6th generation Montanan does bee venom therapy

Maria's Instagram where her pack trips are linked in her bio

My Instagram where you can learn all things farming and food and follow my crazy journey - huge life changes coming up!

Transcript

Audio Only - All Participants: 0:00

Happy Tuesday. Welcome to the Global Stewardship Podcast. Maria, lovely Daggett is on the show today. She is a sixth generation Montanan. I know many Americans that aren't even sixth generation Americans with the territory of her childhood and her family's history, she is a true land steward. Maria talks to us about her childhood, about some of her outdoor activities and about her journey with Lyme disease and healing it with bee venom. Thank, listen to another episode and we're gonna dive right in. I am a sixth generation Montanan. My parents were in an outfitting business growing up, so hunting, fishing, the great outdoors was a huge part of my life. Um, and the stewardship that came with that. And I was able to develop a life based around the great outdoors. You're a sixth generation Montanan. Can you share a little bit about your family's history and why that is a unique title to have? Yeah. As time goes on, I definitely realize how lucky I am to have such a rich heritage and be a part of this state. My parents or not my parents, great-great grandparents homesteaded, uh, back in the day and. It wasn't easy times. There was a lot of loss, a lot of hardship, but they came to Montana and put roots down here and I'm so grateful for that. I have a deep appreciation of this state and being able to grow up here, live in a small town. It just made for a very unique childhood. I went to a one room schoolhouse growing up, so there was six kids K through eight. It was just myself and another girl in my grade, and it's about a 15 minute drive to the schoolhouse. Eventually I ended up going to what we called town school, just so I could do sports and some extracurriculars, and that was about a 40 minute bus ride every day. Twice, twice a day. Home and back was each 40 minutes. And that's where our closest gas station and grocery store were. But still, that was pretty small. So we'd often drive like an hour and a half about once a month to go do a big Costco run and go to what we considered the city and get everything we needed. So Montana has definitely, it's changed a lot over the years, but that's like the true Montana from my perspective. Yeah. That's so cool. I forgot that I wanted to talk about. Our childhoods because I grew up in Big Sky and moved away when I was 10. At our elementary school in Big Sky, there used to be like they had the one room schoolhouse that was like the historical building that, um, we didn't go to school in that building'cause we had like. 10 kids in our class or whatever, like we had outgrown that one schoolhouse building. But I remember thinking, wow, people used to go to a school in one room and I thought that our school was small and to think that you were, that you started out school and, and a school like that is just really interesting. We had always looked at that little building as like something from way back in history and you were, you were going to one of those schools. That's wild to me. Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm sure so many people hear about your experience and they think that's a step back in history and that's so small. So it's just, it's funny. I can't, I actually can't imagine because even the stories that I'll tell people, like you said, they're kind of mind blown. Like, oh, you drove, you drove an hour to go to Costco. Like, we drive 10 minutes now when we live in the Carolinas. Mm-hmm. Um, it's really hard for people to understand. Can you share a little bit about other ways that your childhood was maybe different from if you were to have grown up somewhere else, yeah, it was, it was very cool. My parents ran a business out of our home. They were outfitters, so we did big game hunting in the fall. In the summer. It was pack trips, horseback rides, float trips, fishing trips, that kind of thing. And we didn't have tv. We weren't allowed to say the word bored. If we said we were bored, we had to go pick rocks out of the field. So it just kind of gave us this big appreciation for the outdoors. I mean, I spent. Almost every, every minute out there working, helping my parents being around the livestock. And it just makes you have a very deep appreciation and connection with the earth. And I know that's what this podcast is about, is stewardship and it truly, the outdoors shaped who I am today. Mm-hmm. And yeah, as you know, I think it's just. Very special and grounding and healing and so important for us to have as part of our lives. Yeah, I think it's hard to live in Montana and not have a relationship with the land, compared to some other states, but I still think it's unique that your family's story. Being there for that many generations. I mean, I do know people who are several generations into their family being in Montana, and they've already lost a lot of that relationship to the land, and their parents didn't continue on keeping livestock or, you know. Mm-hmm. Something like you not having tv, the priorities have changed. Can you tell us a little bit about how. Like your parents and your grandparents, why they have been passionate about keeping those traditions going. I, everything I do in the outdoors, which is a lot, I'm very, very busy. I ski, I hunt, I ride horses, all these different things. And to me it's always been. A way for me to spend time with my family. It's never been an individual sport. It's just kind of a tradition in what we do together. Hunting camp in the fall, we have my aunt and uncle and my sister and her family, and my brother and my parents, and it's just almost this big family reunion of sorts. So I think it's just been a way for us to connect my dad comes from a long line of hunters, and my mom does too. Her parents actually. Are from Germany, and I believe my great-grandpa was what they call a huntsman for the Baron. Um, so it's just like this cool heritage and we come together and it's big part of our life. It's also how we feel the freezer and how we live and how much of my family has made a living is by sharing these experiences with others and. It's, I don't know, it's kinda all consuming, just a big part of our lives. I'd love to talk more about the activities that you guys do, maybe you can share some of your absolute favorites.'cause I know that you do so many things the cool thing is with Four Seasons in Montana, we just kind of get a rotate through. I don't have to pick one thing, which is awesome. As a kid, I ended up getting into competitive free ride competitions and I started skiing at a high level and got a snowmobile and just fell in love with the whole winter world. Spring and summer are more pack trips and spending time in the mountains. If you're unfamiliar with a pack trip. It's essentially a camping trip on horseback. So we load up our horses. We have a string of mules and horses that will pack in your gear and you'll ride a horse and you can just go soup or deep into the back country further than I'm capable of hiking. And you really get away from people, from the crowds, from everything. And we'd just camp. We'd hang out, we'd fish, we'd just be on mountain time, no cell service, no problems that we're constantly. Bombarded with, and those are some of my favorite memories. It's just a very unique and special trip. I am able to start hosting them this summer, which I'm very excited about. My husband and I have put a few trips together, so I have an all women's trip plan as well as a couples trip, and we actually ended up wanting to make the couples trip faith-based. So we have a very wonderful pastor and his wife coming. My husband and I, we've been married for a little over a year and it was on my heart to do these couples trips, but I also kind of like, all right, are we qualified? And we're like, we'd love to make him faith-based. So we reached out to this pastor, extended the invite, and he's super excited. So it's gonna be a little bit of bible study in the mountains type feel. We'll wake up, we'll do cowboy coffee and breakfast around the campfire and talk about God and the way he moves. And it's very easy to see that when you're in one of his best creations. Um, for sure, mountains. And then. There's gonna be lots of other things to learn and do. So I'm, I'm very excited. That's awesome, man. I'm persuaded. I, I have done a few pack trips. But, we haven't done one since the year we got married'cause we started farming here. It's something about it. If people listening, have never been on a pack trip, and I'm sure that most people listening haven't, it's really hard to fathom, being so far out of cell service, being so far away from other humans. Like you said, most people can't hike back there. The pack trip that we went on, we went like way, way back in Yellowstone. We passed the last group of backpackers like the first day and then we kept going in like eight days. So, you know, other humans were pretty far away. And that's kind of a surreal feeling. It's almost like being in the middle of the ocean in a way. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, it is amazing. And just seeing totally untouched land real wild is mm-hmm. Really special. I do think it's life changing. It's hard to convey that message and be like, oh yeah, we're just in the mountains and my husband's like, you need to do a better job of like. Explaining what the experience is gonna be. I'm like, I guess you just don't know until you're there and yeah, it's just, yeah, it's beautiful. That's true. I don't think that you can really know until you're, you're there and have that feeling. For sure. Yeah. So your family has led these trips all throughout your childhood, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. And your launching as your own thing so my parents sold the business when I was in high school, so I did a lot, like I helped out as much as I could as a high schooler, which was, was quite a bit. Um, but then they stepped away from it but just as my husband and I have gotten into them I still have this desire where I'm just like, I need to share these places with other people. I need to, you know, bring these groups together and make this happen. So I've partnered with an outfitter separate from my family. Um, and yeah, we'll be doing trips underneath him for the summer and. The cool thing is this outfitter is actually, he didn't directly buy the leases from my parents. They got sold and then resold, but he ended up with them. So we're gonna be going to the same spot that my parents and I used to go to and to take people. So it's total full circle and feels really special. Wow. We do have a lot of, farmers and land stewards listening. Do you know enough about the leases to share a little bit more about that and like what you mean by that? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I'm sure someone else could speak more eloquently about this, but Montana has a ton of public land, as you know, and it's free for us all as individuals to go and use this public land. However, if you are a business or a rancher or. Doing anything, I guess kind of official on the public land, you have to have leases and this is a way that the government is able to provide the public lands as a free service to the rest of us. So I'm so thankful that there are outfitters and ranchers and people who do utilize the public land and have to pay for it.'cause it just helps maintain it and protect it. Um, so I love getting into all this stuff. As a hunter, I feel like I get so much lashback from people who really like, kind of lack the understanding of the stewardship and the conservation and all the ins and outs behind these things. Yeah. So it's very specific where we're able to go, how many days we can be there, how many horses, how many people we can bring. What else we can bring with us? like if you're operating on wilderness, you can't have a chainsaw. We cross cut everything. You can't have anything with wheels. You can't have a wheelbarrow at camp. It's kind of a step back in time. You're going in and you don't bring any fancy tools or anything like that. So the outfitter that I'm working with, he has bought these leases from the Forest Service, so he pays them. So I pretty much will be paying. The outfitter per day, per horse, per person, all that kind of thing. Right. You talked a little about h hunting. Would you be interested in sharing a little bit more about why that's important to you? Absolutely. Uh, H 12, I was able to shoot my first bull elk. I got so lucky opening day and shot an elk and. Put food on our table as a 12-year-old girl. And that was a very cool feeling. My family has always lived off of elk. It's, it's what's in our freezer, it's what we eat year round and I dunno, hunting's just such a cool, very misunderstood by some people. But like, I think once you're in it and once you start to understand and systems and quotas and how it all works. You start to really appreciate and understand we're for the land, we're for the animals, we're for conserving these species in this way of life. And I have so much gratitude for the elk and everything else that we hunt and it's, it's very cool way of life. I think that that's also something interesting and more unique, especially about living in the Rockies, is that there are a lot more people who hunt and hunt in a different way. Like if I talk to people here in the Carolinas and we talk to them about, oh yeah, we're hunters. You kinda have to clarify the hunting is a totally different kind of hunting in the Rockies. You're oftentimes hiking significant distances or backpacking. Mm-hmm. It just looks totally different. And the effort in the patience that goes into getting that food is really something, uh, it's a kind of a whole different hunting experience than like what we do here, which. They just kind of walk, walk up, and we sit in the deer stand and just kind of wait on'em. Um, okay. All my hunting memories in Montana, that is real deal, real deal exercise, you are working really hard for that meat and it's totally a different level of appreciation. I joke around with my husband, I tell him, I'm like, it would be so much cheaper and more time efficient if we just went to the fair and bought a four H steer from someone. It definitely, yeah, it's, it's not easy, but we, we love it and it's so satisfying and there's a lot of gratification that comes out of it. Do you have a favorite hunting memory? Oh my gosh, I have so many. I know you're talking about all these super difficult hunts and I have definitely had my fair share of hard work and brutal days in the mountains, but one day my dad and I, it was the last day of hunting season and he was driving me to school. I was in high school, so I, we went past fer and this is why I bring it up.'cause you know where fer is and we luck out. And there's this herd of elk and we're like, wait, I think this is public land. So we like pull over and we pull up the regulations and we read everything and he's like, yep, you're good. Like that's a brow time bull. So we get out and like they runaways and we had to like run and like try and get ahead of him and I was able to, uh. Shoot an elk right there. So that's, I guess just your Montana story. Like, oh, sorry. Can't make it to school today. I have to pack this elk out first. That is so funny. I lived right next to fer, so I looked out at that herd of elk all year long, out my window. That's hilarious. Had a telescope at my window so I could watch them, yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. That's an awesome show. And then if they aren't always that easy, that's for sure. But yeah, definitely not. That is definitely a lucky moment for sure. Yeah. That's cool. So when I think about being a sixth generation Montana, I wouldn't have thought about this before the last few years, but I now think and wonder if people talk to you about the Yellowstone series. A lot. Gosh, I did it all the time. I used to waitress and I would have people come in and say like, whoa, you dressed like Beth Dutton? Or like, oh, you see John? Is he at the bar? I'm like, I don't, I don't know what to say to you. And like, I'm worn cowboy boots my whole life. I'm dressing like myself. Um, yeah, that's definitely changed a lot of, a lot of things in Montana yeah, it's definitely this craze. Um, I refuse to watch the show for a long time. I was like, ah, like, I love Yellowstone. I don't need to watch this. And then I watched it and I was like, okay. I, I kind of got into it. It was, it was better than I anticipated. There's definitely. A lot of things in the show that I kind of laugh at where you're like, oh, that's not quite how it works. Or I don't think they ever filmed an episode in the winter. You know? It was always sunny and summertime and of course most beautiful time. Things have definitely transitioned a lot over the years. I used to get made fun of for being country or a cowgirl, and now it's. For lack of a better word, trendy which in a sense it's cool. It's cool that people are paying attention and appreciating this way of life. I also think it's important to have these conversations to preserve this way of life. And, just remember so many people, cattle, ranchers, et cetera, like they do make their living. Off the land and it's not, it's not just a movie set or a playground. There's, there's so much mm-hmm. That's happening for a lot of real families. Yeah. There, the reason I asked was,'cause when the show first came out, most of my Montana friends refused to watch it for a really long time. I did too. I only watched it last year. And then. Got super into it and then watched all the other, you know, what is it, eighteens twenties? Yeah. 19. I don't even know. Yeah. I watched those too. Yeah. That's the homesteading story. So, um, just interesting, yeah, it certainly is like, you know, it's, Bozeman is the most expensive airport to fly into in the US a lot of times, and that's been hard for us'cause we still have family there and it's so expensive to visit family anymore. Mm-hmm.'cause it, it costs as much, it's cheaper to go to Europe now. Sometimes. Most of the time we could just, we could go to Mexico three times and not spend what we spend getting to Bozeman. Um, yeah. It is really trendy and I even, you know, just knowing so many farmers, I, I've met people who've moved out to Montana to live their ranching dreams and didn't realize all that it entailed and all that was gonna go into it. And it's not easy. It's, mm-hmm. They didn't realize, really, you can watch so many videos and thank you no so much, but it's a really hard way of life and you're so right. The, the TV shows do not. Remotely do it justice, especially they don't show winter like mm-hmm. Yeah. The whole aspect of rural living and what comes with that and having animals and then also I, I do feel for many people kind of similar age as us who moved to Bozeman chasing that Montana dream and you can't get out of an apartment and. Rent and the cost of living is just so high that it, it's hard to get by and it's hard to go do those things that, you know, kind of get sold to you on tv. Yeah, we're, we're in a weird place right now. It's just crazy the amount of growth that the state is going through, and I'd say it comes with a lot of growing pains. I don't think. Anyone ever expected these towns to get as big as they are and you feel that when you're driving through and services and everything is just like, oh, we're not, like these roads weren't made for this many people. Yeah. A drive that you used to, you, you used to be the only car on the road. Now there's traffic. Yeah. That's so crazy. Or even like you were talking at the beginning, how it used to be a certain amount of a drive to a grocery store. Yeah. Now there might be three grocery stores where there used to be no grocery stores and a movie theater, and a doctor like that didn't used to be there even 15 years ago. It's been nutty to watch, for sure. Yeah. It's a shock. Is there anything else that you would wanna talk about? Land stewardship wise or food wise? We kind of mentioned, um, venom therapy and that's very off topic probably, and some people are like, what? Wait, what did you just say? Um, but it's been a huge part of my life and just given me an even deeper appreciation for. All of God's creation and the animals and the land. And I guess a little bit of backstory for everyone. I have been struggling with Lyme disease for a very long time, so I got bit by a tick. Um, a lot of people are shocked to hear that since I did grow up in Montana. There is Lyme in all 50 states now, and I, I don't know when I got bit or where I got bit, there's a lot of misinformation out there about ticks having to, be attached for a certain amount of time and you needing that bullseye rash. And, the science that's coming out is proving that to be wrong. Like there's no minimum attachment time. You don't always get that bullseye rash. So oftentimes people like myself are bit, and they don't even know. With that said, also growing up, I didn't take ticks seriously. We'd find'em on our horses in the spring. And I remember I worked as a wildland firefighter for a summer and I pulled my glove off. I had been like working on a fire for a while, and I had five or six ticks just like around my wrists and my hand. And I was like, oh, that's so gross. And that's as much thought of I, I gave it. But I started experiencing some serious health issues and took me a long time to get diagnosed, but I finally did, and Lyme is a very. Interesting world. Um, recently there's been more talk and money allocated for research at a government level, which is really cool to know that maybe things are shifting. But I was kind of on my own for a while. I bounced between lots of different doctors, both in the Western and more of that natural world, and there was a lot of trial and error. Um. Some treatments that would get me feeling a little better, some that just made me worse. And then I discovered B Venom therapy. And B Venom therapy is an ancient practice. It's been used for ever, oftentimes for arthritis, Ms a LS, different things like that. And it was discovered. Fairly recently that it can also cure Lyme disease, which is super cool. Um, if you go to the Western doctor and they believe in late stage Lyme or like we will say, okay, yes, you have that their, their solution is just lifelong antibiotics, um, which come with a lot of pitfalls. And also it doesn't do the trick. It won't take care of it. Um,'cause Lime is very smart. It builds these. Walls pretty much against antibiotics or different herbals that you throw at it, and it just kind of morphs and protects itself. But the bees come in because Bee Venom has these amazing properties that can actually kill the lime and the bacteria doesn't see the venom as a threat. So it continues to do its thing. It doesn't protect itself or build those biofilms, those walls, and the venom kills it. So I've been stinging myself with bees. That is the only way to go about it is by like actually physically stinging yourself. As you can imagine, it's not a fun treatment, but I am seeing amazing results and. There's a ton of other success stories out there people are getting their lives back from it. So that's been this cool journey that I'm on and I love talking about and sharing with others and I'm sure just you sharing about that has helped a lot of other people who maybe didn't know that it was an option. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I would've found it sooner. When did you first learn that you had Lyme? It was in 2019. But I had some weird symptoms and stuff as a kid. Like I just kinda get these sick spells and then I'd pop out of it. So we never thought anything too seriously about it. Mm-hmm. Um, but I ended up traveling right after I graduated high school and I got super sick. Um, I was in Vietnam and I'm sure the food or something made me sick. And after that, like I just couldn't get back to myself. I had been skiing at a super high level at that point. I had blown my ACL and just remember being like so fatigued where I couldn't do my little like tippy toe exercises. And I'd been doing like CrossFit and climbing mountains and, you know, very, very active. And it just kinda went downhill from there. And then I finally, finally got that diagnosis. Hmm. Wow. Gosh. I'm sure that that totally was crazy transformative for your life in all kinds of ways. Despite your diagnosis, have you been grateful for like the way it forced you to maybe slow down or do things differently or like how, how did life change when you got that diagnosis? Yeah, I think as pretty stubborn and like when I first got the diagnosis, it was like, oh good, like I know what's wrong with me now. And then I realized what having Lyme means and how much misinformation and just. Doctors not knowing and out of pocket expenses and stuff that come with it. And you kind of feel like a Guinea pig to an extent. So then I was kind of scared. I was just like, oh, this isn't, we know what it is. Let's fix it. It's, let's try a million things. I just went on as, as much as I could, and I'd say this was kind of at the peak of my ski career and I was really going for it. I was getting hired by brands. I was filming with Warren Miller and still some extremely incredible accomplishments. But I also look back at, you know, my segment in Warren Miller and I'm just like, oh my gosh, I was so sick. And I remember skiing. And then they're like, all right, we have to do interviews now. I'm just like, I, like, I don't. I don't feel good. And I think once we finished filming, I pretty much slept for a week. I just was so, so worn out. Um, so that, that was hard. And then all of a sudden I feel like just kinda like shriveled up, like I lost all my muscle and I just couldn't ski at that level that I used to. And that, that was difficult to kind of be forced to slow down and for your body, just not to do, you know, what's capable of, I kept trying for a long time and then finally I just said, I need to put some of this stuff on the back burner, and just give myself some grace to get through this and focus on my health. And yeah, there was a lot of things I kind of had to let go of to an extent. I was super close to getting my pilot's license and then I started having some more like neurological symptoms and headaches and brain fog and. And I was just like, I, like, I don't feel like I should be flying an airplane right now and just putting that pressure and I have like a big internal drive on me. Um, so yeah, I just, I said this will come back to my, in my life if it's supposed to be, but for now I'm gonna focus on healing. And there's absolutely a silver lining in all of it. And so much of what has helped are just. Honestly, lifestyle changes, diet and sleep and nutrition. How I take care of myself. And I think as far as things go, like the lessons I've learned and what I do is really gonna set me up for, set me up for the rest of my life. And, my husband and I are excited to have children and I just think about how I'm gonna better raise them, knowing and having all these tools in my pocket. Yeah, definitely. I'm sure that people listening have probably a couple questions about the bees. So before we go, can you share a little bit about where you get the bees from, how you store them, how you do this? You don't have to go super in depth, but you know, how do you sting yourself with bees? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I feel like I should start with a little disclaimer. Um, before I just started stinging myself, I did do a lot of work. I ended up finding out I was living in mold and my detox pathways were shut down. I got a lot of lab work done. I worked with some coaches and I do, I do share this on my website'cause I had so many people reach out. I just put a little blog together with some resources if this is something you're interested in. I highly recommend doing it the right way and seeing a coach and going through some of this stuff before you just start. Mm-hmm. So after I prepped my body, which it did take, take a while to do that, I started stinging and there are different, I believe you pronounce it, apiary. Those are like people who raise bees, um, and you can just get them shipped. Um, living in Montana, I was kind of struggling with the weather and it's not like we have one day shipping. One day shipping is like a week long shipping. So I ended up actually finding a beekeeper who lives just down the road from me and. He gives me my bees, I call him my drug dealer. I just go over and take some from his hive, which, a lot of the bees that we use are kind of on the last leg of their life and they're the ones who kinda sit at the edge of the hive and their job is to go out and sting the bear or whatever is trying to get into there. Unfortunately they do die once they sting. That's definitely a question from people, but the amount of bees that I'm using and the ones we're taking, it's not affecting the population of the bees or his hives or anything like that. Um, also just, you know, like they're saving my life so I care about them so much. So what I am doing and will do over my lifetime, will definitely give back and, and help that be population. So I sting, three days a week. I started with one B and I'm working up to 10 Bs. I'm at nine right now, and um, I'm stinging pretty much up and down my back, just a little ways away from my spine and, and we have a little like wooden B box and sometimes I keep them in mason jars too. They seem, seem okay in there. And yeah, I feed'em and I water'em every day. And then when it's a sting day. My husband and I catch'em and he usually is the one who stings for me. And it's quite the process, but it's just a part of our, our life and our routine now. And it's cool. We can travel with them. It's not like I have to go into the hospital for treatment. We can just, you know, we're going to hunting camp and I bring my jar bees with, I've even brought'em into the mountains on pack trips, which is, which is funny. Yeah. I wonder, can you fly with bees? I have. There you go. I, I've put them in my carryon and I've never been stopped or questioned. Knock on wood, you probably don't even realize that they're alive. Yeah. Yeah. I, I dunno if I'm supposed to or not. Right. I know. That's so fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. So how long do you keep the bees after getting them from the beekeeper? It really depends kind of how many we can get each time. Uh, in the winter when they're not really as active, we kind of get less and I see him more frequently. At one time I got a batch and they were like probably on their last leg and they all died within one or two days, which was tough. But then other times I'll get a batch in, they'll last a week, two weeks, something like that. And yeah, so once I sting, they, they do die. Um, they live a little while afterwards, but they don't think it's necessarily good for them. So I put'em in a little jar in the freezer and just kinda help them die faster and we'll go release them and thank them. And it's crazy. I'm, I'm seeing significant changes. There was a lot of people in my life who questioned this and, it's cool for the people around me and. You know, my parents will see me and be like, oh my gosh, like you look different, you look better and this is better. And wow. It's notable changes, so that's very cool. That is, yeah. That is so amazing. I really do believe that God gives us all that we need. We just in a lot of. In a lot of ways, we just don't know that, that the things exist and that it's out there. Like who would've thought really? Who would've thought, oh, let's just sting ourselves with bees. That's the solution. Like people just won't, wouldn't think that, you know? Yeah. And that's how they actually found out it worked for Lyme disease. This woman, her name is Ellie Lobel. You can look up her story, she was very sick for many years and she was on her deathbed. And she ended up hiring an end of life caregiver to come stay with her. She just said like, I know my time has come, I, I need you to just come stay with me, like as I die. I have a couple days left. Like it's, it's not good. And she just kept hanging on. So eventually she's like, Hey, let's go for a walk. So this. Caregiver this big tough guy and they went for a walk and she was just like, wow, it's so beautiful out, like, this is so lovely. Um, it also didn't change her desire if she wanted to continue living or not. She, she was in a lot of pain and she knew her time had come and they heard something and all of a sudden they were getting swarmed by bees. And this big tough guy took off running. And left her and she was not strong enough to like move on her own. Oh, right. So she just got attacked by these bees and she was covered in stings. I mean, I can't imagine 10 stings. It hurts. It is not fun. So just that full body and being stuck there as you're getting just swarmed. And once you get stung, you release this pheromone that tells the other bees like, oh, attack. Which is kind of crazy. Anyways, the guy eventually comes back. He's obviously apologetic, but she won't let him take her to the hospital. Because she's like, no, I, I don't, I'm not gonna go get care. Like, this is my time. I guess this is just helping me. Mm-hmm. Go, just take me home and put me in bed and probably not gonna wake up in the morning. But she did wake up in the morning and she. Felt better than she had for years, and she started moving and walking on her own. And then she kinda went down this rabbit hole and learned about Vive and therapy and how it had been used for so many different things over the years. And now here we are, there's a whole community of people with Lyme who are stinging to heal. Wow. That is so cool. I know this has only been a recent journey for you, but I would imagine it would make you such. A strong person like you even said, the pain of being stung by nine different bees. That's, that's just intense. Like how have you grown as a person through this? I think it's given me such a deeper. Appreciation for days that I do feel good. And I think there's so much that we just take for granted. Um, we recently had a big windstorm and we lost power for 36 hours and I was just like, oh my gosh. Like I don't wake up and say thank you, God for electricity. I just am so used to it and being able to cook on our stove and have heat. And I think when I was healthy, I just. Took life and everything I was able to do for granted and having that taken away from me for some time, I think I'm a more positive, happier person because of it, because I know life is fragile and I do have days where I'm bad, where when I'm good, I'm gonna be bouncing on the walls. I'm excited. I'm, I'm just, I'm ready to go and make the most out of it. So that's definitely, um, been a big factor. And I think as far as being tough, I think it ebbs and flows. Healing fatigue is definitely real. I've been at this journey for a long time and there's days where I don't wanna sting. I don't wanna give myself a shot. I don't wanna be in pain. I have to dig deep and find some grit and just keep going. Yeah. Even on your weakest day, that's still so strong. Really? Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. There's people out there listening who are like, Hey, tell me more. I wanna hear you guys talk about this. It'd be so fun to come back on. Or maybe later on it might be even a journey. Bring you some good news and, you know, tell you how I'm living my life and not singing anymore. So that would be cool. Yeah, that would be so cool. For sure. I already have my one free babysitting week covered this year. Um, but to go on a couples pack trip with my husband would be such a dream, and definitely if anybody's listening, who wants to go, it's the trip of a lifetime. My husband's only ever been on one pack trip and he says it's his favorite thing that he's ever done. And he's done a lot of cool things, so, oh, cool. Thank you for saying that. Yeah, it was. It was interesting. We ended up just praying a lot before these trips and was on my heart to make it faith-based. And I like ran the numbers, you know, as you, I'm like limited to the number of people I can bring and you know, inviting the pastor and all this stuff. And I was just like, I don't, I don't care. Like I feel like it's just on my heart and God wants it to be this way and we're gonna bring together a really special group. And. It's gonna, it's gonna happen. It's gonna work out one way or another. I just, I just think that there's people out there including my husband and I, who, who need this and it's gonna be a cool experience. So yeah, I'm very excited and would love if you could join someday, that'd be amazing. Yeah, that would be so fun. Well, thank you so much. Such a different conversation than normal and that's refreshing.