Yvonne Ortega, author, speaker, and licensed professional counselor, found herself on the other side of the tissue box when she received her diagnosis of cancer. She also lost her mother, two aunts, and her only child (a grown son) in 2009, within weeks of one another.

God uses Yvonne’s experiences of denial, despair, grief, anger, and hope to help hurting people. She knows the devastating life- changes that cancer patients face, as well as the pain of losing a loved one. Yvonne has walked through the valley of death and lived to minister to others, in prisons as well as at women’s retreats and conferences.

Yvonne uses practical counseling principles along with prayer and Scripture. In God’s service the wounded can serve. Yvonne’s wounds qualify her to help others overcome life’s difficulties.

She is indeed a beautiful example of one who lives a “beyond me” life, modeling a you-first life in a me-first world!