Ten years ago today, I received a life-saving bone marrow transplant. To celebrate this monumental occasion, I am reflecting on my journey and sharing 10 invitations that the transplant opened up within me. These apply to everyone who is seeking to live in authenticity and alignment with their Soul’s purpose.

In this post, you will learn:

• Lessons I learned from my lifelong health and healing journey

• How my bone marrow transplant changed the course of my life

• How Source steps in when your path isn’t in alignment

• 10 questions to ask yourself to live in alignment and Truth

Today I am celebrating the 10th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant. This is such a monumental moment for me because the transplant was my second chance at life.

If you’re not familiar with my health journey, you can read the full story here. I struggled with health issues since I was young, and they worsened in 2009 shortly after I moved to NYC to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. During my senior year of college, I was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia and told that the only cure was a bone marrow transplant.

I moved from NYC back to Miami, FL where I grew up, and received my transplant on December 22, 2011. I think of this as Day #1 — the first day of the rest of my life.

While this single event doesn’t define me, it undeniably led me to where I am and who I am today. The transplant didn’t just give me my life back, it gave me a whole new life. 

With time and reflection, I've been able to recognize that my health struggles helped pick me up from a path that wasn’t meant for me and align me with my Soul's path. Before the transplant, I thought I had everything laid out in front of me — living out my long-held dreams of living in NYC and working in fashion. This experience showed me that when we’re not in alignment with our Soul’s purpose, Source will step in and wake us up to what we’re not seeing in ourselves.

For me, this wakeup call came in the form of physical illness. For others, it comes in so many different ways. You may not immediately recognize your wakeup call for what it is — it may come in the form of struggle or through shining a light on your shadow. 

If you're moving through your version of this, I invite you to live with presence and compassion. To bring loving self-inquiry to the ways you may be taking action for optics and external validation, and conversely, what feels expansive and true to your heart. My deepest prayer is that you follow what feels true for you — life is too precious not to.

In honor of this momentous anniversary, I want to share 10 invitations that my transplant opened up within me. My intention is to bring others into this self-inquiry, whether you’re struggling with health ailments or not. 

For all of us, this is an invitation to surrender to what we cannot control and to take agency, sovereignty, and power over what we can — how we express ourselves, how we use our gifts, how we heal ourselves, and how we heal the collective. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being on this journey with me, cheering me on, witnessing my growth, and being a part of my healing. ♡ 

10 Invitations In Honor Of My 10-Year Transplant Anniversary: 

Ask yourself these 10 questions. You can utilize them as journal prompts or simply to reflect on them. As always, take what resonates with you and leave the rest.

1. What is my Soul communicating with me?

This experience opened me up to the fact that the dreams that feel alive within us are there for a reason. It invited me to look at what I was truly passionate about, and this began my journey of starting my first blog which later led me to supporting others on their own unique healing journeys.

2. What actions am I taking for optics?

My illness was a wakeup call to take a hard look at what decisions I was making purely because of how others would perceive them. What was I doing because I thought it made me look cool, or successful, or interesting in some way? When I was really honest with myself, a lot of my vision for a glamorous life in New York came from that place.

3. How am I meant to move through the world?

My dream was always to live in New York, and when I got there I thought I was supposed to keep up with this fast-paced, fun, bustling world. The transplant invited me into honoring my slowness. I eat slowly, I move slowly, I move through the world slowly. I have learned to embrace and celebrate this slower pace!

4. What are the abilities within myself that I’m not acknowledging or honoring?

We tend to dismiss the things that come easiest to us and assume that everyone can do them when they are really our superpower. For example, growing up I was always the one people came to to confide in and ask for advice. I thought everyone was a good listener. Adults told me I was an old Soul, and I assumed everyone was that way. From a young age, I loved to read blogs and spent hours pouring over them. It wasn’t until my transplant that I realized those were my unique gifts. I launched my first blog to share my journey and insights.

5. How do I want to creatively express myself in the world?

Before my transplant, I thought I was meant to express myself through the way I looked and having the nicest clothes, but I discovered that my creativity was my true expression. I realized I wanted to interview people about their passions, put together beautiful visuals, and write about whatever was feeling expansive for me. I created opportunities to do that on my blog.

6. How can I take responsibility for my health and healing?

I didn’t have full control over my health during my illness, but it invited me to ask myself, “What are small actions I can take to reclaim ownership of my healing?” That is when I started my yoga journey, tapped into mindfulness practices, looked at what I was eating more closely, examined how I could manage my stress, and reflected on what relationships were serving me. 

7. How can I open myself up to receiving?

This experience helped me open my heart to receive love and support instead of pushing people away, saying “I got this,” or thinking I’m inconveniencing others by receiving help. When our loved ones want to help us, it’s a gift to both us and them to receive that. 

8. What am I keeping to myself that is meant to be shared?

I didn’t share publicly about my transplant until almost a year after because I was afraid of what people would think about me. I had so much resistance to telling my story, but through sharing I discovered that all the healing I’ve done isn't just for me — my experience was meant to be shared with the collective. This is true for so many of us. We didn’t get our gifts just to keep them to ourselves.

9. How can I have more patience with myself?

Ten years after my transplant, I am still immunocompromised, still getting treatments, and still healing. I can either have attachment and be angry about that or I can focus on what a gift it is to be alive. Healing isn’t a linear journey and it will always have its ebbs and flows. I’ve learned not to rush the process and to be patient with my body and mind. The more present I am in the moment, the more patient I can be.

10. Where am I holding myself back?

For so long, I always had a reason I wasn’t taking action. I would say, “I don’t want to post pictures of myself until I lose weight or get my hair done” or “I don’t want to start a blog because I don’t know what people will think of me.” One of the biggest invitations I’ve learned is that life is too short to let what others think stop you. You are so much more than your body, your face, your bank account, or your accomplishments. You have a Soul and a purpose that is meant to be expressed. What are you waiting for? Life is so precious — don’t hold yourself back from truly living it!

Conclusion

I share this in celebration of my transplant anniversary, but these are ongoing invitations that I continuously ask myself. I invite you to honor your own truth through self-inquiry and reflection. Thank you for witnessing my growth and being a part of my healing. I hope I am doing the same for you!