My Story

Welcome! Thank you for visiting this site! I’m glad you want to learn more about me and Regan MOVES. My goal is to help you live a long,  healthy life.

I want to share a little bit about me and my journey. I am a lupus patient. I’m also a mechanical engineer. It’s still part of my identity, even though I don’t work in the field anymore. I worked as a patent agent, and then switched my direction when my passions spoke to me, like so many other people do. I am really happy to be in the place I am now. I just want to share how I got here and how my degree helped me develop this program.

I had moved to the United States from Canada after graduation from University, and was working a new job. I was very stressed, and really, really tired. The fatigue was the worst I’d ever experienced. I had swelling and joint pain. I knew something was wrong. We did tests. Unlike most, I was diagnosed quickly. I had systemic lupus, and it was causing kidney disease. I was life-threateningly ill.

I was diagnosed with WHO Class IV diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis, “kidney lupus”. I  was put on a regimen of two and a half years (14 total treatments) of cyclophosphamide. Cyclophosphamide’s trade name is “Cytoxan”, and it is a breast cancer chemotherapy. I was given “full dose”. The goal was to suppress my (overactive) immune system to prevent it from attacking my kidneys.

Technically, I was put into remission. That is, my lab-work started to turn around. However, I still felt crappy. Lupus is a clinical disease, where how you feel, (not just your labs), dictates your care. My joint pain was so bad it made me cry and kept me up at night, and it stopped me from walking even short distances. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Sjogren’s, and osteoarthritis. We focused on the lupus. I had no stamina. I had to stop and take a break after only a few steps. Holding conversations was difficult. Standing was difficult. Taking the stairs. Getting the mail. I also struggled with weight – it didn’t help that I was on prednisone, which causes weight gain, and was inactive. My pain was incredible. I lived this way for awhile. But when I had to buy a cane so I could get up the stairs, I reached a breaking point. I decided I had to make a change.

The first thing I did was change my diet. It really improved my health:  my energy went WAY up. And as a side benefit, my cholesterol went down. I was blessed to be diagnosed early with the right meds. But it was the diet and exercise program that turned my life around.

The other thing that happened was my joint pain went down.

I was shocked, pleased, and hooked.

With that added energy, my spirits lifted. I started to feel confident again! I started walking on the treadmill. I did floor pilates. I really started to feel better!

Then something wonderful happened:  my sister encouraged me to try exercising with weights. That really changed my life.

At first it was hard. I couldn’t even perform a squat. But I tweaked and looked at my engineering textbooks, and found that when I changed my body position, I could perform all the moves!

The key was low-torque. Regan MOVES was born.

Early on I was told that with lupus, you can have your health. Now I was starting to see that was true.

I started feeling normal again. And that’s when I started advocating. I got my personal training and group training certifications, and admitted I had lupus. I reached out to others because my hope is to make a difference.

I hope that my learnings can help you live your best life.