Help Kat Heal Chronic Lyme Disease!
Donation protected
This is Kat. I know her as my dearest friend and wife. But I'm not the only person who's life she's profoundly touched. If you've read her blog (HopeHealCook.com ) or been following her on social media (Hope Heal Cook is on Instagram, FaceBook and Twitter ) you know what an inspiration Kat is.
What you might not know is just how sick she was, or how much she continues to struggle. Kat is battling Chronic Lyme Disease, and although she wasn't properly diagnosed until three years ago, she has likely had the disease since she was a child. Because she grew up experiencing symptoms of illness, it wasn't until they became disabling that she even realized they weren't normal.
By the time Kat was a teenager she was living with intense, body wide pain, chronic fatigue, and bizarre neurological sysmtoms. She saw multiple doctors and was told multiple times that she was mentally ill, and that her relentless pain was basically all in her head.
As a result Kat was put on handfuls of psychotropic medications and found herself in and out of psych wards. She was never tested for Lyme despite having grown up in an area known to have Lyme Disease and having been bitten by multiple ticks, which carry and spread the disease.
When I first met Kat at age 20, she was struggling with the severity of her physical and neurological symptoms. Despite her challenges she was devoted to self improvement and healing, and was active in the mental health community. I knew she was sick. But Kat has always been so much more than her symptoms and diagnoses. She has always been a light, and she has always believed in healing.
When we had been together for a couple of years her health plummited. Within six short months she rapidly deteriorated; after a life of illness her body simply gave out. My bright, creative, and funny then-finance was suddenly bed ridden, emaciated, overwhelmed by relentless pain, and unable to manage even the most basic of care.
We went to doctor after doctor. We were in and out of emergency rooms at all hours. Not only were we in the dark around what this mysterious and lethal condition was, but also how many days she had left. While our friends were starting careers and families we were fighting for Kat's life, often around the clock. Words cannot describe what a horrifying reality that was...
After countless appointments, testing, misdiagnosis, and various failed treatments, we took a leap of faith and moved to Seattle, Washington in search of better health care. Moving away from all of our family and friends to an unkown city to navigate a care plan for an unknown illness was terrifing, but as always, Kat remained determined and most of all, hopeful.
Here in Seattle, Kat finally found herself a Dr. that specializes in her mysterious aliment, which we now know to be Chronic Lyme Disease. We finally found our answer. It's Lyme (technically, she has 14 different Lyme related infections through her body and various organs.) They're all treatable. That's the good news.
The bad news is that Chronic Lyme Disease treatments are not covered by any insurance. And it's expensive, averaging $1,200 a month out of pocket. Due to the fact that Kat has been physically disabled for over 10 years as a result of her illness, we're essentially surviving on a single income.
At long last Kat has hit remission, so thankfully, her medical expenses are currently less than that. However, after so many years of illness it’ll take a while to fully repair the damage and she’ll need long term supplication to address underlying genetic conditions.
All of the donations we’ve received have helped to make achieving remission possible for Kat but we unfortunately we still accrued $8,000 in medical debt. We are humbly asking for help to pay that down.
Kat has gone from being bed bound to using a wheel chair to walking on her own, and now she’s able to do yoga.
She's gone from struggling to speak and comprehend basic sentences to being able to articulate her experience in Lyme Awareness interviews like this one for BeKindForLyme.org.
She's gone from having multiple seizures a day and having chronic palsy-like shaking to being able to draw comics in order to bring humor to the chronic illness experience.
She's gone from being severely underweight and barely able to keep food down to cooking and creating nourishing recipes that she shares with others online.
I wish you knew Kat the way I do. I wish you knew what she's been through, what we've been though. Living in the dark and terrifing wilderness of chronic illness has had it's tramatic ups and downs. But Kat always comes back to a place of hope and determined healing. She is the strongest, bravest, and most compassionate person I've ever met.
The financial stress we'd been under while trying to afford her treatments was unbelievable. It almost broke us; we had to put everything on hold and scramble to put every extra dollar towards Kat’s healing.
In order to continue finally move forward with our lives we need help getting out from under our medical debt. As I've mentioned, healing Chronic Lyme is expensive and those expensed add up fast, especially following her cavitation surgeries in November. We simply can't manage this without your help.
Please. Kat gives so much. Check out her blog (HopeHealCook.com ) or follower her on social media (Instagram , FaceBook and Twitter .) You'll see who Kat is: creative, vibrant, funny, and loving. Let her know how much she matters. Let her know that she deserves to finally move on, and enjoy a new life of health, debt-free.
Most sincerely,
her husband, Sean
What you might not know is just how sick she was, or how much she continues to struggle. Kat is battling Chronic Lyme Disease, and although she wasn't properly diagnosed until three years ago, she has likely had the disease since she was a child. Because she grew up experiencing symptoms of illness, it wasn't until they became disabling that she even realized they weren't normal.
By the time Kat was a teenager she was living with intense, body wide pain, chronic fatigue, and bizarre neurological sysmtoms. She saw multiple doctors and was told multiple times that she was mentally ill, and that her relentless pain was basically all in her head.
As a result Kat was put on handfuls of psychotropic medications and found herself in and out of psych wards. She was never tested for Lyme despite having grown up in an area known to have Lyme Disease and having been bitten by multiple ticks, which carry and spread the disease.
When I first met Kat at age 20, she was struggling with the severity of her physical and neurological symptoms. Despite her challenges she was devoted to self improvement and healing, and was active in the mental health community. I knew she was sick. But Kat has always been so much more than her symptoms and diagnoses. She has always been a light, and she has always believed in healing.
When we had been together for a couple of years her health plummited. Within six short months she rapidly deteriorated; after a life of illness her body simply gave out. My bright, creative, and funny then-finance was suddenly bed ridden, emaciated, overwhelmed by relentless pain, and unable to manage even the most basic of care.
We went to doctor after doctor. We were in and out of emergency rooms at all hours. Not only were we in the dark around what this mysterious and lethal condition was, but also how many days she had left. While our friends were starting careers and families we were fighting for Kat's life, often around the clock. Words cannot describe what a horrifying reality that was...
After countless appointments, testing, misdiagnosis, and various failed treatments, we took a leap of faith and moved to Seattle, Washington in search of better health care. Moving away from all of our family and friends to an unkown city to navigate a care plan for an unknown illness was terrifing, but as always, Kat remained determined and most of all, hopeful.
Here in Seattle, Kat finally found herself a Dr. that specializes in her mysterious aliment, which we now know to be Chronic Lyme Disease. We finally found our answer. It's Lyme (technically, she has 14 different Lyme related infections through her body and various organs.) They're all treatable. That's the good news.
The bad news is that Chronic Lyme Disease treatments are not covered by any insurance. And it's expensive, averaging $1,200 a month out of pocket. Due to the fact that Kat has been physically disabled for over 10 years as a result of her illness, we're essentially surviving on a single income.
At long last Kat has hit remission, so thankfully, her medical expenses are currently less than that. However, after so many years of illness it’ll take a while to fully repair the damage and she’ll need long term supplication to address underlying genetic conditions.
All of the donations we’ve received have helped to make achieving remission possible for Kat but we unfortunately we still accrued $8,000 in medical debt. We are humbly asking for help to pay that down.
Kat has gone from being bed bound to using a wheel chair to walking on her own, and now she’s able to do yoga.
She's gone from struggling to speak and comprehend basic sentences to being able to articulate her experience in Lyme Awareness interviews like this one for BeKindForLyme.org.
She's gone from having multiple seizures a day and having chronic palsy-like shaking to being able to draw comics in order to bring humor to the chronic illness experience.
She's gone from being severely underweight and barely able to keep food down to cooking and creating nourishing recipes that she shares with others online.
I wish you knew Kat the way I do. I wish you knew what she's been through, what we've been though. Living in the dark and terrifing wilderness of chronic illness has had it's tramatic ups and downs. But Kat always comes back to a place of hope and determined healing. She is the strongest, bravest, and most compassionate person I've ever met.
The financial stress we'd been under while trying to afford her treatments was unbelievable. It almost broke us; we had to put everything on hold and scramble to put every extra dollar towards Kat’s healing.
In order to continue finally move forward with our lives we need help getting out from under our medical debt. As I've mentioned, healing Chronic Lyme is expensive and those expensed add up fast, especially following her cavitation surgeries in November. We simply can't manage this without your help.
Please. Kat gives so much. Check out her blog (HopeHealCook.com ) or follower her on social media (Instagram , FaceBook and Twitter .) You'll see who Kat is: creative, vibrant, funny, and loving. Let her know how much she matters. Let her know that she deserves to finally move on, and enjoy a new life of health, debt-free.
Most sincerely,
her husband, Sean
Organizer
Kat Woods
Organizer
Seattle, WA