00:00Covid-19 took my hands and legs. We went from you know being on a road trip and like happy and then
00:06next thing you know my chest was hurting like really really bad. We got to the hospital
00:11their diagnosis was covid. Heart failure, respiratory failure, kidney failure, struggling
00:17to breathe. I was airlifted to another hospital and during the flight my heart stopped beating.
00:22What was the last memory of that helicopter flight? Oh god um
00:27uh sorry. Two years later I'm still recovering and I've learned to walk on my prosthetics and
00:37gain my strength. We're getting ready to do my sister's makeup and I'm so excited because I
00:43haven't done makeup on anybody else in about two to three years. All right let's turn you around.
00:50You ready for breakfast? Yeah what do you want? Let's do some eggs. Okay sounds good.
00:57You're gonna have to crack them for me. My life before this was very active and very busy. I've
01:04been a hairstylist for almost 13 years and I basically just did that six days a week. Went
01:11to the gym almost every day and took care of my dogs and just kind of went day by day and kept
01:17myself healthy that way. I can do a lot of the stuff. I can use you know little utensils like
01:22this and Ricky kind of helps me with more of the fine tune stuff I would say. Teamwork. Teamwork
01:30makes the dream work. That's a great job actually. Yeah yeah I try my best. Tell us about the road
01:38trip you were on before events unfolded. Me my sister and my boyfriend we went from here in
01:44California to Colorado to go see my sister's house. This is like the last selfie with my hand.
01:51Right before we got into Colorado was kind of when I started noticing when things
01:56starting progressively get worse. It was just really hard for me to move around in general.
02:00She was sweating a lot. She had a lot of loss for words. My chest felt heavy and
02:05I knew something was happening. That pretty much was the point where I was like okay like
02:10I really got to pay attention to what she's going on. I basically told her I was like we're
02:14getting in the car and like we're going to the hospital. We got to the hospital like really late
02:19night. You know they hooked me up to all these things doing a bunch of tests on me. Previously
02:24I've had pericarditis and myocarditis. It has to do with like inflammation of the heart. COVID
02:30itself came in fat in play with my heart and when you have a viral infection like that my major
02:37organs couldn't really fight the virus. Their diagnosis was you know heart failure, respiratory
02:45failure, kidney failure and septic shock. That night they airlifted me to another hospital.
02:53The things that we've been through we would never have ever dreamed of or even thought of.
03:00Yeah. The past two years. You were working. I was working hard like. Yeah we both had full-time jobs.
03:05Going to the gym all the time and then like life just went meow and that's it. What was the last
03:13memory of that helicopter flight? Oh god. Sorry. I remember them pulling me out on a gurney.
03:29They rolled me into the helicopter, put me in, strapped me in and I just remember them talking
03:34to me and we took off. I just remember like seeing them but everything sounded so like blank
03:39and then next thing you know like I didn't hear them anymore and then that's when I that's the
03:44last thing I remember.
03:52Sorry.
04:00I knew this was going to be hard.
04:05Okay. When I was in the helicopter my heart had failed and once I got there they had to put me on
04:14life support. They told my family that they didn't think I was going to make it and that
04:18basically they had to say their goodbyes. I sat on the floor and really just was watching her.
04:26She was just laying there in her hospital bed in a coma and
04:34just remember looking at her and just realizing that
04:39things are going to be a lot different from now on. Let's get these guys on.
04:44So first we got to put these little pins in. While I was in my coma my body like swelled up
04:51really big and the blood wasn't flowing to my limbs. I had my right leg amputated first I believe
05:00then my hands and then my left leg. Within a week I lost all my limbs after catching COVID-19.
05:07I was at that hospital for three months. Two years later I'm still recovering and I've learned to
05:14walk on my prosthetics and gain my strength. I couldn't see life like this at first but I also
05:20thought I'm like a strong person and I feel like I can do this. This is just one
05:27little bump in the road that's maybe not so little. It has a little hole where the
05:34pin locks and this right here is how you kind of unlock it and this is what I have
05:40kind of a problem with because I don't have like the dexterity to do all that.
05:44I got two prosthetic legs and then a prosthetic arm that I use every once in a while. Prosthetics
05:49alone are $80,000 a leg minimum so it's it's a lot of expenses and to this day I mean I still have
06:00constant medical bills. The funding page that my sister set up for me actually it helped me a lot
06:05but it's been rough. Off to the gym. Bam. So my local gym they the owner there he reached out to
06:15me and he said you know we want to help you as a family and I'll figure out workouts for you we'll
06:21we'll adjust to things I can adjust the gym. I was in shock when he said that I was so happy to hear
06:27that. Hey Mike. Good how are you? Oh good to see you. Good to see you. You're good. I just I like to guide. That's okay.
06:38Seeing her journey and what she was going through and pushing through
06:42and just to have her in here is amazing. When I first came back to the gym I cried. I cried a lot.
06:50Mike came with open arms and he let me back into the gym and it's a place that I can come and
06:56work on my health and just get stronger in general. Posting on social media was actually
07:02Posting on social media was actually really hard for me. It took me a while to get to that point
07:08where I could like tell my story because I didn't know what I was going to receive from that. I
07:14wanted to post to help others like I was helped in the hospital because when I was in the hospital
07:21I looked up you know amputee journeys and and other videos and I saw so many like inspiring
07:27videos that helped me. Looking at those videos made me want to be that person for another person.
07:33The support online has been great for the most part. The there are a few people that you know
07:38leave rude comments or some stuff like that like they'll say something rude about me not having
07:44legs or whatever it may be but this it's like 98% like support. Now we're going to go to my salon
07:54where I used to work doing hair and makeup and I have a little bit of a surprise for my sister
07:59as she's going to meet us there and I'm hoping that she's going to be excited.
08:06This is my salon. Oh my god I'm so happy to be here. I own this place and I love it. Here's our
08:13front area. You know our clients come in and they get a good shampoo over on this side and yeah I
08:19kind of I built everything redid you know the wall back there and made it my own and I absolutely
08:26love it. We're getting ready to do my sister's makeup and I'm so excited because I haven't done
08:32makeup on anybody else in about two to three years. I've actually I have a doll head that I've been
08:39working on with color. I've cut like my sister's hair with a little clipper and I've cut my
08:47boyfriend's hair multiple times. I use like a attachment so I'm kind of working with like
08:53different adaptive equipment for hair cutting and hair coloring and hopefully one day I'll get back
08:59in the salon. I'm hoping soon. Hey come on I have something for you. You do? What is it? Is it cookies?
09:11No turn around. Your makeup? You're gonna do my makeup today? Yes. Perfect. It's been so long. I need it.
09:18Oh my gosh okay have a seat. All right are you ready? I was born ready.
09:25Oh my gosh it's been so long. What if I mess it up? It's okay. How is this gonna go? We're gonna
09:30find out real quick. Oh gosh I'm nervous. What has it been like to watch your sister go through the last
09:36few years? It's been hard for sure just because I know that she wasn't expecting this just like
09:46any of us weren't expecting this to happen to her but she's handled it with the most like grace
09:54and determination that I've ever seen out of anybody. I mean she just keeps going and even
10:00when it's hard that doesn't stop her. I feel like I'm me again. I feel like doing makeup right now
10:08just makes me feel like you know I can't I can do this to just anybody. I know this is my sister
10:14that I'm doing this on right now but I feel like I can take clients and like maybe do makeup for
10:20events again and get back to doing what I love because this just makes me feel like I'm at home.
10:26Wow you look beautiful.
10:30Are you ready? I'm ready. You're all glammed up. Oh my gosh this is so exciting.
10:36All right let's turn you around.
10:40Oh my god you did so good. It looks so pretty. You're like a supermodel.
10:46You know I'm on my way to style down.
10:50Yay. Really good. Thank you. You're welcome. I've had a lot of downfalls and a lot of days where I
10:58just want to stay inside and you know not do anything but you know my boyfriend, my sister,
11:04my mom, my dad and like everybody around me, my friends, every single person that has been with
11:09me through this whole thing has been such a great support. I was proud before all this happened.
11:16She's worked so hard for everything she's had.
11:21It's okay. Sorry. But I just knew that once we found out this was gonna happen
11:29that this wasn't gonna stop her. Like I felt it. Ricky felt it. We all felt it and
11:37for me it's like dang like you really are just battling through this like and not very many
11:42people have to deal with something like this so yeah proud is an understatement for sure.
11:48Dani is an extremely strong person. I've honestly never met anyone more independent and more
11:55powerful one step in front of the other kind of person. If anybody could do this it's definitely
12:01Dani. I think what I would like people to take away from my story is no matter what life throws
12:07at you like keep going. For me when this happened I felt like I changed but I didn't. I'm still the
12:14same person and I want people to like know that no matter what you look like, no matter what happens
12:19to you, you can continue on and be be who you are.
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