Dana Wetherell of Purcell, Oklahoma has lived a real-life episode of Mystery Diagnosis. In March of 2010, this bubbly horse lover’s health declined rapidly and she has spent many painful and grueling months struggling to find answers to her health problems. With an inspiring story illustrating the importance of family and friends, she is headed back down a road to recovery and even back into the show pen.
A native of Kansas, Wetherell met her husband, Wes, in 1993 when she was showing Appaloosas. In 1998, she bought her first Quarter Horse, and she has been showing on the Quarter Horse circuit ever since. Dana helps her husband run his horse training and hay business in Purcell. She currently does all the accounting–in addition, she is an independent consultant with Private Quarters, a high quality linen company that allows her to teach people how to improve their sleep.
However, when she became ill, all of her responsibilities and her love of showing horses came to a screeching halt. In March of 2010, Dana started feeling really ill. While at a horse show, she had extreme fatigue and bad muscle pain.
“I just felt weak and tired all the time,” Dana recalls. “By the end of the show, I could not bend over to put on my shoes. I was sure my back was out and the fatigue was just stress related. I went to the chiropractor everyday for two weeks and kept getting worse,” she continued. “I was 37 years-old, had never had my blood drawn, never been to the hospital, and I couldn’t remember the last time I saw a doctor. I was never sick….. I was the healthiest person I knew.”
According to Dana, the people close to her kept telling her that she hadn’t been herself the past two to three years. Dana spent several days in bed convinced she had the flu. Their vet’s wife came to bring her and Wes dinner one night since she knew Dana had been sick. She took one look at Dana and called her husband.
“What horse person doesn’t get medical advice from the vet? My eyes were all puffy and purple, by this point, I couldn’t lift my arms to my head. The vet said my kidneys were shutting down, and I need to go to the ER,” she remembers. “Wes drug me there. I still was not thrilled about going to the doctor. In the ER, my blood tests showed that my muscles enzymes were breaking down at an alarming rate but they had no idea why.”
After five days, the doctor said he did not have any idea what was wrong with Dana and most tests would take two to three weeks to get the results. This former bubbly petite lady was sent home from the hospital with no diagnosis and so weak that she couldn’t do anything for herself. Her best friend, Trudy Futo, came and stayed with her for several days. Almost two weeks later, she returned to the doctor to get test results–he still had no answers.
Her husband, Wes, said that at the time, he was scared to death. “There was a great deal of uncertainty. It definitely makes you change your priorities and realize what is important. I really started focusing a lot more on family. I realized if you have your health, you can pretty much handle everything else.”
In an extensive search, Dana’s friend, Erin Gayer, found her the best rheumatologist specialist in Oklahoma City. “When I finally got there, I was in a wheelchair and scared that I would never get better. I was basically helpless, she said. “All of Wes’ clients and our neighbors made up a schedule and someone different came over each day with dinner, and helped with the cleaning, laundry, and paperwork.”
Dana adds, “We will never be able to tell everyone how much it meant. I truly found out who my friends were. I had to have someone dress me, feed me, it was indescribable how I went from a normal healthy person to someone more helpless than a 100 year-old.”
Finally, her doctor diagnosed her with Dermatomyositis which is a rare auto immune disease where her immune system attacked her own muscles. The doctor told her there was no cure and no known cause. There were medicines that might control it and hopefully give her some strength back.
“She told me my life had changed, and it would never be what it was. I would never be able to lift very much weight and probably not ride again,” Dana recalls.” All I wanted was to be independent and be able to care for myself again. She said we would get to that point if I responded to medication. It was devastating news, but, at that point, I was just happy to have an answer.”
Dana was put on a chemo drug, Mexthotrexate and steroids. Within a couple weeks, she was in less pain but was still very weak– everything she ate made her sick. On advice of her internal doctor, she had her gall bladder removed. She also had gotten down to around 85 pounds. Beyond frustrated, she was getting better from her disease but still battling stomach issues. Since the day she went in the hospital, her friend, Jill Newcomb, begged her to come and see her doctor in California. Dana resisted only because she felt she could not make the trip. (pictured left–Jill and Dana on their Hawaii trip)
Dana and Jill had become close friends over the years and had taken many trips together including trips to Hawaii the past two years. Jill had urged Dana all last summer to book her tickets to Hawaii.
“I never did it, because I was barely strong enough to lift my laptop to book a ticket let alone actually make the trip to Hawaii,” she said. “Jill came up to me one day after my gallbladder surgery and said ‘you need something to live for, I bought you an airline ticket to Hawaii. So you are coming!'”
Dana credits Jill for saving her life. She said that was the moment that changed her life. Dana did make it to Hawaii–she walked so slow that everyone was constantly waiting on her, and she slept most of the trip–but she made it.
Jill once again stepped up and told Dana that when they got home that she was coming to San Diego and seeing her doctor. “Without Jill and that trip, I would still be in a downward spiral of doctors with no answers and drugs with awful side effects.”
Dana said she was desperate for answers. She credits Jill for giving her hope. “She cared and wouldn’t accept the answers I was getting from my doctors.”
The first visit to Jill’s doctor changed her life. Dr. Chaz is a holistic doctor and offered new insight into her illness and her life as a whole. Dana left her prescription bottles in California and came home with a suitcase full of natural supplements and a drastically new diet. She was to eat no gluten, dairy, sugar, coffee, and basically nothing processed.
At first, Wes was a little unsure of these drastic suggestions. “I thought it was a lot of ‘hocus pocus’ and that California was the land full of ‘fruits and nuts,'” Wes said and laughed. “But, now I am a true believer in this doctor and his holistic approach.” (Pictured left Dana and Wes)
Within two weeks, Dana felt better than she had in over a year. Today, she takes no medications of any kind and only takes natural supplements and remains on her strict diet. “I credit a lot of this to Jill and Wes for believing in me. I truly believe now that the foods I was eating and the chemicals in our environment contributed greatly to my disease. We are a very green house now.”
Dana also had the strength and ability to start showing again. She currently has a six year-old mare, In The Fathers Image, aka Faith.
“Her name is so fitting. She came into my life at a time when faith that I’d get better was all I had. Wes originally bought her for himself for a green pleasure mare. He showed her last summer in the pleasure and was a finalist in the green pleasure at the Congress,” she said. “All year he had several opportunities to sell her but kept turning them down. At the Congress, he told me if I got well enough to show again, that I could have her for as long as I wanted.”
Dana says that Faith is the oldest and brokest horse she has ever been able to show. This duo is currently showing in the Amateur Western Pleasure and Showmanship. She hopes to add the Horsemanship by January.
Held in February, the Arizona Sun Circuit was the first show for Dana in 11 months, and the first for Faith in the Showmanship.
“Walking in that class the first day was an unforgettable experience, so many people supported me and gave me countless words of encouragement all the way to the cone. That day was not about winning–it was about overcoming obstacles and appreciating the smallest things in life,” she remembers. “I was unsure if I even had the strength to stand up in the arena long enough to do the class and the pattern had a long trot piece, I figured if I got tired I’d just walk. Finishing that pattern still on my feet was a moment I’ll always cherish.”
Dana’s future goals are to show at the World Show and even run a marathon! Dana and Faith qualified for the World in the Showmanship in just three shows.
Last week, Dana went for a check up in San Diego, and the doctor said she showed no signs of illness. Newcomb says that it is amazing to see her transformation over the past several months.
“She basically was a shell of her past spunky self and over the past few months, she has gained her strength, color, and some of her bubbly self back,” Jill says. “I told Wes to watch out because if she is supposed to be getting a lot better and improving even more the next several months that he was going to have trouble keeping up with her.”
Dana concludes her thoughts by saying that her life has completely changed the past year. “I am so blessed that God threw this challenge at me. It has made me a better friend, a better wife, and a much better person in general. I always thought I was a gracious person, nevertheless, I took a lot of things for granted. I hope I am able to help others overcome obstacles in their lives. There is a lesson to be learned in everything we do.”
Photo © Nichole Chirico, Chirico Graphics & Photos
