Denver's Chance

This beautiful boy is Denver.  Denver is one of my handsome grandsons.  Denver came into this world on December 1st 2015 weighing a whopping 10 lbs and 15 oz.  He was happy, he was strong as a bull and above all he is loved by his Mommy, Daddy and four beautiful sisters.  Their family seemed complete with the little boy they had always hoped for.  To say it "seemed complete" almost implies that it isn't complete now.  Not true, he is an amazing little treasure and our entire family would not be the same without him.  So why the go fund me page for such a strong, healthy little boy?  As time ticked by and we watched and waited anxiously for all of the familiar milestones that little children reach within their first two years of life. We started to notice there was something different about Denver.  Denver wouldn't look you in the eye, seldom if ever responded to his name and was developing curious ways of showing his excitement, amongst other things.  I think all of our first thoughts were that maybe it was his hearing.  After all we had noticed him sitting and covering and uncovering his ears as if he were hearing something no one else could hear.  He did it often.  I tried to encourage my daughter and tell her it was just him discovering the difference in sound when he covered his ears and uncovered them.  Denver continued to grow stronger and stronger and met the physical mile stones of sitting up, crawling and then walking, and he did them right on time if not early.  But the cognitive signs we were looking and hoping for just weren't coming.  No first words, no recognizing and saying cat or dog or pointing to his nose.  He just wasn't interested. Long story short - Denver has recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and he is on the severe end of the spectrum.  My heart aches like any mothers would as I watch my daughter educate herself by reading, researching and joining groups.  In the past four months she's learned more than I will ever hope to know.  One of the things she has learned is how unfair the system is for people like Denver.  She has learned of the many hoops you must jump through and the constant waiting parents of children with autism must do. One of the most important things for any parent to learn about this disorder is that early intervention is imperative. Sadly, many autistic children never get the opportunities to grow because help is far out of reach for so many middle income families. Like any parent, her wish is to be able to provide for Denver the earliest and most thorough intercession just as the experts have suggested for his treatment.  The earlier a child with autism gets the intervention they need which includes hours and hours of therapy, both at home and in school and group settings, the better their chances of living a more (if not perfectly) independent life in the future.  It hurts when I hear my child say "Mom, what's going to happen to him when Josh and I are gone."  In her thirties, she's way to young to be concerned with such things.  But the concern is real. This Go-Fund-Me page was made with the hope to raise $10,000.00 to hopefully get Denver immediately started with the therapies that the experts at U of M say that he needs.  $10,000.00 is a lot of money but not if many people open their hearts to help.  Denver's ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) alone is $30.00 a day for 5 days a week for 3 hours.  This is a treatment he will need now and  for many years to come.  If you add that up over the course of the year it comes to $7800.00 and there are more therapies recommended such as speech at 3 days a week and we do not know the cost yet.  $10,000.00 will get them through the first year of ABA and allow them the time needed to make severe adjustments to their own life to be able to do as much for Denver themselves as possible. Of course Josh and Mary Jo are doing all they can to seek out as much aid as they can get as well as attempting to apply to SSDI which could take months and delay the treatments Denver needs now.  And there are so many "what if's" attached.   I know this has been long but I'm asking you to please listen to your heart and if your heart is telling you to help, please help.  Every single dollar helps and if you cannot help, then you can definitely pray.  Sharing Denver's story is perhaps one of the most important and helpful things you could do. There are thousands of children diagnosed with this disorder every year.  Right now there is only one in my family.  Not more important than anyone else facing this difficulty in life but he's ours and I'm his "Gia" and if I don't step up for him who will? - Thank You so much for taking the time to hear Denver's story.  - God Bless You - Here is a link to a blog Mary Jo has started if you'd like to keep up with their story. Http://www.hisvoicemyheart.blogspot.com