Life without my son has been at times, unbearable, lonely, horrific, tragic and terribly sad. Sprinkled through those days are seconds of laughter and accomplishment.
For those of you who don't know me, my five year old autistic son, Mason Allen Medlam, wandered from our home on July 27th, after he pushed a screen and fan out of the window, and drowned in a neighbor's pond. Two days later, on July 29th at 7:29 am, his heart slowly stopped beating and he left us all alone in a world that he no longer lived in. You can read more on our website: www.masonalert.org
Mason was the most incredible boy I have ever known. He always had a smile on his face. He would start laughing hysterically when he was about to do something he knew he shouldn't. He was just so vivid. He literally was energy, love, motion and joy all bundled together. He never stopped moving, never stopped climbing, never stopped exploring his world. Never, that is, until the day he died.
In the beginning the word "Autism" terrified me. It was almost as though the doctor who diagnosed him said, "Here is your child. He is defective. I can't tell you what he'll be able to do and what he won't. Learn to live with it and him. Goodbye."
The truth is, all the doctor said is that he had Autism and then he said Goodbye. Everything I knew about autism I found out as Mason grew into the beautiful child he was. I never knew he would wander, until the day he did.
Since Mason died, we have been on a crusade to save children's lives. We never knew 1 out of every 110 children is placed on some level of the autism spectrum. We did not know that 92% of those children wander. We did not know that the leading cause of death among autistic children is drowning. We didn't know that our son was twice as likely to drown as a "normal" child. So much we didn't know that might have made a difference. We never dreamed that ten more children would die in the 102 days after Mason's death and we certainly couldn't have known that nine of those would die from drowning.
Two days after Mason died, we set up our website and began gathering signatures for a Mason Alert Registry and a Mason Alert Alert. We never took anytime to grieve and shut ourselves away from the world. Instead, every single day we shared our son, his face and his story with the world to try and increase awareness.
On October 22, 2010, two of my sisters, Lisa and Karen, and I went to Washington DC and I told Mason's story. We were very honored to be there as the committee took our words to heart and formed a subcommittee to focus on wandering prevention and wandering safety.
Of course we aren't going to wait for them to change the world. That would take to long. Instead, we have continued to gather signatures, contact everyone we can think of and work towards our goals.
On November 10th, one of our goals is going to be realized. We will be working with Officer Donohoe from Pensacola, FL to create the Mason Alert Take Me Home Program Registry software. This software will be free to all law enforcement agencies and will integrate seamlessly with all 911 systems since it is developed by a company that develops police software.
We miss our son desperately. Every day, I beg God to give him back to me. I cry, I scream, I mourn. I just want to hold my son for one more second, hear his laugh ring in my ears again, feel the weight of him pressed against me. I want to touch more than a tiny lock of his hair that I wear around my neck in a silver vial. I just crave my son. It is so impossible to imagine surviving in this world for long without him, but I also know that because Mason died many other children will live.
I will never stop, I will never give up. I will survive until the world knows my son's face, his name and what a wondrous son we lost the day Mason left us. His legacy will be one of advocacy and change. He's already had more impact on the world than most people could hope for. He is a brilliantly shining star of hope, change and awareness, and I am so sorry the only way I can share him now is through these few weak words and the many beautiful pictures I have of him. All of you would have loved him. He was just that special.
Sheila Medlam
