Copyright © 2016 by Jody L. Williams
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
First Edition
ISBN-13: 978-0-9970-5184-1
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Prelude
This is my story about a silent killer. A disease so often misdiagnosed and mistreated that the average time from the first symptom to diagnosis can take over five years. In my case, it took doctors more than fifteen years and me nearly dying before someone finally listened to my body’s cry for help. Classified as a rare disease with a diagnosis in only one in fifty thousand people a year, worldwide, I believe this disease is much more common, yet, still undetected. This silent killer is so badly misdiagnosed that even after people die, their cause of death is only listed as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, heart attack, stroke or many other common illness. The underlying cause of all of these maladies is hidden, silent and unknown by many doctors. The name of this monster is Cushing’s disease.
Now that you’ve met my silent killer, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jody Williams and I am married to the most amazing woman, Lisa. Lisa and I made it through this ordeal together and I am so grateful for her. Although I am frustrated about how long it took for my condition to be diagnosed, I do not intend to place blame on any of my past doctors. Many of them were good doctors and have even become friends. They just simply made mistakes and didn’t dig deep enough. I believe my diagnosis could have been discovered sooner if doctors had only listened to me and asked more probing questions.
I’m sure they experience a lot of patients that are overweight and claim to be watching what they eat, or smokers who claim they are trying to quit smoking or alcoholics who report they have stopped drinking, yet the evidence points to the contrary. I hope to raise awareness, to not only doctors, but patients as well. Unless there is good evidence to discount patient’s complaints, doctors should make attempts to look past the normal, quick answers. If a patient is insistent that they are not behaving in a manner that would cause the destructive consequences to their health, then by all means, run more tests, look for something different, do a little research and look for the true cause of the problem.
To those of you dealing with health issues, I urge you to be your own advocate. There is nothing wrong; it is all in your head or, you just need to try harder are not simple answers you should accept from your doctor. If you are truly leading a healthy lifestyle but are still not seeing the results, then by all means, I encourage you to seek another opinion. Sometimes our bodies just don’t work right; in fact, sometimes they can work against us. The hormones and chemical reactions in our bodies are so complicated that the side effects from something not working right can be extremely difficult to track back to the source of the problem. But it can be done. It requires doctors who are truly intrigued by the problem and will stop at nothing until they figure out what is going on. A doctor should study test results and ask, “Why is this happening? What is causing his or her body to behave this way?” The doctor needs to find answers; you put your trust in them.
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
In the Beginning
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” —Jeremiah 29:11-13
My story officially begins in 1997, although my wife and I recently discovered it may have been a year earlier. We were looking back at photos from our wedding in 1996, and we noticed that I was showing signs even then. Prior to that time, I had always been fairly athletic and maintained my weight around 175-180. I enjoyed lifting weights and was in good shape. But then my life began to change.
I was a graduate student at Virginia Tech in 1997, earning my Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) with a concentration in finance when I first noticed something was off. Prior to starting my MBA studies, I had been working in the banking industry as a commercial banker when my company, Signet Bank, was purchased by First Union. As a result of the merger, most of the loan officers of Signet Bank in the rural areas of Virginia were laid off. I took my severance package, put that toward tuition and my wife and I moved to Christiansburg, Virginia. We settled into a routine of me taking classes during the day and studying at night while she taught first and second grade for Montgomery County Schools.
I had always been physically active, mountain biking and hiking, and I enjoyed officiating youth sports for baseball, basketball and football. However, without any warning, something dramatic changed in my body. It happened
