Article content

It is the day before the photo of the little boy. The boy on the beach with the little shoes.

Heather Bourdon, 29, is at home, an 11th-floor apartment off Clyde Avenue, talking about the sacrifices we make for our children. Theirs is not so great, she said. Look at migrants who risk everything to cross oceans, for bluer skies. Yes, we looked, we saw.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Egan: Price of autism: Sell the house, move family of 5 into 1-bedroom Back to video

“There are so many families in our situation who are having to take extreme risks with their future, gambling on their quality of life, everything, for the benefit of early intervention.”

She and husband Dominique, 32, have three children under the age of five. The oldest, Jacob, four, has autism.

To pay for private therapy, which costs $5,000 a month, the couple have put their home on the market and moved into a one-bedroom apartment where they all sleep in one room and eat at what looks like a card table, only smaller.

They don’t expect to stay too long, so nothing hangs on the walls. Most of the living room is a play area. Heather says they chose this neighbourhood because it is walking distance to the private Portia Learning Centre, where Jacob goes for therapy — and walking distance matters in case they sell the car.