A voice for Max!

We are raising money for Max to have his fifth round of life changing stem cell therapy to treat his Autism and give him a better quality of life.

Max is aged 7 from Sutton in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, he was born profoundly deaf and has Autism. Max is non verbal and we are desperately trying to raise the funds to help him develop speech, through Stem cell therapy.

With your help and support we can provide Max with an opportunity to move forward with more stem cell therapy. We are already seeing how this therapy has changed Max’s life for the better. Research on stem cell therapy is taking place all over the world and it has been proven to reduce the severe impact Autism has on people’s lives, in some cases, children have had such immense improvements that they are no longer medically considered to be autistic! Children have gone from non-verbal, to speaking, like their peers and so much more! Max has been fortunate enough to have already had four rounds of stem cell therapy, funded through family, friends and charity fundraising, but we are desperate to continue and to give Max the chance to learn to speak! This would change his whole world, his future prospects and give him the chance at a real ‘normal’ life.

Since his last treatment we are hearing many more speech sounds and this could be the start of words appearing! This would change his life enormously!

Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells. When we introduce billions of these additional cells to the body, through stem cell therapy, we enable the body to repair itself naturally. Stem cell therapy for autism has been shown to, reduce the characteristics of autism, improve behaviour, anxiety, social skills, communication, speech and the ability to focus and as I have previously said, have the potential to repair the damage autism has caused on the body.

After Max’s initial treatment the first change that we saw, was that he began to sleep through the night. This was a monumental development for our whole family, after living on 3-4 hours sleep a night for nearly five years. Max almost immediately began to show more interest in his daddy, making eye contact with him and began showing more awareness of peoples lips moving, meaning speech and sound.

After Max’s second treatment Max began to show an awareness of pain. This may seem like a strange thing to be pleased about as a parent, but an awareness of pain enables us as human beings to learn from dangerous and painful situations, in order to not repeat the behaviour again. It is an essential skill that we learn as infants to help us stay safe. Prior to this treatment Max had no awareness of pain and therefore was at continuous risk of putting himself into dangerous situations. After this treatment Max also began to wear his cochlears more frequently and began to show more interest in sharing picture books, even repeating common words in a favourite book, pointing to items in a picture and generally wanting to join in.

After Max’s third treatment in April 2023 we saw lots of changes! Max’s eye contact improved dramatically and he started to come to family and those close to him to try and gain their eye contact, as a means of communication. Max also started taking our hand to take us to where he needs something and is began to use pictures to communicate his needs.

Max now can follow simple instructions, like going to the bathroom when asked to brush his teeth or choosing his shoes to go out, on occasion even putting them on independently. He is beginning to try and dress himself, even trying to put on his own nappy, shoes, socks, when mummy and daddy aren’t quick enough. Max will now run to greet me after school, with big smiles and kisses and shows a larger range of emotions. He is allowing me to put on his cochlears with greater ease and when he is with us, he is keeping his cochlears on all day, even falling asleep in them! He is happier and he now will give kisses to family, where he would not allow them to even touch him previously. The changes are small to a lot of neurotypical families, but to us they are huge. One of the most monumental changes we have seen is that on Max’s sixth birthday, he blew out his birthday candles for the first time in his life and then in the days following, blew bubbles! Max has never been able to do this and this is a huge change, as studies have proven that the skill of blowing is directly linked to the development of speech!

Treatment 4 was only 12 weeks ago but we are seeing so many changes! Max is saying mum instead of mama, he wants to be held and hugged and he shows a greater awareness of pain, crying at appropriate times (this awareness has improved even more since treatment two!) Max wants to play with us and his brother and play fight any chance he gets. He is following simple instructions, showing a greater awareness of his surroundings and is playing alongside his peers! We are hearing animal sounds and further improved eye contact!

With every treatment we have seen improvements in Max, calmer, happier, more social, more aware of his surrounding and dangers and a better understanding of speech. We have even heard a word or two reappear, mama, (now mum) dada, no, stop, stuck, apple, star, duck, quack (he calls ducks dwack, dwacks).

Unfortunately, stem cell therapy is not currently offered by the NHS to treat Autism in the UK and this will not change in the coming years, which is why we have had to raise the money for the first four treatments ourselves. We are desperately looking for ways to secure further treatments for Max, to continue to change and improve his quality of life and give him the chance to speak that he so desperately deserves.

To get Max a treatment it currently costs us sixteen thousand pounds. That covers his treatment, flights and accommodation in the States. It is a huge amount to find and we have managed to do so four times, but we are struggling. We are reaching out to friends, family, businesses in the hope that they can help us realise a dream and help us to fund Max’s next treatment. We appreciate any help toward this next treatment for our wonderful little boy.

Thank you for taking the time to read Max’s story, I’m sorry for the abundance of information, but we are so passionate about this treatment and how much it has helped our little boy already and desperate to raise the funds we will need to continue with this treatments