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Johanna married Scott in 2013. During the first few months of their marriage, Johanna began to develop a few food sensitivities such as gluten and dairy. One year later, the Watkins found out that Johanna was diagnosed with a rare disease called mast cell activation syndrome, according to Cosmopolitan.
The Watkins had no idea that the small yet bothersome allergies would lead to something bigger. Johanna’s sickness enables her body to be allergic to everything and everyone. She is now, literally, allergic to her husband.
Johanna’s allergies worsen after their wedding. They decided to visit every specialist or expert that they can Google or even Yelp. She was finally diagnosed corrected in January 2014 by Dr. Lawrence Afrin at the University of Minnesota.
Mast cell activation syndrome is a very rare disease, which also means that nothing really is known or discovered about it. The only things that research based on it can inform us with are quite few.
According to the information obtained by Cosmopolitan, “We all have mast cells (a type of white blood cell), and these cells have the ability to release "mediators," which are chemicals that help your body regulate its various immune responses.
“When properly released, mediators will cause symptoms typically associated with a standard allergic reaction (think: hives, headache, nausea, and in the worst cases, anaphylaxis). But in someone with mast cell activation syndrome, these mediators are released inappropriately — and excessively.”
Scott wrote in an essay for TODAY, “I live upstairs and never enter her space. I do sometimes see her through glass as she's on a couch, and I'll wave to her. It's hard for me to see her because she's so sick. Also, because I love her so much and I can't be with her, seeing her doesn't fulfill all those missing pieces of our relationship."
Johanna has to live completed isolated. The only people who can visit her are her closest relatives. Her whole room in their house had been pressurized so it won’t trigger any anaphylaxis. She also can only eat 15 kinds of foods.
Scott wrote, “If I stayed around her for more than 15 minutes, there's a decent chance she would go unconscious and I'd have to bring her to the ER," Scott wrote. "Who would ever think that your presence would hurt someone?"
Johanna currently weighs 90 pounds and her body wasn’t looking like it’s going to get any healthier.
Scott wrote, “She’s the strongest woman I know. She has faith and hope and takes joy in what she can each day… There’s sadness, too, but we move on.”
