For the last 5 years—regarding our kids’ health—we’ve been completely stuck. God led us to an incredible breakthrough when JJ was a toddler where he could finally tolerate a dozen foods after only tolerating breastmilk the first 1.5 years of his life. But since that point, any noteworthy progress has stopped, despite continuously trying treatment after treatment for years. UNTIL this past spring.
Now having two kiddos with almost identical issues—GI distress, extreme sensitivities to food and medications, significant sleep disturbances, mood and emotional struggles, and flu-like histamine responses—more of the puzzle is beginning to fit together. Over the years, we’ve had several people recommend we look into mold exposure. Those recommendations began to increase once we had two carbon-copy illnesses in the same household. So we finally did it. We ran the tests, met with the mold illness practitioners, followed their recommendations, and as the symptoms and health history matched the mold testing results, we found ourselves looking for a new home in the name of health.
Once we left, we could hardly believe the results. FIVE YEARS of standstill in JJ’s symptoms. Then, within two weeks of being out of our house, everything began to shift. For the first time in half a decade our oldest was showing marked signs of healthy digestion. Then his sleep began to improve noticeably. He went from wetting the bed (due to poor sleep quality) 5-7 nights a week to maybe once every week or two. And his MOOD! Our sweet, calm, level-headed boy began to come back! Not 100 percent, but enough that I could see the life in his eyes again. He wasn’t a glazed-over zombie version of himself anymore. The real JJ was coming back to us. We knew God was helping us put a huge piece of the puzzle into place.
So we pursued a new permanent living situation and left our home, neighborhood, best friends on our street, nearly all of our belongings (as part of mold-recovery protocol) and any semblance of financial security because we KNEW this was the next chapter of healing for kids. God made it abundantly clear from the doors He opened—and closed—along the way.
Unfortunately removing our kids from the exposure is just the beginning. JJ is still having a lot of ups and downs due to his various reactivity triggers, though we are hopeful he will get back on track as we find his body the right support for stabilization. Poor Silas is even more reactive than JJ, and at 21 months old he is still dependent on breastmilk alone while we help his little immune system and nervous system settle. Kate is pumping milk for him almost her entire day to get him the calories he needs as we find foods and water he tolerates. The boys’ doctors have determined they are both having “haywire immune responses" triggered by the mold exposure, which is a big driver of their hypersensitivities. It’s nice to have more answers and understanding, and to finally have them in an environment where their bodies can heal, but there is still a long road ahead with lots of trial and error involving what they can tolerate and how to help their systems normalize again.
So to our prayer warrior friends: please pray!! Pray for wisdom on how we can best help these kiddos recover. Pray that JJ would continue the healing we saw when we first moved out and that his system would calm enough to accept more foods. And please pray for Silas. He desperately needs food and hydration sources he tolerates well outside of breast milk. Also pray for kates milk supply to stay strong as long as it’s needed, and for our sanity as parents in an incredibly intense situation.
If you are able to offer financial support, we are in need of funds for the kids’ medical care including specialist visits and treatment protocols such as immunotherapy and nervous system recovery. So far very little has been covered by insurance and we have used our entire emergency savings and general savings funds already for their care. We have lost a lot this past year and while there is certainly grief over the losses, it is far outweighed by the hope we have for our kids’ health. We are believing God for more breakthroughs and the financial support needed to make this recovery happen to the fullest.
If you feel led to give, pray, or both, we would be forever grateful. We thank God for the hope we have after a long journey of asking, seeking and knocking. To Him be the glory as He provides healing and financial provision. His love never gives up on us, so we choose to never give up on our kids. 🤍🙏🏼
