For the next 4 weeks, Jessica was continuously going to doctors appointments with new and unusual symptoms. Her hair was falling out, vomiting and diarrhea for weeks on end, barely able to keep anything down, an intestinal infection, pain in her ribs, a 4 month menstrual cycle.
“If you are considering taking her course, take it. From the jump, you learn so much. It is work. I felt like I was in therapy. I had to dig into emotions and things that maybe I didn’t want to feel and numbing myself a bit to try and get through. I had to put in a lot of work.”
“Everytime I would think I would make a bit of a headway, it would come crashing down again.”
“That was difficult because it was so defeating for me. Through this whole experience, it has been so isolating to have any chronic illness but you feel like you are just out on an island by yourself. I am in rural Kansas, I’ve had it twice now in 6 months and blood clots and people haven't even gotten it.”
“[After arriving at the Emergency Room] 56 days, the 8 week mark and they found out I had 2 blood clots in my lungs. When I got to the ER, I had 24 to 48 hours as a prognosis. 8 weeks ago I was a healthy running-around kid and now this is my weird reality.”
Just as Jessica started to recover from her blood clots, 4 days after her Best Friend’s wedding, she started to experience all the symptoms of Covid once again.
Medical professionals were convinced there was no way she had Covid again and almost refused to do a test. 2 days later, it came back positive.
“Everyone was downplaying the situation. Even with the blood clots being like, 'you’re young, you will be fine. In a month, you can start doing cardio' and in a month I think I was proud I could stand in the shower. It was so extreme”
Blood clots were a relatively new symptom of Covid and luckily after administering blood thinners, Jessica’s body was able to hold out.
She still had a 6 month recovery from the massive blood clots in her lungs and she had to move back home with family to help her recover. This meant she would have to find new doctors and have no access to the specialists she was seeing.
Prior to Covid, Jessica was an incredibly active 27 year old. She had always kept a fast paced lifestyle, even as a kid and enjoyed staying busy by working out and working multiple jobs.
Then on March 12th 2020, Jessica hit a brick wall when she was one of the first Americans to contract Covid. Fevers, vomiting, body aches, pain and more, her Covid symptoms continued to linger even after the initial illness was over.
Being young and in the first group affected by Covid, Jessica felt like a guinea pig when it came to testing and treatment of Long Covid. Doctors felt her age and active lifestyle meant her continued symptoms were just not possible. Jessica soon had to start advocating for herself in order to be taken seriously by practitioners.
During a doctor’s appointment, Jessica’s physician realized there was something seriously wrong and contacted the Emergency room to expect her arrival.
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“This was the most emotionally painful time for me when my life moved on but I didn’t. … I was in a massive identity crisis. Every thought you’ve ever had to do anything is different. The way your body moves is different.”
From there, Jessica began recovering from her 2nd round of covid but the symptoms of long covid continued. She began moving on in her life, getting a job, dating, etc. but the experience of living with long covid changed how she was able to function.
As Jessica worked to return to normal life, she began trying new doctors, therapies and methods to find a cure for her chronic illness. Many of the specialties and modalities of treatment did not bring relief.
Her first alternative medicine approach was trying acupuncture and found incredible relief for the first time since the beginning of her chronic illness journey. Even though the effects only lasted an hour, she was now aware that her body had the capability to heal itself.
Soon after, Jessica’s mom stumbled across That Healing Feeling and shared the information and resources with her. After trying a few of the breath practices, Jessica was interested in starting the Health Transformation Accelerator group coaching program.
Even though Jessica caught Covid for the third time 12 days into the program, she feels like she learned so much in a short period of time, and that she caught Covid again for a reason - to put her new skills to the test. And this time was nothing like her previous experiences. She was able to recover quickly, with minimal symptoms.
“In your class you always said the universe is always conspiring in your favor. The way it is said like that, it will forever be my mantra.”
Jessica was so grateful to have the support of Faith and the other women inside the HTA community to help her navigate through her last round of Covid. She also is thankful for the tools provided in the HTA program that have allowed her to recover and also overcome the health anxiety she experienced with another round of Covid.
She can confidently say her last round of Covid was night and day from her past experiences. She contributed this to the mindset established in the program and she knew that she would recover quickly from this round of illness. The tools in the program gave her confidence that she could ease her symptoms and soothe her health anxiety.
“It’s that mental work. It starts with your head and once you get that right, your body is going to follow.”
Jessica had overcome the mental hurdles of health anxiety and used what she was learning week to week to make big wins with her health.
In the short period of the duration of HTA (6 weeks), she was able to make it through stressful work weeks, attend a wedding, get out on the dance floor and also drink a margarita again. All in less than 2 months…
Jessica says she still reaches for the tools taught in the HTA program when she is having a stressful day and they absolutely help her get through.
“I am making leaps and bounds. The process gives you complete confidence you can handle anything.”
Her biggest takeaway is the belief you find in the program. The program and being surrounded by others who are healing was such a contrast from the other groups she had been a part of in the past.
“Once you see a little bit of progress, you get obsessed with the healing process.”
Jessica says she has found her center and it has allowed her to find peace in her life. Not chasing things in life has been a big change for her and she is grateful for the peace she now feels.
“It forces you to slow down. I have always been an overachiever. It has forced me to step back and find that balance in my life. Be centered in who you are because there is so much you can’t control.”
Jessica loves that her drive for overachieving had been refocused in a way that she could heal. She felt that the program changed her perspective on what was actually going to help her and allowed her to put in the work to transform her health.
“I appreciate the balance in my life it has given me. I have fought it really hard because I am somebody who would jam pack their schedule. I would be traveling. I would be going going going. I just now appreciate more of a balance in my life.”
Jessica loves that she has formed so many good habits and rituals. Being able to stay balanced has kept her from burning herself out at the gym and appreciating the time she spends moving her body.
Slowing down has been a big change for Jessica and a complete shift in her identity. She is sure that anyone who completes the HTA program walks away a different person than they started because of powerful inner work included in the program.
“All the tools are there. I think people need to know it is possible to overcome long covid. Hopefully my story can help people.”
Jessica believes she is here to share her story and show others that they can heal as well. She has the confidence that her journey is proof that healing is possible.
“Knowing that healing is possible is the biggest thing. Also, surround yourself with supportive people.”
