Neither one of us gave up!
In 1997 I was diagnosed with a rare disease. I had been married only two years and the news of a disease with no known cause or cure struck me down to my knees. I spent the next decade on disability, in and out of doctor’s offices, taking six to seven prescription drugs per day and searching for anything that could help. I was ashamed and did not want society, friends, co-workers and many family members treating me differently so I hid it for a long time. During this time I gained a lot of weight, battled with depression and did very little exercise due to the pain. At my heaviest I was two hundred and twenty pounds. When I was taken off some of the experimental medication I dropped down to one hundred and seventy nine pounds, I stayed at this weight for many years. However I still dreamed of one day returning to my “high school skinny”. In high school I weighed one hundred thirty pounds – I was an athlete, I ran track and played basketball.
In 2005 I met Dr. Joe Picone. Dr. Joe Picone was a volunteer at the nonprofit I worked at. He always spoke about the power that people possess to heal themselves. Something that deep down I believed in and wanted to prove. I went to see him after a rafting accident. My back just would not heal and I was very uncomfortable regardless of what I did. Dr. Joe inquired about my health and nutrition on the very first visit and introduced me to enzyme therapy that afternoon. It took several years to get my body back to the condition it once was. After many years of experimenting with procedures, medications, and different doctors to stay alive – it had taken its toll. However neither one of us gave up!
Now, fast forward; I continue to see Dr. Joe regularly and take the enzyme therapy. I do not take prescription drugs anymore and have been released by the medical community, which I saw for over a decade, as a miracle that they cannot explain. I am back to my “high school skinny” and actively competing in 5K’s, 10K’s, Spartan races and half marathons.
– Melissa Metcalf Le Roy