Troy is our middle son.... I always knew that Troy was different from his older brother, Gavin. Even at almost a year old he showed signs of OCD tendancies. I always joked about it being cute. It wasn't until He was almost 3 and our youngest son, LaWayne, was born that I really started figuring out that Troy was "different". He started havin seizures in March of 2008. No one could tell me what caused them even after all the EEGs and testing that he went through. Preschool and Kindergarten were hard for him. He starting seeing a Psychiatrist in December 2010 and in July 2011 he was officially diagnosed with PDD-NOS and we are still watiing to have him tested for Aspergers. OCD, Social Anxiety, and the PDD-NOS are just the tip of the iceberg for our son. He has many other medical problems as well. He is NEVER treated as "special" and is very high functioning but the people who don't understand still look at him as if he is diseased. Our son is a "normal" child who wants to betreated like everyone else. He is even in Cub Scouts. He likes to go camping and fishing (even though he has the OCD issues) and plays with his brothers. They help him with the imagination part of "normal" playing. Our 2 other sons feel sad at times because they cannot participate in things because Troy cannot tolerate the noise, loudness, people, etc but they have learned to understand. We are still going forward to make sure that he will always be as happy as possible..... It is definitely a JOURNEY that I wouldn't change for the world. I am a Mother Warrior who pushed for answers and Troy is who he is because of this journey.

Desiree Schlichtig
Collinsville, IL