About Billy
It is hard to describe the joy and emotion of holding your new-born grandchild – the little face, perfect fingers and toes and that baby smell. The sense of innocence in this new world can make you weep.
What you don’t foresee is your grandchild, 8 years later, still wearing nappies; a child who has never said a single word. Your grandchild in his teens, biting and kicking his parents because he doesn’t want to leave the house. Your grandchild as a young adult, who cannot even be taken for a walk in the park because he might run into the road.
Welcome to the world of autism at its most severe. Autism is a life-long brain disorder that adversely affects peoples’ ability to communicating, form relationships and make sense of the world around them. Autism can also wreck marriages, destroy parents’ health and challenge the lives of the extended family.
And for the person living with autism, this world is a deeply confusing, isolating and often unhappy place.
If you think autism is not your problem, think again. As our understanding rises, autism is being diagnosed at an increasing rate. With up to 1% of children in the UK now known to have an autistic spectrum disorder, it makes the prospect of having – or knowing - a grandchild with autism very real.
And please, think about this: it is estimated that autism costs our country a staggering £28bn each year. Of the medical conditions researched, autism appears to have the highest cost to the country.
Autism can make grandparents feel powerless to help while they watch their families cope with autism.
But there is something we all can do - support Autistica, the leading UK autism research charity.
The good news is that researchers funded by Autistica are starting to unravel the complex causes of this mysterious condition. But this fast-track research costs a lot of money and I am writing to ask for your support.
Only when the causes are known, can we truly seek to provide effective treatments that will improve the quality of life for my grandson, Billy and all those affected.
Please, make a donation to Autistica and be part of our journey of discovery.
Wendy Woodroofe, Grandmother to Billy
