Johanna Watkins, a Christian woman who had a rare long-term illness, has died, leaving a legacy of steadfast faith.
Within months of getting married in 2013, she was diagnosed with a complicated condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, rendering her severely allergic to scents, foods, sunlight and other people, including her husband Scott.
Over the course of her illness the former teacher, from Minnesota, lived over eight years in a sealed attic bedroom with special filters to purify the air. Scott cared faithfully for her and described her as full of “unfailing faith and hope”.
In sickness and in health
Speaking to the BBC back in 2017, Johanna said: “On our wedding day we made vows to each other that till death do us part. No matter what life brought.
“We every day try to learn more about how we can love each other and we hold on to hope in God and I can tell you that even if I have this until I am 90 years old I would be committed to my husband with that vow”.
In Johanna’s final weeks, the couple shared some words of scripture, which they clung to including Psalm 60:12: “With God we shall do valiantly, it is He who treads down our foes.”
Scott reflected: “Yes, God will tread down our foes. He will tread down Johanna’s illness. It will not have the final word. Johanna is carrying her cross, and I am praying I would be the Simon that helps her lift it in this seemingly final season.”
Hope in God
Scott wrote a few days after his wife’s death: “So much is on my mind. Tears, griefs, unspeakable losses, but other feelings, too. Many people have been part of our journey, and in classic Johanna fashion, I’m thinking of all of you who upheld us with your support and prayers for a very, very long time.”
He thanked people for their prayers as he enters “a new season of life indelibly marked by Johanna’s beautiful faith, hope, and love”.
Reflecting on his wife’s illness, he stated: “Johanna suffered so much. It is weighty and profound to dwell upon. It shakes the soul. The hope in God she retained so strongly through it all reverberates even deeper.”