May 3, 2024 • 38 mins
Have you ever held a piece of your childhood in your hand and felt its weight shape your entire life? That's the story of Jenvon, who joins us on Triumph Over Trauma to reveal how a pencil attack in her youth didn't just leave her with lead in her brain, but also with a powerful legacy of resilience. Together, we explore the harrowing journey from Jenvon's injury to her life of advocacy, highlighting the strength it takes to transform suffering into a force for good. Her story is a moving testament to the truth that God work's everything together for our good.
- What is Trauma? Trauma is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. An emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, abuse, neglect or natural disaster.
- How to cope with Trauma Talk to a few trusted people, open up about your struggle, seek online support groups, read self-help books or practice small acts of self-care such as meditation, breathwork, yoga and exercise can help you regain some feeling of control.”
- Find a therapist Get Started (betterhelp.com)
Online Psychiatric Medication & Mental Telehealth Services - Rx Anxiety, Depression & Insomnia Treatment | Cerebral - Triumph Over Trauma Scripture: II Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto to God, who always causes us to Triumph in Christ....
- Books I'm reading on my healing journey.
- It Didn't Start with You! - How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes who we are, & how to end the cycle. https://a.co/d/f22BoLk
Home Coming- Thema Bryant
https://www.amazon.com/dp/059341831X/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_TE4YHJQ63FA21362FP79
The Body Keeps the Score - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_HXH4RMNC329DT7VPQ5WG
2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to Triumph!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
other people.
I've had a traumatic past.
I didn't always realize howthose things affected me
negatively and how I evencarried them into my adult life,
and so I wanted to create aspace where other people could
come and we could have candidconversations on how you
identify trauma, how do younavigate it and how you recover
from traumatic experiences.
If this resonates with you,then join me.
(00:20):
I am your host and traumasurvivor, ms Eve McNair.
Let's get into it.
Join me, I am your host andtrauma survivor, ms Eve McNair,
let's get into it.
Hey guys, what's up?
Thank you so much for joiningus again.
At Triumph Over Trauma, thepodcast Listen, we are doing a
series called your Story.
I opened up the opportunity tomy.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
TikTok followers to my Instagram and basically for
all my social media followers,and the response has been great.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Today we welcome one of my TikTok followers named Jen
Vaughn.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
She has a phenomenal story you don't want to miss,
and so stay tuned buckle up,listen.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
this story was so inspiring.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I mean, I felt like laughing, crying praying, all of
the things being so grateful to.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
God for what he has done, not only in her life, but
also in mine.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The story was so good that we literally had to have
two interviews.
So what seems to be the end ofthe podcast is actually part one
.
Stay tuned, make sure you watchto the very I mean listen to
the very end, because there aresome additional questions that I
asked Jen Vaughn.
I'm sure all of you will bewondering the same thing when
(01:35):
you hear them.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So thanks so much again for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All right.
So, jen Vaughn, thank you somuch for joining us on the show
today.
Welcome everybody to TriumphalTrauma the podcast.
Much for joining us on the showtoday.
Welcome everybody to try andforward trauma the podcast.
We again have a special guestthat is joining us today
regarding our new series calledyour story.
Jim ben's going to be sharingwith us her story.
So again, thank you so much,jim, that you're joining us
today.
Welcome to the show again.
(01:59):
How are you?
How are you feeling?
I'm good.
I'm feeling great.
Today's a nice day, blessed.
How are you?
I'm doing good.
Also, we're gonna go right intoour.
Hey, let's jump in.
Let's jump in.
First.
I do like to have a quick wordof prayer.
Father, I do thank you, I dopraise you, I do bless you, I do
give you all the glory and allthe honor and all the praise.
(02:20):
I thank you for jim fun todayfor joining us.
First of all, I thank you forwhat you have allowed her to
come through, how you have beenwith her, how you've kept her,
how you've watched over God,even to this point.
We know that there are nocoincidences, there's no
happenstance in the kingdom ofGod.
So we consider this intentional, we consider this moment by
(02:40):
divine purpose.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
All right, let's go ahead andget started.
My first question is describethe time where you've
experienced something that youwould consider traumatic.
So I have had epilepsy now for35 years.
I was stabbed in the eye at sixyears old by a classmate with a
(03:03):
pencil.
So the pencil lead cut, ofcourse.
Me being stabbed, it broke off,it lodged itself into my eye,
moved to the brain and I wasdiagnosed with epilepsy at six
in 1989.
Wow, I literally walked intoschool as a little girl wanting
(03:24):
to play with her classmates andcame home didn't really
understand the experience thatwas about to change my life.
Right, right, I can onlyimagine.
You know, when we talk abouttrauma, we talk about how it
affects us.
Sometimes we forget or may bequick to negate the fact that
(03:47):
there are physical injuries thathappen to us that can also be
traumatic to the body, to themind, to the soul.
First of all, I'm so gratefuland thankful to God that you
survived that.
Amen, thank you that you'rehere today.
You look great, you sound great.
I mean, I can only imagine thatit is through much trial, much
(04:10):
tribulation that you're heretoday.
So such testimony.
So can you tell me, like, whathappened?
Was it an accident?
I don't know if it was anaccident.
I have to be honest.
I mean I was so young, we werein the class, I mean this is
1989.
So we were in a classroomsetting with desk, construction
(04:33):
papers, workbooks, crayons,markers, and my teacher at the
time, miss Caldwell, was in theclassroom but in a supply closet
giving the rest of my peers atthe time their workbook
assignments.
I didn't have.
I had two pencils.
One of my pencils broke andthen I couldn't find one of them
.
I asked about the little guy,not little guy, but my classmate
(04:57):
beside me.
His name was Frederick Reginald, and he gave me a pencil but it
was not sharpened.
So I got up and I remembersharpening the pencil, but by
the time I was um coming back,my teacher had already dropped
off two pencils for me.
Okay, so he I don't understandlike why he did it, I just
(05:18):
remember him taking the pencilhe had.
He kind of um stuck his footout for me to fall and when I
turned around he did like that,like a jabbing towards my back
and, yeah, my classmates kind ofran.
I screamed, he ran to the pain.
But by the time she came fromout of the supply closet I was
(05:41):
in the bathroom looking atmyself and pulling the pencil
out.
So she came in the bathroom,took me to the nurse.
The nurse put a gauze on my eye.
No one calls my parents to letthem know what had happened.
So when I got off the bus, mymom looks at me like what is
wrong with you?
She calls my dad, was stationed, we were living in Washington
(06:04):
DC, he was in the military and,um, I let my mom know, the best
of my ability, at six years old,what happened.
And she called my parents.
I mean, she called the school.
I'm sorry.
Her and dad came home early.
They both called the school andthe only thing they could say
is, yes, she had an accident,but we don't know what happened.
(06:26):
There was a report of anaccident but they, they weren't
notified.
Wow, yeah, so during this.
So that particular day you wentthrough the whole entire day.
Was that the beginning of theday?
Okay, this was me.
I want to say, like afterlunchtime, so I was was.
I went to the nurse, I came backto the classroom with gauze on
my eye and I stayed in schoolthe remainder of the day Wow, I
(06:51):
did not go home.
I just remember having this bigpiece of gauze on my face, on
my eye, and I was in class.
I did not go home early.
When my mom saw me get off thebus, she was just as shocked as
I think at six.
I don't even.
How do you feel at six whensomething like that happens to
(07:13):
you?
Yeah, yeah.
I can imagine you were in painand you were uncomfortable.
Yeah, I was uncomfortable therest of the day.
And once I finally got home, mymom, my parents, called the
school.
I was taken to the clinic onthe Air Force Base where I
received 10 stitches above myleft eye.
No one knew that the pencil Ihad actually broke and lodged
(07:36):
itself in the brain.
Two weeks later I had my firstgrandma seizure at home, and my
mom is a very spiritual person.
She is the one who taught meabout God and having a
relationship with him.
And this particular day, mybabysitter at the time told my
mom that I was really sleepy.
I had slept all day afterschool and my mom was concerned
(08:01):
and she was like okay, you know,I'll make sure I keep an eye on
her once she, once we get home.
So keep in mind, this is twoweeks later after my incident.
I get home and my mom iscleaning up, my brother is
upstairs and playing Nintendoback in the day and I go
upstairs but my mom said this isher story, me reciting her
(08:24):
story.
She said God told me not to letyou go upstairs.
Wow.
So I remember her telling melay down on the couch and I was
like no, mommy.
And she just said lay down,right, I'll be down.
She's in the kitchen, I'mmopping.
I remember her mopping and shesays God told me not to let you
go upstairs because I didn'tknow it was about to happen.
(08:46):
But what happened was I had myfirst seizure, and you know this
is freaking.
I had seen it and my mom hadnever seen anything like that
before.
It was scary.
So, of course, I was rushed tothe hospital, a lot of tests
done and the doctors discoveredthat the pencil lead was still
inside of my brain, on the leftside of my head the left side of
(09:09):
my head, less of my brain and Ihad to have surgery.
Surgery lasted for about seven,six and a six and a half to
seven hours and, um, I was inthe hospital at walter re almost
four months.
Wow, I know that's a lot, isn'tit?
I just want to.
There's so many points I wantedto park at, I'm just laughing
(09:33):
at it.
And so you have this surgery,you're hospitalized for four
months.
Your family is just put intosuch a transition to now have to
care for a child with such acondition, and so the doctors
didn't inform your parents thatthis is something that you will
(09:53):
suffer from.
So, like at that time, therewasn't really a lot of
information about epilepsy, whatit does to you.
So at that time, once I wasdiagnosed I mean the surgery was
extensive, I had all my haircut off I remember them telling
my parents that I wouldn't livelong, that I wouldn't be able to
(10:17):
go to high school, college, Iwould be a vegetable, I would
not be able to do things that mypeers have done or will do,
because this will dampen, this,will take a big priority of my
life and has it.
Yes, but you know God is goodbecause God, even though the
(10:38):
struggle was difficult, but henever left me.
You know I was able to graduatefrom high school through the
grace of God even by you know,principals telling me I you know
when you are in high school andyou have a disability and it's
invisible people think there'ssomething wrong with you so I
had to fight to graduate, eventhough I was in the class
(11:00):
resource classes, as we used tosay and everyone in the resource
class normally only gets acertificate of attendance when
you have a disability.
But look, I wasn't going forthat and neither was my mother,
so that's right.
The whole two years mysophomore, my junior year,
leading up to my senior year, Igraduated from college with a
(11:22):
diploma.
I mean high school with adiploma.
I went to college and graduatedwith a degree in mass
communications and I worked.
Unfortunately, you know, I'mnot working now, but I worked
for 15, 16 years doing somethingthat I probably would have
never thought that I would bedoing, wow, and that was nothing
but God covering me, eventhough the road was rough, it
(11:44):
was always there, wow, neverleft my side.
Clearly, I mean, I feel likethere had to have been some sort
of uh, mental, emotional, youknow, physical effects that this
had on not only you but yourfamily.
Can you speak to that like how?
Oh, of course, um, so epilepsyand depression kind of run hand
(12:09):
in hand okay, so I.
I was a person who sufferedsilently for a really long time
with depression and anxiety, notbeing vocal enough even to tell
people that I had epilepsy,because I was embarrassed, I was
ashamed, didn't want to be madefun of.
I wanted my peers to accept me.
(12:30):
Hell, I wanted the boys to likeme.
Right, right, you know.
But now that I'm older, Irealized that the steps that I
was taking and the way I wasmoving and I was moving as a
depressed person who wassuffering inside, suffering, uh,
trying to understand herselfand understand how does she
(12:52):
accept herself with somethingthat isn't going away, right,
right.
So, um, the mental part wasdifficult because it took a lot
of years of trying to understand, questioning God, like why did
you choose me to have thishappen to?
Emotional, because I am takingmedication for the rest of my
(13:15):
life.
The fear of the unknown, havinga seizure and being out in
public and having people look atyou.
It's definitely this isn't in acold, like, imagine I can
recall my freshman year ofcollege and being totally
embarrassed by my roommate whodidn't wanna be my roommate
because she thought that I had acold like epilepsy and she can
(13:37):
catch it.
Wow, we had a whole.
How should I say conference ora meeting about epilepsy?
And I just felt embarrassed.
So I guess to say to should Isay conference or meeting about
epilepsy?
And I just felt embarrassed.
So I guess to say, to answeryour question, yes, it came with
a lot of emotional.
Emotional I don't want to sayabuse, but emotional tolerance.
How do you?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
deal.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The mental part was learning how to understand my
body with epilepsy, because Iwas six years old.
Now I'm going through life as ateenager or an adult, trying to
manage school work, and I alsohave to manage this big beast
called epilepsy.
(14:20):
Wow, kudos to you again forthis terms.
The resilience that I seeexuding from you.
I can I literally can feel thatcoming from you, and I know you
know they say that the dayafter a traumatic experience
happens, if you wake up, youhave survived, right, you have
(14:41):
literally survived the event.
It's one thing to survivesomething like that.
It's another ordeal to thrive.
And it sounds like you'veliterally turned from a survivor
to thriver, with having beat somany of the odds that they said
you know were stacked againstyou, so many things that you
supposedly would not have beenable to do.
I mean, just to make it out ofhigh school, to advocate for
(15:04):
yourself, to get your diplomaand then to go on to college and
work in a field for over adecade speaks volumes.
I want you to speak to somebodywho may be battling a physical
illness, maybe even a mentalillness.
Speak to the ability toovercome that, to face that, and
(15:27):
the tenacity that one may needto have in order to be
successful.
So the advice that I like togive, I say to myself I say
never give up, believe inyourself, because those are
things that I did not believe inas a young girl.
Believe in yourself.
(15:48):
Faith is important, having asupport system, being around
people who truly love andunderstand won't judge and learn
how to have identity.
You know, yes, I do haveepilepsy, but I also have an
identity outside of that, andyou know, but having an outlet
(16:14):
like journaling and us in theAfrican-American community, we
don't talk more about mentalhealth.
Come on Also, go to a therapist.
God has created people in thislife to help you be the best
version of yourself.
And I will say this going totherapy and having such a huge
(16:37):
diagnosis at a young age,therapy is important.
They'll definitely help youwith tools to deal with the
depression, the anxiety, theeveryday life you have to go
through living with a chronicillness that's invisible.
So I would definitely encouragepeople to you know, believe in
yourself.
Everybody who has epilepsy orany type of chronic illness
(17:01):
suffers differently, but havingsupport is extremely important
and everybody may not agree, butyou know it took me a long time
to realize this was supposed tohappen to me.
This was supposed to happen tome and it may sound weird, but I
say that because there is noone that I believe God would
(17:23):
have given me this burden tomake into something positive,
not just for me, but people wholook like me, who are afraid to
talk about their chronic illness, to talk about their epilepsy
journey, their chronic illness,to talk about their epilepsy
journey.
He designed my life so.
He had already knew when I wasborn that this was going to
(17:44):
happen.
It was up to me to figure outhow I was going to maneuver, how
I was going to figure out thenext step, because he never
tells us the path.
You just have to figure it out.
That's the truth.
It's there.
The path is there.
You just have to seek him toknow what it is that the purpose
is for your life.
That's so well said.
I mean, you said so much.
But what I love the most aboutwhat you said is sometimes we
(18:08):
feel like there's no purpose toour pain and sometimes we wonder
how could God allow, you know,such negative, negative things
to happen to us?
And you know, sometimes thereis no straightforward answer.
You know the negative, negativethings to happen to us and you
know, sometimes there is nostraightforward answer.
You know, the reality is thatwe live in a broken world and
sometimes bad things happen thatwe are, you know, not in
(18:29):
control of, and sometimes it'shard to come to terms with the
fact that, if I'm good, how comesomething bad happened to me?
But what I love about what yousaid is that God was already
aware that this would happen toyou and it was up to you to find
not only purpose but how youcould help somebody else.
I love the fact that you feelas though it is now sort of your
(18:50):
life's mission to advocate forpeople who have gone through
certain things similar to whatyou have.
If you had a you growing up, youknow where would you have been?
What are some of the strugglesthat you may have been able to
negate?
But now you, being where youare and having learned what you
have, are able to offer thatexperience to someone else.
(19:11):
Such a powerful way to turnaround something so painful
right.
Such a powerful way to turnaround what the enemy ultimately
meant for Eve.
We know that scripture allthings work together for the
good of those who love God andare called according to his
purpose.
Your life is literally anexample of God doing just that.
(19:32):
So many times we can get lost inour pain, we can get lost in
our struggle, and not thatthat's a negative thing, it's a
very human experience, becauseeveryone is asking the question
in some way, shape or form God,why me?
Right, and when I look back atmy own life although my
traumatic experiences had to doprimarily with abuse, right With
(19:55):
abandonment, neglect, rejection, rejection more emotional, um,
I did, and I did suffer somesexual abuse as well.
But what I love about god is hesees all right and he'll
literally meet you at the pointof me.
Yes, absolutely, not only doeshe see all that, he know all,
but he can help everything.
(20:15):
There's nothing.
There's nothing that you could,there's nothing that you cannot
, there's nothing that he cannot.
I used to hear the older peoplesay just try God.
I'm like well what do?
they even mean.
You know what I mean.
Like you know, you hear thesesayings from your grandmothers,
from your aunties.
You know, just try God.
You've tried everything else.
Just try God, just try God.
(20:36):
And I'm literally at the pointwhere I'm trying to okay, well,
let me see what you want to doabout this.
I'm just, I'm so grateful tohear such a testimony, just to
be witnessed to what is a modernday miracle.
I've read scripture in the Biblewhere Jesus literally healed
epilepsy and some people werehealed instantly, right.
(20:56):
And when I first started togive God these areas of trauma
and abuse and pain and how theyhad affected me mentally,
emotionally, spiritually, I'mlike God, let me get one of
those instant miracles.
You know what I mean.
Like, do for me what you didfor some of those person over
there.
But then I remember readinganother scripture that said and
some were healed as they wentright, as they went about their
(21:20):
lives, as they went abouttestifying, as they went about
living, as they went aboutseeking god.
And you know, some people couldthink like, well, I mean well,
I gotta keep going right.
But someone needs to be able tolook at jevon's life and say,
wow, if she canvere, if God cankeep her past beyond the
doctor's expectations.
(21:41):
You know past beyond what theenemy said.
What happened to her?
That he could do the same thingfor me?
Absolutely.
This is why stories like yoursare important.
(22:13):
When you talk about the healingpart, it's funny because I'm 41,
but I've had hundreds, hundredsof seizures, probably thousands
.
But when I seeked him in theway of, I need understanding, I
need purpose, I need to figureout what it is that you are.
(22:37):
You have me here, for Epidemiaof epilepsy came, and also with
that came nine months seizurefree.
Seeking him allowed me to, youknow, figure out a better
regimen that I probably didn'thave five, ten years ago.
And now that I am understandingmy body, understanding my
(23:02):
epilepsy, I am almost to my yearmark.
Epilepsy.
I am almost to my year mark andI'm this short of God allowing
me, keeping me lower, justalmost.
Yeah, when I tell you I havenot been a year a seizure free
in decades.
Wow, so what type of regimen.
(23:22):
I heard you say that there'ssome things that change for you,
um, with these milestones.
But what did you do?
I heard you say that there aresome things that changed for you
with these milestones, but whatdid you do Like?
Are there things that you didregarding your diet, things that
you did regarding yourspiritual practices?
What did you do that you feellike has helped you maintain
(23:44):
such a long time in lapsing?
One thing was when I noticed,working almost two years ago,
that my cognitive skills haddropped with epilepsy and I knew
that it was time for me to stopworking.
And I feel like God.
The bad things that werehappening were surfaced around,
like employment and work, but Iwas very.
I didn't want to listen.
(24:05):
I was working and still tryingto push through.
Once I finally had the wordfrom my doctor that I no longer
needed to work.
That was a big um, that Istarted eating healthier.
I really, really focused on ahealthy lifestyle living with
epilepsy.
You know my eating habitschanged.
(24:26):
I go to the gym.
I really try to stick to.
When I say a regimen, I meantaking my medication at the same
time, not missing the dose,making sure that I'm getting
enough sleep, keeping my stressto a bare minimum.
You know, having a supportsystem like my support group
that I have meet once a monthbecause, dealing with epilepsy
(24:46):
even though I may not be havingseizures, I'm still dealing with
a whole bunch of other stuff.
So I think it's important foryou to have a healthy lifestyle
dealing with any type of chronicillness.
If you want to be here longer,you have to take care of your
body.
You know, this body is for rent.
But while I'm renting the body,I at least want to make sure
(25:07):
I'm doing what I'm supposed to.
Amen, wow, you said somethingso powerful.
This body is for rent, right,it's not ours to own, but while
we're in it, while we're livingin this physical body, we've got
to take care of it.
I like what you said because itreminds me of something that
God gave me earlier in this year.
Uh, in terms of self care, youknow, sometimes we think that
(25:30):
self care is just getting ourhair and nails done, right,
maybe just have a ball and do alittle show, right?
It is so much more than that.
Yeah, I mean.
Now the attitude around, aroundself care has changed to evolve
to the point where I think selfcare involves soul care, right,
taking care of your mind, bodyand soul, of the of the total
(25:50):
man.
And where I come from, how Igrew up, and even in my
generation and the generationsthat raised me, I never saw
self-care played out in front ofme.
I never.
It was not important or umexemplify how important.
Rest is, grace.
Uh, eating, you know, orexercise, was never a thing.
(26:11):
And we grew.
I grew up in a generation, orfrom the generation where it was
work, work, work, work, work,work, work, work and you don't
really take time to think.
I look at my mom.
Even though my mom is retired,she's always on the go.
I don't think she knowsanything about self-care because
her generation didn't talkabout no self-care.
(26:31):
It was I'm a wife, I have kids,I have to work, I come home, I
cook, I clean, I make sure mykids are my husband.
There was no time for self care.
But we live in a generation nowwhere self-care is important
and it's a priority for you totake care of self first, exactly
.
And there's a scripture in theBible that says I wish above all
(26:54):
that thou were prospered and bein good health even as your
soul prospers.
And when I first had heard thatscripture and read that
scripture, I'm thinking like oh,prosperity, you know God will
bless me.
You know what I meanMaterialistically, right.
But the Bible says, says I wishabove all things that you were
prospered even as your soulprospered.
That's your mind, that's youremotions, right.
(27:15):
That's your breathing.
And we forget all of thosethings, right, and we tend to
negate, especially if, again,you come from a background where
that's not exemplified beforeyou.
I remember even havingconversations with my therapist
feeling like if I had not workedmyself to I was exhausted, that
I didn't deserve to rest Right,I didn't deserve to take a
(27:37):
minute, because what had I doneto earn this Right?
But but the Bible speaks up andI can only you know I heavily
believe in scripture becausethat's literally what gets me
through.
But the Bible speaks of and Ican only, you know I heavily
rely on scripture because that'sliterally what gets me through.
But the Bible speaks of restnot only being a commandment,
but a birthright right.
It's not something that youneed to learn, he likes.
Even the Lord rested on theseventh day, right, and not that
(28:02):
he was resting because he wastired, but because it was good
what he had done.
And you are good enough to restright.
And I had to literally acceptthe fact that I'm good enough to
rest.
I don't have to.
It's mine, it's my birthright,it's something that belongs to
me, something that I must do andneed to to take care of.
(28:23):
You spoke about therapy.
You spoke about your diet.
You spoke about exercise, yourstress levels.
I consider those what is partof a toolkit, and in this
toolkit there are certain toolsthat we need for certain things.
Like you wouldn't use a hammerwhere a screwdriver is needed,
right, each of the things thatyou spoke about that are in your
(28:43):
toolkit help you have thatsuccess, that success, help you
prosper as your soul prospers.
And I think it's important, likeyou said, in our community,
black and brown communities andin communities at large, where
there has been this stigmaregarding therapy, regarding
rest, regarding taking care ofyourself right, especially when
(29:07):
you are a wife and a mother,it's like, oh well, I can't rest
, I have to take care of allresponsibilities.
So, um, we, we have to begin to, like as you are, begin to
dismantle that narrative, right,begin to dismantle that.
Um, that suggestion that thatrest is earned.
Right, that self-care issomething that you only do once
(29:27):
a month right, you literallyneed to be in the practice of
self-care should be somethingthat you implement in your day.
It should be everything amen,amen, wow, so powerful.
I mean, I'm just thinking aboutall of the things that you said
(29:49):
and how you have adapted and howyou have not allowed the enemy
to tell a story for you, butyou've literally allowed the
power of God to come in yourlife in such a way where you are
rewriting your story rightagain, I'm reminded of scripture
that says you know, all thingswill work together for the good.
Right, it's literally workingfor your good, with the enemy
(30:12):
meant for bad.
And although we sometimes,again, can't always answer the
question of why we can answerthe question or the statement,
we can make a statement thatsays however, or but Although
that is, god has met me here,because reality is that things
will happen.
The bible says in this life youwill have trouble, right, you
(30:37):
know the um, what people see.
The representation I havepresented to people took a long
time.
That in between.
I was depressed and my anxiety,I didn't know.
I didn't know what you'rebuying.
You know school was difficultbeing in college.
(30:57):
I didn't graduate in four yearslike everyone else, due to my
epilepsy.
I was in college for five, sixyears.
Okay, I had seizures and thankGod, I graduated, but it was not
easy.
You know, I loved working, butworking was a stress.
I had a lot of seizures I had.
(31:18):
I lost jobs due to my epilepsy.
We fired and let go because Iwas told I was a liability and
you know that builds on yourself-esteem and all you want to
do is fit in with the rest ofyour peers but you're being
fired.
It's nothing that I can control, so you know, but I say that to
(31:41):
say, like you just said, butgod, amen, amen, wow, powerful,
literally so powerful.
Uh, you did speak to.
You know how it affects you,how it has affected you
emotionally.
I can only imagine theisolation, uh, the rejection, um
, from not only your peers buteven from professionals who
(32:03):
don't understand, uh, theillness, that don't understand
how it.
You know what type of toll ithas on the body, on the mind,
and so I'm grateful for yourplatform.
I believe you called it Epitomeof Epilepsy my nonprofit
organization.
It's a nonprofit organizationand what do you do with the
organization?
How are you spreading the word?
My nonprofit organization wefocus on the black and brown
(32:26):
community, where epilepsy isjust not talked about enough.
We are diagnosed more withepilepsy than any other race.
Wow, yeah, sudden unexpecteddeath syndrome.
In epilepsy, african-americansare hit harder than any other
race.
So what we do?
We do a lot of events likeGALA's and epilepsy awareness
(32:46):
walks, but we also put out a lotof information.
We do first lot of events likeGALAs and epilepsy awareness
walks, but we also put out a lotof information.
We do first aid seizuretraining.
We also do a lot of conferencesand panel discussions surfaced
around epilepsy awareness andthis year we're teaming up with
the HBCU to have our firsthealth seminar and to try to
implement epilepsy first dayseizure training there with VCU.
(33:10):
So I'm just really excited tonot just talk about epilepsy but
talk about chronic illnesses ingeneral and the different ways
that they look.
So we really are.
This is we're going on fiveyears and I'm just really
excited.
Five years and we are justpushing, pushing through.
Yeah, that's amazing.
(33:31):
I heard you say that right nowthat you're not working, and it
may not be on a traditional jobor traditional occupation that
we would like to glorify or such, but you're literally doing
your life's work, literally.
And who better to exemplify,who better to represent a
(33:54):
category like that than you?
Right, amazing, amazing.
Again, your story reminds me ofanother scripture, I think it's
Jeremiah 29, and 11 says I knowthe thoughts that think towards
your thoughts of peace and notevil, to give you an expected
and a hope in the future.
Right, nobody but God couldhave taken such a tragedy and
(34:18):
literally given you such apurpose um, to help others.
Um, and that's what we call todo.
That's what we have.
Yeah, we are, yeah, yeah's whatwe are.
Yeah, we are, yeah, yeah.
And so many of us negate ourpain.
We don't want to talk about that, you know.
We don't want to get diving tothat.
That's why I love this seriesthat we're doing.
I think it's going to helppeople to dig deep, right and to
(34:38):
identify the areas where youare in pain, where you have been
in pain because somebody else'sstuff.
You just never know how God cancome alongside you, come
alongside you in your pain andyour darkness and all of the
things that you've gone throughand say even that I'll use, even
(34:59):
that I can use.
Like he literally wastesnothing right, nothing at all.
Amazing, amazing, truly amazing.
Well, jambon, I guess I'minspired by your story.
I'm inspired by yourpersistency.
I'm so inspired by what youwere doing, how you literally
become such a voice, an advocatefor people all over the world,
(35:19):
whether they fall throughsomething physically, mentally,
emotionally.
I mean, you've been affected inso many different ways, but yet
you know you are not onlysurviving what you've
experienced, but thriving it,and so hats off to you for
everything that you've done,everything that God has done.
Such a beautiful person,literally inside out.
I would never imagine that.
(35:40):
I mean, I know, I can onlyimagine that half the story has
been told right Like we couldprobably be here all day like
child.
We could, we definitely could.
We definitely could Stories.
Oh Jesus, baby, it's amazing,though, to look at you.
I mean the glory of God, such abeautiful essence, just a
(36:01):
beautiful spirit all about you.
It's amazing, it's amazing.
I wish you the same.
Yeah, certainly, I wish younothing but the best.
Regarding your nonprofit, Ipray that God even enlarges your
territory, takes it even put onwhere it is today.
I pray because of what you'redoing is for the kingdom right,
(36:24):
and it's to help people.
That's true ministry.
That's true ministry.
It's true ministry.
It's true ministry.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay, guys, that is it for part one.
I know I said that part twowould be connected, but I
decided to divvy it up just tomake it a little bit more
digestible.
So again, stay tuned for parttwo, which will be uploaded uh,
should be about a day after you,guys hear this one, guys, with
(36:56):
that being said, perhaps youhave a story that you'd like to
share.
Maybe you have a question you'dlike to ask.
Maybe you would like to informsomeone else of how to triumph
over the trauma that you are orhave transitioned from.
We'd like to hear from you.
(37:16):
Please get a hold of me.
I am Miss Eve on all of mysocials Facebook, instagram and
TikTok.
Message me and I will connectwith you so that we can hear
from you.
Until then, remember now thanks.
Be unto God, who always causesus to triumph.
Be well, thank you.
other people.
I've had a traumatic past.
I didn't always realize howthose things affected me
negatively and how I evencarried them into my adult life,
and so I wanted to create aspace where other people could
come and we could have candidconversations on how you
identify trauma, how do younavigate it and how you recover
from traumatic experiences.
If this resonates with you,then join me.
(00:20):
I am your host and traumasurvivor, ms Eve McNair.
Let's get into it.
Join me, I am your host andtrauma survivor, ms Eve McNair,
let's get into it.
Hey guys, what's up?
Thank you so much for joiningus again.
At Triumph Over Trauma, thepodcast Listen, we are doing a
series called your Story.
I opened up the opportunity tomy.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
TikTok followers to my Instagram and basically for
all my social media followers,and the response has been great.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Today we welcome one of my TikTok followers named Jen
Vaughn.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
She has a phenomenal story you don't want to miss,
and so stay tuned buckle up,listen.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
this story was so inspiring.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I mean, I felt like laughing, crying praying, all of
the things being so grateful to.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
God for what he has done, not only in her life, but
also in mine.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The story was so good that we literally had to have
two interviews.
So what seems to be the end ofthe podcast is actually part one
.
Stay tuned, make sure you watchto the very I mean listen to
the very end, because there aresome additional questions that I
asked Jen Vaughn.
I'm sure all of you will bewondering the same thing when
(01:35):
you hear them.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So thanks so much again for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All right.
So, jen Vaughn, thank you somuch for joining us on the show
today.
Welcome everybody to TriumphalTrauma the podcast.
Much for joining us on the showtoday.
Welcome everybody to try andforward trauma the podcast.
We again have a special guestthat is joining us today
regarding our new series calledyour story.
Jim ben's going to be sharingwith us her story.
So again, thank you so much,jim, that you're joining us
today.
Welcome to the show again.
(01:59):
How are you?
How are you feeling?
I'm good.
I'm feeling great.
Today's a nice day, blessed.
How are you?
I'm doing good.
Also, we're gonna go right intoour.
Hey, let's jump in.
Let's jump in.
First.
I do like to have a quick wordof prayer.
Father, I do thank you, I dopraise you, I do bless you, I do
give you all the glory and allthe honor and all the praise.
(02:20):
I thank you for jim fun todayfor joining us.
First of all, I thank you forwhat you have allowed her to
come through, how you have beenwith her, how you've kept her,
how you've watched over God,even to this point.
We know that there are nocoincidences, there's no
happenstance in the kingdom ofGod.
So we consider this intentional, we consider this moment by
(02:40):
divine purpose.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
All right, let's go ahead andget started.
My first question is describethe time where you've
experienced something that youwould consider traumatic.
So I have had epilepsy now for35 years.
I was stabbed in the eye at sixyears old by a classmate with a
(03:03):
pencil.
So the pencil lead cut, ofcourse.
Me being stabbed, it broke off,it lodged itself into my eye,
moved to the brain and I wasdiagnosed with epilepsy at six
in 1989.
Wow, I literally walked intoschool as a little girl wanting
(03:24):
to play with her classmates andcame home didn't really
understand the experience thatwas about to change my life.
Right, right, I can onlyimagine.
You know, when we talk abouttrauma, we talk about how it
affects us.
Sometimes we forget or may bequick to negate the fact that
(03:47):
there are physical injuries thathappen to us that can also be
traumatic to the body, to themind, to the soul.
First of all, I'm so gratefuland thankful to God that you
survived that.
Amen, thank you that you'rehere today.
You look great, you sound great.
I mean, I can only imagine thatit is through much trial, much
(04:10):
tribulation that you're heretoday.
So such testimony.
So can you tell me, like, whathappened?
Was it an accident?
I don't know if it was anaccident.
I have to be honest.
I mean I was so young, we werein the class, I mean this is
1989.
So we were in a classroomsetting with desk, construction
(04:33):
papers, workbooks, crayons,markers, and my teacher at the
time, miss Caldwell, was in theclassroom but in a supply closet
giving the rest of my peers atthe time their workbook
assignments.
I didn't have.
I had two pencils.
One of my pencils broke andthen I couldn't find one of them
.
I asked about the little guy,not little guy, but my classmate
(04:57):
beside me.
His name was Frederick Reginald, and he gave me a pencil but it
was not sharpened.
So I got up and I remembersharpening the pencil, but by
the time I was um coming back,my teacher had already dropped
off two pencils for me.
Okay, so he I don't understandlike why he did it, I just
(05:18):
remember him taking the pencilhe had.
He kind of um stuck his footout for me to fall and when I
turned around he did like that,like a jabbing towards my back
and, yeah, my classmates kind ofran.
I screamed, he ran to the pain.
But by the time she came fromout of the supply closet I was
(05:41):
in the bathroom looking atmyself and pulling the pencil
out.
So she came in the bathroom,took me to the nurse.
The nurse put a gauze on my eye.
No one calls my parents to letthem know what had happened.
So when I got off the bus, mymom looks at me like what is
wrong with you?
She calls my dad, was stationed, we were living in Washington
(06:04):
DC, he was in the military and,um, I let my mom know, the best
of my ability, at six years old,what happened.
And she called my parents.
I mean, she called the school.
I'm sorry.
Her and dad came home early.
They both called the school andthe only thing they could say
is, yes, she had an accident,but we don't know what happened.
(06:26):
There was a report of anaccident but they, they weren't
notified.
Wow, yeah, so during this.
So that particular day you wentthrough the whole entire day.
Was that the beginning of theday?
Okay, this was me.
I want to say, like afterlunchtime, so I was was.
I went to the nurse, I came backto the classroom with gauze on
my eye and I stayed in schoolthe remainder of the day Wow, I
(06:51):
did not go home.
I just remember having this bigpiece of gauze on my face, on
my eye, and I was in class.
I did not go home early.
When my mom saw me get off thebus, she was just as shocked as
I think at six.
I don't even.
How do you feel at six whensomething like that happens to
(07:13):
you?
Yeah, yeah.
I can imagine you were in painand you were uncomfortable.
Yeah, I was uncomfortable therest of the day.
And once I finally got home, mymom, my parents, called the
school.
I was taken to the clinic onthe Air Force Base where I
received 10 stitches above myleft eye.
No one knew that the pencil Ihad actually broke and lodged
(07:36):
itself in the brain.
Two weeks later I had my firstgrandma seizure at home, and my
mom is a very spiritual person.
She is the one who taught meabout God and having a
relationship with him.
And this particular day, mybabysitter at the time told my
mom that I was really sleepy.
I had slept all day afterschool and my mom was concerned
(08:01):
and she was like okay, you know,I'll make sure I keep an eye on
her once she, once we get home.
So keep in mind, this is twoweeks later after my incident.
I get home and my mom iscleaning up, my brother is
upstairs and playing Nintendoback in the day and I go
upstairs but my mom said this isher story, me reciting her
(08:24):
story.
She said God told me not to letyou go upstairs.
Wow.
So I remember her telling melay down on the couch and I was
like no, mommy.
And she just said lay down,right, I'll be down.
She's in the kitchen, I'mmopping.
I remember her mopping and shesays God told me not to let you
go upstairs because I didn'tknow it was about to happen.
(08:46):
But what happened was I had myfirst seizure, and you know this
is freaking.
I had seen it and my mom hadnever seen anything like that
before.
It was scary.
So, of course, I was rushed tothe hospital, a lot of tests
done and the doctors discoveredthat the pencil lead was still
inside of my brain, on the leftside of my head the left side of
(09:09):
my head, less of my brain and Ihad to have surgery.
Surgery lasted for about seven,six and a six and a half to
seven hours and, um, I was inthe hospital at walter re almost
four months.
Wow, I know that's a lot, isn'tit?
I just want to.
There's so many points I wantedto park at, I'm just laughing
(09:33):
at it.
And so you have this surgery,you're hospitalized for four
months.
Your family is just put intosuch a transition to now have to
care for a child with such acondition, and so the doctors
didn't inform your parents thatthis is something that you will
(09:53):
suffer from.
So, like at that time, therewasn't really a lot of
information about epilepsy, whatit does to you.
So at that time, once I wasdiagnosed I mean the surgery was
extensive, I had all my haircut off I remember them telling
my parents that I wouldn't livelong, that I wouldn't be able to
(10:17):
go to high school, college, Iwould be a vegetable, I would
not be able to do things that mypeers have done or will do,
because this will dampen, this,will take a big priority of my
life and has it.
Yes, but you know God is goodbecause God, even though the
(10:38):
struggle was difficult, but henever left me.
You know I was able to graduatefrom high school through the
grace of God even by you know,principals telling me I you know
when you are in high school andyou have a disability and it's
invisible people think there'ssomething wrong with you so I
had to fight to graduate, eventhough I was in the class
(11:00):
resource classes, as we used tosay and everyone in the resource
class normally only gets acertificate of attendance when
you have a disability.
But look, I wasn't going forthat and neither was my mother,
so that's right.
The whole two years mysophomore, my junior year,
leading up to my senior year, Igraduated from college with a
(11:22):
diploma.
I mean high school with adiploma.
I went to college and graduatedwith a degree in mass
communications and I worked.
Unfortunately, you know, I'mnot working now, but I worked
for 15, 16 years doing somethingthat I probably would have
never thought that I would bedoing, wow, and that was nothing
but God covering me, eventhough the road was rough, it
(11:44):
was always there, wow, neverleft my side.
Clearly, I mean, I feel likethere had to have been some sort
of uh, mental, emotional, youknow, physical effects that this
had on not only you but yourfamily.
Can you speak to that like how?
Oh, of course, um, so epilepsyand depression kind of run hand
(12:09):
in hand okay, so I.
I was a person who sufferedsilently for a really long time
with depression and anxiety, notbeing vocal enough even to tell
people that I had epilepsy,because I was embarrassed, I was
ashamed, didn't want to be madefun of.
I wanted my peers to accept me.
(12:30):
Hell, I wanted the boys to likeme.
Right, right, you know.
But now that I'm older, Irealized that the steps that I
was taking and the way I wasmoving and I was moving as a
depressed person who wassuffering inside, suffering, uh,
trying to understand herselfand understand how does she
(12:52):
accept herself with somethingthat isn't going away, right,
right.
So, um, the mental part wasdifficult because it took a lot
of years of trying to understand, questioning God, like why did
you choose me to have thishappen to?
Emotional, because I am takingmedication for the rest of my
(13:15):
life.
The fear of the unknown, havinga seizure and being out in
public and having people look atyou.
It's definitely this isn't in acold, like, imagine I can
recall my freshman year ofcollege and being totally
embarrassed by my roommate whodidn't wanna be my roommate
because she thought that I had acold like epilepsy and she can
(13:37):
catch it.
Wow, we had a whole.
How should I say conference ora meeting about epilepsy?
And I just felt embarrassed.
So I guess to say to should Isay conference or meeting about
epilepsy?
And I just felt embarrassed.
So I guess to say, to answeryour question, yes, it came with
a lot of emotional.
Emotional I don't want to sayabuse, but emotional tolerance.
How do you?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
deal.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The mental part was learning how to understand my
body with epilepsy, because Iwas six years old.
Now I'm going through life as ateenager or an adult, trying to
manage school work, and I alsohave to manage this big beast
called epilepsy.
(14:20):
Wow, kudos to you again forthis terms.
The resilience that I seeexuding from you.
I can I literally can feel thatcoming from you, and I know you
know they say that the dayafter a traumatic experience
happens, if you wake up, youhave survived, right, you have
(14:41):
literally survived the event.
It's one thing to survivesomething like that.
It's another ordeal to thrive.
And it sounds like you'veliterally turned from a survivor
to thriver, with having beat somany of the odds that they said
you know were stacked againstyou, so many things that you
supposedly would not have beenable to do.
I mean, just to make it out ofhigh school, to advocate for
(15:04):
yourself, to get your diplomaand then to go on to college and
work in a field for over adecade speaks volumes.
I want you to speak to somebodywho may be battling a physical
illness, maybe even a mentalillness.
Speak to the ability toovercome that, to face that, and
(15:27):
the tenacity that one may needto have in order to be
successful.
So the advice that I like togive, I say to myself I say
never give up, believe inyourself, because those are
things that I did not believe inas a young girl.
Believe in yourself.
(15:48):
Faith is important, having asupport system, being around
people who truly love andunderstand won't judge and learn
how to have identity.
You know, yes, I do haveepilepsy, but I also have an
identity outside of that, andyou know, but having an outlet
(16:14):
like journaling and us in theAfrican-American community, we
don't talk more about mentalhealth.
Come on Also, go to a therapist.
God has created people in thislife to help you be the best
version of yourself.
And I will say this going totherapy and having such a huge
(16:37):
diagnosis at a young age,therapy is important.
They'll definitely help youwith tools to deal with the
depression, the anxiety, theeveryday life you have to go
through living with a chronicillness that's invisible.
So I would definitely encouragepeople to you know, believe in
yourself.
Everybody who has epilepsy orany type of chronic illness
(17:01):
suffers differently, but havingsupport is extremely important
and everybody may not agree, butyou know it took me a long time
to realize this was supposed tohappen to me.
This was supposed to happen tome and it may sound weird, but I
say that because there is noone that I believe God would
(17:23):
have given me this burden tomake into something positive,
not just for me, but people wholook like me, who are afraid to
talk about their chronic illness, to talk about their epilepsy
journey, their chronic illness,to talk about their epilepsy
journey.
He designed my life so.
He had already knew when I wasborn that this was going to
(17:44):
happen.
It was up to me to figure outhow I was going to maneuver, how
I was going to figure out thenext step, because he never
tells us the path.
You just have to figure it out.
That's the truth.
It's there.
The path is there.
You just have to seek him toknow what it is that the purpose
is for your life.
That's so well said.
I mean, you said so much.
But what I love the most aboutwhat you said is sometimes we
(18:08):
feel like there's no purpose toour pain and sometimes we wonder
how could God allow, you know,such negative, negative things
to happen to us?
And you know, sometimes thereis no straightforward answer.
You know the negative, negativethings to happen to us and you
know, sometimes there is nostraightforward answer.
You know, the reality is thatwe live in a broken world and
sometimes bad things happen thatwe are, you know, not in
(18:29):
control of, and sometimes it'shard to come to terms with the
fact that, if I'm good, how comesomething bad happened to me?
But what I love about what yousaid is that God was already
aware that this would happen toyou and it was up to you to find
not only purpose but how youcould help somebody else.
I love the fact that you feelas though it is now sort of your
(18:50):
life's mission to advocate forpeople who have gone through
certain things similar to whatyou have.
If you had a you growing up, youknow where would you have been?
What are some of the strugglesthat you may have been able to
negate?
But now you, being where youare and having learned what you
have, are able to offer thatexperience to someone else.
(19:11):
Such a powerful way to turnaround something so painful
right.
Such a powerful way to turnaround what the enemy ultimately
meant for Eve.
We know that scripture allthings work together for the
good of those who love God andare called according to his
purpose.
Your life is literally anexample of God doing just that.
(19:32):
So many times we can get lost inour pain, we can get lost in
our struggle, and not thatthat's a negative thing, it's a
very human experience, becauseeveryone is asking the question
in some way, shape or form God,why me?
Right, and when I look back atmy own life although my
traumatic experiences had to doprimarily with abuse, right With
(19:55):
abandonment, neglect, rejection, rejection more emotional, um,
I did, and I did suffer somesexual abuse as well.
But what I love about god is hesees all right and he'll
literally meet you at the pointof me.
Yes, absolutely, not only doeshe see all that, he know all,
but he can help everything.
(20:15):
There's nothing.
There's nothing that you could,there's nothing that you cannot
, there's nothing that he cannot.
I used to hear the older peoplesay just try God.
I'm like well what do?
they even mean.
You know what I mean.
Like you know, you hear thesesayings from your grandmothers,
from your aunties.
You know, just try God.
You've tried everything else.
Just try God, just try God.
(20:36):
And I'm literally at the pointwhere I'm trying to okay, well,
let me see what you want to doabout this.
I'm just, I'm so grateful tohear such a testimony, just to
be witnessed to what is a modernday miracle.
I've read scripture in the Biblewhere Jesus literally healed
epilepsy and some people werehealed instantly, right.
(20:56):
And when I first started togive God these areas of trauma
and abuse and pain and how theyhad affected me mentally,
emotionally, spiritually, I'mlike God, let me get one of
those instant miracles.
You know what I mean.
Like, do for me what you didfor some of those person over
there.
But then I remember readinganother scripture that said and
some were healed as they wentright, as they went about their
(21:20):
lives, as they went abouttestifying, as they went about
living, as they went aboutseeking god.
And you know, some people couldthink like, well, I mean well,
I gotta keep going right.
But someone needs to be able tolook at jevon's life and say,
wow, if she canvere, if God cankeep her past beyond the
doctor's expectations.
(21:41):
You know past beyond what theenemy said.
What happened to her?
That he could do the same thingfor me?
Absolutely.
This is why stories like yoursare important.
(22:13):
When you talk about the healingpart, it's funny because I'm 41,
but I've had hundreds, hundredsof seizures, probably thousands
.
But when I seeked him in theway of, I need understanding, I
need purpose, I need to figureout what it is that you are.
(22:37):
You have me here, for Epidemiaof epilepsy came, and also with
that came nine months seizurefree.
Seeking him allowed me to, youknow, figure out a better
regimen that I probably didn'thave five, ten years ago.
And now that I am understandingmy body, understanding my
(23:02):
epilepsy, I am almost to my yearmark.
Epilepsy.
I am almost to my year mark andI'm this short of God allowing
me, keeping me lower, justalmost.
Yeah, when I tell you I havenot been a year a seizure free
in decades.
Wow, so what type of regimen.
(23:22):
I heard you say that there'ssome things that change for you,
um, with these milestones.
But what did you do?
I heard you say that there aresome things that changed for you
with these milestones, but whatdid you do Like?
Are there things that you didregarding your diet, things that
you did regarding yourspiritual practices?
What did you do that you feellike has helped you maintain
(23:44):
such a long time in lapsing?
One thing was when I noticed,working almost two years ago,
that my cognitive skills haddropped with epilepsy and I knew
that it was time for me to stopworking.
And I feel like God.
The bad things that werehappening were surfaced around,
like employment and work, but Iwas very.
I didn't want to listen.
(24:05):
I was working and still tryingto push through.
Once I finally had the wordfrom my doctor that I no longer
needed to work.
That was a big um, that Istarted eating healthier.
I really, really focused on ahealthy lifestyle living with
epilepsy.
You know my eating habitschanged.
(24:26):
I go to the gym.
I really try to stick to.
When I say a regimen, I meantaking my medication at the same
time, not missing the dose,making sure that I'm getting
enough sleep, keeping my stressto a bare minimum.
You know, having a supportsystem like my support group
that I have meet once a monthbecause, dealing with epilepsy
(24:46):
even though I may not be havingseizures, I'm still dealing with
a whole bunch of other stuff.
So I think it's important foryou to have a healthy lifestyle
dealing with any type of chronicillness.
If you want to be here longer,you have to take care of your
body.
You know, this body is for rent.
But while I'm renting the body,I at least want to make sure
(25:07):
I'm doing what I'm supposed to.
Amen, wow, you said somethingso powerful.
This body is for rent, right,it's not ours to own, but while
we're in it, while we're livingin this physical body, we've got
to take care of it.
I like what you said because itreminds me of something that
God gave me earlier in this year.
Uh, in terms of self care, youknow, sometimes we think that
(25:30):
self care is just getting ourhair and nails done, right,
maybe just have a ball and do alittle show, right?
It is so much more than that.
Yeah, I mean.
Now the attitude around, aroundself care has changed to evolve
to the point where I think selfcare involves soul care, right,
taking care of your mind, bodyand soul, of the of the total
(25:50):
man.
And where I come from, how Igrew up, and even in my
generation and the generationsthat raised me, I never saw
self-care played out in front ofme.
I never.
It was not important or umexemplify how important.
Rest is, grace.
Uh, eating, you know, orexercise, was never a thing.
(26:11):
And we grew.
I grew up in a generation, orfrom the generation where it was
work, work, work, work, work,work, work, work and you don't
really take time to think.
I look at my mom.
Even though my mom is retired,she's always on the go.
I don't think she knowsanything about self-care because
her generation didn't talkabout no self-care.
(26:31):
It was I'm a wife, I have kids,I have to work, I come home, I
cook, I clean, I make sure mykids are my husband.
There was no time for self care.
But we live in a generation nowwhere self-care is important
and it's a priority for you totake care of self first, exactly
.
And there's a scripture in theBible that says I wish above all
(26:54):
that thou were prospered and bein good health even as your
soul prospers.
And when I first had heard thatscripture and read that
scripture, I'm thinking like oh,prosperity, you know God will
bless me.
You know what I meanMaterialistically, right.
But the Bible says, says I wishabove all things that you were
prospered even as your soulprospered.
That's your mind, that's youremotions, right.
(27:15):
That's your breathing.
And we forget all of thosethings, right, and we tend to
negate, especially if, again,you come from a background where
that's not exemplified beforeyou.
I remember even havingconversations with my therapist
feeling like if I had not workedmyself to I was exhausted, that
I didn't deserve to rest Right,I didn't deserve to take a
(27:37):
minute, because what had I doneto earn this Right?
But but the Bible speaks up andI can only you know I heavily
believe in scripture becausethat's literally what gets me
through.
But the Bible speaks of and Ican only, you know I heavily
rely on scripture because that'sliterally what gets me through.
But the Bible speaks of restnot only being a commandment,
but a birthright right.
It's not something that youneed to learn, he likes.
Even the Lord rested on theseventh day, right, and not that
(28:02):
he was resting because he wastired, but because it was good
what he had done.
And you are good enough to restright.
And I had to literally acceptthe fact that I'm good enough to
rest.
I don't have to.
It's mine, it's my birthright,it's something that belongs to
me, something that I must do andneed to to take care of.
(28:23):
You spoke about therapy.
You spoke about your diet.
You spoke about exercise, yourstress levels.
I consider those what is partof a toolkit, and in this
toolkit there are certain toolsthat we need for certain things.
Like you wouldn't use a hammerwhere a screwdriver is needed,
right, each of the things thatyou spoke about that are in your
(28:43):
toolkit help you have thatsuccess, that success, help you
prosper as your soul prospers.
And I think it's important, likeyou said, in our community,
black and brown communities andin communities at large, where
there has been this stigmaregarding therapy, regarding
rest, regarding taking care ofyourself right, especially when
(29:07):
you are a wife and a mother,it's like, oh well, I can't rest
, I have to take care of allresponsibilities.
So, um, we, we have to begin to, like as you are, begin to
dismantle that narrative, right,begin to dismantle that.
Um, that suggestion that thatrest is earned.
Right, that self-care issomething that you only do once
(29:27):
a month right, you literallyneed to be in the practice of
self-care should be somethingthat you implement in your day.
It should be everything amen,amen, wow, so powerful.
I mean, I'm just thinking aboutall of the things that you said
(29:49):
and how you have adapted and howyou have not allowed the enemy
to tell a story for you, butyou've literally allowed the
power of God to come in yourlife in such a way where you are
rewriting your story rightagain, I'm reminded of scripture
that says you know, all thingswill work together for the good.
Right, it's literally workingfor your good, with the enemy
(30:12):
meant for bad.
And although we sometimes,again, can't always answer the
question of why we can answerthe question or the statement,
we can make a statement thatsays however, or but Although
that is, god has met me here,because reality is that things
will happen.
The bible says in this life youwill have trouble, right, you
(30:37):
know the um, what people see.
The representation I havepresented to people took a long
time.
That in between.
I was depressed and my anxiety,I didn't know.
I didn't know what you'rebuying.
You know school was difficultbeing in college.
(30:57):
I didn't graduate in four yearslike everyone else, due to my
epilepsy.
I was in college for five, sixyears.
Okay, I had seizures and thankGod, I graduated, but it was not
easy.
You know, I loved working, butworking was a stress.
I had a lot of seizures I had.
(31:18):
I lost jobs due to my epilepsy.
We fired and let go because Iwas told I was a liability and
you know that builds on yourself-esteem and all you want to
do is fit in with the rest ofyour peers but you're being
fired.
It's nothing that I can control, so you know, but I say that to
(31:41):
say, like you just said, butgod, amen, amen, wow, powerful,
literally so powerful.
Uh, you did speak to.
You know how it affects you,how it has affected you
emotionally.
I can only imagine theisolation, uh, the rejection, um
, from not only your peers buteven from professionals who
(32:03):
don't understand, uh, theillness, that don't understand
how it.
You know what type of toll ithas on the body, on the mind,
and so I'm grateful for yourplatform.
I believe you called it Epitomeof Epilepsy my nonprofit
organization.
It's a nonprofit organizationand what do you do with the
organization?
How are you spreading the word?
My nonprofit organization wefocus on the black and brown
(32:26):
community, where epilepsy isjust not talked about enough.
We are diagnosed more withepilepsy than any other race.
Wow, yeah, sudden unexpecteddeath syndrome.
In epilepsy, african-americansare hit harder than any other
race.
So what we do?
We do a lot of events likeGALA's and epilepsy awareness
(32:46):
walks, but we also put out a lotof information.
We do first lot of events likeGALAs and epilepsy awareness
walks, but we also put out a lotof information.
We do first aid seizuretraining.
We also do a lot of conferencesand panel discussions surfaced
around epilepsy awareness andthis year we're teaming up with
the HBCU to have our firsthealth seminar and to try to
implement epilepsy first dayseizure training there with VCU.
(33:10):
So I'm just really excited tonot just talk about epilepsy but
talk about chronic illnesses ingeneral and the different ways
that they look.
So we really are.
This is we're going on fiveyears and I'm just really
excited.
Five years and we are justpushing, pushing through.
Yeah, that's amazing.
(33:31):
I heard you say that right nowthat you're not working, and it
may not be on a traditional jobor traditional occupation that
we would like to glorify or such, but you're literally doing
your life's work, literally.
And who better to exemplify,who better to represent a
(33:54):
category like that than you?
Right, amazing, amazing.
Again, your story reminds me ofanother scripture, I think it's
Jeremiah 29, and 11 says I knowthe thoughts that think towards
your thoughts of peace and notevil, to give you an expected
and a hope in the future.
Right, nobody but God couldhave taken such a tragedy and
(34:18):
literally given you such apurpose um, to help others.
Um, and that's what we call todo.
That's what we have.
Yeah, we are, yeah, yeah's whatwe are.
Yeah, we are, yeah, yeah.
And so many of us negate ourpain.
We don't want to talk about that, you know.
We don't want to get diving tothat.
That's why I love this seriesthat we're doing.
I think it's going to helppeople to dig deep, right and to
(34:38):
identify the areas where youare in pain, where you have been
in pain because somebody else'sstuff.
You just never know how God cancome alongside you, come
alongside you in your pain andyour darkness and all of the
things that you've gone throughand say even that I'll use, even
(34:59):
that I can use.
Like he literally wastesnothing right, nothing at all.
Amazing, amazing, truly amazing.
Well, jambon, I guess I'minspired by your story.
I'm inspired by yourpersistency.
I'm so inspired by what youwere doing, how you literally
become such a voice, an advocatefor people all over the world,
(35:19):
whether they fall throughsomething physically, mentally,
emotionally.
I mean, you've been affected inso many different ways, but yet
you know you are not onlysurviving what you've
experienced, but thriving it,and so hats off to you for
everything that you've done,everything that God has done.
Such a beautiful person,literally inside out.
I would never imagine that.
(35:40):
I mean, I know, I can onlyimagine that half the story has
been told right Like we couldprobably be here all day like
child.
We could, we definitely could.
We definitely could Stories.
Oh Jesus, baby, it's amazing,though, to look at you.
I mean the glory of God, such abeautiful essence, just a
(36:01):
beautiful spirit all about you.
It's amazing, it's amazing.
I wish you the same.
Yeah, certainly, I wish younothing but the best.
Regarding your nonprofit, Ipray that God even enlarges your
territory, takes it even put onwhere it is today.
I pray because of what you'redoing is for the kingdom right,
(36:24):
and it's to help people.
That's true ministry.
That's true ministry.
It's true ministry.
It's true ministry.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay, guys, that is it for part one.
I know I said that part twowould be connected, but I
decided to divvy it up just tomake it a little bit more
digestible.
So again, stay tuned for parttwo, which will be uploaded uh,
should be about a day after you,guys hear this one, guys, with
(36:56):
that being said, perhaps youhave a story that you'd like to
share.
Maybe you have a question you'dlike to ask.
Maybe you would like to informsomeone else of how to triumph
over the trauma that you are orhave transitioned from.
We'd like to hear from you.
(37:16):
Please get a hold of me.
I am Miss Eve on all of mysocials Facebook, instagram and
TikTok.
Message me and I will connectwith you so that we can hear
from you.
Until then, remember now thanks.
Be unto God, who always causesus to triumph.
Be well, thank you.
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