Speaker 1: Marine combat veteran amputee, sprinter Marathon or Mount Sineer. Quiante's
Speaker 1: story is one impressive inspiring individual. I first met Kiante
Speaker 1: when I had the honor of co hosting the Invictus Games.
Speaker 1: That's the international competition founded by Prince Harry to showcase
Speaker 1: warded warriors athletic skills and inspire recovery. Quiante told me
Speaker 1: sports saved his life, gave him purpose and focus after
Speaker 1: he lost his right lower leg in an I e
Speaker 1: the explosion in Afghanistan. Being injured is honestly one of
Speaker 1: the best things that's ever happened to me. I have
Speaker 1: to be honest with that because I've done so much.
Speaker 1: I've done so much in my life that I would
Speaker 1: have never thought was possible, and finding myself through these
Speaker 1: challenges because of my injury, just to me, has made
Speaker 1: me a better person. Yeah. I also discovered the power
Speaker 1: of scaling peaks and a grueling climb of Antarctica's highest mountain,
Speaker 1: Mount Vincent, sixteen thousand icy feet. I kept telling myself,
Speaker 1: I was like, what do you what do we do?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, we don't quit, so we're getting
Speaker 1: to the summit. And the only thing I can do
Speaker 1: is try to find motivation. And I always go back
Speaker 1: to this because it makes me laugh. But I always
Speaker 1: thought of my Marines because I had the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: flag in my backpack, and that's what that was. Another
Speaker 1: motivation of mine was getting that to the summit. But
Speaker 1: I always thought about my Marines, how they would laugh
Speaker 1: because I don't like cold, and being an African American,
Speaker 1: like on the coldest mountain on the in the coldest
Speaker 1: place on Earth. It was just like, oh, there's so
Speaker 1: many jokes, so many jokes. I just kind of laughed
Speaker 1: in my own head and just kind of took those
Speaker 1: name names and the people that I remember who did
Speaker 1: pass away and even to you know the names of
Speaker 1: my friends that they're still alive, um, and kind of
Speaker 1: just envisioned them like walking next to me or hiking
Speaker 1: with me and we're just kind of like laughing, um.
Speaker 1: And it it gave me that feeling of being back
Speaker 1: during those hard times where like I would even question
Speaker 1: in the Marine Corps like can I do this? And
Speaker 1: I find my way to push through, And that was
Speaker 1: my motivation was doing it for them, doing it for me.
Speaker 1: But then also the other piece of that puzzle that
Speaker 1: clicked as I was walking up there was like, I'm
Speaker 1: doing this for other veterans who are wounded as well,
Speaker 1: who are in the hospital, who didn't think that you
Speaker 1: know who, who don't know what's beyond or what's the
Speaker 1: episcope their limit. The transformation of Kyante is remarkable. He
Speaker 1: never knew his biological parents, grew up in the foster
Speaker 1: care system in California, was eventually raised by an older
Speaker 1: second cousin whom he considered his mother. It was a
Speaker 1: shy kid, bullied in school at a nineteen and he
Speaker 1: was searching for identity. He joined the Marines. He wanted
Speaker 1: to test himself in a war in Afghanistan, where he
Speaker 1: faced a moment that could have meant the end. It
Speaker 1: turned out to be just the beginning. I do want
Speaker 1: to go back to the day that did not define you,
Speaker 1: but certainly helped shape who you are, and that September seven,
Speaker 1: We're in Afghanistan, third Battalion, seventh Marine. You're the team leader.
Speaker 1: It's a patrol fighting the Taliban, and the task is
Speaker 1: pretty normal for you, guys, it's too clear a building.
Speaker 1: As the team leader, it's taking longer than you thought
Speaker 1: it would you go inside to investigate, and a moment
Speaker 1: happens that it does reshape at least your your near future.
Speaker 1: Take us through that and then the aftermath of that,
Speaker 1: of that explosion, my team is pretty much in the building.
Speaker 1: I'm providing out of security at the time, and as
Speaker 1: I wait for my team to kind of get worse
Speaker 1: so we can figure out what we're doing next, I'm realizing, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, we're in there for quite some time, and
Speaker 1: to me, it was just like, well, we're not doing anything.
Speaker 1: We need to be doing something wise it taking so long.
Speaker 1: So I repositioned my junior marine and I walked inside
Speaker 1: like three steps, and like twelve other people are already
Speaker 1: in this building, which is like a hallway, so it's
Speaker 1: pretty narrow, and we work concerned about I E. D S.
Speaker 1: But I'll be honest, at that time, my brain was
Speaker 1: just like, you know, everyone walked in there. It should
Speaker 1: be fine. It shouldn't be that. I didn't have to worry.
Speaker 1: But I just happened to step on you know, maybe
Speaker 1: the ground was I don't know, but I just happened
Speaker 1: to take that right step and trigger that I d
Speaker 1: that everyone walked over and it's sound of my right
Speaker 1: leg below the knee. But in that instance, um, it
Speaker 1: felt like I was hit by truck. Um. And you know,
Speaker 1: I remember just being knocked down and dirt filling my ear,
Speaker 1: which is what kept me conscious. And that was what
Speaker 1: actually what pissed me off at the time, was just
Speaker 1: having that dirt fall in my ear. I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, that's so annoying. But I'm laying on
Speaker 1: the ground. I'm like, what just happened? Trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what direction I'm oriented and I couldn't really tell.
Speaker 1: I just knew that I'm on the ground on my
Speaker 1: right side or so UM, and I'm trying to kick
Speaker 1: push myself against the wall um because I know that
Speaker 1: I'm in a hallway, so I know at least two
Speaker 1: directions have at least one wall. UM, And I'm trying
Speaker 1: to push myself against this wall. But my legs aren't
Speaker 1: responding or they're not doing what I'm requesting on them.
Speaker 1: So I'm initially assuming I'm a bye ladder im BT
Speaker 1: And so that mom that fun comes into your moment
Speaker 1: right there, there's the clarity you're kind of doing a
Speaker 1: self diagnosis, and from almost the detached positions like he pactrically.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it is because the way that my
Speaker 1: I initially remember and how I feel like I was
Speaker 1: trained to do was let me figure out what's going on.
Speaker 1: So because I know we have a good corman, we
Speaker 1: have a previous corman who's also down a marine with us,
Speaker 1: So I knew once they got to me, if I
Speaker 1: can give them, you know, my situation or sit rep
Speaker 1: ab like what's going on with me, they can already
Speaker 1: start the triage process and do what they need to
Speaker 1: do while me remaining conscious and talking to them and
Speaker 1: explaining like, hey, this is what I'm feeling this. You know,
Speaker 1: they can do what they need to do. Um and
Speaker 1: it's going to be an efficient process, a smooth process.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't really concerned at all. I was just like,
Speaker 1: they just need to get to me, and they're hopefully
Speaker 1: no more I DS in the way. That's an amazing
Speaker 1: thing that the brain is a powerful tool, and at
Speaker 1: that moment, you're training kicks in the instincts you've been
Speaker 1: trained to have kick in so that you're concerned for others,
Speaker 1: but you're also able to kind of step back and
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on with you. If I remain calm,
Speaker 1: my team remained calm and will be here in no time.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts were for them, your thoughts were, and I
Speaker 1: need to act a certain way so that they'll be
Speaker 1: able to feed off of my calm, which is remarkable
Speaker 1: for those of us that have not had that kind
Speaker 1: of trauma to to have that presence of mind. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean sometimes even see it in movies
Speaker 1: or you see it in a situation where someone is
Speaker 1: freaking out and everyone starts to freak out. Um, but
Speaker 1: then you always have that one person that's trying to
Speaker 1: remain calm or keep everyone calm. That's how I always
Speaker 1: envisioned it, is like, if I start to freak out,
Speaker 1: then everyone else is going to freak out around me
Speaker 1: because they don't understand why I'm freaking out. Um, but
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, that's just in my own mind,
Speaker 1: But that's how I looked at it. Was. If I
Speaker 1: say calm, they'll stay calm. Easy, you know, easy day.
Speaker 1: The aftermath of this is powerful. So you you realize
Speaker 1: that it's it's your right leg below your knee, it's
Speaker 1: not both your legs, and now you're in the hospital
Speaker 1: and recovering. And in those hours and days just after
Speaker 1: the incident, when you're sort of in a kind of shock,
Speaker 1: what what is top of mind? What what are you
Speaker 1: feeling at that point. Yeah, So I initially wake up
Speaker 1: in the hospital and cambastion, and then I was flown
Speaker 1: to Germany and then I winded up in um uh
Speaker 1: but that's the hospital. H And at the time, my
Speaker 1: my brain wasn't really concerned that I was missing a leg. Um.
Speaker 1: I actually didn't really care that I was missing a leg.
Speaker 1: I actually really only cared about my guys that were
Speaker 1: still there. And I I feel like, oh, why wouldn't
Speaker 1: you care about your leg. It's like it didn't mean
Speaker 1: at the time, it didn't mean. It didn't matter as
Speaker 1: much as my guys did. And so, you know, I
Speaker 1: laid in the hospital and then I realized, while you know,
Speaker 1: I'm missing a leg, even if I could be in
Speaker 1: the fight with them, you know, I I couldn't. I
Speaker 1: just couldn't be there with them anymore if I wanted to.
Speaker 1: And that's when I started to realize, Okay, you know
Speaker 1: it stigned for recovery. Let's what do we gotta do next?
Speaker 1: And that's when I started going through a little bit
Speaker 1: of physical therapy. I think I had a you know,
Speaker 1: a few more surgeries before I actually left Desta and
Speaker 1: then flown to San Diego Naval Medical Center where I
Speaker 1: did my physical therapy. For those of us that haven't served,
Speaker 1: explain what it is about the power of the bond
Speaker 1: with those brothers that made you more concerned about them
Speaker 1: what they were going through your own condition, because people
Speaker 1: listening to this will have a difficult time understanding that. Perhaps, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that bond is just you go through so many
Speaker 1: annoying circumstances and situations, um from training to you know,
Speaker 1: being up until you know, forty eight hours with each other,
Speaker 1: from hiking you know, any miles with heavy packs and rocks.
Speaker 1: You you develop a bond of brotherhood with each other
Speaker 1: because you're all suffering together. And when you're you know, overseas,
Speaker 1: it's even closer because now there's no more distractions, there's
Speaker 1: no more family, there's no more girlfriends, there's no more wives.
Speaker 1: It's just you and the people you've trained with for
Speaker 1: hours and months and weeks and years, and so that
Speaker 1: brotherhood becomes even closer. I mean, it's just like a
Speaker 1: family like you have people in the family are just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this person is so annoying. I cannot
Speaker 1: stand talking to them. But you still love them. You'll
Speaker 1: still do whatever you need for them if they act.
Speaker 1: And that's what it's like, um, when you develop such
Speaker 1: a bottom with them, is that when you're overseas, that's
Speaker 1: really who you care about is the people to your leptons.
Speaker 1: You're right, you know, that's family. And then after that,
Speaker 1: it's just all about getting everyone back home. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't even work, you care about the mission, but
Speaker 1: those are your those are your mission. That's your main mission,
Speaker 1: is the do what you can to make sure they're safe.
Speaker 1: They keep you safe when we get back him safe.
Speaker 1: So as team leader, you're very concerned about your your
Speaker 1: brothers and now you're a half a world away. M hm.
Speaker 1: Did they come through it? Okay? Did you get any
Speaker 1: other news that that that anyone else had been affected
Speaker 1: in that? And that's a period of time. Um, yeah, Actually, uh,
Speaker 1: when I was injured, there was no one else that
Speaker 1: was injured around me at that time. So but as
Speaker 1: I was still actually at but as the hospital, we
Speaker 1: had what was it, three of my marines that I
Speaker 1: was with actually come in. One was I think one
Speaker 1: was hit by an I D. So he was peppered
Speaker 1: all over the side of his body. Um. One guy
Speaker 1: was shot in the neck and it missed the artery
Speaker 1: or maybe it was some Yeah, I think he was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was shot in the neck and he wasn't he came,
Speaker 1: I believe so. And then I had another friend who
Speaker 1: I was with as well, and he stepped on an
Speaker 1: I D that half discharged so and I think it
Speaker 1: uh broke his calcaneers are his heel bone. Um. And
Speaker 1: so he ended up getting that his leg amputea uh
Speaker 1: leg amputated as well. Um. And so I was actually
Speaker 1: with him, but he was injured in different you know,
Speaker 1: weeks after I was you know, when I sat started
Speaker 1: seeing them come in into the hospital, I was just like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I talked to him, they're doing okay, um,
Speaker 1: and you know, it was just it was good to
Speaker 1: see them, you know, it was good to see them
Speaker 1: alive and well and okay. So that was that to
Speaker 1: me made me happy. UM. And I didn't worry too
Speaker 1: much about what if I could or couldn't do anything.
Speaker 1: It was simply well, it's nothing for me to do
Speaker 1: at this point except recovery. So now you're back in California,
Speaker 1: you're beginning to recovery, beginning the journey that's gonna take
Speaker 1: you to the top of mountains. But there's so many
Speaker 1: steps along the way. Where was your head? What were
Speaker 1: the days like? As it becomes a progression of appointments
Speaker 1: and patiently, methodically, slowly getting better, Um, it was, I
Speaker 1: can admit to myself now, it was rough. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: being in a wheelchair, not being able to get up
Speaker 1: and walk, Um, go to my appointments was a task
Speaker 1: in itself, and then sleeping was a whole another issue.
Speaker 1: But even as time progressed and I did get my prosthetic,
Speaker 1: I was able to walk to my appointments. I was
Speaker 1: always in pain. Um, you know, your your limb is
Speaker 1: just you know, adapting to the external device that you're
Speaker 1: using now. And but what really guides me was like
Speaker 1: my mentality in my headspace, Like I was just in
Speaker 1: a really dark place. I always described when I was recovering.
Speaker 1: I always wore a mask, like most people would know
Speaker 1: me being very I wouldn't say a beat but happy.
Speaker 1: You know, for the most part, you wouldn't see me sad,
Speaker 1: or depressed or kind of uh that I don't think
Speaker 1: I looked bothered some but when I'm back in my room,
Speaker 1: I was depressed. I questioned life, I questioned God, I
Speaker 1: question my own existence. Um, what do I do next?
Speaker 1: Where do I go from here? Because I wasn't planning
Speaker 1: to be injured? And I feel like I was in
Speaker 1: a whole new world that I needed to sort out
Speaker 1: from my own existence and where do I go? And
Speaker 1: why am I? You know, and and all these questions, um,
Speaker 1: which flood my mind throughout the night, And you know,
Speaker 1: it just I started to abuse my own pain medication
Speaker 1: and it just got to a very point. And it
Speaker 1: got to a point where I was just like, this
Speaker 1: isn't me. This isn't the road that I want to
Speaker 1: go down on. Um. I can easily go down that road,
Speaker 1: but that's not that's not me, that's not who I am.
Speaker 1: To get to that point, to you, when you to
Speaker 1: get to the point where you decide it's it's not
Speaker 1: you that you had that conversation in the mirror. What
Speaker 1: what did you see in the mirror that led you
Speaker 1: to deliver that harse message to yourself and try to
Speaker 1: change the course. Right then, oh, I saw a weakness.
Speaker 1: I just saw all. I saw a weaker version of
Speaker 1: who I was, But it wasn't who I know I
Speaker 1: could be. UM. I would even probably just described wounded
Speaker 1: as well, like a wounded animal who was just trying
Speaker 1: to survive. But if I allowed myself to continue licking
Speaker 1: my wounds, I wouldn't get anywhere, you know, sitting in
Speaker 1: my room warring, questioning, I was just like, I need
Speaker 1: to be I need to start acting and not thinking
Speaker 1: or worrying. I need to do something. And after I
Speaker 1: you know, quit my payments called Turkey, I actually I
Speaker 1: went and sought out how to travel UM and I
Speaker 1: found the Parallelmpic Sports and that's what got me into
Speaker 1: track UM and I was able to do that with
Speaker 1: them probably about a month that I was. I was
Speaker 1: happy that I made that decision because I don't know
Speaker 1: what we're actually where I would be if I didn't
Speaker 1: actually make that decision UM. But being there at that
Speaker 1: Parallempic event months later was just like I was like,
Speaker 1: this is this is where I need to be, this
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to do, and I just kept
Speaker 1: kind of going after it. After that, the decision to
Speaker 1: first of all recognized the weakness, name it, confront it,
Speaker 1: and then go off for medications cold turkey. You say
Speaker 1: that like it's just a decision that you make and
Speaker 1: it's easily accomplished. Man, that had to be incredibly difficult.
Speaker 1: These are these are powerful medications that are dealing with
Speaker 1: pain and also perhaps psychological issues that you just said
Speaker 1: enough for that, I'm not going to take them? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, how what would that? What was that like? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't even know the definition of addiction,
Speaker 1: so I probably I probably went through those moments of
Speaker 1: whatever someone who is addicted to something goes through. Um,
Speaker 1: I could be wrong. I really can't recall that that phase.
Speaker 1: I just knew. I just know that it was inhibiting
Speaker 1: my way of thinking. And that's why I used them.
Speaker 1: That's why I kept taking them because I didn't want
Speaker 1: to think. I didn't want to feel, and that's what
Speaker 1: those did, a numbine further than what I was already
Speaker 1: numb too. And once I quit, it was able. I
Speaker 1: was able to confront my own demons, confront my arms,
Speaker 1: my own situation, and look at life. It's like I'm
Speaker 1: in charge of my own life. I need to make
Speaker 1: these decisions and truly view them as they are. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna just up and disappear and go away.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to be in a situation anymore
Speaker 1: if I you know, I'm I'm choosing to be here,
Speaker 1: and so I need to make a different choice, to
Speaker 1: go a different direction. So you find yourself a Paralympic camp.
Speaker 1: We talked before. You were not exactly a a track
Speaker 1: star before serving in the rings. You were not exactly
Speaker 1: a well run an athlete, were not captain of three
Speaker 1: different teams in high school? How how did you connect
Speaker 1: with this group of Paralympic athletes and sports in general
Speaker 1: as terms? This is going to be a really crucial
Speaker 1: part of my journey backs where I want to be.
Speaker 1: What was that like lightbulb moment when you realize this
Speaker 1: is something for me, This could be something even though
Speaker 1: I'm not returning to the past. This is a whole
Speaker 1: new page for me. Yeah. Um, it's funny because yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't grow up as an athlete by
Speaker 1: any means. I didn't play any high school sports. I
Speaker 1: played basketball with friends, played football with friends. But this
Speaker 1: is all out of part. You know, I wasn't really
Speaker 1: part of a team until the Marine Corps, but getting
Speaker 1: into the Paralympic sports, it reminded me of that camaraderie
Speaker 1: that I had with my Marines, of your your training
Speaker 1: and you're working to accomplish the same goal, but individually,
Speaker 1: you know, and so that competition, that edge. I still
Speaker 1: wanted to compete against other people, and I found myself
Speaker 1: by chance and track. And so when I do this,
Speaker 1: when I did this Paralympic event, I was running if
Speaker 1: I did my first this is my first hundred uh
Speaker 1: sprint I've ever done, and I'm running on in normal
Speaker 1: you know, my normal walking, like I didn't have a
Speaker 1: sprinting leg yet. And I do the event and I
Speaker 1: think I get like a fifteen something whatever hundred meters
Speaker 1: and I'm just like or maybe sixteen something hundred meters
Speaker 1: and I was just like, oh god, that's so slow.
Speaker 1: That's so sad. You know. I'm I'm hard on myself.
Speaker 1: And then you know, you get a medal and they're
Speaker 1: just like, oh, good job, you made number one or whatever,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, as you know, I'm just gonna throw
Speaker 1: this in the trash anyways, Like I don't want this medal.
Speaker 1: Um I don't feel like I really was fast enough.
Speaker 1: But I was recognized by one of the Paralympic head
Speaker 1: coaches at that event and they're like do you And
Speaker 1: she approached me and she said do you have a
Speaker 1: sprinting leg? And I was like no, not. Yeah. She's like,
Speaker 1: you should get one and you should look into it.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of potential. And I was just
Speaker 1: like what, you know, I'm kind of dumbfounded. And she's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, her name was Kathy uh. Her last name
Speaker 1: is Cathy Sellers. But I couldn't grow but I remember
Speaker 1: her name of being Cafe and you know, but for
Speaker 1: someone to approach me and say, you have potential to
Speaker 1: be good in this sport kind of baped me because
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I was good in that sport
Speaker 1: at all, Like that wasn't something I was even I
Speaker 1: really wanted to be a snowboarder, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: But you know, to have someone when you're going, when
Speaker 1: you're just really getting into something, say you have potential
Speaker 1: to be great at this. It really I really took
Speaker 1: it and ran with it, literally, and you know, I
Speaker 1: talked to my physical therapist, I talked to my process processes.
Speaker 1: I happened to find it, have a coach like right
Speaker 1: next to me at the hospital, and pursued track UM
Speaker 1: for four years, five years trying to make the Paralympics,
Speaker 1: and every year I made it to Nashals. But I
Speaker 1: never made it to the Paralympics UM, which was very, very,
Speaker 1: very sad because I really worked hard. But at the
Speaker 1: same time I realized, and this is little bit in hindsight,
Speaker 1: is that I also wanted to do other different things.
Speaker 1: I was happy to be able to be as active
Speaker 1: as I was, so I didn't just run track. I
Speaker 1: did marathons, climbing, all other things. So it wasn't it
Speaker 1: was it was it was an outlet. It was a
Speaker 1: way to have a more complete life. This was not
Speaker 1: an obsession. You were not concerned about the results. You're
Speaker 1: not concerned about the medals at the top of the podium. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not compared to other athletes that I was next to.
Speaker 1: What which That's where their mind was. Their mind was
Speaker 1: metal podium. I was just happy to be there. I
Speaker 1: was happy to train and you know, compete against and
Speaker 1: with the greatest you know, Paralympic athletes, uh up to date,
Speaker 1: you know, so to So to me, I accomplished a lot,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, oh, you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: all of them would talk about oh, you know, you
Speaker 1: know or you know, twenty twelve Paralympics, and I was
Speaker 1: just like, oh, okay, that's cool, there's there. They were
Speaker 1: super excited about it. But I had never and again
Speaker 1: this is in hindst. I I never really was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm gonna met I'm gonna podium. It
Speaker 1: was just like, no, I'm just happy training. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: happy seeing myself progress, you know, because I would have
Speaker 1: never pictured myself as a runner or sprinter or any
Speaker 1: of the things I've been done up to this point.
Speaker 1: By it means because I've never done any of them.
Speaker 1: So it's it. It. It really made me ambitious to
Speaker 1: see what else I can do, so I couldn't just
Speaker 1: sit on one thing as some other athletes could. I
Speaker 1: know you've run marathon's your method of training was slightly unconventional,
Speaker 1: and that you would you would launch into a marathon.
Speaker 1: No one who's gonna be a test or will no
Speaker 1: one you're gonna have to gut it out, no one
Speaker 1: who's gonna suck along the way. At certain points, but
Speaker 1: also knowing you'd never run twenties six miles before in training. Man,
Speaker 1: some people will say, what are you doing out there?
Speaker 1: Are the competitive marathon bect you'd never run actually close
Speaker 1: to that? Ahad you. So I was there with friends.
Speaker 1: We've flown out there with I believe it his teams
Speaker 1: to provide actually, and we're there to run just tin k.
Speaker 1: And then I get there and I've done this before.
Speaker 1: I've ran that one before. And I'm talking to a
Speaker 1: friend and I'm asking him, man, I really want to
Speaker 1: do the Marine Corps marathon, Like that's the only one
Speaker 1: I want to do, you know, Like, and I'm here,
Speaker 1: like why not I just do it? And he's like,
Speaker 1: well you should do it. And I was like, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not trained for that. I'm not prepared
Speaker 1: for any of that. He walks away from the conversation.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking the conversation the dumb idea. He comes back
Speaker 1: to me and he's like, I got you signed up
Speaker 1: for the marathon. And I was just like, what what
Speaker 1: do you mean? You came be signed up for the
Speaker 1: He's like, I got you signed up for the marathon.
Speaker 1: He's like, I I talked to them. They put your name, like, so,
Speaker 1: I guess you can go up, but you can't go down.
Speaker 1: So you can go from ten to marathon, but you
Speaker 1: can't go from the marathon to the tent h And
Speaker 1: so I didn't question it because I think I truly
Speaker 1: wanted to run this marathon. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I was not trained for even a ten k let
Speaker 1: alone a marathon. But it was a challenge that I
Speaker 1: was just like, I want to know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I want to what's that conversation in your head when
Speaker 1: you reach mile ten and mile thirteen and mile tesd.
Speaker 1: I mean, even experience marathoners who know what the jury
Speaker 1: is like still suffer at those moments. This is all
Speaker 1: new for you. What are you telling yourself to get
Speaker 1: to the tape? Well, you know, when I first start out,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm like, oh, this isn't so bad. You know,
Speaker 1: three miles in, you know, five miles and I was like,
Speaker 1: this isn't so bad. I was. I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do really well. And then mile ten of
Speaker 1: this marathon it catches up to me because I don't
Speaker 1: know how to properly. I don't know anything about nutrition
Speaker 1: and running distance. And so even though I'm drinking cups
Speaker 1: along the way, it's not enough. My body starts to
Speaker 1: lock up, it starts to uh, practically cease um. And
Speaker 1: so I was super dehydrated, and this is at my
Speaker 1: old ten. I was just like, I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make it, Like that was my first thought. I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't. I don't think I can. I
Speaker 1: can I can't even get up and walk without cramping.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I don't, I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make this. And then I think about the time
Speaker 1: much time I have, and I'm like, I can walk this.
Speaker 1: I can walk, I can do this. But even walking
Speaker 1: was it was a difficult task because everything kept cramping,
Speaker 1: and so I started to doubt myself and I started
Speaker 1: to lose faith that I will actually compete complete this marathon. Um.
Speaker 1: And I kept telling myself was just like, you know what,
Speaker 1: then I would just have to die. I will have
Speaker 1: to keep going until I no longer have the ability
Speaker 1: to say I can't anymore. And that's usually while I'm
Speaker 1: not dying a little extreme, but probably you know, passing
Speaker 1: out no longer coherent. Something bad has really really happened.
Speaker 1: And I have everyone running past me, they're giving me
Speaker 1: their goose and what happened. And I'm just like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get up and I'm gonna walk this off. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get through this, and I do it every mile,
Speaker 1: you know, I get to mile leven, I get to
Speaker 1: mile twelve, and I'm just thinking about, like the maraines
Speaker 1: that I served with, because this is the biggest thing
Speaker 1: to me. The Marine Corps marathon was like, there is
Speaker 1: no I can't in this, in this, in this race
Speaker 1: for me, um, which really wasn't a race, more of
Speaker 1: a challenge. UM. But there is no I can't. There
Speaker 1: is get up, do it until you can't. And that's
Speaker 1: how I remember that training, you know, as we would
Speaker 1: always train be you know you there is no I can't.
Speaker 1: There is I will. I'll do until you can't, until
Speaker 1: you physically no longer have that option of you're just
Speaker 1: not president, you're not coherent anymore. UM. And I made.
Speaker 1: I made my first marathon. I ran until I couldn't,
Speaker 1: and then I walked, and then after a while I
Speaker 1: can kind of walk and trot. But I completed my
Speaker 1: first marathon with really no training but it was to
Speaker 1: me the marathon was all mental, but it it It
Speaker 1: opened a lot of doors mentally that made me realize
Speaker 1: I can I can really push myself. The body can
Speaker 1: take a lot, but it's the mind. If the mind breaks,
Speaker 1: if the mind gives up, if the mind stops, you know,
Speaker 1: in the body follows. And so I always had to
Speaker 1: kind of keep my head in the right space um
Speaker 1: that entire thing, because my body was just in a
Speaker 1: lot of pain. But during it was just like, okay,
Speaker 1: I can do this. So you get through it and
Speaker 1: you are strong grabbing me through it. You've learned some
Speaker 1: things about yourself. Besides running marathons. Another thing you hadn't
Speaker 1: done before is climb mountains. So for those listening who
Speaker 1: are not geeks about mountains, is both of us are
Speaker 1: Vincent Massive is an Antarctica, so the coldest placed on Earth.
Speaker 1: It's sixteen thousand feet. It's rarely climbed because it's so
Speaker 1: hard to get to and so damn cold, and not
Speaker 1: many people even ponder the idea of doing So you
Speaker 1: find yourself on Mount Vincent, someone who does m like
Speaker 1: the cold period. Now you're an Antarctica and it's basically
Speaker 1: it's like a pyramid of ice. Basically, it's basically solid
Speaker 1: ice and you are going through this process again Kiante
Speaker 1: that she also went through in a marathon, right, I
Speaker 1: mean described the mental challenges you have to overcome, because
Speaker 1: this is demons saying what are you doing here? You're
Speaker 1: not gonna make this. You're out of your mind, right,
Speaker 1: so you're you're fighting that battle all over again near
Speaker 1: the South Pole. Yeah, and that this is I would
Speaker 1: say this mountain is the highlight to my entire athletic
Speaker 1: career um because doing this climb. I was climbing with
Speaker 1: the Hero's Project and I saw one of the the athletes
Speaker 1: and they did kill him in Jaro and Mark example
Speaker 1: that's the name. I mean, he was in the hospital
Speaker 1: with me. He's a bilateral ak actually, and I saw
Speaker 1: him climbed Malcolm and John. I'm like, oh man, that's
Speaker 1: so cool to see an amphathy do such a thing
Speaker 1: like that. Like I would have never thought that was
Speaker 1: possible for an ampt and so it happened. I'm walking
Speaker 1: past Mark one time and he's like, yo, bro, like
Speaker 1: you're always trading, Like are you interested in climbing mountains?
Speaker 1: And I was like after seeing him climbing, I was
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, I'm interested in climbing mountains, but I
Speaker 1: want to I want to experience that. But I know
Speaker 1: nothing about mountains. I have no background. I have no
Speaker 1: history with climbing mountains whatsoever. I have history of Marine
Speaker 1: Corps hiking and that's just carry heavy pack and told
Speaker 1: what direction to go. I have no experience. But it
Speaker 1: was a new challenge and I really wanted to experience that.
Speaker 1: And so you know, he connects me with um tim
Speaker 1: Medved's of the Heroes project and we start talking like, well,
Speaker 1: the next one I have set up is Antarctica, and
Speaker 1: you know, are you are you ready for that? He's like,
Speaker 1: you know, like, this is not this is this is
Speaker 1: something that's going to test you um to your fullest.
Speaker 1: This is not something that's just you know, a walk
Speaker 1: in the park. This is not like climbing Cow's Mount
Speaker 1: here in San Diego or your local you know hike.
Speaker 1: This is this is this is the life or death
Speaker 1: in some situations. And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: Just saying yes to to do it just that's all
Speaker 1: I That's really how I was. I said yes, just
Speaker 1: to do it, but realizing I don't really know where
Speaker 1: an Artica was. Had to google that because you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know why geography alluded me for so long,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I have to look at I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's where that is. It's one of the continents, um.
Speaker 1: But it was. But at the same time, I we
Speaker 1: started training, and that's kind of where I found myself
Speaker 1: at peace with Bink spirits of climbing mountaineering, Like we
Speaker 1: we had to truly trained for this, and I knew.
Speaker 1: I honestly I went in thinking like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: a walk in the park. This can't be that hard.
Speaker 1: It's just one ft in front of the other. But
Speaker 1: the amount of train that we did, like we went to, um,
Speaker 1: what's the mountain and uh, Washington, Um, Mount Rainier. That's
Speaker 1: that's Washington, right. Yeah, So so we had to do
Speaker 1: crevash trading um and Mount Rainier UM and ice as
Speaker 1: cramp ons. You got to do all that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what didn't I really just sign myself up to do
Speaker 1: right now, Like, as we're going through this and we
Speaker 1: even do you know, hiking through the Sierra's you know
Speaker 1: where we can call the snowstorm one time, and I'm
Speaker 1: like what what did that? What am I signing up
Speaker 1: to do right now? I really, I really didn't think
Speaker 1: too heavily about this decision. Better to ask those questions
Speaker 1: there then for the first time on Mount Vincent, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, that is an extreme situation where you know,
Speaker 1: when you're climbing on ice, you're using ice tools, you're
Speaker 1: rope together, I assume, and and all all the things
Speaker 1: that the exhibition climbing on on that ice surface leads to.
Speaker 1: So it's a damn good thing. You had some training
Speaker 1: and Mount or and here in other places before you
Speaker 1: set up down there. But when you get to Vincent,
Speaker 1: and in any clime, there's a crux, there's a part
Speaker 1: where the challenge is great, present and direct, and you
Speaker 1: have to overcome the mental obstacles at that point. So
Speaker 1: when you're there, what, what's that like? At what point
Speaker 1: the marathon you mentioned said ten miles, that's less than
Speaker 1: halfway there and you still get it out the last
Speaker 1: sixteen miles on Vincent? Where was the part where the
Speaker 1: voices come into your head that you don't want to hear.
Speaker 1: They trying to trying to push out the I can't voices,
Speaker 1: um and I was just about to get in that too. Um.
Speaker 1: And that came around when we're on mountain bits and
Speaker 1: that came around right before the summit, right before the summer,
Speaker 1: as we're growing up. UM. I believe it's called the
Speaker 1: ice wall. Um. It's a pretty steep incline, like you
Speaker 1: couldn't walk up and you actually actually have to use
Speaker 1: you know, your ice acts crampons. Uh. All that training
Speaker 1: kicked into which was good because it was I I
Speaker 1: enjoy that for some reason, being on ice is a
Speaker 1: lot of fun than just walking. Um. But it was
Speaker 1: a loud far. It was a often but I got
Speaker 1: really tired and I started to doubt my abilities because
Speaker 1: it became harder and harder, like as we're getting to
Speaker 1: the base of the summit, um, or right before the
Speaker 1: last push for the summer. So we had to rest
Speaker 1: camp and then wake up early that morning and pushed
Speaker 1: for the summit. But that was where it kind of
Speaker 1: kicked in for me where I was just like, you know,
Speaker 1: is can I do this? And it was kind of
Speaker 1: a moment for me where I looked at it. I
Speaker 1: was just just like, hey, I made it this far.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of myself, Like I'm I'm I'm really proud
Speaker 1: of myself making this far. I never thought i'd make
Speaker 1: it this far in a mountain. This is kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Um Like, if I couldn't go any further, I'm still
Speaker 1: happy that I did this. But I don't ever half
Speaker 1: assid anything. And so it was just like, no, I
Speaker 1: can't set up for that. We're it into the summit
Speaker 1: and it got to a point where there was a
Speaker 1: section of it where I was just like, I I
Speaker 1: really don't know, like kind of like that marathon field too,
Speaker 1: where I was like, I don't know if I can
Speaker 1: do this, Like I truly don't know, because if I
Speaker 1: get to a certain point, we have to get back down.
Speaker 1: You know, there's no vehicle coming to get me. There's
Speaker 1: no helicopter that's going to airlift me down. There's that's
Speaker 1: just not an option here at all. So I kept
Speaker 1: telling myself, I was like, what do you what do
Speaker 1: we do? And I'm like, well, we don't quit. So
Speaker 1: we're getting to the summit and the only thing I
Speaker 1: can do is try to find motivation. And I always
Speaker 1: go back to this because it makes me laugh. But
Speaker 1: I always thought of my marines, because I had the
Speaker 1: marine Corps flag in my backpack, and that's what that
Speaker 1: was another motivation of mine was getting that to the summit.
Speaker 1: But I always thought of my my marines, how they
Speaker 1: would laugh at because I don't like the cold, and
Speaker 1: being an African American, like on the coldest mountain on
Speaker 1: the in the coldest place on Earth. It was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's so many jokes, so many jokes. I just kind
Speaker 1: of laughed at my own head at and just kind
Speaker 1: of took those names and the people that I remember
Speaker 1: who did pass away and even to you know, the
Speaker 1: names of my friends that they're still alive, um, and
Speaker 1: kind of just envisioned them like walking next to me
Speaker 1: or hiking with me and we're just kind of like laughing, um.
Speaker 1: And it it gave me that feeling of being back
Speaker 1: during those hard times where like I would even question
Speaker 1: in the Marine Corps like can I do this? And
Speaker 1: I find my way to push through? And that was
Speaker 1: my motivation was doing it for them, doing it for me.
Speaker 1: But then also the other piece of that puzzle that
Speaker 1: clicked as I was walking up there was like, I'm
Speaker 1: doing this for other veterans who are wounded as well,
Speaker 1: who are in the hospital who didn't think that, you
Speaker 1: know who who don't know what's beyond or what's etiscope
Speaker 1: with their limit. Like when I saw Marks one, I
Speaker 1: didn't think that was an option for me, you know.
Speaker 1: So to me that was motivation. I want to be
Speaker 1: that motivation for other Marines, other people. And so I
Speaker 1: was just like, no, this is this I want to
Speaker 1: this is going to be something bigger than me, UM,
Speaker 1: but this is it's still a challenge for me. UM.
Speaker 1: And so as I'm going up to the summit, UM, I.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because actually Tim, he kind of
Speaker 1: hit it for me for a while. He didn't want
Speaker 1: to tell me what the summer was, even though it's
Speaker 1: like you're running out of space ward to go U.
Speaker 1: But we get to the summit and I just break.
Speaker 1: I am truly in all and just just it was
Speaker 1: a surreal experience that I actually did it UM with
Speaker 1: all the doubt that kind of came in my mind
Speaker 1: and all the questions that I had. I was actually
Speaker 1: on top of Mount Vincent and the icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: And this is kind of another great story, is that
Speaker 1: I got to actually call my mom on that mountain.
Speaker 1: The biggest, the biggest accomplishment I feel I've ever done
Speaker 1: was being on that mountain, and I got to call
Speaker 1: the biggest inspiration, my biggest motivation. Um, you know, as
Speaker 1: soon as I got so. To me it was like
Speaker 1: the highlight of all my athletic feats. So that to
Speaker 1: me was a great feeling. That's a great summit story.
Speaker 1: To have the presence to let it all go, the emotion,
Speaker 1: to be able to represent your marine brothers with a flag,
Speaker 1: to be able to call your mom. I mean, that's that.
Speaker 1: That's a great summit experience. That doesn't always happen to
Speaker 1: the top of mountains. If you're authentic kind of let
Speaker 1: in whatever whatever comes. And the fact that you were
Speaker 1: able to experience that, that's tremendous vincent. By the way,
Speaker 1: I don't know, this was discovered by the U. S Military,
Speaker 1: whose Navy Navy aviators that flew over at first first
Speaker 1: realized there was this big mountain, So there's a kind
Speaker 1: of a closing loop there being able to take the
Speaker 1: marine flag up there. Yeah, that's that's pretty cool. I
Speaker 1: didn't know that actually. So so you're on the top
Speaker 1: of this mountain and the voices of the guys you
Speaker 1: had served with I know helped you get there. You
Speaker 1: said humor was even a part of it. So you
Speaker 1: were thinking about what they would say to you, you know,
Speaker 1: and you're in this place, what they would say to you.
Speaker 1: Knowing you were thinking about maybe I'm not gonna make it.
Speaker 1: It's it's funny what we draw upon. I can't relate
Speaker 1: to tow uh most of what you've gone through, but
Speaker 1: it's amazing what pops into your head, and are times
Speaker 1: of dress that somehow helps you push the right button.
Speaker 1: M And that's why for me, it's always been like
Speaker 1: it's always been a mental battle. Like even like comparing
Speaker 1: the marathon to Mount Vincent, to other athletic feats that
Speaker 1: I've done or commitions that I've even done for myself,
Speaker 1: is that it's always been mental like as soon as
Speaker 1: you get to that point of that that breaking point,
Speaker 1: you don't know what happens after that, because after that
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable. It's all new. And I can say that
Speaker 1: I enjoyed this. I ran another marathon, by the way,
Speaker 1: because I was curious about that idea too. Um is
Speaker 1: like what happens, like what is once you get past
Speaker 1: the threshold and you're just uncomfortable, you don't know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna do. And I found that interesting because we're
Speaker 1: always in a comfortable and environment, you know, when we're
Speaker 1: hiking it for training for something, we're comfortable. We push
Speaker 1: ourselves to be slightly uncomfortable, but never to a point
Speaker 1: that we can't just dial it back down and we're
Speaker 1: comfortable again and we can kind of just you know,
Speaker 1: get back to where we need to go. But on
Speaker 1: that mountain or even in that in the marathon, I
Speaker 1: pushed myself to be so uncomfortable that I didn't know
Speaker 1: what was gonna like what was gonna happen for me
Speaker 1: physically and physiology as well as mentally. And and it
Speaker 1: was kind of interesting that I always drew the strength
Speaker 1: from my past appearance being with strong men and women
Speaker 1: and marines and the people I trained with and all
Speaker 1: the train that I've done. That was something I always
Speaker 1: drew upon, and I always found that interesting, like that's
Speaker 1: when I get to that point, that's where I go,
Speaker 1: That's that's where I find more strength. And everything that
Speaker 1: I've done now past that I don't know, because there
Speaker 1: has been one point where I got to els is
Speaker 1: like I got nothing. I just got to grind this out.
Speaker 1: And that's more so looking at the situation of well,
Speaker 1: I still got to get back down or I get
Speaker 1: to wherever I'm going, But this is going to truly suck.
Speaker 1: I've never heard you and your your description of climbs,
Speaker 1: whether it's Vincent or Killia or the marathon, I've actually
Speaker 1: never heard you make mention of pain, discomfort even inconvenience
Speaker 1: of running on a prosthetic leg. And is it such
Speaker 1: a part of you now that it's doesn't even factor
Speaker 1: into the equation, because that's obviously the question we we're
Speaker 1: gonna have. This is hard enough to climb um without
Speaker 1: a prosthetic leg. How the hell did you do it?
Speaker 1: And how is that not a factor or not a hindrance?
Speaker 1: I think because and why it's not. It is a hindrance.
Speaker 1: It is. It's a big hindrance because every time I've
Speaker 1: done any of these, you know, running, climbing, what what
Speaker 1: have you I've done, I've always had to take a
Speaker 1: moment adjust my prosthetic, make sure I'm not getting a blister,
Speaker 1: because if I get a blister, then I'm I'm done
Speaker 1: for uh. And so, but I don't mention them because
Speaker 1: I don't know where. I guess I don't mention them
Speaker 1: because it simply doesn't apply to everyone else. I I
Speaker 1: tell that experience of that the mental testics you need
Speaker 1: to have to push through situations. Not everyone has a prosthetic,
Speaker 1: so I going through myself. You know, it is a
Speaker 1: very big hindrance, is it. You could really be the
Speaker 1: reason why you don't accomplish something based on a small, little,
Speaker 1: you know, blister that prevents you from using your prosthetic.
Speaker 1: You no longer can walk, you no longer can move forward. Um.
Speaker 1: But I always share the story of more so trying
Speaker 1: to make it encompassing to everyone. And I think that's
Speaker 1: that might be able to answer that question of why
Speaker 1: I don't care you know, mention it as much about
Speaker 1: my prosthetic. But I'm in a lot of pain and
Speaker 1: all the things that I do UM a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of pain a lot of the time. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's just in my situation. That's that's just
Speaker 1: the nature of the beast for me, is that I
Speaker 1: pushed through a lot of pain. But if you had
Speaker 1: all your limbs, it's one less thing that you might
Speaker 1: have not have to worry about. Obviously, these are difficult things.
Speaker 1: I mean, every day could be difficult, and I know
Speaker 1: you still struggles as so many do. But if someone
Speaker 1: says you can't you you can't do this, I don't
Speaker 1: think you're up to this playing a dangerous game there
Speaker 1: to tell me that I can't do something as a
Speaker 1: very dangerous game. Um, which has happened, actually not not
Speaker 1: in a cool or uh Like me and my friends
Speaker 1: were just joke around, but they were just like, oh,
Speaker 1: you can't do something, and it was like I went
Speaker 1: full ahead, trying to make sure I can prove them wrong.
Speaker 1: And that's where my mentality wise is if you tell
Speaker 1: me that I can't do something and I actually do
Speaker 1: want to accomplish it, I will find a way to
Speaker 1: accomplish it just to prove you wrong. But that's also
Speaker 1: again where it's just like, yeah, if I told myself
Speaker 1: I can't do something, that's a totally different situation, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: But I never say I can't do something, you know.
Speaker 1: I look at myself as like, oh, I'm struggling. I
Speaker 1: might have a moment where I'm like, oh man, I
Speaker 1: don't think I can do this. Maybe I can't do this,
Speaker 1: but I'll never stop moving forward to accomplish it. Um,
Speaker 1: and those because those happened in every one of my
Speaker 1: adventures of I can running, Oh man, I can't. I
Speaker 1: might not be able to do this, but I still
Speaker 1: kept moving forward. I never stopped. And that's the difference.
Speaker 1: It's like if you if you tell yourself you can't
Speaker 1: and you stop, then you now have a decision to
Speaker 1: make of do I want to try and push myself
Speaker 1: forward or do I just turn around, take these way
Speaker 1: and go back. And most people will take the path
Speaker 1: at least resistance. And I want to know what's beyond
Speaker 1: those barriers. I want I truly myself personally. I liked
Speaker 1: those challenges. I think it showed and told me a
Speaker 1: lot more about myself than I would have learned any
Speaker 1: other way. Com Peter reflect back now more than a
Speaker 1: decade that that September morning, when part of your right
Speaker 1: leg was taken from you, how would you say that
Speaker 1: incident made you grow as a person? What did you
Speaker 1: gain from that experience from having part of your like
Speaker 1: taken away? Oh? Um, I'd have to say I gained
Speaker 1: a lot um because without being injured, I don't know
Speaker 1: where my life would have gone. And I don't think
Speaker 1: it would have been this direction that it is now
Speaker 1: by any by any stress of imagination, because I wasn't
Speaker 1: an athlete before then, so I wouldn't see why I
Speaker 1: would go and be an athlete after the fact. Um,
Speaker 1: but being injured showed me and opened my eyes to
Speaker 1: what's out there in the world. Um, I got to travel,
Speaker 1: I got to compete, I got to challenge myself, and
Speaker 1: for me it opened Being injured is honestly one of
Speaker 1: the best things that's ever happened to me. I have
Speaker 1: to be honest with that, because I've done so much.
Speaker 1: I've done so much in my life that I would
Speaker 1: have never thought was possible, and finding myself through these
Speaker 1: challenges because of my injury, just to me, has made
Speaker 1: me a better person. Like if I had to say, well,
Speaker 1: if you were to ask me and then I wasn't
Speaker 1: injured at all, what would I be. I probably stay
Speaker 1: back home in Stockton where I was, you know, my hometown,
Speaker 1: might be in school, might not be in school. You know,
Speaker 1: I might you know, I might have like ten kids
Speaker 1: right now. I don't know. You know, I couldn't. I
Speaker 1: couldn't truly answer that because I truly I didn't live
Speaker 1: the best life like being injured. At this point, I've
Speaker 1: lived a lot of my best life that I would
Speaker 1: have never dreamt possible, and so my injury has really
Speaker 1: pushed me. But it also want made me want to
Speaker 1: push myself to be better and help others, because I
Speaker 1: feel like everyone should experience living life and not and
Speaker 1: not being stuck in place like you can be when
Speaker 1: you get injured. You can get stuck in place and think, oh,
Speaker 1: life's over, life's not great anymore. You know, you could
Speaker 1: be depressed. You really spiral downwards. But I really continue
Speaker 1: to do these things to show other people their challenges
Speaker 1: for me, but to show other people that you can
Speaker 1: do it. Whether you're missing limb or not. We all,
Speaker 1: we're all human. We all go through something mentally, you know,
Speaker 1: we all have a brain as far as I'm gonna wear,
Speaker 1: but we so we all go through something. You know upstairs,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's a hard day, maybe you're going
Speaker 1: through a tough time. I I want to show that
Speaker 1: you you know, even when times get hard, you can
Speaker 1: get through it. You just you just really got to
Speaker 1: keep moving forward. But if I were to ever stop
Speaker 1: at any one of those points, that I did, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have accomplished anything. I really wouldn't acomplished anything. Um,
Speaker 1: but that that would go. I want to tie this
Speaker 1: back for just a little bit too. But even when
Speaker 1: I was injured, even when I was injured, like laying
Speaker 1: there bleeding, I told myself, I can't fall asleep. I
Speaker 1: can't fall asleep because if I go to sleep, no
Speaker 1: longer do I have a choice. If I remain awake,
Speaker 1: and I kind of keep myself wake, and I remember
Speaker 1: talking to the guys saying left, right, left, whither carrying
Speaker 1: me on a litter or stretcher. Um to stay awake.
Speaker 1: I stay away as long as I could, because that
Speaker 1: gave me the option to keep moving forward. But if
Speaker 1: I were to go to sleep, like as much as
Speaker 1: I really wanted to do UM, if I went to sleep,
Speaker 1: then I no longer have a choice. I don't. I
Speaker 1: would have to play it out and see where it goes.
Speaker 1: But I don't have a choice. And so that's I'm
Speaker 1: tying this in with everything because we have a choice
Speaker 1: in the matter of how we go about situations in
Speaker 1: our lives, how we you know, choose to make a plan,
Speaker 1: take action, or not do something. It's all a choice.
Speaker 1: But that's that's really the reality of you being in
Speaker 1: charge of your own life is that you have a choice.
Speaker 1: Even if you feel like someone else is dictating it,
Speaker 1: you have your own You have a choice. You know,
Speaker 1: you have a choice of how you go about handling it.
Speaker 1: Really powerful message the invisible Wounds of war and talked
Speaker 1: about the anxiety and the depression. What to people who
Speaker 1: have not gone through that, who not have the life
Speaker 1: experiences that led up to that, need to know about
Speaker 1: the struggle of keeping it at bay um That's exactly
Speaker 1: what it is. It's keeping it at Bay like. And
Speaker 1: I'll speak for only myself in this, but I do
Speaker 1: know others who do have depression anxiety UM PTSD what
Speaker 1: happened you? But my experiences is that if you let
Speaker 1: yourself sink too far into that depression, it'll it will
Speaker 1: consume your world. It will you truly consume your world.
Speaker 1: And the Mountains keeps a lot of that, and being active,
Speaker 1: for me, keeps a lot of that. At Bay. It
Speaker 1: means I am taking control, I'm doing something that makes
Speaker 1: me happy. But if I didn't do anything, fell into
Speaker 1: a dark depression, choose to stay inside all the time, sleep,
Speaker 1: not hang out with friends anymore. It'll just keep pulling
Speaker 1: you down. And I've been there. I've been to that
Speaker 1: bottom place where I was just like, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm going to get out of this. I don't
Speaker 1: know how to get out of this. But I will say,
Speaker 1: if you are in that place, definitely talk to someone. UM.
Speaker 1: If you if you ever feel like you're too low,
Speaker 1: you don't know what to do, definitely talk to someone.
Speaker 1: For me, my outlets has always been being active. So
Speaker 1: even now, like I still I invested in a home
Speaker 1: gym during quarantine so I can work out. Um, because
Speaker 1: they keep showing down all the tracks around here, so
Speaker 1: I'm not too not too happy about that that I
Speaker 1: can't really run track like I want to. But um
Speaker 1: even made of prosthetics so I can run up the
Speaker 1: hills so I can run and gravel and stuff like that. UM.
Speaker 1: But for me, being active is what keeps my depression
Speaker 1: at bay because it's if to me, it just feels
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm training to you know a bit that
Speaker 1: from happening again, you know that this is what's working
Speaker 1: for me. Difficult question, but you've lived an intensity of experiences.
Speaker 1: It must seem like a few different lifetimes. But if
Speaker 1: you were to sit there right today and tell yourself
Speaker 1: at a much younger age, the kid who was been
Speaker 1: a fighter really since your first breath, and you're born
Speaker 1: two weeks premature. I don't know your parents foster care.
Speaker 1: You talked about being kind of a shy, bullied kid
Speaker 1: in middle school trying to find himself. Eventually he fled
Speaker 1: to the Marines. If you could deliver a message about
Speaker 1: the twists and terms of life and the lessons, and
Speaker 1: then talk to your young self back then, what would
Speaker 1: you say? Buckle up? Um? As much as I would
Speaker 1: probably I've probably say something smartly alecky, but I would
Speaker 1: if I had to give myself a real message, I'd
Speaker 1: probably just say it gets better, um, Because as a
Speaker 1: team in my youth, I I felt like life was
Speaker 1: very unfair. Um um. But to this point I can
Speaker 1: look back and say, you know, like like it gets better,
Speaker 1: It gets better over time, and you have a you
Speaker 1: have a choice to make, um, and that's what that
Speaker 1: That would probably be my my short message. I can
Speaker 1: probably make a very long mention, but that would be
Speaker 1: my short sweet message of you know, it gets better
Speaker 1: and you have a choice because if I didn't join
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps. I I joined the Marine Corps because
Speaker 1: I was afraid of getting involved in gangs, sting and stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, my hometown. So I did make choices to
Speaker 1: get me out of those bad scenarios that could have
Speaker 1: been worse if I didn't make a decision. So I
Speaker 1: did what I can to get out of that. You
Speaker 1: know what, You could talk for hours, but sometimes times
Speaker 1: the most powerful messages can be delivered very sixcinctly seven words.
Speaker 1: It gets better. You have a choice, and that's something
Speaker 1: that resonates with a lot of people. I think that
Speaker 1: as dark as things are, if you remember those seven words,
Speaker 1: they can be very very powerful. We could go on forever. Um.
Speaker 1: I thank you for the generosity of your time and
Speaker 1: sharing this story. Not all this stuff is easy, but
Speaker 1: I think that anybody listening there are such universal themes.
Speaker 1: Maybe the certain circumtances aren't exactly what you went through,
Speaker 1: but your reaction to them and the message you deliver,
Speaker 1: I think is really powerful and really useful. So I
Speaker 1: wish you continued strength. Yante Oh, thank you. These days
Speaker 1: Kiante as a full time college student in California, closing
Speaker 1: in on a degree in kinnesiology, which he expects to
Speaker 1: turn into a career in physical therapy, one of his
Speaker 1: true passions. As for mountains, he and I are making
Speaker 1: plans to rendezvous and Colorado whenever we can to come
Speaker 1: a couple fourteen thousand foot peaks in that beautiful state.
Speaker 1: Kiante supports these Emperify and America's Fund. Invite you to
Speaker 1: learn more about that and Range of Motion project, which
Speaker 1: provides access to prosthetic care around the world. His motto
Speaker 1: of staying active and moving forward is also shared by
Speaker 1: the guest in the companion episode in this podcast. That's
Speaker 1: ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff had the great pleasure of
Speaker 1: co hosting the Invictus Games of Bob a few years ago,
Speaker 1: learned a lot from him. He was a correspondent who
Speaker 1: covered conflict around the world for about a decade. You
Speaker 1: might recall he was named co anchor of ABC World
Speaker 1: News Tonight December of oh five, and the next month
Speaker 1: well embedded with the military and Iraq was nearly killed
Speaker 1: by a roadside mom. They'll talk about that about his recovery,
Speaker 1: but more importantly about his new path since then, which
Speaker 1: led to the creation of the Bob Woodruff Foundation along
Speaker 1: with his wife Lee and members of his family. That's
Speaker 1: done tremendous work donating tens of millions of dollars to
Speaker 1: veterans causes. That's coming out this week. Invite you to
Speaker 1: look for it. My thanks to co executive producer Jennifer
Speaker 1: Dempster and producer Jason Whelp. Thank you for listening. Invite
Speaker 1: you to subscribe, rate and review that really helps us.
Speaker 1: Any feedback please even my Instagram at Chris Power. Thanks,
Speaker 1: talk to you soon.