Photo: Contributed

Rachel is a beautiful young woman, in the prime of her life. She talks in a southern belle accent and calls me “Ma’am”. She has a loving supportive husband and six beautiful children. You would never know to look at Rachel that she was sick.

Rachel has not been able to be a part of the family for a while now. She had to leave her home, because even her own house began to make her sick.

Rachel had suffered from a toxic brain injury that was caused from mold exposure in a different house. The resulting brain trauma and consequential disorganization of neural circuits had affected the protective mechanisms in her brain and triggered a maladapted stress response that exhibited as distorted and heightened sensory perception. As a result, her brain and body were reacting violently to any chemicals, along with electro magnetic fields -that are emitted from lights and wireless signals – and as a result had forced her to live apart from her loving family.

In order to survive, Rachel had to move to an environmentally sterile environment, isolated from her family. Every day her heart ached for her family and a sense of home, but going back was not an option. Her husband became the sole financial provider and caregiver for their six children. The stress and hardship was evident on the entire family.

She had been to many doctors already, and had gone through all of the detoxification programs to remove the toxins from her system that were responsible for the initial trauma, yet she was still very sick. As her symptoms escalated, there was little hope of Rachel ever going home to her family again.

But one fateful day, while her husband was researching on the Internet, he came across my website. He printed out the entire contents of the website and took them into his wife. He read the information to her, and as he did, they both cried tears of joy as they knew that they had found the answer to this disabling illness.

And no one was more excited about this news than their 8-year-old son Gavin. Gavin was sure to tell everyone at school that “Doctor” Annie Hopper was coming to Dallas, Texas to cure his Mom!

Gavin was as excited as his mother as the day of the program approached. And I’m thrilled to report that Rachel did really well at the program and is now on her way to a full recovery.

On the final day of the program, Gavin and Rachel’s husband came to pick her up. I had the privilege of meeting Gavin for the first time. He walked over to me and to my surprise Gavin handed me a gift bag. He proudly placed the bag in my hand and said, “Thank you for helping my mom”. I said you’re welcome and leaned down and gave him a big hug.

But that was just the beginning of the tug on my heart strings. I opened the bag to reveal a hand-made Thank You card that Gavin had made for me, along with other treats. On the front of the card there is a big “Thanks” with red and orange hearts. I could immediately feel a lump in my throat as I tried to continue to read the words that came from his blessed heart. It says, “Hi, I’m Gavin. Thank you for healing my Mom. I can’t wait for her to be better so she can run and play with me. I am eight-years-old. I like to play football and baseball. I am number eleven and fifteen. I hope you make my Mom feel all better. My Mom and Dad have been talking about all the trips they want to go on and how good you are and the best doctor. Thank you for healing my Mom. Love, Gavin”.

I think a couple of tears slipped out of my eyes and I leaned over and said thank you and gave him another big hug. Rachel and I also exchanged a tearful and grateful goodbye.

I’ve had many compliments over the years for the work that I do in helping others recover through neuroplasticity, and one of the greatest compliments of all is receiving an honorary doctorate degree from eight-year-old Gavin.