Allergies are a BIG deal these days. Now more than ever, it’s terribly common to meet someone who’s allergic to peanuts, or gluten, or dairy, etc.
People suffer from allergies of all kinds, but what if you were allergic to everything, including your spouse?
For Johanna Watkins, this unthinkable scenario is her reality.
Scott Watkins
The 30-year-old began to develop allergic sensitivities back in 2012 when she began dating her now-husband, Scott. The couple was married in 2013, and Johanna’s symptoms continued to accelerate out of control.
“We’ve been seen by dozens and dozens of doctors,” Scott explains. “None of them knew what was wrong. She’s been hospitalized multiple times.”
In 2014, Johanna was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, a rare and progressive immunological condition.
Scott explains:
“We know the name of this disease, which doesn’t mean we know the answers. But when things hurt you and you don’t know what they are, that’s much more bewildering than when you at least know what’s hurting you.”
He continues:
“With this disease, the systems your body has that are supposed to protect you, are actually hurting you. Johanna’s severity is one of a kind. She has it in an exquisitely horrible way. It’s a hellish experience. She’s constantly almost entering anaphylaxis (a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction).”
Scott Watkins
As a result, Johanna has been forced to live in complete isolation within the couple’s home in Minneapolis.
“If we control her environment perfectly, her disease doesn’t get worse, so she’s been isolated for a year and a half. Most people, when their throat starts to close in, they go to the emergency room. But Johanna’s throat is always tight, her body always hurts—that’s just her normal everyday life because these cells are identifying everything as a threat.”
Scott says that his wife has a list of 15 foods she’s able to eat, and even those foods make her sick, but they won’t kill her. Johanna has eaten the same two meals that Scott makes for her everyday for two years.