Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to SANDRA MANNON. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
SANDRA, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
For many years I worked as a ICU Trauma Registered Nurse and I always felt frustrated by the management of patients that ended up in the ICU related to their chronic disease not being managed well. I decided to return to school to be a family practice Nurse Practitioner so that I could help patients before they got so sick. I then realized after working with multiple group practices that were insurance based that many times the provider just did not have enough time to teach patients about their disease process and how to control their disease from changing their lifestyle including losing weight, eating better, exercising or whatever changes could be made besides just adding medication. I decided that in order to make a real difference that I needed to have the time to talk to patients, to build a solid rapport and to educate them which is the basis of functional medicine. I opened up Aspire for Wellness Together in January of 2021 and initially contracted with other companies because I was still afraid that I could not do it on my own. . I still did not feel as if I had control over what I thought needed to be done. So in May 2023 I decided to open up my own free standing Nurse Practitioner clinic in Bradenton, Florida. It was so scary thinking what if patients did not come and see me and even more it was a cash clinic so were patients going to pay cash when they had insurance. I initially ran the practice all by myself and realized I needed help. I hired a receptionist to take the phone calls and make appointments as we were getting busy. In just 6 months I have opened a second clinic, a research lab for regenerative medicine.
What have I have done differently is I would have opened my own clinic years ago, not been afraid of failure.
The advice I would give to a young professional is never miss out on an opportunity. If an opportunity to learn, to grow or to take a chance is presented to you, GO FOR IT. Your knowledge and work ethic will carry you through. You can do it. I did and somedays I look at my clinic and I still cannot believe that this is what I created.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I always wanted to be a health care provider. When I was a little girl I was always playing nurse fixing every ones booboos with band-aids and medicine. To begin her career, Sandra graduated with her nursing degree from Lakeshore Technical College in 1992 and began practicing in a Level I Trauma Center in the Intensive Care Unit. Focusing on critical care medicine for over 20 years, she achieved certification as a critical care registered nurse. She became a diabetic educator and a preceptor for new nurses and educated the staff teaching Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric advanced cardiac life support and Trauma Nursing Core Courses.
Wanting to further her knowledge, she returned to school and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Phoenix, and her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Concordia University. Later, she obtained her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
In 2018, Sandra decided to focus on educating her patients to learn about themselves and to get into the right mindset to begin living the life one desires. Her focus has been on helping others with their weight loss journey as she has been on that journey herself. She has helped many patients achieve and maintain their weight loss goals teaching them the importance of diet and exercise. She utilizes peptide therapy to enhance weight loss. She became a certified personal trainer to work with her patients individually to enhance their fitness levels and promote their weight loss. She is also a certified Yoga Instructor and teaches Yoga classes with many of her students being her patients.
I am most proud of the fact that I am running my own clinic and can take the time I want to bond with my patients and to really get to know what bothers them and what changes they want to make in their lives. Then together we come up with a plan that is achievable. I have the knowledge of medicine that I give to my patients and then I encourage them to do the work to make the changes. They have the desire and motivation and together we achieve their goals.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 2006 while I was doing my residency, I got bacterial meningitis. I was so sick that I was in and out of the hospital for 4 months after I was first diagnosed. I could not recover, meaning I could not digest food, I could not walk well, and I had no memory. No doctor could figure out why I was not getting better, so I was sent to Mayo Clinic, Dartmouth, and Northwestern. I was told I had MS, I was told that it was all post severe meningitis, and I should be happy I did not die, because I should have. This went on for 2 years of being in and out of the hospital until in 2008 I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called scleroderma. The disease is an over production of collagen that causes skin tightening but also tightening of the skin of the internal organs. There are 2 different types of scleroderma, I have systemic which affects your entire body including the internal organs and it is progressive with no cure and one medication to slow the disease. I do take the immunosuppression drugs every day to stop my body from attacking itself. The disease has affected my GI tract the most which is why I was having such a difficult time swallowing and still do. In 2007, before I even knew I had scleroderma, I had surgery and PICC line to feed me and about 6 months later I finally felt like I could eat again. Of course, that did not last long and then the disease started to affect my lungs. In 2012 I was told that I advanced to interstitial lung disease and that only 30% of people survive 5 years and everyone else dies. I was not ready for that I had young boys and still had a lot of living to do. I moved from WI to FL because I was not going to spend the last 5 years of my life freezing cold. I was seen in Northwestern for my first stem cell transplant but at that time for an autoimmune disease they had to eradicate all your cells with chemotherapy and then give you the infusion. The doctor at Northwestern felt I managed the disease very well and felt like I was aspirating and giving myself pneumonia versus ILD. I did not have the stem cell transplant at that time. I moved to Florida and for whatever reason I felt great for 5 years. Maybe it was my attitude that I was not giving up that easily. I really thought the doctors were all wrong and misdiagnosed me and I kept telling myself that it just took me so long to recover from the meningitis because I was so sick. All was great until one day in 2018 I was walking into Publix over lunch, and I felt very very short of breath. I thought I had a blood clot in my lungs so was able to go to the hospital and get a CT scan and that is when I saw that I now did progress severely to ILD and after testing I found out I had 40% lung function. At 30% you go on the lung transplant list. It was then that I had the honor of meeting Dr AJ, and he gave me my first stem cell infusion. My rheumatologist and pulmonologist both said it was not going to do anything and it was a waste of money. Within just a few weeks after the infusion I started feeling better and the shortness of breath was decreasing. I was not doing the breathing treatments, and I was able to stop all the breathing medicine. 6 months later I repeated the CT scan and there was significant improvement and my breathing test improved from 40 % to 55%. Since then, I have had a total of 4 infusions, I chose IV infusions as the first pass goes into the lungs and will stick in the lungs so for anyone with pulmonary issues biologics IV is the best route. In August of this year, 2023 My CT shows scarring but no active ILD, my breathing tests have gone up to 70%, so much improved. Even with the improvement of the lungs, I need to share about expectations, my disease is progressive, and it attacks multiple major organs. This past summer I started to notice chest pressure and some shortness of breath, and I thought it was my lungs, but it actually now is my heart. So, my latest biologic therapy included not only an IV infusion, but I had stem cell delivered through a buccal injection and brown fat injection which allows the cells to circulate more systematically hitting all the organs not just staying closer to the lungs. I do have to say I feel better since I received the latest treatment protocol. When we are sick, we want to feel better, we think if we take a pill, have surgery, or do what the doctors tell us to do, we will feel better. So even though the stem cells have helped my heart and lungs slow the progression I continue to have a lot of GI issues which the damage is too far gone for cellular therapy alone to be able to heal my stomach. I will continue to do what I need to manage my stomach issues and I will continue to get regenerative therapy every 6-12 months depending on how I feel. I can truly say that if it wasn’t for regenative medicine I would not be working, I would be on disability on oxygen therapy or have had to have a lung transplant and here I am working full time and grabbed on to the opportunity to open up a research clinic so I can help as many people as possible feel their best whether it be to overcome a disease, illness or injury or to focus on antiaging, the introduction of all of the vast cells will change your future as it did mine.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
The only thing I would have done differently is to go to Medical School as there still is an attitude that physicians provide better care and are more educated than Nurse Practitioners. I have met all the criteria to have an Autonomous practice in the state of Florida and have gone back to school for my doctorate in nursing practice and feel that as a NP I provide exceptional care to my patients. May states, medical communities and patients continue to see the Nurse Practitioner as a Nurse and not as a health care provider with all the prescribing and practicing rights as a physician.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aspire4wt.com
- Instagram: @aspire4wt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Aspireforwellnesstogether