Hello everyone!
I'm glad that so many people have shown an interest in our story and have watch our news report. There were many questions that were asked that I'd like to respond to. Firstly, We didn't just have one doctor on our side. Dr. Ayoub was from Springfield Illinois but was recommended by the Vitamin D council, which is an international organization. We also had two other medical witnesses that represented our side, both from Oregon. We didn't shop around for doctors, but rather found who was the most recommended doctor in the nation for neonatal rickets.
Secondly, DHS/CPS isn't a perfect organization that is all knowing and always correct. That is quite absurd. These employees are human too, and just like anyone are quite able to make mistakes. I understand that they do have a job to do, and I respect that they do it when it's appropriate. But what bugs me is that they aren't correct in this situation, and even when shown proof by multiple sources they continue on their path and ignore the evidence.
Thirdly, Rickets isn't as rare as people think it is. Many think of it as a disease of the past, or something that only occurs in poverty stricken countries. But that is quite false. The United States, and many area's with cooler climates and less sun are experiences rickets at epidemic levels. Factors include close pregnancies, either very dark skin, or very pale skin, pure breastfeeding, and lack of sun light. In the Northern states the angle of the sun, even in winter isn't producing enough vitamin D to help bone growth. Vitamin D isn't the only factor that contributes to rickets though, other things such as alkaline phosphatase, vitamin C, potassium, vitamin K, possible parathyroid issues, and any renal condition can lead to rickets.
Our son was 5 weeks old when he was taken, and he is now 5 months old. We didn't ask the media to come to us, someone else did. But we were happy to talk to them and tell them what's going on. We didn't go to the media to "prove our point" but we hope that it does bring awareness to people that this really is a problem. If we prove nothing else, I hope that people learn the importance of Vitamin D and the importance of doing research and understanding the rickets is real and it is not a thing of the past.
I have been following this story with great interest. I can understand CPS taking your child when the break was first found. What I find incomprehensible is that they have not returned your baby to you even though a recognized expert in bone diseases has made a diagnosis of rickets.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't your pediatrician coming forward on your behalf? You've stated earlier you heard your child scream when the doctor was performing a hip check during a well baby check. Isn't it possible that a bone in a weakened state could have been broken at that time?
Thank you. Our pediatrician did come forward and believes that if there was a vitamin issue he could have even broken a bone during routine check. The pediatrician he is currently seeing in foster care believes that our son needs to see an endocrinologist and that a medical condition could be a possibility, all of which has been said in court, and ignored. Finally, we have talked about how the ER doctor could have broken his leg, obviously on accident do to weakened bones, and were repeatedly told by CPS that "Doctor's don't break legs." I do agree with what you are saying though, and although I wont say with 100% certainty that it happened then, it is my opinion that more likely then not it did happen in the ER, especially since the triage nurse saw our son prior to the ER doc and made it clear in her notes that our son had all 4 extremities moving strongly and equally.
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