Prayers for my sister Katherine :)

Hi everyone!

I apologize for not updating more frequently! It has been a bit of a crazy time in the Stevens household! 

I think it's safe to say the 'honeymoon' period that followed my homecoming has come to an end and with summer vacation being here and everyone being home, we are all trying to find and adjust to our 'new normal''. :)

As for me... I am feeling really well and have been getting into the pool and doing my water therapy as much as possible! When I first started going into the pool my energy and muscle strength was depleted in about 10-15 minutes and I would need a lot of time to recover afterwards.

Now, I am feeling a lot stronger and able to tolerate over an hour in the pool at a time!!! 

I also have been enjoying going to the beach!

I LOVE the water-- especially the feeling of being able to move in ways I am not yet able to on land! It is incredible!! I honestly still have to pinch myself when I think of where I once was, in a hospital bed for 5 years, unable to even move or be touched... and where I am now-- in the water, moving, living and enjoying life! God is so good!

....I also have the best water 'therapists'-- My sisters :) 

Speaking of my sisters...A big curveball was thrown to us last month... Katherine began feeling sick.

My normally vibrant, active sister, who takes awesome care of me, began instead laying in bed during the day, feeling fatigued and having gastrointestinal symptoms that continued to get progressively worse...  instead of better, as time went on. We know from experience, that is never a good sign!

Three weeks ago she underwent extensive testing and was diagnosed with both Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Anyone who personally knows our family knows that our Dad has struggled greatly with crohn's for most of his life.

The doctors say her case is very 'rare' because of the way it presented and because oddly, Katherine's disease is in a completely different part of the intestine than my Dads. Her's is in her entire large intestine and colon, my dad has it in his small intestine.

Also, the dual diagnosis of crohns/colitis they say only occurs in 5% of patients... Again, Rare.

I am not surprised...rare...That is just how us Stevens' seem to do  things... Never 'textbook' or 'normal'! :)

For now, she has started on a treatment regimen that seems to be helping a bit with some of the symptoms and she will be having an appointment with another specialist soon to get another opinion and hopefully rule out the possibility that she has another rare condition that her labwork is suspicious for. Please pray she does not, as this would be a much worse option.

Needless to say, it has been a crazy time here! My poor mom feels like she finally got me better... And now she has a new patient! A lot of people often say "Well, God only gives you what you can handle!"... I do not really believe that. I know a lot of people, my family included, who have been given exceedingly more than they can handle! What I DO believe is that God gives us the grace and tools to get through and learn how to handle whatever circumstances we are given. With Him, we can do all things! And in our family, there is no doubt that my mom is one of his most amazing "tools"! She is the glue that binds us. Please pray for strength for her and for her sanity! :)

Please keep Katherine in your prayers!  For the healing of her GI system, wisdom for her doctors as they figure out the best treatment, and also for patience. She is 21 and just wants to go back to her normal life.

The challenges may seem great... but God is greater. If I am 100% certain of anything, it is this! After all... Look how far we've come! 

Thanks for checking in! 


God bless!
Jessica

"Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you." (Isaiah 41:10 MSG)

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"Tratamiento en Mexico"-- Mexican TV Interview! :)

My life-savers :)

Hi everyone! I just got the link for my Mexican TV interview and wanted to post it an share it with you all, along with an english translation :)

This is the short version of the report that aired in the middle of the afternoon. However, during the nightly news, a nearly 6 minute segment was aired, with additional commentary from newscaster Gregorio Martinez. What he said, and the way he explained my case, really touched my heart and I wish I had a copy of the transcript to share with you.

Basically, what he said that this was a very special report because it was a "feel good" story-- one of happiness, inspiration and hope... and that it was nice to report good news for a change, in the middle of a lot of bad and horrible things that are currently being reported on the news in Monterrey everyday.

He said that this report shows the recovery of a young girl, who thanks to the love, support and prayers of so many in Monterrey and around the world, survived the unimaginable and now has new hope and a new life.

This is the first report on RSD to ever air on Mexican TV and I know from the feedback we have been getting that it has already helped a lot of people to learn about this poorly understood and often misdiagnosed disease.

Well, here is the report... Enjoy!

 “TREATMENT IN MEXICO”- A young woman gets her life back after her nervous system is affected by a rare disease after a tick bite.

It’s an incredible story—a young woman’s life was completely changed for years after a tick bite caused her to have serious health problems. She left the United States after doctors there said there was nothing more they could do. But here in Monterrey, she found a new hope for life thanks to treatment from local doctors.

Main report:

The bite of a tick completely changed Jessica’s life.

Only five years ago she was a healthy young girl, completely different than what she became.

She became extremely ill and was expected to die. 

She was confined to a bed, she couldn’t even tolerate the touch of her clothing on her skin, any lights, sounds and all contact caused her to have intolerable pain.

The pain provoked painful skin lesions all over her body.

All of this is the consequence of a disease called “Distrofia Simpatica Refleja” or R-S-D, as it is called in the United States.

Doctors believe that the tick bite caused her nervous system to malfunction, causing her brain to interpret all stimulus as extremely painful.

Dr. Fernando Cantu: “Therefore, the pain signal enters into the nervous system in a normal way… However, in these patients, there is an amplification in the way their nervous systems interprets pain.…sensations that a typical person experiences as completely normal—provokes extreme pain in these patients. It’s very painful.”

In the United States, Jessica and her mother visited hundreds of doctors. Some recommended amputating her arm, others said that she was going to die.

Sarah Stevens/Mom: Doctors told me, “We don’t know what your daughter has…So, I took her to see another doctor.. and then many others. Finally, we found out that she had an illness called Lyme. Lyme disease is an infection you get from the bite of a tick.”

“But at that time, she was doing very badly. Her immune system was very low and she couldn’t fight the infection. Because of that, she developed another illness, called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.”

As a last hope for this young girl, doctors in the United States said that Jessica would need to travel to Monterrey Mexico to see Dr. Fernando Cantu, an anesthesiologist at Hospital San Jose.

There she would become part of a protocol, studying the use of Ketamine, a very powerful and potent anesthetic drug, using very high doses to induce the patient into a coma.

Dr. Fernando Cantu: “It functions similarly to shutting down, and re-starting a computer. You shut down the pain receptors, with the hope that when the treatment is finished, there will be a normal communication restored between the receptors, and no longer a painful stimulus.”

Now, Jessica’s life is completely different!

Her pain is gone and she can do so many different things. The hope is that she will one day soon be able to walk again.

Jessica “The Ketamine has been a miracle for me. My lesions are gone, I can move my legs and I can eat everything!”

Jessica: “I have a new life.”

Vicente Valdez (reporter): “Here at Hospital San Jose, her doctors are practicing this type of treatment and it is practically the only place in the world offering the ketamine protocol. This treatment can really offer a new quality of life to patients who are suffering with this rare disease.

When Jessica is completely recovered she wants to return to Monterrey to work with the doctors who saved her life and help other patients who have this disease recover.

--Vicente Valdez, Televisa Monterrey.

At the end of the segment, news reporter Gregorio Martinez came back on and said that for anyone interested in learning more about RSD and helping us with our mission of raising awareness of this disease should go and visit:  www.sertefiel.com

Serte Fiel is a new RSD Foundation in Mexico started by my dear friend Estefy and her incredible parents Jaime and Alma, with the intention to raise awareness and funding for research. Estefy is an amazing 19 year old who has been battling a severe case of RSD for a while now.

Estefy has become a "hermanita", little sister, to me and I thank God that we met and became so close, even though I wish the circumstances were different....

Me visiting Estefy in my old hospital room

Estefy is currently (ironically) in my old hospital room (aka the"miracle room") She is very strong, but if you could all please keep her in your prayers too, I would appreciate it! 

I am also very thankful to my amazing friends, the Marroquin Family- Luis, Susana, Susy, Paulina and Marifer, for sharing my story with Gregorio Martinez and making this interview with Televisa a reality!

The amazing Marroquin "kids"

They are very special people that we came to know and bond with in Monterrey and I consider them a part of my own family... They even recently came to visit me here in Naples! :)

With the Marroquin girls down on "The Pier" in Naples!

There are a lot of things I would change about the past rough years, but probably the one and ONLY thing that I would never change are the amazing people who came into my life through these circumstances... They're such a blessing!!!

Dios te bendiga!

Jessica

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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

Today is a really exciting day!! It's Mother's Day, and obviously, because I have the most incredibly amazing mom ever, I had to mention that today will be the FIRST mother's day that my mom is celebrating at home-- with all three of her daughters-- healthy-- in SIX years!!! Amazing! God is so good!

We are going to spend the day with all of our family, having brunch poolside, in beautiful sunny Florida. It's a miracle!!

My family and I have been blessed with SO many miracles... but the greatest of them all, for me, has been having my mom by my side. Nobody else could have endured what she did, done what she has, been as fierce of an advocate for me and still kept their sanity (ok, I know... the jury is still out on that one ;) ...

Even through the hardest, darkest and most painful times of the past few years, my mom always made me feel that my potential to make it through was as limitless as her love for me... and I knew, if that was true, than I could-- and would-- overcome anything.

Mom, your God-given strength and persistence is what kept me fighting. In the process, you've taught me to be selfless, to love those around me, to trust fully in God, to believe in only the best possible outcomes and in miracles. But quite honestly, just so you know...--YOU are my miracle.

I love you so much!

....WE love you so much!!

Todo nuestro amor para siempre! Te adoro!

Sus hijas,

Jessica, Katherine y Michelle

Also, a very Happy Mother's Day to my very special Nanny Yum-Yum and my Godmother, Aunt Carol! They are my two other 'motherly' influences in my life and their guidance and love has helped me so much, especially in these past few months with my transition back into "home life". I know it would be much more difficult (and less entertaining!) without their presence and support and I am truly blessed and very thankful we get to spend today all together, as a family! Love you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

God bless!

Love, Jessica

Going on Mexican TV (Televisa) Monday !!!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share some exciting news with you all! On Monday, my story is going to be on Mexican TV!

Earlier this week, Vicente Valdez, a reporter from Mexican TV station “Televisa” came and did an interview with me, mom, Dr. Cantu (aka green-shirt) and Dr. Barrientos (aka Luigi) about RSD, the ketamine coma and my “Miracle in Monterrey”!

Interestingly, we are told that this will be the FIRST segment to ever air about RSD on Mexican TV (or distrofia simpatica refleja, as it is called here)!!!

I am very excited and know that this will bring about much greater awareness of RSD, here in Monterrey, where so many lives have been restored from it thanks to the dedication and wisdom of the amazing Dr. Fernando Cantu (who, by the way, I got to see wearing a white "doctors coat" for the first time ever, for this interview!)

...This interview is very important to me personally.

I have been talking so much about my story and doing interviews back home in the US, but the one thing missing from them all has been the faces, voices, smiles and comments of my two heroes who saved my life!

It has been God’s work through their hands that brought me out of the torturous pain and suffering that I lived with for so many years and they deserve all of the glory, honor and recognition for everything that they have done!

It was very special for me to be able to honor them in this way, here in their country, so that everyone in Monterrey will know of the miracle and life-saving treatment that took place here and also as a way to thank all of the staff at Hospital San Jose and the many friends and family that we now have in Monterrey, for all of their love, support and prayers. 

I have to say though, that filming a segment for Mexican TV is MUCH easier and a lot less “work” than filming in the US!

The only thing that made this a little more challenging was that I had to speak totally in Spanish!!!

I felt SO proud of both doctors as we sat there, re-living the journey we have all taken together over the past 2.5 years. They did a fantastic job!

Here are some ‘behind the scenes’ pictures my mom took of me and the doctors being filmed, walking around the Safi Hotel, where we have been staying this past week.

Jorge Safi, the owner of the hotel, has been so kind, supportive and accommodating of me and my special situation and we are so thankful to him for making our stay here so comfortable. He even let us use one of the really nice conference rooms upstairs to film the interview in!

Vicente Valdez sat down with the 4 of us and questioned us individually.

First, Dr. Cantu was asked to explain what RSD is, how it occurs, treatment options and his involvement with the Ketamine Coma Study.

Next, he had my mom describe what my life was like before coming to Monterrey and what led to our decision to undergo this radical and risky treatment with the hopes of saving my life.

Then he than asked me to describe what the pain of RSD feels like, what I endured these past 6 years and what it feels like now to have a new life! He also asked me to talk a bit about my meeting “La Primera Dama”—First Lady Michelle Obama!

Last, he interviewed Dr. Luigi. Luigi was the first doctor to see and evaluate me when I landed by private air ambulance to Hospital San Jose 2.5 years ago. Vicente asked him to describe what my condition was like, and what his first thoughts were upon seeing me back then.

Wow. That was rough and very emotional to hear, but necessary to show everyone just how devastating and horrible this condition can progress.

...What can I even say about these two guys?! How do you even begin to ever thank someone for saving your life (multiple times?!)

....I don’t know the answer to that, but what I do know is that they are forever in my heart and will always be a part of my family—my Mexican father and my Mexican brother. :)

The interview will be airing on Televisa Monterrey this Monday (5/7) ! I am told they are going to show the story 3 times throughout the day- Between 6am-10am, 12pm-2pm and 7pm-9pm

Televisa Monterrey is channel “3” on cable, ch. 34 regular TV, and ch. 142 on “sky”.

I will post a link to it on here once it is online, as well as a translation of the script for everyone too!

Thanks for checking in!

Dios te bendiga!

Love, Jessica

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Official pictures with the First Lady!

Here are two of the official pictures I just received of mom and I with First Lady Michelle Obama!!!