I was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which fully explains my chocolate addiction. I am the third daughter of loving parents. When I was five, my father died in a plane crash. My grieving mother went to work full-time, and I spent much of my childhood figuring things out on my own.

At age nineteen, I spent nine months in the hospital after a near-fatal car accident and had to learn to walk again. The following year, my mother died of cancer. That double loss sent me on a lifelong search for physical, mental, and emotional health.

I am a cancer survivor, a widow, and a mother who has known profound grief, including the loss of my son. Every sorrow has cracked my heart open wider, deepening my capacity to serve.

Today I am the mother of three wonderful adult children and grandmother of two adorable grandchildren. I feel 24 at 74, and that’s no accident. I’ve spent decades learning how to truly thrive, which is exactly why I want to help others do the same.