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Golfer Ernie Els: 'I've Got a Boy with Autism'

By Joe Bargmann

Fear, guilt, anger, frustration, self-pity. For nearly six years those emotions weighed on Ernie Els. He tried to count his blessings: a wonderful wife, Liezl; a beautiful daughter, Samantha, now 11; a gift for golf that had made him a multimillionaire. But something was wrong with his son, Ben, and Ernie couldn't shake the bad feelings.

On a sunny Monday in early May, Liezl and Ernie are lounging in the library of their plush Jupiter, Fla., home. It's a scene of domestic bliss--except for the tears welling up in Liezl's eyes.

"Samantha is such a bright kid," says Ernie, 40. "She was up and running at 10 months. But with Ben, we started seeing that he was just not cooperating or progressing."

"There was a clear difference," Liezl notes. The difference was autism, or more accurately, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), which, according to the National Institutes of Health, "cause severe and pervasive impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others." Now Ben is 7, and his parents are united in the fight against ASD--which affects one in 110 children, in the Centers for Disease Control's latest data. The CDC also reports that ASD increased by, on average, an alarming 57% between 2002 and 2006.

While Ernie competes in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach this week, plans are under way in Florida to create a Center of Excellence. Set on 15 acres in northern Palm Beach County, it will accommodate 300 full-time students with ASD, with 100,000 square feet of classrooms and state-of-the-art medical, research, and recreational facilities. "Autism touches each kid in a different way," Els says. "We'll be prepared to deal with ASD on all levels, and to give each kid--each person--the most effective individual treatment he or she can get."
http://www.parade.com/news/what-america-cares-about/featured/100613-ive-got-a-boy-with-autism.html