When you lose 90% of your ability to move, it can have a dramatic impact on your self-perceptions and your expectations about what you can do to have an impact on your world, and enjoy your time in it. As a management consultant (http://www.guttmandev.com/), I was accustomed to using gestures and my voice to teach people how to communicate and influence each other more effectively. Those capabilities are now gone. My arms can barely move and my voice is too weak to produce words with the volume, inflection and tone of which I was once capable. As a parent, I can no longer comfort my children with an embrace or speak to them clearly and quickly enough to offer efficient guidance. Favored recreational activities like tennis, hiking, and skiing are, at this point, only pleasant memories. It would have been easy, given these developments, to view myself as less of a human being, a mere remnant of the person I once was, now dependent on others’ arms and legs for the satisfaction of virtually every physical need. I am certain that accepting this view would surely have put me in the grave by now, and robbed me of further contributions to the world.

There are many factors that helped me to avoid this nightmare, many of which are discussed in my book. Ultimately, I had to shift my perspective, not so much about who I was, but how I might deliver my unique contributions to the world around me. There were several other perceptions that had to shift in order for me to reach that point. First, I had to reframe my understanding of my expectations for ALS. When the doctors told me that there was no cure, and the disease must always end in death, what I chose to hear was “I have no idea how to treat this illness.” This reframing led me to search for alternative methods of healing.

Another shift I had to make was away from the notion that I could not influence people without my arms, legs and voice intact. I began to notice that people were reacting to the way I was handling adversity. Through technology, I could still reach people with my words. By taking on the challenge of recovering from ALS, I could share what I was learning about coping with adversity through the computer.

Through the combination of: strong will; clear intention; the love and support of friends, family, and caregivers; the use of technology; the benefits of alternative healing; and reframing how I see myself and my abilities, I regained my capacity to do what I have always done – teach people how to be more effective in what they do and how they contribute to the world.

ALS has given me the opportunity to understand more deeply who I am and what I have to offer. It has also enhanced my creativity in how I go about it. By taking away my physical movement, it has forced me to find other ways to enjoy the world around me. Though I can no longer hike or ski, I have learned to employ bird watching as a way to preserve my connection with nature. By reframing how I connect with, contribute to, and enjoy the world around me, I have turned my nightmares into miracles.

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When attempting to recover from a purportedly incurable and terminal illness, you can often find yourself navigating a very unpredictable path. It is a constant process of discovery. Often times, things don’t make sense, and sometimes you discover that you have taken a wrong turn, and have to double back and try again.

In my work with Dr. Akin and the use of hair analysis, I am able to track the mineral levels in my body. With a nutrient rich diet, comprised mostly of raw organic fruit and vegetables, I would expect to be seeing fairly strong results in my reports. Yet for almost 2 years now, my numbers have been low for minerals that are abundant in the foods that I eat. My copper levels, for example, have been consistently low despite my consumption of an ample number of carrots on a regular basis. Inconsistencies such as this have been puzzling. Rather than consuming supplements to duplicate the intake of nutrients that my diet already supplies, Dr. Akin agreed that it made sense to investigate why my body is not absorbing what I am taking in.

To accomplish this, we ran a series of GI panels to explore what was going on with my digestion. Among the things we discovered was the existence of several pathogens that should have been eliminated by a detoxing agent (MMS) I had been using for over a year. Upon re-examination, I discovered a wrong turn in my path. I had been using the MMS at too low of a dosage. The bad news is that I wasted some time. The good news is that the possibility now exists for more impact from the MMS.

While Dr. Akin and I have been discovering the issues with my digestive system, my healer, Jose, discovered a huge quantity of dimethyl mercury laced throughout my body. He is very hopeful that we may see significant changes in my condition once the dimethyl mercury is gone. I am very hopeful that the MMS (in proper dosage) will help accelerate its departure.

It constantly amazes me how possibilities for healing keep showing up in my life, as long as I keep my intention focused on recovery. There always seems to be another step to take, another path to explore. Recovering from ALS, as always, continues to be an exciting adventure.