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Julie Foucher MD, MS is a four-time CrossFit Games athlete and family physician. Her passion lies in bridging the gap between fitness and medicine to empower individuals to live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Every third Tuesday, she shares insightful content from a diverse lineup of guests, including medical experts and elite athletes.
Episodes
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Tuesday Dec 01, 2020
Tuesday Nov 24, 2020
Tuesday Nov 17, 2020
Tuesday Nov 10, 2020
Tuesday Nov 10, 2020
“You have something like a major surgery, whether you have MS specifically or whether you have any other type of autoimmune disease or anything like that, but those don’t have to be death sentences. Even though that’s what they feel like when you first get diagnosed, and if the relapses are hitting harder and harder, or if the symptoms are getting worse. It’s easy to think it’s just going downhill. The biggest thing that CrossFit has done for me is to remind me or show me that I can take control of my health. I can take control of what my body does, I can take control of what I put into my body, and all of those things are going to benefit me.”
- Jasmine Joy
To look at Jasmine Joy, you would never know there are lesions on her brain and spinal cord, or guess that rods and screws are holding her spine in place. To the casual observer, 26-year old Jasmine is healthy, happy, and moving freely with full intensity in the gym.
Yet, it is actually because of those three things that Jasmine is capable to live her life with little fear of what is to come. The choice of health, happiness, and movement are life-changing ones.
When she was age 20, Jasmine was preparing for a spinal fusion to treat severe scoliosis. The surgery would help adjust and hold her spine by using two metal rods and at least a dozen screws and would be followed by a daunting recovery process. Jasmine would have to relearn how to stand, walk, move, and function on her own before returning to college.
During the preparation process, the doctors asked a series of routine of questions including, "Do you ever feel numbness, tingling, or pins and needles?" Jasmine told the doctor yes, thinking "who doesn't?" However, the degree, frequency, and locations of pins and needles she was experiencing was not normal and thus, further testing began.
An MRI revealed that Jasmine had lesions on her spinal cord and brain. During what was supposed to be the most fun and social time of her life, Jasmine learned that she likely had Multiple Sclerosis, and she was still preparing for a terrifying spinal fusion to boot.
Jasmine’s fusion was a success, and after an arduous and painful recovery she returned to school, but her health challenges weren’t over. Follow up testing revealed that at just 20 years old, she had Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Over the next several years her doctors worked to find the right medications to help her as she struggled with pain, allergic reactions and extreme side-effects like depression.
Jasmine also started to make some changes on her own. Driven by having own basic mobility taken from her after her spinal fusion, she was no longer taking movement for granted. She began running, paying attention to her nutrition, and frequenting the gym. Says Jasmine, “I not only realized what a gift movement was by having it taken away, but I also had this looming dread that one day my ability to move might still be taken away, and maybe for good. If there was any chance of that, I wanted to do everything I could now.”
After trying all sorts of fitness, Jasmine ultimately joined a CrossFit affiliate and fell in love with it during her first class. She recognized that in the years to come she might lose some of her abilities, and she knew that when that time came, she would be able to continue by adapting her workouts or finding someone to help her, regardless of how her MS might eventually look.
Now 26, Jasmine has been symptom-free since starting CrossFit, and her MS specialist encourages her to continue with high intensity exercise. CrossFit helps Jasmine forget she even has a terrifying disease with no cure and her doctor assures her that her beliefs as to how she is no longer experiencing symptoms is neither cheesy nor crazy- it’s possible and likely.
The impact CrossFit has had on Jasmine’s life is remarkable. She says, “I know that because of CrossFit, I took control over who I was, who I wanted to be, and the role my conditions would play in my life. I no longer focus on what my body looks like, rather on what it can do. I celebrate new movements and strength, not pounds loss. I look at ingredient lists, and I keep track of macro-nutrients I am taking in, not which food to "cheat" with. I have a massive second FAMILY of people I get to talk to authentically, get to know on good days and bad, workout next to, coach, celebrate with, and just live this life everyday seeing…. I am fully aware that to most everyone, CrossFitters sound like they are this insane cult of people who only talk about CrossFit. However, when you find a community, methodology, and sport that does for you and for countless others what it has for me? How can you not be obsessed with it in some way? CrossFit shapes your life.”
When Jasmine first shared her story with me, I was incredibly inspired by her courage and her desire to focus on the variables within her control as she manages her MS diagnosis. In this episode, we chat about the evolution of her journey, how CrossFit and her CrossFit community have played a huge role in managing her symptoms, and how she keeps a positive mindset in the face of such an unpredictable disease.
This post was originally published on November 9, 2020.
Tuesday Nov 03, 2020
Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
“I have learned how to adapt to the unknown and unknowable. I have learned to focus on what I CAN do. This led me to my main mantra to date which is, “What’s the next step?” which is what I focus on in any type of adversity or workout.” - Cory Schmidgall
Cory Schmidgall tried just about every fitness program out there. Nothing seemed to light the fire he remembered from his football days, or satisfied the competitive drive that motivated him to try out for the NFL.
It was while he was recovering from a major surgery, an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion of his spine, that he read about CrossFit. “I tried a few of the WODs at my local rec center. While everyone was looking at me as if I were crazy, I tried Elizabeth. 21 minutes later I was hooked.”
A few years passed, and Cory found that he was struggling with hip mobility and recovery due to inflammation, despite putting extra work in to improve in those areas. A consult with his orthopedist confirmed that he had a genetic degenerative hip disease. At only 37, he suddenly felt twice his age, and began to spiral into a blackhole of self-pity. But his CrossFit community wouldn’t let him. “One day, when I was kicking rocks at our box, one of the other members simply said, ‘Dude, why don’t you just focus on what you CAN do.’ Simple but effective.” From that day forward, Cory took on a new mindset. He began to look at CrossFit as prehab to train for surgery.
In the span of 10 weeks, Cory had surgery on both hips. The pain was brutal. But he remembered his friend’s words of encouragement. “I started slow and again focused on what I could do daily. I started over with all movements focusing on form and rehab. I used CrossFit methodology for rehab, on top of the hip movement rehab, and the CrossFit nutrition protocol to stay on top of inflammation and heal my gut from years of pain meds. I felt I was getting in the best shape of my life prior to surgery but even more so in the months that followed.”
Life wasn’t done dealing to surprises to Cory. A year and a half after his hip surgeries, he was diagnosed with skin cancer, and went back under the knife to have it removed, adding a new scar to his thigh. Just a year later, this was followed by a second cervical discectomy and fusion, adding another level to his previous procedure.
Just as he had before, Cory prepared for these new challenges by keeping his eyes on the horizon, using CrossFit, and by getting his nutrition on point.
Says Cory, “5 years in now, I have learned how to adapt to the unknown and unknowable. I have learned to focus on what I CAN do. This led me to my main mantra to date which is, “What’s the next step?” which is what I focus on in any type of adversity or workout.”
When I first read Cory's story, I was impressed not only by the remarkable mindset he's used to approach so many challenging surgeries, but also by how he's worked hard to develop skills to manage his own panic attacks and anxiety. I was excited to catch up with him to learn more about how identifying his why has been so critical to growing through these obstacles, and how he's using his experiences to help others.
This post was originally published on October 10, 2020.
Tuesday Oct 06, 2020