My name is Doug Steiny and I’m here at the Wim Hof workshop in San Francisco.
I wanted to share my story on how I got here.
Getting the sauce ready.
Woo!
In 2014 I was getting through a very difficult time at home.
My wife had cancer and it was a very stressful situation.
So unbeknownst to me that had taken a big toll on my immune system.
A lot of stress.
My son at that time brought home whooping cough.
Now whooping cough in and of itself isn’t such a big deal but...
if my wife would get it it would be a big deal.
So we sort of had to quarantine her
and then I got to cough for three months.
So the compromised immune system and the whooping cough were a train wreck.
Through a series of events a friend of mine who is a doctor said
“You’re not looking that good, Doug."
and insisted that I would get to the hospital to get checked.
That was at 5 o’clock on a Friday evening and I remember it well.
As you can imagine.
By 5 o’clock the next morning I was completely paralysed .
I had an auto immune disorder called Guillain-Barre which
eats the myeline sheath of your nerves…
It’s like Multiple Sclerosis.
It starts in your feet and goes up your legs...
gets to your body.
Either shuts it off and you die you’re in for a long haul.
My diagnosis was a 50/50 chance of permanent paralysis.
And the recovery is 18 to 24 months.
That’s the best thing that can happen and there’s no cure.
So I’m laying in this hospital bed.
Paralysed.
Couple days later they let my 11 year old daughter come in.
And that’s where I really feel the journey began.
Because…
Of course she was terribly frightened.
With big tears in her eyes she said
“Oh my god daddy, are you gonna be ok?"
And I said “Yeah honey, your daddy is gonna be ok."
And then she said...
"But daddy..."
“You'll have to promise me."
"Because I’ll know you’ll never break a promise."
And I did.
And I promised her.
And from that second on I knew that I was going to be ok.
I never questioned it and I was never worried for half a second.
I didn’t think I was going to float out of there.
And I knew was in for a long haul but I knew what was gonna be at the other end of it.
So I was up for the fight.
So after about a month they sent me home. There’s nothing you can do.
It’s really difficult at home and my wife was finished with her chemo
but it’s just not pretty.
Fifteen year old son.
Watching his dad wobble around like...
You know...
Can’t walk.
About four months later he comes bouncing out of his room one time.
And he says “Dad there’s this guy."
“He does all this stuff and his immune system is so strong he can’t get sick."
Now I know that’s not exactly true.
But that’s how he interpreted it.
But what he’s saying is
“Dad you’ve got an immune system problem…”
“And if you do all this stuff you might get better and I want you to get better."
That’s the way I took it.
And he said “Can you do that dad?"
And I said “You bet I can son."
Now I didn’t know what I was saying ok to...
By the next day I had the '10-week course' and I have done everything exactly like that every day.
And within eight months total I was completely symptom free.
My strength and my flexibility is just ridiculous.
I look at it in awe as if it’s somebody else.
But at 64 years old
I swim two miles in the ocean three times a week.
I can do the splits.
I deadlift 300 pounds.
I mean this is just like not...
I have no inflammation in my body.
Ridiculous amount of energy.
I do sound a little bit evangelical about the Wim Hof Method though, I gotta admit.
But you really need to stimulate and stress your autonomic nervous system to be healthy.
So go do it!
Healthy, happy and strong!