- S
This beautiful lady and hero is my wife and mom to our two amazing kids. For the last six years, (yes 6 years!), she has been battling for her life. She needs some heroes to help her continue and win this fight. I know this may take a while to read, but please bear with me to see if God might lead you to be one of those heroes!
It all started on a trip to Nicaragua in July of 2013. We were going to work with multiple missions and to seek out the possibility of helping an organization long term. We were in the process of helping with a water filtration project, when Tiffany became severely ill. It took some time, but she started to recover and we thought all was well, but that was just the start of an intense battle.
For the next 6 years, she would battle extreme fatigue, fevers, chills, extreme pain, painful and dysfunctional digestion, low blood pressure, tremors, and memory issues. It affected multiple systems in her body. After 7 months, they treated e-coli which had her bed ridden, but she didn't fully recover. Then came the hunt from doctor to doctor (and by doctors we mean over 50 and counting) who ran test after test and found and treated multiple things. She has had multiple diagnosis that many people have never heard of and even doctors have limited knowledge of treating: e-coli, IBS, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, parasites, postural orthostatic tachycardia, central vestibulopathy with dysautonomia, H. pylori, and an aneurysm (that is small and doctors are following). In between all of these diagnoses, she fought off multiple severe ear infections, respiratory infections and kidney stones that required surgery. She is a true fighter! She has managed to stay positive (only by the help of God) and follow the doctors’ instructions to the letter. She would start to get well only to have a sudden downturn hit her hard that made her unable to do normal daily tasks. Some of the downturns had her looking close to death as she had limited ability to eat or get out of bed.
Finally, in the last year we are getting to some answers that make sense and solve some underlying issues. For years she endured doctors who would run their few tests and then stop looking and tell her that it must just be anxiety or depression. When she got so sick this last summer that she could hardly eat or drink, she was finally referred to a surgeon who found stage 3 endometriosis that had been wrapped around her organs, in particular a part of her intestines that was keeping food from moving and leading to overgrowths of bacteria. The surgeon said it was very bad and said that the medical system has failed her. After a hysterectomy and appendectomy, she was slowly recovering when they discovered that her gall bladder wasn't functioning right and she had a cholecystectomy surgery 3 months later. Each surgery was successful and provided some relief, but she is still struggling with recovery.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, we got a miraculous opening (thank you God) with a doctor in the functional medical specialists at the Cleveland Clinic. Tiffany has been struggling with difficulty breathing, severe burning in her throat and started reacting to more and more foods, allergens and chemicals. The doctor did a deep dive into her history since birth and diagnosed her with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Everyone has mast cells that launch an attack on infections, allergens, and toxins by releasing chemicals like histamines that fight them off, but Tiffany's go into overdrive and so much is released that her body pays a price. It can lead to anaphylaxis when too much is triggered and she is now getting swelling in the throat. It is a condition that effects multiple systems at once, thus the difficulty with diagnosis. It turns out that endometriosis (which is an autoimmune condition) and mast cell issues are often seen together. Infections like the e-coli, bacterial overgrowth and other viruses she has fought can also trigger this response. All of the other diagnoses she had are often a symptom of this as well. So after 6 years of not fully knowing what she was fighting, we finally have a name and a clear target or goal. The doctor gave us a list of tests and remediation that we are to start to bring relief and find out what is triggering this. She has limited her to no trigger foods (that don't release or have high histamine) and she is on a 4 day rotation of different foods, medications, and supplements for each of the 4 days so that her body doesn't react and start seeing the food and medications as a threat (I know! This is how severe her body is fighting. She just keeps plugging away!)
We also need to remove as many other external triggers as we can so that her body can finally rest, stop fighting and heal.
Two of the many things the doctor said were major issues for Tiffany are mold and allergens. What many of you don't know is that, on top of all of this, we have been working on major repairs for water seepage issues that the previous owner hid that needed to be completed on our house, one of which was a small trench in the basement that was open to the ground and hidden by the carpet that was sopping up water and creating mold. We started work on the repair, but as you can imagine, have been unable to finish the construction and remediate all allergens and mold spores left over from the construction. This needs to be fixed so Tiffany can breathe!
Part of the inability to complete this has been the huge financial hit this illness has caused. After two years of fighting hard, she had to leave her job of 15 years as an elementary school teacher, which she loved. This has put a huge strain our finances, and she has been unable to work since. I took on a second job to get insurance but, as you can imagine, with all of the extra medical expenses we are barely staying afloat. I have fought so hard not to have to ask for help, but we do not have the ability to cover the new testing and remediation expenses. As you can imagine, we as a family are pretty tapped out emotionally and physically, so a wonderful friend and his family are helping us plan and orchestrate this major project. As we started looking at the many sources of water damage and sources of allergens in the home, it became clear that we have a big project ahead of us to make the home safe for Tiffany. We are not in a position to move at this time, so we have to make this home livable.
Many of you have asked how you can help. We need some heroes!
We need an army of people to help remove everything from the house, repair things, and clean up all allergens and also the funding for this work. Here are the needs:
$200 Allergy covers for bedding
$300 Mold Test for Tiffany
$600 Lyme Disease Test
$2000 medications and supplements (to rotate over 4 days)to heal Tiffany's body
$1500 Organic food to give her stomach rest and help her heal
$600 Mold Test for house before and after remediation
$3000 2 months at an Extended Stay while the work is getting done (so she is not exposed)
$6000 Duct Work: Cleaning, HEPA filter, dehumidifier, air purification (we are seeking out other lower quotes)
$ (Still researching)- Pod to store furniture while remediating
$ (Still researching)- New Hard Surface Flooring
$ (Still researching)- Leaking Windows replaced
$ (Still researching)- Finish Basement repairs and replace two water damaged walls
* If you can provide labor or know of discounts for these please let us know.
We will continue to update the pricing on all of this as we research costs, but need to get the ball rolling with initial testing. We will be posting receipts from everything we do so that you can see the progress and where your money is going. We are looking forward to celebrating each new win! Please help her GAIN HER LIFE BACK. I am finally seeing her crack (and me along with her) from the non-stop nature of this and we are fighting depression and anxiety. She is so tired of the pain and of missing important events because she is too sick. We really have a sense from God that the fight is near the end, we just need a final lift over the finish line.
Tim West (Mira and Z too!)
It all started on a trip to Nicaragua in July of 2013. We were going to work with multiple missions and to seek out the possibility of helping an organization long term. We were in the process of helping with a water filtration project, when Tiffany became severely ill. It took some time, but she started to recover and we thought all was well, but that was just the start of an intense battle.
For the next 6 years, she would battle extreme fatigue, fevers, chills, extreme pain, painful and dysfunctional digestion, low blood pressure, tremors, and memory issues. It affected multiple systems in her body. After 7 months, they treated e-coli which had her bed ridden, but she didn't fully recover. Then came the hunt from doctor to doctor (and by doctors we mean over 50 and counting) who ran test after test and found and treated multiple things. She has had multiple diagnosis that many people have never heard of and even doctors have limited knowledge of treating: e-coli, IBS, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, parasites, postural orthostatic tachycardia, central vestibulopathy with dysautonomia, H. pylori, and an aneurysm (that is small and doctors are following). In between all of these diagnoses, she fought off multiple severe ear infections, respiratory infections and kidney stones that required surgery. She is a true fighter! She has managed to stay positive (only by the help of God) and follow the doctors’ instructions to the letter. She would start to get well only to have a sudden downturn hit her hard that made her unable to do normal daily tasks. Some of the downturns had her looking close to death as she had limited ability to eat or get out of bed.
Finally, in the last year we are getting to some answers that make sense and solve some underlying issues. For years she endured doctors who would run their few tests and then stop looking and tell her that it must just be anxiety or depression. When she got so sick this last summer that she could hardly eat or drink, she was finally referred to a surgeon who found stage 3 endometriosis that had been wrapped around her organs, in particular a part of her intestines that was keeping food from moving and leading to overgrowths of bacteria. The surgeon said it was very bad and said that the medical system has failed her. After a hysterectomy and appendectomy, she was slowly recovering when they discovered that her gall bladder wasn't functioning right and she had a cholecystectomy surgery 3 months later. Each surgery was successful and provided some relief, but she is still struggling with recovery.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, we got a miraculous opening (thank you God) with a doctor in the functional medical specialists at the Cleveland Clinic. Tiffany has been struggling with difficulty breathing, severe burning in her throat and started reacting to more and more foods, allergens and chemicals. The doctor did a deep dive into her history since birth and diagnosed her with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Everyone has mast cells that launch an attack on infections, allergens, and toxins by releasing chemicals like histamines that fight them off, but Tiffany's go into overdrive and so much is released that her body pays a price. It can lead to anaphylaxis when too much is triggered and she is now getting swelling in the throat. It is a condition that effects multiple systems at once, thus the difficulty with diagnosis. It turns out that endometriosis (which is an autoimmune condition) and mast cell issues are often seen together. Infections like the e-coli, bacterial overgrowth and other viruses she has fought can also trigger this response. All of the other diagnoses she had are often a symptom of this as well. So after 6 years of not fully knowing what she was fighting, we finally have a name and a clear target or goal. The doctor gave us a list of tests and remediation that we are to start to bring relief and find out what is triggering this. She has limited her to no trigger foods (that don't release or have high histamine) and she is on a 4 day rotation of different foods, medications, and supplements for each of the 4 days so that her body doesn't react and start seeing the food and medications as a threat (I know! This is how severe her body is fighting. She just keeps plugging away!)
We also need to remove as many other external triggers as we can so that her body can finally rest, stop fighting and heal.
Two of the many things the doctor said were major issues for Tiffany are mold and allergens. What many of you don't know is that, on top of all of this, we have been working on major repairs for water seepage issues that the previous owner hid that needed to be completed on our house, one of which was a small trench in the basement that was open to the ground and hidden by the carpet that was sopping up water and creating mold. We started work on the repair, but as you can imagine, have been unable to finish the construction and remediate all allergens and mold spores left over from the construction. This needs to be fixed so Tiffany can breathe!
Part of the inability to complete this has been the huge financial hit this illness has caused. After two years of fighting hard, she had to leave her job of 15 years as an elementary school teacher, which she loved. This has put a huge strain our finances, and she has been unable to work since. I took on a second job to get insurance but, as you can imagine, with all of the extra medical expenses we are barely staying afloat. I have fought so hard not to have to ask for help, but we do not have the ability to cover the new testing and remediation expenses. As you can imagine, we as a family are pretty tapped out emotionally and physically, so a wonderful friend and his family are helping us plan and orchestrate this major project. As we started looking at the many sources of water damage and sources of allergens in the home, it became clear that we have a big project ahead of us to make the home safe for Tiffany. We are not in a position to move at this time, so we have to make this home livable.
Many of you have asked how you can help. We need some heroes!
We need an army of people to help remove everything from the house, repair things, and clean up all allergens and also the funding for this work. Here are the needs:
$200 Allergy covers for bedding
$300 Mold Test for Tiffany
$600 Lyme Disease Test
$2000 medications and supplements (to rotate over 4 days)to heal Tiffany's body
$1500 Organic food to give her stomach rest and help her heal
$600 Mold Test for house before and after remediation
$3000 2 months at an Extended Stay while the work is getting done (so she is not exposed)
$6000 Duct Work: Cleaning, HEPA filter, dehumidifier, air purification (we are seeking out other lower quotes)
$ (Still researching)- Pod to store furniture while remediating
$ (Still researching)- New Hard Surface Flooring
$ (Still researching)- Leaking Windows replaced
$ (Still researching)- Finish Basement repairs and replace two water damaged walls
* If you can provide labor or know of discounts for these please let us know.
We will continue to update the pricing on all of this as we research costs, but need to get the ball rolling with initial testing. We will be posting receipts from everything we do so that you can see the progress and where your money is going. We are looking forward to celebrating each new win! Please help her GAIN HER LIFE BACK. I am finally seeing her crack (and me along with her) from the non-stop nature of this and we are fighting depression and anxiety. She is so tired of the pain and of missing important events because she is too sick. We really have a sense from God that the fight is near the end, we just need a final lift over the finish line.
Tim West (Mira and Z too!)