After the devastating loss of his daughter in her early twenties, Renato Giordano just wanted to share his love with another child. He entered the adoption world and had his heart set on a girl who needed his love from Romania.
Within a few months he was excited to pick his daughter up from the airport. The social worker presented Tamara. She was 22 months old and barely weighed over 7 pounds. He found out that in Romania Tamara was fed one bottle a week, was tied in her crib 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, and could not walk or talk. The social worker said, “If you don’t want her, you can send her back.”
Renato said, “How can you say so? She is not a parcel.” Just a few months later Tamara was diagnosed with autism.
The Giordano Family poured their love into Tamara. Soon she gained much needed weight and began to walk. Her autism still remained.
Today Tamara is 12 years old, can speak a little bit, attends school, and shares her father’s great love of music and art. Renato creates works of art for guitar enthusiasts around the world with his business out of his home in San Juan Capistrano, California. It is a hobby that allows him to spend time with Tamara and his wife, and to pursue his passion for music.
As with many fans of 93.1 JACK FM, Renato heard about the upcoming JACKS FIRST SHOW where some of the proceeds would benefit children with Autism. He wanted to help. Tamara wanted to help, too. That is how this beautiful guitar below was donated. Tamara painted the guitar as an experiment two years ago, and Renato made it ready for a musician to play. If it wasn’t special enough, the bands here today signed it.
This amazing guitar and story is proudly displayed at JACK FM’s lobby in a dumpy little building in Culver City California to help educate passer by’s about autism and the amazing Giordano family story.
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I had Christian when I was 19 years old. For the first year of his life I couldn’t imagine anything being wrong with my baby. He smiled; he laughed; he rolled, crawled and walked on time. At age one he had a massive overload for his little immune system. He had two ear infections, a high fever, back to back treatment of major antibiotics and he was given his MMR, varicella and HIB vaccines while he was still very sick. Christian faded away for the next 6 months.
At age two he was diagnosed with full syndrome Autism. I met an amazing mother who introduced me to the group Talk About Curing Autism. Before I found out about TACA, I had no clue that there was hope for my child. From that day on I knew that it was my job to get my son back and undue what had been done to him.
It has been three years since Christian was diagnosed with Autism. I had taken what I had learned from TACA, found wonderful therapists, began a diet, found a DAN! Doctor, and took control of my child’s health. I heard his first word when he was 38 months old, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
Today Christian attends a typical private preschool. He is the only child in the class with a diagnosis…and none of the other parents know that. He speaks clearly, has friends, reads, pretends on the playground and even knows what he wants to be when he grows up (which of course changes weekly).
I can honestly say, if I had not found that mom (you know who you are), and not been introduced to TACA, I don’t know where Christian would be today and I don’t know if I would ever have been able to help other parents starting this journey. Thank you TACA, thank you my hero mom, and thank you Christian for fighting this with me. I love you.
Chelsi, Washington State
