Autistic children the focus of tonight’s ‘Night of Caring’
Deirdre Newman
When Lisa Ackerman’s son, Jeff, was diagnosed with autism when he
was 2 1/2, the frustration of dealing with the condition was
compounded by her inability to find a doctor who could treat it.
After trying seven local doctors, Ackerman hit the Internet and
found a doctor in Florida who was highly recommended by other parents
of autistic children.
Ironically the next week, Ackerman ran into the doctor, Jerry
Kartzinel, at an autism conference and sought him out.
“He sat with myself and my husband,” she recalled. “He held both
of our hands and said, ‘Can I do anything for you two?’ ... We
thought he meant, ‘Do we have autism? He said, ‘No, how’s your
marriage?’ We said, ‘This is the worst event of our lives -- to have
someone say that your son will be institutionalized.’ After two
hours, we hugged him five times. My husband and I both were crying.”
The emotional meeting set the stage for Kartzinel to treat Jeff.
It also inspired Ackerman to join forces with other local parents to
pay for Kartzinel to fly out to Orange County for a few days and
treat multiple patients.
Tonight, Ackerman is co-chairing a wine-tasting party in Newport
Beach to raise funds for Kartzinel’s future visits and to pay for his
treatment of 15 local autistic children whose families can’t afford
the care.
“What [the families] get is an option to see a doctor who’s not
accepting any new patients,” Ackerman said. “There’s a 400-patient
waiting list.”
Autistic symptoms include displaying abnormal behaviors, such as
staring into space for hours, throwing uncontrollable tantrums,
showing no interest in people (including parents) and pursuing
repetitive activities with no apparent purpose, according to the
Autism Research Institute.
Since December 2000, Kartzinel has been providing his
coast-to-coast treatment to Orange County patients twice a year.
For the most recent trip, he flew in Sunday night and began seeing
patients on Monday. He will treat more than 55 autistic children over
a two-week period, as well as attend two seminars for parents and two
fund-raisers.
Although the varied symptoms of autism cannot be cured overnight,
Ackerman said she has seen a marked improvement in Jeff since
Kartzinel has been treating him.
“He wasn’t talking before,” she said. “Now he’s talking. Now we
feel hope. [Kartzinel] is a selfless individual that wants nothing
but to make every child the best they can be. If there were an award
for saints, and I was the pope, I would try to get him sainted.”
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