The Difference An Adjustment Makes

Hi Dr. Drobbin. I am so sorry to contact you so late, and on Facebook of all things. But this is the only way I could think of to get in touch with you personally, and I just have to tell you this. This will probably seem so insignificant, but I cannot even describe how much it meant to me. After dinner tonight, the boys were in their playroom with Matt, and I was in the kitchen cleaning up. I constantly look over to check on them, and one of those times, Wesley must have seen me peer in. He looked me square in the face, with the widest and brightest eyes, and said with excitement, “Hi!” Just thinking of it brings me to tears. The eyes that looked at me tonight were the same eyes I saw months and months ago, that I’ve been afraid I’d never see again. Filled with light and hope and curiosity. He brimmed with a smile and his cheeks just looked so full and bright. And he spoke the simplest, most inviting word, “Hi!” It’s like he’s telling me he’s still in there and he’s been listening this whole time.

I’ve always felt he must see us and hear us, but ever since the injury, he never responds. It’s just like they say, “the child regresses into his own world.” But he must have been seeing and hearing us; he communicated with me tonight, from across the room, a word I’ve never heard from his mouth before, but one that he must hear all the time. Our sweet boy was taken from us after those vaccines. Their early delivery, experiencing the NICU, all of their developmental challenges, and then the hardest blow, the sign of autism, overwhelms me with guilt and dire yearning to help them every single day.

I know I must be the most frazzled, frantic mom to come into your office, and I’m so sorry we bring so much chaos to your serene space. But I need you to know what you did for Wesley today did something. I don’t know how or why, but I am seeing a glimmer of our precious baby again. You have given me so much hope that there are still ways we can help him. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you with all the gratitude I have in me. I am seeing Wesley again. —Katie

Some things in life can’t be explained. The love that a mother has for her child is one of those many things. Unless you have a child of your own, there is no way to describe the maternal instincts to protect and care for a child. Being a mother, I know that feeling myself, but I was instantly reminded of the intensity of the bond between mother and child as soon as Katie walked into my chiropractic office.

Katie is the mother of two beautiful twin boys, Wesley and William. She brought her sons to me because they were having issues with chronic ear infections and fluid in their ears. I felt an intense pull toward Katie as soon as we met. We began a normal consultation in my practice, but it quickly turned into an emotional and honest conversation of the struggles Katie and her family had been faced with in the short time since her children’s birth.

As I listened to Katie’s story about Wesley and William, I learned that the boys were born at only 24 weeks gestation. For many agonizing weeks, the boys lived in the NICU, fighting to stay alive. As the boys grew, Wesley began advancing ahead of William in both gross and motor skills. This changed at 18 months, when the boys were administered their next round of vaccines. Katie saw drastic changes in Wesley’s demeanor, behavior, and his gross and motor skills. He started banging his head against the wall and flailing his arms around. He became uncommunicative, and suddenly was extremely irritable and disconnected from those around him.

Wesley suffered from a severe vaccine reaction and now has the diagnosis of autism. His parents began seeking any possible way to bring their son back. They immediately took Wesley to Jacksonville, Florida, to visit a functional medicine doctor who specializes in vaccine injuries. The doctor began a process of natural and holistic practices to reverse the injury. They tried chelation therapy, which eliminates heavy metals within the body, and they even tried a hyperbaric chamber that allows the body to inhale pure oxygen into the system for natural healing. Despite all of their efforts and some minor progress with Wesley, Katie felt as if they were at a standstill.

William and Wesley began chiropractic care with me and received their first adjustments at 2 years old. After Wesley’s second adjustment, I received Katie’s amazing, heartfelt Facebook message (seen at left). On Wesley’s next visit, he began talking. He immediately went into the playroom and began pointing out and naming the colors on the blocks in the room. His communication skills and spatial awareness began to return, and he had started to touch Katie’s face and would run his fingers through her hair. Katie said he was actually looking at her and really seeing her, as if a cloud had been lifted from his precious little eyes. He not only saw his mother again, but he noticed their family dog for the first time as well. Wesley would watch the dog, touch, and interact with him like he had never done before. If there was ever a time I had more faith in a single specific chiropractic adjustment, this was that time. Wesley’s communication skills are steadily growing and he is talking more and more every day.

I want to make it clear that this article is about the greatness of what we as chiropractors do. How powerful the chiropractic adjustment is! After eight years in practice, I feel laser-focused and more fired up than when I first started. Wesley had a setback in his life, but his body and his mind are back on the right track to give him the full potential he was meant to have from the beginning. I cannot wait to watch as he grows and develops into the life he was designed to live.