How Genetics Impacts Your Health – and How More Access to Genetic Testing Has Changed the Game

Hi, and welcome to how humans heal. I'm Dr. Donnie Wilson, and today I want to introduce you to Christine Burke. She's a forensic genetic genealogist, and she specializes in helping people to understand how their genetics may be playing a role in their. In things they've experienced in their life and helping them to solve mysteries in some cases. Thank you so much for joining us today, Christine.

Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. This is.

Just so much to talk about, and there's so many people that are going through different aspects of this. So I'm really appreciative of. Yeah. The opportunity to get healing for people. So thank you.

Of course. And I think this is an area that wasn't always even a thing, but since genetic testing has become more available even to the public sometimes now people are getting access to information that they didn't know about themselves or their families before or maybe situations where they want information about their families that they haven't been able to get. And so I'm excited to talk about this because from. From my perspective as a. As a naturopathic doctor and especially over the past decade, what I've been doing is helping people to look at their genetics in terms of polymorphisms that affect nutrition and health and things we can do to help with their health. But I have definitely seen in that process is sometimes people do, let's say a 23andMe or an ancestry panel to thinking, hey, do I have MTHFR or some other genetic variation? And they end up finding out something about their family members or making connections with family members that they didn't know. So that kind of helped me realize where this comes up. I also noticed recently, I was watching the show called Amazing Race, and they had the twins on there who found out about each other by doing just a home genetic test and found out, hey, I have a twin that I was separated from at birth. And so tell us more. Is this along the lines of how you help people?

Absolutely, absolutely. And if I might delve into my. My story a little bit. Right. From a medical standpoint. So. So my name is Burke, and I never knew Burke as my father. It was always just my mother and I. And he died young. I had no. Nothing to do with him. So, of course, every time you go to the doctor, you have no answers. Right. So the genetics part of it is important. Right. That's where you get involved. And so. So I never had any of that. So. So that's the first thing that's very important to me. Then in 2000, I took my first test in 2013, but. But the. What I refer to as my Jerry Springer show didn't really happen until 2017. But what happened is I had originally taken the test because dementia ran in the family and the breast cancer gene. And so I tested with 23andMe because I didn't know what I had. Right. I didn't know half of who I was. And long story short, I found out that my father was not my father. So I was not a Burke. My mother's father was not her father, and. And I found half siblings and on and on and on. Right. So I basically, in one fell swoop, lost 75% of the people as I knew it of who I thought I was. Right. Because that's what's interesting about the genetic genealogy is for so long we've relied on the genealogy, which is the records, but when you bring the genetics into it, it proves in a lot more cases than people realize, that they're not. We're not who we think we are. Right. And myself and my mother, just as an example. And so that could be quite shocking.

Right. So you get this information and. And you're like, wait a minute. You wake up the next day and you're like, who am I really? Because we. We do associate our identity with who we have met, maybe who we thought were our actual cousins, for example. And then you might be like, oh, actually, that's. Now those people are still, I'm sure, important in your life, but. Right. It all shifts. Who. Who am I really?

Yeah. Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because I was going to talk about another part of it, but.

Yeah, so my background. Right. I'm a former police officer. I'm a private investigator. I was a bounty hunter. You know, I'm. I'm pretty much a badass if I can't use that word. Right.

You're like. You're like a detective in, like, sometimes really dangerous situations, it sounds like.

Yeah, yeah. So there's not a lot, usually that phases me. Right. Like, I can power through it. And when I. And I knew my whole family from the stories I was told, my mom and I had gone on trips and. And traveled around and saw these places, and then it just blew up. And so for me, as what I would consider a pretty confident, secure person, and this is why the healing part of this is so important. I think we need to bring so much awareness, like, literally, like a shotgun blew a hole in me and I could not do anything with it. And. And then that kind of Made it worse because I reached out and I tried to get help and, and my, my best friend said, well, you know who you are. Like, why is this a big deal? And I said, well, I don't want it to be a big deal, but I can't. Like, that's my visual. Does this, this whole part of me just was a gaping hole. And that's what happens.

Your identity, I think, yes.

I think until you've lost it, you can't even imagine it. Right. And so then there's this whole race to try to fix it, aside from the medical. And one of the things with healing, and this is why this is so great to bring attention to it, is the parents that get caught up in this.

Get stuck in. And one thing I wanted to bring up, you know, to, to help the healing is the people like me that I've spoken to. I don't care who slept with whom and who did what. And although I was really shocked that my grandmother cheated when, like, I was like grandma, but, but the mothers. Right. So I'm what's called an npe, a non parent expected or mpe, misattributed parentage. And when we have cases like this, like there's a Facebook group with almost 10,000 people just like me, and I see it every day. So that's aside from our adopted population. Okay. And. And the parents and the families continue to perpetuate the lie and the whatever, which is almost more injuring. And so that's why I feel this is so important to the healing, that everybody deserves answers, not only from a medical perspective, but to try to fill in that hole. And when it came out about my family, all that seems family, my half family, just went away. Just went away. And so, yeah, it's, it's, it's. I could just tell you stories. It's. It's more prevalent than you think. Yes.

I mean, what I'm hearing, listening would be, first of all, there would be grief because if people who, and you don't know how once you communicate with the rest of these, these people that were, you know, were your family or, you know, then you don't know how they're going to respond. They might, they might be like, oh, it's okay, and you stay close or they might move away from you and. And then there's loss to deal with right there and then. Now do you feel like in this experience of finding out this information for yourself, do you feel like you've been able to process and integrate and feel. Feel whole as a person now?

Not, not completely. Right. I know who I am. And in my own personal family, I still haven't found my father yet because there's some illegitimacy like I thought, you know, of course, in my case, it can't be easy. Right. I identified my mom's dad and I can find everybody else's dad, but not mine. There's. There's more illegitimacy, more lies and all that.

There's still question marks there.

Yeah, well, I know, I know who my paternal grandfather is. Right. So I know my heritage, but there's still the lying and the COVID up. And, and it's so interesting. People are so secretive. What's my DNA? And I'm like, no, it's not your DNA. I have it too.

And that is an interesting comment, a concept. Right. Like yours.

I got it. It's right here. I'm here.

I exist too. And it is like this. We see how we create these arbitrary separations without really realizing. And a lot of it is, as you're mentioning, to kind of like cover up, like what maybe people feel hesitant to share with others that they might be judged or they might be criticized for really sharing what really happened. It's amazing how often. I guess it's amazing how often that happens, but it makes sense, of course. I guess the way I look at it is we're human and humans do have interactions with other humans and, and sometimes, you know, intimacy happens outside of, out of, out of marriage and then. But people might not feel comfortable then getting that out in the open and making decisions about that, and so they just cover it up. Do you find that with the people that you help that a lot of times it's, it's also just dealing with the shock of the not having this information that got pushed under the rug. It almost ends up feeling like you're. You got pushed under the rug with it.

Yeah. So in a lot of aspects. And again, that's why the word healing is so important, like, whatever I can do for that. Right. You know, and we're talking about the biological side, not even the law enforcement side, but in my mom's case, and my mom had dementia when all this happened. And so I never try not to get emotional here. She just passed in April, but.

Thank you. She, you know, she's relieved. Right. So she's up there with my grandmother. I'm like, okay, all the secrets are out now. But she always used to tell me, I don't know why my dad doesn't love me. And now everything made Sense, because she was an alcoholic. And you know, all this discipline, function, and this, this is what I really would like people to learn. Okay. And the healing needs to come from people being honest. Right. And. And so if she would have known that. Right. Because it was her and her brother, I believe I know for certain it's my mom. But. But they were always treated terribly and she always tried to do the right thing and then she acted out out of a lack of love. Right. And then that fostered down into her relationship with me. And once I saw the truth, I was like, oh, wow, okay.

But. Right, you're like, no, I got like.

Like every, if I could say the hatred for her I had or the animosity or whatever, like, it all went out the window and I just felt compassion for her and like, okay, that makes sense. But I do find on a routine basis when I'm talking to people, you know, children that don't know that they were put up for adoption or people where the mother, you know, the misattributed parentage and the mom. So, so my mom. And again, this was shocking. Gave up three children for adoption before me. And I think there might be a fourth. Right. Because she, as she used to use the term, I didn't know what it meant, but. Looking for love in all the wrong spaces, right. And you know, what she didn't get for her father. And so.

She never would really talk to me about it. There was an inkling when I was 13 and it was always in the back of my head. And she just, she was so torn apart by it and the guilt and everything because she was 15. The first one was her teacher, I believe. And you know, just. So she put that to bed and never would talk about it. And.

So I can imagine when these mothers are being confronted, like, I've heard so many stories a little bit. DNA isn't right and this and that and it couldn't be. And. And they just continue to lie. And I, I understand they want to save face, right. And especially when there's a marriage and a spouse involved.

But.

And this is a message to my moms, right. As a parent, I believe. Right. And I don't have children and I, I don't want to be condescending or improper or anything, but for the child, for the victim and all this, I feel as a parent, you have a responsibility to the child. And when you continue this narrative that damages your child, wouldn't you want to put your child's emotional and. And physical health first? That. That's what doesn't make sense? And so, yes, people continue to carry on the falsehood for whatever, or then they're like, no, this rdna, like, we're not giving you. You don't belong to us, even though we share the same thing.

So, yeah, I mean, I think. And thank you for sharing that from your experience, like, for people to just hear, hey, you would rather know, you're grateful that you have this information. As hard as it was to receive the information, now you're at a place of saying, hey, I'm so glad I have this information. Because now my, it's like, you know, I, I talk a lot about trauma and how trauma, you know, affects us as humans. And a lot of times we could point to trauma that we, we know happened. It's visible, it's known, it's. Then we can say, okay, this known trauma occurred to me and blah, blah, blah. But here we are talking about something that has an effect of stress and trauma on us. But a lot of times we, we don't even know how to attribute it because we don't have all of the information. And so, like you were saying, like, you could see the intergenerational drama effect in your family, but now that you have this information, you are having the ability to stop that intergenerational trauma and rewrite the future history, you know, for you and your, you know, family to say, hey, we don't have to carry this forward, even though, you know, because a lot of times people think, well, if no one knows, it's not going to harm them. But actually, from your experience, it's there. You felt it in the way that your mom was behaving, because it was. She knew and it was affecting her emotions, and so it affected her behavior. And so you were, it was like you could feel it there, but you didn't know what you were experiencing until you got this information.

Yes. And I'm so glad that you get it, because I talk to people like, it's like child abuse, that. The cycle of abuse. And so it's just a different form of abuse that gets handed down and handed down and handed down. And, and that's what I want to stop it. Right. So, so different things that I, that I've written or notices in, in ancestry, and, you know, I'm very clear, like, like, no more lies. No more lies. And this is who it is. And if you don't like it, like, I believe everybody should be able to speak their, their truth just from an emotional standpoint, and then going and trying to get the information about the medical and whatever. And again, to heal from, from the trauma. Because I think exactly what you mentioned, when people get hit by a bus, people like, oh my goodness. Or somebody dies, for instance, and it's a little different, but when I was growing up, people would bring casseroles and they come over and they make sure you're okay. But when, when 75% of my family died, nobody cared.

And so process. You're really alone with that. And you're like, what, how do we help people through this? Because the thing is, it's, it's. It's going to be happening. We know, because people even accidentally get this information. Right? Like, they might not, they might not even be trying to search for this, but they just happen to. It happens to come across and they're like, oh my gosh, now what am I going to do? And who can they reach out to to help them navigate this situation? So tell us more. Like, how is that how you help people now? Or what is it that you do in your work?

Well, thank you. Yeah. So. And I just want to add one thing too. So when, so when this happens, you have the death, right, because you've lost who you are, but then you've also lost those other people. So you're trying to cope with this basically, like as one, one unhole person. Right. So it's just, it's kind of a.

It'S kind of complicated. It's kind of a mess.

Yes. So the people that you would normally reach out to, they're not there anymore. And then you try the new people and they don't want. So it, it, it's. Yeah, it's true.

And people might be also kind of like, they might be kind of judgmental about that. Like if you try to explain it. So you're trying to find someone safe to talk. Hey, I just got this information and I'm in a little bit of a, an identity crisis at the moment. Can, you know, how can, who can I talk to to guide me through this?

Yes. So it is, it is difficult. And so the way that I feel to help people is because I've been through it and I reached out to people and didn't even in the identification part of it. Right. So I'm not a counselor or anything like that, but I want people to have the tools to be able to find out who they were. When I went through it, I paid the, quote, experts and I got nothing. And they were just like, well, you'll have to wait for more results and da, da. Da da, da. And no. So I have different training programs, right. So I will work their DNA for them to find out who they are or I have training programs so that they can learn how to do it themselves. And, and I have the wonderful. Right. So at first I do have to add, when this happened to me, having a bad childhood, I said, God, why did you do this to me? Like really? My mom has had dementia for all these years and I'm taking care of her and I'm like. And this happened and then it took a moment, but then I realized because I was the police officer and I am a trainer and all that stuff, I realized that this is my mission to help everybody. So along with helping the biological people, I also helped, I trained the police and I work the cases for the police so that I can also help again helping healing the victims. And we've got a lot of unidentified deceased people in the world to identify them. In fact, I was, I was just training across the country and just yesterday I found the identity, identity of an unknown deceased person. And so to be able to bring that, I want to say healing to their family, of course it's going to be a shock in the beginning, right, because nobody wants to know that their missing person is deceased. But ultimately that will still start the healing process. So I'm all about getting the information.

In whatever way possible to, to help people move past the trauma or whatever they're experiencing. So I'm, I, even though it's shocking, even though I'm still hurt and probably am not totally through it myself, I'm eternally grateful to be able to do this.

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Yeah, because then you kind of realize, hey, it isn't something how you already have this background in law enforcement and as a private investigator and Then, then this happened to you. And it's like you go, oh, all of these skills I had are actually helping me to solve this, and I can help solve it for other people. And, and I think that's beautiful that, like, you're. You're willing to walk into these sort of difficult conversations and difficult situations and say, I know it seems difficult right now, but it's going to help you with your ultimate healing. And, and do you find that that helps people then in that, in that part of the conversation?

Oh, totally, too. I want to empower them. Right. And, and I think, you know, how, how could this not turn out this way?

Right.

You know, people say everything happens for a reason. Right. And that's why I say I'm just really grateful because I understand it from all the different sides. And it's interesting, you know, sometimes people will say, like, I had one, one gal that was looking for her father, and she's like, well, I'm not really too concerned, but, you know, you want to play with it or whatever. And then once I identified a possible person, then it hit home. Then, then she cared. When it was an unknown untangible, she didn't really care. But once a name to a couple faces and that. So it's very interesting because you never know how they're going to react. But most of all, it's empowering. Of course, you have to go through the stages of grief and denial, whatever. And then most often it's just empowering and saying, look, this is you. I know it comes from all these people and. But a lot of people get caught up in. I don't want to embarrass my, my mom and my dad didn't know and it's going to break his heart and whatever and not to be rude to those people, but this is about your personal identity and your personal truth. And if I can empower them, you know, even just to get the medical information. But that, that's what I say. This is your truth. This is your one life. Right. So, you know, I'm a little outspoken about that, but I, but I'm totally an advocate because.

I've been through it. I don't want to get shut down. I'm 100% for who I am and who I'm going to be. So, yeah, that's my soapbox.

And it helps you to be. I mean, I would say too, when I work with patients who are looking at their genetics related even to their, like we're looking at how they metabolize neurotransmitters how they metabolize B vitamins, how they process antioxidants. And even when we're looking at that, what tends to happen is people go through an experience of feeling more themselves. It's like a validation. Like you just mentioned, you. You realize, oh, my gosh, these are my genes. This is who I am. Like, if I explain to a person, hey, you have the genes where if you're under stress, you're going to tend to have higher adrenaline levels. And so you're. You probably are good under stress, but if it means you might also feel anxious even when you're not under stress, versus a person who I can see from their genetics that they're going to tend to have low adrenaline, which means they're going to tend to not do as well under stress and feel more tired. And when people hear that, they go, oh, my gosh. It's like I'm reading them without knowing them, but I can see it in their teeth, you know, who they are.

Yeah.

And it's not that we know that our genetics only influence a small percentage of our health. Of course, our health is determined partly by our genetics and partly by our experience in our life. I say, like, our stress exposures, our environment. So. But when you combine, you go, oh, here's my. The genetic piece of that recipe. And here's my human experience, part of that recipe. That is who we are and our health. Health status. And so when people, I think, get those pieces of the puzzle, they. They know themselves better, they can say, oh, I know who I am. I understand how I'm gonna respond under stressful situations. I understand. Just. And it's an. It's an amazing thing, right. Just because I think we so often lose track of who we are just because we're so busy in the world. Right. We're working, we're. We're taking care of kids, we're running around, and we kind of don't even know who we really are. And I. And so I agree with you. Like, when I work with patients with genetics, they end up walking away saying, wow, I really feel like I know myself now better. And that's very empowering.

Yes, I think. I think it's so great. Right. And I won't say which one. But you know what. What I thought I was. I'm totally different, and I have an ethnicity that is. Which is funny. One of my best friends. Friend was of that ethnicity. Right. And. And I never would have associated myself with it, but I knew all the pitfalls that she had to test and do all these different things based on the ethnicity. And then there it shows up in my results. And I think, oh, okay. You know, so I was kind of like, oh, okay. But I kind of knew what to do. Right. So it is very important because you just have a potential predisposition to that. So you want to take care of it, right? Where you, you know, you think you're totally something else and, and you're not.

I love the word potentials. I use that a lot, too. Like, just to know that we, when we look at our genetics, it's giving us what, what potentially could occur. You know, it's this potent. You mentioned dementia before, right? People worry a lot of times, am I going to. Do I have the genes for dementia? And we can see, like. But now we know there's a whole lot of different genes associated with dementia, not just one. And even if a person has certain genes, it doesn't mean that those genes are going to express. So it's never a hundred percent based on the gene. It's always like, there's the potential. But then we have to look at all the other factors. And in fact, I would say the other factors has to do with our stress in our life, including emotional stress from not knowing why our parents were going through what they were going through. Right. So the more information we have, we're already processing the stress, which is going to decrease the likelihood of these genetic tendencies from happening.

Right, right. No, and I totally agree. And then, you know, even as you were talking about, I think about, you know, when I was in the womb, you know, what. What was I exposed to, right, from her, and then looking at, you know, was it genetic disposition? Because I don't carry, you know, the dementia Alzheimer's gene. And so did she get it because of her drinking? Right. Like, was it her lifestyle? Was it her stress? Because she was always stressed out, you know. So I think it really is important to know, you know, what makes you who you are. Yeah, that's.

Yeah, it's amazing. And the fact that these tests, I mean, people, if anyone is listening and hasn't done one of these tests before, you can even just go on the website or I think even some of them are like, at Amazon, right? You can run a. I don't know if you can still get 23andMe and Ancestry.com just directly from their websites for sure. Now some of these, these companies.

May or may not share as much information. So I don't know if you want to touch on that. Like, if someone's thinking hey, should I do a genetic test or not? Do you have any suggestions for them?

Well, specifically for medical information, you know, I went to 23andMe for that. Again, you know, I don't know how reliable that, you know, that is. And again, I don't caution anybody. You know, you never know what you're gonna get results. Right. It doesn't look right. You know, reach out to me. But, you know, so forewarned. But I did another one. I don't want to necessarily mention the name. And I got, you know, pages and pages and pages, something, you know, you're probably more used to looking at. And it's very scary. And I was like, oh, my goodness. But then again, too, it's so helpful what you're doing, because I. I took it to, again, from my mom. Heart. Heart and different things. And so I still don't totally know who I am because on my dad's side, the family won't talk to me. Right. So you're trying to get. I'm looking in the answer, did they die young? What do they die of? And all this stuff. But Even my regular MVs, when I said, okay, I've got this whole huge report.

And I didn't pay that much for it, but I said, well, you look at that like they didn't want to look at it. And I'm like, okay, I need somebody to interpret this. Right. Like, so it's very valuable what you do. So, you know, 23andMe has kind of been the main one.

I know that ancestry is trying to. Because they all compete with each other, trying to get into some sort of. That. But, you know, if you really want medical. Medical testing, I think there's better companies for that. And then maybe you won't get the family shock or I don't know exactly what you offer. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, what I. Now, what I do. For anyone wondering. And yes, it was. When I first went into this area, it was like learning another language because I had to learn all the. The different genetic name, how. What they mean and how they influence each other. But now that's all in my mind, so I can look at a very long, complicated report, and I can see right away the patterns that I'm looking for and to, you know, to again.

Hire you, I'm going to send it off.

Yeah. And. And I can, you know, then I'm like, okay, here's the patterns. And then. And then I always say, this is the potential for a health issue. Let's do the testing to see if that gene is expressing. Do we need to do, you know, test blood levels or test neurotransmitter levels, test for glutathione levels for example, so we can actually see how the genes are affecting your health. And, and right now actually what we, what I tend to do is I use an Ancestry.com panel because it gives me the data that I need to run through the software. So I then the chromosome segment. Yeah. I don't look at the, the family connections. I just take the genetic data and then put it into software that helps me look at the, the health related genetics. So that's what we do through my office to help people. And, and, and I just do it in like I figure if I can get the, the information I need at the lowest cost, that's the best. And I also like for people to be able to have their genetic data because I assume that into the future more and newer software will develop but your genetic data is not going to change. So you'll be able to have your data file that you could put into different software over time and, and get additional information from that same data set. But what, what I think you do is you're going into the, the, the, the genetic soft. The original software and that's where it has these abilities to make connections with. I know for myself when I go in there it, it found, it found family members that I already knew about but I, it kind of helped me know hey, it's must be working because they actually found the people I know exist.

Yeah. See you got lucky. Everything turned, everything turned out good. You know some people go like I don't know who these people are but I did want to express about that. Yeah. So if you, if you, if you're looking for. Right. And I don't get sponsored from any of these people. But, but the, the best one to get tested is ancestry because it's got the biggest population. Right. From a medical standpoint. No, but if you can read that and interpret that then that's great. And you always wait when it goes on sale for $49. Right. And so then if people want more help in figuring out who they are.

One thing if we're talking about helping and healing too. So people do test the ancestry. The cop in me says if people are willing, GEDmatch and family tree DNA, FTDNA are the only databases that law enforcement is allowed to utilize to help identify these unknown deceased people and to help catch criminals. And so I always try to advocate and ask people if they're willing to opt in and to, because you can download, you can download your, your genome and then put it over there because that would be a great help for us trying to help all these people. But I also want to talk about the genome that you're talking about. How I explain it. It's like if you go to build a house, you hire an architect and they draw all the windows and all the stuff and it's the whole blueprint of the house so that when you want to build the house, everybody knows all they need all the specs for their house and the house is going to come out exactly how you envisioned it. Well, your genome is the entire blueprint for your person. Okay. And so to what you're saying, you have the genes, whether they're going to express or not. Like, like, let's just say you have your beautiful house that you built and the architect did the blueprint and then the hurricane comes or the tornado comes and it's going to tear through and it's going to blow those windows out. That's kind of what you're talking about.

You know, that, that it was good to begin with. And then maybe it's the trauma or the lifestyle and the stress or the chemicals or whatever is happening to it is going to blow that window out, blow that blueprint out. And so not that you expect to happen, so you kind of want to protect it and repair it. But I like to refer to it as the blueprint. And it just like a blueprint of a house. It's a, the blueprint of the person, which is really amazing. Everything needed to make the unique you is, is right in there. It's just fascinating what you can do with it.

And the fact that is like we're, we're all human and so there's a lot of things we have in common. Obviously is, is a human body and system, but there's also a like little individuality all through. And yet we can all function and survive as humans. You know, for the most part. Right. Unless there's a major change, then you know, they can. Those genetic changes can impact longevity length of life. But for the most part for most of us it's, it's little minor tweaks and that and that we can take action in our life to influence how it show, you know, how that blueprint shows up in our experience. And I think that's where a lot more people are getting interested in this concept of longevity and the fact that longevity can be. Be influenced by our diet, by our nutrients, by our stress exposure. And what I think this conversation is saying it can also be influenced by having information and allowing yourself to go through sometimes the healing processes of receiving difficult information too. That's also going to influence. We know that when people, for example, have been exposed to abuse and adverse childhood events, let alone trauma in adulthood, we know that increases risk of different health issues. Exactly. For this reason. And so if we can help people to process it and integrate it into their life and be able to move forward with their life, that's going to decrease health issues.

Exactly. And I have to add something as you're talking about that. You know, I talked to so many people and they're like, you know, I always felt that something wasn't right. Most often we hear that in adoption when, when they don't know that. But even with the people like me, the NPS or the mps, they're like, you know, it just, it just wasn't right because they're a half sibling or something. And then they hear about jokes about the milkman and all this stuff. And, and so, you know, you're, you're talking about when this happens, you do get the trauma of finding out, but ultimately being able to know who you are and to be able to like, like you may not have the final answer, right. You haven't moved through the entire grief cycle. But just to have the truth and just to have that confirmation that satisfies the, you know, like that, that's one thing I wish for my mom, that she kind of could have known. I mean, whether you believe or not, like, I know she know, you know, all has been revealed now, but I kind of wish she could have had that answer because I know she always carried that with her. So as traumatic as it is to get the truth, I really think that the truth heals, you know, some of it may take longer, but, but then you can, you know, you can see a mental health counselor, you can get the nutrition and all the stuff that you're talking about. You can, you can't do anything when you don't even know what you're working with and you're working on a false premise. So this, that's why I'm just a truth advocate in this. As, as disrupting and earth shattering and delicate as it might be. And that's why I think, yeah, the people need to stand up for themselves and take care of themselves.

That's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing to be, you know, truth seeker and supporting people with that, with that. And so thank you for sharing that. If for people to, who may Be listening and saying, hey, I've. I've wondered about this situation or I need more help with it. How, how best to reach you and be well.

They could reach out to me by email. My email is info I n f o@christine burke.com c h r I S T I N E b u r ke.com or I have a website, I have all my classes and everything. It's Christine Burke again. My name.podia p o d I a.com and I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn and Facebook and I'm always happy to talk to somebody and I do have some good resources. I have a really good trauma coach that I work with who's also an NPE himself. Right. So we found each other. We're so glad that we can definitely help people from what we're going through. So. Yeah. And, and now I have you. So we've got the entire, everything there to help people heal through this. So thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, I'd be happy to help more if people are, yeah. Wanting to be like, what do these genes mean? What do I do about this? Because it, there is a lot of misinformation about that. And it just, it's just because when I found out some of my genes, it, it, that's what also kind of drove me to. Right. It's motivating. And when I, when I learned I had MTHFR gene variations and collagen gene variations, then I was like, oh, now it makes sense. And then it allowed me to be proactive.

Exactly.

Improve my health based on that. So I, Yeah. So I, I agree. But it is a, you know, I think as you mentioned, it's important to kind of make a conscious, intentional decision to kind of open up this Pandora's box.

That is because you, you just, you know, it is a decision that you're, you know, once you're there, the information's there, you're not going to be able to just forget it. Then you're going to have, you know, it's going to be there. So, and, and so if, if someone listening is like, yeah, either you already opened up the Pandora box and you're like, what do I do now? Or you're thinking, hey, it feels like there's something unresolved and, and I would like help resolving it, then now, you know, you can reach out to Christine and get more help with that. Oh, my gosh. Thanks again so much for joining me today.

No, thank you. I really appreciate what you're doing and allowing me to just. Just continue to spread the word. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of How Humans Heal. And be sure to like and subscribe so that you receive the next episode. And I can't wait to see you then.

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