Those Who Inspire Me - Marisa Sandoval

Marisa and me

Today I had a meeting with our sales rep for work and we held the meeting at Barnes and Noble.  Before she arrived, I thought I would browse the "diet" book section of the store.  This is what I found.

My goodness - how many books is that?   No wonder some people have no idea what to do to lose weight.  I was definitely one of those people.  It made me think back to when I sat down to interview Marisa for this blog post.

Marisa remembers being 5 years old and stepping on the bathroom scale and seeing that she weighed 95 pounds.  95 pounds at 5 years old.  She remembers that she knew that was heavy and that devastated her.  She was crying so hard her mom had to come and see what was wrong.  Her mom vowed to make a change.  (What was your first memory?  My first memory was at 5, but it was my mom bringing my baby sister home from the hospital.  It certainly wasn't stepping on a scale.)

Marisa said to me, you were 54 and had no idea how to make the changes necessary to get the weight off.  Imagine being 5?  That hit home.  And then the next week I interviewed Natasha and she pretty much said something similar.  She was getting ready for a garage sale and had over 20 "diet" books in her repertoire.  There are so many books out there, but so little knowledge.

The changes did not come right away for Marisa.  At 8 years old she was on a family cruise and she got  a horrible ear infection in the middle of the night.  She was crying in her sleep.  Her mom took her to the on-call ship doctor and he wanted measurements which included weight.  She looked at her mom terrified because she hadn't weighed herself since she was 5.   The doctor weighed her and she was 118 pounds and she remembers the look on his face of shock.  Her mom looked devastated and Marisa just looked away.  When she went back to her room she cried from the pain of the ear infection and the pain of seeing people's reactions.  Her mom cried and with tears rolling down her face she told Marisa that we had to make a change.

Marisa began playing softball that fall and began to slim down.  She remembers being in 4th grade and the kids who had bullied her in the past were beginning to take note of the slimmer Marisa.

I feel like this is SUCH a young age to have these thoughts, but I had them too and I wasn't even big.  What I loved learning about Marisa is when she looks at people - young or old - she does not see size.  She sees the person's heart and personality.  What a great atrribute to have at such a young age.  I just want to say that again.  She DOES NOT see size.  She remembers being "judged" for her size; therefore she absolutely DOES NOT do this.  This is one of the many things that inspire me about her.  To be in high school where there is so much peer pressure and to look on the heart of people and not their physical appearance is such a great attribute.  She is wise beyond her years.

Softball helped get the extra weight off

She swam her Freshman year of high school.

Yes I know Marisa from Gold's gym, but I also know her because she is my son Joe's friend.  She doesn't know this, but her checking on Joe several times a day when he was in the hospital recovering from scoliosis surgery made my day.  His guy friends definitely checked in on him, but guys are funny.  They might send a text that says, "Hey, do you have a hot nurse?"  or "Hey, what's it feel like on all that pain medicine?"  But Marisa is a girl and I "get" girls.  I come from a family of 7 girls--no boys.  So she would write and ask how he was and tell him about school and let him know she was thinking of him.  I was so impressed and comforted by that it made me want to get to know her better.

I did wonder how she ended up at Gold's gym at the same time as me.  She told me she joined Gold's gym at the age of 13.  She always played softball though, so she came to Gold's on "off-season."  However three weeks before her Junior year of high school was to begin, she got appendicitis and had to have surgery.  Although she had played softball for years and the coaches knew her ability, she was told she would need to "tryout."  She was able to do the interview portion of the softball tryout, but not the physical tryout because she had just had surgery.  She received a phone call telling her that she had not made the team.  This was kind of a bum deal and we won't go into that, but this is what got her to Gold's Gym at the same time as me.

One day while working out and doing "shrugs" with weights, she noticed the trainer Stewart watching her.  She immediately felt like she must have been doing the exercise wrong.  When she completed the shrugs, Stewart approached her and asked her if she was training for a show.  She said, "I wish."  This was a Friday.  On Monday Stewart met with Marisa and her dad about the possibility of being in a "Figure" show.  She has actually been training for this since just after Thanksgiving.

Whenever she came to Gold's gym with her dad, she would show him the picture wall and say, "Dad, I'm going to be on that wall someday."  

The wall at Gold's Gym.

I am so proud of her for pursuing this dream of hers.  The show was this past weekend. Her family, her trainer, and her boyfriend went to Arizona to support her.  She did amazing.    Here she is!  Isn't she stunning!

Those shoulders - though!  Beautiful inside and out!

I love this pose!

Marisa, at times life is going to give you lemons.  You took the lemons and made lemonade.  Or my softball analogy would be you took the curve ball that was thrown at you and you hit it out of the park.  You keep on being you!    The world can use more people like you-- who have a heart of gold!

Those Who Inspire Me - The Morning Crew - Nancy Blackmon

Nancy and I have been friends now for a little over a year.  I'll never forget her asking me, "Have you seen Miracles from Heaven?"  I don't watch many movies so I told her, "No."  She told me that I needed to watch it.  Nancy and I are firm believers in prayer and so I took her advice and watched the movie.  It was a great movie.  I remember reporting back to Nancy, "Hey I watched the movie."  I'll never forget and I tear up just writing this, she said, "I was that mom.  I had to fight that hard for my son."  All I can say is thank God for mothers (and fathers) who never give up, who push until they find an answer.

I had this in mind when I sat down to talk to Nancy last week at Golds gym.  When we were all done talking, we glanced up at the front counter and we both just had to smile.  The movie playing that day in the cardio cinema was "Miracles from Heaven."

I always like to ask "how did you end up in NLP/Gold's at the same time as I did?"  Nancy tells me she had not been to the gym for at least a year.  She had been having major problems with her neck and major migraines.  She was seeing a chiropractor three times a week for relief.  Sara (Stephenson) made a "cold-call" to Nancy saying something like, we haven't seen you in awhile, would you like to come back in and discuss your fitness goals?   Her phone call got Nancy in the door.  NLP was being promoted at the time, so Nancy decided to give it a try.  This was November of 2015.

She participated in the NLP classes from November through January, but had no weight loss.  Patricia Roberts said, "If you want to talk nutrition, you have to talk to Ryan."  (I love the common thread in these posts.)  Nancy had been observing us during our semi-private sessions-- you know kind of checking us out.  She ended up meeting with Ryan about nutrition and Ryan tells me he remembers not even having to sell her on the semi-privates.  Nancy was just like - That's what I want to do.  There was a spin-the-wheel promotion going on and she won 10.00 off a month so she signed up for a year, right then and there.

When I asked her what she liked about the semi-privates, she said, "I loved showing up and getting my butt kicked.  They pushed me further than I have ever been pushed before.  You wonder why you keep coming back, but you do.  And then our core group -- that morning crew -- we had something special.  We were always checking on one another.  We chatted on Messenger at night.  If someone didn't show up, we were right on it asking what was up.

Patty, Jenna, Ryan, and Nancy (Natasha had started nursing school)

By far the biggest change she saw was physically.  She was supposed to get an injection in her neck on December 30th but the doctor got stuck in a snow storm and had to reschedule.  Well the reschedule pushed it into a new year and new deductibles.  She had begun to feel better so she decided not to reschedule.  In the past anything she lifted would put her neck out and give her a migraine.  As she continued with NLP and with lifting heavy weight and building muscle, all of that changed.  She can now lift her granddaughter and has not had a migraine for almost a year.

Me, Nancy, and Jenna just hanging out.  No neck problems there.

By far her greatest challenge in life has been having a child with a medical condition that noone could figure out.  This started when he was 11 and in 5th grade and it took 2 years to get in contact with a specialist in Denver.  He couldn't eat.  He hadn't grown.  He was losing weight and was down to 55 pounds.   The doctors here could not diagnose what was wrong and they would just keep sending him home.  He didn't have a diagnosis, yet was too sick to go to school and the school was on Nancy for this too.  She remembers that it got to the point where he was dying and they (her husband and her) HAD to figure it out.

She remembers saying, I understand you have run every test but SOMETHING is wrong.  She asked to be sent to Mayo Clinic.  Instead of sending them to Mayo they sent them to Denver (but were treated like Mayo) where a group of specialists came in -- each trying to figure out what was wrong.  She remembers a PET scan being run to determine if he had cancer.  They literally sat in the doctor's office for TWO hours waiting for the doctor.  The doctor came in and said, "Your son does not have cancer."  Now that is comforting to know, but Nancy was like, "Well that's good, but SOMETHING is wrong."  She said that doctor wanted to put him on anti-depressants.  Like it was all in his head.  He even said to Nancy, "If you're so smart, why don't you tell me what is wrong."  She said, "He can't eat!"  That doctor even though he was an ass, sent her to Dr. Stathos, a GI Specialist who slowly began to get the answers they needed.    The diagnosis was that a common bile duct didn't work.  So he couldn't digest his food.  Her determination saved her child's life.

Now watch Miracles from Heaven and you'll see why I tear up.  Her son has had over 50 surgeries in his lifetime.  He is now 22 years old.  The boy never complained.  She is just so proud of him.  When he was able to do something, anything, go to school, play with a friend, he just looked forward to that greatly.  He's doing well now and that is such a blessing.

Nancy and her two boys.

In closing, I asked what else did she want to tell me.  She said that she absolutely loved that we became friends (the feeling is mutual.)  She loves being with people with the same goals.  She enjoys her gym family.  And in light of the challenges she has faced in her life, she states, "I believe God gives us battles, so we can help other people."