NPR

A Child's Suffering Drives A Mother To Seek Untested Treatments

When medication wasn't relieving her 3-year-old son's juvenile arthritis, Susannah Meadows started investigating non-medical treatments like diet and supplements.
Source: Alberto Ruggieri

Your child is diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease and conventional treatments aren't proving to be effective. Doctors prescribe powerful medications that don't seem to work. Not only is your child not responding as hoped, he's withering from the side effects. What do you do? Journalist Susannah Meadows found herself having to answer this question when her son, Shepherd, was diagnosed at age 3 with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, joint inflammation that can last a lifetime.

When the drugs didn't work, Meadows was persuaded to look at his condition through a different prism and to consider the possibility that medications might not be the only answer. Meadows

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR4 min read
From Pandemic To Protests, The Class Of 2024 Has Been Through A Lot
Pomp and circumstance again fall victim to circumstance for some students in the graduating class of 2024, as protests over the war in Gaza threaten to disrupt commencement ceremonies.
NPR2 min read
Short-term Loss For Long-term Gain? The Ethical Dilemma At The Heart Of EVs
As mines meet mineral demands for electric vehicles, they put communities and ecosystems at risk. Sustainability researcher Elsa Dominish says the EV industry cannot repeat fossil fuel's mistakes.
NPR4 min read
Yes, Apple's New IPad Ad Is Ugly And Crushing, But Art Can't Be Flattened
The newest iPad ad depicts instruments, books and art supplies flattened into Apple's thinnest product ever. But anyone who owns and loves art in any form knows: The practicality isn't the point.

Related Books & Audiobooks