What's The Juice EP. #18 MY LIFE CHANGING COVID STORY — how fighting for my parents' survival changed my life
This is an episode that I've been ferociously putting off for months because honestly, I'm still actively processing everything that happened. This episode of What's the Juice wasn't premeditated. It wasn't a scheduled recording, or part of our season one production plans. And yet, nothing over the past six months has gone "as planned"... so here we are.
This episode is a raw recount of exactly what went down in March 2020 when BOTH of my parents almost lost their lives to the first wave of the novel Coronavirus. Our story kicks off at the beginning of the first COVID outbreak in New York and this makes it all the more unnerving. None of us knew anything back then. I was trying to figure this virus out in real time as my mom was being put on a ventilator and my dad was terrified for his life. I was called to rely on everything I've ever learned as a humbled herbalist with a newfound, deeper appreciation for Western Medicine to get them through.
This is the next chapter of my growth. I told you guys What's the Juice would be an extension of our community, so Nick and I are here today, on the mic, recording all the wild details about how relentless patient advocacy, experimental drugs, round the clock prayer, and a few earth-side angels saved both my parents lives. You'll hear how facing the potential loss of my loved ones changed me as a person forever and helped me to realize my own mortality (and thus, what's truly important in life). You'll learn how hard it was to advocate for them in the hospital system, and why finding out what was in my mom's feeding tube formula (hint: corn) helped me make decisions that were better for her health and survival. You'll get our side of how the virus presented in our own bodies once we contracted it from my father.
But most of all, you'll hear how LOVE for your family can give you the power to fight even when you don't have an ounce of strength left. This is a story about family coming together and deeeeep generational healing far beyond the virus.
It was the worst time of my life, but it also showed me my relentless will to fight for the people that I love. And I'm a much better person for it today.
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