WEAR RED DAY 2022

Have you ever experienced the joy in alignment with God’s will for your life? Before today I had always believed I was on the right path towards my purpose but I still had doubts and fears about being all the our Creator has called me to be. But the beauty in striding with Jesus is that He will never leave you unsure of what he has called you to be this side of heaven. As a Nursing major and Psychology minor, I had the privilege to blend my Community Health Family Violence and Addiction senior thesis capstone projects. Preparing my last undergraduate papers led me to an amazing area of research that pretty much runs parallel to my life (because God is just that particular)! I initially had to watch Dr. Nadine’s TEDMED as part of a online discussion assignment but after dedicating an entire weekend to EBSCOHost and Medline online academic databases a weekly online discussion post became the catalyst for my independent research journey. As a novice Cardiac nurse with most of my clinical experience as a CNA being on Telemetry/CV/Cardiology units I have seen firsthand how widespread heart disease is in America. For most of my life I have been told by healthcare professionals this is because Americans are just lazy and eat too much. I can’t count how many physicals I had to get for school where I was told to just lose weight and stop eating so much. And for a loooonnnnngggg time I blamed myself for my obesity and depression. It wasn’t until I started diagnosing myself and creating opportunities to explore my abusive childhood that I began to understand it was much more than losing weight that I needed to do. Then I realized my bad habits started in my formative years when I used food as an addiction to cope with the toxic stress of living in a toxic environment, being constantly judged, and not feeling validated in my own skin. It wasn’t until I learned about the Adverse Childhood Experience Survey, or ACES, which was a research study created in 1994 (my birth year because God is specific like that) to ascertain the impact of childhood trauma on chronic illnesses—namely heart disease. In short, toxic stress in childhood negatively impacts the body’s flight-or-fight response because this system is reactivated every single time danger is perceived which leads to hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and high stress hormones which damages the kidneys. Many American’s are still battling their childhood and their only relief has been to just lose weight and eat right, until now. In partnership with the American Heart Association and #HealthyPeople2030, I am excited to present my research baby which I feel has been with me all along. My first year of college down at UIUC I was a Public Law & Policy major which fell under the College of Agricultural and Consumer Economics Sciences—or College of ACES. Even back then God was planting the seeds that I have had to water with my blood, sweat, and tears over the past decade as a tried and failed my way through school. But seeing just how beautifully everything has come together for me I thank the LORD for his provision as I journeyed towards this moment. I hope you find this information informative and start to look through your own life for His hand because He will never leave you nor forsake you. Peace & Health!