Overcoming Adversity: Heather Krueger’s Journey of Resilience and Purpose

Getting shit done could mean a career focus. Entrepreneurship. It could mean being an amazing professional athlete, or it could mean dealing with the things that God puts in front of you. They said once they saw me in person, they told me I had less than 50% chance of living. Another two months, I got a phone call from the doctor and she said, Heather, I don’t think you’re gonna last another three months.

You need to come to the ER tomorrow morning. And I laughed. I laughed at it. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s actually a sign of strength because the hardest part of the whole thing is to ask for the help. You have to be strong to do that After the transplant, dealing with the physical recovery, if I had a hard day mentally, I was in so much more pain.

Mm. I was more tired and that’s when I really realized how much these things are interconnected. My whole liver came out and I got 55% of his, and within two to three months I believe it was my lip portion I got and his liver grew back to full size. That is so cool. Yeah. There’s one thing that all champions have in common.

They get shit done, so welcome to the Get Shit Done Experience. Wow. Well, well we are back at it again. Yes. This is the Get Shit Done Experience, also known as the GSDX podcast at you. Can find [email protected] dx podcast.com or wherever you’re listening to us right now is a good spot as well. But if you wanna play along and check out some other episodes, see what we’re up to, maybe, uh, inquire about sponsorship or being a guest, you can go on the website.

Right. And that’s a good spot. And then you could find us there or you could like and comment and I’ll probably comment back. Be nice if you’re not nice. I do bite back. Okay. I just wanna make you aware of that. Probably not great for branding, but I will bite back unless you’re nice. You don’t have to be super nice.

You could speak the truth and be authentic, but don’t be mean. Right, Heather? Exactly. Exactly. That’s Heather, Heather Kruger. And you are about to hear a story that is super inspirational. So those of you that are dealing with some sort of mental or physical health, this is gonna be one that you’re gonna want to tune into, especially if you’re at the beginning stages of the process, especially if you are.

Going through the trials and tribulations. If you’re concerned, if you’re wavering, if you’re not knowing how you’re going to face adversity head on, this is a human being that is going to absolutely light up the microphone the same way she lights up the camera and she’s going to give you the goods.

We’re talking about an unbelievable story, perseverance, grit, determination, passion, energy, and a lot of other things that we’ll get into. But you’re gonna hear it all today. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the one and only Heather Kruger. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming. You drove a long way and I played a little joke when she walked in.

I said, I’m sorry, who are you again? And you should have seen the look at her. No, you should have seen the look at her face. It was actually pretty funny. It was pretty funny. Okay, so let’s go back in the way back machine. I. Um, as you know, when we do these episodes of the Get Shit Done Experience, we want to kind of patch together, uh, the clues of success, right?

People have all different ways of getting shit done, but there are a lot of commonalities as we’ve talked about. Getting shit done could mean in a career focus. Entrepreneurship. It could mean being an amazing professional athlete, or it could mean dealing with the things that God puts in front of you.

It could mean dealing with, with, um, uh, trials and tribulations and getting to a point where you could then advance your career and set a tone for the future, which we will talk into the back end of this podcast because the future is bright, baby. Okay? The future’s bright. We got a shining star here, but let’s go back to the way back machine of how this all started.

You are training mm-hmm. To be a nurse. What year is that? I was in my first year actually, of nursing school. Like what year though? Like how far back? We talked Oh, what year? This was, um, I wanna say 2013. 2013, okay. Right. So you’re in your first year to be a nurse. Was this always the dream? Was this something that you, you, you had looked forward to your whole life?

Did you fall into it? Were you really good at putting bandaids on people? Like how did you decide you want to be a nurse? So, I, it wasn’t like this lifelong dream, but I always enjoyed taking care of people. Okay. I had, I was fortunate to have both sets of grandparents live within 10 minutes of me. Oh. That I was extremely close with them.

So I knew I wanted to do something in the healthcare field, decided on nursing, and then because of my personality and needing. A little bit of chaos and drama. I decided I wanted to do er. Okay, but I didn’t get that far. But care to elaborate on the personality that would cause one to want to be in an er.

I think just the excitement of the unknown. Okay. In. Every day is a new ordeal. Yeah. And keeping me on my toes, uh, I feel I get bored easily. Yeah. So I needed that. I understand that. Yeah. There’s always savings, but it’s about way more than savings alone. Total Technology Solutions Group, redefines managed print services excellence is the minimum standard.

TTSG is a true managed print service provider. Deeply understanding your technology and business goals. Your business is unique. Our solutions are tailored to your current and future business goals. Our customer first approach empowers and delights. TTSG can ensure your technology environment will scale as your business does.

So as you navigate business and constant change. Partner with TTSG for premium advisement and seamless implementation of your technology goals. We set the bar high. Your people deserve it. Peace of mind. Powerful innovation. TTS g.com. Yeah. I have a, uh, I have a bit of a, um. Of a similar situation in that, like if I, I’m kind of like a shark.

If I’m not swimming, I’ll die. You know what I mean? Yeah. It’s kind of like I have to be busy. Um, what do they say? Like, uh, what’s the, what’s the term? Um, idle hands or the devil’s work, right? Yes. Right. So you kind of need to be moving simulation. Yeah. I need the simulation. And it gives you purpose, keeps you moving.

Yes. Yes. So you’re in, you’re, you’re in it now. You’re in the, in the first year, you’re moving and shaking. Mm-hmm. And, um, how’s the rest of life going? Overall, it was pretty well, um, I was living on campus at that point, but, uh, I started having some symptoms, some health related symptoms. But, you know, life was going good.

Yeah. I was excited. I, like I said, I wanted to do er or ICU, one of ’em to keep me on my toes. Um, I. Meeting new people at school. Excited. Yeah. So, so like life is just getting going and, and you’re in that really cool age where you’re freshman in college or whatever. Right. So you, you, you were starting to feel some ailments, but pro maybe weren’t sure if that was just a hangover or not.

Right. You’re at that age. Right, right, right. Am I sick or am I still drunk? Right. I can’t tell. Okay. So, um, you’re starting, what, what were the symptoms? What were the ailments or what were you feelings? Stomach related things? Uh, pain feeling like I was having food sensitivities wasn’t having in the past.

So. Minor. I mean, nothing like super alarming, but noticeable. Yeah. In, in some, um, fatigue. But again, it’s like, okay, I’m away at school and I’m up late and I’m skipping class. Mm-hmm. Is it just circumstantial? Yeah. Or is something else going on? Okay. So, uh, you, you’re, when do you get to the point where you go, okay, it’s not that I just can’t eat that food anymore, like I, I need to go see somebody.

Like what was the tipping point where you went, okay, this is a concern now. So probably over that year. I actually decided to come home because it was like, okay, it was affecting me so much. Yeah. And at this point, okay, I wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t, I knew I was eliminating things. I knew it wasn’t that, and I started going to my primary care gastroenterologist because I was extremely tired.

Like the fatigue was nothing I ever experienced before. Hmm. No matter how much I slept, how good of rest, never feeling refreshed. And for me to not wanna go out to a party or get ready Yeah. Was not like me at all. Okay. So, so a bit of, a bit of a party girl is what you’re saying. Okay. And now, so, so now you’re pissed off ’cause you can’t go to the parties anymore and you’re feeling fatigued.

Right? Like the thought of showering and it’s wearing you up, getting ready up Really? Was that bad? Yeah, just sh just like getting outta bed was becoming exhausting. Yes. Okay. So what are your parents thinking at this point? ’cause you’re still young enough where you’re, you’re in their care, right? Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Um. They were a little concerned, but again, it wasn’t like these extreme, besides the fatigue and a little bit of pain, like the right upper quadrant of my stomach, nothing else really. So I came home, they were a little concerned. I came home, I was working part-time then as a nursing assistant at a nursing home just to try to do something and I couldn’t keep up with the rigorous, uh, schedule of a nursing program.

Okay. I mean, when you’re struggling to keep up with the patients, that’s a problem. Yeah. Well, and, and I wasn’t even at that point yet. It was more just the classes. Oh, the classes, okay. Got it. Yeah. And being able to keep a certain grade and them only allowing you to miss like one class. Yeah. When I’m going to doctor’s appointment, it just wasn’t working.

So I started, um, at a, uh, community college for medical assisting. Okay. Still in, you know, the medical world, but not nursing and. Went to primary care, got blood work, ultrasound, CAT scan, and they said everything looked fine. And I’m like, that’s so interesting. Okay. So you’re like, you’re, you’re learning about all of these things.

I mean, like, you’re in it, right? You’re, you’re learning about, uh, symptoms and, and disease and cures and mm-hmm. Medicine and all these things. Right? So, and then you, you’re feeling all these things. You go to a doctor, isn’t that the worst feeling for anyone listening? You know, you don’t feel right. And you go to the doctor and you’re like, I like, everything feels wrong.

And they’re like, well, labs look great. You look fine. You seem fine. You’re like, but I’m not fine. Yes. And what do I tell my employer? Right. You know what I mean? Like, right. Right. Because I can’t work right now. Mm-hmm. But you’re saying I’m fine and I know I’m not fine. Right. And that just goes to show you that that’s why they call it practicing medicine.

Right. Because it’s not a perfect science. Um, they’re striving for that, but it’s a practice. Okay. So what, what does that do to you internally? Like mentally when you go home and you’re like, ’cause I would imagine when you went to the doctor, you’re like, today’s the day they’re gonna tell me what it is.

They’re gonna match the medicine. I start feeling better, I get back to life. Mm-hmm. Instead, it’s like, oh no. Mm-hmm. I still don’t know what’s wrong. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mentally that was tough because obviously when you go for blood work or tests, you want everything to come out fine. Mm-hmm. It’s not like you’re, you’re anticipating bad news, but you know your own body and you know.

How much your lifestyle has changed, how much things have, have shifted in your vision of where your life is going is not on track at all. Yeah. And you get everything. It looks fine. Labs are great. Okay. Come back in so many months. And it’s, it’s a depressant in a way because you know something’s not right and you put your trust in them, in, you know, the doctors.

Yeah. And then it’s like, damnit, like it’s, it’s a, I’m not gonna swear. It’s a mind f basically. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, something’s outright and deflating. It’s trial error. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so like timeline wise, now you, you leave school, how long are you dealing with this? Where you’re feeling it and then you go to the doctor and they’re like, everything’s fine.

Is this like a few months, a year? This was probably a year. A year of that. Mm-hmm. And I was always like. Just because I didn’t know any better. I was always very traditional western medicine. Mm-hmm. And the thought of something holistic or Chinese medicine Yeah. To me at the time. Um, and I was young, like it was just woo woo.

Like, you know, I, what, what is the natural doctor gonna do for me? Yeah. But I got so desperate in that search of trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I went to a functional medicine chiropractor doctor. Okay. And he was the one who ended up tipping off. No kidding. Yeah. How, how would a chiropractor figure that out?

I don’t, I did think that at the time. So he did more in depth testing, um, not to get gross, but he did like stool tests. Sure. Further, um, that would be a good thing to test and indicator. Right. So it showed food sensitivities. It showed, I had leaky gut. It showed I had a worm in my intestines. Really? Um, and then it also showed him, based off of some numbers that.

Traditional labs just don’t really test was I was, so I was 23 4 at the time. I was at high risk for stroke and heart attack based off my triglycerides. They were in like the four hundreds. Um, another number indicator of inflammation. He said in his 25 years, he never saw a number that high. Mm. And something was going on with my blood and he’s like, I’m not sure what it was.

Well, what it ended up being was I wasn’t clotting, my blood wasn’t clotting. Oh no. And that’s a big sign of that’s a, a big sign of liver disease. Oh. Can’t be one of the things. Also super dangerous. I mean, cut your finger like Yes. Yes. Okay. So this is unbelievable. Like a chiropractor of all things. You go to these unbelievable doctors that have all the equipment, all the science, and um, they miss it.

And I’m sure. If you pulled them in a room, they feel terrible about that. Right, right, right. Certainly no intention to that. Right. Go to a chiropractor and the chiropractor does all these different types of tests and finds it, so then obviously a chiropractor can’t treat it. So like, does a chiropractor communicate with the hospital through, like, do they even look at the Easter medicine side of things and give it merit?

So he put me on, you know, um, he looked at nutrition and supplements. Mm-hmm. Where even to this day, a liver specialist is going to tell you not to be on any supplements, to be, to be careful. So basically if I would’ve done things differently now, I would’ve had them in communication back then. I didn’t know.

Yeah. I asked from a hole in the wall. So Yeah. I didn’t have them communicating. I mean, I know how you feel and it’s not back then. It’s right now. So, um, I told the doctors, well, I told the doctors what he suspected. And also to your point, as far as not being able to stop bleeding, I ended up in the ER because I had a little scratch on my face and it wouldn’t stop bleeding for six hours.

Okay. So the ER doctor’s like, do you have any liver issues? Well, and that’s, so that’s how it connected. Did you purposely cut your face? No, I’m gonna show them. Watch this. Okay. So finally the doctors recognize, um, because of that, and so like all these kind of breadcrumbs now are starting to add up. Mm-hmm.

So you go into the er, the doctors go, okay, this is an issue. Mm-hmm. And what’s, what do they tell you at that point? So they tell me, oh, by the way, you’ve had CAT scans and ultrasounds, but. That the type of imaging doesn’t really show if there’s any damage to organs. It showed that your gallbladder was a little sluggish.

There might be a little backup as far as digestion, but it doesn’t really show if there’s any damage. So, interesting. Right. So it shows the function, like what’s functioning right and how it’s functioning, but doesn’t show like the level of damage if Interesting. Okay. Like what Is there No, is there no science for that yet, or just at that point?

No, at that point. So this was 11 years ago, I believe. They have a couple different scans now. Yeah. So you were kind of a product of the time. Yes, too. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, of course. Well, it wouldn’t be a great story if everything worked out. You, we wouldn’t even be here right now, so I’d be bore.

Yeah, exactly. Like go to the chiropractor, Heather, you’ll be fine. Okay. So. Now they, what do they do? How do they, they figure it out now. They said, uh, based off your numbers, we’re gonna do a liver biopsy. But since you’re not clotting, and typically we would take a needle, stick it in your side, your liver, take out a sample and test it.

Um, you would have internal bleeding. So we have to go through the jugular vein in your neck with a catheter down that way and pull a sample out. Oh, oh yeah. You’re just filled with good news. Wow. Okay. So through the jugular, not something I often hear on the podcast. Gotta be the first. I had a guest threatened to karate chop me in the jugular, but.

So they run a, they run a tube down through mm-hmm. Your neck to your liver. And a biopsy essentially means that they take a piece Right? Right. Correct. And then they bring the piece back out. Mm-hmm. And then they test it. Yeah. And what does the test say that it was stage four, not alcoholic fatty liver disease cirrhosis Two weeks before my 25th birthday.

How does that even happen? Like what, what would’ve, could the worm have had anything to do with that? Like, is is like, is it a, is there something that was in your diet for years? Is it chemicals? Like how does that even happen? So that’s, that’s the question. I kind of went on a deep dive these last, I wanna say three years.

Um, I just, I sort of took their word that they didn’t know why they, they, I went to a Mayo Clinic also. I. Got the same diagnosis. They’re pretty good. Yeah. I’d say, yeah. I’d say they’re decent. Yeah. And, uh, university of Illinois in Chicago and Mayo both said it was autoimmune hepatitis. Oh. And they said something triggered your body to attack your liver.

Hmm. But with the research that I’ve done and kind of diving into the natural side of it is our body is always trying to heal itself. Yeah. We’re always trying to, we’re always in attack, aren’t we? Right. Isn’t that what your white blood cells are essentially doing? Is they’re, they’re attacking things within your body to it might be a threat.

Yeah, yeah. Or so I asked, I said, okay, well if it’s, it’s not from alcohol, you did rare genetic testing, it’s, you ruled out all the different hepatitis. You just, and to tell me that I need a transplant and this might happen again because we don’t know what caused it. Um, I feel, to your point, as far as, uh, the stomach issues, what I’ve learned is.

There’s so much more to gut health and inflammation and chronic inflammation that maybe my body was just more susceptible. That was a weaker spot. But I think all my stomach issues leading up to that were signs that were kind of missed and unfortunately Interesting. Took a, well, Heather, we did some research before you came in and we called three of your college roommates and we have them here today.

If you wanna bring them in, I’d love for you to bring them in. They, they have come here to say that we’re not so sure Heather. Hey, I’m not saying we called the local bars. I’m not saying that I didn’t do my first share spark. You’re bring in the roommates, but yeah. Alright. In this envelope we have false heart.

Alright? So I have to make light of it because it’s a great story and, but in the moment, this is tragic. I mean, you are absolutely devastated. Your family’s devastated by this. Um, I have to make a joke of things so that I don’t cry. Oh, I’m a crier. Me too. You know what I’m saying? Like, so, um, but I mean, how, how tragic you’re, you’re at the most beautiful stage of life, in my opinion.

The early twenties are just awesome. I mean, it’s just awesome. You think you know everything, honestly. You know nothing but in your mind. You know, everything. You’re a giant, you’re 10 feet tall, you’re tough, your skin is perfect, like all the things right, right. Abs I only had two of the six, but those two are awesome.

Um, so like all such a great stage. So how, like what’s now going through your mind mentally? Um, mentally she, I was told this in person and they said, because you’re young, you have no preexisting conditions, no diabetes, cholesterol, any of those things we could possibly reverse the damage. Okay. So that’s a good some time.

Yeah. Right. Well, fast forward three months, I turned completely jaundice yellow and started hallucinating because I thought I was losing my mind and did not know or wasn’t given the explanation. It’s called hepatic encephalopathy. So when your liver and your body isn’t detoxing properly and those toxins start to build, they go to your brain, your ammonia levels rise, and that causes hallucinations.

And I started hallucinating. Okay? First time, um, the following day I got a phone call from the doctor ’cause I just had labs redone. And she said over the phone, mind you, she said, Heather, I don’t think you’re gonna last another three months. You need to come to the ER tomorrow morning. And I laughed. I laughed at her.

Why did you laugh? Because I thought. Were you hallucinating? I wasn’t that day. Okay. But I laughed because I was like, there’s no way I’m going anywhere. This lady, I don’t care. Yeah. She’s what her title is, my mindset at the time, and probably part my personality, part the age and thinking You’re in Vincent.

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. And nothing can take me out. Um, that was my initial reaction. And then she’s like, Heather, I’m, I’m serious. Like you need to come tomorrow morning. Okay. Can we hold that right there for a second? Sure. Were there any cool hallucinations, any cool ones? Every time it involves some kind of animal or bug, really, the very first one was steaks.

Flying at my face, like snapping. Did you write a movie about that afterwards? On an airplane. Okay. So there was snakes flying at your face snapping. Right. Lord have mercy. Yes. And I was screaming and crying, hiding under the blankets because like I said, that was the first hallucination. Yeah. And I thought I was losing Wow.

In my mind. But, um, unreal. Yeah. So you’re home with your parents at this point? Like they’re seeing this, they’re like, oh my gosh, she’s possessed. Right? I mean, I feel like this is just unreal. Mm-hmm. Okay. So now, um, now it’s serious. Yeah. Now it’s intense. Yeah. The other, you know, leading up to that, you’re dealing with a lot of stuff, a lot of discovery, figuring it out.

Right now they know. Now it’s, now the tests are starting to get accurate. Now the technology’s starting to advance right. Now it’s starting to get real. Real. Okay, so what happens? They tell you three months. All right. Enough of the jokes, right? Enough of the, enough of the superwoman stuff, right? Heather?

Lets get real here for a second. Yeah. Yeah. So do they tell you you have X amount of days to live? They tell you, hey, start saying goodbye to people. Like what’s the what? What’s the bedside manner? Mm-hmm. Well, at that point, I, so I went in the next morning to the er. My parents brought me in, the whole team, liver doctors.

Everyone knew I was coming. And at that point I was really out of it. Like it’s a blur to me. But I just remember, you know, it was the infectious disease, the doctor doctors, it was liver, it was cardiac. Everything you can think of. Plus it’s a teaching hospital, so you know you got all these students there.

Oh gosh. Staring an you like a specimen. Yeah. And at that point, and I don’t even remember this, my parents told me after, they said once they saw me in person, um, they told me I had less than 50% chance of living another two months. Oh point. Yeah. How do you handle that? Like it’s, it’s really odd when I look back because I don’t know if I could be as strong now as I was then if I had to go through it again.

Maybe just because of the knowledge I have of, of everything. But at the time it never crossed my mind that I was going to die. I never thought about like, Hey, let’s party it up, or let’s do a bucket list or end of life plans or anything like that. I never planned a thing. And it’s weird because I was speak talking to my mom about this recently and she’s like.

As bad as it was, she’s like, I never thought you were gonna die. There’s maybe there’s some power in that universal thought and that faith that caused that. Mm-hmm. Because I think if you, like, I’m a golfer, right? Mm-hmm. So if somebody told me I had two months to die and I went, well, here we go. Better go to church, talk to God.

And by the way, that’s 60 straight days of golf. Like that’s what’s happening. Fly me to a different golf course every day. I’m plane. That probably would cause you to surrender to the 60 days. Yes. But the fact that you just were like, didn’t even hear you. Yeah. Yeah. That might have been the thing. And part of it too is probably, in all honesty, I.

I was so exhausted and just to walk, you know, from here to the end of the block, my breathing, everything was so affected, I didn’t have the energy or drive to really go out Yeah. And do that. So that might’ve helped. A, so it was like, I can’t even do anything on my bucket list anyways. Right. So why have one?

Right. So then to your point with faith, it got to, well, what do I have left? What can I do? It’s my hope and my faith. Mm-hmm. Can’t take that from you, my mind, that you’re not, I’m not going anywhere. Mm-hmm. And that’s, that’s cool. What I think drove me to, yeah. What, whether it was delusion or whatever it got me through.

Well, that’s powerful is what that is. So 60 days they tell you. Mm-hmm. Um, what is the conversation with God? I. Did we have one? Did we have several? Oh, was there an argument? Um, did he, did he talk back? That’s funny. So there was a lot of, uh, arguments after the transplant when you start processing. But pre-transplant, there was a lot of conversations because I feel like at that point I somewhat, I was believed in God and had a strong faith, but at that point in my life, I kind of veered away from it.

Mm-hmm. Well, you were in your twenties. We all did. Yes. And, you know, not hanging with the best people and it affecting my relationship with my sister, with my parents. Mm-hmm. Because they did not like who you were hanging with. Yeah. The twenties are the most prideful. Age and pride takes you away from God.

Mm-hmm. And like. I think your ego. Yeah. You gotta become, I became hardened mm-hmm. Based off of the people I was hanging out with. Yeah. And it affected my relationships. So in a way, in my parents are like, Heather, why did you say this? I’m like, because I believe it in a way. I feel like, yes, it was extreme, but a lot of times with my personality, I need something extreme to happen or like a brick upside my head before I get it.

Yeah. And God was warning me like, you’re going down the wrong path. You’re going down the wrong path. And he stopped me in my career. Or warning you, but also potentially utilizing you. Yeah. Because you, you are the type of person that would fight through this mm-hmm. Overcome, have the poise and the awareness mm-hmm.

To reflect on it. Mm-hmm. And now tell the story. Mm-hmm. So that. Helps God. Yes. Yeah. Okay. No, that’s, that’s an awesome, an awesome point. We all, you know, we’re all being, we’re all being utilized in some way, shape or form. Some of us are still sitting on the bench. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you, you we’re gonna get our shoulder tapped at some point mm-hmm.

That, hey, you’re up now, so you’re gonna go through a little bit, I’m gonna show you what hell looks like for a few years. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, depending upon how you handle that, then I’m gonna light you up with joy. Mm-hmm. And, uh, abundance and opportunity. But we’ll see how you handle those two years of adversity, let’s, you know.

Mm-hmm. So, um, I think that absolutely. I think that, you know, I, I get a lot of people on this show. That are in a really good stage in their life. But there was a point where they had to go through the desert. Mm-hmm. And they got temp tempted. Mm-hmm. And they got all the, the difficulties and they had to overcome that.

And now it’s almost like, here you go. Right. You did it right. Here you go. Keep going. So, and, and by the way, don’t lose faith because just because you might just be right here and you’re just kind of staying right there. And nothing great has happened for you yet, but nothing terrible has happened to you yet.

And you just kind of, you’re like, you’re in the game, but like your number hasn’t been called yet. Good or bad, it’s coming. It’s preparing you so better be ready. So your number got called? Mm-hmm. So what happens next? 60 days? I’m still here. Still. Well, alright. End of podcast. Thanks. You ruin the ending, Heather, you ruin the ending.

Gosh, I hate to throw, I’m not watching the Titanic with you. I hate to lighten it up a little. Gosh, I wasn’t gonna tell ’em that for all they know. I know. Gosh, you ruined the end. Okay, well, we’ll get there. We’ll circle back. Okay. So 60 days, um, had my gallbladder out, take it out. They took your gallbladder out.

Mm-hmm. And do we need a gallbladder? Really? You, I’m asking that honestly. I don’t know. You survive without a gallbladder. There are some things, um, that can be affected digestion wise and as far as you metabolizing fats, different things like that. Okay. Um, that I’ve learned through chiropractor, functional medicine doctors.

Yeah. That I did not know, but no, you can survive without a gallbladder. Okay. Um, why would they, why did they go there first, I kept having gallbladder attacks and kept got it ending in the ER or getting admitted every, like two weeks. So they said enough of having you come back in here. Oh, we were on the first air base.

Yeah. They were like, all me, all Heather. Seriously. Like I even got my own private room. Oh, cool. Like, yeah, that was a perk. You know, you had to look at the silver line line. Yeah. Normally you have to donate money for that, but I guess you were donating a lot of money to them, right? Yeah. Okay. So the gallbladder comes out, what day, what day are we at?

Are we, are we still in that 60 day window? And now you’re like, you know, uh, we were probably about 60 days in, but rewind, uh, probably 45 days. I was put on the Illinois transplant list. Okay. For liver. Um, where were you on the list? So they do it based off of your blood work. Look at your liver is your kidney, and it’s called a MELD score.

So 40 is the worst. Basically you’re gonna die. Um, regardless of whether or not we give you a liver, you’re gonna die. Yeah. So I was at 30, hate to say it, but Okay. So you were at the bottom? Yeah, I was at, so yeah, I was at 32. So that. Probably boosted my name on the list a bit because of how severe it was and they said it was so sneaky and so aggressive.

So then 60 days later got the gallbladder out. About a month after that it real, I really started at Tank and they said, you should start looking for a living donor. Well still still keep you on the wait list, obviously if someone passes away. Um, but your outcome would probably be better getting a liver, part of a liver from a living person.

Okay. So just to keep this going timeline-wise, now, so this your freshman year of college is when we start, kind of started the story. Where are we age wise now? Are we two years in? Three years in, we’re about two years. Two years in two, yeah. I would say two years. So 21. Act? Uh, no. ’cause I went, so I went to community college for a couple years, first because I didn’t, you’re like 24.

What I want. Okay, fair. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Fair enough. So I’m, I’m a 24 at this point. 24, 2 4. Okay. Yeah. And what is the, what is the big thing that’s approaching? What’s the big thing coming? Is there a big surgery coming or is it just like, Hey, you’re on this list, you gotta go shopping and find somebody that is willing to do this, and then we gotta run all the tests on them.

So is it, how does that process work? Do you find somebody who’s willing and then. They get a test or you find like 10 people and you go, please get a test. And then you convince them to be willing, like, which one is, how do you do it? So at the time, again, I, it might be different now and there’s so many more.

I feel resources and support groups and whatever. At the time I wasn’t on social media too much. I believe I was on Facebook. I have a younger sister, Ashley, she’s three years younger than me. She made a flyer. So I picture my blood type, you know, the diagnosis, and I’m searching for a living, Don. Aw, anybody willing?

What a great sister. And um, so I did have different friends, family, family, friends come forward to get tested. And I didn’t even know that that, like living donation was a thing. I had no clue. So people came forward, the first thing was getting their blood type. So if they were compatible that way, the next thing was a liver biopsy, making sure you only had 10 to 15% of fat on your liver.

Um, further testing as well as if you’ve got this far psychological testing. Mm-hmm. So my sister was a blood match and a couple of my younger cousins were blood matches, but they kind of put them on the back burner. They wanted someone a little bit older ’cause they felt, one, they didn’t wanna put two sisters under the knife.

Yeah. And psychologically what would happen if my sister donated and I still died. Yeah. So, or what if your sister died? Right. You take a completely healthy person, then you, then your recovery’s gonna be completely Oh yeah. It wouldn’t even, yeah. So understandable there. Yeah. Good, good, good thought process by the smartest people in the world.

Congrats for being that smart to think of that. Um, so who’s the match? So this was, I was put on the wait list in June. The match came the following January, end of January. A family friend or a friend of my cousins who he worked with seasonally for the water department in a nearby town of mine. And I heard he was getting tested, but at the same time, like I never wanted to get too excited because yeah, it was just like an emotional rollercoaster.

He hears someone getting tested and it’s not the thing you get your hopes up for, I would imagine. Right. So I got a phone call from him saying that, uh, he was my match and he called. He called me. Oh, okay. Uhhuh. So how does that conversation go? Like so odd. Hey, nice to meet you. It’s so odd. Yeah. I would imagine like, well what You don’t know me, I work with water.

Right. And um, I’d like to give you my liver. Like how does that go? Basically, that was it. I got tested, Hey, I’m gonna be your match, or I am your match. Um. Do you wanna go for meet for lunch in like a week? Yeah. I’m like, what do you, what do you say? Like, ew, like wait a minute. Match for match.com or for my liver, which before shadowing there.

Yeah. Which one is it? Wait a minute. Tinder wasn’t even a thing yet. Okay. So yeah, that’s interesting. Hey, hey, we have matching livers. Wanna have lunch? Pretty much, yeah. And the next, that’s an interesting date line pickup line. Yeah. And the next week we met for lunch. Um, at that point, I, I was so exhausted I couldn’t even drive.

I had to have my parents drive me to the Mexican restaurant we met at. And um, my parents drove me to my first date too, but I was 10. So Embarra, I was 25. I’m, I’m a late bloomer.

We saw that movie with, um, Madonna in it. Uh, I think it was, uh, secretly Susan or something like that. Yeah, yeah. At town. At, uh, town and Country Mall. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I was serious. That was my first date. Really. Had to call my mom from a payphone. Hey, the date went terrible. Can you come get me please? Yeah.

Anyways. Alright, so, uh, you go out to lunch, parents drive you. Mm-hmm. What’s, uh, what’s the, how vibe? What’s the vibe here? Yeah, we, you immediately hugging, like, yeah, because I mean, it’s a different kind of a vibe. It’s like, Hey, you’re gonna save my life, potentially also, um, I’ll have the quesadillas. Yeah.

Yeah. It was, it was awkward because I mean. It was, I was excited to meet him, to see what he was like, but it was awkward too. ’cause I’m like, thank you. Like, what do you say? And at the same time, like I was trying to stay positive, but I’m like, until the day that the surgery goes down, he has the opportunity to back out or decide He, yeah.

Too afraid to do it. Which totally understand. But I’m like, until the day of the surgery, I’m a little apprehensive. Oh yeah. Like until I wake up. Right? Yeah. Okay. Because that day could have gone bad too. Oh. He’s like, now I’m not giving you my liver. Yeah. Don’t wanna piss you off. Yeah. Oh, you don’t wanna pay half the bill.

Okay, fair enough. No liver. So my understanding is there were more dates after that. Yeah, there were quite a few. Okay. We, so we establish a bit of a relationship with the liver donor. Yes. Yes. Okay. What, tell us about this. So two months later we had the transplant. Um, my portion was 12 hours. His was seven or eight.

Wow. Um, the power went out during the transplant. Is that important? A little bit. A little bit. You know, my poor parents, what in the world, Heather, what is happening? If something’s gonna happen, just, you know, what is happening. So the whole fire department had to come through. The backup generator generators didn’t kick on right away.

And I think, so they ended up nicking my bowel and had to suture it close. And it was said that they were like using lights. Oh my gosh. So I’m like, that’s when that shit happened. That’s when they did it. So thankfully, besides that, the surgery went well. Um, I didn’t deal with any. Um, rejection. Mm-hmm. I was still in ICU for about two and a half weeks or so, and it got a ton of media, uh, yeah.

Attention because it was like local man’s donating to Stranger and Okay. So he was getting the attention for the, we both kind of, you I would imagine both, but, but it, it is a pretty heroic Yes. Awesome thing. Yes. Because it’s not like he was family. No. Right. And, and or a neighbor. This is like somebody just two towns over that works at the water company that’s like, well, she seems nice.

I’ll give her my liver. Right. Yeah. I got, so I got fif, my whole liver came out and I got 55% of his. Okay. And within two to three months, I believe it was, uh, my lip, the portion I got in his liver grew back to full size. It’s amazing. Crazy. That is so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how’s the recovery for this and like, time, what’s the timeframe?

What’s it like brutal. Mm-hmm. Pain wise? Um, well, and it’s kind of funny ’cause they told me prior that, you know, I, we put on a ventilator and like a different tubes to keep me breathing. And typically it would take about two days for anyone who has a liver transplant to start breathing on their own again, be able to remove the tubes while they were wheeling me on the stretcher to the recovery room.

And I remember like seeing the light and my first thought was like, oh my God, I made it. And then I could hear the voices of the nurses saying, oh my gosh, she’s starting to wake up. So they just wheeled me into the recovery room and I was breathing on my own. They were able to take the tune up. Unreal.

You are a resilient bugger. I tell you what. Holy cow. Okay. So excruciating pain or so much medicine running through your system? Both, I’d say. Yeah. Yeah. And at that point I had been a year in pain, so my tolerance bring it up was, you know, pretty high. And they also told me that full physical recovery would take about a year.

They said first three months you’re still gonna feel just as shitty, basically. Six months you’ll start to feel a little bit more like yourself full year for recovery. Okay. Physically. So when do, when are you out of the. Out of the sitch, like when are you like, oh, okay, I can go home, I can start to do some normal stuff.

Like how long is that recovery process? Um, they had me up and walking pretty quickly. Okay. So, you know, just trying to start exercising. I would say where I felt okay, I can get out and be somewhat normal was nine months after where I started working part-time at a car dealership just to try to get some sort of slinging cars.

Like, come on down, meet Heather. Do you like Buicks her and her big scarf? Yeah. Come on down and meet Heather at a big scarf, Cecilia Buick. Well that’s cool, but so you, you, you got a gig. So now you’re starting to feel good. So what’s going on with the relationship? So that would be really weird to break up like, Hey, thanks for Li Liver Peace out buddy.

Never even really liked you. So that’s just ghost him exploded pretty quickly, the whole relationship. Um, I think it getting so much media attention too, and me being kind of in Lala land and just so happy to be alive. Yeah. Oh my gosh. You know, it, um, we were on, I mean, my, my inbox was exploding with the people reaching out to me as well as interviews.

Um, let’s go media coverage, like who’s who. So let’s see. Rachel Ray, I didn’t end up going on her show, but Oh, I did on her show. No, I’m just kidding. Rachel Ray, Ellen DeGeneres. Uh, Steve Harvey. Yeah. Um, to tell the truth, uh, TV show with Anthony Anderson. What about Ricky Lake? Let’s just get right to the really good ones.

Ricky Lake. No, Sally, Jesse, Jenny Jones. Jenny Jones. I was on the Jenny Jones Show in the audience. I almost caused the fight. Yeah. I asked a really mean question. If, if anyone wants to figure out, go on the internet and try to figure out the episode that I was in. The audience. I asked a question. I was literally Jenny Jones holding the microphone to my face.

I loved her in college. Um, and I asked, uh, a really mean question and it caused a, a fight between, between the, the baby daddy and the, and the, and the mom. And, um, the, and like the mom came to at me in the audience. The security had to stop. And it was, it was awesome. It was awesome. It was awesome. So, oh yeah.

To look into that. Yeah. So we have so much in common. Just kidding. Uh, alright, so, so do you go on the shows or they’re just reaching out? So they reached out to me. We were on the Steve Harvey show. We were on different radio shows. Um, we were featured in like Cosmopolitan Women’s Health Star Magazine.

Yeah. All different magazines and articles. Steve Harvey, oh, I’m not gonna say it again ’cause I’ll let you lead into that. But what he, uh, presented us with at his show was our, our honeymoon. Oh, okay. He gave you a honeymoon? Yes, yes. Wow. Yeah, he surprised us with it. So I wish I could do a Steve Harvey invitation right now ’cause I would try and like set up how it happened, but I just, it’s not coming to me.

I’m sure I’ll be driving home and I’ll be like, I got, it’ll just hit me and I’ll be like, got it down. Perfect. But we’ll have to edit that in. So. You go on the show and tell the whole story and then Steve’s like, and by the way, because of this amazing scenario. Mm-hmm. Show ’em, show ’em what they’ve won.

Right? Yeah. And door number one. So he gave us our honeymoon. It was, uh, five days, four nights, sandals Resort to Jamaica. Nice. So you’re married now? We were. Or he gave you a honeymoon? We were engaged. Okay. So I’m just saying it wasn’t like a bit presumptuous, like No, no, no. Here’s your honeymoon. It is like.

Oh no. Well, we’re not married yet. He’s, he’s like, care to go down on a knee and do it now. Like, try, talk about trying to get good television. Alright. So No, we were, we were engaged. You were engaged. Okay. So that’s pretty cool. Mm-hmm. So this is a whirlwind. I mean, this is all happening like fast. Like you’re super fan.

Nine months out. Mm-hmm. Next thing you know, the news, every newspaper Sally, Jesse, Raphael, Maury Povich, or is Jerry Springer, they’re all calling kind of turn. Luckily you are picking the good ones to go on, like Steve Harvey. Uh, and so you go on the show, you tell a story, he gives you a honeymoon. You guys gotta just be floating.

This is cool. Yeah. Like you go from, I’m gonna be a nurse and, you know, maybe, maybe 45 people a day will know who I am. Right. To boom. Right. And I also went back to school full-time. Cool. For occupational therapy. It’s okay. So. There was a lot going on. Holy cow. And I thought, you know, to, before we started, just talk about the mental health end of it.

I thought I was rocking. Oh, you’re out of the woods, man. Oh, I thought I was just, you’re good to go cross everything. Yes. This is just, yeah, like came out of the trenches and, but this is all worth it, like, because mm-hmm. The outside material stuff. Yeah. In that it’s the temptation. Mm-hmm. It’s that here’s the material stuff.

Oh, don’t worry about the fact that inside you’re totally broken a mess. Haven’t really dealt with things, haven’t gone through therapy. Not quite sure where your faith is at. Right? Like don’t worry about those things are, but here, here’s a honeymoon. Right. Here’s the news. Like it’s all the outside material stuff.

It’s all that temptation stuff. It’s an instant gratification. Oh my God. And it just glosses over it, doesn’t it? Yes. And you don’t, well I didn’t even realize, like you haven’t even touched, scratch the surface of healing or processing or not even close. No, not even. Okay. So when is, okay, I don’t wanna ask that question yet.

’cause that like, that’s like skipping so much of the guts of this. Okay, so you go in the honeymoon, how’s the honeymoon? Honeymoon was awesome. Just backstroke. I mean, they lost our, they lost our luggage for, well, of course they did. Heather five. Nothing has been smooth for you. Did you think that they, they were, did you think your luggage was gonna be in the room, folded in the drawers ready for you?

Of course they lost your luggage. Nothing is easy for you. Yeah. I mean, thank God I had my anti-rejection medicine on me. Oh gosh. And you know, thank God it’s right. So I made it through. Yeah. But bought a bathing suit and the, the little boutique there and we were words for, for $800. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You got a deal for you.

Right, right. Yeah. But other than that, I mean, we went horseback riding. We swam with the dolphin. Wait a minute. You went horseback riding after a liver transplant. You’re not worried about the bouncing. Ah. You know, I said I won’t do go tubing anymore. Okay. Yeah. That’s But the horseback riding. Yeah. I guess you kind of gotta do that on a beach.

And again, it goes back to kind of that invincible Yeah. Mindset at the time that, well, you really like to push the boundaries and test it. So the honeymoon, good. Parents aren’t too thrilled about that. No, I’m sure honeymoon’s good. Yeah. Had a great time. Yes. Come back from the honeymoon. What are the next steps?

Are we getting married? So, or, or you married, you’ve already gotten married now, that’s why you’re on the honeymoon. Two months before on the honeymoon. Get back. Are we talking to children? I guess I should have asked. So yes, I, they said that I could have kids, obviously I’d be high risk. Yeah, of course. And we had discussed it prior that I have cousins, a bunch of cousins who are adopted.

Okay. China, South Korea, Guatemala, Russia. So I was totally open to adoption and so was he So honorable Yeah. To do that. Yeah. So. Um, I wanna say maybe a year into our marriage we out of Crystal Lake, signed with an adoption agency. Great. Okay. And how did that go? Well, we got to the point of the home study, done all the paperwork, fees, all that, and we’re just waiting for a mom to choose us.

But there was a bit of trouble in paradise, so that didn’t work out, unfortunately. Now, was Paradise like the neighborhood you live in or where is the trouble? Married? Marital. Marital. Marital. Marital paradise. Yes. Yeah. Okay. And so this is a dilemma because the person you fell in love with is also the person who is the donor.

Right? So that’s kind of a messes with, and we still haven’t. Dealt with mental health. Right, right. I didn’t. So, and mental health now becomes a risk to physical health. Oh, absolutely. So help me understand. Sure. I never realized the extent how much you are mental. Like there’s no separation between the mental and physical health.

I realized that after the transplant, dealing with the physical recovery, if I had a hard day mentally, or I got into a screaming fight with my parents or my husband, or was emotional that day, those next couple days fouling my physical health, like I was in so much more pain, I was more tired. And that’s when I really realized how much these things are interconnected.

And we started having some issues, started going to counseling. And that’s probably when I started to realize, um, that I, that’s when I started to have. Almost a, a grieving process that I didn’t have that you, you’ve skipped. Yes. So it was like, you know, when someone passes away, you go through that, the different Okay.

The denial, the sadness, the anger, the, and I, the acceptance. And I, that’s what kind of triggered that for me. And you. I would get to a certain point where I’m like, okay, I, I think I’ve accepted things and then something would trigger and I’m like, oh, nope, nope. We have not accepted it. Yeah. And uh, that’s when I.

For me, like I always hated crying. So to me it was like, that was a sign of weakness. Really? Crying’s my favorite. Oh God. Now just kidding. Now I’m a little better. Yeah. Crying is terrible. I absolutely, yeah. Hated it. I would fight it so bad. Mm-hmm. But I realized that after a while that I was denying my reality.

And sometimes you gotta let it rip. Oh, you just gotta let it rip. Oh my God. I’m sorry. I’m a man. I don’t care. A good cry is awesome. Yeah. Sometimes I just need a good fricking cry. Critical. Get that thing out. Yes. Right. My thing is too, when I’m mad, I get sad. So like, I would be the person who’d be in a fist fight crying in the fist fight.

Like, like if you piss me off, I get sad first, and then I think I might, and then I get angry and that’s probably not a good time to be around me because then it, then it. But sometimes you just gotta have a good cry. So how many good cries do we have to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop? I, I couldn’t even tell you because at the same time, you know.

We were having all these interviews and I was starting to feel a bit of like a fraud because you had people, they want the happy story. Yes. And I’m like, I am not happy. Mm. I am not happy. And I’m going on camera like, yes, this is a blessing. I’m forever grateful. Like, who would do this for a stranger? Yeah.

Not taking away from that. And they’re, they’re forcing you through the question, asking to glaze. That’s a term that my children taught me. Glazing means that you’re making sweet talk about somebody costing over. Mm-hmm. So they’re, they’re asking you to glaze. Right. This human that did a wonderful thing.

Right. You’re forever Right. In debt to this, this human being in that regard. Right. But it was, was came to kinda realize that what I thought he was my true love in this fairytale. Mm-hmm. Was probably more of this extreme sense of gratitude Yeah. That I had for what he did for me. So easy to confuse. I would imagine though.

Yes. Like the euphoric love of somebody would do that for you. Right. And thinking, oh my gosh, if he would do this for me, what, what he, what else would he do? Yeah. He’s certainly gonna pick up his socks, Phil, do that. Oh, that’s not a story. Yeah. No. But yeah, that was the mindset then. And then the constant reinforcement from the media.

Yeah. And then you’ve married an angel. Yes. Yes. So the media, by the way, can I ask you a question? I want you to answer this obvious, uh, honestly. Yeah. Who’s better? Amir or Steve Harvey? Just. Okay, just save that for the end. We already know the answer, folks. Um, we’ll talk later. Yeah. We already know the answer.

It. Decision makers, this might sting frustrated with IT issues, security threats, and the stress of your technology infrastructure. Your technology should blend seamlessly with your business objectives. Technology infrastructure management with limited resources can be exhausting and counterproductive.

Do have an MSP but still have problems and technical hiccups. GSDs advisement, proactive maintenance, cutting edge cybersecurity, cloud solutions. Data backup and local 24 7 Help desk can change the game. Your technology should outpace your business operations to allow for growth and proactive strategies should prevent issues before they arise.

Get back your time and your money with GSD Drive business forward. Leave the technology to gsd gsd now.com. Now all of a sudden, your story is starting to get picked up in a way that people want to go beyond an interview. Mm-hmm. So tell us about that. Um, they’re flying us out to New York, to California.

California a couple times, Fox and Friends in, in Valentine’s Day weekend in New York. Um, like I said, to tell the truth with Anthony Anderson. And then one day Hallmark calls me, hallmark Channel calls me. Yeah. And I was floored, like, this has gotta be a joke. Yeah. I. If they only knew what was going on.

Right? Yeah, exactly. How am I gonna weave this one? Like, God has a funny sense of humor. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. So Hallmark calls, what is the, what are the steps to that? So it’s, it’s like a scout. Mm-hmm. Right? That calls you probably like an assistant producer or executive executive assistant or whatever. Mm-hmm.

And really what they are is they’re, they’re, uh, they’re a salesperson. They’re selling you on the idea of, Hey, we’re gonna take your story. It’s gonna be most, it’s gonna be amazing. It’s gonna blow up. You, you know, you’re gonna get endorsements. People are, this is gonna, you’re gonna get a book deal. Like, we need you to come out and tell the whole story, and we’re gonna make you look like a million bucks.

Right? Mm-hmm. That’s, is that kind of the, the pitch? So yes and no, like, because. They never promised like a book deal. They never promised endorsements. They said, we wanna make your story into a Christmas movie and Yeah. Jazz it up. Yeah, the Hallmark style put some tinsel on it. Right, right. Um, but they were very stern on like how much they would give us.

And, and like so many people think that I get, um, what is it called? Every time something plays money-wise, oh my gosh, I can’t think of the word. It starts with an R Anyways, they think every time the movie gets played, I get some kind of residuals. Yeah. No. Mm-hmm. No. Oh, shoot. Well, I’ll stop playing it. I had it on a 24 hour reel for you.

I appreciate that. That was so that was, I just had a TV with it just on a loop. Like at some point she’s gonna call and thank me for this. She’s gotta be loaded by now. No. So there’s no residuals. No interesting. But at the time, like I wasn’t even, we did contact a lawyer to see if they would negotiate like the contracts with my husband and I at the time, but they would not negotiate.

And um, at the time I wasn’t even thinking money wise or Yeah. Anything like what is, you were thinking, I’m not happy in this marriage. Right. And I was also thinking, okay, this was 11 years ago. The whole living donation thing wasn’t as, um, known. Like I didn’t even know it was a possible thing until I was in that situation.

So for me it was, I wanted to get the word out there. Educate. Yeah. Show people. You really have to be an advocate for your health. So this was not your purpose is what you’re saying? Like you didn’t want to be like a No. A star. No. You see what I mean? Sure. Was it cool? Yeah. Off? Yeah, of course it would be.

It’s the temptation part, but it’s not, you’re not living out your purpose and the way that you’re wired is you wanted to actually. You because you were, you were gonna be a nurse, so you like, you liked the science part and you want to help people. Exactly. So like you weren’t picking a career that was high glamor.

Right. Or you’re gonna be in an ER with blood and Right. And guts and Exactly. People in tragic situations. So that just right there tells you where your values are and where, where your mindset is. Right. So this is kind of going. Inconsistent with who you are as a human being. Mm-hmm. And now you’re starting to feel that, like they want you to tell the glamorous part of it and the happy go lucky and put some tinsel on it.

And isn’t this beautiful? And we’re all wearing plaid, right. Um, right. They want here we’re gonna have you in matching put pajamas for this scene. Yeah. Right. Oh God. Gag me. Yeah. So like, so it’s not you. And all the while you want to go tell the story and dig into the science of it and be like, Hey, this is what really needs to happen.

So you’re in this, you’re in this external and internal battle. Yeah. You got the external world, this pulling you and you’re want to go a different direction, but you also have this internal thing of like, people think I’m this, but I’m actually really feeling this. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And are you just tucking that down or are you, do you have outlets that you can speak with that know the true story, like your sisters, your mom and dad and so on?

So at the time it was, uh, my therapist. Did I, you know, talk with her as well as extremely close with my parents and my sister. So I was able to express some of this, but there was a lot of, uh, shame involved. Oh my gosh. I’m sure. Because it was so public and now it’s like, oh my God, and you’re gonna look like the bad one.

Yes. Like, you’d get comments like, well, how terrible Right. Get comments like, oh, I can’t even get a call back. And he donated his liver. And I’m like, how do I now? Yeah. My, I just like the asshole. You’re trapped. Yeah. There is no worse feeling than feeling trapped. You guys, if you’re listening to this, you know this, if you’ve ever felt like trapped in a relationship or trapped in a job or trapped in, um, debt, I know that feeling.

Oh yeah, me too. Not a great feeling, but that feeling of trapped mm-hmm. Is, is so, it’s frustrating. Mm-hmm. And frustration is just like, yeah. It just, it just gnaws at you. Mm-hmm. And then. It started to affect me more mentally to where like, I’m like, oh my gosh, you know, I’m still dealing with physical health problems due to the anti-rejection medicine and now I’m in counseling and now I have to put on this facade because we signed the contract with Hallmark a year and a half ago and the movie’s not coming out till now.

And I started feeling like, gosh, there’s so many people waiting for transplants. This is where things that kinda got dark for me. I was like, there’s so many people waiting for transplants. And I was fortunate enough, now you feel guilty. And now I feel guilty and like all the things I have to deal with physically that people don’t realize and side effects of medicine and the struggles with that.

Like was it worth it? Mm. Do I wanna complete? Oh no feeling you star talk. That’s not good talk. Yeah. Yeah. So it kind of went, so with the mental part now starting to affect the physical part. I would say so, yeah. Are you starting to feel worn down again? Like you’re not just exhausted all the time.

Exhausted just wanting to sleep. Not, I was working part-time, um, as occupational therapy assistant, just not wanting to go to work, just not feeling fulfilled. Almost like how this whole story started. Yeah. Yeah. And then amazing how the physical and the mental can run parallel like that. Oh gosh. Yeah. It’s, it’s wild.

Wild. Mm-hmm. Okay. So, uh, who, who plays you in this Hallmark movie? Uh, Amy t Arden. Okay. I, I would’ve said Christina Applegate. Oh. Would’ve been a, would’ve been a good, a good, um, yeah, a good poll. Yeah. So I, I didn’t have any choice in that. I told him, um, like, we will sign with you, but I want as close to the story as possible.

Yeah. You weren’t like, it’s Sharon Stone or nobody. I’m not doing it. No. I have no call then. Okay. No call. Right. So, yeah. So the movie goes, the movie’s called, uh, hallmarks Once Upon a Christmas Miracle. Mm-hmm. And what were the reviews? Like, how did it go? How did it make you feel? Did at least, were you at least like, Hey, this is kind of cool.

It got like, did you have some, oh, I mean, you’re, it’s on your, it’s on your thing. We’re talking about it right now, so I had to be kind of right. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, it was, it was so surreal because who has a movie made about their life story? Yeah. I’ve had three, but I mean, most people don’t have one.

You’re right, you’re right. I mean, I know you only have one. I’ve had three. No, but I mean, it is amazing. It’s amazing to have a movie written about you that’s just absolutely phenomenal. And typically that means that you either did something great or something terrible happened to you. In this case it was both for you.

Thank you. It’s true. And for me at the time, because I was, the marriage and everything, I was honestly so miserable that gave me. It was amazing. And it gave me a purpose that like, okay, yes, I’m going through all this, or I went through all this already with, with the transplant, but there’s a bigger meaning in this.

There’s a bigger purpose in, oh my gosh, look at all these people reaching out to me. And it’s giving them hope and it’s, yeah, they’re holding on and it’s giving them the faith to keep fighting. It’s not about me. So you’re starting to see the purpose now. Now, even though you ruined the ending and we know that you live through this, geez, talk about somebody who just talk about somebody who just doesn’t know how to keep the good part for the end.

That’s for the interview. I know. I’m just, Steve Harvey would’ve screwed it up too. He would’ve, yeah. Um, so now the purpose is starting to come clear, which is just absolutely awesome. And, um, but again, we will ruin another part. Marriage does not work out. Mm-hmm. I joke. You know, you joke. It is what it is.

Guess what? Liver or no liver or hallmark or no hallmark. Right. 50, 60% don’t. Right? Right. It’s easy to say on both your sides. We get it. Mm-hmm. He’s wanting to do the most honorable, loving, amazing human thing you could possibly do. Right. You feel euphoric love for somebody having that level of kindness towards you.

Right. It’s easy to see that that would just cause an in love scenario. Right. The pressure of all of these other things probably was doing more bad than good. Right. Um, realize it at the time. Yeah. So you were going through it. Yeah. Yeah. So like, I mean, and by the way, you didn’t have like a year and a half to two years of courting where you lived together for a year and you realize that he leaves toothpaste in the sink and you know that you never pick up your ramen crumbs, you know, when you break ’em into the pot.

Like those are things that are actually pretty good to learn before you get engaged in marriage. So you skip that whole part. That’s tough. Yeah. So, you know, understandable. Mm-hmm. He’s still a great person for, for this. Mm-hmm. You’re a fantastic person. Um, you go on this, this, uh, this journey, the movie’s made the movie’s out.

When do we start focusing on getting ourselves mentally right? I would say so. You can help the other people that you need to go help. Right, right. So it was kind of ironic that the producer of the movie, uh, wasn’t sure at first that Hallmark would even create the movie because of the fact, the sad part of it, you know, that the transplant in Got it.

In everything. So it was crazy that you ask, it became the highest rated in most viewed Hallmark movie Premier in network history. So that kind of added You’re welcome Hallmark, right? Yeah. Like you didn’t even wanna ha do the movie. It looked Exactly, exactly. You’re welcome. Just throw Heather’s name on that bad boy goes to the top like surprise.

You didn’t know that. So that kind of, um. Added to somewhat a validation in my mind that, yes, I’m suffering in a way, but there’s gotta be a purpose. So fast forward, it was probably a little under a year. Um, I built up the strength to leave the marriage, and that’s when I really dug into, okay, we need to focus on Heather.

Mm-hmm. I’ve always been someone for whatever the reason leading up to that, always had a boyfriend, always was with somebody. And I kind of came to realize for whatever reason, your, your lack of confidence, your lack of self-esteem. I don’t, I still don’t know why, but I needed that validation and that, that, um.

That person next to me. Oh yeah. You’re good. You’re good. Yeah. Keep going. Keep going. Okay. Instead of just having the belief in myself. Yeah. And so once I asked for the divorce, I moved back home with my parents at 30 at the time. Um, there’s no reason to be embarrassed in that. Have you looked to the world lately?

I know you’re not alone. I know, I know. And by the way, it’s great that parents take in their 30-year-old. Oh, that’s fricking amazing. So I’m not knocking that either. No, no. Because generations ago, if a 30-year-old called up and said, can I move home? Dad would’ve been like, what? Right. Beat it. Yeah. Right.

And I was extremely grateful that parents with open arms, you know? Yeah. It’s awesome. Back. So, like I said, that was when I, um, started to try to not decompress, well, decompress in a way, and start to process things. Yeah. I realized I. I was probably suppressing for the past five years and didn’t realize I was denying my reality.

Yeah. As much as I did not like that, I was getting divorced, stopped the adoption process, living with my parents, um, no job. Lost it during COD. So the divorce was during COVID also. Mm-hmm. So add that to, um, resume is not looking good here, Heather. All that authenticity here, you know? Yeah. See what you got.

Uh, um, I just, I just came to like, you have to be honest with yourself at this point. You have to be brutally honest. This is the situation and you can hate it, but until you acknowledge it and start to work through it, you’re gonna continue to be stuck in the same spot. Yeah. And, and not move forward. And that’s what I, alright, so Heather, the name of the podcast that Get Shit Done Experience, it’s about how people get shit done.

So how did you get this shit done? Like, how did you do that? Because. Some people have to break. I was one of ’em, I had to break. Mm-hmm. You wanna talk about, throw a brick at somebody’s head to get them to do something? Like, I have to hit myself in the head while people are throwing a brick at me. And then, and then I, I go.

Mm-hmm. Um, so how did you do it? There’s gotta be a smarter way. Please tell me a smarter way that you did it than the way that I did it. But like, well, you, like, what was your, did you map it out? Did you journal, did you write it down? Did we go mad in the diet health? Did we start working out, like, did we go back to church?

Mm-hmm. What, what was the thing? Did we start collecting crystals? I don’t know what you did. Yeah. What did you do? How did you get this shit done? Because you, you had to do, you had to deal with the physical and the mental and essentially start life over. Mm-hmm. So first it started with a lot of journaling.

Um, I became like a Pinterest who, and would write down all these. That’s one way to say it. Okay. We’ll be back in two and two. Go ahead. This thing just come up. I don’t know. I went to Chuck Ry on that one probably. Yeah. Uh, we’ll be back in two and two. All right. Sorry. A lot of No, you’re good. So a lot of like warrior survivor, uh, bible verses things that when I was feeling down, or sorry for myself, I would read it and it’s like it would give me that boost.

So journaling and then, like I said, the divorce was during COVID and probably about six months later I fell into it, like three month depression. And I’d never been in that type of depression before. I, maybe a couple days you feel down. I was able to pull myself out for probably three months. Yeah. Not when I get outta bed.

Yeah. Yeah. Did not care what I looked like. Didn’t wanna shower. Yeah. Didn’t get my hair done. So. A family member of mine who’s, who’s a, A coach and was in bus corporate and has his own nonprofit now. He saw what was happening and God loved my parents, but they, I think were dealing with their own type of pt.

You’re damn right, they were. And they would push me to an extent, but at the same time, they would kinda baby me. In a way, like, oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to do that. Well, I’m sure it was the first time they ever dealt with your, this scenario. Yeah. Like they had a hallmark star in their house. How do you handle, you know what I mean?

Right. And now I can like a transplant to like all over the news to look at what our daughter’s done with this. Like when I say a Hallmark star, I’m like not being a jerk and making light of that. I’m like, you had the number one ranked as a parent. You’d be like, oh my God, my daughter took the worst scenario ever.

And now her story is number one on Hallmark. Like as a parent, that’s how you would likely think. Right. And you almost wanna be like, cool, now I don’t have to, oh, this is awesome. Now I don’t have to to like deal with the pain. Right, right. Because I could just go right to the fun, let’s skip this part. We could just go right to the awesome part.

Right. So they were probably so they were dealing with it too. Yeah. Yeah. But you’re. The uncle you’re referring to Yes. Is a quadriplegic who had his own tragedy at 17 years old. Yes. And so he, and by the way, got really tough love to get through that. So he, is that what he applied? Yes. He saw, you know, my decline and he saw not that my parents weren’t capable, just a, a different approach than his, somebody had to be the heavy Yes.

And he was willing to be the heavy. And, you know, I always like idolized him and respected him because, you know, he’s in a Emmanuel wheelchair for 45 years as a quadriplegic in the success that he’s had. It makes you kind of look at yourself then like, okay, Heather. Yeah. Get your shit. To get shit done. I met him, Heather, and uh, it was a rough week after that.

I did a lot of looking in the mirror, like, you gotta be kidding me. Get yourself together. Right. Snap out. I told you I lost 15 pounds since I met him. Yes, I get, because literally I was like, what? Like to do some pushups? My god, this guy’s absolutely brilliant. He’s amazing. Like, what is wrong with you now after meeting you now on this episode, what do you think’s gonna happen?

Probably gonna, I’m gonna like, you gonna dwindle, I’m gonna squeeze really hard and my hair’s gonna grow back. Like, I feel like I could do anything after meeting the two of you. Shame on me if I don’t. Thank you. Thank you. So, but okay, fun. We’re making light of this because it’s an awesome story and Heather gave away the ending so we’re not crying, but it is a, it is a pretty amazing, uh, scenario.

So, so he comes in as the heavy mm-hmm. And typically when the heavy comes in, it hurts first. Yes. So tell us about that. I mean, I was, I was at a point of, you know, that saying where it’s like, um, the pain and staying of staying in the same place is worse than like the fear of, of change. Yeah. And I was at that point where I felt like I was just bursting inside.

Like, something needs to change, something needs to be done. So I was open to his help. Yeah. Didn’t mean the fire was coming. Yeah. Didn’t mean you were gonna react well to it. Right. Didn’t mean some of it didn’t sting, but I knew it was from a place of love. Yeah. And I, for the first time, saw the value in, you know, getting a, a coach, a mentor, whatever you wanna call it, because I just didn’t, I dunno, it wasn’t my world in the past and I didn’t see, I guess, the value until I was in desperate need Yeah.

Of it. So what type of coach did we go to? Do we go to a therapist, we go to a life coach. So I did some therapy. Okay. Know, uh, psychological. I, um, through the hospital, they had me go to a psychiatrist as well. That was just kind of protocol after the transplant. So I follow up with him more so with a psychologist.

And then from there when I felt like I kind of hit a plateau, then went to, um, I mean almost like a lifestyle. Mm-hmm. Business strategist. ’cause I was kind of, uh, shifting in what I was doing with my career as well. Pur purpose starting to come to play. Right. You’re starting to get all these, these scenarios, they’re all, all the, it’s like all the breadcrumbs are starting to add up to a loaf of bread, right?

Yeah. Like all the pieces are scattered and the puzzle’s starting to come together into view. It’s like I. I’ve gone through all of this for a reason. Just please send me a sign that’s tell me what is the reason. Mm-hmm. Like, where is this coming from? Oh, no. Now I can’t even get out of bed. Mm-hmm. Wait a minute.

So if somebody drops the heavy on me and then I go get the coaching and I get this, and now another part of the story starts to come into play. So it’s like, went through this found purpose, went through this mm-hmm. Found how to overcome pain. So now you’re starting to map out like, hey, look, the, here’s some steps that you can use to overcome.

Mm-hmm. Anything. Mm-hmm. Like, if I can overcome this, you can overcome anything. Because if you really look at it, how many people could honestly look you in the eye and say that what they’re going through is the equivalent of, or worse than what you went through, right? Mm-hmm. So, so somebody like myself could look at you and go, well.

That’s perspective. I could now put myself in a scenario and say, well, if I follow the steps that Heather followed and she got through that, then what can I get through since I’m dealing with this? Right, right, right. So how do you take all of that and kind of ball this up into, um. Uh, the Uncoiled mind. So what’s the Uncoiled mind, Heather?

Well, I’m working on launching that. Okay. We’re in the process, but I came up with that name and if you see in the logo, it looks like a snake kind of coming up the middle of it and the brain on one side. It’s a pretty cool logo. Thank you. Thank you. By the way, the logo I’m looking at is, uh, Heather Kruger’s logo on LinkedIn.

If you would please take a moment to click onto LinkedIn to go onto her profile. Hit the follow button and the connect button, especially if you are somebody who’s in charge of a brand and you’re looking for a way to inspire, let’s say your sales team. Let’s say you’re looking for a way to inspire the culture at your organization.

And you’re looking for a way to get your employees to realize that there is nothing too big for them to collectively come together and achieve, like sales growth, let’s say, or like diversification to penetrate new markets. And a story like this could potentially inspire them just to push a little harder, think a little deeper, love a little more, uh, be a little kinder, right?

See a little bigger. Um, so if you would be so kind as to click on her profile and click that, that like button, click the follow button. Let’s crank her followers up to like five to 10,000. If we could do that by Thursday, that’d be great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh, so yeah, so you’re working on this whole thing and that process is, is starting with, um, motivational keynote speaking.

Yes. Let’s talk a little bit about that. Yes. This whole process is all leading up to. Present where I’m now, where you are right now. So where are you right now? Mm-hmm. So I just, like I said, kinda came up with this, this brand, this logo, the Uncoiled mine be with the snake down the middle in the brain.

Because like I said, my first hallucination that I had was of these snakes flying at me. And at the time I was kind of in and out of like lucidness, I dunno if that’s the right word, where I could logically say, okay, I know these snakes, yeah, that’s not a snake. This isn’t actually happen. They’re not actually here.

But during the hallucination, it was so real and so traumatic for years. I wanna say up until this past year, I couldn’t even look at a snake like a, if I was scrolling on Instagram, yes, a snake came up. Anything that if I saw a snake that night, I would have a nightmare. It was just like so ingrained in my brain.

So I. With the uncoiled mind. I, I branded that because there’s so many things in our life. I think that our illusions, our, our fear that it’s because of our programming, maybe our anxiety, our self-sabotage, our negative self-talk that we’re blocking ourself and we stay stuck longer than we have to because of this illusion of something or Wow.

Uh, that could be another episode. I think you would host that show, and I could go on a rant about self-sabotage and, and blocking and being stuck. Yes. And the spiral and, um, believing things, uh, fortune telling Yes was my big thing. I would fortune tell that, you know, the 12 people in the room because of how they looked at me that one time they assume and think all of these things about me, and they’re out to get me.

Mm-hmm. They become paranoid almost. Oh yeah. Like Yeah. Literally, literally can get to that point. Mm-hmm. And then. Become obsessed by it. Mm-hmm. Um, so the, so the snake part? Yeah. Okay. So do you see a connection between, are you seeing a connection between like, some satanic, some devil kind of snake in the garden kind of thing?

Because I, when you, when you talk about self-sabotage mm-hmm. That makes your own words, that makes Satan happy. Yeah. When you talk about the temptation of celebrity and instant gratification and instant gratification, boy that makes the devil and Satan happy. ’cause that’s control. So I feel like there’s a little, I don’t know, metaphoric.

Little, little. There’s like a thing in there, like, right, like, here’s some snakes, Heather, in your hallucination, like they’re coming after you. Mm-hmm. Don’t let ’em. Yes, yes. And also also I, I, I never thought of that until you bring that up, but that’s, that’s so true because it’s like, if you believe in the devil in hell and stuff, it’s like he’s tempting you to, to believe these things that aren’t true and and to trap you.

And then also, like if you think of, um, with nursing, that the symbol with the stake up the middle, um, that also like represents healthcare, so. Mm-hmm. And there’s multiple And, and why it, because of knowledge. Is that the, so I Googled it and it’s actually, it actually goes back to like something way far in the Bible.

And I can’t remember the year, but it has to do with Moses’ staff with healing. Okay. It has to do with healing. If somebody in the comments of this podcast could, could, uh, put what the snake means represents, yeah. Represents in the logo for the medical profession, perhaps. Mm-hmm. Perhaps a doctor might know.

Thank you. Okay, continue. So, yes, with the motivational speaking that I’m now doing, I, um, I try to preface it with like, don’t turn me off when I’m speaking, when you hear I had a transplant. ’cause sometimes I, I notice when I tell someone that, they’re like, oh, well you’ve been through way, way more. They kind of minimized their own issues.

Chris Zuki. Okay. So he was on the podcast. Okay. And, uh, he is a mental health warrior. Okay. He runs the thing, um, oh my gosh. The walk, uh, the walk talk, walking tall movement. Okay. He was in a mass shooting. He was the one in Highland Park. He was the, oh, the head of the parade there. He was like assistant director of the park district at Highland Park, the mass shooting.

Mm-hmm. So after that, just massive PTSD. Mm-hmm. All that. And, um, and so he, he literally just posted about that and he talks about that like, don’t make light of your situation. It’s not a contest. Right. Like it’s not comparing. Yeah. It’s not a contest. So, you know, so when Heather comes in and talks about her thing, like, don’t be like, well my thing sucks compared to that.

Like Right. No, your thing is your thing and it’s been presented to you because that’s what you are supposed to handle at this moment. Right. Right. And, uh, you probably don’t want Heather’s thing, so just be happy that that’s your thing. Right. Right. But also know that it’s important and it’s worthy and it makes sense and it, it’s difficult and it’s your story.

Mm-hmm. So deal with that. Right. And, and also I, I say like, okay, if the worst thing that’s ever happened to you is you had a horrible paper cut or you broke your pinky, that’s the worst pain. You know? So like there, we can’t compare stories here, but what I want to express to people when I do the speaking or coaching is I.

Based off of what I went through, these are the lessons that I learned. Yeah. And no matter if the worst thing that happened to you, that is that you know, you lost an animal or you went through a divorce, or your business is failing, the lessons that I can help you apply and, and the different ways to cultivate ’em will still, okay, Heather, so let’s give the answers to the test.

What are the answers? What are, give us three or four things that you know, I mean, I might appear perfect, thank you. But certainly I am not. Mm-hmm. Shocker. Um, so yeah, I’d like four things. I wanna know, I think our listeners would like to know too, what are some of the things, you’ve dealt with some massive stuff and you’ve helped a bunch of people to deal with their stuff.

So what are some things that we could do? Some real tactical, practical, tangible, get after it type things? So one, like I said, to be open to. Not being ashamed for asking for help. ’cause I, you could imagine I was someone who’s very stubborn mm-hmm. And did not wanna ask for help. I felt that was a sign of weakness, didn’t wanna cry, thought I could do it all on my own.

So going for therapy, getting a a, a coach, um, just talking to a friend, opening up, I think is the start of that one. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s actually a sign of strength. Absolutely. Because the hardest part of the whole thing is to ask for the help. You have to be strong to do that.

Mm-hmm. So you’re actually strong because you ask for help. Mm-hmm. And acknowledging that, you know, you need that help. Um, the next thing for me was keeping that faith in yourself and whether that it doesn’t have to be a religious thing, you know, like for me it was a religious thing, but it was also like faith in.

The fact that the belief that things are going to get better, it’s just gonna take some time. Um, the next thing for me was also holding onto that hope. Because sometimes, like I said, in the past, hope and faith are the only things you have left when everything is, well, now you’re talking about vibrational stuff too, right?

Frequency, yeah, frequency, vibrational stuff like mm-hmm. What you send off is what’s gonna come back to you. You attract things. They call it, they call it a vibe because it’s a vibration. Right. Vibrations happen through frequencies. Frequencies are energy. Mm-hmm. So if your energy is hopeful mm-hmm. If your energy is loving, yes.

Then that’s what’s gonna come back to you. So in the, in the toughest moments, man, if you could find just a way to get to that mm-hmm. That type of energy, it really is helpful. So how do you do that? So for me, you know, like you said, I, I used to think the whole vibration frequency thing, I didn’t a hundred percent.

Believe it in a way until, um, I started working with a couple different coaches actually, and they were like, okay, shame and, um, anger and lack of acceptance. All these things are low vibration, very low vibration. And then you start to get up a little higher and it’s like acceptance and, and joy. And the highest is enlightenment.

And I feel like that’s where I was when the doctor told me, you got three months to live. And I laughed at her because I was vibrating so high that yeah, you could tell me anything and I wasn’t gonna believe you. Yeah. Um, and then once I started processing things, I kinda got knocked back down to the IE and those low vibrations.

And when I was working with, with the coach, he would point out to me the power of negative or positive self-talk. And I didn’t even realize how negative I had become. Yeah. And why was nothing changing in my life. And so he would point out to me, Heather, that is the fifth time today you told me you’re tired.

Or you told me you’re in pain. And I was like, you gotta be shitting me. I did not. And you, yes, Heather. You know what’s crazy is this happens in business, Heather, there you could take a sales department with a manager that wants to continue to remind the whole team that nobody’s hitting budget and they’re creating a low vibration in the room, which means their culture is gonna be an absolute wreck.

Yeah. Yeah. And so if you continue to remind the team that they came in late. That they don’t work hard enough, that they’re not hitting their numbers, that they’re not adding up, that they’re not measuring up. The team will vibrate on that level. That energy will transmit throughout your whole organization, not just your sales department.

Eventually you lose control the culture. Mm-hmm. And guess what, what is happening internally starts to vibrate externally. Now the marketplace is like, calm down. And then you go, well, why can’t we get any leads and get out of this rut? Well, I don’t know. Maybe you’re vibrating at a level that is like sales repellent.

Right? Like your salespeople can’t like get out of their own way. Right. And meanwhile, you’ve got essentially, um, you know, a, a cause of that. And the cause of it is, is continuing to repetitiously tell a very negative story internally. Mm-hmm. So when you look at the idea of getting shit done, what are the things that you could do for your organization?

Is start to invent and write a more positive story, put more incentive in place, share more wins on a daily basis, make the wins smaller, make the incentives closer to the nose so they’re not far so far apart. Like if your bonuses are all quarterly. Yeah. Like that’s three months. Like how do you get somebody motivated on day one of something three months out, make it two days away for the bonus.

Mm-hmm. Make it smaller, more incremental, and, and, and then vibrate that positive energy of wins and it’ll start to create momentum. When that momentum happens, then the internal momentum starts to carry out to the field. The external market starts to look at the organization as a team that is winning.

The external market goes, we wanna work with winners. How? What are they doing that they keep winning all the time? Well, we wanna work with winners. Now the external market starts calling you. Mm-hmm. So this is how the human condition works. So it’s not your product or service, that’s the problem. It’s not your price that’s the problem.

It’s the fact that your team has been told that they’re not adding up. Mm-hmm. Stop telling ’em they’re not adding up. Mm-hmm. Start talking about how amazing they are and how, yeah. Mm-hmm. That’s so true. It works for a brand as well as it works for a human because a human is a brand. Mm-hmm. They’re their own damn brand.

Yep. So why don’t you create some brand champions in your organization? You’ll kick some ass. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. All right. So true. Sorry for the rant, Steve Harvey. Can’t ran like that. It’s funny. So what’s three? Three, I would say is working to like whatever your vision is. I don’t know if you have a vision at that point, but you have some ideas or you’re trying to figure out your purpose.

For me, I started networking. Yeah. And that was a foreign world to me. Yeah. It’s uncomfortable. It’s very uncomfortable. So you have to, as my uncle would say, get comfortable being uncomfortable. Yeah. Some Navy Seal stuff. Yes. But, so I’m not to insult the Navy Seals. We’re not holding a log in the ocean right now at 4:00 AM but, you know, getting uncomfortable with the idea of, of being uncomfortable, being comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable, doing things that create discomfort until they’re comfortable is really important in building a brand.

Right. And, and like, um, getting in rooms with like-minded people and being able to collaborate, it starts to spark like an excitement in you. Yeah. And like a fire in a direction and validation and people who wanna refer you and help you that. You might have been lacking on your own. Don’t be a networker, be a multiplier.

Oh, yes. Because, because, um, networking oftentimes I think people approach the idea of networking, that they’re going there for them to find stuff. Yeah. Being a multiplier means that you’re going there with the idea of how can I help people Yes. Get stuff. Yes. And I’ve get connected and I have noticed, and I’ve witnessed you do it.

Yeah. And I’ve noticed, uh, I won’t call out names, but different networking, multiplying events that I’ve gone to. There’s a different vibe. Yeah. Where either you could see the people you were meeting if your service isn’t a benefit to them. Dear time, see you. Bye. Yeah. That’s it. Where others, it’s like, okay, I might not be of a service to you, but they’re like, Hey, have you met so and so?

Let me introduce you. Right. And you’re building that, that connection, that relationship. Yeah. It’s So this is the biggest problem with sales. Yes. Sales is, is so much about the ask right now. Mm. It’s it, you know, send ai, send a BS email. Send a BS DM that I didn’t even write that AI generated. I got one before you came into the, I got one.

And it was like some, your publishing career shows that you would be a fantastic, and my response was, huh, AI let you down this time. I kept publishing career. What the hell are you talking about? But Right. It’s so lazy. It’s so lazy. Right. It is. So this whole thing about sales right now is like, just get to the warm body and ask ’em for something.

Yeah. Shame it. Don’t work like that. Shame. No. It’s about the give people. Yes. Find the warm bodies. Get their attention, give, introduce ’em to your network. Right. Give them three leads. Right. Get ’em on a golf course with two people they could do business with so that you could potentially earn their business.

Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Like, it’s about the give. Right. So that’s why I say be a multiplier, not a networker. Yeah. No, I like it. Maybe I should start a networking group called the Multiplier Multiplier. Hmm. It’s probably in my intentional journal that I wrote down, so stay tuned. Okay. Sorry, go ahead.

No, no. But I think that that plays into also like, uh, tying into if we’re being genuine and authentic and back to your purpose. Yeah. What is, what is driving you, what is, I realize that we all go through a lot of painful things, but learning how to, uh, transition that into your purpose. And it sounds cliche, but like instead of letting the pain defeat you, you’re, you’re using that to fuel you to, to build something.

I love that. That’s something that I’ve, yeah. Had to work at. Okay. It doesn’t come easy. So how, so, so if somebody was going to give you a, a test, what do they call it? A litmus test? Like if somebody was gonna test, like where you’re at right now in the present? Mm-hmm. Are you, are you in the strongest part, right.

Like, is it in, is it go time right now? I would say it’s go time. Um, I would say I’ve the strongest part physically and mentally, I am working on the business and okay. Of, of building and getting to my strongest part. But I feel like I’m, I’m gaining momentum. I, you know, I have such a strong vision and, and desire to be on stages and to inspire people and show them, no matter what you’re going through.

Um, you have so much untapped potential that you don’t even realize. Yeah. Like I had so many people say, oh, if I was you, I don’t, I could never get through that. I could never get through that. Yes you can. Yes you can. And you never, you never think that. But when you’re in that situation and it’s do or die or, or you’re, you’re struggling with whatever, um, I really feel like we can tap into so much more.

There’s people all around the world that have, uh, proven and maybe we don’t pay attention hard enough, but have proven that we are designed to be far stronger than we believe that we are. And you would be one of them. Oh, thank you. You would be absolutely one of them. Thank you. And your story needs to be, needs to be told.

And I’m so grateful that you’re here to tell it. Thank you. Um. Just have, go ahead. No, I was just gonna interject it when you brought up the Navy Seals. So when I was kind of in that deep depression, I, so I’ve always had this intrigue and, and fascination with special forces. Me too. Did you do, I could just dig in and watch.

Watch what these guys do, man. They’re just the coolest. Oh my gosh. So during that time, I started watching different military documentaries. My dad would come in my room like, why are you watching this? This is so depressing. This is so sad. And I’m like, no. I was like, look at these guys. They’ve blown up.

Lost limbs, have had 20 surges. We’re all through the desert to survive. Oh my gosh. And every single one of them that have been asked, would you go through it? Would you do it again? Would you sign up again without hesitation? Absolutely. And I’m like, and I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Th their inspiration to me.

So it’s all about perspective too. Yep. And how you wanna take that in. That goes back to it, right? It’s like, it’s like money’s all relative. Mm-hmm. You know it, you know, if a millionaire said, oh man, I’ve lost my rear end on the stock market. Mm-hmm. Um. Their rear end is different than my rear end. Like if I, you know, if I lost a golf bet, I’d be just as devastated.

So, yeah, I could, I could see exactly what you’re saying and it, it probably is pretty cool for you to strive to find people that have had it worse so that you could have some motivation. Yes. Right. Oh yes. Uh, gosh. So cool. Alright, so, uh, book deals coming up. Uh, what’s in the works? What’s in the works?

We’re writing, we’re gonna write a book. Oh, do we have a publisher? Have we started to outline this thing? What’s happening? What are we gonna call it? What should we expect? Holy question. No, so I am currently writing a book. I’m in the process of writing a book. I have a couple potential publishers that I’ve been speaking with.

I have an outline, not completed yet, but we’re working on that and I. A name for it. That’s something I have not, do you want to drop that or do you want to hang on to that? Whatever you wanna do. Saying. Well, I mean, I, I been, is this gonna be an exclusive? I haven’t even come up with Oh, you haven’t come up with it?

No. Like, I, I have a couple ideas, but it’s, it’s just weird how even in the last nine months, how, um, with the brand, the Uncoiled mind, just, my, my thought process has kind of changed too. So as far as a name, uh, not, it could be something like how Heather Krueger’s Life took off after being on the Get Shit Done Experience.

That’d be a great title. You should consider that. I mean, some of the other stuff that you did in the past was cool too. But this, that was decent. Yeah. Yeah. That, but this is pretty cool, if I may say so. You have an awesome studio. It is pretty cool. Oh my God. Thanks Tim. Lord. Um, alright, so Heather, uh, I wanna wrap this bad boy up.

Um, two things. Number one, leave us with. A bit of, uh, knowledge or inspiration or a final thought or something that, you know, you really want our listeners to hang on to? I would say through what I went through, and you can relate this to something that you’ve struggled with or continue to struggle with today.

’cause I still continue to struggle with self-sabotage and anxiety and lack of maybe feeling like I’m enough or I’m qualified. Um, we all have a story and no matter how big or small you think your story is, someone can learn from it. There’s some bit of knowledge, or even if you think it’s so minute, you never know what, if that’s what someone needs to hear to keep them going.

And I think that’s why I really enjoy meeting people who have struggled and their life hasn’t been, oh, everything’s just great. Yeah. You know, I have some. I wanna call it out. I have some family members that every time you ask them, how’s, how’s life going? Oh, it’s great. Everything’s great. Bullshit, bullshit, Jake shit.

Yeah. It’s like, no, I don’t wanna hear that. That’s boring. Like, because also when I hear about someone’s struggle, you, you learn from it too. Yeah. How are they getting over that? How are they overcoming? Well, how do you grow unless you break a little? Yes. You know, like, you know, they call it getting ripped because when you go to the gym and you work out your muscle rips and then it grows back bigger and stronger when you break a bone, I think, I’m pretty sure when you break a bone, it grows back stronger.

Mm-hmm. Right. So you gotta break a little bit. Right. And, and some of the, the coolest guests, including yourself, that have had on this show, I admire their, their scars. Mm-hmm. And their, and their breakage. Mm-hmm. And their stitches. Mm-hmm. Um. That’s the other thing. To not be, not to learn, to not be embarrassed of those visible Yeah.

Or invisible scars. It’s your truth, baby. Yes. Roll with it. Yes. It’s your truth. It’s your story. I, I joke that I have a, um, if you put a circle around my stomach, it’s a Mercedes-Benz because my scar is, there you go. Like, I got filet open, so I love to walk on the beach with a two piece Yeah. And see people’s reactions.

Yeah. Yeah. Just because I find it chemical. Oh, if you only knew, right? Yeah. So don’t be afraid to share your scars. Yeah. I also walk on the beach in a two piece, so I get it. All my scars are inside though. They’re mental. We all got, we all got ’em though. We all got ’em. Absolutely amazing. Heather, how can somebody, uh, play a part in helping you to launch your vision, to launch your new career, and to launch your purpose?

Well, at the same time, let’s be honest here, this is a business world at the same time benefiting their brand because of it. Mm-hmm. How could they align with you or collaborate with you in that regard? Sure. Well, I would love to, if there’s any type of workshop that I could do for them, conference speak at, see how we could collaborate and apply it to their business.

Um, also I’m looking to get more involved within the community. Mm-hmm. So any type of chamber of commerce, um, nonprofits. Yeah. See how it’s currently working in a nonprofit now. Yeah. There’s, there’s a ton of them out there. Yes. So ways to, um, even advocate for mental health. Yeah. Or. Physical health. Um, I would say schools too, right?

Schools, universities, yes. Um, you know, yes. Yeah. I know you have assemblies and so on, and I would imagine, you know, you, the, the, the mental and the health condition of, uh, students and communities is extremely important. And I think that this is somebody who’s very respectable and professional and, um.

Could tell a fantastic story, uh, that would inspire and motivate, uh, children at your, at your school. So that would be something to consider. I think, um, groups, there’s a ton of groups, you know, that that could be very much inspired even if the group doesn’t completely align with exactly the scenario that you had, right?

We can always make the comparison and be like, okay, well it’s not exact exactly the same, but there’s a lot of parallels and similarities in her formula. To work her way through that mentally and physically has been quite beneficial. But I could see this. As a great play for an HR department, let’s say, that wants to help to improve people and culture and to show morale.

Morale. Mm-hmm. And, and, um, just to inspire people. Look, look, if, if you’re breaking it down to strictly to like a sales team for instance, they deal with a lot of rejection. Rejection is difficult to handle. That is not something you handle by telling somebody that they need to get over it and handle it.

Like they need to be prepared with tools and there’s methods of doing it. And I will tell you, for me, like. There are tools that I have used over the last X amount of years that I now apply to rejection in sales and marketing. Really, I create content for a living. You think that every podcast that I create, uh, that I think is absolutely amazing that flops doesn’t affect me.

I just released one where I was the guest that had flopped. So thanks a lot for that. And it did affect me. I’m like, God, nobody gives a damn about my story. So yeah, I had to do some reflection to be able to get on the mic to do the next one and not be a dud. Mm-hmm. Because I was like, why am I even doing this?

Mm-hmm. So, yeah. So, and that plays into, like, it plays in to continue to persevere despite rejection or flopping or getting, you know, 50 nos in a row, believing that the next one you’re that much closer to a yes. Yeah. You know, and that you can, and that, that, again, it’s easy to say, right? Heather’s had to do it and has a formula of how to do it.

So, um. If you are looking for somebody that would be very interesting, that could tell a compelling story, Heather would be a great person to reach out to. I’ve given you the information as to how to do that. You can reach out to her on, on LinkedIn, she’s on Instagram, she’s on Facebook, she’s on all of ’em for gosh sakes.

She doesn’t have a TikTok where she’s doing the shuffle dance or anything like that. So you don’t have to worry about that. It’s pretty much professional, right? Uh, content that is going out. And, uh, Heather, it’s been an absolute pleasure. You know, that I genuinely appreciate you as a human being. I am personally inspired by who you are.

I think that you’re ray of light in a world that seems to be dark, uh, but I think is coming to the light, so keep being that light. And I wanna remind you, Heather, you got shit done. Thank you so much for having me. Awesome.

Can your business handle 15% growth? If yes, you have to engage with 2020 design. They fuse data and creativity to stop the scroll, break through the noise, and grab the attention of your future customers. 2020 Design will create competitive click worthy campaigns. Design and build custom websites. Spark your social media presence and structure.

Email campaigns that get right to your audience, the decision maker. Let’s boost attention and awareness, which allows you to convert more sales. Check them [email protected]. That’s the number 20 T-W-N-T-Y design.com.