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REIDSVILLE — Cole Grubbs seemed to be a healthy, happy baby when his parents, Karen and Kenny Grubbs, brought him home from the hospital after his birth on April 10, 1997.

He sat up at 6 months; took his first steps at 11 months; and was running, playing and saying simple words by the time he was a year old. Before he was 2, he was speaking in two- and three-word sentences - “Go ride” and “That mine.”

Then one day, Karen noticed that when she asked Cole if he wanted something to drink, he would cry rather than say “Me want dink.”

From that point on, Cole’s speech regressed until he was crying about everything he was asked and about a “lot of stuff.”

As he grew older, Cole, whom his mother described as a sweet little boy, continued to regress physically and mentally. Some days he could feed himself, and some days he couldn’t. Some days he could ride his three-wheeler, and some days he couldn’t.

By the time Cole was 3, he couldn’t go to the bathroom by himself any more, he ate with his fingers, and he would cut lights off and on repeatedly, and would sit and look at the same book or watch the same movie over and over.

When Karen enrolled Cole in preschool, Cole was sent to Rockingham Community College for testing. It was then Karen learned Cole was autistic.

“I didn’t know what autism was until he was 31/2 and was diagnosed with it,” Karen said. “He had been showing the signs for a little over a year.”

The diagnosis upset Karen, who immediately began researching the condition. At that time, not a lot of material was available — “not like it is now,” she said.

When Cole was 5 and went to school, he couldn’t handle being in the classroom with the other children, his mother said. He went into the EC class at Draper Elementary School, where the teachers reinforced what Cole was learning at home by going over and over it.

Today, he attends Rockingham Middle School, and his learning skills have improved. But he is becoming more aggressive because it is hard for him to communicate and he gets frustrated, Karen said.

During her research in the past year, she has learned about stem cell treatments, something she hopes will help Cole.

She has scheduled an appointment with a doctor in Costa Rica in August for the treatments.

None of the local doctors who have treated Cole has recommended the treatment, though Karen said one did encourage her in her research.

“I have tried so many other therapies and they have not really helped Cole,” she said. She has tried the vitamins, shots, diets and numerous other therapies with no luck. The cells Cole will be receiving are not embryonic but are adult stem cells, she said.

Because of the treatments and other health care expenses, the family is facing a huge financial burden.

Karen stays at home with Cole, and Kenny works at Lorillard in Greensboro.

“Just the stem cell treatment will be $17,000,” Karen said.

Then there are costs of travel, food and accommodations. The family will fly to Costa Rica one Saturday and come home a week later.

In all, they are looking at about $25,000 in expenses, and that’s just for the first set of treatments; Cole will have to go back for additional treatments in the near future. Insurance doesn’t cover any of it.

As a result, friends and family members have been helping raise money for the family. Karen’s sister, April Martin, organized a bike run and was assisted by Bob and Karen Lunsford. The event raised more than $1,600.

The family’s church, Draper Pentecostal Holiness, took up a special offering, and other individuals and organizations have held yard sales, car washes, and bake sales to raise money.

Donations for the Cole Grubbs Medical Fund are being accepted at branches of the Bank of America.

“I want Cole to have every chance possible to live a normal life,” Karen said. “Anyone living with a child with autism as severe as Cole’s will understand why we are doing this. Life is too short not to take a chance.”

She said living in a world in which he can’t communicate is leaving Cole frustrated.

“Now he is becoming aggressive at times because he can’t make us understand what he wants or needs.

“If we don’t do everything possible to help him,” she said, “he will always be trapped with nowhere to go.”

Ann Fish is a Reidsville native who has lived in Eden since 1979. She is a retired newspaper editor and reporter. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com