Help Brook & Liz Mosser with medical bills

To the friends and family of Brook and Liz Mosser,

Eight months ago my nephew Duke suddenly started having severe panic attacks. These attacks morphed into body shakes and tremors, debilitating OCD, then seizures, then screaming episodes followed by a total physical collapse. This previously healthy, sweet, and thoughtful boy has been wracked with pain and debilitating fear. After months of working with his doctors and desperately searching for a medical diagnosis, he finally has one.

He has PANS/PANDA. This disease is an autoimmune response to an infection in the body which causes the body to attack the brain instead of attacking the actual infection. It’s common to be triggered at Duke’s age and comes on suddenly just like it did for Duke.

His treatment is expected to cost $10,000 over the course of the next year. And sadly it is not covered by the Mosser's health insurance. I am asking for financial help for them. The funds will pay for his antifungal and antibiotic therapies, immune therapy, OCD therapy, and medical supplements.

When we endure hardships, we need the support of our community. And right now my sister Liz and her family need our prayers and our financial support. If any of you can give, even a little, it would be useful and received with a great deal of gratitude. It has been a very hard time for the Mosser family, but with your help we can together alleviate some of the stress. Let's come together and show them love with our prayers and our donations.

Love to you all,

Beks Opperman

My sister Liz details more of the story below:

Duke’s Story:

On December 27th, 2020 our then 11 year old boy, Duke, suddenly starting having severe panic attacks. Seemingly overnight, he developed debilitating OCD and everyday his panic attacks and OCD got worse and new symptoms seemed to come with each passing day. He started having seizures, passing out, having episodes of screaming for hours at a time and endured full body ticks and spasms 24 hours a day.

We began the desperate search to get him the right doctors, tests and diagnosis so that we could wrap our minds around what was happening and how we could help our boy. The boy we had known for 11 years seemed to be gone and we desperately searched for help and answers.

He began to have test after test… MRI’s, EEG’s, blood draws, hospital stays, evaluations, and meetings with specialist teams. We kept getting sent back and forth between the ER and doctors offices because no one really knew what was happening.

It was a very long process but he was finally been given a myriad of diagnosis’. He has been diagnosed with PANS/PANDAS which has caused further diagnosis of conversion disorder, OCD, panic disorder, mold toxicity and a Bartonella infection wreaking havoc on his body and mind.

We finally have wonderful team of doctors desperately trying to help his body and mind heal.

PANS/PANDAS is essentially an autoimmune response to an infection in the body which causes the body to attack the brain instead of attacking the actual infection. It’s common to be triggered at Duke’s age and comes on suddenly just like it did for Duke.

PANS/PANDAS is an autoimmune disease that is recognized by all doctors and studied by major hospitals and universities (including a large program of study at Stanford University), but few doctors are equipped in actually treating it successfully. Which means, most doctors who treat it are not covered by insurance and we are currently paying out of pocket for all of his treatment, testing and care.

Duke has started a treatment protocol and therapy plan that we hope will lead to a full recovery, in time. It is a mix of supplements, anti-fungals, antibiotics and specific therapies to treat OCD. However, there is no quick fix for PANS/PANDAS and we’ve been told it could be anywhere from 6 months to several years before he heals. We remain hopeful, and we have already seen significant improvement in the past month of treatment.

In full transparency, this has been the hardest thing our family has endured. We are no strangers to rare and tragic medical conditions (many of you know our daughter, Birdie’s, story) but the last 10 months have taken a large toll on all of us. We are weary in every way.

We have learned through suffering that God is still insanely present and with us in the midst of sorrow. We absolutely believe that He can heal and He can redeem. We know He can use all of this is some way that we can’t see yet.

Here is how you can help:

Prayer! We know this is hands down the most powerful tool any of us have.

Specific Prayers:

That Duke’s body would heal completely and that he wouldn’t have any adverse reactions to the treatments. Typically treatments like this flare things up before improvement is seen.

That God would continue to speak to Duke and encourage him. We’ve seen him hear God in a new and powerful way in all of this and are watching his faith come alive.

For our girls - they’ve witnessed their brother have episodes that are quite terrifying and it’s been really hard for them. We’d love prayer for emotional healing for them and stamina to endure this with us.

For our marriage to endure and even be strengthened by this. Prolonged stress is hard to navigate in a marriage and we’ve certainly fumbled our way through it.

For restoration and healing for our whole family… spiritual, emotionally and physically.

Financially:

As mentioned above, the cost of Duke’s current treatment, specialist visits and testing are not covered by insurance. By God’s grace, they are working and we would love to be able to continue doing them.

If you are able and feel led to contribute financially to his medical care, that would be greatly appreciated and lift a huge burden for us.

-Elizabeth & Brook Mosser