IT BEGAN WITH A SEIZURE.
One that would put Marlies, the owner of Ledbetter Consulting & Indie Hemp Co, into the ER with a Traumatic Brain Injury. Because when she had a grand mal seizure, she fell forward, hitting her head on the counter, splitting her skull and causing internal bleeding and brain swelling.
Lets step back though. Marlies was born with several disorders linked to her father’s exposure to Agent Orange, a neurotoxin that was sprayed all over the jungles of Vietnam. One her father personally dropped from his helicopter and would not only create several issues for him, it would cause his offspring to carry it in their DNA as well. She had two different sized legs, which as she grew, caused defects in her knees, her ankles and her spine. She developed scoliosis from the leg differences and neurological discomfort in her late teens. Diagnosed with several psychiatric issues, she was on medication early, with two suicide attempts before her 21st birthday. Struggling to feel like herself, she relied on prescriptions to numb her, but never getting full relief from anything. Therapy wasn’t enough. Doctors couldn’t help. And it seemed like nothing would ever work…..
Fast forward 10 years and around 13 prescriptions later……she began to get sick.
The seizures began after a poorly prescribed cocktail of prescription medications for anxiety, ADHD, depression, stress management, chronic pain and sleep. On 7-10 daily medications with a few others to help with side effects of the others, she started feeling like she was losing moments and her memory began to lag.
For someone with excellent recall abilities and retention, it was apparent that something wasn’t right. With no sleep and constant headaches, she went back to the doctor and put on another medication. Two days later she was in ER and they were preparing to drill into her brain to relieve the swelling. In the hospital they were able to see that she was having seizures and that they were not from epilepsy, but the drugs she had been prescribed.
She lost feeling in her hands and feet completely. Wasn’t able to complete a cohesive sentence. No short term memory and debilitating migraines almost constantly, she was overwhelmed and ready to give up. After 4 months of extremely expensive recovery and therapy, she was able to return to a fairly normal and life. But it wasn’t for almost a year that everything had subsided and she was able to be productive again. And pay off what seemed like a lifetime of medical bills.
Marlies and her husband Jeff swore off these dangerous pills and began to seek out natural treatments and therapy for both their symptoms associated to the ailments they had been enduring. After years of research, it was apparent that the extract found in Marijuana and Hemp was seeing incredible results in private studies and they began reaching out to growers and distributors to try and find a legal way to be able to get this plant extract.
In 2014 a law was passed, legalizing the production of Industrial Hemp and there opened the opportunity for several CBD focused companies to offer oils, salves and other medicinal hemp extracted products that would show great promise. With shipping legal to Texas, Jeff found a brand on a podcast and immediately purchased for them both.
Within weeks they saw improvements: calm mind and body, better sleep, reduced muscle and joint discomfort, decreased nerve issues and numbness subsided. Then Marlies’ friend showed her some research on Mushrooms. She began the journey of pairing Cannabis and Mushrooms together with shocking results. So much so, her doctors couldn’t even believe it.
Two years and several brands later, they came across a company with organic farms in the USA and Europe that looked promising. But as it goes, the products stopped working and the company stopped shipping from a massive lawsuit.
In 2019 Marlies found out there was a company that was promising. Since she had built a business around holistic medicine with a group of friends and colleagues, they switched gears to Green Compass Global. Their products were superior in every way… taste, cost, bio-availability and RESULTS.
10 years into the journey and clearly healed, she began pairing other modalities to her clients as well. And now to date, Ledbetter Consulting, Living Holistic and Indie Hemp Company have helped thousands of people across the country and soon, the world.
