Support Chrystal Mielke

Hello, my name is Chrystal Ella Grace Mielke, but before I was adopted my name was Chrystal Makayla Love and I lived in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was the youngest of 8 children, all of whom were neglected and abused by our parents. When I was 18 months old, one of my older sisters told a teacher at school, and we were all removed from our home.

I lived in 10 different foster homes by age three, none of them lasting long because families couldn’t deal with 4 young children with such abuse issues. Some of the foster parents even abused me. I had 2 failed adoptions by the time I was 5, and was put in various residential institutions… a total of 23 placements. I did not attend school at all until the fourth grade in Ketchikan, Alaska, and even then, I was alone with just one teacher. In January 2010, I found my forever family in Ohio with the Mielke’s. I moved to Ohio on April 1, 2010, and started attending school.

I had many health issues including Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Sensory Processing Disorder and Static Encephalopathy. My body did not even have the ability to properly regulate my temperature. My family discovered Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and learned that it has been extremely successful in treating people who suffer from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). In many cases HBOT has improved the client’s fine and gross motor skills, speech, thinking (cognition), memory, physical healing, etc. We learned there was a facility in my hometown Sara’s Garden that specialized in working with clients with brain injuries and countless other conditions.

Since being adopted, I have undergone two (2) rounds of HBOT and extensive therapy. I have fully recovered from both Reactive Attachment Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There has been improvement in my fine and gross motor movement skills and my thinking (cognition), so much so that I was able to earn a Michigan Merit Diploma in 2019 and go on to college to study culinary arts part time the past two years. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of injury to my brain. I still suffer from Sensory Processing Disorder, Static Encephalopathy, chronic fatigue, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and anemia of chronic disease. Since October 2021 I have struggled to stay awake for only six hours a day. It has become nearly impossible to attend college and function in class and I only have 5 classes remaining to graduate. The doctors have not been able to help, although I have had many tests and procedures in the last 11 months. I am not a quitter and really want to use my skills to be a productive member of my community. Right now, that is not even possible.

Unfortunately, in the United States insurance companies do not recognize HBOT as being therapeutic for the treatment of PTSD and TBI and will therefore not cover the cost of the treatments. That is why we could really use your help. HBOT for my conditions is only $100 per treatment at Sara’s Garden. However, both of my adoptive parents are retired and on a limited income. My mom is currently using all of her limited monthly social security to pay for a dive once a week. Unfortunately, without the dive, I cannot even hope to make it through 2 days of my baking labs.

If you could assist us with the cost (or even just part of the cost) of a single $100 treatment it would help reduce our overall expenses greatly. 100% of the funds received will go into an account in my name and will be used for my treatments. Any contribution made would be considered a tax-deductible donation as Sara’s Garden is a 501(c)(3) non-profit facility. Checks can be made out to Sara’s Garden with my name on a sheet of paper accompanying the check. Please do not write my name directly on the check. You can also donate online via credit card buy clicking on the DONATE NOW button below.

Thank you so much for considering to support my treatments!

Sincerely,

Chrystal Mielke