The death of a severely autistic Chicago boy recently made headlines and shined a spotlight on the growing autism epidemic in the United States.
The latest estimates say that one out of every 50 children has Autism.
The local group Austin Trust USA works to help those affected by autism including the 14-year-old boy Alex Spourdalakis from Chicago. Spourdalakis was stabbed and his mother and caregiver have been charged with his murder.
When Autism Trust Usa founder Polly Toomey got a call to help Spourdalakis she found him chained to the bed.
"He was being restrained and he couldn't go to the loo, and the person with key with the restraints and the person with the key would go off," Toomey said. "He was treated kinda like an animal really."
As a mother of a child with autism, Toomey said she knew if she could stop the stomach pain and get Spourdalakis to a gastroenterologist, she believed it could help him.
"He was in a lot of pain," Toomey said. "You couldn't see he was in a lot of pain. He was naked all the time. He can't talk. He can't point to his pain. They have absolutely no idea what to do with him."
Toomey and her team got Spourdalakis released from the hospital and drove through the night from Chicago to New York.
"When we got to New York he was seen by Dr. Krigsman. He had a pill cam procedure, a little cam through his body took hundreds of pics and doctors found really severe bowl disease," Toomey said. "It was awful to see the mother breaking down that long last after all that time she had pleaded for help and confirmed everything and Dr. Krigsman said we could treat this."
Toomey said they were finally in a good place.
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Boy’s death shines spotlight on Autism