Podcast

Finding God’s Love and Comfort in Deepest Pain: Jody Hudson E121
Jody: [00:00:00] She said, ” I learned in this three weeks’ time that what I came here for, for physical healing, was not part of God’s plan. It was a different healing, more of a spiritual healing that He wanted me to have here, so I thank you for that.” I know that He hasn’t forgotten about me,
Welcome to the Unshakable Hope podcast, where real life intersects redeeming love. I’m Kelly Hall, and this is where we wrestle through faith questions, such as how do I trust God’s heart when His ways and delays are breaking mine? We’ll hear from people just like you and me who have experienced God’s faithfulness when life didn’t unfold as they expected.
My prayer is that God would renew our hope in His Word and His love through these conversations.
Hey, friends. Powerful and intimate, those are the words I’d use to describe today’s [00:01:00] story. Jodi Hudson is my guest today. And you are gonna hear some powerful encouragement from her as she has walked through heartbreaking loss.
She is an author, speaker, and Lyme disease advocate whose story has settled so deeply into my heart. Today’s topic hits very close to home for me. This won’t surprise my regular listeners, but if you’re here for the first time-
I have three adult daughters with special needs, two of them deeply impacted by chronic Lyme disease. Jodi is such a special woman, and I know her remarkable story and the faithfulness of God seen throughout the story will deeply impact your hearts. Her daughter, Alex, spent 10 years navigating a medical mystery.
She went through 40 doctors and countless misdiagnosis before they finally discovered the source was chronic Lyme disease. Although Alex sadly passed away in 2018 through complications of this disease she was only [00:02:00] 22, she left a powerful legacy, her journey of faith throughout her suffering is so remarkable, it is obviously the power of God. He draws near to the broken-hearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.
You will see the faithfulness of God. You’ll also learn about this disease and how we can even come alongside somebody who is suffering with a disease that doesn’t make any sense. What can you say at times like this? I hope you listen to the very end, because you are gonna hear how this remarkable young woman, Alex, and her life deeply impacted others for the kingdom.
Jodi has written an award-winning memoir which is a testimony to God all in itself. It’s called My Promise to Alex. It’s shares a message of hope, faith, and perseverance. Jodi, I’m so grateful you could join me today. Welcome to Unshakable Hope
Jody: oh, my gosh, Kelly. Thank you so much for having me, and I feel like we’ve been [00:03:00] connected for so long, even though we just recently have met- Yeah … so I love how God just puts the right people in our place at the right time, so I’m really looking forward to this conversation and sharing with you, especially since you have personally been touched by, a lot of the stuff that I went through with Alex.
Jody: So thank you for having me.
Kelly: Thank you. Yes, I’m hoping that I won’t get emotional during this story, but it does hit very close to home. When I read your book, I was just amazed at the remarkable person that Alex is. Yeah. So I would love for you to tell us about her before she got sick.
Jody: Alex was, she had lots of different personalities.
Jody: She loved sports because she had an older brother, so she was very competitive, always wanting to keep up with him. So she played all the sports. Soccer, she was an amazing softball pitcher, sh- a runner. You name it, she did it. She also loved dogs. In fact, she would always tell us when she was little she was gonna grow up to be a [00:04:00] veterinarian, but she was only gonna take care of dogs.
Jody: So she was gonna be very focused in her, veterinarian business, and she was very, very smart. She loved to read. Even at an early age, I would take her to the library, and she literally just, ran through her books so quickly. And even towards the end, I remember, there was so much that was taken away from her, but not her, eyesight nor her love for reading.
Jody: So she read about a book a day, ’cause that’s really all that she could do. She had a normal, life as far as the girlfriends and, just all the great school activities. She actually had a full-ride scholarship to her dream college, which was UCLA. She wanted to be a Bruin.
Jody: But unfortunately, all of her health challenges, kept her from that. And she was born and raised Catholic and sacraments were very important to her. But her faith really did not come on fire [00:05:00] until she really started getting sick. But she always had that foundation.
Jody: Again, just a real normal girl who loved it all, loved the fashion but could be so much of a tomboy at heart just trying to keep up with her brother.
Kelly: I loved her heart, and as you said, her faith really came alive and on fire, and became very, very personal later on, and we’ll describe that as well.
Kelly: I wanted you to talk now about the medical journey. The medical trauma, that’s how I would describe it, because that’s how our family experienced it over so many years. You and Alex endured so much of this. It was intense. I think those are the places in the book where it brought me to tears because it was just so personal, so deeply personal to me.
Kelly: So could you just describe those 10 years of searching for answers as best you can?
Jody: I’m gonna put it into, like, a little snapshot, because really that’s why I had to write a book, because it’s so- Yeah … so [00:06:00] complicated. Right. But to give you the, the CliffsNotes version, yes, from fifth grade when she started developing joint pain and inflammation, that’s when we started our initial round of doctors.
Jody: And we went to her primary, um, doctor, who said, “It’s probably just growing pains or an athletic body that has just been a little bit abused, um, from all of the sports that she did.” So pa- basically, it was kind of like, suck it up. Put, uh, tape around your ankles, your knees. Pop a couple of ibuprofen.
Jody: You’ll be fine.” Well, she did that, but she wasn’t fine, and other things started developing. She started developing, skin rashes. Then she started developing what we thought was maybe an eating disorder, but she had a lot of digestive issues. Fast-forward to her freshman year in high school, where she was still trying to compete [00:07:00] and play in sports.
Jody: She was in a basketball game, dribbling the ball down the court, and she just, like, fell to the ground, and her knees had ballooned up to the size of grapefruit, and her coach had to go out there and carry her off. Took her to, an orthopedic surgeon where they decided that,, there were some issues with her knees, and she needed to have, knee surgery.
Jody: We first did knee surgery on her right knee, and they said if it was successful, then we would operate on the left knee. Well, of course, nothing changed, and she still had issues. So we were just swept into this whole sea of, what is wrong? Why don’t the doctors know what’s going on? And high school’s a very challenging time for kids as it is.
Kelly: Yeah.
Jody: So imagine knowing that something’s wrong with you, doctors can’t figure it out, is it in your head? But then also, everything that you identified with, with sports [00:08:00] and with cheerleading and all the groups of friends, that’s all taken away from you because if you can’t participate in those activities, people move on, right?
Jody: They forget about you. So it was such a lonely, lonely time for Alex, but she didn’t give up. We still kept searching for doctors, and it was in 2017, the 40th doctor, literally, that we saw, and it was by Alex’s own discovery. She was always on the internet looking for different doctors who might think outside of the box and, figure out what was wrong with her.
Jody: So it was the 40th doctor down in LA at Cedars-Sinai that Kelly, within the first five minutes of us talking to him and presenting all of her lab results and going through her whole history, said to me Mrs. Hudson, has anybody ever tested Alex for Lyme disease?
Kelly: Wow.
Jody: And in 2017, I asked a very [00:09:00] ignorant question.
Jody: I said, “What is Lyme disease?” Well now, as you know, with both of us having that personal experience, we could be a doctor of Lyme disease, ’cause you have to read up on it quick-like. But he said, “I think she has Lyme disease. All of her symptoms are presenting as such.” He goes, “Let me run some tests on her.
Jody: It’ll take a couple weeks, and we’ll see.” So at that time I was working for Catholic Charities, and I remember two weeks later, my secretary saying, “Jodi, Alex is here.
Jody: She seems really upset.” So we went into my office, and she said to me, “Mom,” We got the results back.” “I have Lyme disease.” And in that moment of 10 years of everything that we had gone through, and people gaslighting us, and people thinking it was all in her head, we had that affirmation that, yes, we knew [00:10:00] that something was wrong with her, and now we have a label But then also in that same moment, we looked at each other and we’re like, “What do we do?”
Jody: You know, like when you have cancer and other things where it’s tried and true, you have a whole method. You know, okay, you go to this stage, and then it’s the next stage. But with Lyme disease, we found out it’s like a buffet. Would you like this treatment? Would you like that treatment? So you know, it was a bittersweet moment for us.
Jody: We were like, yes, we knew it wasn’t in her head, but now where do we begin?
Kelly: Mm. Yes. , First I just wanna highlight the faithfulness of God that led A- Alex to that doctor- Yeah … which finally led y’all to the diagnosis. So you finally had an answer after 10 years of searching and then you’re describing the confusion of the treatments, which we have experienced as well. There’s just too much to choose from, and so many differing [00:11:00] opinions, and so many different bodies that respond differently to treatments, and so it’s confusing. And I just remember one of the verses that I prayed quite often that really helped me during this time was 2 Chronicles 20:12, and it’s part of jehoshaphat’s prayer. Prayer. He was the king of Judah. Yeah. And he was … been told, “Hey, this enemy army’s coming. They’re absolutely enormous. We’re gonna get wiped out. There’s no hope.” And part of his prayer was, ” God, we have no power here. We have no power to face this vast army that’s attacking us.
Kelly: We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” And that’s what we prayed so often with Lyme disease. Like, we tried so many different treatments, and there are thousands, as you said, a buffet to choose from, and so many different doctors with very a- very strong opinions that are quite different and even opposite from each other.
Kelly: And so we really had to look to God, and this was so [00:12:00] comforting because it helped us let go of all of the anxiety that it’s up to me, it’s up to me to solve this issue. And but God knows all things. His understanding is unlimited. And that comforted my heart and our girls’ hearts so much during this time.
Kelly: I don’t wanna spend a lot of time on this issue either, but I do want you to mention the fact that Alex’s situation was so misunderstood by doctors that there was one time that she was placed on a psychiatric hold.
Jody: Oh, gosh. I was just talking to my girlfriend about this the other day, And just like with mental health and how so many people, get gaslighted or they don’t believe what’s wrong with them, and so it’s so easy just dismiss it as a mental health issue.
Jody: And so it was in 2017 where we had been go- going cross country trying all these different sorts of treatments, and her primary Lyme literate [00:13:00] doctor, realized that she needed to get to the hospital, and she needed to get on IVs and get some nourishment and some things in her system just to be able to continue with the treatment.
Kelly: Yeah.
Jody: And so he arranged for us to go to this very prominent hospital, and I’m carrying all of my black binders with all of her, results in there and everything just to make sure that I could bring the doctors up to speed. We were in the ER and going through the whole intake and the questioning, and they said, “Okay.
Jody: Well, we’ll get her admitted, but right now there’s going to be a little bit of a wait. It might be a couple hours.” And I said, “Okay, fine.” Well, an hour had passed, and a new team of doctors came in, went through the whole questioning. And I’m sitting there looking at them going, “Okay, we’ve already given you this information.
Jody: I just don’t quite understand what’s going on.” They left, and within a couple of minutes, there was two orderly people that came in, and they [00:14:00] started wheeling her out. And I said, “Oh, are… Do we finally get our… Better we being admitted?” And they both looked at each other, and one of them said, “Oh, I guess they didn’t tell the mom.”
Jody: And I said, “Tell the mom what?” And they wouldn’t tell me, and they kept wheeling her down the hallway, and they made an immediate left. And I saw the room that they were gonna wheel her into, and it had no windows. And I just knew, I’m getting gos- goosebumps as I’m saying this. I just knew that something was not right, and I was not gonna expose Alex to this.
Jody: So I grabbed her arm, and we literally started running down the hospital hallway, and there was two security guards. They grabbed Alex, and then the other security guard grabbed me and literally shoved me into the lobby and said, “You can’t see your daughter until she’s been released.”
Kelly: Wow.
Jody: So she underwent a psych [00:15:00] lockdown for two hours- And I was sitting there in the lobby, and I called her doctor and explained what was going on, and he was just dumbfounded.
Jody: He goes, ” I feel terrible. Here I sent you there never expecting this to happen.” And people around me in the lobby were h- overhearing all of this, and they were all outraged. They’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is terrible.” And two hours later, Alex appeared through the lobby door, and her hair was just, like, all over the place, and she had this blanket over her, and she’s like, “Let’s go.
Jody: Let’s get out of here.” And we went to the car, I was sobbing, and I said, “Alex…” As a parent, like, you’re always trying to protect your child, and I couldn’t protect her in that moment. And I said, “I am so sorry. I can’t even imagine what you went through.” I said, “I called your doctor, and he wants to talk to you if it’s okay.”
Jody: And she’s like, “Yes, [00:16:00] let’s talk to him.” And so he apologized as well, but he said to her, “I’m gonna ask you to do something really hard.” He said, “You need to walk back in there, because you need to get these IVs. Like, your body needs this, and they need to right a wrong.” Wow. My daughter was so brave and so full of the spirit that God had given her, and she walked back in there, and sure enough, they admitted her as like everything was fine.
Kelly: Wow.
Jody: Yeah.
Kelly: I cannot imagine. That’s absolutely terrifying to feel so powerless, but then to see how God intervened, and the courage that girl had. The courage she had to walk back in there, I cannot even imagine.
Jody: Talk about turning the other cheek, right? Right. It’s like here they’ve done all this horrible stuff to her, but she was so full of God’s [00:17:00] love and protection.
Jody: Yeah. She’s like, ” I’m gonna go back through there because I know God is with me, and He’s gonna keep seeing me through.”
Jody: Wow. Yep. Amazing.
Kelly: It is amazing. I think that’s such a testimony for us when our kids are struggling, when a loved one of any, any loved one is struggling, to know that God is more near than we can believe, and he is more active than we can see, and we can trust him. And the fact that she was able to sense the truth of God’s presence and protection, protection to walk back into that place where she had been, in many ways, medically abused.
Kelly: Yeah. It, it’s so amazing. Thank you, God.
Jody: There are so many beautiful things, , that happened to her throughout her horrific journey, and I tell people, I said, “I know it’s hard when you’re in the pit of darkness and you have so much swirling around you that it [00:18:00] suffocates you, and we don’t always look up and look around in our surroundings.”
Kelly: Yes.
Jody: And that’s how, like, the whole bluebird story came about, which the bluebird is featured on the, the cover of my book. It was a beautiful reminder to Alex that God was showing up every day for her.
Kelly: Mm. Yeah, every day she saw a bluebird, right? Same time of day? Is that what happened?
Jody: So, is it okay to tell the story?
Kelly: Yes.
Jody: So it was in December of 2017, and Alex had passed in March of 2018. And I remember I was in the living room and, Kelly, I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I get really angst and I’m, like, revved up, I start cleaning. The kids know, “Okay, my gosh, Mom’s got the vacuum out.
Jody: She’s got the dusting rags. We’re out of here.” They, like, run. So I’m dusting away in the, in the living room, and Alex was in , the back, bedroom, ’cause at this point, she was pretty much bedridden by then. [00:19:00] And I just had this moment where I’m like, “Ugh, I just need to get out of the house.”
Jody: Like, I just was not in a good frame of mind, and I always had to be so, uplifting and, and so present for Alex. And so I went in the back bedroom and I said, “Honey, I’m just gonna run out to the grocery store really quick, and I’ll be right back.” And she’s like, “Yeah, that’s fine.” So I get in the car, and I start driving, and I pull over, and I just had this moment with God, where I think a lot of people listening to this story can identify with.
Jody: I was just so mad and so angry at him, and I was just letting him have it. I’m like, “You know what, God? This- purgatory that you are putting us through. I cannot keep doing this. Like, I cannot sustain this. I can barely get through it, let alone Alex getting through this. So guess what? I’m giving you an ultimatum, God.
Jody: I’m telling you, you either fix her right now or take [00:20:00] her, because I cannot do this anymore. And I’m just, like, letting him have it. And then once I calm myself down, I’m like, “Okay, let’s go back home.” So went back home, told Alex I was back, and I continued to clean in the living room.
Jody: And I looked out the window, and in our courtyard we have this really beautiful fountain, and I saw this bluebird perched on top of the fountain. And it just kinda, like, took me by surprise, and it also just gave me this peace, this calm.
Kelly: Hmm.
Jody: And so I went into the back bedroom and I said to Alex, I go, “Honey, have you seen this bluebird before?”
Jody: I go, “I just noticed it today for the first time.” And Alex, even though she was sick, she still was, my daughter and she still could give me attitude. And she’s like, “Yeah.” She said, “I’ve been seeing it, like the last month, Mom.” And I said, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know how I missed it.”
Jody: She said, “Yes.” “I see it every day at 3:00.” And I said, “When you [00:21:00] see that bluebird, like, how does it make you feel? What do you think?” She said, “You know what, Mom?” She goes, “I know it’s a sign from God. I know that He hasn’t forgotten about me, and it’s just another reminder that I’m still here on Earth, and, I gotta put my best foot forward and do what I can for Him.”
Jody: And I went back into the living room, and there was a chair, and I sat down, and I just wept. And I said, “Oh my gosh, God. I’m so sorry. Here I just went off on you ’cause I thought you weren’t here. You were not helping us. But here you were giving this beautiful sign to my daughter because she was paying attention and I wasn’t.
Jody: I’m so, so sorry, but thank you so much for being there for her and carrying her through.” And from that moment on, I just kind of surrendered. I had this, this peace about me, knowing that He was there and helping us, and more importantly, He was helping [00:22:00] her.
Kelly: What a comfort. Wow, what a good God. I just love that story so much.
Kelly: We’re talking about Alex’s amazing journey, I would love for you to also tell us the story, towards the end it was a very expensive treatment. And she impacted people in a major, major way even though she was so sick.
Jody: Yep. We flew to this facility where we had heard about amazing miracles happen, like people going in in a wheelchair and coming out walking.
Jody: I had done a lot of research and I thought, “Okay, this is it. I’m gonna roll the dice.” I sold her car, got as much money as I could, drained from my savings. I’m like, this is gonna be the one.” So the second day that we were there Alex was doing some treatment, and I was sitting outside and I was just like, “Oh my gosh,” “Is this gonna be the one?”
Jody: And I was questioning and I just was not in a good frame of [00:23:00] mind. And this gentleman walked by and he stopped, and he must have sensed that I was not in a good space, and he said, “Can I sit down here with you?” And I’m like my daughter, like mother like daughter, I was kind of flippant attitude. I’m like, “Sure, yeah,” like whatever.
Jody: We started talking and I just poured out the story and how we came to be there. And he said his name, and he said that he was the chief financial officer there, and he was a man of God. And he said, “Look up over there.” He goes, “That’s my office.” He goes, “I would love for you to come to my office every morning and we’ll just pray together.
Jody: And if you want, bring your daughter as well.” And I said, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate that, and I’m so sorry for how flippant I was to you in the beginning,” I said, “but I just had a, a breaking moment.” And he’s like, “Don’t worry, I understand. I see and hear it all the time.” And so every morning we went to him before Alex began her [00:24:00] treatment, and she was there the first week.
Jody: We didn’t see any change. In fact, she was getting worse because she had so much happening to her at once. It was kind of like the kitchen sink being thrown at her. And, and you know, Kelly, like with this Lyme disease and treatment every body is different and everyo- everyone reacts differently to treatment, and Alex, it was just too much for her.
Jody: So the second week we kinda like started whittling back on things and started changing up her treatment, and she just wasn’t getting better at all. And so we met with her doctors and they said, “You know what?” We think the third week things will change for her, and we’re not gonna charge you for the third week, but we want you to, to stay here.
Jody: And so Alex said, “Yes, let’s, let’s do this.” And so the third week came and went, and she didn’t get any better. And on our last day, we met with the team, and they refunded us our money. Wow. And [00:25:00] they said to us, ” We have never…” I’ll start crying. “We have never had anybody like Alex here before. She, despite her own pain and suffering, loved on others, prayed for others, and she just was amazing.
Jody: So we feel bad that we weren’t able to heal her or make anything change in her treatment and her, disease. But what she has done here has just been so remarkable. So, you’re not paying for the three weeks that you were here. It’s our gift to you because she was such a gift to us.” And Alex told them, she said, thank you so much.”
Jody: And-
Kelly: Wow …
Jody: chief financial officer that had become a really good friend, we gave him a cross and some other things for his office, and he had two different letters written for us, one for Alex and one for [00:26:00] myself.
Jody: And he said, “I want you girls to read these when you get on the plane.” And so we did, and Alex read her letter and I read mine. And in that moment everything changed for me, and I understood, like, what redemptive suffering means and how you can attach your pain and suffering to a greater good. And it just flipped and changed Alex’s whole take on her illness, and she really just leaned into that and became this prayer warrior, this Lyme warrior.
Jody: It was amazing how God used her illness for others.
Kelly: Wow. So powerful and so instructive for us that we can look out as we walk through the suffering. Be honest with everything you’re going through, wrestle it out with the Lord, but then allow yourself to even be a vessel, to bring a blessing to other people.
Jody: I still have the letter from the, the gentleman [00:27:00] that , was so instrumental in that stay. But Can I read the letter?
Kelly: Sure.
Jody: I keep it in my Bible because I just feel like it was, such a special, special thing.
Jody: Pray to God that I don’t cry. So he writes, “To my Cali girls.” Alex Even on the hardest days, keep standing. You ask why? Because you never know who may be watching or is watching. God’s purpose for our lives isn’t always glamorous.
Jody: But much like how He used Job through devastation after devastation, He too will use you, even through illness, to transform others’ lives. Just as we prayed for God to make your next steps known, this requires you to put one foot in front of the other. Matthew 11:28 tells us, ” Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Jody: Jeremiah 17:14, “Heal me, Lord, [00:28:00] and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” And Jodie, remember this if nothing else, Isaiah 41:13, ” For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'”
Kelly: Wow. What a powerful gift from the Lord.
Jody: I’ve never read this letter, out loud to anybody on a podcast But I just, wanted to share that with you just so you could see and feel and hear this amazing presence- Mm-hmm … that God had at this place where, again, she wasn’t healed physically, but spiritually she was.
Kelly: And how amazing that she was able to see and sense that.
Kelly: That shows such a depth of relationship with the Lord, to be able to see beyond her own pain, and [00:29:00] to accept the fact that, these three weeks weren’t for her physical healing, which she so deeply longed for. But to receive and walk in the gift of this spiritual healing and this soul healing that she received there, it’s remarkable and mind-boggling all at the same time.
Jody: It really is. And she, came home from that whole experience just a changed individual, and she poured herself more into the Bible and writing out scripture cards, where in the book, as you notice, there’s a scripture before all of the chapters. So that was taken from Alex’s three by five index cards that she would sit down at the table- When she was trying to eat, and it was so painful for her because of the, Lyme disease, how it just ravaged her whole digestive system.
Jody: But she knew that she needed to, to eat in order to take medication and to sustain herself. So [00:30:00] she would sit there with her Bible and these index cards, and just write out verses that spoke to her. And so I knew that I wanted to include those in the book. When you read the book, it’s just so beautiful to see Alex’s hand, and her faith, and things that sustained her
Kelly: yes. That’s amazing. I didn’t realize that part of the story. Well, as we talked about, everybody’s different with chronic illness, and especially with Lyme disease. Our girls were so different. A lot of treatments that worked for other people did not work for them, or were too much for their bodies to handle, as you described with Alex.
Kelly: And there were a few times when, we thought they might not make it. But I really want you to explain some of the symptoms of Lyme disease. And mast cell activation syndrome, which, doctors thought one of my daughters had And the reason I want you to go into it is because [00:31:00] as followers of Jesus, I think this information will help us as we come beside other people who are suffering.
Kelly: And maybe we don’t understand their illnesses, but we can say, “I don’t understand what you’re going through, but I, I believe you.” And I know my oldest daughter said so many times, that was her biggest struggle, is she just wished so much people wouldn’t judge her, but would just believe her symptoms.
Jody: Yes. So I love that you said the word believe, because that was the biggest thing, for Alex, is,, the medical community not believing in her, other people seeing her and thinking it was a eating disorder, people walking up to her in a drug store and saying, you should really gain some weight.
Jody: You don’t look good.” I mean, people can just be so mean and so cruel. So, after she had passed and I started her foundation, we actually had T-shirts made up with the Believe and the Lyme logo- . because it [00:32:00] was such a big word, and it makes such a, statement.
Jody: I love that you are allowing me to speak a little bit about this, because May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, and every May, I go on and do a lot of, , TV interviews, radio interviews, just letting people be aware about Lyme disease and the symptoms. And Lyme disease is very hard to detect, number one, because the testing is not always accurate.
Jody: A lot of people get, the false negatives back. And also, number two, Lyme disease is called the Great Imitator, so it looks like a lot of other illnesses. It starts out as kinda like a summer flu, cold. Your body just doesn’t feel right. It’s kinda achy. You get the joint pains, inflammation.
Jody: So it doesn’t really trigger, like, oh my gosh, something’s, horribly wrong with me. You just think, oh, I’m [00:33:00] exhausted. I’m tired. , Maybe I ate something wrong. But then it takes on all these other different, symptoms, which is the brain fog, increased digestive issues.
Jody: Lyme disease is a bacterial infection. Once it gets into your system, it impacts every organ in your body. And unfortunately, most people don’t know that they have Lyme disease until it becomes chronic, because only 35% of those that get bit by a tick- develop what’s called a bullseye rash. And so if you get bit and you have this bullseye rash, if you’ve been educated or, , are aware of anything about Lyme disease, you’ll be like, “Oh my gosh, I need to get, to the doctor.
Jody: I need to get a round of antibiotics to clear this out.” But like I said, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know about, Lyme disease, or they don’t know that they’ve been bit until it’s too late. And in Alex’s case, 10 years, 10 years having this bacterial [00:34:00] infection, I mean, there was just no way that we could get a leg up on it.
Kelly: Right. And she also developed mast cell activation syndrome.
Jody: So mast cell activation sy- syndrome, that really was the contributing factor to her death. Most people don’t pass away from Lyme disease, but it’s the co-infections and the other, diseases that you can develop along with Lyme disease.
Jody: So mast cell activation syndrome is, it impacts your level of histamine. So in Alex’s case, imagine one day you’re sitting down and you’re eating a slice of pizza without a problem. The next day you might sit down and eat that same slice of pizza, but now you’re developing anaphylactic reactions.
Jody: It’s very scary, and those histamines , send off, these warning signs. Like, they think, “Oh, no, this is a bad thing entering your body. We need to fight it.” And so it [00:35:00] increases your pain tenfold. And it’s so hard to treat mast cell activation syndrome when you also have Lyme disease, because the thing that you could use to treat mast cell with, it might flare up your Lyme symptoms.
Jody: In Alex’s case, she had, this whole mixed bag, and it’s like, what do you treat first? And maybe you might help with one symptom, but then you’re gonna set off, 12 other symptoms. It’s a disease I don’t wish upon anybody, as you know, Kelly. Right.
Kelly: Yes. We often say it is from the pit of hell, and we wouldn’t wish it on our worst enemy.
Kelly: . It’s just horrible. And I’m just so empathetic about the, , mast cell issue because one of our daughters was reacting to everything, and ended up in the emergency room with anaphylactic reactions, and they just couldn’t figure out what was going on. And it would be so easy to think she’s making it up, but then you look at her blue lips, and you’re like, “Okay,
Kelly: this is happening inside her body. [00:36:00] She can’t control it.”
Jody: And the foods too. “Alex is eating organic chicken in the morning and sweet potatoes? That’s, her breakfast?” I go, “You don’t understand. She has, , five safe foods that she can eat because everything else, sets this off.”
Jody: And there’s so many times, , we were literally living in the ER, and going back and forth, back and forth. And they all looked at us, of course, like we were crazy. They couldn’t figure out what was, going on with her. And even, like, water. I had to get cases of this specific water that Sprout sold because that’s the only water that didn’t affect her.
Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Jody: And people would just look at me like I was this crazy lady and I was raising a crazy child. It was so hard. So hard.
Kelly: It’s so hard, and that describes many of the issues that we had as well. , As you continued to watch your daughter decline, how
Kelly: did you talk to God in those darkest days? How did you [00:37:00] trust God as you realized that she wasn’t gonna survive this? How did God meet you there?
Jody: Yeah. So like I, I said in that whole, you know, bluebird story at the end of December, I mean, it really helped to turn my thinking around. And in January I started having hospice come in, and Alex- Was amazing on so many levels, but just imagine, here you are in so much pain.
Jody: She refused to take pain medication. She wanted to be ever so present with her journey with God and however long and whatever that looked like So we had hospice come in just to do her vitals, but what really helped her the most was this prayer couple that came in, George and Kathleen Lucas, and I talk about them in the book.
Jody: And seeing Alex just devour all of these books that like most theologians and other people involved in church [00:38:00] and religion, like these are really tough books, and she devoured it. And she and George had these amazing conversations. It was way over my head. God was helping her to grow deeper and deeper in her faith, and He was also helping me as I witnessed all of this, knowing that she was not of this world.
Jody: People talk about, “Oh my gosh, yes, my daughter or my son, they’re such saints.” But I literally was seeing this transformation in Alex. So everything flipped in me. Like, instead of this motherly, earthly grief, I started leaning into God’s plan for her, and started thinking more about, ” Gosh, I’m so lucky that I had Alex for 22 years, and if this is where we part now, and if God is saying, ‘Good job, my [00:39:00] faithful servant,’ like, ‘I’m ready to, to take you up,’ I’m…
Jody: I have to lean into this. And I know that He’s gonna have a purpose for me as well.” So He just started giving me all these different signs and these things as affirmation, and people reaching out to me, and it was just these vessels that He put in my life of people that I didn’t even know, like in the Lyme community, and other people just, like, “I’ve heard about Alex’s story.
Jody: Is there anything that we can do?” And even after she passed, this family who reached out to me heard about Alex’s story and said, “We want to give you $10,000. Do with it whatever you need.” And Kelly, that was the exact amount of what I needed for her funeral expenses, ’cause I was splitting it with her dad.
Jody: So again, going back to when I talked about the bluebird story, when we are in the pit of [00:40:00] things, you’ve got to look around because He’s sending you beautiful signs. And sometimes I realize God had to send me really big signs, like this bluebird or like this $10,000, because I think He was sending me other signs and I was just oblivious.
Jody: He’s like, “Oh my God, she’s a little bit more challenging. I need to like really slap it in her face.” But yeah, you just have to lean into that. And, sometimes you think, “Where is God in the, the midst of all this?” But if you look, He’s always there. He never leaves us. We’re the ones that leave Him. He doesn’t leave us.
Kelly: . That is so true. That’s really a powerful hope-filled message that we can wrap this up with. So many times in the Bible, God says, “I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you.” His promise is that He’ll be with us. And Isaiah 55:8-9 talks about the fact that His thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours, and Alex stepped into that.
Kelly: She allowed God to [00:41:00] open her mind to an eternal perspective that was far, far beyond her years. And through her example and the ways He met you, He opened your mind to that as well.
Jody: Absolutely. And that parting gift of when she opened up her eyes at the last moment and looked up to the ceiling and had this big, big smile on her face.
Jody: And even though she was leaving me, and this was, like, the worst earthly experience I could have, it was her most beautiful experience, and I couldn’t deny her of that, right? So she helped to catapult me into what I’m doing today, speaking and being that testimonial, not that grieving mother. And I definitely had those moments because I’m human, but I really want to sit in more of the testimonial and how good God still continues to be and [00:42:00] how He shows up in my life despite what I’ve been through.
Kelly: Amen. So beautiful.
Jody: Thank you.
Kelly: I just want to thank you so much, Jodi, for this powerful, powerful story, and a story of hope that really focuses our heart on the heart of God.
Jody: Yes. And Kelly, thank you so much for this conversation, and just for what you’re doing with your own ministry. I mean, God has called you, you know, to be His vessel, and how you are connecting with others and what you are doing.
Jody: Thank you for sharing that with so many.
Kelly: Thank you.
If you were encouraged in your faith today, it’d be great if you’d help get the word out by subscribing, sharing with a friend, or leaving a review. I’d love to hear from you. You can reach out through my website, kellyhall.org, and pick up some free resources while you’re there. Thanks for listening to the Unshakable Hope podcast.