If you asked me as a kid what a vegan was, I wouldn’t have known what to say. My family were heavy meat eaters and it is totally amazing that I now love raw food. Miraculous! But I believe that this miracle was what later saved my life.

Growing up in Jamaica, I loved to eat meat--steak, beef--and refined foods with lots of sugar and salt. Fish made me throw up and I hated vegetables. I ate so poorly it’s a wonder that the only condition I suffered was a constant sinus problem and a lipoma on my leg.

I decided to study nursing in England and later worked in America monitoring cardiac patients and soon noticed a pattern taking place. Patients would come in, be sent home with more medication, and then show up again a few months later. Everytime they came back, they were progressively worse. I also noticed they were often served meat and had terrible diets in the hospital. I started taking my health more seriously and often stopped by the health food sections in stores and met people who knew about alternative health. Now married with a daughter, I became vegan and noticed my sinuses cleared up. I wanted to tell my patients how their food could help them get better, but realized doing so would only get me fired. So I resigned from the hospital and our family moved into the country where we could grow our food and teach others how to have better health.

I continued my own research,  and discovered that going raw would be the most powerfully healing and cleansing step I could take. So I did, and found I had more energy, my mind was clearer, I could work more efficiently, I felt better, and even lost the weight I always wanted to lose.I also started juicing and growing my own wheat grass.

My husband and now ten-year old daughter saw the dramatic improvement on my health. Even my old lipoma started to go away. Our family decided to go back to Jamaica and give health talks. When we returned, the lipoma started hurting even though I faithfully stayed raw. Worse, my belly started growing even if everywhere else I was losing weight. Could this be a tumor? My husband encouraged me to take a test and I found that there was a growth inside me, and that after ten years--I was pregnant!

This would be a riskier pregnancy now that I was 37 going on 38, so I carefully kept a healthy lifestyle of exercise, self-control, and stress-control. I stayed raw and juiced even more. The result? Not a single bout of morning sickness. I glowed throughout my pregnancy.

My delivery date soon came and went. The baby was three weeks late so I was persuaded to go to the local hospital where our son, Daevyd, was born through a Caesarean section. He had an apgar score of 9. Except for the pain from the surgery, everything seemed fine...until four days later, when I was about to be released.

Suddenly, my heart was at 170 bpm. Rushed into exploratory surgery, they found two cuts on my small intestine and septicemia threatened to take my life. The surgeon placed me on a medically induced coma where I was intubated for 5 days while they repaired the cuts on my intestines. The surgeon was encouraged on opening me up to find that despite the septicemia, there was no necrosis in my GI tract, which, if there were, would’ve meant that he would have to cut part of my intestines out. I’m sure that a healthy lifestyle and eating raw kept my tissues super oxygenized through the whole ordeal, which wasn’t over yet. I still had to go through 8 more minor surgeries to drain abscesses which had formed as my body tried to contain the mass infection. After a month, I went home. I came off all my meds and immediately started juicing, drinking herbal teas and walked as much as I could.

A month after I left the hospital, I went back for a check up. My surgeon exclaimed to his associate, “Michelle is one of the best patients I have ever had! On a scale of 1 to a 100, she’s at a 115. This lady should not even be alive with all that she went through!” He didn’t think I needed to come back for another check-up, so that was the last time I saw him.

I should’ve died from the septicemia alone, most people probably would have. I believe that knowing how our bodies are designed and having a connection with its Designer saved my life. I want my story to give hope to others who are going through disease or any setbacks in their health. If that is you, I want you to know that if you assist the body according to natural laws--proper nutrition, exercise, sunlight, self-control, oxygenation, proper rest and trust in its Designer, it is designed to heal. Many are dying because they do not know this, and I feel it is my duty to show what following these laws of health have done for me.

The rewards are not just physical because health is more than just raw food. You can be a 100% raw, but if you’re always worrying you still won’t be healthy. We are multidimensional beings! And we exist in community. When we have an attitude of gratitude, we will learn to share what we have been blessed with.

If you’re just starting on your raw journey, it may seem hard at first. It’s different, and at first it will seem to be more work. Don’t give up; start gradually. Eat your raw food first and you will eat less of cooked food. Eat a big salad...and eat a bigger salad everyday! As you build up on raw foods and live a healthy lifestyle, you will notice a difference in your health. You will lose weight, have more energy, and gain a brighter outlook on life and as well as a clearer mind.

I definitely feel enormously blessed. Today, my health is better than ever, and Daevyd is two and a half years old. I am in the middle of summer gardening, and looking forward to preserving a lot of what we will harvest. I also make time to do health lectures at the local library as well as soap making classes. Sometimes, people invite me to show them how to do these things in their homes. I continue to explore and share healthier ways of living, and one of my current projects is launching a carefully researched and handcrafted personal bodycare line. You can check it out at healthiersteps.com

The gift of life is so precious. Sometimes we don’t realize how precious it is until it is almost taken from us. If you are reading this story, I want you to know that you are also very, very precious and that there is a plan and purpose for your life. Don’t let anything stop you from daily learning, growing, and seeking to fulfill that wonderful purpose!