My Journey to Health
In the spring of 2014, I found Shaklee through a friend and fell in love with all their products. With in less than a year of becoming a member I decided to become a distributor, because I wanted to share the awesome Shaklee effect with everyone. I am a wife to Eric and a mother to my son, Xander and daughter, Autumn. They were my whole world, taking care of them and maintain a home for our family was all I did, then one day...
Let me start from the beginning and FYI my story is quite long, but I will try to keep it simple. The summer before I turned 9, I was admitted to the hospital, because I developed type 1 diabetes. I had no idea what this disease was, all I knew was that my mom was a nervous wreck and that I couldn't eat candy, cake, ice cream or any kind of sweet. What! And, no trick or treating, or at least I could go, but not eat my goodies, that stinks! What's the point? Plus, no sleep overs, ugh, I'm over this thing. To an eight year old, this is the equivalent to the end of the world. Also, if I felt tired or weird in any way, I had to go home immediately and tell my mom, because then I could drink sugary juice,..at last! As I became an adult I honestly didn't keep the best control over my blood sugars, I just didn't want to deal with it. But, then as I got more mature I realized, that if I continued to not control my sugars I would end up blind, lose my feet, or die at an early age. So, I started taking super good control.
Before I knew about Shaklee, a little over a year before I became pregnant with Xander, I was told I had skin cancer on my back. Melanoma, it wasn't even stage one, it was just passed the pre-cancer stage. But, skin cancer is still skin cancer no matter how you slice it. Luckily it was local to the mole and hadn't spread. Then, about a month later they took another suspicious mole and it came back melanoma too. Again, it wasn't even stage one yet, just past pre-cancer stage. My doctor told me not to get all hyped up about it. With skin exams and staying out of the sun, plus wearing sunscreen every time I stepped out the door, would protect me from having it come back. So, in my mind, in order to deal with it. I pretended it never happened. I hind from the sun, I wore my sunscreen and I've never had a recurrence to this day. You see, the way I was handling it, or more accurately wasn't handling it. I was really hiding from it. Like a child does when they are scared of something. They close their eyes and hide and if the scarry thing can't see them, well, then it's not there. That is how I was dealing with my two skin cancer scares, or should I say not dealing with them. I know that the years as a teeenager rollerbalding for 14 miles multiple times a week not wearing sunscreen and yes, I did the tanning beds a few times over a couple of years. Those, plus getting badly burned as a child didn't help my chances of developing skin cancer. But, that was all in the past, and I can't change the past, only learn from it. So, I did. Like I said, I hid from the sun and slathered on the sunscreen when I knew I would be outside longer than a minute.
Then, one Holiday season just before Christmas, I found out I was pregnant, even though I had been told by a fraternity specialist that I couldn't have a baby without help. It was the best present our family could ask for, my whole family, especially my mom. The pregnancy for the first and second trimester went fine, besides the usual symptoms. However, the third trimester was a hard one. I was told that I needed to stay off my feet as much as possible to keep the swelling down in my legs, ankles and feet. But, I still developed pre-eclampsia two weeks before my due date. After an emergency c-section, my blood pressure still did not want to come down.
A week after my son was born I was readmitted to the hospital from extremely high blood pressure, because the toxins from the pre-eclampsia did not want to leave my body. I was put on blood pressure medications for about 6 months. I was able to rid my body of the toxins by doing mini cleanses, eating healthy and exercising, you can read about the mini cleanse in my post.
I was not happy, but I had a baby to take care of, so my time was focused on him. My sweet little man.
Then, in the summer of 2013 I was told my childhood asthma came back, which I hadn’t had problems with since toddlerhood. My doctor put me on four asthma medications, three prescriptions and one over the counter. Additionally, in the beginning of 2014 was diagnosed with a hyperthyroid and was put on medication to control it. I was now on five medications, where a year ago I wasn't on any. Not cool in my book.
I use to think that all vitamins were not necessary and whenever I would try taking them I would feel ill and more often than not I would get sick with in days of starting them. So, I never took any vitamins or supplements for many years. I did take my prenatal vitamins, of course. Shortly after I had my son I started thinking about the cleaning products that I was using in my home and how harmful they were to my family and me. I didn't want my baby to be crawling on a bunch of chemicals or eating off a spoon covered in toxins. I decided to start buying "green" cleaning products at a much higher price than the cheap chemical filled cleaners. But, what I didn't know was that the big name brands are greenwashing. Greenwashing is where they say they are chemical and toxic free, but they really aren't. Those liars! And, I was spending twice or triple the money for the same thing. That's when an old friend of mine told me about truly green cleaners.
It was the spring of 2014 a friend of mine told me about Shaklee and how awesome the company was and that they were a completely green company. That they were beyond orgainc!!! She specifically told me about their cleaning line and how it only cost pennies per bottle. I signed up as a member and got the Get Clean Starter Kit and feel in love with it. It saved me hundreds of dollars in just a few months on cleaning supplies, plus I didn't have to worry about nasty chemicals around my family.
I then started trying the supplements and many other products, which I also loved! For the first time in my life, the supplements made me feel great and not ill.
Even though I was still taking the asthma medications, my breathing didn't get any better and I was starting to feel more and more tired. So, my doctor sent me to an allergist, they tried a few things and nothing. Then, she sent me to a pulmonologist and they did a breathing test that showed I had a blockage. They said not to worry, that the likelihood of it being cancer is very slim for someone my age that isn't a smoker. I went in for a bronchoscopy to get a biopsy on it. Then, one day, the worst day of my life, at that time, I received a phone call...I had lung cancer. I was in shock. I sat on the couch and spaced off for at least an hour. Then, I called my husband and he came rushing home to comfort me. I know he wished he could stop it from happening and give me the much needed comfort, but it was all a blur. It was like it wasn't happening to me. I went through all the stages, that someone goes through when they hear the words "you have cancer." I was in denial at first, then I was furious. I mean how could God give me such a precious baby, and then take it all away with cancer. I thought I was going to die. Then, I was super sad and depressed about it. This all happened in a matter of days. One morning, I woke up and said a not so nice word to the cancer that starts with an 'f' and said that I wasn't going to let it take my life. Because, my diabetes didn't control me, I did. The preeclampsia toxins didn't control me, I did. I CONTROL ME! This time when cancer showed its ugly face, I couldn't hide from it like I did the skin cancer. Because, I could physically feel it this time. It was affecting me and my quality of life.
In the first two weeks of August 2014 I had three major surgeries, one to remove the cancer tumor that was blocking my right lung completely. This tumor was there for years I was told by the doctors, most likely for majority of my life; I just didn't know it until it got big enough to block my right lung. That is why I was having such a hard time breathing, because I was breathing with only one lung. I also had two more major surgeries to repair complications from the first surgery. The first was exactly a week after the original surgery to repair a kylie leak that the doctor unknowingly caused during the original surgery. A kylie leak is where your body is literally starving to death, because all the proteins, fats and electrolytes are being pushed out of the body. The third was exactly a week after the second. This was to create a pericardial window, because when the doctor took some of the pericardial sack to create a sleeve for my right lung, it caused inflammation. Causing a pericardial effusion, this is where your pericardial sack, the sack around your heart to protect it, is filling up with fluid crushing your heart and causing you to slowly die. I recovered from these surgeries with flying colors, lots of energy, and I impressed all my doctors at my quick recovery time. Especially, having my other medical issues of diabetes and a hyperthyroid at the time.
I believe wholeheartedly that one of the main reasons my recovery was so quick, was due to the fantastic Shaklee vitamins and supplements I was taking and that my home was chemical free.
With the help of Shaklee products I am able to keep my blood pressure down to a super healthy level without any prescriptions, greatly improve my blood sugars, remove my thyroid medications without any side effects of thyroid issues, and feel amazing even when I was battling the cancer and recovering from the three major surgeries. Now I’m cancer free and feeling fantastic.
By switching completely to green and 100% safe cleaning products throughout my home, I was also able to become a truly healthy person.
I hope that my story will inspire others to improve their health and their family’s health, while at the same time help them build the life they want. I’m not only ecstatic to be able to build a healthier life for me and my family, but I also want to help build a greener and healthier planet. By using Shaklee products I’m already reducing my carbon footprint. I also want to offer my wealth of knowledge about creating a healthy lifestyle.
The reason I choose to use Shaklee products and share their wonderful products, is because I don't want my children or anyone I love to have to go through what I had to. I don't want them around any nasty chemicals that will harm them and cause health issues. I want everyone to be able to live a long and healthy life.
If you have any questions about my story or just want to send me a message, please email me at jberinger.myshaklee@gmail.com
**I am not stating that this regimen will cure or completely prevent cancer, it is my own account of what I experienced and research I have found, including the steps I take to help prevent the recurrence. Everyone's experience and situation is different.