Barbara Smith
Photo #1: Mom (Amy) with Christian and baby Conner, 1994
Photo #2: Grandma Barbara Smith ("Baba") and grandkids, 1995
Photo #3: Christian and Conner, 1996
"My story about Christian (my grandson) is tragic. He has been diagnosed with mild OI. We had
Dr. Byer's fibroblast test done and it came back inconclsive. Another experimental test which is non-invasive and done like an x-ray showed he indeed had a low bone density and they diagnosed
him with mild OI. As a matter of fact, all of my family--daughter Amy 25, and Joe 21, had the test done. We are all low bone density.
"JO-JO" (Joe) has had 4 broken bones in his life. I always wondered why. I also have a cousin
on my father's side who has had more than a dozen broken bones. He says it was from playing sports--now I wonder.
My story is tragic because Christian was taken to a Children's Hospital at 4 mos. of age and he
had a slight fractured skull. Amy could not explain how that happened so they did a full body x-ray and found 14 broken bones in various stages of healing. We were all shocked. Amy and her
boyfriend Howard (Christian's father) were arrested immediately and charged with child abuse. There was a trial and they were found guilty.
This was a 2 year ordeal--accusation, trial, etc. Amy received 4 years probation and Howard was given 7-15 years in prison. All because of a genetic disorder!!!!! We were persistent and had a letter
writing campaign to the attorney's, judges, etc. Howard spent 10 mos. in prison and has been out for a year now. The most horrible part of this whole thing was losing Christian for 2 years.
He has been returned to Amy and she has another child Connor (a girl) who is 20 mos. Amy is doing well -- she's on welfare but I know someday she'll work her way out of that mess. Dad has
decided not to be a family man. He sees the children but is cautious. He knows that when Christian breaks again he will be held responsible.
By the way, Christian has had no broken bones since that time -- that we know of. He does have
blue sclaera (he'll be 4 in August), and is small for his age. As a matter of fact Connor is as big as he is. Most every tooth in his mouth is pitted or discolored and he does have heavy sweating.
Sometimes I think we're crazy and this really didn't happen. Sometimes I wonder if he was abused. I know he wasn't because I saw him all the time and there was never any bruising or even a
fussy baby. He has always been such a great kid. Anyway the "system" never did believe the diagnosis and in Akron, Ohio they don't really think OI exists!!!
Amy is in the process of filling out forms to take Christian to Shriners in Chicago. We want him evaluated because he does complain of back pain once in a while. We can't take him anywhere in
this area becuase they know about us and you know he is an abused child. We also have to be careful of how often we take him to the doctor's.
There's a mother in Dayton, Ohio who has an OI child and she is being charged with Munchausen's by Proxy becuase she takes Nicky to the doctor too much!! He has broken
bones--you need to take them in to be examined!!! What a crazy system and even though this mother has the doctor's who diagnosed him on her side, the Child Protective Agency will find a
doctor to dispute that diagnosis. The Child Protective Agencies have plenty of money and are extremely powerful!"
Note: If you'd like to get in touch with Barb, you can e-mail her from here. |
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