Town of Schwabisch Hall, along Kocher River in Germany. (monkeysandmountains.com)

A German town of some 36,000 in population, Schwäbisch Hall was barely nicked by Allied bombing in World War II, and it shows. The medieval streetscapes in the photos here might well suggest the town as spa or cure for whatever ails you. In fact, my brother Tony and his wife Sabrina, who live in Oregon, are at the Hall so her sons, Jonny and Trey, can take a pathbreaking cure offered there (but not in the U.S.) for Lyme disease. They have been on the cure for several weeks and so far it is working very well for both patients. Sabrina recently posted happy tidings of the treatment to her Facebook page but also included some lines about living in Schwäbisch Hall.

We go to a church sometimes and that is nice. We also went to Ken’s house, which is 500 years old. Most of the time if [Jonny and Trey] are not in therapy we walk around the town. There are many tunnels underneath the houses in the old city. Jonathan took a picture of a shackle, which in the past was used for punishment. The whole town would shame the person by throwing rotten fruit and vegetables at him. Today we walked on the Hanging Bridge. In the past this is where hangings took place. The history is amazing here. Jonathan and Trey were next to a building that was built in the 13th century. There are many castles here within a bus ride distance. We have not seen those but there is a monastery within walking distance we are going to see when we have a sunny day.

Tony is a rhetorician and psychiatric nurse. Here’s his description of the Lyme treatment:

The treatments are multiple: along with vitamin infusions and shots, they get autologous blood infusions with ozone and also bionic light therapy all of which kill the Lyme and the co-infections and cause a massive detox (getting rid of all these dead bacteria and perhaps viruses). In addition they get a ton of naturopathic drops (which I have to count out drop by drop) throughout the day. Fortunately something in all of this suppresses the misery that usually accompanies detoxification.

Here is a GoFundMe link to “Jonny’s Lyme Fight” for those who want to help support the family’s sojourn of several months at Schwäbisch Hall.

The glass building with gabled roof left of center is one of the seemingly few modernist interventions in the town center. I cannot tell how many of the other pictured buildings survive intact or have been rebuilt or rehabilitated. I am thankful, however, that Jonny and Trey are well on their way to successful renovation.