People of Northwest Arkansas
The People of Northwest Arkansas is an award winning podcast celebrating the power of storytelling by providing a platform for individuals living in Northwest Arkansas to share their unique and inspiring life experiences. We believe that every person has a story worth telling, and through our podcast, we aim to amplify these voices through thoughtful interviews and engaging storytelling.
Subscribe to our newsletter for giveaways and updates on our next episodes using the link below:
https://form.jotform.com/243515630886159
People of Northwest Arkansas
Resilience and Heart Health Advocacy: Lori Ann Wood's Transformative Journey
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Discover resilience and hope in our latest episode as Lori Ann Wood shares her inspiring journey from critical heart failure to advocacy. Tune in for a powerful story of community, faith, and healing. Lori passionately advocates for women's heart health, leveraging her experiences to educate others about the often-overlooked early signs of heart disease. This is the story behind her inspirational book, Divine Detour.
@people_of_nwa
@brockentertainment
@loriannwood
Special thanks to our sponsor @nwa.body.balance
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2241892/support
Heart Health and Miraculous Recovery
Speaker 1Danielle , how's it going today ?
Speaker 2It's good we're hitting into the winter holidays .
Speaker 1Are you ready for that ? I am ready for that Are you sure , I know I already have my crock pot out Trying to get some hearty meals going . It's soup season , I know . But you know what ?
Speaker 2My family's always really disappointed when they come home and see the crock pot out Trying to get some like hearty meals going , and my family's always .
Speaker 1It's soup season , I know , but you know what ? My family's always really disappointed when they come home and see the crock pot .
Speaker 2Mom didn't put very much effort into this meal .
Speaker 1No , they're never happy about that , never . But our guest today has a lot to do with heart and all topics of the heart .
Speaker 2Speaking of making hearty meals or heart healthy meals , which I really need to work on .
Speaker 1I like that transition you just made . Yes , right , Her name is Lori Wood and she's an author and motivational speaker all different things . She's got a whole list of achievements , but we'll go ahead and welcome her to the show today . Welcome , Lori , Welcome .
Speaker 3Lori , I'm so excited to be here . Thank you .
Speaker 1We met Lori at our live audience recording we did she was there . Stephanie Orman had invited her , and I had seen her speak before at Go Red for Women's Luncheon , and so I had heard her story . It's an amazing story and I can't wait to share . But first we always like to ask our guests . I know that you've lived here for 34 years Coming up on 33 .
Speaker 3Okay , 33 years , okay .
Speaker 1So tell us how you came to this area .
Speaker 3Well , we came here 33 years ago for my husband's job at the Walton Family Tax Office and I have to tell you I think this is a pretty common .
Speaker 3When we pulled into town in 1992 , we were coming in from Tulsa and we had our one and a half year old little girl with us and we were all excited . We knew about the job possibility and so we came in on a Sunday afternoon just to check the place out and I have to tell you that we were completely underwhelmed when we drove in . But the weirder part is that was a good thing for us , because we were looking for that . We were looking for a smaller town . We had grown up on a farm , both of us in South Central Kansas , and we thought this feels right , this is what we're looking for , and so we took the plunge . The beautiful thing about Bentonville , I think , is that , as we've been here all those years and there's been so much change , bentonville has grown with us and it has provided things to us that we didn't even know we needed at the time . Like we weren't thinking about education and we weren't thinking about parks and trails and health care at that time .
Speaker 1Oh , yeah , yeah , but then it became more important to you as your daughter became older . Do you have more kids than your ? Yes , I have three .
Speaker 3Ok , yes , I know you have grandkids . We have one granddaughter .
Speaker 1We have one granddaughter .
Speaker 3OK , yes , another one on the way , but right now just one . Oh , that's exciting , it's exciting . Do you know if it's a girl or boy ?
Speaker 2boy oh , you'll have both . Yes , I know okay , so 33 years ago .
Speaker 1A lot has changed . I've only been here eight years so I really I can't imagine in that span of time , how much ? Has changed yeah . So what I want to dive into is your story , because you have a really you had a really incredible thing happen to you , because it's 2024 . But many years ago you were told that you did not . You had what they told . You only had months to live .
Speaker 3This all started back in 2015 . It was November of 2015 . It was actually Thanksgiving week and I just wasn't feeling well . I thought I have the flu . So I went to see my PCP and he took a chest x-ray and he thought maybe it's pneumonia . In fact , his words actually were . If we're lucky , it's pneumonia , and what he found was an extremely enlarged heart and it was functioning at just 6% , which I had no idea .
Speaker 3We were just floored and so he direct admitted me into cardiac ICU at Mercy and I spent two weeks there and it was just a strange time because none of this was ever on our radar . I was emergency flighted to Cleveland Clinic and I became my doctor's most critical patient there for a year and a half Wow . And she later told me that not only was my heart the largest heart she had ever seen , but I was also the sickest patient that she had cared for in 16 years as the director for women's heart failure and the co-director for heart transplant at Cleveland Clinic . And if you do anything about heart care , with Cleveland Clinic being the top heart hospital in the nation , you do not want to be the sickest patient there .
Speaker 2You don't want to be their number one patient . Yeah , you don't want to be that .
Speaker 3But I left ICU , even though doctors were thinking I probably wouldn't leave the hospital . I wore a life vest , which is an external defibrillator vest , and I wore that for nine months and then we just onboarded as much medication as we could , these really high powered meds and we cranked those up as high as we could get them and I eventually was implanted with an internal defibrillator and pacemaker . It's a three lead unit that they make especially for heart failure . And then we waited . But during that time I just kept thinking I can't believe this is my story , because I had no risk factors . I had no family history . I had beautiful blood pressure . Every time they were like you have perfect blood pressure . I had wonderful cholesterol levels . I had never been , at that point , on a prescription medication other than an antibiotic occasionally . I had never been hospitalized outside of childbirth .
Speaker 3But here I was in this story and it was something that I didn't want , but something that just happened . And we lived there for about a year and a half . I was barely hanging on and doctors were surprised and I was thankful to be alive , but I wasn't getting any better . And then about well , exactly exactly 16 months to the day when I was diagnosed . They did the test they do to check your heart function is called an echocardiogram . And they did this echo because I had some other health things come up and they found that , against all medical odds , my heart function had temporarily restored to near normal . Oh my gosh , and it was like whiplash at that point right .
Speaker 3We just didn't know what to think of that . It was an amazing time . I felt like I got my life back . I thought that was the end of my story . And then you'll notice I use the word temporary in there , because it wasn't long after that that my heart function started dropping , and in just the last six months it's fell significantly twice and I've got a new internal device . But now I'm back within transplant range . So what I'm learning about heart failure is that it's a chronic , progressive disease . That's the facts . It's chronic because it never goes away and it's progressive because it only goes in one direction . And if you may be thinking , well , how did you have that near normal reading if it only goes in one direction ? Because you went up .
Speaker 3But if you think about a line graph that slopes downward from left to right , sometimes you can have spikes up , but the overall direction is still down Trending . Yes , and I was in one of those spikes at that point . So I have just learned to live that condition and , amazingly , it's been nine years , so that has been a miracle in itself , wow .
Speaker 2Really is a miracle .
Speaker 1I remember something stuck with me when I heard you speaking about it , because you were talking about how healthy you were with your lifestyle , with what you ate no family history with your lifestyle , with what you ate no family history . And that really struck me because I was like , okay , there's something like we have to be more intentional probably than we think , like you can't just quote , unquote eat healthy , there's probably certain . And you brought up sodium and that really stuck with me the sodium content in the foods that we eat now yes and I never really like .
Speaker 1I know you're not supposed to have a lot of salt , right , but I just thought you can probably do what you want and then like when you get older then you worry about .
Speaker 2Then you decrease your salt intake , but really it should be . Your add any extra salt , right ? And then I think about like for everything has so everything has , even things you don't think about .
Speaker 1Look at the sodium content it's wild , it's wild .
Speaker 2So a year ago I had a high school friend who he was a picture of health through high school , runner into his life , ate healthy , worked out all the time , dropped dead of a heart attack at 47 years old like that's so young out of nowhere , like out of nowhere , and it was like a shock to like so many people that were friends with him , so many people that knew him back in high school , and it's just you don't ever know , like , and I think like that must have impacted your life so significantly . I know we're going to talk about your writing and things like that but just even in that first year and a half when you were walking through that have impacted your life so significantly . I know we're going to talk about your writing and things like that , but just even in that first year and a half when you were walking through that , how did your life change ? What happened ?
Speaker 3It was one of those things where I had a child still at home . I had some in college and I hated it for her that she went through that with me . It was one . She was a senior in high school and I should have been doing all the senior things . She was the last one , right , and I wanted to be doing all those things and she was doing them all by herself , and I just remember feeling I hate this for her because she went to the appointment . She heard all the things , she knew it , all the ones in college . They're doing their thing . They know mom's not feeling well , I don't know , but the one at home knew , and now I can look back on that , though , and she's the one that gets it . When I talk to her or visit with her , that's the first thing she asks . So , although I hated it , it bonded me to her in a way that I don't share that experience with my older kids because she was there .
Power of Community in Health Crisis
Speaker 3You know my husband . You know that sickness and health that you talk about when you get married . He walked into this not knowing any of it , not having a clue , and he just a little background on him . He's a runner , he runs marathons weird companion for someone with heart failure . But he takes care of himself . He's extremely healthy , and so for him to have to step back and take care of me now is something that he didn't see coming either .
Speaker 3But he has done . It's just made our relationship so much better and so much deeper and so much more real now because we're doing it , we're making it work and I just it's made me appreciate people so much and the community . I'm probably getting ahead of you guys , but when we were in our doctor's office that first day and I'm thinking I'm going to get a prescription and I'm going to go home and do all the mom things that Thanksgiving week , and my doctor said , no , you're going to ICU and you're not going home to pack a bag , you cannot leave . And so we had jobs , we had kids , we had pets .
Speaker 1We had our house , and you're thinking this is not convenient right now , right , I don't . We had pets , we had our house , and you're thinking this is not convenient , right ? Right , I don't have time for this , I don't have time .
Speaker 3But the safety net came out of nowhere and started to weave underneath us and people were praying for us . People were picking up the pieces . My daughter's phone stopped working and if you have a high school student , that was top priority . Someone fixed it . I don't know who it was , I don't know how it happened , I don't know who paid for it , but she got a new phone and she continued Right .
Speaker 3So we had this community come around us , that when we drove into Bentonville thinking we want a small community , we found that in bigger Bentonville and it was something that was so precious to us . So we didn't want this experience and I say we because my husband and I he's every bit a part of this , as I am we didn't want it but it has made us appreciate the power of prayer and people and community and it's brought us together . Yeah .
Speaker 1We were talking off the mics about like you're in this story , and sometimes you're like I wouldn't have , like why is this my story ? Or not letting that story define you , like we talked about with Kelly .
Speaker 1Yeah define you like we talked about with kelly . Yeah , but I was telling laurie that I found a lot of parallels in her journey with my mom's journey with a rare cancer , because she was like in in those moments you're like why would ? And sometimes like your faith can come into question too . I think that's only natural to wrestle with questions , absolutely . But in in laurie's case and I think , and for my mom as well , it ended up being like a stronger , because you see that there is a greater mission there and I know that you have a very strong mission with educating women about the early signs . Yes , and I'd love to hear more about that if you don't mind sharing Sure .
Speaker 3So I was through this . I just started trying to figure out what this meant for my trajectory , what was next for me , and I didn't know how much time I had , and so one of the people that I reached out to initially was Women Heart , and that's an organization that they're the first and they're the only national organization that focuses on supporting women who are experiencing or who are at risk of heart disease , and I was trained at Mayo Clinic to be a community educator for them , and so a lot of what I do in speaking and in writing has to do with heart failure warning signs that I missed , and I also am connected heavily with the local chapter of the American Heart Association in that same capacity where I share about heart disease and mostly in public speaking with them . That has become something that's so close to my heart , because if I had made a list of everything I was worried about when I got diagnosed , I would have put cancer and car wrecks at the top of the list .
Speaker 3Oh yeah , but heart disease I didn't see that coming from any angle and I think that not knowing made it so much worse . But it also helped me to just you know , just go with it , because I don't know what's next , and I love that I have that chance to help other people see the symptoms that they may not see in themselves . I told you , my husband is a runner and my kids played high school sports , so I knew that I was the one that was out of shape . Right , I knew I was the mom person in the family and I needed to get my act together . I needed to exercise every day and do all the things , and so when my family was saying I'm not right with you , I was like I'm getting older , I'm out of shape . And when my husband would say it especially , I'd be like you don't even know what normal people are , like you run marathons . I just brushed that off . But I think one of the main messages is that you really need to listen to those people that love you , because they know you the best and they see you in ways that you don't see yourself . So listen to those people and also just mention it to your doctor
Advocating for Self-Health and Honesty
Speaker 3.
Speaker 3When the doctor that I went to that found my heart failure , I wrote about him in the book but he felt so bad because he had delivered my babies . He was one of those doctors that did everything , yeah , and he felt so bad because he thought he'd missed it all those years . And he was like , how did I ? And the truth was , I really wasn't sharing with everything . When he would say , are you exercising ? And in my mind , I'm going , I'm going to start tomorrow , I'm going to do that , I'm doing all the things you're saying , yep , yep , check . But I should have been more honest . And now I'm looking back and thinking with the ways that we can contact our doctor with just a quick message online Right , just make sure they know about it . Maybe it's nothing , hopefully it's nothing .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3But maybe it's not , and then they'll be . It'll be on their radar , yeah , and they can put things together that we can't .
Speaker 2Yeah , you're right , that's so true . That's can't . Yeah , you're right . True , that's so true . And I think listening to what other people say , and even listening to your body , is so important . This summer , I ended up finding out that I had a um , a pneumonia . That was my gosh where's my brain ?
Speaker 2fungal pneumonia and it was fourth of July and I was sitting , we were sitting in my house like just watching movies , and I was like , why does my chest feel so tight ? And I can't . And my husband's like do you want to go ? Like what do you want movies ? And I was like why does my chest feel so tight ? And I can't ? And my husband's like do you want to go ? Like what do you want to do ? And I was like maybe I should go to the ER . And he's like I think we should go .
Speaker 2And I was like , but it's like , like it's not like enough to where it seemed to warrant it . And so then at one point I was just like you know what we should go ? And he was like , yeah , let's go , and we get in there . And they're like get me in immediately . And it was just a crazy journey and I won't get into the whole story . But I think to your point of just like listening to what other people say , even if it doesn't feel like that big of a deal , like to be honest , yeah , it's so funny that you like weren't honest with your doctor , like that's so I'm .
Speaker 2I'll admit I'm not , especially when they ask how many alcoholic beverages you have and I think , oh like it's time for an intervention with you maybe I'm just kidding everyone's gonna be like oh no , danielle's enough . No , she's not not sure .
Speaker 1Yes , but come on you're like I don't know , like one to two , like a week .
Speaker 2Not true , no , not .
Speaker 1So no , but you're right . Like there are times where , looking back , I wish I'd advocated for myself more and I almost feel like in the back of my mind I was like I just don't want to be a pain , I don't want them to have to do more , or it's probably nothing . And then , when I look back , I think I should have said something yes , or it's probably nothing . And then , when I look back , I think I should have said something .
Speaker 3Yes , and you think about it , you would do that for your child , oh of course Overshare yes . So and we were talking about sodium . One of the things that was strange about that was when I thought I had the . I was drinking sports drinks and soup and all that and I was just overloaded with sodium and that makes you retain fluid when you have heart failure , and so I was just kind of suffocating under this fluid that I didn't know I was , and my kids were like Mom .
Speaker 3when I was checked into the hospital , they drained 14 pounds of fluid from me . My goodness , I don't know . Yes , I had no idea .
Speaker 1All of these things I'm getting rid of all the sports drinks no more saltines , no more sodas , no more anything with salt , no Added salt .
Speaker 3Yeah , sodium is really hard because it is in everything , but it's something that you can check on . It's just not on everybody's radar . There's so many things and I feel bad for people who have multiple things going on they have diabetes and they have heart failure and they have Because you feel like you can't eat anything Right and so you just give up because you're like I can't do all that .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 3So it's really hard , because you're like I can't do all that Right , so it's really hard and I think there needs to be a lot more options , especially for like restaurants and quick meals , because all of those what makes them ?
Speaker 1taste good is sodium . I know , yeah , true , so I want to get into your book . So you , I like that . You called yourself the unlikely writer and I'm gathering from hearing your story the reason it's unlikely . So tell us what inspired you to say I'm going to write a book .
Speaker 3Well , the reason that I'm unlikely is because I went to school on an engineering scholarship . Oh , went to college and I left college with a master's degree in tax and a CPA license . That's amazing . It didn't take me long to figure out that was not for me . So I quickly pivoted and I started teaching college . I started being a college instructor and I started out in Tulsa when we lived there and I was head of an accounting department there , and then , when we moved here , I started teaching at NWAC in their business department and then later at the Harding Northwest Campus , and that teaching spanned like 25 years . So that was a big part of my life
Navigating Life's Unexpected Paths
Speaker 3.
Speaker 3But when I was diagnosed , I found that I couldn't stand up and talk for two or three hours at a time . I didn't have the stamina , I didn't have the breath support , I just could . But I figured out that you know what I can sit and type , and I can do that all day long and I have all the energy in the world for that . So I started to type and I started to write first about my health updates , because people were wanting to know and I thought , ok , I'll put something out so I don't have to talk to 100 people .
Speaker 3But when nothing was happening for a year and a half , I'm like , what do I say ? And so I started to tiptoe into these questions that were just haunting me , these life and faith questions that coming up . And as I did that people started to reach out and say you know what ? I'm not on any kind of a health detour , I don't have anything wrong with my health . But I'm on another kind of detour . I have loss of a child , or bankruptcy or divorce , or loss of a dream of some kind of stuff , yeah , and we've all been detoured in some way , right .
Speaker 3And they said what you're saying resonates with me so deeply , and so my writing then started to be picked up by publications , magazines . It was in the New York Times once , which was weird , and then I just kept going with it and eventually I got a book contract in late November 2021 . With it , and eventually I got a book contract in late November 2021 . And this book began to take shape .
Speaker 3This Divine Detour is what it came to be called , but it's a book that I would never have taken the time to write in a safer , healthier life . I just wouldn't . Yeah , I was still doing all the things and chasing my tail and I wouldn't have done it , and so that came out of it and I have all of those heart failure warning signs that I missed . They're sprinkled in there . But it's mostly a book to help anyone really that's on a detour in life and it's meant to address what I think are the three most important questions that anybody faces when they get on that detour . So I wanted it to be heart informative , but I also knew that it needed to be wrapped in story , because story is so important and you guys know this from your podcast how important and impactful story is , and so the book is a .
Speaker 3It's 40 story-driven essays and it's just been . It's been a ride and I've loved every minute of it , and it's something else I didn't see coming .
Speaker 2That's really awesome . What now ? You have said detour a few times , and obviously the book is that's part of the title . How would you describe a detour a few times , and obviously the book is that's part of the title ? How would you describe a detour , a life detour , like ? What does that look like in your mind ?
Speaker 3Well , I landed on that word detour really early . In fact I started a blog that was named that originally and I thought that word because when you think about what a detour is , whether we're talking about figuratively or physically we set our GPS and we figure out the safest , smoothest , most efficient maybe no tolls route to get where we want to go . And then we set off and sometimes , as you're traveling that road you chose , you come up against this road closed and you see this little sign pointing off to the side Right .
Speaker 2It says detour . Now I'm going to be late . Yeah , not just late , I'm going to be later and my car is going to be dirty because it's a dirt road and it's bumpy and it's no fun and there's no bathrooms on that road .
Speaker 3No , it's not the road you chose . And that felt like what was happening , because I did have my GPS set and I figured where I wanted to go and I ran up against the roadblock .
Speaker 3And so I think a lot of people do that . They you know , they have this idea and we were talking about manifesting before we started recording . But we have this idea and we were talking about manifesting before we started recording . But we have this idea and we go for it . And when we run up against a roadblock , we think , well , my life is over , because what I wanted is not going to happen .
Speaker 1And I can't control it . Yes , you know , and how could I have let this happen ? Yeah , or whatever the stages you go through when things don't so true .
Speaker 2There's a lot of mmm coming from my mouth .
Speaker 1Yeah , yes , I think that's so true .
Speaker 2That element of having to accept . It's like grief , like you're accepting this deed or you have element of acceptance .
Speaker 2Bargaining the bargaining , and I just think that it's really interesting targeting them like and I just think that it's really interesting when we don't , as a society , we don't handle grief and hard things very well , like we don't process them well , we sometimes some people hit that detour and they turn around , they go home , yeah , and that's it . And I'm glad I asked this question because I loved that you used the word detour , but I was like I want to hear her explain what she means by that .
Speaker 1I love the visual . Yes , I have a visual . You gave me a really good visual right there . It's part of the story , right ?
Speaker 3Yes , you can relate , it's so true , and I just I can't tell you how many people have reached out and said and I wrote a lot about grief in the book there's one , and I think what we do to ourselves sometimes is we think I'm experiencing some sort of loss , but it's not as big as someone else's .
Speaker 2Right .
Speaker 3So I'm not going to entertain that thought , I'm not going to bring it up . But there's an essay in the book called the Size of Loss and in essence we all are sort of part of every loss when we see something on the news , when we see a tragedy or someone's kidnapped feel that .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3Because we're all part of it . It all goes into the same stream , and so we can't just categorize loss and say , well , that one's worth grieving , but this one over here doesn't meet the mark , right . So it's all so and , like you said , anytime you're on a detour , you've given something up . Yes , and that's worth grieving .
Speaker 1Yeah , and like who you thought you were , or letting go of that . And I like the divine connection , because I like that you used your whole detour to strengthen you , your character and your spirituality and your connection , and I think that shows really what you're made of right , when you can come out and just give back right or just at least try to help others . And I think that definitely couldn't have been an easy journey for you .
Speaker 3That was . I grew up in a home that was very believing home and I almost felt when all this happened I had this sort of transactional relationship with God , like I'll do my part , you do your part , kind of thing , and I had this faith that was handed down to me from my parents and it felt like this sort of family heirloom that if I used it wait , this is not going right this year and a half , where nothing's happening , I'm dying . I don't know if I should use my faith because I might break my faith . It's because I'm living this journey . That's not matching up Right .
Speaker 3So at first I put my faith on the shelf that I had been handed down , because I wanted to bubble , wrap it and just say I'm going to give it to my , but I don't want to break it . Wow , that's really powerful . I didn't want to have to explain why things weren't going the way they should be and what I found was , when I did that , I ran the risk of never coming back at all . And what I eventually did is I got that vase off the shelf and I just wrestled around with it . I got it and I questioned it and I ran the risk of breaking it , but I , yeah , and I used it , yeah , and it held together . Wow , and that was what I left for my kids . Is that it was strong enough for me to wrestle with it ? And that's what I found in the writing of the book is that I don't have to be afraid to get that down and use it .
Speaker 1That's so powerful , inspiring , I don't know , because I think a lot of people they don't want to get it down because , like you said , they're afraid of what's going to happen . But I always think about like your faith , as like sometimes we want to go do things like on our own , whether it be like grieving or dealing with something really hard . But I always think of it like a relationship with a parent . If you can just let them in and let them help you . They want that , Even if it's hard stuff they don't want to like , even if things you don't want to say out loud . But like that's the relationship , that's like the bond to walk through it together .
Speaker 3I had this vision while I was being that angsty person with the vase on the shelf . I had this vision at some point where I was being that teenager , where I just slammed the bedroom door and I shut him out . I'm like , no , this is not what I want , I'm not letting you in , and I had enough teenagers by then and a current one .
Speaker 3I knew that what that parent wants is just open the door . They don't care what you say , they don't care if you're mad , they don't care if you're going to yell at them . Just don't stop talking .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 3And that hit me like a ton of bricks . One day I'm like I just can't stop , I can't stop talking , I can't close off and just shut down , because then I realized really that the opposite of faith isn't doubt , it's indifferent . When we just shut that door and say I don't care anymore .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Then you're in trouble . But when you're asking questions you're in the game .
Speaker 1Yeah , You're still in it . Wow , I love that , and so one thing I wanted to highlight about your book is that I thought was really cool is that it was featured in Times Square Right , that's a really cool accomplishment .
Speaker 2Can you imagine ?
Speaker 1being in Times Square .
Speaker 2I've been in Times Square but I haven't had a book in Times Square .
Speaker 1I know , lori has Lori's coming out on top . Do you think you'll ever write another ?
Speaker 3book . I feel like I have another one in me , but this book has just resonated so well , and it has been . It just keeps gaining traction . One of the things that I just learned last week is that it had been picked up to be used in a women's correctional facility for the inmates there for a class on childhood trauma . Wow , and that's not my detour , right .
Speaker 3If you read my book . I had a great childhood that's not my detour , but it's their detour and what's in the book applied to them and I'm like , wow , I need to not give up on where this book could go . It came out originally in print and e-book and then about six months later it came out as an audio book in tribute to my mom , who I lost during the process because she had macular degeneration , and so I wanted to get that book out in audio . But then the next part of the story is that when my husband and I pre-diagnosis , we were teaching adult classes on a mission trip for 10 summers in a row and I got my diagnosis the fall after that 10th summer . But every summer I came home and I'm like I'm going to learn Spanish . I'm going to learn Spanish , I got the Duolingo on my phone and I'm going to do it . And I never did it and I never did it .
Speaker 2I never did it .
Speaker 3And so this year I had a friend step up and say I will help you translate your book . Oh , that's amazing , so amazing . And so right now that's the project that's in the works , but there is another book ruminating .
Speaker 1Well , you're about to communicate with , open it up to a whole another group of people , and I think that's really incredible yeah , you can share that message and change other people's lives .
Speaker 2Yeah , and I love that you , even though your story is very specific to you , but that so many people are resonating with it , with their own stories and their own detours , like , like . That's so powerful and I hope that our listeners are going to check it out , yes , lean into it and see how it might , how it might apply to their lives .
Speaker 1Yeah , how could our listeners find you online if they wanted to connect with you or reach out to you or buy your book ?
Speaker 3Yeah , so a couple of ways I think would be really helpful for the listeners is that I have a detailed list of all the heart failure warning signs that I missed and what I thought they were and what they really were , and people can get that on my website and by going to lauriannwoodcom slash heart and pick that up , because I think you'll be surprised at what simple symptoms added up to be such a big thing . And if someone's interested in learning more about the book , also on my website , lauriannwoodcom slash books , they can watch a book trailer and there's also a link to read the first chapter free if they just want to get a taste of it and links to purchase the book there . But as far as social media , I'm Laurie Ann Wood on Instagram and Facebook and I'd love to hear from people who just on a detour , because that helps me , it strengthens me , and I would love to hear from anybody that's struggling with that .
Speaker 1Well , thank you so much , Laurie . We love your mission . We love just all the work that you're doing to just help other people out in the community , because mental health is a big crisis right now and I feel like people do feel more isolated , but I do feel like people are coming out and I feel like things people are connecting . There's better resources now and it's because of people like you that are sharing their story . That's why we're really excited to share it on our platform , because the more people are vulnerable and open up , like you have , I feel like , yeah , it will inspire others to do the same . So , thank you so much for coming .
Speaker 2Thank , you for sharing your story with us . Thank you for having me .
Speaker 1Hey , thanks so much for listening today . If you
Gratitude for Sharing Personal Stories
Speaker 1liked what you heard , please consider subscribing to the podcast so you never miss an episode . You can also follow us on Instagram at people of NWA . Thanks so much .
Speaker 4People of Northwest Arkansas with the two Daniels Produced . Thanks so much .