Andrew Hall Cutler, PhD, PE, 1956-2017

This is the hardest post I’ve ever had to write. My heart is heavy, and I am in shock. I am sad and heartbroken. It feels like the air has been sucked out of the world. 

We have lost a very dear man, a hero, a true warrior in the autism and mercury poisoning community. We lost the man who saved my family from mercury poisoning. The man who wanted safer chelation and created it. The man who saved ME from mercury poisoning. The man who saved my children too. 

As part of Andy’s circle, I need to talk about the man I knew. 

Dr. Andrew Hall Cutler, Ph.D., who we fondly called, Andy, was a well-educated Princeton man. This man was a wealth of information on many topics and always willing to lend an ear. He pioneered frequent dose chelation, which is why many people call it “Andy Cutler Chelation” even though he was modest and didn’t. He was mercury poisoned by amalgam fillings and found that mainstream chelation made it worse. He developed a safer method, chelated himself, and taught the rest of the world through his books and message group posts. When mercury became an issue in the autism community, he began helping parents. 

Without Andy, I would still be very sick. I would be worse. I would not be sitting here writing this post today. 

I began my journey on the Autism-Mercury Yahoo group in 2006, where I met him years ago. Andy saw my posts asking for help interpreting my children’s hair tests. He replied, and he did it for free. 

He did that for tons of people all the time. Andy answered thousands of questions through email, online groups, by phone every day, all week, all year. He never stopped helping random nameless strangers from all over the world, asking for his help. 

I tried to imagine what his email inbox looked like when he logged in. I know mine was full of emails from parents as we all tried to figure things out. His must have been massive, yet somehow he still made the time to reply. He was always there sharing what he knew. He even helped me when I ran into a health problem with my son unrelated to mercury. He never once asked me for anything in return. That was Andy.

I had the unique situation to be more than just a mercury poisoned mom or parent of toxic kids on one of the groups. Andy and I were both authors and former mercury victims. We were in the trenches fighting the same war. He is the one that encouraged me to write my first book. Knowing Andy had a ripple effect that touched thousands of lives. Once I wrote that book, Andy volunteered to review and edit the manuscript. I did the same for one of his books. One of the last Facebook messages he sent to me encouraged me to write another book. Here is this published Ph.D. scholar, and he’s telling me, “Hey, you’re good at this. You should write another one” I did, but Andy would not be here to see it. 

Andy was one of a kind, and he moved millions into doing something about their mercury poisoning. Andy was a force beyond comprehension. Andy was brilliant. He never stopped amazing me with the plethora of things he knew. We had many late-night email discussions about all kinds of things. 

Beyond our friendship as fellow authors, entrepreneurs, and former mercury victims, I can’t begin to the gratitude for this gift. Without Andy, I can’t imagine where my kids would have ended up. 

I owed him so much. I could never repay him for what he’s done for my family or the mercury community. I hope his family knows how much we all appreciated him.

I’m going to miss our late-night discussions. I would send an email, “Hi Andy, I have a question about….?” He didn’t have to answer, but five minutes later, I’d get an email. That was Andy. We’d go back and forth discussing things all kinds of things. 

For the life of me, I don’t know how he juggled it all, but he recognized I did too. He said he had the greatest respect for a mom like me. He knew I juggled raising two kids, one with special needs, homeschooling, managing my business, and forums. I was still helping others even when I was tired and had so little left to give. He recognized that when few people did.

I loved his perspective, and I could always count on him to analyze something objectively. Andy was perspective for many of us. Mercury can make for some craziness, and Andy knew how to calm people down and move them into action. He was very good at resisting the rumor mills, the conspiracy theories, or other modalities that crop up in the online mercury community. He kept it rounded. He grounded many of us in it by pulling us back when mercury was pushing us into that mad hatter’s world.

You can’t replace Andy, and you wouldn’t want to try. He was one of a kind. Those of us that knew him will continue to carry on his legacy. 

We are his Army. We will continue to teach others how to get better. We will help people get their health back like he helped many of us. We will continue to honor him and share his legacy.

From my family to Andy’s family, you have our deepest condolences and gratitude for sharing this beloved man with us. He spent a lot of time online with all of us, and that must have been a sacrifice for you. We are truly indebted and grateful.

I’m going to miss Andy.