- A
Dear Friends, Family, and Kind Strangers,
About 5 years ago, after 6 months of mysterious internal bleeding, abdominal pain/nausea, and an obscene amount of daily bathroom visits, Rachel was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease known as Ulcerative Colitis. After 6 more months of pills, intense diet-restrictions, and a whole lot of trips to the doctor her Colitis went into remission and has remained somewhat symptom free for the past few years.
Earlier this year, her sickness returned.
Here is a quick timeline:
April - Her symptoms began to return, mildly at first, shortly after Rachel accepted a new job.
June - Rachel quit that job, which had been taking a toll on her mental health and causing more stress-induced colitis symptoms.
August - Rachel’s symptoms escalate into a full-blown Ulcerative Colitis flare. Despite being sick and bedridden, she continued working her long-standing part-time job from home and applying for other work.
September/October - We tried everything we could to send her illness back into remission with dietary restrictions, nutrition, and the medicine that had helped her when she first got sick, but nothing worked.
November - Rachel is laid off from her part-time job, and we begin the process of going back to GI Specialists to figure out why this flare-up and the new symptoms it has brought aren’t going into remission using the same methods as her initial illness.
And that brings us to today. After the last four months of Rachel being more-or-less bedridden (or couch-ridden), we’ve had to face the fact that she won’t be able to work again until her symptoms begin to subside. Rachel is resilient, but as much as she can put on a brave face, this illness has incapacitated her. This means that we are actively seeking holistic healing and medical help, with all the costs this brings. This is especially difficult as my (J.D.’s) roles as a full-time seminary student, part time teacher, and now caregiver are all demanding and none too lucrative.
Our parents have been incredibly generous and supportive throughout this time, and our friends have been an invaluable help to us, but we’ve hit a wall. We’ve avoided asking for financial help up until this point, thinking we would be able to weather this until Rachel was healed, but it’s been harder and taken longer than we anticipated. With her income disappearing, we need help to make ends meet, pay medical bills, and stave off debt until she’s well enough to work again. We’re asking for enough to supplement the loss of her income for a couple months, but the uncertain nature of this disease makes it hard to know what all we’ll really need, so expect updates to follow.
This year has been one of our hardest, but the difficulty has been punctuated with moments of beauty and growth. Jesus has been speaking to us in the midst of this sickness, and the last few months have become a space of spiritual renewal — ask us about it sometime. Opening ourselves up to ask for help from you all is something that we’re profoundly uncomfortable doing because of how vulnerable it feels, so we’re pretty sure that this too is a part of the process of humbling and maturing that we’ve begun.
Thank you so much for stepping into this with us.
Love,
J.D. & Rachel Neal
P.S. – If you want to hear more about this from Rachel, you can get semi-regular updates from her instagram and DM her questions.
About 5 years ago, after 6 months of mysterious internal bleeding, abdominal pain/nausea, and an obscene amount of daily bathroom visits, Rachel was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease known as Ulcerative Colitis. After 6 more months of pills, intense diet-restrictions, and a whole lot of trips to the doctor her Colitis went into remission and has remained somewhat symptom free for the past few years.
Earlier this year, her sickness returned.
Here is a quick timeline:
April - Her symptoms began to return, mildly at first, shortly after Rachel accepted a new job.
June - Rachel quit that job, which had been taking a toll on her mental health and causing more stress-induced colitis symptoms.
August - Rachel’s symptoms escalate into a full-blown Ulcerative Colitis flare. Despite being sick and bedridden, she continued working her long-standing part-time job from home and applying for other work.
September/October - We tried everything we could to send her illness back into remission with dietary restrictions, nutrition, and the medicine that had helped her when she first got sick, but nothing worked.
November - Rachel is laid off from her part-time job, and we begin the process of going back to GI Specialists to figure out why this flare-up and the new symptoms it has brought aren’t going into remission using the same methods as her initial illness.
And that brings us to today. After the last four months of Rachel being more-or-less bedridden (or couch-ridden), we’ve had to face the fact that she won’t be able to work again until her symptoms begin to subside. Rachel is resilient, but as much as she can put on a brave face, this illness has incapacitated her. This means that we are actively seeking holistic healing and medical help, with all the costs this brings. This is especially difficult as my (J.D.’s) roles as a full-time seminary student, part time teacher, and now caregiver are all demanding and none too lucrative.
Our parents have been incredibly generous and supportive throughout this time, and our friends have been an invaluable help to us, but we’ve hit a wall. We’ve avoided asking for financial help up until this point, thinking we would be able to weather this until Rachel was healed, but it’s been harder and taken longer than we anticipated. With her income disappearing, we need help to make ends meet, pay medical bills, and stave off debt until she’s well enough to work again. We’re asking for enough to supplement the loss of her income for a couple months, but the uncertain nature of this disease makes it hard to know what all we’ll really need, so expect updates to follow.
This year has been one of our hardest, but the difficulty has been punctuated with moments of beauty and growth. Jesus has been speaking to us in the midst of this sickness, and the last few months have become a space of spiritual renewal — ask us about it sometime. Opening ourselves up to ask for help from you all is something that we’re profoundly uncomfortable doing because of how vulnerable it feels, so we’re pretty sure that this too is a part of the process of humbling and maturing that we’ve begun.
Thank you so much for stepping into this with us.
Love,
J.D. & Rachel Neal
P.S. – If you want to hear more about this from Rachel, you can get semi-regular updates from her instagram and DM her questions.