I will try and make this as short and sweet and painless as possible! But in order to talk about this new journey our family is taking, I must go back 5 years to let you know how life as we now know it unfolded. In 2015 I was diagnosed with an extremely rare, untreatble, and incurable spinal condition called Tarlov Cyst Disease. Check out THIS video of a young girl battling this disease to get an idea of how debilitating it can be.

(me in 2015, in a wheel chair when we traveled to Dallas for a special neurosurgery consult)

I have a cluster of 3 large cysts that formed around my sacrum (just above the tailbone). Within 3 months of my diagnoses, I was left almost entirely bed bound. There were times when I couldn’t walk to the bathroom by myself, many occasions where my husband Joe had to carry me upstairs, I began to lose control of my bladder, my lady bits were losing sensation, and was in constant pain every second of every single day.

Due to the unrelenting pain and issues that come along with my spinal disease, I had to give up my very successful newborn photography business, I could no longer drive, I wasn’t able to make meals as frequently for my family, 6+ days of working were non existent, our family could no longer travel, and I found myself in the beginning stages of depression. Everything was being taken away from me.  I tried my hardest to navigate around our “new normal”, but it was always one step forward and five steps back. My life was slipping away from me.

After 6 months of feeling sorry for myself and being tossed around from doctor to doctor (none of whom could help me anyways), I decided enough was enough. I was dealt this shitty hand and it wasn’t going to get better on its own so it was time to make a decision. Do I allow this devastating diagnoses to steal everything from me OR do I take my health into my own hands and try to improve my condition? The answer was easy… it was go time!  

 My entire lifetyle had an overhaul.  I changed my diet dramatically (strict whole foods keto-paleo), I added in a few supplements geared towards nerve health, I started slowly incorporating movement and exercise back into my routine, I began to focus on improving my sleep, and most importantly I changed my mind set.  Within 3 months I was no longer bed bound, I was back to light lifting 2-3 times per week, my pain levels were now fluctuating on a scale between 4-6, and slowly but surely we were actually finding a NEW NORMAL!  There is obviously a lot more to my improvement and medical journey, but for now I’m giving the Cliff Notes version!  

Once my health was a bit more stabilized, I had to get back to work.  I needed purpose, I needed to be busy, I needed sanity & normalcy, I needed to feel like a contributing adult in society, and of course our family needed the extra income.  Newborn photography was out for me physically, but I knew I still wanted to be behind the camera.  If it couldn’t be brand new snuggly babies, it would have to be FOOD!

My transition to food photography and recipe development came so unbelievably naturally.  I dove right in and was lucky enough to land some amazing accounts in the health food & nutritional space.  It’s now been about 4 years which brings us to 2020! Oh 2020… you are unlike no other year in history!!!

This is where the magic happened for ‘This Nurtured Home’ adventure…

Once Covid, state wide mask mandates, social distancing, and quarantine unfolded, the world was obviously spending a big chunk of time at home.  After a couple of weeks getting accustomed to Covid life, my husband and I began working on some small home improvement projects.  One thing lead to another and before we knew it, we were knee deep in all sorts of stuff.  The house we have lived in for over 15 years was finally starting to feel like a HOME one project at a time.  I felt like I was going back to my crafty DIY roots and my brain went into overdrive.  The itch to CREATE & SHARE was born!

This Nurtured Home is our little space in the world to document the DIY’s, our special projects, organizational ideas, money saving tips, my healthy recipes, and a peek into our live’s.  Thanks for reading our story and for visiting us.