BY: Michelle Sadler

Have spent far too much time shuffling through hospital bills I may never get paid off and praying for sick friends and family members, some undergoing chemo, some in poor health and some currently in the hospital, and others who have recently gone home to the Lord or are on their way. Just a little over a week ago, I got to that door with a double whammy of viruses that nearly changed my address to the other side. Those of you who know me know that I battle sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that has not only been classified as terminal, it has not responded successfully to traditional treatments, and has given me a hyper-immune system that will just as readily destroy my own cells and organs as an infectious agent in my body. When a bacterial infection weasels its way in, damage is done by inflammation, my doctors bombard me regularly with pharmaceuticals to try to suppress my Immune system, and then they put me on extreme antibiotics and steroids to both attempt to overcome the infection and control inflammation from my immune system. It’s a crap shoot and illnesses are extreme, long-lasting and frequent. Worse yet are viruses. The little monsters cannot be combatted with antibiotics, so it is a life or death battle with the virus and my suppressed immune system, which promptly goes to work destroying everything it comes in contact with. Its russian roulette of the micro-biologic kind, and is the primary cause of mortality when sarcoidosis finally destroys too many organ systems in its fight or the viruses win as the immune system fights too many battles on too many fronts and is overcome by disease. I was nearly overcome by gastroenteritis and viral pneumonia that kept me dehydrated, unable to hold down anything, too weak to stand, febrile with 104 temperature for 8 days that burned my skin like a sunburn, oxygen deprived, fainting, incoherent, and in excruciating pain as my desperate immune system went Hiroshima with inflammation in an attempt of self-preservation. In the few moments of clarity I had, I contemplated the nature of disease and accepted the fact that this could kill me. There was helplessness and grief for my family, and then the fire and fever and the sea of nothing would wash over me again and I would slip under, unsure of whether I would resurface or not. The hospital gave me no hope or refuge, knowing that my only option was to wait and that my only weapon was time. I did pull out, damage done, this time. I come through with the knowledge that it is only by the grace of god and the tools He has given me that I have another day with my family. There is no cure for sarcoidosis, only treatments that do as much harm as good. I find peace in my faith and the promise that when I go, this disease will no longer plague me. But as I watch the people I love struggle with illness, disease and death that THEY DON’T HAVE TO BEAR, it strengthens my resolve to share with them firstly my faith in the TRUE physician…and the tools that He has given us to PREVENT sickness and suffering. I know that I know that if I had not begun eating better and supplementing where my diet fails with Juice Plus, my body could not have pulled through last week. My doctor confirmed that my blood work had never looked as good as it did when I visited a month ago. My body chemistry has changed for the better, so much so that she thought I was getting vitamin and mineral injections with my specialists. Had those weapons not been in place to help support my faulty immune response, system failures would have followed. Before Juice Plus, the last viral assault sent me Into atrial fibrillation and I spent 2 weeks on an ICU crash room waiting for heart failure, a heart attack, a stroke or respiratory arrest from a pulmonary embolism.

If you think I push Juice Plus on every person I know and care about, you are damn Skippy. If you think you can’t afford that 2 to 3.50 a day, add up what you spent on coffee or monsters to get going, over the counter or prescription meds you take to KEEP going, or the junk food from whatever fast food joint or gas station counter you just could not pass up today. Better yet, have a look at my hospital bills or those of the people you and I know who have cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure or any of the other first world ailments we Don’t have to develop that our busy, fast food lifestyle so stealthily gifts us with.

Your life and your health Is worth more than that. YOU are worth more than that. So am I gonna tell you more about Juice Plus and what it will do to make you healthier and happier? You bet. In love, I PRAY that you will take the time to read my posts today…to look at the research…to listen to doctors, nutritionists, and average Joe’s like me who have seen it work…and that you’ll realize that your life and your health is worth it. ♡