Meet Our Families

"If I took one thing from this experience it would be that people who struggle with ED or any other disorder; communication is of the essence to take down the barriers that everyday people put up". -The Vanni's (Matt, Jenni, and Hudson)

When my wife, Jenni, and I first were approached by the local newspaper regarding doing a story on Hudson we were overwhelmed and uncertain.  For me it was two reasons:  One being that I am a Parole/Probation Agent whom supervises Felony cases.  Having the extreme exposure in a smaller community can potentially be dangerous for my family.  The second reason was that my wife and I had a difficult time with the thought of everyone knowing your life story.  After thinking it over and having some reservations we contacted the newspaper and a journalist came to our home and took pictures of us with Hudson and asked detailed questions for over two hours.  When we were finished it was like a tension that had risen and now we had to await the story.  At that time we figured the story would be in the Lifestyles portion of the paper (Usually towards the middle of the newspaper).

Hudson’s Story was printed in the Saturday newspaper and was on the front page.  It had a picture of Hudson with both of us playing with him.  The article itself was two pages and gave quite a bit of insight into ED and some of the symptoms that occur.  Our phone began ringing from relatives and friends in town.  The exposure after the first day has been unbelievable.  We have had people in the supermarket, the YMCA at noon, fellow people at work, all whom had never heard of ED and that it affects my son.  The support from friends and random people in the community based on this story has truly been a blessing.  Now that the story has been published, there is no question that we made the right choice.

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