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Help Jessica Get Her Life Back: A Medical Journey for Answers and Healing
On March 6th, 2025, Jessica began experiencing sudden and severe swelling in her lymph nodes throughout her entire body. Within days, her symptoms rapidly worsened—body aches, joint pain, brain fog, memory loss, chest pain, and more. Despite visiting her local doctor four times and the ER twice by March 19th, she was repeatedly told she just needed rest.
On March 24th, Jessica went to the Mayo Clinic ER. By then, she was in a wheelchair, struggling to speak and unable to read. Extensive testing revealed she had Lyme disease with inflammation in her brain. Doctors warned that if she had waited any longer, the damage could have become permanent. She was prescribed 10 days of Doxycycline and told she would recover fully.
But that didn’t happen.
Even after completing the antibiotics, Jessica continued to suffer—swollen lymph nodes, brain fog, joint pain, memory issues, chest pain, extreme fatigue, and more. Mayo Clinic ran additional tests, including a PET scan, which showed significant lymph node activity. A biopsy confirmed her body was reacting to something, and complications during the procedure revealed a possible blood clotting disorder.
To make matters worse, their insurance denied five medical claims from the Mayo Clinic, stating the care was "not medically necessary."
Jessica and her family requested a co-infection and tick-borne illness panel, but doctors declined, insisting her Lyme disease was “cured” based solely on one lab marker, not her ongoing symptoms. They're now suggesting she has fibromyalgia—a diagnosis that shares many symptoms with untreated Lyme disease and co-infections.
Jessica is especially vulnerable. She’s immunocompromised due to not having a spleen, and her labs now show a repeatedly high basophil count and a drop in kidney function over the last 3 months. Despite these concerns, her current doctors refuse to do further testing.
Now, Jessica is seeking help from a specialized Lyme disease clinic that is not covered by insurance. The costs are overwhelming and not limited to:
Initial visit: $380
Co-infection and tick-borne illness panel: $1,200
Additional specialized testing: $2,100
This does not include the cost of treatment or follow-up labs or the previous hospital and clinic visits from March-July.
Before all of this, Jessica ran her own business and was full of life. Today, she’s considered a high fall risk and has to limit almost everything she does. She’s working on physical therapy at home and can only drive short distances. She longs to play and run with her children, but even walking up the stairs leaves her drained.
Jessica is strong, but watching her hide the pain and explain to her kids why she can't join them is heartbreaking. She is not herself—and we refuse to give up on finding answers and getting her life back.
If you are able to contribute—no matter how small—it will go directly toward testing, treatment, and travel expenses. If you can't donate, sharing this page would mean the world to us.
Thank you for reading, and for helping Jessica fight for the care she needs and deserves.
Linked is a documentary called Under Our Skin if you're interested in learning more about Lymes Disease and how severe and misdiagnosed it can be.
Organizer and beneficiary
Shae McClanahan
Beneficiary