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Founder of Secrets of Lemons, and I’m so glad you’re here. The topic of chronic illness is a BIG one, and I can’t wait to share all the thoughts. Read on to learn about my story, and my mission to help those managing hidden chronic illnesses.
As a young teen, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I suffered in silence through years of treatment, medications and debilitating side-effects. In my late 20’s, a life-threatening flare-up led to the removal of my large intestine in a major surgery called an ileostomy. This “re-pipe” meant that I would need to have a permanent ostomy bag outside my body to collect waste. The alternative was losing my life. Since then, I’ve endured various complications, continued surgeries, and more parts of ME have been removed. As severe as my experience has been, I am a proud daily survivor.
When I couldn’t find any solutions to manage living with an ostomy—to support it, conceal it while still feeling feminine and normal—I created one myself: Ostomysecrets, an adaptive apparel product line (hello functional undies!) to help myself and others living with an ostomy transition to a better “new normal.” After much success and expanding distribution worldwide, I sold my company in 2012.
What helped me survive? My vigilant effort to stay positive. When you embrace and accept the lemons you face, the result becomes the blessing received from that acceptance. With awareness and education, we feel more equipped to open ourselves up in a healthy, kind and positive way–and that’s when amazing things tend to happen. We can all get caught up in dealing with our sour lemons, especially when they literally pinch the life out of us! In learning and sharing, we can be more tolerant of challenges and encourage celebrating our lemons.
What helped me survive? My vigilant effort to stay positive. When you embrace and accept the lemons you face, the result becomes the blessing received from that acceptance. With awareness and education, we feel more equipped to open ourselves up in a healthy, kind and positive way–and that’s when amazing things tend to happen. We can all get caught up in dealing with our sour lemons, especially when they literally pinch the life out of us! In learning and sharing, we can be more tolerant of challenges and encourage celebrating our lemons.
Chronic illness is essentially never only physical. In fact, the mental and emotional impacts can exacerbate even the worst physical effects.
I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. I celebrated my first birthday in Switzerland, and lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from ages 1 through 4. Since then, the only two states I’ve lived in are New Jersey and Florida.
I have a weird obsession with belts and own at least 60 of them. My favorite TV show is Grey’s Anatomy—I’ve seen every episode! Also Downton Abbey—I wish I could have lived in that era! My first concert was Bryan Adams. I only watch happy movies, and only listen to happy songs. When I’m in pain I sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
I met my (now) husband at my first job; our managers forbade us from dating (we were the only two in the same age bracket)! On our second date he took me to a colonoscopy. You could say the rest was history, ha! We have two amazing children and one fur baby. My parents divorced when I was 4 years old.
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