Please forgive me if this becomes a book.

I don’t even know where to begin and there is so much I could share!! I’m going to try to keep it to the point, but that will be a challenge…not only Brae, but our entire family now has a new life in so many aspects.

Prior to our intensive with Kristen and Mike, my 7-year-old daughter was often riddled with respiratory issues, for years. We couldn’t go outside for long, and were hesitant to at all, many times a year due to the inevitable respiratory decline that would follow. I’m not talking just an obvious asthma like reaction that could be rectified with rescue meds and then move on with life. I’m talking excessive mucous production in her nose, airway, and lungs accompanied with a cough that would stimulate her gag reflex and risk aspiration nightly for several nights, if not weeks. I’m talking days, if not weeks, of being on a pulse oximeter at home, listening to her lungs throughout the night, administering treatments as necessary, sometimes including oxygen support. 

Vibrating vest therapy, oxygen therapy and nebulizer battles are not fun, and often next to impossible with a strong 7-year-old, who is at a toddler developmental stage, and cannot understand that this must be done to preserve her life. This created unbearable anxiety in everyone. 

At times, the excessive mucous production, that she was unable to effectively clear, would progress to pneumonia as it accumulated until she was, in essence, drowning in her own mucous.

We couldn’t visit places where dust or allergens may be or would likely be present. We couldn’t go to carnival, visit zoos or animal exhibits, pumpkin patches, animal shelters, veterinary clinics, stores with scents in the air, indoor pools or aquatic centers, do bon fires or participate in many holiday celebrations, etc. If there was too much of anything, but air, it was just not a good idea to be there.

It extremely limited her life, and thus our entire family’s life. When we DID decide to do these things, for the sake of our other children not always missing out due to their sister’s health, we either felt guilty for leaving her behind with a caretaker or I was a sleepless wreck for an untold time waiting for the aftermath of the exposure.

PTSD/CTSD fears of loss of her life took a hold of my life and I lived with a constant paranoia and fear that my baby would eventually succumb to these respiratory problems…and I just didn’t know when THAT time was going to be THIS time.

In July of 2019, we spent a week with Kristen and Mike Myers of the Myers Institute™ in West Palm Beach, Florida. We had a week of intensive Fascial Matrix Connection Method™(FMCM) therapy, once or twice a day, depending on her body’s response to each therapy session. I could tell a difference immediately after the first session. My daughter was full of energy, was walking more stable with purposeful movement and for much longer durations. She walked nonstop for a few hours after that first session! It was like witnessing her exploring and appreciating a new freedom of movement in her body she never had experienced before. She just COULD NOT STOP and was full of squeals, giggles, and smiles, swinging her arms around and shaking her head back and forth, etc. It was obvious that, to her, it must have felt like someone just removed her “straight jacket” for the first time ever…she just had all these things she could do without restriction and battling her own body!

I cannot even recall all the initial changes and those that followed in the weeks after the intensive…maybe I should have kept better notes. I was just so enthralled in my awe and gratitude in those moments that I couldn’t pause my joyful observation to write it all down! It was too emotionally valuable and healing to just be in the present with her, in her new existence, and be FULLY present!

Fast forward 6 months…Brae has been free of respiratory complaints for the most part since our therapy with the Myers. I say for the most part as I want to be fully disclosing…but, to be very clear, in my book, they are RESOLVED! She experienced a couple of little allergy symptoms for a day or two in the fall and a couple little colds this winter…we are talking normal kid stuff. She has a few sneezes or a runny nose, a cough for a day or two and VOILA, she is back to health.

It is mind-blowing. It is still unreal to me to see my child start to develop symptoms, then her body does what it is supposed to do. She’s better before anything gets concerning!! 

We have not had to use oxygen since just before our trip to the Myers. She was on home oxygen only two days before we flew out for the intensive due to pneumonia in JULY! She has had to have a nebulizer treatment on two occasions and that was more proactive versus reactive. 

She was holding her own and I didn’t see any evidence of rapid impending decline as we have in the past, but due to past experiences, I needed to “stay ahead of it” for my own peace of mind. I just COULD NOT BELIEVE this was our new life. I didn’t trust it yet.

I’m learning to, with each passing experience that she doesn’t react to. I’m learning to, with each exposure to bacteria and viruses floating around school that don’t turn into weeks of misery and fear for her life.

We did the pumpkin patch this fall. We rode a tractor with hay pieces and dust blowing everywhere. We’ve been to a petting zoo with random farm animals. She has been spending quite a bit of time in my mother’s house, who has had cats for years. At times up to four cats…and there has been no reaction. 

Yesterday, we went to the equestrian horse therapy center and she rode a horse INDOORS with dust stirred up everywhere in the arena. Due to the cold winter, the doors are all kept shut right now and there isn’t much air flow to let all the particles clear out. I am shocked that she was able to tolerate all the dust and allergens floating around the stable and arena. We were there for an hour!! She did not display one symptom. Nothing showed up overnight and the next day she is still 100% symptom free. This is all so beautiful and freeing to our souls!

Her physical healing has been SO healing for me mentally and emotionally. This has opened a world of experiences for our family that we haven’t been able to enjoy for years. 

We are free again.

A few notes on our stay, outside of the medical side. We were provided with very comfortable living quarters, including a full kitchen and bathroom. It made it very nice to not feel like it was a typical medical visit for my child.

We felt welcome and at home and the Myers were wonderful hosts. They even picked up the oxygen tank we were petrified to be without and had arranged to have it available to us. The tank was waiting in our “home away from home” upon our arrival.

The trip felt very organic and relaxed, unlike any other medical trip or intensive we have ever done. Typically, we are rushing back and forth to appointments, forcing her through therapy even if she’s not in the mood, hasn’t eaten, needs a nap, etc. In the past, we have experienced appointments that were forced due to the “now or never” type of scheduling. It never felt that way with the Myers. They wanted to make themselves available to provide therapy when my daughter, and her body, was prepared for and welcoming of the work. 

They came to her, in her place of comfort for the week. Mike or Kristen came to work with my daughter a couple times per day, depending on their and my daughter’s schedule. If she just wasn’t up for therapy or needed a nap, they flexed around that and offered again later that day.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience all around…not to mention the beach is so close!! You can’t beat beautiful weather, in a beach town with many fun local experiences for a therapy trip!!

It is my hope and prayer that in the future EVERY family with a child with special healthcare needs be told about this option. That they know about this therapy and can explore it for their child!!

You can read a little more about some of my initial observations on this post: