Autism affects thousands of innocent young children each year. Each autistic child's' parents are lead to believe, without proper proof, that the contraction and development of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) is merely the result of bad genes and some unknown birth defect that develops after the child is born. Jenny McCarthy's book, Mother Warriors, serves to strongly contradict traditional beliefs of pediatric medicine, as well as offer hope for parents dealing with Autistic children.
From the moment the pages of Mother Warriors are opened, the reader is drawn into a fascinating and heart-wrenching account of a women dealing with both a busy life and the everyday fight to keep her son away from 'the label of Autism'. The book begins with Jenny recounting the publicity of her book Louder than Words, which involved many press conferences, television appearances, and book signings- all of which she recalls took her away from her son. Along the way, Jenny meets the inspirational women who will become the focus of her new book, Mother Warriors. All of these women, including a very inspirational dad- Stan Kurtz, share a common story of their own fight with their children to try and 'heal' and 'recover' from Autism. The most common remedy among them would be the Gluten and Casin (or wheat) free diet. McCarthy makes constant references to what she believes is the root of all evil- vaccines. The book does its best to prove its case against both the traditional doctors who dole out the vaccines (which she believes contain outrageous amounts of heavy metals like mercury) to innocent children, but against even current Autism research itself. Each 'Mother Warrior' story serves to cement the idea of evil pediatricians who inject vaccines into unsuspecting children when they are not fully ready, of doctors who diagnose Autism automatically and then offer no hope, all followed by the parent's quest for finding some kind of remedy which heals underlying conditions loosely associated with Autism. For the most part, McCarthy succeeds in drawing the reader into her well written emotional appeal.
Other times, though, McCarthy's argument can seem a tad bit redundant. Many of the 'Mother Warriors' stories are close in detail and appearance, and, while touching, do not provide enough diversity to completely convince the reader of the absolute truth of her argument. Nearly all the children have, 'gut issues', such as bacteria in their colon which leads to a need for a more restrictive diet that in most cases means no dairy, wheat (casin), or gluten. The stories also, with the only exception of poor Elias towards the end of the book, are complete with a happy ending. Not all Autistic children are so lucky. On the whole, however, McCarthy's book is well-written and documented, and backed by what she so earnestly believes is concrete medical evidence. The book offers hope and advice, and succeeds in promising that if her own experiences aren't any indication, other parent's experiences should be enough to convince us that vaccines are drugs with which to fear, and that the pediatric medical community is not always right. For the most part, I believe her.
It's so easy to put the faith of your child in the hands of 'trusted' medical professionals who seem to know what they're doing. What we neglect is the possibility that they could very easily be wrong- after all; they are just human beings, right? Mother Warriors succeeds in making moderns parents begin to seriously question the validity of pediatric vaccines everywhere, as well as even the true reasoning behind why they are so convinced of their own superiority.