Good Morning All,

    Well, I've been promising Nancy and Shannon to join FoggyRock for months and months and months and .....  Well, you know how it goes in the Land of Autism ~ one day just blends into another sometimes! I first met Nancy in 2000 when I was fortunate enough to be seated next to her at Cong. Dan Burton's hearings.

    My name is Lesa (pronounced lee-sha) and I've been married to a lovely man, Dave (that I imported from Co. Kerry, Ireland) for 18 years. I was born in the Bronx (NY) a wee bit more than a half century ago (ahem) as a 1st generation Irish-American. Both my Mom and Dad are from Ireland (counties Meath and Kerry respectively). They also met and married in NY.

    I was an OR nurse for almost 17 years. My nursing career came to a screeching halt when I was 6 months pregnant with Kyle. I was trying to run 3 different OR's after an 11 hour shift because of a trauma alert. 3 teens, no drugs or alcohol involved, slammed into a concrete pillar in the rain. The housekeeper decided to mop the hallway floor to help; he just didn't post any signs. I came out, slipped, felt myself falling on the belly bump, wrenched my back and did a split. The numbness and tingling started within 10 seconds. It ultimately resulted in a permanent disability.

    Kyle was born in 1992 and hit all his developmental milestones on time. He was assaulted by his vaccines in late 1993. It was the last DPT in late Dec. '93 that drove him over the cliff. He "disappeared" in the first 6-8 weeks of '94, right around the time my Mom passed away. At first, most of my loved ones couldn't see what I was seeing and they were a little puzzled. Our pediatrician outright told me I was nuts, (You older moms who are nurses are always looking for trouble where there is none ~ boys are just different). He was diagnosed with Autism in March '96. By that time, his symptoms were pretty severe and there was no doubt this was a kid with a significant problem.

    I went to the 3rd DAN conference in Cherry Hill, NJ in '98. I came home, told Dave all about it and how I hoped this might be something that would finally help him. We decided to commit to the program, no matter what we saw or didn't see, for 2 years, no throwing in the towel! For the 1st 2 years, we did it on our own with help from our family MD. Then we found Dr. Boris and Allan Goldblatt about 2.5 hours away on LI and went to them for 6 years. Kyle has been seeing Julie Buckley (who's just fabulous) for the last 2+ years since we moved to the Jacksonville area in Florida.

    This year, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary with the DAN protocol. And, Kyle ~ well, he's a walking miracle!!! He's gone from being totally  untestable to finishing his first year of high school, on track for a regular diploma! In '98, he could barely hold a chunky crayon to draw a something that vaguely resembled a circle. Now, he's an award winning artist and cartoonist. In my photo (from 2007) we're all wearing Autism T-shirts Kyle designed.

    Along the way on our journey, Dave and I had several miscarriages after Kyle's birth. In 2002, we adopted Kyle's sister, Kiera, from China as a 5 year old. She'll be 11 in August. This too has been an adventure. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've hauled a thermal cooler to China so your kid could stay GFCF!!! Anyway, that's enough (or maybe too much :)  lol info for now)! Looking forward to getting to know you better, Lesa