Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Kevan Chandler: Freedom, Access, & Joy For The Disabled

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Kevan Chandler: Freedom, Access, & Joy For The Disabled · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

• 0:00
  Welcome to World View Matters, discussing controversial issues, discerning current events,
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  defending biblical Christianity.
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  No topic, off limits.
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  And now, here's your host, David Firazzo.
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  Hey friends, welcome, God bless you, thanks for sharing the podcast and for praying.
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  You were going to be inspired today, a special treat.
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  Whenever we can get away from social, cultural, political, crazy issues, they're going on
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  around the world in America and just have a perspective check.
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  I think it's a gift, I think it's a blessing.
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  So today we are really fortunate to have Kevin Chandler with us.
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  He grew up in the foothills of North Carolina and he was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular
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  disease called spinal muscular atrophy.
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  And in 2016, he and his friends did something really interesting.
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  His friends took a trip across Europe, but they left his wheelchair, Kevin's wheelchair,
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  apparently at home or in the airport, I've read two different things there, but we'll
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  find out for sure.
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  And his friends carried Kevin for three weeks in a backpack.
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  Now I want to give you the website right now.
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  It is we carry Kevin.org and Kevin is K-E-V-A-N.
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  We carry Kevin.org and I can't wait to get his story.
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  It's so inspiring friends and the good that's coming from what they did, Kevin, welcome
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  to World View Matter.
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  So good to see you.
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  Yeah.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Good to see you.
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  So let's go back and first of all, I want to mention the books, too.
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  Your first book came out 2019 and it's We Carry, Kevin, six friends, three countries,
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  no wheelchair.
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  So it's fascinating that they have a custom made backpack and now that's kind of caught
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  on and that's what the nonprofit is about.
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  So Kevin, tell a little bit of your background because I know you're older sister.
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  Also is does she have the exact same symptoms or same disease?
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  She does.
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  Yeah.
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  So we both have spinal muscular atrophy and the way I explain it is when my brain tries to
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  tell my muscles what to do, they don't listen very well.
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  And so our limbs and our arms and our legs especially grow weaker over time.
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  So we both have been in wheelchairs for her for most of our life and me for all of mine.
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  Yeah.
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  Now, how old is she?
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  How much older than you?
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  She's three years older than me.
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  And then we have an older brother older than her three years older than her named Andrew.
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  So one of the questions I wanted to ask is when you were born, when you were younger, what
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  did you learn from seeing her?
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  What did you learn from how your parents were attending to your sister and how did that
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  affect you?
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  Yeah.
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  Well, I think I've been really blessed to have my sister and as a friend that completely
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  understands my situation and I understand hers and so growing up we were able to really
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  relate to one another in a unique way.
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  But our parents really, they made a conscious effort to raise us like normal kids.
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  You know, we were celebrated and disciplined just like any other kid and until I got to
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  see that with her, you know, a couple of years before me as we grew up and really set
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  the standard.
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  But then, you know, when she went off to college, she moved into the dorms and had friends
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  take care of her and so I saw that that was possible and I was able to build on that myself
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  and then she moved to Indiana, we grew up in North Carolina, so she moved 10 hours away
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  and I learned that that was possible and so just kind of built on what she was doing
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  as well and doing it my own right, but realizing from her that it was possible.
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  So you and your wife live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and you mentioned your sister going to college
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  while I neglected in the bio to mention yours and the introduction, you have a bachelor's
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  degree in counseling from John Wesley College that I find that to be very interesting.
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  How did that come about and what are you doing now with that?
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  Yeah, well, so when I graduated high school, I went to a college for music, for recording
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  music and managing bands and I was playing music at the time and I just came to a place
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  after a couple of years where I realized that I loved doing that, but maybe now it
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  does a career and at the same time one of the guys I played music with was at John Wesley
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  getting his bachelor's degree and I would go and spend the weekends with him and hang
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  out and so I had gotten to know the staff and the students and it was just a pretty easy
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  decision and transition into that and so while I was at school there, the degree was
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  generally in counseling but they allowed me to give it a focus in prison ministry and so
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  all of my internship and volunteer opportunities were in prison ministry and so I did that
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  for a few years and also did some rehab counseling and stuff like that and so I don't do any
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  of that now but I feel like my experience in that really helped to shape who I am and how
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  I see the world and how I interact with people and we're all dealing with limitations and struggles
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  and so we have to approach those together and take them on together. Excellent. So your first book,
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  We Carry Kevin, six friends, three countries, no wheelchair, we'll get to the children's book
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  in a few minutes. So the detail that I was sharing in the introduction Kevin, one I've read that
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  you are your friends left your wheelchair at the Atlanta airport and another I read where you left
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  your wheelchair at home. We've got to get to the heart of this mystery, which is it? Was it at
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  home or at the airport? Well I think when it says at home and interviews they mean in the United
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  States but yeah so we actually left it at the hotel parking lot by the airport. We put it in my van
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  and locked it up safe and sound. So it was kind of at the airport but in the van. So tell us
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  about your friends, these friends of yours that came up with this idea how much time elapsed,
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  was it a couple months, was it a year or more where they were talking about this idea of taking you
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  just to I think you went to France first, you went to Ireland, your friends who came up with this
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  and how did that progression go in making these decisions and finally doing it? Yeah well I
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  I appreciate that you say you realize it's a progression because you know that that's our life
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  works right and so some of these guys we we would get together every week when I lived in North
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  Carolina we would do a potluck every week and just a bunch of you know starving artists trying to
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  have a hot once a week together and play music and everything and a lot of those houses that we
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  met in were not real chair accessible and so we got really used to leaving my chair in the van
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  around the sidewalk and and them carrying me inside and so that that kind of set the stage and so in
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  2015 one of them said well what if we explore the sewers in our hometown and we came up with a
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  backpack a very rough version of the backpack and went into the sewers for a couple hours and coming
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  out of that the question kind of lingered of what we survived at what else can we do and and so
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  I came to them we did that in March and I think I came back to them in like June or July and said well
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  what if we went to Europe above ground for three weeks with a better backpack in the remake and
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  so they agreed we kind of got the team put together a symbol and yeah there's the backpack and
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  and and so we started really planning that fall and we went the the following June so the
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  conversations specifically about Europe was about a year long and wow getting ready and building
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  the new backpack doing the fundraising figuring out where we were going to stay and what we were going to
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  do it was all it that was that was an adventure in itself so wow so well so were there three
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  friends were there more so on the trip to Europe we had four guys that were taking turns carrying me
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  and then we had two guys that were filming because we felt like if we were going to do something
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  this crazy we knew that's great that's smart so Kevin how much do you weigh I'm thinking you know
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  carrying you for I know there were three or four that were probably taking turns that's a workout
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  how much do you weigh yeah so when we were on the trip I weighed about 65 pounds and and so
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  our rule generally speaking was that we switched off every 45 minutes and and each guy got a day off
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  they rotated through so at any given time we had three guys that were taking 45 minute cycles of
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  carrying me and that way they didn't you know at the beginning of the trip we actually pushed
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  through they'd say oh yeah I'm fine and you know after carrying for two or three hours they were
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  done for the whole day he said well we need something more sustainable so we limited the time if
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  we were if we were able to sometimes it wasn't possible just the terrain or we would be on a subway
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  or something it'd be hard to transition but generally speaking that's what we did so these these
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  guys must have been a good shape now what what was the hardest terrain I'm thinking a mountain where
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  they really had to climb as far as elevation to take you what was that yeah well the cover of
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  the book is on Skellig Michael which is a island off the coast of Ireland it's got a very very old
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  ancient monastery there that we we wanted to see in person and so that was the end of our trip
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  and we could only take two of the guys with us plus one of the camera guys so that was more
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  difficult because there was a smaller group and and yet I mean that was a really hard climb but at
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  the same time the the steps up to soccer core in Paris were quite the quite the event as well
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  that one of the guys wanted to do that whole climb himself and he was out of breath by the time
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  we got to the top I wasn't sure he was going to top over but that's why we had the others to hold
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  him up right that's right yeah but then sometimes just standing like on a train or in the in the
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  metro would be the hardest because you have to kind of brace yourself and it's almost easier to
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  lean forward and walk forward you know but I don't know it was a challenge the whole time I guess
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  is one thanks so what came from this is really an amazing design and and and the backpack that
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  is available now I'm looking at your website under shop by the way friends we carry Kevin dot org
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  kev and it looks an amazing backpack so are there finishing touches still put on that where is
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  this the thing that people are using now and they're really happy with yeah so when we got back
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  from the trip we had used a child carrier from doider it's a backpack company that's really
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  well established we had used that as kind of a base and and reworked some of the aspects of it
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  to better support me and handle my my weight and weight distribution and things like that and
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  and so we went back to them and said hey can you make a factory version of what we did to your
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  backpack and they agreed and now we are actually on version 2.0 because that first version was
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  based on my needs and then we started distributing it all over the world and hearing back from
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  family saying you know hey we don't use this part of smart or we need more of this and so
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  just kind of did that research and got feedback from families and and developed 2.0 maybe a year
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  and a half ago that's amazing amazing how it's how it's developed and now what's going on with
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  we carry Kevin by the way friends it is a nonprofit and there are ways you can donate on the website
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  kicked off in 2016 and it helps those with disabilities achieve more freedom access and joy
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  in life and I would imagine with other people teaming up to just carry the person it's just
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  what wonderful experiences families are enjoying now that they never would have been able to do
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  so we've got to take a brief pause we're with Kevin Chandler we'll be right back on world view
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• 15:11
  hey friends thanks for following us on rumble our viewership is growing and we're not being
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  censored over there so make sure to just follow us there and also download the free app on your
• 15:29
  iPhone for freedom project media Kevin Chandler's our guest today and the nonprofit is we carry
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  Kevin dot org so Kevin what talked about the first backpack now we've got to talk about the book
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  I actually mentioned the first book let's talk about the children's book and I would imagine
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  I was reading some of the testimonies of family adults appreciating that and reading it to the children
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  so tell us how the children's book came about and I'm guessing that's pretty new it just came out
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  within a year yeah yeah it came out a few months ago and yet it was as I have come to understand
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  it was a few years in the making which is how all picture books work but I've learned but
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  yeah we well we had the memoir which we now call the grown-up book available to our audience
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  for a few years and we we would always share it with families and we really appreciate it how
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  parents would enjoy it and sometimes they could read it to their kids and stuff like that but
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  it always kind of bothered me that there were people actually in the backpack that couldn't
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  read that book and you know because probably about 95% of the people actually in the backpack
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  are young children and and so I wanted to be able to share our story in a way that they could
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  really process it and understand it themselves and be able to see hey that that's just like me
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  I'm in a backpack like that and right now we have about 1200 backpacks in 48 countries and
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  I wanted those families the children of those families to really understand the story behind
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  this backpack and be encouraged by it and so we kind of started down the road of creating this
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  picture book and and got an amazing artist to work with us and and in the writing process we
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  decided that it should be about the fears that I had or maybe concerns would be a better word
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  concerns of you know what what goes through your mind when you are on someone's back
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  fully depending on them and and so it kind of walks through a few of those concerns and then says
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  but Kevin's friends said trust me and Kevin did and then you get to see all the amazing fun
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  and beautiful things that come from that and so as the book came together we just realized
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  this isn't just a book for those kids in the backpack this is a book about friendship
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  that could be available to everyone and so we we kind of started down that road as well so
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  now it's available for anyone to enjoy and hopefully being encouraged about putting others
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  before yourself and inviting people into your need and trusting and being trustworthy
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  we carry Kevin children's book children's picture book there's a lesson in faith here obviously
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  because I think I relate that to our trust in God sometimes that we've got to kind of get through
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  the fear and just say okay Lord I trust you so let's go back to children when children see
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  let's just say a dad carrying a little girl a daughter like a healthy little girl on his back
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  they they kind of go okay they kind of know how to process that and now let's look at children when
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  they see one of these friends of yours carrying you you know an adult man on their back just share
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  what some of the things that children because they can be so brutally honest right just share a
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  couple of those experiences where kids are trying to process this man on another man's back go
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  ahead and share whatever it comes to mind yeah well I mean that's that's kind of been my experience
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  all along even in my wheelchair as an adult because I'm my frame my structure is a little
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  smaller and so there's a lot of you know mommy looks a little bit more at the beard kind of comments
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  and stuff like that so but I think something something magical happens with the backpack where
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  you just somehow it gets past people's notions of disability or value or
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  difference you know and and so I you know kids kids don't say a lot but they if you kind of
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  look up and and I still look up of of awe and wonder this kind of like quote that's cool sort of
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  thing but then we've also had a lot of adults who would otherwise maybe have
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  shied away actually like high five us or handshake and we we did get to go after Europe we went to
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  China and part of our time there was spent at a orphanage for kids with disabilities and
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  I got to you know be on the floor in the backpack and out of the backpack with these kids
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  these kids who had similar disabilities as me and so maybe more more than the backpack
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  I think what they saw and were encouraged by was here look at this guy and the friends that he has
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  and the full life that he's living and I could have that too and so I think that's something that
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  families all over the world with disabilities see even more than the backpack they see
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  that I'm an adult and I'm doing okay and I have an awesome group of friends and an amazing wife
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  and and these things are possible in in a world that sometimes says well you're in a wheelchair
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  so you may not get married or you know your friends aren't going to want to help the way
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  that you know that you need to hire nurses or you know there's all these limitations that
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  the world puts on us but we also put on ourselves and and I hope that my testimony is that
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  that that doesn't have to be the case and you can look a full life
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  well I'm I'm looking at some of these images on your website of other families carrying
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  either their children or someone with a disability this the joy on their faces and they're
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  different names we carry forest we carry bj different names of people at we carry kevin dot org
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  and uh it I'm so thankful because it what you said you know it is a difficult life but you are
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  no less valuable than anybody else and any of these children we are all created in the image of
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  God and precious in his sight and every single life has value and that includes the pre-born
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  that includes the elderly um anyway I think if there are some states in America that have
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  euthanasia laws and and and it's where it's legal I'm thinking wow we've got to get back to
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  the value of life and and I just thank I'm thankful to see this I did want to mention Brent Hanson
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  he's been on our show a couple times he's a friend of the podcast and he carried you I'm sure
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  that I guess that was in Indiana tell us about that how you and Brent Hanson connected because that
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  was a fun video to watch yeah we uh so we have met up here in indiana before but he carried me I
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  actually went down to visit him in florida um in where he lives and uh and yeah we had somebody had
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  connected us um uh an editor that would work with both of us on on our books and said hey I
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  I think you guys would get along you would be friends and so yeah there he has so we uh
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  goodness that's so we set up a zoom call and chatted for about an hour and and at the end he was
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  like so uh what what do we do next and I was like raw I can come down if you're on to carry me how's
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  your back and and uh we had a great time it was a lot of fun we we walked down a pass for a while
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  and then he said hey I need a break so it's because the the interview the video that we did
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  uh I don't remember it's probably an hour hour and a half long but um I feel like about 75 percent of
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  it we were just sitting on the side of a path on the ground just talking and um but he's he's really
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  awesome he is I'd love his writing too and just his sense of humor and his perspective uh obviously
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  a biblical worldview but um so Kevin just in case I wanted to give him a hard time next time we
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  get him on the show how long did he last before he needed a break oh I actually don't know it's
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  not right I I will tell you um that when I'm in the backpack like my whole concept of
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  space and time just get all wobbly because I'm I'm used to being close to the ground and
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  in control and and suddenly you're you know six feet seven feet in the air because
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  I'm above whoever's carrying me a little bit and so uh being way up there I have no idea how
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  you know we'll pass by a uh tree or a lamp stand and I'll think we're gonna run into it and we
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  don't and and I think I've been up there for 10 minutes and it's been an hour so so I really don't
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  know but you'll have to ask him I will I'm sure he'll be honest too um so um that is an interesting
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  perspective though because you are up higher and you you're not affecting any balance at all
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  you're totally relying on the person carrying you that must be a trip I mean um gosh I can't
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  imagine so just to encourage people in the last minute minute and a half we have here Kevin
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  and by the way friends again we carry Kevin dot org uh nonprofit and check out the book too um
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  just what would you say to parents or families with either a child or an adult with disabilities
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  and and just to to encourage them before we let you go yeah I would just um encourage them like
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  like you were saying earlier about the value of life and I mean the fact that um god sent his
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  his son to live among us and in the flesh and and then he uh went all the way to the cross just
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  for our sake to to have a relationship with us I mean that is uh that's a lot of values hey
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  yeah it's that's um he he really cares about you and uh and that you know whether you are an infant
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  or or the elderly whether you are an Olympic athlete or you are bedridden um he he met every
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  single one and he meets every single one where where we are and um and he wants a relationship with
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  you and so um I think if we could uh not just see that for ourselves but see that for those around
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  us as well um relationships would be uh strengthened and um and greater and and uh we would know
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  better how to love one another because we know how he loves us praise god brother thank you for
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  bringing it back to the gospel and how much he loves us every one of us what a blessing to connect
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  with you Kevin and may god enlarge your territory and uh keep spreading that joy brother and just
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  encouraging others and uh hopefully we'll connect again soon thanks for your time today yeah thank
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  you most welcome all right friends uh share this podcast this is one it's a perspective check
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  unlike some of the topics we cover some of the garbage that we have to talk about what's going on
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  out there this is uh it's really good to just bring it back home to every day life the challenges
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  we face and our under god you know how much he loves us so thanks for sharing the podcast god bless
• 28:12
  you and as always keep speaking the truth about things that matter