Lisa Douthit developed her first cancer at age 25, having had no prior health issues before. She noticed that she was having trouble breathing when exercising and a few other worrying symptoms. A chest x-ray showed a baseball sized tumour on her heart that required open heart surgery to remove.
Her attitude at the time as a strong, independent woman was “I’m going to deal with this and charge my way through” so, she married 9 months after and began getting on with her life.
The second cancer came along a year later for which she received chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
All in all, Lisa has experienced four different cancers and has three autoimmune diseases that she now lives with and needs to actively manage which are: Myasthenia Gravis, Lupus and Hashimoto’s.
Lisa had been told that she would never be able to have children as a result of the chemotherapy and radiation so she was completely unprepared when visiting her doctor with worsening symptoms, to be told told that she was pregnant.
Lisa went on to have 3 children in four years with an 18 month gap in between. Dealing with the cancer had been difficult enough but it wasn’t until she developed autoimmune disease commencing with Myasthenia Gravis, Lupus and later, Hashimoto’s that it finally began to break her down, literally.
The Myasthenia Gravis began when she was away with the children on her own and suddenly developed double vision one night.
When she woke up the next morning, she was having trouble standing. She had to somehow drive herself and the children back home which was a very stressful event. Once home, her sister helped her organise getting some tests done, and the diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis was given, which completely changed her life.
Lisa eventually became completely bedridden, could barely move, had difficulty breathing and swallowing and at one stage, was unable to eat for a full year.
She felt broken, traumatised and hopeless. Constantly being hauled into ICU by paramedics so often, kept her highly anxious and hyper vigilant of her body, all of the time.
The MG meant that she was incredibly sensitive to any form of stimulation so there was little she could do but lay in bed. She watched friends she had made in hospital die over the next years and began to think that maybe they were the lucky ones.
Her children felt like the only things that kept were making her keep her tenuous hold on life. Lisa lived for those five or ten minutes a day that her three children could creep in and snuggle with her in bed.
It was at her worst that Lisa began writing her book “Wellness Warrior – Fighting for life in fabulous shoes” which became a #1 best seller.
After helping to heal her trauma, Lisa now manages her illness using a twice yearly immunosuppressant chemotherapy drug, which completely wipes her out but helps to control her AI conditions.
This is such a wonderful story of transforming pain and suffering into strength and purpose and creating meaning through the experience.
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Lisa Douthit is a Master Healer and the author of #1 Bestselling Wellness Warrior – Fighting for Life in Fabulous Shoes (for more info go to lisadouthit.com). After struggling with four bouts of cancer (non Hodgkin lymphoma, thymus, thyroid, skin) and three different autoimmune diseases (Myasthenia Gravis, Lupus, Hashimotos), no one understands the physical, spiritual, and emotional rollercoaster better than she does.
Episode 29: How Jessa overcame pregnancy loss, managed Motherhood and built a business with Hashimoto’s