04/08/2024
BLUEJAY AUCTION: 5/1-5/31
BlueJays Auction started when we lost one of our smallest members. Baby BlueJay was born 2 months early and lived for 45 mins. Her parents couldn’t afford her burial, so we hosted our first BlueJay auction to raise funds for her services. In the extremely short 45 mins she was on this earth, she touched thousands of lives, and will continue to touch thousands for years to come. Every year in her honor, we host BLUEJAY’S AUCTION.
In May, we will host a online spinners auction to raise funds for Michael to be tested for the spectrum. Bc he’s 18 the testing is out of pocket and they just can’t afford that! But if he gets tested and diagnosed then the doors open for more help for him! As someone with a special needs child I can tell you you need all the help you can get your hands on!
Here is Michaels story from his mother Amanda Geiger:
Michael was born October 28, 2005. I had a fairly easy pregnancy. I delivered at 37 weeks. He was my first. Michael had trouble from the beginning eating. Everything we gave him he would projectile vomit. We spent oodles of dollars on different bottles thinking that may help. At six months old he was diagnosed with failure to thrive and benign hypotonia . Benign hypotonia is low muscle tone. It affects 90% of his body. His muscles weren't strong enough for him to even eat. The doctor right away got us into feeding therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. At a year old we were told Michael may never be strong enough to walk. At 18 months old through the help of rigorous therapies three times every week and his love for blondes since birth, Michael took his first steps while dancing to Christina Aguilera's video Candy Man. Michael started school to receive additional help at 4. He began kindergarten in Florida. He went to a private school where he was one of 5 in the classroom. He did well.
Michael's father said that I spent too much time on Michael and not enough on him and left us when he was 5. We lost my father to cancer in 2014. Shortly after when Michael was in the third grade we moved to Sc. Michael has always been in mainstream classes. He was so unhappy at the school. He came home crying almost daily. One of his classmates told him he knew he didn't have any friends if he'd drink hand sanitizer he would be his friend. Michael did it. That was the last straw for me. I was ready to pack up and go back to Florida. Someone suggested I try another place about 30 minutes from where we were. We moved and the schools have been phenomenal. Michael is well liked. The students know Michael is different but they embrace the things that make Michael different. He has always been liked by all of the teachers and staff at his school. He has always been very eager to please. No behavioral problems ever. He was tested and has a mathematical disability. He struggles with math but has very good grades other than that. He has always struggled with communication. Despite everyone being nice to him He doesn't have any real friends. I asked his doctors about having Michael tested for autism. At the evaluation we were told Michael was not on the spectrum. I really felt this wasn't right. In 2019 Michael's back began to curve. I took him to a few different doctors. They all agreed he just needed to lose weight. In 2022 I took Michael to a med check appointment. The doctor asked if Michael had scoliosis. I told him we didn't know because although my son was bent over like an 85 year old with horrible osteoporosis we kept being told it was his weight. He immediately sent us to a orthopedic surgeon. It took the Orthopedic doctor less than 30 minutes to tell us my son had severe Scoliosis and Scheuermanns Kyphosis and would need a complete spinal fusion. August 2022 Michael had a 13 vertebrae fusion. Michael did very well for a long time. Around September 2023 Michael began to say he was in a lot of pain. We were sent to get a CT scan done. The surgeon called us in almost immediately. The lower portion of Michaels back did not heal at all and some of the screws were coming loose. The informed us that we were in a serious situation. Hardware being loose in your body is dangerous if you fall it can puncture vital organs. We were scheduled for surgery February 20 of this year. While we waited for surgery we met with a psychiatrist at MUSC. I just wanted Michael tested one more time for autism. Michael was diagnosed with not only Asperger's but also anxiety, depression and OCD. I asked the psychiatrist why no one in the school was able to pick up on any of it. She said because Michael is such a good student and doesn't give any problems he was overlooked. She said most of the time teachers have to spend their time on disruptive behaviors. In December Michael was hospitalized for 10 days in a behavioral health hospital for suicidal ideation. Michael despite several medications and therapy is really struggling mentally. The psychiatrist said he should have been receiving therapy all along. Michael had surgery February 20 for his back. They had to go through his back and side. They had to take the old hardware out and place new hardware, fuse bone together, create space where there was none. It was a big surgery. The surgeon has only had to do it once before. I am completely disabled. The surgeon knew I wouldn't be able to help him too much. He planned on sending him to rehab as soon as he was well enough. Michael defied all odds and was up and walking like no ones business day two. He totally bypassed rehab and was released day 4 !!!!!!!!! He is healing quite nicely. He was due to graduate this year but wont be able to until next year. I only have one brother no other family. Its just me and my three kids. Its hard. Michael needs ADOS testing done so that we have a better understanding of how being on the spectrum affects him and what we can do to help. He struggles with communication greatly.. This makes Michael's choices for work limited. The psychiatrist said in order to file for disability he has to have the ADOS testing done. Having this testing done would mean he'd be one step closer to getting disability and maybe gaining a little independence something he really wants. He'll probably always need to live at home but to be able to buy the little things he wants or needs on his own and to not have to worry about losing his insurance would be a huge step for Michael. It would mean everything to me
