Kris Anne's Health Battle: Your Support Matters

"It's been a long road

Gettin' from there to here..."

-Faith of the Heart, Rod Stewart

In March 2012, my life changed forever. I began bleeding and it didn't stop until August 2012. This is not the journey that I thought my life would bring. I found myself in the Salem's Women Clinic and heard the diagnosis that named what was happening to my body: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

What I didn't know then is how little research and understanding there is about a woman's body. Since 2012, I have tried multiple interventions from completely changing my diet, restrictive eating methods involving avoiding gluten, dairy, and soy, Whole30 and Paleo diets, multiple medications such as Metformin, Farxiga, Insulin, and Ozempic. I've had two times where my iron levels have tanked to the point of needing iron infusions. Despite these interventions, most often my body's response has been to bleed for six months of the year and to experience anovulation for the other six months of the year.

This health condition has drastically impacted my life to the tune of insulin resistance, weight gain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, infertility, and financial insecurity.

In Mark 5:34, Jesus said to the bleeding woman, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole" (The Message translation).

While I don't know if I will ever be healed and freed from this illness on this side of the veil, these words still bring me solace and hope.

From September 2024 to February 2025, I experienced another bleeding spell, despite finally making the choice to try a birth control implant at the beginning of November. I cried before going into the appointment. This was a choice that I never wanted to make. All I wanted was for my body to do the one thing that it stopped doing in 2012: ovulate. Birth control literally stops that process. It never made sense to me to try it.

And my body kept on bleeding anyway. In January 2025, my iron plummeted once again to the low amount of 4 for my Ferritin levels. I found myself in the Emergency Department near the end of January due to symptoms similar to a panic attack that lasted for over an hour - heart palpitations, shortness of breath, that feeling of dread and anxiety.

I was approved iron infusions by my health insurance and then confused when the bill came for the first few infusions, over $2,000. When I called to inquire, they stated, "You haven't met your $3,500 deductible yet." And they were right. Last year, I had a $500 deductible that I never met. So this year, I took the gamble and went for the higher deductible.

A wise woman told me recently, "Physical health is mental health and mental health is physical health." As a therapist, I should know this and yet, it felt like my brain exploded with the realization. It is all connected. Our bodies and our minds impact each other every second of the day.

I also know that age-old idiom "it takes a village" is part of such a bigger truth. It doesn't just take a village to raise a child, it takes a village to exist. We need each other. And once again, my family needs you. We need your help to get through this difficult time.

If you are willing to help us, please consider a financial offering. It will allow us to continue to say yes to the ways we help and serve others. It will allow us to continue to serve in our much-loved service field positions: James, a leader in the nonprofit organization, the Boys & Girls Club; Kris Anne, as a therapist in a faith-based nonprofit organization. Your gift allows us to continue to focus on what matters most to us, raising our beautiful little human, Alice.

We love you so much and your support means the world to us.