Brervard FL, Autism Help - Our Story

The Heal and Hope Story

The Laughrey Family, Michael and Shannon(married 19 years), Marisa and Megan(16 year old identical twin girls), Melody(11 year old, girl), and Michael Jr. “MJ” (7 year old, boy) started this journey two years ago.

MJ was diagnosed with Asperger’s in April 2008. We finally had an answer to all of the digestive problems he had growing up, language delays, eye contact issues, and his inability to make friends. It is a time in our life we will never forget, however, everything finally made sense.

Our journey to discovery was a very rocky road. Not only did MJ have Asperger’s but a number of other conditions that we had to deal with. One of our first obstacles was when he was diagnosed with sleep apnea. My son on average was waking up 20 times an hour every night. No wonder he was cranky! My son was 5 years old, not sleeping and as a mother I was losing it. I was unable to help him sleep. After getting the diagnosis, we saw an ENT surgeon and scheduled surgery to have his adenoids and tonsils removed. The doctor told me upfront that he was not sure how much it would help, but he would try. After surgery we repeated the sleep study and it showed that he was now waking up 9 times an hour. Although this was an improvement, MJ is still not getting a good night sleep. We continue to battle his sleep apnea, but for now it is manageable.

I believe that having a child with autism helps us become stronger. We are forced to wake up everyday and make a difference in our child’s life. It is a choice in coping with this diagnosis to be positive or negative, however, whatever direction you choose, your child will go the same. For our family, no matter how hard it is, we MUST always choose POSITIVE for MJ’s sake. Heal and Hope was started because I had a dream. I want to provide a center for the families in Central Brevard that will allow them to feel comfortable, have meetings for the parents, siblings, and the children themselves. I want to create an atmosphere for the families to be able to attend classes, picnics, trips, and fundraisers.

This is something that has not been done before and I want it to start with Heal and Hope. Autism affects a family every 20 minutes in our country. I want us to be able to give each other encouraging words, wisdom, and friendship that will help all of us get through these years. Autism is a struggle, BUT, it does not need to be a life sentence.

See you soon,
You new friend,

Shannon I. Laughrey