OR - 'Extreme Makeover' family accused of medical child abuse

[Missizzy]

Thank you guys. I've been pretty clear that most of our special needs children have severe behavioral issues, rather than physical maladies. We do, however, have a son with one of the most perplexing types of Type 1 Diabetes ever. He came to us at age 7 and was chronically ill because of his disease. We were told that he had a very short life expectancy (which thank heaven, he has disproved). At one point he developed a very odd component to his diabetes and had to be hospitalized many many times. Because we live in far Southern Oregon and all our specialized pediatric hospitals are in Portland (300 miles north) we had to be separated from him for days at a time. His blood sugar just did not make any sense and his other symptoms were as strange as could be. I already knew about MBP and I brought it up. We told the doctors that while we loved our son dearly and wanted him to get well, we wanted everyone to be on the same page concerning our commitment to his health. There's not a doubt in my mind that some doctors or medical staff didn't wonder if we were following through with doctor's orders.

The upshot is that our son's blood sugar and symptoms just worsened in the hospital--even on a central line--and away from his family. His blood sugar would swing from 29 to 750 in 30 minutes. The doctors swore they'd never seen anything like it. We'd told them but it was good for them to see for themselves. We received computer readouts of his glucose readings and it was shocking. He finally got a diagnosis and has somewhat grown out of the strange symptoms. His diabetes is just as wacky as ever, though. He's been to hell and back and I'm proud to say that he's my son. He's quite a survivor, on many levels.

I think that every parent of a chronically ill child needs to know of this disorder and to not be offended when the issue is raised. I think the tell tale sign for me was that I despised the hospital and always got him out and home as soon as possible. Heck, when he'd take a nap, I was out of there and down at Powell's Books in a heartbeat and I sure wasn't in the medical section (poetry and knitting)!! We've never made a big issue out of medical conditions. We just deal with them and move on to more important or more "fun" stuff.

On the subject of MBP, I remembered that we had another case out of Oregon and checked our archives. Here's a few articles and a link to our thread.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/portland_woman_faces_charges_i.html

Aloha woman faces charges in morphine-poisoning of infant daughter


http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/08/father_of_poisoned_baby_is_ide.html

Father of poisoned baby is identified


Note: This article discussed another assault my the same woman in CA--changing states again. Also this statement:

"...Dillard-Lubin worked as a medical assistant at Oregon Pediatrics in Northeast Portland..."

And this was AFTER being found guilty in CA of harming her child!! Interesting comments under all the articles too.


And the outcome:

http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/12/woman_admits_poisoning_her_bab.html

Woman admits poisoning second baby with morphine


And our thread:

Woman admits poisoning her baby with morphine -- again - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community



ETA: I just updated our other thread with some new info. Seems like the other woman with MBP, Sara Dillard, also had Munchausen Disorder (meaning that she claimed a fictitious disorder for herself). She persuaded the father of her child (a cardiologist) that she was critically ill. This is truly a very very tragic disorder and hurts so many.

 

[Missizzy]

Also concerning Sara Dillard--a few words from her first victim's father:

http://www.katu.com/news/53305962.html

".....Dillard's family tells KATU News that Sarah suffers from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a mental illness in which a person acts as if an individual he or she is caring for has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick.

"Those kinds of psychological conditions are not something you can cure," said Dr. Frank Colistro, a forensic psychologist who works with the Oregon Board of Parole providing psychological assessment of inmate’s potential of recidivism. "All you can do is manage that kind of person; they don't change....."

more at link


I'm very afraid we're going to hear a similar story from Mr. Cerda.

 

[forthelost]

There's a couple big red flags in the story the parents give here. First, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is most commonly X-linked. A female could only get that form if a weird mutation popped up or they had an affected father. And it's quickly fatal. A mask wouldn't save the child. It wouldn't do anything because SCID knocks out the adaptive immune system. And you certainly wouldn't get diagnosed at four. "Primary immunodeficiency" is simply the term for any condition that one is born with that knocks out the immune system. The milder ones would not produce the severe symptoms described, and the more severe ones are diagnosed quickly.

 

[mystified]

all this doing things to make a child more beautiful is really upseting to me. all children at this age are beautiful to me. it just comes naturaly. btw- i kmow a lady that takes her daughter to the tanning salon guite regulary or more than regularly before pagents gets close. very disturbing if you ask me.

 

[Missizzy]

Thank you for clearing that up, forthelost, as I wondered about the diagnosis. I thought it was quite severe. Many diseases are immune related but the diagnosis of SCID is not easily overlooked...nor discarded as a possibility by six doctors, IMO. I wonder why the Oregonian didn't address that fact?

Living here in Oregon and knowing how DHS works/doesn't work with the press, makes me tremendously curious as to why this article was allowed to run with the children's names and medical info. The state must be going all out to warn other states about this family.

My heart goes out to these girls. This experience will affect their lives forever. They deserve the opportunity to live their lives as healthy children....not as pawns. And I'm very hopeful that their mother is ordered to get help with her disorder.

 

[marycarney]

I think the story ran with names, as the family has already starred in an episode of a very popular television program. THEY were the ones to give up their privacy, not the media.

 

[Missizzy]

I agree that that is the probably scenario. I've just never seen Oregon be so forthcoming with confidential medical records concerning children in care.

There's some interesting comments stacking up.

 

[Missizzy]

A website with quite a bit of negative information about the Cerda parents:

http://www.asylum.com/profile/2533531/

Not sure who's writing this but I do think that we've got a very sick and dangerous mother on our hands and a husband who's an enabler and totally unable to contradict his wife. If those girls are truly adopted, I really want to know more.

IMO, those children are in peril.

 

[Elphaba]

A website with quite a bit of negative information about the Cerda parents:

http://www.asylum.com/profile/2533531/

Not sure who's writing this but I do think that we've got a very sick and dangerous mother on our hands and a husband who's an enabler and totally unable to contradict his wife. If those girls are truly adopted, I really want to know more.

IMO, those children are in peril.

Yikes!!!!!!!!! What a nightmare.

 

[MsFacetious]

I had a really bad experience with a Neurologist once. Our Pediatrician had sent us back there on an emergency appointment after my daughter fell at his feet in a seizure after weeks of seizing.

The Neurologist all but told me I was imagining my daughters violent seizures when I tried to tell him what was going on. I was exhausted and I just called the Pediatrician.

He.Was.IRATE.

Like TOTALLY angry.

Both of the Pediatricians called the Neurologist. They put me on the call as well. They asked him what the issue was and he said something about "this young woman tried to tell me what was going on with the child, like she knew." Totally condescending.

Our Pediatrician said, "That is because she is the child's MOTHER. She is with the child 24 hours a day. The child has NEVER had a babysitter. The child has had several seizures, in my office, in my presence. She has had an EEG positive for frontal lobe seizures. I included all of that in the chart I sent over, had you bothered to read it."

I told you he was irate. :innocent:

It's not the only time our Pediatrician has stood up for us. It's just the most comical. I can get ahold of him faster than his own kids, so I've been told. Those experiences are precisely why. I have an issue at another doctor, I can page him immediately. Problem solved. :innocent:

There is no doubt in my mind that in a situation like the Cerdas are in... that our Pediatrician would be the first one in line to testify. He knows my kids and he's seen it all with them. They are a "medical anomaly."

I also fully believe that our GI doctor, our Dentist and our ENT would be there to testify. They have all gone to bat for us... and our GI even visited my daughter after her heart surgery.

The Cerdas have a wonderful "team of doctors" but none of them were there to testify?

I'd be looking for a new team. :twocents:

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2011/05/clackamas_county_a_case_of_med.html

She said misunderstanding between parents and professionals can result in good parents being tarred with the label, especially when children suffer from an affliction that comes and goes, leaving them in apparent good health one day and dangerously ill the next.

And some psychiatrists and psychologists agree. They say that doctors and child welfare workers are sometimes too quick to judge.

The defense

When Terri Cerda took the witness stand, she told the court that the girls have a long, documented history of fevers, infections, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems -- all consistent with immune deficiency, she said, and evidence that she wasn't exaggerating their condition.

However, no doctors testified on behalf of the Cerdas.

 

[Missizzy]

Yes, that about covers it, MsFacetious. Of course there are sick children with parents struggling valiantly to get them help. Each of those children requires a team working together for the child's best interest. Where is that team for the Cerda children?

I was taught long long ago by a very wise adoptive mother of a large and unique family to never seek the limelight and to set up as much success and normalcy as possible for my children. No sob stories. Children who are sick are not a "side show". The media wants one thing--a sensational story. I'm very disturbed that this couple have allowed their children to be exploited on so many levels.

It looks as if Ms. Cerda is getting her wish, though. Her story has been picked up internationally. I'm very afraid that this just feeds her disorder and puts the children in the path of harm. I wish that the physicians who wrote the letters about the children's illness would see the children again to fully reassess them. I'd be very interested to hear their diagnosis.

Here's a new article with a video from the TV show:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecu...5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrAzgyMTZleHRyZW1lbQ--

‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ duped by family’s sick claim

 

[Missizzy]

IMO, there's an awful lot of very serious disorders being thrown about here:

http://parent-2-parent.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3633.html?

1/17/11


"....Over the weekend, our 8 yo developed a chest infection and has had high fevers (104.4). Today, she has been unable to drink anything and is throwing up. As predicted, her 10 yo sister woke up showing mild symptoms this morning. 15 minutes later, we were calling the paramedics when her airways collapsed (she has reactive airway disease). She has had Supra Ventricular Tachycardia that was documented on the EKG in the ambulance and did not go down the entire time we were at the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she developed what we attributed to hypoglycemia episodes. When she started screaming that she needed to eat NOW!!!(16 hours since last meal), they decided they better check her blood sugar. I was shocked that it was 112 fasting! She was not hypoglycemic at all. We are still-in-process for a mito diagnosis. During her time in the hospital, she would be fine one minute to crashing the next. She went from having a normal temp one minute to 102.4 15 minutes later. The ER doc said that she thought all was attributable to an autonomic issue......then the "boss" doc came in and said that she thought that M's issues were all from dysautnomia. So it got me thinking.....can dysautonomia cause airways to shut down? Can it cause her blood sugar to become elevated when she is not well? I know it can cause the temperature issues (she has extreme intolerance to heat and cold). Could dysautonomia cause a breakdown in the immune response? I know some of this could be far reaching.....but M is such a cunundrum!..."

More on the same page

I'm very afraid that it's the mother that is the conundrum. Odd that the children do not "crash" when others are responsible for them.....

I actually have a child (now an adult) who has Marfan's Syndrome. I know all about autonomic issues. He occasionally "crashes" and has mild heart attacks. He's had them his entire life. He was still able to be Student Body President and is a full time, very engaged father to a healthy baby girl. It's all about where your focus is.

On a twitter page, she complains about the new central vac burning out after vacuuming up dog hair. Jeesh.....

 

[Missizzy]

Whoa...this concerns me, from the link above:

".... She crashes VERY fast. When she crashed yesterday, we did our usual stuff and got her on O2, oxymetry, her nebulizer xopenex etc. But it comes on so fast that it is impossible to get on top of it. By the time the ambulance got her to the hospital, mom looked like a fool. Of course all the meds had kicked in by then and she was ok.....babbling away about how shocked the neighbors must be by the ambulance. So the doc comes in, looks her over and said he saw nothing wrong with her....normal temp....no more chest pain or breathing problems. She still had SVT. Literally 5 minutes after he walked out of the room, she crashed again. Her temp had climbed up and she was lethargic and having breathing trouble again and started throwing up. I was glad they saw it happen. So far, all the docs think I am full of it when I tell them this happens to her. VERY frustrating! It seems like we are going to be calling the paramedics every time she gets sick now! UGH!....."


I'm afraid that something very frightening is going on.

The mom's MS page:

http://www.myspace.com/cerdaclan


FWIW, if anyone ever refers to my family of 14 children as a "clan" or a "brood", I'll (I'm a pacifist, remember)......get mighty upset. I find that to be very demeaning. It's a family and they're children. JMO.


Also:

http://www.vikingpools.net/cerda.php

 

[Princess of Oz]

Apparently this family has a blog where people can donate money to them claiming the girls are homebound:

http://sparrowformollyandmaggie.blogspot.com/

I looked up their name on the Sparrow's site and they aren't listed as receivers for money - very strange.:waitasec:

 

[Missizzy]

I'm surprised that producers of TV shows like this one don't do more research. Possibly they don't really care about the true story, just the spin. There was a huge amount of money spent on this project, though, and it seems that the children's story always came from the mother and not caseworkers, doctors, or even the father. That a red flag to me.

Truth be told, I have empathy for this mother. I understand how insidious this disorder can be and how hard it is to find "normal" again. I think she's painted herself into a corner. I just cannot bear to see two lovely children painted into that corner with her. I have no doubt she's reading our thread. I want her to get help. It's not too late.


http://www.ktnv.com/story/9900567/abcs-extreme-makeover-home-edition-in-las-vegas?redirected=true

"....Chuck Cerda works as a Homeland Security police officer, and his wife Terri has worked all her life in global relief, organizing search and rescue dogs services during disasters such as the Mexico City earthquakes and the Columbia mudslides. She's also worked as a volunteer for a number of community organizations, including the fire department and ambulance service...."

This must be where she's garnered her medical training.


And some details about the home in Las Vegas when it was sold. I thought the family couldn't afford the upkeep but this says that the father was transferred and that the utility bill was only about $100/month as it's a "platinum green home". Beautiful house.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/03/30/extreme-makeover-home-sells-in-las-vegas/3

And a slideshow:

http://www.oakvilleproperties.net/ListingDetail.aspx?campaign=1&autostarttour=1&listingid=41

And an earlier article about the family moving in:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/19/neighbors-volunteers-welcome-cerdas-their-new-home/

Neighbors welcome family to ‘Extreme Makeover’ home
March 19, 2009


I have to wonder how the original crew feel now. I liked one of the comments about how many families desperately need even modest homes in the tornado and flood-stricken South. So true.

 

[Missizzy]

I don't know what to think, Princess. I found this at the end of an article asking for donations so that the family could pay off their medical debt and stay in their home. This article ran only 10 days after the original show aired and two months after the family moved in. But when you click on the link, neither girl is listed. It seems to me that the family is misusing that well known and respected (and no doubt trademarked) name in an effort to confuse the public about the girls being "Sparrows". Maybe they were listed at one time and have since been excluded:

http://www.ktnv.com/story/10399553/cerda-family-in-jeopardy-of-losing-new-home

Cerda Family in jeopardy of losing new home
May 20, 2009

"....If you would like to help donate to the Cerda's contact Sparrow Clubs USA at www.sparrowclubs.org under the project, "Sparrow for Molly and Maggie".

As the nation's only youth-based charity of its kind, Sparrow Clubs not only provides financial and emotional support for critically ill children and their families, but also empowers young people to help a child through charitable service experiences...."

more at link

 

[Missizzy]

I'm so confused. The Cerdas refer to their children as being suffering from SCID and mention the Bubble Boy, who also had SCID, repeatedly. I thought a child with this disorder needed to be in a pristine environment...thus the new house. And yet there are drapes, cushions, rugs and flowers in the photos. That strikes me as very odd. I remember being surprised that they would have a large shepherd (due to allergy issues and shedding) and yet they must have also had a miniature pinscher puppy as here they are trying to rehome it just before they moved into their new home:

http://minipinscher.meetup.com/members/us/nv/las_vegas/

Jan. 22, 2009...."we have a 7 month old female min pin puppy "p-nut". She is precious and has a bubbly, sweet personality. Due to extenuating, difficult circumstances, she needs a new, very loving home..."

That must have been sad for the little girls. They seem to have endured a great deal of upheaval in their short lives.

 

[gitana1]

IMO, there's an awful lot of very serious disorders being thrown about here:

http://parent-2-parent.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3633.html?

1/17/11


"....Over the weekend, our 8 yo developed a chest infection and has had high fevers (104.4). Today, she has been unable to drink anything and is throwing up. As predicted, her 10 yo sister woke up showing mild symptoms this morning. 15 minutes later, we were calling the paramedics when her airways collapsed (she has reactive airway disease). She has had Supra Ventricular Tachycardia that was documented on the EKG in the ambulance and did not go down the entire time we were at the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she developed what we attributed to hypoglycemia episodes. When she started screaming that she needed to eat NOW!!!(16 hours since last meal), they decided they better check her blood sugar. I was shocked that it was 112 fasting! She was not hypoglycemic at all. We are still-in-process for a mito diagnosis. During her time in the hospital, she would be fine one minute to crashing the next. She went from having a normal temp one minute to 102.4 15 minutes later. The ER doc said that she thought all was attributable to an autonomic issue......then the "boss" doc came in and said that she thought that M's issues were all from dysautnomia. So it got me thinking.....can dysautonomia cause airways to shut down? Can it cause her blood sugar to become elevated when she is not well? I know it can cause the temperature issues (she has extreme intolerance to heat and cold). Could dysautonomia cause a breakdown in the immune response? I know some of this could be far reaching.....but M is such a cunundrum!..."

More on the same page

I'm very afraid that it's the mother that is the conundrum. Odd that the children do not "crash" when others are responsible for them.....

I actually have a child (now an adult) who has Marfan's Syndrome. I know all about autonomic issues. He occasionally "crashes" and has mild heart attacks. He's had them his entire life. He was still able to be Student Body President and is a full time, very engaged father to a healthy baby girl. It's all about where your focus is.

On a twitter page, she complains about the new central vac burning out after vacuuming up dog hair. Jeesh.....

What the heck? Her daughter is screaming that she needs to eat but the doctor checks and their is no low blood sugar. I have hypoglycemia. It does not turn on and off like that. Period.

Whoa...this concerns me, from the link above:

".... She crashes VERY fast. When she crashed yesterday, we did our usual stuff and got her on O2, oxymetry, her nebulizer xopenex etc. But it comes on so fast that it is impossible to get on top of it. By the time the ambulance got her to the hospital, mom looked like a fool. Of course all the meds had kicked in by then and she was ok.....babbling away about how shocked the neighbors must be by the ambulance. So the doc comes in, looks her over and said he saw nothing wrong with her....normal temp....no more chest pain or breathing problems. She still had SVT. Literally 5 minutes after he walked out of the room, she crashed again. Her temp had climbed up and she was lethargic and having breathing trouble again and started throwing up. I was glad they saw it happen. So far, all the docs think I am full of it when I tell them this happens to her. VERY frustrating! It seems like we are going to be calling the paramedics every time she gets sick now! UGH!....."


I'm afraid that something very frightening is going on.

The mom's MS page:

http://www.myspace.com/cerdaclan


FWIW, if anyone ever refers to my family of 14 children as a "clan" or a "brood", I'll (I'm a pacifist, remember)......get mighty upset. I find that to be very demeaning. It's a family and they're children. JMO.


Also:

http://www.vikingpools.net/cerda.php

Okay, this is very scary and very MBP. She crashes the minute the doctor leaves the room? What the he77 is the mother doing to them? This really scares me.

I'm surprised that producers of TV shows like this one don't do more research. Possibly they don't really care about the true story, just the spin. There was a huge amount of money spent on this project, though, and it seems that the children's story always came from the mother and not caseworkers, doctors, or even the father. That a red flag to me.

Truth be told, I have empathy for this mother. I understand how insidious this disorder can be and how hard it is to find "normal" again. I think she's painted herself into a corner. I just cannot bear to see two lovely children painted into that corner with her. I have no doubt she's reading our thread. I want her to get help. It's not too late.


http://www.ktnv.com/story/9900567/abcs-extreme-makeover-home-edition-in-las-vegas?redirected=true

"....Chuck Cerda works as a Homeland Security police officer, and his wife Terri has worked all her life in global relief, organizing search and rescue dogs services during disasters such as the Mexico City earthquakes and the Columbia mudslides. She's also worked as a volunteer for a number of community organizations, including the fire department and ambulance service...."

This must be where she's garnered her medical training.


And some details about the home in Las Vegas when it was sold. I thought the family couldn't afford the upkeep but this says that the father was transferred and that the utility bill was only about $100/month as it's a "platinum green home". Beautiful house.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/03/30/extreme-makeover-home-sells-in-las-vegas/3

And a slideshow:

http://www.oakvilleproperties.net/ListingDetail.aspx?campaign=1&autostarttour=1&listingid=41

And an earlier article about the family moving in:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/19/neighbors-volunteers-welcome-cerdas-their-new-home/

Neighbors welcome family to ‘Extreme Makeover’ home
March 19, 2009


I have to wonder how the original crew feel now. I liked one of the comments about how many families desperately need even modest homes in the tornado and flood-stricken South. So true.

You are kind to feel sympathy for her. That's hard for me. I am scared for her girls. She needs help but I have never known of an MBP to get help and recover.

I cannot imagine how it feels for the makeover team to know that the effort they put into such a personalized home was for naught.

And something strange: The girls' bedroom do not look at all like the kind they make for kids on that show. It looks like a lot may have been taken down, or redone, to make them less special, IMO, or less personalized.

Finally, one of the reader's comments in one of the articles you cited stated that the mom was being investigated for welfare fraud and that's why she skipped town. Of course we know that such parents move a lot when the doctors get wise to them. I really hope NV is investigating her for MBP. Maybe I will write a letter. These kids may not survive. The mother fits the MBP profile to a T.

 

[Missizzy]

For anyone who read the book, "Sickened", do you recall how many animals were in and out of that house. The mother wanted to "rescue" animals all the time but she never followed through. I found an article from Newberg, OR but it's by subscription only. Here's a tiny snip:

https://sites.google.com/a/my4walls.org/my4walls/News/newberggraphicarticle

"M and M Cerda are beautiful, vibrant girls, friendly and talkative. M, 9, is “obsessed” with Harry Potter. M, 7, doesn’t sport a matching lightening bolt on her forehead, but she loves to talk about her animals. They have three dogs and four guinea pigs, and are hoping to get a bird. The sisters bounce on the couch, switching between cuddling with the smaller dogs, Chloë and Claire, and playing their video games. They’re all smiles — this is a good day....."

I guess P-nut got placed elsewhere. I have to wonder what's going to happen when these young ladies hit their teens and homeschooling, music, and pets aren't quite enough.

 

[Missizzy]

Thanks Gitana for picking up on that too. It's pretty telling, isn't it? There's a lot more than that too. I feel a bit voyeuristic posting all this stuff which really should be private....and yet the parents and the TV show aired it to the world. I agree that the girls are in peril. If nothing else, they are being emotionally impacted in a very very negative manner.

I sympathize with the mother only because I don't think she can stop doing what she's doing. I found her signed on to so many diverse medical forums. Talk about shopping for a diagnosis. I'm irritated with the father as he could put a stop to this mess by confiding in the judge or DHS.

Nobody can ever say that Oregon didn't try with this family. I'm actually proud of our DHS for working so hard to help these children. It was a single judge who decided that the girls could return to their family and then it seems that their mother took off with them to Nevada.

I'm trying to put links and snips here on this thread in case things start to disappear. I was curious to read more about the mother's history as, just like you, this disorder fascinates me. I wonder if she really did all the exciting things she claims?