My story...

I am a miracle baby.

My mom was told she couldn't get pregnant due to her endometriosis so when she found out she was 3 months pregnant with me, she was shocked! Looking back, it only makes sense that my parents named me Hannah, as the meaning of my name is "Gift of God'....hence being a miracle baby. On top of the surprise to my mom and dad, I was premature, as I came into this world 2 months early, I was destined to be a Scorpio Sun! For the first 5 weeks of my life, I lived in an incubator, an experience that I think shaped me and allowed me to become the resilient person I am today. 

Being 2 months premature, I had a lot of health issues growing up - I was always sick and this became an identity for me. I was known as the sick girl. Which was perpetuated after I experienced menarche (my first bleed) at 11 years old, as my periods were excruciatingly painful. From grade 7 on, I would miss at least 3-5 days of school a month because of my painful periods. Fast forward to when I was 15 and I was put on the birth control pill as a way to suppress my painful and debilitating symptoms. I was on the birth control pill for 11 years and I didn't have a period for 6 of them, and in that time, I ended up with multiple liver tumours.    

These liver tumours occur in 10% of people who take oral contraceptives aka it is common. What isn't common is the tumours not shrinking after stopping the pill. After 1 year of being off birth control, my tumours hadn't shrunk and my endometriosis symptoms got worse. My medical team decided to put me into pseudo menopause with the oral medication, Orilissa. About 2 years into being on this medication, I was told that 4 of my liver tumours had become life threatening and that I needed to have emergency liver resection surgery. 

In October of 2021, I underwent a 4 hour open abdominal liver resection surgery, they removed 4 tumours - the biggest one being over 7cm! This wasn't my first rodeo when it came to surgeries - I had undergone 2 laparoscopic surgeries prior to this one but the liver resection took the cake for the most intense. I spent 7 days in the hospital after and it was another 6 month recovery at home. 

But this was the surgery that was the catalyst to where I am today, which is healthy. 

The road has been anything but smooth sailing but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Each challenge with my health, or anything else, was a lesson and an opportunity for me to heal deep rooted traumas. 

These are the top 3... 

✨ Being diagnosed with endometriosis was the first step to healing my victimhood consciousness. I was unofficially diagnosed with endo when I was 19 years old, as my symptoms were a telltale sign, as well as, my mom, aunt and grandma all had endometriosis as well. I was officially diagnosed with endometriosis after a pelvic laparoscopy with ablation of endometriosis in September of 2016. I was told that my symptoms would decrease and I would be able to regain a quality of life. For about 1 year after my surgery I noticed a difference but by December 2017, my symptoms were so debilitating that I was self-medicating with alcohol and ended up losing my job. My mom has always been my rock and she helped me move back home so I could heal. I moved back to my hometown after living in a different province and city after 6 years which felt like a defeat at 25 years old. But this was the change my soul needed so I could face my shadows head on. 

 ✨ As I mentioned above, I self-medicated with alcohol as a way to cope with not only the physical pain of my endometriosis but the emotional pain of the abuse I had experienced throughout my life. I started drinking alcohol as a way to cope when I was 15 and stopped when I was 26. On January 1, 2019, I made the conscious choice to heal my substance abuse problems. This was the best decision I have ever made and the most difficult. Healing from my addiction to alcohol was the catalyst to healing all of my other addictive behaviours and maladaptive coping mechanisms. I am now 5.5 years sober from alcohol and hard drugs, something that feels so liberating. And of course, my liver disease diagnosis was the confirmation from the Universe that I needed.

 ✨ Being diagnosed with liver disease was the push I needed to be an active participant in my healing journey. This diagnosis allowed me to reclaim my connection with my health. I have become my own advocate and have led myself down a path of holistic healing that I would never gone down before. I truly take a mind-body-soul approach to everything I do, it is all connected. 

All of these challenges were actually reclamations. Each one leading me home to myself and supporting me in becoming an even more embodied and powerful Spiritual Teacher & Mentor.