Exciting happenings continue in the world of autism/vaccine awareness. Next Wednesday there will be rally in Washington D.C. led by Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey with the purpose of bringing light to issues of vaccine safety. Jenny McCarthy has been outspoken about her son's descent into autism after vaccination and her serious concerns about the aggressive vaccine schedule in our nation. Jenny & I are probably as unlikely allies as you could imagine, but I am inspired by her tenacity and grateful she is using the national platform she has to speak to this issue. The purpose of this event is to encourage national health agencies to remove toxins from our children's vaccines and reassess the mandatory vaccine schedule, as our children are receiving TOO MANY, TOO SOON. For more info about the rally you can visit http://www.tacanow.org/.
Some in the autism community are concerned that this is not far enough, that supporting vaccination in any way will not bring about the change that is needed. Major changes are definitely needed in the area of the vaccinations in our country. I don't know exactly what the best route to those changes is, but I am excited about the national media attention this issue is receiving and the awareness that is rising in our country about vaccine safety or the lack thereof.
Many friends of mine are asking me more and more questions about vaccines They ask what vaccines are truly necessary - not many in my opinion. They ask what the negative health consequences of vaccines could be beyond autism - asthma, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and much more. They ask what type of vaccination schedule I would use if I had another child - in all honesty I probably will not vaccinate any of my children further (those I have now, or those God may bless us with in the future). But ultimately, as I told a friend tonight over dinner, no matter what direction you decide to go, God is ultimately in control. A dear friend reminds me of this when I get a little too fired up about vaccination issues. Life is risky. Vaccinating definitely has it's risks, but not vaccinating also has it's risks. Whatever we decide to do, we have to trust that God is in control, even if our choices lead to negative health consequences in our families lives. Now that's a tough one.
If I take that line of thinking to the end I have to accept that God knew completely what was going to happen and allowed Seth to get autism. I have to accept that this is part of God's plan for my life and for Seth's. That's really hard. I can see the ways Mike & I have grown over the past 6 years. I can see value in the people I've met along the way; inspiring people, loving people, helpful people, hurting people. But the hard thing to accept is the pain and frustration that my precious boy experiences each day as a result of autism. I would give anything to take that away for him - to give him a "normal" life with "normal" struggles that don't include frustration levels that lead him to bang his head many, many times throughout each day, grind his teeth down to nubs, and lash out physically at those around him. This is the ugly side of autism that I wish I could spare my boy from. It is in these struggles that I ask God why He allowed this, but ultimately realize I will never fully understand this side of heaven.
So I continue in my mission to help my baby through healing the damage that has been done to his little body through vaccines, allergies, environmental toxins and more. And I continue to speak out to anyone who is willing to listen about the dangers of vaccines and other environmental toxins because I would not wish the pain of autism upon my worst enemy. But most of all I pray for God's hand of healing on behalf of my boy. As in all trials in life, we need a movement of God's hand more than anything else.
