We have Autism woven throughout us.

When Lincoln was a baby he crushed milestones. I remember going to his 15 month appointment and the doctor asking me how many words he knew. I started rattling off all the words and she eventually cut me off saying he was “ahead of the game.” (Thinking that at one time he was “ahead of the game” in speech makes my eyes well up in tears - knowing the struggles we face now).

Fast forward to 18 months, Lincoln was on day 9 of 10 of amoxicillin for a sinus infection. He woke up with a small rash on his stomach so we called the off hours nurse line and told them what was going on. The nurse assured me it wasn’t the amoxicillin and to finish out the dose. My mom instincts told me otherwise. As the day progressed, the rash got worse and eventually Lincoln couldn’t breath. We rushed him to the emergency room. After his reaction, he didn’t speak another word until he turned 5.

That day was the catalyst for this crazy ASD journey we’re now on.

As he started missing milestones and not wanting to speak - we started to get worried. We took him to every doctor, specialist and therapist searching for answers. Every appointment was the same: “He’s an only child - he’ll talk when he’s ready,” “he’s a boy, they are slow to speak,” “don’t worry this is definitely NOT autism.“ As much as I wanted to believe these words, I just knew in my gut it was something else. I turned to Doctor Google and came to the conclusion maybe it was ADHD. We took him in for one final evaluation, and what we found out nearly broke us.

The night we got the diagnosis, I cried and mourned the life my son should have had. The life we thought we would have. The next day, I put my big girl pants on and started fighting like hell to get him into every therapy / service needed for him to succeed. Let me tell you - I have fought every day since. It is astonishing how hard special needs parents have to fight to ensure their children are set up for a successful future.

Fast forward to today, Lincoln is now six years old and has been living with ASD for three years. He goes to Kindergarten two days a week in a special Autism classroom (I thank God every day for our amazing district who created such an awesome learning environment for children on the spectrum), he goes to three full days of ABA therapy, speech and OT. My son works harder than most people I know and I couldn’t be more proud of the progress he’s made. His speech is still quite delayed but another thing I’ve learned throughout this journey - love needs no words. Our family has autism woven throughout us and I’m here to tell you - we wouldn’t change Lincoln for the world.

Over dinner one night, my husband and I talked about how one day we’d love to start a foundation in Lincoln’s name and help other autism families who don’t have access to the resources that we do. Little did I know that in one year our dream would come to fruition and we’d hold our first public event - raising over $10k to help local ASD families. We have now partnered with the Autism Collective and can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.