Johanna Watkins, 29 years old, has suffered with health problems for years. For a long time, she's experienced migraines, strange rashes, and irritable bowel syndrome, but she has one health issue that's more confusing than the rest: she's allergic to people.
When Johanna met her husband, Scott, she quickly fell in love. Every time he came into the room, though, her symptoms worsened. She was used to experiencing problematic symptoms daily, but when she and Scott spent time together, her symptoms became completely unmanageable.
Johanna told BBC, "We had noticed that when Scott would come in [to the room] I would start feeling worse and worse. My normal daily symptoms would just be aggravated. And then at one point he went to get his haircut and came back in the room and within two minutes I had started my anaphylactic symptoms and he had to leave."
When Scott tried to come back to see his wife a full week later, the same thing happened. The two suddenly realized that their lives were about to drastically change.
Johanna was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), which makes her essentially allergic to everything, and can even trigger life-threatening anaphylactic shock. Because of her condition, the cells that are supposed to protect Johanna from outside threats instead mutate and attack her.
She hasn't responded to the normal MCAS treatment, and because her case is so severe, Johanna has to live alone in a sealed attic. She only gets to see her siblings, who she isn't allergic to, but she still makes time to call and video chat with friends and family.
Scott lives in the same house, but can't share the attic with Johanna. He cooks her dinner every night (with the only 15 foods she can eat), and the couple spends their time texting one another. For date night, they watch the same movie on different floors, using their phones to talk about it as they watch.
Although their situation might not change soon, or ever, the couple hasn't lost hope. "There's not an easy way around this problem. I want to keep Johanna safe and me going to see her compromises her safety," Scott told BBC. "One of the ways I can take care of her now is by not going to see her. I'm not going to endanger her life. We're absolutely committed to one another and we're going to wait as long as it takes to see if there is some kind of healing."
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h/t Distractify
