Brain Repair Institute of Canada - A Hoax?

There's nothing that will get this woman angry like someone who is taking advantage of people who are desperate for some hope in their lives. Tonight on "The National," a CBC investigative report program, I saw such a woman. She is old enough to be a grandmother and may or may not be one. How a woman who has lived this many years can do such a thing is beyond me - or maybe not.

The National reported that Claudie Gordon-Palmares is giving the parents of children with autism and cerebral palsy false hope of a cure. She is self-described neuroscientist who runs the Brain Repair Institute of Canada out of her home in Okotoks, Alberta. Not only does she lay claim to the fact that she can cure autism, but says she can help children with cerebral palsy learn to walk.

The Government of Alberta entered a contract with this woman and gave her hundreds of thousands of dollars (I believe the exact number was $200,000, but can't remember for sure) for research that was to be peer-reviewed. After two years, Alberta cancelled the contract because no peer-reviews were submitted. The National asked Gordon-Palmares to tell them where she obtained her credentials. She gave them the names of educational institutions in France and the USA. The National went to these schools and were told that Gordon-Palmares had attended courses there but had not earned any degrees. When questioned about this, Gordon Palmares said it was because she earned her degrees under a different name but would not give that information to the reporter.

Gordon-Palmares gives seminars across Alberta and the USA. She tells the parents of developmentally delayed and challenged children, "We are talking about fixing the brain, fixing the brain forever, removing the diagnosis." This woman claims she can do this by using scents and the senses to stimulate the brain to repair itself. The technique is called Monitored Multi-cortical Activities for Additional Pathways and Synapses, otherwise known as MAPS.

MAPS can involve rubbing the texture of strawberries on a child's skin or rubbing strawberry scent on their nose. Picture games are also used. For this knowledgeable procedure that any parent could do at home, Gordon-Palmares is charging $5,000 for the first six months of treatment and $3,000 for each additional six months of treatment. When The National asked the parents of the children that had been treated at Gordon-Palmares' Brain Repair Institute of Canada if there was any improvement in their child's condition during or after MAPS treatment, the answer was no.

Being the grandmother of a grandson who functions on the autistic spectrum, I can well understand that the parents of these children would want their brains to be repaired. However, how can one woman claim to cure children when no cure is known to medical science. The brain has been studied for decades and we all know that once it is damaged, there is little hope of complete repair. How devastated these parents must be when they find out they've paid this woman their life savings to cure their child and there has been little or no improvement?

The province of Alberta needs to change its laws. As of present, anyone can run an establishment such as Gordon-Palmares does without a degree of any kind. Not only that, but the government themselves fell into this woman's scheme. The people that have paid Gordon-Palmares for her treatments want her out of business, but she insists she is doing nothing wrong.

Links to this story:

The National - Watch a video of Gordon-Palmares

CBC News - To read the story, Selling Hope, follow the CBC News link.

Update on Michelle:

Michelle is having a nurse come in twice a day to drain and pack her incision. Barry stayed home yesterday and today because I'm still under the weather. He is taking her to the clinic to have the GYN look at it this morning. After that, we will known more. The nurse is scheduled to come again tonight and in the morning. They irrigate the infected area and pack it. I will update again tonight if possible.

About Me: LOL I am not a person who talks about me. However, just to update you, I'm feeling a bit better, but still have little energy. Not much else to tell. The fever and chills are gone. For that I am truly thankful. Maybe this is God's way of telling me to slow down a little.

Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes. You all made being ill a little easier.

Be sure and smile at a stranger as you go about your daily business. A smile brings ray of sunshine into the life of a discouraged person. It can give hope. ~Blessings, Mary~