Saving Jessica Bennett

Don't be fooled by the photograph of the gorgeous Jessica Bennett.  She is a very poorly goddess.

Jessica first became unwell in 2009, at a time when she had worked hard to build a career and profile in health and fitness and was dedicating herself to helping others become fitter and healthier.  It is excruciatingly ironic that her health started to decline seemingly overnight, during the next few years Jessica forged a successful career training pro athletes, writing for fitness magazines and modelling despite her dwindling health, determined not to be beaten by her illness. She kept  her daily battles behind closed doors until it eventually changed her life forever.  She qualified to compete strong women in Ohio for the UK and trained for an ultra marathon across the desert for charity, putting others before herself, even when facing adversity, that's Jess. In 2013 after competing in a fitness competition Jessica's life took a harrowing turn, she suffered from a life threatening anaphylactic shock. She became seriously ill, bed bound and her once vibrant life has been brought to a complete halt.


Finally diagnosed with what was that perceived to be ME and fibromyalgia in 2014. In no uncertain terms, Jessica was told that if she continued to try and train she would cause it lasting cell and tissue damage and could end up in a wheelchair. She had to give up her once successful career at a crucial time that she had recently closed an outstanding business deal and taken several pro athletes onto her books for coaching. She had to close her business' and was forced to drop her post graduate studies, unable to even read or process information, trapped within 4 walls and not even able to look up at the sky anymore.


Can you imagine how it would feel to go from being a fitness competitor and sports coach, to completely bed bound? And then to add insult to injury to be informed by those in the medical profession that as a classic "type A personality" the illness had been occurred through being too ambitious, too driven, pushing too hard and that Jessica's determination to get better was hindering her 'recovery' and being told to see a psychologist.  Jessica was alone in her battle with a dreadful illness. Crying herself to sleep at night and crawling to so much as get to the bathroom, her partner would have to sit her up in order to feed her. She felt her independence and dignity was lost. 


But something didn't sit right with her diagnosis.  Intrinsically Jessica felt something else was wrong. She was in peak physical shape, the body couldn't just break like this. Seven years since the onset of her illness Jessica was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease, found too late, the infection has spread through her body, into her central nervous system and her brain, termed neuroborreliosis:

- Multi System Infectious Disease Syndrome (MSIDS) which includes late stage neuro Lyme disease, testing positive for three different strains of the bacteria Borrila Burgdorferi found in the UK, Europe and the USA. Humans contract Lyme Disease following a bite from a tick infected with the bacteria. It is believed she contracted the disease in South West Germany whilst working abroad. She has never seen a tick in her life and never knew she had been bitten. 

- Babesia - a very serious illness and the lesser known sister of Malaria. Babesia is a blood parasite picked up from both infected ticks or in Jessica's case it is believed a mosquito bite in 2009. Babesia is potentially fatal.

- Bartonella- is a bacteria that lives primarily inside the lining of the blood vessels and brain causing seizures and in this case was contracted from the same tick bite which transmitted Lyme Disease to Jessica in 2009

- Four chronic viral infections causing pneumonia type symptoms, further lessening her immune defences, all being undiagnosed and untreated for years, if not controlled, these viral infections can lead to serious lung problems or cancer. Her viral load is currently very high and needs expensive drugs and herbal treatments to control.

The only treatment available to Jessica is private treatment, the best doctors are found in America.  Medical bills are mounting, having spent her life savings  already. The medications and treatments required are expensive. She needs to get started on treatment quickly as her health continues to deteriorate on a day by day basis. The symptoms she is suffering at the moment include, but are not limited to:

* Daily, often multiple serious seizures
* Severe breathlessness,
* Severe joint issues,
* Hearing damage,
* Double Vision/eyesight deterioration 
* Severe tinnitus,
* Bell's palsy (facial paralysis),
* Soreness to the feet that makes standing impossible,
* Flu symptoms every single day,
* Muscle aches,
* Fevers,
* Stroke like Migraines,
* Visual disturbances,
* Sickness,
* Hot flashes/Heavy sweating
* Chest pains,
* Tachycardia,
* Lyme arthritis,
* Temperature irregularities,
* Stomach pain and swelling,
*Many food intolerances,
* Severe nausea,
* Weight gain,
* Constant itching,
* Stiff neck,
* Sore spine,
* Urinary and kidney infections,
* Severe cognitive problems,
* Speech problems,
* Sore throat,
* Swollen glands,
* Hoarse voice and loss of voice,
* Word finding problems,
* Severe concentration issues,
* Sleep disturbance,
* Buzzing and electric current feeling in body,
* Sudden jolts,
* Disorientation,
* Chills and fevers
* Dizzy spells,
* Postural Hypertension,
* Paralysing fatigue,
* Numbness and tingling,
* Neuropathy,
* Brain fog,
* Various allergies,
* Mast cell activation 
*Multiple Chemical Sensitivity 
* Life threatening anaphylactic shock reactions.
* Mercury poisoning - caused by dental amalgam fillings.

The NHS are not equip to treat the complexities of Jessica's illness and there is sadly no cure.  However treatment to regain control of her life is available at a cost and it is possible to get her illness into remission. Jessica has a sports medicine/Lyme doctor in the states. Without this treatment Jessica has no future.

Having had no option but to close her businesses and cease working and having sold her car and other worldly possessions to fund other treatments and medical bills to date, treating an illness she is fact didn't have, Jessica is now desperately trying to find the funds to help her cover her medical care, medication bills and doctors fees for treatment following her long overdue correct diagnosis, but time is of the essence to try to reverse the damage done.

If you can find it in your heart to help Jessica regain some of her life through this fundraising platform, she will for the first time in seven years have real hope of regaining her health to the point where she can live again outside of her bedroom and be able to once more rebuild her businesses and rejoin society.

Jessica wants to start a family, she feels that chance is slipping away from her without this life saving treatment.

Over the past few months, Jessica has been treating at home with intravenous drugs in order to become stable enough to manage the trip to the US.

My heartfelt thanks go to any of you who are able to pay it forward by helping a stranger in crisis.