On January 14th, my life changed in ways I never could have imagined.

I was driving home from an archery hunting trip when, out of nowhere, a man in his 30s ran across the road—darting from behind a vehicle on the left directly into my lane. I was only going about 28 mph, but there was no time to stop. Faced with the choice of potentially killing someone or trying to avoid him, I instinctively turned the wheel to the right and struck a large pickup truck.

Emergency services and police arrived on scene. I spent 15 years of my life working on a medic unit, so I understood the process well. I was not charged with any crime and received no tickets. Other than having been hit by an airbag before in my life, I felt okay at the time. I nearly signed the ambulance refusal—but something told me I should get checked out anyway.

That decision saved my life.

What initially looked like a bad car accident turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At the hospital, doctors discovered I was in near-complete renal (kidney) failure. I don’t remember arriving at the hospital or the first two days afterward. My condition was so serious that my family flew in from Florida and Georgia, and at one point, a doctor told them I had been read my last rites by the hospital priest.

The medical team debated emergency dialysis, a kidney biopsy, and even having a family member on standby in case a transplant became necessary.

Ultimately, they determined the cause was extreme dehydration compounded by Ashwagandha gummies I had taken—unfortunately several years old, and I had taken more than the recommended dose believing they had lost potency.

The doctors told me plainly: if not for this accident, I would have gone home and passed away in my sleep. Someone was truly watching over me.

Today, I’m on a strict renal diet, drinking 64–90 ounces of water daily, and facing ongoing follow-up appointments and monitoring. I will be sharing photos of my lab results as part of this campaign