55: Wakeboard to Wheelchair

/in

Brad Smeele was a professional wakeboarder at the top of the sport performing tricks that no one else could do. However, during one attempt at a trick, Brad crashed into a ramp and broke his neck. He instantly lost the ability to move his arms and legs. He learned to live life without the physical talent he once had, and instead embraces the deeper perspective he has gained. In this episode:

  • Falling in love with wakeboarding
  • Becoming a professional athlete and training year round
  • The first ever to land a specific trick and winning Trick of the Year
  • How another attempt at the trick led to permanent injury
  • Learning how to live life as a quadriplegic
  • Losing his identity in his physical talent and abilities, and gaining a greater perspective
  • The Movement Collaborative – Trying to speed up the research process by collaborating with other spinal injury organizations to find a cure
  • The Keep or Cut Challenge – Taking the challenge involves taking the risk of allowing your friends, family and followers to vote on whether you keep or cut your hair in order to raise money for spinal injury research.
  • “I wish everyone could learn what I’ve learned in my journey without having to go through what I’ve had to go through.”
  • Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs

Brad is the founder of The Movement Collaborative. You can find out more information about the organization here, http://themovementcollaborative.com/. And you can follow Brad on Instagram @bradsmeele

54: Directing ESPN + CBS Sports with Mark Grant

/in

Mark Grant grew up with parents who were addicted to alcohol. He eventually lost both of his parents to alcohol related deaths. However, Mark decided to never drink alcohol throughout his life and became a successful sports journalism major at LSU. Early in his career he became a director for ESPN, and he is 1 of 10 directors for CBS Sports now. In this episode:

  • Growing up with an alcoholic father
  • Becoming the man of the house after his dad left when Mark was 16 years old
  • Watching his mother turn into an alcoholic herself after his father left
  • Grieving two parents that passed away due to alcoholism
  • Learning to be like the good in his dad
  • Never seeing his father again after he abandoned Mark’s family
  • Changing majors from pre-med to broadcast journalism
  • Pursuing ESPN wholeheartedly
  • “Sometimes the opportunity hits you on the side of the head”
  • TV Director – Conducting the TV team orchestra
  • Overcoming racial prejudice in the industry
  • Holding 1 of only 10 Director spots for CBS Sports

You can follow Mark on Twitter @megcbstv.

53: Climbing El Capitan with Cerebral Palsy

/in

 

Stephen Wampler is the first man with cerebral palsy to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He created a stretcher and pulley apparatus that allowed him to pull himself up 2-6 inches at a time which equaled over 20,000 pull-ups over the course of his 6 day ascent. Stephen is also the founder of Camp Wheelchair Adventure Mountain Programs, or Camp Wamp for short. This organization sponsors children with disabilities to experience all of the fun activities of the great outdoors in Lake Tahoe, California. He empowers them to live beyond their disability. In this episode:

  • Growing up with Cerebral Palsy
  • Viewing disability with humor rather than shame
  • Outdoors is a challenging classroom to learn how to overcome the obstacles of life
  • Pushing through the fear of rejection and finding a wife and raising children
  • Camp WAMP – providing the ultimate outdoor experience for children with disabilities; helping the kids achieve more than they ever thought possible
  • The first person with Cerebral Palsy to climb El Capitan
  • Gym time = 6 days a week, 5 hours a day, 3,000 pullups at twice his body weight, everyday
  • Climbing 2000ft of El Capitan, 6 days to complete, 20,000 pullups, 2-6 inches per pullup
  • Getting back down the mountain with the help of Marines
  • Inspiring others with his climb and using it to grow his foundation

You can find out more information about Stephen and Camp WAMP at www.wamplerfoundation.org. Please contribute to this worthy cause or ask your employer to become a part of Project 120 at https://www.wamplerfoundation.org/donate.html. You can follow Stephen on Twitter and Instagram @stephenjwampler

52: Diabetes in Haiti

/in

Mackenson Bonnell was born in Haiti and lost his parents as a teenager. He became the caretaker of his younger siblings, and eventually developed Type I Diabetes when he was living at an orphanage. He was adopted by US parents and together they formed Kay Mackenson which is a clinic in Haiti that provides treatment and education to Haitians regarding diabetes. Mackenson just finished his collegiate career in soccer and is hoping to attend physical therapy school in the near future. In this episode:

  • Growing up in Haiti
  • Losing his parents at a young age and becoming the caretaker of his siblings at 13 years old
  • Having faith and trusting God throughout his loss
  • Learning English at the orphanage
  • Waiting 3 years to get adopted and live in the United States
  • Diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at 17
  • Forming the Kay Mackenson Clinic – Providing healthcare and diabetes education to Haitians
  • Overcoming the culture shock of transitioning to small town Texas
  • Earning a position on a collegiate soccer team without playing high school soccer

You can find out more information about Mackenson’s clinic at https://www.kaymackenson.org/ and you can follow him on Instagram @mpbonnell

You can grab a copy of my book, Underdog – True Stories of Overcoming Adversity, which features 10 stories from the first 40 episodes of the podcast at www.underdogpc.com/book, or on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

51: Walking for a Fix with Brett Bramble

/in

Brett Bramble has been affected by the harmful side effects of drug abuse both directly and indirectly. He was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison for drug possession, and lost his sister, Brittany, to a drug overdose shortly after he was freed from prison. He decided to take action against drug addiction and walked across America twice to raise awareness of the harmful side effects of drug abuse. He is now planning to open Freedom to Grow which will be a drug rehabilitation center in Georgia. In this episode:

  • Violating probation and being sentenced to prison for 18 months
  • Breaking addiction through counseling
  • Losing his sister to drug overdose
  • Taking action by raising awareness against the harmful effects of drug use by walking across America to find relief from pain
  • The strong support community he met along his walk
  • Meeting a woman in Kansas City who also lost her sister, Brittany, to drug overdose
  • Raising money for his own non-profit Freedom to Grow
  • Walking across America a second time and becoming the first person to finish the East Coast Greenway
  • Having a stranger join the walk for 300 miles and 3 weeks so that she could save her own life from addiction
  • Having his dog accompany him for most of the 1st walk and all of the 2nd walk

You can find out more information on Brett at www.brettbramblewalks.com as well as on Facebook @brettbramblewalks.