My Journey into the Miraculous
My journey to becoming a medical Medium was unique. Most medical Mediums never have any medical training. In my early teens in Southern California, I started out as a candy striper, which are volunteers at local hospitals. I loved helping out and working in a healing environment. Shortly after, because the staff loved my work, the hospital hired me as an admitting clerk. Not long after, I entered nursing school and got my license as a certified nurse assistant. I worked long hours on many trauma unit floors, and I would float to the units where they needed me most. Meanwhile, I took continuing education courses to become a registered nurse.
I was often sidetracked by the entertainment world. A close friend had sent me to my first hospital television show, called Strong Medicine. I was doing what I normally do at the hospital, saying a few words such as, “Give me 5 cc of valium, stat,” and “Code blue.” I thought this was cool. Then I got an acting agent, and I was totally hooked. I was setting up the IVs on set, setting up all the masks, gowns, and gloves, and I was also often in scenes on camera.
I still worked in the hospital, but after several more jobs, I became known in Hollywood as the go-to expert for on-call nursing and as an on-camera actress and medical adviser. I must have advised over forty films, television shows, and commercials. I was featured in Emmy magazine for my work on TV shows such as Brothers & Sisters, with Sally Field and Rob Lowe; All My Children; Scrubs; General Hospital; and The Young and the Restless. I worked on several seasons of Grey’s Anatomy,as well as movies like My Sister’s Keeper, with Cameron Diaz.
My last show was HBO’s Getting On,where I had just been hired. I was so excited when Laurie Metcalf, the lead actress, came to visit my grandma in the nursing home where she was living at the time. The show was based on a home for elders, and it had a comic English brightness to it. Laurie wanted to see how the senior home was set up and get a feel for the setting. My grandma Bernice was delighted to have a visitor, even though she didn’t know who Laurie was. They connected immediately and had a beautiful visit with each other.
At this time in my life, I was ready to take a leave of absence from the hospital to work on the show. For a time, this became my normal—take a leave of absence from the hospital to work on a TV show or film, and then come back when I was finished. I didn’t want to leave working in the hospital totally, because I loved helping people in real life.
Working in the hospital, though, started to take its toll. The trauma floor I worked on had felt colder and harder, and many people were passing away at this time. A lot of spiritual paranormal happenings were present on that floor. This was a critical-care unit, and you needed to be tough. I will never forget the smell of death and the sadness. The beautiful actress Elizabeth Taylor and the actor Michael Clarke Duncan of Green Mile movie fame passed on that floor while I was working there.
At this time, my hospital supervisor told us that we were short on staff and we would have to take the bodies to the morgue on our own. I looked at my nurse colleague, and she was so upset. The duty of bagging dead bodies was nothing new to me. But going down to the morgue into the cold cement room and pushing this huge bed into a slot was hard work, both physically and emotionally. We knew we were shorthanded, so we had to do what needed to be done.
My life consisted of the Hollywood realities of code blues on set and then the difficult work in the hospital. I felt like I was being pulled in many directions at once. But God had the most unbelievable plan for me I could ever imagine.
Two months later, I ended up as a patient back in the same hospital in which I worked.
Even with my frenetic schedule, I continued visiting my grandmother at the nursing home every other day. There were many people at the nursing home who didn’t have family and friends to visit them. It was sad to see people without loved ones to care for them. I wanted to spend time with my grandmother, who always called me “Chon,” to make sure she was properly cared for and ensure all was well with her.
When I visited her in the nursing home, I often laid my hands on her to pray, especially when she had difficulty breathing from asthma. I could see how these simple actions would make her breathe easier and bring her peace. I believe that these actions, given freely in love, prolonged her life through the prayers and blessings, and the love and laughter. It’s amazing how simple prayer and healing touch can bring more life to others and to ourselves.
