I am a wife, mother, 3 time cancer survivor and self proclaimed foodie! I live in Webster, NY with my husband (Dan), my daughter (Kaitlin), and my two sons (Michael and Jacob). As a family, we love spending quality time together, playing board games, watching movies, and enjoying the outdoors. In my free time I love experimenting with new recipes, bike riding, swimming, and sewing, as well as researching and learning more about nutrition.
I have always had a passion for helping others. In college, I studied child development and play therapy with the intention of working with children going through cancer treatments. I graduated Mount Saint Mary College with a BA in Psychology and Human Services. After graduation, I ended up working in trauma therapy, helping children and teens.
After beating cancer for a third time, I wanted to stop living to survive and wanted to start truly enjoying life. When I learned of my children’s food allergies and health concerns, I discovered my passion for creating healthy and nutritious meals and educating others on the power of Whole Food Nutrition.
I wanted to have a greater impact outside of my immediate family. I decided to kickstart my career by becoming a member of the Nutritional Therapy Association and Academy of Culinary Nutrition to further pursue my interest in nutrition.
I am now a certified Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (FNTP) and Culinary Nutrition Expert and Instructor (CNE), passionate about teaching others how eating whole foods and incorporating a foundational approach to nutrition will improve their health, wellness, and quality of life.
My Story
My Journey to Starting Wellness Simplified
It All Started With My Children
My interest in nutrition started because of my children. When my daughter Kaitlin was 20 months old and my son Mikey was 2 months old, our family started experiencing major health concerns and medical issues that we never saw coming. Michael became very sick, and was eventually diagnosed with intussusception. He had to have emergency surgery to have part of his intestines removed. He was later diagnosed with severe food allergies to milk proteins, soy, and legumes. These allergies made introducing Michael to solid foods very difficult, since legumes, such as peas and green beans, are how most children are introduced to solid foods. A few months later, we discovered that he also had a severe intolerance to gluten.
During this stressful time, my daughter Kaitlin started struggling with the changes and experienced some regression and behavior issues. She was later diagnosed with anxiety and ADD along with a blood disorder that greatly affected both her immune system and mood.
My Struggle With Cancer
A year after Michael’s surgery, I was diagnosed with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Cancer, and had to have part of my right kidney removed. This was my third time being diagnosed with cancer. When I was a child, I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in my lower left leg. I had to undergo chemotherapy and have a knee amputation. A few years later, the cancer had spread to my lungs. They found 13 tumors, and told my parents that I had a very low chance of survival. I had surgery to remove the tumors, and received radiation and chemotherapy to prevent further spread. I defeated the odds and survived my second battle with cancer.
I was dealing with the cancer and its effects while also learning how to cope with my children’s health concerns. While I was battling cancer, both Michael and Kaitlin were put on a variety of medications and were attending various therapy sessions. When Kaitlin was only 5 years old, we were advised to put her on medicine to help the anxiety and ADD. I was uneasy with putting her on medications at such a young age and was determined to find another solution.
My Introduction to Holistic Nutrition
I started researching alternative treatments and my research kept leading back to nutrition, whole foods, and supplementation. I decided to start implementing these nutritional methods into my children’s lives. After just a few months, I started to see dramatic results and changes in my family’s lives. We went from going to the doctor every couple of weeks to only going for annual checkups. Michael was getting healthier and Kaitlin’s mood and grades drastically improved.
I had beat cancer twice before, but this time around the long term side effects of the cancer treatments were starting to take a serious toll on my health and I ended up bedridden. I was very trusting of modern day medicine and research, and was convinced that medical treatment was the only way to make a full recovery. But, as I started noticing nutrition improving my children’s health, I wanted to try the same holistic approaches to improve my own health and aid in my recovery process.
I began to do more research, took nutrition classes, and decided to go into complete overhaul to change the food I was putting into my body. After following a holistic approach to nutrition, I started to notice some serious improvements in my recovery process. I was able to survive cancer for a third time.
The Start of Wellness Simplified LLC
After surviving cancer for the third time, I decided that I was tired of living to survive and was ready to live and enjoy life to the fullest. Seeing firsthand how impactful holistic nutrition had been on myself and each member of my family, a passion to share the benefits of whole food nutrition had emerged. I decided to start my own business, Wellness Simplified, and help others learn how Whole Food Nutrition can change their lives by making them healthier and happier.