When Faith, Science, and Love Collide: A Caregiver’s Story of Psilocybin and Parkinson’s
By Courtney Holmes — Wife, Caregiver, Advocate, Educator, Speaker
There is nothing harder than watching someone you love slowly slip away — not all at once, but little by little, piece by piece.
For more than a decade, I quietly carried the weight of watching my husband change. Before we ever heard the words “Young-Onset Parkinson’s,” I watched the man I married start to disappear inside our home, behind our closed doors. The apathy, the exhaustion, the mood changes, the physical pain — all while doctor after doctor offered no real answers. He was given medication after medication for depression, anxiety, ADHD — but none of them fixed what was happening inside his brain. If anything, they made things worse.
When we finally received the YOPD diagnosis, oddly enough, it was almost a relief. The puzzle finally made sense. The sadness, the struggle, the distance — it wasn’t because he didn’t love me enough. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to engage. It was because something was happening inside his brain we couldn’t see.
We Chose A Different Path — One Rooted in Conviction
By the time we heard “Parkinson’s,” we were already years into challenging the system. Even before COVID, God planted a conviction in both Joe and me: to question everything, to not fall in line, and to trust our faith and intuition over a broken healthcare system that has no intention of ever curing anyone.
We were willing to risk everything by standing our ground in 2021 — our home, our jobs, our comfort — but we knew we were called to walk this path. And God was right. That conviction led us into functional medicine, anti-inflammatory nutrition, cannabis medicine, and targeted supplementation.
So when the news of Joe’s diagnosis was delivered, we already knew the approach we were going to take. And for two years, we fought harder than we ever have before. Joe not only stabilized, but he started to improve. Without any pharmaceuticals.
But deep inside, we knew there was more.
The World Doesn’t Want This Conversation — But We’re Having It Anyway
As I dug deeper, I found what the system still refuses to acknowledge: plant medicine. Psilocybin. Ibogaine. Cannabis. And other naturally occurring compounds that have been used for centuries in traditional healing practices—yet were pushed aside before science ever had a chance to fully explore their potential.
Why? Because if these therapies truly help people heal—not just manage symptoms, but heal—what does that mean for an industry built on lifelong treatment?
In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act placed many of these compounds—including psilocybin, ibogaine, cannabis, and others—into Schedule I, stating they had “no accepted medical use.” That decision wasn’t based on safety or emerging research. It was based on fear, politics, and control.
And it shut down promising avenues of discovery for decades.
But now, research is returning. Truth is resurfacing. And we refuse to stay silent.
Our 30-Day Psilocybin Journey: What I Witnessed as a Wife
We didn’t enter this lightly. We spent years researching. We looked at every mechanism of action, every data point, every trial. And when the door opened for Joe to start a 30-day microdosing protocol with psilocybin, we stepped through it — with full faith, full preparation, and full conviction.
Here’s what I witnessed:
WEEK 1:
From the first dose, I saw my husband start to re-emerge. The spark came back in his eyes. The energy, the joy, the movement, the laughter. Our girls watched their daddy play again — not laying on the couch exhausted, but running, smiling, present. And for the first time in years, I cried tears of joy. I was watching the man I married return.WEEK 2:
The improvements kept building. His gait, his mood, his energy — it was like our “new normal” had arrived. He told me some days it felt like he didn’t even have Parkinson’s anymore. The hopelessness that once hung in the air had been replaced by freedom. We were living again, not just surviving.WEEK 3:
The gains didn’t regress. Dizziness — gone. Dystonia — barely noticeable. Pain — minimal. Sleep — restored. Anxiety, apathy, and depression — gone. Cognition — sharper every day. We started doing puzzles together to build even more neuroplasticity alongside psilocybin’s effects. Even his handwriting — once so small and cramped — began improving. He could eat with his right hand again. The tremor, once our constant reminder of Parkinson’s, barely registered.WEEK 4:
This is now our reality. Joe still has Parkinson’s — but he is free. Free from the symptoms that stole so much from him, from us, from our children. Free from the depression that clouded every decision. Free to live his life again. And all of this — from a mushroom created by God Himself. A natural medicine with virtually no side effects, only kept from us because of fear and politics.
The System Has Failed Us All — But We Refuse to Stay Silent
Why is this not being studied at scale? Why isn’t every neurologist talking about this? Why are we still being told there are “no options” outside of pills that do nothing to stop disease progression?
Because true healing threatens the very foundation of our healthcare system. Just like cannabis, just like ibogaine, psilocybin threatens the machine. And because of that, people like us are left to take risks — not because we’re reckless, but because we’re desperate for real solutions.
But Here’s What I Know:
This is no accident. We were called to walk this path.
We were called to be a voice.
We were called to lead.
The world needs to hear what is possible.
We will continue to speak, advocate, educate, and fight for the legal access patients deserve.
And we will not stop until others can experience what we have — true hope, true healing, and true freedom.
Join Us.
We are raising funds, building partnerships, and creating a grant program to help others access these therapies safely, legally, and responsibly as the research evolves.
It’s time to disrupt the system.
We are ready.
Who is with us?
Let’s go.
