It’s one of the newest treatments for children with autism and some doctors say the results are phenomenal. It’s called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. It’s being offered at the Robert M. Lombard Oxygenation Medical Center in Columbia, Lancaster County. It’s where one local toddler, Jonathan Musselman, was treated for his autism.
With a smile and some excitement, 3-year-old Jonathan Musselman is preparing for his daily launch, a simulated 20 feet below sea level in a pressurized oxygen tank.
The “spaceship”, as it’s known to Jonathan, is also known as a hyperbaric chamber. Jonathan is using it to help treat his autism...
“We turn on the chamber so he can breathe and what you hear is 100% oxygen going into the chamber itself,” explains Connie Waltz, the Nursing Director of the Lombard Oxygenation Center.
“Jonathan will feel some pressure on his ears. That’s why he’s sucking on a lollipop, but, otherwise, it’s like lying in an air conditioned room,” says Waltz.
Jonathan lays comfortably inside the chamber. The toddler has no idea the great strides doctors believe his body is making in repairing damaged cells.
“Wherever added oxygen is in the body, it’s gonna help to heal itself. We’re growing new blood vessels. We are increasing some nutrients in the body,” says Waltz.
Science leads hyperbaric medical experts to believe the therapy is helping Jonathan’s brain, but they do not know for sure.
Waltz explains, “It reduces the swelling in the body and in the brain and it helps children with autism process things better.”
“He’s talking more. His verbal imitation has come up tremendously. Just last week in speech, I wrote 150 words that he said within a 25 minute period,” says Jonathan’s mom, Beth Musselman.
“What we’re seeing in children is that, socially, they’re doing better in school. There are children who sit down and do book works now that haven’t been able to before,” says Waltz.
While Musselman sees improvement in her son, Jonathan, the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved these oxygen chamber treatments for autism because formal studies haven’t been completed. The chambers are approved for other conditions, like, carbon monoxide poisoning and wound healing.
In order for a person to be treated in the chamber for autism, a doctor’s prescription is required, because oxygen is a drug.
Connie Waltz tells CBS-21 News, “If a physician looks at the hyperbaric and says this oxygen is going to be ordered for autism, the physician has the right to do so. The FDA does not have any right to stop him from doing that.”
“I want him to thrive and have friends and do things,” says Musselman.
The potential for progress motivated Beth Musselman to drive two hours a day for 40 days for her son’s 60 minute treatment.
40 sessions in the chamber costs $5,000. 120 sessions are recommended for autistic patients.
Beth Musselman and her husband were prepared to make the financial sacrifice, but an anonymous donor beat them to it.
“A person from our church showed up with an envelope and said someone dropped this off at the church for Jon’s therapy. It was $5,000 cash to pay for it. It’s been an amazing gift.”
A gift that Beth Musselman says has helped young Jonathan make priceless progress.
Musselman says Jonathan’s progress has been significant. His vocabulary has vastly improved and he’s become more social, but it’s hard to tell what percentage of the progress is specifically due to the oxygen chamber. Jonathan undergoes multiple therapies daily and is on a Gluten-Casein free diet.
Additional Information:
The Lombard Oxygenation Medical Center has been treating autistic patients since 2002.
Beth Musselman says she’s called each hospital in Lancaster County to inquire about the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. She says a couple of them would have given her son the treatment if she paid $2,000 in cash per session.
The reason the in-hospital treatment is so expensive, is because the treatment, specifically for autism, is not FDA approved. For that reason, insurance companies and medical assistance will not cover the therapy for autism patients.
