What are your best qualities?
Some of my best qualities are resilience in the face of adversity, finding humor no matter the circumstance, having sincere empathy for others and my passion to use my first hand experiences to educate, inspire and give hope to others.
Do you have any undesirable qualities?
One of my worst qualities is probably being hard on myself if I don’t do something as well as I thought I should have or could have.
What are you most afraid of right now?
After enduring all that I have, including a kidney transplant 17 years ago and a liver transplant one year ago, I can’t help but wonder when the next health hiccup will happen. I was so sick the past couple years leading up to needing a lifesaving liver transplant and I did not know if I would ever be healthy again. Now being post-transplant with restored health, I can’t help but have some fear in the back of my mind of wondering how long it will last. With all of this said, this is why I strive to be as present as possible and live each day to the absolute fullest because I’ve experienced countless times how life can change in a split second.
What do you love the most about your body?
What I love the most about my body is its ability to endure, overcome and heal from seemingly insurmountable health challenges.
What about yourself are you working on loving more?
I am trying to work on loving more the aspect of accepting and having respect for my limitations. I want to do so much with my second and third chance at life. I have big dreams, goals and desires. My mind and heart have no limits, but I have to respect and understand that my body does. I have to focus on the balance of not overdoing it and taking the best care of myself while still feeling accomplished and fulfilled.
Tell us the story about how you earned your scars…
I have over 60 inches of scars criss-crossing my body. The first scar – that runs the whole way down my back - came from scoliosis surgery when I was a teenager. Then due to polycystic kidney disease (PKD), I had both of my kidneys removed when I was 18, was on dialysis via a catheter in my chest, endured emergency stomach surgery, pancreatitis where I was fed by a picc line in my arm, received a kidney transplant at 19-years-old and more than 70 blood transfusions. I also have a port in my chest for the daily antibiotics I received when I kept getting sepsis and my latest scar is from my liver transplant surgery in 2018.