DFW Lighthouse October 2001
Hazards in the Worship Place	Homemade Cleaners for those with MCS	Automating our Email List
Kim Kenney: Award Winner	Commentary on the Events of September 11, 2001	Cheney Seminar
Kroger Share Card	Shop I Give	The Seven Great Healers
How to Contact Us	DFW Lighthouse Credits

The "Jeremiah Project" offers a unique ministry to people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Excerpts from an article by Kristin Searfoss in Presbyterians Today, May 1999, reprinted with permission. This article, and related ones, is included in this issue because so many people with CFS also have MCS. 

New candles. Carefully dusted and polished pews, pulpit and Communion table. Sparkling windows and clean carpet. It sounds like a beautiful church. But for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), such a worship setting is full of hazards to be avoided, even if it means isolation from church. MCS turns seemingly innocent building materials, carpeting, cleaning products, candles, and any place where people wear fragrances and dry cleaned clothes into dangerous health threats. The synthetic chemicals found in many everyday products are the culprits. 

A Presbyterian-sponsored interdenominational ministry based in the hill country of central Texas is giving some people with MCS a different kind of worship setting. At the open-air services of the Jeremiah Project at Canyon Lake worshipers sit under a grove of scrub oaks on park benches. Their view encompasses woods, canyons and a rough cross made of cedar. Their pastor stands on a flat rock to preach. 

"These people deserve a ministry," says Linda Reinhardt, the Project's pastor and director. She includes herself; she too has MCS. "We named the ministry the Jeremiah Project because when Jeremiah warned people to turn back to God, they would not listen, and he wept," Reinhardt says. "As part of my ministry, I warn people about the health risks of synthetics. People are dying from them, and I feel anguish in my soul when they don't listen."

The Project ministers to some 60 people in the Canyon Lake area with MCS, and forges communication ties through its study resources, newsletter, and the telephone with almost 2,000 people affected by MCS. "About 90 percent of our ministry is long-distance," Reinhardt says. Recognizing the Project's wide-ranging impact, the Presbyterian Church (USA) gave the Project a new church development grant in 1997 to help its communications ministry grow.

Founded in 1994, the Jeremiah Project ministers to people who have been poisoned by one or more of the 70,000 synthetic chemicals that are ingredients in such ordinary items as perfumes, plastics and pesticides. 

The result of poisoning by synthetics is a debilitating and chronic illness that attacks the immune system. Exposure to even small amounts of synthetics could cause a life-threatening reaction. Those with MCS may have breathing difficulties, sinus and ear infections, memory loss, flu-like symptoms, muscle weakness & tremors, and headaches. 

The mosquito pesticide malathion changed Reinhardt's life in 1987. One night during a Florida vacation she and her husband slept near an open window as a plane swooped low overhead. She woke up dizzy and sick to her stomach, with burning throat and lungs. "I felt as though someone had used a razor blade to scrape the skin off my sinuses, throat and lungs," she says. 

Twenty-four hours later in a hospital emergency room, suffering from anaphylactic shock, she was fighting for her life. Tests later revealed that her lungs had been permanently damaged by toxic poison. 

Due to malathion poisoning, Reinhardt's immune system became over-reactive, and she began having a toxic response to even very small amounts of synthetics. In order to make their home a safe refuge the Reinhardts had to get rid of almost everything they owned. 

Despite the isolation and health concerns of its participants, Jeremiah Project worship is joyful and full of hope. To remind worshipers of those who are completely homebound or live too far away to worship with them, Reinhardt has introduced a Jewish custom of keeping a copper bowl filled with salt water representing the tears of the absent. 

Communion is a particularly powerful time for Jeremiah Project worship. Using organic grape juice and non-wheat bread enables people with MCS to participate, after years of having to avoid this sacrament because of pesticides on the grapes used for juice and the wheat bread, or the detergent used to wash the Communion cups. 

This condition forces many people to be homeless or homebound, or to camp on land they own. About 30 percent of the people the Project ministers to are homeless or displaced from their home of choice. 

Reinhardt and her husband camp on five acres at Canyon Lake. A 1962 Airstream camper is their bedroom, and a carport shelters them as they cook. "We live virtually outside, watching TV, eating, bathing, even brushing our teeth," she says. 

In a life characterized by transient living and health that she cannot count on, Reinhardt still says she is a joyful person. "Singing at midnight is the theme of my life," she says, referring to Paul and Silas singing in prison (Acts 16:16-40).

For more information you can contact the Reinhardts at 803-935-4618 or 222 Soft Wind, Canyon Lake, TX 78133, or email them at ii_am_jeremiah@hotmail.com. 

Kimberly Kenney, President and CEO of the CFIDS Association of America, the largest charitable organization for CFIDS, has been named one of the winners of Redbook Magazine's fourth annual Mothers and Shakers awards. This year's awards honor women who have made a difference in health care. Only 12 women were chosen from a large field of candidates. The awards were presented at the Lincoln Center in New York City September 10th. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Christy Turlington were among the celebrity honorees. The October issue of Redbook will feature an article profiling each winner. 

Paul Cheney, MD, PhD, one of the most respected CFIDS researchers and clinicians in the world, will present a seminar for medical professionals and the public entitled "New Insights into the Pathophysiology and Treatment of CFS". It will be held Saturday, October 20, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Theatre in the Commons, 3501 N. MacArthur Blvd. in Irving, TX. The theater is the northernmost building in the Irving Arts Center complex. (It is the same theater where Dr. Teitelbaum's seminar was held last year.) The theater holds over 400 people, so it is not necessary to RSVP. This event is co-sponsored by the City of Irving Public Health Department. There is no admission charge. The event will be professionally videotaped.Check for cost and ordering information. 

You can help with the cost of this seminar. Events sponsored by the City of Irving Public Health Department must be free to the public. Admission fees are not allowed. Donations would be most welcome to cover the cost of Dr. Cheney's airfare and hotel, as well as publicity and handouts . Please send donations to CFS/FM Support Group of DFW, 513 Janann St, Euless TX 76039. Donations are tax deductible. 

Like many human beings the world over, I am devastated by the events of last week. A range of mixed emotions and thoughts have washed over me since that awful morning that I dare and care to share - grief and heartbreak, fear, uncertainty about the future, and like millions of Americans, a profound sense of helplessness and futility.

As I thought about it more, I wondered how my specific experience with illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, with which I was stricken some six years ago, has colored and will continue to color my thoughts and feelings.

As many of you know, I have spent the past five years documenting this particular struggle in the form of a film that will be released this November. During the past week, I've felt defeated, as if my work hardly matters in the face of all of our collective new troubles. Who will care now about our particular struggle in the midst of all this?

As I began to sink into this mood, compounded by an exacerbation of the illness, I began to search for hope. After all, I found myself in the same position some six years ago when my life was radically changed overnight, albeit from very different circumstances, but ones ultimately beyond my control.

It was then that it struck me that one of the most difficult issues I faced when stricken with CFS was the sense of immense helplessness against something that I often envisioned as a terrorist that had overtaken my body without warning. And in the years ensuing, I have often dealt with a feeling of uselessness because of my disability. What do I have to give that could possibly compare to what my former, strong and able self could contribute?

So over the last week, as many of you have asked yourselves, I asked myself: what can I do, and how can I make a difference? I felt it unwise to give blood, and physically difficult to offer support in the New York relief efforts. But as I began to speak to friends and family emotionally traumatized by these events, I realized that this illness has given me experience that in some ways allows me to lend greater strength to family, friends, and society at large.

WE, AS SURVIVORS, HAVE MUCH TO OFFER. After all, we have been forced to strengthen the muscles of living with uncertainty each and every day. We have experienced the profound shock of understanding that many of us lived under the illusion that our health, our prosperity, and now even our basic security as civilians could be threatened so quickly and easily. We also understand that life goes on under the most difficult of situations.

Understanding this - that I have perhaps more to offer to others in such a time - has been a great source of hope for me. It's made me feel a shared sense of compassion rather than sink to a place of further alienation and hopelessness from others. We must continue to build bridges with others despite the sense that ours is often a difficult hell that is hard to see and understand.

Let us not give up on the goal to raise awareness about this illness, let us not feel defeated by these events, let us know that we have much to offer others in this time of sadness, and let us believe that there is great capacity for human compassion as we have all seen in these past days.

Kim Snyder (Director/Producer of the award-winning documentary on CFS, "I Remember Me")
Thanks to www.co-cure.org. 

In the wake of the national tragedies that have dominated the news and occupied our minds for the past week, we wish to express our deepest concern and sympathies for those affected - directly or indirectly - by the terrorist attacks. At the forefront of our thoughts are the individuals and families coping with the challenges of CFIDS. For persons with CFIDS (PWCs) and their caregivers, the everyday struggles of life with CFIDS become even more difficult in times that exact such a heavy toll on body and spirit. 

Research and the experience of PWCs and their health care providers have shown that stressors of a physical or emotional nature can dramatically worsen the symptoms of CFIDS. A study conducted by the University of Miami following Hurricane Andrew documented a negative impact on CFIDS patients' immune systems and overall function. Debris from the crash sites may trigger chemical sensitivities and allergies, cause respiratory illnesses and pose other health risks. As a sense of normalcy returns, PWCs are urged to take whatever steps are possible to guard their energy reserves, reduce sources of stress and minimize exposure to areas near the disaster scenes.

The CFIDS Association of America will move forward, recognizing that last week's events and changes in our economy will impact our work. We remain steadfastly committed to and tightly focused on our mission to conquer CFIDS and the needs of the community we serve. I extend my wish that as individuals and Americans we heal fully and emerge stronger than ever.

K. Kimberly Kenney, President
The CFIDS Assoc. of America

CFS/FM meeting
Saturday, Feb 16th 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 
Harris Methodist HEB Hospital,
Edwards Cancer Center
East Room (regular meeting place) 

"The Seven Great Healers"
(air, water, sleep, nutrition, exercise, social interaction, sense of purpose) by Curt Hamilton, a certified nutritionist also trained in naturopathic medicine. Curt is extremely knowledgeable and can address topics in the Q & A such as hormonal issues, detox issues, energy issues, etc.

You can raise money by shopping online at igive.com. They're a gateway to over 200 merchants who donate a percentage of each purchase to your designated cause. Join by going to the following: www.igive.com/CFSFMofDFW. 

The CFIDS/FMS Support Group of DFW is headed up by

Published quarterly, the DFW Lighthouse strives to inform its members and the public about a variety of topics related to chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and provide information on advocacy issues. The CFS/FM Support Group of DFW does not endorse particular products or services, and the ideas expressed the in the DFW Lighthouse are strictly those of the authors or the quoted individuals. The CFS/FM Support Group of DFW, and the DFW Lighthouse assume no liability for any medical treatment or other activity undertaken by readers. For any medical advice, consult your health-care provider. 

Submissions for the DFW Lighthouse may be sent electronically to Carol. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. You must have permission before reproducing any material from the DFW Lighthouse. This may be obtained by contacting Carol Sieverling at 513 Janann Street, Euless TX 76039, 817-283-1115, or via email. For any computer-related problems or services, design, layout, editing or writing services (preferably for hire, but pro-bono services will be considered), contact LJ Fidler. Copyright © 2000 by The CFS/FM Support Group of DFW, www.dfwcfids.org/. All rights reserved.

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