My husband and I were born and raised in Wisconsin. After traveling and getting married we decided we wanted to settle down and raise our children, farming. Show them what it means to work hard and live in harmony with the land. While providing healthy food for everyone. After purchasing the farm/orchard in 2021 a series of unfortunate events took place with an elevator fire, all of the machinery failing, both industrial coolers, apple washing and sorting equipment, and four out of five seasons having devastating crop loss. 2021 late frost took 2/3 of the crop while we were in the process of purchasing the property. 2023 the drought caused 2/3 crop loss. 2024 the rain never stopped and we lost 2/3 of our crop once again. 2025 we were set to have the best season yet and the tornadoes all touched down in Dodge County, thankfully sparing our farm, but we lost 90% of our crop that day. Our trees were all in full bloom. The winds were to much for the buds and blossoms to handle. 

In October of 2023 my three children and I became very ill and started the battle of our lives. All three of our children were diagnosed with PANS/PANDAS. Our oldest daughter was also diagnosed with multiple Bartonella (Lyme?s Twin) infections causing her to have brain inflammation and she lost her ability to read. Parts of her short-term memory were affected. While I was diagnosed with a pineal gland cyst/tumor and a handful of other illnesses affecting my ability to walk and see. We were all also diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which comes with its own set of medical mysteries. After an 18-month battle with strep, everyone in our home having their tonsils removed, and so many specialists visits we have lost count. We finally beat strep in February of 2024. We thought we were ?in the clear? and we were finally going to be able to heal and move on. We were sorely mistaken. Fast forward through them finding a cancerous colon polyp. I have also been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis, restless leg syndrome, complex tics, Increased Intracranial Hyper and Hypo Tension, catamenial anaphylaxis, and level 4 asthma. My husband was diagnosed with Lupus and Sjogren?s. He is also having issues with what they suspect is lipodystrophy, his body is taking any fat he consumes and its storing it in/on his liver. Causing damage that would usually happen to someone who drinks heavily or is severely obese. He now has a fatty liver. He can?t currently work as he is having unpredictable syncope episodes that leave him vulnerable to injury and his lupus is causing his white blood cells to be so low that he can?t risk getting sick. We had a few months to take in all of those diagnosis's and accept the cards we were dealt. When things were still not improving and with each illness the children would lose what progress in school they had made, their neurologists did EEGs and found brain waves spikes happening in both girls which could be causing seizures and seizure activity in their brains. Hospital stays were ordered. The girls showed sharp spikes but no seizures were captured during their short stays in the hospital. Pru is having rolandic seizures and we are waiting on a follow up for this diagnosis. Our son will also be staying in the Epilepsy Unit for multiple days at Children?s Milwaukee to monitor for seizure activity and memory loss.

During this stressful time my brain decided two years of juggling all of this heartbreak with our children?s medical conditions. My husband?s battle with Lupus/Sjogren?s, and always being one payment away from losing everything. My brain could no longer handle the pressure of everything and I am now having seizures. This has been misdiagnosed as a multitude of other things for the past two years. With an EEG they found sharp waves happening in my brain that can be triggered by certain lights, the sun, lack of sleep, and stress. I am awaiting further testing to help figure out what type of epilepsy I have. I will have to stay in the hospital for up to week to catch some of the seizures I am having so that they treat them properly. My husband and I both are being referred to the Waismen Center at UW Madison to see Genetics to help get to the bottom of what?s causing all of this. We were healthy and thriving 28 months ago.

We are currently waiting on genetic testing from both UW Madison (for our youngest daughter. Children?s Milwaukee (for our oldest daughter) found a rare gene mutation that they do not know much about. FNLA, thankfully UW Madison believes they will be able to help us navigate this rare gene mutation.

I am asking for your help, for my family and my farm. Whether its sharing our story or a donation to our fundraiser, every little bit helps. We made a promise to our community that we would continue to farm and provide them with amazing apples. We will not give up! We just need some help to keep us going. We never could have imagined having every piece of equipment fail us, devastating crop loss, and the blow of every single family member having rare medical conditions that have doctors telling us ?Wouldn?t it be amazing if there really was a Dr. House, I bet he?d be able to figure this out.?

We thank everyone in this community so much for their continued support. The encouragement to keep fighting has kept us going. Our children feel the love from the village of people who root and pray for them, when the medical system has given up.

Thank you for your time it is greatly appreciated.