A friend's honest warning led to David's autism diagnosis, and that moment anchors a decades-long friendship.
One friend's honesty started David's diagnosisSmall saw that David's reactions were not typical and told Karen to have him assessed, even though she feared Karen would not take it well.
The house was a preschool that took special kidsIt had a hyperbaric chamber, David was enrolled there, and Small covered the cost of the 400 hours he spent in the oxygen chamber.
The friendship survived fights and unfollowsThey screamed at each other over crabs at King Crab and unfollowed each other when tempers ran hot, but say they no longer fight now that they are older.
Executive SummaryAI
The host opens a house-tour episode about a woman who has been her friend for years, saying it is really a story about her son David and about friendship.
The mansion they are standing in was Small's former preschool, which had a hyperbaric chamber and took in special kids, and David enrolled there as a student when he was about two and a half, around 2003 to 2004.
The friendship began on Kring Gonzales's boat on New Year's Eve, when Karen was pregnant and DJ barely spoke while Karen talked at what Small calls 99 words per minute, and the two only grew close later through Bible study.
After watching David roll on the floor during a breakfast at Italianis, Small decided she had to tell Karen to have him assessed; Karen first answered that he was only spoiled, then went to the doctor the very next day and came back crying in the school driveway.
Small told Karen not to worry about the cost of the oxygen chamber, David did 400 hours of hyperbaric treatment, and Karen credits Small for the diagnosis, while Small in turn says it was Karen who pushed her to start on YouTube instead of running for Congress, even after her daughter Allison came to her room at 2am begging her to wait four years.