Pete is a 12 year old non verbal autistic soul. He has been through so much in his short time here. I don't think anyone will be able to fully understand how hard his life has been and what he has gone through every day of his life.

Despite the fact that Pete cannot speak, he was always a happy, sweet loving little boy.
Even without communication, Pete was able to enjoy the simple pleasures of what his life put in front of him. He is the King of the outdoors. He loves to climb trees, play with leaves and run on trails giggling and taking in the natural sights in front of him.

Unfortunately Pete's sweet happy disposition changed one day about 5 years ago. His happy, carefree smiling demeanor became overburdened with intense OCD, night terror, full body tics and rage. You could visually see it in his beautiful face. His smiles changed to furrowed brows and intense mistrust of his surroundings.
Pete had PANDAS. A disease caused by a strep infection that attacks and inflames the brain.
Our poor sweet Pete could not tell us verbally what was going on with him. He has been suffering terribly for over 5 years.
We did not get the PANDAS diagnosis until a month ago.
Pete was successful on antibiotics for a short time and we were so happy to be able to see a glimpse of our sweet boy once again. The boy that is in there but is so sick he can't come out.
We have been told by our doctor that the best treatment for Pete will be IVIG. This treatment is not covered by our insurance company.
We are asking for any help for Pete because we believe he deserves to experience a better life on this earth. It is hard enough to have autism. To have untreated PANDAS on top of it is heartbreaking.
Thank you for anything you can do. We are hoping to bring Pete to the hospital in Chicago for treatment in mid August.