Autistic....Our Chunky Monkey???: In the news.........

Publication:Union Daily Times;

Date:Aug 7, 2007;

Section:Front Page;

Page Number:1

Local drag racing team joins couple’s fight against autism

By CHARLES L. WARNER Staff Writer

A card from the father of an autistic child led to Team Aruba joining the fight against autism.

Team Aruba is a professional drag-racing team that located to Union County earlier this year. Crew member Tom Lukans was shown a very special card by local businessman Gator Hudson, designed by Hudson’s wife, Betsy, to inform the public about autism and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). The Hudsons’ son, Kyle, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 1/2 and with FXS at age 4. Kyle’s story is included on the card, which is designed to look like his business card.

Seeing the card moved Lukans to start the process that resulted in Team Aruba becoming a rolling advertisement for “Autism Speaks,” the organization dedicated to finding a cure for the disease. Lukans, along with Team Aruba driver Burt Kelkboom, his son, Shawn and crew chief Andre Loonstra joined with the Hudsons to announce Team Aruba’s plans during an interview on WBCU radio Monday morning.

“The card’s quite overwhelming and my first words were, ‘What can we do to help?’” Lukans said. “‘We have a car, we have a trailer, can we publicize this in any way?’”

Hudson responded by putting Lukans in contact with Lara Collazo, corporate development manager for Autism Speaks. That led to a special “Proud To Be A Supporter Of Autism Speaks” logo being placed on the team’s race car and trailer. The logo was on display last weekend when the team was in Bristol, Tenn., and when it travels to New Hampshire this weekend.

“As we travel down the highway, people can be aware of it,” Lukans said. “From there we discussed a few other things, what our itinerary was for the rest of the year and how close we are to certain areas. We’re going to have the car and rig on display at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Autism Walks Oct. 6.”

The “Carolinas Walk for Now for Autism” is an annual event staged by Autism Speaks to raise awareness of the condition and generate money for research. In 2006, the walk attracted 3,000 participants and raised more than $240,000. The money raised is used to help fund global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatment and cure for autism.

The fifth annual walk will be held Oct. 6 and participants will include a team from Union County called Team Aruba/Union, S.C. Tourism. The walk team grew out of Team Aruba’s discussions of carrying the Autism Now logo on its vehicles.

“From there it prompted us to say ‘Why can’t we have a walk team?’ Lukans said. “So Gator and Betsy started putting together a walk team that has over a hundred members walking in it already. That’s fabulous and we just got started.

“We’re going to have the car on display, we’re going to have a walk team that’s a joint venture with Team Aruba and Union County Tourism Commission,” he said. “We’re going to have special T-shirts designed with the car on the back and on the front it’ll have ‘Honorary Crew Member for Team Aruba.’ That’s what our walkers are going to have and that’s what we’re going to have through some of the other special events that we’re going to do throughout the rest of this year with the autism programs.”

The team has also brought together Autism Speaks with an autism foundation in Aruba. This led to contacts between the two organizations which are now working together on a joint venture on the island.

———To learn more about Team Aruba and its activities log on at www.teamarubamotorsports.com.

For more information about the Oct. 6 Carolinas Walk for Now for Autism, log on at www.walknowforautism.org/carolinas.

Fragile X Syndrome a genetic condition that leads to autism

By CHARLES L. WARNER Staff Writer

When Betsy Hudson gave birth to her son, Kyle, she didn’t know she’d passed on a neurological condition that will affect him the rest of his life.

Kyle Hudson, 4, has autism and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). The latter is a genetic condition which can cause a child to have autism, which impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. “It is genetic, it was passed down from me; we were not aware of anything in our family,” Mrs. Hudson said. “It came down from my father’s side.”

Mrs. Hudson and her husband, Gator, joined the members of Team Aruba on WBCU radio Monday morning to discuss autism and FXS and local efforts to raise awareness of the conditions. Mrs. Hudson has designed a card that tells about her son being diagnosed with autism and FXS. Her husband showed the card to a member of Team Aruba which led to the team getting involved with “Autism Speaks,” a group that raises awareness of autism and generates funds for medical research. The card also describes the conditions.

Fragile X

The card describes FXS as being able to cause a child to have either autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) “though not all children with fragile X syndrome have autism or an ASD. Fragile X is a family of genetic conditions, which can impact individuals and families in various ways. These genetic conditions are related in that they are all caused by gene changes in the same gene, called the FMR1 gene.”

Like all women, Mrs. Hudson has two X chromosomes while men have an X and a Y chromosome. FXS occurs when the FMR1 gene on an X chromosome does not get enough protein for normal growth and development. She said that since she has two X chromosomes and the genetic abnormality was passed on to her by her father, she was not affected. Since Kyle has only one X chromosome and the condition was passed on to him by her, he developed FXS. (Girls can as develop FXS as well but it is not as common as among boys.)

Autism

The card describes autism as “a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

“Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls.

“Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.”

Mrs. Hudson said that to look at her son you wouldn’t know he was autistic, until you tried to talk to him. “He is not verbal and he gets very frustrated by that because he cannot communicate with us, but he does kind of do some sign language and we’ve kind of learned some of the things he’s trying to tell us,” she said. “He goes to Spartanburg Regional and has occupational and speech therapy. He gets speech therapy through an early intervention class at Foster Park (Elementary School). He will be back in this class this year and he will get the same thing there.”

Despite his lack of verbal skills, Kyle, like many with autism, is intelligent and creative. “They’re very creative and they’re very smart,” Mrs. Hudson said. “He is not verbal, he cannot communicate really what he’s trying to get across, but you hand him a flashlight and he’ll take it apart and put it back together.”

Mrs. Hudson welcomed the involvement of Team Aruba in promoting autism awareness and in helping raise money for autism research. “People aren’t aware, we want to make them aware,” she said. “We’re trying to make everyone be more considerate of parents and of children with autism, because you get looks. Like ‘Why can’t you control your child!’ and there’s nothing you can do sometimes. We want to raise money because the money going to Autism Speaks is for autism research so that we can hopefully find a cure for autism.”

For more information about autism and FXS, log on at one of these websites: