Ruth Transforms Negative Energy into a Positive Force
“I don’t think I’m going to get through this, I told myself over and over.”
When Ruth Wible, the author of these sentiments, walks outside her small two-story house in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, she feels the serenity of this quaint town along the Allegheny River. Its peacefulness is a marked contrast to the stress and anxiety she experiences from the challenges she has had to face before and during her Avon career. Ruth and her husband, Steve, each have a disability that profoundly affects their lives.
Ruth has a rare disease that can flare up at any time. The blood vessels in her legs break, causing them to balloon, blister and scar. Only a size 13 men’s slipper fits, and for one entire winter, she had to visit her doctor in bare feet. Ruth was on steroids for a year, and her weight skyrocketed from 175 to 300 pounds. Always lurking in the back of her mind is the worry that the disease will return to disrupt her life.
Ruth’s husband Steve has had an illness almost his whole life—he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 22 months. When Ruth met him, his sugar was out of control; it would swing from high to low. But he couldn’t feel the effects, which put him at risk for accidents.
Soon after Ruth married Steve, he wrecked his car as a result of low blood sugar. Once it was no longer safe for him to work, he had to go on disability. When the medications and an insulin pump failed to stabilize his condition, his only hope was a pancreas transplant. That was in November 2008, one month after Ruth became an Avon Representative.
Steve went to Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic for a transplant evaluation and was approved. But stress and tension mounted with the uncertainty, as they hoped for that critical phone call saying that a pancreas was available. Now Ruth always had to stay within 20 minutes of home and be ready to arrive at the hospital within four hours.
A Serious Entrepreneur
Ruth Wible is a serious entrepreneur. She started her Avon business for extra money to pay the bills, but her career became her love: her doorway out of depression and a source of confidence and self-esteem. In a short time she achieved President’s Club, became a Unit Leader and received the Spirit of Avon Award. Now she knew that, despite her challenges, she’d have to change her negative thoughts and focus her energy more than ever before on her business. “The madder I got, the more I advanced my business,” she explains.
Ruth began to put plans into place. She told all her Customers, Downline members and Recruits that she had to be on alert for the call from the clinic. Between her strategies, her District Sales Manager Kathy Lowry’s unwavering commitment and her Customers’ cooperation, Ruth kept moving her business forward. She even bought a laptop so that she could conduct her business while in Cleveland.
For 16 months, the couple lived with the anxiety and stress, just waiting for the call. After two calls that were false alarms, the third one finally came through.
This chapter in Ruth’s life has a happy ending. Her husband’s surgery was successful; they spent only two weeks in Cleveland instead of the month they feared; Steve had only one minor rejection; and now he is able to work part-time. They couldn’t be happier!
Ruth attributes her strength throughout this experience to her parents. “I believe it’s a little bit of stubbornness that comes from my mom and dad. They didn’t let anything stop them, bless their hearts, and they had 15 children,” she explains.
But Ruth was primarily motivated to succeed because of her husband. “He inspires me the most. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she says.
When asked what she has learned about herself from this ordeal, she replies, “There is really not too much that is going to stop me completely. I might slow down, but I will figure out how to get over it, through it, around it, and I will get past it.”
