Let's Help the Reverend Julia McKay

After the Reverend Julia McKay’s lifetime of service to others, here is an opportunity for us to help her!

Julia has an opportunity to receive specialized acupuncture treatments to assist in recovering her health. This treatment is new hope for her in what has been a decades-long journey with chronic illness.

My name is Michal Anne Pepper. My wife and I started this Go Fund Me campaign after we learned that Julia has had to take premature retirement due to escalating symptoms associated with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and severe asthma -- all exacerbated by long COVID.

We first met Julia when she was a new student at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, in 2003. An accomplished musician and psychotherapist, she studied to be a Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister. She answered an initial call to become a part-time Minister of Music at our church, University Christian Church of Berkeley.

It quickly became apparent that Julia is a highly gifted and talented woman and brings many gifts to ministry. She blessed our congregation with her music, her spiritual insight, her passion to be of service, and her love for the Divine and for building progressive faith communities. The ensuing decades confirmed our initial impression of Julia’s contribution to ministry. She was ordained in 2011 and to date, has ministered at four UU congregations from Seattle to Montana and Colorado.

Although Julia’s MS oscillates between relapsing and going into remission, new symptoms and medical issues have become increasingly debilitating in the past few years. And now, long COVID is interacting with her MS in ways that confound her doctors. Like many other sufferers of long COVID, she has found minimal help due to the lack of knowledge about long COVID.

A New Treatment Possibility

Although there is no magic bullet for these complex and chronic medical issues, my wife, Gail Rekers, Ph.D., thinks acupuncture can help alleviate some, if not all, of Julia’s life-altering symptoms.

Gail is the Director of Research and teaches research design at the Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine & Acupuncture (PIHMA). As a psychologist, Gail uses her research expertise to help acupuncture masters and doctoral-level students evaluate and design acupuncture research. Gail has both professional and personal reasons for believing that acupuncture can help Julia.

Gail has an autoimmune disease that is mostly in remission, and she also contracted long COVID that created new medical problems. Gail found relief (she describes it as “getting my life back”) from a form of acupuncture called “neuro-acupuncture”. She discussed Julia’s MS (a neurological disease) with her network of acupuncture researchers and practitioners. She interviewed several practitioners in Julia’s region of Colorado. Finally, Gail found a master practitioner of neuro-acupuncture in Colorado Springs. Using a combination of herbs and acupuncture, he thinks he can help Julia by impacting some of her most debilitating symptoms.

Who is the Acupuncture Practitioner?

Dr. Calvin Chien is a third-generation acupuncturist trained in China and the US. He teaches in Taiwan, has had a private practice in Colorado Springs for 20 years, and is on staff regularly treating people with lung diseases in a hospital there. About 20% of his practice is with people with MS. Since COVID, 60% have neurological involvement. He thinks Julia’s initial improvement will be in her lungs and the chronic cough that keeps her from working.

How We Can Help

Unfortunately, acupuncture is not covered by health insurance. That means that Julia needs cash to access this treatment. Because she was forced to retire prematurely, Julia is on a limited income. Her budget cannot cover acupuncture treatment. That is why we started this GoFundMe account—to help Julia cover this acupuncture treatment.

It is hard to know exactly how much treatment Julia will need. Typically, acupuncture requires multiple visits a week in the initial phases of the treatment. As the symptoms subside, treatment visits taper to as few as once a month. Given the many unknowns about the confluence of autoimmune diseases and long COVID, Julia’s treatment could take several different paths. At this time, we have settled on $5,000 as an estimated amount needed to provide a year of specialized acupuncture treatment.

We will keep you apprised of Julia’s response to treatment. Many practitioners agree that if a symptom responds to acupuncture, the individual will see some improvement in the first few sessions. Meanwhile, we have arranged for your financial support to go directly into Julia’s bank account so that she can continue to receive treatment.

All of us—me, Gail, and Julia—are grateful for whatever you can give—small amounts can make a difference. So, please

• Give money as you are able.

• Share this fundraiser with all your friends and on all of your social media accounts.

Gratefully,

Michal Anne Pepper and Gail Rekers