Rose Schwarz and her family will travel to Mexico next week to try some new treatments that will hopefully cure the Lyme disease that plagues the 74-pound woman.
A successful online fundraiser for Schwarz brought in more than $23,000 last month, which opened up new options for treatment.
Once the funds came in, Rose’s mom Tani Schwarz spent days researching online and talking to multiple doctors and patients before making the decision to head to Mexico for three weeks of “alternative, complementary and integrative therapy” at Baja MedGate in Baja Mexico.
“Treatment down there is way more state-of-the-art and modern than here, contrary to popular belief,” Tani said.
She and Rose will travel to Baja MedGate on June 6, when the therapy will start.
“The first two days will involve extensive specific testing and blood analysis,” Tani said. “Treatment will include IV delivery of specific detox, nutrition and immune support, essential fatty acid therapy, cocarboxilasa protocol, symphatic therapy, magnetic and ozone therapy, GcMAF therapy, high dose IV curcumin therapy and Mesenchymal stem cell therapy taken from donated adipose tissue.”
Rose will also receive “bioidentical hormone replacement testing and treatment” to help with her extremely low bone mass.
While some of the treatments are unheard of in Canada or the U.S., Tani said she did her research and even spoke for over an hour with the father of one chronic Lyme disease patient who experienced amazing results.
“He took his daughter down there from Alberta in December. She’s just a little younger than Rose. He thought that if she hadn’t gone down there, she would be dead by March,” Tani said.
“This guy’s daughter had Lyme disease that affected her in her joints, and she was in a wheelchair and couldn’t walk and was bedridden, the whole thing, and now she’s back to school, back to work, she can walk again, everything.”
Rose has been suffering from Lyme disease for 12 years unbeknownst to her. It wasn’t until a positive test earlier this year that the 25-year-old could link her inability to digest food and ultimate loss of her stomach to the disease.
The years of infection also caused other problems for Rose including excessive weight loss, achy joints, memory loss, headaches, nausea, persistent vomiting and loss of her teeth.
The Sunshine Coast community has rallied behind Rose to help pay for costs linked to surgeries thought necessary in the past, and now, with the knowledge of Lyme disease, the family is switching gears to hopefully attack the cause of all Rose’s problems.
Tani is thankful for the Coast’s support to this point, noting, “None of this would be possible without the help of the community.”
The cost of the trip to Baja MedGate including airfare is close to the amount raised for Rose to date, but Tani is hopeful some more donations will come in before they get to Mexico in case more costs arise.
“If there’s something else they can do for Rose while we’re there, we want to be able to do it,” Tani said. “It would be so upsetting to have to say no to another treatment that could help her because we don’t have the money.”
If you would like to give to The Continuing Fight to Save Rose fund, you can do so online through www.fundrazr.com or by making a donation at the Sunshine Coast Credit Union to The Rose Fund.
The community can keep up to date with what’s going on with Rose on The Continuing Fight to Save Rose Facebook page. Tani said the family would be posting photos and videos from their time at Baja MedGate on Facebook for those who are interested.
She hopes to return at the end of June with good news to report back to the community.
Rose was ill and bed ridden and unable to talk with Coast Reporter this week.
