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Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds | 
| Author: Jenny Mccarthy
Publisher: Dutton Adult
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $11.79
You Save: $13.16 (53%)
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Rating:  89 reviews
Sales Rank: 1251
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 248
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0525950699
Dewey Decimal Number: 618.928588200922
EAN: 9780525950691
ASIN: 0525950699
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Stories of hope and recovery from a nation of parents of autistic children, by the high-profile, bestselling author of Louder Than Words.
When Jenny McCarthy published Louder Than Words, the story of her successful efforts to save her son, Evan, from autism, the response was tremendous. It hit #3 on the New York Times bestseller list; and Jenny and Evan were featured on the covers of several magazines, including People. But what she hadn t anticipated was the overwhelming response from other parents of autistic children, who sought her out to share their stories.
No two autistic children heal in exactly the same way. And in her new book, Jenny expands her message to share recovery stories from parents across the country. Mother Warriors, shows how each parent fought to find her own child s perfect remedy of interventions and teaches parents how to navigate safely through the many autism therapies.
Along the way, Jenny shares her own journey as an autism advocate and mother as well as the progress of her son, Evan. Emotional and genuinely practical, Mother Warriors will inspire a generation of parents with hope.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 A little knowledge is a dangerous thing October 1, 2008
Azmadoc
131 out of 222 found this review helpful
I am a physician. I practice in a medical subspecialty where I don't give vaccinations. I have no monetary ties to the pharmaceutical industry, whatsoever.
This book is dangerous. It continues to give credence to bogus pseudoscience and by doing so deflects interest away from real research into the cause and treatment of autism.
First the cry was, "Vaccines with thimerosal cause autism". Yet when studies showed no link between vaccination and autism and thimerosal was removed from vaccines, due to litigious threats not science, and autism rates continued to rise they changed their cry.
Next was, "There are to many vaccines too soon." The human body is exposed to thousands more bacteria and viruses in the normal environment than are ever given in a immunization series. It's a drop in the bucket.
"But vaccines can injure people." In the the decade preceding measles vaccination, there were 3 million-4 million measles infections in the U.S. each year. Of these, 400-500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and another 1,000 developed chronic disability from measles encephalitis. Severe adverse reactions to vaccines are 1 per million. Do the math.
Treatments like chelation therapy and yeast elimination are quack therapies that have been shown over and over again to be bogus. Ms. McCarthy is certainly attractive and has a compelling anecdote, but she has little understanding of medicine or statistics. Her insinuation that the American Academy of Pediatrics is in bed with the vaccine industry to bilk the public at the expense of its safety is outrageous at best and slanderous at worst. She should be ashamed.
Vaccines are one of the great public health advances in the history of mankind, and that is not hyperbole. Talk to your doctor. Go to reputable sites like the CDC or NIH. Don't just listen to whoever yells the loudest.
Irresponsible, Offensive Infomercial October 1, 2008
Common Sense Mom
97 out of 144 found this review helpful
As I began reading Mother Warriors, the beginning of the book was initially harrowing and inspiring - it was moving to see her talk more extensively about parents' personal experiences with seeing their children regress in their developmental milestones after immunization and slip away into the autism spectrum. However, as I read on, it became apparent that it is a thinly disguised infomercial and that she has now carved out a new lucrative career as an autism spokesperson.
Jenny McCarthy does not disclose in her book that she is a paid spokesperson for Kirkman Laboratories, a supplement manufacturer, that has financial ties to the autism organization Defeat Autism Now (DAN). She was quoted on Kirkman's web site as saying the Kirkman products are the best supplements for autism. She frequently mentions Kirkman products and exclusively promotes Defeat Autism Now organization. She flat out says that every parent with an autistic child must go to a DAN conference. There was also a public announcement in September that she is launching a celebrity brand of autism products.
McCarthy, who has brought Hollywood glamor and marketing tactics to a health issue, has been known to shove people out of the way at autism conferences when pictures are being taken, McCarthy's thin bibliography does not mention other organizations or products, which are often more helpful than the protocols she publicizes.
McCarthy also paints a black and white picture of the Defeat Autism Now organization as being totally helpful, while giving a black eye to the Autism Speaks organization because they primarily fund genetic research into autism instead of the vaccine connection. There is value in determining the genetic links to autism as well as researching the direct impact of the vaccines. I, too, would like to see more research into the vaccine connection. However, publicly running down autism research strikes me as being irresponsible and potentially harmful to progress being made in understanding and treating autism. If McCarthy wants research to fund the vaccine link, maybe she should put some hard work and money she has reaped from autism where her mouth is and start an organization for this purpose.
In her book, McCarthy abrasively and insensitively runs down and dismisses parents whose children have been harmed by the treatments she recommends and whose bank accounts have been drained by inept and greedy medical practitioners, as simply sour grapes.
In wading into the murky waters of autism politics, science, and money in this book, McCarthy is clearly in over her head. DAN, which was founded in part by the late Dr. Bernard Rimland, who was an important and valuable figure in pioneering autism treatments, whom she also quotes, also had financial ties to Kirkman Labs. Rimland, toward the end of his life, was unfortunately also known to slander competing manufacturers, to threaten them to put them out of business (I received this information directly from several supplement manufacturers over the years), and to ban perceived competitors from exhibiting at DAN conferences for years.
McCarthy urges all parents of autistic children to go to DAN conferences. There are other biomedical conferences in addition the DAN conferences that provide information to help autistic children, such as the annual Autism One in Chicago, which, in past, I have found to be much more scientifically impartial and less of an infomercial you pay to attend. Ironically, McCarthy was the keynote speaker at this year's Autism One conference in the spring but this organization is not mentioned in her book's bibliography - only DAN related information.
Although the majority of practitioners following the DAN protocol are WONDERFUL and TOTALLY DEDICATED, and much to be lauded and supported for putting their medical reputations at risk for trying alternative therapies, not all physicians are created alike. Let the buyer beware. Unfortunately, there have also been many instances of individuals touting themselves as DAN practitioners who greatly overcharge for routine tests and mishandle risky therapies, such as chelation, resulting in harm and even death to children on the spectrum. Chelation is the removal of heavy metals such as mercury from body tissues by binding the heavy metals to ingested or intravenously infused substances which are then flushed out of the body, taking the metals with them. Although chelation CAN BE amazingly helpful to SOME children, one should do one's homework and search for the practitioners who are EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE, CAREFUL AND RESPONSIBLE about monitoring the children and are having a high success rate. Be wise and network with your local autism parents organizations and professionals in your area to determine who is competent.
Finally, McCarthy's bibliography with recommended links is way too thin and betrays her lack of depth of knowledge in the biomedical treatment of autism.
So, read, Jenny's book if you will - for the casual reader it is a page turner targeted for and worthy of tabloid coverage. It hits all the right emotional notes (it wouldn't be a McCarthy book if she didn't refer to her anatomy at least a few times) but unfortunately, it also has that scientific level of depth and research of a tabloid article. Painting things simplistically with broad, sweeping media sound bites may pad her bank account but does not necessarily provide real solutions to real problems. Her advice simply will not work for all children and will harm some. I urge all parents with children on the spectrum to do their homework on available autism treatments and choose wisely where they spend their time and money.
Sue Bennett, Autism Coach
 Five stars for a valuable message. September 20, 2008
Freeway University Student
54 out of 92 found this review helpful
The message of Ms. McCarthy's two part book is that the current amount of vaccines given to children is causing a huge problem with autism. But for many, that problem can be remedied with biomedical intervention. Additionally, she wants to see vaccines made healthier with their schedules tailored to the individual child's health needs.
Before I bought this audio book, I was on the fence about vaccines causing autism. For many years I thought maybe it's true, maybe not, I need to see more data. I still need to see more data, but the personal stories here cannot be ignored. At the same time, I did and still do, believe in the GFCF diet, because it has worked with my child. The personal accounts in this book have inspired me to try a few new things. I found it timely with the release of Mother Warriors that the University of Oxford just published a study showing B12 benefits on the brain. My daughter's pediatrician, an AAP member, thinks that B12 will now be promoted for anything having to do with the brain.
In part one of her book, Ms. McCarthy talks about what happened to her when she went on the road after her book Louder Than Words was published. She had both positive and negative experiences in the media while voicing her message. The response she got from the public was overwhelming. Many support her and reinforce her message. She had a very tough time trying to engage the American Academy of Pediatrics into a meaningful dialog on the subject of vaccination as a cause of autism. She also went to TACA events and heard personal account after personal account of families dealing with autism. Ms. McCarthy keeps getting the same input from parents- my kid was great until the shots, then whammo! I would like to specify that Ms. McCarthy isn't against vaccines, she's against a one size fits all schedule for them. Personally, I would like to see the AAP research parental similarities in children with autism. If they could get health profiles of parents with autism, then maybe they could issue guidelines about which kids should wait to get their vaccines, because they are more likely to get autism.
The second part encompasses several individual stories of parents recovering their special child. These were all stories of how a child regressed immediately after the shots. Looking for solutions to this problem, the parents employed bio-medical intervention along with other therapies to make things better. They had a lot of success. The last story is a heart breaker though. Be warned, you will need a hankie. Several times in the book, consideration of the siblings' needs are spoken about, which is very important.
I really wasn't aware until now of how common autism coexisted with seizures. I'm also listening to The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, which I highly recommend. Both McCarthy's book and Doidge's book bring this to light. Which is why, if much of this problem can be alleviated with different vaccines, it should be done. These kids go through hell. Fortunately, my kid doesn't, but many of the calming Chinese remedies I give are also good for epileptics. Maybe I'm preempting the problem.
This book is a worthwhile journey of your time. I highly recommend it to people with autism in their lives. There is a bit of sailor speak, so if you get the audio book and have kids, wear headphones so you don't have someone cussing in your kitchen. Don't let that stop you from getting it. This book is a job well done and it just might inspire you to try something different with your treatment.
Dangerous misinformation and scare tactics September 23, 2008
Jeff Satterley (Westborough, MA)
44 out of 149 found this review helpful
There has been no scientific study linking autism with any childhood vaccination (or any combination thereof). Studies have shown that child who have not been vaccinated are just as susceptible. The tests have been done. I'm tired of people who don't know what they're talking about spread dangerous misinformation about magical cures for these ailments. I understand that a parent of a child with autism wants someone or something to blame. It is devastating to see that you're child has this dreadful disease and there is nothing you can do to fix it. But Jenny McCarthy has no business scaring people into not vaccinating. These vaccines save lives. Allowing children to be vulnerable is nothing short of child abuse, and it endangers other children as well. (In case some don't know this: most vaccines rely on the fact that everyone will have been vaccinated, because they are not 100% effective for all children. If some are not vaccinated, there is an increased risk that a disease can occur, and can lead to even vaccinated children in the same population becoming infected.)
Please find out what real studies have been done before writing a book that has the potential to scare people from inoculating their children.
Please, also note that in no way do I want to trivialize what Jenny, and many other parents of children with autism, go through because of this disease. However, that does not give her, or anyone else, the right to use scare tactics and misinformation. I would love to recommend her story about dealing with a child with autism, because many parents need the support. But I cannot recommend a book containing the lies.
Wonderful Information! September 23, 2008
Lynn S. (Atlanta, GA)
40 out of 70 found this review helpful
Jenny McCarthy is NOT anti-immunization. She's for SAFE immunization. There is no doubt that many children are affected by immunizations. My twin sons are two of the millions. Autism is devastating and difficult at best. People need to know that children with autism can recover from it. Not only one or two children have been helped by diet, therapy, and biomedical treatment. Not one or two, but thousands upon thousands have recovered. This is something that doesn't need to be covered up and brushed to the side. Us moms know what has caused this disease and what has helped it. It's time for the mainstream medical community to listen up because we're NOT going to shut-up!
Thank you, Jenny, for bringing the stories of moms like me to eyes and ears of the general public! The more that people know and understand, the more that we will get done to help our children recover!
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