This Marino miracle is a victory
over Autism
by Jay Glazer, Sportsline.com,
November 30, 2002
For more articles visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Dan Marino sat a turkey platter, mashed potatoes and steak
plate away at the Thanksgiving dinner table Thursday night.
Who better to spend a football Turkey Day with than the man
with the golden arm?
But Dan wasn't the star of this table. In fact, his passing
records, the touchdowns, the wins... they meant very little on
this night. Because sitting at his right elbow was a living,
breathing miracle.
Dan's son Mike doesn't seem any different from any other
adolescent youth. He plays on the school football and
basketball teams, regularly pulls in A's and B's and has made
an art out of teaming up with his brother Joey to needle their
theatrically talented older brother Danny.
Mikey is about as normal a 14-year-old boy as there is. But
it's his normalcy that's the miracle.
Mike Marino had autism as a young child. Mike Marino appears
to have beaten it -- completely! Not a sign remains. Yes, that
would qualify as a miracle.
"I usually don't bring it up much because I get this really
cold feeling when I think about how I had autism," said Mikey,
one of six Marino kids. "I think about how I am now and how I
was then, and it's just too weird for me.
"I won't say I have been cured because you can't really be
cured of autism. But I have overcome it. That's what you can
do, you can overcome it. I don't notice it at all anymore."
Autism interferes with the normal development of the brain in
the areas of reasoning, social interaction and communication
skills. Children and adults with autism typically have
deficiencies in verbal and non-verbal communication, social
interaction and leisure or play activities. The disorder makes
it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the
outside world.
It is conservatively estimated that nearly 400,000 people in
the United States have some form of autism -- the third most
common developmental disability. But the majority of the
public, including many professionals in the medical,
educational and vocational fields, remain unaware of how
autism affects people.
My mouth drops as young Mikey Marino explains what it's like
to be one those mysterious people stuck in a world that seems
so unexplainable.
"The only thing I really remember about having autism was
wanting to say something and not being able to do it," he
said. "It's pretty weird to explain. It's like you are a
perfectly normal person on the inside, you know what you want
to do, but you just can't do it. You know you want to say
something, pick up something or do something, but you are just
not able to do it."
It's well known the Marinos had a child with autism because of
the prolific charity work they contribute to the fight against
it. But the fact Dan and wife Claire have seen their child
beat the unbeatable is hardly known. The issue is rarely
broached within the confines of their home because, well, it's
really no longer an issue.
"Some of my friends have come up to me and said, 'We hear you
have a brother who has autism,'" Mike says with a proud
chuckle. "When I tell them it's not my brother it's me, they
are like, 'No way.' They know that autistic people have
problems saying things, but I guess I'm not one of those
people anymore."
Mike's father might have been blessed with the golden arm, but
Mike's story is inscribed in platinum ink. The improbable
comeback story of their lives began when Michael was an
infant.
"At first, we just thought he was such a well-behaved baby
because he slept great, he didn't really cry, but then we
began to realize something wasn't normal about it all," said
Mikey's dad. "He wouldn't talk, he didn't really have any
social dealings with other kids or his brother. He would just
sit up in his crib. So we had him tested, and we learned that
he was autistic.
"It was so difficult on me and Claire, because the first thing
you do is think about what you did wrong for something to
affect your family like this. But then after you come to terms
with it, you have to learn as much about it as possible and
then go attack it."
In order to attack it, Dan and Claire began a foundation to
assist children with learning disabilities. That foundation
then led to the Dan Marino Center in South Florida, where they
actually bring in an average of 3,500 children per month for
testing and treatment for a variety of disabilities.
"We were fortunate we could afford to bring in specialists in
the house and we brought people in to help him every day,"
said Dan. "We had him work with occupational therapists,
physical therapists, one-on-one teaching. We had the
resources. That's where the idea for the center came about.
It's a place where people who may not have the same resources
can bring their children to get diagnosed and treated."
Marino sought a reason for Michael's plight, and maybe this is
it. Had Mike not suffered from the disability, the Dan Marino
Center might never have come to fruition.
"My mom told me that she and my dad made that whole Dan Marino
Center because of me," said Mike. "That's really cool to
hear."
When Mikey was 4, the Marinos began to see glimmers of
advancement. Soon after, his progress began to accelerate, and
the hope that their boy just might be able to break began to
illuminate through the darkness.
"By about third grade we were able to get him into some
mainstream classes in school," said Dan. "Eventually, he just
progressed to the point where he was completely mainstreamed.
Now, we really don't bring it up anymore because it's not even
an issue in his life. He's as normal a kid as you'll meet.
"Forget anything I ever did on the field, this is the most
incredible thing I have ever been around in my life. My kids
are all really incredible."
Michael says he was unaware of his situation for years until
his parents informed him of his mysterious past. He now
remembers the feeling but has blocked most of it from his
memory bank.
"I had an assessment testing when I was really young, and it
was noticeable that I had autism," he said. "Then I had
another test about eight years later, and the doctor said it
was the highest improvement he had ever seen in those tests. I
didn't really remember it until I was about 9 years old, I
think it was, and my parents talked to me about it. It was
kind of weird to hear and to think about. We don't even talk
about it anymore."
As dinner winds down, Claire gives a personal one-on-one talk
to each of her six children (two were adopted from orphanages
in China) to let them know how thankful she is for them.
Perhaps the biggest thanks is that when she talks to Mikey,
she talks to a young man no different than the rest of the
Marino clan.
"I know it's Thanksgiving, so I guess it's the appropriate
time to be thankful but I'm always thankful," Mike said. "I
really was blessed. To hear that I was one of the most
remarkable cases of overcoming autism is really cool to know.
I'd love the chance to help out other people like me. I really
appreciate how blessed I am."
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