As if this week of success stories couldnt get any better...PLEASE READ THIS. Its a bit lengthy but MAN this is one of the best success stories Ive ever read. Thank you Christy Klein for sharing. People join a gym, make a life style change, diet, eat, exercise, train...whatever you wanna call it for different reasons. This one happen to be life or death and the success is remarkable. Brought me and Stephanie Miles to tears. So happy to be a part of so many lives changed. Those who say crossfit is dangerous and convince someone not to go; i can only imagine if someone would have told her not to go. Shed be dead by now. My name is Kristi Barnes. I am 42 years old, and am a full time police officer for a large metropolitan department. This is my journey. Ten years ago, I realized that I was seriously overweight and unhappy. Too many years of bad eating and night shift work had taken its toll on me. I realized that someone’s life may be lost because I was so unhealthy, including my own. I began working out and eating less (but not well). On my own, I lost 60 pounds. It took my many years, and my weight fluctuated greatly, but kept the downward trend. Then I hit a plateau. When the weight refused to come off, I gradually stopped working out and just maintained it. I was still 25 pounds overweight. Last year, an officer at work told me about Crossfit. It was all he ever talked about and he was seriously fit. I stumbled into Crossfit Redefined because it was close to the house. I was scared beyond belief walking in, and then I met Lance. I told him my goals, and most importantly, I told him that I would not respond to “bootcamp” style yelling and coaching. He was very sincere in informing me that his box did not work like that. I signed up for “Elements Class” right then, and started the next day. In one of the elements class, I did a metcon, and it wiped me out and left me close to tears. The thought that I had allowed myself to slide so far was embarrassing and demoralizing. Then Angel rolled in and brought me back to reality. We all start somewhere, and it’s not where you have been that counts, it’s where you are going. They were both so encouraging! I attended classes regularly and became addicted to them. I became a 5x a week member, with a 6th time on open gym Saturdays. For 9 months I worked as hard as I could, but was having trouble with my breathing and heart rate. I figured that it was due to the intensity of the workouts, and that eventually I would improve. I just powered through. After 9 months, I scheduled a “routine” surgery to have a hysterectomy. The day before the surgery, I did 2 workouts because I know that I was going to be down for several weeks. The morning of the surgery, I went to the operating room and as soon as they gave me the anesthetic, my heart stopped. They did CPR on me for 6 minutes and got my heart restarted. The surgery was cancelled and I went into ICU on a ventilator. My lungs filled up with over a gallon of fluid and the doctors were stumped. Some even assumed I had taken fitness supplements (which I had not). The asked my parents about my eating habits (no energy drinks for me) and illegal drug use (none there either-not even an aspirin). They finally stopped the sedative and my heart and lungs began working normally again. They then assumed that it was an allergic reaction to the anesthetic. While being discharged, they let me know that a chest x-ray had an incidental finding of a “mass” on my right kidney, which needed checked out. My cardiologist (a crossfitter from a nearby box) declared me completely heart healthy 3 days after CPR (an unheard of finding!). Many doctors told me the same thing-I was alive because I was fit-and it was directly attributed to Crossfit Redefined. During the next 2 months, I went through an endless round of testing and doctor appointments. Everything pointed to one thing-the mass on my kidney was a Pheochromocytoma (a very rare, deadly tumor of the Adrenal Gland). A human has 2 Kidneys, and on top of each kidney sits an Adrenal Gland. The gland produces hormones which help regulate blood pressure and heart rate. They control adrenaline (the “fight or flight” response to danger). Mine was mass producing adrenaline and had reacted with the anesthetic, causing my Cardiac Arrest. There was only one option-a very dangerous and risky surgery. I spent hours listening to doctors tell me that I had a good chance of not living through the surgery. I found the best surgeon, cardiovascular surgeon and anesthesiologist in Houston and we scheduled the surgery. I prepared my will and left last wishes with my family. Most of the time I was positive about the outcome, but I did have a few moments of doubt and Angel talked me through one of them. I was banking on my remaining fitness to get me through! On October 1st (coincidentally my 1 year anniversary with Crossfit) I had the surgery. It should have taken 4-6 hours, but took only 2 hours. I reacted well due to a strict regiment of medicines and careful preparation. I awakened to severe pain, a chest tube and an incision reaching from behind my armpit, downward across my ribs, and ending at my belly button. They had split my ribs apart and went in between them. They removed a 10 cm tumor (larger than a softball). My first visit with the doctors consisted of them asking me how I was still alive. They told me that every Crossfit workout, recent hiking in mountains and my job as a street officer should have all killed me hundreds of times. They informed me that my lung had been partially collapsed due to the large tumor pressing against it. My breathing problems immediately cleared up now that I had a fully inflated lung. I spent 5 days in the hospital, and by the time I left, doctors were again shaking their heads and asking “How?”. I was able to bathe and brush my own hair. I was walking well, got rid of the IV lines and chest tube and was able to get up and down without assistance. I could dress myself and pick things up off the floor. I was told that other patients had gone weeks without being able to do these things. I now have the opportunity to recover 100%, without lifelong or lasting problems. My heart and lungs are fully healed. The moral of my story is that Crossfit saved my life-TWICE!! For a year I had felt pretty selfish by carving out time for the classes, and turning down requests and invites to meet with friends and family. In the end, it turned out to be the very thing that I needed. Had I not been selfish and made time for me, I wouldn’t be here today to help those that need me. You never know when you are going to have to rely on your fitness to save you, either due to traumatic injury or illness. Every Crossfit class feels like me fighting to be here on Earth for one more day, and I’m determined to win that battle. I absolutely cannot wait to see the improvements and changes in me now that I will be approaching the classes healthy and feeling well. I cannot stress enough the importance of fighting through all the feelings of self doubt, embarrassment, feeling inadequate and pain. Work hard, trust your trainers and reap the benefits for the rest of your life!
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 01:27:24 +0000
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