well when most of the stories I read and the research I did seem to have focused on the negative sides of ASD. Yes, it's work and yes, he has his moments. But his smile always reaches his eyes and he's so loving. He's taught me to look at the positives in life and not dwell on the small stuff. Remember, even on our toughest days there is always a silver lining somewhere, you just have to look for it!!

Krissy DeFrancisco
Hammonton, NJ

My son Aidan...Autism, leukemia, ADHD..and fighting against a medical perfect storm

When Aidan was about three, we started to notice some “quirks”. Things that the average person might not see. As a parent, they just didn’t seem right. Aidan would flip out at almost any loud noise. A public toilet and the hand dryers inside public bathrooms were nightmares waiting to happen. Reading and researching the autism spectrum disorder symptoms can be as stressful as actually working with a child that has the disorder.

Now with leukemia, the one constant is medicine. Whether it’s injected or swallowed, it’s always there. Aidan could not swallow a pill...so crushing and hiding became a new game. Applesauce, pudding, ice cream...whatever it took. Even with all the tricks and traps, Aidan would soon catch on and work himself up into such a tizzy..he would make himself throw up. Now the one thing that we need to save his life......he’s afraid of.

It just seems like there are more questions than answers at this time. Every day there are more and more trials and studies being completed. As a parent, you just hang on and go for the ride. Through it all, the one thing that the autism spectrum disorder diagnosis gave us was something we had never had before. It gave us a better understanding of what Aidan goes through on an everyday basis...thus allowing us to help him have as normal a childhood as he can.

If there is one thing I can say to both autism and leukemia, it’s this: “You have picked a fight with the strongest child I’ve ever seen. It’s a fight that you will NEVER win.”

Stay tuned...

Joey Maynard
Winston Salem, NC

Justyn and his struggle!

This is my son Justyn (in blue) and his older brother Blake having a sleep over in the livingroom. Justyn is 7 years old and is autistic along with having several different sensory disorders. He also is flat footed and has AFO braces. Justyn was full term but I knew within several hours that something was amiss. He was digesting his formula properly. He hit all his milestones late and for the first year of life he never weighed more than 12 pounds. After he hit two months of age no one was allowed to hold or touch him. He would freak out and scream. At a year old he was walking, starting to talk, but was still wearing 6-9 month clothing, we didnt put him in a front facing car seat until he was 2. Shortly after turning one Justyn was hospitalized with a serious blood infection. After a week in the hospital and a week at home with a PICU tube in his chest with medicine every several hours he finally got better. Within several days of stopping the medicine he stopped talking. At 18 months he was diagnosised with failure to thrive. At one and a half he started First Steps and began to learn sign language, he was also diagnosised with being flat footed and his ankles turned inward, he was also told he was low toned and the littlest thing wore him out. This is when his sensory issues kicked in and everything fell apart. He went to preschool for a year before being kicked out due to his tantrums and aggression, although they knew not to touch him. At the age of 6 he was diagnosised with seizures, and at the age of 7 he was diagnosised with Autism. He is struggling in school and with making friends. Although he has struggled for so long and is still struggling to this day I wouldn't change it for the world! He has grown so much and has come so far, he would give his heart for any of his friends and family!

Tami Hager
Elkhart, IN

Triston

This is Triston he was born April 30th, 2012 he was a full term pregnancy.He was my second son. My sons are 14 months apart. He was a rather quiet baby in comparison to his brother but, as they say every child is different. When it came to his milestones he didn't hit them at the "normal" times and I just chalked it up to him just be a late starter. He was growing fine he was a happy child. I started noticing things weren't quite right when he was about one years old and he had not said a single word not a moma or dada ever, he also would not alow any one but me touch him not even his own father which was heart breaking. He hated when anyone would come to visit he lots of anxiety around large groups and I just thought he was just anti social. I went to my sons doctor with my concerns and they told me the process to find out if he has autism is a long one. I jumped right in making calls having him evaluated for hearing and speech which was determined that he had a severe speech delay. So we then began the First Steps program and he is making huge strides in his therapy. It wasn't until July 15th, 2014 we found out that he does in deed have ASD at a level 2. We are were glad to finally get it on paper what we already knew.Triston amazes me everyday he has now learned to say moma and dada and he now claps and counts on his fingers there is a super smart kid just waiting to burst out and I love that I get to see him come out of his shell.He is amazing.

Ashli
independence, MO

Diagnosed at 27

I had a pretty normal development as a kid. I made every milestone that a typical child would. At age 3, I stopped talking to everyone but my parents. My mom found out later it was selective mutism. I began to talk again when I was 10 years old. Despite the mutism, I excelled at school and was determined to be the best I could be. I graduated from high school with honors and went on to college. I thought that I had trouble communicating with people because the mutism had caused me to not learn social interaction properly. I found out when I was 27 that I actually had autistic disorder. The diagnosis was reassuring because I found out all of these quirks of mine from the huge obsessions with TV shows (right now it is Castle) and celebrities, to the awkwardness with communication was actually autism. I was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when I was 17 too because my younger brother had been diagnosed first. It happened like that with autism too. My brother was diagnosed many years before I was.

I have had some struggles with anxiety the last few years and I'm in therapy twice a week to help with that. I have one year left of my degree in Communications and Writing. My dream is to become a Television Writer and create my own TV show based on my life working in a grocery store and my struggles. I also want to write my memoirs and some novels. Writing basically is my life. I learned to communicate through writing because I had trouble doing it by voice. I think that is the reason I have become so passionate about it and want to do it for a career.

While having autism is hard, I feel that if I didn't have it I would not be who I am. Having autism makes me unique. It makes me, me.

Alyssa K.
Minneapolis, MN