and to learn that if you truly believe you can do something , that you can . I started focusing all my energy and resources on being the best possible bodybuilder I could be . In May of 2015 I competed in my first bodybuilding show with the OPA called the Luchka / O ’ Brien classic in St . Catherines where I ended up winning 1st place in my class and took the best poser award . That was truly a dream come true . Since then , I have competed 7 times with a major highlight being top 5 in Ontario in the middleweight class . My life has changed dramatically since 2009 . I am now married to an amazing woman and have 2 kids and a successful fitness consulting business . No matter what life has thrown at me in regards to positive or negative changes in my life , one thing that has always been there to keep me grounded has been bodybuilding . I do not miss meals , ever . I do not miss training sessions , ever . I do not miss cardio sessions , ever . And every day I think about my ultimate goal of becoming a professional bodybuilder and I feel I am closer than I ever have been to reaching that goal . Although I still have a lot of work to do before I get there . In January of 2020 , I had a near death experience that almost crushed my bodybuilding dreams . I suffered a hemorrhage in my brain due to an Arteriovenous Malformation . The easiest way to explain this is that I had an improper connection between arteries and veins in my brain . This caused extra blood to be where it was not supposed to be and led to symptoms very similar to a stroke .
I remember the morning of January 11th 2020 very vividly . It was a usual day , I went to the gym to train legs . I hit some pretty good numbers like hitting 315 on front squats for sets of 8 . I came home while my wife went to the gym . As I was taking care of my 1-year-old while I did some cooking with the stove and the oven on , all of the sudden it was as if I became extremely drunk . From this point on I do not remember much . I somehow managed to call my wife at the gym and told her I did not feel great but it was not a big deal , to not home come . I am glad she did not listen . She came home and found me in a stroke like state . Walking In circles , mumbling gibberish and with no way to focus . I had somehow managed to turn the stove and oven off but burned my hand in the process . My 1 year old could not stop crying and instantly 911 was called . By this point I still thought I wasn ’ t “ that bad ” and said I just need to sleep this off . I was taken to Grand River Hospital to fully diagnose the “ stroke ” they thought I was having . That is when they saw it was not a stroke , but instead this improper connection that I spoke about earlier .
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