Youthful Aging Secrets Podcast
Join Ricardo Vasquez who inspired by the death of his dad, Ricardo Luis Vasquez, decided to do his best to optimize his health and share what he's learning and doing with anyone who wants to do the same. Interviewing experts in their respective fields like Doctors, scientists, and others in the health space plus "super agers". People who are aging gracefully and look, feel and/or perform way below their age. My job is simple, to dissect the habits, rituals, routines, wisdom and knowledge from my guests as best I can. I really hope this makes a difference in your life.
Youthful Aging Secrets Podcast
#13 - From Near DEATH to NEW LIFE Cameron Hill's Astounding Story!
From Brain Dead to Bodybuilder: Cameron Hill's Health, Longevity, and Biohacking Transformation
In this eye-opening episode of the Youthful Aging Secrets Podcast, host Ricardo Vasquez interviews Cameron Hill—a living testament to the power of resilience and biohacking. Cameron's journey is nothing short of extraordinary: from being declared brain dead after a catastrophic health emergency to rebuilding his body, overcoming alcoholism, and preparing for a bodybuilding competition.
Discover how Cameron transformed his health through fitness, fasting, and biohacking strategies, and now helps others do the same. This inspiring story of survival, healthspan, and second chances is one you won’t want to miss.
Tune in now for actionable insights on health, longevity, and the human spirit!
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At a time when I should have been so happy to be alive, I was flat out suicidal. If this is what I'm brought back from the dead so that my life can look like this, stuck on a dialysis machine and not being able to see my kids, not disability, what kind of life is it? So I just didn't care. Cameron Hill had survived the unimaginable.
He went from being brain dead to somehow coming back. So I went from being. Brain dead to the only thing they could find at that point was I'd had a stroke back here coming back was just the beginning Of his journey Cameron's life was still in pieces and it wasn't until he met one doctor who saw the real problem He looked up from his pad looking up and down and goes you ever thought about going to a this guy literally saved my life That one moment changed everything.
Cameron began the long road to recovery, broken but not defeated. I went to the gym, hobbled in there like a walker. I could barely curl five pound dumbbells. That's kind of where it all changed. I went full born to recovery. From rock bottom to finding hope. Cameron's journey reminds us that it's never too late to rebuild.
I get sober, I get sober. You want to drop a hundred pounds? You can drop a hundred pounds. You want to come back from the dead? You can come back from the dead. You just got to get everything in your life lined up. Don't miss this powerful story. Go to youthfulagingsecrets. com, click on podcasts, choose your preferred platform and look for episode 13 with Cameron Hill.
Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Youthful Aging Secrets Podcast. I'm your host, Ricardo Vasquez, and today's guest is Cameron Hill. Cameron has lived an absolutely extraordinary life. He's a former police officer and federal agent, a successful entrepreneur, recovering alcoholic, and a true miracle man who survived both a fatal car crash and a devastating medical emergency.
He was declared clinically dead, placed in a coma, and told he'd never recover. Today, he's coaching others and even preparing for a bodybuilding competition himself.
In this episode, we discuss how Cameron ended up clinically dead, his incredible journey back to health, And yet today, he's coaching others and even preparing for a bodybuilding competition himself. And yet today, he's coaching others and even preparing for a bodybuilding competition himself. The mindset that drives his focus on health and longevity, how he overcame alcoholism, and so much more.
This episode is packed with hope, wisdom, and unforgettable stories, and Cameron is living proof that it's never too late to change, and that miracles are real.
Before we dive into today's episode, I want to quickly share something with you, which is my free 5 Health Hacks newsletter.
If you're someone who wants to live as healthy as possible for as long as possible, but don't always have the time to listen to every podcast episode or keep up with the latest health and longevity research, then this newsletter is for you. Each week I send you a quick, actionable newsletter featuring an inspiring quote, a summary of the latest podcast episodes, A breakdown of a health topic backed by the latest research. A few of my favorite discoveries or recommendations for that week. And a question to get you thinking deeper.
It's designed to be read in the time it takes you to enjoy your morning coffee. Now if you're interested, please head over to youthfulagingsecrets.com/subscribe to join for free. Enjoy the conversation.
And we're live.
Okay.
Cameron, thank you so much for being here today. I'll let you kick it off right off the top. Let me know who you are, where you're from. And no, we met on Facebook, so we can tell everybody how, why you're here, etc.
Um, my name is Cameron Hill. Uh, 42. , I got two little girls. I'm from Memphis, Tennessee, born and raised. , I'm a lot of things, I guess, worn a lot of hats in my time. Father, , I'm a former police officer, worked for a federal agency for a while as well. I'm a, I'm an entrepreneur of sorts and, , I'm also a recovering alcoholic, so, and, uh, back in late July and August of, uh, 2022, I had a, uh, I had a pretty bad, um, medical emergency that happened.
Um, and that just forever changed the course of my life pretty much.
Okay, cameron. I appreciate the summary So why don't we get into your career as a police officer?
Okay.
How long did you do that for?
Yeah. So, uh, it's a little bit of backstory. Again, born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. And, uh, right about. I. I guess I had been a little bit of a troublemaker growing up sometimes. Um, but then September 11th happened. So for me, like many people that day, that kind of changed the trajectory of a lot of people's lives.
And a few years later, I toyed with the idea of the military or police department. And finally, in 2003, I decided to join the police department. Um, One, I was kind of young and I don't think I was really ready to leave behind all my friends and everything like that and go to the military. And, and two, my, my sister had been a police officer.
Um, my brother in law at the time was a police officer. So, uh, it was just one of those natural things. So went to the police Academy and, uh, after that was assigned to the uniform patrol division, and I did that for a little while. Um, Can honestly say that wasn't my, the funnest aspect of my job. Um, so I had a unique ability that some police officers don't have.
And, uh, I guess misguided youth and all, I can buy drugs. So I quickly, uh, I only did uniform patrol for probably a few years. And then I went to the narcotics unit and really there, I, I started to thrive. Um, it was great. I was able to, to do work that I enjoyed. Um, it was high adrenaline, you know, it, it was great.
So I, uh, I did that job for again, a few years and then, uh, I don't know, after a while of being there, I kind of, uh, the city of Memphis has plagued with a heroin and fentanyl problem. It has been for years. Um, and so. That be kind of came the cases that I worked a lot. And after a few years of doing undercover work and stuff like that, uh, I basically got picked up by the D.
A. So ended up going to the D. A. And again, did that for a few years. Um, it's been a couple of years doing undercover work for them. Uh, then did did everything really did search warrant team the whole nine yards and that was great. Um, it again, it was a lot of the adrenaline. I think I was chasing something at the time.
Uh, and so did that for a while. But, uh, then got married and it just wasn't really conducive anymore to being married. And my wife at the time got pregnant. And it was just, it was a strain, I guess it was the, the never knowing what was going on. Um, some instances kind of made the news, uh, some things would happen at work and it would worry her.
So, uh, made the decision at that point when she was, I don't know, she was pretty pregnant and we decided I was going to change careers again. Um, that did for a short while. And then. We got pregnant again. So I was like, ah, you know, got to have insurance. So, um, joined a sheriff's office and South Carolina.
So I was with them for a while. Um, did that for about a year. Um, and then I ended up, uh, going to back up a deputy who was fighting, got, ran off the road and ended up going through the windshield of my squad car headfirst. And, uh, I remember I was. strapped to the bed and my wife at the time comes in, she's got one baby on her hip and she's out to here with another one.
She just looked at me and was like, you gotta stop. I was like, okay, so wake up call for that. That was about time to start planning my exit out law enforcement.
Going back a bit, you, you had mentioned recovering alcoholic, right? And, and so was that something that started throughout your career or in childhood or when did you first start consuming alcohol?
I can honestly say I probably first start drinking the first time I ever tried it, probably 12 or 13 years old. Um, and I think from the very beginning, I probably drank alcoholically. And by that, I mean, I never drank it because I enjoyed the flavor. You know, I drank because I liked the effect. And with those early teenage years, you know, hanging out with friends and stuff like that, there was always other drugs as well, but nothing really, I could say, got a grip of me like alcohol did.
Um, you know, Try to try it at all to be quite a frank, but alcohol always had kind of a grip on me, a hold on me. And most of it, I was able to tolerate or, you know, could, could still manage. Um, with a job like law enforcement though, I don't want to say it's encouraged, but it's kind of like the military.
It's what do you do when you get off work and you go hang out with your friends and you tell stories and you drink, you know, what do you do on the weekends? You're going out with your buddies and you're drinking, you're telling stories and you're doing that. So it just, I guess, uh, it was kind of like throwing.
You know, a match on a can of gas. It just continuously got worse over, well, you're talking a long period of time, but it continually just got worse.
So when did you notice that, okay, this is a problem. Like I have a, I have a problem right now with alcohol.
You know, it's,
it's funny because I, I think alcoholism, it tricks you, right? Because it, it makes you, it's one of the few diseases that the only disease out there, you know, I've said it before. You know, if you get diagnosed with cancer. You go to see the doctor. The doctor says if you don't go and do treatment, you're going to die.
You do the treatments. If you have You go to see the doctor and he says you gotta take antivirals or it's gonna, you're going to die. You take the antivirals. You have a doctor flat out look at you and say, if you continue to drink, you're going to die. Alcoholism and addiction will convince you that you have it beat.
that you don't have to stop and that you're gonna be able to continue. And so I think for a while I thought I could, I tried it all. First off, I tried the, well, let me switch from whiskey to wine. Let me, uh, you know, I'm not going to drink during the day. I'm going to only drink this much and I'll ration it out.
Um, I'll drink non alcoholic beer. Which nothing screams you're a raging alcoholic more than pushing non alcoholic beer through around the shopping cart, you know, uh, but you, you try it all you try it off. And, uh, you know, even after things between my, my wife at the time and I, like a divorce and losing kids and everything, all this stuff, I, instead of getting your act together, I just got worse.
You know, at a time when I should have said, okay, this is it. It's time for me to get my act together. It didn't happen that way. And so it progressively got worse. And I remember I went to go see my doctor one day and I would find out later why he did this, but I didn't know at the time. Um, I went in to go see my doctor because I was jaundice.
I had gone yellow. My eyes were yellow. My skin was yellow. Um, and of course going, I don't know why it could be the copious amounts of alcohol I've been drinking for years. And I remember I walked in, this guy, I picked him randomly out of the, out of the list my insurance providers gave me. And I walked in, I was sitting down and he walked in, didn't even know me, never met me before, didn't introduce himself.
He just, he looked up from his pad, looked me up and down and goes, you ever thought about going to AA? And I was like, and so, uh, You know, this guy, this guy literally saved my life because he sat me down and he shared with me the fact that he was also in recovery and we just talked about it and he's the one that actually, he got me in to go into an AA meeting.
Um, I'd like to say that that first time was it for me and that, you know, I had it figured out, but sadly I still didn't, I would go, I would go through periods of a month or two where I wouldn't. And then again, you think you have it beat. Well, I can just be normal. I can just have one. And for me, that's just not the case.
That's not how it's ingrained in me. And, uh, you know, that it was off and on and I was actually doing well. And then we'll get to the event that kind of changed all of my life, my entire life. And that's, uh, when I got so sick and yeah, in July of 22 and that's when it changed.
So that event, which we'll get to in July of 2022 was the epiphany or the catalyst for like, I gotta,
I gotta fucking change. Like I need to change. So do you think, I know we didn't talk about the event. I, to be quite honest, I don't even know the event yet. And I wanted to save it for, for this. Right. So I could really hear it out for the first time. But do you think had it not been this event that you would have eventually gone down the same path or would you have stayed, you know, with that up and down behavior or the pattern that you followed with alcohol
So with addiction, they always say you have to hit your rock bottom. Um, and everybody's rock bottom is different for
me. I think because of how I have been, um, my entire life, uh, there were things throughout my, my career, obviously my careers I've picked throughout my entire life. I just kind of thought it was invincible to be honest with you. I always thought I was invincible. I used to laugh and, you know, say I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof because that's how I lived.
And I had made it through so many things going through the windshield of a squad car, uh, You know, getting run over by a suspect, um, getting shot at and I survived. And so I was arrogant, I was cocky and I didn't think anything could get me. And so, no, I don't, I don't know how, I don't know where I'd be. If it hadn't been for that, what ended up happening and being the worst time of my life, um, truly turned out to be one of the biggest blessings, but it took me, it took me being completely leveled.
It took me being smashed to nothing for me to change my ways. And I would love to say that had it not been for that, I still would have, you know, I still would have done this, but I really don't know. I really don't. I really don't. I would like to think I would like to think that yes, it would have clicked and I would have stuck it out this time and that would have happened.
Um, but I really, I don't know.
I appreciate your honesty, you know, um, so let's get into it. I'm, I'm curious now, I've been curious.
I think anyone watching at this point wants to know what happened. So as detailed as possible, there's no rush.
Let me know what exactly
happened to you in 2022,
so of course at that point in time, um, you know, everything was, the world was kind of, uh, just coming out of being on lockdown. Um, I was giving AA another shot, you know, I was, I was trying, uh, I would look back and see the, the, the coins, the chips that I had had. And so I was trying that my kids were with me for the summer.
Um, cause like I said, Everything that happened, I'd gone through a divorce, and you know, lost jobs, and cars, and all this, and that still wasn't enough, and my kids were with me for the summer, and I was at work, and I had a pretty physically demanding job, and I had always, I'd been in relatively decent shape.
There was a stretch in there where I'd been a personal trainer, been a bodybuilder, um, then life happened, kids, and everything else. And, uh, but I was at work and I had a pretty physically demanding job and, but I was just sick, sick as a dog. I couldn't, I couldn't keep anything down. I couldn't even keep water down sometimes.
And I just kept working. And I, at the time we were an essential business. And so I had to go to work. If I didn't, you know, I had two kids to support. If I didn't, I catch points, I'd risk losing the job. So I had to, and I was taking at home COVID tests. I was testing negative, um, but my back was starting to hurt.
Um, looking back on it now, I noticed that I was kind of feeling bloated and I didn't You know, I actually went out and bought bigger t shirts. Um, my back was hurting. I was popping Advil just thinking, all right, physically demanding job. You know, that's what it was back hurting from it. And, you know, I've been running a high grade fever, you know, 100 and 304.
And again, just but I was testing negative for Covid. So I didn't know. Um, and finally, After all this, I was, I was at work and they ended up being like, Hey man, you got to go home. Like we get it, the points, all this, but you got to go home. And, uh, the back was, like I said, my back was killing me and everything.
So I managed to get home, still tested negative for COVID and I was just miserable. I mean, I couldn't, nothing was helping. I was trying to lay around and everything. And then finally I woke up one morning and I can barely talk and this is things are going to start to get a little fuzzy for me here, but I can barely talk.
Um, I can barely walk and ended up, uh, getting taken to the hospital. And what I, uh, the, about the last thing I remember is they got me in the wheelchair, wheel me into the ER. And I remember getting, they almost immediately got me back to a bed. And I remember putting my phone on my chest. I tried to text the kid's mother to let them know.
what was going on and uh, that I was in the hospital. And then that's about all she wrote for me. And what had happened was, um, I did have COVID and at the same time from the dehydration and everything, I got rhabdo, which was shutting my kidneys down. So my, my back hurting wasn't my back. It was my kidney shutting down.
And then of course, what am I doing? I'm popping Advil. trying to get through it, making the situation even worse. I would find out not that I knew. So once the kidneys went and I went into kidney failure, the toxins built up in the body and my liver went next. And so I was walking around in kidney and liver failure and basically knew something was wrong, but it was just being too stubborn and not doing anything about it.
And so, By the time I got to the hospital, the reason why I could barely speak and walk and everything was I at some point in there that that night I had also had a stroke. So yeah, so um, they got me to the hospital. By that point I was in kidney failure, liver failure, had had the stroke, had COVID, and within a few hours of being in the hospital I went into respiratory failure.
And that was that. So, um, they got me, they got me on a ventilator and they got me immediately on dialysis. But after the last thing I remember was putting the phone on my chest. And then after that, I could tell you what was going on in here. Um, but I didn't know what was going on around me. Uh, that's pretty much the rest of it.
Everything else I've gleaned from people that were there, Um, the nurses and my medical files really, um, but they, I was in a coma, so I went into a coma while I was there, while that was going on, um, I was on a ventilator feeding tube and um, they had put me on dialysis because my creatinine levels were, your normal creatinine should be For a male, like a 7, 8 to a 1, 1.
1 is kind of average. Uh, my creatinine levels were at a 14 at the highest. So I was in total renal failure at that point. So I was hooked up to dialysis. And, uh, I went septic. Uh, went into AFib. arterial fibrillation. Uh, I got pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia. Um, the doctors would literally later tell me my nurses who were amazing.
My nurses would tell me like every time they treated me for something, my body just shut down and did something else so they could treat me for this. But then this would happen. And uh, so that's kind of where I stayed in all of this. Um, You know, I still, I can still remember what was happening in my head while I was in a coma.
That's the crazy thing because your brain is still working. Um, it's still processing things that are going on around you, but you're just, you're not conscious of it. Um, but I was like that for about a month and, um, they took me in for a CT scan and, uh, The doctors ruled that I had, they, they diagnosed me with what's called global anoxia.
So, uh, probably due to me being a respiratory failure and all that when my brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long. And so, uh, I was brain dead, I was a vegetable. And so, that being the way it was, uh, my family basically didn't have much choice. They were, it was decided that they would pull the plug and put me on hospice.
And that's what happened. So my, uh, my kids were brought in to say goodbye to me. Um, my family, friends, uh, it's really weird to look back and see the pictures of the priest or the pastor standing at the foot of my bed, uh, praying for me to have a peaceful passing. and me just to be laying there. Um, so yeah, one of my daughters, she, she couldn't even, she couldn't even come in the room.
My other daughter was a trooper and held my hand while they took me off. And then, uh, yeah, so they started me on hospice. So cranked up the ketamine and the fentanyl and everything and, uh, took me off dialysis. So eventually what my blood pressure dropped significantly. Respiratory functions came to almost a halt again.
Uh,
but I guess somebody wasn't wasn't ready to let me go. So they all just kind of waited, kind of kept waiting, waiting for me just to finally pass. And I don't really know what happened.
Maybe divine intervention is about the only thing I can think of because After a little while, after a few days, basically, um, I started to kind of come around,
there were some white numbers written on the whiteboard in front of my bed. And, uh, turns out later, they were the phone numbers of my family for the nurses to call when I passed. I guess God had another plan in mind for me and slowly, but surely I remember it. I managed to, uh, I used to always drink diet Mountain Dew like that was like my go to.
And, uh, so at like four o'clock in the morning, I got ahold of my sister. Now, mind you, I, they hadn't, I hadn't talked. I was, I was so bloated from I was so bloated from them taking me off dialysis that my kidney function is where your body starts to swell. It just becomes waterlogged, uh, to the point where my thumbprint wouldn't even open my phone anymore.
They tried to get into my phone and my thumbprint wouldn't even open it. My skin had started to rip on the sides of my legs where it just would separate. Um, and at like four o'clock in the morning, I called my sister and, uh, she answered the phone. I was like, what? Hey. You know, I have a deep voice anyway and kind of a gruff voice anyway.
And I'm sure I sounded even worse, uh, from having a tube down my throat for so long. I said, Hey, she started to kind of cry and get emotional. She said, are you, is this really you? And I said, yeah, bring me a fucking Mountain Dew. That was about all I got out. Bring me a Mountain Dew. And so, uh, she said, yeah, of course.
And, uh, she showed up in my first few days. are a haze man. I was in and out, you know, they were still, I was until my mom revoked the hospice on me. Um, I was still pumped. So full of everything at this point, uh, that I was in and out of consciousness still. Um, I would come around and I would be able to talk for a minute.
Um, and so with that, they, they ordered an MRI. Um, and I remember having to go in for the MRI. Uh, they like lock your head in this little contraption, stick you in a tube. And I mean, it was just crazy. The, and when they came back out and they, the neurologist ended up reading the reports and he's like the only thing they could find at that point.
So I went from being brain dead to the only thing they could find at that point was I'd had a stroke back here. And, uh, that was it. That was all they could find. So the decision was made like, Hey, he's something's going on here. Like I was starting to, I could start to talk a little bit. And, uh, so they started me back on dialysis and, uh, slowly over time, you know, I started to come around more and more and more.
And, uh, You know, my charge nurse got a manager, absolutely amazing guy. Still remember him from, it was funny. I could remember, I remembered his voice from when I was in a coma because he would talk to me. And, uh, I remember Andrew poking his head in one day, like a couple of the ICU nurses came and looked in, they were like, holy shit, you know, like, can't believe this.
And, uh, so yeah, then it slowly, but surely over time, uh, you know, things got better. quote unquote better. You know, um, I was in the hospital for still for a little while after that. I tried to be smart one day and get up on the walker they had left near my bed. You don't realize how much you atrophy that much living off of a tube and laying in a bed for so long.
I managed to stand up and I just started violently shake before I fell back down on my bed. Yeah, but You know, I remember one of the nurses coming in looking at me and go and they were just kind of an amazement. They're like, I gave you enough meds to kill a rhino. I just said, well, I guess you underestimated my tolerance.
I don't know what to tell you. Um, but yeah, that event, you know, things got, uh, I would love to say again that it was a huge turning point for me. Um, But man, at a time in my life where I should have been so thrilled to be alive, became one of the darkest times of my life after that. And it's really, it's really odd for me to say that.
Um, because most people are like, Hey man, you managed to come back from the dead. You should be thrilled. And yeah, they're right. But I was just this shell of this person that I had been, you know, I came out of there in a wheelchair, you know, progress for me. I remember the doing physical therapy and like standing on a foam block and having to balance myself.
I couldn't even do that. And then I went to a walker here. I am 40 years old and You know, I'm hobbling around on a walker. I'm on dialysis still. By this point, they had taken the catheter out of my neck and I had a permacath in my chest and they were like, well, you know, your kidneys are in such failure and see that this was, I was going to be hooked up to a dialysis machine, you know, three to four days a week, four hours a day for the rest of my life or get a kidney transplant.
Um, And that was bleak as well. Like I'd go into the dialysis center and I'd sit there and, this is going to sound really bad, but I would be surrounded by these people who were 80, 85 years old getting dialysis. And I'm like, well, what is, what is my life going to look like if at 40, this is already where I'm at.
And, uh, one of the other things that happened was, it's kind of funny, You know, in a hospital, I'm looking straight ahead the whole time, you know, just looking up at the TV. So I didn't really realize anything. It wasn't until later that my, one of the people from rehab was like, well, we need to get you out of the car and see if you can at least.
And I drove like out of my driveway, made it like a hundred yards to the stop sign. And I looked ahead and I started freaking out and I was like, Oh crap. I used to be able to see over here. And I realized at that point, I know it sounds weird that it took me so long to realize, but I realized at that point I'd gone blind out of my left eye.
I couldn't, I couldn't see over there. I was like, Oh my. So again, now I'm dealing with dialysis and blind in one eye and I was weak. Um, I was getting fat, you know, I was getting big. I was, I wasn't mobile. And so that, that led me to a pretty bad place mentally at some point.
Yeah. So that's the big event that, that started to change everything.
Yeah, that's that's nuts
Yeah.
So I have so many questions. I just didn't want to
interrupt for sure So first of all as of right now, are you currently on? Like the dialysis or
anything like that at all? Are you do you have to take any medications for? What
So when I came out of the hospital, um, I was on literally a grocery bag. I wish I brought it in here with me. I could have showed you my pill organizer. I was on, you know, pain meds, benzos.
I had a pill organizer that seven days a week and I had four time slots because I was taking so many, I was taking, you know, uh, found out I was, that I had been pre diabetic before, um, didn't know it.
They had me on benzos, uh, painkillers. I was on three different blood pressure medicines, blood thinners, um, cholesterol medicines. I was on a tour of a statin for my cholesterol. I was, I mean, if you can think it, I was probably on it. And it was, I mean, yeah, metformin for my blood sugar and, um, They, they had had to scope me and stuff.
It found out I had bleeding ulcers in my upper GI tract. So I was on pantropasol for those. I was, I was literally taking medications to offset the other medications that I was taking. You know, they were had this, well, which caused this side effects. I had to take this medicine as well. I mean, I had to schedule my day around, was I going to be hooked up to a dialysis machine for four or five hours?
My kids were in South Carolina with their mom and I was in Memphis, Tennessee. And I remember, so I'll rewind a little bit here. So some of the stuff that I started doing, the longer that I was in the hospital, they said for every day you're in this hospital bed, it's going to be five days in a physical rehab facility.
I've already been there a month and that just wasn't going to happen. That wasn't going to happen. So, I started doing like leg lifts and like calf raises in my bed. I would push off against the foot of the bed and I started trying to do crunches, trying to get my strength up and I was very blessed. I had this, I had a lovely nighttime nurse that probably wasn't supposed to.
But she would come by in the middle of the night because I wasn't sleeping or my schedules were all screwed up. You know, sometimes I would just fall out from the pain meds. Other times I'd be awake all night. And if I was awake and she would come in, she'd be like, do you want to go for a walk? And I'd be like, yes.
And so that was just more opportunities for me to get on my feet. And they had to like strap this belt around me and lift me up kind of, and I would just hobble around on a walker. But she helped. She helped a lot. And my, my, my rehab specialists at the hospital were awesome. And, uh, so once I got out, I didn't, I couldn't imagine that I was going to keep living this life that I was going to.
So I started looking at not just pharmaceuticals I could take, but what were some other supplements I could take? That would maybe help me, you know, they gave me very strict diets to eat. And even to this day, I ate a very plain strict diet. Um, again, we'll get to that, but yeah, I was on all these medications and at the same time I started researching other things that you could take.
So, sorry, battling my allergies right now, but I started looking at things. So, you know, there's milk thistle. for your liver dandelion root for your liver. Um, you know, they had also diagnosed me while I was there is having cirrhosis. So I'm scarring of the liver. Go figure, right? Uh, so, uh, I looked at some, uh, stragglers for your kidney health.
You know, there were all these things that I started doing again. I've been a personal trainer and bodybuilder back in the day. And so I just started, I was like, all right, you know, I'm gonna start. Doing this. I'm going to see what I can do. And, uh, I ended up going and just to be totally transparent, I ended up getting help from, um, for mental health issues that I was going through, you know, the depression and all this.
And finally, I went and saw my doctor, that same one who got me into AA. And, uh, I love that guy. And, uh, I got talking to him and I said, Hey man, I'm I don't, I don't want to keep living like this. Like this isn't living. This is, it's barely surviving. And, uh, I said, I want to see what I can do about coming off some of these meds.
Cause I, you know, I felt like the benzos were just a substitution for alcohol. Um, the tour of statins, the statins were making my body hurt, you know, all these other things, you know, so, um, I told him, I said, man, I think I'm, I'm just gonna stop. I'm going to start chiseling away one at a time and see if I can start using some of this knowledge that I've had to slowly build my body back up.
And, uh, My nephew was awesome too. He was, he was staying with me at the time and my mom, but my nephew was always trying to drag me out of the house. He's a great kid. I was, come on, let's go to the gym. Let's go to the gym. And, uh, I went to the gym, hobbled in there on a Walker, you know? And, uh, I remember the first time I sat on one of the little seated stationary bikes, I could do like 20 minutes.
And that was about it. I went to, uh, went to curl a dumbbell and I could barely curl the little rubber, a little rubber, five pound dumbbells. And it was demoralizing. It was just demoralizing this guy who had been so indestructible and had, you know, been into bodybuilding and all this. And I was just broke.
I was just broken. And, uh, sorry for that. That's, that's kind of where it all changed. It was after that, I, uh, I started going back to AA. It's like, you know, I'm going to get this, this mind frame, this, this mindset. Cause I'll be honest with you. Uh, I'm a big advocate for AA or NA. Um, I'm a huge, huge proponent for it.
I always say like, even if you're stone cold sober, if you work the steps, it just makes you a better person, you know, it really is for anybody. Um, But I went full bore into recovery. Um, I actually started working at the AA office in Memphis when I could, but that was later. But I went full bore into recovery and I went full bore into my health.
Um, I started changing everything about if, if the old me had gone left, I went right. If my logical brain said I needed to do this, I did the opposite. And that's that mindset. And then tapping back into some of the things that I had learned over the time, like that, I, that I had taught other people, you know, like, Hey, this is my diet.
This is what you should be taking certain supplements. Um, like I've said, for anybody out there, you got milk thistle and dandelion root for your liver. Astragalus is amazing for your kidneys. Um, And I remember I was still going to get dialysis, right? Go all the way back to your question before I was going to dialysis and I had these, I don't know if you've ever seen it, but I had a tube.
I still have the scar right here in my chest and coming out of it is two hoses and it's like a little dovetail. And one of them for anybody that doesn't know what dialysis does, cause I always thought, Hey, kidneys, you know, um, What dialysis does is it filters your blood it does the job for your kidneys that your kidneys can't do and so they hook You up to a machine and it pulls blood out of one side Pushes it into the machine spins it cleans it and pushes it back into your body through the other port And if literally you feel like you're getting a life sucked out of you for anybody that has to go through it I I feel your pain because it you literally feel like you get the life sucked out of you And I remember
I was trying to figure out a time where I could fly to see my kids. Um, they throughout all of this, they were the ones that really took a toll on them. I mean, my own daughters had to come and say goodbye to their dad, you know, what, what they had to go through. I couldn't even imagine. So I was trying to take some time to go see my kids just for a
I was like, well, maybe if I can hop on a plane this day, if they can. So I called him. I said, Hey, can you reschedule me? Can I, can I come in a day later than normal? Can I, can I go like three days without getting dialysis? So I was going to go to dialysis, sit there for four hours, get my blood drained, jump on a plane, go to South Carolina and see my kids for a few days, come back.
And then the next day, if I could push it one more day, can I. You know, can we do that? Is there any way? And, uh, the nurse said, well, let me talk to the doctors. It was right. I asked him this right after I was leaving an appointment one day. I said, okay, so we'll just let me know if we can do that. And, uh, I was sitting at the house and, uh, my mom was there.
My nephew was there and, uh, the dialysis center called me. So I figured it was just them calling me to say, Hey, we're going to, um, Move you back a date or no, we can't and she said Cameron. I said, yes, ma'am And she said well, you remember you calling and asking about if we could push your day back and I said, yes, ma'am I said if you can't do it, that's fine.
She said no I spoke to your doctor and he said you don't have to do dialysis anymore. I mean I Said huh? I mean, I think my mouth just dropped. I started to cry and I'm not a very emotional kind of guy anyway, but I mean, I started to sob at this point and uh, she said, no, your, your kidneys have healed. And I, I just couldn't believe it.
Cause I was told I'd be on dialysis the rest of my life or a transplant possibly. Um, your kidneys don't heal. Your liver can, your kidneys can't. That's what I kept hearing. Your liver can heal, but your kidneys can't. And again, I just, I hadn't really wanted to accept that. And she said, so you can go in tomorrow and you can have your catheter removed.
And I was like, Oh my, and I got, my nephew drove me to the appointment and, uh, I walked in, I said, I need, they said, what are we doing today? I said, well, you're going to remove my dialysis catheter, my permacath. And, uh, the nurse goes, okay, well, what are we putting in? Are we putting in a shunt in your arm or a pick line somewhere?
And I said, no. I'm just done. She, even she was blown away. She goes, we don't do just removals. And I said, well, you are today. So they, uh, they pulled it out. And it was funny that the nurse, I couldn't see it, but I could feel like a tugging on my chest. And so finally she said, uh, do you want to see it? And I was kind of like, Yeah, I kind of do, you know, I can feel it in my neck and I always thought it was like that long.
She pulls out this thing. It's like 18 inches long. I was like, where was that? She said, well, that's in your heart. So I didn't know you guys had anything in my heart. She goes, would you have freaked out if I did? And I said, yeah, she goes, well, that's why we don't tell you. I said, okay, great. So yeah, I had no idea that the dialysis catheter actually runs into your heart and that's where it gets the blood from.
So miraculously again. Second grace, man. I was off dialysis.
That's, that's insane, man. That's crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah, you're, I had two thoughts while you're telling me this story. The first was you stubborn son of a bitch
Yeah.
which is, but in a good way, because it's like, it might be that stubbornness that like pushed you,
right? Like, And the other one was like, I got, I was finding myself getting a little emotional just because it was taking me back to when my father was in palliative care.
And I, the things you were describing, I was one of the people there,
right? So it was like, I can only imagine, you know, what, what that's like on the, you know, as the person.
And then of course, as your, your daughter, you know, I know, I know what she, they must've felt. Your daughters,
right? He said, so are you, would you, do you believe in, in God?
So I, uh,
a higher power
yeah. Yeah. So I'm glad you asked. So I had always, you know, I'd gone to a church school when I was younger. Um, and I think at some point,
You know, when you're, when you're a cop or when you're in the military or anything like that, where a nurse even, um, you know, contrary to popular belief, police officers don't fight crime necessarily nine times out of 10, your job as a police officer, at least in uniform patrol, you just clean up the mess, you know, especially in an area like Memphis, which is again, one of the most violent cities in America.
I think this year we hit number one, um, again, It's uh, you're there to clean up a mess and sometimes you see things and you just go, how, how can there be a God? You know, how can you, how could a loving and caring higher power allow this to happen? You know, crimes against Children or anything, you know, so you start to question it.
And then
When all that happened, because I will be honest and tell you, I can tell you everything that happened in my coma.
I can tell you exactly what was going on in my head. I can tell you, I can remember people being there, but my head would hear their voice. My head would hear the voices and come up, concoct its own story of what was going on in my head. It's really quite odd, but your body's crazy. But I can tell you that there was a difference between I can remember being in the coma.
I can remember dying and I can remember coming back into the coma. Um, so that there was no way that all of these things that happened and defied, you know, they say, what's a miracle, you know, a miracle is something that defies all practical and logical and medical belief, basically. Uh, associated with a divine power.
I didn't pull myself out of that coma. I didn't heal my body. I did things to facilitate it. But your kidney should never have healed. I shouldn't have gone from being brain dead and a vegetable to being, sitting right here talking to you. Um,
there's no medical reason for it. You know, there's just not. Um, and I realized it was quite funny when I got into AA, they say that you just have to believe in a power greater than yourself. Okay. That doesn't tell you that you have to believe in God necessarily. Just a power greater than yourself. And it's a great principle.
And yes, I believe in God. Um, I believe that many of us believe in God. I don't care what you call him, you know, um, But we all believe, most of us believe in that. Uh, and if you don't, hey, whatever floats your boat. But I can tell you as a guy that's literally been dead, uh, yeah, yeah, I can honestly say I definitely do.
Because I, I wouldn't be sitting here today having this conversation. Because on my own, out of my own free will, I couldn't have done it. I just couldn't have.
So you mentioned you remember before the coma, basically during the coma and then dying and coming back. So you, were you clinically dead at one point? Like,
I mean, once you're at respiratory failure and they, you know, that was, that was pretty much it for me, I guess.
so basically machines were doing the work for you kind of thing?
Yeah. Yeah. I went into respiratory failure and it took them, you know, that's why they said I was, I had global anoxia because I hadn't been breathing. And so I guess however long it took them to finally inumbate me or yeah. And, uh, get me back to breathing for me. Um, yeah. Yeah, I guess during that period, but I can definitely tell you that there was a stark contrast as to what happened and what was going on.
And then, you know, to some people, it may sound crazy and that's fine. Um, but I'm the one that went through it. So you really can't argue with me, you know? Um, but I, you know, I know when I talk about it, it probably does sound crazy, but your, your body's, it's an incredible thing.
was there ever any a point where you felt like there was some kind of divine intervention or for lack of a better word, like some kind of energy from another side or another? I know this
Yeah, because the,
because, you
Yeah, that where it gets interesting is, is I remember being in a coma, it's like being in the most vivid dream you've ever had. You know, it's to me, it was real. Um, and like I said, your brain is doing things outside. Like I remembered my charge nurse, I remembered his name and I remembered his voice, but my brain had associated, had made up a face for him because I had never seen it.
And, uh, throughout all of that, there was at one point where I basically got walked around through a house and I was being shown photographs. And I, at first I didn't get the why I was being showed these photographs. And what I realized they were pictures of my daughters as they were getting older and I was being showed what I was going to miss.
And, uh, yeah, basically at that point was kind of led. You know, people say, people say, Oh, I experienced a bright white light and all this. It's funny because that's not how I associate. I remember walking out of this being shown these pictures being walked through a house, walking through the door and I'm in pitch black.
I associated it with a streetlight that there was just a streetlight on on me. And, uh,
and I can remember it kind of snowing, which was a prevalent thing throughout my coma and into this situation was snow was always there. I don't know why I'd love to know, but at the end of this, what I could see out in the pitch blackness was a figure standing there and I can remember staring at the person and almost like that they were on top of me and it was my dad and my dad had passed away in 2012 and I can remember all of a sudden being able to have a conversation with him.
And, uh, he was asking me about my daughters and stuff, which was funny because he knew their names, but my dad was not alive when I had my kids. So that's when it dawned on me. I remember asking him, I said, Hey, wait, hold on. How do you know my kid's names? And that's when he kind of, you know, basically we had this discussion of he's like, no, I'm always there.
He's like, I've seen him. I've watched him grow up. And, uh, it was, At that point, having this conversation with them that, you know, it's, it's tearful and everything. And then he was like, all right, but you have to go back. And I can remember saying, no, I don't want to. And I know why I didn't know why I didn't want to go back.
I just didn't want to, I was, you know, I had my dad back. And basically it came to a point where I can remember almost him. My dad was, uh, kind of a tough guy, you know, um, Loving but tough and basically almost a force by him to get me to go back. And just like that, I was, I was back at it. I was out of that situation and back into the land of the coma, you know?
So there was like these, these jumps where I can remember everything happened in the coma, then this incident, and then right back into this vivid dream, but there was definitely a break in there. Um, and the bad part about being in a coma is, is I will tell you. I remembered after that happened, I knew something was wrong.
And so I, I panicked. I remember being in my head. I was panicking, knowing something was terribly wrong, that this was not whatever was going on. And, uh, So yeah, then it became basically a fight within my own brain to try to come out of the coma. So yeah, it was wild.
That's a trip for sure. So moving, moving forward. So today where you're at today,
So after that, and like I said, I ended up, uh, hobbled back into the gym on a, on a walker. Um, started going back to AA and I would go every day. I found this group that I just absolutely loved and I was still, I was bitter. I was angry. I was, you know, I should have been happy, but I wasn't. And, uh, they really, these people took care of me.
They love me. They took care of me. Um, I got an amazing sponsor. Dude's awesome. Uh, started working steps at the same time. I'm, I'm going here and I'm doing this and I'm, I started going, okay, now, now I need to be better than I was. So I took all that knowledge I had had before from being a personal trainer and being into bodybuilding and I started just going to the gym every day, start going to the gym, my diet.
I started tracking all my macros, um, start going to the gym. I do cardio in the morning and cardio for me started, like I said, 20 minutes tops on a seated bike. That's what I could do just slowly every time. And once I came off dialysis, my kidneys were working, my body was starting to heal more and more.
And the more I exercise, the more I did stuff, I noticed my body was just reacting. And it was, you know, I gained all this weight sitting around, not being able to move, but once my body started healing, I started looking up every supplement I could take every, you know, vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, whatever I could do to get back to being the best version of myself I could possibly be.
And at the same time, I'm working on my spirituality. You know, God has become a very important part of my life. I started to then get into the gym and that became a big staple of my life. And then what started out as these little 20 minute seated stationary bikes, then it was all right. Now I can get up onto the seated bike.
And then I can put the walker down. One of the happiest days I ever had was I walked back into the hospital with my walker and my cane. Because after the walker, I had to go to a cane for a little while. And I remember the best day of my life was I got to take that, that walker and that cane, and I got to walk it back into the hospital, into the physical therapy department.
And say, here you go, give these to somebody who needs them next time. And I'm donating them back to you. You know, they were like, where are you sure? Cause insurance, but I said, I don't care. I'm not going back to it. It's not happening. And after that, it was just. I would go to my doctor and see him and hey, can I, I don't want to take the tour of stat anymore.
What can we do? Well, let's clean up your diet and see if it happens. And then he would start doing blood work on me. And you know, we would do EKGs and tests and more tests. And it was just like things start happening. You know, they've done a check of my liver again and they can't find signs of cirrhosis on it.
There's no signs of scarring. I have a liver of, I don't have fatty liver anymore. My liver is of normal functioning value. Uh, my kidneys have completely healed. I'm off dialysis. My creatinine levels at the last time I checked was like a 0. 8 or a 0. 9. Um, you know, at the time too, I had been a two pack a day smoker.
So laid that down. the alcohol down, like, haven't looked back. I came off the benzos, the pain meds. I was just like, that's, I don't want to do that. I want to be completely sober. So today, um, You know, I look at myself today and I'm, man, it's, it's been, it's crazy because I've, I had these before pictures where I'm laying down in the hospital and then I have these pictures where I just got the tube out of my chest and, you know, I have a belly up to here, you know, uh, at the time I went from a close to 300 44 inch waist at that point.
And, uh, Yeah, it's just one thing after another. And my doctor is just laughing the whole time going, I can't believe this is happening. You know, and I'm, it just became a way of life for me. You know, I go check in, I do my prayers and meditation. I go to AA, you know, my kids were still living in South Carolina and I can remember that was just my goal.
Like I just wanted my children back and, uh, man, my body, eventually pretty much totally healed. It's, it's crazy what your body can do. So the only residual things that I kind of take for medication wise, again, just be like totally transparent with everything. I still take metformin for blood sugar. Um, because three things that will kill you quick stress, your blood sugar, heart problems.
Those are the things that would get you blood pressure. So with already having a stroke, I did lose the eyesight out of this eye. So that's, that's a residual from, from being so sick. Um, some gnarly scars from, uh, you know, my skin splitting stuff, but just chalk those up to all the other scars I have. Um, I still take metformin for my blood sugar.
I still take my blood pressure medicines. Even though my blood pressure is pretty good, I'm not rolling the dice with another stroke, just not going to happen. Uh, but no, no statins. My heart's healthy. My liver's awesome. My kidneys are functioning. I still take all my supplements, um, just to make sure, but man, if that's all I have to do and stay exercise coming off all those drugs, the benzos and the pain meds and stuff, I had to detox all over again.
And so what do you do when you do that? Man, I couldn't sleep. So, Hey man, two o'clock in the morning, go to the gym, do something. And that's still a habit I have even to this day. If I'm having a night where I can't sleep to the gym, I go, I don't fight it anymore. I just go. And that's become my, my, my therapy of sorts, you know, but to answer your question as to, you know, do I believe in God?
Yeah. Because I was given throughout all of this, I was given this chance to do everything right. You know, I was, a lot of people, when they go into recovery, they say, I want my old life back. But do you really? Because your old life was you being an addict and full of chaos and turmoil. Because I'll just be honest, that's all I knew.
I knew that from my career choices. I knew chaos, violence, turmoil, and I didn't like the person I was. Um, and so being able to have this opportunity and now I just try to give it back. That's that's become a huge part of my life. Um, I met a beautiful woman in recovery. She's in recovery too. So it's amazing.
Um, She's there to support me. She's there to love me. Uh, she, she's gorgeous. She's perfect. Sometimes laugh and say, I don't know what you see in me, you know? Um, but you know, I'm so blessed and now I'm here. I, so I still float between South Carolina and, uh, Memphis. Um, my Daisy, my, my girl is, she's in Memphis.
Um, she, she's beautiful. As a massage therapist has an amazing job there. And so I'm in South Carolina where my kids are and now I'm so fortunate. I mean, like I told you earlier, they're, they're sitting out here just in the other room with me right now. I get to pick them up from school every day. I get to, you know, they go to the gym with me.
Um,
you know, I've been so blessed by doing the right things and just being living a good life that I feel. I feel like that's what I should have been doing all along. Unfortunately, it just took me 40 years and a lot of rough knocks to kind of learn that lesson. And so now I try to make sure that if there's a way for me to get my story across to people, for me to tell people about my addiction, my, you know, you know, let's be honest here.
Was it COVID that killed me? Yeah. But had I been kind to my body for. 25 years. No, no. You know, I abused my body in every way from physically, physically doing stuff to the mental strain that I put my body through the alcohol, drugs, you know, whatever the case is, I have not been kind to myself for a very long time.
And that, that wears you down. So now I try to, now I try to help people. That's what I do. I really, you know, I help people in recovery. I help people with their fitness. Because for me, if I can lose, look, let me show you how I did it. I can show you, I can lay out the blueprint. If you're willing to do the work, I can, I can lay it out there for you.
You know, um, it's not always easy. It's not always pretty. Hell, sometimes it just sucks. But if you want to get sober, you can get sober. You want to drop 100 pounds, you can drop 100 pounds. You want to come back from the dead, you can come back from the dead. You just got to get everything in your life lined up.
Yeah. That's beautiful. I couldn't agree more. So I'm a big believer in behaviors, habits. Some behaviors are, you know, one time behaviors. I learned that term from BJ Fogg. He's a, he wrote a book, Tiny Habits, and he says behaviors are, or habits are subsets of behaviors. And he kind of breaks it down to one time behaviors, something you just do once, and then habits, things you do repeatedly. And so I'm curious, what were, and you kind of talked about them. Um, specifically for you, what would you say were the,
One time behaviors, that thing that you did that made a huge change, which I think I, you know, you alluded to some of them and then what are the behaviors that turned into habits that kind of got you here today and, and as specific as possible if you can,
because I think behaviors are so important for people to understand that it's, it's when we do something that things start to change.
Aside from of course, divine intervention,
things out of our control. But you
know what I mean? Specifically what you did your part.
So some of the one time things, first off, um,
you know, I was very, I was very fortunate. Again, it's who you surround yourself with too. I'm a firm believer too, is in like your circle, the people that you're close with, they, uh, I try not to be around people who are negative. I always try to surround myself with people that are motivating. And, uh, some of the things that I did kind of the one off things were, were things that maybe I had been scared to do, which it was a word.
I hated, I hated admitting that I was scared of anything, but there were things in my life that I had to do. Like when I moved here to South Carolina, I didn't have shit, nothing. I went to an extended stay. I dropped my kids off in Chattanooga with my ex wife. She was, met me halfway. She was moving back here.
I was driving back through Nashville. My car blew up, caught fire. And I ended up having to go stay with my brother. And like through him and his wife, just like these things that like, you gotta do this. Like you, you keep on procrastinating. So we ended up, end up getting this little beater car. And I, I drove to Memphis.
I loaded my stuff up and I drove to South Carolina. And just that move, just that move was, you know, it changed my entire life because now I'm here, I'm with my kids again. And, uh, that kind of stuff, you know, there were other things that, I mean, I can honestly tell you, I mean, I tried certain medications, I tried certain supplements, I just didn't see the results from them and stuff like that.
Um, man, when it came to like healing my body though, um, When it came to trying to heal my kidneys, my liver, my heart, my lungs, everything. I took the approach of, the real scientific approach here, of I threw all the shit against the wall, and just went with what stuck. Like I, I just threw it all against the wall.
Anything I could think of, anything I read about. Certain things have fell off as far as I didn't really see much from them, I didn't. Uh, some of the things are still part of my routine. So some of the behaviors that I do, prayer meditation, they always say prayers when you're asking God meditation is when you're listening to God.
And both those things are important because sometimes I think one of the things we don't do, we don't listen. We don't listen. can, God can be calling you all day long and you're not paying any attention. So that was one of the things was prayer meditation that stuck. Um, I tried reading a lot more, but you know, kind of went blind, a little hard to read a book.
So I started listening to audio books. But what I do now is, and kind of coming across you as well, is if I watch something on TV, I try to make sure that what I'm watching adds value. I don't, I don't fill my time with a lot of junk anymore. Um, but my physical fitness, some of the things that stuck out, uh, sauna, talk about a ritual.
Every day is a sauna for me. It's fasted cardio in the morning, which I'm now proud to say I'm on the elliptical and the treadmill now, uh, no longer on the seated bike, but it's fasted cardio in the morning. You want to, you just want some of the best ways to burn calories and start your day off fasted cardio.
sauna. I am a huge advocate for saunas. Um, red light therapy. So, you know, a lot of people, I did the red light therapy because I found it supposedly had a good effect on kidneys, internal health skin. Um, so that was another thing that I started to really do was red light therapy. I've done the cold plunges.
You know, tried them. Uh, they wake you up. That's for sure. But it's not something that I that I have incorporated a lot of. Uh, but I've done habits. You know, it's it's weight lifting for me five days a week. Um, my diet is very strict. It's very strict. People like to laugh at me because of my diet, you know, but I track my macros.
It's another thing. I track my macros. I make sure that I'm having enough protein in my day. I'm making sure that I'm That I'm eating, that I'm watching what I eat. If it goes in my mouth, I put it down. I hold myself accountable for what I do these days. Which is something I never did before. I hold myself accountable.
I hold myself accountable on my sobriety, on my faith, and on my fitness. And that's, those are the things that I have to do every day. Um, And so those, those behaviors, and that's what I try to tell people. If you, if you swap out, you take out the things that are negative in your life, and replace them. You know?
I don't drink alcohol anymore. I don't do drugs anymore. That's you're poisoning your body. You know, you should go work out five days a week. If you're drinking three days, four days, five days a week, you're not helping yourself. So I tend to look at the positive things in my life, what do work and those are what I stick with.
What I eat, what I track, how I sleep. I think sleep is underestimated. Um, even if I only get five or six hours, I'm going to make sure that it's a solid five or six hours. The sleep is underestimated. Getting your hormones checked for men and women. Um, you know, by someone who actually knows what they're talking about, too.
Um, I believe having your hormones balanced out is another key thing, but making sure blood pressure's in check, your blood sugar's in check, all those things, I don't really even have to worry about my blood sugar anymore, but I still prick my finger and test my blood sugar to make sure. So I've changed literally everything about my life.
Like I told you earlier, you know, like you. If I think I should do this, I do this and that's kind of the way I do it now. Um, but yeah, everything about everything about me has changed.
You know what I, what I get from a lot of what, and I was actually typing, um, taking notes of what you were saying, by the way, because I can remember pretty well, but I find just taking notes will solidify it. So. One thing that's coming to me out of everything you're saying, it just seems like, and this might sound corny for sure, but it seems like you just love yourself, you know, because
the, no, but it's, it's real shit because at the end of the day, the fact that you're willing to take ownership, that you're willing to change, even just checking, check your blood pressure, checking your blood sugar, you know, showing up being here today. These are to me, Signs are communicating to outwardly that hey, I I care about myself. I matter, you know, like I actually love myself
and I love and I love that because like I I can feel that from you and correct me if i'm
yeah, no, no. Uh,
like you you like yourself now, whereas before
man, I,
you didn't fucking like who you
no, let me be honest, man. I fucking hated myself. I did. I mean, I'm just going to call it like it is. I hated myself. What was I? I was an alcoholic. You know, throughout my life, like I said, I'd led this life of violence and chaos and destruction, you know, um, you know, no, I didn't, I didn't even care for myself and I, and I, and I, when I started going back to AA, you know, that's why I told you earlier, like they loved me when I couldn't even love myself because that's all those people, that's what they do.
They'll bring you into the fold and they teach you that just cause you're an addict doesn't mean you're a horrible person. It just means that you have a sickness. And,
love that
you know, I thought I'd just done so much horrible shit in my life that there was no coming back from it. so for the longest time, no, I didn't love myself.
I hated myself. There was, there's no two ways about it.
But as it's man, I wish I could pinpoint, I wish I could pinpoint when my life started to change. And that started to change because it wasn't, you don't start loving yourself.
It's not because of like, there had to be a defendant moment when it happened, but I can't tell you. But what I realized is is that part of what I do now is I have to give back. I have to, I have to help other people because if I. That's part of what keeps me sober today is that I can now give it back and I can show people like, Hey, I was at the bottom of the barrel.
You can have a better life. You don't want that old life back. Your old life is what got you to this miserable existence that you're in right now. So what can we do to get you out of here? and get you back on track to leading a better life. And man, yeah, I mean, do I have stresses in my everyday life? Sure.
Just started my own business. I got two little girls I got to worry about. I've got bills to pay. I've got, I still pay child support. Uh, you know, all of these things, I still have stresses in my everyday life, but man, I have an amazing life. I've got two kids. I'm, I'm blessed beyond all means. The things that I, you know, I think people will say, well, I asked God for, people will say, I prayed and I didn't get what I wanted.
So therefore God's not real. You're praying for the wrong shit. Because the fact is, is you're trying to control the situation. And I don't try to control the situation anymore. I just asked for the strength and knowledge of whatever his will is to get through the day. And I found that if I'm not the one in control, my life tends to go very, and I look at what I have now, you know, before I had a nice house in the suburbs and two cars, and, but I was miserable.
Now I'm happy. I've got my kids, I've got this beautiful woman I'm going to marry. I've got, you know, all these good things that have happened to me. And it's all because I actually just started doing the right thing. The next right thing, you know, I've met some incredible people in recovery. Um, you know, people that at one point in their life, um, you know, we're junkies or homeless robbers, you know,
You know, these guys got a friend of mine, Ben Owens, I mean, him and his wife are doing these amazing things at Memphis and they were both addicts and now they're going into neighborhoods and they're, you know, buying up trap houses and flipping them into sober living homes for vets and stuff like that.
I mean, these guys, Chris Hennessey is in Texas doing the same thing. And, uh, you know, now I've gotten this privilege to know these people and my life is just abundant with so much. It's, it's, it's beyond my wildest dreams. I mean, I have, I have a life now that I couldn't have fathomed before.
Yeah, that's beautiful, man um You know, one thing I noticed with people I'm speaking to and, and while I haven't heard stories like this specifically, this one kind of blew me away. I'm going to have to rewatch it, but, but one thing I noticed is fitness and just being conscious of what you put in your body. It all, all these things seem to be a theme that I see with most people. Even even even like entrepreneurs like of course, there's a lot of successful entrepreneurs that don't take care of their bodies,
etc But the ones that I consider truly successful with like a thriving all around life Except it seems to be like fitness
is a hallmark and it doesn't you know, you know, whatever floats your boat Some people do pilates some do body weight.
It doesn't matter. The point is are you? You know testing your body. Are you giving it some kind of resistance same with your nutrition? Are you holding yourself accountable to what you're putting in your body? And like again, it just goes back to this idea. Do you love how much do you love yourself? Like because and I do you agree with that?
Do you think like fitness and what you put in your body? you know
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Do you think it played a huge role for your recovery and and how who
you become as a person who you are
yeah, no, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I mean, yeah, I wouldn't be the same person I am today without it. Um, I'm a lot like you. I see these entrepreneurs that are doing well. And some of the times, like I would go on YouTube and watch, try to get like some motivation and I would look up people that I, that I kind of liked.
Um, what they were doing. You know, you got the Jockos of the world and stuff like that. They're out crushing it at like 3 30 in the morning and stuff, you know, it's like, all right, well, you know, pump the brakes a little bit on that. But, uh, you know, I would look and almost everybody that was successful or had the, this, this way of life that I liked, they had routines, they had habits that benefited them.
Um, you know, what's good for them may not be good for this person, but. fitness and what they put in their bodies. The people that I saw that were really doing amazing things. Um, I was listening to some of these podcasts and it's like all these, uh, it's the Sean Ryan show, but it's all these special ops guys and they all come in and talk, you know, and every single one of them almost starts talking about battling addiction, mental health, and then how did they come about doing stuff, fitness, they quit, they got sober.
They started watching what they ate and drank, and they incorporated fitness into their life. And it is a game changer, because like you said, at some point I had to start loving myself. And that's what I hadn't been doing before. So going to the gym for me isn't something that's vain. It's not, I need a six pack or yeah, I'll put it out there.
I'm going to try doing a bodybuilding show next year. I get it. I'm good. I'm good. For me, that's just for the transformation aspect. It's just a goal. It's for me to be able to say I went from dead to morbidly obese, to being in relatively good shape. And now I've managed to pull this off. I enjoy being, I've been able to show
nothing vain about that.
I've been able to show my kids that they can do anything.
You know, my daughters, you know, they, they probably think I'm a superhuman, you know, cause I just keep coming back, you know? Um, but it's something that I try to instill in them that you can do anything you want. You know, you can do it. You just got to have your mind to it. And fitness for me is just such an instrumental part of all of that, because if you don't take care of this and you don't take care of this, what do you have?
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I'm 100 percent with you on that. Um, we're, we're running close
on time, but I do want to touch on, on one thing. mind, the mind, you know, I guess you could say emotional health, mental health. I think they're tied together. How do you approach stress? How did you approach stress?
The most stressful part, even I'm sure I didn't ask you first of all, where did you ever consider ending it all? Like, did you ever feel suicidal,
seriously suicidal, or like at least contemplating it and
how
how did you get out of that? Like, how do you manage stress? That cause like you said, things still happen, right?
You still have stressors. How do you, because the stress is huge, right? Like if,
don't manage your emotions, it can, it can kill you. Right. So how do you manage your emotions and your mental health?
, yes, during that dark spot that I told you about where I kind of had this light bulb moment where I knew I needed to get help was because at a time when I should have been so happy to be alive, I was flat out suicidal. I didn't care. I, if this is what I'm brought back from the dead so that my life can look like this stuck on a dialysis machine and not being able to see my kids and on disability.
What, what kind of life is this? So I, I did, I flat out just didn't care. And I didn't care. I would love to say again, this comes back to like a divine intervention thing because at some point in there I had this moment of clarity where I was like, I need to reach out to people. I need to get help. I need to get help.
Um, cause if I didn't, I knew myself too well. And, uh, So I did, I reached out and then that's what started. It was like that turning point where I had just this weird moment of clarity in it to say, you made it this far, let's keep going. And that's why I always tell people, you just got to keep going no matter how bad it gets, no matter how bad it sucks, no matter how bad it hurts, you just got to keep going.
There's you can't stop just one thing after and keep going because it will always get better. You can't just have this continuous stream of just it will get better. You just got to keep going. Um, today when I'm stressed pray, I tell you, you got to take a step back. You got to take a step back. You got to breathe.
You got to pray. You got to meditate. Um, some of the best times I have, I will that the sauna has become my When I, when I'm stressed, I hit the sauna, I work out. That has become how I deal with stress now. Um, if it's, you know, I go to a meeting, I surround myself with people who have been through stressful situations and can help me.
I call my brother. Um, I talked to Daisy, you know, I, I, I'm blessed that again, it goes back to who you have in your circle, you know, people that you can talk to. Cause I don't, that's another thing. I used to internalize everything as guys. People will say, Hey man, how's it going? Or how are you doing? He's like, I'm good.
No, you're not. You know, no, you're not. But we, as, especially as men take it, we internalize it and all you're going to do is self destruct. So I'm a big believer of, you got to get it out. You got to talk. Sure. Things may stress me out and sometimes I got to talk to people, but if I just keep going. It's all going to work out.
It has to. However, it's supposed to work out. It may not go the way you want it to. There've been plenty of times throughout all this where I had it, you know, uh, my, my sponsor told me something one time, this is a great bit of advice that I will pass on to anybody. You have to stop planning outcomes because as a human being, if you start planning the outcome of something, when that outcome doesn't happen, you get upset, you get angry, you get depressed.
So I don't plan the outcomes of anything anymore. I know that sounds, people are like, can't you, how do you plan for, you know, making money next month or whatever? You just, yes, you make plans, but you just plan the next course of right action. And that's how I live my life these days. It's just the next course, the next right thing, as they say in AA, it's just doing the next right thing.
And if you just keep doing those right things, Your life falls into a fairly simple and happy progression. If you got, you'll hit a bump in the road, just do the next right thing. You get laid off from your job. Just do the next right thing. Start planning, start doing it, but don't sit there and go, okay, in a year from now, I'm going to be in this house.
I'm going to be married. I want that dog. And my kids are going to be, because what's going to happen in a year. If you don't have, like I said, I want to do a bodybuilding show next year. I'm going today. I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow morning. You know what I'm going to do? I plan on doing fasted cardio first thing in the morning.
Okay. I'm just playing the next right thing. If I plan that show out, But in six months from now, blow a shoulder out, I tear a peck and I can't do it. Now I'm upset. I'm disappointed of all these things. So no, I have that idea, but I'm not visualizing it that I'm gonna do it. I'm not planning that I'm gonna win that show.
'cause if it doesn't happen, that's when you start to get in to a bad mindset. So for me, just the next right thing.
Yeah, I actually, I actually really liked that. That's pretty cool. And that, that goes in line with what I was saying is behaviors. It's the next right thing is what's the next behavior, what behavior. Should I focus on instead of being married to the result or the outcome, which I totally agree because I used to be like that. And if I didn't hit the result I was after for the day or for the week or for the month, I felt like shit. And even when I did, I didn't appreciate it because I was so fixated on that result.
That I wasn't stopping to, you know, quote unquote, smell the roses, et cetera. So now this, I actually learned from that.
Um, if you ever heard of, uh, James clear atomic habit,
no,
it's a great book. Incredible book. I strongly recommend it. That and tiny habits are both, they kind of work hand in hand. But the idea is instead of focusing on the outcome. Focus on the person you need to become and then and that person you need to become has a set of behaviors That they would have exhibit and you know As you do these behaviors you start to become that person and before you know it you're achieving the results and
Yeah.
So for me, it's like I I also look at it like okay What what are the behaviors that you know x type of person
has this is like the ideal man that I that I?
aspire to be And that's things like, you know, taking accountability, not making excuses, being a gentleman, being nice, respectful, all these little things. Like, like you said, then the next thing, what's the next right thing? It's like, okay, go to the gym. I don't feel that great. Okay. Take it easy today. Don't fucking kill yourself.
It's okay. You're going to be all right. So I actually love that. I've never heard of that before in that way. What's the next right thing. But that, that kind of, uh, that's, that's impactful. I didn't know that's part of AA. Is that what they,
Yeah. So it is. It's they always say just do the next right thing. Um,
The next right thing. I
yeah, and it was my, that's why I said, if, if like even sober people, if they could just go to a 12 step meeting, they'll get something out of it. But, uh, it was my sponsor who was like, man, you plan the outcome. And, uh, I said, well, man, I gotta make plans.
You know, I gotta, I gotta plan for the future. And he's like, but do you? He's like, or do you, can you just envision that you want a better life and that you want to accomplish things and to accomplish those things? What do you have to do right now? What do you have, what do you have control over? What can you do right now to try to move forward in life?
Cause obviously I can't just go out, buy a house, buy a car and get married like that. So if those are things that I maybe want, how do you, what can you do right now? And the only thing you can do right now is just keep moving forward and just do the next right thing. You just keep moving. You just keep going forward.
You just do the next right thing. Like I said, sometimes the end result is it's not what you expected. You know, I never thought I'd be talking about getting married again and who would have thought I'd meet like this amazing woman in recovery, you know? Um, I never, things in my life, I didn't see them working out the way they are now, but man, it's, it's amazing.
It's fantastic. I love it.
Yeah, that's beautiful So I I think therapy is an important thing for some people, you know, I think for everybody even if you're doing well I think speaking to somebody Some professional, et cetera, is great. Some people can't afford it. Some people don't have
insurance and people can't afford it. Do you have any techniques, things that you've learned that perhaps you could share?
One of them was great, which was focusing on what's the next right thing. I think that's a fantastic framework.
Yeah.
any others that you've learned on your journey that perhaps we could share and leave the listeners with
even me?
Well, I mean, the thing, man, I wish I had all the answers, but I really don't, because there's times where I still, I don't know what to do. Um, you know, some of the things that I do these days, you know, besides just doing the next right thing, you know, they, I've heard, I've heard it say, you know, depression is just fear of the past and anxiety is fear of the future.
You can't change the past. There's nothing you can do about the future. It hasn't happened yet. So the only thing you can do is live and be right here in this moment. Trying to do the very best you can. And even when you get beat down, you know, even at my lowest point, I knew I had it in me to be a better version of myself.
I didn't know how it was going to happen, but I knew if I just did those things that it would all work out. I do believe in your faith has to be strong. I don't care what you believe in. I really don't. I don't care if you pray to God, Allah, Ra, the Sun God, whatever you want to do. I don't care. It has no bearing on my life.
That's another important thing. I will say that. Man, live in your bubble. And by that I mean, if it doesn't, if it doesn't bring anything into my life, if it doesn't, I say if it doesn't benefit me, but if it doesn't impact me, I don't worry about it. You are not going to find me stressing about politics on the TV.
It's not happening. It's not. I have my own, I have my own opinion on politicians. They're all used car sales. I don't believe a single one of them. I worked for the government long enough to have a disdain for politicians. Um, but you're not going to find me engaged in that kind of, I think we as human beings, we, there has become a point where we, we live on chaos and drama.
It's everywhere you look. It's on social media. It's on the TV. It's, you know, we're watching judge Judy or we're watching political debates. We're doing this. Why are you filling your time with added stress? That doesn't matter because that's all it is. I see people getting worked up over a Facebook post.
Why? I get people that get offended if I say the word shit. Why? That's really going to ruin your day. Like I, so I, that is, that is the one thing that I have learned through all this is you can't take stuff too seriously. Like you really can't. And you definitely, if you can't, if you have no control over it and it does not directly impact you, cut that out.
And if that means cutting off people in your life, if that means
not doing something for somebody just because you think you should, but you don't really want to, whatever it is, if it is added stress to your life, get rid of it. Just, just get rid of it. Don't let it impact you. People worry and stress so much in this. And that's why you're having heart attacks and strokes.
And because you're worried about shit that doesn't matter. And it's just cumulative and it builds up and it builds up. And then when the stuff that does hit you matters and it hits you, um, Oh man, it's like now you, now you got to climb a mountain to get over it because you're already, your stress is already elevated.
You're already so worried about all this other stupid crap. So I just don't surround myself with any of it. If you're negative, cut you out. I know that sounds harsh, but that's just how I am. If you want to have drama. Cut you out. I social media is like a necessary evil to me because of me doing the personal training thing and stuff and doing a lot of online coaching.
So it's like a, it's a, it's a evil that I have to deal with. Um, but man, I just, I try to surround myself, like, like getting to meet you. Positivity, you know, like that's the kind of stuff I need in my life. And that's, that's the positive things. Those are the people that you want to keep around. You know, the rest of it.
Don't stress about stuff. You can't that don't impact you.
Yeah, I love that. It's very, uh, like a stoic philosophy, philosophical approach, you know, controlling, focusing on what you can control and don't worry about the things you can't because what's the point, you
know? So, and with that said, um, Cameron, how can people find you?
Uh, you can find me Cameron hill on, uh, Facebook, Instagram, uh, company is Lazarus training, you know, rise from the dead kind of thing. Um, we do.
I like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Lazarus train. So coming back to life. Um, and again, with that, it's, uh, you can find it Lazarus dot train on Instagram or YouTube, uh, Facebook. But yeah.
That's where you can find me. I'm all over the
going to put, I'm going to put those links in all the descriptions as well. Uh, encourage people to check you out. Um, what an incredible story, Cameron. I, I really appreciate you coming on today, you know, replying to me to
Nah, man, it's been my pleasure. Really has
And, uh, maybe we could do a part two.
for sure. For sure. Let's do it.
Thanks, man. I really appreciate you,
All right, brother, take care.
Take care, bro.
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