Bayer's Love is Like Bad Medicine

Today was the big day; I read my speech at the Bayer Annual Stockholders meeting. And it was one heck of a day!

Many of you know me and how humble I am; you also know how fearless I am. I kid you not when I say I pale in comparison to some of the ladies I met today who are also Bayer Survivors. I can't seem to forget them.

The one who won't leave my thoughts is Felicity. At the age of 26, she was dead for 20 minutes because of a cardiac issue brought on by a Bayer product. As we were speaking, it was truly like looking into a mirror. Here is someone else, who like me, chose a product for only birth control, just birth control. She didn't buy a life time of health issues, or complications or even wake up one day saying I'm going to fight. She is just like me- right down to the fact she can look at a calendar and know that there is a day on that calendar that should be on her grave stone. She said it's changed me forever, and I can completely empathize with every word she said. She, like so many I met today, is one of us.

We aren't the victims anymore; we are the survivors; the thrivers and the fighters. We weren't born for this, but this became our reality.

As many of you know, two weeks ago, I learned I had to speak in German. Yes, two weeks ago. I came prepared to speak in English and German. I sat in the audience and watched at Bayer had their security staff escort a women from the room who wasn't able to give her remarks in German. I was stunned. I guess Bayer has not heard of the 'global economy.' Anyway, I openned my speech with a statement in English, and the rest was in German. I know they were not expecting a blonde from Miami with a Latin last name to speak German, but I did and I'll do it again.