Heart Echo

Kerissa • April 18, 2012

Tomorrow morning, after physical therapy, I will be getting my first heart echo!  The test results may be perfectly normal, or they may show I have mitral valve prolapse caused by EDS.  I’d appreciate your prayers!  Pray that the test will clearly show whether I have MVP or not.  I’ve been having chest pain and an irregular heart beat, so the doctors aren’t sure what’s going on yet… :

I recently found two blogs of two different girls close to my age who have CRPS and EDS!  This has been a blessing from the Lord.  It’s been so encouraging connecting, reading their posts, and seeing what they’re going through and how my life is very similar to theirs.  Ashley lives in Indiana, and Jill in Philadelphia.  And I live in Oregon, but we all have the same conditions!  How cool is that?  Knowing that I’m not the only one with CRPS and EDS helps me get through the tough days!  That, and God’s immeasurable grace and goodness!

Yesterday, I read a powerful passage in 90 Days of God’s Goodness by Randy Alcorn.  This devotional is filled with such meaning and richness!  I highly recommend it!  The following verse and quote below made me stop and reflect:

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all ; He has compassion on all He has made.” (Psalm 145:9, emphasis added)

“God’s goodness entails more than whatever makes us feel warm and happy.  We argue that if God were as good as we are, then evil and suffering wouldn’t exist.  On the contrary, evil and suffering wouldn’t exist if we were as good as God is.” -Randy Alcorn

I will update as soon as I get the results of my echo!  Thank you so much for your prayers!

Stay tuned!

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