Help Shawnda receive life giving treatment

I'm writing on behalf of my dear friend, Shawnda, and her family. I've known Shawnda for over 20 years and her life has been marked by severe health problems and pain that have come to a real unfortunate crescendo in the past 3 years. Shawnda has not been passive in her health journey but has consistently sought healing and done research upon research to try get better. She has tried so many different things to heal her body. In the past year she has been diagnosed with Lymes disease and mold toxicity. A few months ago they moved from a house that had mold into a new home. In the past few weeks they discovered they have mold in their new home!!! So, now they are dealing with remediation and other problems that accompanied the revelation of mold.

 

In good news, the Lord has clearly led her to a new clinic for treatment and she is showing real progress. You can read a longer version of all that Shawnda has been through below. You will hear her heart and see her love for the Lord even in the midst of great suffering and trial.

 

Would you please pray over Shawnda and her whole family? Pray for healing for Shawnda!!! Ask for the Lord to protect their whole family from mold and other health issues. Pray for wisdom as they do mold remediation. Pray for grace as they are separated for treatment. MOST of all, pray that the Lord will continue to hold them fast and that their faith will never waiver even through this deep, deep valley of pain and suffering.

 

All of this has put great financial strain on their family. None of the medical treatment Shawnda has been receiving in these past weeks has been covered by insurance. ALL is out of pocket. Their expenses will likely exceed $50K but wanted to start there. Would you please consider donating any amount of money to help them out?

Gratefully,

Julie

 

From Shawnda:

 

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;

save me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise.

Jeremiah 17:14

 

First of all, if you are taking the time to read this, THANK YOU!!

 

Secondly, your prayers mean the world to us. We are trusting the Lord as healer and provider!!

 

I’ll try to keep my health journey succinct.

 

I’ve struggled for as long as I can remember with chronic GI problems. At 5 I was getting invasive GI testing. As a senior in high school I needed my first surgery and had my first symptoms of Raynauds syndrome and neuropathy symptoms. In college I was diagnosed with ‘IBS’ and ‘lactose intolerance’, which is western medicines blanket diagnosis for ‘we don’t know why you have gut issues’.

 

I bought my first health book and thought taking milk out of my diet and adding in vegetables was going to put me into a grand new journey. That was the beginning of a long road.

 

In 2005 I was *finally* diagnosed with endometriosis. I have had an unknown amount of miscarriages. Karis is an absolute miracle.

 

I’ve been to many western drs and natural drs. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on supplements (most of which either did nothing or made me worse), I’ve tried every way of eating out there from the makers diet back in 2005 to paleo, AIP paleo, vegan, keto, carnivore, raw vegan, extended water fasting, IF, fruitarian, starch solution, blood type diet, isagenix, plexus, nutritional balancing, and if I haven’t mentioned it, it’s either too personal or my brain fog is actively hiding that memory.

 

I’ve spent so much energy trying to feel better.

 

In 2010 my scalp broke out in severe eczema with bleeding and sores. I did everything to treat this with no results. It continued to get worse and even covered my eyes and and face in 2019 when I was carnivore.

 

In 2011 I started having menopausal symptoms.

 

In 2014 we miscarried twins, and I lost my cycle at that point (our menstrual cycle is part of our immune system!).

 

From 2015-2018 some symptoms worsened and some were relieved. But chronic constipation was debilitating.

 

In 2018 we moved to Canada and lived in a rental where my health started taking a sharp decline. Foods that had been fine were not working anymore. My entire body would swell up randomly. My digestion was getting worse and worse. I would scratch my legs at night till they bled. I was dizzy. Mouth sores, nose sores, ear sores. Insomnia. Raynauds got dramatically worse and neuropathy symptoms worsened. The symptoms just kept piling up and increasing over a 3 year period. I couldn’t eat anything without my belly expanding so much that I couldn’t breathe. I lost energy and started to lose hope and joy as simple pleasures in life were lacking. I felt like I was dying. Just remembering those days triggers so much emotion.

 

I finally went to a Lyme specialist in Vancouver where they tested me for Lyme and Coinfections. I was positive for everything they tested for. I was also positive for SIBO and mold toxicity. They started treating me but I reacted to every treatment. I couldn’t tolerate anything. That’s when we had our rental tested.

 

Yep, MOLD. Hence the 3 years of a massive health decline. Lyme and mold have a horrific dance together, it’s deadly. And it was wrecking havoc on my body. Brain fog, memory decline, body aches, swelling, food sensitivities to *every* food, lethargy, tinnitus, dry eyes, blurry vision, insomnia, kidney disfunction, chronic dehydration, chronic constipation, chronic pain, and so much more. I started losing strength and didn’t have energy for the day.

 

We started looking for places to move to ASAP - places in the sun (300 days of rain was also not benefiting my health!). The drs were clear that I couldn’t get better until I got out of that house.

 

The Lord provided a house for us in California. We moved in July. At this point I had started the elemental diet (basically 1 step before a feeding tube. It’s predigested food - a powder drink to give your digestion a break and to keep from feeding the bacteria). I drank that and only that for 3 weeks. We had been out of our rental for a week and in a hotel before we moved into our new place.

 

I started to see some relief from symptoms but knew I couldn’t stay on the elemental diet long-term.

 

We moved into our house late July. I immediately had massive body aches and flu like symptoms. We thought it was die off from the elemental diet. It continued off and on. I gradually had to reintroduce new foods and teach my body to digest again. But I couldn’t get my body to absorb anything. My brain fog hit an all-time high. I couldn’t read and absorb information. My memory was failing and I couldn’t keep my train of thought in conversation.

 

At this point I had zero support - I had to part ways with my Lyme dr because they can’t treat across the border. I had an appt Nov 4 with a virtual Lyme dr - which was FOUR months away. So, I was running solo again. I started cellcore products to try to prep my body for the appt in Nov. But I got to a point where I broke out in burns all over my tummy - open wounds that hurt intensely, and massive amounts of digestive discomfort. I was exhausted and miserable. I was weak and unable to enjoy much of anything. I prayed the Lord would take me home for months because this was no way to live and my family deserved better!!

 

That’s when a friend in Canada told me about a clinic in Mexico that she thought I should check out. I looked, and it was an hour from our house. I called, and spoke with the lady who started it, Jennifer. She had been on a similar journey and could complete my sentences. I was desperate, and felt like this was a better option for me than the online dr because 1) they help with food 2) they use IV treatments which are move effective for me than pills because of my compromised gut 3) they could SEE how my body reacts to things being in person 4) Jennifer, the director, had experienced similar things as myself.

 

This clinic is a team of drs that treat with western medicine, non traditional medicine, homeopathic, and herbalistic medicines. The team of 8-10 drs from all over the map work together with their expertise to address the whole body.

 

So, with fear and trembling, I made my way to Mexico on oct 27 for a 3 day trip. That turned into a week, then 2 weeks, then 3 weeks, then….

 

I’ve only been home about 10 days total since oct 27. Part of that is the treatment has been brutal, my energy severely low, inflammation high, and they’ve been in the middle of killing these active infections in my body. But also because every time I went home, I got 101 fevers and body aches. That’s when we learned our NEW house had MOLD!!!

 

So, we got it tested 2 weeks ago. Between covid and Christmas, we haven’t been able to get the mold remediated. My family is reacting too, especially Karis. We have a remediation crew coming in on Monday, Lord willing! Lord willing, it’ll be all taken care of by the end of next week!!! We still need to get our whole house tested because my body is highly sensitive to it at this point. We also need to get a special purifier for the HVAC to kill mold spores. But, the mold testers can’t test until January 18th! They have to test and clean the HVAC before we can put anything on it too.

 

The experience over the last 2 months of treatment have been far from anything I can articulate!!! I've gotten further diagnosis of EBV and colitis. The colitis diagnosis came after 4 ‘normal’ colonoscopies in western medicine and ONE colonoscopy in Mexico with biopsies to ‘see’ what the eyes can’t. I've also been told my ‘colon is normal’ every time. But in Mexico they gave me pictures that show my abnormal colon. The damage is from chronic Lyme and inflammation since I was a child. These are all things the Mexico team is optimistic to heal over time!!

 

During this experience, I’ve met some of the most amazing people, heard some of the most incredible stories, been poked, prodded, physically invaded, and cared for by the kindest most tender nurses and drs who have become friends. I have witnessed the Lord's comfort and care in ways unspeakable. I’ve experienced more physical pain, fevers, body aches, tingling, stroke-like symptoms, and bodily discomforts than imaginable through this healing journey.

 

I’ve also hoped for the first time in a year of having a chance of going on a date with my husband again, dancing again, having the energy to play games with my kids again, and laugh at the days to come. It’s coming!

 

But it’s a process! And it’s HIS process. I believe He provided our home so that He could provide this clinic. Even the darn mold is all part of the healing because it actually was part of revealing my immune system was FINALLY fighting!!! A fever when I went home was showing it recognized something wasn’t good and it was fighting against it! And if that wouldn’t have happened then we might not have found the mold or gotten it remediated correctly, which in turn would have made us all SICK!!! So, the Lord’s beautiful care is in the details!!!!

 

I still have a long journey to complete this treatment process. We anticipate 8-10 more months of treatments. But I finally have hope again!!! As you can imagine, this journey is expensive and nothing we planned for. I’ve also had to stop working for treatments. The financial strain on my family has been scary to say the least. And I have felt undeserving of this opportunity. But the alternatives were deadly.

 

We’d be beyond grateful for any consideration of donations!!

 

Thank you so much for reading my story. I know it’s long and so incomplete. Please feel free to message me with any questions!!