Nickalas's Story

At the age of two the life of Kimberly’s little boy was shaken up.  He is the youngest of three children, and was described by his mother as a normal and good-natured baby.  However, one day she began to notice certain signals that concerned her.  He was very hyperactive, and began to constantly rub the back of his head.  On top of that he was unquenchably thirsty.  Kimberly took him to the doctor having no clue what might be wrong with her baby boy.  He was treated for lead poisoning.  The probably cause: no proper cleaning up after their landlord reframed a doorway upstairs. 

 Her son needed to be hospitalized immediately and for six days received chelation treatments.  An experience that in itself can be quite disturbing for a little child turned into a trauma when an unexpected tragedy hit their family.  His father also had to be hospitalized for an unrelated illness and died.  “Now he thinks that he is going to die when he goes into the hospital…it’s been very hard on the whole family”, says Kim.

 For Kimberly the situation was devastating.  “Everything was piling up on me”, she says.  Suddenly she was all alone, trying to cope with her loss and with a hazard she didn’t know anything about.  She says the information she received at the hospital did not help her feel better.  On the contrary she felt that she was to blame for her son’s poisoning. 

 After chelation the family could not move back into the contaminated house they were living in so the family had to move to a smaller house across the street.  “There should be more financial help for families that go through this situation,” she says “and landlords should be forced to keep the houses in clean and safe conditions.” Like most of the parents of lead poisoned children she insists that information pays a key role in preventing and confronting this situation. 

 She he was diagnosed, Kim’s little boy has continued under treatment, but despite the intervention, signs of poisoning still persist.  Though it seems his learning is improving, he shows a delayed speech that makes him very frustrated.  “Sometimes I really have to hold him to settle him down.  He’s much more irritable and he relies on me much more for comfort,” Kimberly says.  Her faith in God has held her up, but still there is a trace of fear in her heart because she knows that what happened to her son might cause him suffering down the road.