January 11, 2025 • 20 mins
You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/
You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/
Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by: https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hey friends, welcome to theinner spark podcast.
I'm your host, Casey Tatum.
If you're looking to hearstories of transformation and
personal growth, this podcast isfor you.
My guest and I will be sharingthose sparking moments that has
changed them into living a morefulfilling, authentic life.
I'm so excited for you to heareach unique story.
(00:24):
So sit back, relax, and let'sget started.
Hey friends, welcome to episodeone of the EnerSpark podcast.
I'm your host, Kasey Tayton.
This podcast is about sharingstories of transformation and
personal growth.
My guests and I will share theirstories of moments in their life
(00:47):
that changed them.
Let's be real.
We all have a story, right?
I mean, everybody I know has astory.
The amazing thing abouteverybody's story is everybody's
story is unique and the storyalso does not have to define
you.
I called the moments I wentthrough a major life shift, also
where I found my inner spark.
(01:09):
It was the moment I realized myillness was not defining me and
I was on a mission to see lifedifferently.
This illness clearly changed mefor the better.
I will share my sparking momentsand dig deeper into those, as
well as my guests will sharetheir sparking moments that
changed their life to see theworld differently.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-3 (01:31):
A little backstory on who I am.
I'm Casey, your host.
I'm 41.
And I live in the Midwest.
I was born and raised in theMidwest and I still live here.
I love the, like growing up onthe lake, brought me so much joy
and it still does.
It was a great bonding momentfor me and my family.
And we still every year go totable rock lake as a family
(01:53):
vacation.
We all have those places thatthose happy places.
That is my happy place then.
And still, when I was young, Igrew up an artistic roller
skater.
I have been competitive all mylife.
In middle school, I switched toplaying soccer, playing golf and
running I also played thesesports throughout high school.
(02:14):
I love sports and I love thecommunity of being in a sports.
Just being in a group of people,like minded people that love
doing what I did.
I also loved that I had anamazing family that always
supported me, even mygrandparents.
I would travel states away andmy grandparents were always with
us.
I'm going to consider myselfsuper blessed.
(02:36):
I was one of the only few thatmy grandparents went along on
every trip they could make toget us through our sports and to
cheer us on.
So today I'm grateful for thosemoments.
After high school, I went tocollege.
I loved it.
I'm not going to lie, you guys.
I didn't love high school.
(02:56):
I only loved high school for thesports.
I was really only there for thecommunity.
That's just who I am.
I got into college and I lovedcollege.
I actually didn't play sports incollege.
I'd hurt my foot in high schooland decided that sports weren't
worth it anymore.
I would just play for fun.
But I loved the medical field.
I loved everything about it.
(03:17):
You guys, I was like a collegeNerd.
I couldn't get enough of it.
I have family that works in themedicine field And so I loved
every bit of that and I took adive into that.
I took more than a dive I took adeep dive.
I wanted to learn everythingabout it and not just in one
field.
I started working at a doctor'soffice when I was 18 years old I
(03:39):
worked my way through college Iworked for a doctor, right out
of high school when I was 18, Iloved it so much.
When you have family in themedical field, I just took a
deep dive into it, and I workedmy way through college.
I started in college, I wantedto study it all.
I studied sports medicine, Iwent away for a summer and
studied that.
I wanted to be an athletictrainer.
(04:01):
I went into radiology school,, Ilove radiology school, but
decided that really wasn't whatI wanted to do.
I went into dental assistingschool.
I worked as a phlebotomist.
I went to AMT school, and then Iended up being a scrub tech,
going to surgical technologyschool and working in the OR.
(04:22):
I worked in the OR for a longtime.
I loved it.
I thought it was my dream job.
I thought it was my dream life.
At this point, I was in my 30s.
I had a house, a car.
I thought I had whatever kiddreamed of, whatever person
dreamed of, you know, you go tocollege, you go to school, you
get the house, you get all thosethings.
I had all those things.
(04:43):
I had a great group of friendsthat I worked with.
I love my shift.
And then my life stopped.
My life completely shifted.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-7 (04:55):
I got sick.
I lost my job.
My life stopped.
And they couldn't figure outwhat was wrong with me.
I fought for a really long time.
I looked up to the doctors here.
I, sorry, you guys, this is anemotional story, so just hang
(05:17):
with me.
I looked up to the doctors hereand I got told they had no idea
what was wrong with me.
I got red flagged.
I remember being in the hospitaland them telling me that I was
going to have to live with afeeding tube.
And my first thought was my gutdidn't just stop on its own.
(05:38):
My second thought was, I lovethe lake.
The lake is my happy place.
And if you put a feeding tube inme, my life just already came to
a little bit of a stop, but it'scoming to a complete stop
because I will never be able toget into the lake again.
And so somewhere in me.
After lots and lots of testingand fighting and fighting with
(06:03):
the medical field, I got thechance to go to Mayo.
I was first diagnosed withgastroparesis here in my
hometown.
That's when they were going toput the feeding tube in me.
And then I went to Mayo.
I spent weeks up in Mayo.
And during this time, I want totell you guys, I'm so thankful
(06:26):
for the community and my parentsbecause when my life stopped, I
say my life stopped as I wasgoing to lose my house.
I lost friends.
I lost a lot.
I had a friend that came in townand she just looked at me and
said she stayed with me for afew weeks.
And she said, you know, Casey, Inever realized how sick you
(06:50):
were.
I never realized how much yourlife really stopped until I was
living in your shoes.
I think you need to write aGoFundMe so you can get the help
you need to get better.
I was not good at asking forhelp.
I didn't like it, the feeling ofit.
I didn't like the feeling ofairing to everyone that I needed
(07:10):
help.
during these times, I'd also askfor help in our community, at a
local organization, and I wasdenied.
I was denied because I, I didn'thave kids and I was a single
female.
And so I couldn't get that helpthat way.
So this was my way of gettinghelp.
She suggested I set up aGoFundMe.
(07:32):
Um, sorry, I get stuck in mythroat there.
You guys asking for help was sohard and was such a challenge.
so my friend sat down with me.
She was a family friend and, um,my father is a small business
owner.
So I asked my parents like, Hey,we're going to write this
GoFundMe to give me the help weneed to get these diagnoses.
(07:56):
And my father was not for it.
He said, I'm a smallbusinessman.
You know what that looks like tome?
It looks like I can't help mychild.
And I remember looking at my dadand say, it's not you've already
helped me so much, Dad.
(08:16):
I had a long fight before I gotto this journey.
It was about two years offighting through stuff that my
parents supported me.
And my mom, she's a beautifullady, she just said, Well, I
don't really like it, but you'regoing to do what you're going to
do.
So we wrote this GoFundMe, myfriend wrote it for me.
(08:39):
And, we sent it out in theworld.
And it talked about what I wasgoing through, how my life had
stopped, how my life hadshifted.
And a lot of people responded.
It gave me the support I needand the help I needed to get to
Mayo Clinic.
So Mayo was my first trip.
My mom and I went, we went acouple times and we spent weeks
(09:01):
up there., I had a doctor upthere.
I've seen several doctors and Ihad a doctor up there.
The first one was like, I canput you on all these medicines,
send you back home and just gofrom there.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-9 (09:16):
And I can also send you to see one
more doctor before you go backhome and see if he has any other
suggestions.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-1 (09:25):
Just didn't feel very encouraging,
but I decided to say and see thenext doctor.
So, I had my first doctor upthere that believed in me.
I'm going to tell you guysthat's the best feeling because
we all need somebody thatbelieves in us.
I told him my story.
I told him my journey.
He agreed with me that I wasn'tcrazy.
(09:48):
I wasn't all the things that myhometown had put on me and that
I really was sick and he wasdetermined to help me.
So he sent me to get testing andit wasn't even his specialty.
That's what's probably where themagic is, is I say it's a god
thing of I got to meet this manwho wasn't even a specialty, but
(10:10):
it was like, I know what youhave.
I did the testing or went andsaw another doctor and that
doctor there was like, no, hepushed it on my stomach, was
like, no, I don't think you havethis condition.
So they thought I had MALS,which is median arcuate ligament
syndrome.
And it's where the ligamentcrushes the artery.
(10:31):
So it basically is stopping allthe blood flow.
So during my fight, I was unableto eat.
Um, eat very much, drink verymuch, and I went through a lot
of losing weight, gainingweight.
They were putting me on medicinethat was killing my immune
system.
So at one point I, I was largeand puffed up on steroids, which
(10:51):
those aren't fun feelings whenyou're fighting with something
and you're so sick.
So I go and see this doctor andhe sent me to go see the other
doctor.
The other doctor's like, Ipushed on your stomach.
You don't have moles.
So I go back and see this otherdoctor, his name is Dr.
Loftus, and I'm crying.
I'm like, you said this is whatI have, this guy's saying no.
(11:15):
He actually wasn't even inoffice that day, or he was done
seeing patients and they made anexception and let me see him as
I was standing at his deskbawling and he said to me, I
believe this is what you havenow, and this doctor is new to
our clinic and I'm going to sendyou elsewhere, I'm going to send
you outside of our clinic.
(11:35):
So he sent me to the ClevelandClinic, and I had my first
laparoscopic surgery.
That surgery did not go well.
I thought it went well, but inthe end the surgery did not go
well.
they actually ended up hittingmy aorta and stopped the
surgery.
So they didn't get the ligamentcut all the way.
And so I was home.
(11:57):
I didn't even know that at thetime.
I was up there for a few days,flew home, it was a laparoscopic
surgery and I actually read itin a surgical report.
So I called the surgeon and hesaid, yeah, we had to stop the
surgery.
You have a clip in your aorta.
I was in shock, like no one toldme this while I was there.
My next thing was, what do I donow?
I came home so excited that Iwas going to live and have my
(12:20):
life back.
So I went back and saw him andAnd he said, well, open surgery
requires a different team ofdoctors, me and more doctors,
because we're opening you up.
So during that time, the doctor,decided that he was leaving for
Dubai because they were openinga clinic in Dubai.
(12:40):
So I lost my surgeon.
I remember feeling hopeless andSomething that I thought my life
was going to be back to normalwasn't over yet.
I went on to fight and I was ina Facebook group the community
(13:00):
was honestly the one thingbesides my own inner fight that
kept me going.
I was determined I wasn't goingto live like this.
So I got to see a doctor inConnecticut.
I flew there and I had opensurgery.
I was there over the holidaysand it was me and my mom.
(13:21):
We were there for about threeweeks and, I came back home.
And if you if you've ever foughtillness, you know what it's like
to be down for cold flu,anything like that.
I am not a person that sitsstill, you guys.
So this was the biggestchallenge of my life.
Sitting still, laying in bed,not feeling well, not having any
(13:43):
energy and just wanting to beable to eat and drink and keep
it all down.
So I was so excited after myopen surgery, I came home.
And I started being able to eat,drink, live a little bit more, a
couple, months into it, I hadanother test done and it showed
that my artery did not stay allthe way open.
(14:06):
The good news is, is that I sawanother surgeon, I had that gut
feeling of this is not what Iwant to do and not what I'm
ready to do, and I chose not tohave the other surgery.
So right now I'm still livingand I'm going to choose to live
like this and keep going becausethe artery is still giving my
(14:27):
stomach enough blood for me tokeep going.
So during this battle, I hadthese moments of doubt of, I
live
this life of what do I do?
I had this life.
I don't think I can go back tothis life.
Living in the OR was a verydemanding job, a very fast paced
(14:48):
demanding job.
I worked tons of hours and Iloved it.
However, that's not who I was.
So I really didn't know what mypurpose was.
I really didn't know what to do,where to go.
But I was also tired of livingin bed.
And when I got better, I waslike, what do you do now?
And I had a friend reach out tome who was doing parties in the
(15:08):
hospital.
She was doing birthday partieswith another group.
And she said, asked if I wantedto come help.
Of course I did.
Right, that was giving me apurpose, a purpose to get out of
my bed, and a purpose to liveand be useful.
I went and helped her, I learnedkind of what she was doing, and
(15:28):
one day she looked at me and shesaid, Hey, these parties aren't
really going anywhere.
The staff isn't reallyresponding to me, we're really
not getting through to thehospital, I have a son at home.
She's like, Would you like totake over him?
Would you like to see if you geta better response than I do?
I was like, well, yeah, ofcourse.
I don't really know how that'sgoing to happen, but sure.
(15:50):
I will, I will make somethinghappen.
So this became a life changingmoment for me.
And it was truly my inner sparkbecause I started doing these
parties for the kids.
I reached out to the communitybecause I had no idea how I was
going to pay for these.
Now six years later, you guys,these parties are still going.
(16:12):
These parties light my world up.
We started with birthdays.
Now we do milestone.
We do end of chemo.
We do end of radiation.
We do sunshine bags for any kidthat's been there for like more
than a few days because.
Let's be honest, the hospital isnot the best place, it's not the
funnest place, but my missionwas to bring joy to any kid in
(16:36):
the hospital, and it still is tothis day.
I want to bring smiles to anykid facing any battle, and it
doesn't matter what you're goingthrough, what the timeline looks
like.
You're in the hospital and Iwant to make it not feel like a
hospital or and just see thefamilies So I have an
organization little moments bigdream celebrations.
(17:00):
As I mentioned, we've been doingthis for six years I rely on the
community.
So, when I say there's thismoment in my life that's
shifted, this was that moment.
I now found my purpose and myjoy of what lights my world up.
(17:20):
I will go deeper into a littlebit more of my medical and more
of, these parties.
But through this transition, Istarted doing other things.
I started doing breath work.
I found this great community.
Kathy Heller has an amazingcommunity.
I found her, and I got to startdoing other things, seeing other
(17:41):
ways of living life.
I also started seeing a naturaldoctor.
So really it was a huge shift inmy life of, it was like an eye
opening experience Sometimes welive in these boxes.
And all we see is what we'redoing.
And when your world stops,you're forced to see things in a
(18:02):
different way.
It was the best thing that'sever happened in my life because
now I can relate to so many morepeople on different levels.
And now I enjoy deep connectingwith people and I've gotten that
opportunity and every course orall the classes I've taken, we
(18:24):
like break out in these pods andwe get to deep connect and I've
made some of the best friends ofmy life and they're my soul
sisters.
I have gotten to go on a retreatsince then.
I got to travel since I had beensick.
Last year, it was actually,yeah, last year, it's 2025.
So in 2024, I got to go on apodcasting retreat.
(18:45):
Which is why y'all are here.
I decided through these coursesand through all this that my
story needed to be told, thatI'm not alone in this journey,
and I want every single one ofyou to know that your story
matters.
It doesn't matter what you'regoing through, what you've been
through, those stories, they'reimportant.
(19:07):
Our stories and we're lettingthat go and I'm ready for you
guys to go on this journey withme.
See how people have changed andI want to hear your stories and
I can't wait to introduce youall to every single person that
I have met that's been on adifferent journey than I have.
(19:27):
But still managed to find thatinner spark.
So I hope you all stay with me.
I'll dig into all this a littlebit deeper as we go along.
Thanks for tuning in today.
And let those sparks fly.
Thank you for tuning in toanother episode.
I hope today's story inspiredyou to embrace your own journey
of growth and change.
Remember, transformation isn'talways easy, but it's always
(19:48):
worth it.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, share it with
a friend, and leave a review.
If you found something thatsparked you in this episode and
may spark a friend, I encourageyou to go share it with them.
If you have your own story youwould like to share, I would
love to hear it, so please reachout to me.
Until next time, friends.
Go have some fun, and let thosesparks fly.
Hey friends, welcome to theinner spark podcast.
I'm your host, Casey Tatum.
If you're looking to hearstories of transformation and
personal growth, this podcast isfor you.
My guest and I will be sharingthose sparking moments that has
changed them into living a morefulfilling, authentic life.
I'm so excited for you to heareach unique story.
(00:24):
So sit back, relax, and let'sget started.
Hey friends, welcome to episodeone of the EnerSpark podcast.
I'm your host, Kasey Tayton.
This podcast is about sharingstories of transformation and
personal growth.
My guests and I will share theirstories of moments in their life
(00:47):
that changed them.
Let's be real.
We all have a story, right?
I mean, everybody I know has astory.
The amazing thing abouteverybody's story is everybody's
story is unique and the storyalso does not have to define
you.
I called the moments I wentthrough a major life shift, also
where I found my inner spark.
(01:09):
It was the moment I realized myillness was not defining me and
I was on a mission to see lifedifferently.
This illness clearly changed mefor the better.
I will share my sparking momentsand dig deeper into those, as
well as my guests will sharetheir sparking moments that
changed their life to see theworld differently.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-3 (01:31):
A little backstory on who I am.
I'm Casey, your host.
I'm 41.
And I live in the Midwest.
I was born and raised in theMidwest and I still live here.
I love the, like growing up onthe lake, brought me so much joy
and it still does.
It was a great bonding momentfor me and my family.
And we still every year go totable rock lake as a family
(01:53):
vacation.
We all have those places thatthose happy places.
That is my happy place then.
And still, when I was young, Igrew up an artistic roller
skater.
I have been competitive all mylife.
In middle school, I switched toplaying soccer, playing golf and
running I also played thesesports throughout high school.
(02:14):
I love sports and I love thecommunity of being in a sports.
Just being in a group of people,like minded people that love
doing what I did.
I also loved that I had anamazing family that always
supported me, even mygrandparents.
I would travel states away andmy grandparents were always with
us.
I'm going to consider myselfsuper blessed.
(02:36):
I was one of the only few thatmy grandparents went along on
every trip they could make toget us through our sports and to
cheer us on.
So today I'm grateful for thosemoments.
After high school, I went tocollege.
I loved it.
I'm not going to lie, you guys.
I didn't love high school.
(02:56):
I only loved high school for thesports.
I was really only there for thecommunity.
That's just who I am.
I got into college and I lovedcollege.
I actually didn't play sports incollege.
I'd hurt my foot in high schooland decided that sports weren't
worth it anymore.
I would just play for fun.
But I loved the medical field.
I loved everything about it.
(03:17):
You guys, I was like a collegeNerd.
I couldn't get enough of it.
I have family that works in themedicine field And so I loved
every bit of that and I took adive into that.
I took more than a dive I took adeep dive.
I wanted to learn everythingabout it and not just in one
field.
I started working at a doctor'soffice when I was 18 years old I
(03:39):
worked my way through college Iworked for a doctor, right out
of high school when I was 18, Iloved it so much.
When you have family in themedical field, I just took a
deep dive into it, and I workedmy way through college.
I started in college, I wantedto study it all.
I studied sports medicine, Iwent away for a summer and
studied that.
I wanted to be an athletictrainer.
(04:01):
I went into radiology school,, Ilove radiology school, but
decided that really wasn't whatI wanted to do.
I went into dental assistingschool.
I worked as a phlebotomist.
I went to AMT school, and then Iended up being a scrub tech,
going to surgical technologyschool and working in the OR.
(04:22):
I worked in the OR for a longtime.
I loved it.
I thought it was my dream job.
I thought it was my dream life.
At this point, I was in my 30s.
I had a house, a car.
I thought I had whatever kiddreamed of, whatever person
dreamed of, you know, you go tocollege, you go to school, you
get the house, you get all thosethings.
I had all those things.
(04:43):
I had a great group of friendsthat I worked with.
I love my shift.
And then my life stopped.
My life completely shifted.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-7 (04:55):
I got sick.
I lost my job.
My life stopped.
And they couldn't figure outwhat was wrong with me.
I fought for a really long time.
I looked up to the doctors here.
I, sorry, you guys, this is anemotional story, so just hang
(05:17):
with me.
I looked up to the doctors hereand I got told they had no idea
what was wrong with me.
I got red flagged.
I remember being in the hospitaland them telling me that I was
going to have to live with afeeding tube.
And my first thought was my gutdidn't just stop on its own.
(05:38):
My second thought was, I lovethe lake.
The lake is my happy place.
And if you put a feeding tube inme, my life just already came to
a little bit of a stop, but it'scoming to a complete stop
because I will never be able toget into the lake again.
And so somewhere in me.
After lots and lots of testingand fighting and fighting with
(06:03):
the medical field, I got thechance to go to Mayo.
I was first diagnosed withgastroparesis here in my
hometown.
That's when they were going toput the feeding tube in me.
And then I went to Mayo.
I spent weeks up in Mayo.
And during this time, I want totell you guys, I'm so thankful
(06:26):
for the community and my parentsbecause when my life stopped, I
say my life stopped as I wasgoing to lose my house.
I lost friends.
I lost a lot.
I had a friend that came in townand she just looked at me and
said she stayed with me for afew weeks.
And she said, you know, Casey, Inever realized how sick you
(06:50):
were.
I never realized how much yourlife really stopped until I was
living in your shoes.
I think you need to write aGoFundMe so you can get the help
you need to get better.
I was not good at asking forhelp.
I didn't like it, the feeling ofit.
I didn't like the feeling ofairing to everyone that I needed
(07:10):
help.
during these times, I'd also askfor help in our community, at a
local organization, and I wasdenied.
I was denied because I, I didn'thave kids and I was a single
female.
And so I couldn't get that helpthat way.
So this was my way of gettinghelp.
She suggested I set up aGoFundMe.
(07:32):
Um, sorry, I get stuck in mythroat there.
You guys asking for help was sohard and was such a challenge.
so my friend sat down with me.
She was a family friend and, um,my father is a small business
owner.
So I asked my parents like, Hey,we're going to write this
GoFundMe to give me the help weneed to get these diagnoses.
(07:56):
And my father was not for it.
He said, I'm a smallbusinessman.
You know what that looks like tome?
It looks like I can't help mychild.
And I remember looking at my dadand say, it's not you've already
helped me so much, Dad.
(08:16):
I had a long fight before I gotto this journey.
It was about two years offighting through stuff that my
parents supported me.
And my mom, she's a beautifullady, she just said, Well, I
don't really like it, but you'regoing to do what you're going to
do.
So we wrote this GoFundMe, myfriend wrote it for me.
(08:39):
And, we sent it out in theworld.
And it talked about what I wasgoing through, how my life had
stopped, how my life hadshifted.
And a lot of people responded.
It gave me the support I needand the help I needed to get to
Mayo Clinic.
So Mayo was my first trip.
My mom and I went, we went acouple times and we spent weeks
(09:01):
up there., I had a doctor upthere.
I've seen several doctors and Ihad a doctor up there.
The first one was like, I canput you on all these medicines,
send you back home and just gofrom there.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-9 (09:16):
And I can also send you to see one
more doctor before you go backhome and see if he has any other
suggestions.
Yeti Nano (2- Yeti Nano)-1 (09:25):
Just didn't feel very encouraging,
but I decided to say and see thenext doctor.
So, I had my first doctor upthere that believed in me.
I'm going to tell you guysthat's the best feeling because
we all need somebody thatbelieves in us.
I told him my story.
I told him my journey.
He agreed with me that I wasn'tcrazy.
(09:48):
I wasn't all the things that myhometown had put on me and that
I really was sick and he wasdetermined to help me.
So he sent me to get testing andit wasn't even his specialty.
That's what's probably where themagic is, is I say it's a god
thing of I got to meet this manwho wasn't even a specialty, but
(10:10):
it was like, I know what youhave.
I did the testing or went andsaw another doctor and that
doctor there was like, no, hepushed it on my stomach, was
like, no, I don't think you havethis condition.
So they thought I had MALS,which is median arcuate ligament
syndrome.
And it's where the ligamentcrushes the artery.
(10:31):
So it basically is stopping allthe blood flow.
So during my fight, I was unableto eat.
Um, eat very much, drink verymuch, and I went through a lot
of losing weight, gainingweight.
They were putting me on medicinethat was killing my immune
system.
So at one point I, I was largeand puffed up on steroids, which
(10:51):
those aren't fun feelings whenyou're fighting with something
and you're so sick.
So I go and see this doctor andhe sent me to go see the other
doctor.
The other doctor's like, Ipushed on your stomach.
You don't have moles.
So I go back and see this otherdoctor, his name is Dr.
Loftus, and I'm crying.
I'm like, you said this is whatI have, this guy's saying no.
(11:15):
He actually wasn't even inoffice that day, or he was done
seeing patients and they made anexception and let me see him as
I was standing at his deskbawling and he said to me, I
believe this is what you havenow, and this doctor is new to
our clinic and I'm going to sendyou elsewhere, I'm going to send
you outside of our clinic.
(11:35):
So he sent me to the ClevelandClinic, and I had my first
laparoscopic surgery.
That surgery did not go well.
I thought it went well, but inthe end the surgery did not go
well.
they actually ended up hittingmy aorta and stopped the
surgery.
So they didn't get the ligamentcut all the way.
And so I was home.
(11:57):
I didn't even know that at thetime.
I was up there for a few days,flew home, it was a laparoscopic
surgery and I actually read itin a surgical report.
So I called the surgeon and hesaid, yeah, we had to stop the
surgery.
You have a clip in your aorta.
I was in shock, like no one toldme this while I was there.
My next thing was, what do I donow?
I came home so excited that Iwas going to live and have my
(12:20):
life back.
So I went back and saw him andAnd he said, well, open surgery
requires a different team ofdoctors, me and more doctors,
because we're opening you up.
So during that time, the doctor,decided that he was leaving for
Dubai because they were openinga clinic in Dubai.
(12:40):
So I lost my surgeon.
I remember feeling hopeless andSomething that I thought my life
was going to be back to normalwasn't over yet.
I went on to fight and I was ina Facebook group the community
(13:00):
was honestly the one thingbesides my own inner fight that
kept me going.
I was determined I wasn't goingto live like this.
So I got to see a doctor inConnecticut.
I flew there and I had opensurgery.
I was there over the holidaysand it was me and my mom.
(13:21):
We were there for about threeweeks and, I came back home.
And if you if you've ever foughtillness, you know what it's like
to be down for cold flu,anything like that.
I am not a person that sitsstill, you guys.
So this was the biggestchallenge of my life.
Sitting still, laying in bed,not feeling well, not having any
(13:43):
energy and just wanting to beable to eat and drink and keep
it all down.
So I was so excited after myopen surgery, I came home.
And I started being able to eat,drink, live a little bit more, a
couple, months into it, I hadanother test done and it showed
that my artery did not stay allthe way open.
(14:06):
The good news is, is that I sawanother surgeon, I had that gut
feeling of this is not what Iwant to do and not what I'm
ready to do, and I chose not tohave the other surgery.
So right now I'm still livingand I'm going to choose to live
like this and keep going becausethe artery is still giving my
(14:27):
stomach enough blood for me tokeep going.
So during this battle, I hadthese moments of doubt of, I
live
this life of what do I do?
I had this life.
I don't think I can go back tothis life.
Living in the OR was a verydemanding job, a very fast paced
(14:48):
demanding job.
I worked tons of hours and Iloved it.
However, that's not who I was.
So I really didn't know what mypurpose was.
I really didn't know what to do,where to go.
But I was also tired of livingin bed.
And when I got better, I waslike, what do you do now?
And I had a friend reach out tome who was doing parties in the
(15:08):
hospital.
She was doing birthday partieswith another group.
And she said, asked if I wantedto come help.
Of course I did.
Right, that was giving me apurpose, a purpose to get out of
my bed, and a purpose to liveand be useful.
I went and helped her, I learnedkind of what she was doing, and
(15:28):
one day she looked at me and shesaid, Hey, these parties aren't
really going anywhere.
The staff isn't reallyresponding to me, we're really
not getting through to thehospital, I have a son at home.
She's like, Would you like totake over him?
Would you like to see if you geta better response than I do?
I was like, well, yeah, ofcourse.
I don't really know how that'sgoing to happen, but sure.
(15:50):
I will, I will make somethinghappen.
So this became a life changingmoment for me.
And it was truly my inner sparkbecause I started doing these
parties for the kids.
I reached out to the communitybecause I had no idea how I was
going to pay for these.
Now six years later, you guys,these parties are still going.
(16:12):
These parties light my world up.
We started with birthdays.
Now we do milestone.
We do end of chemo.
We do end of radiation.
We do sunshine bags for any kidthat's been there for like more
than a few days because.
Let's be honest, the hospital isnot the best place, it's not the
funnest place, but my missionwas to bring joy to any kid in
(16:36):
the hospital, and it still is tothis day.
I want to bring smiles to anykid facing any battle, and it
doesn't matter what you're goingthrough, what the timeline looks
like.
You're in the hospital and Iwant to make it not feel like a
hospital or and just see thefamilies So I have an
organization little moments bigdream celebrations.
(17:00):
As I mentioned, we've been doingthis for six years I rely on the
community.
So, when I say there's thismoment in my life that's
shifted, this was that moment.
I now found my purpose and myjoy of what lights my world up.
(17:20):
I will go deeper into a littlebit more of my medical and more
of, these parties.
But through this transition, Istarted doing other things.
I started doing breath work.
I found this great community.
Kathy Heller has an amazingcommunity.
I found her, and I got to startdoing other things, seeing other
(17:41):
ways of living life.
I also started seeing a naturaldoctor.
So really it was a huge shift inmy life of, it was like an eye
opening experience Sometimes welive in these boxes.
And all we see is what we'redoing.
And when your world stops,you're forced to see things in a
(18:02):
different way.
It was the best thing that'sever happened in my life because
now I can relate to so many morepeople on different levels.
And now I enjoy deep connectingwith people and I've gotten that
opportunity and every course orall the classes I've taken, we
(18:24):
like break out in these pods andwe get to deep connect and I've
made some of the best friends ofmy life and they're my soul
sisters.
I have gotten to go on a retreatsince then.
I got to travel since I had beensick.
Last year, it was actually,yeah, last year, it's 2025.
So in 2024, I got to go on apodcasting retreat.
(18:45):
Which is why y'all are here.
I decided through these coursesand through all this that my
story needed to be told, thatI'm not alone in this journey,
and I want every single one ofyou to know that your story
matters.
It doesn't matter what you'regoing through, what you've been
through, those stories, they'reimportant.
(19:07):
Our stories and we're lettingthat go and I'm ready for you
guys to go on this journey withme.
See how people have changed andI want to hear your stories and
I can't wait to introduce youall to every single person that
I have met that's been on adifferent journey than I have.
(19:27):
But still managed to find thatinner spark.
So I hope you all stay with me.
I'll dig into all this a littlebit deeper as we go along.
Thanks for tuning in today.
And let those sparks fly.
Thank you for tuning in toanother episode.
I hope today's story inspiredyou to embrace your own journey
of growth and change.
Remember, transformation isn'talways easy, but it's always
(19:48):
worth it.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, share it with
a friend, and leave a review.
If you found something thatsparked you in this episode and
may spark a friend, I encourageyou to go share it with them.
If you have your own story youwould like to share, I would
love to hear it, so please reachout to me.
Until next time, friends.
Go have some fun, and let thosesparks fly.
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