Longview’s majestic surroundings offer some relief for a woman suffering the effects of a debilitating disease.
In February, 30-year-old Kendel Vreeling took refuge in the community of about 300 residents, deeming it the perfect place to reside as she works to eradicate the symptoms of Lyme disease after being diagnosed in December.
She moved to the Foothills from Edmonton.
“I thought if I could move anywhere where would I want to be, it would be Longview,” she said. “I was hoping for a nice quiet little healing spot. It’s the most beautiful place in the world.”
Vreeling’s health began to deteriorate three years ago, but it wasn’t until December when she learned it was chronic Lyme disease.
“It’s so hard to find the Lyme in the first place because the Canadian testing is really behind,” she said. “I had to pay to send my blood work to Germany.”
Vreeling doesn’t know how she contracted it.
“I do not remember a specific bite,” she said. “I heard that mosquitoes can also carry it. That could possibly explain that.”
The disease has left Vreeling suffering from muscle pain, fatigue, cognitive difficulty, migraines, muscle spasms, anxiety, memory loss, vision problems, weakness, fainting spells, fever, difficulty standing or sitting.
Sometimes she’s unable to get out of bed for days.
“There’s good and bad days,” she said. “Generally you just take it one moment at a time. You do what you can do when you can do it.”
Continuing to run her graphic design business is impossible most days as Vreeling is only able to work a couple of hours before the exhaustion and pain become unbearable.
Most of her efforts have been spent researching ways to overcome the symptoms.
One is the Cowden Protocol, developed by cardiologist and internist Dr. William Cowden, as a holistic and multi-faceted approach through intense and powerful antimicrobials. Vreeling expects to have to take the anti-microbial herbs diligently for another two years before the symptoms subside.
“I like to think that it’s possible to put the Lyme in remission and maybe even just get rid of it altogether,” she said. “Antimicrobial herbs are just as effective as the antibiotics. I pay probably $600 a month in herbs at least.”
Changes in diet also help.
“I call it the no fun diet - no gluten, dairy or sugar,” she said. “I’ve drastically changed the way that I’m eating. I notice if I ever slip up with gluten or dairy my muscles get more painful.”
Vreeling noticed an improvement in her condition the past eight months including a reduction in migraines, vision and brain fog.
Daily meditation and healing visualization are also part of Vreelings’ daily routine.
“I’ve added a daily meditation to my routine and I take herbs eight times a day,” she said. “I’ll take a couple of minutes and just visualize the herbs doing the work. I would like to do yoga but I physically haven’t been able to.”
The symptoms change every day for Vreeling, even though her regime doesn’t.
“Yesterday I was fine - I was working on a website for an architect and today I am on the couch,” she said. “My brain is working on about 10 per cent.”
Researching different treatments is an ongoing process for Vreeling as she works desperately to get her old life back.
“I’m shopping around to see what would be the best,” she said. “Everything is just a guessing game at this point.”
Vreeling is currently researching stem cell treatments, which can run $25,000, and ultraviolet blood irradiation, where a person’s blood is removed, run under an ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and placed back in the body.
“There isn’t really any one protocol that works for everybody or one thing that’s going to cure you,” she said. “Lots of people think that once you have chronic Lyme disease you have it forever, but you might be able to get symptoms under control, and there’s other people who think that chronic Lyme disease doesn’t exist, it’s symptoms from nerve damage.”
As Vreeling strives to get the symptoms under control, money is a hurdle with her inability to work full-time. A friend from San Francisco set up a GoFundMe account for Vreeling with the goal of raising $26,725. The account has raised more than $4,000 to date.
“At first I was a little hesitant but there comes a point when you realize that asking for help is actually a good thing and it’s not something you should feel guilty about,” she said.
To donate to Vreeling’s account go to https://www.gofundme.com/help-kendel-heal-from-lyme-disease
