Saving Sammy by Beth Alison Maloney

Saving Sammy by Beth Alison Maloney

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.

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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307461841
ISBN 10	030746184X
Title	Saving Sammy
Author	Beth Alison Maloney
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2010-10-05
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.