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Telling Your Truth

Dr. Gilles LaMarche is a chiropractor, educator, passionate healer, accomplished author, professional speaker, and inspiring certified personal development/executive coach. Dr. LaMarche found his calling as a healer at twelve when he was taken to a chiropractor after years spent as an “unwell” child. His only expectation was that a chiropractor might help him resume regular activities without pain; little did he know that one meeting would change the course of his life. His high-volume principled practice was home to more than 750,000 office visits over 25 years.

 

In this episode of TechTalk Podcast, Brad Cost, Dr. Jay Greenstein, and Garrett Salpeter sit down to discuss:

 

  • Denying chiropractic to becoming a full-fledge believer and healer.

  • Preparing for death, then escaping it, then becoming an elite athlete.

  • Learning how to tell the world about Dr. Gilles' truth!


SHOW NOTES:


3:03 – Discovering chiropractic. “I first discovered chiropractic at the age of 12. I had skipped two grades in elementary school, so I was a little tiny kid in ninth grade, and kids used to pick on me. There was a new teacher, and he probably figured, to be able to develop great relationships with the class, he needed to pick on the same kid everybody else picks on. One day, he pulled the chair out from underneath me, so I landed on my bottom, hurt my back and remember sitting there crying. I couldn't get up. Six months later, I was still having major issues walking with this pain in my back and a family friend asked my mom why she hadn’t taken me to a chiropractor. Nobody in my family had ever been before, so this friend explained chiropractic to my mom. My mom made me an appointment and I remember this doctor, Dr. Ron Ingard, was new graduate that just moved into our town. He took me through the consultation and had me back the next day for a report of findings. Subluxation was the main reason for my back pain, but he asked my mom if I had ever been dropped on my head as a baby. I found out that I was a forceps delivery baby, and the doctor said there were other issues in my spine that are having an effect on other symptoms. I always had pain in my belly, indigestion, and constipation. This doctor creates a care plan and in less than three months, my back pain as gone, I didn't have indigestion, I could poop normally for the first time in my life. It changed my life. I told Dr. Ingard how enamored I was with this whole new science that I was discovering. I wanted to be like him when I grew up.”


8:17 – Learning to speak his truth. “I finished high school and undergrad before attending the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. I graduated in 1979, but in 1977, I remember reading the newspaper at school and seeing an ad for a Parker seminar in New York City. I promised Dr. Ingard that if I became a chiropractor, I would go to a Parker seminar before I graduated because that's where they teach you to be successful. Seven guys piled into a car and off we went to New York City. The journey started there. Dr. Jim would speak for 3-3.5 hours on Thursday without a break, and nobody ever left the room. I could barely hear a word he was saying because I used to speak English with a really heavy French accent. I persevered, listened, and received an invite to his suite. My buddies decided to go to party, but I went to the penthouse suite. I peeked in, but someone saw me and called me in. His name was Dr. Richard Yennie. Richard practiced in Kansas City, Missouri for some 60 years. He went around and introduced me to all the big players of the day, like Larry Marks, Kerby Landis, Charles Ward, and Chuck Gibson. At one point Dr. Yennie asked me what brought me to chiropractic. I told him my story and he said I needed to learn to tell that to everybody. I pushed back because I was way too shy and spoke with a really heavy French accent back then. He looked at me sternly, started poking my chest with his index, and asked a question that changed my life forever. What gives you the right to know a truth and not share it? That was a profound question. Nothing gave me that right, but how was I going to do that? He laid out a 30 second plan for me to go into the yellow pages, look under T for Toastmasters and join the Toastmasters Club.  He also told me to listen to Dan Rather on the nightly news. I would repeat his words after him, learn to enunciate and slowly my accent disappeared. I just listened. When somebody shows up and offers to mentor you, don't be stupid, try to reinvent the wheel, or judge everything they say. Just do it. Within six to eight months, I spoke the way I speak today.”


14:46 – Building your practice. “Once I developed that ability to speak, I adopted the fear of rejection. I needed to find an audience where I was going to feel safe to speak to. Dressed in a nice shirt, tie, and pair of slacks, I jumped on my bike and went to talk to the principal at elementary school to get an opportunity to speak to their students about the importance of good spinal health, posture, and nervous system function. I prepared an interactive and fun presentation made for kindergarten and first grade students. All of a sudden, I was speaking to middle school and high school students. I spoke in over 50 classrooms. I was learning to teach and literally lost my fear of public speaking. When I started my practice in this little town of 5,000 people, a couple hours north of where I'm originally from, I went to the printer to order 5,000 business cards. The guy looked at me, said there's only 5,000 people in this town, and told me I’d throw most of them away. I did exactly what I was taught by one of Dr. Jim's pals, Dr. Robert Griffin, who used to say you have to WOC (whip out cards). I would walk around town, meet people, tell them where my practice was going to be, and give them my card.”


22:16 – Preparing for death. “I started a practice in 1979, and, within a matter of months, I had a full schedule and built it to 800 patients a week in less than one year. I stayed in that office for over five years, but decided it'd be nice to be closer to home with my two children, so I moved to Timmins, Ontario. I rebuilt a practice exactly the same way, and in the spring of 2003, I started having these major issues breathing. I started researching and going through all these processes that we don't have time to talk about. One day, one of my assistants came to me between adjustments and, with tears in her eyes, said she was so afraid that I was going to die in front of her. Without being disrespectful, she said I sounded and looked terrible. As a typical male, I tried to justify my position, but she was much smarter than I. She called a friend of mine that was a medical doctor and he called me that night. He said, if I made a promise to someone and you are the only person on the planet could help me fulfill my promise, would you do whatever it takes to help me? Of course I would do that, so he replied, great, I'll see you tomorrow in my house at 4:00pm. Long story, cut short – after tests with him and multiple -ologists, I got diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension cardiomegaly. The only avenue I was given was a double lung and heart transplant. I was told if I did nothing, I’d be dead in two years, but if I went through with the transplants, I should have five good years. I did some research, trying to figure all this out, and decided I was not doing it. However, I was single dad with three kids in college, so it was important to have a conversation with my children. When they came home at Thanksgiving, I sat with them, told them the story and explained that I didn't really want to do it. I knew I was making the right decision when simultaneously my three children said the exact same words: then don't do it. You've taught us to make wise decisions for ourselves, so make the decision you want to make. Shortly after, I found someone to take my practice over, retired on the 14th of April in 2004, and did all my final preparations for transitions. When people know they're going to die, they live their life a little bit differently, right? I didn't want my kids to have any burden, so all the financial planning was done. Chose the executor for the will, planned the funeral, picked out the songs.”


27:53 – Then escaping death. “On the 15th of May, I woke up and realized, even though I had been teaching and preaching this chiropractic paradigm of health for 25 years, there must be something seriously wrong with my spinal nervous system. The second thought was, how could that be? I get checked by a chiropractor like every week or two. The third thought was the revelation. It was never by the same chiropractor. In that moment, I realized I had not been a practice member in any practice since I left home for undergrad. My patients were getting better care than I was. Through no fault of anyone but my own, I didn't choose one chiropractor. I got adjusted by buddies. With all the noise that kept going on my head, I realized I hadn't had a complete neurological or spinal exam in probably three decades. Now, I have a standing appointment every Tuesday at 8:00am in my calendar and I have not missed a week. I went in as a new patient, did all the examinations, came back the next day, and my spine looked a complete mess. Everything was gnarled together. I micro-traumatized my spine because I had no musculoskeletal symptoms, but I was dying. By the end of August with five days a week of chiropractic care, my pulmonary pressure had dropped to 27 from 57. Within one year, it was normal. Within two years, I no longer had cardiomegaly. Why? Because the human body has an ability to adapt. I got well, but I'd sold my practices and was left thinking, what do I do? I decided to just go back into practice to serve people. Since it would be unethical to open a practice in the town where I just sold my practice, so I was looking for a different town. Lo and behold, five days into that thought process, I fell off a seven-footstep ladder and broke six ribs. It took me 3.5 months in bed to be able to start moving again after 12 days in a medically induced coma. Of course, lying in bed for all that time, you have a lot of time to think, so I asked God, if I'm not supposed to go be in the practice, what am I supposed to do? Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Parker to speak at an event. Then I got asked to help them revivify Parker seminars, but I couldn’t live in the heat. I said I'd volunteer for three months during the wintertime and help them get over this crisis they have, but after that, they were on their own. Parker Vegas 2007 was a great success, so I was asked to stay, and I signed. The first three months, I didn't get paid because I was just there volunteering. However, if I was going to stay for a year, I wanted a contract, so we negotiated a contract and stayed for six years.”


32:35 – Don’t call it luck. “Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet, so I never saw it as being lucky. I worked at learning and designing a great life by being a great contributor to life and to others. When that thought flash hit me on the 15th of May, 31 days after I retired, I thanked God for the revelation. It's something I already knew, but God chose to reveal it back to me. I followed the process that I knew to be right. I don't know if you look at it as being lucky or just being willing to pay attention.”


38:09 – Becoming an elite athlete. “In July of 2022, I woke up on a Sunday and heard a voice telling me to go to the track. I came downstairs, told my wife, and went. I walked around the track at Life University and was reminded of how much I loved track and field when I was in high school and college. I got this feeling of ultra joy and contentment. I got home, looked for a masters event, and began training so that, in the summer of 2023, I could run 400-meters at age 69. I ended up finding a coach who was a former 400-meter Olympian from Jamaica. He saw me at the track training on my own, asked me what I wanted to do, and told me he could help me. By December, he encouraged me to start competing in the indoor season, so I went online to see the first meet I'm available for is in February. It was the Southeast Region US Track and Field Association Masters Championship in Norfolk, Virginia and I quickly booked the registration, flight, hotel, and car. I ran my first meet in 50 years and won my division. I qualified for the Nationals, so two weeks later, I went to Louisville, Kentucky. I unofficially won, but officially got disqualified because I stepped on the white line twice. However, I qualified for the World Championship in Poland as a member of Team USA, as a Canadian. There were 243 athletes competing from 70 different countries. I did not medal, but it was a great experience, and I ended up being 12th overall in the 400-meters. Once you take a bite of a sweet apple, you just want another bite, so I kept biting. In 2023, I won nine gold medals. Because as I got faster, my coach told me to start competing in the 200, so I did. This year I made it to the Pan American Games, where I competed in the 200, 400 and 800. Now I've trained for about two years, but most people tell me it takes five to six years to hit your peak, especially at a certain age. In the process, it hit me that the 2025 World Championship is going to be in the United States. It will be the 20th anniversary of when I was supposed to be dead. A month before the competition, I will turn 70, which means I’ll be in the 70+ division and will be one of the youngest people in my group. So, when I win a medal at the world championship, does this become a newsworthy story for the chiropractic profession?”


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