Denise Michel already has the 2014 calendar circled for Gay Games 9 in Cleveland, although she doesn't know yet how she'll be able to compete at the quadrennial, eight-day sporting extravaganza.
Life took a dramatic turn in 2012—and she's actually endured countless medical woes over the past 12 years. Last summer, though, Michel was blowing out blood clots for six weeks, and in November she experienced "stroke-like symptoms," she said.
But things really turned south for Michel in October 2010, when she went to her doctor for a routine physical exam. She had been feeling fine, and even was playing basketball a few days prior.
"The goal [of that physical exam] was to stop breast tumors from returning, which date back to 2001," Michel said. "The doctor pressed over areas where I had been experiencing pain, including my right ovary. It was painful, so painful, from my head to my feet."
The tumors had returned, and she was quickly in a near-fatal situation—with an ovarian tumor that had a significant blood supply.
"It was pretty intense there for a while," said Michel, 44, a former Chicago resident now living in Santa Fe, N.M.
"The journey, especially over the past year, is almost impossible to describe."
But Denise and Jill will try. In their soon-to-be-released book, The Soul's Whip, Denise and Jill share their personal journals and pictures from the two-year period in which Denise discovered she had an ovarian tumor and failing adrenals. The book is a mix of an amazingly true journey, an incredibly bleak prognosis, and plenty of sweet and tender moments.
"We hope the book is inspiring. Even if you get knocked down, keep getting back up and make the most of what you have," Denise said.
Denise said in late March that she has come around enough medically that she can—and has—returned to work full-time. She even has been riding a stationary bicycle for up to 30 minutes a day.
"I seem to be healing very quickly now, so that's a good thing," Denise said.
Added Jill, "It's been a huge transformation for both of us. When we first got together, I didn't believe in natural or holistic healing; I thought it was a bunch of crap. But when I saw it work on Denise, I really starting paying attention to it. I've realized how powerful DreamWeaving Technique is. The fact that Denise developed it through her own experiences is truly amazing. At first, I was devastated, terrified when I heard she had a tumor, and immediately went into denial and dealt with it in unhealthy ways, be it with my diet, or not being honest with her, or any number of ways to try to get away from the situation."
Eventually, the two had a serious heart to heart talk, "to see how we wanted to live our lives," Jill said.
Since then, it's honesty all the time, even if it is hard to say or hard to hear, Jill said.
"The transformation, from where we both were in 2010 until today, wow, we're completely different people," Jill said. "When you hear that the love of your life could die, that really sends your world into a downward spiral. That really was tough on both of us, but what a gift we've been given," with her continuing medical recovery.
Denise said she's been "living in a delicate balance on DreamWeaving Technique, [including] sporadic acupuncture treatments, and supplements since I have intensely unfavorable reactions to pharmaceuticals, thus the blood clots and stroke-like symptoms,"
Denise added, "We can now see that these amazing supplements are most likely keeping me alive, as witnessed by the response I had when I ran out of two of them [earlier this winter.] Running out of supplements spurred me on to look deeper to find the true cause of my illness. If we found the cause according to DreamWeaving philosophy, I'll heal and be competing in Cleveland in 2014. Nonetheless, my hope is that we will get back to the process of capturing our experience on the written and/or electronic page."
In addition to teaching DWT classes and working with patients, the two will be teaching this summer at Golden Acorns Summer Camp of Living Arts and Culture in New Mexico, which works with children ages 5-11 in world cultures, healing arts, sustainable gardening, stewardship of the earth, compassionate communication, meditation practice and much more, according to the camp's website.
Denise won two gold and one bronze medal at the 2006 Games in Chicago, competing in martial arts, her only other Games, "but I'm not sure I can take that kind of impact anymore," she said.
"I've already registered for two martial arts events in the senior black belt division. I'm a fighter," Michel said. "Let's see if I can turn an external fight into a dance the way I did with healing. I'm hopeful for a complete recovery.
"Competing in the Gay Games in 2006 was one of the highlights of my life. I really want to compete in Cleveland, regardless if I win or lose. I'll just do my best.
"I'll just have to see what I'm capable of. The 2014 Gay Games are a big goal, a big motivator for me, and for my wife, Jill, who has never been to the Gay Games."
The Gay Games in Cleveland will be golden for Michel regardless of how, or where, she finishes. Just attending and competing is her goal, her motivation. Jill also is now training to run her first 13.1-mile half marathon. She'll be competing in the half-marathon at the 2014 Gay Games.
"The reason we're writing the book is to promote individuals to view life as a whole. We also want to encourage everyone to look at things openly and honestly and to remind people to appreciate their good health," Denise said. "If I didn't have my wife by my side, I don't think things would have turned out as they did. We really had each other's backs."
"The Soul's Whip has love, romance, betrayal, adventure, laughter, and a few moments where I appeared to be 'mostly dead,'" Denise said. "It's okay to laugh at that …"
Jill then added, "We've been through too much to not have a sense of humor."
Denise and Jill can be reached via their website, www.radianthealthinc.com .
