The Modern Ancestral Mamas Podcast Chronic Illness, Brain Injury, Blindness, and a Fight to Heal with Bethany Van Der Harst | Ep 109
What happens when a mother is told there may be no hope for her child, and starts looking beyond modern medicine for answers?
In this episode, Corey and Christine sit down with Bethany Van Der Harst of Van Der Harst Homestead to talk about trauma, chronic illness, nervous system dysregulation, and the long road of healing. Bethany shares her family’s extraordinary story after her son survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound, lost his sight, later battled COVID, bacterial meningitis, and sepsis, and faced severe neurological and memory challenges that left doctors with few clear answers.
Bethany explains how that journey led her deep into the world of microbiome restoration, nervous system support, ancestral nutrition, sunlight, grounding, rhythm, and what she calls the Ancestral Regeneration Protocol. She shares why she believes so many modern health struggles are rooted in a profound disconnection from nature, and why healing often begins by making the body feel safe again.
They explore how these ideas apply not only to severe illness, but also to modern motherhood, family rhythms, emotional regulation, and the everyday ways women and children are being shaped by the pace and pressures of modern life.
📚 Topics Covered in This Episode:
✔️ Bethany Van Der Harst’s story of walking her son through devastating trauma and complex illness
✔️ What happened after her son lost his sight and later developed major neurological symptoms
✔️ How COVID, bacterial meningitis, and sepsis affected his health and recovery
✔️ The connection between the microbiome, nervous system, and chronic symptoms
✔️ What dysautonomia, POTS, mast cell activation, and chronic fatigue can look like
✔️ Why Bethany believes many modern illnesses are rooted in disconnection from nature
✔️ The nutritional strategies she used, including meat stock, ferments, and cultured dairy
✔️ What “die-off” can look like when changing the microbiome
✔️ How sunlight, grounding, rhythm, reverence, and rest support healing
✔️ Bethany’s Ancestral Regeneration Protocol and why she offers it freely to others
🧠 More About This Episode: Bethany Van Der Harst is the founder of Van Der Harst Homestead and the creator of the Ancestral Regeneration Protocol, a free resource and support community focused on helping people rebuild health through ancestral nutrition, nervous system support, and reconnection with nature.
This episode is especially for mothers walking through chronic illness, parents caring for children with complex needs, and anyone who has been told that healing is unlikely or impossible. Bethany’s story is a reminder that even when the road is long, the body was made to move toward repair when given the right support.
Find Bethany here: https://vanderharsthomestead.com/
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