Where did my journey start? Honestly, I never gave any thought to eating healthy or using holistic remedies for myself or even my family. I ate healthy when I could, but it wasn’t a big deal to me.

I started my journey into a healthy, holistic and natural lifestyle when I was pregnant with my oldest son (who is now 6 years old). In my second trimester of pregnancy I was diagnosed with a rare pregnancy disease called Cholestasis. Cholestasis is basically a liver and gallbladder disorder that only happens during pregnancy. From that day forward I eliminated all fatty, junk food and began to eat healthier. Buying organic’s when we could and making sure I upped my intake of vitamin K and ate lots of leafy greens. I started reading labels and researching ingredients.

It was important to me, to make sure the remainder of my pregnancy was healthy! Especially since I had to be induced 3 weeks early as a precaution. Due to the fact there could be liver failure if I carried to full term (42 weeks). (Labor story for another day). As a result of me having Cholestasis my hands and feet itched really bad. When I figured out it was due to what I was eating. I adjusted my diet and it didn’t bother me as much. Even after birth I was eating a lot better and my gallbladder function went back to normal, and I felt better eating cleaner! That was the beginning of my journey of living a healthier more holistic life!

On my delivery day I found out that I also had preeclempsia. Due to this new diagnosis my doctor immediately put me on magnesium to have a safer birth. For me it was probably one of the worst ways to experience pregnancy and labor for the first time. Labor lasted over 24 hours. I couldn’t move due to being on a high dose of magnesium. Finally after almost 3 hours of pushing, my first child Benaiah Michael Crawford was born! I say all this to compare it to my second pregnancy. How different both pregnancies and labors were! All due to changing my lifestyle and what goes into my body!

During my first pregnancy in my second trimester, I also unfortunately found out that I had a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1).

NF1 is a condition characterized by changes in skin coloring (pigmentation) and the growth of tumors along nerves in the skin, brain, and other parts of the body. The signs and symptoms of this condition vary widely among affected people.

Basically over night my body went through a crazy change. I got these “tumor” mole like bumps all over my back and stomach. It was scary as I did not know what was happening to my body.

The more I researched what Nf1 was. The more I realized how important it was for me and my children to be as holistic as possible. We eliminated most all toxins and chemicals from our house. And started only using natural, organic household items. I started making my own toothpaste, deodorant and some cleaning products. We ate much cleaner. Only bought organic foods, and limited our meat intake. We limited dairy as we realized that our 1 year old Benaiah (at that time had a dairy allergy). Little by little we were making changes in our life, for a better healthier lifestyle.

Slowly we were moving towards a more plant-based diet. Every couple months we would eliminate certain foods from our diet. Because of how terrible we felt after eating red meat, that was the first thing we cut. We tried the blood type diet, and after 2 days already we felt a lot better. Only ate fish once a week, and everything else was plant-based. Our transition to a 100% plant-based/vegan lifestyle came shortly after both of our boys were diagnosis-ed with Optic Nerve Glioma.

In August of 2015 we noticed that Jedrek’s left eye was bulging a bit, and he had some sort of white tissue in the corner of his eye. We made an appointment with an on-call pediatrician, since his wasn’t available for a same day visit. The pediatrician told us it was nothing to worry about and it looked like a small infection. I honestly didn’t believe her. We gave it a few weeks and it didn’t go away. So I called his pediatrician again. Told her that we already came in for this, and whatever it was, it is not going away and his eye is bulging. Jedrek’s pediatrician gave us a referral to see a geneticist. Right away she wanted to Jedrek to have an MRI done, ASAP! Due to the bulging eye and the history of the NF1 in our family.

Jedrek had his MRI scheduled a couple days later. September 11, 2015.. September 11!! of all days… That day was one of the worst days of our life. Jedrek was put under anesthesia and a couple hours later he was done. He recovered fairly quickly and we were out of the hospital. We were told that we would get a call if they found anything. My stomach was in knots. We went to Target after we left the hospital. It was literally 45 minutes after we left the hospital that I got the call from the geneticist. I knew it was not good news. Usually don’t hear back that quickly, unless it is urgent. I honestly felt like I was going to faint, puke and cry all at the same time! Out of all places to hear devastating news, I got the news at Target over the phone!

The call went like this:                                                                                                                                                                                           Dr: Hi, Anna we have the results, are you able to talk and are you in a safe location where you would be able to sit down?       Me: Yes, (I thought no conversation starting like that can be good).                                                                                                       Dr: I am sorry to say that your son has a tumor in both of his optic nerves. The one in his left eye is quiet large and is the reason for the bulging eye. The one on the right is much smaller.                                                                                                                          Me: (As my husband is looking at me, I looked pale and like I was going to faint. The expression I saw back on my husbands face most likely mirrored what I looked like to him). I was speechless.                                                                                                     Dr: We need you to come back ASAP today, to talk to our specialist and get a game plan going.                                                       Me: (Barely muttering any words) Okay.

Hung up the phone, and instant tears flowing from my face. I remember feeling numb like there can be no worse feeling. Even as I type this 1 1/2 years later, these emotions and that sick feeling come flooding back. I cried on my husbands shoulders how can this be. So many questions and fears running through my mind. We were in the middle of Target crying, our kids confused. It was the worst day ever!! We finished our shopping, checked out, got some lunch and headed back to the hospital.

As if the day wasn’t long enough already. We came back to the hospital and we were introduced to Jedrek’s oncology team. Jedrek’s oncologist went over the scans and talked to us about his new diagnosis. The type of tumor he was diagnosis-ed with is called Optic Nerve Glioma (ONG). ONG is a rare type of brain tumor that grows on the optic nerve. It is an inoperable tumor, and the only treatment is Chemotherapy. The size of the tumor in his left optic nerve was so large that it was nearing his brain chiasm. Which is very dangerous, so starting chemotherapy asap possible was very crucial. More of Jedrek’s story to come in another post.

After informing our family and friends. We began to research what would be the best treatment/protocol alongside of chemotherapy. Because of Jedrek’s age Chemo was our only option to treat this type of tumor. In the research that I did. I found that a high alkaline vegan diet was the absolute best thing for someone with cancer. As well as someone going through chemotherapy. Plus with some of the food allergies that our kids have, vegan/plant-based was our best choice.

To add to the chaos that was our life now. The geneticist wanted to go ahead and have Benaiah our oldest son to have an MRI as a precaution (due to the NF1 mutation). We were hoping for good news, but instead our life got turned upside down once again. Benaiah was diagnosed with optic nerve glioma as well. We were relieved at the fact that his tumor was small enough to just be on watch. (An MRI every 3 to 6 months). Honestly we couldn’t deal with having both kids on chemo. I will talk more about my boys and the changes that we made for them in another post.

With all that said, there was a lot that contributed to our lifestyle changes. Not everyone’s journey is the same. But this is the best thing that works for my family as well as myself. Having a genetic disorder you have to research. And you have to research everything. A plant-based, vegan life style and only consuming and using organic products is what is best for not only myself, but my family as well.

We try to make our own products as much as possible. I make tooth powder, deodorant, some house hold cleaning product and we use essential oils for pretty much everything! When Benaiah was 6 months old I was introduced to essential oils and fell in love!! We have been using them ever since, and we are hardly ever sick!

I know that this was a lot to read, but this is only a snippet into my life! I am really excited to finally be able to write and share my (our) story.