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We're encouraging others to remain hopeful while living with words like "chronic" attached to them i.e. cancer, long COVID, Lyme, autoimmune.

Feb 28, 2023

In May of 2005 my kids came down with the mild childhood illness known as fifth disease. They got better; I didn’t. I was in good health and in my early 30s. My healthcare providers provided very little help and did not speculate as to what my post-viral chronic fatigue and joint pain problems were being caused by. They didn’t even tell me my problems were related to the virus that causes fifth disease, but I figured that out by myself, recovered, and learned how to keep my illness in remission by doing my own research after being extremely ill for about 2 years. COVID threw a monkey wrench in my remission plan, but I did some more research and fought my way back out of that crap storm (with Jesus leading the way). At this point I’m determined to kick the root (tick borne illness) cause in the pants.

In November of 2022, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. One of his first steps was to invite me to be his kick cancer in the pants researcher. On June 21, 2023, Dr. Oncologist reviewed my dad’s 2nd cancer free scan and used the words “walking miracle”. Most of the time bladder cancer isn’t aggressive, but dad was one of the unlucky 30% (aggressive cases). Only 6% of the people with stage 4 bladder cancer are still alive 5 years after diagnosis, but (in 2025) he is now 2 years cancer free. We attribute his healing to lots of prayer, and the implementation of certain supplements and dietary changes that complemented the 8 weeks of chemo (cisplatin) he received. Much of what we have done to heal is documented in this publication, but this is not medical advice because what works for you may be different than what worked for us.

The primary purpose of “Leaving Death in the Dust” is to help beautiful human beings remain hopeful when they are feeling the despair of a chronic illness diagnosis setting in.

For someone like me who has been known for her intellect, research skills, and discernment; chronic illness has been quite humbling. Everything I write about here is laboriously researched, thought out, and time consumingly composed. Artificial Intelligence may be able to spit something out faster, but it will never, ever, be a better human being for having gone through the pain staking process.

Every subscription to “Leaving Death in the Dust” supports the presence of the human element contained in this publication and for that I am VERY grateful.

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I do not have health insurance, but I do have the experience of going through 20+ years of illness that began after a viral infection left me with lingering symptoms that allopathic physicians were unable to attach a diagnosis to or help me with. These obstacles could have kept me down, but they did not, instead, they challenged me to think outside of ordinary boxes and to use my knowledge, skills, and abilities to find ways to relieve my symptoms. What I found was hope- people who were sharing their experiences of healing through accessible alternative and complimentary medicine practices, and a deeper relationship with The Greatest Physician of all.

Along the way, I was given the blessing of sharing what I’ve learned in my own healing journey to help my dad beat stage 4 cancer, and I uncovered the reason behind why I was having so much trouble with COVID and other viral infections- Lyme disease.

To learn more about the long COVID and Lyme correlation, I’ve provided the link to these articles-

In 2020, the pandemic slammed the brakes on most in-person research at Stanford, including Tal’s Lyme studies, and she switched to investigating the salivary immune response to covid…For Tal, the similarities with Lyme disease were uncanny. “Long covid looks exactly, and I mean exactly, like chronic Lyme,” she says. “One is caused by bacteria, and one is caused by a virus. And I started to ask myself this question: Does it matter which road you took to Rome? Or does it only matter that you’re in Rome?”
“Long covid looks exactly, and I mean exactly, like chronic Lyme.”

It was 2017, and she was a Stanford postdoc exploring connections between her immune regulation research and immuno-oncology, which harnesses the body’s immune system to combat cancer. Her work focused on how healthy cells broadcast “Don’t eat me” messages while cells that are cancerous or infected with a pathogen send self-sacrificing “Eat me” messages. Immune cells, in turn, receive these messages………….Previous research from Tal’s collaborator Jenifer Coburn, a microbiologist now at the Medical College of Wisconsin, had established that Lyme bacteria sport a special protein crucial for establishing a lasting infection. Knock this protein out, and the immune system swiftly overwhelms the bugs
Tackling long-haul diseases | MIT Technology Review

My dad aka the cancer free, “walking miracle” per his oncologist, is in remission from stage 4 bladder tubule cancer which spread to his kidneys and lungs. He was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in November of 2022 and was declared cancer free by his oncologist in March of 2023.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., but there are things you can do to help improve your survival rate, stay in remission, and prevent a cancer diagnosis.

Recovering from long COVID (and its coinfections) and other post viral chronic fatigue syndromes is possible.

Hearing about how others have healed, gave us hope, and helped make our own recovery a very real possibility.

In a nutshell, we’re sharing our story and what we’ve learned along the way with you.

What you get with a subscription to Leaving Death in the Dust:

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Access to all of our free newsletters.

Paid subscription, monthly or annual:

Access to all of our paywalled newsletters and archives.

Founding Member Subscription (PAID):

Request a topic for me to research and write about & get access to my memoir.

I will research and write about something you are interested in learning more about i.e. cancer, long covid (and its coinfections), alternative/complimentary treatments, and/or metabolic health.

Reading these articles first, will help you get a better idea of what comes with a subscription to this publication-

About - Leaving Death in the Dust (substack.com)

Health Care Protocols - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

Hope Crushers - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

Scott Inhibiting SCOT - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

Cancer Survivor - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

My Long Covid Story - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

Acupuncture for the Win! - by Stephanie Schaible (substack.com)

Don't Give Up - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)

Brainspotting - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)

Pray First - by Stephanie Schaible, (substack.com)

We would love to have you join us in our healing efforts!