Jillian's Story
by Sandy © 2007
It all began the summer Jillian was 16, looking at colleges in the northeast, and
vacationing in Nantucket. A huge ugly bite appeared on the back of her leg ....
high near the crease. Because Lyme Disease was so "new", the druggist in
Nantucket said, "put cortisone cream on it."
A few days later she began having headaches and vomiting. By December she
was in the ER dehydrated, having had every infection known to man, projectile
vomiting, hardly able to walk or talk. It took nine more months for her to be
diagnosed because when the docs couldn't find anything, they blamed it on her.
She was either emotionally unstable(because she was a teenage female), hooked
on the drugs they gave her for pain (head and abdomen), or even went so far as to
say psychogenic.
We suffered immeasurably not just from her illness; but from having to be our own
doctors, doing all the research, being with her constantly the 55 times she was
hospitalized in five years, and protecting her from the medical profession that was
so contemptuous toward her. She was flown by helicopter one December night to
Hershey Medical Center from our local hospital because they said she had 24
hours to live. HMC had put her PICC line in wrong and the fluids were drowning
her ... our local hospital didn't want her dying on them and having to deal with a
possible law suit. Things got worse from there but perhaps this isn't the place for
horror stories.
Those are just a few examples of our life over those five years. It all ended when
we left the medical model.
Jillian, age 21, home from college yet again having to withdraw because of being in
the hospital more often than in class, was lying on the sofa just staring into space
saying, "no more doctors, I just want to die." She had given up.
I refused to let her, even though she had gone through enough to kill an elephant.
On line in a Lyme chat room,totally frustrated and desperate, I met someone who
had the same symptoms as Jillian but was "cured". I asked her how. We had been
writing for a few months, so she finally trusted me enough to tell me but said I was
only the second person she had ever told. People wouldn't believe her.
She told me about an Applied Kinesiologist Chiropractor who has her immensely
improved. Jesse and I had already gone all over the east coast looking for help, so
I was prepared to take her to the west coast where I was sure this man was
located. I asked where she was from and where he was located. They were both
just an hour away! I called him immediately!
That Friday Jesse was leaving for a golfing weekend and said goodbye to her as
she lay on the sofa in a daze. At noon I physically dragged her into the car
because she kept saying, "no more, no more" and we headed for yet another
doctor.
He listened to our story like no one ever had. I was even allowed to add things
without getting dirty looks. He spent two and one half hours with her. At one
point he did a treatment that I thought killed her, however, when she could breath
again, she smiled for the first time in years. He did as much as he could on one
visit, and we left with an appointment to return on Monday. She managed to get to
the car and then was out; into a sleep of the dead which lasted all that day and
night and into Saturday.
When she reappeared that Saturday evening, she was hungry for the first time in
years and she enjoyed a meal. Sunday evening Jesse came home. He walked into
the family room and Jillian, with color in her cheeks, sitting up watching TV said,
"Hi Dad!" He began to cry.
Monday we all went back and the new doctor began peeling the onion of her
disease while simultaneously building up her own immune system. She saw him
three times a week for a while then two then one and so on. She was never again
in the hospital for Lyme Disease.
Jillian was well on her wedding day and for her entire honeymoon seven years ago.
She was well for her college graduation four years ago, and well enough to be
more than half way through her Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities with
a 4.0 GPA. This is a young woman who at one time had no short term memory.
Jillian was recently hospitalized, but came home with a healthy baby boy, Robbie
... Of course he is the new love of our lives, as well as she and her wonderful
husband Matt's, and appears to be non the worse for wear.
Jillian was reinfected with Lyme once and had to go on oral ABX, which usually
sets her into a tailspin, but this time her body handled it beautifully. Her own
immune system kicks in when needed for normal colds and flu as well. She sees
her Applied Kinesiologist Chiropractor as needed, usually once every few months,
but only for normal adjustments.
He admitted to us recently that he would never have treated a patient as
aggressively as he did that day, except he knew she wasn't going to last much
longer. We are so grateful he had the courage to do what it took and Jillian had
the courage to let him. Finding him was the answer to many prayers and a strong
faith that she was NOT going to die.
We took turns being strong.
back to Hope Stories
by Sandy © 2007
It all began the summer Jillian was 16, looking at colleges in the northeast, and
vacationing in Nantucket. A huge ugly bite appeared on the back of her leg ....
high near the crease. Because Lyme Disease was so "new", the druggist in
Nantucket said, "put cortisone cream on it."
A few days later she began having headaches and vomiting. By December she
was in the ER dehydrated, having had every infection known to man, projectile
vomiting, hardly able to walk or talk. It took nine more months for her to be
diagnosed because when the docs couldn't find anything, they blamed it on her.
She was either emotionally unstable(because she was a teenage female), hooked
on the drugs they gave her for pain (head and abdomen), or even went so far as to
say psychogenic.
We suffered immeasurably not just from her illness; but from having to be our own
doctors, doing all the research, being with her constantly the 55 times she was
hospitalized in five years, and protecting her from the medical profession that was
so contemptuous toward her. She was flown by helicopter one December night to
Hershey Medical Center from our local hospital because they said she had 24
hours to live. HMC had put her PICC line in wrong and the fluids were drowning
her ... our local hospital didn't want her dying on them and having to deal with a
possible law suit. Things got worse from there but perhaps this isn't the place for
horror stories.
Those are just a few examples of our life over those five years. It all ended when
we left the medical model.
Jillian, age 21, home from college yet again having to withdraw because of being in
the hospital more often than in class, was lying on the sofa just staring into space
saying, "no more doctors, I just want to die." She had given up.
I refused to let her, even though she had gone through enough to kill an elephant.
On line in a Lyme chat room,totally frustrated and desperate, I met someone who
had the same symptoms as Jillian but was "cured". I asked her how. We had been
writing for a few months, so she finally trusted me enough to tell me but said I was
only the second person she had ever told. People wouldn't believe her.
She told me about an Applied Kinesiologist Chiropractor who has her immensely
improved. Jesse and I had already gone all over the east coast looking for help, so
I was prepared to take her to the west coast where I was sure this man was
located. I asked where she was from and where he was located. They were both
just an hour away! I called him immediately!
That Friday Jesse was leaving for a golfing weekend and said goodbye to her as
she lay on the sofa in a daze. At noon I physically dragged her into the car
because she kept saying, "no more, no more" and we headed for yet another
doctor.
He listened to our story like no one ever had. I was even allowed to add things
without getting dirty looks. He spent two and one half hours with her. At one
point he did a treatment that I thought killed her, however, when she could breath
again, she smiled for the first time in years. He did as much as he could on one
visit, and we left with an appointment to return on Monday. She managed to get to
the car and then was out; into a sleep of the dead which lasted all that day and
night and into Saturday.
When she reappeared that Saturday evening, she was hungry for the first time in
years and she enjoyed a meal. Sunday evening Jesse came home. He walked into
the family room and Jillian, with color in her cheeks, sitting up watching TV said,
"Hi Dad!" He began to cry.
Monday we all went back and the new doctor began peeling the onion of her
disease while simultaneously building up her own immune system. She saw him
three times a week for a while then two then one and so on. She was never again
in the hospital for Lyme Disease.
Jillian was well on her wedding day and for her entire honeymoon seven years ago.
She was well for her college graduation four years ago, and well enough to be
more than half way through her Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities with
a 4.0 GPA. This is a young woman who at one time had no short term memory.
Jillian was recently hospitalized, but came home with a healthy baby boy, Robbie
... Of course he is the new love of our lives, as well as she and her wonderful
husband Matt's, and appears to be non the worse for wear.
Jillian was reinfected with Lyme once and had to go on oral ABX, which usually
sets her into a tailspin, but this time her body handled it beautifully. Her own
immune system kicks in when needed for normal colds and flu as well. She sees
her Applied Kinesiologist Chiropractor as needed, usually once every few months,
but only for normal adjustments.
He admitted to us recently that he would never have treated a patient as
aggressively as he did that day, except he knew she wasn't going to last much
longer. We are so grateful he had the courage to do what it took and Jillian had
the courage to let him. Finding him was the answer to many prayers and a strong
faith that she was NOT going to die.
We took turns being strong.
back to Hope Stories
© 2004 Dave and Merry Marinello, all rights reserved.
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Jillian's Story
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Hope is My Anchor
Strength for your soul amid life's storms
Strength for your soul amid life's storms