On March 6, 1999, Shannon Kenitz gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Grace. As happy as any parent would be to welcome another addition to their family, Shannon's cheerfulness began to fade as she noticed a drastic change in her child. Grace wasn't eating well and her eyes began to roll frequently. Grace was later diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial disorder and suffered repeated seizures. Shannon visited with several physicians and exploited various therapies for Grace, but Grace's condition turned life threatening.
Subsequently, Grace was put on a feeding tube, lost her vision, was unable to walk and was on 42 different medications. After Shannon and her eldest daughter, Lily, lived in a hospital for three years
monitoring Grace's condition, the hospital won the right to take Grace off life support as Shannon had exhausted all the insurance the state offered. As a last effort to save her daughter's life, Shannon heard about hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) through a national parent-to-parent network called MUMS.
After learning about the various benefits others have experienced with HBOT, she quickly visited with Grace's primary pediatrician and asked for a prescription. Shockingly, he was opposed to helping Shannon save her daughter, the doctor (who was unfamiliar with HBOT) wrote on his prescription pad, "Feed Grace Styrofoam three times a day and she will get better”, handing it to Shannon saying it would be the same. Shannon's disgust with her doctor fueled her obsession to get the therapy Grace so desperately needed. Shannon visited with another doctor and finally obtained a prescription for HBOT.
Shortly after, Shannon took Grace out of the hospital and drove to Florida where Grace would begin HBOT. Miraculously, after 17 sessions Grace grabbed her mother's hand for the first time.
Grace was finally showing improvement both physically and cognitively. As Shannon and her two daughters found themselves practically living in another hospital, Shannon knew she had to get back to home to save her marriage.
Upon arriving back in Wisconsin, Shannon was fast at work saving her marriage after saving her daughter's life. However, four weeks into being back home, Grace started to sleep 18 hours a day and when examined by doctors, they confirmed that Grace's brain was
shutting down. Again, doctors were convinced that Grace would not survive. Shannon knew she had to bring HBOT to Wisconsin and ultimately to Grace. In only 12 weeks, Shannon managed to gain corporate sponsors and opened her own hyperbaric clinic in Madison; where Grace defied the odds, yet again, and regained neurological function.
Grace's story was the catalyst for Shannon to begin speaking at medical and parent conferences to help inform other families with children suffering from similar conditions about the benefits of HBOT. Grace continued to progress. One day, Shannon was returning home from speaking at an Autism conference and found herself greeted by not only her family, but also multiple news cameras in the Madison airport. For the first time in her life, to Shannon's amazement, Grace got up from her wheelchair and walked to her mother. Proving once more, the power of Grace and Shannon's determination and what HBOT can accomplish.
