Meet Kemmi – Nona’s Mom
Nona’s Way was born from a personal journey and an unexpected companion, with a simple but urgent purpose: to bring awareness to the unseen wounds carried by first responders and to create space for honest reflection and healing.
I’m Kemmi Sadler, a retired federal agent with more than two decades of service. Like many in this community, I spent years managing crises, bearing witness to suffering, and approaching the world as if every moment carried potential threat. Over time, that constant vigilance reshaped me.
The surprising truth is that I didn’t fully recognize how much healing I needed until I finally slowed down and began to listen. What I discovered wasn’t weakness or failure, but a very human response to years of service, responsibility, and restraint.
Walking the Camino de Santiago with Nona became part of that healing. Together, we carried the names of 56 first responders lost to suicide across 780 kilometers of Spain as an act of remembrance, reflection, and hope.
That journey has now grown into stories and resources for families, classrooms, and communities, beginning with the upcoming children’s book Nona’s Way: The Search for the Perfect Stick. The book introduces Nona’s Camino adventure through a child-friendly story about curiosity, companionship, and learning to walk together.
Today, Nona’s Way continues that mission. Not to offer answers, but to create space for conversations that are often avoided and to remind first responders and their families that they are not alone in what they carry.
Nona — “The Wonder Dog”
Along the way, Nona entered my life.
She is a Great Pyrenees–Coonhound mix who, at just three months old, nearly didn’t survive. A genetic defect caused a severe anemia that required a life-saving blood transfusion. I was told she would need medication for the rest of her life—but within months, she was thriving, completely off the meds. Her veterinarian shook his head and called her “The Wonder Dog.”
From the beginning, Nona’s gentle presence set her apart. Strangers are drawn to her in a way I’ve never experienced with any other dog. I couldn’t shake the sense that she was saved for a reason.
Nona’s resilience is a daily reminder that healing is possible, even against the odds—which remains at the heart of Nona’s Way today.
The Camino Connection
For years, I dreamed of walking the Camino de Santiago. As I finally prepared to go, I realized the route begins in the Pyrenees Mountains—Nona’s ancestral home. The connection felt quietly undeniable.
And so, Nona’s Way was born. Not just as a pilgrimage, but as an invitation to slow down, walk together, and remember that healing often begins by taking the next step forward.
The Camino is behind us now, but the lesson remains the same: healing is possible.
If you’d like to continue the journey with us, join Nona’s News for Camino stories, book updates, free resources, and future adventures.
My Path to Healing
For me, healing began through the plant medicine ayahuasca—a nature-based tradition practiced across cultures for thousands of years. It was an unexpected path that revealed a difficult truth: healing requires more than endurance. It asks for honesty, surrender, and the courage to face what lies beneath the surface.
But ayahuasca is only one path, and it is not the focus of Nona’s Way.
What matters most is learning to recognize the invisible wounds—exhaustion, mistrust, and quiet withdrawal—that can accumulate over years of service. Healing begins when we allow ourselves to see those truths without shame or judgment.
Nona’s Way grew from that realization.
Walking the Camino became an act of witness and awareness—a way to create space for conversations that are often avoided and to remind first responders and their families that they are not alone in what they carry.
I’m sharing this journey in the hope that it helps others recognize their own need for rest, support, and healing—whatever path that may take.
If you’d like to learn more about my personal journey with ayahuasca and the deeper story behind this walk, you’re welcome to visit: From the Badge to the Vine: A Journey Through Duty, Trauma, and Healing, which offers a fuller look at the experiences that led me here.
Nona's News
Join Nona’s News for Camino stories, book updates, free resources, and future adventures with Nona.