I will be participating in the 2022 Alberta Open , stepping on stage May 21st .
Although I understand show prep is already an extremely challenging journey both physically and mentally , my circumstances added further difficulty to the process . I had always been underdeveloped going through middle and high school with no indication as to why .
After many years of communicating with medical professionals with no results or answers , I was referred to numerous specialists to hopefully find the causes of these deficiencies . After graduating and an extensive amount of blood tests being done , we discovered I had incredibly low levels of testosterone and was then later diagnosed with gynecomastia .
I was then sent to an endocrinologist for testing and was told some people just have low testosterone and unfortunately that was my case , mind you I was 18 and had consistent blood serum results of a 60 year old man ; this was very discouraging as I was already an aspiring bodybuilder . I then had the gynecomastia removed which was a big relief but I felt very ashamed about having it in the first place .
A year later I hired a coach to get me lean just for summer and to perform better as a competitive wake surfer . I became so depleted and lost so much muscle I decided to get my blood work checked again and my testosterone levels were even lower than the recommended range . Finally we decided to switch doctors . no surgery is required thankfully .
I am now on hormone replacement therapy and happily striding towards my goals and dreams . Having had this issue undetected for so many years was very frustrating and made me want to give up many times . I am glad to say that it made me stronger in the end and pushed me to find better nutrition and better training principles . So when I finally had my hormones balanced and within
the reference ranges I was able to make great progress rather quickly . I am also glad to say that my confidence has increased greatly since high school . This is just a quick telling of my journey and hopefully a message to all to keep pushing forward regardless of roadblocks and hardships .
I hope to do well at the Alberta Open and many shows to come after .
My new doctor ordered a brain MRI to exhaust all resources to discover why I had this issue . After the brain MRI results came back it was revealed I had a benign brain tumor blocking my pituitary function . This was actually a blessing to discover to pinpoint the reason why my progress had been so slow , and that there was a reason and not just bad genetics or lack of effort and diet control . It was like I was revving my engine for years with no tires to propel me to my goals . Suddenly all of the hardship had reason and hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel for what I had been striving for . We monitor my eye function and get an MRI every year to ensure the tumor is not growing but