My wife- Randi's Lyme Disease Treatment
Donation protected
Hello, everyone! I’ve never been very active on Facebook, even less so the past few years as our family has had a lot of challenges in that time…besides what “normal” life brings everyone’s way, and challenges each of our girls have been through (those stories are not mine to share), I had a large pituitary tumor (wrapped around my carotid artery, there was no option but to surgically remove it) and then a post-surgical infection, and Randi was diagnosed with 2 rare genetic disorders (Narcolepsy and hEDS—info below) which had her going to doctor appointments 3-5 times a week (acupuncture, physical therapy, chiropractic, Class IV lasers, etc).
I'm not sure how many of you know, but Randi (the love of my life, my rock my bride) was diagnosed this past spring with chronic Lyme Disease, along with tickborne co-infections, mold illness, heavy metal toxicity, chronic blood candidemia and various systemic parasitic infections. To give you an idea of her journey the past 2 years, Randi went from seeming like the “picture of health” with boundless energy to rapidly losing 25% of her body weight, barely able to get out of bed, requiring a cane or wheelchair at all times, suffering from extreme brain-fog and disorientation, having uncontrollable intense full-body/facial muscle convulsions multiple times a day, developing severe heart, vascular, GI, bladder and kidney symptoms and experiencing constant severe pain in her bones, muscles and nerves. Thankfully, after seeing and baffling specialist after specialist, Randi found a phenomenal, cutting edge Unipathic (combo of conventional and naturopathic) treatment center in Scottsdale, AZ, Envita Medical Center (https://www.envita.com) where she received complete diagnosis, and since July 16 has been undergoing breakthrough, top-tier treatment. The Envita doctors explained that the Lyme virus thoroughly depletes the immune system, that’s why Randi became susceptible to so many different types of infections, and so quickly.
Treatment has been more complicated and much lengthier than anyone expected because of the Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or hEDS (https://youtu.be/uCE8SYA4SE0 Randi participated in this EDS Awareness Video Campaign this past February) in which Randi's body produces defective collagen, making all of her tissues extremely thin and fragile...this allowed the pathogens to embed very deeply in her tissues, so it took longer to coax everything out for eradication, extending the original treatment schedule from 7 weeks to what will be 20+ weeks (her treatment just got further extended, so we don’t know exactly when she’ll be done, but THANKFULLY she has come home most weekends). **Great news regarding the hEDS pain Randi describes in the awareness video, it has been GREATLY reduced as the infections are clearing, and she hasn't needed her cane in over a month, Thank You, Jesus!
This proprietary treatment has been a true answer to prayer, Randi says it’s clearly how God chose to perform the miracle of healing in her life, and as she continually improves she happily says, “I’m getting my life back!"
Because most of the treatments are cutting-edge and not yet considered "standard of care," insurance doesn't cover it. Though Randi is confidently looking forward to getting back into full-swing with work after essentially being unemployed due to disability the past 2 years, the estimated treatment costs were large enough that we took a loan to cover the costs. The unexpected expense of the additional treatment time (which also means additional AZ housing expense), plus some on-going home care that will be required afterwards, the expense is substantially more than we budgeted for, even though we included a healthy buffer built into the loan.
After the prompting of trusted family and friends, we prayerfully decided to create this GoFundMe page, in case anyone is led to financially contribute towards Randi's remaining treatment. The total treatment cost will wind up being approx. $81,000, and housing around $10,000, but are asking for donations for just the last portion, the beyond-our-financial scope portion, which we’ve calculated to be $23,000. We’re aware that it sounds like a lot of money for treatment, but for perspective, after Randi spent 4 days in a regular hospital due to an infection at her permacath site, the amount billed to insurance (because that was covered by insurance) was $39,226.00…so, when you compare 4 DAYS = $39,226 with over 4 MONTHS = $81,000, you’ll understand that the treatment is priced to serve the patients, and not “the system."
We fully appreciate any support, but even if you can't donate financially, please send prayers as Randi completes this life-changing journey, from decline to diagnosis to treatment to recovery!
We've learned A LOT about Lyme Disease, which the medical community generally knows very little about at the current time, and would be remiss in not sharing a few important/startling facts:
1. Besides ticks, Lyme can be transmitted by mosquitos, sandflies, fleas, "no-see-ums"...nearly any bug that bites both animals and people.
2. Lyme can be transmitted in utero and sexually transmitted.
3. Most doctors aren't aware of the hundreds of potential co-infections (8 being extremely common) that are VERY often transmitted along with Lyme. Those infections don't respond to the same antibiotics as Lyme, so treatment for acute Lyme won’t treat those co-infections.
4. Lyme can remain dormant in the system for years until an unrelated serious infection, injury or traumatic event weakens the immune system, allowing the disease to be activated.
5. Once Lyme disease is past the acute phase and becomes chronic, conventional tests are generally useless because the virus embeds in the tissues and rarely shows up in the blood stream.
6. Lyme can weaken the immune system to the extent that the body doesn’t have the strength to trigger any response in antibody testing (resulting in false negatives in antibody testing).
7. Though there’s still no perfect testing system, Integrative and Naturopathic physicians have excellent tests that give exceedingly more accurate results than conventional testing.
8. Lyme, known as “The Great Pretender” is often misdiagnosed as over 300 other conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimers Disease, Fibromyalgia, ALS, just to name a few of the most common misdiagnoses.
9. Cellular damage from Lyme and common concurrent infections can cause several types of Lymphomas, Nose and Throat Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Gastric Cancer, Liver Cancer, Bladder Cancer and Prostate Cancer.
Here’s some scientific information about Lyme Disease from Envita: https://www.envita.com/lyme-disease/new-envita-study-explains-how-lyme-disease-evades-the-immune-system-forms-biofilm
I've attached a few pics so you can see my smiling bride with her implanted permacath, where all the action happens (immune boosting infusions, detox infusions, multiple targeted antimicrobials, apheresis, insulin receptor treatments that pull everything directly through the blood-brain barrier), plus an Illustration of a permacath, what we DON'T see beneath the surface...we like to say "it's creepy, but awesome!"
Thank you, and bless you, Friends!
I'm not sure how many of you know, but Randi (the love of my life, my rock my bride) was diagnosed this past spring with chronic Lyme Disease, along with tickborne co-infections, mold illness, heavy metal toxicity, chronic blood candidemia and various systemic parasitic infections. To give you an idea of her journey the past 2 years, Randi went from seeming like the “picture of health” with boundless energy to rapidly losing 25% of her body weight, barely able to get out of bed, requiring a cane or wheelchair at all times, suffering from extreme brain-fog and disorientation, having uncontrollable intense full-body/facial muscle convulsions multiple times a day, developing severe heart, vascular, GI, bladder and kidney symptoms and experiencing constant severe pain in her bones, muscles and nerves. Thankfully, after seeing and baffling specialist after specialist, Randi found a phenomenal, cutting edge Unipathic (combo of conventional and naturopathic) treatment center in Scottsdale, AZ, Envita Medical Center (https://www.envita.com) where she received complete diagnosis, and since July 16 has been undergoing breakthrough, top-tier treatment. The Envita doctors explained that the Lyme virus thoroughly depletes the immune system, that’s why Randi became susceptible to so many different types of infections, and so quickly.
Treatment has been more complicated and much lengthier than anyone expected because of the Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or hEDS (https://youtu.be/uCE8SYA4SE0 Randi participated in this EDS Awareness Video Campaign this past February) in which Randi's body produces defective collagen, making all of her tissues extremely thin and fragile...this allowed the pathogens to embed very deeply in her tissues, so it took longer to coax everything out for eradication, extending the original treatment schedule from 7 weeks to what will be 20+ weeks (her treatment just got further extended, so we don’t know exactly when she’ll be done, but THANKFULLY she has come home most weekends). **Great news regarding the hEDS pain Randi describes in the awareness video, it has been GREATLY reduced as the infections are clearing, and she hasn't needed her cane in over a month, Thank You, Jesus!
This proprietary treatment has been a true answer to prayer, Randi says it’s clearly how God chose to perform the miracle of healing in her life, and as she continually improves she happily says, “I’m getting my life back!"
Because most of the treatments are cutting-edge and not yet considered "standard of care," insurance doesn't cover it. Though Randi is confidently looking forward to getting back into full-swing with work after essentially being unemployed due to disability the past 2 years, the estimated treatment costs were large enough that we took a loan to cover the costs. The unexpected expense of the additional treatment time (which also means additional AZ housing expense), plus some on-going home care that will be required afterwards, the expense is substantially more than we budgeted for, even though we included a healthy buffer built into the loan.
After the prompting of trusted family and friends, we prayerfully decided to create this GoFundMe page, in case anyone is led to financially contribute towards Randi's remaining treatment. The total treatment cost will wind up being approx. $81,000, and housing around $10,000, but are asking for donations for just the last portion, the beyond-our-financial scope portion, which we’ve calculated to be $23,000. We’re aware that it sounds like a lot of money for treatment, but for perspective, after Randi spent 4 days in a regular hospital due to an infection at her permacath site, the amount billed to insurance (because that was covered by insurance) was $39,226.00…so, when you compare 4 DAYS = $39,226 with over 4 MONTHS = $81,000, you’ll understand that the treatment is priced to serve the patients, and not “the system."
We fully appreciate any support, but even if you can't donate financially, please send prayers as Randi completes this life-changing journey, from decline to diagnosis to treatment to recovery!
We've learned A LOT about Lyme Disease, which the medical community generally knows very little about at the current time, and would be remiss in not sharing a few important/startling facts:
1. Besides ticks, Lyme can be transmitted by mosquitos, sandflies, fleas, "no-see-ums"...nearly any bug that bites both animals and people.
2. Lyme can be transmitted in utero and sexually transmitted.
3. Most doctors aren't aware of the hundreds of potential co-infections (8 being extremely common) that are VERY often transmitted along with Lyme. Those infections don't respond to the same antibiotics as Lyme, so treatment for acute Lyme won’t treat those co-infections.
4. Lyme can remain dormant in the system for years until an unrelated serious infection, injury or traumatic event weakens the immune system, allowing the disease to be activated.
5. Once Lyme disease is past the acute phase and becomes chronic, conventional tests are generally useless because the virus embeds in the tissues and rarely shows up in the blood stream.
6. Lyme can weaken the immune system to the extent that the body doesn’t have the strength to trigger any response in antibody testing (resulting in false negatives in antibody testing).
7. Though there’s still no perfect testing system, Integrative and Naturopathic physicians have excellent tests that give exceedingly more accurate results than conventional testing.
8. Lyme, known as “The Great Pretender” is often misdiagnosed as over 300 other conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimers Disease, Fibromyalgia, ALS, just to name a few of the most common misdiagnoses.
9. Cellular damage from Lyme and common concurrent infections can cause several types of Lymphomas, Nose and Throat Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Gastric Cancer, Liver Cancer, Bladder Cancer and Prostate Cancer.
Here’s some scientific information about Lyme Disease from Envita: https://www.envita.com/lyme-disease/new-envita-study-explains-how-lyme-disease-evades-the-immune-system-forms-biofilm
I've attached a few pics so you can see my smiling bride with her implanted permacath, where all the action happens (immune boosting infusions, detox infusions, multiple targeted antimicrobials, apheresis, insulin receptor treatments that pull everything directly through the blood-brain barrier), plus an Illustration of a permacath, what we DON'T see beneath the surface...we like to say "it's creepy, but awesome!"
Thank you, and bless you, Friends!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jon Sparrman
Organizer
Agoura Hills, CA
Barnabas Lyn
Beneficiary