Testimonial

“Now I can be a change agent for people, too.”  – Bridget Hayes

Bridget Hayes radiates vitality and beauty now, but her road to health was challenging.  Diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer a year ago, her doctors removed her ovaries, uterus and appendix, and scraped the inside of her intestines.  She was then put on a debilitating regimen of weekly chemotherapy for nearly nine months.  Bridget heard about OHI from friends, and signed up for two weeks at the Austin facility during a break in her treatments.

“That was all I could afford,” Bridget recalls.  “I immediately began detoxifying my body, and I loved the food from day one.”  During her earlier 3-week hospital stay after her major surgery, Bridget complained about the day-glow green Jell-O and lukewarm powdered chicken soup with undissolved bullion.  Her nurse summoned the hospital dietician – all 400 pounds of her -- and Bridget immediately saw the woman was not one to understand healthy food choices.  Nourished by live, raw organic OHI meals, Bridget’s body began returning to a healthy balance quickly.  She received an OHI scholarship to cover her third week, and credits that extra seven days for what she calls “the major league difference.”

“When people are right at the edge of getting well, staying for that third week locks it in,” Bridget says.  “I am so very grateful.  That scholarship truly enabled me to turn my entire life around.”

Now an OHI missionary, Bridget has lost 70 pounds over the past year, and is dedicating herself to becoming a change agent back in her Santa Fe community.  “I have some land I’ll be converting into campsites and meditation trails,” she says.  “I want to help people discover the mind-body-spirit practices that helped me reclaim my own health, and my life.”