My name is Paul Chatlin. I was born in Detroit and have lived in West Bloomfield since 1971. I am 58 years old. In May of 2013, I was diagnosed with Heart Disease. One artery was 100% blocked and two others were 65% blocked. Add to that leaky valves and enlarged heart, the thickening of the right side of my heart, a left bundled branch block and heart murmur, and I was in seriously bad shape. My cardiologist gave me two options: bypass surgery or try “Plant Based Nutrition” (PBN). When I said I would try anything other than by-pass surgery, he picked his cell phone while I was on a gurney just after I had a heart catheter and called Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn who picked up the phone at 11p.m. to talk to my doctor. I never knew that Dr. Esselstyn was his mentor in medical school. I was handed the phone and heard Dr. Esselstyn say go on home and I will call you in the morning. At 8:00a.m. he called me and spoke to me for an hour. Thus began my Plant Based Nutrition transition. After just 3 weeks my angina disappeared. My cholesterol levels dropped from 309 to 122 in just one year. I have lost 43 pounds and I feel great!

I would like to share my experience with any person in our community who may be considering changing to PBN. Who should consider this type of nutritional change? Any person who has had bypass surgery and hopes that a change in eating habits may prevent additional surgery. Any person who is in need of bypass surgery but would like to change their diet to PBN in hopes of not needing surgery (like me). And any person whose family has a history of Heart Disease and wishes to alter their current diet to possibly avoid health issues down the road. It was time to give back! I still had a long ways to go. I needed quite a bit of bed rest to help shrink the heart which by doing so would stop the valves from leaking. This took about 3 months. During that time I attended a Plant Based Cooking Class hosted by the Esselstyn’s. The cost was $975.00. I tried to have Blue Cross/Blue Shield reimburse me but was denied. So I thought this is what I can do to give back. So for the next 3 months I started to work with BC/BS with no luck. After escalating to the highest level I was denied because they did not have a pay code assigned and they suggested I work with the legislature for any hope of future change. I kept saying to them that they would rather cut a check for $125,000 for by-pass surgery than reimburse me $975.00 so I can learn how to cook Plant Based and insure I never have one. Right then I knew the system was broke and I need a bigger voice. Plant Based Nutrition Support Group was born.

I promised myself that when I felt better I would put together a support group to help others in our community. I contacted all of the current Chiefs of Cardiology in our area. They suggested I talk to Dr. Joel Kahn. We met and Dr. Kahn agreed to assist me on this journey.

In February of 2014, we held our first PBN Support Group meeting. I thought that 20-40 people would be a great showing. 123 people attended! 23 people signed up as volunteers. The meeting was held at Beaumont Hospital.

On March 24th, we held our second meeting. I thought there would be a significant drop off of participants, but I was wrong! We again had over 110 people attend. What was interesting is that of the 110 people, 44 of them were new faces. This means that we now had over 220 people in our support group and 40 volunteers. In both April and May we continued to grow and today we have 2500 members and over 50 volunteers. We also moved to Birmingham Groves High School (we needed a bigger auditorium) and built a web page (www.pbnsg.org). We have a Facebook , Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter presence.

We have started 4 outreach programs. We have relationships with the owners of 21 local restaurants with special plant compliant menus for our members. We have implemented a Small Groups program for members who are new to a plant based diet, and want a safe place to discuss their journey. We are also working on curriculum change with Medical Students at Wayne State, Eastern Michigan , Oakland University, Michigan State Universities and the University of Michigan medical school. PBNSG was invited to sponsor 2 American Heart Association events in October. Soon we will be speaking to high school juniors and seniors about following a whole food plant based diet. PBNSG also conducts nutritional tours at grocery stores, transitional classes, has a walking club, and much more.

Please help me help others in our community. Join our group, make a positive life change yourself and then help others by supporting PBNSG. The group meets once a month. The volunteers meet once a month. If you would like more information on our group, please see our web site www.pbnsg.org.

We offer education, events, nutritional tours, exercise , fun, and much more. Though no one can go backward and start over, anyone can start now and make a brand new ending.