O Health Challenge Update

Dean M. Wendel
33, full-time mother
Tracy, California

The Problem: At 32, when health difficulties called for a hysterectomy, Wendel "hit rock bottom." She had already had more than her share of trauma in her life: She had witnessed her twin sister's accidental death when she was 6, and was regularly sexually molested between the ages of 7 and 9. Adulthood added complicated pregnancies and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

Breakthrough "I'd been a caretaker my whole life, and I felt like I'd lost my own identity." She realized, "it's my turn."