Gaby Mammone

Transcript

gabi Mamoni unusual advice from a therapist Gabriela you have multiple sclerosis MS she proceeded to tell me that I had so many lesions in my brain in my spinal cord that within 10 years I would be in a wheelchair I would have slurred speech and I would experience memory loss I experience darkness have you ever been in darkness now I'm not talking about the kind of darkness where you have to close the light because electricity bill is so high you can laugh I'm talking about the kind of darkness where you're in despair and denial living with MS and being a mom was hard there were

so many days where I wanted to hold my children but I couldn't for fear of dropping them my son is epileptic there were many nights where when he was having a seizure in his sleep I couldn't get to him on time because I couldn't walk properly my daughter there are many times where my esophagus had my throat inflamed my nerves inflamed so much that I'm not able to speak it's heart-wrenching when she cries mommy why aren't you singing with me anymore I often ran to the bathroom my safe haven and one day I was there in this puddle of tears this ocean of anxiety and

I remember feeling sorry for myself sorry for my circumstance I was remembering all the voicemails that I didn't want to return for fear of adding more tasks and I was afraid of of my business failing because there was so many things to do when I was fearing that I wasn't being a good mom and and you know the IEP meetings and the management meetings and the doctor's appointments and the paperwork in my my hell was getting worse than my fingers in my lethargy and I just wanted to stop so I called my therapist my mother my Italian mother so she came and said Gabriela open

the light open the light you can laugh at that - and at that moment I noticed a little glimmer of light through the bathroom door and then I got it what she meant was she wanted me to focus on where I wanted to go not on where I was why did I need to feel sorry for my circumstance it's the events in life that keep us who we are but it's how we deal with them that make us who we are and when we are in darkness that is actually when we're able to see the light but we just have to try don't fight with

reality in your own situations embrace it and look for that light and open it when you feel pain pain is a messenger to follow the light and accept your circumstance and make the best of it in my situation I'm now an ambassador with the MS Society of Canada helping people with episodic disabilities voluntarily I'm with government relations and I'm proud of that I can now laugh at some things like yesterday I was staring at the orange juice carton because it said concentrate I may never be able to run a marathon but I will be happy when I can put my underwear on without falling I

remember when I mentioned to that my neurologist said that within ten years I would be in a wheelchair I would have slurred speech and I would experience memory loss I was diagnosed fifteen years ago I am still standing you understood what I had to say and I remembered this speech

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a well trained speech and language pathologist told me that I needed to learn sign language in order to communicate with my son but he could speak and he could hear and he was just a normal kid imagine yourself six five six years old in school and all of your peers were talking about a well anticipated birthday party that was happening this Saturday how would you feel if you were the only kid that wasn't invited I'm the mom of that child you see my Luca he was an average kid he loved electronics he loved to play tag he loved board games but maybe what made him

a little different was that he was nonverbal he could speak in my home but outside of our home no one heard his beautiful angelic voice not his teachers not as peers not my extended family Luca had a severe childhood anxiety it was so extreme that when he was in a social setting he would freeze he would shake and it was like he was frozen in his own body and as his mom I wanted nothing more but to help my son but I didn't know how and he would come home from school on a Monday after the kids had that birthday party and say mom when

do I get my first loo bag then came the day where he came home with his first invitation to a birthday party you can imagine how ecstatic I was that we were finally going to a party when we had arrived he was a little overwhelmed with the bouncy castles in the life but you know what he was looking forward to getting his first loot bag and then at the end of the party a clown came in and he said hello boys and girls if you would like a loot bag line up here and all you have to do is say to the birthday boy happy

birthday Daniel my son shoulders shrugged it's like he was melting so I went to line and I waited to in line to get his loot bag and when I was almost at the front of the line I turned back and he was gone I ran outside screaming for him and I saw him across the street he was safe and I thanked God for that but he is weeping in his own puddle of tears and when I ran to him and I hugged his little body I could see the trails of his tears leaving permanent imprints in his skin I felt like a failure I don't

hit a mom not connect with her son and get him to integrate and feel included in this world you know when I look at her journey when he was still six and nonverbal I tried so many things I even went to his school I happened to find myself in the parking lot at recess watching him oh come on like you've never done that before moms and dads come on alongside of this I was still learning sign language but I didn't want to use it just yet I thought it's time for me to try some different things would you believe the next day in his knapsack

was a loot bag from that party he was so excited and that mom had sent me a note and that note said you matter and you are enough you're a good mom and that's what I needed to hear to realize that all I needed was to connect with him you see all those years that I wanted him to speak I wanted him to be the way I wanted him to be but what I realized is I needed to give him the tools and the resources to be who he needed and meant to be so we started a new journey and I'm so glad because as

I was learning this sign language I thought I just don't want to speak with my hands you see being Italian that comes naturally you see you know and it's like I don't know if you know but in sign language this means no but in Italian this means you want to more basta so I was really struggling but what happened next was interesting I found different ways to connect with him I went to his school a half an hour before and a half an hour after to play games hide-and-seek board games and electronics so he could hear his voice and what it sounded like in the

school I'm grateful for the teachers that allowed us to do that I'm grateful for all the people that helped us and guided us and what happened in that journey was amazing because through all the training my son now speaks and says the morning announcements at school I never needed thank you I never needed to learn sign language other than to say I love you thank you

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We are all born with greatness what differentiates us is how and when we use that greatness this chair represents where we all want to be in life a reward so answer me this question out loud with conviction if you take a risk in your life and you fail if you act on that failure will there be a lesson yes or yes very good so therefore if you take a risk and you calculate it and you're not sure it's going to end up the way you want but you see the value of if you want to get that reward then there's Merit in trying to take

the risk yes or yes very good again so this chair represents the risk let me ask you think of a dream or a goal that you've had a risk that you haven't taken now ask yourself why we've just agreed that the only way to receive a reward is to take the risk the reason why is because of this middle chair this is what's getting in the way the naysayers you see the naysayers I'm not talking about the people that love us that give us advice and want us to do well I'm talking to people that give us a little bit of negative energy that tell

us that we can't do it or shouldn't do it if there's one lesson that I want you to please learn from my speech today is to ignore the naysayers because when we can ignore the naysayers it will fortify us with the power to find our greatness there was nothing more years ago than what I wanted was to be on drag instead try it out I met with a producer named Tracy minutes within my pitch she cut me off and she said next I said but you didn't even let me finish my pitch and she was my only ticket to meeting the dragons The Venture capitalists

that I hope would invest money into my business and I would exchange my business for a percentage and hopefully you know do well on my wedding favor business I sold giftware online she said I wasn't good enough she tore me apart she said if I wanted to I could come back next year and try out again and I'll tell you something I went home that night balling but I realized something Tracy wasn't bad because she was my naysayer Tracy just didn't know my passion my dream my vision she didn't know that I had a full-time job that I had to wake up for every morning

while I was up at night with my son who has health challenges and he was having a seizure she didn't know that years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and my doctor told me that I would be in a wheelchair within 10 years she didn't know that it wasn't her fault she wasn't my naysayer she just didn't know my passion so I decided the next day I was gonna try it again so I got in my car I drove an hour away because I thought you know what there's no way in hell that Trace is gonna be there maybe the next producer will let

me through so I went in line over 7 000 people ahead of me waited for my number to be called I get up to the table guess who it is so true so she said didn't I tell you to come back next year I said yes but just hear me out she let me do my pitch I made it through to me with the dragons I did make it to air and here's where the story gets good so on the panel in that season there were four men and one woman Arlene Dickinson was the woman now just out of respect I'm not going to tell

you who who humiliated me but she was really rude yeah she put one of the Tiaras on my head from my giftware table and she said Gabby I Crown you as the worst presenter on the show I have the title yeah I do I do and what's worse is she told me that I was a poor speaker and my dream was to be a speaker she told me I had a terrible business model and my dream was to be self-employed my dream was to quit my job she cut me up I was devastated I went home that day naturally without a deal big surprise line

now you're authorized so but here is where it gets interesting when the show aired on TV my website crashed because I couldn't handle all the sales paid mail and a lot of negative emails from people but I also had people that were my naysayers and people that did want me to succeed from that experience I was able to leave my full-time job I was able to watch my health I was able and still am able to raise two beautiful children and volunteer I started a new business my passion project I still have that website selling and receiving residual income what I've learned from that is

I would not have gotten there if I listened to all my naysayers what's stopping you you've just admitted you've had some risks that you wanted to take what's getting in the middle of taking that risk you've agreed with me at the beginning to finding your purpose and finding your greatness is to get the reward by taking the risk Thomas Edison was told that he couldn't learn but he basically came up with a thousand inventions before he came up with the light bulb so I ask you if you want to take your risk and get your reward take all that never negative energy put it in

a ball let it fortify you to Greatness so you can be successful

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