Beautiful Son - or why I cried last night

April 29, 2008

Posted in: Family

Tags: autism, Beau, DC., documentary, Don King, down syndrome, Family, handicap, Hawaii, Julianne, mercury, muscle, Northern Virginia, swimming, sympathy, Thimerosal, vaccines

I was getting into bed last night and thought I’d turn on the TV to finish the night off. I was flipping around, when I caught a glimpse of a boy running around in the dark and banging his head on the wall.

It was a spooky to come into without any context, and I had to turn the channel.

But let me roll back the clock. I want to go back to when I was younger, probably in 8th or 9th grade maybe. I lived in Northern Virginia in a suburb of DC. Somehow (I’m sure my mom knows) I ended up doing some volunteer work at the local rec center.

It involved handicap children and swimming, my exact ward was a young boy with autism. I remember clearly, his tense body and jerky movements, like a flexed muscle of steel at all times. What amazed me then, and what I knew Don King was going to say when I went back to the channel and caught him and his son Beau swimming in the ocean, was that in water he was relaxed.

Once I had the boy in the pool, he loosened up. He turned into a little boy again and he played around. Granted it wasn’t complete, he still had spasms and would lock up - but there were moments. You could see it in his expression, in his aura if you will.

I did go back to the show, I couldn’t help myself - and what I saw was heart wrenching. I count my blessings, that I have 3 healthy children, but I open my heart for the families with disabled children. I grew up in just that sort of family. My little sister has down syndrome.

Today’s post is dedicated to passing the word along about the documentary “Beautiful Son” which was done by Don and Julianne King from Hawaii.

It’s about their son Beau, but it’s more than that. It goes on to show their struggle, their pain and the pain of other parents with autistic children and their fight for what they think is right.

Yes it made me cry, but I’m okay with that. I cry because of the pain in the children, I cry because I feel helpless to do anything for them. I cry because I have sympathy for the families.

I’ll keep quiet about the theories presented in the film because I’m probably too passionate about it. But to suffice it to say I align myself on the side of the movie for the most part. There is a problem out there, and there is not enough being done by the government.

One of the scenes that got me was while visiting Virginia another family was being interviewed and the father said his biggest desire was to hear his son (who has autism) call him Dad.

Another painful scene is when Don is with his son in the bathroom and Beau is clearly in pain but he [Don] isn’t sure what to do and he is frustrated.

I understand to a point, when Sydney cut the bridge of her nose open and had to get stitches, I was helpless to do anything while she was in pain. All I could was hold her. I felt so neutered, so powerless. When my boys had to suffer through infections that they could only wait through (there was nothing the doctors could give them), your heart breaks as you watch them suffer. I can’t imagine if it were more permanent, life long hurt that I couldn’t take away.

From when I started watching (swimming in the ocean with Coldplay singing in the background) to the end, it was just a powerful documentary. If you get a chance, watch the film.

The Trailer is here: http://www.beautifulson.com/images/bs_trlr_v2rev.mp4

Posted in Family