Life has a funny way of handing us opportunities for growth. Using the word funny here doesn’t imply humor; rather something that doesn’t take the form of what we would expect. As humans, we love to try and plan for events to occur and map out our entire existence: Control our lives if you will. When we ultimately surrender to the process, that is when the magic happens. The road to said path of letting go can be wrought with challenges: Both seen and unforeseen. In the case of my personal journey, the challenges took the form of trauma and impacting my health. What I endured both physically and mentally, molded me into the healer that I am today. I have been able to not only help myself, but countless of my clients because of it. I wanted to share my story with you because I have personally been where you are right now. I have felt those dark feelings of hopelessness. I have had the weird symptoms that no one could explain. I had the days where I didn’t want to get out of bed, and giving up felt like the only way. In sharing my story with you, I hope that it inspires you to keep going, never give up and know that you are always loved.

Growing up, I faced numerous health and emotional challenges due to my highly sensitive, very emotional and empathetic nature. I was easily overwhelmed, didn’t like being in crowds and experienced frequent vivid nightmares. Physically, I had a very sensitive stomach that caused a lot of issues for me, and bouts of long lasting illnesses. By the time I reached my teen years, my physical and emotional struggles continued. I suffered through a rollercoaster of hormonal issues including very heavy periods, severe cramps, gut issues, fatigue, body dysmorphia and muscular issues. Emotionally, I struggled with anxiety, depression and deep seated feelings that somehow, I didn’t belong. I didn’t feel like everyone else, and at the time, I didn’t see that as something positive.

Despite the struggles in my youth and feeling closed off from my peers, there was something else that was opening up for me. The door to certain abilities started to reveal itself to me. The first sign that this was occurring, was that I would have dreams that would frequently happen in reality. Initially, this was both fascinating and yet intimidating at the same time. Imagine knowing what was going to happen before the event took place, and wondering where on earth it came from. Faced with incredible teenage angst about fitting in with my peers, and not being an outcast, I quickly shut the door on my ability. I only felt safe sharing this side of myself with my best friend, otherwise I never mentioned a word of it to anyone.

During my early twenties, I suffered an insurmountable loss. My Aunt, whom I considered a second mother , passed away suddenly. In the face of this sudden and tragic event, it blew open the door to the intuitive abilities I had previously shut down in my life. My Aunt was trying to communicate with me at the time, and because of the deep connection I had with her, I chose to walk through that door. I opened myself up to receive the messages she was sending me. Being able to receive her messages didn’t stop there. When I opened the door to my intuitive abilities, it opened it up to everyone else I encountered on a daily basis. I started to pick up on thoughts and even physical issues that other people were feeling, but brushed it off as a coincidence. I seemed to know when people were sick or unwell, and what was causing the ailments that people had. When I would talk to family, friends or even random strangers, their “diagnosis” would start to fill my head: Sometimes, I didn’t even know what the ailment was that popped into my head. It seemed as if I was just naturally well versed in medical terms and medication (that at the time, I never learned about). Throughout this time, I was drawn to attending church, praying regularly and maintaining an at home meditation practice. The tragedy and the loss of my Aunt left a hole in my heart, but it also filled me with the ability to help others who were suffering. I was still unsure of how to utilize this. This was all fascinating, but also incredibly draining and I didn’t fully understand it. I resisted this gift and most of the time shut it down. I was pregnant at the time and this was my focus. I struggled through a very difficult pregnancy: Ending in a traumatic birth with my son landing in the NICU. Bringing my son home after that experience was so scary, but brought me more love and happiness then I had ever imagined. 1 year after his birth I started to experience symptoms that seemed to coincide with chronic illness. Naturally, I went in search for answers as to what was going on with me. All of the medical professionals I sought out, gave me a slew of diagnoses ranging from Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue, POTS, Celiac Disease, Hypothyroidism, and the classic “Auto Immune” disease. When I presented with Bells Palsy I fought for a Lyme Disease test, which came back positive. They started me on a month long PICC line of antibiotics, hoping that it would help to treat the Lyme Disease. Even though at the time the antibiotics seemed to help, I faced an onslaught of secondary issues due to the medication. I constantly had low energy, rashes, digestive issues, joint pain, body heaviness, fatigue and brain fog. This would continue through the next 8 years of my life, as I battled Lyme everyday. Despite my illness, I was a single mom at the time, and had to go back to work in order to support my family. I decided to go to school to become an esthetician, since I was passionate about helping others feel better about themselves. I jumped into the medical side of it, because of my unspoken knowledge of everything medical, and started in Dermatology . When I started seeing clients, it quickly became clear that everyone seemed to opened up and share their deepest thoughts to me. Even though my clients would come to see me for skin treatments, our time together unveiled issues that went much deeper than their skin. Major underlying trauma, emotional issues, neglected medical issues, childhood trauma would all come to the surface after each session I had with my clients. After each session, my clients left feeling lighter, more free and would immediately hurry back to book appointments with me. Even though they felt great, I left most of these sessions feeling completely drained and exhausted. During that time, I leaned deeper into my faith to get me through most days. Unfortunately the scales started to tip, and I started to have more bad days than good, due to carrying both my own stress and the stress of my clients. I was cycling through various medications at the time to just make it through the day, however nothing was working and it was taking a grave toll on my body.

Tragedy struck again when my best friend suddenly passed away. During this time, I was struggling to make it through an intense second pregnancy. I had hyperemesis gravidarum and hypoglycemia, which meant I spent most of my days in and out of the hospital throughout my pregnancy. After the birth of my second child, I sank into a deep postpartum depression. I had this beautiful baby girl whom I loved so deeply, yet I felt completely numb and disassociated from my body at the same time. Within 1 year, my health had completely bottomed out and I was bedridden. My chronic illness had once again, reared its ugly head. After much prior frustration going down the conventional medicine route, I scheduled an appointment with an Integrative Physician who specialized in Lyme. After our initial consult, the physician decided to start me on a cocktail of four different oral antibiotics. After only having slight improvement I was put back on a PICC line; that would be in for a year and a half. It was determined that my Lyme had not cleared up with the initial round of antibiotics, and had now become chronic. I was also diagnosed with quite a few Lyme co-infections,  and reoccurring Epstein-Barr Virus. I was put on over 60 supplements for my body to simply function. At that point in my life, I could barely walk, eat or do much for myself. Just the simple task of going to the bathroom, would require my husband to help carry and assist me. I ultimately had to stop working because I didn’t even have the cognitive function to drive, or remember how to even get home to my house (let alone the energy to sustain a job). I couldn’t watch tv or read (I had issues with light sensitivity and comprehension), or really do much of anything other than cry and sleep. My whole body was in pain; feeling like every part of my being just could not function. Every day was a struggle physically, financially, emotionally and mentally. I had two small children and husband who I loved immensely, yet I felt like I was a prisoner in my own body. I felt so helpless that I couldn’t be the mom, wife or person I felt like I was meant to be. On the surface I looked fine physically, however just below, the battle of the “invisible illness” raged on. Inside, I was slowly dying everyday. My whole life became my illness.

When I got the PICC line removed, I continued on a at least 30 supplements and IVs including ozone, chelation and weekly vitamins. I started to get some decent days, and began to accept that I would live my life functioning at 25% health. Anything was better than where I was before, and I was grateful for where I was currently at. I was able to start driving again, move around unassisted, shower without collapsing, and I didn’t need help getting out of bed: All of the little things that we normally take for granted, were now huge accomplishments. At 25%, I could take care of my kids and I could participate somewhat in life again. Things were finally starting to look up. I was beginning to see the light of hope, until tragedy struck once again.

My Dad, my best friend in entire world, was diagnosed with lymphoma. I was now more determined than ever to get better. I wanted to be there with him through his journey, while being completely present for my children and husband. That 25% I was happy with earlier, wasn’t going to cut it this time. I was no longer going to settle for a life where I was just surviving: I wanted to LIVE. Since I saw more improvement when I went with a less conventional treatment route, I decided to go all in with utilizing natural modalities: Anything I could get my hands on. I went to a variety of different practices including homeopathic practitioners, several Integrative physicians, Lyme-specific practitioners, and Naturopaths. Through these modalities, I was finally moving past that 25% and gaining some health ground. I would still have some days a week that I was in bed, however it was better than where I before. I was grateful for this new plateau on my healing journey. Then, my Dad’s health took a turn for the worst.

My Dad’s condition significantly worsened, and he ended up in the ICU. Throughout his stay there, something else was happening. The intuition that I tried so hard to bury, yet again came rushing to the forefront in an attempt to save my Dad. At every turn of my dad’s time in the ICU, I found myself one step ahead of the doctors. I seemed to know everything that was going wrong with my Dad, even though he couldn’t speak. I was seeing all of his issues in my minds eye, and feeling them in my body. Because of this knowledge (and some physicians who were willing to listen and follow through), I was able to get more time with my Dad. I was able to have moments with him in the hospital, that the doctors said weren’t possible. In my gut I knew it was my Dad’s time to go. I deeply struggled to make peace with this: The notion that it was his time to move on. He was so young and supposed to have so much life ahead of him , Why?! Saying goodbye to him was the hardest thing I had ever done. The night of his passing, my Dad decided to visit me in my dream to say one last goodbye. He thanked me for the ways that I had fought for him. He showed me all of my talks with the doctors, the words at his bedside and how I was advocating for him. He told me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me. Within an hour after he came to me , he passed. To this day, I thank God that He gave me that very special moment with my Dad. I felt like a piece of me was missing when he left, however at the same time, all these old pieces of me were coming together. I started to make the connection that all of the knowledge that I naturally had, was Gods way of showing me the gifts I had been blessed with all along. I couldn’t ignore this anymore.

After my Dad passed, my chronic illness flared and I sunk into a deep depression. Since my intuitive abilities were wide open, and I was so desperate to continue the connection with my Dad, I fully jumped into my psychic ability and medical intuitive ability. This pulled me out of the dark hole I was in. With everything left in me, I leaned into fully fostering this ability and became certified in Reiki: Going all of the way to Master level. My religious faith grew to a whole new level, and I was able to start to heal in ways spiritually, that I had never looked at before. I started working with a therapist weekly, and a practitioner doing energy and emotional work. Years of buried trauma and emotions were looked at and fully addressed for the first time in my life. I started to heal in ways emotionally, that I had never looked at before. At that time, I shifted away from a traditional medicine background and stepped into a holistic, spiritual line of work using my intuitive gifts. Making the shift from everything I knew was quite intimidating at first, since it was a huge leap of faith. With my entire being, I knew that this was what I was meant to do. Making this shift allowed me to further help people through their grief by connecting them with their loved ones who had passed. It was a great feeling to give people guidance, confidence and clarity about their life. It was incredibly physically and emotionally draining at times, but it brought me so much joy to bring messages through for people who were feeling lost, like I once was . I would still have some “down” days, but I was so thrilled with how my life was improving. I wasn’t bound to my bed anymore. I was finally embracing myself fully; even the “weird” parts of me.

My personal healing journey finally felt as if it had shifted in the right direction. Even though initially I started off my journey focusing solely on the physical side of healing, life and its opportunities had shown me that healing isn’t linear. It doesn’t just fit inside one bucket, but rather a few different ones including addressing your emotional and spiritual health. As I was feeling more holistic about my personal health, and the ways I was helping others, I felt as if there was still a missing piece to the healing puzzle. During this time, my Dad kept coming through to me and pressing on my heart with a message. He was showing me that I was meant to look at the lymphatic system (this kept coming into my awareness, since he passed from lymphoma ). I dove head first into researching everything about the body’s lymphatic system, and how it is truly a key component to a person’s healing process. During my research, I reflected back on the fact that many practitioners didn’t recognize the importance of our lymphatic system, and how it can be a critical piece of the healing puzzle. I knew deep in my heart that this would be the key to truly shifting my physical healing. The problem was that I didn’t know how to fully address my lymphatic system, or where I could even learn how to. I put the intention out there that the answer would come to me, and it would happen in the exact time it was meant to. Exactly one year to the date of my Dad passing, I took my sister to a wellness center . I came to find out that they offered a revolutionary modality called Lymphatic Enhancement Therapy (L.E.T.). I had to discover what this was all about, so I signed up for a few appointments. Within the first three treatments, all of my lingering aches and pains were gone...GONE! I absolutely couldn’t believe it. Due to the message I had received from my Dad, and arriving at this exact practice to learn about L.E.T., I knew this was the way. I became trained in this specific therapy, and incorporated it into my practice.

Everything was coming together for me in this orchestrated way that I could have never planned for. With all of the knowledge, innate wisdom, life experiences and education that I had received over the years, I took a leap of faith and launched my own business: The Healing Room. My greatest joy is helping others to life their lives to their fullest potential. I am extremely grateful for the journey that I have been on, and I recognize every day how purposeful all of the events has been to get me here. Despite the many days I spent sick in bed, and the many tragic events and loss I’ve had to endured to get here, I do not take a minute of it back. Every day when a client walks into my business, I smile knowing that I am living my true purpose and I’m placed in their lives to help them live theirs.

The current modalities I offer are L.E.T., Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, Emotion/Body Code, Reiki, Cupping, Auriculotherapy, IET, and Raindrop therapy. As I am called to pursue different modalities that I feel would benefit my clients, I will always remain open to the possibilities. I have guided many clients on their journey from chronically ill to complete wellness, from barely surviving to now thriving, from feeling totally disconnected and misunderstood to living a meaningful and fulfilled life. I hope to help you on your journey as well.