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Speaker 1: Even if I don't make it till tomorrow, at least

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Speaker 1: today I'm going to be happy, and at least today,

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Speaker 1: if I don't make it, I'm going to have the

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Speaker 1: excitement about what tomorrow could possibly be.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, good afternoon, Good evening. Emily A. Badi.

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Speaker 3: Here you are listening to episode two hundred and sixty

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Speaker 3: seven of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I connect

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Speaker 3: with everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts and

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Speaker 3: industry CEOs about their highest hies, toughest moments, and everything

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Speaker 3: in between. We all go through hurdles in life, and

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Speaker 3: my goal through these discussions is to empower you to

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Speaker 3: better navigate yours and move with intention so that you

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Speaker 3: can stride towards your own big potential and of course

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Speaker 3: have some fun along the way. For today's conversation, I

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Speaker 3: am sitting down with Victoria Arln. She's a host for

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Speaker 3: ESPN as well as a speaker and a Paralympic gold medalist.

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Speaker 2: Her story is truly I use this word trust me.

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Speaker 3: Listening back to this episode, I realize a bit much

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Speaker 3: remarkable and that is such an understatement, and that is

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Speaker 3: because at age eleven, Arlen developed two different rare conditions

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Speaker 3: that I won't even attempt to pronounce right now, and

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Speaker 3: those rare conditions caused her at the time to lose

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Speaker 3: her ability to speak, her ability to eat, her ability

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Speaker 3: to walk, and her ability to move. She slipped into

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Speaker 3: a vegetative state from which recovery was thought to be

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Speaker 3: extremely unlikely, and she shares in our conversation today the

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Speaker 3: multitude of times that doctors told her parents that everything

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Speaker 3: looked really, really grim. In today's episode, Victoria details the

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Speaker 3: entire timeline from ages eleven two fifteen when she endured

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Speaker 3: the unthinkable. Thankfully, her story one of hope. Not only

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Speaker 3: did Victoria completely beat the odds, ultimately realizing.

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Speaker 2: Her dreams that she had while she was in that.

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Speaker 3: Vegetative state of both becoming a Paralympic swimmer and gold

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Speaker 3: medalist as well as a host for ESPN.

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Speaker 2: But there's more.

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Speaker 3: After spending years in a wheelchair, Victoria was determined to

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Speaker 3: overcome this hurdle and spoiler alert, not only did she

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Speaker 3: relearn how to walk, but she also has done so

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Speaker 3: much more. Victoria was on Dancing with the Stars. She

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Speaker 3: also recently ran a five k and of note, she

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Speaker 3: has no sensation in her legs.

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Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know.

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Speaker 3: She talks about how it feels to be her, how

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Speaker 3: it has felt to be her, what she is doing

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Speaker 3: with the platform that she has built, helping others along

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Speaker 3: the way to find their voice, a huge reason why

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Speaker 3: she co founded the Victoria's Victory Foundation with her mother.

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Speaker 3: I'll link to that one in the show notes. I'm

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Speaker 3: telling you this episode of this conversation. It had me

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Speaker 3: on the edge of my seat the entire time. A

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Speaker 3: true inspiration that if you put your mind to it,

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Speaker 3: if you can keep an optimistic outlook and hold onto hope,

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Speaker 3: then they're all good things ahead for you. Make sure

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Speaker 3: you're following along with hurdle over on social and me

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Speaker 3: over at Emily a Body, especially as I'm taking off

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Speaker 3: for Berlin today. It is marathon time, Berlin Marathon next

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Speaker 3: weekend and I couldn't be more amped. I am doing

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Speaker 3: a meetup out there, so if you are going to

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Speaker 3: be in town, we'd love to see you. I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: put those details in the show notes. Last little bit

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Speaker 3: of housekeeping. Would love for you to rate and review

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Speaker 3: the show. If you haven't done so yet, your feedback

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Speaker 3: is much appreciated. Wherever you get your podcasts, especially when

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Speaker 3: you're giving it five stars with that, let's get to it,

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Speaker 3: let's get it's a hurdling. Today, I am sitting down

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Speaker 3: with Victoria Arlin. She is a host for ESPN. She's

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Speaker 3: also a speaker and cannot forget a Paralympic old medalist.

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Speaker 2: How are we doing today?

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Speaker 1: I'm great? How are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm so good? What a resume like? This is not

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Speaker 2: a combo you hear every day, No, it is not.

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Speaker 1: I'm very fortunate. It's been a very crazy journey, that's

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Speaker 1: for sure. When I would have never written for myself.

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Speaker 3: You don't have feeling in your legs, but you are

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Speaker 3: capable of walking, running, dancing.

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Speaker 2: That's not something you hear every day.

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Speaker 1: No, I've yet to really fully come across anyone that

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Speaker 1: has full numbness in their legs and neurophy and all

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Speaker 1: that stuff. Yeah, the only thing I've yet to figure

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Speaker 1: out how to do is hurdles. But I also know

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Speaker 1: like a lot of people can't do hurdles. So I

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Speaker 1: don't think it's the numbness that is that my friend's likecreatory,

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Speaker 1: it's not that numbness that's preventing you from doing hurdles.

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Speaker 1: I think it's just the fact that you're not very

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Speaker 1: coordinated to do hurdles. So yeah, so I've I've managed

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Speaker 1: to find a way. I've actually gone more of my

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Speaker 1: life not feeling my legs than feeling my legs, So

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Speaker 1: it's actually more normal for me to not feel my

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Speaker 1: legs than to feel them.

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Speaker 3: Let's give some some context here so people can really

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Speaker 3: understand where this started.

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Speaker 2: Starting at age eleven.

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Speaker 1: Yes, So at age eleven, I developed two incredibly rare

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Speaker 1: neurological conditions called transverse my lightis and to keep disseminated

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Speaker 1: and stephal my lightis, And basically they're autoimmune based, but

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Speaker 1: they attack your central nervous system. So one condition attacks

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Speaker 1: your brain, one condition attacks your spine, and it's basically

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Speaker 1: I head on collision and you don't normally get both,

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Speaker 1: and it's very rare actually to get both. But we

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Speaker 1: kind of call it a blessing in disguise because mine

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Speaker 1: was left untreated and doctors couldn't figure out what was

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Speaker 1: going on, and so had I gotten one or the other,

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Speaker 1: because of how severe both conditions were, I could have

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Speaker 1: very well became brain dead or a quadriplegic. On a

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Speaker 1: ventilator or not made it. And so it's a you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's so interesting perspective is everything. And so but

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Speaker 1: at this point it was still bad, nonetheless, and so

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Speaker 1: doctors pretty much wrote me off as a lost cause

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Speaker 1: and told my parents, you know, she's not going to

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Speaker 1: make it, and if she does make it, you're looking

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Speaker 1: at a complete vegetable for a child. Then you should

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Speaker 1: put her away in a special care facility because it's

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Speaker 1: going to be too much work. You know, the Victoria

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Speaker 1: you once knew is not coming back. And you know,

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Speaker 1: the famous line that I always have said has been

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Speaker 1: a fuel for a lot of the things I do,

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Speaker 1: and is she'll never become a functioning member of society.

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Speaker 1: And I have always I heard that. I remember hearing

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Speaker 1: that by multiple, multiple doctors, and I even remember and

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Speaker 1: I come from a family that just doesn't give up,

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Speaker 1: and my family just refused to give up on me,

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Speaker 1: and I remember this one on for almost four years

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Speaker 1: that we just kept kept defying the odds, essentially, and

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Speaker 1: I kept surviving. My parents, you know, outfitted their living

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Speaker 1: room into a hospital room and just took care of

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Speaker 1: me because they were like, look, whatever time we have

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Speaker 1: left with her. We're going to love her and take

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Speaker 1: care of her. And they didn't realize I was aware

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Speaker 1: the whole time. So I'm taking all this in. But

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Speaker 1: in the meantime, you know, when I when I was

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Speaker 1: in the hospital, these doctors, not my parents, were crazy

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Speaker 1: for having hope, and which is so sad, And whenever

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Speaker 1: I speak, I'm like, the fact that my parents were

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Speaker 1: looked down upon for having hope just blows my mind.

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Speaker 1: And I remember so vividly my parents had gone to

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Speaker 1: go get lunch and I was in the ICU and

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Speaker 1: it was one of the many hospital stays, and these

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Speaker 1: doctors were standing over my hospital bed and they're like,

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Speaker 1: can you believe this situation? Like this is bad? And

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Speaker 1: they're like, I know, I know, and you believe What

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Speaker 1: about the parents? Huh? Like this kid's a goner, Like

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Speaker 1: this kid is a legit goner, and these parents are legit.

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Speaker 1: These parents think that this kid's gonna make it, Like

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Speaker 1: this kid's a goner. And I remember just lying there

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Speaker 1: being like, are you kidding me? And so four years later,

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Speaker 1: I emerged out of this through the form of linking,

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Speaker 1: and that is how I came to and let my

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Speaker 1: family know that I was in there, and then started

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Speaker 1: in twenty ten this long path back to life and

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Speaker 1: learned how to talk and learned how to function all

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Speaker 1: over again and face the world in a wheelchair. But

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Speaker 1: at this point I was fine with that. I was like,

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Speaker 1: all right, I'm I'm just going to get going with

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Speaker 1: my life and got back to school, got back to sports,

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Speaker 1: and sports took me to some crazy places. And those

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Speaker 1: crazy places happened to be the London twenty twelve games.

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Speaker 1: And then from there it happened I ended up, you know,

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Speaker 1: at ESPN. And then in the middle of all that, I, yes,

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Speaker 1: I had this great life and everything, but I had

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Speaker 1: still there was one stone that hadn't been turned over yet,

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Speaker 1: which was the one on I hadn't defied yet. So, yes,

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Speaker 1: I had become this goold medalist. Yes I had this

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Speaker 1: great job at ESPN, but I still had one obstacle

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Speaker 1: I hadn't you know, tackled, which was which was walking.

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Speaker 1: And so that led my mom and I to just

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Speaker 1: discovering activity based therapy, being like, let's just go for it,

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Speaker 1: you know, let's just try to see what's out there,

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Speaker 1: even to just get stronger. And so we ended on

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Speaker 1: the West we ended up on the West coast trying

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Speaker 1: out these gyms and facilities, and my mom had this epiphany.

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Speaker 1: And if you know Mama Arlen, she is one that's

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Speaker 1: just like she's a fierce woman of God and she

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Speaker 1: just goes for when she's got that and she's got

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Speaker 1: that fire. She called my dad and she was like,

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Speaker 1: do you remember when that doctor told us not to

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Speaker 1: mortgage the house, chasing down that crazy dream that Victoria

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Speaker 1: would never walk again? And my dad was like yeah,

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Speaker 1: And she was like, well, I have this crazy idea

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Speaker 1: that we should open up this facility, this healing facility,

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Speaker 1: for not just Victoria, but for other families like ours

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Speaker 1: who were essentially left on our own to figure it

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Speaker 1: out other loss causes. And she was like, I figured

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Speaker 1: it out, and we can do it if we mortgage

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Speaker 1: the house. And then she followed it up and he's

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Speaker 1: like what and and she's like, yeah, we can do

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Speaker 1: it if we mortgage the house. And my dad's like

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Speaker 1: trying to take it all in. And while he's taking

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Speaker 1: all in, and she goes and if you say no,

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Speaker 1: I'll just divorce you and take half. My parents are

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Speaker 1: are I've been married? Their goals? I mean they've been

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Speaker 1: married for thirty plus years, like they're amazing. But I

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Speaker 1: was like, hold on, hold on, hold on, and She's like,

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Speaker 1: I'm just saying, this is what we need to do

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Speaker 1: for our daughter, but also for this part of the country,

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Speaker 1: for the East Coast, for other families like ours, Larry,

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Speaker 1: we need to turn our mess into a message and

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Speaker 1: our pain into a purpose. And and so we opened

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Speaker 1: up Project Walk Boston, and that's where I learned to

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Speaker 1: walk eventually, And that was a space that to this

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Speaker 1: day now is it is become one of the most

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Speaker 1: one of a world renowned neuro recovery center where people

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Speaker 1: from all walks of life, all types of debilitating conditions

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Speaker 1: are getting better. And so almost ten years of the

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Speaker 1: day of becoming paralyzed, I took my first steps and

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Speaker 1: I never really looked back after that. I ended up

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Speaker 1: on a on a dancing show. A year later, I

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Speaker 1: went for my first year a dancing show and which

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Speaker 1: my traumatized my parents when I made that phone call

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Speaker 1: and then and then in the middle like it was

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Speaker 1: so cool. It was my first year at ESPN, I

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Speaker 1: was I was in a wheelchair, and then by the

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Speaker 1: second year, I was like on crutches. The third year,

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Speaker 1: I was like kind of trying, you know. So it's

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Speaker 1: been really, it's been just really this this crazy journey,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I'm really fortunate. I know, not a

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Speaker 1: lot of people get a second chance like me, and

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Speaker 1: so I'm just really trying to make the most of it.

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Speaker 1: And it's been a journey. I mean, it's not been

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Speaker 1: easy by any means, but and a lots have thrown

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Speaker 1: my way. But that's kind of in a nutshell, what

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Speaker 1: started back in two thousand.

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Speaker 2: And six, Just in a nutshell.

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Speaker 3: Nine minutes twenty three, nine minutes twenty second the end

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Speaker 3: of the podcast, we can actually just stop. You've heard

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Speaker 3: the entire story in summary. Let's start with the beginning.

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Speaker 3: You quickly lost your ability to eat, speak, walk, and move,

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Speaker 3: so you became a vegetable essentially. How much do you

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Speaker 3: remember about falling into this state?

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Speaker 1: All of it? I remember all of it. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: remember just all the switches being shut off.

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Speaker 4: And I'm grateful that I was own that I was

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Speaker 4: young at the time, because I don't think I realized

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Speaker 4: A that this was as severe as it was.

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Speaker 1: And B that it could have been terminal. You know,

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Speaker 1: like I think for me it. I just kept thinking, Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's going to get better tomorrow. It's going to get

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Speaker 1: better tomorrow. And so I couldn't grasp how serious it was,

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Speaker 1: but I remember it all wow.

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Speaker 3: And so in remembering all of that, going into this

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Speaker 3: vegetative state, how long from slipping into this place was

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Speaker 3: it until you started to be a little bit more

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Speaker 3: aware of your surroundings. I know you said that four

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Speaker 3: years in you started to communicate through blinking, But how

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Speaker 3: long into that process did you start to have an

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Speaker 3: understanding that you were really in there?

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Speaker 2: Still?

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Speaker 1: Pretty early on, I think the first like year gets

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Speaker 1: it's pretty foggy, but I think pretty early on I

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Speaker 1: realized that nobody knew I was in there, and I

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Speaker 1: was locked in, like pretty early on, like I knew

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Speaker 1: I was shutting down, but I was fighting to still

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Speaker 1: be heard and seen. And then it goes a bit dark,

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Speaker 1: Like I remember getting this really bad headache and having

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Speaker 1: these weird seizures and then and then there's kind of

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Speaker 1: an ambulance and some mother chaos and then it kind

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Speaker 1: of goes dark and then and then I just kind

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Speaker 1: of emerged, And so it's about it was, there's there's

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Speaker 1: a foggy, a foggy year or so that I'm in

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Speaker 1: and out and then and then i'm and then it's

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Speaker 1: clear as day.

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Speaker 3: So think about how it must have felt for both

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Speaker 3: you being in there and being like none of you

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Speaker 3: know what I am seeing, hearing I'm in here, I'm

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Speaker 3: in here. And then also for your parents, I mean, God,

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Speaker 3: bless your family. That must have been something else else

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Speaker 3: to sit by and just hold on to this beautiful

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Speaker 3: level of hope. We so often hear that phraeze. You know,

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Speaker 3: in order to see her, you need to be her.

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Speaker 3: You really lived by that through the hope of your parents.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh, one hundred percent. And I think my mom

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Speaker 1: was the captain of that, like she you know, I

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Speaker 1: have a nonprofit and we always say and our board meetings,

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Speaker 1: be a captain of hope. And my mom started that

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Speaker 1: trend in my family is she was just the captain

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Speaker 1: of hope and the Ireland family. And so everyone went

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Speaker 1: off of her lead and everyone saw her starting her

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Speaker 1: day with gratitude. Everyone saw her, you know, her just

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Speaker 1: being full of light and full of love and her

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Speaker 1: trusting in God and praying and believing, and she's like,

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Speaker 1: I didn't have a choice. She's like, because the alternative

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Speaker 1: if I folded, and if I if I acted on

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Speaker 1: what I was feeling, which was scared, sad, anxious, all

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Speaker 1: of that. She said, I probably I couldn't show up

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Speaker 1: for you, And what good was that going to do

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Speaker 1: for you, for your brothers, for your dad, for anyone.

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Speaker 1: And so she's like, yes, feel what you need to feel.

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Speaker 1: She's like, keep showing up. And she's like, so I

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Speaker 1: kept showing up. And so she was kind of someone

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Speaker 1: that really championed that hope. And then I just kept

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Speaker 1: following her lead and she didn't even know it, and

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Speaker 1: her and a lot it was interesting because we did

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Speaker 1: a lot of the similar things, me and my vegetative state,

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Speaker 1: her being around me that we didn't even realize till

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Speaker 1: later on. I was focusing on gratitude, she was focusing

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Speaker 1: on gratitude. I was praying a ton, she was praying

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Speaker 1: a ton, and so we both and I was eleven

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Speaker 1: when I got six, so we weren't having conversations about gratitude.

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Speaker 1: And yes, we had faith, but we didn't have the

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Speaker 1: faith that we had now, and so it was really cool.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm so close to my mom and it

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Speaker 1: was really cool once when we started having these conversations

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Speaker 1: that that we really aligned in that. But I always

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Speaker 1: say to her, I'm like, you really were the captain

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Speaker 1: and everyone just was on the ship and just following

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Speaker 1: your lead. And She's like, I had to be because

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Speaker 1: all the doctors wrote it off and they were ready

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Speaker 1: to just put you away and and kind of just

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Speaker 1: like deal with it. And so yeah, it's really you

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Speaker 1: really have to You really are who you surround yourself with,

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Speaker 1: and so if you're with calm people, you're going to

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Speaker 1: become if you're with angry people, you're probably going to

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Speaker 1: be angry. And so it's really with her, she was

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Speaker 1: just full of hope and love and a lot of

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Speaker 1: faith and all that. That's a that's a combo for healing.

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Speaker 3: To be present for you yourself with others around you not

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Speaker 3: knowing that.

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Speaker 2: Talk to me about that experience.

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Speaker 3: What did you experience being a quiet observer of your circumstance.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it's very interesting when you're when you're just kind

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Speaker 1: of around but you're not involved. And so for me,

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Speaker 1: at first it was it was horrific. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: had so much I wanted to say, But then I

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Speaker 1: got to a space where I really got. I got,

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Speaker 1: I got, I got kind of nosy with with what

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Speaker 1: I really wanted to do. And if I did come

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Speaker 1: out of this, you know I I I was aware

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Speaker 1: I had to write a bucket obituary. I was aware

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Speaker 1: I had to write an obituary, But then I realized,

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Speaker 1: what about a bucket lit? Like? What about what am

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Speaker 1: I going to do? Okay, if this is so impossible,

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Speaker 1: like if I have if I don't have tomorrow, like

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Speaker 1: if if I die, if I was if I'm going

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Speaker 1: to die today, why am I going to die reading

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Speaker 1: my obituary? Why don't I die dreaming about what I

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Speaker 1: could potentially be? And so for me, I decided to shift.

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Speaker 1: So I would observe obviously and pay attention around me

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Speaker 1: and had some questionable names for certain doctors and kept

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Speaker 1: myself entertained. But then I really got to know myself

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Speaker 1: and I realized, I'm going to whatever time I have

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Speaker 1: left here, I'm really going to focus on the good

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Speaker 1: and I'm going to look for the good. And so

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Speaker 1: I'm going to start with focusing on things I have

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Speaker 1: to be grateful for. And it's interesting, I've been giving

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Speaker 1: talks since I was seventeen years old, and so it's

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Speaker 1: been you know, eleven years now, and whenever I've said

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Speaker 1: that in speeches, people have given me some interesting looks

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Speaker 1: of like, hold up, you were talking. You were thinking about,

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Speaker 1: like what you were grateful for in the midst of

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Speaker 1: all this, and I was like, yeah, And I was like,

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Speaker 1: first and foremost, I was grateful for the fact that

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Speaker 1: I could have these thoughts of being grateful. And then

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Speaker 1: I was grateful that I wasn't dead yet. And that's

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Speaker 1: scraping the bottom of the barrel that I wasn't dead yet,

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Speaker 1: but it was something because according to every expert, I

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Speaker 1: should be dead and I should not have made it

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Speaker 1: to the next day. And then that list continued to

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Speaker 1: grow and grow and grow. And so as I'm lying there,

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Speaker 1: I'm filling my mind my body with these moments of gratitude,

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Speaker 1: and then I'm thinking of this bucket list of like

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Speaker 1: all right, if I get through this, I'm just going

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Speaker 1: to go for it, Like all right, that dream when

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Speaker 1: you were five years old, you want to be a

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Speaker 1: gold medalist, Why don't we go for that? Do you

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Speaker 1: want to be on TV like that? Why don't we

365
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Speaker 1: go for that? You know you want to go and

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Speaker 1: help people. Why don't we go for that? You know

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Speaker 1: you want to, you know, go and have a dance

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Speaker 1: party with your family one day. Why don't we go

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Speaker 1: for that. You're a big fan of dancing with the stars,

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Speaker 1: why don't you go for that one day? Like, I

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Speaker 1: just started getting excited because I was like, even if

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Speaker 1: I don't make it till tomorrow, at least today I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be happy. And at least today, if I

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Speaker 1: don't make it, I'm going to have the excitement about

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Speaker 1: what tomorrow could possibly be. That's really what I think

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Speaker 1: we all should do. There was a Bible scripture that

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Speaker 1: those who hope and the Lord will renew their strength

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Speaker 1: and they'll soar on wings like eagles, and I kind

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Speaker 1: of was living that scripture and I didn't even know it,

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Speaker 1: where I just like had these wings essentially where I

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Speaker 1: was just hopeful that tomorrow was just going to be

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Speaker 1: a bit better. And then as I had that gratitude,

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Speaker 1: this magnetic shift happened where all of a sudden I

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Speaker 1: started to just see hope everywhere. I didn't see hopelessness anymore.

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Speaker 1: I started to just see hope. And then the next

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Speaker 1: day I was like oh no, here I am again,

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Speaker 1: and this vegetata say, I was like, nailed it. I'm

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Speaker 1: still here. And then all of a sudden, I was

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Speaker 1: just like excited about Okay, maybe today's the day. Maybe

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Speaker 1: today I get my miracle. Maybe tomorrow's the day, you know,

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Speaker 1: And that eventually led to breakthroughs for me and I

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Speaker 1: think for all of us, like we all have challenges

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Speaker 1: and obstacles, but can look for those tiny, little beautiful things,

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Speaker 1: then you're going to see more and more of those things,

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Speaker 1: and then you're going to see the bigger things, the

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Speaker 1: bigger things, the bigger things. But that was really what

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Speaker 1: I started to do, is become an observer of like

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Speaker 1: looking for looking for those sparkles, if you will.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I love that word magnetic, The concept or

400
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Speaker 3: thought that energy attracts like energy. To have the ability

401
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Speaker 3: to be so hopeful and take on that perspective at

402
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Speaker 3: such a young age, something that so many individuals truly

403
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Speaker 3: struggle with throughout the duration of their years is beyond

404
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Speaker 3: I think it's truly beautiful and it really worked for

405
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Speaker 3: you as we're sitting here today now knowing that there

406
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Speaker 3: were so many let's call them hopeful shiny moments. I'm

407
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Speaker 3: sure that there were also some truly difficult moments. Again,

408
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Speaker 3: this idea that you're sitting there and people don't know

409
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Speaker 3: that you're there, really, yeah, talk to me a little

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Speaker 3: bit about that.

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Speaker 2: For sure.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, I think the combo was there was more of

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Speaker 1: those moments once I was out of my vegetative state.

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Speaker 1: But when I was in my vegetative state, I had

415
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Speaker 1: to survive, so I didn't have a lot of time

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Speaker 1: to have those dark moments because I was just trying

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Speaker 1: to survive. So I couldn't afford to have those dark

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Speaker 1: moments because if I did, that would end badly, and

419
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Speaker 1: I knew it would end badly. But I remember one

420
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Speaker 1: particular moment I was laying there. I remember my nose

421
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Speaker 1: really itched, and I'm lying there and there's there was

422
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Speaker 1: about ten people in my room and everyone's talking around me,

423
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Speaker 1: and I wanted someone to just say something to me,

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Speaker 1: and I want and then my nose started to itch,

425
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Speaker 1: and I remember just feeling really isolated, and no one

426
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Speaker 1: was meant meaning to make me feel isolated, but I'm

427
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Speaker 1: laying there, and you know, when you have an itch

428
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Speaker 1: and you can't scratch it, it gets itchier. And itchy

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Speaker 1: and itch here, and I remember laying there and I

430
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Speaker 1: was like, can somebody scratch my nose? Like I was like,

431
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Speaker 1: there's so many people in this room, and I'm screaming

432
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 1: and screaming in my mind that that no one someone

433
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 1: just scratched my nose. Please someone scratch my nose. And

434
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 1: I remember thinking in my mind that if someone one day,

435
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 1: if I could just scratch my nose, what an amazing

436
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 1: day that will be. And I have made thousands of

437
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 1: people one day. I was speaking at one a couple

438
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: of years ago, right before COVID there was I was

439
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,399
Speaker 1: speaking and there was ten thousand people in the crowd,

440
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: and I made ten thousand people scratch their nose because

441
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 1: I was like, look what I can do, and look

442
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 1: what you can all do. And I was like, if

443
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 1: you're ever spinning out, scratch your nose. Reset, scratch your nose.

444
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: And I have to do that often because life gets

445
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 1: busy and chaotic, and so I think there was little

446
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: moments that little frustrations like that, Or there was a

447
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,680
Speaker 1: moment where a doctor walked in and this was when

448
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,879
Speaker 1: things were really bad and I was on a ventilator

449
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: and they were really dooming gloom, and I wasn't on

450
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 1: a ventilator. I think there was a handful of times

451
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: I was on a ventilator, but not a lot. For

452
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 1: the most part, I could breathe on my own, and

453
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: so my family we were doing shifts, so no one

454
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,400
Speaker 1: was alone with me, and there was a lapse. There's

455
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 1: about a fifteen minute lapse where it was just my

456
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,399
Speaker 1: mom and I and this doctor. I'll never forget. I

457
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 1: could tell you exactly what he was wearing, his exact

458
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,680
Speaker 1: mannerisms and everything he walks in and he just very

459
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 1: matter of factly says to my mom, you need to

460
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,399
Speaker 1: accept the fact your child is going to die. She

461
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 1: probably won't make it past this week, and you need

462
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 1: to just get over it and accept it, and walked

463
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 1: out the room. My mom just stood there, stunned, and

464
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: it had been two and a half years, and she

465
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,679
Speaker 1: just stood there, and I saw her fall to her

466
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,680
Speaker 1: knees and start sobbing, and she didn't cry a lot

467
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: in front of me on purpose, and she cried to

468
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:12,440
Speaker 1: cry that no mom should ever cry. And I remember

469
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: lying there being so angry at this doctor for his

470
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: lack of empathy, his lack of not even staying with her,

471
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:23,679
Speaker 1: not even waiting for a nurse to be in the

472
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,199
Speaker 1: room or a social worker or a family member. He

473
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,359
Speaker 1: just came in so cold and just said that to

474
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,679
Speaker 1: my mom. And I remember laying there and I wanted

475
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,479
Speaker 1: to scream so badly, and I wanted to just like

476
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: grab her and say, hey, I'm right here. I'm right here, mom,

477
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,159
Speaker 1: like I wanted to. I wanted to just like grab

478
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 1: her and just say I'm not leaving you because I

479
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 1: have three brothers and it's just my mom and I,

480
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 1: like we're well, now I have sister in laws, but

481
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 1: it's like her and I were a team and we

482
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: always have been. And I remember that moment and being

483
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 1: like I'm not going anywhere, but like those moments where

484
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 1: you just wanted to be like, hey, like I'm right here.

485
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:13,959
Speaker 1: But those were really low moments of realizing the house

486
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:18,399
Speaker 1: how bad it was, but also how completely helpless I was,

487
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,880
Speaker 1: and I wanted to just let them know, Hey, if

488
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,479
Speaker 1: I could just have this five excuse me, guys, have

489
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: five seconds, Cause have five seconds to say something, you know,

490
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,880
Speaker 1: just like five seconds to just like pop in say

491
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: something and then go back, you know. Like it was

492
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: like those moments where I just wanted to, you know,

493
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: say that. But I think a lot of the more

494
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 1: darker days or harder days came later on because I

495
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 1: think when I was in that vegetative state, I didn't

496
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 1: have a choice. I had to just survive and get through.

497
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love

498
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 3: to my sponsors that feel extra relevant to me because

499
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 3: I cannot imagine heading off to run marathon number twelve

500
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 3: without these two brands in my pocket. First and foremost,

501
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,720
Speaker 3: Gooder Gooder makes my go to athletic sunglasses that are

502
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 3: no bounced, They're polarized, and they are crazy affordable, especially

503
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:20,919
Speaker 3: when you stack them up.

504
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 2: To other active styles.

505
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 3: I have worn the Operation Blackout style Gooder for probably

506
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 3: I don't know my last four marathons, and I can't

507
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 3: imagine race day without them. Not only are they sleep

508
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Speaker 3: with a course, but they're also perfect for travel period

509
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Speaker 3: because they're cute, which means that I can wear them

510
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 3: both with like an outfit to head out to lunch

511
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 3: and again when I'm on the move heading toward that

512
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 3: finish line. They have shapes and styles for every taste.

513
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Speaker 3: Some of my other favorites, the nine Dollars Pour Over

514
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Speaker 3: and Just yesterday I bought one called I Do my

515
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Speaker 3: Own Stunts. I feel like a little badass. They're a

516
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 3: single lens style and I think they may be my

517
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 3: pick for next weekend. Now, of course, we've got a

518
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519
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520
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521
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522
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Speaker 2: Today.

523
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,719
Speaker 3: Also would be nowhere without my trusted Element. Gotta give

524
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:29,479
Speaker 3: some love to my go to electrolyte solution. Element is

525
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Speaker 3: everything you need and nothing you don't. It replaces vital

526
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527
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Speaker 3: other conventional sports drinks. Plus, there are so many flavor options.

528
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 3: I myself have been on a watermelon cake lately, but

529
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:50,800
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530
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,040
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531
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 3: go to. Well, it is not going anywhere. It is

532
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533
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534
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535
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536
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537
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,720
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538
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Speaker 3: get a free sample pack with your order today. So,

539
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 3: when you survive and get through and you start to

540
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 3: come back into the swing of things, talk to us

541
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 3: about what happens when you are present, when you are

542
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 3: realizing not only am I going to make it out

543
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 3: of this, but I'm going to make it out of

544
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 3: this and my life is going to be dramatically different

545
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 3: than it used to be. I mean, integrating even back

546
00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 3: into society after spending four years like that. There's a

547
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 3: big difference between you know, being eleven years old and

548
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 3: being a teenager.

549
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I mean the crazy thing is that, you know,

550
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: for four years when someone's like, when people are like, oh,

551
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: you're going to die, You're going to die, You're going

552
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 1: to die, and then you're survive, You're like, I kind

553
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 1: of was preparing to not make it sort of, and

554
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: then here I am. So it was very intimidating surviving.

555
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 1: It was very intimidating coming back into the world because

556
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: you don't you don't come out of a four year

557
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: vegetative state looking like swan. You really don't. And I

558
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 1: had been given banks in the middle of all this,

559
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: so that was pretty traumatizing. That's a whole other that's

560
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: a whole other episode there.

561
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 2: But did they think they were doing you a solid

562
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 2: by giving you bangs?

563
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 3: My mom did, Yes, she I just want to make

564
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 3: sure that we're on the same page about that. It

565
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 3: wouldn't that be difficult because like you have to upkeep bangs.

566
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: Yes, So my hair doesn't grow. So they gave me

567
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 1: like a short little bob with some bangs to keep

568
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: the hair out of my face. That was the concept,

569
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 1: except my hair doesn't grow. So these banks are still

570
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 1: haunting me to this day, like they're still around, like

571
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 1: they're still present on this this dome. Okay, so they

572
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: So I come out of this and I just I

573
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: feel like a stranger to a world that had gone on.

574
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: And I'm a triplet, so had I have two brothers

575
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: that are now going into their sophomore year of high school.

576
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,680
Speaker 1: I hadn't been in school since the fifth grade. It

577
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 1: was very daunting on so many levels. I think for me,

578
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: the world had gone on, but the weird thing about

579
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 1: it is I grew up so much going through what

580
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: I went through. Adversity. Adversity ages you. It ages you

581
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 1: in a way where you have to become a grown

582
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: up overnight and you're not. You know, when you're facing

583
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: death in the eyes, you're not a kid anymore. And

584
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:24,239
Speaker 1: so for me, I wasn't a fifteen year old. I

585
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: had seen and experienced things that no adult, no kid,

586
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: no teenagers should ever experience or see. And those who

587
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: you know have seen the documentary or read the book

588
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: know the more intricate, you know, crazy details of what

589
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,480
Speaker 1: all the things that went down, and we like, we said,

590
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,719
Speaker 1: there's a lot to cover. We don't have time for that.

591
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,719
Speaker 1: But so it was weird, like I was socially hadn't

592
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: been in the world in four years, but also like

593
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 1: on a on a whole other level, was way older.

594
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: So going back to high school, you know who who

595
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: Jane is going to prom with, and freaking out over

596
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: the homecoming dress and having a mental meltdown over the

597
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 1: fact that it's blue and not purple was blew my

598
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 1: mind over. And then I'm like, who cares, you know,

599
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 1: And so it was just a very weird. It was

600
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 1: just a very weird in between. I found myself in

601
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 1: and then and then you throw in the mix now

602
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,720
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair, and so I'm finding this new way

603
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,399
Speaker 1: of navigating the world where half my body doesn't work,

604
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: but strengthening the other half of my body to adapt

605
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:37,279
Speaker 1: to this new body, and learning how to find my

606
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 1: voice again in more ways than not, you know, on

607
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:44,839
Speaker 1: shaky ground, because it's been four years, and for four

608
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,560
Speaker 1: years I was fighting, just trying not to die, you know,

609
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: and so it was really weird. I think I even

610
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: just talking about it, you know, I feel I you know,

611
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,520
Speaker 1: I get this like tightness of my chest because I was, like,

612
00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,960
Speaker 1: it was a lot, but I had a support system

613
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: and family who just empowered me and my brothers, and

614
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: no one skipped a beat. No one treated me like

615
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: I was this weak little wallflower. Everyone was like, all right, tours,

616
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: come on, like let's go, let's get going. And so

617
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 1: I was really grateful that everyone and sports helped me.

618
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: Sports was very much my savior and my safe space.

619
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,239
Speaker 1: So I think having all of that and having the

620
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 1: family that I have and the friends that I have

621
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: really just set me up for success. To just let

622
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 1: you survived. So now it's time to start living.

623
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned your autobiography, it's called Locked In. I'm

624
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 3: going to make sure to link that in the show notes.

625
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 3: And also the thirty for thirty appropriately also called In.

626
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 3: We'll link that in the show notes as well. So

627
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,760
Speaker 3: so both of them just like absolutely unbelievable. You mentioned

628
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 3: earlier when you were talking about the bucket listing that

629
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,040
Speaker 3: you were doing when you were laying in that hospital bed,

630
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 3: the five year old dream to oh to the Olympics

631
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 3: to be an athlete. Talked to me about what it

632
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 3: was like integrating back into sport because it looked a

633
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,320
Speaker 3: lot different than it did when you were five.

634
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:17,800
Speaker 1: Very much. So, yeah, I got back into actually sled hockey.

635
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: That was my first sport. I started playing hockey when

636
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 1: I was three with my brothers. And then it was

637
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,280
Speaker 1: actually in the middle of all this that I also

638
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 1: was a swimmer, and my brothers threw me back in

639
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,040
Speaker 1: the water and literally grabbed my arms, grab my legs,

640
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:34,240
Speaker 1: strapped in a life jacket because I was too afraid

641
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 1: to jump back in the water even though that was

642
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 1: my sport, and threw me in summer of twenty ten,

643
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: and so in the middle of all that I took

644
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: my trust that I could get back to the things

645
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 1: that I loved before I got sick. And so with that,

646
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 1: I just started swimming again and I started playing sports,

647
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 1: and that really helped me find a safe space because

648
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,000
Speaker 1: school wasn't that place for me. School I was just

649
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: trying to catch up my brothers and graduate on time,

650
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: and I rolled through the hallways, dealt with the bullying,

651
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,760
Speaker 1: got my school work done, and went and played sports

652
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: and so but sports for me was an outlet because

653
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,799
Speaker 1: I didn't need my wheelchair. I didn't need to be

654
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: reminded of what I couldn't do or what I had

655
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,759
Speaker 1: been through. And at this point I had to be

656
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: on a feeding too pump because we didn't know if

657
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: my stomach was ever going to repair itself or anything.

658
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 1: So I was still very compromised in other ways that

659
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 1: no one knew about. But sports I kind of could

660
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,360
Speaker 1: forget all of that for two hours or two three hours.

661
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 1: And so it was actually my hockey coach that was like, hey,

662
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 1: you should really take the swimming thing seriously to you're

663
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 1: pretty good, and I'm like, no, no, no, I'm just doing

664
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 1: this to get out of my wheelchair for a couple

665
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,279
Speaker 1: hours and to unhook myself from this pump and he

666
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,280
Speaker 1: was like, no, wait, you're really fast, like you're picking,

667
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,359
Speaker 1: you're swimming really good times. In my high school at

668
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,120
Speaker 1: the time wouldn't let me swim on the team even

669
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 1: though I was really fast. And I was like, yeah,

670
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: well my high school, help me swim and I can't

671
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 1: really find like a situation. And he's like, well, let

672
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,839
Speaker 1: me help you out with that. And I had qualified

673
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 1: in some local meets in for trials and for London

674
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:11,919
Speaker 1: for the London Games. And at this point it's twenty

675
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 1: eleven and not a lot of coaches want to help

676
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:20,279
Speaker 1: you do the impossible. And so I had gone to

677
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 1: a local swim meet and a local you know, Paralympic

678
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 1: swim meet, and they were like, oh, what are your

679
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 1: plans And I was like, oh, to make the London

680
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: twenty twelve Games. And he was like, ah, that's funny, No, seriously,

681
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,840
Speaker 1: what are your plans? And I was like, I'm trying

682
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 1: to make London. I qualified for trials at this speed,

683
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,800
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to find a coach in a situation.

684
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: And he was like, oh, you're serious, and I was

685
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: like yeah, I was, And he laughed at me and

686
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: said I shouldn't even try that, I should make a

687
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: fool out of myself. And he's like, sweetie, why don't

688
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: you wait for four more years?

689
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 2: Oh don't sweetie me?

690
00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I was like, sir, and he I was

691
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: really defeated after that because he laughed at me, and

692
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:05,279
Speaker 1: then he was like, don't even like, don't make a

693
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: fool out of yourself, sweetie.

694
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,839
Speaker 3: Like, you know, it's already frustrating that women drop out

695
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 3: of sport at such a dramatic rate compared to men.

696
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,760
Speaker 3: That you're going to be a male coach that's supposed

697
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,919
Speaker 3: to be a mentor to female young females and look

698
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,120
Speaker 3: at her and dissuade her in this way, it just,

699
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 3: oh my goodness, I can't even It's totally understandable that

700
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 3: you felt frustrated and angry and then, as it is

701
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:35,360
Speaker 3: extremely clear, used that frustration and turned that into your power.

702
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,879
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and my mom My mom brought the brought

703
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,320
Speaker 1: her point to finger out when I got to the car,

704
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:45,959
Speaker 1: and she was like, don't you ever let someone tell

705
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: you you can't do something. If you believe you can

706
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 1: do it, you can do it. Can do you believe

707
00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 1: you can do this. Do you believe you can make

708
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,719
Speaker 1: the team? And I was like, yeah, yeah I do.

709
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 1: And she's like, and do you want to go for it?

710
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: And I was like yeah, and she's like I know

711
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: you're going to work hard and I was like yeah.

712
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 1: She goes let's go for it, and I was like okay,

713
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: and then she We found a coach that literally was

714
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,280
Speaker 1: like he's like, I'm not going to coach you unless

715
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 1: our goal is to not only make the team, but

716
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:14,879
Speaker 1: just go for a gold medal. And at this point

717
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,440
Speaker 1: I was like seventy fifth in the world, like not

718
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: even on the radar, and I was like okay, like sure,

719
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: and he was like he had It was like ignorance

720
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 1: is bliss because he just saw me as an athlete.

721
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,240
Speaker 1: He didn't see me in any way, shape or form

722
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:33,160
Speaker 1: as any other. It was all D one athletes he

723
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,480
Speaker 1: trained and Olympic athletes. So he just threw me in

724
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 1: the pool with everyone else. But he saw he was like,

725
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: I need you to trust me to train you to

726
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: go for something bigger than just making the team, because

727
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: so much we want to take the safe route. And

728
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: so not only did I make the team, but I

729
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: did in fact, achieved my little five year old dream.

730
00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:58,839
Speaker 1: And that was what was crazy is I ran into

731
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,080
Speaker 1: that other coach a year later at a hockey tournament

732
00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: and he was like, oh, congratulations, Victoria. We knew you

733
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:07,840
Speaker 1: could do and all this stuff. And I was with

734
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 1: my dad. My dad, God bless that man. He literally

735
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: was like, roll away, roll away, and he just pushed

736
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,840
Speaker 1: my chair. He pushed me away and was like he

737
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:20,360
Speaker 1: was like, oh, she has to go get ready for

738
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: the game. She can't talk right now. The guy's like, oh,

739
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 1: we'll talk after, we'll talk after there's some local news.

740
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 1: You want to talk to her. And my dad's like, oh, no, no,

741
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 1: we can't. We're very busy. We were very busy. She

742
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 1: can't talk to you right now.

743
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 3: I'm surprised your dad like had grace in that moment.

744
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:38,000
Speaker 3: Because I was your dad, I would have been like, sir,

745
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:42,400
Speaker 3: we did we thought that. Remember when you told this young,

746
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:47,400
Speaker 3: impressionable human that they should not chase their dreams.

747
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 1: I think at the time he was like he realized

748
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: he had nothing nice or appropriate to say, and he

749
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,799
Speaker 1: was kind of like, I realized there would have been

750
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 1: a lot of no no words coming out.

751
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 2: Of my mouth.

752
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,439
Speaker 1: He's a Boston he's a Boston hockey coach. That would

753
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 1: just have he would have gone, And I think he

754
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,799
Speaker 1: would have been like, what's It's not worth it, He's

755
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 1: not worth it.

756
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,799
Speaker 3: You mentioned dealing with a fair amount of bullying in

757
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 3: high school. Can you talk to me about what you

758
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 3: remember about that and how it made you feel in

759
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 3: the day to day.

760
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was the new kid. We had moved when

761
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:32,880
Speaker 1: when I got sick, and so I was the new

762
00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: kid in a wheelchair, and so high school kids are

763
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,400
Speaker 1: not known for other empathy and uh, and then they

764
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 1: found out, you know, a little bit more about my story,

765
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:46,360
Speaker 1: and it was just I just was a rolling target.

766
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:51,960
Speaker 1: And so I really the pointing the comments, the you're

767
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,399
Speaker 1: two pretty to be in a wheelchair, you know, and

768
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,560
Speaker 1: and I mean I think I blocked a lot of

769
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 1: the meaner things that were said. But basically, every time

770
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,239
Speaker 1: I rolled down the hallway, it was just like a

771
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 1: it was just like a rolling onslaught of things. But

772
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:18,359
Speaker 1: for me, I just remember feeling incredibly isolated and incredibly

773
00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,479
Speaker 1: alone in that sense where there was no one else

774
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,920
Speaker 1: like me. And we don't live in a world or

775
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:26,840
Speaker 1: in an area where you see a lot of people

776
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:29,240
Speaker 1: in wheelchairs, or you see a lot of young people

777
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: dressing up nice and being sporty and fun in wheelchairs,

778
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,640
Speaker 1: and so it wasn't necessarily an area where kids were

779
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 1: super gracious or had an understanding of empathy or necessarily diversity,

780
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, But thankfully, I have a

781
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:52,000
Speaker 1: really incredible group of friends and really wonderful brothers, So

782
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: I had a tribe of people, and day to day,

783
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:59,319
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I got creative. I managed to

784
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 1: leave five minutes early, so I avoided crowded hallways eventually,

785
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:08,879
Speaker 1: and some might say I took I would, I would

786
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,279
Speaker 1: kind of avoid the situation, but I really had to

787
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:13,840
Speaker 1: for my sanity, and I had to for my protection

788
00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:19,920
Speaker 1: because I really couldn't at times deal with I had

789
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 1: to protect myself and I'm like, I'm not going in

790
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:28,080
Speaker 1: the cafeteria because there's chairs, there's the attached chairs to

791
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:30,239
Speaker 1: all the seats, and I'm not going to roll up

792
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,640
Speaker 1: to the cafeteria. Especially when the first year I went

793
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: to high school, I had a feeding tube, so I

794
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:37,320
Speaker 1: didn't even need to go to the cafeteria. And I

795
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 1: found teachers and folks that became safe spaces for me,

796
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,280
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm going to go to class

797
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:45,279
Speaker 1: and I'm going to do my school work, and I

798
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,200
Speaker 1: have sports, and I found safe havens, and I also

799
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: have a family that just got it, and so I

800
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:53,120
Speaker 1: knew I had a safe space. When I got home,

801
00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 1: I know I had friends that were looking out for me.

802
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,600
Speaker 1: And I realized hurt people hurt others, and my mom

803
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 1: taught me that, and my grandma as well, and so

804
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: I knew I that these kids they just didn't understand

805
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,480
Speaker 1: and if they were gonna be going and making me

806
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:13,440
Speaker 1: feel so terrible, that's on them, not me, yep. And

807
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:16,920
Speaker 1: so day to day it was. It was terrible at first,

808
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:19,200
Speaker 1: but then after that, I'm like, I just I just

809
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:21,520
Speaker 1: cheated death a couple of times, and I just have

810
00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 1: been through all this stuff, and I'm going, I'm trying

811
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:26,279
Speaker 1: to make the US team and all these things like

812
00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:30,000
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And so I really as far

813
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,840
Speaker 1: as the day to day goes, initially it was terrible,

814
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: and then I just had to keep shifting my perspective.

815
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,680
Speaker 1: And I think when you shift your perspective, it changes everything.

816
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,279
Speaker 1: And then you, just like I did in the vegetative state,

817
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:43,319
Speaker 1: started to find hope and I was like, all right,

818
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:45,280
Speaker 1: what's the hope here. Well, I'm not dealing with any drama,

819
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: that's for sure, because I'm no. I'm really I have

820
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 1: a small I have a tiny but mighty crew. And

821
00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 1: then I have my sports in my school, and and

822
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 1: and I just you have your people, and it's really

823
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,040
Speaker 1: not the quantity of all the people around you, but

824
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:06,280
Speaker 1: the quality of people. And that rings true. And then

825
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 1: realistically it allowed me to really focus on the things

826
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:13,279
Speaker 1: I wanted to focus on. And also too, I'm like,

827
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: shame on you. If you're really gonna make someone in

828
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: a wheelchair feel the way that I'm feeling, or stooped

829
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 1: down to that level, that's on you. And I feel

830
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,040
Speaker 1: bad for you, and I'm gonna probably pray for you

831
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,839
Speaker 1: and hope that you find some happiness in your life.

832
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 2: That's the way to approach it. Truly, hurt people. Hurt people.

833
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,600
Speaker 3: Just like you said, and you spoke about, you know,

834
00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:35,640
Speaker 3: rolling into the cafeteria and the seats being connected to

835
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 3: the tables. I remember those exact tables in my cafeteria

836
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,279
Speaker 3: when I went to high school. You also referenced, you know,

837
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:46,200
Speaker 3: not seeing many people in wheelchairs from a day to day.

838
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,799
Speaker 3: Talk to me about what some of the most challenging

839
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,680
Speaker 3: points of a lack of access were for you when

840
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,640
Speaker 3: you were at the height of this part of your disability.

841
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:02,439
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, oh how much time time to have. I mean,

842
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,320
Speaker 1: I think getting into buildings was the biggest one. Getting

843
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: into buildings. The world is not built for wheelchairs, and

844
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,520
Speaker 1: I think that was a huge inspiration for starting my foundation,

845
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 1: was just making the world and letting people know that

846
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:22,640
Speaker 1: they're not alone, because just people having access and knowing

847
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:24,319
Speaker 1: that I can get from point A to point B,

848
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: or if I was out with my friends and we

849
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 1: wanted to go to a restaurant or a store. A

850
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 1: lot of places aren't accessible because they don't have to

851
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:36,120
Speaker 1: be because they're grandfathered. So then it becomes a whole

852
00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:38,759
Speaker 1: ordeal of let's lift you up, let's get you in.

853
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a spectacle. I don't want

854
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: to I don't want to be a circus act. I

855
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:48,640
Speaker 1: just want to casually slide into the building with my friends,

856
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,839
Speaker 1: order some food or check out some clothing. And so

857
00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:56,000
Speaker 1: I found that was a big one, honestly, was just

858
00:47:56,080 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 1: getting around and going to buildings or sidewalks or bathrooms.

859
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 1: Just trying to navigate those spaces was a big issue

860
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:07,919
Speaker 1: because the world isn't built that way and people don't

861
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,319
Speaker 1: think that way. And even now I'm always kind of

862
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 1: looking around and I think it's gotten better, but there

863
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,359
Speaker 1: are still spaces where people just don't think about that.

864
00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,960
Speaker 1: People don't think about the power of a button to

865
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 1: open a door, or the power of a bigger, you know,

866
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 1: stall for someone and not necessarily always someone in a wheelchair,

867
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 1: where someone as a walker, someone just needs more space

868
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 1: if they're sensory overloaded and they need that. And so

869
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:34,799
Speaker 1: I think that was a big one for me, as

870
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 1: just that lack of access to just be able to

871
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:42,960
Speaker 1: just be subtle about getting places. I don't want it

872
00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,319
Speaker 1: to be a spectacle. I don't want I don't like

873
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 1: I remember I was in New York and I was

874
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 1: trying to get into somewhere with my friends and thinking

875
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:51,279
Speaker 1: about like, oh, we'll let you in, We'll get you in,

876
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 1: and I was like, no, almost at thank you. I

877
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,600
Speaker 1: don't want it. I'm really not trying to have all

878
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:59,080
Speaker 1: these people just pick up my chair and get me in.

879
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,399
Speaker 1: I'm really just trying to come in and come out

880
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,960
Speaker 1: like everyone else. Yeah, or just getting out of a car,

881
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:06,000
Speaker 1: you know, And so I think those were the big

882
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 1: It was an eye open experience. Was one day I

883
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:10,320
Speaker 1: was trying to get out of my car and I

884
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: used to climb out of the back of my car,

885
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 1: put my chair together, and roll into the store. And

886
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 1: the amount of time it took for me to crawl

887
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:18,720
Speaker 1: to the back of my car, pulled my chair together

888
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 1: and get out, someone had pulled in, walked out of

889
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:24,480
Speaker 1: their car, gotten to the store, came back and left

890
00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:27,040
Speaker 1: while I was still doing it all. And I was like, dang,

891
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:30,680
Speaker 1: that that's gonna be That guy was so nice.

892
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,480
Speaker 2: Such a moment to frame your perspective again there.

893
00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:37,359
Speaker 3: And I know, as we fast forward here and talk

894
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,920
Speaker 3: about what happens when you finally get the capability to

895
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,719
Speaker 3: walk again, talk to me about not you know, that

896
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:49,239
Speaker 3: first step, but what happens when you actually start to

897
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:50,600
Speaker 3: string the steps together.

898
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:56,959
Speaker 1: M It was challenging. I fell a lot. I fell

899
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 1: a lot. I think I was really nervous, to be

900
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:02,920
Speaker 1: honest with view, because half of my life I was

901
00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,839
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair, and half of my life I was

902
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:08,560
Speaker 1: you know, the same height and the you know, got

903
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: around the same way and so when I started walking

904
00:50:11,239 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 1: literally and figuratively, it was like like a whole new

905
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: world for me. And my body was still It took

906
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,959
Speaker 1: a long time for my body to adapt. I would

907
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:24,520
Speaker 1: pass out, I would fall. My body was just like,

908
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: we don't know what we're doing here. And I couldn't

909
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:30,719
Speaker 1: feel my legs. So it is this weirdest thing when

910
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,960
Speaker 1: you can't fill the ground beneath your feet, and so

911
00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: how do you feel grounded? Well, you have to find

912
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,840
Speaker 1: other ways to feel grounded. So it was very interesting,

913
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: and I remember for a very long time, I really

914
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,760
Speaker 1: struggled with wanting to be out in public without any support,

915
00:50:47,719 --> 00:50:51,239
Speaker 1: without my crutches, without leg braces, and that took a

916
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 1: good year before I had nothing. But I think the

917
00:50:55,400 --> 00:51:02,280
Speaker 1: biggest public leap, if you will, of me stepping out

918
00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:05,720
Speaker 1: without anything was when I did Dancing with the Stars,

919
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:08,440
Speaker 1: And I remember and leading up to that, you know,

920
00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:11,120
Speaker 1: I would have braces on, or i'd have my feet

921
00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:15,000
Speaker 1: taped certain ways, or i'd have a oh, crutches or

922
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:18,320
Speaker 1: random things, but I really hadn't. I was very subtle

923
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,200
Speaker 1: about that because I was very nervous. I didn't want

924
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:23,919
Speaker 1: to fall, I didn't want to trip, and I still

925
00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 1: sometimes do, but it's I think for me it was

926
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: just it was not I wasn't expecting to walk, ever,

927
00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 1: walk again, and so it was a very I was like, well,

928
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,640
Speaker 1: this is happening, This is happening. And so when I

929
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:38,719
Speaker 1: was asked to do Dancing with the Stars, that was

930
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:40,719
Speaker 1: kind of a moment to be like, this is my

931
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,320
Speaker 1: time to step out and be like I'm going to

932
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:45,680
Speaker 1: challenge myself and I'm also going to say here I am.

933
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:50,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, and such a proclamation that was.

934
00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:54,160
Speaker 3: I'm curious about the initial reach out from the Dancing

935
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,319
Speaker 3: with the Stars team because if you were in this

936
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 3: place where yes, you had learned how to walk again,

937
00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,279
Speaker 3: in what an amazing story that is. But as we

938
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:06,279
Speaker 3: all know, walking is very different than dancing. So was

939
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:10,560
Speaker 3: it a question of whether or not you thought that

940
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 3: you'd be able to do something like this or were

941
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 3: they like, no, we really think that you can.

942
00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:18,960
Speaker 1: So it was really cool. The thing I love about

943
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:22,239
Speaker 1: everyone involved with dancing is it's a very it's a

944
00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:24,880
Speaker 1: very much like we believe in you type of show,

945
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:28,479
Speaker 1: and so they were kind of like, look, we'll work

946
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:30,759
Speaker 1: with you, and we'll pair you with someone who we

947
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:33,240
Speaker 1: believe will work with you. So I had met with them.

948
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:37,360
Speaker 1: There was interest early in the year, but like my

949
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:41,600
Speaker 1: schedule and the scheduling and everything. So after that, I

950
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:43,880
Speaker 1: met with them over the summer and we had had

951
00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:46,440
Speaker 1: some conversations and so I actually got to sit with

952
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:50,239
Speaker 1: everyone and at least in the production side of things

953
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 1: and have conversations and talk to them about the process

954
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:57,320
Speaker 1: and everything. So I felt very comfortable with them early

955
00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:01,359
Speaker 1: on and then but I didn't know what the when

956
00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:04,640
Speaker 1: and where that was gonna kind of go. So I

957
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:08,919
Speaker 1: think initially I was I hadn't made it clear because

958
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,080
Speaker 1: they were like, would you be willing to do this?

959
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,880
Speaker 1: Because we think you'd be a great fit. We have

960
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:17,040
Speaker 1: all types of people that have done the show, We

961
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:20,440
Speaker 1: worked with people, we trained with people, so I I

962
00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:22,920
Speaker 1: knew I could do it, and I think after meeting

963
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:25,759
Speaker 1: with them, I felt like I could trust. I trusted

964
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,640
Speaker 1: them that they would take care, they would take care

965
00:53:28,719 --> 00:53:31,400
Speaker 1: of me. So then when it was official that they

966
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:34,000
Speaker 1: were like, we think this is good. I didn't think

967
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,080
Speaker 1: it was gonna happen that soon. I was. I thought

968
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:37,400
Speaker 1: I was gonna have a little more time, and then

969
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:39,920
Speaker 1: it was like nope, Like literally, I think three days later,

970
00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:41,759
Speaker 1: I got the call that I was going to be

971
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:46,040
Speaker 1: that fall, and that was July and it was gonna

972
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 1: be I was like three days later, and so I

973
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 1: was like oh and then uh, and my agents like

974
00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:52,440
Speaker 1: you ready for this? I was like, well, I'm gonna

975
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:54,319
Speaker 1: have to be and so uh. And then they ended

976
00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:56,800
Speaker 1: up pairing me a val and vow was so wonderful

977
00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 1: and he knew how to train me and so and

978
00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,400
Speaker 1: I worked with my train at Project Walk and so

979
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:05,840
Speaker 1: I had a path for sure. But they were wonderful.

980
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:10,840
Speaker 1: They were very aware and very conscientious of what I

981
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:14,160
Speaker 1: could and couldn't do, and didn't necessary didn't put me

982
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:17,319
Speaker 1: in a position to fail, which I was very grateful for.

983
00:54:17,560 --> 00:54:20,560
Speaker 3: So special and to reiterate here, you took your first

984
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:22,799
Speaker 3: step in spring of twenty sixteen, and then we're on

985
00:54:23,160 --> 00:54:26,680
Speaker 3: Dancing with the Stars in the fall of twenty seventeen,

986
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:33,240
Speaker 3: which is absolutely remarkable. Able bodied humans that could walk normally,

987
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:37,880
Speaker 3: they would be frightened to have to prepare the dancing

988
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:40,320
Speaker 3: and the stars with that amount of time. You mentioned

989
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,920
Speaker 3: at this point having an agent, so you started working

990
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:46,040
Speaker 3: at ESPN while you were still in your wheelchair, and

991
00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:50,440
Speaker 3: then that progressed as it did, and you got quote

992
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,920
Speaker 3: unquote more airtime, We're doing more interviews, something else that

993
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,839
Speaker 3: had been on that bucket list from when you were

994
00:54:57,040 --> 00:54:58,240
Speaker 3: a young woman.

995
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:00,239
Speaker 2: Talk to me about what it feels.

996
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:04,880
Speaker 3: Now having that dream realized, sitting in that chair behind

997
00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:07,279
Speaker 3: that desk so often and doing the reporting that you do.

998
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:12,920
Speaker 1: Oh, it's incredible. I really, I'm really so fortunate, and

999
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,800
Speaker 1: I really I don't take it for granted ever. And

1000
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:19,440
Speaker 1: it's cool because I you know, when when I lost

1001
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,640
Speaker 1: my voice, and you know, I never thought i'd get

1002
00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:25,400
Speaker 1: it back. I dreamt i'd get it back. But I

1003
00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 1: remember being like, I remember making this promise, you know,

1004
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:31,440
Speaker 1: to God when I when I got really sick, and

1005
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:33,399
Speaker 1: I was like, look, if you give me my voice back,

1006
00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:35,200
Speaker 1: I'm going to use it. I'm going to make a difference.

1007
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: I'm going to have it make a difference when I

1008
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:39,719
Speaker 1: have it be heard. And so when I got this

1009
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,520
Speaker 1: incredible opportunity with ESPN, I wanted it to be heard

1010
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:45,960
Speaker 1: and used in a meaningful way. And so to be

1011
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:49,200
Speaker 1: able to tell really cool stories, to be able to

1012
00:55:49,239 --> 00:55:52,400
Speaker 1: be behind the desk is really a blessing because it

1013
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:54,840
Speaker 1: means something, and it's really cool because I grew up

1014
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:58,000
Speaker 1: watching ESPN, and it's been crazy. I don't even know,

1015
00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean, this whole journey is just has

1016
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 1: just blown my mind. And so I'm really I'm really fortunate.

1017
00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:08,279
Speaker 1: I'd love to go back to a little Victoria like

1018
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,120
Speaker 1: it's gonna be okay. I promise, like you're gonna be fine.

1019
00:56:11,360 --> 00:56:14,080
Speaker 1: It's funny because I remember when I was doing speech therapy.

1020
00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:17,120
Speaker 1: I'll get so frustrated because learning how to talk is

1021
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:21,520
Speaker 1: really hard. Connecting words is really hard. Letters are really hard.

1022
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:24,560
Speaker 1: H's are really hard. Ours are really hard. I remember

1023
00:56:24,680 --> 00:56:28,800
Speaker 1: not knowing why. I remember being so frustrated with speech therapy.

1024
00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:34,120
Speaker 1: And so this was twenty ten that I was doing intense,

1025
00:56:34,160 --> 00:56:36,840
Speaker 1: intense speech therapy. And I'm like, if someone were to

1026
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:39,440
Speaker 1: tell me in twenty ten that this speech therapy that

1027
00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:42,720
Speaker 1: was teaching me perfect diction and all these different things

1028
00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:47,719
Speaker 1: was actually setting me up for five years later when

1029
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:51,160
Speaker 1: I would get this opportunity of a lifetime to work

1030
00:56:51,200 --> 00:56:53,880
Speaker 1: for ESPN. I mean, it's pretty crazy. You just have

1031
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:58,759
Speaker 1: you really have no idea. Really, the obstacles are just

1032
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:02,760
Speaker 1: opportunities that setting you up for something greater. So that's

1033
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:05,280
Speaker 1: what's really cool. Is it all it all comes together,

1034
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:08,359
Speaker 1: which is and everything really does work out, and that's

1035
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:11,600
Speaker 1: what's really that's what's really cool. It's just it's this

1036
00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:12,640
Speaker 1: whole journey is just.

1037
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:17,760
Speaker 3: Wild, wild, absolutely wild, and your perspective is truly contagious.

1038
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:21,200
Speaker 3: This this through line of hope and positivity. It's hard

1039
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:25,400
Speaker 3: not to sit here and be grateful for everything that

1040
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:28,120
Speaker 3: I have, and I'm sure as well the listeners just

1041
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:30,640
Speaker 3: being like, wow, okay, one thing at a time, one

1042
00:57:30,720 --> 00:57:33,200
Speaker 3: nose scratch at the time at a time, like I've

1043
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:36,560
Speaker 3: got this right and now using your platform to do

1044
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:40,200
Speaker 3: so much good. You made this reference of wanting to

1045
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:42,960
Speaker 3: when you were in the wheelchair, like just roll in

1046
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,840
Speaker 3: and just live a normal life. Are there times that

1047
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 3: the journey for you is also exhausting? Not to say

1048
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:51,440
Speaker 3: that you're not grateful for it, but do you have

1049
00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:54,800
Speaker 3: times where you're just like, for a second, I just

1050
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:56,720
Speaker 3: kind of want to not.

1051
00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:00,000
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think I went on a whole mental health

1052
00:58:00,040 --> 00:58:01,959
Speaker 1: journey in the last two and a half years where

1053
00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:04,240
Speaker 1: I did not address my mental health for a really

1054
00:58:04,280 --> 00:58:07,040
Speaker 1: long time, and so I never wanted to share my

1055
00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:12,880
Speaker 1: story and it was kind of shared without my permission

1056
00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:16,400
Speaker 1: when I broke my first world record as swimming, it

1057
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:20,320
Speaker 1: got leaked, and all of a sudden, I'm thrown on

1058
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:22,600
Speaker 1: this world stage, and all of a sudden, I'm given

1059
00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:24,800
Speaker 1: the superhero cape at the age of seventeen that I

1060
00:58:24,840 --> 00:58:27,840
Speaker 1: never asked for. So I never had time to process

1061
00:58:28,000 --> 00:58:30,439
Speaker 1: what had happened to me. You know, two years out,

1062
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:33,600
Speaker 1: I'm winning this gold medal, which I'm so grateful for,

1063
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:37,840
Speaker 1: but I didn't even have time to understand what it

1064
00:58:37,920 --> 00:58:39,960
Speaker 1: happened to me, to process what had happened to me.

1065
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:43,440
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, I'm I'm going, going, going, going, going.

1066
00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:48,440
Speaker 1: And so I remember when I was writing my book,

1067
00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:53,200
Speaker 1: I really started to feel, which is, once you open

1068
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:55,800
Speaker 1: that can of worms, it's really hard to close it.

1069
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:58,880
Speaker 1: And then and in the last couple of years, I

1070
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:02,760
Speaker 1: think I've really started to really realize, like it's okay

1071
00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:05,160
Speaker 1: to not be okay. And I think for a long time,

1072
00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:08,520
Speaker 1: people look at my story and they look at all

1073
00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:11,360
Speaker 1: the things I go through, and they say, oh, you

1074
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:14,440
Speaker 1: must never have a bad day, or you must oh,

1075
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:19,320
Speaker 1: and I'm like what and or The worst is what

1076
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:21,640
Speaker 1: makes my mom's blood boil is when people go you're

1077
00:59:21,680 --> 00:59:25,720
Speaker 1: so lucky and and my Mom's like, if people knew

1078
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 1: the price you've paid to get to where you are,

1079
00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:31,600
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be saying that every day I have to

1080
00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:33,560
Speaker 1: make a conscious decision. We all have to make a

1081
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:36,400
Speaker 1: conscious decision to make it a great day. But that

1082
00:59:36,440 --> 00:59:39,080
Speaker 1: doesn't come without a price for all of us. And

1083
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:42,280
Speaker 1: so for me, I really crashed about two and a

1084
00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:45,439
Speaker 1: half years ago, and then had a really terrifying health

1085
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:47,080
Speaker 1: scare about a year and a half about a year

1086
00:59:47,240 --> 00:59:50,840
Speaker 1: or so ago, and so all of that put me

1087
00:59:50,880 --> 00:59:53,360
Speaker 1: on this mental health journey where I was like, I

1088
00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:56,440
Speaker 1: need to be okay, because here I'm going out and

1089
00:59:57,480 --> 01:00:01,720
Speaker 1: giving so much, whether it's speaking or my philanthropic work

1090
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:03,640
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, or being on the road or

1091
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:06,040
Speaker 1: working or given give and give and give and giving,

1092
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:08,680
Speaker 1: and even TV work. I mean, we're all giving. In

1093
01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:12,680
Speaker 1: some retrospect, what are how are we plugging back in?

1094
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:16,040
Speaker 1: And the problem was is I wasn't plugging back in,

1095
01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:22,000
Speaker 1: and I wasn't acknowledging my PTSD. I wasn't acknowledging the

1096
01:00:22,040 --> 01:00:24,080
Speaker 1: fact that I had really bad anxiety or the fact

1097
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:26,600
Speaker 1: that I had all these things that I was I

1098
01:00:26,640 --> 01:00:29,440
Speaker 1: was just ignoring and I was just filling my life

1099
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:31,800
Speaker 1: with more work, more work, more work, and getting busy.

1100
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:34,680
Speaker 1: I was just a nesthetizing my pinion with more work

1101
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:38,040
Speaker 1: and busyness, and then kind of just hit this breaking

1102
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:42,720
Speaker 1: point and then really broke broke down and broke through

1103
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:46,200
Speaker 1: and said, Okay, let's sit down with eleven year old

1104
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:49,240
Speaker 1: Victoria and have a conversation because she's been through a lot.

1105
01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:51,040
Speaker 1: And then I realized, like I said to my mom,

1106
01:00:51,160 --> 01:00:54,640
Speaker 1: was like, sometimes I don't sometimes Victoria, Arlen, I just

1107
01:00:54,680 --> 01:00:58,880
Speaker 1: want to be tours and sometimes tours gets really tired.

1108
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:03,000
Speaker 1: And I think when I started to acknowledge that, I

1109
01:01:03,080 --> 01:01:05,840
Speaker 1: was like, oh, I can take this cape off and

1110
01:01:06,600 --> 01:01:09,280
Speaker 1: and I don't have to go and be all of

1111
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:14,200
Speaker 1: this all the time. And I think I started being

1112
01:01:14,240 --> 01:01:16,920
Speaker 1: more authentic when I was speaking and being more authentic

1113
01:01:16,960 --> 01:01:19,720
Speaker 1: with the people around me, and it really opened up

1114
01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:22,479
Speaker 1: so many doors in so many different ways. And even

1115
01:01:22,520 --> 01:01:26,680
Speaker 1: with some of my dear, dear friends, like they wanted

1116
01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:29,480
Speaker 1: to be needed in that way and they wanted to

1117
01:01:29,480 --> 01:01:32,320
Speaker 1: be like, hey, I got you, and and I think

1118
01:01:32,360 --> 01:01:35,880
Speaker 1: I just I realized I'm like me holding on and

1119
01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:40,200
Speaker 1: being so cooped up and everything's fine, eye like that's

1120
01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:44,080
Speaker 1: not real, and that's not authentic, and so I think

1121
01:01:44,600 --> 01:01:46,920
Speaker 1: the moment I started just being like, no, this is hard.

1122
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 1: I'm having a tough day. And I think honestly, when

1123
01:01:50,320 --> 01:01:51,880
Speaker 1: I had that hell scare about a year and a

1124
01:01:51,880 --> 01:01:55,280
Speaker 1: half ago, I just sat there. I remember just dropping him.

1125
01:01:55,520 --> 01:01:57,360
Speaker 1: I don't swear a lot, and I remember I just

1126
01:01:57,840 --> 01:01:59,919
Speaker 1: I was. I was in the car with my mom

1127
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:03,640
Speaker 1: and I was it had affected my mobility and I

1128
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:07,200
Speaker 1: almost died and I'd had a relapse of my conditions

1129
01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:08,480
Speaker 1: and they caught it in time, but it was a

1130
01:02:08,520 --> 01:02:11,600
Speaker 1: whole thing. And I remember came home from the hospital,

1131
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:14,480
Speaker 1: I was super frail and the whole shebang. I remember

1132
01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:16,960
Speaker 1: just sitting there being like can I just say something?

1133
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:19,560
Speaker 1: And she was like sure, and I just like dropped

1134
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:22,840
Speaker 1: the F bomb and I never it was a very

1135
01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:25,320
Speaker 1: out of character. And my mom was like do it again,

1136
01:02:26,080 --> 01:02:29,040
Speaker 1: and she doesn't swear either, and I was like yeah,

1137
01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:32,280
Speaker 1: and then I was like this. I was like yep.

1138
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:35,200
Speaker 1: And so it's like it's like you gotta be real.

1139
01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:37,880
Speaker 1: The more you can keep it real and find that balance,

1140
01:02:38,720 --> 01:02:41,800
Speaker 1: the more authentic you can be. But also like take

1141
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:42,800
Speaker 1: the weight off.

1142
01:02:42,840 --> 01:02:46,400
Speaker 3: When someone cares about you. It isn't a burden to them.

1143
01:02:46,600 --> 01:02:49,720
Speaker 3: It's they show up for you because they love you,

1144
01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:52,280
Speaker 3: and that's what they can do for you in that moment.

1145
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:55,640
Speaker 3: So it takes also a strong person to yes, say

1146
01:02:55,760 --> 01:02:58,240
Speaker 3: I'm not okay, but then also at times to let

1147
01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:02,240
Speaker 3: people show up for you, especially when you do consider yourself.

1148
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:04,880
Speaker 2: An energy dealer, as you do right now.

1149
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:07,360
Speaker 3: I know that at this point you have shared your

1150
01:03:07,400 --> 01:03:10,160
Speaker 3: story with so many and you've made such a big,

1151
01:03:10,560 --> 01:03:14,040
Speaker 3: big impact. When someone comes to your Instagram, they see

1152
01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:16,960
Speaker 3: you as the woman that has told this story, that

1153
01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:22,080
Speaker 3: has come back and beat these unbelievable odds to do

1154
01:03:22,360 --> 01:03:25,520
Speaker 3: what you do. When you look in the mirror every day,

1155
01:03:25,760 --> 01:03:27,920
Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking back at you.

1156
01:03:28,560 --> 01:03:30,840
Speaker 1: I've been doing a superhero post every time I look

1157
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:35,320
Speaker 1: in the mirror. Recently, I've been really trying to work

1158
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:38,920
Speaker 1: on that because because I feel like there's nothing worse

1159
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:41,640
Speaker 1: than like looking in a mirror and being like, oh no,

1160
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:43,680
Speaker 1: what am I doing? You know, when I look in

1161
01:03:43,720 --> 01:03:49,720
Speaker 1: a mirror, I see a survivor, and and I always

1162
01:03:49,720 --> 01:03:52,720
Speaker 1: try to remind myself of that and be like, you're

1163
01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:55,360
Speaker 1: a survivor and you're doing it. To keep doing it

1164
01:03:55,880 --> 01:03:58,560
Speaker 1: I'm done looking in the mirror and seeing like I'll

1165
01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:00,480
Speaker 1: get you this to get you that I don't have,

1166
01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:04,080
Speaker 1: Like I just I'm done doing that. I'm done. I'm

1167
01:04:04,120 --> 01:04:07,560
Speaker 1: done living in the future of the past. I'm done.

1168
01:04:08,160 --> 01:04:11,800
Speaker 1: I really am at a point now where let's celebrate

1169
01:04:11,880 --> 01:04:15,400
Speaker 1: the now. Let's celebrate who we are, celebrate our strengths.

1170
01:04:15,480 --> 01:04:18,920
Speaker 1: So I'm celebrating being a survivor, but I'm also going

1171
01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:23,080
Speaker 1: to celebrate the fact that, like I'm strong and I'm

1172
01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:25,479
Speaker 1: a survivor. So that's what I'm looking in the mirror

1173
01:04:25,560 --> 01:04:28,720
Speaker 1: now and doing that superhero pose or giving myself you know,

1174
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:31,760
Speaker 1: as mel Robins says at high five, like yeah, those

1175
01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:34,480
Speaker 1: little things is being like it's a great day, to

1176
01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:36,760
Speaker 1: have a great day, and even if you don't feel great,

1177
01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:39,680
Speaker 1: say it. You got up and you put your feet

1178
01:04:39,720 --> 01:04:43,240
Speaker 1: on the ground, and for ten freaking years that didn't happen.

1179
01:04:44,200 --> 01:04:47,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes a really strong person also to get

1180
01:04:47,280 --> 01:04:49,440
Speaker 3: to that place where you're like, no, like, we're not

1181
01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:51,960
Speaker 3: going to go in this other direction today, Like today,

1182
01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:54,560
Speaker 3: I'm going to choose to see the good as you've

1183
01:04:54,600 --> 01:04:57,880
Speaker 3: done throughout this entire journey. That doesn't mean that there

1184
01:04:57,920 --> 01:05:01,480
Speaker 3: are difficult moments where those other thoughts come through your mind,

1185
01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:05,000
Speaker 3: but you have the opportunity then to recognize them, note them,

1186
01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:08,760
Speaker 3: and then move in the direction that serves you more.

1187
01:05:09,160 --> 01:05:10,680
Speaker 1: Now, just reroute it.

1188
01:05:10,880 --> 01:05:14,600
Speaker 3: Rerout it exactly, a little redirect, a little pivot, Victoria.

1189
01:05:15,080 --> 01:05:15,800
Speaker 2: Final question.

1190
01:05:16,440 --> 01:05:20,120
Speaker 3: Right now, you have an opportunity to offer yourself a

1191
01:05:20,200 --> 01:05:25,160
Speaker 3: piece of advice. Looking back at that eleven year old

1192
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:29,400
Speaker 3: girl in a vegetative state, knowing what you know, Now,

1193
01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:31,880
Speaker 3: what do you tell her?

1194
01:05:32,880 --> 01:05:34,080
Speaker 4: Ooh?

1195
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:37,479
Speaker 1: I would say, I would say, hang on, sweet girl,

1196
01:05:37,480 --> 01:05:41,600
Speaker 1: you're in for a really, really wonderful ride. Yeah, it's

1197
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:42,720
Speaker 1: gonna be more than Okay.

1198
01:05:43,360 --> 01:05:45,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, thank you so much for just taking the

1199
01:05:46,000 --> 01:05:48,200
Speaker 3: time to talk to me today. Your story, Like I said,

1200
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:52,120
Speaker 3: it's truly remarkable, and I'm so grateful that you're sharing

1201
01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:55,040
Speaker 3: your light with so many because there's so much of

1202
01:05:55,080 --> 01:05:57,880
Speaker 3: it to go around. For the hurdlers that don't follow

1203
01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:00,160
Speaker 3: along with you just yet, how do they keep keep

1204
01:06:00,240 --> 01:06:00,560
Speaker 3: up with you?

1205
01:06:00,680 --> 01:06:02,440
Speaker 2: How do they do that? Give us your details?

1206
01:06:03,200 --> 01:06:06,120
Speaker 1: They can follow me on Instagram at orlyn v one.

1207
01:06:06,280 --> 01:06:07,760
Speaker 1: That's usually that's where I say.

1208
01:06:07,640 --> 01:06:09,720
Speaker 2: It most of to date, amazing.

1209
01:06:10,000 --> 01:06:13,240
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast, Another

1210
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:14,560
Speaker 3: hurdle conquered.

1211
01:06:14,920 --> 01:06:15,960
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.