Showing posts with label Oprah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oprah. Show all posts

June 9, 2009

ABC's Claire Shipman on the Oprah Newsweek Story

She has a must read on this story on the Huffington Post. A story that seems to have quite some legs.

"Last year we at ABC news ran a series on autism, and new methods being used to diagnose it which are--to say the least--controversial. The medical community and established autism community tried hard to get us to kill the report..."

Must read.

June 7, 2009

How Allopathic Medicine is Shooting Itself in the Foot by Attacking Oprah

The health zeitgeist is changing rapidly in this country, and many in the mainstream medial community have not noticed.

Health care has become expensive, it is not able to address many of the complaints that patients have, when it can, side effects can be serious. Most importantly, mainstream medicine can't explain why everyone in this country is so sick.

But the wellness movement can.

It has said that we are overfed and undernourished, over medicated and in poor health, and that we are toxic. That we don't need another pharmaceutical to fix the problem, we need to go back to the symbiotic relationship we had with the planet we grew up on, and only introduce hard core chemicals into our bodies when absolutely necessary.

And guess what... people everywhere are finding out that they are right! When they stop eating processed foods and drinking diet soda, when they go organic and non GMO, when they get rid of gluten and artificial sweeteners, and start taking vitamins, they feel better and can often go off pharmaceuticals on which they have been dependent.

And really, this is what Allopathic medicine has been telling us to do for years. To exercise and eat right and take responsibility for our own health.

But now that we are doing it, they are not so happy.

Because many of them don't like the conclusions that we come to when we really and truly take responsibility for our own health.

So unfortunately, instead of being excited that Americans are doing what they have always told us to do, and partnering with them to learn from the masses what the masses are learning and experiencing and thinking and believing and implementing in regards to keeping themselves out of doctors offices, they have chosen to actually mock them.

Oprah, who is the bell weather of what is going on in the mind of the American Housewife as much as she is an influence on said demographic, is being attacked on the cover of Newsweek for allowing guests to present health opinions that are alternative or complementary to allopathic medicine.

They actually entitled the piece, "Crazy Talk: Oprah, Wacky Cures & You."

Have those who have decided to mock not noticed that "wacky cures" are going mainstream? Have they not noticed that the reason that they are going mainstream is because they work, and work quite sensibly? Do they not realize that they are making fun of a good section of their clientele who is now going to the health food store to try to correct problems before going to the Doc?

This fascinating article today out of Baltimore about the voodoo that is going on in hospitals like the shock trauma center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

I have already told you about the Maine CDC autism conference for the states medical professionals introducing them to GI distress, dietary intervention and toxic and vaccine triggers for autism.

Clearly, a growing number in mainstream medicine are willing to go where the evidence is leading them and like their layman counterparts, embrace what is working despite the fact that it goes against their traditional sensibilities.

But too many are just making fun of the entire movement, and trying to prevent the slide away from their practices by body checking Oprah.

Those that choose that course are going to run into a few problems.

First off, Big Beef already went after Oprah, guns blazing, and lost big time. So the woman has already proven that she is up for a fight and won't be bullied into altering her course if she believes it is the right one.

Second, they underestimate Oprah's audience's loyalty to Oprah. They know her and have known her for decades. They have gotten a lot of good things from her, and even those who are not Oprah worshipers, don't think she is a nut. Those who watch her, and who hasn't during some portion of their lives, are not going to be convinced by Newsweek that she is dangerous.

Third, their attack just comes across as elitist. "You are not smart enough to know what is good for you, only we know what is good for you." If that approach worked then "The Doctors" would be trouncing Oprah in the ratings.

Fourth, while they are pushing the treatment of symptoms, Oprah is giving air time to people that are exploring correcting the metabolic problems that caused the symptoms so that they can be prevented and won't come back. THAT should be their job. She is scooping MM because they are so married to their pharmaceuticals.

Lastly, their best arguement is disingenuous and quite obviously so. It is the same one that "THEY" are making to discourage biomedical treatment for kids with autism. It is the arguement that "these interventions have not been adequately tested".

In many cases, if not most, natural remedies have not been tested to the same rigors as some pharmaceuticals. But the reason that this arguement does not resonate with those beginning to implement wellness practices is that doctors making these complaints are not running out and testing vitamin D and Fish Oil. They are not calling for good studies into who is helped by a gluten free diet and why.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and if Oprah's critics truly cared about the safety and efficacy of these treatments, they would be calling for increasing the budgets for CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) research, and partnering with CAM practitioners to do it. I mean theoretically they would want people to be healthier and medical care to be cheaper, right?

But then again, Big Cinnamon doesn't throw lavish dinners for doctors and the Tumeric industry does not give away diamond earrings. (See how cynical I can get about disingenuous doctors? It is not like I am the only one who was all rah rah mainstream medicine, got royally screwed by them, and then started taking into consideration all that has corrupted it... I might have been the exception five years ago, but I might be becoming the rule.)

The other problem with your "not enough research" arguement, is that some of these "crazy cures" have been used by cultures for thousands of years before anyone put the scientific method down on paper. If they believe that doctors are earnest and want people to get better, then that must have been true before the industrial revolution, and while not as refined as research today, they had to have had some basis for treatments that lasted hundreds and even thousands of years.

Health crazes come and go, but garlic is forever.

So advice to the Oprah haters, consider that she is not the cause of your problems, she is the result. Oprah is listing to American women, you are not.

Mocking your opponent does not add to your credibility or make people trust you. It makes people suspicious that you are out of arguments and have turned to bullying to keep people in your corner.

ADDENDUIM: Heard from a doc tonight who took exception with my post, a doctor whom I consider one of the ones who IS listening and not one who is stuck in rusty paradigms. I wrote this post quickly and wanted to go back and make sure I was clear on exactly to whom my criticisms are directed.

They are directed to those in mainstream medicine who OPENLY MOCK complementary and alternative medicine.

I do not include in this doctors who are listening and open and respectfully disagree with one CAM treatment or another. On the contrary, they are an important part of the fruitful debate from which good treatment emerges. I don't think physicians in that position need to make fun of others because if they have thoughtfully considered and rejected any given approach, then they have a cogent arguement to make and there is no need to belittle others.

I sense that he also may have been concerned that I may have been promoting Suzanne Summers treatments in some way. Frankly, I don't know a single thing about what she is practicing, and didn't know that she had anything to do with health and wellness until the Newsweek article came out. In my ignorance I will leave others to debate the merits and pitfalls of whatever it is she is espousing.

UPDATE: Jake Crosby takes the failing Newsweek Magazine to task.

UPDATE: Newsweek fails. Sold for one dollar.

October 18, 2008

Every Child By Two Wants to Take the Vaccine Debate to Oprah

Amy Pisani, director of Every Child By Two, (a vaccine advocacy non-profit funded by Pharma) has asked her supporters to write to the Oprah show and ask "that she dedicate a show to the science behind the question of whether vaccines cause autism".

We here at Adventures in Autism think that is a GREAT idea.

It is LONG past time to have an ACTUAL public debate between physicians, researchers and parent advocates that believe that there is a link and those that think there is not, an ACTUAL debate on the merits of the arguement. Have your opponent right there to respond, rather than just having AAP and CDC issue statements that they cannot be questioned on.

As a matter of fact Pamela Felice of The Educated Parent got in touch with Oprah earlier this year and asked for exactly that.

So if you are so inclined, I would encourage you to write to the Oprah show and let them know that you would like to see such a debate, not just Paul Offit and ECBT being given an hour to say whatever they want unchallenged, but an actual, equal time, debate.

Time and time again, those of us on this side of the debate have requested that CDC/AAP/those who deny the vaccine autism connection appear on TV alongside us to actually debate the issue, but apart from Larry King's program last spring with Jenny McCarthy, that request is pretty much universally turned down. And CDC would not even show up to sit next to AAP on Larry King. They just issued one of those damn statements to be read.

Is the topic of a vaccine/autism connection is of so little importance, and so little concern to the American public, that they can't spare one single person to show up and talk about it?

So we thank Ms. Pisani for being willing to participate in this public debate. Let Oprah know that this is the debate that you have been waiting to see!

Dear Oprah,

I am the mother of a child who regressed into autism following his 18 month vaccinations. I have been reading and writing about the vaccine/autism connection for four years and believe that there is more than sufficient evidence to prove a link.

More importantly, apparently so does the Department of Health and Human Services as they have been quietly paying children with vaccine induced autism from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund for more than 15 years now, and they list the symptoms of autism under vaccine induced 'acute encephalopathy' on the VICP's web site. In addition, the head of the CDC, Julie Gerberding, went on CNN this spring and said that vaccines trigger autism in a subset of the population.

It is been incredibly frustrating to see advocates of the vaccine autism connection, like Jenny McCarthy, appear on national programs like yours to discuss it, and hear that CDC/HHS ubiquitously refuses to appear along side them and have an actual debate and be questioned on their claims. Instead they issue a statement to be read at the end of the show that they can never be questioned on.

Do they think that this is not an important enough issue for them to send one person to speak on their behalf? If the science is so sound that vaccines don't cause autism, then why are they so afraid to show up and be questioned on it?

However, it is my understanding that Amy Pisani of Every Child By Two has contacted the show and asked for an episode on the autism/vaccine connection, and I am writing to support her in her request. What this country needs is OPEN debate on this issue between physicians/researchers and parents on both sides on what the science really says, what the science is silent on, and who is overstating their case.

I think that Ms. Pisani has envisioned an hour for her and her experts (ECBT is funded by pharmaceutical companies) to extol the virtues of vaccines and ignore the questions and points that parents like me and our physicians would make, but honestly, that is pretty much what has been going on in this country for the last decade.

So instead, I hope you will consider Pamela Felice's request to your show from last spring:

With autism awareness month approaching in April and in light of the recent court ruling regarding Hannah Polling's vaccine related autism, I thought it might be interesting for Oprah to host a debate on the topic of vaccine safety.

Some suggested guests might include; David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm, Dr. Robert Sears, Author of The Vaccine Book , Dr. Boyd Haley, head of the Chemistry Dept at Kentucky State University, Dr. Jerry Kertzinel, the DAN! Dr. treating Jenny McCarthy's son and Barbbra Lowe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Ctr. on the Critic side.

Possible panelists who support the current vaccine program might include, Dr. Paul Offit, Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, a representative of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and/or a representative of Every Child By Two.

Personally, I would like to see Bernadine Healey expound on her understanding of the state of the research and why she is of the opinion that we can't no longer say that vaccines don't cause autism, or neurologist Jon Poling explain his understanding of the relationship between vaccine induced autism and undiagnosed mitochondrial disorders.

Thank you for your attention this vital issue.
Ginger Taylor, M.S.
AdventuresInAutism.com

March 25, 2008

Pamela Felice on Actually Having a Vaccine Debate

I got an email today from Pamela at The Educated Parent who proposes that Oprah actually hold a real live vaccine debate to address the vaccine debate.

Because that is one thing that is missing from this debate, the experts on both sides actually getting in the same room and debating one another.

From her email:

With autism awareness month approaching in April and in light of the recent court ruling regarding Hannah Polling's vaccine related autism, I thought it might be interesting for Oprah to host a debate on the topic of vaccine safety.

Some suggested guests might include; David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm, Dr. Robert Sears, Author of The Vaccine Book , Dr. Boyd Haley, head of the Chemistry Dept at Kentucky State University, Dr. Jerry Kertzinel, the DAN! Dr. treating Jenny McCarthy's son and Barbbra Lowe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Ctr. on the Critic side.

Possible panelists who support the current vaccine program might include, Dr. Paul Offit, Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, a representative of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and/or a representative of Every Child By Two.

I bet I can guess which side of that panel would decline the invitation. If they do all agree...it would certainly make for great television.


Pamela is right on two counts. 1. This would be really interesting and 2. There is no way in hell Gerberding et. al. would ever do it. They have everything to loose and nothing to gain.

Right now the only thing that is working to their advantage any more is marginalizing advocates of the vaccine/autism link. Debating them would not only give them credibility, they would expose their own lie that there is no evidence to support the relationship between vaccines and autism.

The only way they can with this battle is by getting people to ignore it and go back to sleep.

But I think that the invitation should be extended none the less.

September 19, 2007

Jenny McCarthy on Oprah: Vaccine Injury Finally

(Update 2009 - This has become a very popular blog post, especially for those who are looking for information on just what Jenny McCarthy is talking about when she writes about vaccine injury and autism treatment. Much disinformation is out there on what she is 'preaching'.

No she is not advocating the abandonment of vaccination, but a reexamination and easing off of the overly aggressive/untested CDC vaccine schedule, and stricter safety standards of individual vaccines. Currently the vaccine schedule has more than tripled since I was a child, as it has gone from 10 vaccines to 66 vaccines, and 36 alone in the first 18 months of life. There is no safety testing of the vaccine schedule as a whole, and public health agencies have refused to do any, despite parent protests. Safety standards are very poor and Pharma is asking for even regulatory standards to even be lowered for them.]

She is also advocating medical treatment for children with autism. No these are not HER treatments, they are emerging treatments that began to be put into use at least 15 years ago, and now are in use by most parents of young children with autism. (She is just the most well known and vociferous advocate of these medical interventions) For example, CDC now recommends that children with autism be screened for gastrointestinal damage. Treating this damage often improves the cognition and functioning of people with autism.

In short, in case after case that is properly medically investigated, doctors are finding that children with the behavioral diagnosis of "autism" have neuro immune disease. These kids have an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system has attacked the central nervous system. Onset is often directly following vaccination (or other environmental insults), and we know that vaccination causes autoimmune disorders (check the VCIP "vaccine encepalopathy" and individual vaccine package inserts for details). At issue is whether many cases of "autism" are in fact neuroimmune disease in a genetically vulnerable subset of the population, triggered by an over reaction of the immune system to the ingredients in the vaccine.

The testing that would prove or disprove this theory have never been done.

Further, most of these children have serious GI damage that causes malabsorption of nutrients, resulting in further damage to the brain and related systems.

Jenny McCarthy's book about autism treatment is a collaboration between Jenny, and a very well respected physician in the autism community, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel. "Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide" is a book in which Dr. Kartzinel discusses the treatments and McCarthy discusses her experience of the treatments.

For more information on environmental causation and treatments feel free to explore this site or contact me personally. My son has been on said treatments for five years and has responded very well.

Recommended posts for you to visit:

  • Maine CDC Autism Conference - GI dysfunction in autism, Environmental causation in autism, Vaccine causation in autism.
  • Julie Gerberding Tells CNN that Vaccines Trigger Autism
  • An article on just how bad the research is that CDC uses to exonerate vaccines in autism causation.
  • Jenny's book with Dr. Kartzinel on autism treatment was directed at parents, but this could be considered the companion piece for physicians on the state of research into the treatments that are successful in recovering children from autism: Changing the Course of Autism. If you are serious about finding out why Jenny's message has resonated with so many parents, but don't think that she is a credible source of medical information, please read Dr. Jepson's book. This is the book that Martha Herbert of Harvard mentions in her speech at the Maine CDC autism conference.
  • The head of the AAP's very easily disprovable lie that vaccines do not cause long term damage.
  • Contradictory rulings in the Vaccine Court that vaccines cannot cause autism, but the MMR absolutely did cause Baily Bank's autism. The media did not pick up the Banks ruling.
  • A partial list of research for those who have come here under the assumption that the only evidence of the link between vaccines and autism is temporal correlation and who are tempted to comment and make the "correlation does not prove causation" arguement.


Thank you for visiting and enjoy the site.)

Jenny McCarthy on Oprah
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

When she was not yet a superstar or even broadcasting nationally, in early 1985 a friend gave Oprah a copy of "DPT: A Shot in the Dark," which was the first report of an association between autism and vaccination. "We're waiting until it comes out in paperback," a producer told her friend. The paperback version was published in 1986 but, by then, Oprah had starred in "The Color Purple," her show had been nationally syndicated and the vaccine safety debate had become a heated controversy. Over the last two decades, many parents of vaccine injured children have written letters to Oprah in hopes that she would do a show about vaccine risks.

Yesterday, after 22 years, Oprah finally talked about vaccine injured children when she interviewed Hollywood Moms, Jenny McCarthy and Holly Peete. Jenny has written a book on her experience of watching her two and a half year old son regress into autism after an MMR shot.

On the show, Jenny talked about the increases in autism among children and asked what parents of vaccine injured children have been asking for a quarter century: "What number will it take for people just to start listening to what the mothers of children who have seen autism have been saying for years, which is, 'We vaccinated our baby and something happened."

Jenny says even before Evan received his vaccines, she tried to talk to her pediatrician about it. "Right before his MMR shot, I said to the doctor, "I have a very bad feeling about this shot. This is the autism shot, isn't it?' And he said, 'No, that is ridiculous. It is a mother's desperate attempt to blame something,' and he swore at me, and then the nurse gave [Evan] the shot," she says. "And I remember going, 'Oh, God, I hope he's right.' And soon thereafter-boom-the soul's gone from his eyes."

The CDC's prepared response to a query from the Oprah Show staff about whether there is a link between autism and vaccines was "CDC places a high priority on vaccine safety and the integrity and credibility of its vaccine safety research. This commitment not only stems from our scientific and medical dedication, it is also personal-for most of us who work at CDC are also parents and grandparents. And as such, we too, have high levels of personal interest and concern in the health and safety of children, families and communities. We simply don't know what causes most cases of autism, but we're doing everything we can to find out. The vast majority of science to date does not support an association between thimerosal in vaccines and autism. But we are currently conducting additional studies to further determine what role, if any, thimerosal in vaccines may play in the development of autism. It is important to remember, vaccines protect and save lives. Vaccines protect infants, children and adults from the unnecessary harm and premature death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases."

It is curious that the CDC would confine its response regarding the autism-vaccine connection to thimerosal, when MMR vaccine has been strongly associated with regressive autism and live virus MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal. The National Vaccine Information Center, which has operated a Vaccine Reaction Registry since 1982, continues to receive reports from parents describing how their children regressed after receiving live virus or non- mercury containing vaccines, often after being given 8 to 12 vaccines on one day. The most heart-breaking stories are when children are vaccinated over and over again despite deteriorating health because their pediatricians are in denial about vaccine risks.

Jenny McCarthy gave a star turn on Oprah when she clearly, simply and passionately described what happened to her son after vaccination and how she was empowered by information she found on the internet to find ways to cure his vaccine-associated regressive autism. She listened to her mother's instinct and pursued a course of treatment that involved nutrition and other alternative therapies. It is a story of a mother's love and determination to heal her son after he was given the diagnosis of autism, a neuroimmune disorder that so many pediatricians are taught is untreatable.

In the early 1990's, a mother in California, Cindy Goldenberg, was the first Mom to cure her son of regressive autism by listening to her mother's instincts and doing her own research into vaccine-induced neuroimmune dysfunction. Her son experienced regressive autism after receiving MMR vaccine. Cindy sought out IVIG therapy as well as nutritional and probiotic therapies that she said "healed his gut." Her son was soon in a regular classroom and this year he graduated from high school.

As of last night, there were nearly 2,000 messages, primarily from Moms, for Jenny and Holly posted on Oprah's website at http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/1812

Bravo, Oprah. You allowed Jenny to tell it like it is. You have helped millions of Moms across America understand what happened to their children, who changed physically, mentally and emotionally after getting vaccinated, and now suffer with autism and other kinds of vaccine-induced brain and immune system dysfunction such as learning disabilities, ADHD, seizure disorders, asthma, and diabetes.

If your child stopped speaking, wouldn't look you in the eye and completely ignored the world around them, what would you do? In her new book, Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, actress Jenny McCarthy shares her emotional story of diagnosis, hope, faith and recovery-a journey many thousands of parents now face.


National Vaccine Information Center
email:news@nvic.org
voice: 703-938-dpt3
web: http://www.nvic.org

April 7, 2007

What Really Happened When Katie Mentioned Vaccines On Oprah

JB Handley of Generation Resuce is a friend of Katie Wright-Hildebrand and posted an account of her experience on the Oprah Show this week. She said a good deal more about the autism-vaccine connection that was edited out. Here are JB's very frank comments:

REMINDER: There has been a little confusion in the comments section. The following is not my account or opinion... it is JB Handley's.

Katie was told by the producers before the show was filmed that if
she mentioned vaccines she would be off the show.

While taping, the pediatrician made the misstatement about vaccines
and autism (that whole "no connection" reassuring bullshit), and,
during break, Katie appealed directly to Oprah to let her respond,
as you saw on the show.

However, Oprah's response to Katie about "opening the can of worms"
and the audience's applause after what she said was actually based
on a much longer exchange, all of which was edited out of the final
cut of the show.

After the part you heard Katie say, Katie went on to say that the
preservatives in the vaccines made her son sick and that the
combination vaccines and the vaccine schedule were grossly unsafe.

Everyone's favorite pediatrician then jumped in and said that if the
schedule were changed there would epidemics. Katie responded by
saying there already is an epidemic and that our kids are not
disposable so the CDC can perpetuate irrational fears of the measles
and the flu.

I think this highlights a number of things:

- The censorship most media outlets give to this issue is very high.
My personal opinion is that this is due entirely to the power of
pharma advertising and to the fact that the media outlets hear
directly from pharma in advance of these shows and get warned. The
fact that the daughter of NBC's FORMER CEO must be deeply troubling
for pharma because this is going to be one very tough person to shut
up.

- Oprah over-ruled the directive Katie was given because she is
Oprah and appears to have strong moral fiber. If Don Imus is a 10, I
give Oprah a 5, which makes her second-best for national
personalities dealing honestly about our kids, although it is almost
incomprehensible to me that this is Oprah's first show on autism.

- The lame doctor saying "if the schedule were changed there would
be epidemics" has no idea what she is talking about. It is
unbelivable that it is NEVER reported that in the mid-1980s there
were 10 vaccines on the schedule and today its 36. We were not
having massive epidemics in the 1980s and the schedule has more than
tripled due to money and recklessness, with no monitoring system
that could ever catch a delayed-onset condition like autism.

- Katie is a true warrior for her son and all of our kids. She said
so much more than America got to hear.

JB

April 5, 2007

Katie Wright Joins the NAA Board

HUGE news. Daughter of GE Chairman Bob Wright, mother to Christian, the child who's autism diagnosis lead to Autism Speaks, joins the boards of both the National Autism Association and Safe Minds

Today on the Oprah show Katie will state publicly that she believes that vaccines caused her son's autism.

Katie Wright-Hildebrand and Becky Grant-Widen
Join NAA's Board of Directors

The National Autism Association is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors, Katie Wright-Hildebrand and Becky Grant-Widen.

Katie is the mother of two boys, Mathias, age 3 and 5 year-old Christian. Christian regressed into autism at 2 ½ years old. Katie completed her under-graduate studies at Boston University and received a Masters in Education from Columbia University. Studying counseling psychology, she received her professional license in 2000 and was the Clinical Director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Stamford, CT providing free and confidential counseling services to male and female survivors of rape and sexual assaults. Katie resigned her position when Christian became ill and now, with her husband Andreas, is dedicated to working to improve the lives of children and families affected by Autism. Watch for Katie on Thursday's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show!

Becky comes to NAA with 13 years experience in public health non-profits, with a history in tobacco control and community health program development. She currently works as a public health consultant, focused on grantwriting for local and national autism organizations. As the parent of two boys, one of whom is on the autism spectrum, Becky is committed to using her experience to benefit children with autism. In her home state of Maine, Becky has organized local autism events, testified before the state legislature to eliminate the use of mercury in vaccines, and helps guide parents just starting out on the autism journey.

Everyone with NAA looks forward to working with these talented and dedicated parents as we carry out our mission of providing support and hope to all families affected by autism.

Together, anything’s possible.


UPDATE!:

Katie also joined the board of Safe Minds! DAMN!

SafeMinds is pleased to announce the appointment of Katie Wright-Hildebrand to the board of directors.

Katie is the mother of two boys, Mathias, age 3 and 5 year-old Christian. Christian regressed into autism at 2 ½ years old. Katie completed her under-graduate studies at Boston University and received a Masters degree in Education at Columbia University. She studied counseling psychology and received her professional license in 2000. She worked as the Clinical Director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Stamford, CT providing free and confidential counseling services to male and female survivors of rape and sexual assaults. Katie resigned her position when Christian became ill and now, with her husband Andreas, is dedicated to working to improve the lives of children and families affected by autism.