Judy Rentz’s yard is no doubt the envy of her entire neighborhood. A natural-born designer and gardener, Rentz spends her days turning her home into a little paradise on Earth. Her natural eye for landscape catches the attention of her neighbors and soon Rentz finds herself happily decorating their yards, as well as that of her church! Then in 2007, Rentz’s life comes to a catastrophic, screeching halt. Her body is wracked and rung with indescribable pain. The woman who once worked outdoors for most of the day suddenly finds herself bedridden with an insatiable and inconsolable agony. Although she doesn’t have a name for it yet, Rentz is suffering from Pudendal Nerve Neuralgia and Entrapment.

In her memoir, “Fighting to Survive,” author Judy Rentz describes her personal battle, and nightmare, with Pudendal Nerve Neuralgia and Entrapment. Like so many people suffering from chronic illness, or from disease where physical cause is not superficially apparent, Rentz must constantly fight to be believed by doctors. That this disease is considered rare, it’s true prevalence among the population unknown, and specialists are uncommon, only exacerbates Rentz’s struggle. Time and time again, Rentz is dismissed by those professionals she sets her trust in, sometimes even referred to a psychiatrist or accused of being a drug addict.

Rent’z husband is forced to retire a year early to become her full-time caregiver. Hours that were once occupied with designing landscapes and planting gardens are now consumed by phone calls, doctor visits and of course, arguing with the insurance company. With the strength and support of her family, friends and church, Rentz is eventually able to name her invisible illness and, although it seems nothing will relieve her pain, like so many other survivors, Rentz finds solace in simply knowing the name of her “monster.”

Pudendal nerve damage causes excruciating pain in the coccyx and rectal areas, Rentz describes. Patients die of sepsis due to constipation caused by nerve spams in the rectal region. Rentz herself becomes frighteningly thin, robbed of her appetite by constant pain. Rentz’s story is one of monumental suffering and incredible resilience. Pudendal Nerve Neuralgia and Entrapment is not called “the suicide disease” for nothing, Rentz states. The agony she endures is nearly unbearable. Time is counted not in months and years, but by which extensive, excruciating therapies and surgeries she undergoes. Without her faith in God, Rentz reiterates, she would have given up.

It is said that every time God closes a door, he opens a window. For Rentz, so exactly it seems. For every doctor who doesn’t believe in her disease, she finds a talented and compassionate specialist willing to try some new treatment. While her disease is incurable, Rentz eventually does find some relief from her pain with help from a pain pump and medication. Her memoir “Fighting to Survive” is a much-needed insight into the daily life of a survivor of Pudendal Nerve Neuralgia and Entrapment. Rentz’s book may be the story someone desperately needs to name their disease, it may be a beacon of hope to other sufferers, it may in fact, be the window God opens for someone else.