On the day I talk to Deirdre Mulvey, her husband, Eddie, has just been taken off to Beaumont by ambulance from their home in Baldoyle, Co Dublin, after having what appeared to be an epileptic fit while asleep at 7 a.m. Deirdre is scared:
"What will I do if anything happens to Eddie?" The couple's two older daughters, aged 19 and 17, have stayed home from college to deal with the crisis. "If it weren't for my daughters, I'd be in Portrane," says Deirdre.
Deirdre and Eddie have a five-year-old son, Kevin, who is autistic. The boy seemed fine until he was 15 months old. He talked, clapped hands, walked, played with building blocks and knew the names of his sisters and his sisters' friends. Then, shortly after receiving the MMR, he changed, says Deirdre. He could not respond to voices and made no eye contact.
Deirdre went to half a dozen experts looking for an explanation until eventually the toddler was diagnosed with autism.
Today, Kevin has only a few words. Blond and blue-eyed, he looks like a little angel, but he is destructive, emptying out litres of milk on the floor, squeezing out the washing-up liquid and wrecking ornaments. He used to ransack the house in the middle of the night until his parents got into the habit of locking all the internal doors.
"There have been times when I thought I'd lose my mind. But I gave up crying," says Deirdre.
"I have no help at all. Nothing. I've been told that Kevin is too big for playschool, so I got on to the Department of Education. They told me about St Helen's in Portmarnock, where I had an interview last week. My son is on the waiting list."
Deirdre took an "Early Bird" course and learned about picture wording. So now, when she puts Kevin's shoes on, she shows him a picture of a shoe and says "shoe". She goes through the same routine when brushing his teeth and dressing him.
She has paid for sessions with an Australian "healer". Three times a day, she massages Kevin and she has installed a trampoline in the kitchen.
"We play music while Kevin jumps and claps hands. I think this is helping him to engage with us. His eye contact is improving," she says.
With no support, Deirdre feels she is on her own. "I'm in contact with other parents, and they're not getting any help either," she adds.