Most of my life, I was always dedicated about working out and taking care of my body. Growing up, I dreamt of being a pro wrestler like DDP or Sting. My goal was to be the best that I could be so I could be a part of the WWE. After a car accident in 2005, my dream was taken away because of a back injury that I had sustained, which damaged me. From that moment on, I became a ghost. I started having constant, overwhelming pain in my left leg and I wasn’t able to stand for more than one minute because my sciatic nerve was shot. Eventually, the pain that originated from my back moved down and got to my leg. I had a stabbing pain in my left leg on a constant basis. After visiting and getting many opinions from different doctors, they all told me I had Spondylolisthesis. This is a condition where a bone in my back moves forward over another bone in my back and would require surgery as soon as possible. Out of all of the doctors that I saw, I finally had one tell me that I could recover with physical therapy and a spinal injection to help my back stabilize and recover. Although the treatment brought me back to the point where I could workout, I was still in pain. I took pain medication for over 4 years to make the pain go away and maintain my figure, but all it made me feel like was a zombie. I went through many different options that didn’t require surgery: Chiropractor, Massage Therapy, Acupuncture, and even DRX 9000. These methods still didn’t work for me. Everyone thought that I was fine because I didn’t show any signs that I was pain, but deep down, I knew the truth. 

After suffering for years with constant, excruciating pain in my left leg, I just finally gave up and I stopped caring. Giving up was never a part of me that I knew that I had inside. I had always been a determined and motivated person. However, the pain that I was going through was nothing like I had ever experienced before in my life and I had hit my breaking point. One day in late 2012, my best friend convinced me to go to a wrestling event called NXT (formerly FCW) because she knew that I still loved it. She ended up introducing me to the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, Charlotte, who was training to become a WWE Diva. It was such an honor to have met and taken a photo with her and it gave me a little twinge in terms of looking at myself to get healthy. Fast forward to early 2013 and I went to a WWE NXT show at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL and with my best friend. I got to meet and take a photo with one of my all-time favorite WWE Divas, Natalya. In my eyes, she was wrestling royalty, just like Ric Flair’s daughter was. I was so happy to have met both of these divas and it wasn’t until my best friend showed me my photo with Natalya that I realized just how much that I had let myself go. I was on the brink of weighing 350 pounds. I didn’t even recognize the person that was in the picture. Pretty much the best moment in my life was at the same time the worst moment in my life. Right then and there was the moment that I promised myself that I was going to lose 150 pounds and work on being able to stop the pain with getting healthy.

Shortly thereafter, I discovered Arthur’s story on DDP’s website after trying to discover new ways to take away my pain. Every day, I felt like I was going to break down again from the pain, but I knew I had to continue my fight to become healthy once again. Giving up last time was so detrimental to me that I knew that I could not put myself through that again. If anyone knew how to take away pain, it had to be a pro wrestler because he helped Arthur with his pain and now he can walk without the use of his canes. My main goals were just to reduce the pain and lose 150 pounds. My first eight weeks of doing DDP Yoga would be extremely tough because the pain started getting worse and I didn’t think that I would be able to continue with it fully. When I started week nine, my pain reduced so much that I barely felt it anymore. By week 12, I had no pain for the first time in 7 years. That statement bears repeating. I had NO pain for the first time in 7 years. I’ll even admit that the lack of pain felt weird to me. Almost two years later, I rarely have pain. Every now and then, I will hit a few roadblocks, but I push through the pain by doing my DDP workouts and other exercise tools such as CrossFit, running, and lifting weights. DDP woke me up from a coma and now I am actually living a full life again because of him. He has taught me how to own my condition and take back my life. Words can’t express how grateful I am to DDP and DDP Yoga. After eight years, I finally feel like myself again.