
Life saving trip to Arizona-MCAS
Donation protected
UPDATE-Since moving into the apartment, my health has declined. I am unable to tolerate any kind of mold whatsoever, and I developed fluid around my heart and the phlebitis in my arms is back so I can use my arms like I usually can. The mold exposure also caused encephalitis in my brain. I can only eat one food, which is hamburger. My doctor thinks that if I go to Arizona I will improve quickly and rapidly, so that’s what we are doing. My oldest son Tristan, is bringing me down there to save my life. If I do well down there, my husband will meet us there. In the meantime he will be working in Minnesota and staying at the apartment. Please help if you can. There’s so many unknowns and we are stepping out in faith here to try to save my life. Please pray and share. Thank you so much for taking the time to read.
October 1, 2024 update -We found an apartment praise God! The problem is is that they painted the apartment and the paint causes anaphylactic reactions for me. I cannot be in the apartment unless I have a gas mask on. The cartridge filters last for one day and are about $25 a day. We are hoping to raise enough money to be able to have cartridges every day for six weeks while the paint off gasses. We have had this GoFundMe up for a few months and we’ve exhausted all the funds that were already donated On a hotel, campground, fees, food, moving expenses, camping gear, etc… If you can help in anyway, I would be so grateful to you! If we can get 30 more people to donate $25 that should cover me! thank you so much for taking the time to read and please pray for continued healing and provision.❤️
September 24, 2024 UPDATE. WE STILL HAVEN’T FOUND A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE, AND SHERRI DEVELOPED ENCEPHALITIS FROM ANOTHER RECENT MOLD EXPOSURE AND WENT BACKWARDS. SHE CAN’T EVEN BE OUTSIDE BECAUSE SHE REACTS TO THE MOLD OUTSIDE AS WELL. THEY NOW ARE LOOKING TO GET A VAN THAT THEY CAN CONVERT INTO A SAFE PLACE FOR HER TO HEAL. This also would allow them to go to Arizona so she can heal faster.
UPDATE. We are now homeless and have been living in a truck for weeks. My oldest is supposed to start his last year at Dunwoody in a few weeks. We are in dire need of safe housing free from mold, new construction offgassing, and fragrances.
My name is Sherri and I’m desperately trying to find safe housing. I have mast cell activation syndrome and was exposed to mold in my previous home for a year and a half, which caused blood clots in both of my arms. I have had them for the last six months and it’s extremely painful . The mold Exposure triggered my cells to react to everything, even food and medication. I cannot use my arms to do anything and I struggle to breathe because my mast cells are reacting to everything. It’s been very challenging to find a home that does not have mold , or that is not too new because I also react to offgassing from new construction. My husband has drained his 401(k) to help us stay in an Airbnb that has been safe for me and I started getting better… It’s a slow process to healing, but I’m seeing improvements and can eat hamburger and potatoes again thank God! I sold my vehicle as well that has also been helping to sustain us, but now we are out of funds and still have not found our home. I’m asking for help if anyone is able because I’m out of options. We can stay in the safe Airbnb for a while, but I don’t have enough funds. I will go into more detail about everything I’ve been through as soon as I’m able to please help if you can. Funds raised will be used to secure the Airbnb through the end of August and enough money for the deposit to move in to a safe place August 1. And please pray that God makes a way where there seems to be none. Thank you. Below is a letter from my doctor that might explain things a little bit better than I can. June 13, 2024
Re: Ms. Sherri R. Scholz, DOB 2/2/83
To whom it may concern:
I am the attending hematologist/oncologist who diagnosed this patient in 2015 with an idiopathic mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS, ICD-10 diagnostic code D89.42) as the root cause of her lifelong history of multisystem inflammatory, allergic, and other problems.
The dysfunctional mast cells in MCAS patients often are excessively reactive to even trace amounts/levels of exposure to various triggering substances (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, often include various volatile organic chemicals (VOCs, especially petroleum-based)) in the patient's immediate environment as well as various antigens shed into the surrounding environment by various mold (i.e., fungal) microorganisms. As such, mold infestations in residences and worksites can rapidly induce extreme illness in MCAS patients, and the same can be seen, too, upon exposure to even trace amounts of "off-gassing" from many different types of newly purchased/installed materials (again, particularly petroleum-based products). For example, new paint, new furniture, new flooring materials sometimes can trigger severe exacerbations of symptoms in an MCAS patient. Some patients need to evacuate from an offending residence or worksite for weeks to months until the offending infestation has been fully remediated or the triggering odor has finished off-gassing.
As such, with the discovery of a mold infestation in this patient's home, it would be best for her to avoid living in the home until the situation has been fully remediated. Furthermore, if reconstruction to any extent is needed and new materials are installed, additional time away from the property may be needed until off-gassing is complete. It almost goes without saying, too, that if similar mold infestation or new-material off-gassing issues are found in any of her temporary living quarters, then she would again need to evacuate those quarters to find yet other alternative housing her dysfunctional mast cells can better tolerate. MCAS-targeting medications can help only so much; in MCAS, triggers always trump drugs, i.e., drugs can never overcome the flaring of activation of an MCAS patients' dysfunctional mast cells which are brought on by exposure of those cells to the substances to which that patient's dysfunctional mast cells happen to be reactive.
If additional questions arise, you are welcome to contact me.
We discussed a number of issues/opportunities today, as detailed below:
(1) Perhaps most importantly, I noted I've additionally learned in these last several years that mycotoxin exposures due to mold infestations in residences workplaces and chronic low-grade infections with "tick-borne" infections (though in truth communicated even more commonly by scratches/bites from occultly infected pets, such as dogs and cats) often are *potent* triggers of activation of dysfunctional mast cells -- and in the additional social history I obtained today, she very clearly is at very high risk for suffering both of these issues
(2) All of the above paragraph having been said/written, I think the likelihood, based on her history, that she is suffering substantial additional triggering of her dysfunctional mast cells, on essentially a "24 by 7" basis, by mycotoxin exposure in her parents' home that it's simply imperative that she at least *test* this notion, if any way possible, by pursuing a "location sabbatical," i.e., temporarily relocating (preferably for 2-4 weeks) to a relatively distant location (ideally even in an entirely different -- and dry -- climate) very unlikely to be suffering any mold infestations. (Some of my patients who need to pursue this have found, for example, that locations in Colorado, Arizona or New Mexico, or coastal California can be helpful.) Clearly, if she improves significantly and rapidly in a substantially different alternative climate/environment, then there are one or more triggers in her home environment in Minnesota which are triggers for her. "Step 1" toward successful control of MCAS remains identifying a patient's triggers as precisely as possible and then doing one 's best to avoid them, for the simple reason that it is hard for *any* drug to gain good, sustained control over dysfunctional mast cells as long as the patient is simultaneously and persistently ingesting, or otherwise exposing herself to, a trigger. In MCAS, triggers always trump drugs; drugs never trump triggers. She indicated understanding.
Sincerely,
Lawrence B. Afrin, M.D.
Senior Consultant in Hematology/Oncology
AIM Center for Personalized Medicine
3010 Westchester Avenue, Suite 404
Purchase, NY 10577
Tel: [phone redacted]
Fax: [phone redacted]
E-mail: [email redacted]
Organizer
Sherri Schultz
Organizer
Hanover, MN