Happy 1st of May!

Kerissa • May 2, 2013
  • Alpers Disease
  • Barth Syndrome/LIC (Lethal Infantile Cardiomyopathy)
  • Beta-Oxidation Defects
  • Carnitine-Acyl-Carnitine Deficiency
  • Carnitine Deficiency
  • Creatine Deficiency Syndrome
  • Co-Enzyme Q10 Deficiency
  • Complex I Deficiency
  • Complex II Deficiency
  • Complex III Deficiency
  • Complex IV Deficiency/COX Deficiency
  • Complex V Deficiency
  • CPEO
  • CPT I Deficiency
  • CPT II Deficiency
  • KSS
  • Lactic Acidosis
  • LCAD
  • LCHAD
  • Leigh Disease or Leigh Syndrome
  • Luft Disease
  • MAD/Glutaric Aciduria Type II
  • MCAD
  • MELAS
  • MERRF
  • MIRAS
  • Mitochondrial Cytopathy
  • Mitochondrial DNA Depletion
  • Mitochondrial Encephalopathy
  • Mitochondrial Myopathy
  • MNGIE
  • NARP
  • Pearson Syndrome
  • Pyruvate Carboxylase Deficiency
  • Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Deficiency
  • POLG Mutations
  • Respiratory Chain
  • SCAD
  • SCHAD
  • VLCAD

Whew! All THESE names are the many types of Mitochondrial Disease (and no, I didn’t memorize all this… ;). This, my friends, is what I’m going up against. : I have a long road ahead of me. I may have one of these or several (as some go together)… But nothing is impossible with God! 


Still waiting on blood work… The doctors are first checking my mtDNA for deletions/duplications.. Then, if that’s normal, they will keep going deeper in..


Next week, I have an appointment every single day except Friday… It’s gonna be busy!! I see my neurologist on the 8th, and we’ll go over the Cincinnati trip and what to do next.


*********



Now, on to more light-hearted stuff..  Our visit to the Creation Museum (by Answers in Genesis) on our last full day in Ohio was an amazing experience! If you’re ever in Kentucky, I highly recommend visiting it because it won’t disappoint! The Creation Museum not only explores the 6 days of Creation. We learned about fossils, Noah’s ark, evolution, Jesus, the ice age, and a whole lot more! Plus, their Dragons bookstore was soooo much fun! I bought this super cute turtle necklace that has a hematite stone on it! 

Enjoy the following pictures!! Sorry that a lot of them are out of order!


Andddd….because I have pain and lots of other conditions, it’s only appropriate that I take a picture of this.

Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel

This exhibit actually displayed some of the first Bibles to be printed!  But no cameras were allowed in it, so I had to take a picture of this.

getting ready to eat lunch in Noah’s cafe!

It wasn’t a very sunny day, and it was too cold to walk around in the gardens.  But doncha think the landscape is beautiful?

October prayer request

By Kerissa Lee • October 19, 2025
Dear friends, At the beginning of October, I started taking a new medication for the autoimmune disease. I thought I was tolerating it just fine, but after several days passed, I began experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, weakness all over, and increased pain. 🙁 It’s like I’m experiencing another “mito crash.” I found out that this specific lupus medication affects mitochondria. That is, it causes an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, causes cell damage and oxidative stress. I sure wish the rheumatologists would have known about this before prescribing. But I have to remember that Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome is rare, and they’re not “mito experts.” Anyways, the last time I felt like this was back in May.. I’m so grateful to God that I haven’t needed to be hospitalized from this, but at the same time, I’m also sad that this happened at all, especially because I had such a nice stretch of stable health. I’d really appreciate your prayers, that this muscle weakness can resolve soon, and that this increased pain all over will get back to my baseline. Every time I have a “mito crash,” it feels like I’m fighting the flu which always sucks. The pain has been hard to bear. And whenever I’m in the thick of it, it’s difficult to remember that this too will eventually pass. 😢 Pray that I will endure and follow Jesus’ example like this passage from Hebrews 12:1-2– “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” Thank you all so much for praying for me. ❤️

Thank you! (+ a prayer request)

By Kerissa Lee • October 4, 2025
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3

Praises & Prayer Requests

By Kerissa Lee • September 3, 2025
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23