How Genetic Testing Helped Change My Son’s Life: A Mother’s Story of Hope and Healing

Bobbie Spencer’s son, Jace, was diagnosed with autism at age four. As he grew older, Bobbie noticed his language skills were regressing, and he wasn’t engaging with other kids the way she expected. His immune system also seemed fragile—he rarely stayed healthy for long before falling ill again.

Watch Bobbie share her powerful story and how genetic testing gave her family answers:

Like many parents, she turned to doctors for insight, but the feedback was always the same: “Everything looks okay.” Yet something told her otherwise.

“I really just felt like we were losing him a little bit every day,” Bobbie recalls. “I put a lot of faith and hope in the doctors we were seeing, but we learned pretty quickly they weren’t giving us the answers we were looking for.”

That all changed when a friend told Bobbie about MaxGen’s genetic testing.

“She explained to me it was a simple cheek swab, so I thought, ‘Okay, great.’ We didn’t have to do any blood work or make any blood draws. When we did the test, it gave him back to us.”

The test revealed what traditional labs had missed: Jace’s body had a reduced ability to detox. His genetics showed specific variants that made it difficult for him to process environmental toxins and essential nutrients—leading to inflammation, stress on his system, and a cascade of behavioral and physical symptoms.

With this new information in hand, Bobbie began making small but targeted changes to support Jace’s detox and nutrient pathways. The improvements came quickly.

“Over the course of a few months, we saw huge advances. The test gave us hope. I was highlighting everything, circling things, pulling up past labs—it all started to make sense.”

And the impact wasn’t just physical, it was emotional. As Jace’s health stabilized, his confidence grew. Two years ago, he joined a baseball team, played a full season, and helped win the championship game.

“I don’t think we would have made this kind of progress with him if we hadn’t done this testing,” says Bobbie. “It completely changed Jace’s trajectory.”

Bobbie now shares her experience with other parents and health practitioners who ask what they or their patients might gain from this test.

“I tell them, I’ve got a story for you.”

Why It Matters

At MaxGen Labs, our mission is to empower families with actionable, science-based insights through genetic testing. For children like Jace, that means uncovering hidden roadblocks in detoxification, nutrient metabolism, and inflammatory pathways—early enough to make a meaningful difference.

Jace’s story is just one of many. But it underscores how understanding the body at a genetic level can unlock real, lasting change.

And it all starts with a simple swab.