GRAHAM SIMPLIFIED
One family’s journey toward health, simplicity and hope
Welcome. My name is Craig. This site is dedicated to the story of my family’s attempt to make life livable again after illness and struggles to adapt to neurodiversity. This site isn’t about selling a solution. It’s about documenting what’s real, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what we’re still figuring out. If our story helps you ask a new question, feel less alone or maybe a bit entertained, that’s the goal.
Recent Reflections
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How to Build a ChatGPT Model to Help You With Your MCAS Symptoms: Turning Lived Experience Into Something Predictive
When you live with something like MCAS, a lot of life becomes reactive. You eat something and wait to see what happens. You go somewhere new and brace for symptoms. You try a new activity and hope you didn’t push too far. For a long…
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How ChatGPT Helped Me Identify MCAS (Not a diagnosis, a process)
Disclaimer: This post describes my personal experience using ChatGPT as a tool alongside medical care. It is not medical advice, and ChatGPT is not a diagnostic tool. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals for diagnosis and treatment. For years, I knew something was off. Randomly cold…
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MCAS and Doctors: One Person’s Journey Navigating the Challenge of Finding Support
It was dark in a hotel room in Florida, where I had just helped my two sons—nine and seven—fall asleep the night before we were due to fly back to Michigan. We had flown south to spend a week in the warmth so my sons…
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Meat and Potatoes Recipes that Work for my MCAS
I grew up very firmly in the “meat and potatoes” world. For context: tacos — made with extremely mild seasoning, and filled with nothing but meat and cheese — were considered adventurous in my house. When I got to college, my mind was blown by…
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Running with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: What I Wish I’d Known About My ‘Invisible Limiter
I used to think I just wasn’t tough enough. Years later, I found out my body had been fighting me the whole time. When I was seventeen I thought it was all in my mind. Everyone told me it was. Every race and hard practice…
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Mast Cell Activation Syndrome – My Origin Story
My name is Craig, and eight years ago, during the heat of summer, my legs suddenly went cold. Even in the middle of long runs — fifteen miles or more, drenched in sweat — they wouldn’t warm up. That was the beginning of something I…
A Little About Me
Hi, I’m Craig — a dad, husband, and lifelong runner learning to slow down. Eight years ago, I began developing strange, unexplained symptoms that upended my life and eventually led to a diagnosis of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).
Now my family and I are simplifying everything — selling our home, homeschooling our kids, and traveling the country in a 32-foot camper to find the environment where I can live with less pain and more peace.
I’m not here to sell a cure or offer easy answers. I’m just sharing what we learn along the way — about health, home, and the courage to start over.
If you’d like to know how this all began, you can read our story:
👉 The Story Behind Graham Simplified
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