Death to Diabetes 1-800-813-1927
How My Mother and Father Helped Me Defeat My Diabetes 
How My Mother Helped Me Defeat My Diabetes
There is no doubt in my mind that if my mother had not gotten on a plane and come to Rochester to take care of me, I would either still be fighting the diabetes and the drugs, or I would be dead. Given what I now know about diabetes and how the drugs actually fuel the diabetes, I'm certain that I would be dead.
My mother (Minnie Lou Talbert McCulley), my daughter (Cynthia), my sister (Margo) and my brother (Greg) were instrumental in helping me after I got out of the hospital and played a major role in my miraculous recovery. My brother was instrumental in getting the local churches and the entire community to pray for me while I was in the coma. Needless to say, those prayers were answered! (Thanks, Greg!)
Their unselfish efforts continue to inspire me and fuel my passion to help other diabetics in this country and around the world.
Unfortunately, diabetes is running rampant in our country, especially with African-Americans, many of whom are doomed because of their apathy, lack of knowledge, and living in denial.
But, I was not doomed to the same fate as other African-Americans -- because my mother refused to allow the disease to take my life.
In addition, because of the information they had received from my daughter Cynthia, they concluded that it was imperative to collect all of my unopened snack foods, desserts, beverages, and junk food and return them to the grocery store. They made me pack up my cakes, pies, potato chips, sodas, TV dinners, cookies, bottled juices, etc. and return them to the Wegman’s grocery store! This was quite embarrassing, but what choice did I have? Face my mother? It was easier to face the store clerk.
When the store clerk saw the three carts of food that I was returning, she asked me why. I meekly whispered and pointed to my mother who was standing behind me with a stern look on her face. I think the clerk felt sorry for me, so she accepted the returned food and gave me a store credit of almost $250! During the next month, I didn’t have to pay for any food that I bought from the store. Thanks to my mother and the Wegman’s grocery store, it was financially beneficial for me to eat healthy!
My mother felt it was necessary that I learn how to cook properly so she wrote several recipes for some of her dishes (Ironically, these recipes helped me to write a diabetes cookbook years later!). My mother and my sister both showed me how easy it was to prepare a healthy breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner in very little time. They also dragged me to other stores to purchase other items such as the Foreman Grill, a blender, a nonstick frying pan, and a steamer.
During my diabetes workshops and corporate wellness classes, people ask me all the time how I was able to turn around my bad eating habits so quickly. I point out that it wasn’t really me – it was my mother, my daughter, and my sister who drove all of the changes.
When I would visit my endocrinologist and other doctors, they would remind me that I should be dead -- that it was impossible for me to have recovered so quickly. They told me it would be impossible for me to remain off insulin. When I mentioned to my mother that the doctors keep telling me that everything is impossible, my mother said: "With people it's impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
But the doctors were very concerned that I would eventually lapse into another coma. I told my mother what the doctors had said: "According to medical science, you should be dead. According to medical science, you should have lost one or both feet to amputation. According to medical science, you should . . ."
Amazingly, after about 4 months, I was off the insulin and the other drugs! Thanks to my mother, daughter and sister ...
But, my mother kept telling me that my journey was not over, that it was just beginning.
But I thought it was over. (You would think that by now I would have learned that my mother was always right in these matters.
)Because of my engineering and technical writing background, I was able to complete my medical research and write a report about my successful bout with diabetes, the life-threatening blood clots and near death.
I shared my testimony (and medical report) with several black churches, my mother's church, and the American Diabetes Association. That led to other presentations to churches and community groups, but people wanted to know more than what was written in the report. Eventually that led me to develop a manuscript about my experience with diabetes.
But, after I had completed the manuscript, I couldn't find a publisher to publish and print my book! My mother told me to be patient -- that God would find a publisher for me.
I said: "OK, mother, but I don't think God is really thinking about my book ..."
My mother just smiled and said, "Have some faith, son."
Then, one day, a small publisher in South Carolina called me and said that they would publish my book! The irony is that this publisher resided in a town (Charleston) near where my mother was born in South Carolina!
My mother said "Son, that's just God ..."
Then, about 4 months later, this small publisher was bought out by Amazon.com! Amazon.com contacted me and told me that they loved the unique book cover -- but, a marketing company thought I should consider going with bright happy colors and get rid of the word "Death" -- to help increase my sales. They said that there are no successful wellness books with a black cover.
When I told my mother what the marketing experts said, she said: "Son, there is at least one well-known book that has a black cover -- it's called the Bible."
So, I kept the black cover, the picture of the cemetery on the cover, and the word "Death" in the title.
And, the rest is history ... Sales just took off, and now the book is one of the top-selling diabetes books in the country!"
Thanks, Mom ...
Author's Note: My mother felt that God spared my life, and that I needed to make some drastic changes. My mother didn't care that I was a grown man, and she didn't care if she hurt my feelings. When we were growing up, both my mother and father were strict disciplinarians. This was my mother's way of showing that she was in charge and that she loved us.
Here's a short video clip of me talking about how my mother (and daughter) saved my life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlf4jr_pvKc
Hopefully, people in our country (including family members) will stop living in denial and, at least, educate themselves about diabetes, God's super foods, and man's drugs ...
Please Note: People ask me all the time where I get the energy to speak, consult, and write (over 30 books to-date). I believe it comes from my mother, and her belief that I was destined to do more than be an engineer -- to help people who were suffering unnecessarily with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other ailments. Ironically, I worked in several areas of engineering that allowed me to understand medical science at the cellular level and, then, write and speak about it in terms that people could understand.
Melcan M. McCulley:
How My Father Helped Me Beat Diabetes
My father (Melcan M. McCulley) was a very strict disciplinarian, who believed in using the rod and not spoiling the child.
My father worked in the steel mill for many years, but because of layoffs, he also worked as a painter and wallpaper-hanger.My father (and mother) both worked multiple jobs; and, they expected us to do well at our job -- going to school. My father expected us to bring home A's and B's; and, if you didn't, you usually paid for it with a warm bottom. I quickly learned that it was easier to get As in school than have to deal with the wrath of my father.
I didn't care much for my father's strictness while I was growing up, but it helped me to deal with life's inequities and "isms", and learn how to excel despite the odds.
Because there were so many of us (8 brothers and sisters), my father didn't believe in hand-outs. We had to mow neighbors' lawns, shovel snow, work the farm, and paint houses to earn money. Also, my mother worked as a cleaning woman, seamstress, and business manager for a clothing store. AS a result, my parents gave us a strong work ethic.
My father taught my brothers and I how to do mathematics in our head. For example, he would ask one of us to multiple 2 numbers, or convert a fraction to decimal, or take a percentage of a number. After years of this, by the time I got to junior high school, math came pretty easy to me. As a result, I took algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, and calculus in junior and senior high school -- preparing me for the SATs, and enabling me to get a fully-paid scholarship to Penn State. Also, because of my strong math aptitude, I did very well in engineering school and became a member of Eta Kappa Nu, the Electrical Engineering Honor Fraternity at Penn State.
Ironically, it was my strong math aptitude that helped me deal with collecting and analyzing the blood glucose data, and using the data to not only control my diabetes, but to use the data to help reverse the disease!
Thanks to my father ...
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How My Father and Mother Helped Me Find My Purpose in Life
Now, some people discover their Purpose in Life by accident as I did. However, my mother told me it was not an accident. She said that there are no accidents -- they're blessings from God. As I look back, I now believe that she was right. But, at the time, I couldn't see how almost dying from a diabetic coma was a blessing!
My father had an interesting way to help me and my siblings find our way in life. He believed that whatever he told us to do that we should do it as well as possible and enjoy doing it. And, if you didn't do it well, you got a scolding or a beating. Although I disagreed with my father's methods, he instilled a strong work ethic in all of us. My father worked 3-4 jobs, my mother worked 2-3 jobs. My siblings and I (especially me and my older brother) painted houses, mowed lawns, cleaned out people's basements, worked on our uncle's farm, helped our father with his garden.
My father taught us that we could make money by going around the neighborhood and finding work. Someone always needed their lawn mowed, or snow removed from their driveway. My father taught us that if we mowed or shoveled well, other people in the neighborhood would want us to mow or shovel for them.
My father not only worked on us physically, but he drilled us mentally. He would give us a fraction and ask us to convert it to decimal or a percentage. Or, he would give us a couple numbers to either add or multiply.
At first, we thought this was torture, but, over time, I became really good with numbers. At the time, I didn't think it was a Gift, but as look back, I now see the Gift, or, at least, part of it.
Making Your Purpose in Life Work for You
Discovering your purpose is the easy part. The hard part is keeping it with you on a daily basis and working on yourself to the point where you become that purpose.
And, the real hard part, is figuring out how to mold your life, your job, your family, and your environment so that they align with your Purpose in Life.
One of the reasons why we find a new job, or leave home, or start a new business, is that we are not satisfied with our life. In most cases, we think it's because we're not making enough money to live a happier life.
This is why some people start a health business. This is one of the reasons why multi-level marketing companies are able to recruit so many people.
But, there are 2 things that happened in the 1980s and 1990s that gave people a set of tools to actually start their own health business or any business.
Do you know what those 2 things were?
- The computer
- The Internet
Unfortunately, most people are unaware of the power of the computer and the Internet to start a business or seek out your Purpose in life.
Here are just a few ways to leverage the Computer and Internet to use your Purpose in Life to help others and help your family prosper:
- Write a story or an event from your life every day for a month, or whenever you can
- Use a voice recorder to record your daily conversations
- Write a book
- Make a video
- Do lectures and record them to make a CD or DVD
- Develop a website or a blog
- Sell health products on your website
- Become an expert (via a certification program) that others respect and look up to
- Train or teach others
Tips for Finding Your Purpose in Life
- Look at ways to incorporate your Passions, Actions, and Genius
more and more into your life. As you do, your life purpose will begin to
unfold. Could you bring your attention to detail into your job? How
about spending your lunch hour writing an article teaching someone else
how to do something you love to do?
- As you increase the amount of time spent fulfilling your life's purpose, you'll notice it's easy to make decisions in life as you ask the question "Does this opportunity fit in with my passions, actions, and genius?" Over time, you'll spend more and more of your days living your life's purpose, and you'll feel happier and healthier than ever before.
- We often look at our Purpose as a way to answer everything right now or something that can only be fulfilled way into the Future. While one's life purpose may ultimately be fulfilled far into the future, find ways to start NOW: is it a side project, is it one of many aspects of your current job, can your purpose be expressed in the way you interact with current relationships.
- Keep in mind that often times, we find our purpose along the way. It is often stated after one's life has ended that they had a purpose, based on the events and choices of one's life.
Other Videos
YouTube Videos (on this website)
Note: To obtain a DVD of the complete lectures, go to the online store and order the Live DVD.
