Inspiring Women Pt. 2: Mom-daughter duo behind a healing balm

Continuing our series of special reports on some of Central Oregon’s inspiring women, we introduce you to a mother-daughter duo who turned a huge negative into an even bigger positive.

Mrs. Greenbalm is a natural balm that could be used on anything that needs healing, but it’s power stretches beyond just the salve.

The mother-daughter pair behind Mrs. Greenbalm started the Bend company for their own personal healing.

Martha McCook got a call on December 12th, 1998 saying there had been an accident.

Her daughter, Tudor Gilmour, was hit by a distracted driver.

“Tudor actually died at the site and they were keeping her organs fresh for harvesting,” McCook recalled recently.

Fortunately, they were wrong. Tudor fought back, but returned with no memory.

Martha fights too, every day.

“Whatever Tudor learns, Martha has to learn too. She has very little memory,” McCook said.

Gilmour said of her mother, “She has been my healing coach and my team leader.”

Through Tudor’s recovery, they tried several things until they came across something called vocational rehabilitation.

It requires limited repetitive skills that are learned over and over again.

This kind of rehab gives Tudor the power to learn things over time and helps her excel in a business-like setting.

Thus, Mrs. Greenbalm was born.

It’s a balm or salve that can be used on cuts, scrapes, chapped lips, even tattoos by using nutritional and natural oils and herbs.

McCook’s 22 years in health and wellness helped with creating the balm, but now Tudor’s skills are keeping the Bend company going.

“She can learn how to make a receipt or maybe put on stickers, those sorts of things,” McCook said.

Tudor said, “They’re small — one, two, three sales at a time. But it’s something I can independently do now and say, ‘Okay,when would like a receipt by?”

These tasks are something doctors never expected Tudor to be able to do, and she owes her progress to her team leader.

“Mom has really sort of instilled within me a personal belief in myself, and that’s been a huge achievement — and I owe it all to her,” Tudor said.

As for McCook, she turned her lemons into lemonade, and says that was a choice.

“Where you choose how you’re going to think about whatever is going on. And when you do that, you’re empowered,” McCook said.

Building on her success, Tudor now sells homemade dog treats at Bendy Dog in Bend.
http://www.bendydog.com/