For those of you who haven’t read Arlene Martell’s book “Getting Adam Back… A mother’s triumph over Epilepsy and Autism,” please take the time to do it. You will find it time well spent!
Yes, I know that sites always plug their own books {you can’t really blame them}but the reviews pf this book speak for themselves. Families and carers of children with epilepsy and autism praise it and the help they have got from reading the book. At the end of the day those are the opinions that really count for something not some celebrity endorsement that will pay for the 58th Rolex.
The best thing about this book is that actually gives you some hope and some proof that there are alternative treatments for epilepsy and autism.I think any parent of a child who is epileptic or autistic {or both} will know the scene where the doctor sits you down and in a very calm, dry voice tells you all the things your perfect child will never do, the trials you will face and how awful life will be in the space of ten minutes then leads you out the door and goes on to create the next emotional car crash.
You and your family are just left standing there staring at what used to be your life thinking ‘now what.’I wish at that point that someone had handed me this book.It looks at the route that Arlene and her family took through the minefields of conventional medicine and side effects, through Adam’s schooling and behaviour problems to {thankfully} a successful outcome.
Adam is now at the point where he has graduated high school and is holding down a job {which a lot of ‘normal kids’ don’t manage}. Best of all he’s medication and seizure free.All down to Arlene’s refusal to give up and accept the medical line but to persistently question , research alternative treatments and demand the quality of life and treatment that any mother would for their child.
I bet most of you have tuned out saying yeah, another super perky book about how we beat the odds and you can too.Well, working in mental health and being part welsh, I think I am probably as bitter and cynical as they come so when I first looked at this book, I thought just the same but wait that’s not the case.
Arlene’s book is honest about the difficulties of having a child with epilepsy and autism; she freely admits that what worked for Adam may not work for other children.But she does provide useful links, clear and well thought out information and encouragement.
I can remember everything that the doctor said to me on the day that we were given George’s diagnosis. I can even remember the overwhelming smell of alcohol gel that made me violently sick the minute we got out but I can’t remember a single word of encouragement or hope so thank you Arlene for finally giving that to me and hopefully to others.
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