Remember when bloodletting was accepted as standard medical practice? Or when doctors didn’t believe in germs and refused to wash their hands between patients?
Or when OCD was just a mental illness, and not much could be done other than attempt to manage the symptoms?
This is Beth Maloney and I believe she’s going to go down in the history books as a hero. She refused to take “no” for an answer, and figured out her son’s severe, debilitating, body-snatching OCD was caused by a strep bacteria, and could be cured with anti-biotics.
Her boy was twelve years old, bright, a math whiz at his school. Within a few months he could no longer leave the home, bathe, tolerate touch, sleep, and could barely eat.
Like many of us with special needs kids, she was given a lot of disrespect and abuse from those in the medical community. Like so many of us, she’s had to do a lot of research herself and has worked very hard to find the brave maverick doctors who offered her hope and eventually healed her son.
How many people are locked up, institutionalized who might be able to be helped this way?
Maloney wrote a book about her experience, titled Saving Sammy which will no doubt help countless children suffering from OCD and other mental disorders. I love the recent picture of her above. It speaks of victories, and full lives, freedom and hope.
This is Beth and Sammy on The Today Show:
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Beth Maloney will be interviewed on February 11th at 8:30 on Sirius XM’s Doctor Radio from NYU “About Our Kids.” It’s a call in show 877-NYU-DOCS with a national audience. If you have questions for her, do phone in. XM 119, Sirius 114
8:30 am ET live
8:30 pm ET replay
5:30 am PT live
5:30 pm PT replay
Click on the book cover for the Amazon link.
Thanks Michelle… very upsetting and uplifting at the same time… I would never have known about this if you didn’t put it on your blog…how it disrupted the whole family.. and amazingly healthy he is now at 19!!!!!
Beth is my hero, too. She gives me the courage to keep asking the questions and doing the research to help my own son. She is an inspiration to all of us!!!
I cannot thank God enough for giving us Beth! I am so thankful for her determination and love for Sammy. It has really been a blessing to mine and so many lives that she has shared her story and keeps on working to open the doctors eyes.
I love it! Dang you and Carrie, always finding new books for me to check out! This one sounds terrific. Gotta go put it on my list…
Thanks for posting this-forwarding it on to a friend whose son is being tested for this infection.
This book was so well written and had excellent advice for us. Beth’s facebook page is “Saving Sammy” and she continues her great work on there. Also the Pandas Network and ACN forum have parents who have children with PANDAS and co-morbid conditions. All great resources.
She rocks and so do you!
Love,
The Fun One
I love stories of brave moms!
I’m curious to know if there are options other than constant antibiotics.