Like any new mom, when Lisa found out she was pregnant with her daughter, she immediately started envisioning what life would look like with a child. She was excited, hopeful, and head-over-heels in love with a little human whom she had yet to meet.

Lisa and her husband welcomed their beautiful, healthy baby girl, Olivia, and so began their parenting journey. When Olivia was 10 months old, Lisa began to notice that instead of progressing and meeting the typical milestones, Olivia seemed to be regressing, and slowly losing her ability to function. After numerous tests, doctors’ appointments, and visits with specialists, Olivia was eventually diagnosed with Alexander Disease- an extremely rare, degenerative brain disease.  As Lisa listened to the doctor relay Olivia’s diagnosis over the phone, telling her to find a support group and do what she could to make her daughter comfortable, all of her hopes and dreams about what her future with her daughter would look like were shattered. Over the course of the next 8 years of Olivia's life, Lisa and her family were thrust into the strange, and often scary, world of hospitals, in-home care, medications, insurance nightmares, and watching their daughter lose brain function and her ability to move.

Olivia’s diagnosis impacted every aspect of the family’s life. By Lisa’s own account, she went from wishful dreams of her daughter’s future, to the harsh reality of running a pediatric intensive care unit out of their home. For the next 8 years, Lisa put her daughter first, as any mom would. But in the process, she began to lose bits of herself- becoming bitter, resentful, and ultimately, blaming herself for her family’s pain.

On April 28, 2017, Olivia left her earthly home, and joined God’s family of angels.

Just as suddenly and forcefully as Lisa was thrust into the world of hospitals and 24-hour in-home care, she was abruptly thrown out of that world. 8 years had gone by since Lisa had last looked in a mirror and had to answer the question, “Who am I?”

Truthfully? She didn’t know. She was sad. She was depressed. And she felt so incredibly empty. She had neglected her own physical and mental health. She had lost sight of what her gifts, talents, and interests were. And on top of all of that, she had to try and keep her marriage intact, while also now raising a healthy, vibrant little boy, who was born in the midst of immense family trauma.

Lisa is now a 40 year old mama who is starting life completely over. She keeps herself busy running the non-profit that she founded with her husband, The Olivia Kay Foundation. She made a commitment to living a healthy lifestyle, and has gone through an immense weight-loss journey hand-in-hand with her husband. She reconnected with her love of blogging, fashion, and photography- taking on paid photography gigs, modeling for local boutiques, and starting her own blog, the Multipurpose Mom. She takes pride in raising her son, while also carrying on her daughter’s legacy.

The woman who stood before us at the #BeyondMOM event was vibrant, sassy, and quietly confident. The woman who stood before us at the #BeyondMOM event was a woman who has fought her way through some of the worst trauma that humanity has to offer, and has come through the other side with resilience, with an outlook on life that she could not have earned any other way.

Lisa has walked through the fire and come out FEARLESS.

To learn more about The Olivia Kay Foundation, all that they do for patients in pediatric units at hospitals all over the U.S. and into Canada, and how YOU can support them, click here.

Photographer: Megan Hansen Photography

Location: Shades of Teal

Apparel: Self Love Beauty

Hair: Reckless Hair

Make-up: Adrienne Stratton