After receiving the horrific call that her teenaged son was injured during what should have been an amazing international summer experience, Sharon Gnatt Epel didn’t just get upset — she took action. Unbeknownst to anyone involved, what could have been a nightmare would eventually unlock a dream that has helped improve the lives of countless women.
Impending Nightmare
Officials said it was a minor reaction to sunscreen during an outing in the beautiful Costa Rican rainforest, but within hours what started as simple blisters on his hands turned into water-filled balloons that prompted an arduous trip to the country’s capital city for medical attention. Almost twenty-five hundred miles away, his frantic mother pushed for answers and demanded her son be sent home.
The truth was her fair-skinned son had waded into banned agricultural chemicals that clandestinely floated atop a river he entered while whitewater rafting. Though illegal, a local plantation continued to use these dangerous chemicals, which eventually seeped out of saturated soil and silently crept into nearby rivers after heavy rains. The resulting second-degree chemical burns had taken their toll, and traditional treatment methods most likely would have replaced her son’s now gray, lifeless wounds with thick, inflexible scar tissue that could mar mobility for life. At their doctor’s suggestion, Gnatt Epel and her son took a leap of faith and opted to treat his hands with all-natural medical grade essential oils – a move that changed both their lives forever.
An Unexpected Cure
Miraculously, within one month, her son’s wounds had healed and were almost back to normal. Such tremendous recovery using only essential oils? Both Gnatt Epel and her son’s doctor were amazed. “This experience drove me to learn as much as I could about essential oils and how they are being used internationally to treat a variety of conditions holistically,” she said. “I thought about how these high-quality plant oils had healed such severe chemical burns and couldn’t help but wonder what they would do for wrinkles, age spots and sun damage.”
Gnatt Epel, who is in her late 50s, was intrigued because with a mother who died of cancer and a father and best friend who also had been afflicted with the disease, she felt cancer was all around her. “For me especially with a history of so much cancer in my family, it’s estimated that the average woman absorbs as much as five pounds of toxins in her body every year from cosmetics,” she explained. With the skin being our body’s largest organ, Gnatt Epel is careful about what she puts on hers, and the properties of oils like those that healed her son’s burns could provide a natural solution to aging gracefully using carcinogen-free products.
A Dream Unfolds
That research led her to develop La Isha Natural Skin Care, a Colorado-born company dedicated to making high quality, anti-aging and beautification products without harmful ingredients found in traditional skincare — but with similar effectiveness. Gnatt Epel founded La Isha (which means “for the woman”) in 2007 in response to medical reports linking use of toxic chemicals in women’s cosmetics to cancer, serious skin reactions and illness.
Formulated specifically for women over 35, La Isha products are made with organic, cold-pressed therapeutic grade oils, including high-grade pomegranate oil, lauded on the world stage for its natural healing abilities. Though these oils are extremely expensive and often difficult to import, Gnatt Epel is committed to creating healthful products in small batches, to ensure the oils retain potency and efficacy.
Wielding luxurious scents and sense-igniting textures, everything about the products screams quality. The line features essentials for those over age 35 – from age spot remover and under-eye circle eliminator, to an amazingly decadent exfoliating orange-coconut skin polish. Two interestingly unique items are a Pomegranate Moisture Booster, which can add potency to any moisturizer (no matter the brand) and Breast SOS, a favorite of women who have undergone breast surgery. Created specifically to enhance appearance, elasticity and overall breast health, Breast SOS also provides a more self-pampering way to encourage daily breast self-examination, potentially fueling early detection of breast cancer.
Who would have known that a fateful jaunt into a chemically-loaded river would spawn the beginning of a company that helps transform the lives and well being of women? Gnatt Epel and La Isha are committed to enhancing women’s education and empowerment. And, like extraordinary women everywhere, she was able to turn tragedy into triumph – helping others in the process.
Doni Luckutt is a lifestyle expert who believes by enhancing interpersonal connection, we can stop simply living, and become Simply Alive! If you have a suggestion on what brings you to life, connect with her on Twitter @SimplyAlive, via email Doni@SimplyAliveWorld.com or on her blog: www.SimplyAliveWorld.com/Blog.
