Doug Steiny was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2014, facing potential permanent paralysis and an 18-24 month recovery. After trying the Wim Hof Method for four months, he became completely symptom-free and regained the ability to swim two miles, do splits, and deadlift 300 pounds.
Chapters
My name is Doug Steiny and I'm here at the Wim Hof workshop in San Francisco. I wanted to share my story on how I got here. Very cold. Getting the sauce ready. And in 2014, I was going through a very difficult time at home. My wife had cancer and it was a very stressful situation. So unbeknownst to me, that had took a big toll on my immune system. A lot of stress. My son at that time brought home whooping cough. Now, whooping cough in and of itself isn't such a big deal, but if my wife got it, it would be a big deal. So we had to sort of quarantine her, and then I got to cough for 3 months. So the compromised immune system and the whooping cough were a train wreck. Through a series of events, A friend of mine who was a doctor said, "You know, you're not looking that good, Doug," and insisted that I go to the hospital to get checked. That was at 5 o'clock on a Friday evening, and I remember it well. As you can imagine, by 5 o'clock the next morning, I was completely paralyzed. I had an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barré, which eats the myelin sheath off your nerves and It's like MS. It starts in your feet, goes up your legs, gets to your body, either shuts them off and you die, or you're in for a long haul. My diagnosis was a 50/50 chance of permanent paralysis, and the recovery is 18 to 24 months. That's the best thing that can happen, and there's no cure. So I'm laying in this hospital bed, paralyzed. A couple days later, they let my 11-year-old daughter come in, and that's when I really feel like the journey began. Because of course she was terribly frightened, big tears in her eyes, and she said, "Oh my God, Daddy, are you gonna be okay?" And I said, "Yeah, honey, your daddy's gonna be okay." And then she said, "But Daddy, you have to promise me." 'Cause I know you'll never break a promise. And I did. And I promised her. And from that second on, I knew that I was gonna be okay. I never questioned it. I was never worried for a half a second. I didn't think I was gonna float out of there. And I knew I was in for a long haul, but I knew what was gonna be on the other end of it. So I was up for the fight. So after about a month, they sent me home. There's nothing you can do. And it's really difficult at home. And my wife was finished with her chemo, but it's just not pretty. 15-year-old son watching his dad wobble around like, you know, can't walk. About 4 months later, he comes bouncing out of his room one time and he says, Dad, there's this guy. He does all this stuff and his immune system's so strong he can't get sick. Now I know that's not true exactly, but that's how he interpreted it. But what he's saying is, Dad, you've got an immune system problem with it. And if you do all this stuff, you might get better and I want you to get better. That's the way I took it. And he said, Can you do that, Dad? And I said, You bet I can, son. Now I didn't know what I was saying I was okay to. By the next day, I had the 10-week course and I've done everything exactly like that every day. And within 8 months total, I was completely symptom-free. My strength and my flexibility is just ridiculous. I look at it in awe as if it's somebody else. But at 64 years old, I swim 2 miles in the ocean 3 times a week. I can do the splits. I deadlift 300 pounds. I mean, this is just like not— I have no inflammation in my body. Ridiculous amount of energy. I do sound a little bit evangelical about the Wim Hof Method though, I got to admit. But you really, really need to stimulate and stress your autonomic nervous system to be healthy. So go do it. Healthy, happy, and strong.
