I was tired of being tired! Struggling with the basic daily functions that a typical 40 something year old should be able to do. I was dealing with the effects of West Nile virus (encephalitis) which I contracted in the summer of 2007.

I was off work for 17 months, sleeping 20-22 hours a day for the first several months. My head and body ached constantly. I was taking what the nurses called the pain killer cocktail, 2 or 3 Tylenol and then two hours later, 2 or 3 Advil and repeat over and over. Guys that is not good for your body. I was missing family functions and not being able to work took its toll. I was used to working 10 to 12 hours a day, running to children’s events, volunteering as a coach and on school committees as well as being busy around the house in the evenings. All this had a negative impact on my personal and professional life. Depression soon set in.

The lingering effects included a compromised immune system, a reduction of some brain (executive) function and total fatigue. Western medicine had no answer as to what I could do to recover. In the summer of 2010, I had now moved from a small lot in the city to an acreage that needed a lot of work. We were upkeeping approximately 4 acres of property, cutting grass, planting tree lines, gardening, etc. I had to be careful not to overexert myself when working outside particularly in the heat. Any time a cold or flu went around I would catch it and be in bed anywhere from 1 to 3 days. Any changes to my schedule like early mornings or late nights would result in me needing to recover by resting for a day or two. This was not the life I wanted, and I needed something to change.

My wife started researching alternative solutions. I was a huge skeptic of natural or alternative medicine, and I mean HUGE. A friend of the family referred me to a naturopath that he had been seeing for his West Nile symptoms. I started getting chelation treatments of Vitamin C, minerals, and other goodness to build my body back up. I saw a BIG improvement. After only a few weeks of getting chelation twice a week, I was not exhausted nearly as much. I wanted to continue treatments at this pace, but the treatments are not cheap and there is little to no coverage on most insurance plans. I needed to find an alternative to help support the progress I was seeing and to reduce the cost of seeing my naturopath twice a week.

Fast forward to 2014, We did some researching and found a testimony of someone who had used some natural products specifically for West Nile with success. Was this just another product we wouldn’t use? After some hesitation we placed our first order. I am now rarely sick, and I can do the things I want and need to do. I don’t want to think about what our life would have been like if we had not taken that leap of faith! We now use them daily in all areas of our life. They not only support our overall health, but they save us money on our regular spending at the grocery store.

I’ve come so far in my recovery and am now armed with knowledge and have tools at my fingertips to help every single day. My life is so full of wellness, I don’t have to be exhausted or sick anymore.

I want to empower as many people as I can, especially those SKEPTICS (like me), to give natural medicine a chance and reclaim your health. I AM here to help you navigate the road and avoid some of the common pitfalls. My wife and I and our children have created an exclusive community of support, so no one has to feel alone on their wellness journey.

I started to become more aware of how many other people are also fighting a battle with their health after dealing with my husband’s and my daughter’s health issues. And most express they feel they aren’t getting the answers they need. This experience gave me some serious motivation to start learning about the body and what we can do to look after it. Sharing my knowledge with loved ones, to help them make changes to improve their health, came naturally.

Shortly after I started diving into the world of natural health and wellness, I had to be my own health advocate. One evening my husband and I were out having supper and I started getting blisters on my hands. Thankfully I took my rings off because within 24 hours my fingers were swollen up like sausages and I now had at least 100 blisters on each hand. Plus, it was terribly itchy. I went to my MD and received a prescription for pills and a cream to apply topically. This did not help reduce the swelling or take the itch away.  I went back and received a referral to a Dermatologist. I was hopeful I would get some help because now I was unable to work. All in a matter of a few days I could barely grip the steering wheel and definitely could not hold a pen. Typing was painful. 

While I was waiting to get into the dermatologist, I started getting a few blisters on my feet. Thankfully that did not continue. In the meantime, I started looking up my symptoms and what could be causing them. I came across nickel allergy as being one possibility. When I finally met with the Dermatologist, I told her the history and what I had looked into myself. I knew enough at this point to know that my body was trying to tell me something was wrong. The Dermatologist seemed uninterested in discussing what was wrong and prescribed me another version of the cream. I left terribly frustrated and in tears. This was affecting my personal life and my work. I could barely hold cutlery at this point. I knew I had always had a sensitivity to nickel, so it just made sense when I started looking at the past few months. I had been giving blood on a regular basis and had become slightly anemic so had to stop contributing for a while. 

I turned to the same naturopath and told him the same story I had given to both my MD and Dermatologist. He asked me some additional questions to do some of his own analysis. I learned that since I had been eating more chocolate than usual (I did not know chocolate had trace amounts of nickel) and canned tuna as a quick lunch during the busy season, combined with being anemic  all added up to a nickel allergy which presented in the form of blisters on my hands. He started with a chelation treatment that same visit and by the time I was finished with the treatment my hands were tingling and the blisters were starting to go down. What a relief. I was sent home with natural products to use on a daily basis to help build my body back up. 

I have come to know through these and many other of life’s lessons that the best way to heal the body is to give it what it needs to build itself up. I no longer want to use products that mask the symptoms or cause an overload on our systems (google bioaccumulation). I now have a prevention mindset and teach others to do the same. 

When I’m not helping others advocate for their health, I am spending time with my husband, our children and our grandchildren, working towards being debt free, choosing to see the good in every situation, and spending time with like minded members of our community of health advocates. 

Are you ready to join a tight knit community of overcomers who are losing weight, having better health and more energy than they've had in years, building a ridiculous savings that can withstand almost anything, crushing their debt, and loving life? Come on in, it's time to be all you were created for! 

How can I help you feel healthy & empowered in your journey? I can help you get started!