Hello Friends,
Happy Monday friends :) Today I will do my last FULL heavier lower body lift before my Pro Debut on Saturday! I still can't believe I'm saying those words .. PRO debut!!! This isn't an easy lift because it takes a couple hours .. but it's also my HIGHEST carb/fat day of peak week. So I should be plenty fueled! I was a couple pounds lighter than I needed to be on Saturdays check in. I check in again today so keeping my fingers crossed that we are on track to bring my same "look" as Team U (per judges feedback) .. or even slightly tighter/better!
Yesterday was a rest day from lifting with only some HIIT. I had some great motivation while running those field sprints. I prayed over and over again while I was on that field for Ranger Dave Wallace. Dave is the dad of a friend of mine and was in an accident recently. I hope he felt the love!!
It was actually on Beano's facebook page that I saw someone post a link to the couple that will be today's PREP WITH PURPOSE! Beano and his wife actually have an almost identical story to the couple we are featuring today :)
Today's entry centers around a young athlete. But it's the STORY of how this young man is now able to survive that will bring you to tears. It's a story of fate and true love. I could write about this in depth, but so many news outlets of done stories about this couple, a short documentary has been done and he has a Facebook page called "Wrestling My Toughest Opponent Yet" ... so I'll leave it to them to tell the FULL story. You can read about it HERE and HERE. You can watch the documentary HERE and also visit his Facebook page .. appropriately named Wresting My Toughest Opponent Ever.
But in short .. today we are LIFTING UP and FOR a couple who are in more ways than one .. The Perfect Match :)
Prep With Purpose - July 11, 2016: Brett Epps & Alix Cirigliano
28 year old Brett Epps is a former Rugers Prep wresting star. He actually remains the winningest grappler in school history! But since 2014 he has been fighting what he calls his "toughest opponent ever." In 2014 he was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a
rare disease characterized by scarring in the part of the kidney that
filters blood. After almost two dozen attempts to find a match from friends and family, two failed attempts at an actual kidney transplant and long nights of Epps giving himself dialysis treatments for nine hours every evening - on June 29th, Epps life was saved - by his fiance Alix Cirigliano.
The two started dating around the time of his diagnosis. Alix said from the beginning she wanted to give Brett one of her kidneys .. but he refused. After they found out she was indeed a match, she eventually she convinced him to accept her gift of love and the transplant took place June 29th. The kidney took immediately, worked and continues to work!
Here they are,roughly two years after meeting .. connected in a way that few people in this world could ever understand. He gave her a ring and she gave him a kidney and it seems as if the two will be able to now LIVE happily ever after :)
I'd say they are a "perfect match" indeed :)
Of course both Brett and Alix need prayer as they both recover from their surgeries. I saw on the Facebook page that Alix actually had to be admitted to the hospital yesterday for some pain she was having. As for Brett, all updates seem to show he is recovering well. Being an athlete, I'm sure the past couple years have been especially hard on Brett. So today .. I will LIFT UP and LIFT FOR Brett and his precious fiance Alix. I hope you join me!!
Also, this diagnosis came about at a time when Brett was uninsured, which is what prompted his father to start a GoFundMe profile as well as the Facebook page listed above. As always .. if I don't now the person asking for money I don't personally vouch for if the money is needed or not. That is up to you if you want to give .. I just put the information out there :)
XoXo,
Stacy
I hope you are joining me on this PREP WITH PURPOSE journey! If you are ... please post/share and use the hashtag #PrepWithPurpose! Let's get a huge prayer chain going and in the process maybe make the sport of bodybuilding less about "me, me, me" and a little more about helping others! Our motivation doesn't have to come from ONLY ourselves!
If you know anyone that needs urgent or ongoing prayer for any physical reason please email me all the information and a picture (or a few) to simplystacyfitness@yahoo.com.
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