My Journey to Find Health

When I was a kid, I don't remember kids having all of the medical, behavioral, and learning disabilties that so many children struggle with today.  It seems as though you don't have to look far in your village to find a child struggling with allergies, asthma, chronic illness, ADHD/ADD, Autism, anxiety, depression, and many other issues.  It's not hard to see that we truly have an epidemic of a next generation of sick kiddos on our hands.  

Before I had my own family, I have to tell you that I didn't buy into any of this.  I thought that hyper boys were just being boys, allergies and the like were exaggerated, and didn't understand how truly debilitating the neurological and behavioral issues are that so many children face.  That is, until my own child would struggle with chronic illness.  According to new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in six U.S. children now has a developmental disability such as autism, learning disorders or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  Add in some of the co-morbid conditions of anxiety and depression, and that increases this statistic even more so.  What floors me, is that there are no accurate statistics of adding in the childhood epidemics of allergies, asthma, and other immune dysfunctions.  Our kids are not well today.

When my own son, Mason, was less than a year old, he was chronically ill.  He developed several allergies, asthma, eczema, and was eventually diagnosed with a severe gastrointestinal disorder, immune dysfunction, and a mitochondrial disorder.  What that meant for him for the next several years, was that his body would basically fight against itself.  He couldn't tolerate or digest many foods and would develop painful and violent bouts of gastrointestinal dysfunction.  After having a fever for over 3 months straight, he would then not develop a fever at all.  Illnesses, viruses, and bacterial infections would harbor in his poor little body, and it was so sick that it couldn't even fight back with a simple fever.  Even with these medical issues, he still developed typically with the exception of hypotonia.  The mitochondrial disorder would be partly responsible for the hypotonia.  This is a disorder in which there is very little to no muscle tone and an affected person's muscles do not develop as they should.  

Over the course of the next 7 years, we would see countless physicians and finally find a path to healing.  Through immunology treatment, and biomedical interventions, such as vitamin and nutritional supplementation, and removing food allergies and treating for environmental allergies, Mason emerged from chronic illness into a healthy and vibrant boy.  Over the past decade I have put in countless hours of research, because early on, I found very little help for my son, and I watched him suffer tremendous amounts of pain, weakness, and lethargy.  There is a saying that a "worried mother does better research than the FBI."  Isn't that the truth friends?  When your child is struggling, whether it be emotionally, physically, behaviorally, etc. a mama bear jumps through any hoop she has to and does whatever it takes to bring about relief and healing for her child.  

Today, Mason is truly a healing miracle.  He is healthy, happy, and no longer suffering from chronic gastrointestinal or immune dysfunction.  I have seen, firsthand, how important nutrition and clean eating is to our health.  It has been instrumental in Mason's healing.  His muscle tone has significantly increased and he has caught up for the most part on this with his peers.  He loves sports, football in particular, but they do not come easily to him.  However, it continually amazes me how our struggles have a way of bringing about a gift of blessing.  A drive to succeed  runs deep within Mason.   I don't believe for one minute that God gives us a struggle without attaching some blessing to it.  Sometimes, we don't see or recognize that blessing until years down the road.  However, with Mason we see it clearly.  He works harder than most kids his age to succeed in sports and he never ever gives up...there are maybe 2 days a week that he does not bombard my husband as soon as he gets home from work to go out and work with him.  In his off seasons, he gets to as many strength and agility classes as he can.  He does all of this to just be ok and hold his own.  However, he is really starting to see the fruits of his labor and his trajectory continues to increase.  Friends, God does not waste a tear or a hurt.  I promise you.

I have thought for some time about having a place where I could share some of the health and wellness research I have accumulated over the years.  I love sharing and encouraging my friends and family to take care of themselves and their families with nourishing, real food that tastes good and doesn't require hours of preparation.  I was once in a place where I realized that we needed to make radical changes in our home, but I was completely overwhelmed as to how to do that and what that looked like.  My hope is that you can find some of that here.  I pray that you are encouraged by what  you read, empowered to make changes, and motivated to do more research for yourselves by reading some of my words.  My heart is for ALL families and ALL children to experience healing, in whatever area that might be.  I am praying for a healthy home of happy for your families.