- Kyle's mom wrote:

I wanted to let you know about the amazing progress that my 5 year old son Kyle has made since entering into your care and receiving his stem cell transplant four months ago.

Kyle was evaluated by the Regional Center and given a diagnosis of mild to moderate Autism at age 3. We were devastated by the diagnosis and immediately began trying every therapy that could possibly help him. Most were ineffective or helped him only marginally.

Auditory processing was a huge problem for him. For years, Kyle would stare out the window of the car and could not hear us yelling his name. He was lost in his own world, and we struggled to break through to our son.

Before the stem cell treatment, Kyle had several issues we were dealing with. He was extremely hyperactive; spoke in short, scrambled sentences; sought pressure often, and had a very short attention span. He was placed in a special education kindergarten class, where he was the lowest functioning child in the room. Before the stem cells, the results of a blood test showed that his immune cells were very low, and that he was high risk for the H1N1 flu. His pediatrician said because of his weak immune system that Kyle was the type of child that could potentially die from contracting this virus—terrifying news for any parent to hear.

Now the good news—Two months after the stem cells treatment, his immune cell test had raised dramatically up to a normal level. And Kyle did contract the swine flu—and breezed through it with ease.

Shortly after receiving the stem cells, Kyle’s speech patterns improved dramatically. Before the treatment, he uttered short sentences like “Where you go to go?” Now he is speaking in much longer and complete sentences. Everyone has commented that he is talking so much more, and with greater clarity and purpose. For the first time in his young life, he is noticing the people and the world around him and taking it upon himself to interact with his surroundings. The last four months have been the most joyous of his young life!

Kyle used to be almost unable to sit at the dinner table, attend to any task, play a game, or show interest as a story was read to him. Today, he is like a different child altogether. He pays attention, makes comments, has many stories memorized and asks for more daily.

His interaction with friends and his little sister has greatly improved. Kyle is actually initiating and carrying on real conversations with us--recently he told me that Orion’s Belt is his favorite constellation! He now thrills us with tales of some day taking driving lessons so he can use our car!

Due to this miraculous improvement, Kyle was quickly moved out of his special ed class and into a mainstream kindergarten class. We are over the moon with this latest development! I’m including the report that I just received, this report is from the Behavior Therapy Supervisor.

“On greeting Kyle, he looked me directly in the eye and said “Hi”, using my name. In the two previous years of observation, he had never done this. Watching him sit and do a task in a kindergarten classroom was incredible, given several months before he was sitting in a large bucket of blocks, placing block after block on top of his legs and body to meet his sensory needs. In the span of 4 months, Kyle is now in the regular education classroom and has already surpassed his year-end educational/behavioral goals. It has been both exciting and an honor bearing witness to the changes this child has made in such a short period of time.”

One specific instance shines a light for us on Kyle’s progress. Over the past few years, we have attended his holiday pageant at school. To see that he was the only child in the school that had to be held on a teacher’s lap was devastating to us. But last week, Kyle received an award for being the most well behaved, responsible and safe child in his normal kindergarten class. He heard his name called, walked up to shake the principal’s hand, and stood proudly with the other children on stage. He held his certificate up high with a big smile. We were so proud of him, and so grateful for the moment. Later, the assistant principal called and asked bluntly, “What are you doing with Kyle? I can’t believe the changes in him!”

And the wonderful moments have kept coming. Recently, we lay in our backyard hammock together, and Kyle pretended it was a pirate ship and I was the captain. We sailed the high sea and searched for treasures. He was calm, focused and present. It was just so normal!

Overall, Kyle is now doing amazingly well. He is the ringleader to his little friends, and goes out of his way to meet and engage new kids. He is very polite, shares with others and takes turns. Academically, he is now right on track for his age. He is such a great little guy.

We fervently believe that the stem cells treatment has given us our wonderful, extremely charming, funny, empathetic, social, engaging and loving child.

Disclaimer

All statements, opinions, and advice on this page is provided for educational information only. It is not a substitute for proper medical diagnosis and care. Like all medical treatments and procedures, results may significantly vary and positive results may not always be achieved. Please contact us so we may evaluate your specific case.