Thoughtful House Patients (or others) - Please Write E-mail Today

[Guest guest]

The Austin American Statesman is finally doing a follow-up story on

the Thoughtful House and a reporter called me yesterday with a bunch

of questions. I gathered, by reading between the lines of her

questions, that they will try to write about:

(1) How expensive the Thoughtful House is and how no one can afford

it;

(2) How they don't give scholarships to needy families;

(3) How Wakefield is doing something illegal like seeing patients; and

(4) How they are doing wacky stuff like chelation.

I spoke extremely highly of the place, how conservative that they

are, and how they are helping my child recover from his diagnosis. I

told her insurance covers a good portion of our visits (and all of

the chelation costs). She really got onto me about thinking vaccines

contributed to my child's condition. I sent her several follow-up

studies showing the links between mercury & autism as well as the

latest vaccines spread in the Well Being Journal on the stands at

Whole Foods this week.

Please join me in writing to Ann Roser at maroser@...

and give your support to the Thoughful House and Wakefield in

particular. Tell her they are pioneers for having the guts,

literally, to think outside the box and help heal our kids. Here is

the letter I originally wrote to her for your reference.

Re: Letter in response to 'Austin autism researcher is

investigated', July 17, 2007

Hi ,

Thanks for writing and sending your contact information. We may be in

touch with you.

Ann

>

> Dear Ann:

>

>

>

> You responded to my brother's letter yesterday requesting more

> information about his nephew's experience with The Thoughtful House

in Austin. I am the mother of his nephew, , who was diagnosed

with an autism spectrum disorder at age 3. I was stunned that your

newspaper printed such unscientific inaccuracies in your article

published on July 17th, entitled " Austin autism researcher is

investigated. " Specifically, it is incorrect to say that that Dr.

Wakefield's first study was discredited and renounced. The only

retraction was one of the interpretation that the press made

following the release of the study. It had nothing to do with the

facts in the paper. (see

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673604157152

> <http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673604157152> ).

Further, Dr. Wakefield's work has been replicated and supported by

subsequent, peer-reviewed publications by other researchers. (see,

i.e.,Geier M., Geier D. Pediatric MMR Vaccination Safety. Int Pediatr.

> 2003:18/(2), 203-208).

Aside from these errors, you misleadingly chose to sum up the

article by quoting that " Wakefield is the worst of the worst. " This

is the wrong impression to leave with your readers. To the contrary,

he is " the best of the best. " We credit Dr. Wakefield's research as

not only ground-breaking, but directly impacting the treatment of our

son, who lost almost all speech after his MMR and only spoke two word

utterances at the age of three, along with terrible gastrointestinal

issues. Today, thanks in part to the treatment at the Thoughtful

House through their excellent doctors and nutritionists, my son will

begin mainstream kindergarten in the fall and is indistinguishable

from his normally progressing peers. Indeed, Dr. Wakefield's work can

be directly compared to that of Dr. Barry Marshall, an Australian

gastroenterologist who first proposed back in 1981 that the

Helicobacter pylori bacterium causes stomach ulcers and can be

treated with antibiotics. Dr. Marshall was totally ostracized by

the medical community. One time, after Dr. Marshall presented at a

gastroenterology conference, he had to leave by the back door out of

fear that he would be physically attacked because the attendees

were in such an uproar. Today, antibiotics are the standard therapy

for stomach ulcers, and in 2005 Dr. Marshall won the Nobel Prize for

his extraordinary work. I only hope that Dr. Wakefield's day to be

recognized for his revolutionary findings will not be 25 years away.

I respectfully request that your errors be pointed out to your

readers and that those who would like more information please refer to

www.thoughtfulhouse.org. Feel free to contact me directly if you

need further information about our experience with The Thoughtful

House. "