Liam’s journey (Story of Courage, Inspiration and HOPE)

 

Liam’s journey started with his older sister and brother who both had eczema from when they were babies. With his sister we went the traditional way seeing a ‘specialist’ pediatrician who specialized in allergies and celiacs. With Liam’s brother the specialist couldn’t help us and we decided to try alternative ways and saw a naturopath and later a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. With both children we spent lots of money on consultations, creams, supplements, probiotics, herbs and medications as well as special foods like fortified rice milk and egg replacer with little to no long term success. While traditional health practitioners advised me to change nothing during pregnancy to avoid eczema in the baby, alternative practitioners advised me to have acupuncture treatments and take various supplements in preparation for my next pregnancy.

When I was 6 weeks pregnant with Liam my very dedicated and outside the square thinking GP advised me to take fish-oil capsules, a common vitamin and mineral supplement for pregnant and breastfeeding women, probiotics and kefir in order to prevent eczema. I was pleased! Finally I found someone who could tell me what to do during pregnancy to avoid eczema in my baby. I was also convinced I’d have the brainiest baby around. After all fish-oil was supposed to be good for brain development. So Liam got 3 fish-oil capsules a day from 6 weeks of gestation on...

When he was born I started to wonder how long it would take until his hormonal spots, which babies develop around day 3, might disappear. Well, they stayed until the 3-week hormonal spots appeared and still no change. And then I did start to worry. My worries were confirmed a little bit later and Liam was diagnosed with eczema. At this point he also didn’t smile yet and we were advised not to vaccinate until he was better, or even wait until he was 2 years old. We started again with various creams, supplements, baths, and finally a trip to Nelson to another ‘specialist’. Oh, and of course I was still taking fish-oil capsules…Finally, when my GP told me she didn’t know what else to do she suggested to read ‘Jenna’s Journey’ and I did. I got in contact with Rachel and our long journey to better health began.

It wasn’t easy and definitely scary at times. Letting go of creams was the hardest step. There were also a lot of doubts and people to struggle against.

Once we stopped the creams Liam’s skin got very bad. He oozed fluid at such a rate it formed droplets on his skin. I had to change his sheets and pajamas every day and when breastfeeding I used to put cloth nappies on my arm so my clothes wouldn’t get soaked. His entire face apart from his nose was angry red, scaly and raw as well as part of his scalp and other body parts.

To find out what triggered his eczema we had an allergy test done which came up with 53 foods, as well as dog, cat and horse hair and dust mites. Not a good thing to be reacting to when living on a farm. At that point I was still breastfeeding and leaving out all those foods was a real challenge. When Liam was 9 months old I reluctantly gave up breastfeeding and we were lucky enough to be able to borrow a goat so he could have goat’s milk instead.

We hardly went out at this stage because it was hard to explain why Liam looked so bad and what we were doing to help him. I felt judged and all the well meant advice about miracle cures and eczema stories told to me by strangers in the grocery store and in the street where exhausting and depressing.

I was also very tired as Liam would wake every 2 hrs at night and sometimes even less than that.

I felt quite threatened at one stage when my GP decided Liam was bad enough to warrant hospitalization. I managed to stop her from sending us by agreeing to give Liam antibiotics and seeing her again two days later. I had to give Liam his first dose under her supervision and the next day the practice nurse came to our home to check on us. The antibiotics cleared him up for two days and then the flavouring and colouring in them started to work on Liam and made him worse again. At this point it was good to watch the movie ‘First do no harm’, which Rachel kindly let us borrow. This hugely boosted my confidence that as a mother I do know my child better and even though not trained as a medical professional I am capable of making good and right decisions when it comes to treatment choices.

We started our journey to better health when Liam was about 8 months old. I expected to see improvements within a very short time and healing skin within 6 weeks, just like Jenna did.

It didn’t happen that way. As so many times before I thought good things as described in testimonials only happen to other people and we are the exception to the rule. Doubts crept in and every time that happened a phone call to Rachel would restore faith and thanks to her continuing search for more information and answers we had new ideas of what to try next. Rachel was wonderful and without her we wouldn’t have persevered.

Liam’s journey is a long and slow one. We are still on the way but when Liam was about 18 months old things started to shift. He was still mainly living of kumara, pears, mutton, eggs, green tea and orange juice then. But people always noticed how happy he was and now his skin finally started to clear.

Liam is now 23 months old. About a month ago he had his first butter sandwich and now he eats family meals with us about 80% of the time. Sometimes his skin flares up on his cheeks but gone are the angry red and weeping spots which he had all over his body. He is a very happy boy with a very cheeky grin. He is neither walking nor talking yet but since his skin cleared we have noticed a huge improvement in both areas and expect him to walk in a month’s time.

 

We are very thankful to Rachel. Without her help I am sure Liam would be a very sick child today and our family wouldn’t benefit from the drastic changes we’ve made in our diet. Our two older children are mostly eczema free apart from 1-2 days after attending other children’s birthday parties with goo-food. I also noticed a huge improvement in my energy levels and gone is the constant feeling of tiredness I struggled with all my life.

Three months ago our youngest was born and no sign of eczema! Seems we finally found the answer.

 

Sonja Hay (mum)

Kurow

New Zealand

Liam`s pics from illness to health

4 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            

12 months 

 

  18 months

 

 

23 months and WHOO HOOing

 

Rachel`s Comments

I have dealt with many people over the years and Liam`s story would have to be one of the most courageous and one of the most difficult. From the outset I explained to the Hay family that many go through rough storms before the sun shines and they have certainly done that! Many clients merely have to remove what I call the GOO triggers, to come right but when there is a lot more hidden goo, the healing process can become far more difficult, particularly during pregnancy. 

A quick recap...
It appears that this family has a stronger genetic link with eczema, as the two older children also had this problem. However genetic links, like this, ought not to discourage us from seeking solutions to such cruel ailments. Sonja proved this as her fourth child was eczema free. She instinctively knew that diet had a role in preventing her third child (Liam) suffering this affliction but sadly, what she thought would help, the fish-oil capsules, the probiotics and the kefir, only dramatically increased her troubles.
 
The fish oil capsules she was taking are a gelatin capsule, that is to say, a hidden form of MSG. Often probiotics have “starches” added to them, another hidden form of goo. Kefir is a fermented product and those who are sensitive to MSG and other excitotoxins, I advise to avoid all fermented products.  These foods have a higher natural concentration of free glutamic acid because the proteins have been heavily denatured from their natural state, effectively making them 'over-goo'd'.

Sonja, having quite large and accumulating doses of this sort of food whilst pregnant, left her baby more susceptible.  These toxins (or excess free glutamates) can cross the blood brain barrier of the baby, via the placental barrier. Because of this Liam reacted to REAL food and in turn developed a rather long allergy list. The neurosurgeon Dr Russell Blaylock explains that this high level of exposure, especially to the more vulnerable - the young and elderly - can change the DNA and once this happens, it can take some time to tolerate REAL foods again.

To go about this Sonja had to eliminate the foods on the high allergy list, especially the dairy and wheat products and then, over time, re-introduce them. Although this was a severe raft of restrictions, it was crucial to eliminate all GOO and not deceive the body into thinking that it was the REAL foods that were on the long allergy list.

It was very fortunate that in the meantime, they did not vaccinate Liam, as I believe the preservatives in the vaccine would have added to the problem, especially as the 15 month vaccine contains “ Hydrolysed Gelatin” which, of course, would be a major onslaught of GOO when he was already loaded up throughout the pregnancy with the gelatin based fish oil capsules.

Green tea and herbal white tea were also introduced, both naturally loaded with vitamins A,C and E that help neutralize the harmful effects of the GOO.  Some doctors say that the DNA damage can be irreversible. Holding a real FAITH in good food, that is when one 'gets it right', I was unwilling to accept this dogma but I had no idea how long the restoration might take.
 
Liam had some Infrared Sauna therapy, a help in increasing his circulation and aiding the detoxification of these harmful baddies.  He also had some other natural and non-invasive chemical-free therapies. After approximately a year of great determination, they finally received the rewards that they well deserved.

To get TRULY better health we have to take control of ourselves.  The hardest part of this journey is letting go of fear.  To limit the onslaught of eczema and any other disease, I have found it necessary to avoid all GOO triggers. Rather than taking pills and potions, I believe in eating good quality fish and other varieties of meat (liver is fab), eggs, REAL unprocessed dairy, spray-free fruit and veggies as much as possible, saturated fats (such as butter, dripping, coconut oil, cream), olive oil, raw nuts, real organic wheat flour, etc. Simple and fresh is always best.

Thank you to the Hay family for sharing this amazing story of TRIUMPH and INSPIRATION. You all deserve a great big WHOO HOO!! Liam will also be a blessing to many.

Patience and perseverance is the key when you are on the right track.
As they say “good things take time” :)

Love Rach x.