Patients helping patients: Turning experience into impact

Jennifer Capouya has learned to live with uncertainty. She is raising her 9-year-old daughter in Atlanta while managing chronic pulmonary and autoimmune conditions that shape nearly every aspect of her daily life. Her energy is unpredictable, and even small activities require careful calculation.

“I make plans always knowing there will be a decent chance I won’t be able to fulfill them,” she says. “I’m not reliable to myself, which is the most difficult part.”

When she was initially diagnosed with a condition she had never encountered before, she began looking for answers.

“Right away, I read a number of medical scholarly articles trying to figure out what was going on,” she says. “I scoured the internet to find a specialist.”

One name kept appearing time and time again: Zsuzsanna H. McMahan, MD ‘06. Jennifer first sought care with her at Johns Hopkins University and later followed her to McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, where McMahan now serves as an Associate Professor in the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Internal Medicine. 

“After learning more about Dr. McMahan and reviewing the research she was involved in, I realized this is a doctor who genuinely cares about her patients and is interested in improving their treatment options,” Jennifer says.

During one of her first appointments with McMahan, Jennifer was asking about the debilitating joint pain she had developed, worried that if the pain kept increasing, she might reach a point where she could no longer walk. She remembers McMahan responding with absolute conviction.

“She said, ‘No, that will not happen. We are going to get a hold of this.’ I truly felt that she had my back,” recounts Jennifer.

While Jennifer continues to manage the challenges of chronic illness, having a physician she trusts has made a meaningful difference in her life.

“Having Dr. McMahan on my side, being able to reach out to her, and knowing that she will take great care of me has certainly gone a long way in reducing the amount of stress and uncertainty surrounding having a chronic autoimmune condition,” Jennifer says.

That sense of support has reshaped how she thinks about medicine—and the role research plays in patients’ lives. She now sees herself as a direct beneficiary of clinical studies and the leading-edge treatments they make possible and feels a growing responsibility to help advance that work.

“I’m a big advocate of patients helping patients, whatever the illness may be,” Jennifer says. “Investing in research is a direct way to help other people who are struggling with challenges I understand firsthand.”

She chose to invest in McMahan’s ongoing clinical trial on scleroderma, which uses microbiome transplantation to restore gut balance and improve quality of life for those facing severe, debilitating digestive issues that have limited treatment options. Jennifer has received thank-you messages from patients in the trial describing how the treatment has improved their daily lives in powerful ways, something that resonates strongly with her.

“I know how you sort of leave yourself behind when you’re living with a chronic illness,” she says. “And then a new treatment lets you have a glimpse of yourself again, and you think, ‘Oh wow, that’s right. I did have a life that involved all these activities.’”

Through her support of McMahan’s work, Jennifer advances not only new treatments but renewed possibilities for the many patients navigating journeys similar to her own.

“All that’s needed is somebody to take a chance,” she says. “And you can go from not being able to leave your home to being able to get out there and feel like yourself again.”