Hello. I’m writing this for my son Zachary, who is 15.

Zachary has autism and developmental delay. People who work with autism sometimes talk about the “five F’s” of how a nervous system responds under pressure — fight, flight, freeze, fawn and flop. Zachary is a freeze autist. It is a less common presentation, and it shapes almost every hour of his day.

When we say freeze, we mean it literally. Without a prompt, Zachary does not start the next thing. Not getting dressed. Not moving to the table. Not beginning a task he is capable of. He goes still and stays still until someone guides him through the next step. That is his life, every task, every day. It is not stubbornness. His body locks, and the world waits.

A short video showing a typical dinner with Zachary: https://youtube.com/shorts/RufAvR3JWj4?feature=share

If he could tell us what he needs, or simply choose to play the way he wants to play, that alone would change his life — and ours.

Over the years we have tried the therapies that families in our position are told to try. None of them have given Zachary a better daily life. We are not angry at the people who worked with him. We are just at the end of the list we were given.

That is how we came to Swiss Medica in Belgrade. After speaking with them we have been offered a place on their programme. The clinic quote is €19,700. That covers the treatment programme, tests, meals, airport transfer, and accommodation for Zachary plus two adults. My wife Ana will go with him, together with her friend Gladiola. Both are SEND teachers. Ana has given her working life to children who need extra support, because she knows this life from the inside and she will not leave other families walking it alone.

We want to be straight with you. Stem cell therapy for autism is experimental. It is not an approved standard treatment, and nobody can promise Zachary will come home different. Swiss Medica have told us serious side effects are uncommon in their programme and that the most likely disappointing outcome is simply no change. We know no medical procedure is risk-free. We are going in with our eyes open, not with a miracle story.

We are going because the alternative is spending the rest of Zachary’s life — and the rest of ours — wondering what if. For us, that wondering would be harder to live with than trying.

What the £22,000 is for

• Swiss Medica programme: €19,700

• Flights for Zachary, Ana and Gladiola, travel insurance, and a small buffer

• Card processing fees so the clinic still receives the quoted amount

If we raise more than we need, the extra will go to Zachary’s ongoing care at home. If we raise less, every euro still moves us toward the booking deposit. GoFundMe is not all-or-nothing — we keep what is given.

We will post updates before we travel, from Belgrade, and afterwards. That includes telling you if the change is smaller than we hoped. You deserve to know what your kindness actually did.

If you cannot give money, sharing this with people who already know our family is just as useful. These pages are built by friends, relatives, colleagues and the SEND community — not by strangers on the internet.

Thank you for reading Zachary’s story today.

Richard

Dad of Zachary