A couple's love, faith and family anchor their lives

The first thing one notices when meeting Jessica and Lance Lasiter is their devotion to each other. It’s been this way since 2009, when the two vivacious teens met at a swim party at age 17 as seniors at Mount Carmel Academy and Archbishop Rummel.

Lance gave up football scholarships to attend college with Jessica at Louisiana State University, where they studied to become doctors.

They were best friends.

“Loyal to the end,” Lance said. “We were inseparable our senior year and realized it would put a lot of stress on our relationship if we were separated. ... Football didn’t seem that big of a deal in comparison to our relationship. We were both focusing on going to pre-med at that time.”

Little did Lance or Jessica know that the power of their love would persevere in the face of what the future held.

Now 30 with a 4-year-old son Lance Jude in tow, Lance, with help from his mother-in-law Stacy Rau, is a full-time caregiver to Jessica, who is now wheelchair-bound. He says he’s been on a “mission of love” since Jessica’s diagnosis in 2014 with Lyme disease – an inflammatory disease that can cause neurological problems and joint weakness. They married the same year at St. Francis of Assisi Church, with Lance carrying her up and back down the aisle.

There had been years of misdiagnosis – the flu, Multifocal Motor Neuropathy and ALS – and various treatments that included traditional medicine and herbs, supplements and homeopathic remedies to try to stem Lyme disease’s progression.

And Jessica has adapted as much as possible to maintain her independence, including employing a foot mouse to use her phone and laptop.

“My body didn’t work the way it used to, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it,” Jessica said. “My belief kept me strong, and my stubbornness paid off.”

Her mom says Jessica is cut from the same cloth as she – they’re very independent.

“And when you have to rely on someone else to do it, it is hard,” Rau said. “I know I wouldn’t want to rely on somebody else to do things. I am on her all the time to eat, do this or do that, but she hounds me, too. It makes me happy I can do things for her.”

The couple lives in a mother-in-law suite, attached to Rau’s house, which was originally built for Rau’s grandmother. (A sign, Rau said, that God was in the drawing of the home’s original blueprints.)

“Day to day for me, I wake up early, I work out, I do the daily stuff – laundry, work outside, sell what I can on Facebook Marketplace until Jude wakes up,” Lance said. “We make him breakfast, do school stuff. Jessica wakes up, eats her breakfast, I give her supplements. … If the shoe were on the other foot, I know Jessica would do the same.”


Faith throughout
The family’s Catholic faith has been constant while the search for medical answers continued as the disease caused Jessica’s slurred speech and prevented her from picking up things or driving as they earned EMT certification.

“That’s when she started saying she was having trouble doing the things she was used to doing,” Lance said, and they moved back home from Baton Rouge.

Lance transferred to the University of New Orleans while medical solutions continued. Once they fully put their trust in God, Lance said they realized just how he’s intervened in their life for the better.

“My relationship with God, in the past, has waxed and waned,” Lance said. “When things are going great you have one relationship with God, and when things start changing, you can go through these bitter phases and ‘Why Me?’ phases.

“But, then you grow and realize that things are working out in your favor, even when the road is tough and you can’t understand why certain things happen. In the different things we’ve experienced, faith is everything. Faith and family is the core of who we are.”

Rau learned to pray the rosary when Jessica became ill.

“I never missed a day, no matter what was going on,” Rau said. “I felt like it just gave me strength. Listening to doctors tell you there was nothing they could do, I felt like faith was the only thing I could rely on. I feel like every time I was down and things were terrible, I would pray, and God just pulled her through. Faith is all you need.”

Jessica’s faith endures and has carried her through the latest challenge of contracting COVID-19. 

“God has blessed me with determination and the will to push on,” she said. “We searched for and found the truth. Through this illness, I’ve discovered a renewed relationship with my God. I’m a wife, I’m a mom and I’m writing a book to help others. Nothing that God calls me to do is out of reach for me. To all facing challenges, don’t give in to defeat.”        

Another God moment
God moments have been plentiful through the Lasiters’ experience. One was meeting playwright Steve Doherty, who wrote and produced “Delta Sequence” and also wrote a play about Wally Pontiff Jr. called “Number 31 Always.”

Doherty, a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Metairie, first discovered the Lasiters’ story through his friend, Deacon Nick Chetta, who had prepared them for marriage. From a classmate of Lance’s brother, he, again, was informed of their experience. At the time, Doherty was chronicling his own Lyme disease journey but realized Jessica’s and Lance’s faith-filled love story was more compelling.

“It was God tapping me on my shoulder saying I needed to change direction,” Doherty said. “I knew exactly what God was asking me to do at this point. The story I was writing before didn’t particularly have faith in it. But, over the past two years talking to these guys, it had to have faith in it.”

Being a private person, Jessica discussed with Lance whether or not the story she had chronicled in 164 pages should be public.

“She didn’t want a pity party,” Rau said. “She doesn’t like people feeling sorry for her.”

“It boils down to ‘Not my will, but your will be done,’” Lance said. “When you trust in God, no matter how bleak or hopeless the situation, there is always hope.”

Doherty has completed the screenplay, “The Cub & The Raider” based on interviews with the Lasiters and Jessica’s book. He is securing funding to turn their life into a film.

“I think it would really catch on in the faith community as well as the Lyme disease community – that is growing by leaps and bounds, unfortunately,” Doherty said. “Over 300,000 people are diagnosed every year.”

Jessica hopes her story will help people gain “strength to overcome” challenges and gain faith.

“My God, my family and friends have led me to look at my illness as a gift, allowing me to touch the lives of others, to change lives, to give hope and inspire. If I let it.”

“God is with you on the mountaintops and the valleys,” Lance added. “No matter your circumstances, he’s always with you and bringing you to a better place, even when you can’t feel it or see it. He really is guiding you.”

To learn more or to contribute to the production of the film, contact Doherty at [email protected].

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