About Me!

From here, I was living on adrenaline. Squeezing every little bit out of my already depleted adrenals to stay up and research. After my son’s diagnosis of high-functioning autism, I started attending DAN (Defeat Autism Now) conferences and biomedically treating him. I took dairy out of his diet and then gluten. We were on a wait list to see a specialist in Richmond, but she was in high demand and I refused to sit idle in the meantime. My son began a speech therapy which we paid out of pocket for and qualified with our county for additional speech therapy, provided by them, as well as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and eventually the Head Start program. We traveled hours, crossed state lines, and stayed overnight in hotels to see specialists. If it was available, we did it. He was improving! Our son went from having an IQ that was 2 points above retarded, and suspected to have neurological damage, to above average. What we were doing was working but still, we were missing something.

Meanwhile, my health that had been put on the back burner, needed addressed. I was getting worse and it was time to start figuring out why. My emergency room visits when the pain would become unbearable were not a long-term solution. I saw primary care, neurology, endocrinology, infectious disease, cardiology, you name it! I wound up being diagnosed with a million little things from hypoparathyroidism to congenital heart defects, but no one could find the smoking gun. I had muscle biopsies, EKGs, EMGs, MRIs, SPECT scans, radioactive scans, heart ablations, bones fused, and organs removed. Still, their answer was narcotics and to speculate a cause. First, I was being poisoned. Then, it was psychosomatic. From there I had muscle myopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, early onset Parkinson’s, and ALS. We continued to treat the symptoms without truly knowing the cause.

Eventually, and sheerly by accident, a doctor found my smoking gun! Lyme disease, a vector-borne disease spread by ticks, and its many co-infections were to blame for everything. Not only did I contract Lyme and other tick-borne co-infections before conceiving my son, I transferred it to him in utero. In addition, my defiant and academically lacking daughter also tested positive for Lyme.

Fast forward through several years of homeschooling, PICC lines, oral antibiotics, herbals, special diets—including the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and the Autoimmune Paleo protocol—and more doctor visits than we could count. Here you will find us chugging along just like everyone else. Unfortunately, we’re not like everyone else. Every single person in my family has been diagnosed with at least one type of tick-borne disease, if not multiple. That being said, healing is possible. My son is now testing gifted and in a math program two years above his grade. My daughter is quickly climbing the corporate ladder, being one of the youngest to have ever achieved such a momentous position within the company she works at. And me? Well, after researching the effect of nutrition and biomedical intervention on Lyme, autism, MCAD, mold exposure, and autoimmune disease for two decades, I finally went back to school. I earned a certification as a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Supplement Specialist, Lyme Specialist, and more, so I could help others from a nutritional and biomedical standpoint. Emotionally, I’d say we’re not worse for wear, but our health will always keep us on our toes.

As I stated at the beginning, God has a plan. I couldn’t see what He wanted from me when we were in the trenches, but I did see it once on the other side. What I learned from our dark years can help others, can help YOU. That is why I created The Wellness Model™ and wrote the best-selling book, There’s A Deer At The Door And A Cow In The Mudroom; Learning to Live while Living with Lyme.