LINN — Christine Wells of Linn stands strong in the face of adversity, a trait learned from her parents and one she is passing along to her children.

From dual bouts of E. coli to a disease so rare that one family member is the only person in the U.S. battling it, the Wells family have been beset by uncertainty yet bolstered by the support of friends, family, and the community, including a benefit scheduled for June 7 at Linn First Church in Linn.

“It’s been a crazy time,” said Wells, noting that after she and her first husband divorced in early 2023, she wasn’t sure how life would unfold. “It was challenging, that’s for sure. I guess you could say it came out of the blue, and I was alone with my kids.”

However, fate had other plans. In May 2023, Christine met Kody Wells, who lived in Owensville at the time, and they clicked almost immediately. “I just wanted someone to talk to, and Kody understood,” Christine said.

They hadn’t been dating long when Christine’s ex-husband asked if Kody would consider adopting their three children, Allis, 8, Ella, 6, and Owen, 3.

“We looked into the legal requirements and learned that to adopt my kids, Kody and I had to be married,” Christine said. “We had some really long, hard conversations about what we wanted and decided that’s what we both wanted. So, we got married one Monday in February of last year.”

They were married by a friend, who was ordained and able to complete the joining. “We signed everything so we were legally married, and then had a traditional ceremony in May, so everybody could be around,” Christine said.

Last summer, Owen, then 2, contracted E. coli for the first time. Christine isn’t sure where he picked it up, but remembers the family had gone fishing. “You can get it anywhere, though,” she said.

Unfortunately, Owen had contracted Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, a more severe form of the disease, which can be contracted through freshwater sources (lakes, rivers, ponds, well water), handling farm animals (especially their feces), or undercooked or contaminated beef.

About 15% of individuals with E. coli will develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) from these toxins. HUS attacks the body’s organs, especially the kidneys and blood.

About 10% of HUS cases affect other organs, such as the liver, heart, colon, and brain.

“This is just like what those children contracted in Westphalia,” said Christine. “We just were lucky to catch it quickly. I just knew something was wrong. We took him to Capital Region, and they transported us to University Hospital at MU. They said, ‘Well, it’s not this, this, or this. I think you’re fine. Just take him home.’ We ended up going back and having him tested again, and we were there for two weeks.”

Owen wound up receiving four bags of blood, three rounds of dialysis, and one round of platelets. “We almost got transferred to St Louis, but luckily, he came out of it with the dialysis, and we were able to just stay a little closer to home,” Christine said. “Owen still sees a kidney doctor regularly. The day after we got out of the hospital, we got to have adoption day, because with adoptions, everyone has to be present.”

She and Kody spoke with everyone involved, explaining the urgency of the adoption proceeding. “Obviously, his health was more important, but they got us out late the night before so we could have adoption day.”

The ceremony was held at the Osage County Courthouse. Judge Sanya Brandt oversaw the case, with Amanda Grellner serving as the family’s attorney.

During her divorce, Christine learned that Allis had an extremely rare genetic condition called monocarboxylate transporter deficiency caused by mutations in the SLC16A1 gene.

“It was very difficult, but luckily, I had a lot of support,” Christine said. “I remember having to check her blood sugar at school one time, and Hillary Sifling was in the office and helped me. My parents have been there so much for us, and it’s been great. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Due to her genetic condition, Allis is unable to tolerate prolonged periods of fasting and can develop low blood glucose and severe acidosis with the accumulation of high ketones in her blood and urine after long periods of fasting and during acute illnesses that are associated with high fever, emesis, and/or reduced oral intake.

“Her body is not able to use ketones, which is a known physiological mechanism when blood glucose goes down,” said Dr. Marwan Sinawi of Washington University in St. Louis, who is treating Allis. “At times of illness-induced fasting, or after prolonged periods of reduced caloric intake, Allis may require hospitalization for intravenous glucose therapy to terminate fasting and limit metabolic intoxication.”

That information was provided in a letter to expedite any explanations when Allis needed care. In layman’s terms, Christine explained that healthy children and adults can starve themselves, and ketones would transport fat, protein, and muscle to feed the body. “They’d be fine,” she added. “That’s why you can survive so long without food. Allis’ ketones don’t have the transporter cell to take them where they need to go, so they just kind of float around and do nothing. If she doesn’t eat for more than 12 hours, she starts getting really sick, to where her body just shuts down. So, it’s mostly important to us when she has a stomach bug, because she can’t keep anything down, and then she quits eating, and I have to take her in and get fluids. Now, when she’s sick with a stomach bug, we just go and recovery doesn’t take as long.”

Christine noted that Allis is the only person in America with this genetic condition, and there are only 10 kids in the whole world.

“We see Dr. Sinawi in at Wash U about every six months, just to keep an eye on things because, along with her own genetic issues, anytime one of the other kids has something pop up, she has to be tested for it, too, just to be safe. They can see an eye degenerative thing, but it’s not bothering her yet. We also see  cardiologist Dr. Christopher Sumski now because she has really high cholesterol, and they think it has to do with this genetic thing. We make her eat right, and she exercises.”

Throughout the learning experience, Christine and Kody have become well aware of even the smallest changes in behavior that may signal an episode. “I can watch for certain signs she gives off,” Christine said. “Allis gets maybe a little more crabby or irritable, especially towards one of her siblings. As long as she’s eating properly, we’ve been good for a while. I’d have to wake her up in the middle of the night, make her eat protein and stuff like that, and check her, and it was a fight, but now, because it’s not a constant thing for her, it’s more manageable.”

Though Owen is doing better now, he had a scare last November when he contracted E. coli for the second time. “We got hit with a bug at our house, and I thought Owen was the first one with it, so I thought something was wrong with him too, because, like, he quit urinating, and with his kidneys, I knew that that wasn’t okay, so we took him in. He had E. coli again.”

While Owen was at the hospital, Allis became ill, and she was brought to the hospital with the rest of the family.

“Thankfully, the nurses remembered us from the summer with Owen being there two weeks,” Christine said. “We had a whole setup. It was like we were living in a hotel for a little while.”

Staff kept the room adjacent to Owen’s empty until they were sure Allis was being admitted, and then made it available to the family. “Kody stayed with Owen, and I was with Allis,” Christine said. “Kody and I got the stomach bug while we were there. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything serious for us.”

The hits kept coming.

After the family was discharged from the hospital and went home, Kody began complaining about having pain in his lower abdomen and groin area. “I thought it could be a swollen lymph node or maybe he pulled a muscle throwing up,” Christine said. “We kind of let it go for a day or so, and then that night, he was complaining a lot. He woke me up, shaking in pain.”

Kody went to Capital Region on a Friday night, and Christine’s sister, Jolene, was at the house to stay with the kids. “It was deer season and we planned to go hunting the next morning,” Christine said, noting it was a lucky break.

An ultrasound revealed a large mass on his testicle, and Kody was referred to Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia.

“They got us in very quickly because of the size of the tumor, and by Dec. 3, he had surgery to remove it,” Christine said. “We were hoping that that would be the end.”

Kody was diagnosed with seminoma testicular cancer, which arises from germ cells, the cells that produce sperm. It’s the most common type of testicular germ cell tumor and is known for its high treatability and excellent prognosis, especially when detected early.

“They had that removed, and then we went back in January, and they did CT scans, and found that it had moved to the lymph nodes in his stomach, and this is like a very slow-growing cancer,” Christine said. “He had to have had it for a while for it to have already gone there. We want to have a child of our own, so we had to go save sperm for that, because they said any of the treatments they give that he most likely won’t be fertile afterwards.”

Kody had the option to undergo surgery to remove the lymph nodes, which requires several days of hospitalization for chemotherapy or radiation. “Once we spoke to our oncologist, the chemo doctor, he said that the nodes were too big to do surgery. That’s what we were leaning towards to just get it out and be done. They were too large to do that, so we ended up starting chemotherapy.”

The ultimate goal is to reduce the size of the nodes to make surgery a feasible option. Doctors should make a determination soon.

Unfortunately, as a result of chemotherapy and potential surgery, along with recovery from the first procedure, Kody has been unable to work. “He lost his job in January, and I’m way past the number of days I can take off with pay,” Christine said. “I’m doing the best I can, but I’m losing pay, so it’s been a little rough.”

Three Rivers presented the family with a Helping Hands grant to pay for Kody’s surgery and what was left of Owen’s hospital bills from the summer. “That helped a lot and relieved a lot of stress,” Christine said. “Linn First Church collected a special offering to help us out, and my parents have helped a ton.”

Christine, who teaches Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) and sponsors FCCLA, said her students have been very kind and understanding. “They have been very well-behaved,” she noted. “I appreciate that support tremendously. The school administrators have also done a great job working with me. The school has supported me a ton.”

Linn’s FCCLA program continued its support of Osage Caring Projects last December, adding even more baskets than in the past because organizer Charlotte Bellsmith outlined the need. “I made sure she had more even though I was down and it was rough, because she helps our community so much,” Christine said.

The Wells benefit on June 7 will begin with a truck and car show in the morning at Missouri State Technical College in Linn. Doors open at 2 p.m. at Linn First Church for a dinner at 4 p.m. A silent auction will be held along with a live auction after dinner.

Despite the challenges, the Wells family refuses to quit embracing life. “Our kidney doctor said you can’t stop living your life,” Christine said. “You can’t give up, ever.”