Life doesn’t always move along a linear path. It has detours, contours, setbacks, breakthroughs and revelations.
“What’s your moonshot?”
The question posed by Peter Diamandis in late January 2017 piqued my interest in a way I wasn’t expecting. In my first post in this series, I describe in detail attending Diamandis’ Abundance 360 conference. Frankly, I was attending this conference to figure out how to take my business — not my health — to the next level.
As I spent my second to last day of the conference in the January warmth of Los Angeles, it was crystal clear in my mind that life doesn’t always move along a linear path. It has detours, contours, setbacks, breakthroughs and revelations. For five years I struggled with Achalasia. I ignored it, medicated it, became depressed over it, and had resigned to its inevitable conclusion: life with a severely restricted diet or even a feeding tube.
In August of 2016, I woke up and started addressing the disease’s painful effects: the ulcer and the infections. I also was determined to figure out its cause and how I could proactively protect my esophagus as much as possible. Five months later, I was on the right path to improving a lifetime of damage.
But now I was focused on setting my moonshot. I was determined to find a cure to my disease in five years. I had no idea what that meant at the time, but I knew I was going to get there…and it scared the shit out of me.
On the last day of the conference, Diamandis introduced a fascinating speaker to the stage, Dr. Neil Riordon. Riordan is founder of the Stem Cell Institute in Panama. I was mesmerized by his speech on stem cells. He presented strong evidence that stem cells can treat and cure many ailments and diseases including heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, autism, and yes, autoimmune disease.
Riordan’s clinic is overseas because the U.S. government has too many rules and regulations prohibiting doctors from using many stem cells for experimental use (other than minor elective surgeries).
I believe this is both good and bad. Caution and safety to protect patient health — good. But when patients facing dire situations are out of options and have no other choices available to them, experimental treatments might be their only hope, and they should be able to access them…