Help Kelly fight Lyme Disease

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."-Matthew 11:28

On October 9th, 2015 I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease.  (Please scroll down to the bottom half to read more about my entire battle with Lyme Disease,my symptoms, and more,  aka; my story.)
Up until the 2 weeks prior to my diagnosis last October,  I was living a non stop , adventurous life, full of outdoor exploring, playing with my family, taking road trips, working on dailyDIY projects & home updates, yard work & living life to the fullest.   Lyme has completely changed my daily life & I now have a stack of medical bills equalling up to over $5,000 from Emergency Room trips, iv treatments, blood & lab tests & more is still stacking up as I am trying to heal . 
Lyme Disease has taken much of my energy & caused a great amount of insomnia, a typical nights sleep for me since October has been 9pm-3am. 3am until 6 am when my kids get up, I spend praying, reading and doing more research on Lyme Disease. 
I have really good days with no pain, and some times the pain comes in stretches of a day to a few weeks-most of the time when it hits, it hits hard and sends me to tears and even occasionally has sent me into the Emergency Room.   I spend many days, nights and moments curled up on the couch or in my bed, feeling entirely lonley-even though I am not alone, praying, crying, and trying to not instill any major fear in my children as they comfort me all at the same time.  

I need to seek an LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor, which praise God I have finally found and have an appointment with June 1st) to continue treatment & to receive full healing from Lyme- unfortunately insurance doesnt cover any LLMD appointments, or treatment plans & one visit alone is  several hundred dollars.($224-$500 JUST for the first appointment.)
  On top of seeking more help for treatment, I am to also follow a strict 'Lyme' diet which makes grocery trip expenses quite a bit more than they have been before.   

Because of my unknown health-daily, my work hours have dropped  to only a couple of hours a week, IF I am feeling good enough to be able to even make it in to work .   I went from working 36 hours a week, to 3-6 hours per week, and some weeks, 0 hours, which has dramatically decreased our families income.

I have chronic Lyme which most doctors will not recognize and insurance companies will not cover treatment. The cost of being chronically sick and housebound out in the country, for the most part is adding up.

I am asking for your help to help me
continue the treatment I desperately need. Any amount would greatly be appreciated, and if you cannot financially help your thoughts, prayers and ongoing encouraging reminders and words are greatly appreciated.   

News 18 WQOW segment with Kelly talking about Lyme Disease;    WQOW 4/18/16 Lyme Disease ‌


God Bless,
The Whitman Family
Devon, Kelly, Rayce & Camryn

(Please scroll down to read my entire Lyme Story-this far)

KELLYS LYME STORY; How it all began.


At the end of September 2015, I was having a typical Saturday out in the country. Working on yard work, cleaning up gardens, and non stop random projects, when out of nowhere- I was hit with an intense feeling of fatigue and head pain. I felt as if though I could have fallen over and just lost my life right then and there. I set down my shovel, came inside and laid on the couch, and the pain in my head began to increase. I went upstairs to go to bed at 6;00 that evening, with ibuprofen, water, and curled up in a fetal position as the pain was so intense in the upper part of my head that I coudn't tolerate it.

The pain continued to get worse in my entire head, I was crying so hard in tears I made my way downstairs to go tell my husband, I then went back upstairs, and sobbed for several hours straight, after a few hours, now into the night- the right botom side of my face started to tingle, then it eventually went completely numb- I couldn't feel anything from the right half of my chin, to half way up my jaw.   (this can be known as Bells Palsy).  Over the course of the night, the pain slowly trickled its way down into my neck, making my neck so stiff that I could not longer control any sort of movement left or right- my neck would not move.     After loads of pain medicine , healthy foods, flooding myself with water- my fear of what was happening to me was starting to grow, but knowing our medical insurance wasn't good- I wanted to tough it out as long as possible so an ER bill wouldn't burden our family.  

On that Sunday , the numbness on my face had left,  the pain and stiffness that was in my neck, moved on and went into both of my shoulders- and was no longer in my neck.   The stiffness in my shoulders on Monday had now moved back up into my neck and from Monday-Wednesday I could not turn my head in any direction again, my poor kids kept hearing me say 'Come in front of me and show me, I can not turn to look at you' those few days.    On Wednesday the stiffness had started to leave my upper body and I then had noticed my entire body had broke out in a hive-like rash.   At this point- I had finally hit my bottom of 'being tough' .  Sometimes being tough-IS helping yourself.

After some prayer, I felt led that I wasn't to go into the ER or Urgent Care, that I was to push to get in with a regular doctor that very same day-which can be hard to do.   I called the hospital in Eau Claire and explained my symptoms and they suggested I went to Urgent Care, I still heard a small voice saying 'no, that's not right,' so I insisted that they try to fit me in with a regular doctor for a regular appointment that same day- she said there was absolutely nothing, but then after pausing she said she could check with the other hospital in a near by town.   A doctor over there had just had one cancelation right before I had called.  Appointment made, and 3 hours later, there I was getting  blood tests- for Lyme Disease?  WHAT!?  The thought that I had Lyme, had not crossed my mind once while on my way to the hospital- I had no idea what was happening.    Praise God this Doctor was excellent, heard my cries, and took time to pause, think, and be silent while trying to figure out what was wrong with me- and came up with the idea to test me for Lyme.  This Doctor was a Godsend, as many people go years and to hundreds of specialists before getting any diagnosis-Lyme can mimic over 300 other diseases as well and often people get misdiagnosed. 
Without knowing the results, he followed his intuition and immediately put me on antibiotics (Doxycycline). 

At this point- my head was spinning, I knew NOTHING about Lyme Disease, nothing.  So I followed "Doctors Orders" and did as he said.

I left the hospital, without knowing any results yet and remember my heart beating so fast- with the unknowns of what was to come.    I drove a few miles, and pulled over on the side of the road- and cried.  God what are you doing!!!!?  I thought,  I called all of  my family members and let them know the possibility of me having Lyme Disease on my way back to the house on my 45 minute drive back home. 

The next day, October 9th I got a phone call from the Doctor- and when the words 'Your test for Lyme Disease came back positive' rang into my ear, my heart sank, and tears rolled down my cheeks.    (  A few days later, the longer Lyme test came back and showed positive results as well. )

October 10th 2015 -also my wedding anniversary.  One of the hardest days of my life- the pain in my head had increased again SO bad that I spent the day in tears curled up on the couch.    I had company coming over the next day and had messaged  them and let them know of my pain, my diagnosis and asked that they please still come as I needed the support.     I got little to no sleep that night.

October 11th, 2015
Still taking the Doxycycline as ordered, my head pain that morning was increasing, I think I drank enough water for 30 people- thinking maybe I was dehydrated.  I felt as if though my head was going to explode.

My company was still coming over- I needed it , I needed them, more than I even knew.   I had invited the Faith Riders (Motorcycle Ministry) over for photos, and a chili lunch feed - and it turned into a wonderful time of conversation- and prayer over me.  This group has been like family to me, and such a huge support system- another blessing and Godsend in my life over the past few months.  

After they prayed over me , and headed to their homes- the pain in my head was constant.  ( I knew their prayer was perfect, and powerful and I know God heard it, and is working on it still- I believe that prayer that day changed my life, that it WILL change my life,  it may not have been that instant, but I KNOW, I know my healing is coming.   )


My sister was also visiting that weekend and that evening my head pain was so severe that I was sobbing on the living room floor , yelling in pain, and rocking back and forth holding my head.  She insisted that she take me in to the Emergency Room, where my husband who was out of town, came back and met us.   In the wating room of the Emergency Room, I unfortunately didn't have any visable damage, so I was not seen as important -but to me, I felt like something was seriously wrong and my sister insisted that they get me in asap, and they did.  

After checking me in, they wheeled me back into a small ER Room, and took some blood tests, and other tests, at this point- I was in so much pain, I truly don't recall all that they were even doing.  They hooked me up to IV's to help minimize the pain as well.   Later they mentioned that I had swelling in my head and that it was good that I had come in.   I had mentioned that I had Lyme Disease and was on Doxycycline and they said I could be having a severe reaction to the antibiotics ,  (I had also originally thought that I was having a herxheimer reaction- which is where you go through periods of pain after being on the Doxy, because it is killing of the
Spirochetes ) . 


After several hours in the ER and pain relief finally letting up, I was discharged and sent back home, with no more real answers, other than- yes I had Lyme, yes I have pain- and the rest of the research I guess, was up to me)

My Instagram post 8 days into my battle; 

 I had continued on with the full CDC regulated '21 days' of Doxy, (which btw is not up to date, please do your research beyond what the text books say if you or someone you know is battling Lyme).  After battling 21 days of more extreme pain, vomitting on a regular basis, and a complete loss of any life outside of my home , spending many nights crying outside of the bathroom, ready to be sick, most likely- from the medication, and hours upon hours of sobbing with my sweet children in my lap, comforting me with their beautiful compassionate souls.  I called my doctor again, "The Doxy is completed, I am still in extreme pain, it is spreading, and I feel worse, not better'  He then switched me over to another antibiotic for another 3 weeks approximately, I had felt improvement during that time and started to again see the light in mid November- I started back to work very very slowly about 3-6 hours per week shortly after Thanksgiving.

At this time I also contacted a wonderful source, provided to me by a friend , and went to see Dr Kevin Schultz at My Life Health Center in Lake Hallie, Wisconsin ( highly recommended).  My visit with him was of utmost importance as he taught me that I needed a complete diet change and spent time coaching me about healthier eating habits and gave me a list of foods to add in to my diet, so I wasn't feeding the bacteria that was infecting my body.   This appointment, was again another Godsend in the midst of the storm. 

I began to eat very healthy, I cut out almost all sugar, I was feeling better- more energy was coming back and I thought I had kicked it in January- I thought I was healed, but then out of nowhere, my pain flared up, my symptoms started coming back, my pain became unbearable again and I had to cut back again on work hours.  

During February and March, I found myself slipping into a major slump of depression.  This disease really really messes with your mind, many may not admit it, but I will.  I found myself having no energy to even care enough about myself- to take care of myself to fight this disease. 

The last week in March, I had an extreme amount of pain return.  This time in my jaw, my head, my ears and my upper chest.   I went an entire 5 days with some of the most miserable pain I have ever felt, at home, crying all day, holding onto my head-sobbing prayers, getting angry with God, getting angry with myself for 'giving up' , and finding fear allowing itself to creep back into my head, and then I started to fear heart problems.  (Lyme can affect ALL of your organs , heart and brain included)

Saturday April 2nd I had had enough of tears, enough of going into the back room every few hours to cry extremely loud yelps of pain, so the family didn't have to see or hear my pain- I had enough of trying to be tough, again.       My husband rushed me into the Emergency Room, and the Dr gave me an EKG test and a heart scan, since I was having severe chest pain and was worried about my heart.   They told me the tests came back okay, gave me a shot with pain medicine and muscle relaxer- and after a few hours, sent me back home again.  Another several thousand dollar trip to the ER with zero answers. 

So now, here I am a few weeks from that day.   I am again taking the best care of myself, that I possibly can, and I am fully surrendering my life and my pain and my plans to God- again.  Each day is different & I praise God for every single pain free moment & appreciate each sweet moment so much more than I ever have before.    

Last Sunday night I couldn't sleep from some chest pain and light ear pressure, so I was researching online more about natural ways to cure Lyme Disease and came across another friend who has it and is disabled from it, and suggested I set up a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses so I can get the correct help that I need, and deserve.   So I did.  &  I now because of that & someone sharing my story, I finally have an appointment set for June 1st at 3:15 with a well known around the world Lyme Literate Doctor in Bloomer, Wi. 

The first appointment alone will cost me out of pocket, anywhere between $224-$500 depending if he discovers any other co infections and what # of treatments he puts me on.   But , another Godsend, I am moving forward towards the goal of healing

Also, very important!!: I did not ever have a 'bulls eye rash' on me , and many people with Lyme do not ever recall having one either.  I did have a tick bite while camping overthe Summer & have hadsome other tick bites over the 32 years of my life.  European studies have shown Lyme Disease can also be caried by mosquitos, flies , gnats & other bugs as well. 

You may see me walking around with a smile- and I may not 'look' sick, but inside is a whole other story. This disease has taken over my life- and I need help to fight it and win my life back! I will not give up, give in or quit this battle. The Lord has created me to heal- and I believe I can make a full recovery- in His perfect and beautiful timing.


Thank you all who took time to read my story, this far.  I know it was long, but I'm hoping someone out there may read it, and be encouraged to NOT GIVE UP, to fight and to seek help and take care of your body when something isn't right . 

Thanks to all who are praying, encouraging me with texts, Facebook messages, Instagram posts, and financially as well. Please know many of your messages, and every donation moves me to tears of gratefulness - and reassurance that one day again I will be fully healed.  

http://youtu.be/reAlJKv7ptU Rend Collective-My Lighthouse

Check back for updates.  
Hugs and Blessings,

Kelly <3