The Illusion of Progress: Talk Show Autism
By L.J. Goes
In late January I received an email asking me if I would have any interest in appearing on the Dr. Oz show that aired last week. Of course I jumped at the chance to tell Noah’s story and a phone call between me and one of their producers was arranged. Our conversation went something like this.
“So, tell me about your son. What’s his name?”
I explained his name is Noah, he’s 4 and he has two neurotypical, “normal” siblings, a sister, Madeleiene, age 6 and a brother Liam, age 2.
“So you think that maybe your son’s autism was caused by vaccines?”
Right to it. Let's do this. I launched. “I do not think that all cases of autism are caused by vaccines. However, Noah’s symptoms were clearly exacerbated by repeat vaccination. He showed signs of a reaction to the Hepatitis B vaccination which he received when he was only hours old. He was jaundiced for several weeks afterward. His pediatrician kept saying there was no cause for alarm, just extra bilirubin production, probably. Noah never cried. He grunted. Of course, these should have been signs to us but we were so ignorant at the time.
We continued to vaccinate throughout his entire first year of life, according to the schedule. I am not one of those moms who is going to tell you he was stringing together words, playing with his sister and tossing a ball. He was pulling himself up, he could sit on his own and he would seek me out. After his 12 month well-baby visit he spiked a very high fever and became uncharacteristically lethargic. We rushed him to the emergency room. The doctor tested him for strep and the test came back negative. He told us it was the vaccinations. Go home and alternate Tylenol and Motrin and he’ll be fine. We did what we were told, yet once again.
From that point forward he would not eat. I realize how dramatic that sounds, but it’s true. The few foods we could actually get him to try he would reflexively spit out. He licked walls. Between his second and third year of life he did not gain a single pound, despite the valiant efforts of our nutritionist. He had yellow diarrhea that caused him to have red raised bumps on any area of his skin that it touched. This condition lasted for two years and still resurfaces. He has reoccurring bouts of eczema that cover his body. Somehow our pediatrician could not connect the dots, something we were finally starting to do. She blamed the diarrhea on the food aversion. When I asked her what was causing the food aversion she told me, “Different kids develop at different rates.” Finally, we sought the help of a physician who listened. We discovered that Noah had sustained significant damage to his neurological functioning due to aluminum toxicity. His immune system cannot stop producing antibodies for varicella. He has the measles in his intestines. He’s a very sick little boy."
“Oh my God.” She said. “Do you think he’ll get better?” She seemed genuinely concerned.
“You know, it’s really hard to tell. His liver does not function properly. His proprioceptive, nervous and vestibular systems have been severely impacted by the neurological damage. His immune dysfunction is what concerns me the most. I began work on a documentary about this last year so I've interviewed several parents. I know of kids on the cusp of recovery and I know children in institutions. I don’t know what the future holds for Noah. We are getting him all the treatment we possibly can to give him the greatest chance of recovery. We read the science that has been suppressed. We read the science that has received critical acclaim. We make decisions on his behalf based on our own research and a collaborative effort of several medical professionals. We question everything.”
The producer wrote down my blog address and asked me about the stalled documentary. Then she turned to the topic of the Good Doctor. My first reaction was to run off the litany of false allegations and then present the facts in his defense, but I knew that would take too long.
So instead I responded, “Let’s pretend for just a moment that Andrew Wakefield does not exist. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend Jenny McCarthy doesn’t exist. Thousands upon thousands, now millions of families in the US, the UK, and around the world have had the same experience I just described to you. I know because I make it my business to talk to them. Our observations have been ignored, our children’s physical illness and neurological damage denied.
The thing is, lots of these children respond favorably to vaccine injury protocol if the parents have access to resources and gobs of money. Most parents don’t. I know parents bankrupting themselves. Noah is making progress because some of the treatments he has received have worked. There is no perfect cure for autism like there is no perfect cure for cancer. Some forms of cancer have a clear cause--smoking. Some forms of autism have a clear cause--the widely accepted practice of untested, excessive vaccination. We don’t have toxic toy court or car emissions court. We do however, have a vaccine court that has paid out billions to vaccine injured families.”
It seemed that the reality of vaccine court was news to her. I continued.
“When all this went down I started to do my own research. I discovered no studies existed on the multiple vaccinations Noah received. The CDC endorses a program they have never even studied. When you watch an exasperated physician on T.V. admonishing a concerned American public by insisting “the studies have been done,” what he is saying is that hundreds of myopic studies on particular vaccines have indeed been conducted. They are available for your perusal at pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/. ) Not one study among them has examines the effects of Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, Pertussis, Hib b, pneumococcal, influenza, inactivated polio virus, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, Hepatitis A, and all the accompanying adjuvants in those vaccines, when they are injected into the developing immune system of a toddler. This is the practice of simultaneous multiple vaccination. Government approved, physician recommended, NEVER tested. Don't you think we need to, at the very least, be able to question why?"
This is where I lost her.
A fundamental shift occurs within every person who has absorbed this information. As I am sure most of you reading this know. You are never the same. She wasn’t ready. She knew I was telling her the truth. I imagine this is what many a worker in the nazis' administrative offices rationalized. " Hmmm, strange. Looks like I just signed off on the paperwork ordering the extermination of an elementary school full of children. I think my 3rd grade teacher still works there. Wonder what's for lunch at the commissary today?"
The producer concluded our conversation by saying, "This is such a political issue, I really want to do a fair show, I really do." It’s not her fault. It’s Katherine Sebelius’s fault for instructing the “free media” to steer clear of our kind, by sending the false message that we are devoid of a scientific foundation. I'm just a mom on the front lines, no letters after my name. No title. No association. Just real life experience.
As you may have guessed, I didn’t make the cut for this “controversial" show. Nor did the respected doctors or celebrated authors from our camp. The stoic and strangely disconnected Allison Singer was there to represent. Desperate, sad, and overwhelmed parents were profiled. A sensationalized melee ensued. No one from our movement, a parents’ movement based on intellectual investigation, raw data, scientific truths, an unwavering commitment to the value of human life, and the right to an informed choice, was there to educate. I would say the Dr. Oz Show was progress had I not watched the testimony of Lynn Redwood before congress on the topic of vaccine safety, back in 2000, after Noah’s diagnosis is 2008! Her articulate presentation fell on the deaf ears of policy makers more than a decade ago. Solid research, concerned parents, sky-rocketing autism rates? What has been done? Nothing. More shots added to the schedule, more children falling ill, more parents told there is no rhyme or reason to the whole thing, it just "is".
This hyper-publicized show just involved the general public in the same one-sided debate that has been going on since the early 90’s. More stonewalling, more throwing their arms up in disbelief…we don’t know, we just don’t know! Well, we know, Dr. Oz. We know because we do the work, the hours of painstaking research. We read copious amounts of scientific, medical, and historic literature. We question physician after physician. We travel around the world looking for answers. We talk to each other. We compare notes. We write books and make documentaries. We hold conferences that physicians, parents, scientists and researchers from all over the world attend. I am not saying we have all the answers. I am saying we have the courage to ask the questions. Next time, allow us to share what we have learned.
LJ Goes is Managing Partner of The Misuta Project, LLC. An autism media company in search of the truth, in support of those pursuing it.
LJ, you would have handed him his butt on a plate, lol! As far as having more knowledge than the docs, this is so true. The physician who last saw my child had been under the impression that kids with Down Syndrome had immune system issues because of the physical differences.....that he was unaware of any studies showing biochemistry issues. I was just flabbergasted! THAT right there is why kids with DS end up succombing to autism (18.2%,) because of the biochemistry! And they target our kids for all of the vaccines plus some extras supposedly to help them immune system wise. What a joke! They shouldn't go anywhere near a kid with DS if they don't even understand what an extra chromosome does!
Posted by: Julie Leonardo | September 21, 2012 at 02:36 PM
All I can say is: I use to like Dr. Oz! Not anymore, though. Thank you for this article! You're an incredible woman fighting for our kids who are suffering from this disgrace to society!
Angie Little, parent of a 7 year old ASD (Aspergers Syndrome Disorder)
Posted by: Angie Little | September 26, 2011 at 05:18 PM
Hi!
What a great, concise well written article!
Jane Casey
Posted by: jane Casey | May 22, 2011 at 09:44 AM
Have you tried getting your message out on the Oprah Winfrey Network? She has the money and if she could be convinced to get behind exposing the truth there would be a paradigm shift.
Posted by: Marilyn G | May 16, 2011 at 07:49 AM
Hi L.J.,
I'm behind on my AoA so I just read your story today. I copied it for my files to send out to others as this is a wonderful account of Noah and how your son relates to the entire picture. Is there any way that you could edit this account in order to send this to Dr. Oz? The woman who interviewed you should read this also, and anyone else who works with their programming because this could actually set the stage for a future show with you as a guest. Or perhaps you could send this out to some other programs who might consider your viewpoint and put your on the air. I
I don't believe that Dr. Oz is sharing the truth with the public regarding his true feelings about vaccines. He can get off the hook by blaming his wife, but he utilized an alternative vaccine schedule so obviously he had some reservations about the vaccines. It could be that he is a secret friend of our community but I really believe he is limited by his vulnerability to his producers and pharmaceutical advertizers who would "have his ass on a silver platter" if he were to cross the party line in this discussion. He needs to be reinforced by reading your story even if he never invites you on to his program.
Posted by: AutismGrandma | March 03, 2011 at 07:06 PM
I agree Loralai! Unfortunately most parents follow the advice of doctors, who really have no business being doctors. Sadly, when we have faith in a system that does not work, because we have been taught to fear and revere it for it's vast and unquestionable "Scientific" knowledge, we all pay a high price. The good news is, Noah is doing quite well and is now a thriving. He is a very robust little man, thanks to the gluten casein free diet he is on. The jaundice he suffered was the result of his hepatitis b vax. Gosh, given it's widely accepted use, I would love to see what causes the jaundice in that 50% you mention. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your input. Respectfully, LJ Goes
Posted by: lj goes | February 27, 2011 at 11:14 AM
So why didn't we get to hear this and other stories of regressive autism? Why wasn't Jon Poling invited to talk about the concession made by HHS for his daughter's vaccine-induced autism?
Why didn't any of the white-coated experts sitting there call for the one study that could end this? Why has there never been a vax/nonvax autism rate study?
How long will we refuse to honestly and thoroughly address the autism nightmare?
Anne Dachel
Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | February 27, 2011 at 09:33 AM
50% of full-term newborns get jaundice, this isn't unusual. 80% of premature babies (who have not received any vaccines) also get jaundice. It's an immaturity of the system.
Second, you should have FIRED your doctor and nutritionist for incompetence. Your child not gaining weight for a year? Then your child should have been on a feeding tube. This was downright dangerous and could be considered neglectful.
Posted by: Loralai | February 27, 2011 at 01:25 AM
Cynthia! Rah, my sister!!! Dangerous, indeed. Yup, knowledge is dangerous alright. Dangerous when you are trying to maintain control of a powerfully flawed system, promote defective ideology, and keep people from the truth. Delighted and HONORED to be dangerous right along with you. WE WILL BE HEARD. Children will be spared. Slow and steady wins the race. All other commentors, I am humbled by your kindess. Thank you for your encouragement and criticism. It is so very much appreciated.
Posted by: lj goes | February 26, 2011 at 01:29 PM
I too feel that the metaphors of Nazis and Aushwitz are sadly apt. Here is another story along that line. I recall reading about a person who had escaped from a concentration camp and reached the US and managed to meet the US president. After the meeting, he asked his friend, "How do you think it went?" and his friend replied, "Abe, I just dont know. These things you are saying- These are crazy things"
So my friends,We are all saying crazy things.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | February 26, 2011 at 01:07 PM
We are 'dangerous' because we know too much.
I shudder to think how ignorant we would all be without the internet.
Posted by: Elizabeth Gillespie | February 26, 2011 at 07:31 AM
L.J. thank you for your truthful and impressive
representation of our community!
Dr Oz is no WIZARD, just another hack trying to make a living. He can care less about the suffering of his audience.
Posted by: Paul Shapiro | February 26, 2011 at 01:27 AM
Wow. Amazing piece.
Thank you.
Posted by: Morality Check | February 26, 2011 at 01:26 AM
Ironic, my non asd son got IVIG after he developed immune thrombocytopenic purpura (a listed adverse reaction to MMR)two weeks after his MMR also, all expenses paid insurance coverage. The hematologist said he didn't know why 1 child a month was treated for it in his practice, odd immune reaction he said. Wish I could afford IVIG for my ASD son!
Posted by: Tracy McDermott | February 25, 2011 at 09:15 PM
After vaccination and my kids came down with kawasakis in the 80's there was nothing but asprin.
Now they are giving kids with Kawaskai disease IVIGs.
Asprin would have been more helpful than tylenol because tylenol did not do a thing - not a damn thing for mine.
I also think since your dear sweet ped said it was vaccination and it was 2008 - that he should have got his reptilian tail in gear and gave your baby a IVIG treatment.
It is well past the time that when our kids come back with a vaccine reaction that they should be treated, this has been going now for a good 30+ years with the other side being treated like saints while our side is treated with scorn.
Posted by: Benedetta | February 25, 2011 at 07:08 PM
It's nice to know that parents are equally sidelined as are medical doctors on "our" side! I think parents are being elevated! You think?
I was interviewed on a local radio station last Wednesday about my book, What About Immunizations? Exposing the Vaccine Philosophy. One of the first questions was, how can you say anything?...you aren't a doctor.... My answer was that I am like most parents who want answers for their children. I did the research. I quote other smarter people, I give no advice, I just spell out my journey through the vaccination decision. Other parents want to know what I have to say. That seemed to satisfy.
Throughout the interview, I showed where the science was lacking, contradictory or biased. Callers told their familiar "regression" stories. Callers explained how their unvaccinated children were healthier than the vaccinated children they knew.
In the end, a caller (who could have been a retired physician) told the host that I was the most dangerous guest he ever had on. The host asked me to respond. I said that we want the science, we want the studies that haven't been done.
So, I believe your producer believed the way we are often characterized: hysterical, uninformed, and cult-like followers of McCarthy and Wakefield. She was looking for an indication that you would fulfill her expectations and give a sound bite that fit this description. Sorry to disappoint, but are we really sorry to disappoint?
Lisa, you are nothing like the world would have you portrayed, and this era of vaccination is unfortunately adding more moms like you and me to the ranks of the informed. If I'm "dangerous" I am probably effective in the arena of useful information. If I'm dangerous for that reason, I'll wear that badge. With honor. You too, girl.
Posted by: Cynthia Cournoyer | February 25, 2011 at 07:01 PM
a terrific rendition on why more research needs to be done.
Posted by: Barbara Fischkin | February 25, 2011 at 06:51 PM
Thanks for representing. I will argue until the day I die that my son was not the same following his vaccinations. I too was told by a doctor that his system couldn't stop producing antibodies but measles in his intestines? It's been 14 years since his diagnosis and I could cry all over again. I hope you have the courage and strength to continue to ask tough questions and demand answers on behalf of all of those whose voices have been silenced.
Posted by: Sandy Sotzen | February 25, 2011 at 06:43 PM
The Dr. Oz show may well have set us back years with regard to what the general public believes concerning autism.
It is only anecdotal evidence, but I have discussed this show with one of my relatives. She is of the firm conviction that Dr. Wakefield produced a fraudulent study; that the cause of autism is more likely to be something in the environment and (if I understand her correctly) that vaccines would only account for a very small portion of the number of children who develop autism at most. The latter is due at least in part to the presence of the 6 pediatricians who were on the show and Dr. Oz' statement that parents should adhere to the AAP/CDC schedule. She also noticed how "angry" the parents were. I think that the show was trying to portray parents as overly emotional.
I realize that this is only a sample size of 1, but I still believe that this piece of propaganda did a lot more harm than good.
Posted by: Carolyn M | February 25, 2011 at 06:36 PM
Unsurprising is the producer's "it's political" cop-out line. When in doubt, media people waffle and dither and take refuge in a miasma of moral ambuiguity. Embracing nonspecificity means ignoring a nation of sick and hurting children. How handy for the unaffected.
Posted by: nhokkanen | February 25, 2011 at 05:15 PM
well, LJ, at least it sounds like you gave the producer more than a bit of information to digest and that will go towards something good in terms of awareness. Consider it kind of a compliment that you weren't chosen.
Posted by: jen | February 25, 2011 at 05:06 PM
Yes,,, Actually here's what could be done.
You put 100 companies on the wheel. Cover their names since you never know who is going to get hit. Spin the wheel each week. Whne the company is unveiled, a phone call is made to the company. Where they are asked to write a statement to the president stating... "Show me the study that assessed what happens to children given multiple vaccines!" If they agree, then they get free publicity. If they won't ask the question,,, then they get placed on a list of companies who don't care about children with disabilities who are in need of help and answers. The spin around that question needs to be stpped. One united question. "Show me the study!"
Posted by: fanofthefew | February 25, 2011 at 05:01 PM
"A fundamental shift occurs within every person who has absorbed this information."
This is a brilliant assessment of the disbelief that enrages me when the likes of Synderman or Lauer badger their way through the topic of vaccines and autism. You know they know...
I agree with the idea that a new shout out needs to happen. Vaccines do cause autism, for those of us that watched it happen (our story was detail for detail with Noah's!). And ironically, the encephalopathy, immune dysregulation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction is all right there in the pharma issued adverse reaction pamphlet, and my binders of labs ever bursting from my kitchen cabinets!
We are an intelligent community, with acquired knowledge that many of our Pediatricians can't even hold a conversation about with us. That is pathetic!
We need to educate the media on the science that is written all over our children's labs, vaccine induced or not (we can connect those dots for them later, after they have waded into the pile of crap we have all been standing in the last 10 years!). I just can't take another 5 years of "the studies have been done" reporting - I am surprised the media can keep a straight face anymore regurgitating
it time and time again. Sigh.
Posted by: Tracy McDermott | February 25, 2011 at 04:44 PM
fanofthefew's idea is interesting. The wheel should have 100 company names on it, to represent the 1% of children with autism.
Posted by: Kristina | February 25, 2011 at 02:31 PM
Thank you. Well spoken. Too painfully true for the show. At least this time around. Truth will out.
Posted by: Goran Nystrom | February 25, 2011 at 01:57 PM
A "Where is the multidose vaccine study" campaign needs to happen. It needs to become the one and only talking point to be repeated often in the same fashion as Bill O'Reilly and Rush. Start small with one united question. And in the style of MLK.... there needs to be a boycott to go along with it. The 1 in 100 families need to choose an item to boycott.... Some kind of soup or hotdog brand tht is an american icon. We should refuse to buy _____________ until the study is publically announced to be a truly absent study by the President and Sebelius. A stunt. Some random company needs to take a hit,, just as random children take a hit. As a matter of fact... A wheel should be made with companies on it. It should be spun to choose the company.... sort of an analogy to how people feel when they take their kids in for multiple shots that have never been tested. It's a gamble. Walks and protests are ignored and people in them are seen as angry. Let's have some fun and come up with some smart stunts to show the world that our government has failed our children in providing appropriate studies that would be meaningful.
Posted by: fanofthefew | February 25, 2011 at 12:59 PM
The silence of the media on this subject reminds me of the history of the silence on the actions of Hitler. After years of being denied airtime on the BBC and being condemned in newspapers, Winston Churchill spoke on American radio of 'the hush over Europe' as it became clear to all what was happening, but still nobody would say it openly:
'What kind of a hush is it? Alas! it is the hush of suspense, and in many lands it is the hush of fear. Listen! No, listen carefully; I think I hear something—yes, there it was quite clear. Don’t you hear it? It is the tramp of armies crunching the gravel of the parade-grounds, splashing through rain-soaked fields, the tramp of two million German soldiers and more than a million Italians—"going on maneuvers"—yes, only on maneuvers! Of course it’s only maneuvers just like last year. After all, the Dictators must train their soldiers. These German and Italian armies may have another work of liberation to perform. It was only last year they liberated Austria from the horrors of self-government. It was only in March they freed the Czechoslovak Republic from the misery of independent existence. No wonder the armies are tramping on when there is so much liberation to be done, and no wonder there is a hush among all the neighbors of Germany and Italy while they are wondering which one is going to be "liberated" next.'
Posted by: GH | February 25, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Brilliant piece. Hope to see a lot more of you here and the work that your company does.
I agree with other comments about the significance of repeatedly seeing our health care "professionals" with hands in air declaring, "We just don't know!"
To which more and more parents are responding, "Well, since you don't know, I guess I better not vaccinate."
P.S.: My guess is that the producer was given a canned response for any parent like you who said the forbidden words. You said the naughty words and the switch was flipped: "This is such a political issue . . . ."
The decision to exclude our community was made long before her phone call.
Our children are not political, although that is an awfully convenient excuse for cowardice, insensitivity and moral corruption.
Posted by: David Taylor | February 25, 2011 at 09:31 AM
You GO, LJ Goes! The Dr. Oz show, with the Stepford, ASF Mother, Allison Singer and her mantra of "twin studies and we know it's genetic", was just so sick and almost sadistic. Seeing her daughter made me sad as I, too have a very affected child but I know why and she is being treated for the numerous medical issues that vaccination caused. It seemed that Allison was more concerned about "what people say or think when we are out in public" than the cause and care of her daughter's autism. Her daughter's behavior seemed to be related to pain yet Ms Singer is either unaware or actively suppressing that vital reality. How horrific for her daughter.
The difference between us and Allison Singer is that we want to take her daughter and so many like her, off that train and help her. Allison would be having lunch at that commissary you mentioned and signing our kids up for the next pick up to that extermination. Many of those pediatricians would also be giving out tickets.
Dr. Oz plopped himself on the fence, relating his own misgivings on vaccinating with too many or too soon, yet then tells his audience but you all should follow the aap schedule. He comes off as trying to get to the root issues yet it felt like a planned dance around the truth so it would seem like this is progress. The message from the Oz show- Yes friends, there are trains that go to Auschwitz but they are simply interrogating and registering families. No harm done.
Interesting too that this particular OZ show was right before the Supreme Court decision.
Posted by: Those commissary people | February 25, 2011 at 09:17 AM
Great piece, and brilliantly clear . . . no wonder you weren't invited.
Posted by: Parent | February 25, 2011 at 08:14 AM
What a terrific piece, both about the obvious reality of causation, the strength of parental insight and the brick wall we are up against.
Posted by: dan olmsted | February 25, 2011 at 08:02 AM
LJ .. you are a very erudite, well-informed, well-reasoned mom .. who deserved to be invited onto Dr. Oz's program. Perhaps that is precisely why you weren't invited?
You wrote: "This hyper-publicized show just involved the general public in the same one-sided debate that has been going on since the early 90’s. More stonewalling, more throwing their arms up in disbelief…we don’t know, we just don’t know!"
After hearing "we just don't know" from public health officials and pediatricians for so many years .. I suspect the widespread and growing numbers of parents hesitant to vaccinate their child have come to the obvious conclusion ..
"YOU DON'T KNOW BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW".
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | February 25, 2011 at 07:01 AM
This was brilliant. I wish so much you had been allowed on Oz, you would have represented our side incredibly well. Thank you.
Posted by: Alison MacNeil | February 25, 2011 at 07:00 AM