Dear Curezone:
For those of you who have been following my son Willy's amazing ADHD and childhood onset (age 6) bipolar recovery story, the following is the latest update, one that I just received last night.
[A few minutes after I wrote the above copy in this blog last night, just as I was about to continue it, it had become clear that "my third computer" had been hacked. All kinds of strange things were happening. I could not use either browser that I had to send mail, I could not use Yahoo Messenger at all, and I could not work on this blog anymore. I was cut off from "contacting the world" in any way with this computer last night as a result of having gotten hacked again. This is my third time being hacked. The last time it happened in December I lasted only 12 days online, this time I lasted only 29.5 hours, just a little over a day. (The Zone Alarm firewall I am using counted over 1000 attempted intrusions in this time, four of which were high rated.)
Although I am using this hacked computer to write this and the above paragraph this morning, I don't expect to be able to finish this blog without more computer trouble and/or being shut down again. Please bear with me here. I will finish this blog as soon as I possibly can, using a library computer if I have to. Who knows, I might get lucky this morning (I did get lucky!) and this computer will hold up for the moment. However, for all ostensible purposes this computer I am using has been maliciously hacked and "is probably on it's last legs" (and soon I won't be able to use it at all). I am almost 100% certain of this.]
What follows is the gist of Willy's updated recovery story, one I am sure that you will enjoy, assuming you read his original ADHD/bipolar recovery story that was put out across the internet last June, and that you read his updated recovery story in Dec.
I went to dinner with my ex-wife and my two sons (Willy and Max) last night. After dinner, I went over to the house and chatted with Willy for about an hour, while my ex and Max went to school to sign him up for track in the spring.
Willy gave me the following information last night:
He had just received a 98 on his NYS Regents exam in Social Studies, the only NYS Regents exam he took this year. He was actually a bit disappointed with a 98, as he had hoped that this grade was 100. And this from a Ritalin drugged and very learning impaired child only a few short years ago.
Willy told me that he was now able to do pull-ups with one arm, three pull-ups with his right arm, and one pull-up with his left arm. (He showed me this.) Willy weighs 175
lbs. He told me that no one in his high school can do pull-ups with one arm. I sure have never been able to do a pull-up with one arm my entire life.
Willy told me that in high school, just after he had had a real workout one day (such that he was "muscle-tired"), another boy challenged him to a push-up contest, to see who could do more push-ups in a row without stopping. Willy knew that he was giving up a real advantage to this boy, as the other boy had not just had a strenuous physical workout beforehand. Nonetheless, Willy agreed, as he felt that he could still win. The other boy did 87 push-ups. Willy did 150.
Willy also told me that he is now able to do the maximum weight that the particular exercise machine allows at more of the exercise machines at the health club that he goes to in order to work out.
And Willy told me that he was currently reading not one, but two!, books. Willy has NEVER told me he is reading books on his own at home. Reading is something Willy was just not that good at, and he avoided reading whenever he had the choice. For Willy to tell me that "he is reading books" of his own interest and his own choosing with his free time at home is extremely encouraging to me. Even though Willy still has some degree of reading impairment vs. other kids his age, he seems to be clearly improving in this regard. Hoorah Willy! Your reading books is the best news you could have given me tonight.
And last, but not least, in the good news department, Willy looked like "a million dollars" last night. His health and happiness really shows, without him uttering a single word.
The single piece of bad news that Willy had for me last night is that his maximum on the bench press is still what it was in December. He can only bench press 290
lbs. He has yet to crack 300
lbs. on the bench press, but he hopes to do so fairly soon.
Knowing how compromised my son was in July of 2004, both mentally and physically, vs. where he is today, I cannot help but believe that Willy Darman represents one of the most amazing physical and mental health recoveries on the planet. And he did this in only 30 short months, by applying alternative medical concepts (such as food allergen avoidance) and supplements (nutrients, probiotics, and digestive enzymes) to himself. And most amazingly, as I am a non-custodial parent that sometimes does not see my son for a month at a time, Willy more or less effected his own recovery by himself. (I may have taught Willy what he needed to do, but he did it, not me. I was not even around to see it happen.)
My son Willy has become one of the healthiest persons that I have ever known. And this occurred despite his having a long history of being a weak and a sickly child. Willy did not just get better from ADHD and childhood bipolar disorder, he "got more than better" vs. most the peers in his class. He appears to be mentally much healthier and happier than "the norm" for other children his age. And Willy is nearly the strongest person in his entire high school, despite the fact that he is only in the 10th grade (such that he is being compared to older children, as Willy is only 16 years old and 4.5 months or so), and despite the fact he is being compared to some other kids that are much larger than Willy in both size and weight.
Witnessing what I have witnessed in regard to my son Willy's recovery journey, and knowing what I know about ADHD, depression, and bipolar disorder, I cannot help but think that the medical model for both ADHD and bipolar disorder ENDED with my son. Willy's amazing recovery may be looked at as the turning point for resolution and the treatment of ADHD and bipolar disorder throughout the whole world someday. (In my opinion, it already is just this.)
No wonder I keep getting my personal computers hacked as soon as I go online with them. The drug companies have to be scared to death about what I am saying. I am actually quite surprised that I was able to finish this copy this morning, without this computer messing up so much that I couldn't do so, and therefore had to use the public library later to complete this material and get it out across the net.
Lastly, if you have not read the ongoing saga of my son, this story makes far more sense if you first read Willy's original ADHD/bipolar recovery story (this came out in June 2006), and then read the first update to his recovery story (this came out in December 2006). These are all over the net. Just google Willy Darman to find them, or read them in my Yahoo 360 blog entries at
http://360.yahoo.com/allen_dar
Hoorah Willy! You continue to generate greater and greater hope for us all.
Allen Darman