Fort Bend Herald Coaster
Front Page of the Local Newspaper Wednesday April 8, 2009
A Mother's Love
Teresa Cody (left) a Pecan Grove resident and founder of the Changing Minds Foundation, is receiving acclaim for her innovative treatment protocol for the disorder Down syndrome, which she developed in efforts to help her son, Neal Cashion (right). (Staff Photo by Marquita Griffin) |
Teresa Cody left conventional approach behind for son's treatment
BY MARQUITA GRIFFIN
Published:
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 12:30 PM CDT
Teresa Cody, D.D.S. continues to hit opposition for the protocol she’s using to treat her son’s disorder, but it hasn’t discouraged her one bit.
In a field where there hasn’t been many sufficient studies, Cody took it upon herself to walk out on a limb and find a treatment, not a cure, for Down syndrome.
“I’m not trying to cure it. In the end (the children) will still have Down syndrome,” she said. “But I want to give them more light.”
When asked why she did it, Cody, says it was instinct. Fighting for your children is something any mother would do.
“When the doctors won’t help you, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” she said. “In the end, I’m just a mom who wants to help her kid.”
Cody said she wasn’t looking for acclaim when she founded the Changing Minds Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to expand research and education about Down syndrome. She was trying to help her son, Neal.
Nevertheless Cody, a Pecan Grove resident, has been awarded time and time again for the progress she’s made with Down syndrome treatments. In fact, last month, she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Sugar Land for her commitment to Down syndrome research.
It does feel good to be recognized for your efforts, Cody admits. But she’s doing all this for her son.
Cody and her husband Tim Cashion, D.D.S. have two children, Erin, 14 and Neal, 11, but when he was born, Neal was diagnosed with Down syndrome.
Cody, however, refused to accept the limits placed on children with Down syndrome. Her refusal didn’t stem from denial, she said, but from an intuitive feeling that her son could surpass the stigma associated with the disorder.
For almost 10 years, Cody found herself nose-deep in clinical and scientific studies, research, and theories, trying to find anything that could help her son.
Somewhere among those hundreds of thousands of words, Cody found something — a treatment that changed her son’s life.
Within a few months, both Neal’s behavioral and cognitive skills improved impressively.
“My primary goal was to help my son,” Cody said. “But after I saw how it helped him, I needed to share this information with other parents.”
Working with doctors from Houston and studies from the universities of Stanford, Maryland and Sydney, Cody created a new treatment protocol which involves herbs and pharmaceuticals given on a daily basis, which she shares with other parents through the Changing Minds Foundation.
It’s a protocol that’s drawn both positive and negative feedback.
An online search will provide at least a handful of testimonial sites detailing how Cody’s protocol has helped this or that child. That same search will also display sites that discourage the use of Cody’s treatment protocol.
Cody admits not everyone agrees with her treatment protocol, but stopping isn’t an option.
“We are being told by the medical and research community, we (parents) are experimenting with our children and that we should be stopped. . . I say that our children can learn. I say our children are worth it and deserve it,” Cody wrote in an online posting on the Foundation’s web site.
“(Those opposed) are telling me to stop,” she said. “But they offer no alternatives. . . I’ve tried everything else, everything. I refused to give up on my son. Helping him is something I’ll never let go of.”
Instead of just denouncing her small clinical studies, Cody said doctors need to take up the cause in larger trials to determine the effectiveness of her protocol.
On May, 17 the Foundation is hosting a fundraising event, the Live Butterfly Flutter By, in efforts to provide funds for larger clinical studies.
For more information, visit Web site www.changingmindsfoundation.org.
The Live Butterfly Flutter By
What: The Butterfly Flutter Fly —a butterfly release fundraising event
When: May 17, 2009, 12:30 - 2 p.m.
Where: St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road, in the Cloister Garden.
Why: To raise funds for larger clinical research for Teresa Cody's treatment protocol for Down syndrome.
Cost: $21 per butterfly
The Changing Minds Foundation is hosting the Butter Flutter Fly with the release of 1,000 live Painted Lady Butterflies that represent freedom from the cognitive limitations of Down syndrome. The donations sponsor a live butterfly and helps to expand awareness of the need for research to treat Down syndrome.
Sponsors will be able to release their own live butterfly or watch local children release them. For more information visit www.changingmindsfoundation.com.