The Healing Journey of Timothy McDermott, who was cured of Autism.

you

we were and had been for a very long

time there in a place of crisis as a

family and I was very very tired I come

to the point where I thought I would go

mad or drop no one understands you from

the outside no one had any idea about

the kind of life that we were living

then I and I just

I cracked

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pretty much since Tim had been born had

lived not a normal life he didn’t sleep

properly for about five six years he was

an inconsolable baby

he was seen screen as though he was in

pain but the doctors couldn’t find

anything wrong with him

when he did go to sleep we were

absolutely terrified he was going to

wake up we couldn’t leave him we

couldn’t go anywhere we couldn’t be

apart from him so for many many years

that’s the way that we live it was very

very tough on us our relationship

because we didn’t have any time for

ourselves for a long time there was not

a lot of intimacy there was not a lot of

emotional connection because of the

crisis that we were in this economy when

he was about nine eight and nine and he

hadn’t been to school because we

realized that he would have been

diagnosed with hyperactivity or a lack

of ability to concentrate because we

could see he couldn’t even sit down to

eat a meal he would run round the table

take a mouthful rock around the table

and when I taught him his numbers we

would do it in the garden I’d ask him a

sum as he ran up the garden he’d answer

coming down the garden this is how I

taught him he never sat on my lap or lay

in bed while I had a bedtime story he

would walk round the carpet touching his

favorite bits going round and round and

round and as long as I would keep

reading here just keep walking round and

round touching his favorite bit

everything was timed so he knew where he

was in the day what was going to happen

next and the routine had to be very

structured his sleeping had always been

huge

– he’d wake up after he’d been asleep

for an hour – and he would jump up

screaming in terror and run around the

house but he didn’t recognize me if I

went towards him to comfort him he would

see me as a monster or something and he

would be terrified so it was

counterproductive I just have to stand

back and wait for him to calm down it

was just another one of the things that

we just dealt with and didn’t think much

about but it was quite an issue

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when we had James many people said to us

you will surely not get another child

who doesn’t sleep he sleeps as badly as

Timmy did I noticed one or two strange

things when he got to be 18 months and

then he started spinning round and round

moving his head round and when I changed

his nephew had flat flat flat flat and

then instead of pushing the cars we had

Action Man cars big ones he turned them

upside down and spinning the wheels for

ages so there were a few little odd

things but not enough to really I would

just facilitate his peculiarities and

thought it was okay but when he stopped

talking and he stopped communicating and

then he stopped liking people look at

him and he became distressed with light

and then he stopped eating foods and if

there was even the smallest lump in his

morning porridge he’d gag and vomited up

then we had a speech and language

therapist come in to assist Timothy and

there were two of them and I were

chatting to Tim trying to put him at

ease and stuff and then taking to me to

report back what they had found and they

were watching James who was playing with

his trains he laughed trains was his

favorite toys anyway what they said to

me was is that funny how autistic kids

love trains

and I said autistic kids what it’s

obvious isn’t it you don’t know didn’t

you know he’s a lot of disparate success

ah I think you should pet Kevin v he

shows a number of autistic

characteristics and that’s the first I

had even thought of it how seriously

gutted in the days following this 2005

assessment Timothy was tested and

diagnosed with a form of autism called

Asperger’s

while his younger brother James

exhibited all the symptoms of autistic

spectrum disorder and we suddenly

realized that gosh we were going to have

two children that got it and what were

the chances of that

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I didn’t know that I was really

struggling I wasn’t living a normal life

myself I’d lost touch with who I was I

just functioned 24 hours a day as caring

for these boys so I was plowing a lot of

my energies into my job because I needed

to make sure that that was successful to

be able to support the family that meant

traveling a lot

and I thought if anyone found out my

state of mental health they take the

children away I was absolutely terrified

often taking the children away but I was

also terrified that I couldn’t go on and

that’s when I cried out to the Lord I

say if you don’t help me now I’m

finished the incredible pressure the

incredible trauma that you you you

wanted to go as a family you have to

watch your your children the things you

love most in the world battling not just

with the the the curse that they’ve got

but also being rational enough to know

that they’ve got it and it was those

periods in which Deb’s found it the most

hardened which she had the darkest days

and it was during one of those dark dark

days that she watched the lovers day and

program they’re all mums talking about

their kids and they were talking about

military snapshots and pictures and

talking about that which ones of doing

what at school and they were chatting

and it just hit me in life like a sledge

hammer that what I’m experiencing and

what they experiencing are just so

different and I was weeping and then I

take Eunice why don’t you help her I had

been asking god help me for four years

and I said I love my voice so much and

you’re supposed to love them more than

me why have you done this to them and I

said I would die for my voice and that’s

when he said I already did I was so

stunned I just sucked up I didn’t stop

crying I just looked into the fireplace

I just stand there

that really wasn’t my sauce perfect

reading that was Jesus talking to me Wow

and that’s when I knew that they were

all right

and I thought well he’ll heal them I

just sat down stared at the fireplace

the tears went the pain went anxiety

went the fears with everything that had

worried me over the past number of years

it was like a huge load was just cut

away and I was free and I felt life and

I just set the state into that fireplace

and from that moment on that despair

that pair of the anxiety that I lived

with was gone when Timothy way to the

the school that was funded by the estate

it was a really huge thing for us but we

felt that he was actually quite capable

of doing it and as he progressed and as

they input increase the number of hours

he went he was upward and I believe that

the healing just took place gradually as

and when his world opened up and became

wide and he needed to cope with more and

more things it’s almost as if he was

covered in scales he was covered in the

scales of autism and over time those

scales have been peeled away and I would

say lord please send me someone to help

me I know you’re healing my boys man I

don’t know what to do and that was where

we were at when my mum phoned and said

what Andrew Wommack

I he’s got this some healing testimonies

and you’ve got to watch it and we will

watch it together and it was just

extraordinary even that he’s sitting

watching me think what is it really true

we had missed the beginning of the

Hannah’s story but we came in and from

where we saw was enough to see what had

taken place with Hannah’s story and the

bit that struck me and was when he’s a

piece of cake she teases make a cake for

Jesus this is a piece of cake for Jesus

and they smart crept across his face and

asked that

is this guy really believed this doesn’t

it you know in that face on the inside

of us rose up so father Jamie and I just

agreed and we thank you too by the

stripes of Jesus Hannah has already been

healed it’s just my face to face just

rose up inside of me and I thought yes

he’s talking about my God my way and

this when Christopher jumped up and went

to check out the website we research

Hannah’s Hannah and her story we found

out about and his grandparents and

Hannah’s moment had going to live in I

think in America and their grandparents

going to the College in Walsall it

didn’t just have an impact on Hannah it

had an impact on this incredible family

none and they were all they’d all

experienced it and they’d all gone

through this process and again you then

thinking yourself wow you know maybe

this maybe this is all true maybe this

is really happening and from that point

on started to watch Andrew Wommack every

day but we bought all his books or as

many books as we could get started to

record his programs watching on the

Internet

and we started to build up a kind of

trust I suppose in what he was saying

and in what he was saying we could have

and he shouted from the study he’s going

to be in Walsall in two weeks so I

thought well we’ll just have to pray

about it so I phoned an to worm

administered nurse spoke to a woman

there I’ve told her the situation I said

what we want to come we want Angie to

pay for our son

but we just need some help to get there

and I remember she said to me what can

you believe for I think we can get there

I’m not sure that I can exercise my

faith enough to see us getting into the

building so she says that’s fine we’ll

get you there and if you can’t get a

Maps car we’ll send a prayer team to the

car

I thought haha she paid in a way that I

had never heard before and it was great

it was authoritative it was thanking God

that it was done it was commanding and I

thought now he’s talking I have not

heard this kind of praying and it was

folks real to put down the phone listed

she said that this is going to happen

and this is going to happen and we go to

sleep and he’s going to eat

and customers like yeah haha she’s never

made my son and for the next two weeks I

made a calendar counting down this is

when we’re going to go stay in a hotel

he would cry every time I said it

another day and when I said no we’re

going to get in the spinny chair and

he’d spin spin and you’d refuse to come

out for hours sometimes but the day came

and he whips and he whips and he

physically was trying not to get into

the car it was hard work but I just sat

down and I prayed about it that’s it

Lord

they said that he’d be able to get in

the cart and that he’d be fine and that

you would carve him and come to come and

all would be well

and so we’re coming and it was amazing

could he just smiled up a bit

okay I’m ready let’s go and we strike to

merely sit there Christopher Knight has

kept looking at each other and sort of

holding our breath it was amazing we

booked into the hotel he was bouncing on

the bed he was really excited like this

is an adventure

and once again Timothy was like he

couldn’t believe it and he said okay

we’re going to go and eat at the

Kentucky Fried Chicken that the period

is is a test so we were off to the

Kentucky Fried ticket and that’s when

Timothy ordered himself some popcorn

chicken we didn’t know what to order

James so we thought well we won’t bother

with anything because it’s like offering

him food he doesn’t like if you start

even sat down and he looked at the food

there was no heaving there was no watery

eyes and that he would normally have him

with cooking smell he said they looked

at the popcorn chicken Issaquah fest and

he said it’s something called popcorn

chicken Oh chicken we had one he said is

it to be mine

fifty-eight and when he was finished at

he said well well he ate a second blood

he probably ate more than I’ve ever seen

of Ethan Webster to ever

he ate the tip the 8th of kitchen

and when Christopher and I were just

laughing at Miss America and we haven’t

even got there yet and it was an answer

to prayer it was what she had paid was

happening and so then we got to the

meeting and he was absolutely fine to

come out the car we set in the coffee

shop it was tea time and there was a

long queue of people they wanted Andrew

to find books or praise with him and

what-have-you and called Christopher and

that he got James and all four of us

stood in that queue and I was moving

slowly along and there were about five

people in front of us when Andrew said

right it’s time to get better tea breaks

over when everyone please go and sit

down don’t know and I started crying I

just like taps was open other thoughts

most I’m not going home and I’m not

unlocked Conqueror as it oh lord help me

help me help me I’m not going home

without this merit pay for myself and

then that was when Paul Flanagan saw us

and he grabbed us and he shoved up in

front Avengers did and he just one more

and he said great okay one more and we

told him the situation and he said a

prayer something along the lines

it was literally as quick as he rebuked

autism and he commanded healing and then

he blessed us as a family and he says

the law that we were blessed and that we

would something along the lines of a

fulfilled with God’s plan for our life

and then he said Christopher nihilus was

so huge he said to Christopher now you

and now the parents of normal healthy

children

and everything happened so quickly I

remember hearing that like the whole

world when quiet necessities were there

was eyes to me and I still believe it

was Jesus talking to me and so that was

a promise that was a promise that was

for me and I knew that he was right and

I was so moved and we just stepped out a

side door got in the car and we went to

McDonald’s where James ate the chicken

nuggets and the chips I think in their

evenings or well you’ve never even oh we

went home we went across the road to the

little girl who he had known but hadn’t

played with for over a year

invited her round and they played in the

sandpit on the trampoline and garden he

played for the nicely afternoon and

naptime at night and he had the first

complete full peaceful unbroken night’s

sleep since the day he was born and he

was 5 years old at that point but when

three months later he’s still sleeping

well when six months later when a year

later two years later he’s still

sleeping well and he’s starting to

become the child that you thought that

you knew was there but you couldn’t

reach because of autism you believe in

it and believe in the process and those

experiences have allowed us to start to

live a normal and more normal life so

for me it was very important for us to

to take the boys back to the

psychologist the people who diagnosed

them in the first place because we knew

there was something wrong with them but

we didn’t label them Asperger’s and

otters and that was done by this sort

the the professionals he was taken to

see the psychologist and she spent an

hour with him an hour and a half

chatting to him and at the end of it

there was no there was no battle there

was no fight it was patently obvious

that he wasn’t the boy that had been

diagnosed all those years ago and what

they said in the official medical report

confidential medical report from the NHS

Trust where we lived was that Timothy is

a neuro developmentally typical young

man and the label of Asperger’s syndrome

is not applicable

he has been discharged from my care and

that is to see it written down to see it

and I know this sounds awful but to see

it official really really brings it home

so as James developed and as James came

out of his his illness and came out of

his disease we wanted to do the same as

well and we were expecting probably an

even worse fight with James because we

thought again we’re going to take on the

might of the state here and these

professionals aren’t keen on being

proven wrong particularly with something

like autism because it is regarded as

being something that can’t be cured and

so when we went to see the psychologist

she said well this is wrong

this diagnosis is obviously not another

clickable to him he’s a normal boy he’s

perfectly capable of dealing and being

what you would regard as normal so she

wrote in her official confidential

psychology report that we only had last

week as a rules are also bad discussions

and my interactions and observations

with James during our appointment it is

clear there has been been significant

progress over time in all areas

associated with the tri-oval triad of

impairment with autism as a result the

label autism spectrum disorder is no

longer appropriate for James and should

be removed from any documentation and

the future that relates to him and and

you just you know you can’t when I read

that you just watch I just want to start

I just want to start crying really

because it’s just it’s not just what

we’ve experienced and it’s not just that

we know it but because this is now

official it means that forever and ever

so when we’ve gone when the boys are

mend when they’re old and they’re gray

they will or not have this with them

they will not have carried this burden

that they’ve had to carry in their young

lives they are free of it and the

authorities if you like have recognized

that as well and they won’t be

persecuted or hindered in any way for

what has happened when they

our children and I suppose for us well

for me certainly that’s the best thing

that we could have do for them the best

thing that we can do for both boys is to

give them a future that we didn’t think

that they were going to have and this

gives us that future sometimes you have

to pinch yourself to think well I’m

actually with the same two children you

know that were born to me because the

the change in in the way that we play

and the change in the way that they

relate to me is very pronounced a nice

to dream about all four of us going out

to dinner together and not worrying

about anything just like normal family I

used to dream that if we invited out to

other people’s houses we’d all just go

and it would be fine they wouldn’t even

know for now nothing we just be able to

go I used to dream about going to the

cinema eating popcorn and boys eating

popcorn watching movie together as a fan

all none of these things that we ever

done before

but we went to the cinema we bought the

popcorn we did it just as I had imagined

we are a normal family and I am the

mother of normal healthy children just

like Andrew said so that’s it

happy happy

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