Jacob’s Story

Site created on October 10, 2018

In October of 2017, I suddenly came down with some sort of illness/injury/disease.   At that time I had pain running all the way up and down both legs.  It felt like I was being constantly electrocuted.  The pain affected my concentration and ability to serve as a pastor.  I would forget names and struggle to make sense of simple things. I could no longer sleep at night and during certain periods of pain, I couldn’t remember what had happened. More than that, something seemed mechanically wrong with me as well.  Some days I couldn’t move my legs.  It got to the point where crutches were the only way to get around. 
Since then I have seen doctors of all sorts, hearing one theory after another.  I've seen general practitioners, chiropractors, physical therapists, neurologists, orthopedic specialists, vision therapists, rheumatologists, holistic doctors, and more.  No clear diagnosis could be given, but I found out my body was a mess.  Many things, such as my feet, legs, and hips were found out of place and were corrected.  I have gotten better slowly.  The pain has lessened and my concentration has improved.  At this point, I am still in constant pain in my upper left leg and lower back, my muscles tighten to the point of limiting my mobility (I still use a cane), I struggle with deep-thinking, I have very little stamina, and still struggle to sleep more than a couple hours a night.  Because of the nature of my position (pastor) and because this thing is taking so long to heal, I have decided to make a CaringBridge page to keep people up to date from here on out.  I'm not big on writing about my personal health, but I will do my best to give an update at least once a week in case you want to know.  Please have patience with me as I get used to sharing things online.  Thank you.

Newest Update

October 4, 2020

Journal entry by Jacob Schram —

Hey everyone, 

It's been awhile.  I was hoping to never have to give another health update, but figure I should just so you know.

Unfortunately, this past month I've been having a lot more trouble.  After 3 months of getting stronger and carefully becoming healthier, my body is pushing backwards.  After 4 appointments this week, doctor's are indicating that some of my muscles are just deciding not to work.  Pain shooting down both legs has returned and many things have fallen out of place.  

Now, to be clear, it's not as bad as I'm making it sound, but the doctors and I are trying to figure out a way to combat this so it doesn't get any worse.  None of them seem to know why this is happening again, but we caught it before anything really bad happened.  We are currently looking into more specialists who might be able to help.

Sarah and I would appreciate the prayers.  We know God has a plan for all this and will work it all out for good, but that doesn't make the journey easy.  Thank you all for your support and love!
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