Juvenile idiopathic arthritis JIA natural treatment plan that worked for Sean.
We discuss in this interview:
- Sean’s disease onset with severe symptoms and JIA diagnosis
- How pain had started showing since he was 13
- After being presented with the usual medications and their side effects, Sean and his family discovered the Paddison Program for Rheumatoid Arthritis
- From being unable to walk back to normal functioning in three days with juicing
- The evolution of Sean’s diet
- More energy through a vegan diet
- Sean is now able to play tennis again and is considering to take a scholarship
- A general health improvement after switching to a vegan diet
Clint – Today we’re going to chat with Sean, who was diagnosed around a year ago with JIA, that’s Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis or inflammation of the joints at a young age. He’s going to share with us how he’s doing today and what he feels like now one year after making massive lifestyle changes. So Sean, welcome to the podcast.
Sean – Hey.
Clint – Now, you and I have just met, what, 5 minutes ago. I know that you’ve had a big transformation with your health and to set the scene for people, maybe it’s moms and dads listening to this who may have a child with JIA diagnosis. Or maybe it’s an adult with inflammatory arthritis who loves hearing success stories of people who reverse symptoms with inflammatory arthritis. Typically JIA is taken very seriously and it is given significant medications quite similar to adult medications for rheumatoid arthritis. The prognosis is very serious. It’s like considering a lifetime with this condition, with lots of symptoms and struggles and so on, and disease management. Before we even hear about any of that, how are you today, one year after your diagnosis with JIA?
Sean – Amazing. I feel painless.
Clint – So what does it feel like in the morning when you get up? Does it hurt to step onto the floor? Do your fingers have tightness?
Sean – No, sir. Everything works like it should, and there’s no pain or anything.
Clint – Okay. And how many medications are you on?
Sean – Zero. No medications.
Clint – Okay. What about painkillers?
Sean – No painkillers.
Clint – Okay. Diana. Mum, you’ve just joined us. Welcome.
Diana – Hi. Thank you.
Clint – We’ll hear from you in a minute, but I just want to explore Sean a little bit here. Now, a year ago. What happened? I’ve just said here that you’ve got this JIA diagnosis, but you wouldn’t have even heard of this before a year ago. Right? So what happened? Did you wake up and you start to feel some pain? Just walk us through that.
Sean – Yes, sir. So, we had a cooler that leaked, chicken. And I helped my mom clean it up, and I ended up getting salmonella. And that same day, I went to work, and, um, I didn’t feel so good, uh, throughout the day. Um, and later that night, I came home and I felt kind of sick. I went to bed, and the next day, I woke up paralyzed from the waist down. I was unable to move my lower body and I was very sick.
Clint – Wow.
Diana – He suffered from a pain down his leg on his right side. It was from his lower back down to his down his leg. We did not know exactly what that was. Thus, we kept taking him to different specialists to see what it was. They just said it was growing pains because he had gotten so tall, so quick. They also said it’s just the ligaments and they haven’t adapted yet to the height. So that’s just all. There wasn’t much they could do about that and we went about our business. However, all that started about when he was 13. Then, he was playing soccer, he would go on the bike and do all kinds of activities, just like a normal boy. However, a little at a time, he stopped doing the activities because he was in just so much pain. His leg wouldn’t let him move that much to the point where he had to stop all his sports. He had to stop his soccer and he had to stop riding his bike. He was also doing a little bit of tennis at the time. He had to stop that. He would miss so many classes. At some point, we just said, we needed to stop because he couldn’t even walk. He just said, it’s just there’s just this pain on my leg and I don’t know what it is. I was taking him to acupuncture to try to see if they could help him. We were just trying all kinds of things, and nothing was working. Then, the specialist didn’t find out what was going on until he got sick. Then, you can go from there after you got sick.
Sean – After I got sick, my mom immediately took me to the doctor and they said that I had salmonella. They said that it may have been just a reactive thing from salmonella.
Diana – So, we went to more specialists and they said, we needed to do an MRI to see what was going on. His numbers were so high and his CRP was something like 8000 in his GI and the numbers were like out of the roof. They’re like, something is going on other than just the salmonella. They did two MRIs and they found they took us to the pediatric rheumatologist, and the doctor said he has juvenile idiopathic arthritis. We had never heard of that and we didn’t know what that was at the time. I kind of looked at her and we’re looking at each other like, I don’t know what this means. She’s like, it just means that he has arthritis for youth. Then I said, I don’t even know how that’s possible. She went down and explained to us what the traditional treatment is, which is a form of chemotherapy medication. A lower dose is given to them for a year or 2 or 3 years depending. It’s just to shut down their system and hopefully with that, after a certain amount of time, they’ll try to reboot their system. Then, see if it’ll work properly again, but during that time, you just have to be taking all this medication and doing steroid shots and whatnot. She was adamant about letting us know how good it was and all the side effects. There were a lot of really bad side effects. She said it had a black label, and I didn’t even know what that meant. She’s like these are treatments that this is kind of how everybody treats it. This is the pathway that you guys have to take, don’t you? I was just so overwhelmed I started to cry. When we left the doctor, it was just kind of like in shock because we didn’t know. It was just like a lifetime thing that all we heard is like, this is for life. This is going to go away and there was nothing.
Sean – It was just more like IVs just once a week or something. There was a terrible thing to hear, especially for a teenager, who wants to be out doing things and being able to go to work and spend time with my friends. Then, to hear that, for the rest of my life, I’ll technically be able to walk normally again without having to do what the doctors want me to do.
Diana – Then, we came home and we said we had to go home and think about this. My husband, Sean Casey, and myself are like, this is a big this is a big decision. We can’t just make a decision that quickly.
Sean – Mom started frantically looking on the computer for treatments and cures.
Diana – Then I told my mom, and my mom also started looking. Then, we’re like there has to be something else that other people are doing. We found different people online, but there’s just so much out there and it’s so overwhelming. When you get such news, you go into panic mode, but with that panic comes a lot of information at you from all directions. We were just trying to make sense of everything. People were saying so many different things and it was just very confusing. Thus, we ended up I kind of just had to take a step back because I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I couldn’t I didn’t know how to help him. He was in pain and he couldn’t walk. His leg was swollen and it was just an awful time for him. I told my mom, my mom found you online, and she said, I found this. I found this program online and it might be helpful. I don’t know, just check it out. Then, I started looking at it, and I started comparing your program and what you were saying compared to other people. I was just like, this makes sense because it’s very scientific within what you’re saying. You had actual proof you weren’t just talking. It was just like, and this is why. Then, you would explain it. I said, look, let’s go ahead and pay for it, and let’s find out what all we can do. Thus, it is how we ended up finding you through my mom. Then I said, Sean, you have two choices. You can either go with the medications or you can go with what this gentleman is saying.
Sean – She let me think about it and I slept on it for a day. I was just like, I go the medication way, it’s probably going to hurt me in the long run because they don’t technically. They said that I have to be on it for the rest of my life. Then I said, if I have nothing to lose, I might as well try this too. Thus, that’s kind of how I decided that I’m going to try it. We kind of went from there. It was just like like, like a whole lot of juice and that was the biggest part for me that I don’t like juicing whatsoever. Especially because I was such a meat eater, rice and all this stuff. And, uh, when she’s. Yeah, when she told me, um, you also start, uh, eating more vegetables and drinking juice every morning and every day. I’m just like, is it too late to do the medicine? Then she’s just like, yes, it is.
Diana – However, I let him make that decision because it’s his body ultimately. He is a minor, but I wanted him to feel that he’s making this decision for himself. He asked me, what do you think I should do? I said, well, this is what I think you should do. Ultimately, you have to make that decision because it’s your body. You’re going to be living in it, not me. Does it affect us all? Yes, because we all love you. We’ll do what you want us and you know what you want us to do. Then he said, I want to do the juicing. We just went straight to what you said right off the bat. It’s when I reached out to you and I said, I have this young man and I don’t know what to do. I think the best advice you could have given me is that you’re going to have to compromise. This program was made for adults, but he’s still a young man and growing, and he needs different nutrition than adults do. Then when you said that, I was like, I get it. Then, what I did with him, I said, we’re just going to do this hardcore Sean. Like if we’re going to go, we’re going to go all in. Then, we ended up going and doing the juicing, just like you said. He was just on the cucumber and celery juice for days and just a little bit of the greens with lime, and that was it. It’s what he ate for I don’t know for a long time.
Sean – It felt like a couple of months.
Diana – It was a long time since we did that because what happened was his, his whole leg, and everything was so swollen that we couldn’t get it down. When he started taking the juice like within, I think it was within three days he was able to finally get up, and stand up. Yeah, but he couldn’t walk very well. However, the swelling was a little bit more manageable. Also, it took him probably a good month of trying the juice and trying the juice for him to be able to walk from inside our house to the backyard. Thus, it was a huge deal because he couldn’t even walk.
Sean – I just got out when she was taking the dogs out in the back. I felt that I could stand up and walk outside. I hadn’t been outside in such a long time. I was just like, I’m going to do this. I walked outside, I walked to the back and she started freaking out. It was an amazing feeling.
Clint – Mom, how did that feel watching your son walk?
Diana – I was crying and I had a video of him when he walked. I saw him. I’m like, Sean, what are you doing? I was like, no, sit back down. He’s just like, no, Mom, I think I can do this. I was just like, okay. As a mother, you’re like always trying to be like, no, no, no. However, it’s his body and he knows his body. Then, he started walking and he started moving his legs and he started bending his leg up and down. I’m just like, oh my gosh. Then, he’s like, I’m feeling really good, mom. From there we just kept doing the diet, like you said, incorporating a little bit at a time.
Sean – At that point quinoa, black beans, and sweet potatoes.
Diana – For a long time and that’s all he had for a long time. It was his salads, his juice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and black beans because that’s what sat well with him. We tried some white rice and it didn’t sit well. Then, we did wild rice and it didn’t sit well with him at all. He started his legs started swelling up all over again with wild rice. We didn’t know we don’t know the logistics as to why that happened, but we just knew that it wasn’t sitting well with him. Thus, we just kept on that diet. I think six months into it, we started incorporating cassava flour tortillas, which are just three ingredients. It’s just the sweet potatoes, cassava flour and salt. I would make it kind of like that. Thus, he could have a variety just with the black beans kind of make like a burrito kind of thing. He could have that instead and we just kept at it. We did the vitamin D, which he still does the omega and he does omega three’s. Now, he just started tennis again and that’s so exciting because he had to drop tennis. He had a visit with his rheumatologist about 2 or 3 months ago, and she said, I don’t need to see you. I don’t need to see you anytime soon, so we’ll see you next year. She also said you look fine. She hasn’t been down, jumped, and did all kinds of things. Then, she’s like I don’t see anything wrong with you. I know they have a hard time being on board with the way that we do things. Also, they don’t necessarily approve of what we did, and they don’t acknowledge that food is how we healed him. Thus, they came up with all these reasons as to maybe it was like reactive arthritis from salmonella. However, We know that that wasn’t it because he was suffering from pain from age 13. That was just a trigger, kind of like your story. When you had the food poisoning, it was kind of the same thing happened to him that it was just kind of like took him over the top.
Clint – Yeah. The last thing that you said was, and I think this is important for us to clarify. Again, you said so classic medical, which is that it must have been a misdiagnosis rather than acknowledging something that they know nothing about. Thus, what we’ll do is we’ll cut out everything, like the dropout and stuff. Just elaborate a bit more about the symptoms that he had when he was 13 until the salmonella incident.
Diana – The symptoms that he was having from age 13 were severe pain.
Sean – It was a severe pain down my back through my right leg. It was a very painful like stabbing pain throughout. I would be limping and I forgot how to walk properly.
Diana – Yeah, to go to therapy to learn how to walk.
Sean – They kept telling me stuff like it was growing pains because I was 5’11” and I jumped from 5’11” to 6’3″ very quickly. I can understand but I could feel that there was what they were doing wasn’t working.
Diana – As I said, it was just this severe pain, and he kept complaining. The more time passed, the less he could do. It was just gradually getting worse. Even though we were taking him to specialists and they were doing X-rays and stuff, they couldn’t find anything. Until the salmonella hit and when he got sick with salmonella, it was it was just horrible. It is because he went from being able to kind of limp around and walk to not being able to do anything. He woke up in bed and he was his legs were swollen. His body was swollen and he was screaming. He doesn’t complain about pain usually. When we went to go see him, my husband and I, started like we were wondering what happened. We came upstairs, he was in his room and he was crying and he’s like, I’m in so much pain and I don’t know what’s going on. My husband and I had to, like, lift him. He’s such a big boy and we had to lift him to take him to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he was throwing up and he was bleeding. It was just an awful experience, but the worst part is that he had no movement from his waist down like nothing.
Sean – I couldn’t even move my toes or whatever.
Diana – If we touched him, he would scream like we had to pick him up.
Sean – Yeah. It was a painful scream.
Diana – Then, we had to lay him on his bed. Even just trying to get him on his bed was horrible and to try to turn him was horrible. Like, it was just the pain, something I had never, ever experienced. I’ve been through labor and that was just something that I’ve never really experienced before. Especially when you see your son doing that, you just feel so bad that you don’t know exactly how to best help them. When I heard about your program, I was just like, we’re on it because the alternative was the medication. We’re a family that I don’t even give Tylenol to my kids when they have fevers. From them to just say we have to give them a form of chemotherapy, and these are all the side effects that could happen to him. I think he’s just started his life and he’s just a little kid. He doesn’t need to be on such harsh medications. I was like, and I did ask the doctor. I said, how do you know that this is going to work? She’s like, we don’t and we’re just trying to see if we can reboot his system because this is what is done. She also said that this is no guarantee that it’s going to work. This is just what’s done.
Sean – We’re going to see what’s going to happen.
Diana – Then, we’ll go from there. Then I said, well, what if it doesn’t work? She’s like if it doesn’t work, then he just has to stay on it longer, or he might just have to keep having IVs or medication or steroid shots for the rest of his life. I think that doesn’t sound right to me as a mom. It doesn’t sound right. When we went home and after, you know what you do as a parent, you usually cry for a while and try to make sense of everything. Finally, I was just like, I know something’s wrong, but I need to know exactly how to help him naturally. It’s when my mom jumped in and she found you, and we jumped into your program. Then, we ended up doing your program and it was such a life changer. We can never repay you because you have changed the course of his life. I know that we hear that a lot about your program. As a mom and as my husband, my husband is working right now, he couldn’t be here. From the bottom of our hearts, we have no words to express how grateful we are to you and to your knowledge and everything that you have provided. It’s because of you and what you have discovered, you have given him a chance to a different life. It is because he has gone to the rheumatologist and he has gotten his labs pulled. They were high numbers and they were horrible numbers. A little at a time, we would pull his labs again and they would the numbers were coming down a little bit. However, slowly for a while there, they were just stagnant. We were like, we didn’t know what to do. As you said it just takes time, just keep at it and don’t give up. He’s a teenager and he wants pizza, burgers, and everything. However, I was like, we just got to stick with it, Sean. We just need to stick with it and let’s see if it works. Let’s give it a chance. I am so grateful to Sean that he was humble enough to be able to make the sacrifice of not eating the things that he was accustomed to and do this for him, for his health.
Sean – Right now, I’m currently vegan. No oil, no sugar, no dairy, and I just eat plants. I know to most people sounds boring. Um and disgusting. However, in the long run, it’s giving me more energy than most of my friends. My vitals and numbers have all come down to a very wonderful percentage.
Diana – We just had his labs pull the CRP and the SED rate, which we had to fight for. It’s because they didn’t want to pull him. It is because the rheumatologist is like, we don’t need to pull them, we don’t need them. Then the GI doctor said, we don’t need them, we don’t need to pull them. I finally went and I tried for many for a long time, for months to try to get them to pull them. They refused to do it and so I went to his pediatrician and I said, I need your help. I only need two things, and I need to see what it is. She’s like, well, you need to ask your rheumatologist. I said, no, they’re not wanting to help us. Can you please help us? She’s very sweet and we’ve had to compromise with her as well because they’re very traditional in their ways and the doctors. However, she has worked with us and she knows kind of how we do things at home. She’s like, okay, let me see what I can do. She ordered the labs and we were able to take them about two weeks ago. He got his labs and she called us. She had her nurse call us. Then, she said, I just wanted to let you know that his labs are perfect. Like, they are amazing and there’s zero inflammation, nothing to be concerned. He’s right where he needs to be and here he is. He said, Mom, I think I’m ready to go back to tennis. Then I said, okay.
Sean – Remember my first time being able, after I started walking as she gradually had me walk a little bit throughout the day. She’s just like, just kind of get back into it. Then, I went to physical therapy for a little bit just to learn how to walk again and properly. The pool therapy helped quite a bit.
Clint – In the pool? Yep.
Sean – Yes, sir. I was doing that, and little by little I was able to regain the ability to walk. Then, one day, my mom was in the back again. I decided that I was going to run from the front of the house to the backyard today. I was just like, nothing’s going to stop me. Then, I went and ran from the front of the house to the backyard.
Diana – He was like a little boy. He was running kind of like Bambi on brand-new legs. It reminded me I’m just like Sean, and he got his dog. We have some dogs and he got his dog, and he was running with his dog. It was just the most beautiful sight I had ever seen and he had the biggest smile. He’s like, Mom, I can run. I was just ecstatic that I could see him my son doing something completely different. It was against everything that the doctors told us. The doctors were so upset that we didn’t go down the path that they wanted us to go.
Sean – They were so trying to convince me personally.
Diana – They were making us feel guilty like that. We were bad parents, and we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do. Being responsible, I almost feel like we were abusing our child because we weren’t following the protocol. I was just like, I had to be very assertive, careful, and just downright a little bit rude. Not too rude, but just enough to be like, no, this is what we’re going to do. I know that they don’t believe it. Even to this day, they won’t acknowledge that the food is what healed them. Sean said something very interesting about the juice.
Sean – It was just that they couldn’t technically accept that. They went to school for such a long period and in six months, I was able to take a cucumber and celery juice and heal myself like that.
Diana – When we went to the doctor, not this last time. But the time before, a few times before we went in there. There were just so many children in the pediatric rheumatologist, there are babies. There’s babies, and they’re all getting shots and they’re all getting this medication. I’m not saying that I’m a medical expert, but I do know that as a mom, the first thing that I would do always is see, what can I do first. That’s the least invasive thing and see if it helps. Then, gradually work your way up. However, I wouldn’t just jump right into giving medication just because the professionals say so. It is because this is your child’s life and all those medications have such side effects. He went in there and they gave him an iPad to check to see what side effects or what you know, and what complications he has feeling.
Sean – That out for 15 minutes.
Diana – It was everything from he’s like who bleeds from the eyes, Mom. He’s like, is this real? I was like, they have to put everything that has been at some point a problem for somebody, right? There were just lines and he just kept checking.
Sean – I remember probably the most memorable experience. When I was sitting in the office, my mom went to talk to the doctor. Then, I was sitting next to a couple of the other kids that are in the office. I’m filling out the iPad and I turn to one. Then I looked, and I was just trying to say hi. Um because she didn’t look very happy. I was just trying to see if I could be comforting by any chance. She asked me what I was in for, and I said that I had juvenile arthritis. I’m here to technically be released. She was asking me, and then I asked her, how long have you been here for? She says I’ve been here for about four years and doing the same thing. She says that I’m just sad that it doesn’t seem to be working and that I won’t be able to walk ever. It kind of destroyed me right there. I was just like, I wanted to say all the things that that would happen, but there’s just certain people that just won’t listen. It’s just very painful to see that parents sometimes will just go directly with the doctor and neglect what their child wants. It is because one time my mom and I went in there, we heard a kid saying, stop, please help me. His mom was pushing him to get more shots.
Diana – He was asking for help and he said no more, please. He was in a wheelchair and he was all swollen. He had a mask on and was probably no more than eight years old. He was asking his caretaker, who is his parent. He kept crying and he sounded like he was stuffy. He didn’t sound good and he’s like please no more. I’m just like, I didn’t know what to do. I was just so distraught because I was like, do I intervene? Do I not intervene? However, the mom just kept pushing the wheelchair into the doctor’s office or the nurse’s office or whatever it was to get the shots. I’m thinking if the mom isn’t on his side helping him, then he doesn’t have anybody. I know that they think they’re doing the right thing, and in some cases, it might be necessary to do some stuff. From where we’re standing, we didn’t do any medication at all.
Sean – I had no side effects whatsoever.
Diana – They said you have to give them some pain medicine just for the pain. I said I’m not going to give them any pain medicine. He’s just going to have to suck it up, but that’s kind of like my upbringing is just like if you unless you’re dying. Then, you’re just going to kind of deal with it. Some people have a higher tolerance for pain than others. But I said, we’re not going to do any painkillers because what I remember hearing from your program is that all these NSDs or NCIs, whatever, is that? They affect the gut, and it’s the lining. The breaking of the lining is what’s causing all these autoimmune diseases. I was like if those are causing it, and if I give them more to kill the pain. Then, I’m just hurting him more and I’m not helping him because I’m just going to hurt him more.
Sean – It’s like putting a band-aid over a wound.
Diana – I was like, we’re not going to do that because it’s just going to affect you more. He’s like and there was a lot of pain.
Sean – She found me turmeric like turmeric painkillers or natural painkillers. It seemed to be working a little bit and it’s been a very humbling journey to kind of bring me back down to where it’s just like you could be doing something one day. Also, taking things for granted. Then, the next day, something like this could happen to you. It’s why you always want to make sure that you stay healthy and do what’s best for your body. If it means that for the rest of my life, I take my juice every day and eat salads. Then, stay on my diet the way I am to walk and do the stuff that I want and live. Instead of eating pizza and burgers and stuff like that. Then, I would rather stay vegan.
Clint – What a story. Sensational. Thank you. I can feel the emotion is still raw. I mean, this is all only over the last 12 months. This is all just very fresh. I can feel that you just jumping over each other and adding to the story and the recollection of what’s going on. Thank you for sharing. At that level of passion, sometimes I do these interviews, and then we get to this point and there are comments below. But what is the program like? What are you talking about? You haven’t mentioned it. For those people who don’t know, it’s the Paddison Program for rheumatoid arthritis. People can just Google that and it is in the link below for this video online. There are modifications exactly like you said, Diana. Now, this isn’t designed for children. I think it’s important to point out that we’re on the same page here, that this isn’t against the medical profession’s approach. This is just everyone making their own decisions, given that we can make decisions in our lives. You have said, let’s try this first and see how we go. It’s created euphoric results and doctors have now said, okay, you don’t need to come back. We’re not suggesting that everyone go down the same path, everyone needs to consult with their physician and make their own decision. If they do want to do what Diana and Sean have embarked on here, the modifications are crucial for children, so please contact us to get those modifications. If you do choose to go down that path, whoever’s listening to this and who’s inspired by this story. Sean, what is in the future for you? What do you want to do next? I know you’re back to playing tennis. What does this inspire you to do something like? Like, what kind of spread this message over and above, obviously what we’re doing here. Is it something that you’re now passionate about that you feel like something about that so very few people do?
Sean – Yes, sir. I would love to go to school to be a rheumatologist, but not traditional medicine. I would love to be able to do pediatric rheumatology for kids and give them an alternative. Sometimes I know that they actually might need traditional medicine. However, I want to be able to mention that I know some people, and I’ve personally been on it throughout my life. It’s helped me and I would like to help out other children like that.
Clint – Amazing. How are your grades? How do you go to school? It is because to get into rheumatology there’s a fair bit of an academic bar to jump over. Is that something that you feel that you might be able to achieve?
Sean – Yes, sir. Anything is possible. My grades are, I would say, somewhat pretty good. I would like to get a tennis scholarship to be able to attend school. It is because tennis is something that I love to do, and it’s one of my hobbies. I’m good at it. I just want to be able to spread the message of what you were able to do for me. I could maybe go and help and change somebody else’s life. That might be like what happened to me.
Diana – Just have options. Sometimes when you’re a parent and you’re in that situation, you feel like there is no other option. That’s the only option there is what the doctors tell you. If we can start spreading the word that there is an option they can try it. If it works great and if it doesn’t work, then at least they know to try. However, I say try it first and what’s the worst thing that can happen?
Sean – You have nothing to lose at that point.
Diana – You have nothing to lose because you’re in a really bad situation at that point. The last thing that you need to do is jump into something that is just so permanent. The damage can be so permanent with medications, especially those types of medications that they use for this. I think why not try a natural way, see what happens, and give it a chance to work? It’s not going to be an instant fix. It takes time and the numbers that he has and where he is, it has been a sacrifice of a year. It wasn’t immediate and it’s a maintenance thing and you have to keep maintaining. That’s what I told Sean.
Sean – I asked her, I said, why isn’t it working? We were like a week and a half in, and I’m just like nothing. I said the swelling’s gone down, but I’m not able to walk still. She says that it’s a gradual thing. You have to keep on it and one day we will get there.
Diana – Here we are a year later. It took a year of, but what a difference in a year. I mean, so much has happened in one year at the same time. It feels like it was when we were in it. It just felt like it was never going to end. We were never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, we’re there and we see the results. His labs are perfect so much that I don’t want to see him anymore. At this point, it’s just it’s just a matter of him maintaining his diet. Sometimes when you start feeling great now, it’s like, well what next? It’s like you can start incorporating some more foods a little at a time and see where he is. Now, we try something and he sees how it works. If he says I feel fine, he can continue to add it to his diet and his diet is quite extensive now.
Sean – It’s a very extensive diet.
Clint – Yeah. Are you able to eat everything in the plant-based kingdom? Everything from avocados, nuts, seeds, tofu, and carrots?
Sean – Yes, sir everything.
Diana – He prefers garbanzo tofu like a tofu made out of garbanzo beans. He likes that one better. I think he says it’s silkier but he can eat just about everything. He even started incorporating some ice cream and that’s like a gelato ice cream. He can have it now. It’s because he wasn’t able to have any sugar at all. It was a big deal for him to finally have ice cream.
Sean – Then, we found a vegan pizza because I love pizza. Although it does have a small amount of oil, we were able to manage that. Like, I won’t just go straight up cooking stuff in oil. However, if it’s pre-made and I’m out, and I have nothing else to eat. It’s something that I’m able to do without hurting myself.
Clint – Yeah, great. Of course, you can cheat those things into your diet on the odd occasion if you need to. Just make sure that you have your leafy greens on hand.
Sean – Absolutely.
Clint – Some oranges or orange juice, if you’re tolerating that is a fabulous way to offset the free radicals associated with cooked oils. Also, the grape seed extract is a great supplement to take if you’re out and about. You’re struggling to find either of those other two, the leafy greens and the oranges. I can email you the details of that afterward if you want. Grape seed extract it’s a great protector against what’s called lipid peroxidation. Thus, that is awesome and you’re living the dream now, Sean. You’re saving the planet by not eating animal products. You’re saving the animals, and you’ve saved your own body. How good does it feel?
Sean – It feels amazing.
Diana – He has friends and people all the time. Naysayers say you can’t survive on a vegan diet. You can’t do it and he does not get enough proteins. We had the doctors tell us you’re hurting yourself. You need to eat everything he needs. He’s a big boy and he needs to have this protein coming in from the meats, dairy, calcium, and all this stuff. It’s hard because it’s so ingrained in everybody that that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s very difficult.
Sean – I won’t even get sick now that I’m doing my stuff. If I have like a cold, it lasts maybe like a day, and that’s about it.
Diana – We have to be mindful that not everybody is on the same page as we are, and that’s okay. If they are open to listening, then we’ll share. However, if we see that they’re not there, then we just say, okay and we walk away because good luck. Somebody said you can’t survive on that diet and you’re just going to hurt yourself. You’re not getting enough proteins. We pulled all his labs and his protein levels are perfect.
Sean – People forget that the ox eats grass.
Diana – Do you want to get big and tough like an ox? Then he’s like, but the ox eats grass. Everybody says they want to get big and tough by eating meat. It’s like, it’s not necessary. Do you have to be mindful of what you consume? Absolutely, but it is possible to have and he is probably the healthiest he’s ever been since he was a young kid. We always consider ourselves healthy eaters, but he’s healthier.
Clint – That pain that he had from 13 onwards down the side of the leg, and all that’s gone.
Sean – Yes, sir. I’ve been pain-free for about maybe three months now. I’ve been able to wake up in the morning and not feel any pain whatsoever. The nightmare is over and I can’t thank you and your team enough.
Clint – You’re welcome in capital letters. It was Melissa’s idea when we were going through all this, as we started to get perfect labs. Like yours, I started to feel normal again. She said, if we put all this together and it just helps one person, it will be worth it. Thus, it was what we did and that was the first version of this. What it is today began as just one big long e-book that I sent to someone in the mail. It was the first thing we ever did, and it just grew from there. It was Melissa’s idea. Let’s share what I’ve done because she could see the future in it. I’m going to be telling her all about this conversation, that’s for sure, because it’s like, for this exact reason.
Sean – Tell her I said thank you.
Diana – Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing all that you’ve learned. There is just a lot out there and your program is solid.
Sean – It’s backed up with facts and proof.
Diana – There are people from all kinds of different walks of life who are seeing the same things. They’re talking about it in a very intelligent way. They are not just talking just to talk or saying, this will work and you just do it. Trust me, it’s proven and they have the proof there where you can. If you sit down and start reading these articles or start listening to the people, I was just immersed in it. I was like on it morning, day, afternoon, and any time of the day. I just had my AirPods in and I was just listening to it because I just wanted to absorb as much as I could.
Sean – Watching all your YouTube shorts on Facebook.
Diana – Just everything from your program, all the people talking, and everything that was available to me. I was just trying to get as much information as I could to help him the best that I could. Thank you to Melissa. Thank you to you. I’m sorry that you had to go through it, but it was such a blessing to us because of that he has a chance, a different chance of life than he could have had otherwise. As I said, there are just no words to thank you. My husband would have loved to be here to say thank you to you as well.
Sean – Now, I can and my birthday is August 31st, so it’s like Saturday. Thanks to you, I get to enjoy another healthy birthday. Thank you.
Clint – You’re amazing. It’s more than welcome and it’s just so wonderful to hear. Sean from here, man, this is something that took me. I was in my late 30s until I felt this in my body. However, you get to feel at a young age that you can now achieve anything in life. You’ve overcome the biggest hurdle in your life at a very young age. The discipline, the commitment, and the fortitude that it takes to go through what you went through is the biggest life lesson to now carry forward to know that you can do anything. Becoming a medical doctor, for example, whilst there’s a ton of work in it, that’s well within your scope. I mean that is now so much more, what’s the word? The mountain seems so much lower given the experience you’ve had with this.
Sean – Absolutely.
Clint – Yeah. It’s going to make you the most incredible man. Someone who’s a great father, someone who’s a great husband at one point. All of it comes from this experience at such a young age. Whilst, it was the most awful thing that’s ever happened, you can now also take it forward and say it’s one of the best experiences to shape me as a human being. Thus, that’s a gift and think of it like that.
Sean – Yes, sir, I will thank you.
Clint – Also, look at how it’s helped you with your mum as well, as the relationships with your family. Think about 20 years from now, the bond that’s been created in just the last 12 months for you and your family. It’s because you’re a team, you work together, and you stick by each other no matter how hard things are. Your family dynamic has just been tightened and strengthened like never before, so that is another wonderful outcome from this.
Sean – Yes, sir.
Diana – He’ll say it was all thanks to you. I was like, no, we were a team. You had to do your part because I can only give you the information and provide the food. However, it’s up to you whether you eat it with you have to be proactive. You have to do your part and the teenage years can be tricky at times. There were times when we just had to walk away for a little bit. It is because it can be daunting sometimes for somebody to be like, I don’t want to eat salads. I don’t want to do this or why does my friend get to do this? I don’t get to do this and so at times there was conflict. There were those hard moments and it’s not it wasn’t all rosy. It was a very difficult journey.
Sean – I think what helped the most was that she said, she’ll do it with me too. My mom got on drinking juice and doing that, and pretty much my whole family, my dad, and everybody. Usually, in the mornings, we’ll drink juice altogether and eat salads throughout the day.
Diana – My husband still, he’s a meat eater and my (inaudible) is too. They like meat but Sean has gotten to the point where he’s just like, you know what? Don’t stop because of me, I don’t like meat and I don’t need meat. I can control myself and I don’t need it.
Sean – I know what’s good for me.
Diana – Yeah. He started working again and they put him in the meat department sometimes, and he had to be there. It’s kind of ironic to me. I was just like, they could have put him in the produce department, but they put him in the meat department at times. He just does his job and then he comes home. The fact that he can stand up, he can walk, he can do everything that he’s supposed to and more. It’s just an amazing thing. He’s looking forward to getting a scholarship through tennis. I mean, that’s a big deal to me. I saw him running around out there on the court. I just had to take a video because I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I was sending it to my husband. I was like, look at Sean just look at him. Can you believe this? At times we still can’t believe that this is where we’re at. This is just a blessing. Thank you so much.
Clint – Amazing. The requirement now from this point onwards is just to not test the system with too many cheats. It’s the life of Pi now, right? You’re in the boat with a ferocious animal. You’ve learned how to tame the beast. The beast is calm and it’s not attacking you. You’re in the boat, but there’s proximity. What you do now is you just remain in this rhythm with the beast that’s been tamed for the rest of your life. You don’t go and start poking the lion or the tiger in this metaphor because it will bite you again. This means that we stay as active as we can. We live the happiest life, socialize with friends, laugh with friends, do fun activities, do all the things we enjoy, listen to fun music, and do all these fun things. We want to also get lots of sunshine, and be outdoors right? Build as much physical strength as we can in parallel to your tennis and activity. Make sure you have a gym routine, get active in the gym, and build more strength around those joints that were affected. To be in particular, the hips because that’s where you were getting a lot of pain coming down the legs. The knees protect the knees. Make sure you have a great range of motion by building strength and then doing stretching. Just basically treat your body like it’s the most important thing. With the food, never eat deep fried especially deep fried oily meals from restaurants because they multi-heat the oil. It’s not just terrible, it’s disastrous. If ever there is some oil, only a tiny little bit is ever allowed. Also, make sure you have antioxidants with that meal. Even if it means you have to say hang on guys, you order that food, and I will have that but I’m just going across the road to the convenience store here. I’m just going to get myself a little packet of leafy greens or maybe a little bottle of orange juice. Something, if you know what I mean because it’s just not worth it. I’ve been there and I’ve been through this whole thing. I’ve had a big setback and recovered again. You just got to make those little decisions at that moment. The oil-cooked oil, especially restaurant-cooked oils, will unravel you. Thus, just be so careful.
Sean – Yes, sir. The last thing is alcohol, smoking, and all the drugs and stuff going on right now. I remember my friends asking me, like, so what happens when we get older and we go out to drink? I’m just like, well, I guess I will be the only sober person driving you back. I can go have a nice cup of orange juice with you guys or water, but that’s about it.
Diana – It’ll keep them out of trouble.
Sean – Keep me out of trouble? Thank you, I appreciate you.
Clint – You’ll find that when you enter into university or college, as you guys call it. I’m not saying your current friends aren’t going to be friends for life, and they’re not awesome, wonderful friends. I’m just saying that there are so many people at college, and there are so many different walks of life that you’re going to find. There are so many different types of social groups that you can be part of, and not all of them are going to be mad drinkers. There’s going to be a portion of them who could be well into the lifestyle that you have as well. It opens up, like the sun rising into opportunities for friendships and social groups and everything. It’s a new world and it is a fantastic world. Let me tell you, you’re going to love college and it is amazing. When you get into that, you’re going to then have your friends who like partying and you might skip the drinks. Then, you have your friends who you do all these other things with, and life’s just amazing. Everything changes as you go through these stages.
Sean – Yes, sir. Thank you.
Diana – It does. When he had gotten sick with salmonella, it had already been a difficult time for Sean because he was in pain. He had lost his best friend to a tragic accident a couple of months before he got very sick. It was a very difficult and dark time for our family. We were dealing with grieving from this accident to his getting sick. It felt almost like just everything came down all at once. It was a dark time for Sean, but I think this has helped him so much to put things in perspective to try to enjoy life. To be right with people, and to do the right thing. Even if you get angry or you get upset, try to just make amends because you never know what’s around the corner. As Sean said, one minute you’re doing this, the next minute you might not be able to do that. In his young life, he’s had a lot of different experiences, and they’ve been a little bit of a hard ones more than most kids. I think that this has just given him, like you said, that strength that he’s going to need moving forward, making his life and his choices. If I overcame this, then I can pretty much do anything that I set my mind to. Will it be easy? No. Things that are usually worth doing aren’t very easy. If he was able to do this, then I have full faith that he can do anything, and I’m so proud of him.
Clint – You can sense it and you know you can. I’m looking at it and you can just sense it. I’ve got this or I have got this and bring that into your tennis. When you’re practicing alone against the wall or hitting balls from a ball machine or whatever it is, like why do you want to do all these things much more than everyone else? That’s the advantage you have. Everyone else has just got their father or mum. Just saying, I want my kid to grow up and be great at tennis. You’re like, I got, this is my reason and this is coming from the heart. This is coming because I’m on a mission. Let’s train for another 30 minutes or let’s get there in 30 minutes. Whatever it might be, there’s just a greater purpose, and you have that fire now.
Sean – Thank you.
Clint – You guys have been amazing. Thanks, Diana and Sean, for sharing. What an incredible story! I appreciate you putting this to the public so people can watch, learn, and listen. It is because you put yourself out there by doing this, and I’m grateful for that. There are going to be some people who sort of Pooh Pooh this and say, oh, you should be still listening to the medical community. There’s going to be some people and these are the people we’re trying to touch who say, thank you. Thank you so much, because this is what I needed to hear today. I needed to know that my body could heal and that there was hope. I needed to be uplifted by Sean’s story. Thank you guys.
Diana – You’re welcome. Thank you as well and we hope it can make a difference in anyone, even one child and a parent, to give them hope that there might be a different way than I think that it’s worth doing. Thank you.
What a wonderful and encouraging testimony. So happy for young Sean, a very mentally and emotionally strong young man. Congratulations for your persistence.