Hi, this is my son Israel Cornelius Ilagan. We call him Izzy. He will turn 6 years old in May 2019. My name is Michelle Ilagan and my husband’s name is Kris Ilagan and we are the proud parents of our one and only sweet and handsome little angel.  When Izzy turned 18 months old, we began to see changes in him and saw continuous regression. Izzy stopped making eye contact and he started exhibiting abnormal behaviors. Izzy lost interest in learning, pretend play and interacting with us. I knew that something was wrong but it took me months before I had the courage to seek help from a developmental pediatrician. It was heartbreaking for a mother to see his only son drifting off into his own isolated world. At the tender age of 2years and 2 months (July 2015), he has been officially diagnosed within the Autism Spectrum Disorder.  It broke our hearts to hear “he’s autistic”. I even challenged the doctor that maybe the word “Autism” is just a label given to kids with early behavioral challenges and that he will outgrow them. Our doctor was very patient but firm in making me understand that it’s not the label that is important but for Izzy to receive the interventions he needed to help him live in our world that may not understand him nor he understands. Our government currently have limited resources to help disABLED kids like Izzy. As a mother that wants the best for his son, we privately funded Izzy’s treatments even though costs are high. Izzy began receiving three occupational therapy sessions at the age of 28 months. After a year of minimal improvements, he was switched to ABA (Applied behavioral therapies) thrice a week (3x) to manage his behaviors. He also receives one (1x) speech therapy sessions in a week. He still continues these therapies today. We would also need to add more speech therapy sessions and occupational therapies. As of today, Izzy is non-verbal, struggles with potty training, eye contact, and comprehension. Izzy cannot follow one step instructions and does not respond to his name.  But with all that being said, Izzy continuous to be our light, our angel and our hope. Izzy is what you see in the photos. He is a happy, energetic, loving and forgiving boy with a smile that will steal your hearts. Izzy loves music, he loves playing the drums, taking photographs, swimming and jumping on trampolines but he continuous to live in his own isolated world and is unaware of danger and of his own body. As per his developmental pediatrician, we have until he is 8 years old to know if he is within the Mild to Severe Autism category. Children less than 8 years old have brains that develops really fast and having continuous therapies will ensure that he can develop abilities to function in society. However, nothing had prepared us for the huge financial resources we need to ensure he has continuous therapies and treatments. To add to our plight, an unfortunate incident happened to me last July 2017 that would complicate our family’s financial situation. I had a mild stroke and was diagnosed with a heart condition (hole in the heart)—Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) and had left my work to help me recover. My current state of health not only affects my ability to help my family with the financial resources we need to support Izzy’s Autism therapies but also adds to the surmounting medical bills and doctor’s checkups. At this moment, we have exhausted our financial resources and we humbly ask you for whatever contributions you may be able to help Izzy with in order for us to continue his treatments and therapies. We know we cannot make this journey alone. Your donations will contribute to Izzy’s therapies and treatments as well as for my stroke and heart medical bills. My husband and I are grateful for the time you spend reading Izzy’s story and we are beyond thankful to donations made to "Izzy’s Autism Journey of HOPE".