Why You Should Never Give Up

Taylor and her husband Arturo with their two year old beautiful daughter Mackenzie in Colorado


My husband and I have decided to finally speak out about about the health issues he has been battling for the past 2 years, it took this long for him to be able to talk openly about it but we agreed it needs to be shared and if it helps even just one other person it's worth it.  It's hard to sum up short but I will try. Basically his whole life he has had horrible back issues, doctors said is was degenerative disc disease, but they could never tell him why his legs would just go out on him, tingle, or go numb. In Sep 2013 we were rear ended by someone going 45 and this completely blew out a disc in his lower back (L4&5), we were told surgery would fix it, even though they still couldn't explain his nerve pains and now hip pain. We didn't know what to do so after being bed ridden for over three months he had the spinal fusion and discetomy surgery in Jan '14. Also during all this we discovered he is allergic to basically most synthetic drugs, namely opiates/narcotics. However while being in the hospital for almost the whole month of January they had him on Dilaudid (worse than morphine) paired with Benadryl, steroids, sleeping pills, anxiety meds, etc.  And I could see it killing him. He lost over 65lbs, wasn't sleeping, couldn't eat, his heart rate was uncontrollably high, he would have constant cold sweats and body tremors...it was hell.  After trying numerous doctors and getting no where, I decided to move us somewhere that we could try more natural treatments. Well time keeps going by and we see all these other problems arise and it just doesn't make sense that it's all caused from his back. Fast forward through multiple specialists and weeks of my own research...we find out he has been living with Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid arthritis, failed back syndrome, and possibly another autoimmune disease. Thus we basically have zero faith in the health care system and have turned our whole life into looking for natural methods of treatment. This has been a terrible long journey but I believe everything has a purpose and this is our life path right now. We are barely starting to get our life back but the natural treatments we have him on are working and I feel with all my heart we can keep pushing. I also know love has what's gotten us this far. Before all of this he was extremely physically active his whole life, I mean he mastered every sport he tried and was prepping for a bodybuilding show before the car accident, so mentally he has been in a very dark place throughout this as well. Chronic illnesses unfortunately usually comes with suicidal depression. No matter how bad it got we worked through it and I refuse to let him give up. He's my best friend and soul mate, I will never leave his side. 

I just want to spread awareness of autoimmune disease, because we knew nothing about it before this and none of his doctors saw the signs of it. If we had caught it two years ago he never would have had surgery and wouldn't have been put through so much hell. I'd give anything to take his pain away.  If anyone else is battling MS or autoimmune disease and is trying to beat it naturally then that's why I want to share what we are doing. We have an herbalist (who's my angel helping us), he gets p.e.m.f & chiropractic help on his back and hip, does limited physical therapy (it's still very painful and he's still very weak), and we became vegans. We are doing an anti-inflammatory diet and foods to help heal his gut, as the gut controls the immune system. We also incorporate meditation and positive energy as a part of our daily life. Along with much appreciated love and support from close family. I will try to document his meals, herbs/supplements, and physical progression as best I can. Between him and our active beautiful daughter I stay pretty busy lol. 

It's a lot. It's complicated. A lot of people don't understand or don't agree. That's ok. We follow our heart, we believe he can and will get better, and our ultimate life purpose is to just help people along our way. 

No one should feel alone. No one should give up. There is always an answer if you are willing to look.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this! Sending love and positive vibes! 

You can follow Taylor and Arturo on Instagram where she shares the ups & downs candidly and drops some amazing value bombs on vegan diets for autoimmune conditions.