How I almost Died: A Trader’s Tale

The fall of 2017 was one of the most profitable periods of my trading career as the Cryptocurrency market ignited into a full-blown bubble.

This spilled over into small-cap penny stocks, which resulted in some of the greatest trades I have ever experienced in stocks like LFIN, RIOT, and MARA. Not only was I nailing huge trades during regular stock market hours, but I also was trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTCUSD) and Ethereum (ETHUSD) where the market was open for trading 24/7.

Although I made a lot of money in a short period of time, this resulted in many sleepless nights. So, in March 2018, I decided to take a much-needed vacation and travel around Asia for 3 months.  I had wanted to do this for a long time, but up until this point, hadn’t found the time. Fortunately, after several months of massive profits, I finally decided it was time to make it happen.

Rewarding Myself

I decided to travel to Hong Kong, Macau, Tapei, Taiwan, Cebu in the Philippines, Bangkok and Chiang Mai in Thailand, and Bali in Indonesia.  I spent several weeks in each of these countries and I had the most amazing time of my life.

I met a number of fellow travelers, entrepreneurs, and traders along the way and I enjoyed every minute of my extended vacation. Although I followed the daily ebbs and flows of the market, I didn’t trade any penny stocks during this time. I just felt it was time to unplug from the penny stock market and really enjoy my time relaxing at the beach and partying it up.

Here are some of the photos from my trip:

Lembongan Beach Resort – Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
Finns Beach Club Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Finns Beach Club – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Conrad Hotel Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
Conrad Hotel – Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
Kudetah Beach Club Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Du De Ta Beach Club – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Private pool villa Seminyak,Bali, Indonesia
Private Pool Villa – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Indonesian food
Delicious Squid – Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Beef Rendang Amazing Indonesia Food
Amazing Beef Rendang – Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Tuna Poke Bowl
Tuna Poke – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Grilled Prawn Indonesian Style
Grilled Prawn – Nusa Cenigan, Indonesia
Whole fish Indonesian style Bali Indonesia
Grilled whole fish – Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Taiwanese Bao Taipei, Taiwan
Pork Bao – Tapei, Taiwan
Baby octopuss Taipei, Taiwan
Baby Octopuss – Tapei, Taiwan
Vegetable stuffed Octopust
Stuffed Squid from night market- Tapei, Taiwan
Sashimi in Taipei, Taiwan
Sashimi Fuji Fish Market – Tapei, Taiwan
Macha green tea roll Taipei, Taiwan
Matcha Roll Bao – Tapei, Taiwan

Some people would probably get homesick or bored while traveling for 3 months, but this wasn’t the case for me. Living out of a small suitcase was easy for me because I choose not to spend my wealth on material items, but rather on experiences.

I spent between 2-4 weeks in each country and it was simply superb, but unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end…

Beginning of the End

Unfortunately, a month after returning home, I woke up with some odd pain in my legs, a cough, and a bad headache. At first, I didn’t think much of it, so I just took some Tylenol and tried to stretch a bit. On the 4th day, my body started to retain urine, and all of a sudden I could no longer go to the bathroom.

Later that night I started to get an odd tingling sensation in my hands and feet, which felt a lot like pins and needles but would not go away. The next day I woke up and could stand up. It was at this point that I decided I needed to go to the hospital.

The next few days turned out to be the worst of my life as 80% of my body became numb. I was quickly admitted to the neurology unit at the hospital and after literally hundreds of tests, my doctors diagnosed me with a rare disease known as Transverse Myelitis (TM).

MOG

Although auto-immune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis are well-known and fairly common, unfortunately, I was diagnosed with an extremely rare and newly discovered disease called Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein (MOG). This is an auto-immune disease where the body attacks the central nervous system resulting in inflammation of the spinal cord, optic nerve, and brain.

In my case, this disease caused paralysis from my chest down to my toes and resulted in a shutdown of many of my bodily functions in just 12 hours!

On July 28, 2018, the paralysis started to spread to other parts of my body such as my arms and shoulders, and at this point, I really thought I was going to die. I asked my doctor if I was going to survive and they said they honestly didn’t know.

I also began to get very dizzy and started to experience double vision due to brain lesions. Thankfully, extremely high doses of intervenous steroids saved my life and they reduced the inflation.

Me in the hospital
3 weeks after diagnosis – August 22, 2018

I spent the next four weeks in a hospital bed unable to move. It gave me a lot of time to think about the fact that you really need to spend your life doing something you enjoy because it really can slip away from you in the blink of an eye…

My Realization

I was completely healthy my entire life, and then suddenly got an incurable disease overnight. Most people sit in a cubicle all day working for their ungrateful boss for a minuscule amount of money. They have a family, get themselves into debt, and then become stuck for the rest of their lives.

My passion in life is trading penny stocks and after the first month in the hospital, all I wanted to do was start trading again. Unfortunately, the wifi in the hospital was non-existent in my room and I simply couldn’t risk having the connection drop while using a mobile hotspot and getting stuck in a trade.

Thankfully on September 1, 2018, I was discharged from the hospital and began my recovery from this terrible disease. At first, I was wheelchair-bound, but over the past four years, I have regained full mobility. Although I have chronic neurological pain and many of my bodily functions (bladder and bowels) no longer work properly, I have found great comfort in being with my family.

Although at this point I will remain disabled for the rest of my life, it won’t stop me from trading and traveling. In fact, I will trade even more now because frankly, I can’t really do much else.

I will make millions in the coming years trading penny stocks so if you want to join me and come along for the ride, click here.