Eli Apolzon and daughter Ruth Family Page * * * Austin, Texas

We are selling many of our personal belongings to pay ongoing medical and therapy bills for our fourteen year old daughter, Ruth, who is a special needs child and was diagnosed with multiple disorders in the serious mental health category at the ages of three and four years old. She has accomplished remarkable improvements since then. I have updated this website continually through the years, with the current update being November 1, 2009.

Thank you for your continued interest and especially for all your prayers and kind words for Ruth and our family which you have expressed to us by email and personal encouragement. Ruth has been off all medication for sixty-nine months now (since the end of January 2004) and she continues to improve in all areas. She had been on twenty-two different medications from age five through nine, at which time she was hospitalized for two weeks. We said enough is enough and stopped the meds in January 2004 to find out where her baseline was.

We went through pure agony and terror for the next three months while her body cleaned it all out and then adjusted to how to live without the medication. She was literally bouncing off the walls . . . and so were we. For those of you who have been through a similar experience, you know the only way you can survive is through constant prayer, faith, determination, a lot of love and even then just taking it one day at a time. And then one morning we saw something new she had never done or said before and Ruth began growing again, after nearly five years of being plateaued. Her therapy programs continue five days a week after school and she continues to improve, one small step at a time.

Her school day begins at 7:45 in the morning getting on the bus and continues after school in various therapy and sports programs each day until 6:00 p.m. She never complains and works very hard with all her therapists and coaches. To each and every one of you, we say "Thank you" for all your hard work and personal commitment you have given to Ruth and to all the other Special Needs children we watch you help also. You are truly the Angels who live among us.

When Ruth comes home, after a light meal, she continues on her computer with learning programs that teach her spelling, math, and learning skills. And now in middle school, she has homework for the first time and really enjoys it. She used to rarely watch television but will now sometimes be able to watch a movie for fifteen or twenty minutes. She still does better with interactive types of learning with the computer being a favorite. When we go places in the car, we play fifties music on my XM radio and talk about the songs and the artists. Buddy Holly is one of her favorites and she can partly follow the movie about his short life. I recently put some Johnny Cash CD's in the car and Ruth is enjoying learning his songs also. She attended confirmation class one year ago and was confirmed in April 2008.

In November 2007, we gave Ruth an early Christmas present . . . a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy who she quickly named Buddy Holly. We were reminded of how far she has progressed when she told us the name she picked had a double meaning. Buddy Holly is one of her favorite singing artists and then she said her dog is also going to be her buddy. This month marks the two-year anniversary of Buddy Holly joining our family. Ruth is singing in the school choir this year and is doing well on stage . . . something that was like an impossible dream years ago. Thank you again for all your continued prayers and notes of support. I hope our openness and sharing with our family life gives encouragement to other families who are blessed with a Special Needs child.

Eli Apolzon . . . .