Achieve the Impossible Today

This is a special blog post I wanted to share with y’all. Today I am celebrating 21 since I had a bone marrow transplant for a rare disease I was born with Alpha-Mannosidosis. This disease is a Glycoprotein Storage Disease and affects every single cell in the body. If you think of a challenge, I most likely dealt with it due to Alpha-Mannosidosis.

I wasn’t really sure how to go about sharing my story today. I’ve shared it many times. But today, I would like to share about the more practical way of how I got to where I am today. All glory goes to God (I think you’ll see that as you continue reading).

It All Begins Here…

I’ll start off with where this journey all began. I was born and my mom saw many things that didn’t seem right. She along with my dad, were first time parents. People thought they were just thinking things were wrong since they had never had any children previously. It ended up being a 3.5 year journey until I had received the correct diagnosis. At one point I had 18 different doctors and they all thought I had something different. My parents were given the option of me going through with a bone marrow transplant or doing nothing to stop the disease.

My parents ended up with going with having me go through a bone marrow transplant. When they made that decision, they wanted to give me the best possible chance at life even if that meant I might die going through a bone marrow transplant.

I went through that bone marrow transplant when I was 4.5 years old. The transplant was successful and allowed the mannosidase (enzyme I was deficient in) to not be lacking anymore!! My parents saw my hearing come back fairly quick after the transplant. Before transplant, I was diagnosed with a moderate hearing loss and needed hearing aids to hear. I was still having challenges with my brain, muscles, bones, etc. due to the damage from the disease. The transplant only really stopped it from progressing further.

Some therapies I went through in the early years included speech, occupational, physical, and equine therapy to name a few. My body was able to gain new muscles and I became stronger and stronger. During my freshman year of high school, my parents found a brain program called Brain Balance.

High School Adventures

After all of these therapies through the years, I was finally seeing progress and my sophomore year of high school was different than all my other years. That year, I was on the tennis team, the bowling team, and was involved with six different after school activities with friends. So much progress was made and then…

I was in a car accident and everything I had worked for with helping my brain was erased. The following months and years included many appointments to help with my neck and back issues, eye challenges, and brain issues. I also had my challenges with mental health along the way. More on that another day.

College Years

In 2018, a year after I had graduated high school, the Lord encountered me while I was at a friend’s church. He gave me a vision, “I was younger and in the hospital. I was sitting on a hospital bed, waving and smiling”. Once this happened, I wanted to learn more of who the Lord was and how to follow Him.

Fast forward to 2020 with the COVID situation that shut the whole entire world down. At this point in my life, I still had many challenges with my brain. With all the change that happened, my brain practically shut down. There were many months where you would have thought I was drunk, but I wasn’t. It was just my brain malfunctioning. But later in 2020, I had a dream. And I truly believed this dream would take place one day soon.

This dream consisted of me having Alpha-Mannosidosis and I saw myself in a wheelchair. I saw myself die because of the disease. And then, I saw myself come back to life with no evidence of Alpha-Mannosidosis.

From that point, I believed the Lord was going to heal me. I had no idea how or when or why… This dream started a fire in me that I think shaped my walk with the Lord. I started to have this faith that I was going to be completely healed even though my brain was having so many challenges.

In the end of 2021, my nutritionist recommended I see a doctor. At that point I just wanted to focus on the nutrition side of things. Months go by and we come into contact with the said doctor through a house church gathering. We meet him before ever stepping foot into his office.

In July of 2022, I had an evaluation in this doctors office. It was a wild experience. He is a Chiropractic Neurologist and he practically tested every reflex I had. Fun fact, the way our bodies react to different reflex tests determines how our brains are functioning. But after that appointment he was telling me I was going to learn how to flow with life. I thought he was crazy for saying that. I was never able to relax and flow with life…

I see this doctor for a little over a year. What a difference I’ve seen in my life. My brain was starting to actually function like it was supposed to. This was the missing piece.

Life Recently

In the recent months, I’ve been able to say that I am completely healed. This is truly a miracle. I have no idea why this happened to me. A lot of the times I question it, but whatever it is that I do. I want to bring glory to the Lord for what He’s done. I do not have all the answers, but I know that He was faithful through it all.

Today, I serve as the Communications Officer for ISMRD and I am about to graduate with my Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing in the Spring. I am not sure where the Lord will lead me, but may His Will be done on this earth that we live on. This is a temporary place. One day soon, He will call me home. But for now, all glory and honor goes to Him, my King.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” – John 9:3 NASB95