Thank you for allowing me this honor and privilege to share my story. Many of you asked me to send my speech about how EcoQuest has benefited my family, so I have typed it. Feel free to pass it along to others. I have added an update paragraph and a new photo to bring you to the beginning of 2010.

If you ever saw the movie “Eight is Enough,” then you have a very vivid picture of my family. I wondered if they secretly videoed my family so they could make the movie! I always knew what the next scene was going to be. When I left the theatre, I was so tired—it reminded me of WORK and my LIFE!

I personally gave birth to 8 wonderful children. My oldest son Joe is 29, married with 4 girls. One daughter is 27 and single. At home we have 4 boys and 2 girls — 17, 14, 11, 9, 6, and 3. I joined EcoQuest 10 years ago and did it in between home schooling and birthing babies, mostly part-time. That was “B.E.”- before Emily!

After eight and a half months of pre-labor pains, hospital stays, and bed rest on my left side drinking gallons of water, Emily was born weighing 5 pounds. We were informed that she had Down Syndrome and would need open-heart surgery in the coming months. Life suddenly went into “A.E.” — after Emily.

My new life-changing challenge was to “KEEP HER ALIVE." My goals and mission were to proceed with determination, drive, denial of self, and decisive measure to ensure that she was “kept alive.”

Her schedule consisted of 2 months or around-the-clock feedings every 3 hours and then 2 months of every 2 hours around-the-clock feedings. These required collecting breast milk, fortifying it for added calories, and putting it in a 2-ounce container to feed her through her N-G tube (feeding tube in the nose). Along with this, medications were given at different intervals during the day. After 4 months of virtually no sleep, numerous trips to the hospital and doctors, exhaustion took on a whole new definition. Still, there was only one option: “KEEP HER ALIVE”! My strength to physically do what had to be done, came ONLY from the Power of God. By this time, my physical ability to carry on was exhausted! God does and will do the impossible.

Still 6 pounds at 4 months, she was admitted to Eggleston's Children’s Hospital in Atlanta for Open Heart Surgery. Instead of an expected 2-weeks' stay, it turned into a 4-month stay. Besides open heart, she also had a G-Tube and Fundo-placation surgery, 2 blood transfusions, and a heart cath.

While in the hospital I received a gift that would change my life and, later, Emily’s health. Cadle & Alicia McEachin sent me Essentials for Life and a Fresh Air Buddy (personal air purifier). These products played a part in my health. The Buddy was a Godsend for Emily. It literally kept her from constant congestion and drainage.

Before receiving these gifts, I had pretty much determined that I would not stay with EcoQuest. These “gifts of life” changed that. Somehow, someway, someday, I wanted to repay them. Money wasn’t an option, but working the business could be. I decided to “Keep EcoQuest Alive”!

It would be two and a half years before I could even begin to fulfill my desire to say “thanks.” Those years were either spent in multiple doctors' offices, the ER, or hospitals at least every week up until the end of 2006. From October to January 2007, Emily was doing better. Cadle called and asked if I would join him in working a recruiting project. I agreed to give it a try.

In December, my sister gave me some information about how nutrition and enzymes could help children with Downs. Well, I knew where to get Enzyme Nutritionals!! January 2nd I began an intense regime of our Infinity2 products with Emily. These included:

Essentials for Life
Essential Fatty Acid
B Complete
Immune Plus with Colostrum
Total Flora Support – 2 a day
Digest-A-Meal - 2 a day
Healthy Bones and Teeth - 2 a day
Eye Formula
Infi-Aid – on occasion if she seemed to have any aches

The Enzyme Diet - (whey formula) - now I use the soy chocolate with no side effects. Some Downs children have a problem with soy. I only used about 1-2 tablespoons mixed in some liquid with her other vitamins. I broke open the capsules and put them in her formula. She would drink it with a straw. The Essential Fatty Acids don’t mix well with liquid, so I “hid” tiny drops on a spoon with her solid food. Now, she likes it squirted right into her mouth! Crazy I know! She seems to like the extreme taste.

The FIRST day her stomach issues ceased! The first day! The first day! The first day!

No more arching her back from pain. No more screaming with cramps

No more gas pains. No more sleepless nights - most important for mom!

January 10th - Her occupational therapist was amazed at her progress just from the week before. He said, “It was as if a light came on in her head.” For the first time, she was exploring toys in detail, focusing on how everything worked. Her speech therapist noted on January 11th that she was more alert, attentive, and interactive. Her attention span had increased in just one week. She began saying words with ease. In two weeks time, her vocabulary was in the 30’s and also signs.

January 12th - She stood up and took one step! We noticed that her “baby fat” wasn’t as apparent. Just feeling her arms and legs, you could tell she was developing muscle tone. The muscle tone in her legs began to increase.

January 27th - She had a toy with handles that she stood up on and began – not walking - but running up and down the hallway. Talk about a happy family, we were all over her with excitement. Just two weeks ago, her legs were still very “loose noodle.” Now she’s on her on!!

Six weeks after starting the vitamins she started cruising, standing on her own, and now she’s running! She loves to “show mom how it feels to drive an EcoQuest car. She has a child’s coupe car that she loves to get in and ride through the house, saying “Bye-Bye" as she closes the door with her purse on her arm!!

It’s been nine months now, NO hospital, ER, or Doctors office visits!!!!!!

Emily is G-Tube free, feeding herself with spoons and forks on a regular diet and basically ordering her older brothers and sisters around! She even whistles and signs for her dog, Toby. Her vocabulary is increasing daily along with signing.

The lessons I learned from raising Emily can be applied to business. My advice to you would be to “KEEP IT ALIVE”—your business, of course. Treat it as if it were your flesh and blood—a gift from God. You will have some hard days. As one of Emily’s CICU nurses told me, "It’s not a Bad Day, just a Hard Day." There will be days with long hours, days where you want that afternoon nap, or go to bed early. Taking it easy is not always an option if you want to KEEP IT ALIVE.

Is it worth it, you may ask? Emphatically, YES! Were those years of keeping Emily alive worth it? Absolutely! If I could visualize for you all the joy, the smiles, and the laughter she has brought to our family and really anyone who meets her, you would understand. Her first day in the learning center, she walked in or rather “ran in” when she spotted the kids and toys—not even looking back to tell me bye. She had a mission, a goal, a love of playing.

Here's a 2010 update. Emily is now 5 (Christmas photo above) and still doing great. She doesn't speak in sentences, but she understands everything and is a happy child. She has speech and occupational therapies in a pre-kindergarten school and is doing well socially. Very outgoing! If I skip her supplements on a busy day or if I'm at work and no one in the family gets them for her, we see changes in her comfort level and digestion. She takes Essentials for Life, Total Flora Support, Healthy Bones & Teeth, Digest-A-Meal, and The Enzyme Diet. We try not to give her milk, preferring juice or water. We use ionized, alkaline water but as of now we don't have our machine and have to get water from a friend. We believe in the water and would love to own a Living Water.

I leave you with these words to penetrate deep inside you heart, mind, and soul. Say it with me: KEEP IT ALIVE!