When hustle costs your health

Decades on overdrive

Chelsea, a 53-year-old mom, spent decades in high-pressure finance and real estate, often working seven days a week, late into the night. She thought she could keep running on adrenaline. She didn’t realize her body couldn’t keep up.

In 2019, she drove herself to the emergency room, thinking she was having a heart attack. It turned out to be a panic attack, but the doctors warned her: she needed to get her health under control.‍

It was hard for me to admit I needed to put myself first and take care of my health.

She tried to slow down, but it wasn’t until she came across a video of Mark Hyman, MD, talking about Function that she decided to take her health seriously.

Chelsea became a Function member in August 2023—just around the time a routine physical led to the discovery of a malignant nodule on her thyroid: thyroid cancer. When her Function results showed more than 20 biomarkers out of range, it helped her connect the dots between her symptoms and underlying imbalances—and gave her a roadmap to support her body through treatment.

For the first time, she could see how her lifestyle was shaping her health—and she was ready to rewrite her story.

The tests

After years of ignoring warning signs, Chelsea finally had proof her body was in crisis.

Her Function results didn’t just confirm her exhaustion—they helped show why she felt so depleted— such as high homocysteine (a marker of inflammation), and low vitamin D. They also revealed troubling lipid markers—elevated ApoB and LDL, and low HDL.

The truth in her data made one thing clear: she couldn’t keep going the same way.

I was like a car that had no oil, and I think this happened because of that.

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Taking control

As the daughter of a woman who survived two stage 4 cancers, she knew the importance of swift action. Chelsea didn’t freeze—she prioritized.

She found the top thyroid surgeon at a prestigious Bay Area research institution and had the cancer removed. But that was just the start. 

She met with a nutritionist specializing in oncology. Using the lab results from Chelsea’s Function dashboard, the nutritionist built a custom diet and supplement plan.

She began working out five to six days a week and started to prioritize sleep.

It just really motivated me to take care of my body. And it wasn't just getting the cancer out. Now I had all these other things I needed to focus on.

The outcome

Over six months, Chelsea’s health shifted dramatically.

Her LDL cholesterol dropped from 262 mg/dL to 212 mg/dL. Her HDL went up. Her vitamin D levels improved, and inflammation levels fell.

For the first time in years, she was sleeping 7–8 hours a night—and her energy returned.

Her mindset around food and movement also transformed. She began eating more mindfully and started attending group exercise classes. 

When asked about the Function platform, Chelsea raves:‍

It's just extremely empowering—it's also made me healthier. I log on all the time…It helps me make better choices, and my numbers are improving.

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If Function didn’t exist

Had she not joined Function and gotten a clearer view of her health, Chelsea says she would have kept pushing through, putting her at risk of additional serious diagnoses down the line. 

Before Function, she often lay in bed, paralyzed by fear of the unknown. Now, she knows. And that knowing has made all the difference.

When asked about her health trajectory, she explains:

It didn't happen overnight for me. I wasn't vitamin D deficient overnight…It's death by 1000 cuts. There are all these little things that you do that add up. And on the flip side, now I've done all these great little things that are turning my health around.

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Breaking the cycle

Chelsea isn’t running on fear and adrenaline anymore. She’s building her health with intention.

She says that growing up in the United States, she was “raised in a culture that waited to fix problems until they were impossible to ignore.” But this new path—where personal health data guides action—has given her the most proactive approach to her health she’s ever had.

She also started talking to her 12-year-old daughter about nutrition, health, and what it means to be proactive rather than reactive. Her experience has shifted not just her own habits but the way her family will approach health in the future:

I don't want her to be scared like I was with my mom. I've shown her (my daughter) my biomarkers. (Function is) creating an opportunity for a new generation of people to think about health in a totally different way.

Raising the standard of care

For Chelsea, Function didn’t just help her manage her health in the wake of a cancer diagnosis. It became a turning point in how she treats her body, how she teaches her daughter to think about health, and how she talks to her doctor:

Now that I have all this information from Function, it's made my doctor a better doctor. We have better conversations. We have a better plan about my health.

She hopes others won’t wait for a crisis to start paying attention.

Health without limits

For Chelsea, the biggest lesson is simple: take control. 

Let go of the fear. Just take control and figure it out. You’re going to be okay. And if you’re not okay, you’ll get through it. At least you’ll know what’s going on—and you can fight if there's something you have to fight through.

She doesn’t live in fear of the unknown anymore. But she’s intentional about what she puts in her body and how she manages her health.

We only get one body. We have to take care of it. I wish I’d known about this in my twenties so I could have started my longevity plan a lot earlier. Thankfully, our bodies are resilient. We can change them if we do the right things. And we can age well if we start early.

For Chelsea, that means staying strong and independent. Traveling. Hiking. Lifting her own carry-on. Spending time with her daughter.

There’s literally no reason someone shouldn’t do this. Knowledge is power. Even if something’s off, at least you know.

These days, Chelsea wakes up energized. She’s thyroid-cancer free and focused on improving her health by tracking her biomarkers. She’s shifted from a life of working nonstop to one where her health comes first. And she knows it was worth every step.