About Me
Hey there! I am Jessica Lynn Heagy.
Get to know my name, because I’m going to become very important to you. Most likely for the rest of your life. Because you found me here, it’s safe to assume you are being tested by a rare health challenge like I am, or you are interested in embracing fitness as a means to improve the quality of your life despite age or illness. Relax, you can believe me when I tell you that I can relate. I am a real person and I’ve been walloped by real-life challenges. During my journey, I have discovered and rediscovered that I have more control than I originally thought, and I have experienced remarkable success because I put my faith in that control.
In 2005 I discovered I have Muckle Wells Syndrome. I’ll get into the details about that rare autoinflammatory syndrome in the chapters of this book, but suffice it to say that it derailed my original plans. I had a banking career going strong, I was doing some modeling, I had a good life with my daughter and my parents. All of a sudden…pain. Lots of it, and it was unrelenting.
I eventually recognized how devoting myself to fitness gave me control over the pain, and it put me back in charge of my life’s priorities. I embraced that control with fierce determination. In fact, by 2013 I took the top trophy in a fitness competition. I was 36 then, and as I posed on stage with women who were 15 years younger than I was, I had no idea that I was only six months away from a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis.
It turns out that breast cancer was a more formidable challenger than the 21-year-old competitors I posed with on stage that year. And as hundreds of thousands of women know, the treatments for breast cancer are just as deadly as the pathology. I’d like to tell you that I kicked the shit out of cancer and rose above the hardships of chemo, and moved on to the balance of my life with restored wellness, hope and happiness. But life had other plans for me, mostly in the form of a cancerous thyroid nodule, genetic chronic basal cell carcinoma, a hypoglycemic condition, and continued challenges with my old partner, Muckle Wells Syndrome.
I have been wracked by illness and disfigured by many operations. Fear nearly overwhelmed me. Physiological scars were accompanied by emotional scars. My self-image wavered, relationships faltered, and I thought resistance was futile. Control, once again, eluded me.
But something kept nagging at me. It was as irritating as my chronic pain because I couldn’t put my finger on it. I couldn’t quite hear the whisper in my head that was dying to give me the encouragement that would save my life.
Then I saw it.
It was an old photograph. It was one of the pictures of me on stage back in 2013, accepting the trophy for a level of fitness that so few women ever achieve. My eyes were closed in the picture, and I was breathing in the victory. Profound happiness was all over my face. And it didn’t hurt that my bib number was 10 that day, because it proudly declared that my rock-hard glutes were a 10, baby!
It occurred to me, that victorious day, one of the greatest days of my life, was eight years after my Muckle Wells diagnosis. I stared down that son-of-a-bitch disease and its despicable chronic pain…and I won.
So I had to do it again.
Determined to get back in shape, I rediscovered my passion for fitness, and it has served me well. Fitness has a tremendous impact on my self-esteem and it helps manage the symptoms I live with every day. Exercise isn’t just about building big muscles and looking good. Exercise is about the decision to be the best version of myself I can be. I want to be healthier, feel better, and get stronger inside and out every single day. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is in MY control. Nobody else’s control, and certainly not in some nasty disease’s control. MY control.
This memoir will prove to you that you can do exactly what I’ve done…twice. Now I teach people how to use heightened levels of fitness to overcome their challenges. The pain, the self-doubt, the fear…it all fades into oblivion when you move forward in control of your own body. Through this journey, I found my purpose. My purpose is to prove to you that you can take control of your own health and find hope and happiness. No one can stop you, except for you. So get out of your own way and start your own journey. I’ll go with you!
Much Love,
Jessica
Mission
I raise awareness, inspire healthier communities, offer hope, improve quality of life, and help people gain perspective about life, love and loss, by sharing my story of survival, hope and courage.
Vision
I will be the global go-to resource for people who are living with rare medical disorders, to help them overcome fear, inspire them toward healthier lifestyles, and empower them to be in control of their destiny.