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Turning Point Ep.2: "18 Years to Live" · Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment)

• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, and I was originally given five years to live.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Murders to Music podcast.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Aaron, I'm your host, and thank you guys so much for coming back for one more week.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be episode number two of the Turning Point series.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: This special 10-episode series is something that I'm going to do where I want to invite guests from all walks of life.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: And this series is not about reliving the trauma that they experience for shock value, but it's about the moment that life begins to change and shift.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's about the moment that clarity replaces chaos and the moment that survival becomes rebuilding.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's about the moment that the tide turns.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to invite people in from all walks of life.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: And tonight you're going to hear a gentleman who has got an amazing story with a great plot twist at the end.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So stick around, enjoy this series, enjoy the positivity, enjoy the learning and the education, entertainment, and value of realizing that your defining moment doesn't have to define you.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this series is all about.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tonight we're going to talk about a sudden, irreversible life change that happened in our guest life.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've all had those moments where we've experienced a sudden pivot in the course of direction.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: It could be an illness, it could be a loss of a child, it could be a loss of a job, it could be a paralyzing accident.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Tonight we're going to ask the question what was the moment you knew your life had permanently changed?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to give it away.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to tell this gentleman's story.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: But what I will tell you is you're going to want to stick around till the very end.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your life can change in a single moment.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for sticking around.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's jump right into the show and let's talk to our guest.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Dwayne, thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I want you to get into your story.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to tell the whole thing, and then we'll ask some follow-up questions at the end.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to start it off like this.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me your story and tell me what was the moment you knew that your life had permanently changed.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The other part of that story was I was already dealing with a diagnosis.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: In 2006, I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was, you know, it wasn't I was just dealing with the police shooting.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd already been dealing with something for um at that time it was like 17 years.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I grew up in a small rural town in western Kentucky called Benton.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I I always wanted to be a basketball player.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I ever wanted to be.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I really believe that's where I learned resilience was by you know, at four years old, shooting at a 10-foot rim and just picking spots at of the net to hit to, you know, and eventually the ball went in.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: But like that's the true part of resilience that I learned.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I was never the star player, never the star player.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was always just good, good enough to make the team, but you know, just not on people's radars of you know, going to play in you know in college or playing professional.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: My family background.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have a wonderful mom, a wonderful dad, I have a wonderful brother.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I say that, but I also didn't really know how to communicate with them.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was another part.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just found out a few weeks ago that I was on the spectrum, and so I just really didn't know.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how to communicate.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think that was kind of the separation.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: My parents always showed a lot of love, but also at the same time, you know, they're great people with other people, great people to me, but also there was that part of like wanting and needing something else.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, I always used basketball or sports or grades or whatever.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think if from anybody from a family standpoint, we always give what we feel like what we want to what we feel like that person wants us to be, and so I think that was part of the basketball, uh, you know, as far as looking back, but also there was a love aspect with basketball too, because I was good at it and it was probably the best thing I was good at.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up uh at 19 years old going to play in overseas, uh, did not make the professional amount.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I ended up coming back from the international part and coming back with an agent.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, like I kind of felt like I just hit my ceiling, man.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was really it.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just did not feel like, hey, I'm gonna be once I hurt my knee.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I felt like there was a path, but then the path was blocked once I hurt my knee.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so at 29, um, as I was going through this transition of like what I wanted to be, that's when the diagnosis hit.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was diagnosed with polycythemia vera.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: They went ahead and at first they told me that I had the blood cancer part, and then they were like, after a couple months, they're like the first diagnosis part, they were like, Hey, we've given you five years, like this is very advanced.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next time they were like, Well, maybe not yet, but maybe in a couple years.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so eventually that five-year diagnosis went to about 15.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, um, for me, it was like, oh, I'm not able to run.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's how I deal with my problems.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can't play basketball.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do I do with all this time?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I was an avid reader, but I also felt like all the things that I enjoyed and gave me happiness was taken, I won't say taken away from me, but I wasn't, I was unable to do.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: There was a period of disbelief, but there was also a period of like, hey, I can beat this.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: There still was like I still felt like I was Superman and like I still felt like I'll beat this.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's some way I can beat this, like I'll change my diet.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: There was just some different things that I like I I tried.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I uh did everything pretty much except just I mean, I tried vegetarian, I tried, you know, hey, get off drink, yeah, you know, drinking caffeine, like hey, stop drinking alcohol, like all those things.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just basically went to just drinking water and eating like super, super clean.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I went back and like my blood actually had gotten worse, and I was like, okay, this doesn't make sense.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I make all these changes, nothing, nothing's changing in health-wise.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: That was where it was like, oh, this is actually a little bit more real than what I actually thought.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be probably where I would say the disbelief came in, but there was still this part of like, hey, I can beat this.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then I talked, went through therapy, was depressed, went through a lot of anxiety.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the therapists told me, she's like, You've got to be content where you're at and accept where you are.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you do not accept and realize that this content part is actually what's going to save your life, um, as far as like having a life at that moment, and so that's where I just kind of got more content of you know, I quit doing personal development stuff.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I just was like, hey, this is my life.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've got, you know, at that time, I believe it was still five years.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then um the fourth year, I just went and done bucket list things, man.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I blew my 401k, I did all these type of things that I felt like things that I wanted to do.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: I went and watched the Lakers from almost courtside.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I did all these wonderful things that were just bucket list items that I wanted to do.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I ended up pretty much my bank account was at zero.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh for me, man, it was like, well, I'm you know, I only have maybe a few more months, and then they were like, oh no, they're like, hey Dwayne, just got some real good news for you.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take this five-year diagnosis and move this to 15.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, so that was in 2006, so the sixth, the 16th year I was involved in the shooting, and the other aspect of that was I already felt like I was dying already because I was told that diagnosis.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So when I went through a near-death experience, I was like, whoa, why why was I I hate to use the word spared, but I kind of feel like that's probably the best way to explain to people is why am I spared right now?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Think about a bright, sunny day, a beautiful, you know, sunny day.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm taking my three-year-old niece to get ice cream.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just a wonderful time.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: We were hanging out, enjoying each other's company.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if where you're at, you have Dairy Queen, but you know, we have a Dairy Queen here, and it has some of the best soft serve ice cream.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about soft serve ice cream and blizzard.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted a blizzard that day, and my niece wanted some soft serve ice cream.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So as I'm driving to get that for my niece, I ended up driving through a police shootout.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a criminal was um detained and in handcuffs and was outside smoking cigarette.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, um somehow he didn't get padded down correctly, and so he had a gun that was in his waistband, and he took that out and he ended up shooting a police officer.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so through that, there was a shootout, and I just so happened to be driving by when a stray bullet hit the truck.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: If the bullet would have been about an eighth of an inch to the left, it kills me.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Eighth of an inch to the right, it probably hits my three-year-old niece at this at the uh it probably hits my three-year-old niece, and as you can tell, like I don't want to even really talk about you know it possibly hitting my three-year-old niece because you know nobody wants to hear that.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you know, through that, I ended up having PTSD and Survivor's Guilt.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of my friends were friends with the police officer, and so that is one of the things that was a turning point for me was I literally I I feel like sometimes people don't understand.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like that day I lost my innocence, but it like a bullet, the NDE, actually hit my soul.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: It like I it didn't hit my physical body.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lucky for me, the C pillar, which a lot of people, if they're not familiar with C pillar, that's where the roof and the bed of the truck, like um that piece of metal that attaches.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what hit that's what saved my life, or possibly my niece's life that day.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so through that, um, it kind of kicked off some things of like, hey, what's my purpose?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: What am I doing with my life?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things for me that I was extremely fortunate is I met this man, Melvin Turner Sr.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Melvin Turner Sr.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually in Jim Rohn's mentor degree.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jim meant Jim mentored Melvin in business, and Melvin mentored Jim Rohn in public speaking.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know how I knew how big of a contact that was, but I truly didn't understand how much what that would mean later on.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: But Melvin told me he was always like, control your attitude.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your attitude is your altitude.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so he would call me and he would just say, Hey, young man, he's like, How's your attitude today?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I always had him to kind of bounce off if you know, if I had a bad day, if I went to the doctor and things were, you know, going the way I felt, like you know, I was still in this, like the other thing, what I the symptoms I had was this was similar to like severe fatigue, severe fatigue syndrome, or um if like how you feel when you have the flu.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So think about having the flu every day.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was definitely not fun.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there was times where you know I was in this victim mentality.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, there was times where it was just like I there was times that I was in how can I be in this place?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh ended up getting a handicapped parking tag.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: There was just these aspects that I was like, hold on, I was a really top athlete at some point, and now I'm here.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you could just kind of imagine the um the confusion of the situation, and then also the other one of the big things for me was whenever I went to a doctor's office or I went places where other people would probably need to look and see my light, I would really make sure that I did not lose my personality.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was very kind.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I always opened doors, I was kind to the nurses, I was kind to the uh to the staff, uh the doctors.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I always went like even above and beyond because I wanted them to see that hey, like even in my darkest, darkest moments, like I'm still gonna show up as Dwayne Morton, like how my parents raised me and showed just be a kind person.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's really important.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Was I kind of felt like it was kind of a trade-off.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I got to accomplish my dream of basketball, but then I also got I was, you know, I was basically feel like I was gonna, you know, I was dying, but I wanted to be able to do something for others.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's just my ability to always look at service to others and some type of servanthood.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful, man.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you've covered a lot of stuff, and I want to go back and just dig in a little bit and ask you a question.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I know the answer to this, but I don't want to assume.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: What was the moment that you knew your life had permanently changed?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely the diagnosis.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: The diagnosis.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And tell me about that moment.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: What was that like for you?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like emotionally?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like looking down the barrel of a five-year life expectancy?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think the big thing for me was was I had all this potential.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to figure out things, and I probably do not get to check that out.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get to see the other part of that aspect.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I haven't brought up is, you know, I didn't get married, I don't have kids.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was like, oh, I just waited until my 30s.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I can wait, like I'm still looking like I've and I feel like that was one of the big steps for me.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh, I'm not gonna be able to have this.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be able to have the house.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be able to have the nice car that I felt like I was gonna be able to get.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Those things that weren't just materialistic, but those were goals of mine that I wanted to attain.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it was also like I don't have enough time to figure this out to be the you know top data analyst in my company.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to figure out like, hey, which house I actually want to own.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Those were the things that like at first I really struggled with was like, okay, I have this plan of a great life in my head, and I'm not gonna be able to accomplish any of it because I've been sitting on my butt um try to figure it out rather than just actually going for it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um man, I've never been in your shoes, but uh what you're saying makes sense to me.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: What was life like for you before the diagnosis when you went into the doctor that day, or you know, and then what was life like just after?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: How did that change you as a human being?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So before I still was playing basketball three, four times a week.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was playing against like ex-college players, like I still was playing at a high level.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you know, I was running, like I was I was I was in good shape.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't in the best shape of my life, I wasn't like three, five percent body fat like I was, you know, when I was 19, but I was 29 years old and I weighed probably about 195 at the time, which was I felt was like really good weight for me.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it also was like I knew I wasn't at my best.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was another aspect.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was like I was just like, oh, there's there's another level I can get to.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: The other part was I just took a job where I felt like I really had the pieces of being able to climb the corporate ladder to actually get into an area of like what I felt like me making a quarter of a million dollars a year, you know, and actually being able to have that opportunity to actually see my value and see other people see that value for me.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the other part of just being, you know, I grew up in a small town and you know, I moved to another to a larger city at that time, and so there was all these different opportunities that I didn't even know even existed, and then I was like, oh well, I can do this.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then so I feel like for me, there was still this part of finding myself as I was at that point, and like I said, I you know, I the day before uh I ran two miles that morning and I played basketball for three and a half hours, and then that next day I couldn't get up three flights of stairs at the office.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, it just so there was this like part of me that was um, is this real?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I dreaming?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Those type of things.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't, it was never a why me situation.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like, is this real?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I did I did I is this a nightmare?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was where I was more at.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like I was too good to be going through something that was not um you know part of the plan, but also I knew that like there was a reason that all these things were happening to me.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: That was what I would say the most was there was a reason, and I don't know the reason.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm realizing like all these things are not in my favor right now.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you this, Dwayne.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: What did you fear the most?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've never been diagnosed with anything like that.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: What did you fear the most?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the sickness?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Was it your journey?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the five years?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the death sentence?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: What was it?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was having all the potential in the world and not being able to tap into it because I was still figuring it out.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was the that was the scariest part.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Was like, oh, I can do all these great things, but I didn't yet.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: That would be what was like keeping me up at night was like I could be a great husband, I could be a great father.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Those were two big things that were definitely at the threshold, or definitely definitely the bigger ones, but the other one was like, you know, you spend a lot of time playing video games, like you spent a lot of times reading books, like you could have done some other things that like you could have been uh you could have been using your entrepreneur spirit.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: There was just some things where I was like, you know, I hadn't been living to the fullest.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was living in the safe part, I was just cruising.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was cruising.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I was in neutral.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't even cruising, I was just in neutral for a while.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I really was overanalyzing my steps to make sure that I didn't make a mistake, but also I didn't understand the value of lessons and failure and those type of things.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's one of the things that um the diagnosis taught me was the idea of failure.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sometimes it takes our world getting shaken up before we recognize, and I think your your term coasting is absolutely perfect.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, even last week at work, we were talking about um you know, cruising and coasting, and there is a difference between those two.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's cool that you're able to now, hindsight, recognize where you're at.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it really sounds like I mean you're checking off your bucket list, you're starting to do these things, you're looking at this five-year diagnosis and you're trying to check off things that you want to do and live out your best five years.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I can only imagine how scary that would be.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're wanting to accomplish so much in such a short little time and counting down the years.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I gotta imagine that was hard.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, am I on the right path or or were you at peace with it all?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I definitely was not at peace for it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I like to use the basketball, I I like to go back to basketball analogies.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was getting my ass kicked and I was down 20, and I was looking at the clock, and I was like, oh, I'm running out of time.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm going to lose this game.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I don't think most athletes want to lose.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what my mentality was like, I'm getting my ass kicked today, and then I look up and then I see the scoreboard and I'm looking at the time click off, and I'm losing more time.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I thought I had way more time, you know, five years before the, you know, like before the diagnosis, I was like, uh, you know, we're we're in a second quarter, like, I'll figure it out.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have plenty of time.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: What was the lowest point for you, Dwayne?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: What was your lowest point?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And were you ever suicidal?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, so that's the one thing I will definitely love to address is I was never suicidal.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I was never suicidal was I'd already had the thought of being suicidal.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: When I was younger, when I hurt my knee, and I was about to sign a professional contract.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I hurt my knee.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was already in talks with like a professional team.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, so for one instant, I was like, hey, if I just turn right really quick, go off this hill, like I don't have to worry about this.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, you know, I really love basketball, but I don't love basketball that much.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I actually think that I enjoy just living.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was the other part for me was like, hey, if this is life and this is the path that it I this is my journey, then I want to be able to do the best that I can do.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when I check out, I can say I did my best.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the chips, I have all the chips, and maybe I didn't, but I truly felt like at that point, like I was like, hey, if this is how I go out, I'm going out on my shield.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm going out on my shield, and I'm going to fight it as much as I can.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: So how long has it been, year to date, since your diagnosis?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: How many years?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so this would be the 20th year.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not good at math.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: I went to a really small school in rural Alaska, but five doesn't equal 20, right?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you this what was the exact moment, the turning point, the moment that the tide began to turn for you and things started to look different.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the tide turned on March 8th of 2024, when I found out I was misdiagnosed.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I know, but yeah, it that's where the tide truly changed, where it was like, oh, I have my health.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, if I have my health, then I have everything I need.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: So how many years did you live with a misdiagnosis?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: 18 and a half.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: 18 and a half years filled with at times a disruption from your stability, disbelief.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you had to adapt to a new way of life.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: You finally had to accept accepting it and be content with where you're at.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Always thinking maybe the end is right around the corner, checking off that bucket list.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm just synopsizing what you just said.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then at 18 and a half years, you find out that you're misdiagnosed.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: How does that even happen?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it happens because patients get put in a box.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to be put in a box, and lucky for me, my seventh doctor set me free and truly diagnosed me with what the issue was.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, I had been tested in the past for it, but I had never went to a sleep center test.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: But he literally told me, he said, I believe you have either COPD or sleep apnea.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Do you smoke?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I've never smoked before in my life.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Well, it's probably not COPD.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, it's probably sleep apnea.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was man with this just being this close to being uh to the anniversary.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I cannot put in words the gratitude of that day of just being told there's a possibility.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a high possibility.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other part.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was the other aspect.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was like it allowed me to dream what I could do if I was healthy.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And ever since that day, I have just not stopped.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: I go 120 miles an hour a day, every day.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wake up and go until the day, like until I go to sleep, my mind is racing and I'm trying to better myself and others all day.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your life now, man.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about what it's like with second lease on life.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things is when I found out I was misdiagnosed, I chose how to respond.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And by choosing how to respond, I chose how other people were able to look at me and also see what I wanted them to see.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so for what I what I do is I facilitate the lessons that I was given, and I'm giving I give those to others so they don't have to go through the bullshit that I did to get the to get the go nuggets.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a resilience integrity coach.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I'm not a resilience and integrity.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I I actually kind of created my own category because I felt like it kind of went together.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a published author.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote the book how the bounce back blueprint become bulletproof.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's a play on the the the shooting, but also the other part is is I wasn't bulletproof.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: The bullet actually had to like that shooting kicked off all of the other stuff.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I found out I was misdiagnosed, there was a different lesson that I got to learn.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I live every day full.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Live every day because there's so many people that don't get that opportunity, and so for me, you know, there's there's these four things that I learned while I was diagnosed that I applied every day, and it's gratitude, self-care, movement, and adaptability, and and and throughout that process, I felt like I was supposed to teach that to others.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm a coach, I'm an inspirational speaker, uh, you know, I do podcasts to share my message.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they always say your mess is your message.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I have a couple of messes, but also I put myself in a room pretty quick of one.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know that like my message is different because a lot of people's mess, they usually created it for themselves.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I've never I'd never really created this stuff for myself, it was just stuff I had to overcome.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: What about faith?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a faith background?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Are you a believer?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I do, so I do have a faith, and that has actually been something that has been rocked.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: And your faith, what is it a faith uh Christianity?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: What do you believe?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I would say so.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been a Christian, but also it, you know, there's other aspects of just Christianity, like there's other aspects that like I believe in energy, I believe in quantum mechanics, I believe in quantum physics.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: So all these things are brought into where religion is spirituality, and so you know, there's a that's a whole huge different conversation, but it's also one of the things that like I was open to is to be able to say, okay, it's not just organized religion.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually uh you can actually block uh you know where you're actually science backed, also.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that God played a part in your healing this diagnosis?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: I believe God said you need to go into forge, my friend.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like we we need you to have X caliber, and you don't get X caliber at the dollar store.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, like that's the reason that all these bumps were really hard and they were really long.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Was the sword needed to be in the forge longer than uh just a normal sword, and that's truly my belief is like there was there's funny part of this is uh I was told I'd be a great I was a great speaker at the age of 20.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, nah, I'm just a basketball player, forget that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've just whatever.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: But look at this full circle moment that like you know, now I speak on podcasts and on stages and looking to get on bigger stages, but that's really the thing, man.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was my purpose.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's truly where my talent and my gifts are.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, one of the things that I like to say is God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm definitely called.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything about your journey, your story that I haven't asked you or that hasn't come up that you want people to know?
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, be kind to people, like be truly kind, like that's the secret sauce to life.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, be kind and be grateful for whatever aspect you are in your life.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in a pile of shit, that's okay.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, shit is also fertilizer, it's true, but it's also the other aspect of it is you can still get out of a pile of shit.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you just need to be able to be guided out of it to realize that oh, it's not that deep.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, like okay, it is it is deep, you just need to swim a little bit, you know.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the other part for me is uh I believe in mentorship.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: I truly believe in mentorship and coaching.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have coaches, I have mentors, and the reason why is it's so much easier to go through life when you have someone guiding you rather than by yourself.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you're by yourself, you're only looking at your perspective, you're seeing that six.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you're looking at with a coach or a mentor, they're showing you the nine.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: It can be it's both, it's not either or or, it's both.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And until you're able to have that part where you're able to, or you know, one of the things is like I love mindset, and just to give you an idea, this is how much I love mindset.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I dropped my book on the third anniversary of the shooting on May 16th, 2025.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: I became an author because I knew the power of mindset, and I knew, hey, if I could make one of the worst days of my entire life into a positive day, I win.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's the whole that's that's the also the part of my program.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I my my program and basically my brand is called Show Up to Win, because I believe showing up and just attendance isn't not isn't definitely not enough.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that you have to show up with intention and you show up with presence every day.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I will fight pretty much anybody who says, hey, just show up and just be in attendance, anything.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just being there is not enough.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: You have to actually be aware of where you're at and those type of things.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I believe you have to have that intention of like, hey, I want to learn something.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: To use your basketball analogy, you've got to get out of the stands and get onto the court if you want to make an effective difference in life, right?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And to give you another part of the basketball analogy, you know, you sh you miss all the shots you don't take.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a shooter.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there is two true outcomes to a shot.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: You either hit it or you miss it, and you get feedback.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you make different adjustments.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing with life.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're getting an unexpected bill, you just need to be adaptable and be like, oh, it's just a bill.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can figure it out.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this same thing with the diagnosis.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I never I never was like, I'm just dead in the water.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I still felt like I had some type of fighting chance throughout the whole process by looking back because like there was always something I was trying to do, figure out.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I didn't just be like, hey, you know, I'm just drinking myself to death, or hey, I'm just gonna go do illegal drugs.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I you know that was the other aspect was like there was this part of like, hey, I'm still gonna take care of my vessel.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good for you, man.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I just want to say thank you for coming on the show and being vulnerable, telling your story, uh, talking about, you know, not only the diagnosis, but the shooting and the low points, the high points, the moment that the tide turned when you realized that what was misdiagnosed as blood cancer turns out to be sleep apnea.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, thank God for that seventh doctor, you know.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for coming on the show.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being a part of the turning point series.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Tell people where they can find your podcast, tell them where they can buy your book and how they can uh get a hold of you.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um I have the website showuptowin.com with the number two, Dwayne Morton.com is also my website.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my book is on Amazon.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: It has um been out for almost a year.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where I would say they would probably find me best would be on Facebook.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: I do have Instagram, it's still it's under Show Up to Win, but most of mostly everything is just under my name.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm also very approachable.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other aspect.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is like I'm not like, hey, you know, I'm I'm paying attention to help others because I understand that like without people like myself who are able to facilitate things, then people are setting themselves up setting themselves up to lose.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to be a part of that.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to help people win as much as possible.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I truly help people how to win.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: I teach people how to win each day.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you guys want to get a hold of Dwayne, that's D-W-A-Y-N-E Morton.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can find him on Facebook, Instagram, show up to win, uh, the bounce back blueprint, bullet become bulletproof on Amazon.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's the book.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Dwayne, thank you so much for being on the show.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you hang around and I'm gonna sign this off and then you and I'll chat.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is an awesome series that I'm excited to do.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I believe this turning point series, if you've been around the show for a minute, you know the material is heavy.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's uh downright depressing, but I always tell stories or communicate things in such a way that from any walk of life you can get something from this, right?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Life isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I think what I really like about this turning point series is we're taking a look at people and their stories and the tragedy or the the ups and the downs, but then we're spinning it on its head and we're highlighting the positivity and the lessons learned.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and Dwayne said it best here, you might be in a pile of shit, but remember the shit is fertilizer, it's not all that bad.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, ladies and gentlemen, I love you guys.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Come back for next week, episode number three of the Turning Pocket series with a whole new guest, a whole new story, and a whole new lesson.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, that is the Bird Pizza Podcast.