Supporting Elizabeth and Zeb Shiley

Goal:

 USD $15,000

Raised:

 USD $11,720

Campaign created by Shannon Ganz

Campaign funds will be received by Zebulun Shiley

Supporting Elizabeth and Zeb Shiley

In 2023, after many months of seeing different doctors and having test after test run, no answers or end in sight, worsening symptoms and medical bills racking up…. Elizabeth was finally referred to a specialist that believed he had found the diagnosis to all these symptoms that were unexplained for so long. She needed laparoscopic surgery to remove suspected endometriosis. Hopeful that this was going to take care of her ongoing symptoms and to finally get relief, she underwent the procedure. It was confirmed she had endometriosis which was certainly contributing to some of her health issues. It was successfully removed.

Endometriosis is a very complex disease that few doctors are specialized in and can be very hard to diagnose. Despite having a wonderful surgeon and healthcare team, within a short amount of time her symptoms returned, but this time much, much worse. She then returned to the specialist for further testing, but he saw no signs that it was related to the endometriosis. Fast forward a few months, Elizabeth changed her entire diet, eliminated any food that she thought may be causing her to be sick and took a more holistic approach to these worsening symptoms. Still getting absolutely nowhere, but more medical bills keep coming and coming. 

Elizabeth & her husband, Zebulun, began to wonder if her condition could be related to mold that they had suspected to be in the house not long after moving in. They called their landlord to have someone come out to look and they were told that there were no visible signs of mold in the house. 

At the beginning of 2024, Elizabeth’s symptoms persisted and continued to worsen along with NEW symptoms as well. Doctors could not find anything medically wrong at this point. Liz & Zeb began to notice more spots in their house that they were confident must be mold. After again contacting the landlord to explain their concerns even further, they sent someone out to check, but Liz & Zeb still are told that the house is fine. 

Fast forward to October 2024, desperate and beginning to feel hopeless to find out what could be going on with Elizabeth’s health, they reach out to the landlords yet again to express their severe concerns about the mold. Finally, they decided to take it more seriously this time and actually sent someone in the attic and tested the entire house for black mold. The results came back positive for black mold, but not just one type….3 different types of black mold at incredibly high levels were spreading throughout their house. They were able to break their contract early and move out, but it has caused severe damage to many of their belongings as well as Elizabeth’s health. Unfortunately, insurance will not cover anything related to the moldy house so Elizabeth & Zeb have lost a lot of their belongings and are currently searching for a new rental.

Elizabeth took a MASSIVE turn for the worse about 2 weeks ago, and she is currently in the hospital to run tests and try and get her healthy. She cannot eat or drink anything at all and the doctors are telling her she will need a feeding tube if this continues. 

As you all know, medical bills can pile up quickly when you are dealing with unknown health issues. While Elizabeth does have health insurance, they are still looking at thousands and thousands of dollars in bills. Not only for her hospital stays, surgeries, ER visits, scans, and more…but also for their household goods that have been destroyed from the mold. They are currently staying with family until they can figure out the next step in what to do. 

We come to you all as her family as a very, VERY last resort to ask for your help in any way that you can give!! One of her huge stressors is the medical bills they are facing. Unfortunately, this has prevented her from seeking the sufficient medical care she needs as she knew it was going to cost them more than can financially take right now. They are currently looking at nearly $20,000 in medical bills as it stands right now. A lot of which is from previous ER visits over the last 1.5yrs. We covet your prayers for Elizabeth & Zebulun more than absolutely anything. If you are able to give and would like to, truly any amount will help them and bless them more than you know. 

Much love,
Elizabeth & Zebulun’s family 


Recent Donations
Show:
Carter and Bryson Baird
$ 100.00 USD
15 days ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 100.00 USD
20 days ago

Keeping y’all in our prayers!!

Carter and Bryson Baird
$ 100.00 USD
1 month ago

Steve and Jenna
$ 600.00 USD
2 months ago

We are continuing to pray for complete healing.

CCF friends
$ 1000.00 USD
2 months ago

Love and prayers

Carter and Bryson Baird
$ 100.00 USD
2 months ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 500.00 USD
2 months ago

Staunton Alliance Church
$ 1500.00 USD
2 months ago

Rhonda
$ 100.00 USD
2 months ago

Praying for you all!

John LeighAnn and Andrew
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

You’re in our constant prayers. Sending much love to you all!

Katie Cass and girls
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

We are praying hard for you! Sending so much love-

Gwen G
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying for you Zeb and Elizabeth! Zeph 3:17

Rod and Amy Bowers
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying for healing, encouragement and perseverance.

Anonymous Giver
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

God is able and in control. Your family is loved and in our prayers.

Anonymous Giver
$ 20.00 USD
3 months ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Anonymous Giver
$ 200.00 USD
3 months ago

Meghan Dech
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying for you guys! ♥️

Anonymous Giver
$ 2000.00 USD
3 months ago

From the CCFluvanna Church Family

Anonymous Giver
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Updates

Update #4

December 5th, 2024

Hello everyone! We continue to be truly humbled and amazed at your generosity and love poured out on Elizabeth & Zebulun. You have immensely blessed both of their entire families far more than you know with your giving and, more importantly, with your prayers!


Elizabeth was able to come home the day before Thanksgiving (11/27) and it was such a massive answer to our prayers! She spent just over a month in different hospitals so you can imagine how ready she was to be home. 


Liz was diagnosed with Alpha Gal which the doctors believe is a huge part of her severe gastrointestinal pain over the past couple years. She loves red meat and cheese and these specific foods MASSIVELY exasperate Alpha Gal symptoms. She can no longer eat red meat, dairy products or use/eat ANYTHING that comes from mammals and this comes as a huge challenge for her going forward. BUT, she is so strong and very determined to continue to heal her body so please pray for her as she makes these big lifestyle changes. 


In addition to Alpha Gal, the Dr’s believe she may also have Gastroparesis. The test to confirm this diagnosis is pretty intense and they haven’t been able to reach that point quite yet. However, they have been treating her as if she has Gastroparesis and the medicine has helped her tremendously, thus making them think they may be correct in their possible diagnosis. Liz has been able to eat decent amounts of solid foods and her stomach pain has been extremely minimal with the Gastroparesis medication and now knowing which foods to avoid. 


Liz has many follow up doctors appointments in the near future and in addition to her gastrointestinal diagnoses, she has to go back to her Endometriosis specialist for another surgery most likely. The doctors believe she has some lesions that have grown back, also contributing to a good portion of her pain. They would like her to get to a point where she is healthy and strong enough again to do this, so please pray she will continue to regain her strength. 


Aside from all of these medical issues & diagnoses, Liz & Zeb are still without a home due to the mold they lost their last house to. While we don’t think the mold was the biggest cause of her issues now, the Dr’s fully believe it could have been exacerbating her symptoms and weakening her immune system little by little. Liz & Zeb are staying with family for now and are currently searching for a new place to live. They remain in good spirits and are trusting the Lord fully that he has a wonderful plan for them. 


As Liz & Zeb’s family, none of us can fully put into words the gratitude we have for each and every single one of you. For your prayers, your giving, your time taken to visit them in the hospitals, your gifts, your love for their parents, siblings, and all of the above. The one thing they both mentioned over and over and over was how loved they FEEL! Please know you all made Elizabeth & Zebulun not only know that they’re loved and cared for, but they truly and genuinely felt it. We cannot thank you all enough!


Specific prayer requests:

••For continued physical healing for Elizabeth’s body. 

••For her to be able to wean off some of her medications slowly and still allow her body to heal fully.

••For all of her follow-up appointments to go well and not show anything serious, but only that she is moving in the right direction. 

••For strength and peace as Liz continues to significantly change her diet. 

••For Zeb as he walks alongside his wife SO faithfully. For strength, comfort and wisdom for him to know how to continue to help her as she heals.

••For both Liz & Zeb to have full trust in the Lord that He will provide the perfect home for them in His perfect timing. For patience and endurance.

Update #3

November 17th, 2024

Hey Everyone! What a blessing and encouragement it has been to see all the love, support and generosity of each of you to Elizabeth, Zeb and ALL of us. We cannot Thank You ALL enough!!!!!


Elizabeth is still currently at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Since the last update, the doctors have been able to successfully give her a feeding tube while under anesthesia. However, her stomach is not handling the NG tube feeding (the nutrition itself) very well at all. As soon as the doctor starts increasing the amount of nutrition going through the tube, her stomach starts reacting negatively. They have switched her to a vegan formula in hopes that her body would tolerate that better, but so far it is not working.On Monday, the team will decide whether they should sedate her again, take out the NG tube, which goes to her stomach, and switch it out with an NJ tube which bypasses the stomach and goes to the small intestine.They will need to work her up to 50 ml eventually using this NJ tube and maintain that for a few days. Please pray this works. If it does and her body reacts well, she may be able to go home with the feeding tube under the supervision of her primary care doctor, possibly having a nurse come into the home to handle the pump. 

We are still very unclear how she transitions to eating food eventually. And we are also uncertain regarding all the contributing factors. They have sent a blood sample to Mayo Clinic to check for tick-born pathogens. They have also concluded the her endometriosis, which is back in full force, is a significant contributing factor to her problems. 

We will be having another meeting with the medical team on Monday so will ask these questions. She will also need surgery again for her Endometriosis after her body is strong enough to have the surgery. 

In the last couple days she has developed a bad sinus infection now, which is very common with a feeding tube. So please pray this clears up quickly without having to have an antibiotic which is one more thing that will irritate her stomach

A lot of the family came to visit her this weekend so it is lifting her spirits — a real blessing! Please continue to pray,  our sweet Elizabeth needs all the prayers she can get!

Finally, thank you again! We cannot express with words how deeply grateful we are for the love, prayers, and support. As Elizabeth has said, “I feel so loved!”

Update #2

November 4th, 2024

Hello everyone! We cannot thank you ALL enough for the massive outpouring of love and support you all have shown to Liz, Zeb & the entire family! Truly, you all have blessed us in so many more ways than one. 


Elizabeth was released from UVA hospital last week due to not having all the resources required to do further testing to figure out what’s going on. They sent her to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, and she has been there since Friday and will be for the foreseeable future. They have not discovered too much new information yet, however, that is not a huge cause for concern as some of these tests they need to run take time. We are very confident she is in good hands and will receive the in-depth testing and care she needs. 


When Elizabeth arrived at Johns Hopkins, her glucose levels were severely low and her D-Dimer levels were extremely elevated suggesting she had a blood clot somewhere. They kept an eye on it and the D-Dimer level was still very high today, so she has been put on blood thinners. 


She has been on many different medications these past few weeks which has unfortunately taken a big toll on her heart. That caused enough concern for them to stop administering most of the meds and for now, they are just continuing with a light anti-nausea med and blood thinners intravenously. They are hopeful this will allow her heart to get back to a normal, healthy rhythm so they can continue with their testing. However, her nausea level is extremely high which is still preventing her from being able to eat a sufficient amount. 


Yesterday, they started a TPN line for nutrition. This is what they did at UVA for a few days and it helped Elizabeth immensely. TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition), is a method of providing nutrition through the IV to bypass the digestive system. While this is a short term solution, they do not want to keep her on it very long as the risk for a blood infection is increased daily. They are really wanting to get a feeding tube into her ASAP, but it did not go well when they tried at UVA. One of our biggest needs for prayer currently, is that they can comfortably get an NG tube in her as soon as possible. This will allow Liz’s body to receive the nutrients she needs (without being able to eat) AND it will help them with some further testing that they’d like to do on her. 


While we (us AND the doctors) are still unsure of what the underlying problem is, it is very possible that the high levels of black mold found in their home is contributing to many of these issues. Johns Hopkins has the ability to test for this, and they plan to do so as soon as the time is right and they can get her body in a healthy enough spot to do so. 


Elizabeth is still very sick but she is trying so hard to be in good spirits and we are so proud of her. She and her husband are still in need of all of your thoughts and prayers. Specific prayer requests are:


1: That the Dr’s will be diligent in their testing to get to the bottom of what is going on.

2: That Elizabeth’s body will be able to tolerate the NG tube if they need to place it tomorrow or Tuesday. 

3: For strength and endurance for Elizabeth as she continues to go through this battle, unsure of what is going on. 

4: For strength, endurance, perseverance and COMFORT for her husband, Zebulun, as he so gently cares for his wife and watches her hurt. 


We love you ALL and are so so grateful to have each and every one of you in our lives and praying for our sweet wife/sister/daughter/daughter-in-law/auntie.




Update #1

October 26th, 2024

Hey everyone! What a massive blessing you all have been to Elizabeth, Zeb and ALL of their family members!! We are completely speechless by your generosity. Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts!


Elizabeth is still in the hospital but we are seeing small improvements day by day. They attempted a feeding tube a few days ago and that did not go well unfortunately. After much consideration, everyone opted to search for a different route to get nutrition in her body. Yesterday evening, they started an IV line for Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). This is a nutritional fluid that goes directly into the bloodstream and the Dr’s are hoping it will kickstart her body into accepting food orally again. 


They have done multiple scans of her entire body (including the brain), an endoscopy to check the GI Tract, continuous rounds of bloodwork, and so much more. So far the only thing they have been able to diagnose her with is PCOS. She was also diagnosed with Endometriosis in early 2023 and even though she had surgery to remove those lesions, they believe the Endometriosis may be returning. While these are both serious conditions, they don’t necessarily think it is what’s causing all of her symptoms.


Elizabeth is in better spirits and doing her best to stay positive, but she is ready to go home as you can understand (it’s been 8 days in the hospital so far). Please continue to pray that the Dr’s can find the true underlying cause of her inability to eat, that she will be able to eat food little by little on her own, and that her body will gain strength with this TPN line.

Prayer Requests

Click the Pray button to let the campaign owner know you are praying for them.