How Wit & Wellness Came to Be & the Small Steps That Shaped It
I never planned to write a personal story.
I’m someone who values evidence, clarity, and practical answers. Wit & Wellness did not appear out of thin air. It grew out of 25 years of lived experience, curiosity, frustration, and a lot of learning I never expected to need.
So here we are.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, confused, or defeated by your own health, maybe my story will help you feel less alone. And if you skip straight to the recipes or the science-backed tidbits, no pressure, truly. But if you’re wondering “Why this website? Why now?” this is how and why it all began.
Before Everything Changed
I’ve always been drawn to truth. As a kid, I ricocheted from one dream to another: veterinarian, marine biologist, psychologist, teacher, Peace Corps volunteer. I wasn’t aimless, I was curious. I wanted to understand things deeply, especially the things that shaped people’s lives beneath the surface.
By my late twenties, I was a single mom doing my best to carve out stability for my son and myself. I flirted with big dreams, including returning to school for veterinary medicine. But as the application deadlines approached, clarity arrived, blunt and unwelcome.
I chose stability for my son over ambition for myself, and I’ve never regretted it.
It was my first lesson in wellbeing: sometimes health is choosing what matters most.
The Moment Life Buckled
I married in 2000, and by early December, digestive issues crept in quietly, easy to dismiss at first. Stress, I thought. A stomach bug. Maybe both.
But within weeks, I was eating less and less just to avoid the pain. By Christmas, I couldn’t eat without regret.
One early morning, I realized: This isn’t passing. This might be serious.
A hospital trip followed.
A doctor said words that seemed unreal:
“I think you have Crohn’s disease.”
Tests continued. A CT scan revealed an abscess. My doctor paused mid-sentence, furrowed his brow, and looked at me differently.
“You need to be admitted to the hospital.”
Do not pass GO. Go directly to the hospital.
Twenty-four hours became 48, then 72. A PICC line. Total Parenteral Nutrition. Nothing by mouth. Test after test after test.
It became clear: my body was in crisis, and I didn’t yet have the understanding I needed to make sense of any of it.
Surgery, Fear, and a Body I Didn’t Recognize
Eventually a single option remained: surgery.
Two surgeons, one long incision, multiple organs affected. When I woke up, the world was fuzzy. I asked the same questions over and over; my husband patiently answered each one.
When I finally looked down, my body was unrecognizable, a 6-inch incision, surgical tape, and an ostomy.
Fear. Disbelief. Grief.
And then a vow:
I will learn my body. I will understand it. I will not feel this powerless again.
Learning to Live Again
Recovery at home was messy, exhausting, and deeply humbling. I was weak, dehydrated, overwhelmed, and terrified of food. My ostomy came with complications, including a severe skin infection, adding another layer of frustration to an already fragile season.
Nothing about it was graceful.
But slowly, I learned.
I documented every bite and every symptom. I followed my dad’s advice and wore an ostomy belt, a true game changer. I returned to work part-time. I rebuilt strength. I began to trust my body again.
On May 1, just under three months after surgery, my ostomy was reversed.
I walked out of the hospital feeling like I had reclaimed a part of myself, not because everything was fixed, because I was no longer powerless inside my own body.
The Awakening
Over time, one truth became impossible to ignore: Western medicine is extraordinary, but not whole.
It treated the crisis. It saved my life. But it didn’t address everything else that mattered.
I had followed every guideline, every direction. Yet I still felt lost in my own health. So I started studying nutrition, lifestyle, stress, environment, anything to help me understand my body more completely.
I kept thinking:
There has to be a better way to help people understand their bodies.
Becoming a Nurse
Eventually, that question pushed me into action. In 2008, I graduated from nursing school while raising two young sons. I worked midnight shifts and absorbed everything I could about human physiology, disease, behavior, and healing.
Nursing didn’t just teach me science, it taught me context, whole person care, and how to see lifestyle patterns beneath symptoms.
Meanwhile, I learned to manage the full spectrum of my medical history: Crohn’s disease, PCOS, infertility, migraines, depression, and the neurodivergent traits that finally made sense.
Food changed everything; inflammation, energy, mood, function.
Lifestyle wasn’t a buzzword, it was leverage.
Curiosity kept me going.
Humor kept me sane.
All of it shaped how I now understand health: not as a rigid system to master, but as a practice built from curiosity, compassion, and small, workable choices.
That understanding is what eventually became Wit & Wellness.
Wherever you are on your own path, I hope something here helps you feel a little clearer, steadier, and more at home in your own wellbeing.
You’re not alone in this. You’re going to be okay.
If you’re looking for an overview of what Wit & Wellness offers, visit the About page.
