Before we begin, a heads up that this episode includes graphic medical images, some

cursing, and mention of their bodies.

I'm Allison Barringer.

It was 2006 and life for Melinda was very good.

She was 32 years old and she and her devoted husband were raising two young sons.

Her friends like to call her a Mormon Martha Stewart.

The family was very involved in the Church of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church.

Melinda taught sewing and breadmaking to fellow Mormon women

and put on an annual fall pumpkin party for all the families in the church.

Dinner time at my house was an event.

I think food is my love language, I'm not sure, but I found a lot of satisfaction in cooking and homemaking skills and things like that.

And every year for Christmas, she'd make a big elaborate gingerbread house.

One year I created a replica of the home that we were living in, like, you know, but out of gingerbread and it was so much fun and then on Christmas morning we take hammers to them and we smash them all up.

Melinda had a master's degree and a fulfilling job.

She felt strong and healthy.

She even worked as a personal trainer on the side.

But then, she started to feel a strange heaviness

and pressure in her pelvis.

She would feel it after a hard workout or a long day on her feet.

I don't even want to call the pain.

It was just an ache.

You know how I got on your feet too long?

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