Elizabeth Oatman Growing up I was one of the most accident-prone people, but other than that I was in good health. I didn’t actually get diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes until I was 18. After that my whole world turned upside down in almost an instant. I was terrified of needles so the constant poking and injections at the hospital sent me into several panic attacks. Then that Monday I was sent to the specialists which were 60 miles from where I lived. Then I received several days of training and education about my new condition. When I asked if I was curable and could get off my meds it was like I just asked the nurse in the face with her mood change. She looked at me and said no, this is something that will be with you the rest of your life. I almost cried and called my mother and yelled at her for lying to me even though she didn’t know because she had type 2. After that, I just barely started my college degree with a wish to become a music teacher but soon realized that what I was doing in college that the other students did with little consequence was killing me. I soon had to drop out and that was when I started my journey. Being in and out of the hospital for almost a year with hourly finger pricks, multiple IVs, hourly lab checks, and being horribly taken care of outside hospital care I noticed that my hands, arms, feet, and mostly my fingertips were destroyed from the constant abuse. Not to mention I was playing multiple instruments which were causing some damage too. I had already had several businesses with goats that allowed me to save goats while still making money. One day I saw my mother’s friend selling goat milk skincare so I started asking lots of questions when she finally looked at me handed me a bottle of lotion and said that because she knows my mother she’ll let me try some. To my surprise, the lotion healed up all the holes I had spent so much money and time trying to heal and I literally had a goat surplus in my backyard! I decided to start my own skincare business and now just making the products heal my skin to the point where I don’t need to use them in between batches. (I still do anyway because I love the way it makes my skin feel.) I’ve recently started to do research and have realized that goat milk skincare help lots of things including Diabetic Nerve Damage, Eczema, Psoriasis, common allergies, Skin Cancer, Leg Swelling (caused by water retention), and so many other afflictions! It helps with mild dehydration of the skin all the way to some pretty serious conditions. I also have noticed that I went from being told I have really rough skin to I have the softest skin they have ever felt since I started this business. I want to be able to share this amazing product with people letting them know that none of my products were tested on animals, all of my products are as natural as they can be (I have to add preservatives because it is still milk), and that my product is very high quality. I post on my blog on my website all the time about how goats’ milk can help with different afflictions and target that affliction in each blog case. I just want to help in any way I can because I finally found something that helps.

Elizabeth Oatman My Mental Health Made Me Who I Am Today I had a rough childhood from the start. My parents were very absent in my life and my brother was special needs, so he got a lot more attention than me. My mother got very sick when I was 11 causing her to get rid of the pig farm that really held the family together. Soon after that I got into the wrong crowd and did some things that I’m not proud of. With my mother being sick and my family shattered all I could do was continue. When I was 16 my boyfriend died in a car crash and that’s the day I truly broke down. I was hurting myself trying to feel better and my parents believed that depression was a state of mind and not a mental illness. I really struggled for years just trying to get my parents to acknowledge that something was wrong. I was then diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and told it was a chronic disease that doesn’t have a cure. I struggled for a little while just learning how to live again because everything was different. I had to travel with different things, I had to do careful math if I wanted a snack or a meal, I couldn’t let my emotions go unchecked, and I couldn’t let myself get even a common cold or it would kill me. I finally broke free and left for college, however when I left a lot of my friends couldn’t take the world and later committed suicide. I was devastated the entire time; all my friends were just gone. I then got myself into an incredibly abusive relationship where I was almost killed several times. Then trying to go to full-time college was killing me because of my diabetes and I racked up a lot of hospital debt. After abandoning it all, leaving that college and all those people behind I left for home. I went home and because of the abuse, I faced I wanted to rescue animals who were treated horribly too. So, I went home and started a goat rescue. I got really good at making skincare with their milk and treating their injuries, whether they were physical or mental it didn’t matter. I have saved over 50 goats, 10 guinea pigs, 6 dogs, 4 rats, 3 cats, 2 mice, and a horse since I started this operation just a little over 2 years ago. I have saved as many as I can from suffering because I know all to well how it feels when someone or something you trust attacks you, ignores you, or even just yells at you. I actually just recently took in a dog that was abandoned on a back road close to where I live, and I only knew she was beaten because I recognized the behavior because I acted the exact same way soon after my abusive relationship. Now I am training her to be my diabetes dog to help me live a better, healthier life. I’m improving my life by giving her the life she deserves. I also use my skincare to help with the horrible skin afflictions I get from the needles and the adhesive I need to wear for my diabetes. I promised myself afterward that I would never allow myself to be put down like that or hurt like that again and I started over back home only staying in contact with one friend who helped me throughout college. I met up with some of my old friends that I had lost contact with after that and started in the workforce. I went to a doctor and got medication to help with the depression and they found several other problems too including anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Borderline Multi-Personality Disorder, and Insomnia. I had been living with all of that with no help for years. It was an eye-opener to just how strong and capable I really was. I started going back to college after that I decided that I was going to be happy and chase my dreams if it killed me. So, I set off and now I am back in college full time, working full time with a small business, and I also have my own goat farm too. I have started to achieve the life that I want to live. This entire experience taught me that I am strong enough to do whatever I put my mind to. This March will be the one-year mark where I have not hurt myself or thought of killing myself. I have pulled myself from toxic relationships before they could cause damage. Now I still have a lot of problems in my life, but I don’t feel overwhelmed by them so much as I feel the need to fix them. I am still in a lot of debt and don’t make enough money to pay for everything. I still have to deal with my parents and with other toxic family members but now it’s less heartbreaking and more walking away. I have seen myself grow up and turn into a beautiful woman and it’s all because I refused to give up every time I felt suicidal, I made sure that under no circumstances was I going to cave in to the pressure and that made me strong enough to handle anything that would be thrown my way as an adult. I used to look in the mirror and think “damn that’s ugly” and the worst part was I meant and believed it. Now I look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and smile knowing that I am a beautiful woman who is going to rule her world because if I can’t stop me, then nothing can.