Latest / Numotion Ally Program Podcast / Wheelin' With Dylan: Confidence After Injury With JB
Transcript
- speaker-0: you speaker-1: Hello, this is Dylan with New Motion Medical Supplies. Weelan with Dylan, part of the Ally program, and we appreciate you listening because today we have an awesome guest, someone that I'm fortunate enough to call my friend, JB. How you doing? speaker-0: Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. Doing well. speaker-1: I know you've been on the podcast before. It was virtual, but now we're in person. I'm glad we could meet up today. Yeah, exactly. So, know, JB is someone that a lot of people and whether and he is not going to like this because I'm complimenting here him here. I don't want to make you feel embarrassed or anything, but it's someone that a lot of people in the spinal cord injury community look up to because a lot of times you probably meet someone when they first get hurt. But also you've just been around. speaker-0: Yeah, it's the real deal now. speaker-1: The end is the catheter industry for a while also have been very involved in the community with like sports and different things. So ⁓ we'd love to pick your brain a little bit and just talk about your life because you've been living it here for a while. You don't mind just telling our listeners introducing yourself and telling everyone when you got hurt and what your journey has been like a little bit. speaker-0: Yeah, man. Thanks for having me again. And thanks for the words making me sound a little bit old there with telling everybody how long I've been around. But yeah, thanks again for having me. And ⁓ my name is JB crazy to say, but this year I'll have been injured for 20 years, which is really crazy to say out loud. So got injured when I was 20, about to be 20 years with a spinal cord injury. that's ha you know, same amount of life in ⁓ the chair as, as walking around. it's a crazy, crazy thought to have now 20 years, and, and 20 years out. yeah, got in a motorcycle accident when I was 20, was a sophomore in college at Florida state and I'm from Jacksonville. So came back here to Jacksonville, did my rehab at Brooks rehab. So it was just kind of a natural place to go since I was from here, had family here. So that was kind of the quick story there of, you know, old I was when I got injured, came back here, rehab at Brooks. Also did some day program rehab up in Shepherd Center in Atlanta. They didn't have a day program here at that time, which they do now, which would have been nice. But it was good to get the perspective from two different rehabs, not that they're night and day and you know, what they do or their perspective, but it was just good to get, ⁓ you know, kind of my feet wet here. and up there in Atlanta with the programs they have. So I think it exposed me to more things, which was really valuable when I got injured. speaker-1: Good. You know, I did the opposite. So I was inpatient in Atlanta at Shepherds and then I came outpatient in Jacksonville here at Brooks, which is actually where I met. that was probably four or five years ago we had met now. And yeah, I was I was bugging you a little bit because I was trying to get involved and ⁓ with new motion actually our wheelers at the time. And now it's kind of funny. Look back at it four or five years later. speaker-0: Yeah, where we met, yeah. It goes by fast, man, when you look back. yeah, both, both, both places were great for me. And mean, that's what I did is what you were doing is kind of trying to meet people who had already been through it, who had already learned things. And I tell people all the time, ⁓ you know, I had great doctors and therapists and nurses and all that stuff. But the most valuable thing for me was getting around guys who had already had spinal cord injuries and figured out how to get back to living life. Awesome. speaker-1: And you mind ⁓ telling me because I forget to sometimes what level of entry are you? Yeah, all right. So you got hurt. You said sophomore college. Yeah. Now I talked to people who got hurt young. I got hurt young myself. I was 18. I was like a month from being 19, but you said you were 20. speaker-0: you so c five six Yeah, well, it was a week from it was a week before my 20th birthday. So, yeah. speaker-1: All right. And that is it is weird. It's funny because I have been hurt now for like six years and saying that for me has been weird as it always feels like it's been a year or two or you kind of remember when you're just kind of fresh. It's been a couple of months for you saying 20 years, which is I can imagine is crazy. And you don't look like you could even be hurt, you know, for that long. speaker-0: But the big 40 this year. It's crazy speaker-1: Yeah, it's great. We got to get you a cake. I don't know if I should say 20 or 40 though. So you got her at a pivotal point in your life, right? Because when you are in college or you're in high school or whatever, that's like when you are really starting to make some big boy decisions, what you're going to do with your life career wise, you're probably starting to try to mold a landscape somewhat of your future and kind of what you want to do. But when you get hurt in a way, it's a little bit of a setback, maybe in that way. You can probably have to just consider things readjust because I always say it's survival mode. I got hurt. I kind of dropped what I was thinking about my career just for for a little bit there as survival mode. got to I got to get back to life. I got to drive again. I got to, you know, do the little things to just gain that independence and stuff like that. What was that like for you? What were some of your thoughts when you had got hurt? Like you said, sophomore. And then how did you get back to to life and gain that independence? speaker-0: Yeah, so I mean, I think that was just such a long journey for me. And you're right, it's a ⁓ perspective change on life when something like that happens, because you think, you you got it all figured out, you're invincible, and your plan is going to be what happens, right? There's no, nothing going to stop you from that. ⁓ So when something this catastrophic happens that you can't change, or you don't have any control over, that's just like something mentally that's I think for a 20 year old really difficult to deal with. ⁓ And so for me, initially, and I think for a lot of people, it wasn't really like, okay, how do I move on with life and do all the things I want to do? It was, okay, how do I get my old life back? ⁓ How do I start, you know, how do I recover? How do I get rid of this thing and go back to who I was before? Because, you know, for me, it was like an identity crisis. I was ⁓ at my injury level, not that, you know, Every injury level is not catastrophic, but having a cervical level injury, the process to become independent and move on with your life is takes longer. I mean, that's just the way it is. Um, so I had people doing things for me that you don't ever think you're going to have somebody doing for you, you know, once you're 20. Um, so it was really just coming to the realization of, um, not really giving up on recovery or walking again or whatever the case may be, but moving forward with where I was at, to doing the things I could do with what I had. Still working on therapy and recovery, but it was definitely a goal of mine to finish school. That was a huge thing of mine. So came back to Jacksonville, spent a lot of time in rehab in the hospital initially just because I had some pressure sores. ⁓ They got really bad, but after that and then going up to Shepherd for a summer, I mean, my main goal was getting back into school and finishing my degree. wanted to finish as close to all my friends that I was in school with ⁓ as I could. Took a lot longer than I thought, because I kind of bounced around with what I wanted to do and things like that. But got right back into college. So like I said, I was a sophomore. was at Florida State in Tallahassee, go Noles. And then got into school at UNF here in Jacksonville. So finished my degree there. And that was just... ⁓ One of those things that was a lot of trial and error and figuring out, mean, I wasn't able to, you know, drive right away. I was, you my mom was driving me around, got into adaptive sports really soon after I got out of rehab. So that was for me kind of a springboard to, okay, these guys are doing this. They're doing that. Finished my degree, find some work. ⁓ that's where kind of the vision came from was, was meeting other people through the adaptive sports community that had gotten their degrees and had careers and. had families and wives and traveled and did all the things that, you know, we all want to do. They just had to do them a different way. So that was huge for me. I would say that was the mindset initially was, you know, everybody wants to figure out how to walk again. And then, and then you kind of look at, what are my other goals? I'm, I'm 20, my life's not over. got a lot of life ahead of me. So finished my degree and didn't really know what I was going to do from there. I was just taking it day by day, man, trying to become more independent. Um, over time, which was a long journey for me, but, uh, to look back now is, is crazy how far I've come or how, how much things have changed when you're laying in that, that hospital bed, um, after your injury. I mean, you think life's over is what my perspective was initially. Yeah. Um, but it was, it was really powerful to get around those other guys who had, who had created awesome lives. speaker-1: Yeah, I know that's think that's a big thing for a lot of us. It's just like real life people who are doing it. Like when I got hurt, same thing. You're in bed and you kind of think like, is this it? Well, before I got hurt, I don't think I even really understood what being paralyzed. Yeah. speaker-0: I mean, I heard that word, but didn't really know that it happened from an injury. I didn't know anything about it and couldn't fathom that this was permanent. That just was blowing my mind that there was nothing that could be done. speaker-1: Maybe, maybe I just wasn't the brightest in the world, but I didn't even really think or know that much about the spine and how important it was. Like I kind of knew it was important, but it's like, okay, you break your spine, you're paralyzed. Like you said, there's not just like a fix to it, but we figured it out. We know now. speaker-0: Yeah, it's crazy. speaker-1: Hey, I'm Dylan from Wheelin' with Dylan. I'm Leah with the Catholic. If you're listening to this, you are already part of the conversation, but there's a lot more to explore inside New Motion Medical Supplies Ally program. And all our podcasts live there too. So if you want to catch past episodes or get the earliest access to new ones, that's where to go. And the podcast is really just one piece. Inside Ally, there's a full library of webinars and short videos focused on bladder health. speaker-0: And I'm not a podcast. conversation. articles. speaker-1: catheter use, and the that work for you. It's also a great place to see how others are navigating things day to day. Real setups, real experiences, and things you might not always hear in a clinical setting. And a big part of that is the community forum. There are subforums for different experiences and stages of life. So whether you're just getting started or have been doing this for years, there's a space for you. You can ask questions, share what's worked for you. speaker-0: building routine. speaker-1: or just read and see how others are handling similar situations. It's a really easy way to connect and not feel like you're figuring everything out all on your own. Access. If you're a New Motion Medical Supplies customer, you can log in with your My New Motion account information and start exploring right away. It's completely free and everything's in one place at catheters.newmotion.com slash ally. Head to the ally program today and join speaker-0: And it's simple to information. conversation. speaker-1: We'll see you there. Yeah. But thanks for kind of taking us along that journey a little bit and going back to school was important for you because one of the first steps that you think about is like, all right, getting back to ⁓ having a career, having a job because ⁓ life is expensive in general. I think, you know, definitely having a disability ups that even more as a lot of us have have learned. But you said you met a lot of people who were we could call it doing the thing. They were they're living life. They have families, they're working. ⁓ What was your kind of mindset or some of your goals because I'm sure it's changed a lot. Like you said, like even your schooling, maybe you bounced around a little bit trying to figure out what you wanted to do. How did your career start? speaker-0: well, so I changed my major a couple of times and that was just kind of circumstantial for me when I was at, ⁓ FSU, I was a, ⁓ business real estate major and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with that, but I knew having a business degree, ⁓ and a little bit of interest in real estate, I could probably figure out what I wanted to do, but there was a lot of math involved. so for funny enough, mean, for me, that was like a thing I had to think about when I went back to school. I'm like, well, my hands don't. work that great, like I can't really write that great. How am I going to do math? So it was like a major concern for me. You don't know in the beginning that you can figure these things out. So I was like, well, I got to do something that doesn't require a lot of math. So took a couple of semesters of like criminal justice, which, you know, pretty soon knew that wasn't, you know, for me, like the curriculum and just like where where that would lead. So I was like, well, I can figure this ⁓ business degree thing out. So got back into a business major, finished with a business management degree, did a ton of math, was able to, you know, write, figure out a way to write. wasn't a huge deal. And if I needed help with something, they had a great program at the university, like a disability resource center, I think is what they called it. I'm not sure, but I think all campuses have them now. So if you needed a note taker or you needed, you know, some help with this or that. They could set you up with it. It wasn't super reliable in my opinion. So I just figured out how to do it myself. But yeah, finished with a business degree, did all the math I needed to do and still really didn't know what I was going to do at that point. I mean, I was playing a lot of adaptive sports at that point, playing a lot of wheelchair rugby. That was kind of the sport that I got thrown into and addicted to. So I was like traveling around, playing rugby, finishing school. And then I did a couple of things after I graduated, like an internship. for an attorney's office where I knew a contact that kind of set me up with a job for a little while. ⁓ I did an apprenticeship with Brooks Adaptive Sports thinking that maybe I would lead into like a career in adaptive sports. There wasn't really a position at that time, but the program was growing and I thought, hey, there might be something that I can get into here that's, passionate about, have fun doing and pays the bills. And then really the way I got into what I'm doing, now is just circumstantial networking. ⁓ Met Donnie Moran, who had started Wheeler's Medical Supply through the adaptive sports program. ⁓ And he knew like I was connected, so he would hit me up and have me introduce him to folks who might need the services that he was providing. ⁓ And I was still doing the apprenticeship thing. And it just kind of snowballed and evolved into a really, really small company of two people ⁓ into, okay, I can have a sales team now. And I just became, you know, one of the first sales persons ⁓ on the team and didn't really seek out being in sales per se. really don't, still, it's weird for me to call this sales just because for you and I, it's really meeting with people and talking about our perspective as a catheter user and really just helping them along the way. So you get like a negative connotation or I did. you're younger and you think about sales, a car salesman or something like that. But I really just learned that all this was, was helping people out that had the same needs that I had. it became really natural ⁓ for me and became really passionate about it. And that's how I got started in medical supplies and sales and still getting a mentor with people I would meet in rehab. So it was really just kind of a natural fit for me. speaker-1: is awesome. I that word perseverance is something that comes up a lot. And also just I think getting involved in like sports or doing anything can be really important because when somebody gets hurt, you can think and try to plan as much as you think as as much as you want. But let's be real, like things just don't go as planned. I mean, you can have a good idea and you can kind of try to go around that like to that path. But For example, we didn't think we were going to get hurt. I had a plan. thought I was like you said, you're invincible. had it. Yeah. You had an idea of what you're going to do with your life and then something happens and we have to learn to adapt. Right. And then especially somebody with like a cervical injury, I feel like that that can take time. ⁓ But you did a really good job, obviously, because you're killing it now and you have an awesome career that is like more it seems like your passion. I kind of like what you're saying. Does it feel like sales? I hate that word, too, because it's like When someone asked me what what do I do? And like, well, I'm in sales. But let me I got to explain to you, though, this is what it is. This is like more of a personal thing for me. Right. What do you enjoy kind of about what you do now? Because I know you work along a lot with like Brooks rehab, which is funny because somewhere that you had gone in the past. Yeah, it's probably a full circle moment for you or. speaker-0: Yeah, no, I've and I've said this before, I've worn a lot of hats ⁓ at Brooks and some of them at the same time. So it was all it was really odd for me in the beginning to go from, you know, I had been a patient there, had been really involved in the adaptive sports program, had been a mentor there. And then it became an account for me once this thing really became a job and a career. And it wasn't just something I was helping with on the side. So it was really uncomfortable for me in the beginning to go in and meet with and talk with the same people that I had had different relationships with. So I felt like salesy going in and creating these new relationships. But it came natural pretty quick. mean, I was still meeting with people who had been newly injured. I was just helping in a different way. And there wasn't really a sale to be made per se, really just meeting with people, kind of sharing my story. I'm trying to get them set up with the best product to make them healthy and independent. And that really hit home for me because I wasn't independent with cath thing when I went home from rehab. So it was a huge breakthrough for me to become independent with self-cath when I had somebody helping me initially. So I knew how important that was for people knew how valuable it could be to find just the right product and know that it's out there. So that's kind of where that evolved for me. having different relationships and different hats when it comes to, you know, Brooks rehab specifically. And now it's just natural. I mean, I can be a part of everything going on there, everything, you know, I want to provide or, or they ask me to provide pretty naturally as far as, you know, mentorship, adaptive sports, and also having a career that involves working with, you know, case managers and therapists on a, business level. speaker-1: No, that's awesome. I think about like back when you got hurt, there probably was a lot less resources than we had that we have now. You would be a guy that I go to for a resource, right? People who are living are probably the best resources. But we also have stuff like the Ally program, which people are on and people like you that we can you can contact or you're listening to a podcast right now. How important do you think it is for people to experience that real life, maybe and get involved in sports like and stuff like that, but also look at the Ally program and try to rely on other people's experiences for themselves. speaker-0: Yeah, think it's honestly, think it's the most important thing. Obviously you want to, you know, work on your, you know, health. A lot of people have like myself had secondary injuries, different, you know, health problems. had, you know, some broken bones and then a really bad pressure sore. mean, so getting yourself healthy is number one, you know, working on your rehab, all that stuff. ⁓ but I always tell people the most valuable thing is to get around people who have been through the same thing. And so often. ⁓ people are going home to towns that are rural or they're not around adaptive sports like Brooks has, or, know, the adaptive sports down in Tampa where you're at. If you're not in one of those main hubs, you're kind of isolated. Some people are the only person in a wheelchair with a spinal cord injury in their whole town. So to be isolated like that, I think is super dangerous, like just for like head space where you're going in life. ⁓ so I always tell those people, Hey, There's online groups, there's forums, there's, all these things you can find online. Go to your nearest support group, seek out the adaptive sports and maybe go to a special event. But now that allies available, I mean, I think that's perfect for not only those folks who don't have local resources, but for everybody just to kind of network, bounce ideas off of each other, ask what people do for a career. And then there's connections made. I mean, that's how I got started was meeting someone through adaptive sports that had started a company and got involved with that. So I think it's super valuable in every way. It's like mental, emotional, getting out and getting physical with adaptive sports. And you don't even know what adaptive sports are out there when you get injured. So something like Ally where you can go in and see what other people are doing, ask questions, I think is huge because you can have all the family support, friends support in the world. But if you're not, If you're the I always tell people if you if you're the only one in your circle with a spinal cord injury, it's going to be ⁓ really isolating. So don't do that. You know, find people that have been through the same thing. speaker-1: I mean, I think a lot of people have a similar story, like, you know, a PT or OT or my friends could try to like encourage me and help me the most they could. But what did it for me was the first like peer mentor that I had that I had met in Shepard's. Seeing him actually do it, traveling, playing sports, he had a girlfriend and stuff like that. That was what really made the difference for me. So it's good to be able to connect with other people, like you said, who have spinal cord injuries. In person, if you can, great if you live in an area like that. like you said, a lot of people may live somewhere a little far from stuff like that. So the Ally program and just the age that we live in now just with technology and online and how accessible it is, is pretty great. But thank you for sharing your college journey, your career, kind of how you got involved in just explaining how you got to where you're at today. But I'm also really interested in, you know, to hear your thoughts on where you're at with your family. So I know you're married and you have a little girl, right? That's awesome. So before we fast forward, I would like to start at the beginning. So in some way I don't mind talking about too, but when you first start dating, you know, it's something that I can, I think can be a little intimidating for sure. You know, once you're in a chair and stuff like that, what were some of your thoughts and maybe some of the, did you have any fears or doubts that was in the back of your mind that speaker-0: Yep, little girl. speaker-1: you probably found out later wasn't a big deal or? speaker-0: I I think you fear like everything. It's just such an unknown when you go through this. And so many people I meet say, well, you know, I didn't know anything about this or I didn't know anything about spinal cord injury or I'm just having to learn to cath. I, you know, I try to tell people that are just saying that that's all of us, you know, we didn't we didn't get like a ⁓ playbook to study for this before it happened. It happens in the snap of a finger. And then you've got to figure it out. So. All those fears are there. And when you're 20, you're really thinking about like, okay, relationships, know, girls, how's this going to work? How's that going to work? Am I going to be able to have a family? Am I going to be able to, you know, meet people, date all that stuff? And everybody is in a different place in their journey when they get injured, I think. So a lot of people are already have that relationship established or they're married or they have a girlfriend and maybe that ⁓ works for a while or maybe it works forever. And then you've got to get back into the dating field. ⁓ So I think for me, there was like a comfortability to be around people I already knew in the beginning, as far as dating goes. So you were, you know, you were still hanging around the same people, people that knew you before. And so that's where like there's a comfort zone is with those people that knew you as the old you. So I think that's kind of where typically you would start or I started. And then you gain confidence over time. Because like I said, there was that identity crisis. mean, I had lost 60, 70 pounds of muscle in like four weeks of being injured. So when I looked in the mirror, I didn't even feel like the same person anymore. So it's kind of reestablishing yourself as a person, building confidence again in who you are and that the things you lost physically weren't really what made you who you are anyway. And it's really just learning that I think is really important for people who are going through this to just be you. outside of what you're not able to do anymore, what you don't have anymore. But again, adaptive sports, getting around guys who had that confidence. That's where that was like the springboard for everything. So that's where I got back into physical activity, playing sports, built a confidence about, you know, independence and who I am. speaker-1: you