Symptoms started with her eyes in the fall of 2019 . She developed trigeminal neuralgia , which is loss of control of an eye and often the whole side of the face , causing lip tremors and eye shaking . She was having trouble focusing on words . “ I was in the car , and it hit me like a brick ,” she shook her head . “ It all just fell open . I connected all the dots . All of my eye problems in high school , followed by pregnancy traumas , it suddenly made sense . I have MS .”
Missing the Early Signs
Griff and Dr . Roark married out of high school when she was 18 . They wanted a family right off the bat . Eventually , they ended up with four kids , but their oldest is 16 , and they just celebrated their 24th anniversary . There was nothing off the bat about it . Getting their first son took nine years and several rounds of fertility treatments .
“ The second came quick and easy . He was six months old . I had a cold and was going to take cold medicine . Something stopped me , and I took a pregnancy test . The test was positive . I remember thinking , ‘ My poor boobs are not going to get a break for a really long time ,’” she laughed , “ but we were all so excited . This one was a girl . A sister for the boys .”
Dr . Roark swallowed hard , and the couple welled up with tears . That daughter was stillborn at 21 weeks . That loss hit hard . “ I was so angry . I had never been an angry person , but I was overwhelmed with anger ,” she sighed .
Two more miscarriages followed the loss of their daughter , but then something miraculous happened .
One day shortly before her last day working for the hospital-owned family practice , a foster grandmother came in with a four-month-old baby girl . The doctor who was supposed to see the child had to leave early , and “ she asked if I could see her last patient — a well-child exam on a four-month-old ,” said Dr . Roark . “ I said sure . I don ’ t even think I gave her the exam that day . I just took one look , and I knew she was mine . Jocelyn laughs at her brothers . She says she ’ s special because she was the only ‘ chosen one .’” Jocelyn was followed by another pregnancy , bringing the family their fourth and final child , another son .
Connecting the Dots
“ I had trouble with my eyes all through high school , then the difficulty conceiving , all the miscarriages . Now , it all made sense . I ’ ve had MS all along . But then I had to prove it to my neurologist , who didn ’ t believe me . I made all four of his office staff cry . Eventually , the tests came back , and he begrudgingly sent me a message saying , yea , you have MS .”
Critical Mass
A bacteria in the ocean grows , and when it hits a certain number , when that last tiny bacteria attaches , it lights up . Rare sightings by deep sea fishermen tell of the ocean turning on the lights that sometimes stretch out for miles . That one tiny end piece ... The MS had remained relatively dormant in Dr . Roark until our good doctor ’ s stress hormones hit critical mass .
Like the final bacteria , when stress hormones hit a certain level , we lose our defenses against our genetics . Stress can trigger relatively latent autoimmune diseases . Cannabis is a big part of the treatment . The politics surrounding the plant was a big part of the catalyst , and once it let loose on Dr . Roark ’ s system , the rapid progression of the disease through the fall of 2019 was terrifying .
Dr . Roark knew a treatment , HSCT ( haematopoietic stem cell transplant ), only available in Mexico . HSCT is a chemotherapy . Stem cells are harvested ; they kill off everything else just short of killing the patient , and then infuse the patient with their own stem cells . This revolutionary treatment also cures sickle cell anemia . If we had a healthcare system in America , we would have these treatments here . If only .
Dr . Roark knew a couple of people who had HSCT treatment , but the cost was out of pocket . “ That ’ s easy ,” said husband Griff . “ I ’ ll sell my truck . I don ’ t care what I drive .”
At the end of February 2020 , Dr . Roark and her husband kissed their kids goodbye and flew to Mexico City for the month-long treatment . Knowing she would lose her hair anyway , we watched on social media as she allowed her sweet husband to shave her head . “ I didn ’ t expect it to hit me so hard ,” she said . “ I just sat there and bawled .” I watched the video and bawled too .
March 25 , 2020 , one week into quarantine lockdown , the Roarks arrived home to a world so changed it felt alien . Bald , puffed up on steroids , immune compromised , and nauseated with bleeding gums , they left Mexico on one of the last international flights to leave . Her town was going to need her clinic like never before .
Once again , Dr . Roark would have to navigate in uncharted waters , only this time , she was sick — really sick . She went straight back to work , setting up drive-through testing , fighting to get the medications to treat COVID as they were figured out , and like the rest of us in healthcare , praying for a vaccine , and trying to do so in a community that had bought into conspiracy theories hook , line , and sinker . The personal challenges in her life were put on a shelf . She was now on the front lines of another war , not just one against a germ but against ignorance and misinformation that was killing her community .
Continued on page 50 � August 2023 45