My Story

In the natural, I shouldn’t be alive right now. For the past 4 years, I have suffered one affliction after another, starting with a head injury. While removing things from my father-in-law's car trunk, the trunk malfunctioned and came down on the back of my head.  It caused a bad headache, for sure, but I had no idea how bad.  Over the next week, the headache was getting worse and worse. Finally, through an MRI, it was discovered that I had a subdural hematoma - a brain bleed. I was immediately admitted to ICU. 

Over the next six days, I was put on a saline drip and 2 drugs administered intravenously for pain - Morphine and Tramadol. I had never been one for drugs of any kind. I always preferred the natural route. My body absorbed the drugs to such an extent that I literally passed out for 5 days and didn't eat. I lost 16 pounds and dropped to 96lbs. My family thought my non-responsiveness was due to the head injury, but it was carelessness about drug administration. The hospital staff also gave me 4 unnecessary brain CT scans over 5 days.  

Gratefully, my Primary Care doctor advised my family to get me out of the hospital so I could heal. When I got home I was weak. But I was off the awful medication. My system cleared. And over the next six months, I regained strength, weight and activity as the swelling in my brain decreased. I had a mild, very occasional buzzing in my head that would only last for a micro-second, but didn't think anything of it. 

I couldn't begin to know how bad things would get, but my gut started to go south. The brain-gut connection became a huge factor. Everything seemed to be going right through me. I was going to the bathroom 6 or 7 times daily, and rapidly losing weight. And I didn't know why. 

I saw a gastroenterologist who put me on meds that not only didn't help, they resulted in blood in my stool, and made the brain zaps worse. Within 3 months, I was streaming blood and mucous into the toilet. And I was rapidly losing weight again. I went from 117 pounds to 98 pounds in just a few months.

I had a history of ulcerative colitis as a child, which had been in remission for decades.  Ulcerative colitis affects the innermost lining of your large intestine, also called the colon, and rectum.  Blood in the stool, food sensitivities, abdominal pain and frequent bowel movements are all symptoms. And I had them all. I kept dropping weight, barely holding on to 90 pounds. And after a colonoscopy which causes you to empty out even more, I dropped to 85 pounds (see picture). And the inflammation in my colon was worse than ever before. I was scared.

I was backing out my car at the top of my sloped driveway when I noticed that the small garage door had been left open. Not able to close it from the car, I got out to close it. But I didn't put the car in park. It began to roll down the driveway, and I ran after it. 

Continued lack of sleep caused me to make a foolish choice. Without thinking, I tried to jump into the car. I managed to get my foot on the brake, but because the car was quickly rolling backwards, the door knocked me down. My foot wedged under the brake and the car started dragging me on the concrete. I desperately tried to release my foot to no avail. And the door kept forcefully banging into my right knee. 

While screaming for help, I knew I had to avoid the tire as I was being dragged. Then, a UPS driver (pictured) jumped into the moving car and stopped it as we crashed into a mailbox. I am so grateful that I didn't wind up under the tire, crushed. My back was badly scraped and bruised, my right ankle was badly sprained and my right knee was a bruised mess. But I'm still here!

Between lack of sleep from the brain zaps, along with continued food sensitivities and losing more than 25% of my body weight, I developed glucose issues. I had to see an Endocrinologist who put me on a wearable glucose monitor. (One more thing to deal with.) I continued to talk to God, to read scripture, worship, listen to sermons and pray.

 By April 2021, things were looking up. The herbal antimicrobial treatment seemed to be working. Then I got the J&J Covid vaccine and my body went crazy. Two weeks after the vaccine, the symptoms started -- diarrhea 9x a day, worse than ever. Bleeding and mucous. It was awful.  I was scared.  

My Gastroenterologist tested me for C-diff which is a deadly bacteria that has a frightening mortality rate as high as 22%. Positive! He immediately started me on Vancomycin, which is like throwing a fire bomb into your gut. It kills everything - good and bad bacteria alike.  It worked.  After the 12-day regimen I felt great. My weight was up to 100 pounds and things were looking up.  

Unfortunately, the recurrence rate on C-diff is 10.5%, and I fell into that group. In fact, after another round of antibiotics, it came back again. So many people were lifting me up in prayer. I know that made a huge difference.

I give all the glory to God for bringing me through the darkest time in my life. I am physically restored. No gut issues. Minimal brain zaps. No glucose issues. Sleeping beautifully.  But most importantly, I am spiritually changed and forever grateful, knowing that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. My greatest blessing through all of this has been finding my way to Him.