‘A Mother’s Guide to Herbal Extracts: Saving Tristan’

In her self-published book A Mother’s Guide to Herbal Extracts: Saving Tristan, Samaritan Ministries member Kathy Garber relates how God turned a “door of suffering” into a world of discovery, healing, and fulfillment. Combining prayers from pivotal times in her life with the story of her son Tristan’s condition and her herbal research, Kathy recounts in simple fashion her journey from “a small life defined by fear” to a rewarding life providing herbal extracts to tens of thousands.

The journey began on December 18, 1993, when Nathan and Kathy Garber’s first-born son, Tristan, entered this world. Their joy quickly turned to grave concern over Tristan’s raging fevers, vomiting, and urinary tract infections. In November of 1995, after three days of testing at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, Tristan was diagnosed with posterior urethral valves, a rare congenital condition. They learned that 70 percent of boys born with this condition die in the first two weeks of life. A week later, Tristan had surgery to remove tissue that prevented his bladder from draining properly.

Tristan’s battle with frequent, severe kidney infections continued. In desperation, Kathy cried out, “God, if You help me figure this out, I will help everyone I can.” In fall 1997, 4-year-old Tristan was hospitalized with yet another infection. Nathan and Kathy were told that Tristan had 2 percent of his kidney function left, needed a second surgery the following morning, and would be on dialysis for eight years, until he was old enough for a kidney transplant. Kathy was broken-hearted from watching Tristan suffer and fearful over how his little body would handle years of dialysis. They prayed. The next morning, Tristan’s toxin levels had dropped enough that surgery was avoided. By the time they left the hospital two weeks later, his kidney function was back up to 15 percent, just above the level to avoid dialysis.

The Garbers were told that Tristan’s improvement was only temporary, and that he would not survive much longer without dialysis. Nathan and Kathy knew they needed a miracle. Kathy remembered her father saying, “If there is a will, there is a way,” and decided to pursue a path of healing through herbal supplementation. She prayed that God would “teach her and make Tristan hungry for foods that would help him most.”

After they returned home, Tristan began asking for blueberries and oatmeal two or three times a day. Through research, Kathy discovered that both are good for kidney function and help to lower blood pressure. She studied clinical trials from universities, and read every reliable book on herbal remedies she could find. Her confidence grew as she realized that for centuries people have relied on plants for treatments and they are still the source of many of our modern drugs.

Their pediatrician worked with Kathy, monitoring Tristan’s improvement weekly, then monthly. The level of toxins in his blood dropped, and he was taken off blood pressure medication. Tests a year later showed that Tristan now had 90 percent kidney function. Kathy cried for joy. Later the pediatrician wanted to test the effectiveness of the herbal formulas and asked that Tristan go off all supplementation for six weeks. When the next labs showed significantly decreased kidney function, he told Kathy to resume what she was doing. Tristan healed to the point that he was able to keep from infections for up to two-year intervals and lead an active life without any dialysis.

Friends and family who knew Tristan’s story began asking Kathy for help with their own health issues. Energized by her findings, Kathy delighted in discovering the best herbs for each condition. Her formulas became part of fulfilling her promise to God to help everyone she could, if He helped with Tristan. Nathan soon realized the business potential of Kathy’s formulas, and Mountain Meadow Herbs was born. He transformed their garage into a state-licensed facility for creating, processing, and packaging herbal extracts. In five years, Mountain Meadow Herbs grew from serving fewer than 100 customers to serving more than 25,000. Their staff became a caring family devoted to one another and to giving their best to their customers.

Having grown up in Costa Rica, Kathy also longed to reach those overseas who are trapped in poverty and disease. She learned that every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria, so she developed herbal formulas to kill the malaria protozoa and to heal the liver damage caused by malaria. In 2007, she sent 24 bottles of her two formulas to a Uganda Orphans Fund clinic. She received an email reply that the herbs worked “within twenty-four hours, even in the most severe cases!”

Now her prayer became, “God, if it is time to move on, please bring a buyer for this business.” Two weeks later, Kathy heard that a doctor from Switzerland wanted to purchase an herbal company and that their business matched his criteria. The Garbers had peace to sell Mountain Meadow Herbs and “create space for the future.” Using a portion of revenue from the sale, they founded The William and Lydia Foundation, named in honor of Kathy’s parents, and dedicated to “saving lives through the research and development of natural alternative malaria treatments.”

A Mother’s Guide to Herbal Extracts is more than a success story. It contains information about Kathy’s research and her herbal formulas interspersed with statistics, lists of symptoms, and other resources. Her chapters focus on aspects of women’s health, herbs for childhood conditions, body cleansing, specific organs and glands, and her new work on malaria treatment. The final chapter comprises 25 pages of testimonials from people who have used her extracts.

Kathy Garber admits she would have chosen an easier door to the world of healing through herbs, but she discovered her calling hidden inside the very suffering she would have preferred to avoid. God took her longing to bring comfort and healing, and reshaped it through suffering into a life of joy and fulfillment. Throughout her journey, Kathy helped everyone she could, and God honored her by satisfying the truest desires of her heart.

See update on the Garber family.