Dear friends,
My name is Joshua Yager. I am a husband and father living with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome), a complex and debilitating chronic illness that has left me unable to work and severely limited in everyday life.
After years of unexplained illness following a long-term parasite infection, I have now been told that I have ME/CFS. I live with severe fatigue, post-exertional crashes, nervous system dysfunction, insomnia, and other symptoms that make even ordinary activities difficult. We are seeking $350,000 USD to help cover specialized treatment, living costs, and stability for our family as we navigate an illness with an uncertain course.
This began with a parasite infection I contracted while traveling in Cambodia in 2007. I was very sick for three weeks, but afterward I seemed to recover. I assumed that was the end of it and did not realize the infection had continued affecting my body.
By 2019, I began developing severe symptoms. By 2021, my condition had deteriorated to the point that I was running my business from bed. Eventually, I was diagnosed with a parasite infection and able to treat it, but by then my health had already deteriorated significantly.
Even after treating the infection, I did not recover.
My wife and I made the difficult decision to sell our business, use our savings, and put my health first so I could rest and recover. We moved abroad to live more frugally and stretch what we had left. But instead of improving, I continued to decline.
By early 2024, it was clear something was seriously wrong. In our desperation to find answers, we pursued treatments that inadvertently pushed my already fragile body beyond its limits. Rather than helping, they made me sicker.
Around that same time, we found out my wife was pregnant with our daughter, Aria. It was an incredible blessing, but by then our savings were gone and we were beginning to fall into debt.
Rebekah is now trying to build an online business so that we can begin generating an income that works within our situation. She is Aria’s primary caregiver, and a regular job is not currently practical. I help care for Aria whenever my health allows, but I can usually only manage short periods before the exertion overloads my body, and some days I am not able to help at all. Working online gives Rebekah the flexibility to care for Aria while working toward a way for our family to support itself again.
It was not until the beginning of 2025 that we finally began receiving answers that explained what was happening in my body. We have now been told that I have ME/CFS.
One of the defining symptoms of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise (PEM), where physical, mental, or emotional exertion can cause a significant worsening of symptoms that may last for days, weeks, or even longer. Activities that would be ordinary for a healthy person can push my body beyond what it is able to recover from.
For me, ME/CFS also involves severe nervous system dysregulation. I live with chronic insomnia and badly impaired restorative sleep. My digestion and nutrient absorption have been affected, my immune system has become hypersensitive, and my body struggles to properly rest and recover.
Because of this, I am no longer able to work. Even errands, prolonged conversations, mental exertion, or too much activity around the house can leave me physically unwell and cause a significant crash afterward.
Full recovery from ME/CFS is unfortunately uncommon, and there is no reliable timeline for what my recovery may look like. But we are not giving up hope. I intend to keep pursuing every reasonable path toward healing and fighting for the possibility of a full recovery.
That is why we are asking for help.
To give me the best chance to heal, keep our family stable, and cover our living costs while we navigate this illness, we are seeking $350,000 USD.
This support would help cover:
- access to medical specialists and therapy
- lab testing, medications, and supplements
- daily nutrition and metabolic support
- housing, transportation, and insurance
- paying off debt we took on to cover necessities during my illness
This has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I have always tried to provide for my family on my own. Even when I took on debt in the past, I had a plan to repay it. Now I find myself asking others to help support my family through a season in which I cannot currently do that myself.
Before all of this, we had been saving toward a dream of buying a small piece of land with chickens, goats, and maybe even a cow—a simple place where we could raise a healthy family. More than anything, I want to get better so that one day we can begin pursuing that dream again.
If we are able to raise beyond this goal, it would give us the chance not only to continue pursuing my recovery, but to begin rebuilding the life we lost and creating that safe, simple, family-centered home for Aria and any future children.
If you are able to give, even $10 helps. If you can share our story, it helps. If you can pray for us, it helps.
Every act of support brings us closer to stability and gives us more room to keep fighting for recovery and the hope of starting over.
Thank you for standing with our family in this fight.
With gratitude,
Joshua, Rebekah, and Aria
