Hello! My name is Veronica Fritsch and I am a 26 year old living in a rural town in Ohio. I am the 8^th of 10 children raised in a Catholic family. Two years ago, I was a healthy 24-year-old Carmelite nun in the Carmel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Teresa of Santa Fe, NM, where I was a novice preparing for my first vows. All of this changed on December 7, 2022, when I sprained my right wrist. What appeared to be a simple sprain turned into a horrible rollercoaster. My wrist would not heal and the pain became intense. Then the pain began to spread. I began to have violent muscle spasms, intense burning pain, and pain that I can only describe as feeling like my bones were being crushed even though nothing was touching my body. Six months went by with the doctors being baffled and me getting worse. All that was certain was I was physically deteriorating, needed help with the simplest tasks, and that I didn't have the necessary health to be a nun. Therefore I had to leave the monastery in July 2023. I moved back to Ohio with my family and it was then that I finally got the diagnosis of a very rare neurological auto-immune disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or CRPS. By then I had limited range of motion, every step felt like I was going to tear a muscle and the pain had spread to nearly my whole body. This is now my new normal along with even more symptoms.

I will try to describe CRPS as simply as I can. It is a complex condition associated with the imbalance and malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve, where half of the nervous system which controls most of the systems of your body shuts down like the digestive and immune systems. The other half of the nervous system is stuck in “fight or flight” or survival mode which causes severe pain. This pain can feel like you are being burned alive, electrocuted, stabbed, pierced, bones being crushed within you, and many other types of pain depending on the case. Along with the pain, you can have other symptoms including muscle spasms that could be constant and at times can be so violent that you become temporarily paralyzed. Most CRPS patients also become so sensitive they cannot even be touched by others or handle weather or temperature changes due to pain flares they cause. They increasingly become allergic to more and more things due to the body recognizing everything as a threat. The symptoms for CRPS can vary since each person’s nervous system fights and shuts down differently. Doctors do not have a cure for CRPS. All treatments offered by hospitals and pain clinics only try to treat the pain and not the cause. These treatments only seem to partially dull the pain if it helps at all or in most cases makes the pain worse and spreads it. In my case, it has spread from my right wrist to my entire body.
 
Medically speaking CRPS is considered the most painful disease known to man. It rates higher than both childbirth and amputation on the McGill Pain Index (out of 50 where 50 is death, childbirth is 29, unprepared amputation is 40, and CRPS is 47). Because of the constant pain, people with CRPS usually have a much higher pain tolerance than most but even we have our limits. Even those who know the power of suffering and believe God has a purpose for them can still struggle with fear. They can handle the “normal” extreme pain but fear the pain flares. They fear that in one of those moments they will not be able to handle the pain and end it. Within the medical community, CRPS is knick-named “the suicide disease” since the constant pain leads many people who suffer from it to end their life. A study indicated about 49% of people with CRPS have considered suicide and 15% have attempted it. These statistics are much higher than the general population or people with any other type of chronic pain disease. It won’t be long in our current society where patients with CRPS, like myself, where we will be targeted for assisted suicide as the only treatment option available. This is not something that I will tolerate or accept as a Catholic.
 
There is one clinic in the world that has found a treatment that treats the cause of this and it is called The Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, AR. It is run by Dr. Katinka van der Merwe, a well-known Quantum Neurology Nerve Rehabilitation Specialist, and her team. Her program has a very high success rate of giving her patients relief from the pain and getting them into remission. Her clinic treats patients from all over the world and helps those who are considered “helpless” by the medical community. My family and I know firsthand about this clinic and have seen her treatment work as unfortunately in some cases CRPS is genetic. I am now the third sibling in my family to be diagnosed with CRPS. One sister has had it since a car accident at 4 years old and the other has had it since a dislocated elbow. This second sister was able to go to The Spero Clinic about 2 years ago and received a lot of relief but was unable to stay longer to get to remission due to financial and other reasons.

Dr. Katinka’s program is on average 14 weeks long and costs on average $42,000 to $64,000 but adding living expenses, supplements, and machines needed for treatment and continued lifelong use to stay in remission brings the total close to $100,000. Her program though varies as each person’s body responds differently and it may take longer than 14 weeks which we saw with my sister. I have tried most of the other treatments through various hospitals and pain management clinics that have been offered to me but they are not giving me any relief from the pain and are making it worse.

After much prayer and discernment, I discerned to try to fundraise and to try to go myself. Insurances do not cover the cost of The Spero Clinic. My family, local church, various Knights of Columbus Councils, and the local community raised the necessary $100,000 needed for my one sister to go to The Spero Clinic and are not able to help me much in so short a time after that. I left the monastery with nothing and because of the CRPS I have not been able to work as I need help with many daily tasks. I have tried contacting different charities and foundations but my case has been denied since CRPS is not considered terminal and does not apply to rare disease grants as it is not well-known. I have reached out to several radio stations and so far none of them will run my story. I have been able to fundraise a small amount with the help of some Knights of Columbus Councils and other individual donors. I am reaching out to anyone that I think might be able to help me with my fundraising or to help guide me to people who can. I would greatly appreciate any help and prayers that you would be able to offer me. You will be in my prayers too.