71 year old woman overcomes chronic pain, runs in Pear Blossom 5k

Medford, Ore. – Melonie Jorgensen was told by Doctors she would never walk again.

At the age of 40, doctors were at a loss for a diagnosis until she found out she had fibromyalgia, and she would be living with chronic pain for the rest of her life.

“I truly prayed that I would die, and I truly believe that if there was a pill I would have taken and not woken up, I would have taken it,” Melonie Jorgensen said.

But Melonie started to see an end to her pain when her son convinced her to alter her lifestyle by making small changes to her diet, and her sleep.

“It was kind of a positive snowball effect, so as she started seeing changes, as she started getting better, she started being more receptive and before you knew it my mom was feeling better. Her energy was up, her pain was down, her migraines were going away. All of these things just started snowballing and it was like oh my gosh I think there’s something here,” her son, Dr. Thaddeus Gala said.

During her forties, Melonie was convinced that she would never be active again. And yet decades later, she’s now preparing to run in the Pear Blossom 5k.

“I never could’ve pictured that I would have been doing this. Ever. So I feel like at 70, I’m younger at 70 than I was at 40, 50, 60,” she said.

While Melonie would love to be able to place in her age group, her biggest hope is that can inspire others with her story.

“You can make different choices that can give you the wealth of good health and make the rest of your years the best of your years.”

She is now a health coach, and educates people living with chronic pain or other illnesses on ways to overcome them with natural medicine and lifestyle changes.