Meet Kara Ware
Kara spent an entire year making excuses for her toddler’s aggression, lack of speech, and extreme behaviors until she could no longer deny the obvious; something was terribly wrong. In December 2005, she was told her son had regressed into Autism, a condition she was entirely unfamiliar with. She was told that there was nothing she could do for her child and to take him home and medicate him. The medication was meant to silence the frequent tantrums and make her son more manageable, and she had also been instructed to enroll her child in behavioral and speech therapy. Other than this, all that doctors could tell Kara was to give the child copious amounts of love and ensure his safety.
Kara refused to medicate her two-and-a-half-year-old son as their first intervention, fearful that the medication would cause more harm than good. Kara knew that her child’s behaviors were forms of communication through which her young boy was trying to convey the immense pain he was enduring. Kara felt hopeless, not knowing how to help her son, and unwilling to silence his communication through pharmaceuticals. Instead of wallowing and listening to the doctors’ previous claims, Kara decided to forge her own path in what was soon to become known as functional medicine.
Kara learned how to layer pieces to a care plan in an intelligent sequence, to heal the underlying dietary, lifestyle, deficiencies, toxicity, gut pathogens, leaky gut, vision, and airway causes of symptoms/behaviors referred to as Autism. After 10 years, her son emerged from Autism and became an independent student. And at the 15-year mark, her son developed the social skills and emotional intelligence to foster meaningful relationships!
Kara learned the immeasurable value of living this Functional Medicine lifestyle with her son. Today, Kara is in her mid-forties and feeling better than ever. Looking back on what she has learned, Kara now credits Autism as a master teacher, forcing her to lead by example.
The Dandelion Effect Podcast with host Andy Vantrease
This program is brought to you by the Feathered Pipe Foundation and its kind supporting community, which has been inspiring positive change in the world since its inception in 1975.
Kara Ware has been on a 17-year journey with her son, Zachary, who was diagnosed with Autism just before his third birthday. With this news came the advice from the doctors, “There is no treatment for Autism. Medicate him to help with tantrums, sign him up for speech therapy, take him home, and keep him safe.” Suggestions like these are what more and more parents are hearing as Autism diagnoses skyrocket. But why? This question became a beacon for Kara as she sat with her toddler, who was hitting his development milestones, then one day began regressing into pain, confusion, and chaos that nobody could explain. She traveled the country seeking out specialists and alternative practitioners, learning about the root causes of inflammation and toxicity that can lead a person to present with Autism symptoms. She was not ready to accept the status quo.
