Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Children's book author Josh Binder

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Children's book author Josh Binder · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: You've joined the Waking crew here on FM ninety five
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  Speaker 1: one and AM fourteen sixty wix N. Now it is
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  Speaker 1: time for our talk line. I am joined in the
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  Speaker 1: booth today by a man that I know that but
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  Speaker 1: I'm not sure you do, and I hope you will
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  Speaker 1: a lot better after leaving. I'm talking about Josh Bender,
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  Speaker 1: a local author who has a new book coming out,
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  Speaker 1: but I kind of want to rewind that. Josh, why
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  Speaker 1: don't you you introduce yourself to the listeners and tell
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  Speaker 1: folks where the beginning of this new book came from,
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  Speaker 1: and then we'll lead in there.
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  Speaker 2: Sure well, Abandon, thanks again for having me on. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: Josh Bender, I grew up here in Sterling, moved here
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  Speaker 2: when I was in fourth grade, so to have ties here,
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  Speaker 2: been running outwork elite along with dj Alatte in the
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  Speaker 2: area as well.
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  Speaker 3: So although I live in Sugar Grove now we're out
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  Speaker 3: here all the time.
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  Speaker 2: Love the Souk Valley area. The Mighty Maddy books are
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  Speaker 2: inspired by my daughter daughter It will be seven in February,
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  Speaker 2: but she was born with tetrology of flow with an
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  Speaker 2: AV valve defect and pulmonary stenosis. So essentially what that
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  Speaker 2: means is she was born with a heart with no
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  Speaker 2: chambers and her pulmonary and her order weren't attached. Oh wow,
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  Speaker 2: So essentially good blood, bad blood, oxygenated blood is just
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  Speaker 2: kind of all floating around. Amazingly. You can survive that,
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  Speaker 2: but you need surgery right away. It's very common in
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  Speaker 2: individuals with Down syndrome, and so when we found that
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  Speaker 2: out at five months, that was kind of the first
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  Speaker 2: sign that there may be a Down syndrome diagnosis. And
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  Speaker 2: when we were delivered that news, you know, you got
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  Speaker 2: to imagine you go in for like your five month appointment.
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  Speaker 2: You're all excited, you're gonna hear the heart beat, you
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  Speaker 2: think all good things, and a matter of like forty
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  Speaker 2: five minutes, it went from something really exciting for my
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  Speaker 2: wife and I to.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, there's something wrong with the heart. Do you want
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  Speaker 3: to proceed? Right?
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  Speaker 2: And so like that whirlwind of emotion from excitement to
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  Speaker 2: do you want to? And I know we're not unique
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  Speaker 2: in that we're not the only family that has dealt
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  Speaker 2: with those conversations, and so there's a million I could
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  Speaker 2: go on for long and long, but that was really
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  Speaker 2: the crux in the beginning of Okay, everything we do
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  Speaker 2: regards to Maddie is going to try to turn negatives
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  Speaker 2: into positive and shine a positive light on it because
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  Speaker 2: we know families like ours, and we didn't know where
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  Speaker 2: to turn right, Like, the biggest thing in those moments
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  Speaker 2: are you're just scared. You don't know what you don't know,
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  Speaker 2: and the stereotypes out there around down syndrome and whatnot.
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  Speaker 3: You just to go, Okay, what do we do?
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  Speaker 2: And of course then the first thing you do are
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  Speaker 2: handed options if you don't want to proceed right. And
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  Speaker 2: I think for any parent in that situation, it's just
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  Speaker 2: an awful spot to be. And so my wife and
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  Speaker 2: I again going back to wanting to turn everything into
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  Speaker 2: a positive, we're like, okay, what can we do? And
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  Speaker 2: of course you've got a newborn. Our whole focus had
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  Speaker 2: nothing to do with down syndrome at that point. It
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  Speaker 2: was we just want to survive and get through the
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  Speaker 2: heart stuff and then we'll get to the down syndrome
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  Speaker 2: as it goes. And that little girl spent six weeks
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  Speaker 2: in the hospital, we went into eight months and never
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  Speaker 2: came home. Doctor said, Dad, now's a good time to
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  Speaker 2: go home and get stuff because it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: a while, but we got to get that little girl out.
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  Speaker 2: We were there for about six weeks, got to go
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  Speaker 2: home for about four weeks, and then we were right
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  Speaker 2: back in for her first open heart surgery. So we
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  Speaker 2: repeated that cycle twice basically over the next year and
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  Speaker 2: a half. So you can imagine the challenge and just
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  Speaker 2: the emotion with all of that. But that is where
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  Speaker 2: Outwork Elite and where this Mighty Mattie series now really
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  Speaker 2: all started to be born. Because as a dad, I
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  Speaker 2: was just kind of lost and needed to put my
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  Speaker 2: energy somewhere. And it went back to that, like, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: how do we find positive ways to spin this without
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  Speaker 2: knowing what the hell we were doing, to be honest
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  Speaker 2: with you, and so it went started with reaching the
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  Speaker 2: Special Olympics and just saying, hey, how can we get involved.
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  Speaker 2: That would eventually evolve into our outwork Lyad All Star Camps,
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  Speaker 2: which we just hosted our fifth one with them. But
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  Speaker 2: it just also led to different connections in the down
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  Speaker 2: syndrome community, in the CCHD community, and started to hear
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  Speaker 2: the same stories that we were dealing with, right, so
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  Speaker 2: you start to build that.
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  Speaker 3: Community and yet it has just been a.
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  Speaker 2: Roller coaster ever since of trying to find ways to
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  Speaker 2: spread a message, trying to spread the light that Maddie
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  Speaker 2: brings to everybody she meets. Everyone she meets walks away
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  Speaker 2: going they just feel better. And I think you meet
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  Speaker 2: anybody with Down syndrome or a unique ability, you have
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  Speaker 2: that same experience oftentimes, But that's not the message we
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  Speaker 2: often hear. We hear it's hard, we hear there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of challenges. We hear there's medical issues or or
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  Speaker 2: what is their future going to look like? And it's
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  Speaker 2: just an old stereotype and it needs a be fixed, right,
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  Speaker 2: And so our books, these Mighty Matty books are just
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  Speaker 2: a small part of that of trying to say there's
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  Speaker 2: so much good that comes from having a child with
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  Speaker 2: Down syndrome, having a child with a unique ability, and
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  Speaker 2: let's tell the world how capable they are versus how
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  Speaker 2: uncapable they are. And yeah, that's a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: what we're trying to do with the camps, with the
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  Speaker 2: books and literally anything else we can do to spread
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  Speaker 2: a positive message.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, that's that's just such a great way
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  Speaker 1: to take this. I mean, you know, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: roller coaster, I think is a great way to describe,
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  Speaker 1: you know, your journey, your your wife's, your your your daughter's,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and all the challenges and emotions that come
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  Speaker 1: through that. But to sit there and have the mind
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  Speaker 1: frame that we're going to take anything that could be
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  Speaker 1: a negative and try to spin it into a positive.
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  Speaker 1: And then also sharing those messages, Like you said, you
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  Speaker 1: were finding that these were conversations other parents were having,
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  Speaker 1: but probably a compartmentalized in many folks, probably feeling the
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  Speaker 1: way you did, you know, alone and unsure. But what
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  Speaker 1: a great way to build a legacy for your daughter
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  Speaker 1: as she's growing older, to look back and see that
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  Speaker 1: her story could be an inspiration for so many folks.
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  Speaker 1: And these books themselves are actually from inspired from actual
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  Speaker 1: events in her life.
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  Speaker 2: Right yeah, yeah, So the first two Mighty Mattie's Big
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  Speaker 2: Game and then Mighty Maddy's Dance Show. The first one
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  Speaker 2: was probably the easiest one to write because it's a
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  Speaker 2: story I had in my head, but like you said,
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  Speaker 2: it's based on real life. Mattie loves basketball. She hasn't
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  Speaker 2: actually played basketball yet, but she's at it all the time,
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  Speaker 2: whether for me or for her big brother. And that
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  Speaker 2: was really where we saw it changing her was watching
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  Speaker 2: her brother play all the time. Next thing you know,
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  Speaker 2: she's picking up a ball around the house or trying
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  Speaker 2: to dribble or wanting to her version was playing catch right,
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  Speaker 2: just rolling it back and forth. Now you fast forward
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  Speaker 2: she was at our camp last month and she's running
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  Speaker 2: up and down the floor and she's into it. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the first story was very true. Mattie learned to love
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  Speaker 2: basketball because of her brother and being around all our
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  Speaker 2: guys without work. And similarly, she's gotten involved in dance
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  Speaker 2: because of her big cousin who's an amazing dancer, Kendalyn,
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  Speaker 2: who lives up by us.
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  Speaker 3: She's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: She's a sixth grader as well, so a great role
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  Speaker 2: model for Maddie. The same thing went to her dance
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  Speaker 2: concerts or recitals and Mattie's out in the aisle doing
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  Speaker 2: her thing, trying to keep up with the girls, and
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  Speaker 2: that just stuck. And music's been something really important to
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  Speaker 2: Maddie too, and something that we've hung on to that
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  Speaker 2: it helps us connect with her. I think others would
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  Speaker 2: probably relate that sometimes kids that are nonverbal, and Maddie's
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  Speaker 2: very verbal for where she's at in life, but sometimes
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  Speaker 2: that emotion is hard to describe, and sometimes you can
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  Speaker 2: see it through music or through movements. So yeah, so
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  Speaker 2: that was the second book of Dance one bat the
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  Speaker 2: Christmas one is the first one. I kind of took
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  Speaker 2: some creative leniencies, right, she definitely loves Christmas. She's definitely
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  Speaker 2: into Santa. We look for the elf every morning. But
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  Speaker 2: of course this adventure takes on a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: of an imaginative and creative path, but it still kind
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  Speaker 2: of has that same heart and soul of like, this
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  Speaker 2: is a girl with Down syndrome and a bad heart,
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  Speaker 2: but it's really the magic behind it. And of course
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  Speaker 2: Santa needs a little bit of that magic to help
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  Speaker 2: them along the way to make sure Christmas goes well.
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  Speaker 2: And so tied that in and then what we try
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  Speaker 2: to do or we do at the end of each
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  Speaker 2: book is put in a Down syndrome playbook. Obviously that
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  Speaker 2: was kind of a play on me being a basketball
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  Speaker 2: coach and the first book being a basketball one, but
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  Speaker 2: we kept it as playbook because that's just kind of
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  Speaker 2: the spirit of it, and it just highlights different things
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  Speaker 2: about Down syndrome, and we try to do it in
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  Speaker 2: a fun way, not down you know, we'll say it's
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  Speaker 2: the twenty first, you know, a third copy of the
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  Speaker 2: twenty first chromosome. But we won't just stick with the
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  Speaker 2: scientific facts. We try to put fun things in there
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  Speaker 2: and things they like to do. And so it's it's
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  Speaker 2: meant to be inspiration, it's meant to be fun if
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  Speaker 2: you're just reading it to a kid, but it's also
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  Speaker 2: to be educational too, where kids who may or adults
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  Speaker 2: that haven't been around individuals with Down syndrome as much
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  Speaker 2: and they have that stereotype we talk about, well, they
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  Speaker 2: can read that and go, huh, I didn't maybe realize
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  Speaker 2: all of that. And if it's just one more person
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  Speaker 2: that says like, oh no, this is we haven't looked
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  Speaker 2: at them the right way, and it's a win, right,
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  Speaker 2: And then to be honest with you, to see matt
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  Speaker 2: the way Maddie looks at the books and she's so
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  Speaker 2: proud that that's her and she knows that's her on there,
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  Speaker 2: it's it's a win either way. But but yeah, it's
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  Speaker 2: it's been fun.
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  Speaker 3: I absolutely love it. What's the name of this latest book?
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  Speaker 2: So the latest one is Mighty Mattie's Christmas Adventure, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: and is that out now?
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  Speaker 3: It's out now.
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  Speaker 2: It's available on Amazon and both paperback, and we just
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  Speaker 2: got approved for Kindle last night, so it's available on
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  Speaker 2: Kindle too. If people prefer the e reading route.
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  Speaker 1: Awesome, there you go. All these books over on Amazon.
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  Speaker 1: You've got e reading available, go check them out. These
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  Speaker 1: are these are wonderful stories and from one dad do another.
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  Speaker 1: This is just so cool, Like seriously, I have to
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  Speaker 1: tip my hat to you for you know, for the
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  Speaker 1: mind frame and for the work involved, for you know,
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  Speaker 1: and the love for your daughter and what's pouring into this.
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  Speaker 1: It's awesome. Are you planning on keeping the series going
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  Speaker 1: as she ages?
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  Speaker 3: I hope? Yeah, Yeah, the goals to keep them going. Obviously.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a fun getting the response it has and
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  Speaker 2: people are into you just never know, right, and so
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  Speaker 2: yeah we will. We will do it as long as
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  Speaker 2: I think Maddie will entertain it or others will as well.
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  Speaker 2: We do have another one in the works that we
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  Speaker 2: are probably gonna drop on through twenty one, which is
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  Speaker 2: a world down Syndrome day. But yeah, definitely keep them rolling,
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  Speaker 2: you know. Of course Maddie will somewhat dictate that too.
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  Speaker 2: I want the stories to always kind of follow her
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  Speaker 2: path as well. We'll do fun ones like the Christmas
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  Speaker 2: one hopefully, but I do think it's important to try
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  Speaker 2: to kind of follow her path because she's she's the
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  Speaker 2: inspiration behind it all.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe as she gets older, we'll see one
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  Speaker 1: co authored with Maddie.
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  Speaker 3: I would.
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  Speaker 2: I think that is definitely something that'll happen at some
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  Speaker 2: point too.
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  Speaker 3: And you never know. I think it'd be cool if
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  Speaker 3: you could.
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  Speaker 2: I'm stretching myself now, but turned it into an animated
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  Speaker 2: series someday or something like that. You never know what technology,
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  Speaker 2: but yes, Mattie's involvement, we'll hopefully be there soon.
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  Speaker 3: Well.
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  Speaker 1: I absolutely love it, Josh. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: sharing this with all of our listeners. It's a really
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  Speaker 1: important information, but you're doing it in such a loving
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  Speaker 1: and lighthearted way. It was just always what first grabbed
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  Speaker 1: me about this story, and so I couldn't wait to
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  Speaker 1: have you in the booth when I transitioned from paper
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  Speaker 1: to radio. So thank you so much for coming in, Josh.
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  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, and I look forward to having
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  Speaker 1: you back again as I'm sure you'll keep these stories going.
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  Speaker 2: Oh well, like I told you before, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: You know you helped with the get the article out
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  Speaker 2: there and then having me here today, So it takes
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  Speaker 2: guys like you to help us spread this message.
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  Speaker 3: So very grateful. Hey, no problem,