Private Chef, Writer & Podcaster
Living with sarcoidosis means managing symptoms, medications, and side effects that can turn your body into a science experiment. When prednisone turned my metabolism into a full-blown sugar-addicted monster, I went hunting for sweeteners that wouldn’t kill me faster than the disease. Here’s how I learned that everything—yes, even the stuff labeled “natural”—comes with fine print.
After years of battling sarcoidosis and heart failure, I’ve realized that “sick” is just a word—and it doesn’t define me. Between migraines, acupuncture needles, and medical humor that borders on dark roast, I’m still standing, breathing, and occasionally brisk-walking on flat ground.
Before my MRI next week, a simple online check-in turned into a bizarre quiz about my private life, sprinkled with the usual sarcoidosis-related precautions—but what came next left me blinking at the screen and wondering who exactly was getting scanned here. Let’s just say the questions took a turn I did not see coming.
Growing up with childhood trauma and overwhelming guilt after witnessing my step-father’s heart attack shaped everything—from how I curse, to how I cook, to how I manage chronic illness today. While emotional suppression can increase stress, inflammation, and heart risk, meditation, humor, cooking, and selective profanity helped me survive. If you’ve ever carried guilt, wrestled with grief, or learned to cope quietly, this story will remind you that you’re not the villain—you’re surviving with heart.
Living with chronic illness and heart failure has taught me one thing—complaining doesn’t fix a damn thing. As a chef juggling sarcoidosis, a leaky heart, and life’s general nonsense, I’ve learned that silence isn’t denial—it’s survival. Here’s how I stopped whining, started adapting, and found a strange kind of peace in just getting on with it.
Tate Basildon 