When Life Cracks You Wide Open

A personal story about Parkinson’s, PANS/PANDAS, and the weight of it all.

By Courtney Holmes

If you have followed any part of my journey with Eleeo and The Parkinson’s Project Foundation, you have probably heard the fire in my voice when I speak about Parkinson’s. But what you haven’t seen, what I have kept mostly private until now, is that while I was fighting for my husband, I was also quietly fighting for one of my daughters. Two different diagnoses. One broken system. And the unbearable ache of watching the people I love suffer, while the world just keeps turning.

When Joe was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s, it felt like our life cracked wide open. But it wasn’t over. Things had already been shifting with our daughter. She was a little anxious, some OCD-like behaviors here and there, but nothing that raised major alarms. Then things drastically changed. And it sent us down a whole new path that ended with a diagnosis of PANS/PANDAS.

And just like that, our world changed.

Two neurological conditions. One family.
I was a wife, a mom, a medical professional, an entrepreneur, and suddenly, a full-time advocate. There was no manual. No roadmap. Just desperation, faith, and grit.

I have sat down to write this blog more times than I can count. But every time I tried, the words felt too raw. Too heavy. Too real. Because when you write about it, when you really let yourself go there, every emotion resurfaces. The grief. The fear. The anger. The disbelief. The silence.

But maybe this is the moment to finally let it out. Not just for me, but for every parent or partner out there carrying the invisible weight of a diagnosis no one seems to understand.

Parkinson’s and PANS/PANDAS

I haven’t spoken publicly about our daughter’s PANS/PANDAS diagnosis until now. Partly because it still hurts too much. And partly because most people have never heard of it.
And when they have, they don’t understand. Not really.

It’s easier to talk about Parkinson’s. People at least know what that is, or think they do. Even though it is often misunderstood as an “old man’s disease”, Joe was only 40 when he was diagnosed.

But PANS/PANDAS? It lives in the shadows. It is a diagnosis that hides behind words like “behavioral,” “psychiatric,” or “anxious.” It’s the diagnosis that too many doctors ignore, and too many parents are left to navigate alone, all while their children sit there with their little brains silently on fire.

Both are real. Both are life-altering.
And both are grossly mishandled by a system more comfortable handing out prescriptions than asking deeper questions.

The isolation that comes with either of these diagnoses is suffocating. With both, it can feel unbearable. You lose friends. You lose your bearings. You lose trust in the very institutions meant to help you. It’s like screaming in a soundproof room, hoping someone, anyone, might hear you.

But if I’m going to be loud about Joe’s Parkinson’s, maybe it’s time I get loud about our other fight, too.

Because this is what’s true:
I have learned what it means to suffer, and still choose to serve.

And that is what Eleeo is all about.

Where Faith Comes In

I have asked God why more times than I can count.
Why my husband? Why my daughter? Why all at once?

But somewhere along the way, the question shifted:
What if this pain has a purpose? What if we are meant to help others through it?

Because of Joe’s diagnosis, we have been helping others with Parkinson’s find hope through natural healing.
Because of our daughter’s journey, we are now opening a door for parents who have never heard the words PANS/PANDAS before, or worse, they have and were told it’s not real.

We have been gaslit, dismissed, and left to navigate the most painful moments of our lives alone. But maybe, just maybe, that’s where the purpose lives, in the willingness to say:
“This is hard. This is real. And you are not alone.”

Why I’m Telling You This Now

Because this is the beginning of something bigger.

Eleeo Health & Wellness was born from the ashes of our own story. It was never about wellness trends or symptom management. It was about survival.

And now, it’s about transformation.

This is more than a business. It’s a lifeline. A calling to make sure no one else has to walk this road alone. It’s the place where pain turns into purpose, where we start to rewrite the narrative around what true healing looks like.

We are here to bring you hope, because we have found another way.

A path that doesn’t rely on prescriptions, but brings real healing through natural, holistic approaches.

A path rooted in nature, built on grit, and sustained by a fierce refusal to accept the status quo.

There were years when I wasn’t sure we would ever come out of the fog. But we did.
My daughter is healing. Joe is healing.
And the path that I once feared was impossible became the one that finally made sense.

No prescriptions. No doctors leading the way.
Just a mother’s relentless love and pursuit of another way. Anchored in faith, rooted in mercy, and fueled by the intuition God gave me to use the medicine He placed all around us.

We are building something different here.
A place for real healing.
For real families.
For real change.

I’m finally telling the whole story, not just because I need to, but because someone out there needs to hear it.

You can carry impossible things.
You can fall apart and still rise.
And even in your deepest pain, you can still choose to serve.

Welcome to Eleeo.
This is just the beginning.
We are so glad you’re here.