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HEALING WITH NUTRITION
Emerging from the depths of despair, mum of two, Hannah Mills, embarked
on a journey to heal her family, and now helps others to do the same.
T
here was a time Hannah Miles
wanted to end it all. She was
trapped in the depths of a dark,
bottomless pit and saw no way
of climbing out. Every day she
thought, “This is the day I'm
going to end my life”.
After two traumatic pregnancies, she
was suffering from Cushing’s Syndrome
(the first stage of adrenal cancer), fatigue,
and depression.
Her first-born, William, cried non-stop,
vomited, and suffered from severe
constipation and diarrhoea. Worse still,
he would pull his hair out, beat his head
against the wall until it bled, and climb on
top of a bookshelf, throwing himself down
onto the floor. These behaviours were all
part of continuous “melt-downs” which
would last all day long.
Hannah’s second child, Edward, born
when William was just 15 months old,
appeared to have developmental delay and,
possibly, cerebral palsy.
Fast forward seven years, and William,
7, and Edward, 5, are both gentle,
peaceful and respectful boys who go to
mainstream school and function just like
any other children.
Armed with the knowledge she has
gained over the last seven years, Hannah
now dedicates her time to helping other
parents to spare them the hell and financial
ruin her family experienced - and she’s
very passionate about it.
William was just six months old when
Hannah fell pregnant with her second
child. Edward was very placid when he
was born, which was a God-sent to
Hannah as all her time was occupied
with William and his melt-downs.
Hannah and her husband Robin started
attending parenting classes to find out if
they were doing something wrong. “We
were banging our heads against the wall,
blaming ourselves, thinking we were bad
parents,” she recalls.
“At one stage, we couldn't go anywhere
because [William] wouldn't travel in a car.
He didn't like the sound of the road or the
noise or the buckle.”
“I was very isolated, I couldn’t go to
mothers’ groups and I couldn’t socialise
with my friends because it was just too
difficult to leave the house. A trip to the
supermarket was the most traumatic thing
you could possibly imagine.”
Hannah and Robin also started doingsome research and the word ‘autism’ came
up but was quickly dismissed by family
and friends who argued that William didn’t
exhibit classic signs like lining up cars.
A small turning point came when
Hannah removed gluten and dairy out of
William’s diet and he settled a little.
“I was reading medical journals and
going from one specialist to another. We
lost our house; we spent so much money
on supplements and medical bills. But
we finally started getting answers around
nutrition and diet, so I studied nutrition
because I wanted to find those answers
myself. And I kind of went on this research
rampage where we were up until three in
the morning talking on forums and trying
to seek answers,” she says.
“I had no control over my life and I
couldn’t help my child. The only way that
I could control the situation was for me to
research and learn, and to get answers.
We tried absolutely everything that we
possibly could to get results.”
William was finally diagnosed with
autism at the age of two. “As much as
this was heartbreaking for us, it was a
good thing because it meant that we got
recognition that it wasn’t just us being
bad parents.”
“We had already re-mortgaged our
house twice and we had about $90,000
worth of debt over us. Going onto NDIS
[National Disability Insurance Scheme]
meant that we got funding - we weren't
paying for our own psychotherapy, our
own speech therapy.”
Once William was diagnosed, the Mills’
received much-needed aid, but Hannah
says the early interventions just didn’t
seem to work.
What did appear to work was making
changes to William’s diet and environment.
By that time in her research, Hannah had
stumbled upon the benefits of a raw vegan
diet and the detrimental effects of toxins
and chemicals. “Eventually, we just saw
our beautiful child emerging from these
symptoms and saw that he was more than
just these symptoms.”
Hannah began by cleaning her house
with lemon and bi-carb, and throwing away
all perfumes, shampoos, and even crayons.
“I wouldn’t let anyone in the house that
was wearing perfume. We wouldn’t use
any shampoos - there were no traces of
fragrances or chemicals allowed in the
house or anywhere near us. [William]wasn’t allowed to use crayons or pens
because the toxins were causing more
grief - he would hold a pen and then his
whole hand would just rash.”
Meanwhile, Hannah’s youngest child
Edward was diagnosed with Global
Development Delay (GDD), and at one
stage, she thought he may have cerebral
palsy. “When he was two years old, it was
like having a nine-month-old baby. He
didn’t do anything, he just lay there. Even
up until three, he wasn’t walking properly
or talking properly. We had his hearing
checked and initially... we were told he
was deaf. At one point, we were looking
at cerebral palsy... because of the way he
walked and the way he’d clench his arm
and couldn’t get himself up.”³,I,KDGQ¶WKDYH>JRQH
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The combination of a raw vegan diet,
removing toxins and chemicals from his
environment and physiotherapy, saw
Edward slowly standing, then walking, and
his speech improved.
Although she now can’t believe where
she was seven years ago, Hannah is
grateful for the journey. “If I hadn’t have
[gone through it] Edward would have a
cerebral palsy diagnosis and he'd be in a
wheelchair, and Edward and William would
not be in mainstream school.”
“Everything I've done to date has given
me now, two children in mainstream
school: on par, hitting targets, beautiful
loving, gentle children that are very
respectful of nature and know where their
food comes from.”
“I have them regularly tested and checked
because I like to see how everything is
going and how I need to work on different
things. I feel like we're 90 per cent there,
where I’ve got two very healthy children
that don’t have gastro and flus and colds
that most kids get. There’s still always