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Shaz Dagg - Amputee & Paratriathlete’s Inspiring Story & Mindset

November 05, 2023 / 01:23:01

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Sharon dig welcome to my podcast thanks

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mate how are you I'm good thanks so

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Sharon de is your name um you're B ONN

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as shares de uh also Limitless

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Limitless yep for sure yeah and it's

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great to have you here how long you how

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long you been shares is this like a

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nickname that's followed you around

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through life um yeah I've been Shar for

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a few years now just a few mate started

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calling me that and it's just sort of

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stuck you know so um yeah I only get

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called Sharon now when my mother tells

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me off so um yeah it's just sort of

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stuck yeah yeah I like and what about

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Limitless okay Limitless well that was

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so cool um the team down at the

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Wellington limb Center came up with that

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one day um they knew what I was sort of

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going to be starting to get into and

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what I was going to get up to um and try

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and attempt and they came one day I went

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down there for an appointment and they

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came up and said we found a name for

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your shares so um yeah I thought it was

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pretty pretty cool actually Dan Co I

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like it it's a good play on words sure

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for sure hey by the way you you seem

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very nervous all of a sudden I I picked

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you up I booked you a flight I picked

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you up from the airport I think you

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called me dumbass about three times on

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the right into town now you seem nervous

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all of a sudden oh well I don't know

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what you're going to bloody ask me for a

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started Dom but come on man well it's

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your story and it's a hell of a story

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and I think it's

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inspirational um and the adversity

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you've been through it's something that

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one thing I've learned on this podcast

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un shes is that

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everyone even people that you least

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expected from have some sort of

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adversity that they're dealing with

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absolutely so when you when you meet

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someone like you that's been through

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some a whole lot of stuff especially at

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this age and stage of life like what are

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you trying to say about stage and age

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middle age middle age that's all right

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yeah lucky you're lucky um it just lets

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other people know well the [ __ ] that I'm

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dealing with right now if Sharon can get

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through this then I can get through

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whatever I'm going through so I think

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it's really cool yeah so you got nothing

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to worry about although there are some

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very big questions okay there's not okay

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so um I think to paint a picture of um

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you know who you are now and what you've

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been through we should go right back to

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the beginning so um tell us about shar's

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like pre-accident you were you were

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quite fit beforehand you did some events

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and things um I used to dabble around

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you know and I loved my sport always

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love my sport from a young kid um but I

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used to dabble around in a little bit of

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running um and a little bit of cycling

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and that was about it like what sort of

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distance runs oh you know never done

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anything more than a 10K or a half

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marathon you know

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um and I was never ever the best or

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anything like that up there at the top

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it was just more about keeping active

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you know and being in with my mates um

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we we were pretty active mates you know

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um and just done a lot of stuff together

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and but yeah nothing nothing major at

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all and and in terms of your like

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personality and mindset like

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pre-accident did you just have that sort

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of grit and determination um I don't

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think it was nowhere near as what it is

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now um yeah I I think it was just go

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with the flow and have a good time

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before um whereas now it's like you know

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what you can do

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better um and and that's what I enjoy

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about it this journey is just about

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doing stuff for me but hopefully

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encouraging

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others um and that's that's been my

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motto the whole time that all I've

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wanted to do is um if people can see me

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out there doing it hopefully it'll give

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them a bit of encouragement you know you

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s of think well what's my excuse exactly

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you know well hey if she can do it that

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one winged old Chuck can do it there's

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no reason why I can't so yeah it's it's

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more round about that that was my whole

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um idea of wanting to sort of do these

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sort of activities was to try and push

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awareness that you know just because

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we're challenged doesn't mean to say we

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can't still succeed I I I get the

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feeling you you would have always been a

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stubborn [ __ ] though even pre been a

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stubborn [ __ ] all my life ask my

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husband for one um you know he'll tell

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you that yeah you can't you can't be you

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can't be that stubbing though he's stuck

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around you haven't scared him off look

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honestly I would not have been able to

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do half of what I've done if it wasn't

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for Owen you know he's he's a pretty

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cool supportive dude um very very lucky

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to have him by my side yeah by the way

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from our from our dealings um getting

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this podcast off the ground um you're

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you're one of those nauseating couples

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that have a a joined email address yeah

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I know right I mean it was you know back

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in the day when you first got your email

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everybody says what do you do oh you

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just put your names down so it was like

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Owen and Sharon you know and it's like

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wish now I could change it to Owen and

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shares or you know but that's what youve

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done everybody done it and we've never

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changed it no I like that I and what

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about even earlier um speaking of your

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you know pre-accident and your

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stubbornness I heard one podcast you did

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and did you have like a falling out with

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your parents and you got shipped off to

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Family Farm or something I did were were

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you were you I was a [ __ ] mate to my

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were you a real piece of work yeah I was

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I was a real [ __ ] I I gave my parents a

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hard time what way was it phly standard

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sort of teenage stuff yeah I was a bit

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of a rebellion and um bit of trouble you

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know got myself into a bit of trouble

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and that but it was I was you know so

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lucky I had an Auntie and Uncle in the

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man or two that lived on a farm and they

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said sh come and live with us um and

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I've never looked back yeah so so you

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you were um sort of born and raised in

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Topo area and then um shipped to the

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family farm near

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ohaka yeah yeah yeah Jesus you've done

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your homework yeah I had so I I picked

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up on this cuz I've never heard you

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elaborate on it what's that of age like

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14 15 um yeah I was about 15 yeah yeah

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so so real chance of you going off the

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rails at that point oh for sure yeah um

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and that's when my auntie and uncle came

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along and yeah best thing that could

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have ever happened to me just being down

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on the farm out in the open you know um

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learning different stuff just working on

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the farm absolutely loved it changed my

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life for the right direction yeah yeah

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so you you look back now as a as a woman

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in your late 50s days um what do you

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what do you think of the uh the teenage

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year just like harmless harmless fun

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with your friends or yeah yeah it was a

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bit and then um yeah I I went to that

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extra extreme of you know doing a bit of

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stealing and um paying the consequences

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you know um which was good because being

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caught you know

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obviously it sets you on the straighten

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Arrow it gives you a fraking good fright

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you know yeah I was a [ __ ] I was an

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absolute

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bloody I was a right M may but but you

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you say that now and it's like you

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obviously had um you're obviously a good

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person yourself and you obviously had

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like good you know family networks and

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supports you think of like the ram

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Raiders and the crimes that are going on

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now at the same sort of age that Youth

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Level the police take them back home and

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the families for the most part don't

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care yeah um yeah no I I had a great you

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know family Network around me once I got

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down here to the man or two um and yeah

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I mean I was I'm the middle child you

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know Black Sheep shall we say Obviously

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and um you know I've got a um older

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brother and they're a couple of years

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older than me he's done extremely well

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in life I've got a younger sister she's

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done extremely well in life but I've

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sort of done nothing to there you know

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um well what have they done oh my

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brother's got a an amazing super um

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upholstery business over in Australia

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that he started uh my sister's done

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extremely well in the nursing sector and

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she's doing extremely well you know and

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I'm proud of them both don't get me

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wrong but we don't have a close

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relationship um I just sort of stay

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clear and just do my own thing um I just

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find it's easier to be just be me yeah

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um so you're not particularly close with

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your family is that like a result of um

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you're like your misadventure as a

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teenager um no I think it's more my

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choice you know um different things have

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happened over the years yeah and it's

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just like you know I'm sick and [ __ ]

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tired of my parents not listening or

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believe I I felt that they didn't

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believe in me so um it was just easier

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just to pull away live my own life um

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and you know what it's been great it's

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been absolutely fantastic I mean I still

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have contact with my mother you know

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she's in a rest home at the moment um

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going through a real hard time with the

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old cancer

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stuff um so yeah you know like if once a

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month we try and get up there to Tapo

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and see here and you know I just saw her

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last week um we pop we always make a

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point of popping in you know how old is

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she now like 80ish yeah she must be 80

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85 is now I don't sort of keep track you

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know I don't like to think of the years

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um because we're only as old as we feel

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aren't we you know and and I feel like

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I'm 21 not bloody you know 57 so um yeah

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it's but we keep yeah we keeping contact

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yeah okay for some comparison um what

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are words that people would have used to

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describe you before losing your arm and

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now after I don't really know probably

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just you know pig-headed um stubborn

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yeah just before and after same with

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yeah see it's quite funny because it's

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um I've been reading a book about this

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and I reckon um and I've thought about

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this a lot with different people I've

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had on the podcast famous people and

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non-f famous people but there's two sort

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of mindsets you have like a a fixed

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mindset or a growth mindset and you can

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go from having a fixed mindset and

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change that to a growth mindset at

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anytime so say you pre-accident if you

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had a flexed mindset you can lose your

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arm and then change it to a growth

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mindset but if you've had a growth

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mindset all along and then something

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like this happens it's you're probably

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going to have a growth mindset

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afterwards as well yeah yeah for sure I

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agree um yeah I I think I've more got

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the growth now yeah um but it's always

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it have been there or no I I I think it

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probably has done yeah you know to be

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honest it probably has but I've never

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really thought about until you know

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you've just sort of said it um you're

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probably right you know um yeah so I

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think I have got the growth yeah now um

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I just or you definitely do now the 100%

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there's no question about it um and I

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think you're right I have changed the

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mindset has changed for sure but yeah

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and like you say I I hadn't even thought

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about it do in that way yeah until

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you've mentioned it so December 2016 um

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that's when the accident happened with

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the Farmgate so that's uh how old were

00:10:23

you at the time like 50 uh must have

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been

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51 52 must have been 2 yeah um just a

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freak accident mate yeah yeah was this

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the middle of a gate on a goat farm yeah

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yeah so um I've got a mate that started

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a goat farm down in the Man 2 um and

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they had 900 goats you know housed in

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this big awesome shed um and she asked

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me if I'd like to come along and do you

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know do farming for a while so I was

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like yeah [ __ ] I would like to give this

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a go growth mindset yeah yeah yeah yeah

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if you had a FX mindset you wouldn't

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have been there that day so yeah I

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jumped at the chance and um just one

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particular day you know this these big

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um de fence gates and they covered and

00:11:06

corrugated iron now the reasoning behind

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that is to keep the weather out of the

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animals that are housed inside the shed

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okay so it's not to keep the animals in

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it it's just to keep them safe and dry

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comfortable for sure yep yep keeping

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them their housing and that dry um so in

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this particular day I was closing this

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gate ready for milking and just a freak

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gusta wind mate just picked me up and

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the gate and slammed me um against the

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post you know a big defense post well

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what are you what are your Recollections

00:11:35

of that does that happen in slow motion

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or it just happened so quick it happened

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so bloody quick like a matter of seconds

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absolutely it was you know to lift me

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and my fat ass off the ground it had to

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be a pretty good you know gust of wind

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so yeah it just slammed me there um and

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I ended up on the ground um obviously

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the gate slammed and then reopened and I

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just landed on the ground and I looked

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at my arm and it was just bent in a Like

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A L

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shape unbelievable like like like like

00:12:05

blood coming out or had it slashed it or

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no just bones everywhere just just just

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completely like this here was just in a

00:12:12

V so imagine that both bones were just

00:12:15

snapped completely in half mate but the

00:12:18

bones weren't poking out of the skin or

00:12:20

no no you don't have to get that Bloody

00:12:21

gruesome man um I just just want to

00:12:24

paint a picture of what you went through

00:12:26

there so so you're um so adrenaline k

00:12:29

pain or are you just um I think the

00:12:31

adrenaline had kicked in by then so no I

00:12:33

wasn't in pain um but I had this small

00:12:35

Nick on my knee obviously from a bit of

00:12:38

corrugated ey and I just sort of got a

00:12:40

Nick well that was more bloody painful

00:12:42

mate seriously um it was so painful I

00:12:45

don't know what was going on I don't

00:12:47

know whether the pain had transferred

00:12:49

down to here but it was just bizarre um

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so we went to the hospital um get to the

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hospital get to A&E and the guys they

00:12:57

were great there

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um they took one look and they said yep

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well we don't really need to send you

00:13:02

for an x-ray sh as we can see what's

00:13:04

going on um so they took me into a room

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um knocked me out for five minutes and

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realigned it and stuck me in a temperary

00:13:13

cast and I can remember the the doctor

00:13:16

in there saying to me you'll need to go

00:13:18

to surgery tonight shz to get it plated

00:13:21

and um pinned you know just a few couple

00:13:24

of PES and a couple of pins on each side

00:13:27

just a normal six to eight week recovery

00:13:30

and I'm like yep can handle that so

00:13:32

you're you're feeling okay you're

00:13:33

feeling pretty good about yeah yeah yeah

00:13:35

yeah absolutely and I'm like okay

00:13:37

surgery tonight that's fine he said

00:13:39

because if you don't go to surgery

00:13:40

tonight Shar he said there's going to be

00:13:42

some serious

00:13:43

complications unfortunately I didn't go

00:13:45

to surgery that night and were you after

00:13:49

being being told that were

00:13:51

you I don't like were you sort of I mean

00:13:54

it's easy to to have this line of

00:13:56

questioning and have this conversation

00:13:57

with the benefit of hindsight but were

00:13:59

you sort of like you know pushing it

00:14:02

yourself and saying Hey listen I need to

00:14:03

get to surgery I got told I need the

00:14:05

surgery at that stage no because they

00:14:06

told me that I'd go that night okay so

00:14:09

you know I was reassured that yeah it

00:14:11

was going to happen that night so I was

00:14:12

like okay so you just go with it right

00:14:14

yeah they the exper yeah you just roll

00:14:16

with it so I'm like okay get that night

00:14:19

at about 7:00 they come and tell me that

00:14:21

no I was going to be bumped again this

00:14:24

went on for five days mate five freaking

00:14:27

days see again we've got the benefit of

00:14:30

hindsight here but if it was me I I I

00:14:32

think if I was told you need to get to

00:14:33

surgery ASAP or else there's going to be

00:14:35

complications I'd like to think I'd be

00:14:37

like aggressively pursuing it and

00:14:39

pushing it and following up I think I

00:14:41

was yeah but obviously you know you're

00:14:44

in a lot of pain um the reason why I was

00:14:47

in a lot of pain was because I could see

00:14:50

my hand was start my fingers were

00:14:51

starting to swell my hand was starting

00:14:54

to go black you know and the pain was

00:14:57

starting to get quite quite intense so

00:15:00

that's when I sort of got

00:15:02

pretty um let's say forceful mhm you

00:15:06

know and I'd say to the nurses so this

00:15:07

is day this is day about three and a

00:15:10

half yeah and I'm saying look you know I

00:15:13

really need to see somebody here um and

00:15:15

of course the nurses had come oh we give

00:15:17

you some more Panadol shares you know in

00:15:20

the end I I I did day five I said you

00:15:23

know this is

00:15:25

[ __ ] I'm in pain I want to see some

00:15:28

body I want a doctor in here today I

00:15:31

need to see I said have a look at my

00:15:32

hand and by that stage you could see my

00:15:36

Knuckles my fingers were going black so

00:15:39

I didn't know what the rest of the arm

00:15:41

was like so you were starting to panic

00:15:44

well I wasn't starting to panic I was in

00:15:45

pain okay I was in severe pain right um

00:15:49

CU don't forget I'm still in a temporary

00:15:51

cast so a lot of the swelling couldn't

00:15:53

swell so um anyway the surgeon came in

00:15:58

and I could can remember it it's just

00:16:00

it's just like he walked through that

00:16:01

door and I'm in a bed here like this

00:16:03

sitting up and he just walked in the

00:16:05

door and my um was obviously sitting

00:16:08

here and he he just said get her to

00:16:12

surgery now and I could remember mate I

00:16:15

was rushed out of that room um and down

00:16:18

to surgery so I had surgery thinking

00:16:21

that I was going to come out of that and

00:16:23

I'd just be you know couple of four

00:16:25

plates you know two plates on each bone

00:16:28

and screws in each each bones um when I

00:16:32

came to the surgeon was actually

00:16:34

standing by my bed and Me in My Big

00:16:37

Mouth I said what's going on if you cut

00:16:40

me [ __ ] arm

00:16:42

off wow he says no sh we haven't but he

00:16:46

said I need to inform you we've had to

00:16:47

do a fasciotomy what's that exactly I

00:16:50

said speak to me in English so a FAS cuz

00:16:54

I couldn't see my arm it was all

00:16:56

bandaged up I had no idea what what it

00:16:58

was looking like so fasciotomy was they

00:17:01

had to they cut right down the inside of

00:17:04

my arm cross my hand cross the side of

00:17:07

my hand and all the way back up the side

00:17:09

now the reasoning of that was it's to

00:17:12

release the pressure because it had

00:17:15

swollen so much it was severely

00:17:18

swollen um so from there every second

00:17:22

day I went back to theater and they

00:17:24

stitched up segments about this big each

00:17:27

time so I had nine surgeries in 11

00:17:30

days on the 11th day um this young

00:17:34

intern came in to my room and he says oh

00:17:37

I'm just going to have a look at your um

00:17:39

check your arm shares and I'm like oh

00:17:41

yeah that's fine didn't warn me about

00:17:43

what the hell my arm was going to look

00:17:45

like or what I was about to see he took

00:17:49

all the bandages off and the dressing

00:17:51

off and I don't know if you've seen any

00:17:55

photos D but no I haven't but there was

00:17:58

the this gaping

00:17:59

hole in my arm so this massive hole here

00:18:03

now um some people will be watching this

00:18:05

on YouTube most people will be listening

00:18:07

to it what's the size anything you can

00:18:09

compare it to in terms of size uh

00:18:11

probably the size of tennis ball okay oh

00:18:13

sh yeah so and and as round as a tennis

00:18:16

for where abouts like on the where like

00:18:18

on the on the forearm yeah just were

00:18:21

trying to close up um and that was and I

00:18:24

I looked and I was like holy [ __ ] balls

00:18:27

you know

00:18:28

um and then I looked and I said to him

00:18:30

oh is that a bit of gor and he goes no

00:18:32

no that's your tendon I'm like [ __ ] you

00:18:35

know I'm sitting there for the first

00:18:36

time seeing my arm and here's this

00:18:38

massive hole I mean they would make you

00:18:40

queasy looking at it on someone else's

00:18:42

arm looking at on your own arm are you

00:18:43

are you panicking at that point I wasn't

00:18:45

panicking I was sort of like to be

00:18:47

honest I was probably sort of steering

00:18:49

away from it you know at this point um

00:18:52

and I said to him why the hell have I

00:18:54

still got that hole there and he says oh

00:18:56

we can't close that shars we tried to

00:18:58

close it and when you woke up last time

00:19:00

you were in so much pain can't you

00:19:02

remember and I says no and he said no we

00:19:05

had to rush you back into theater and

00:19:07

take those stitches out that we can't

00:19:09

close it it's too um he's still too

00:19:12

swollen so from there they sent me down

00:19:15

to Hut Hospital in Wellington to the

00:19:17

Plastics unit where they removed a bit

00:19:19

of my backside not that you can notice

00:19:22

um and like a skin graft yep and stuck

00:19:25

it in slapped them in there um and

00:19:28

that was going to be what my arm was

00:19:30

going to look like so from there I went

00:19:32

home good old recovery you know best

00:19:34

recovery in bed sleep you know let's be

00:19:38

honest sleep is our best recovery yeah

00:19:40

absolutely so when you when you leave um

00:19:42

the hospital by the way that's a lot

00:19:43

that's a lot to go through like how many

00:19:44

how many operations like n so I had

00:19:46

probably 11 operations all up in 14 days

00:19:51

yeah that takes it out of you it does

00:19:52

yeah um but you were sent home so you've

00:19:55

had all these surgeries um all these all

00:19:58

the all the stress of this and the skin

00:20:00

graft as well and you sent home and you

00:20:03

think you're just going to recover and

00:20:04

it's going to be good all good you I was

00:20:06

sent home and I thought yep my arm's

00:20:08

going to this is a recovery stage now

00:20:10

we're starting the 6 to8 week recovery

00:20:12

but when I left Hut hospital they made

00:20:14

another appointment for me to come back

00:20:16

so that they could check the skin graft

00:20:17

obviously um so yeah about a month later

00:20:20

went back down there once again um took

00:20:23

all the dressings off and it was the

00:20:25

first time I got to see my arm um I

00:20:28

probably should have bought you some

00:20:29

photos DS and it's on the phone I can

00:20:31

easily show you they no thanks they're

00:20:33

pretty gruesome you know this it'll show

00:20:35

whether you're a man or a mouse you know

00:20:37

oh I'm a mouse I'm a mouse I might get

00:20:40

some off you for a for my video guide

00:20:42

you might want for sure um so yeah it

00:20:44

was the first time I got to see my arm

00:20:47

yeah not pretty so I was scarred all the

00:20:50

way down here had this massive you know

00:20:53

skin grafting in here um which in a

00:20:56

month's time the skin grafting had

00:20:58

shrunk down and it was looking okay what

00:21:01

do you reckon it looked like an arm that

00:21:02

had been like chewed by a dog or

00:21:04

something would you say or yeah a shark

00:21:06

a shark right yeah yeah just and you so

00:21:09

when you see that do you um what's your

00:21:11

initial reaction like do you you break

00:21:13

down and cry like you no what's the

00:21:15

point of crying you know it's only

00:21:17

spilled water you know um you look at it

00:21:20

and yeah you're

00:21:22

disappointed I didn't realize the extent

00:21:24

of my injuries until all the hospitals

00:21:27

let's put it this way I didn't realize

00:21:29

the extent of the hospital's [ __ ]

00:21:31

up um because this should not have

00:21:33

happened are you are you frustrated at

00:21:35

that point um I know you're not a person

00:21:37

that likes to look back in anger but

00:21:39

take you back to that moment um honestly

00:21:41

I'm not frustrated I'm more all I wanted

00:21:45

to do was put my energy and my time into

00:21:48

my recovery what's the point of feeling

00:21:50

anger you know and boiling yourself up

00:21:53

you're not it's not going to benefit you

00:21:55

at all so no but if it was me I'm just

00:21:57

I'm probably projecting here I'd be

00:21:59

[ __ ] infuriated well you know at that

00:22:01

point it hadn't really hit me Dom okay

00:22:03

it really hadn't hit me as to what I was

00:22:06

going to be left with what sort of arm I

00:22:08

was going to have Okay so this stage

00:22:10

your arms a Miss but you think it's

00:22:11

going to be fine yep okay yep totally

00:22:13

thinking I was still going to have the

00:22:15

use of an arm and I was going to have

00:22:17

you know my my other arm my left arm um

00:22:22

so yeah as as rehab sort of continued on

00:22:26

the the scar

00:22:28

they didn't really improve the um hole

00:22:31

that was in there from my skin graph

00:22:34

yeah it was there it wasn't pretty you

00:22:35

know I mean I'm not a Comm a cosmetic

00:22:38

chick by any means take a look at me you

00:22:40

know [ __ ] I don't buy that [ __ ] you know

00:22:43

I Was Born This Way why try and spend

00:22:45

thousands of dollars trying to cover it

00:22:46

up so you know the Cosmetic sort of side

00:22:48

of things didn't really worry me but

00:22:50

when I saw this it did start to get to

00:22:54

me that you know this isn't good because

00:22:58

in the end I used to just have my arm

00:23:02

sitting here like this trying to protect

00:23:04

it because it was useless it was

00:23:07

freaking useless for anyone that's

00:23:08

listening to this um imagine so she's um

00:23:11

she has this missing her left arm now

00:23:13

but you hold it like held it like it was

00:23:14

in an invisible sling yep for sure up

00:23:16

against the body perfect um and um yeah

00:23:20

so I just hold it there and just try and

00:23:21

protect it um and in the end you know it

00:23:25

was I it was useless mate I just I had a

00:23:28

name for it you ready I've heard you say

00:23:31

this in a couple of podcasts yeah [ __ ]

00:23:32

and a sock I used to call it my [ __ ] and

00:23:34

a sock yeah what does that mean well it

00:23:36

was just [ __ ] useless you males will

00:23:38

understand that you know at times you

00:23:40

know and that's why I used to call it

00:23:41

that it was just useless because it was

00:23:44

in like a bandage and it was just yeah

00:23:47

it just used to hang it used to flop so

00:23:50

um that was my name for it you know I

00:23:52

was trying to make light of situation

00:23:53

and you know different things and that

00:23:55

was a way of calling it something

00:23:57

ridiculous and make having a bit of fun

00:23:59

with it but yeah in the end it it just

00:24:01

became redundant I lost all muscle mass

00:24:04

and it was just redundant just there but

00:24:07

did you still have like um your grip

00:24:09

strength in your wrist and your hand

00:24:11

okay so I lost everything mate okay so

00:24:14

it it was literally redundant it

00:24:18

was okay but I'm thinking about things

00:24:21

um we can get to this later like things

00:24:23

things that you do now that you know you

00:24:25

people with both hands and both arms

00:24:27

would take for grounded like doing up

00:24:28

buttons on your shirt for example could

00:24:30

you use your left hand when you had that

00:24:31

post accident to no okay no I couldn't

00:24:34

do so it was just sort of ornamental oh

00:24:36

it was okay and it was an ugly

00:24:38

ornamental you know it it wasn't a nice

00:24:41

thing to have sitting there um but you

00:24:44

know I I still carried on with my life I

00:24:46

still went out and done things but it

00:24:48

got to a point where I could see that

00:24:51

possibly I could go into a different

00:24:55

spiral um what you mean I I could have

00:24:58

gone down this path of anger yeah um and

00:25:04

being grumpy and being annoyed and

00:25:07

getting

00:25:08

frustrated and I didn't want to go down

00:25:10

that path Dom I really really didn't

00:25:12

want to go down that path I could see

00:25:14

how easy it would be for somebody to

00:25:17

spiral on a downward path so I had to

00:25:20

make a

00:25:21

decision um and it had to be my decision

00:25:24

couldn't be anybody else's so um I

00:25:27

thought you know I want to move on with

00:25:29

my life I don't want to

00:25:31

be um stuck in this position where you

00:25:36

know I could

00:25:38

get in a situation that I didn't want to

00:25:40

be negative head space yeah yeah um so

00:25:45

yeah I wanted to move forward with my

00:25:46

life so I had to make a decision and

00:25:48

make so it was I came up with this most

00:25:52

radical stupid

00:25:54

decision um and it just you know it just

00:25:57

felt felt right I don't yeah I don't

00:25:59

know you say radical stupid decision I

00:26:00

know you're doing that say that tongue

00:26:01

and cheick but it feels like uh it was

00:26:04

probably the sensible or even the only

00:26:05

decision to make um yeah or no yeah I

00:26:09

mean you know some people wouldn't go to

00:26:11

that extreme you know it was pretty

00:26:12

extreme this decision you know when I

00:26:15

threw it at my husband whoa mate yeah so

00:26:19

you you guys been married like 30 odd

00:26:21

years yeah okay yeah he's my best mate

00:26:23

he's my best mate and he's um yeah he's

00:26:25

got got your you know he's got my back

00:26:27

yeah there's there's no there's no

00:26:28

agenda whatsoever at that point he's got

00:26:30

me my back and so you know I threw this

00:26:32

idea and you know I came up with how am

00:26:34

I going to approach this with them you

00:26:37

know because it's a big thing you know

00:26:39

um so I just one day I just said to him

00:26:41

can we sit down and have a talk um and I

00:26:44

just said to him I've made a decision um

00:26:47

and I hope you'll support me but I said

00:26:50

I want it off and he was no not at all

00:26:54

was he why why was that as initi um I I

00:26:57

don't know it was you know cuz he must

00:26:58

have had so this was um the amputation

00:27:01

was 2018 so it's like a couple of years

00:27:04

of you you recovering or trying to

00:27:06

recover or dealing with this um you know

00:27:09

useless uh limb that you called a [ __ ]

00:27:11

and a sock

00:27:13

um yeah why why why did why was his was

00:27:16

that his initial reaction it must have

00:27:17

been something that occurred to him over

00:27:19

that time well no I don't think it had I

00:27:21

don't think it had I think I don't know

00:27:24

whether it was because he thought it it

00:27:26

may improve over

00:27:28

time I suppose you always hold out High

00:27:30

pay oh for sure yeah we all do don't we

00:27:33

of course we all hope that you know it's

00:27:35

going to be for the better um but I knew

00:27:38

that that wasn't going to be for the

00:27:40

better so I wanted to make it for the

00:27:42

better and the only way for me to make

00:27:44

it better was to yeah remove it cut the

00:27:47

bugger off get rid of it feed it to the

00:27:49

Flaming dogs you

00:27:52

know can the dogs are like where don't

00:27:55

there looks like a shark's already had

00:27:56

to go there okay so Owens so Owen's

00:27:59

initial reaction is no does that come

00:28:01

from like a place of Love or consume for

00:28:05

you or I I I honestly believe it was

00:28:08

because you know he loves me yeah um and

00:28:10

he was looking out for me but you know

00:28:13

so I had to sort of coax it around a bit

00:28:15

you know I I did have to coax him around

00:28:18

um in the end I just said to him look

00:28:20

it's my life it's my body um and this is

00:28:23

what I want to do and I said I hope you

00:28:25

support me and he did you know obviously

00:28:29

um yeah he came around and he knew that

00:28:31

you know over time I think he thought

00:28:33

about it um and he knew that it was the

00:28:35

right thing for me to do did you did you

00:28:37

guys come up with like a list of pros

00:28:39

and cons or anything or no you know um I

00:28:41

actually spoke to one of my mates and

00:28:43

said that because I didn't talk to a lot

00:28:45

of people about it um because I knew

00:28:47

that all be you know no you can't have

00:28:48

that Shaz and I didn't want all those

00:28:50

negative reactions but I did speak to

00:28:52

one mate and she said shares what you

00:28:54

should try doing is tying your hand

00:28:56

behind your back for a week and see how

00:28:58

you go and I thought no if I'm doing

00:29:01

this I'm going in Boots and all it's

00:29:03

just going to happen and you just got to

00:29:04

deal with it then don't you you know

00:29:07

yeah but there's no reversal oh

00:29:09

absolutely not but I mean you just got

00:29:11

to deal with it oh no wait a minute just

00:29:14

I want the useless arm back yeah so yeah

00:29:17

I found a surgeon um did you need to did

00:29:19

they make you undergo any compost

00:29:21

counseling or anything like that um yeah

00:29:22

I had to do a couple of sessions oh [ __ ]

00:29:24

that's a lot of crap isn't it you know

00:29:26

um well it's

00:29:28

I mean um yeah I I had the same sort of

00:29:31

thing mandatory very very different

00:29:32

situation but mandatory counseling when

00:29:34

um me and JJ and my wife at the time

00:29:37

undergoing fertility stuff and we were

00:29:38

about to use a mate sper donor sperm and

00:29:41

you have like mandatory counseling but

00:29:42

it's it's easy to say the answers that

00:29:44

you know you should say for sure very

00:29:47

easy to fool them I think I I I just

00:29:49

felt like I was just doing a recording

00:29:51

yeah you know it was yes no yeah n yeah

00:29:55

yeah I suppose so you know it was yeah

00:29:58

like you say I think it's very easy to

00:29:59

fool them not that I was out there to do

00:30:02

that g not at all no no and I'm exactly

00:30:04

the same and it's one of those

00:30:06

things it feels like we have to go

00:30:09

through yeah and like with with my

00:30:10

situation which is very different to

00:30:12

yours with the donor spin thing like I

00:30:13

had a couple of years leading up to that

00:30:15

where it's like this may be a path we

00:30:17

have to go down so you have time to

00:30:18

think about it same with you I guess you

00:30:20

had a lot of time to think about well I

00:30:22

I didn't really because you know it

00:30:24

happened in December 16 the accident so

00:30:27

I only had that 12 months you know that

00:30:30

from recovering to making a decision to

00:30:33

getting it removed yeah honestly you

00:30:35

know I must have had red flags by my

00:30:37

name because you don't just go into a

00:30:41

surgeon and say that you want to remove

00:30:43

a part of your body and next minute

00:30:45

you're getting it done so um I think

00:30:48

they sort of knew that that [ __ ] up

00:30:50

basically and you know okay if this is

00:30:52

what she wants let's let's make this

00:30:54

happen for her um plus I think my

00:30:57

surgeon um he was fantastic um I still

00:31:01

have a great relationship with him now

00:31:04

um he's done my knise so he's seen quite

00:31:06

a bit of my body you know um and he he's

00:31:10

yeah he's always helped me now yeah he's

00:31:12

made made it made things happen for me

00:31:15

so anyway I saw him and he put me on to

00:31:18

Prof thirston um a guy down at a

00:31:21

professor down in Wellington who was um

00:31:24

obviously the man for amputations so I

00:31:27

contacted him and um we had a few emails

00:31:31

back and forth and then next minute I

00:31:33

get this email saying let's make it

00:31:35

happen so we did from there it just

00:31:38

evolved so what what's that

00:31:41

process um like do you do you discuss

00:31:44

where it's going to be cut off or so

00:31:45

yeah so we talked about it and discussed

00:31:48

it and um because I was right cut right

00:31:52

up here right up to my elbow basically

00:31:54

and it was a bit of a mess he said we

00:31:56

can do a below elbow shes but he said I

00:31:58

would suggest we go above elbow So Below

00:32:02

elbow would make it easier in terms of

00:32:03

like um

00:32:05

Pro yeah and if you see a lot of arm

00:32:08

amputees a lot of them are below elbow

00:32:12

there's not many of us that are above

00:32:13

elbow so we're the special ones

00:32:17

obviously um but um yeah so we went so

00:32:21

he um amputated it just above the elbow

00:32:25

here yeah so it was as you can see it's

00:32:28

a lot shorter now than what it was um

00:32:30

when we first done it but then after he

00:32:34

amputated we had

00:32:36

complications um and not only do I have

00:32:39

severe phantom pain I have this thing

00:32:42

called CPS which is complex regional

00:32:44

pain syndrome um and like I said to you

00:32:47

a bit earlier when we're talking it's

00:32:48

like if you've ever peed on an electric

00:32:52

fence you know what it's like you know

00:32:54

you get that full instant jarring and

00:32:56

that shocking well that's what I have

00:32:58

mean does that just is that um

00:33:00

sporadically or occasionally or it's all

00:33:02

the time permanently so um so it

00:33:05

constantly s of feels like you're being

00:33:06

T say yeah yeah um what do you what do

00:33:10

you what do you take for that um so I I

00:33:12

I don't take um I instantly got off the

00:33:15

tramol and the seol and all that sort of

00:33:18

stuff um and then I've I've been had

00:33:21

some super support people around me and

00:33:24

um we've tried different things um I

00:33:26

went to have been in contact with a pain

00:33:28

specialist Dr Amir up here um and we've

00:33:32

been dealing with him and my um people

00:33:35

down in py um and we' finally came we've

00:33:40

tried different medications obviously so

00:33:43

so oh I'm just trying to get my head

00:33:44

around something so post um post

00:33:46

accident but preamputation were you in

00:33:48

were you in pain you had this useless

00:33:50

arm I was had discomfort right had

00:33:53

discomfort but I wouldn't call it

00:33:55

pain um so and then once we um amputated

00:33:59

it obviously the nerves didn't agree

00:34:02

with that because don't forget it was a

00:34:05

massive trauma of being smashed and

00:34:08

broken um you know you've got both bones

00:34:11

completely broken in half snapped in

00:34:13

half so it's a massive trauma it's not

00:34:15

like just a break that a kid has in the

00:34:18

playground you know from falling out of

00:34:20

a tree yeah this was severe um in their

00:34:24

terms um so yeah so that trauma on its

00:34:28

own has fired the

00:34:31

nerves um from instantly from that

00:34:34

trauma so once we had it amputated it's

00:34:39

obviously um elevated that that pain and

00:34:42

the nerve

00:34:44

endings so um yeah so we we we've had

00:34:49

two further amputations since

00:34:51

then um where I've had an awesome

00:34:54

surgeon down at Hut Hospital Dr Bon

00:34:57

um he really looked after me and tried

00:34:59

different things so we went back to

00:35:01

surgery another time this is a couple

00:35:03

years later um and he what he done was

00:35:08

he shortened it he found well he

00:35:10

obviously opened up Stumpy um found the

00:35:14

nerves stretched them SE them and then

00:35:18

he let them go hoping that the nerve

00:35:20

endings would end up somewhere back up

00:35:23

here um so that there'd be no pressure

00:35:26

or nerve ending down here where I was

00:35:28

getting all the pain um so we were

00:35:30

hoping that was going to happen um and

00:35:32

eliminate the pain unfortunately it

00:35:35

didn't so

00:35:37

about a year maybe 18 months later he

00:35:41

tried to have another go and we went

00:35:42

through this whole process of he had

00:35:45

this brain wave of um and this idea that

00:35:48

he had to take to a panel to get it

00:35:50

approve first to go ahead and do this so

00:35:53

I still didn't know if I was going to

00:35:55

have this third amputation or not so

00:35:58

they're just like going higher and yeah

00:36:00

oh god um so we we got to go ahead and

00:36:04

the approval to do this third amputation

00:36:07

and what he done then was once again he

00:36:09

opened up Stumpy found those nerve

00:36:11

endings which had neuromas growing on

00:36:14

the end of them which was causing the

00:36:17

pain um so he once again he stretched

00:36:20

them he um cut them and then removed

00:36:24

those neuromas and then he saided them

00:36:26

again the nerve endings and then what he

00:36:28

done was he drilled straight through my

00:36:30

bone and he's inserted the nerve endings

00:36:33

into my bone so that if the new Romas

00:36:36

grow back again hopefully it won't

00:36:39

penetrate penetrate through the bone um

00:36:42

and that was he said to me Shaz this is

00:36:44

the last thing I can think of doing for

00:36:46

you so you know I've I've had some

00:36:49

awesome team behind me to trying to help

00:36:51

me as much as possible with this pain um

00:36:55

unfortunately it hasn't worked

00:36:57

so we're still in pain so Stumpy's still

00:37:00

a prick um yeah I've heard you um refer

00:37:04

to it as Stumpy and a a couple of um

00:37:06

podcasts that I've listened to not why

00:37:08

did you why did you decide to um to name

00:37:10

it when when did that happen did that

00:37:12

happened pre the amputation or I

00:37:15

honestly when I first had the amputation

00:37:17

the day of the surgery I woke up and I

00:37:21

looked down and here was this big fat

00:37:24

you know um bandaged stump um and I just

00:37:28

looked down and I had the biggest smile

00:37:30

on my face Dom I just um and I just

00:37:34

looked down and I said welcome to sh's

00:37:38

World Stumpy um and it's just stuck you

00:37:41

know and

00:37:42

honestly I um it was the best decision

00:37:45

of my life absolutely best decision of

00:37:48

my life mate yeah the um the the the

00:37:51

Stumpy thing um the thing thing I like

00:37:53

about that is uh um yeah rather than

00:37:57

like mourning what you're losing and

00:37:59

talking about losing your arm you talk

00:38:00

about gaining something new oh

00:38:02

absolutely I don't know I don't know if

00:38:03

that was subconscious or an intentional

00:38:05

thing but it's a way of framing it that

00:38:07

it it was just like you know this is the

00:38:09

start of a New Journey this is going to

00:38:12

be an awesome Journey um and I just

00:38:15

wanted it to be a great journey you know

00:38:17

I wanted it to be a whole new Journey

00:38:20

Stumpy and I were starting over you know

00:38:23

and it was it was a new beginning and

00:38:26

like I say the best fraking decision of

00:38:29

my life Stumpy Stumpy and Shar on tour

00:38:32

sounds like sounds like some sort of

00:38:34

weird comedy movie that you'd see in

00:38:36

video easy back in the day um so you

00:38:39

just go back to like the the the I know

00:38:41

the day of or the day before the

00:38:43

amputation like yeah so you're you're in

00:38:44

a hospital getting prepped up and maybe

00:38:46

you've got the Vivid marker drawn on

00:38:47

your on your

00:38:49

arm like do you have like a like a mour

00:38:52

moment to yourself like a moment of say

00:38:55

that that that's really good question

00:38:57

and it's funny and it's I forget about

00:38:59

bringing this up but you know like um

00:39:01

the morning of the

00:39:03

surgery uh my surgeon says you know um

00:39:07

right sh have you thought about what

00:39:08

you'd like to do with your Lo once I

00:39:11

remove it or your white back or collect

00:39:12

and I'm like oh [ __ ] no I got no idea

00:39:16

and he goes well you know some people

00:39:18

like to have it returned and they keep

00:39:20

it in the freezer and so that when they

00:39:23

pass eventually they feel like they a

00:39:26

whole person and I hadn't even thought

00:39:29

about any of this D you know and um and

00:39:32

he says some you know get it cremated

00:39:36

and keep it for the same reason you know

00:39:39

there's religious reasons I suppose in a

00:39:41

in a way a lot of people would said as

00:39:42

like a part of your a part of your dying

00:39:44

like it's it's the old you and I and he

00:39:47

says you know what would you like then

00:39:48

he said oh you can give it to Medical

00:39:51

Science and of course my natural

00:39:53

reaction and my first reaction was not

00:39:55

thinking what my mouth was about to say

00:39:58

but I said feed it to the [ __ ]

00:40:01

dogs and he just looked at me he's this

00:40:04

you know um nearly retired gentleman and

00:40:08

he just looked at me and a couple of the

00:40:10

nurses laughed you know and then I said

00:40:12

oh sorry um you know um and I said

00:40:17

because I just wanted it gone you know

00:40:18

it was no good to me I didn't want the

00:40:20

bloody thing back you know it was my

00:40:22

decision to get rid of it so why the

00:40:23

hell would I want it back you know so um

00:40:26

um I just said give it to Medical

00:40:28

Science I said hopefully this will

00:40:30

prevent somebody else going through what

00:40:32

I've gone through so um what they done

00:40:35

with it I got no idea Dom and I don't

00:40:37

care I really don't care

00:40:40

yeah see um I I'm probably pettier than

00:40:43

you I think um I've just been thinking

00:40:45

the last couple of minutes what I'd do

00:40:46

with it and I probably would have got it

00:40:48

back and then sent it to the the [ __ ]

00:40:50

in paliston North Hospital that [ __ ]

00:40:52

it up in the first place by messing

00:40:53

around for 5 days yeah well you know I

00:40:56

have thought of that sometimes cuz

00:40:57

there's no accountability on that end is

00:40:59

there no accountability whatsoever and

00:41:02

what chance do you have of any

00:41:03

accountability when you you know yeah

00:41:05

and what and what you're doing and

00:41:06

saying is is exactly the right thing

00:41:08

like there's no use wasting 5 years

00:41:10

seven years 10 years of your life

00:41:12

collecting folders of court documents

00:41:14

going through the system for what maybe

00:41:17

100 Grand at the end of it Couple Grand

00:41:19

you know and that's what I said to

00:41:20

people look it's not about the money

00:41:23

it's about moving forward yeah but you

00:41:25

can see where people and how people

00:41:28

think and you know if I don't want that

00:41:31

anger and that negativity and that

00:41:34

frustration even someone's saying sorry

00:41:36

like what's it going to change oh mate

00:41:38

you know you might get a letter with a

00:41:40

scribble signature at the bottom of it

00:41:43

what the [ __ ] does that mean you know

00:41:45

what is what does that give you yeah it

00:41:47

doesn't give you any you know

00:41:50

closure my closure is just the beginning

00:41:54

of the opening yeah of my your journey

00:41:57

you know that's that's my closure yeah

00:42:01

yeah so so so when you're in that

00:42:03

hospital bed recovering and the the

00:42:04

hours or the days after it you do you um

00:42:07

yeah is it emotional or you just happy

00:42:09

no I'm happy mate yeah I was ecstatic

00:42:12

yeah I was I just wanted to get out of

00:42:14

there move on um yeah yeah I went

00:42:17

through a fair bit of pain um that's

00:42:19

where the pain obviously started after

00:42:21

the amputation and I went through a fear

00:42:22

bit of pain um and they moved did did

00:42:25

they warn you about that do they warn

00:42:26

you it could be painful CU you you sort

00:42:28

of think you've got this useless limb

00:42:29

you get it chopped off and everything's

00:42:30

going to be better yeah um they they

00:42:32

said that there can be side effects for

00:42:34

like anything D yeah you know there's

00:42:35

always a side effect um and you know

00:42:38

normally it's it's phantom pain which

00:42:41

you can treat by doing myotherapy and

00:42:43

doing a whole lot of different therapy

00:42:45

yeah describe describe that to us

00:42:46

phantom pain so um my arm is still

00:42:48

sitting here that's because that's where

00:42:51

the brain last remembers it before it

00:42:53

was removed so my arm is still sitting

00:42:56

there um I can't because of my severe

00:43:00

phantom pain I can't actually open my

00:43:03

hand like I'm doing with this one so

00:43:06

like I'm going to try opening my hand

00:43:09

here your left handed y yeah and you'll

00:43:11

see me trying to open it you watch

00:43:15

here oh [ __ ] that's me trying to

00:43:21

open wow my

00:43:24

hand where I

00:43:26

like the muscles firing in your B your

00:43:28

left bicep yeah but it's it's trying to

00:43:31

open my hand where a yeah yeah it's

00:43:35

funny how the brain Associates things um

00:43:39

so yeah so yeah I have this pain and I

00:43:43

deal with it but I don't make it my

00:43:47

issue what do you mean I don't make it

00:43:50

my issue that I've got pain because how

00:43:53

what do you mean you don't make it your

00:43:54

issue well I don't want to make it my

00:43:56

life right okay you don't want it to

00:43:59

Define you so yeah no not at all so you

00:44:02

just you mean you don't make it your

00:44:04

issue you don't make it other people's

00:44:05

issues well both right you know I don't

00:44:07

want it to to drag me down I don't want

00:44:10

once again I don't want to go into that

00:44:13

position so think positive you know move

00:44:16

forward you know um so that's where yeah

00:44:20

I turned back to my

00:44:21

sport yes so okay yes so so you get back

00:44:24

home how long how long is the S of

00:44:26

recovery oh it's quite a while yeah

00:44:28

quite a while and this must have been a

00:44:30

frustrating time with lots of Tears CU

00:44:31

I'm thinking about things that you like

00:44:33

I mentioned before like you wearing a

00:44:34

button-up shirt today like I I don't

00:44:37

know how you do the buttons up oh it's

00:44:40

it's you know just

00:44:42

pretty yeah take a while to do it with

00:44:45

one hand I I probably won't be able to

00:44:47

do it now because you know no but you I

00:44:49

mean you've got a Sho on so you've

00:44:50

obviously done it or Owen's helped you

00:44:52

um okay other stuff tying shoelaces m

00:44:56

come on think about it

00:44:59

elastic I haven't got them on today but

00:45:02

you know I've got shoes like what you

00:45:04

you wear and I just wear the laces

00:45:06

slightly less loose okay so you slide

00:45:08

them on and off okay there you go

00:45:10

there's my Buton okay plugging in a

00:45:11

phone charger easy how do you do that

00:45:14

with the try it Dom come on man try it

00:45:18

okay I'm sorry I thought I was asking

00:45:20

some good questions here okay U no no no

00:45:24

seriously how do you PL how do you plug

00:45:25

in your phone charger with one um I just

00:45:27

get my phone I'll either stand it

00:45:29

upright and put the charger in or I'll

00:45:32

use the bench and put it on towards the

00:45:33

end of the bench and push it in you find

00:45:35

a way to do everything humans are

00:45:37

adaptable eh oh look mate I honestly

00:45:40

didn't and this was part of um my new

00:45:44

Journey that I wanted to

00:45:46

embrace having these challenges you know

00:45:48

I think you guys are the most boringest

00:45:50

buggers out because you just get up and

00:45:52

do the same things every day you guys as

00:45:54

in who you guys everybody else with with

00:45:57

two arms yeah excuse me that was you for

00:45:59

the first 55 years of your life don't be

00:46:01

so

00:46:02

smug now I have the best challenges

00:46:05

every day yeah you know I come across

00:46:07

challenges every day and I flame and

00:46:10

love it you know because I have to work

00:46:11

it out I can take the easy way like when

00:46:14

I first came out this the rehab would

00:46:16

bring around all these different things

00:46:18

you know this is the board that will

00:46:19

help you buddy your toast shares you put

00:46:21

this on here with these steel prongs you

00:46:24

know like nails upside

00:46:26

hold the toast and do all this mate

00:46:29

that's all in the wardrobe if anything

00:46:31

I've probably given it to other people

00:46:33

now I've never ever wanted to use

00:46:36

anything like that I've just wanted to

00:46:38

find my way you know um yeah I've done

00:46:41

my Buton up and I've undone it again now

00:46:43

because it's too bloody hot but um yeah

00:46:46

I've just wanted to find things my to do

00:46:48

my way and I have and that's what I say

00:46:51

you know I have these challenges every

00:46:53

day love them love them you know I still

00:46:57

get out I mow The Lawns I still hang the

00:46:59

washing on the line you know my husband

00:47:01

Owen was so great don't get me wrong he

00:47:04

was amazing but I had to say to him in

00:47:07

the end because he was always wanting to

00:47:09

help me and I'd have to say

00:47:11

hey can you please

00:47:14

stop um I want to do these if I need

00:47:17

help I will ask you but he was only

00:47:20

doing it Dom because he loves me and he

00:47:22

was trying to help me um and I was

00:47:25

probably a [ __ ] by saying that to him

00:47:28

but it was because I wanted not to rely

00:47:31

on anyone you know um you wanted that

00:47:34

Independence for sure yeah for sure um

00:47:39

you you well up when you talk about IR

00:47:40

don't you cuz he's been such a great

00:47:42

rock for me you know um like I say he

00:47:46

stood by me and supported me with

00:47:48

everything you know and even yeah but

00:47:50

come on what do you expect them to do

00:47:52

you with you're with someone for quarter

00:47:53

of a century and then they they freak

00:47:56

accident and lose an arm he'd be a piece

00:47:58

of [ __ ] if he walked out at that point

00:48:00

well if he did he'd be called a fair few

00:48:02

things I can tell you but you know I

00:48:05

know he'd never do that he's he's just

00:48:07

he's just he loves you he's my best mate

00:48:10

he's my other half you know literally I

00:48:14

feel like he's my other half he's there

00:48:15

all the time you know yeah we still have

00:48:18

the odd little bloody Tiff you know like

00:48:20

every married couple does but on a whole

00:48:23

we're we're 110% yeah you that's great

00:48:27

yeah yeah so so you get back home and

00:48:30

you're recovering and you're adapting to

00:48:32

life and I guess you're still adapting

00:48:33

to life now like with day-to-day

00:48:35

challenges that pop up but when do you

00:48:36

get the idea to um like embark on a

00:48:39

sporting career well like I say I I've

00:48:42

always dabbled in some sports so it was

00:48:44

about okay where do we go from here and

00:48:48

I thought you know I want to make this a

00:48:50

New Journey so I thought let's do

00:48:52

something

00:48:53

radical some people might call it stupid

00:48:56

Dom but I thought let's find a sport and

00:48:59

do something so instead of just aiming

00:49:01

for something small I thought I'm going

00:49:03

to aim for something big so I thought

00:49:06

right I'm going to try to get into a New

00:49:09

Zealand

00:49:10

team um in a sport that would have to

00:49:13

challenge me so like I say said before

00:49:16

I've dabbled in a bit of running and

00:49:17

I've dabbled in a bit of cycling but I

00:49:20

hate swimming with a passion absolutely

00:49:23

Lo it um so I thought

00:49:26

probably for one because I have to keep

00:49:27

my mouth shut to I so so I thought let's

00:49:31

try

00:49:32

Triathlon um so you know there was all

00:49:35

these things and these challenges and I

00:49:37

knew swimming was going to be my

00:49:39

challenge obviously you know I didn't

00:49:41

know if I was going to sink swim or go

00:49:42

in circles mate you know um so I just

00:49:46

jumped into that challenge so literally

00:49:49

a month to the day of having Stumpy

00:49:52

removed we went to Hawks Bay I didn't

00:49:55

want to to do it at home I wanted to be

00:49:58

out of my surroundings and just be

00:50:01

somewhere where I felt that nobody was

00:50:03

looking why because it was the first

00:50:06

time I was going to be in public and be

00:50:08

exposed you know for one woman and TOS

00:50:11

of you know it's not something we like

00:50:13

to do let alone with half a wing right

00:50:17

but for for anyone that's listening to

00:50:18

this that doesn't know that area of New

00:50:19

Zealand like you're talking like a 2hour

00:50:21

road trip

00:50:23

that's like from Fielding to Hogs it's a

00:50:26

couple of hours it's a oh my a long way

00:50:28

to go for half an hour in the pool but I

00:50:30

knew there was a good pool there and I

00:50:32

knew it was it was going to be quiet at

00:50:34

that sort of time so so away we trudgeon

00:50:37

and we decided it was going to be for a

00:50:39

weekend away as well you know okay okay

00:50:41

so um yeah way we trudgeon um Owen comes

00:50:44

into the pool with me I strip down um I

00:50:47

got my goggles and I hopped in the pool

00:50:50

and I was like how the freak am I going

00:50:52

to put these bloody goggles on there was

00:50:54

another new

00:50:55

straight

00:50:57

away hundreds of things like that every

00:50:59

day that you would so the first thing I

00:51:00

done was I got my goggles I stuck the

00:51:03

strap over my nose and I pulled it back

00:51:05

and I looked like Miss Piggy with my

00:51:07

nose in the Flaming ear but I pulled the

00:51:09

strap back and then I was able to adjust

00:51:11

my goggles yeah yeah and it was like

00:51:14

there's a challenge who else has tried

00:51:17

to do that you know um and I and I

00:51:20

overcame that challenge so the next

00:51:22

thing was to see if we could swim now I

00:51:25

had no flaming idea Dom how I was going

00:51:28

to go had no idea had no idea how Stumpy

00:51:32

was going to react to being put in

00:51:35

water yeah yeah I'm just trying to yeah

00:51:37

yeah yeah you know all these things um

00:51:40

that people probably just take for

00:51:42

granted but it was all new for me and

00:51:45

hence why I wanted to be in a

00:51:46

surroundings where nobody knew me so

00:51:48

that I could just give it a go if I

00:51:51

floundered if I sunk if I went in

00:51:53

circles nobody was going to see me that

00:51:55

I knew so yeah I just I said to ow film

00:51:59

this this is going to be

00:52:01

interesting so um he got my camera ready

00:52:04

and away I went I just instantly went

00:52:07

under the water pushed off the edge um

00:52:10

propelled this my right arm over and I

00:52:13

propelled forward threw Stumpy over and

00:52:16

I felt like I went flaming nowhere

00:52:18

because there was nothing there to pull

00:52:20

back you know um but I just kept

00:52:23

swimming with this arm and so were you

00:52:25

going were you going straight or were

00:52:27

you sort of veering well yeah yeah you

00:52:29

were going straight I I didn't feel like

00:52:31

I was but but yeah when I watched the

00:52:34

video cuz I concentrated on that bloody

00:52:37

black line you know that's always in the

00:52:39

pool um and so obviously my core was

00:52:42

doing a bit of work but we got to the

00:52:44

other end mate and I just came out from

00:52:47

under that water and once again it was

00:52:50

just a massive smile it was like yes you

00:52:54

know I've done that so yes here comes

00:52:56

the journey I know I can swim where do

00:52:58

we go from here how do I improve um how

00:53:01

do I include these three disciplines

00:53:04

into one um to make this journey happen

00:53:07

and that's where it started though

00:53:10

that's exactly where it started exactly

00:53:11

a month to the day after meeting Stumpy

00:53:14

how you guys have got kids he how old

00:53:16

are you kids Owen's got Owen's got kids

00:53:19

and I've got one um yeah that the young

00:53:22

well 34 now so they're all growing up so

00:53:25

they're all gone you know what what do

00:53:28

they make of um everything um honestly

00:53:32

they don't treat me any different yeah

00:53:34

yeah no but they must be [ __ ] proud

00:53:37

um I hope they are yeah I hope they are

00:53:39

yeah um is it not not a convers not a

00:53:42

conversation I've said it's not a

00:53:43

conversation I bring up is that just

00:53:46

sort of your your family you know talk

00:53:49

about myself I really don't really don't

00:53:52

feel comfortable talking about my

00:53:53

achievements because I do it for me

00:53:55

and I do it for Owen I want him to be

00:53:57

proud of me um yes I'd like um Owen's I

00:54:01

think Owen's family is proud of me I

00:54:03

don't know I don't I I I as I say it's

00:54:06

not a conversation I like to yeah hey

00:54:09

are you happy with what I'm doing are

00:54:11

you proud of me you know that's not

00:54:12

something I you no and it shouldn't be

00:54:14

your job to say that but I I feel like

00:54:16

to show to show such courage and

00:54:19

strength in such adversity I feel like

00:54:21

that's something that warrants saying to

00:54:23

someone you care about hey I'm really

00:54:25

I'm really proud of you I know um Owen's

00:54:27

son's son which is Owen's grandson Josh

00:54:31

I know he's proud of me we text quite

00:54:33

regularly they live in Australia and

00:54:35

Josh is one that you know I'm proud of

00:54:38

he's done well in rugby so I think it's

00:54:42

through the sport that we connect you

00:54:44

know and and he he'll quite often text

00:54:46

and say you know I'm proud of you Shaz

00:54:50

you know um so yeah I know he is and if

00:54:53

I can make him proud well you know

00:54:55

and likewise um so yeah yeah I think

00:54:58

they are proud of me yeah yeah sounds a

00:55:00

bit like my family we don't we don't

00:55:01

necessarily you know tell each other

00:55:03

these things with words but I feel like

00:55:05

sometimes you should exactly I you know

00:55:07

I was always bought up we were never

00:55:09

told we were loved we were never cuddle

00:55:11

you're just supposed to know it you know

00:55:12

we would that wasn't our family

00:55:15

Dynamics um yeah it just wasn't in us so

00:55:19

when I went to the farm you know it was

00:55:20

a totally different ball game you know

00:55:22

my my Auntie and Uncle would come up and

00:55:24

give Kettle you know that was all new to

00:55:26

me you know um so yeah things changed

00:55:30

the Dynamics changed yeah but yeah not

00:55:33

it wasn't a that sort of Lifestyle yeah

00:55:36

so what's the first event that you do so

00:55:38

you go to go to Hawks Bay have a have a

00:55:39

gut swimming and you think right I'm

00:55:40

going to about to do this so then what I

00:55:42

do is it just like a standard Triathlon

00:55:44

or is it a what length um yeah it was

00:55:47

just you know I I actually I went from

00:55:52

trying to swim to entering the New

00:55:55

Zealand um

00:55:58

par um championships or national

00:56:01

championships um went along to that um

00:56:05

and there was you know there was only

00:56:06

about three or four of us because it's

00:56:08

not a lot um yeah and I won that and

00:56:12

that was the start so I decided right

00:56:15

here we go this is how we start earning

00:56:18

points and getting

00:56:20

into um the paralympic rankings

00:56:23

situation so um yeah it started there

00:56:26

and then of course the next thing you

00:56:27

had to go to your Oceania which was in

00:56:31

Australia um went over there I got

00:56:34

Sila um so the pro the progress and the

00:56:37

progression was starting to happen and I

00:56:40

was loving it you know um Shane and

00:56:42

Tammy Reed were coaches in Fielding um

00:56:46

Shane was a um Olympic triathlete

00:56:50

himself um I don't know if you've heard

00:56:52

him um you've only got to Google the

00:56:54

beij Jing the Olympics and Shane's the

00:56:57

first one out of the water and man he's

00:56:59

he's a weapon right um unfortunately

00:57:01

Shane's passed away um he had brain

00:57:04

cancer and passed away you know not so

00:57:07

long ago well when we say 12 months

00:57:09

coming up um so yeah it's but Shane was

00:57:13

just one of those humble guys and

00:57:15

Tammy's wife she was a um

00:57:18

National um triathlete herself and she

00:57:21

decided to get into

00:57:22

coaching so they came on board they

00:57:25

started coaching me so that's where we

00:57:26

started yeah so that's swimming and then

00:57:29

um and running you so you had some

00:57:31

running um experience beforehand is

00:57:33

running just the same what's the

00:57:34

difference um so no Shane and Tammy got

00:57:36

me into a coaching program and they

00:57:38

coached me for swimming running yeah and

00:57:41

um biking um no run running as as an UT

00:57:45

is is it oh mate weird is it weird

00:57:50

seriously in terms of what you know um

00:57:53

put it this way the first run I went

00:57:54

went out with Tammy I didn't know how I

00:57:57

was going to react I didn't know how

00:57:58

Stumpy was going to react it was

00:58:00

freaking painful because of the the

00:58:02

jarring oh okay the jarring it was just

00:58:06

horrible M but I wasn't going to let

00:58:08

Tammy know that so Tammy would run on

00:58:10

this side she said I'll run on the right

00:58:12

hand side she ass cuz I don't want to be

00:58:13

anywhere near Stumpy I said thanks um

00:58:16

we'd be running along down the road next

00:58:18

minute the bit she'd give me a whack you

00:58:20

know Tammy's only a little short ass and

00:58:23

it's nothing of a fit little lean mean

00:58:25

machine and um next minute she'd give me

00:58:27

a whack on the shoulder and I'd say

00:58:28

what's that for and she'd say move over

00:58:31

you're veing

00:58:33

out oh cuz the imbalance oh that's

00:58:36

interesting isn't it you now I only had

00:58:39

1.75 kilos taken off right when I lost

00:58:42

the my arm but that 1.75 kilos Dom made

00:58:47

a huge difference in my

00:58:50

balance who would have thought well I

00:58:52

wouldn't have thought that yeah it makes

00:58:53

sense though yeah totally so that's the

00:58:56

that's the running what about the um the

00:58:57

the cycling so you just do you cycle

00:58:59

with just one hand on the bar so I

00:59:01

started off just on a road bike um and

00:59:04

then we progressed obviously to a TT

00:59:07

bike to start International racing with

00:59:10

um and that's where the obviously first

00:59:12

of all how was I going to ride a tt b

00:59:14

with the aob bars uh so um the limb

00:59:17

Center was like phone call to the Lim

00:59:19

center now honestly they must every time

00:59:22

they hear shaz's making an appointment

00:59:24

they must roll their eyes and think oh

00:59:26

God what's she coming at us with at this

00:59:28

time but um they came up with this

00:59:32

rarely rad idea of making a cup for

00:59:34

Stumpy to sit in so I'd sit stumpy in

00:59:37

this um and I'd be down here like this

00:59:40

okay so that's how we managed to get

00:59:42

around riding on an aob bike on a TT

00:59:46

bike

00:59:48

um and that's that's how we progressed

00:59:50

on that but it was once again it was all

00:59:52

about balance because I couldn't put

00:59:54

pressure down in that cup because of the

00:59:56

pain in the end of my stump so we had

00:59:59

cotton wool we had Lamb's wool we had

01:00:02

foam we had so much in there to stop any

01:00:05

jarring um but yeah we we got around it

01:00:08

and that's how my bike is still set up

01:00:11

today um and they're just actually

01:00:13

looking it's cuz it's all made of carbon

01:00:16

at the moment they're just starting to

01:00:18

look at a new way of being able to do a

01:00:20

3D printed one so it's lighter and a

01:00:23

little bit more Flex in it for me so um

01:00:26

yeah they're amazing down there at the

01:00:28

limb Center in Wellington freaking cool

01:00:30

clever guys so when when able-bodied

01:00:33

people do these um these sort of events

01:00:35

there pain that you have like there's

01:00:37

pain on your lungs pain in your legs

01:00:39

whatever what extra pain do you have

01:00:41

above and beyond that um is it just

01:00:43

Stumpy stump like a burning sensation or

01:00:46

throbbing or she's firing right yeah

01:00:48

when I say she he he's firing you know

01:00:50

he's been a typical male a right prick

01:00:53

you know um just been a pain in the ass

01:00:56

literally you know real pain it's it's

01:00:59

it's a pain that you can't describe

01:01:02

D

01:01:04

um yeah it's it's not a pain

01:01:08

that I can describe to people because

01:01:11

people wouldn't believe

01:01:12

it um but you know I I've found ways of

01:01:18

just getting getting out there doing

01:01:20

things I feel if I'm doing something and

01:01:22

keeping active it um helping with that

01:01:26

pain even though I'm in pain and I'm

01:01:29

causing myself pain

01:01:32

mentally I feel like that and physically

01:01:35

that I'm helping that pain yeah you're

01:01:37

making yourself stronger building

01:01:38

resilience yeah but how do you um like

01:01:41

how do you how do how do you block that

01:01:42

out like do you do you have mantras or

01:01:44

anything or do you um I just you know I

01:01:46

have got a mantra um yeah and I my man

01:01:49

is I may only have one Wing but I can

01:01:52

still

01:01:53

fly and that's what I have I have to say

01:01:55

to myself or when I am in this pain I

01:01:59

just say don't give in it comes from

01:02:02

within and when I say within I mean it's

01:02:05

what's in your heart you know if we

01:02:07

really want something we'll dig deep and

01:02:11

we'll do it you know we'll find a way

01:02:15

but we have to find that way nobody else

01:02:17

will do it for

01:02:19

us so so that pain that you're talking

01:02:21

about is that only when you're like

01:02:22

competing and pushing it or is that

01:02:24

training as well every it's everyday

01:02:26

pain I'm in that pain every day mate so

01:02:29

when you're in when you're um this is

01:02:31

the first time you know you're a prick

01:02:33

because you're making me open up about

01:02:35

it do don't to get the tissues I can get

01:02:37

the tissues no I I don't want tissues

01:02:39

that's a sign of weakness it's no I

01:02:42

don't no I don't seriously it's it's

01:02:45

because um it's from the heart you know

01:02:51

um I I don't talk about the pain people

01:02:55

don't understand or know that I'm in

01:02:57

because I've learned to hide that but

01:02:59

should

01:03:00

you um I don't want people to see me

01:03:03

weak no that's a weakness to me yeah and

01:03:07

I don't want to be weak Dum yeah I want

01:03:09

to be that strong

01:03:11

person you know don't get me wrong I

01:03:13

have some days at

01:03:14

home where I'm weak you when like when

01:03:18

you when you're trying I'm thinking

01:03:20

again I'm probably projecting here but

01:03:22

if I was you and I was on that

01:03:23

stationary bike in the garage on [ __ ]

01:03:25

peton or whatever for 3 hours and it was

01:03:28

it was hurting every second I'd probably

01:03:30

have I'd probably cry to myself I have

01:03:33

do you I have done yep yep you know I'm

01:03:35

set up in the shed um I'm not like some

01:03:38

people that you know have their bike sit

01:03:40

up in the lounge that's to me that my

01:03:43

inside of my home is home my training if

01:03:46

I have to train on outside is in the

01:03:48

shed I keep that those two lives

01:03:50

separate um so yeah you know there are

01:03:53

those sessions where you have to sit on

01:03:55

that flaming bike getting numb bum and

01:03:57

you know every other department you know

01:03:59

in a uncomfortable State um out in a

01:04:03

shed and yeah there are times that yeah

01:04:06

I I I do cry and I and I think it's more

01:04:08

just because it it gets overwhelming

01:04:10

it's all too much or yeah yeah some days

01:04:12

I do I feel like throwing that session

01:04:15

in but I know that at the end of that

01:04:18

session if I didn't do that session you

01:04:20

know what it's like when you're a runner

01:04:22

some days you don't want to go out for a

01:04:23

run

01:04:24

but when you come back [ __ ] you feel

01:04:26

good right feel way better afterwards

01:04:27

yeah you do and that's how I feel about

01:04:30

if I was to cut that session short I

01:04:33

wouldn't feel right it wouldn't sit good

01:04:36

you know um and I'd probably have to go

01:04:39

back out later into it again cuz the

01:04:41

guilts eating you up yeah for sure for

01:04:44

sure and you you'd understand that yeah

01:04:47

100% 100% but what what I'm dealing with

01:04:49

is not this extra level of adversity or

01:04:53

or pain you know you know what I mean M

01:04:55

there's um there's that yeah that term

01:04:57

putting yourself in the pain cave which

01:04:59

uh anyone that's done any sort of

01:05:01

physical activity will understand but

01:05:02

then but you know that that pain is

01:05:04

going to go yeah yeah pain no but what

01:05:07

I'm saying sh is your pain doesn't go

01:05:09

like no it's it's constantly there and

01:05:12

then when you're doing the exercise it

01:05:13

just gets worse yeah it's rough MH it's

01:05:16

a rough hand to be do su sucks mate but

01:05:20

um you know I choose

01:05:23

to you know move forward yeah that's any

01:05:27

way to go isn't it oh for sure you know

01:05:30

um yeah you know there are some days um

01:05:35

ow and may have gone out in the

01:05:36

afternoon or something and I've finished

01:05:39

training and I'll go inside and yeah I

01:05:42

do I'll have a cry but it's to myself I

01:05:45

won't show that yeah why don't you out

01:05:48

of all the people you could show it to

01:05:49

him right would he understand oh

01:05:52

absolutely you just preferred it you

01:05:53

just prefer to deal with the stuff on

01:05:55

your own I'm juste yeah I I I don't like

01:05:58

to show that side of me why is an

01:06:00

embarrassment thing or a pride thing

01:06:02

pride thing I think you know I don't

01:06:04

want to be seen as that weak

01:06:08

B um yeah but every yeah I mean I I you

01:06:14

know what I don't even know I but I feel

01:06:15

like he if he ever listens to this he'll

01:06:18

probably hear this and be frustrated

01:06:19

that you don't lean on him a little bit

01:06:20

more probably but he knows that you know

01:06:23

he he I think he knows it

01:06:27

um I know he's here if I need him he's

01:06:30

always there um so I yeah he I think

01:06:35

he's learned now just you know don't

01:06:38

don't 30 years don't even ask her you

01:06:41

know just roll your eyes and go oh here

01:06:44

we go again you know here she you know

01:06:46

um I think he's sort of got used to

01:06:49

me

01:06:50

um and I say that in the way that I

01:06:53

think he's got used to my ways my new

01:06:55

ways

01:06:57

yeah so like who do you talk to about

01:07:00

this you like you know you're talking to

01:07:02

me today about it but you talk to anyone

01:07:03

else about it no this is the first time

01:07:06

I've really opened up Don so you you've

01:07:08

been freaking privileged you buer um you

01:07:11

know I I don't open up yeah but it's

01:07:14

good I Sharon like it don't you dare

01:07:18

Sheron as I said I'm only get called

01:07:20

that when my mother tells me off but you

01:07:23

know um

01:07:24

it's not a therapy session you know but

01:07:27

I feel I can open up to you because I

01:07:29

feel that I you can relate yeah um you

01:07:32

know you've had some [ __ ] times in your

01:07:34

life but as as I said earlier like from

01:07:37

doing this podcast like almost two years

01:07:39

now every single person has has or will

01:07:42

go through some sort of adversity it's

01:07:43

all on a different level but uh and it's

01:07:46

how we want to progress with that

01:07:49

adversity or if we want to progress some

01:07:52

people can some people can't H yeah I

01:07:55

mean you you can you can easily make

01:07:56

yourself a victim and no one no one

01:07:58

would no one would begrudge you you

01:07:59

you've got every right in the world to

01:08:01

but it's like it's not going to help you

01:08:02

grow is it it's not it's not going to

01:08:04

help me or my journey you know my

01:08:07

journey is about having the best life

01:08:10

and mate I am yeah even though I have

01:08:13

this pain um you know as I say

01:08:17

um it's not about that it's about my

01:08:21

journey and how exciting that you're on

01:08:23

the the I suppose the downward slide of

01:08:25

life on the the Apex you know you're

01:08:27

your second half of your life but it's

01:08:29

also like a new beginning oh it's the

01:08:31

best part of my life yeah you know um I

01:08:34

would never have achieved or done half

01:08:37

of the things I've done Dom if I hadn't

01:08:40

a met Stumpy yeah you you could have

01:08:41

though hey why wouldn't you have though

01:08:43

oh mate I wouldn't have been able to

01:08:45

travel the world like I have no no but

01:08:47

you you could have and it would have

01:08:48

been considerably easier like doing

01:08:49

things like Triathlon or swimming or

01:08:51

Coast to Coast um but

01:08:54

you you you waited until things got very

01:08:57

very difficult for yourself before you

01:08:58

decided to but but that's what makes

01:09:01

challenge even more rewarding yeah you

01:09:04

know um and like I say it's always been

01:09:06

about if one person can see me doing it

01:09:10

and it encourages them to get out and do

01:09:12

something I feel like I've achieved what

01:09:15

I've set out to do D oh I think there's

01:09:18

there's more than one you make yeah a

01:09:19

lot of people feel like sex is [ __ ] well

01:09:22

I don't mean to do that I really really

01:09:25

that's not my intention Dom don't go

01:09:28

that far um yeah no it's more yeah I

01:09:31

just if I can encourage others yeah just

01:09:34

you know just because we're challenged

01:09:35

there's no reason why we cannot still

01:09:39

succeed at things and it doesn't have to

01:09:42

be mad radical things like I've done

01:09:45

just small

01:09:47

steps you know small steps make lead to

01:09:50

bigger steps don't they yeah absolutely

01:09:53

and and you oh Coast to Coast we haven't

01:09:55

even talked Coast to Coast so you've

01:09:56

done Coast to Coast as like part of a

01:09:58

team and next year you're going to have

01:10:00

a crack at it as a solo so you do the

01:10:02

two-day event so or on your own yeah

01:10:04

it'll be a two it'll be the two-day

01:10:05

event um so Coast to Coast um starts

01:10:08

early on a Saturday morning shortest

01:10:11

bike ride then a massive sort of 30-ish

01:10:13

K Mountain Run y uh then you sleep and

01:10:16

then the next day a bike ride again big

01:10:19

kayak and a big bike ride yeah that's it

01:10:21

yeah now the I've I've um I've never

01:10:23

done the coast to coast but I have done

01:10:25

um the the Run segment of the coast to

01:10:28

coast as a guide and it's a a thing

01:10:30

called goats pass I'm just wondering how

01:10:33

how you would you would do that because

01:10:35

I'm a runner it's not even really a run

01:10:37

you do like you're scrambling over rocks

01:10:39

you're waiting through um you know chest

01:10:42

deep water Y how do you how are you

01:10:44

going do numerous River Crossings um you

01:10:47

know it all depends on the river that

01:10:49

that day and the river levels I can't

01:10:51

imagine how you do that that run um

01:10:54

without two two hands oh look scrambling

01:10:57

up rocks and don't get me wrong my time

01:10:58

was slowed on because I literally I went

01:11:02

down there not knowing I wanted to go

01:11:04

into a blind um and just experience the

01:11:08

unknown um so when I got down there yeah

01:11:11

and started the goat pass it was like

01:11:14

okay and then there was Parts where it

01:11:16

was like holy [ __ ] balls you know I have

01:11:18

to literally stop and watch the Able

01:11:22

Body scramble over and then go how the

01:11:25

freak am I going to do this yeah did you

01:11:28

have you have someone with you that's

01:11:29

like um lifting you up with a hand or

01:11:31

giving you a push on the night nope I

01:11:33

didn't want any support the only time I

01:11:35

had a support person that was Brett in

01:11:38

the kayak uh you had a a double k yes

01:11:42

and that was purely for safety reasons

01:11:44

right um you know the the the organizers

01:11:46

of coasta Coast which I fully understand

01:11:49

and respect yeah oh Al how does how does

01:11:51

the kayak work in terms of um

01:11:54

so once again the limb Center came up

01:11:56

with some NE I met this awesome bird

01:11:58

Alex um the F when I first went down

01:12:01

there and done it um Brett who was a

01:12:04

plumber the limb Center came up with a

01:12:07

socket and a hun of pipe that stuck out

01:12:09

like this Brett being a plumber he

01:12:12

walked into the shop and said we need to

01:12:14

find something that's going to hook over

01:12:15

your paddle so he found a um like a hose

01:12:19

half a hose clip like this steel hose

01:12:21

clip M he screwed that in there on the

01:12:25

end and then he got two $1 rubber

01:12:28

O-rings we put this the socket and this

01:12:32

clamp on my pedal and he used these two

01:12:34

$1 O-rings to hold it on that's how we

01:12:38

got down the Y Macer River of a 70 Cas

01:12:41

so so so your left um your left stump is

01:12:43

attached to the pedal what happens if

01:12:45

you if you ass out I'm stuck on with my

01:12:48

paddle Stumpy and I like this

01:12:51

yeah um so

01:12:54

so yeah so Brett done that and then

01:12:57

um because I decided I wanted to have a

01:13:00

go um I was very very lucky to have

01:13:02

Brett honestly um if it wasn't for him I

01:13:05

wouldn't have got down there but I I had

01:13:08

the cruisy part I sat in the back of the

01:13:10

kayak just you know um a lot of time

01:13:13

Breck didn't know I was in

01:13:16

tears because I was in so much

01:13:19

pain with having to put Stumpy and use

01:13:23

the force of the

01:13:25

pedal so um yeah say every stroke hurt

01:13:29

so every time every stroke I'd sort of

01:13:31

think it's one less stroke you have to

01:13:34

do Shaz just keep going it's one less

01:13:36

you got to do so yeah um he didn't know

01:13:40

or wasn't aware that a lot of the time I

01:13:42

was crying but of course you'd see the

01:13:45

photographer and you'd go yay hi as you

01:13:49

do um but yeah so so we got down there

01:13:52

but when we we got back and I decided I

01:13:55

wanted to have a go at doing the coast

01:13:58

completely solo because I didn't feel

01:14:00

like I'd achieved it

01:14:02

solo because I was in a double kayak so

01:14:05

yeah I contacted coast and they approved

01:14:08

me to do it on the condition that I have

01:14:11

somebody in another kayak behind me just

01:14:14

shadowing me oh yeah which I fully get

01:14:17

once again so I've got Duncan who's

01:14:19

coming along um and he's been on pretty

01:14:23

much of the kayak Journey with me um and

01:14:26

he's going to come down and be my

01:14:28

support person so honestly Dom will I be

01:14:32

able to do the kayak section and finish

01:14:35

the event I really really don't know ah

01:14:37

but giving it a red hot crack right y y

01:14:39

you don't know unless you try right yeah

01:14:41

so yeah yeah phib here we come how good

01:14:45

and I'm not sure when this podcast is

01:14:47

going to come out but um November 18 mhm

01:14:51

uh 2023 you in to kayak the length of

01:14:54

take Lake Tapo which is 46 K yeah so if

01:14:57

you can do the coast to coast that'll be

01:14:59

would this be easy no um so so this is

01:15:02

toally by the way I say easy like you

01:15:05

just sit there and call Easy dud yeah

01:15:08

you're looking at someone that gets in a

01:15:10

kayak for five minutes when they're in

01:15:11

Fiji and then gets bored shitless so I'm

01:15:13

sorry 46 K is never how long would that

01:15:15

take you and well I just done a um sort

01:15:18

of a bit of a wacky just last week

01:15:20

actually and went to TPO and I've done

01:15:24

36 K in um just under four hours you

01:15:27

might as well say but it's totally

01:15:30

different than on the river because the

01:15:31

river you've still got the river flow

01:15:33

which is yeah the Rapids pushing you

01:15:34

along yeah yeah that's why I wondered if

01:15:35

it was like easier than so no I I I find

01:15:39

this harder because on the lake because

01:15:41

you're literally having to propel

01:15:44

yourself along aren't you right so um

01:15:47

yeah it's going to be big ask but if um

01:15:50

I decided I wanted to do this to try and

01:15:52

raise funds for kidney kids oh yeah cuz

01:15:55

you've only got one kidney yeah yeah

01:15:57

when did you discover that oh a few

01:15:58

years back now right right but um just

01:16:01

so you went through all your you you got

01:16:02

through all your early years till middle

01:16:04

age or whatever and what does it mean

01:16:06

only having one

01:16:07

kidney nothing yeah I've got one arm so

01:16:12

I might as well have one kidney right

01:16:14

just call me you know

01:16:17

halfer but um yeah you're like brisos

01:16:20

50% off exactly um but you no yeah it I

01:16:24

hasn't altered me but I just sort of

01:16:27

think well it's some I wanted to give

01:16:29

back to somebody or some charity so it

01:16:33

was obviously kidney kids came to my

01:16:36

light and it was like well you know if I

01:16:39

can help do something for these kids I'd

01:16:41

like to so so yeah they've set up a give

01:16:43

a little page um under Limitless shares

01:16:47

and um we're trying to raise some funds

01:16:50

for them so yeah hopefully we can um um

01:16:53

and I'm also going to do that for coast

01:16:55

to coast as well so I'm doing it for

01:16:57

them yeah how good oh that's great it's

01:17:00

a hell of a story it's a good story yeah

01:17:04

it is good it is good he yeah totally I

01:17:06

mean I love my I love my new Journey

01:17:08

mate I really do I'm in sort of I'm in

01:17:10

sort of two minds about it because it's

01:17:12

um you know had you had you after the

01:17:15

accident had you left the arm which was

01:17:17

useless and ornamental for all intent

01:17:19

and purpose I mean you wouldn't have had

01:17:22

the pain that you're in now possibly not

01:17:25

but that but we don't know that pain

01:17:27

could have eventuated yeah to a higher

01:17:29

intensity as it went on as well Dom so I

01:17:31

don't know it's that what if um but why

01:17:36

wait for that what if you don't know so

01:17:39

you know like I said move on Cut The

01:17:42

bugger off yeah and you did you

01:17:46

definitely did and when you when you

01:17:48

stand in front of the marinaire like you

01:17:50

like what you see abely you love the new

01:17:52

sh here oh for sure yeah yeah for sure I

01:17:55

mean I'm still me yeah you know um I

01:17:58

haven't changed well even new and

01:18:00

improved I mean the things you're doing

01:18:01

now like you never did it before I'm a

01:18:03

better person I honestly believe I'm a

01:18:05

better person yeah do you yep yeah I

01:18:07

really do I really do think I'm a better

01:18:10

person I mean physically you're fitter

01:18:11

but what do you mean better though uh

01:18:13

mentally yeah I mean I was never

01:18:17

mentally um

01:18:20

unwell but I just feel like mentally

01:18:22

I've got strong stronger um more

01:18:26

resilient um but I never really thought

01:18:28

about that but it's just yeah I'm a

01:18:32

better me totally um I feel a better

01:18:36

person I love who I am I love Yeah

01:18:40

stumpy in I we're

01:18:42

one yeah we're

01:18:45

one and I I believe you when you say you

01:18:47

wouldn't you wouldn't change it no not

01:18:51

at all no

01:18:53

I would never turn the clock back how

01:18:55

good if that accident had never happened

01:18:57

with the the the gate and the go I

01:18:59

wouldn't be who I am today yeah yeah

01:19:00

what do you think your life would look

01:19:01

like now have you ever paused to reflect

01:19:03

on that just just going through the

01:19:04

motions yeah I'd just be a normal person

01:19:07

like you how Bloody boring right so

01:19:10

boring well there's a lot there's a line

01:19:11

from a movie I really like um sh Shank

01:19:13

Redemption yes um the line is like get

01:19:15

busy living or get busy dying I suppose

01:19:18

like and I I don't say this in a mean

01:19:20

way I'm probably busy dying and probably

01:19:22

99 % of people are like you're just

01:19:24

going through motion I suppose now

01:19:26

you're getting getting busy living yeah

01:19:28

totally I am I'm really living now yeah

01:19:32

I I'm living I'm loving my living I'm

01:19:34

loving my life I love who I am um I'm

01:19:39

proud of

01:19:40

myself yeah could you say that

01:19:43

beforehand no I can sit here now and

01:19:46

yeah it's the first time I've probably

01:19:48

even said that D you know Jesus you're a

01:19:51

prick you're really making

01:19:53

I've done nothing you know um yeah yeah

01:19:56

I I can honestly say I'm proud of myself

01:19:58

and that's the first time I've said that

01:20:00

man that's cool and are you enjoying I

01:20:03

mean um I was going to say the the level

01:20:05

of Fame you've got now but there's I

01:20:06

mean there's not really there was a

01:20:07

story in the woman you've had a story on

01:20:09

the women's day I saw there's a great

01:20:10

piece that um the attitude TV show did

01:20:12

on you there's been a couple of podcasts

01:20:14

and bits and pieces but yeah you're

01:20:16

enjoying this um and oh you've done some

01:20:19

keynote speaking and some public

01:20:20

speaking as well yeah yeah I mean who

01:20:22

would have thought that right you know

01:20:24

who the hell would have thought I would

01:20:25

be standing up talking to 350 people

01:20:28

looking at all these eyes looking at you

01:20:30

you know you know what it's like um it's

01:20:34

it's a whole new world isn't it you know

01:20:36

and I would never have had all these

01:20:38

opportunities D never so um you're

01:20:42

you're the architect of that though you

01:20:43

created it I mean you could have your

01:20:44

arm lobbed off and go to yourself well

01:20:47

this is this is the end this is the end

01:20:48

of life I know it but for you it was

01:20:50

like and you've literally you know put

01:20:53

this into action you've made it a new

01:20:55

beginning yeah I have yeah yeah you've

01:20:57

done that um I wasn't living

01:21:00

before but I am now yeah like I say you

01:21:04

know um my Mantra to myself is I may

01:21:07

only have one Wing but I can still fly

01:21:10

and I think everybody should have a

01:21:12

mantra that they should live up to I'm

01:21:15

sure you've got one have

01:21:17

you yeah this one this one I really like

01:21:21

um there's a guy called haes he's on a

01:21:23

lot of podcasts he's an American Bow

01:21:24

Hunter and an ultra distance Runner I

01:21:26

don't know if he came up with this or if

01:21:28

it's just a thing but his slogan is um

01:21:29

nobody cares work harder and what it

01:21:32

means is um like I suppose in your

01:21:34

situation you could be like oh if you

01:21:35

know palis North Hospital didn't do this

01:21:37

then I would have had my arm and it's

01:21:39

like no one cares just work harder and I

01:21:41

feel like you epitomize that oh oh

01:21:43

thanks yeah thanks you know you you can

01:21:45

sit around bitching about it or you can

01:21:47

just get on the bike and suck it up get

01:21:48

on get on with life you know we only

01:21:51

have one chance right

01:21:53

make the flame and most of it honestly

01:21:55

well there's another quote I really like

01:21:57

it's um you have um two lives and the

01:21:59

second life only begins when you realize

01:22:01

you actually only have one y yeah and

01:22:03

I'm so pleased that you're making the

01:22:04

most of it yeah honestly wouldn't turn

01:22:06

the clock back yeah and thank you so

01:22:08

much for sharing your story not a

01:22:10

problem at all you've you made me open

01:22:12

up so um yeah you did Dom so thanks well

01:22:17

I appreciate it now I'm going to take

01:22:18

you back to the airport and let's hope

01:22:19

um let's hope the plane has two Wings

01:22:21

what's your thing about wing and flying

01:22:24

what's that what's your what's your

01:22:25

quote about wings and flying I mainly

01:22:27

have One Wing I only have I might only

01:22:29

have one Wing but I can still fly well

01:22:32

let's hope the plane has two bloody

01:22:34

wigs I'm sure it will do Shar dig from

01:22:38

Fielding Limitless um all the best for

01:22:41

the future Coast to Coast Lake toppo and

01:22:44

whatever challenges you you cook up next

01:22:46

and I'm sure these going to be many yeah

01:22:47

for sure thanks so much Dom it's been

01:22:49

pleasure to be

01:22:51

here

01:22:59

a

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