“I’ve been hospitalized over 32 times. Attitude is everything and I don’t take it for granted.”

Danielle Bryant is the founder of the Make It Count 4 Dani Foundation. Her mission is to advocate, educate, encourage, and inspire those living with Rheumatoid Arthritis to MAKE IT COUNT.

In high school, Bryant was a star athlete.  Suddenly her health began to deteriorate, and she was experiencing pain all over her body. “My joints would swell, they’d be red. But I had to do what I had to do,” Bryant explains. “I was extremely scared, I didn’t even know how to explain it. I was in the prime of my athletic career.”

Bryant did not want to forfeit her chance to receive a college softball scholarship, so she hid the pain. Then came the drinking. She carried around vodka in her backpack.

When her dreams of playing college sports were dashed, depression took hold. It was a cycle that persisted for many years.

Total life transformation came to her in a dream. Bryant says she woke up and realized that the only person who would be able to fix her life was her.

“I committed to loving myself first. I started to take control and I found that my best medication was going to the gym and building my muscles. I just really concentrated on my health and being healthy again.”

She sought help from Alcoholics Anonymous and was able to quit drinking.

Bryant went on to become a successful businessperson in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the Founder of a boutique construction company called Thrive.

Rheumatoid Arthritis does not go away.  It’s an autoimmune disease that travels everywhere in the body.  Bryant has extreme joint pain and has had to deal with her organs being compromised.  But she’s managing her condition one day at a time.

“My mindset is powerful,” Bryant shares. “I don’t know what it’s like to not have pain because I have lived with it for so long.”

On this 35 minute episode of Transformation Tuesday, Bryant talks to Carey Pena about her journey to health and mission to inspire others to get up and move – no matter what is happening in your life.

Bryant also shares insight on her workout routine and daily diet (she sticks to chicken and fish and stays away from nightshade vegetables and dairy).

With her Foundation, Make It Count 4 Dani, Bryant is able to share her message with a wider audience, many of whom are living with Rheumatoid Arthritis or other debilitating conditions.

“I have received these letters and amazing messages from people and they are searching for their life back.  I had a call with a 22 year old young man who was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and was kicked out of the military for it, and I cried on the phone with him.”

Ever since she made the decision to transform her life at age 23, Bryant has not touched alcohol. She is fueled by healthy living and the opportunity to help others.

“Being able to help another human being,” she says, “that is a gift.”

To learn more about Make It Count 4 Dani visit makeitcount4dani.com

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