My Story

My name is Shari Janssen and eight years ago I was diagnosed with Scleroderma. My son hurt his hand at school and needed to see a hand specialist. While the doctor was working on my son, he  noticed my fingers turning white. He asked if they hurt, they bother me only if I can’t get them warmed back up right away. I thought that I had gotten a frost bite since I was a sales representative for a frozen food company. The specialist said that he could fix them.  
 

The specialist sent me in for some tests.  I had an EMG and a test where they put your hands in ice water and time how long it takes for the circulation to come back. They considered this a noninvasive procedure, I then had to drive back to the doctor's office which was 15 minutes away.  The circulation didn’t come back in my left hand.  The hand specialist said that he could not help me and referred me to a rheumatologist. 
 

I went to the so called "best" rheumatologist in Des Moines. He ordered several tests.  The results were that I had CREST syndrome, variance of  Scleroderma. All I could think of was this movie I saw on TV about Bob Saget’s sister. (Bob was on "Growing Pains" and "America’s Funniest Video’s." ) She was in so much pain, became deformed and eventually died from this disease. I was scared to death, I was a single mom and was concerned about what would happen to my son. I wanted to be the one to raise him. I told my parents my diagnosis and my dad instantly got me an appointment at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic. We were all hoping to hear that the rheumatologist that I had gone to see in Des Moines, IA. was wrong. He wasn’t! And there was nothing they could do to cure it, doctors can prescribe medication to try to help with symptoms but nothing was going to make it go away. 
 

I searched frantically over the internet to find out what CREST stood for, calcinosis, raynaud’s phenomenon, esophageal dysfunction, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia. At that time I had four out of five. Now I have all five symptoms. 
 

I also needed to know about Scleroderma. Scleroderma literally means hard skin.  A persons body makes too much collagen. Collagen being a protein found in your skin, bones, cartilages and ligaments. Too much causes the skin to be thick and hard which then restricts the blood flow. Scleroderma is then broke up into two forms localized and systemic. Localized which affects the skin, and systemic, which affect skin, joints, blood vessels and internal organs such as the lungs and kidneys. I had the systemic. 
 

I was prescribed the following  medication in a years period of time, norvasc, diltiazem, methotrexate, naproxen, prednisone, celebrex, vioxx, nexium any Cox 2 inhibitors, calcium channel blockers. I also took aspirin, vitamin E, vitamin C, msm.  Nothing was working. If there was a side effect to the medication I would get it. I started to read up on these drugs and some of the after effects could be worse than what it was suppose to be helping.  My rheumatologist’s nurse said to me "you need to figure out how you want to be treated either with prescription medicine or natural and give it a chance."  Since prescription medicines were not working, I decided to try to treat my disease naturally. 
 

My symptoms were swelling. My hands would swell so badly that I couldn’t make a fist.  It hurt to write and forget about wearing rings. I couldn’t get them on and if by chance I did, there was no way they were coming off and it caused more swelling. My legs would swell so badly that you couldn’t tell that I even had knees or ankles. I would get a red spot on my face, legs or my arms. It would take forever for it to disappear. They weren’t raised and didn’t itch just annoying to look at and wonder what it was about. I had constant heartburn, I could eat jello and get heartburn and the heartburn medicine made it worse. 
 

I had extreme sensitivity to cold in my hands and feet. I hated air conditioning because I would have to bundle up sometimes wearing gloves. My family had four wheelers and we loved to go four wheeling on the weekends as a family. I would bundle up but my body worked so hard to stay warm that I was exhausted for two days. 
 

The pain was growing intensely. My legs would hurt so bad at night that I had to take pain pills to get to sleep. I also had extreme fatigue. I would pick my son up from daycare and have to take a nap before fixing dinner. I use to love to be just as active as my son, go roller blading, ride bikes, go golfing. My free time was used lying around and sleeping. 
 

This was not going to be my life. 
 

My parents came across a TV show on WB "Extra"about a Scleroderma survivor. I contacted "Extra" and was able to acquire her e-mail address. She attributed her success to three major factors. 1) macrobiotic diet 2) yoga, meditation, t`ai chi and qi gong 3) Bovine Colostrum. 
 

I am not a diet person especially for this diet, juicing everything, eating seaweed and kelp, so this was out of the question. As far as number two I didn’t know what three out of four was, besides I didn’t have the energy to do any of them. Bovine Colostrum, I grew up on a farm and Bovine is a diary cow. This might be something to look into. 
 

My mom worked at a vitamin store and I asked if she had heard of it. She really hadn’t heard too much about it but read up on it and said that there was nothing in it that could hurt me. They did carry it and she purchased it for me. It came in capsule form. I began to take it I was committed to try it for two months. After one month I was out of pills and I had just got laid off from my job, I asked my mom to get me another bottle but could she and my dad pay for it. My dad after hearing what I was taking said that a veterinarian he knew was producing this and basically in our back yard.  
 

This veterinarian, Dr. Richard Cockrum DVM had been my grandfather and my dad’s veterinarian for their hogs and cows. Dr. Cockrum sold his large animal practice in 1979 to devote his energy to forming a biotech company called Immuno-Dynamics, Inc., located in Bouton, Iowa. 
 

My dad and I went to see Dr. Cockrum and we talked about my diagnosis and what I had tried and how I wasn’t seeing any results. Dr. Cockrum thought his product could help, it wasn’t going to hurt me and their was nothing in the product to cause reactions to anything else. He did state that it wouldn’t cure me but it would help put my immune system in a better balance to help fight whatever was going to attack it. 
 

The product he produces is PerCoBa (perfect colostrum balance). Dr. Cockrum suggested I begin with the liquid form due to my "compromised condition" I might see results sooner.

I followed his recommendations on the bottle of liquid and within one week the swelling was going away, the following week the pain subsided. I have been taking the liquid  and/or lozenges for five years and I feel great. I had a check up at the Mayo Clinic February ‘03 I now have the RA factors for rheumatoid arthritis however I have no symptoms of arthritis. My rheumatologist said "keep doing what you are doing." I now only require an annual visit to my local rheumatologist as a routine visit. 
 

I have been  remarried now for five years, I work part time so that I  can enjoy my family and life on the farm. My son is 16 and I get to watch him participate in whatever sport is his passion at the moment. I also enjoy walking 2 miles every day. My overall health is better than it has ever been.

My husband, son and my father also take PerCoBa. My son is now using the powder to help build muscle mass, along with his weight training. My husband takes as a preventative, he never gets sick.  My dad on the other hand waits until he gets sick then takes it and is better in a day versus days or weeks. One of these days he will take it daily!!

PerCoBa has something for everyone. It has helped me and I am sure it can help you if given the chance. It can’t cure you but just feeling better is a step in the right direction.