Unlocking Cory's Potential: Support His Healing Journey

Hello friends & family!

We hope the end of 2024 finds you well and looking forward to the new year. As many of you know, we are undergoing a new healing journey with Cory during the last week of December in Waukee, Iowa. We are very excited to witness what this state-of-the-art Functional Neurology facility has to offer our kiddo. Unfortunately, this approach to try and “unlock” Cory is very costly. This is where you come in… but first, let us give you some more background on our sweet boy.

Around 18 months of age, we started to notice language milestones not being met when consulting with our pediatrician. This wasn’t particularly concerning knowing he had not had a lot of social interaction during COVID and that every kid develops differently. We decided to enroll Cory in speech therapy and began to do more independent research for ideas and methods to improve his language abilities. The more we researched, the more it became apparent that Cory endured stressors that are proven to significantly disrupt a child’s nervous system and overall development. More to come on that…

Cory began pre-school just after turning three years old. We continued the speech therapy, as well as occupational therapy, through the first half of this year. Physically, he was developing splendidly but still no words and very little understanding of them. Our therapist classified his condition as a mixed receptive & expressive language delay. With seeing very little change in this aspect in this 18-month period, we decided to shift our focus. Cory does continue to receive Speech Therapy in his school setting. Furthermore, research showed us that a strong connection exists between gut health and brain function, known as the gut-brain axis. Frequently, Cory was displaying signs of poor digestion and inflammation. With the hope of turning this around directly correlating with healthier brain development, we went in a new direction and sought out a local chiropractor that offered testing services.

The remainder of Cory’s first year at Cumberland Trace Elementary saw us tackle his nutrition head on. Stool samples leading to eliminating pathogens and decreasing toxins, probiotics, digestive enzymes, supplements and a strict gluten & dairy free diet. We were determined to eliminate any of these gut-health issues that could have been contributing to his lack of development. It was a challenging process but over time we finally started seeing digestive improvements. Sadly, this still did not bring much language changes for Cory. His 2nd year of pre-school at CTE saw us go in yet another direction with our healing journey.

At 4-years-old Cory started exhibiting more and more difficulty with regulating his emotions. Crying spells out of nowhere and uncontrollable tantrums became normal and harder to cope with. His ability to sleep through the night was lessoning also. His body was seemingly in a constant state of fight-or-flight response, and he was overstimulating easily.

Multiple weekly visits for nearly a year brought small changes. We began to notice he was more aware of his surroundings. His eye contact was improving. His overall mood was better. Still no words but slight improvements with understanding of language. Cory wrapped up his 2nd year of pre-school in April 2024. With the next three months off school, we upped the ante with this chiropractic approach. We completed a weeklong “intensive” program at a neurologically focused facility in Nashville. With more technology and feedback available, we were able to ascertain chronic inflammation in Cory’s upper-spine (C1) and severe nervous system dysregulation. In layman’s terms, his body and brain were constantly working way too hard and is something Cory had likely been dealing with since birth (one of his early stressors we discussed earlier). We continued bi-weekly visits throughout the summer and into the start of the school year. 150 miles to the facility and back to Bowling Green became exhausting but we did start to see Cory’s sleep routine normalizing, overall mood improvements, increased engagement with peers, some expressive language growth and evidence of a decrease in overall inflammation.

When kindergarten started in August 2024, we simply could not keep up with this routine. Cory would go to school from 8:30-3:30 and we would go to appointments after picking him up. He fell asleep 100% of the time traveling to Nashville, throwing off his bedtime routine and eventually the cons started to outweigh the pros of this strategy. Positively, a new pediatric neurologically focused chiropractor recently opened an office in Bowling Green. Despite not having as much technology to illuminate everything going on, we have been pleased he’s been able to continue treatments closer to home. This brings us into the present day and our next step in Iowa!

We are involved in multiple community groups for families going through similar struggles. Unfortunately, the prevalence of nervous system disorders is increasing at an alarming rate, not only in kids but also adults. Fortunately, this has captured the attention of many health professionals as they realize there must be something more than genetics alone. Functional neurology is a healthcare specialty that treats neurological disorders by optimizing the function of the nervous system. The clinic that we chose to work with is called Iowa Infinity. They offer a unique, personalized, whole-child approach integrating the latest neuro-motor therapies with the transformative powers of Functional Neuroscience, Chiropractic Care, Physical Therapy, and Nutrition. Now that is a mouthful!

In summary, we are very hopeful that this multifaceted approach will uncover any underlying conditions that Cory may be struggling with and strengthen the areas of his brain that are weak or underdeveloped. If you are interested in learning more about this, please visit: https://www.iowainfinity.com/.

We have set this fundraising goal figure based on the week-long Iowa Infinity expense, as well as lodging, food and transportation. These next few years will be critical for potentially reversing the delays that Cory is experiencing. Research shows that after a child turns 7, the chance for neurological change drastically decreases. With time off during the holidays before going back to school in January, we felt like this is the time to go all-in with this next step. With debts already accumulating from previous years of treatment, we can’t afford to not ask for help. Please know that we are so grateful for anything you can contribute. We love Cory so much and want to see him succeed and grow in his independence. We look forward to updating everyone as the experience unfolds! THANK YOU!