Hello friends and family,

We are the Brink Family, Mitch and Heather, and our daughters Sophie, Maggie and Annika. We are reaching out to our community for support for medical treatment for 19 year old Sophie.

Sophie is a sweet, creative and thoughtful daughter and big sister. Since Sophie was 8, she has enjoyed being a camper at Son-Life Camp and has had a lifelong dream of being a counselor there! In fact, she organized and led a backyard day camp for neighborhood kids a few summers ago! In middle school and the first half of high school, Sophie loved volunteering at church, taking art classes, singing in choir and advanced treble ensemble, and being part of art, set and stage crews in theatre.

In the spring of her sophomore year (2023), Sophie struggled with a few dizzy spells. By the fall (junior year), things started getting scary. Her dizziness had rapidly became debilitating and she could barely get out of bed most days. She missed school over half of the first semester. She needed to use a wheelchair at school to make it through just 1 or 2 classes. How do you explain going from fully functioning to a wheelchair user so quickly? After seeing many doctors, Sophie was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). These conditions are often triggered by an illness or event which cause autonomic nervous system dysfunction, affecting the entire autonomic nervous system. Her nervous system is stuck in “fight or flight.” It is so heartbreaking to watch as a parent, scary for her sisters to watch, and scary and frustrating for Sophie going through it - having blood pressure and heart rate issues, dizziness / vision disturbances, passing out up to 50x a day, seizures at least weekly, gut issues, intense exhaustion, extreme heat sensitivity, temperature disregulation, chronic pain, sleep disturbance, migraines, muscle weakness and trouble controlling her body, brain fog and trouble finding words, and more. For many patients with FND, it can even cause stroke-like paralysis, severe gait issues and a loss of speech. Even the simplest tasks take Sophie 5x longer and take 5x as much energy as a “normal” person. These are real symptoms caused by miscommunication between her brain and body. It is a software problem vs a hardware problem. Unfortunately, most with these diagnoses experience a lot of gaslighting from the medical community - not believing the patient, not understanding the diagnosis, or not knowing how to treat it (especially in the emergency room). Around Thanksgiving / Christmas. we had to make some hard decisions together about school and it felt that the only way Sophie would be able to graduate from high school was for her to switch to an online school so that she could do school laying down and we would be able to have the flexibility to make it to lots of appointments. Sophie switched to a different school - an online high school - second semester junior year, January 2024. With so many parts of her body affected, Sophie struggles to leave the house even to attend physical therapy, medical appointments and church. She pushes herself hard, but almost every trip out of the house results in a flare up (a sharp increase in debilitating symptoms lasting for hours, days or even weeks). As you can imagine, many things Sophie loves to do came to a grinding halt when she got sick. She is constantly calculating whether she feels good enough and has enough energy for something. While Sophie's peers began driving, gained independence, graduated from high school and left home for college, Sophie lost more and more independence, wasn't able to get her driver's license, often needs a wheelchair or walking sticks now, and has had to put college plans on hold. Not only has this affected her physical health, but also her confidence and mental health. She just wants her life back. Sophie worked really really hard and with God’s help, the help of family, and of very supportive teachers and mentors, we celebrate that she graduated from the online high school in June 2025! This was a hard fought hallelujah!

What treatments have we tried for Sophie’s POTS and FND? Sophie has 12 doctors, specialists and professionals to help manage these health challenges. She's tried doctors’ visits; diagnostic testing; medications; outpatient vestibular, physical, and occupational therapy (multiple rounds); and mental health counseling. Due to a lack of significant improvement through outpatient treatment, she was referred an inpatient FND program. We were very hopeful about inpatient FND treatment, but were repeatedly denied by insurance despite all of our efforts to appeal these decisions.

Sophie is currently taking a gap year to focus her health. Sophie and I were able to volunteer together for 1 week at Son-Life Camp this summer and last (for 2 hours a day -- with a break in between to pace herself. Then she was wiped out.) We rejoice in these victories and have seen God’s love and faithfulness through these medical trials. Through these struggles, our family's faith in Jesus Christ has grown; we know that God has not left or forsaken us for a second.

Unfortunately over the last 2.5 years, while Sophie's symptoms are more predictable now (less scary) and she has had small improvements from the treatments, she is far from back to normal functioning. She still needs a wheelchair or walking sticks much of the time when she is outside the house, she can only walk short distances, passes out many times a day and has seizures at least a few times. week, she spends most of the time too dizzy to leave the couch or the house, relying on others to help with many daily living activities, struggling with chronic pain, brain fog, sleep issues and muscle weakness. Often her energy is used up just getting ready to go to an activity so when we're ready to go she is in a vicious cycle of passing out, or she can only participate for an hour or 2 before needing to go home. As a family, we've gotten used to plans needing to change at the last minute, making family hikes or trips to a museum or zoo, or family vacations look a lot different now. In addition, Mitch and Heather have both faced medical challenges in 2025 as well, including Mitch's health preventing him from being able to work for a couple months early in the year and him needing surgery soon, and Heather preparing for her second major surgery within 3 months also resulting in time off work and relying on others for transportation.

So where are we now and what is this fundraiser for? Sophie's conditions stem from a part of her brain called the limbic system getting "stuck" in "fight-or-flight" mode. It's like a fire alarm that won't turn off, even after the fire is out. This has created a loop of chronic symptoms in her autonomic nervous system. Recently the Lord led us to a treatment program for Sophie called Limbic System Rewire. This is a Christ-centered brain rewiring program based on brain science (neuroplasticity) that will teach her brain how to turn off that alarm and return to a state of calm and healing. It's not a quick fix, but a structured process to address the root cause of her illnesses. There are some elements of this program that we have practiced in other therapies which Sophie has done; however, some brain rewiring techniques use new age and eastern religious practices. Feeling convicted that these are not methods we are to participate in, we are so excited that Limbic System Rewire uses God's Holy Word together with neuroscience to help a person to retrain their limbic system. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." God showed Sophie that she has tried what the world has to offer to bring her healing and it has not worked. It is now time to embrace what God has to offer to bring her healing. We stand together with Sophie, encouraged by other's success with this program! Sophie joyfully began the Limbic System Rewire program in mid-October. This 6-month program utilizes assessments, training videos, workbooks, a daily roadmap of brain retraining practices, scriptures to memorize, visualization, a joy journal, coaching sessions, peer support, two live Q&A sessions a week, and unlimited support from the coaches and leaders of the program. We are so excited about how this will deepen Sophie's relationship with Lord as well as transform her health - mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually - as a whole person!

The cost of Sophie's treatment is overwhelming at $5,500. They do not accept insurance. This is a significant financial burden for us. The funds raised will be used to pay back a loan for Sophie's treatment. Any donation, no matter the size, would be a tremendous blessing. If you are unable to donate, please consider helping by praying for Sophie and by sharing our fundraiser. Your generous help will allow us to focus on Sophie's healing without the stress of this extra financial debt.

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for your generosity, kindness, and prayers!

With love, gratitude, and hope in Jesus,

Mitch, Heather, Sophie, Maggie and Annika