Where It Started

Bre Valenzuela's story begins in one of the most unimaginable places: nine months pregnant and diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma. What followed was 13 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy — including the toxic compounds vinblastine and vincristine — and then, as if that weren't enough, a stroke as a direct side effect of those drugs. She lost partial vision in one eye. The vision only partially returned.

The aftermath was relentless. Debilitating light sensitivity meant she kept her blinds closed just to sit near a window. Constant “sparkles” in her eye made nighttime driving impossible. Severe neuropathy caused her nerves to fire with every heartbeat. Brain fog clouded her days. She'd gained 60 pounds during pregnancy and treatment, and despite consulting six different specialists, no one could give her answers or relief.

She wasn't just living with symptoms. She was carrying the weight of a decision she felt she couldn't yet make — having another baby. “I can't in good conscience have another baby with all this crap in my system,” she said. That urgency became the driving force behind everything.

What Changed

Bre came to the Pompa Program not chasing a quick fix, but with a clear-eyed goal: clean up what the cancer treatment had left behind, and give her body a real foundation for the future. She was realistic about the timeline, expecting her most stubborn symptoms — the vision issues, the neuropathy, the light sensitivity — to take until well into the detox phase to budge, if they moved at all.

What she didn't expect was how quickly things would start to shift.

Life Now

Only one month into the body phase, Bre is already watching her “heavy hitters” begin to dissolve.

The brain fog — something she assumed would be a long-term battle — started clearing in the prep phase alone.

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“It's almost like I just took espresso, where my brain is clear and functioning all day long — not just energy and not just sleeping well.”

She's down 21 pounds, and she's barely worked out. Between her schedule and the changes she's made with her coach around eating, the weight has come off as a byproduct of the process.

But the moment that stopped her in her tracks was recent. Nighttime driving — something she'd given up entirely since her stroke — came back.

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"I made a two hour drive at night the other day to go to a concert in San Diego, and I did the entire thing without having to stop. And I can see everything."

The light sensitivity that once forced her to keep her blinds drawn, that had her blinking constantly near windows, is fading. She no longer has to wear sunglasses all the time.

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"I think that's huge that I'm only this far in and all of my heavy hitters that I thought I was left with for the rest of my life are already starting to dissipate."

For Bre, this isn't just about symptoms resolving. It's about reclaiming a future she wasn't sure she could have — and doing it with a body she can finally trust again.