Saving Sammy: A Mother's Fight to Cure Her Son's OCD

· Sold by Crown
4.5
6 reviews
Ebook
272
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

The story of one mother’s fight against the medical establishment to prove the link between infection-triggered PANDAS and her son’s sudden-onset OCD and Tourette syndrome.

The summer before entering sixth grade, Sammy, a bright and charming boy who lived on the coast of Maine, suddenly began to exhibit disturbing behavior. He walked and ate with his eyes shut, refused to bathe, burst into fits of rage, slithered against walls, and used his limbs instead of his hands to touch light switches, doorknobs, and faucets. 

Sammy’s mother, Beth, already coping with the overwhelming responsibility of raising three sons alone, watched helplessly as her middle child descended into madness. Sammy was soon diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and later with Tourette syndrome. Unwilling to accept the doctors’ prognoses for lifelong mental illness and repeated hospitalizations, Beth fought to uncover what was causing this decline. Beth’s quest took her to the center of the medical community’s raging debate about whether OCD and Tourette syndrome can be caused by PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). With the battle lines firmly drawn, Beth searched until she found two cutting-edge doctors who answered that question with a definitive yes. Together, they cured Sammy. Five years later, he remains symptom free.

Ratings and reviews

4.5
6 reviews
A Google user
November 6, 2012
I recently had this book loaned to me, based on my enjoyment of The Perks of Being a Wallflower; and I have to admit that, while a completely different style of book, this narrative was no less gripping. I finished the book (240 pages) in about three hours, and it was one of the more emotionally draining books that I've read in recent years. Unlike Perks it is not told from the perspective of the afflicted, but from the perspective of his mother. You experience all the turmoil that comes with treatment after treatment, and the emotional ups and downs with successes and regressions (I choked up at a few parts). The author does a fantastic job of showing not only how these affected her child, but also her. Loss of friends, the importance of a smile or a kind gesture, and the way the dissenting opinions can mean the difference between courage and defeat. It puts the trials of raising a kid with a mental illness into perspective for those of us who have been blessed enough never to have had those experiences. For me, it awoke an empathy that I would have never had without a first hand account like this, and I hope that at least some of that sticks with me over the years.
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dbidoli
July 24, 2016
Thank you for sharing and the empowerment! Well done for trusting your intuition and never giving up on the fight. You are an inspiration. From a Mom of an autist who is my rock!
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Roxanne Allen
August 7, 2016
Absolutely inspiring story about a mother's bravery
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About the author

BETH ALISON MALONEY is a successful Maine attorney and guardian ad litem. Before moving to Maine, she was an executive and attorney in the motion picture and television business in Los Angeles. Saving Sammy is her first book.

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