Hey guys, I have an update on my dad.
I’m actually just going to read this. It’s on my teleprompter because this is too hard to explain off the cuff, so I wrote it out. This summer has been exceedingly difficult.
Dad was in an ICU suffering from pneumonia and sepsis after dealing with a host of neurological issues this summer that we believe stem from SERS, which is chronic inflammatory response syndrome due to decades of mold exposure. We don’t have a better explanation for his neurological symptoms at the moment other than spiritual attacks.
He’s been suffering for the last number of years with unexplainable neuropathy and weakness amongst other symptoms. But they worsened this summer after he cleaned out his parents’ basement after his dad, my grandpa, passed away. We weren’t able to communicate with him really all of September.
During the end of the pneumonia, he was diagnosed with critical illness polyneuropathy, which we’re hoping is critical illness myopathy, which is bad enough. That’s been heartbreaking and brutal on top of everything else. But after almost a month in the ICU, he’s been moved out to a less urgent floor. Praise God for that.
We’re still in the midst of this, but now we’re seeing improvements daily. The timeline for his full recovery is hard to tell at the moment, and I’ll update everyone when we have more information. My family’s asking for prayers. Like I said, this summer’s been exceedingly difficult and terrifying. Dad’s condition is complicated by the fact he can’t take most medications without suffering from severe paradoxical reactions, which limits treatment options.
Like I mentioned, I believe there’s a spiritual element at play here. I think a lot of people have felt it in the last few weeks and months. It’s been hitting my dad and my family hard this summer.
In August, the day dad was brought to a hospital by ambulance, my newborn Audrey was also brought to a hospital by ambulance within hours of each other. It was unbelievable. This was the second time this summer we had brought Audrey to the hospital after she almost died from near heart failure at six weeks old. That is exceedingly rare and they couldn’t find a cause for it. She was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, which seems to have resolved. Praise God. But it’s not something that just happens.
This was late July after dad and I recorded some episodes of the call-in show together. Everything went really downhill fast after that. Every single day this summer and now fall has been like watching a movie. Our family is relying heavily on the Lord through this and seeing miracles around us. And I’m also aware that God uses everything for good. So eventually we’ll see why this is happening or what comes of it.
But mom and I in particular really wanted to reach out and ask for prayers to help everyone get through this—especially for my dad and for my mom, but also for the nurses and doctors taking care of him, my brother, and family and friends who have come to support us. I miss my dad. My brother misses his dad. My mom misses her best friend and husband.
Oh man. I thought I wasn’t going to cry during this.
Well, he’s hopefully recovering and like I said, I’ll keep people updated. He has a team of people, including myself, continuing his mission, including Peterson Academy, and will be releasing his We Who Wrestle with God tour to everyone on YouTube, which he’s wanted to do for a long time.
And given we think there’s a spiritual element at play here, we believe the right way to fight back is to keep going and push harder if anything. Life isn’t necessarily supposed to get easier when you’re doing the right thing. And I can see God’s hand throughout this, but it’s a lot to handle.
My family agreed or wanted to delay updating everybody because a lot has happened over the last few months and we were hoping he would recover faster and we would see bigger improvements sooner and have better news. It was really a near-death experience for a long time. So we’ve been just dealing with this one day at a time. We still are. It’s been overwhelming, but it looks like, and we’re praying, that things are headed in the right direction. He’s out of the ICU. So that’s the main thing—he’s out of the ICU. Praise God for that.
Thank you all for listening. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you to everybody who’s reached out. I’ll be back on YouTube maybe in the next month or so, depending on how things go. Yeah, that’s the update. Thanks guys.
