A child from the Bangor area will venture to Costa Rica to be the first person from Maine to have Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Autism.

As Meghan Hayward tells us, his parents have high hopes for their son's continued progress.

" What color is your popsicle today? Red, Red."

Eight-year old Kenneth Kelley was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two.

A diagnosis that came as a shock to his mother.

"I went through a couple years of denial of his autism diagnosis."

Marty finally came to terms with her son's diagnosis when he was five-years-old.

Her cousin came to her with information about biomedical intervention.

But Marty was worried she had waited too long.

"One of the first things we did was buy a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and within a couple of days, he actually sat down and traced the alphabet from A to Z by himself which was huge. First time he'd ever done that."

While the hyperbaric oxygen chamber has given them great results, Marty says every day is still a challenge.

"It's really hard because he just we can't go anywhere and we can't have anyone over. He just screams all day."

Another concern is how difficult it is on her other children.

Ten-year-old Philip likes playing big brother to Kenneth.

"We play hide and seek, sometimes tag. Sometimes we wrestle."

But he says it isn't always easy.

"When people call my brother names, it really bothers me."

After a lot of research, Marty came across Adult Stem Cell Therapy.

The stem cells go into the body, find the damaged areas, and begin to form new working blood vessels that carry oxygen and rejuvenate the damaged tissues.

The therapy is not done in the United States. They will take Kenneth to Costa Rica.

"It feels as though, yes there is hope and yes, truly he will become a normal boy that will face challenges that we all face as adults."

A hope that both parents are holding onto and praying Kenneth will continue to progress.

"What time is it? 8 o'clock. That's right."

An Autism Biomedical support group is being created.

The first meeting is july 18th at 10 am.

To learn more, call 942-2459.

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