WEBVTT - Case #25: Trent (Pt. 2) 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:11.680 Really previously on symptomatic. Trent Fielder, a successful and vibrant 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:16.880 insurance assessor, suddenly faced a life threatening battle out of nowhere. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.959 He began losing feeling in his arms and legs. The 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:24.040 condition spread quickly, leaving him wheelchair bound with no sensation 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.960 below the waist. Things worsened rapidly when his lungs began 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:32.120 to fail, landing him in the ICU with a daunting diagnosis, 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:37.440 gyond Beret syndrome GBS, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:38.680 nervous system. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.600 I was overwhelmed. I could not get my heart to 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.000 slow down. The only things that I could think about 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.479 were the negative things. My focus was on what I lost. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:50.680 You know, it was am I going to be able 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.879 to go back to what I used to do? Not 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.120 like this? But it was very much wrapped up in 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.160 the I can't do this anymore. 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.960 They said that this was progressive and that he wasn't 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:04.200 going to make it. How do you process that? 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.000 Even though Trent stabilized enough to return home to his wife, 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:13.040 Nicole and their young twins, the doctors couldn't restore much 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:17.000 of the mobility or feeling he'd lost overnight, despite trying 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:21.800 every treatment protocol. Then out of nowhere, another flare struck, 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:25.920 landing him back in the er fighting for his life. 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.959 The pain was immense. The spasticity was just out of control. 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.080 The spasitos were so bad. At some point in my 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.880 neck my neck would try to snap itself. I couldn't 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.160 keep it in control. My jaw would pop. It was 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:43.280 very painful. So as the pain continued, the depression kicks in. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:44.840 The beer kicks in. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.840 With his symptoms lingering longer than expected, Trent received a 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:59.760 new diagnosis, Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy CIDP, a progressive autoimmune 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:04.440 disease causing long term muscle weakness and fatigue. After exhausting 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.280 treatment options with little improvement to his mobility, Trent made 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.400 the tough decision to try a suggested spinal surgery, but 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.560 unfortunately the outcomes were more devastating than hopeful. 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.240 So in the surgery there were some decisions made by 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:24.480 the surgeon that went against protocol for what you would 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:28.800 do with that implant, and he ended up cutting into 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:29.840 my t ten vertebra. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.760 How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy, 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.120 one you didn't recognize and didn't see coming what if 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:48.200 that enemy was coming from within a disease that even 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:54.000 doctors couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffered from 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.760 some chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis. 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:06.280 These are their stories, and Lauren write the CHECKO and 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:20.959 this is symptomatic. Before we pick up with Trent's story, 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.640 a quick warning. This episode mentions thoughts of suicide. Please 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:32.280 proceed with care. Two years after Trent's symptoms first began, 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.720 he was dealing with the aftermath of a failed spinal 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.120 surgery meant to be a last ditch effort to restore 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.480 some mobility. Through the darkest moments, Trent drew strength from 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.240 his family, including his loyal service dog, Gunner, who never 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:51.520 left his side. With his t ten vertebrae severed, he 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.520 faced the risk of being paralyzed from the waist down forever. 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.160 It wasn't until January twenty third, two thousand four where 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.920 I realized just how bad of a mistake he had made. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.559 And that was when I ended up having two embolisms 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.360 back to back. And I was at home at the 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.080 time for the first one at least, but I realized 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.800 at the time I had a full breath in, and 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.960 with that full breath, I heard a calm, very peaceful 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:26.640 voice that said not yet. And immediately I became aware 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.520 of the fact that, Okay, I'm about to go through something, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:31.320 but I'm not going to do it alone, and I'm 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:32.000 going to be okay. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:33.320 Wow. 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.800 But I had a full breath then, and I realized 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.720 that that was my last breath. I've had the opportunity 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.680 to talk to people about what that last breath looks like. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.080 And it was like seeing the world through a stained 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.839 glass window. It was absolutely remarkable. And when Nicole again 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.560 Nicole is stunningly gorgeous, but when she came in the 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.039 room for me to show her my phone, she was listening. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.000 You know. It was kind of like seeing the ocean 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:04.200 off the sunrise. And so Nicole came in and I 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.680 had my phone and I'd put on there I cannot breathe, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.240 Please stay call nine one one. She did two of 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.080 the three, the staying calm parts. She can't of skipped 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.880 that part. She went into full action. We had just 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.640 put the babies to bed, so she called nine one one. 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.599 I got like really nervous, and thank god, the ambulance 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.239 had like a bogus phone call kind of nearby, because 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.440 they were at the house fairly quickly, and they got. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:32.320 To us within two minutes. 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.320 Wow that I mean that in the voice that sounds 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.440 like divine intervention. 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:40.839 Yeah, there were a lot of things that had to 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.400 happen and they can't all be circumstanced and for me 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.120 to be able to calmly get through that time. So 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.239 they got there right as I was finishing that last breath. 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.039 They gave me a shot of something in my neck 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:57.240 and then started taking me to the hospital. And at 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.680 that point Nicole broken down. So she came over to 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.240 the aim and you know, she sees tubes and everything else, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.120 and it was more than she had ever seen before. 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:07.560 But I reached over and grabbed her hand and I said, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.440 we're not going anywhere. It's going to be okay. I 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:11.760 was told it was going to be okay, So it's 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.000 gonna be okay. Then I got to the hospital and 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.839 the second one happened, and you flatlined a flat line, 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.839 and I wasn't gone very long. 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.280 Due to its inflammatory nature and the resulting lack of mobility, 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:35.039 CIDP presents a higher risk for blood clotting issues like embolisms. 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.839 After everything Trent had been through. He and his family 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.800 faced his most severe reaction yet, pushing him to the 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:43.479 edge of death. 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:49.560 And so I woke up being angry. I didn't really 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.920 know what I was angry at, but I wasn't angry 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.360 because of the condition. I wasn't angry at a doctor 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.120 or anything in particular. They put me in the ICU 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.480 and I was in there for a lot long time. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.839 This is probably a few days into it. I was 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.000 down to about eighteen percent of my lungs. I could 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:08.719 really just barely breathe on my own. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.200 That was kind of scary, and it's kind of like, well, 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:14.800 if you're a lung scamp function I can put two 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.560 or two together. That means you can't breathe, and then 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.239 if you can't breathe, you're not going to be living. 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:24.840 And there were these three doctors that came in. They 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:26.720 are the ones that looked me over while I was 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.560 in there, and they sat down and they said they 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.720 needed to talk to me, and you know, that's never 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:35.480 a good starting point to a conversation when it's a doctor. 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.880 And they said, there's not anything more that we can 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.360 do for you. So there's nothing more we can do 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.480 to reverse the effects, sort of make this better. So 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.120 they had come to a conclusion that they were going 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.880 to send me home and that they would set me 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:50.800 up on hospice at home. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:53.760 His doctors were all telling him that he was going 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.000 to die. What kind of patient wants to hear that? 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.440 That's crazy and nobody can predict the future, and he 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.840 was like, I have too much to live for. He's 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.040 just like, get on board or get out of here. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.840 Being sent home for hospice, Trent refused to accept that 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.800 this was the end of his fate. However, having deteriorated 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.400 so much physically, proving the doctor's wrong would not come 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:24.200 without its challenges. So on top of all the health issues, 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.640 what was your greatest fear at that point? 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:31.400 That he would have killed himself and then I would 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.720 like walk into a body in blood on the floor. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.720 That crazy, but yeah, I've thought of that once and twice. 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:44.760 My doctor was right. I was not prepared for the 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.319 flood of emotions, and you know, it was like seeing 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.320 the events that had happened to me, like America around 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.920 It was just and I couldn't make it stop. And 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.920 so there were times when the emotions were really too 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.280 overwhelming and there was one particular time where I'd considered 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:04.000 an almost carried out, taking my own life back home. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.120 Trent sank into the depths of his desperation, but it 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.680 would be his faithful service dog, Gunner, who would prove 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.120 that there was a reason for hope. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.040 I planned it enough out where no family was going 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:19.400 to be around, nobody was going to be around me. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.760 I'd be able to just cut the story short. Essentially, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.200 there was a gun that was next to me and 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.320 a bag, and I reached over to grab the gun 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:34.199 and it wasn't there anymore. And I looked back and 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.160 Gunner had He had jumped up on the bed where 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.280 I couldn't hear him, and he had crawled to it 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:46.640 and took it away. And I looked right at him, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.480 and he had it in his mouth. There was no 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.600 risk or anything to him, but he never lost eye 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.319 contact with me. He constantly looked at me while he 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.080 had this in there. His tail was not wagging. It 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.240 wasn't a game to him. He knew that this didn't fit. 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:00.960 So I tried to reach back further for him, and 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.320 he took steps back. And I tried to reach further back, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.800 and he'd take steps back but never lost that contact. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.320 He just kept backing up. And I eventually reached a 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:17.640 point where I was just exhausted mentally and physically, and 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.560 I just fell down to the ground. And at that 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.520 point I was crying, and he knew that that was 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.520 what needed to happen, and he came up to me 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.720 and nestled up against me, and he never left me. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:32.800 They just stayed right there. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:47.359 What a beautiful story. Trend's condition had reached its lowest point, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.920 with his lung capacity now at life threatening levels and 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:56.320 no treatment options left to counter the degeneration. He knew 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.439 he needed a fresh perspective from a new medical team. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.000 If things were going to get better, it would be 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.280 up to him to dig deep and find a strength 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:06.680 he hadn't found before. 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:12.200 I think that the anger of allowing a disease to 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.400 take control of my mindset, to take control of my heart, 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:21.560 my future as a husband, as a father, as a 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.240 friend of a son, that was where I was like, 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.080 I've allowed it to control me for too long, and 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:27.920 so that has to stop. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.280 We'll be right back with Symptomatic, a Medical Mystery Podcast. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:46.040 Now back to Symptomatic a Medical Mystery Podcast. Trent had 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:50.000 followed all the doctor's orders, trying every possible medicine and 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:55.000 physical therapy approach, but only seeing temporary relief and minor 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.520 recovery from his pain and partial paralysis. After a failed 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.720 spinal surgery and two embolisms that caused him to flatline, 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.880 Trent still refused to accept defeat and was determined to 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.880 find a path to recovery. This turning point started with 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.280 the guidance and support of his mother's primary care physician, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.320 who helped carve out a possible treatment plan, paving the 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:29.679 way for a different approach to physical therapy. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.640 She is an incredible woman. She is an amazing heart, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.719 a giving person. She has gone far and above what 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.440 I thought any other doctor would do to help me. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.320 She's coordinated my care. You know, she's kept the other 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.360 doctors honest, I guess, is what I would say. So 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.319 she's kept him in line to make sure that everybody 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.560 is talking and on the same page about my care. 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.880 When you think of an advocate patient advocate, she is 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:56.720 absolutely at the top of the list of the best 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:01.840 ones out there, and that never so that's exactly who 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.920 she is and who she'll always be. It is just 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:06.400 it's just her heart. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:10.800 First on Trend's list was rebuilding his lung capacity. To 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:15.000 do that, he turned to an unexpected life saving tool music. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.280 It helped him retrain his lungs and find his breathing rhythm. 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.400 It also gave him a way to block out everything 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:23.959 else going on around him. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.040 Music had always been very important to me and helped 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.760 me get through some difficult times in my life. And 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.520 I realized that I can use that music to retrain 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.880 my lungs on a gradual basis to make them stronger. 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.000 So you decided, I'm not accepting this and that's not 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.319 the way it's going to be. I'm going to train 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:49.640 myself to breathe again. I'm going to train myself period. 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.160 So what does that process look like and what kind 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.920 of advances do you start seeing? 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.640 As I grew stronger in that, I was developing these 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:05.240 kind of mental programming to find out the best ways 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.680 to rehabilitate what I could rehabilitate my side, what I 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.440 had control over, whether I thought about it at the time, 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:18.079 I was empowering myself to improve and take control again 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.600 of the situation that was completely spiraling out of control. 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.520 So I focused on that. So the pain is still 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.440 there by using the music to guide my way through 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.160 the pain, to breathe and to cope and function at 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:34.960 a higher level. 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.760 Trent worked diligently to increase his lung capacity to thirty 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:46.600 one percent, a significant step forward, but he didn't stop there. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.800 He was already focusing on his next physical therapy goal, 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.040 setting the bar even higher. That mindset of always pushing 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.880 for more has been a constant in his recovery. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.240 Decision that I wanted to go beyond just functioning. I 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.640 wanted to excel and how am I going to do 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.560 that with a body that's attacking itself. I'm fortunate that 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.360 I follow kind of both sides of the traditional medicine 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.880 has been very supportive, but I push it to its 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:19.080 limits with what I do. Because I decided to go 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.480 through a program which is the Adaptive Training Foundation, and 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.520 I was invited to be a part of their class 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.120 with a number of people that are a lot of 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.560 wounded vets and first responders, people that have had traumatic 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.479 injuries that they've gone through or been born with certain conditions. 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.680 And it was such an incredible blessing to be given 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:41.520 that opportunity. 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.800 After he went to ATF, because you know, he had 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.920 friends but he didn't really have like a good set 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.840 of people around him and stuff, and so he calls 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:54.880 them his tribe and they have like a whole big 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.320 tribe mentality of this is your people, we got your back, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:02.000 and so that was really the turning point for him. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.720 At the Adoptive Training Foundation or atf Trent found a 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:12.160 supportive community of people facing similar challenges and working through 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.920 their own recoveries. It was there he met his new trainer, 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:20.400 Sean Fitzmorris, who would play a crucial role in helping 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.800 him take the next steps in his recovery. 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.000 A lot of doctors, they are dealers of reality and 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.000 what science has shown them, our studies have shown them, 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:32.520 and they just rely on those soul things. And I 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.800 think that doctors do not want to be responsible for 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.880 if they were to say, hey, yes you'll walk again, 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:40.720 or hey, yes you're going to get this back and 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.040 you're going to be able to do these things in life, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.240 because I don't think they want to over promise things 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:46.560 to them, you know. I think they want to be 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.400 as real as possible, which I think it can work 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.000 both ways, right, So they need to face the reality 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.200 and really looking in the eye and say this is 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.560 my truth right now. But my thing is that your 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.240 truth in a moment, maybe at that time, but it's 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.760 not your truth for your entire future. You're going to 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:04.640 create your own path, You're going to create your own truth. 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.879 You're going to create your own destiny with your own 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:07.919 unique abilities. 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.120 We all meet people that are able to bring things 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:12.840 out in us and help show things in us that 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.919 make us stronger. Jean, he has that ability to bring 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.560 things out on you in the moment when you need 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.080 it most, when you're about ready to quit, right when 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.080 you're exhausted and think you can't do one more thing, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:31.720 Sean finds a way to get under your skin so 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.000 that you're going to persevere through it. 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.760 Still paralyzed from the waist down, Trent had been searching 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:43.800 for someone to help him believe there was more to 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.240 his life and mobility than what he'd come to accept 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.600 over the past few years. Sean stepped in and began 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.960 showing him the possibilities, but they both knew they had 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.680 to start with the small things first. Did he have 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:01.680 any specific goal or did you you have an initial 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.200 goal for him when you first started to work together. 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:06.840 Well, his goal he wanted to walk. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.200 He had had some sea braces made that provided like 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.840 an electrical impulse when he walked, to get that feedback 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:15.919 through his legs. But he wanted to be able to 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.080 walk without the braces. And the thing is with the 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.480 braces too, it creates atrophies. So then those muscles really 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.879 aren't firing on their own. You know, they've got so 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.240 much stability and support from the braces that they can't 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:28.440 do the job they need to do. 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:30.680 So the brace has become a crutch. 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.520 Literally, they become a crutch. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:33.040 Literally. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.280 He was like a baby deer, but even like a 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.040 baby deer in a frozen pond, and we stayed very 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.400 very close to him. He was just the fear of following. 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.880 His legs were super atropheed but also super weak. They 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.840 weren't stable. But we started with foundational movements, a lot 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:51.800 of things. You know, you can't just go right from 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.879 being in a wheelchair to now, let's stand up and walk. 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:57.320 There's so many more things we had to work on, 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:59.920 just ground based stuff, you know, getting them all fours, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.240 getting even quadruped, working on his core, working on a 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.880 lot of the small things, working on crawling, working on balance. 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.359 A lot of times people get so focused on the 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.040 end goal, and they get frustrated with the small things 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.720 we need to do along the way to get them there. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:22.240 More than five years after his sudden paralysis, Trent finally 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.720 found a like minded community and an approach that began 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.919 to show real progress. By shifting his mindset beyond his 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:34.040 original prognosis and finding the right support system to guide 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.840 his training, he was determined to meet his goal of 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:38.840 walking again. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.199 We figured out how to get me up on my 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:47.680 feet and doing it very unconventionally with golf balls, PBC, 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.280 pipe and cape. We kind of out scienced the science 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.679 because I couldn't feel my legs. It's like, okay, well 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.879 your legs are basically shock ofs orbers for your spine, 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.080 and so I needed to find a way to take 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.000 how the shot dissipates, and I needed not to dissipate. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.159 I needed to go up to my hips where I 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.199 could feel. We're just trapping all this stuff together. I mean, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.520 it was kind of a guyver for rehabilitation. 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:11.920 So they're kind of like bracing him and then he 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.040 asks like crutches, and I'm just walking home, kind of 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.640 amazed that he's using the crutches. He's upright, he's walking forward. 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.560 I was taking not big steps, smaller steps, but I 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:23.760 was making sure that my feet would pound on the 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.359 ground as best I could. But I could feel my hips. 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.760 It's like a pattern, and I could follow. And I 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.560 reached the end of the street and then turned around 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.439 and Fitz was there, and Ari was one of my 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.400 other trainers. Since she was there, I can't hear anything 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.600 that they're saying because I have the headphones on and 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:46.720 the music going. I have no concept of how loud 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:51.040 I am. And as we start going back, I was 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.080 just like, you know what, I'm gonna fall. I'm gonna fall. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:54.720 So I dropped one of. 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.399 The crutches and then he like, he goes ahead and 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:00.919 he drops the other crutch and just kind of like, 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:02.600 what is this guy doing? 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:05.879 So again, I can't feel my legs. I've got no 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.399 appropriate perception, so I have to look down. I have 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.119 to look at my legs, and that's what I was doing. 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.760 And there, I guess it is screaming at me essentially 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:16.360 in the background, and I can't hear anything. 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.040 And then he pushes his trainers away and then he 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.639 freaking takes steps and walks towards me and gives me 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:24.840 a great big hug. You know, Like I said, he 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.920 is one determined son of a gun. Do you tell 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:29.719 him now, He's going to be like, oh yeah, you 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:30.160 just wait. 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.640 And I think it was probably another twelve or thirteen 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:41.200 steps before I realized and I looked at him. Shawn's 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:42.080 just right there. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:44.960 And you know, it's kind of like forced up when 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.120 he starts running. His braces are flat off. 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.040 And he just said, you're doing it, man, You're doing it. 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.359 You're doing it. And I read his lips and I 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.800 looked at it and I just fell apart. I just collapsed, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:59.360 and he caught me and I'd done it, and there 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.960 were people well to celebrate the whole thing. I just cried. 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:06.720 It was a very emotional moment looking on and it's 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.440 still you get the happy tears going when you see it. 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.040 It was a powerful moment and it's just a huge 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:13.800 milestone for him to reach on that day. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.960 Oh gosh, five years, ten months, twenty five days, and 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:23.240 five and a half hours, I'm never going to forget 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:27.160 that minute. 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:31.560 You talked about he had lost his purpose for a 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:36.240 period of time, and you'd said that life for a 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.320 while was kind of like a shit show, and so 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.720 would you say that once he found atf he found 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:44.960 a new purpose. 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:48.280 I think I think he was surrounded by a lot 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:52.720 of people who encouraged him. And it's so easy to 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.280 say you can't do this, or you won't do this, 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:57.800 or this is never going to happen, and it's like, 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.800 if you hear it so often, even if it's not 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.439 the truth, that becomes the truth. So when you have 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:07.359 people speaking positivity into your life, saying, hey, it doesn't 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:11.359 matter X, Y or Z, you can do this, you 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:12.480 can fight, you can push. 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.680