Leeza Gibbons talks about her new book "Take Your Oxygen First," and shares memories of her Mother, who is the inspiration behind Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation and Leeza's Place. More than 200,000 people die from diabetes every year. Is a pancreas...

Prostate Cancer: What Every Man & Woman Should Know

We all hope to use the words 'cancer' and 'cure' in the same sentence. Well, it's possible when it comes to prostate cancer, the second most common cancer among men. If diagnosed and treated early it can be cured. Here are some examples:

November 22, 2009

Mark Macluskie can design and build his own robotic Lego train, play classical piano, and he has full command of his math homework. Mark was also diagnosed with autism when he was two and a half years old. Mark's parents were terrified, overwhelmed and confused. They were also committed to helping their son. They embarked on an intense journey of therapy to pull their son out of the grips of autism. The first thing they did was detoxify their home and put Mark on a restrictive gluten, casein and dairy free diet. There were instant results, says Mark's mom Cynthia, "It was a miracle within three or four days he stopped head banging."

"It is a genetic disorder, but it's a genetic medical disorder, and there are medical problems that many, not all many, of these children can be worked on and improved," says Dr. Nancy O'Hara. She believes that changes in diet and environmental toxins can have a significant impact on kids with autism. "You'll look at all the signs and symptoms, not just the signs and symptoms of autism but the signs and symptoms of your gut and your thyroid and your sleep your immune system and figure out what your child may have too much of that we may need to get rid of or may not have enough."

For Mark, these kinds of bio-medical approaches combined with more traditional therapies, like occupational therapy and speech therapy, has had a profound effect.

Fifteen-year-old Garrett was diagnosed with autism when he was a toddler. His parents also dove into the murky waters of autism therapy. Garrett's mom Terri says they tried everything, "Occupational therapy, speech therapy, diet therapy – we did interventions to the way his room is organized to the way his bed is organized to his sheets."

"He's an amazing child and he's an inspiration to us because he works so much harder than any of his peers to get where he's gotten," says Dr. Patricia Manning-Courtney. She has worked with Garrett for years and while he's made tremendous progress he still lives with autism. It's why she cautions parents that there is no one "cure" for this disease. "When you are dealing with a child with autism, each child is different and unique and each child may respond differently and uniquely to any therapeutic intervention," Dr. Manning-Courtney says. She adds certain therapies such as applied behavioral analysis, occupational therapy, speech therapy and sensory integration have proven their effectiveness in treating autism.

"We believe that there are metabolic problems in the children and we believe that there is a genetic pre-disposition in the body to not getting rid of toxins in our environment," says Dr. Anju Usman. She is also a big proponent of the biomedical approach to treating kids with autism.

Both Mark and Garrett work on overcoming their disorder daily. Terri's hope is that as a society we learn to accept, accommodate and love people with autism and all their differences. 'I think my favorite part of this life is having autism," says Mark.