Written by Holly Austin (Kaleb's Mom)


On January 24, 2003, Kaleb was born a healthy 8 lb 14 oz baby. His APGAR scores were 9 and 9. The nursing staff administered a Vitamin K injection within 1 hour of his birth. He developed moderate jaundice, jitteriness, and mild hypoglycemia the next day. This was later diagnosed as ABO incompatibility. The jaundice resolved within 5 days and we were told this was common with babies and nothing to worry about.


Kaleb did well after the jaundice resolved and had his 2 week well child visit at 13 days old. He was given his first vaccine. It was a Hepatitis B vaccine. He had a mild upper respiratory infection at the time. Following the vaccine, he developed gassiness and would cry in pain for hours at a time. His stomach appeared bloated and lopsided; he was obviously having gastrointestinal problems. The nurse practitioner and physician that examined him diagnosed it as colic; we were told this was common and should pass. Kaleb would pull his legs to his chest, then stiffen out, cry and scream in pain. The crying was endless most days. The screaming lessened, but the gassiness remained. He received 5 vaccines at his 2 month well child check (DTaP,HIB,HEP B, PNEUMO, and IPV).


Two weeks later we were back at the doctors office reporting that Kaleb was now going days with out a bowel movement and was straining horrible when he did. Again, this was not concerning to the nurse practitioner and we were told to try prune juice. At 3 months old, Kaleb developed cold like symptoms and was diagnosed with an ear infection and upper respiratory infection. He was prescribed Amoxicillian for 10 days. After 6 days on the Amoxicillian, we were back in the doctor's office and he had developed and infection in the other ear and the respiratory infection worsened. We were advised to continue the Amoxicillian. 3 days later we were back to the office with both ears infected and the respiratory infection unresolved. He was then prescribed Augmentin for 10 days. 16 days later we were back to the doctor's office with unresolved ear infections. Kaleb was prescribed a third round of antibiotics. 17 days later at his 4 month well child check all his measurements were above the 97%. His ear infections had finally resolved. He was administered 4 immunizations (DTaP,IPV,PNEUMO,HIB). 12 days later, back to the doctor's office we went. Kaleb had developed thrush (a yeast infection in the mouth) and was prescribed Nystatin. 2 weeks later Kaleb was fussy and had not been sleeping or eating well. At the doctors office he was diagnosed with another ear infection and a viral infection. He was prescribed his 4th round of antibiotics. I had also become sick with a sinus infection and given samples of Avelox (a Fluoroquinolone antibiotic). I was still nursing Kaleb and had made sure, by asking the prescribing PA, it was safe to use while nursing. The second day that I took the Avelox, Kaleb was acting differently, refusing everything but nursing. We were sitting on the rug at my parents's camp and Kaleb was facing away from me. My grandmother noticed that he was blowing bubbles with his saliva and then my mother stated she thought he was falling asleep. I felt him get heavy and limp. I picked him up and turned him towards me. The area around his mouth was blue and he was pale. I tried to wake him by rubbing him and talking to him. It was just a few moments and he opened his eyes. He was very sleepy and his skin was clammy. The EMTs arrived and gave Kaleb oxygen. We then drove him to the nearest ER to have him evaluated. The pediatrician there advised we transport Kaleb by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center. When we arrived he was back to himself and happy. He was diagnosed with probable reflux and discharged with Zantac. (I had started to develop serious tendon pain which would last months and is a known adverse effect of Avelox.)


16 days later we took Kaleb in for his 6 month check up and discussed with the doctor that we did not feel that it was reflux, and wanted more information on what may have caused that episode. The pediatrician explained that it most likely had not been a seizure as there is no family history of such. We were then told by the pediatrician that Kaleb would be getting his DTaP, HepB, and Pneumo vaccines. We went home and within 4 hours of getting the vaccines, Kaleb had the same episode of turning bluish and not responding. We again went to EMMC by ambulance where he continued to have several more episodes, which were diagnosed as a seizure disorder.


While at the hospital, I was asking a ton of questions, and tried to find the cause of the seizures. All physicians agreed that it had nothing to do with the medication I took, nor could it possible have been due to the vaccines. I was told by the pediatrician that babies just sometimes have seizures. I spent a great deal of my time talking to all physicians involved trying to get them to find the cause. I demanded they do a SED rate that measures inflammation, and the resident stated that he was afraid that if he agreed to do the test and it came back elevated, that I would want him to do a $50,000 workup. I expressed as politely as I could that I knew that if they didn't find out what was causing the problem than we would have problems in the future. My instincts were ignored, and I was treated with disrespect and arrogance. Our pediatrician stated that there was 1 in 900,000 chance that the seizures were due to the medication I had taken. When asked where she found that information, she stated she just came up with it in her head. As politely as I could, I told her to keep her invented statistics to herself.


Kaleb was discharged 3 days later on Phenobarbital. This medication made him drowsy at first, but he continued to develop on time meeting his milestones. He was then given his IPV with no noticeable affects. It was until he received a flu vaccine at 11 months of age did he show more signs of seizures, despite being on the Phenobarbital. He had a few seizures within the week following the Flu shot, but continued to develop normally. He said several words including apple, deer, mama, dada, and aspen and was beginning to walk. He played with toys appropriately and even made an engine noise when pushing a truck.


I finally looked into the vaccines closer to find that there was a lot that had not been disclosed about the vaccines. I refused to give Kaleb his MMR at 12 months, and this was supported by the new pediatrician. It wasn't until Kaleb's 15 month well child check, and a different pediatrician that we were told to immunize further. I had done enough research to ask about Thimerosal and stated my concerns about mercury containing vaccines. He stated that it had all been removed from vaccines and was not an issue. I explained that the information I had from the CDC reported that thimerosal was in trace amounts in some vaccines. He stated he did not know that to be true so I politely urged him to go to their website to corroborate this. When I told him that I still did not feel comfortable vaccinating that day, the pediatrician told me, while pointing his pen at my face, that I would be doing my child a disservice if I didn't immunize him and that he could get one or more deadly diseases and die. I felt horrible and agreed to speak to the neurologist.


The neurologist stated that the concern with immunizations was Thimerosal (about 50% mercury by weight), that it had been removed from childhood vaccines and that there was more mercury in a can of tuna than in an immunization. I believed he knew what he was talking about and agreed to immunize, but wanted to spread them out. I allowed him to get IPV the first week, Hib the next and then the third was the DT. I insisted on the DT as the DTaP was contraindicated for children having neurological problems following a previous pertussis containing vaccine. Pertussis toxin was known to cause neurological problems. The DT immunization was given and within 3 days Kaleb was taken back to the doctor's office as he was fussy and not sleeping well. Kaleb was not himself. He also had a welt on his leg where the immunization was given. It was diagnosed as a viral infection.


Two weeks after the DT immunization, Kaleb said his last word. He had acquired a vocabulary of more than 8 words. He lost all his verbal ability, regressed to pacing, avoided eye contact and would not respond to his name. Less than a month later he had regressed so badly I was sure he had lost his hearing. He was having apparent seizures and many staring spells. We took him back to the same pediatrician that told me I would be doing a disservice to my child by not immunizing further. That same man told us that he thought that Kaleb had had some sort of chemical brain injury.


I got online and did as much research as I could get to in a few hours and called the pediatrician the next day. When I stated that I believed the brain injury was due to the vaccine, he told me he should have not said brain injury, but rather a mitochondrial or metabolic disorder. We allowed the pediatrician to make the needed referrals and then moved on to a new pediatrician.


Since that time, Kaleb's lab results had been mostly normal and he was diagnosed with Autism. At the pediatric clinic Kaleb was diagnosed, I was sent away with the recommendation to get him into developmental therapy, and to get counseling as Kaleb was Autistic and would be Autistic for life.







I insisted that our new pediatrician refer to the New England Medical Center's metabolic clinic for children in Boston. She reluctantly referred and the appointment was set for March of the following year (6 months away).








Shortly after the DT immunization, we had made an offer on a piece of land in Hampden and it was accepted. We spent the next 5 months building our log cabin. We did everything but the driveway and the foundation with the help of our extended family which meant working evenings as well as throughout the weekend dawn until late in the night. There was little time to do the research that was needed. Finally when our home was complete enough to move in, I started to do the research and I was completely disgusted as to what I found. There were so many reports of vaccines causing injuries that ended with an Autism diagnosis. I was not alone.







March came and we took Kaleb to Boston, where a lot of information was obtained and lots of lab work was done. Most came back normal, but a few things were out of range. These abnormalities were not specific to any disorder and we were told to check back in a couple years as new testing may be available at that time.







I spent a lot of time researching what the lab results might mean and did a lot on the internet. One night as I sat in front of my laptop with medical reference books and lab results spread all around me, my husband told me that I needed to stop what I was doing. He stated that I was not going to fix this and to give up. I told him that he was wrong, as so many others had been. I cried for a few minutes but refused to give up and continued doing what I was doing.







I searched Amazon.com and found the book, Autism: Stories of Hope and Success. I ordered it and it came within a couple days. It arrived at my home on Tuesday. I opened the package and there was a flyer for a conference in Boston titled: Autism is Treatable. It described that Autism was a biological problem that could be treated with non pharmaceutical interventions. I decided at the moment of reading that I was going; it was that weekend. I made arrangements and went.







At the conference I heard what I had been feeling all along. My child was fine prior to his immunizations, then he could and would be fine again. I left the DAN!(Defeat Autism Now) conference exploding with emotion and happiness. I finally found that my son could recover and I found hundreds of people to support me in that.