Those Who Inspire Me - Gary Phillips

I think without a doubt the movie that has made the most impact on my life is the 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life."  George Bailey is distraught on Christmas Eve and is about to jump off a bridge to end his life when Clarence his guardian angel stops him.  George gets the privilege (if you want to call it that) to see what life would have been like had he never been born.  The most impacting part of that for me was that George had saved his younger brother Harry from drowning when they were kids.  Harry went on to be a Navy Pilot and shot down a kamikase fighter and saved his enitre unit.  When George sees his life as if he had never been born, Harry is not alive because George was not there to save him from drowning.  And that entire Navy Unit had lost their lives in that battle because Harry was not there to shoot down the kamikase fighter.    MAN, that has stayed with me for years.

We need to realize just how important our lives are.  When interviewing my friends, I have this in mind.  I really want to know how we ended up in the same place at the same time.  I'm a firm believer in God and I believe God set  us in the same place on purpose.  But others may not have the same faith as I do and perhaps you see it as just being in the right place at the right time.  However, you look at it, I believe the people I am going to write about were placed in my life at the right time to make my life better.

Gary truly is a legacy in the making!

This is my friend Gary.  Turns out we both joined NLP right about the same time - Fall of 2015.  NLP stands for Next Level Performance and it's group training with a certified trainer.  You have to understand when I first joined NLP, I knew my son, my husband, and one friend Marivel.  It took every ounce of courage just for me to step in that room every day.  My self-esteem and confidence were at an all time low.  So I don't think I really got to know Gary until we both signed up for the 12 week challenge in January of 2016.

We both were giving it our all and showing up every day or close to every day.  I remember thinking if he can do it, I can do it.  But let me go backwards a bit and introduce you to my friend.

Gary was born December 25, 1953.  He married his wife Cheryl on August 20, 1978.  They have two daughters and (fun fact) one of his daughters teaches Body Pump and Combat at Golds Gym.  A defining moment in Gary's life came to pass in July of 2005.  They were living in Fruita at the time.  Cheryl was concerned about Gary's health.  Gary's doctor actually told him, "Tell your wife to quit worrying.  You just lasted 14 minutes on the treadmill."  11days later, Gary had just returned from over the mountain and was grabbing sandwiches at Subway.  While in line at Subway, his chest began to hurt.  He felt like something wasn't right, but he continued with his order, paid, and headed home.  After telling his wife how he felt, she said we are going NOW to the doctor.  Long story short here, he ended up at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction and he had experienced a heart attack.  He was 51 years old.

As they ran some tests, the doctor came in and said, "You have 11 aneurysms around your heart.  The doctor had NEVER seen anything like that and the surgeon had only seen 2 cases in Denver - but never 11 in total.  The only time they were aware of someone with that many was after the fact - after they had passed away.  What do you do? was a question Gary's family had.  The surgeon said you perform a bypass.  So Gary underwent heart surgery and 5 bypasses.  They were not able to complete 11 bypasses, but they did the best they could.

Gary told me it was at this point that he realized he was still alive for a reason.  As soon as he was cleared, he began rehab at the Life Center.  He faithfully went 3 days a week to Cardio Rehab.  He took it very seriously because he believed that God wanted him alive.  He continued with this rehab until he and Cheryl moved to Delta.  Cheryl is a well-known quilter.   She designs rulers and tools.  She writes quilting books and quilting patterns.  They work this business together and they travel to shows together.  FUN FACT:  They thought they had health insurance, but it only covered up to $25,000.  They were able to pay for the surgery, because God prospered their business big time.

Quilt Market

Sometime in 2014 they moved back to Grand Junction to be closer to grandchildren.  He tried NLP in July of 2015.  In August he had too many things going on, but in September of 2015 he started with an NLP membership.   We were in classes together, but like I mentioned above, I didn't get to know anyone else at the beginning.

In January of 2016, both Gary and I signed up for the 12-week challenge at Gold's Gym Clifton.  We were both faithfully attending classes and we started to get to know each other.  I was working out about 3 hours a day,  so I distinctly remember the day that I was exhausted in class.  I was keeping a private blog at the time and I wrote about how tired I was.  You know when you are at the point of  starting to feel sorry for yourself a little bit.  Well it was on this day, that Gary told me that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer.

I don't even know if I can explain the flood of emotions that came over me when he told me that.  First of all he was in class busting his butt right alongside me.  I was complaining about being sore and here he is fighting cancer.  Secondly I lost my dad to cancer when he was a young man.  I didn't grieve much at the time of loss; my grieving comes in waves and in situations like this when someone tells me they are fighting a battle.  My heart goes out to them and it hits me right in my heart.  This conversation marked a turn of events in my fitness journey.  It helped me a lot to keep things in perspective and to not be a complainer.  My respect for Gary shot up 1000%.

NLP class

I'd like to say another miracle here.  Because of his previous heart attack, Gary was on blood thinners. So he has regular check ups to make sure all is well.  At this checkup, the nurse who drew his blood said, "You look a little pale.  You should have that checked out."  Well since his wife had just said the same thing, Gary decided to go to his doctor and get checked out.  This early intervention by his wife and then again the nurse just may have well saved his life again.  The doctor said he was anemic and upon further tests colon cancer was diagnosed.  It was at stage 3 or 4, BUT it had not breached the colon.  He was able to have surgery and did NOT need chemo.   His surgery was at the end of the 12-week challenge.  With all of that he still received an honorable mention for his age group for the 12-week challenge.

Every time I see Gary I am inspired to push harder.  I have seen many health benefits in my own life because of the progress I've made so I want to keep it up.  Gary was counting his steps while recovering in the hospital and he was chomping at the bit to get back to NLP because he missed everyone.  He believes without a shadow of a doubt that NLP was the reason he was up and about so quickly after surgery.

Gary absolutely loves the NLP program.  He loves how everyone encourages everyone.  It has been a big blessing in his life.  Well, I love that I met Gary in the NLP program and that he enourages me to be a better version of myself.

Gary and Cheryl