Latest / Off the Bench - London / Punch Out MS in London, Ontario | A Story More People Need to Hear

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Punch Out MS in London, Ontario | A Story More People Need to Hear · Off the Bench - London

0:02
And gentlemen, allow us to reintroduce your hosts,
0:08
Malcolm the Milkman Noel and Scott the Visionary
0:15
Home. This is the show where life and sports
0:20
collide. Monday night lights and the ball comes
0:24
alive. The base getting loud while the fans all
0:27
arrive. From the rink to the field to the court
0:29
where it's live. Breaking down the plays while
0:31
we rock. and with the crowd water wall tv showing
0:34
every big play half price wings water highlights
0:37
replay 650 well shots got the whole place vibing
0:40
my staff in the city keep the whole bar thriving
0:43
grab a drink and take a seat malcolm the milkman
1:14
Go off the bench. Go off the bench. Go off the
1:18
bench. Go off the bench. Go off the bench. Go
1:24
off the bench. I say that everyone who's trying
1:31
to get their driver's license, should learn how
1:34
to manage it as hard as possible. Because the
1:37
amount of people... who are all about themselves,
1:40
just don't understand about how lanes work, or,
1:43
you know, left side, you go this way, right side,
1:46
you go this way. The amount of, like, people
1:49
who just fuck themselves is annoying. But I say,
1:53
the other thing I'm going to say is, Costco,
1:56
I think we're losing our Canadian bag. Because
1:59
the amount of people who don't know how to say,
2:02
like, oh, come through, or the manners, there's
2:05
none of that anymore. It's like... i don't know
2:07
what i like anything is i'm just gonna go and
2:09
then i'm standing there like hey you can go through
2:12
both so okay none of y 'all are gonna do that
2:16
for you so it's just like tasco spatially aware
2:22
when Costco people do not. I love it. I scream
2:26
in my head every time I'm in there. And really,
2:29
what I do, I bump them. It doesn't help that
2:31
the carts are gigantic. They're huge. Well, we
2:34
know why they are. We know why. But I bump into
2:36
people. I hit them. And when they look and give
2:39
me a dirty look, I say, spatial awareness. Sorry,
2:42
first thing. And then I move on. Oh, I love that.
2:46
Well, I'm Malcolm the Milkman. Who are you? I'm
2:50
Gus Kalis. Okay, okay. That's all I got. That's
2:54
all I am. So, you know, I'm very glad you came
2:57
on the show, Todd. You're probably the most important
3:00
guest we're going to have this week, for sure.
3:02
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think a lot, like a bunch
3:06
of our episodes since Full Call season has ended,
3:09
that's kind of led up to having you on the show.
3:11
That's awesome. So, yeah, well, just people flirt,
3:14
Curtis talking about Punch Out MS for quite some
3:17
time. The reason we got into the ring, the reason
3:22
we signed up, the reason we're trying to raise
3:24
awareness is because of people like yourself.
3:29
So with this episode, building awareness for
3:32
people who may not know they have MS or have
3:35
friends and family that have MS. And it's like,
3:38
like for us, like for me, I don't have MS, so
3:40
I don't know how it feels or I don't know how
3:43
to tell. So do you want to kind of give us a
3:45
brief overview of like, you know, your path on
3:49
how you are today, who you are, what you do,
3:52
and so forth, and we'll go into some data. So
3:55
I was diagnosed in 2009. To give you the short
4:01
version of it, I was getting ready to go to work
4:03
and I was washing my hair and I felt like my
4:07
arm was tingling. You know, you sleep on your
4:09
arm the wrong way and it feels a little tingly
4:12
after. That's what it felt like. And I thought,
4:14
well, that's kind of weird. But I was... No big
4:17
deal. And I went about my day and I went to work
4:19
and I was working in Toronto at the time and
4:22
something didn't feel right. It felt like my
4:24
right side was a little weird. So I called a
4:28
friend of mine who's a nurse and I'm like, this
4:30
is what feels weird right now. She's like, go
4:33
to the hospital, go to the triage nurse, tell
4:36
her what's going on. If they tell you to wait,
4:39
go back to work. So I'm like, all right. So I
4:43
go in and I go see the nurse and she says, what's
4:46
the deal? I said, well, I feel kind of weird
4:49
on my right side. She said, well, smile for me.
4:51
And I smiled. She said, go to the washroom and
4:54
look in the mirror and smile. Tell me if that's
4:56
normal. So I did. And when I looked in the mirror,
5:00
I smiled and half my face didn't move. So I went
5:03
back. I'm like, not normal. And they took me
5:06
in right away and started going through what
5:09
I realized was stroke prevention. treatment.
5:12
And after tests and doctors coming in and looking
5:16
at you're too young to be having a stroke or
5:19
a heart attack or anything, it's we're going
5:21
to figure it out and blah, blah, blah. And they
5:23
kept me overnight to do an MRI the next day.
5:25
And then the doctor came in and said, I think
5:28
you have MS. And I said, you think I have MS?
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He says, well, I'm pretty sure. He says, we can
5:34
do a test to confirm it, which is the needle
5:38
in the back and draw fluids out of your spine.
5:40
I'm like, well, that change your mind or reassure
5:43
you or anything? He goes, no, I'm pretty confident.
5:45
I'm like, okay, what do we do? And that's when
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it began. Since then, I've tried different therapies
5:51
to cope with it. I have what's called isolated
5:54
syndrome MS, which is one episode, one flare
5:58
up, but it hasn't progressed. I basically am
6:02
virtually the same as I was back then. I take
6:05
a pill every day. That seems to be controlling
6:07
it. But I live with the same symptoms every day
6:10
that a lot of people deal with. And it changes
6:14
your life. You get very scared off the start.
6:16
But I've still been able to, you know, have kids,
6:19
get married and, you know, work. I'm a realtor
6:23
now. I was in the restaurant business for a long
6:25
time. But I've been a realtor for 11, 12 years
6:27
now. And I can still do that. And what that allows
6:31
me to do being a realtor is I can make my own
6:34
state, which with the daily symptoms that you
6:37
deal with with MS, there's some times where your
6:41
body puts you on the bench and you can't work
6:44
that day or that afternoon or whatever. So since
6:48
then, I've just gotten involved with everything
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I can, including sharing my story and helping
6:52
out with the restaurant industry. Such a natural
6:56
progression for everybody in the restaurant industry
6:58
to like move into real estate. For sure. It's
7:03
just weird because it's like you see it all over
7:05
the place. How many realtors do you know that
7:08
are like, oh, I was in a restaurant. I did that.
7:11
I did that. And then all of a sudden. Because
7:14
we're the only, as realtors, if you were in the
7:18
restaurant business and working late nights and
7:20
weekends and holidays don't exist, then you get
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into real estate and it's. evenings and weekends,
7:26
but no late nights and no whatever. And I can
7:29
sleep in every day to pick my schedule. It's
7:32
actually an improvement on life in the restaurant
7:36
industry. A client will reach out at like 8 o
7:39
'clock, sort of bother you. I'm like, what are
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you talking about? I'm a 2 a .m. guy usually,
7:44
and I don't have to get up and go in early tomorrow.
7:48
Yeah. Damn, that story is deep, though. Yeah,
7:52
it was. Weird experience, but it's one of those
7:57
things that when it comes up, when you have that
7:59
first episode or whatever, it takes a lot for
8:03
the doctors to figure out what's not wrong with
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you. So you're only left with that. And obviously,
8:09
you know, 2009 was a long time ago, but, you
8:13
know, 30, 40 years ago when you. When you get
8:16
diagnosed, they said, go home and let us know
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if it gets any worse. Now, at least there's multiple
8:21
therapies that are having great results. You
8:24
know, the one I'm on was the first pill introduced.
8:27
And before that, it was injection therapy that
8:30
was horrible side effects. Now there's, I believe,
8:33
12 or 14 different treatments. The amount of
8:35
research being done for stem cell therapy and
8:38
everything. They've found a way. to stop the
8:43
progression in a lot of people, which helps out.
8:46
There's a lot of people that it progresses pretty
8:49
quick and it's tough to deal with, but it's,
8:53
yeah. Some of it can also be people have those
8:59
symptoms and not identify them. Maybe they don't
9:02
have a nurse friend call right away. Give them
9:06
that advice. And a lot of guys like, I know myself,
9:10
I know you. Same way. Something happens and you're
9:13
like, I'll be fine. I'll just power through it.
9:17
It's like, you're working hard all the time.
9:20
So you don't, you try to avoid doing today. It's
9:25
also kind of like a male trait. We kind of go
9:29
in that path where, you know, if you injure yourself,
9:32
don't heal tomorrow. Or it's like the athlete
9:34
mentality. You know, no pain, no gain. Then,
9:37
you know. It's so important to, identify it early
9:42
on and get the treatment before you start to
9:45
progress further down the road where you can't
9:49
function anything. Yeah. And that's the thing
9:52
about MS. As MS, as you progress, it's kind of,
9:55
think of it like a chart. As you progress and
9:59
decline, or I guess go the other way, as you
10:01
decline with your cognitive functions and different
10:04
things and however it affects you, you can improve,
10:07
but you'd never quite get back to where you were.
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And that's the slow progression. That's the,
10:12
you know, the roller coaster down that people
10:15
deal with. And you never know. Yeah, there's
10:18
guys where, you know, if I don't go to the doctor,
10:20
nothing's wrong with me. I've had friends that
10:23
have dealt with years of going to the doctors
10:27
trying to figure out what allergy they have,
10:29
what's wrong with them, and only to find out
10:32
a year later that it's actually MS. It's what
10:37
it is, but it's so hard to detect and they don't
10:39
know what causes it. So that's the biggest challenge
10:43
that they have with not only finding a cure,
10:46
but treating it as they know what it does. They
10:50
know what it does to your nervous system and
10:53
your immune system attacking itself and doing
10:55
that, but they don't know why it happens. And
10:58
that makes it harder to treat and cure for sure.
11:02
Well, I guarantee there's tons of people that
11:04
are walking around with it that don't even know.
11:06
Yeah. Yeah. It's just, there's so many different
11:09
levels and it's no two people have the same symptoms.
11:13
There's a lot of daily symptoms that we all kind
11:17
of deal with, but it affects everybody differently.
11:21
For me, it was my right side. And even to this
11:24
day now, when I'm, if I overexert myself or I
11:27
have a long day or don't sleep well, I can feel
11:30
a little weaker on the right side because that's,
11:33
that's what's mostly affected by the. brain lesions
11:38
that I have that are affecting the nerves that
11:40
control my right hand. My autograph isn't as
11:44
good as it used to be. Luckily, I don't have
11:46
to give out many. Whoa. Isn't that at least better
11:51
than doctors? It's this chicken shackle. That's
11:56
the line. I have beautiful hair. Well, I'm saying
12:00
you can have amazing handwriting for a female,
12:03
right? And then you get to men and then it's
12:07
doctors. You know what I mean? It's like, you
12:10
try to read it and it's like, I have no clue.
12:12
But pharmacists seem to understand everything.
12:15
They know what that line is to this one and the
12:19
proportion to this. It's like a constellation.
12:22
It's like Capricorn or Taurus or Aries. Dentists
12:29
can always understand a full conversation with
12:32
you while they have like... Both hands and three
12:35
things in your mouth. That's how your day was.
12:38
How was your day today? The one thing I want
12:40
to ask though is when you found out, I think
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the hardest step would be telling your family.
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Yeah. Like having that conversation with your
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family and your loved ones and letting them know
12:52
what you have. That's a hard conversation. And
12:56
like, how do you, how did you go about it? And
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how do you know she may have had MS? I've gone
13:03
through it and, you know, the trajectory they've
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gone. Yeah, great question. When I was in the
13:10
hospital, I was in the hospital for a few days.
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They start pumping you with steroids to calm
13:15
your immune system because your immune system
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is attacking itself. So there's a bit of a recovery
13:22
period there. But my family was there and my
13:27
brother was in the room when the neurologist.
13:29
essentially gave me the diagnosis. So your immediate
13:32
family, that's your support system. So you talk
13:36
to them and how am I going to deal with this?
13:38
And you're all learning together. When it comes
13:41
to expanding past that immediate family, it's
13:45
different for everybody. And I call it the coming
13:49
out of your diagnosis. I was probably four to
13:54
five years before I told people because it's
13:57
not noticeable. And people don't automatically
14:00
think something's wrong with you. Right. So I
14:04
was very uncomfortable with it because the fear
14:08
is if I'm hanging out with you guys a month or
14:13
two months or six months later and I bring it
14:16
up, it's going to immediately change how you
14:19
think about it. It'll be like, oh, what do you
14:21
mean? Like looking down. Yeah. Oh, so you're
14:24
uncomfortable with like, I feel so, so bad for
14:27
you. And they start treating you differently.
14:29
Yeah. You're like, no, just treat me normal.
14:31
So I got involved with at the time I was working
14:34
at the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto. And they had
14:39
they had special events all the time in the in
14:42
the club area upstairs at the cafe. And they
14:45
were having an MS bike pub night. And I'm like,
14:48
interesting. What's that? Oh, it's a charity
14:50
bike ride to raise money from it. So I got involved
14:54
with it, reached out to them. I'm like, hey,
14:56
how do I do it? Well, you need a bike and you
14:58
got to ride 55 kilometers and, you know, raise
15:00
money. Like, sure. So I got involved. Oh, do
15:03
you know somebody with MS? Yes, yes, I do. And
15:05
that was it. That was where I left it. And I
15:06
told friends and family, I'm doing this MS bike
15:09
ride. I'm raising some money. Give me five bucks,
15:12
10 bucks or whatever. And I raised a few bucks.
15:15
Obviously raised a little more than the average
15:18
person because my family members are like, yeah,
15:20
I'll give you money. A year earlier when I needed
15:24
a few bucks, all of a sudden I got alligator
15:26
arms. Things are a little tight now. I raced
15:31
Monday night, did the ride, and then I moved
15:33
back to London and got involved with the Grand
15:35
Bad London bike ride, which is a two -day, 150
15:38
-kilometer. What? Yeah, we should do that. Yeah,
15:41
I'm down. Oh, yeah. That one's crazy. It's intense.
15:45
But it's a ride. It's not a race. And, you know,
15:48
if you can ride a bike, you can do it. You need
15:50
good equipment. When I did the Toronto ride,
15:52
I borrowed my brother's mountain bike. And it
15:55
had, you know, you get the crank, one of those
15:56
missing teeth on the crank. So it was like 55
15:59
kilometers. It's horrible. I actually took the
16:03
bike in for a tune -up before. And the guy at
16:05
the bike shop, I said, I'm doing the MS ride.
16:08
And he says, on that? I said, yeah. He goes,
16:10
good luck. But I got involved with the ride.
16:13
And it was probably five years later that I said,
16:18
you know what? I need to raise money. I need
16:21
to raise big money. So I told my story. And that
16:24
was the first time that publicly I told people.
16:28
And that was my coming out. And it was a relief
16:33
for me to be able to do it. And obviously, phone
16:36
calls and support, it was tremendous. But that
16:40
was the moment where I said, you know, screw
16:44
MS. I'm going to raise some money and I'm going
16:46
to be relentless. I'm going to hold my hand out
16:48
and say, we need money. We need help and we need
16:51
support. And I got involved with the committee
16:53
on the bike ride, got more involved with that.
16:55
I told the organizers of the MS Canada that,
16:59
you know, the answer is yes. What's your question?
17:01
I'll do whatever you want. And all of a sudden
17:03
now I'm a poster boy and they're, you know, A
17:07
&W hamburger day. You want to go to the stores
17:09
and help out? I'm like, sure. You know, do whatever
17:11
I can to help out. Now, every year when I do
17:14
the bike ride, more and more I do not want to
17:17
do the bike ride anymore. So we really need to
17:20
cure this thing so we don't have to ride our
17:22
bike out in 50K. You just need someone in front
17:24
of you and then you sit in one of those child
17:26
things? Yeah. A tree. Yeah. Behind you? I've
17:30
thought about the e -bike, the assisted pedal
17:32
bikes, and I'm like, yeah. But then I really
17:35
got to play the MS Garden. I can still do it.
17:38
And I tell them, promote the event. If I can
17:40
do it, anyone can do it. Like that's how you
17:43
promote it. But it's finding a way to raise money.
17:46
And, you know, things like Punch Out are huge
17:48
because there's a lot of people out there with
17:51
MS. It's Canada's disease. Canada has the highest
17:55
rate of MS in the world. So it's, yeah, it's
17:59
up to us to cure it. There's something about
18:02
the location and they've looked into climate
18:05
and different things. But I think it's females
18:08
age 30 to 35 are the highest risk. in Canada
18:13
to get the disease. It's pretty crazy. And we
18:17
own it and we're in charge to figure it out.
18:20
Luckily, the charity events that are out there
18:24
and raising the awareness, that's where they
18:25
have more dollars to figure stuff out and hopefully
18:29
one day find a cure. But the treatments now have
18:31
come a long way. There's some treatments, they're
18:35
very customized to certain people. One that works
18:38
for me might not work for the next person. Yeah,
18:40
that's kind of a long -winded way to say there's
18:44
a lot of people out there that have MS that aren't
18:46
telling people because they're just not comfortable.
18:48
I learned a handful of different people that
18:56
were in my life and have been in my life before
18:58
that once I started talking about doing Punch
19:01
Out MS, they're like, this is amazing. It's such
19:05
a great cause. Thanks for doing this. I don't
19:07
know if you do this, but I actually have MS.
19:10
And I was like, all right, that it just opens
19:13
your eyes. And you're like, people are going
19:17
through it all like silently. Nobody knows. Like
19:23
I said, it's weird. Cause like you want to raise
19:27
all this awareness, but at the same time, people
19:30
don't want to say anything because you don't
19:32
want that thing. You don't want people to look
19:34
at you differently. You want people to just.
19:37
I look at you the exact same way as they did
19:40
before. For sure. But they just want, you want
19:42
them to be aware that they're not alone if they
19:46
have. For sure. And there's, I remember telling
19:50
people, obviously I've told a million people
19:53
over the years and the common reaction is no,
19:57
they don't believe me. No, you're fine. And that's
20:01
the thing. And I think that what makes it very
20:03
hard for raising funds and getting support for
20:06
it is, and I don't want to say everybody's like
20:11
this or a few people here, then they may look
20:14
at me and say, well, he doesn't need the money.
20:18
You know, he's fine. But they don't see the battle
20:21
that we fight inside every day. And that's the
20:26
awareness that we need. And that's what we need
20:28
to get out there and say. You know, people with
20:31
MS are fighting a battle, fighting a fight. See
20:35
what I did there? Fight. Every day that you don't
20:39
see. And it's like that for many diseases and
20:42
different things. But the more awareness we can
20:45
get to people that say, hey, we're pretty close
20:47
to figuring this stuff out. You know, let's put
20:51
on a great event. Let's put on a fight. Let's
20:54
put on two fights. Let's have it be so big that
20:56
we got to do two days. My favorite part. Right.
21:00
That like it just blew up so much. And especially
21:04
with MPT, they're like, well, we want we want
21:07
to raise as much awareness as possible. So let's
21:10
raise as much as much as we can and let everybody
21:14
fight. Exactly. Exactly. I've obviously my wife
21:18
participates in the event. I'm sponsoring the
21:22
jerseys, the shirts for the fight. Last year
21:26
when Jody said, hey, you know. We don't get to
21:28
keep the shirts or we got to pay for the shirts
21:31
or I'm like, no, you don't pay. I will take care
21:33
of the shirts. And last year was what? 20 fighters,
21:37
25 fighters. Not this year. So this year is like,
21:41
great. You're taking care of the shirts. We need
21:43
52 of them. Wait a minute. I didn't realize that.
21:50
What a terribly wonderful problem to have. Exactly.
21:55
I remember going to the first one two years ago
21:57
and thinking, this is a great event. What a great
22:00
job they did. You know, a few rows of chairs
22:03
around the ring. And then I went last year and
22:05
went, wow, it's blowing up. And this year is
22:08
just that much more. I'm going to miss using
22:11
all. Oh, yeah. I'll be there. You can cheer me
22:19
on. Maybe. Ouch. The one thing I will say, though,
22:27
and you can tell me if I'm wrong, there's a lot
22:32
of charity events that happen in that. For example,
22:36
for homelessness, that's a lot of whatever kind
22:40
of sees vote out Richmond and you see it. And
22:44
it mostly affects, you know. They're regular
22:47
society people going downtown, going to the library
22:50
with their kids. And you see the whole bus and
22:52
it's an exposure from Frontier to MS. It's a
22:57
family event that, you know, you're fighting
23:00
for a family member who could be there watching
23:03
you fight. And you're in the ring because you
23:06
want to show that you're fighting the fight.
23:08
I'm going to fight the fight. And you have 600,
23:12
800 people at Music Hall cheering on for one
23:15
cause. And it's not always about the fight. It's
23:19
about awareness and raising money. And the fact
23:22
that it's grown so much shows that, you know,
23:26
unlike Costco, there are people who actually
23:30
have manners and care. Absolutely. You're not
23:35
getting sponsored by Costco. I don't want to.
23:37
They don't need my money. Yes, they need my money.
23:40
They're going to get your money. They're going
23:41
to get my money no matter what. Ugh. That's all
23:47
I had to say because it all relates, right? Yeah.
23:49
The Canadian way is, you know, giving back to
23:52
charity, giving back to community. You've kind
23:56
of seen it with the box community. Oh, 100%.
23:59
Well, the reason I got into it was, well, hardly
24:04
because you were like, I forced you into it.
24:06
But also, and not everyone has a choice. You
24:11
didn't have a choice to start fighting MS. Right.
24:15
And we have the ability to choose to fight for
24:19
something and raise the awareness. And we're
24:23
choosing to fight for people that have to fight
24:25
every day and don't get the option. So to me,
24:28
it's like, it's not really an option for us to
24:31
do these fights. So going into all the, doing
24:34
all the training, it's like, obviously it's hard
24:36
training, but it's knowing people and knowing
24:42
that everyone else is struggling. That's what
24:45
keeps us going. You're like, no, they're fighting
24:49
every day. I got to fight every day. Exactly.
24:52
And that's the years I've done the bike ride.
24:55
It's, it's me riding for the people who can't
24:58
ride and for myself, but primarily for everybody
25:03
else. There's people that are, that struggle
25:06
a lot more. There's people that are newly diagnosed
25:09
that are scared as hell and don't know what's
25:13
going to happen. And when you don't know what
25:16
the next day looks like, it's scary. So people
25:18
get out and they do it and they do choices. And,
25:21
you know, if people think they don't know anybody
25:25
who's affected by MS, they're wrong. Because
25:28
they do. They just are unaware of it. And they
25:32
haven't found out yet. So it's great, these events,
25:37
for people to go in there and jump in the ring
25:40
for a cause. Learn. Yeah. and learn and take
25:45
a few shots and do it with a cause in mind. You
25:50
don't have to do it. And nobody has to do it.
25:52
Nobody has to donate and share. And there's many,
25:55
many avenues to support and share. But the more
26:02
awareness we can put out there for people who
26:06
live with MS, the better. And we'll figure it
26:09
out. And hopefully we'll do it right here in
26:11
London. The amount of research that's happening
26:14
is pretty remarkable. But, you know, there's
26:17
no cure. And without money, there's no path to
26:23
a cure. The crazy thing is that it affects, because
26:27
it affects everyone so differently, everyone,
26:30
like, you feel like you're, they feel like they're
26:33
doing it by themselves. Or, like, their journey
26:36
is totally different than yours. And they feel
26:41
like, okay. I don't have any help. But what we
26:45
can do to help is raise awareness, tell people's
26:47
stories. Everyone that I've talked to about it,
26:51
they have totally different stories, how they
26:54
found out, what they're dealing with, what their
26:59
day -to -day looks like. Some people, their day
27:03
-to -day is relatively normal. Other people,
27:06
it's a struggle. Obviously, every day is totally
27:09
different for him. Yeah. And that's the big part
27:12
of it. It's everybody deals with it differently.
27:15
And everybody themselves individually deals with
27:18
it differently every day. Because you don't know.
27:20
You wake up the morning and you wonder what today
27:23
is going to be like. And to go through, you know,
27:27
to go through raising a daughter and, you know,
27:30
there's, if you have kids, you know what the
27:34
young ones are like. And it's, you know, hey,
27:35
pick me up, bro. Let's go to the park. You got
27:40
to make that decision. You know, how can I do
27:42
that? Being a parent is hard. You know, at the
27:48
end of the day, being a parent is hard. But it's
27:53
just that much more of a struggle every day because
27:55
there's things you can't do. And, you know, my
27:59
daughter, as she got older, it was a little easier
28:03
to explain it to her as she was able to understand.
28:07
And, you know, they had an age where they kind
28:09
of get it. Now it's not fair, you know, when
28:12
she says, hey, can we go to the park today? And
28:14
I say, today's not a good day. She gets it. She
28:17
understands it's still not fair. That's the hard
28:24
part. And, you know, you really, in turn, family
28:30
becomes more important. You take those, you don't
28:34
take those times for granted of growing up because
28:36
you, You don't know. You don't know what tomorrow's
28:38
going to be like. You don't know what 10 years
28:40
from now is going to be like. So you really cherish
28:44
those moments and you do it, but you fight, you
28:47
battle. You get in the ring and the bell goes
28:50
and you fight. And I'm sure you guys know sometimes
28:54
the second round bell goes off and you don't
28:57
want to go out there. I don't know yet. One question
29:01
I do have is... So we were just talking about
29:04
earlier how, you know, box communities grown.
29:08
You were diagnosed in 2009 to 2026 now. How has
29:13
the community built or grown like from social
29:17
media? Because remember when we were doing the
29:19
debriefing, you said back then your doctor told
29:22
you not to go on the internet. Yeah. How is the
29:24
community now? How is it supporting each other?
29:27
It's still out there. There's a lot of. Tools
29:30
available, resources available for people living
29:33
with MS. And unfortunately, as it grows and more
29:40
and more people deal with it, there's more resources
29:44
available. I'm a resource. I tell everybody,
29:47
I don't know how many times I've run into somebody
29:49
and, oh, my sister was recently diagnosed. We're
29:53
going to make a call. Let's talk about it. And
29:55
I think from an MS community. of those of us
30:01
who deal with it every day. We're there to support
30:04
online, through the different programs, through
30:06
the money raised. You know, it's not only for
30:09
research, it's for programs available. It's for
30:11
websites and resources where they can call somebody
30:17
and talk to somebody 24 -7. You know, the amount
30:21
of doctors, the sheer size of the MS clinic and
30:25
the resources that they have to help out. And
30:29
it's grown tremendously. It's like I said, 30,
30:32
40 years ago, it was go home, let us know if
30:35
it gets worse. And unfortunately, when it did
30:37
get worse, that just meant a doctor's visit.
30:40
And, well, you know, we can deal with this a
30:42
little bit. Now that the technology and that
30:45
the research and the amount of treatments available,
30:48
it's really it's come a long way. And it's it's
30:53
helping people live with that mess. There's still
30:56
no fixing it. There's still no. No cure or no,
31:01
but things can be easier, even as far as support
31:07
through the government, different opportunities
31:09
to help with the cost of stuff. You know, people
31:12
don't think about it, but literally overnight,
31:15
you could be in a wheelchair and need, you know,
31:19
think about how life changes for your day to
31:21
day and the cost involved with that. It's a tremendous
31:26
amount of stuff. At the end of the day, it's
31:29
people that help people. And I think through
31:32
the awareness over the last 17 years or the last
31:35
37 years, we've done a good job with awareness,
31:40
but we need to keep going and make more people
31:43
aware and raise money and try to figure it out.
31:48
I look at a show called Shrinking and how they're
31:52
saying F Parkinson's and how they're formalizing
31:55
it, but they're building awareness of it. You
31:57
know, social media, like not just social media,
32:00
you know, Hollywood, all these other movies kind
32:03
of normalizing it to make people aware that MS
32:06
is alive. Yeah. I think it's, there's been more
32:09
of it. Obviously when I see it, it jumps out.
32:12
I don't know if everybody catches that when it
32:17
does, but you know, there's, you hear more stories
32:23
from celebrities that, that. are dealing with
32:26
it. And, you know, when you talk about Parkinson's
32:29
and shrinking, one of our favorite shows, it's
32:32
so, so, so good. I can't wait to watch it again.
32:37
It's, I put it up there with Ted Lasso and Ted
32:40
Lasso. I've seen probably eight or 10 times all
32:43
the way through, but yeah, this is the same writer.
32:48
Yeah. Yeah. So it's bright. It's bringing stuff
32:50
in it. Wait. I think as the generations change,
32:54
you got to look at it. And F. Parkinson's is
32:58
a, you know, the current generation's way to
33:01
look at it. Where, you know, 30 years ago, you
33:05
don't do that. But the MS has done a great job
33:09
with, you know, getting it out there and certain
33:12
people champion different causes and different
33:14
things. But there's a ton of people. We can do
33:19
a Google search or a... I don't know, what do
33:21
we do now? We do chat GBT or whatever to learn
33:24
everything. But yeah, look at the celebrities
33:28
who have it. And you'll be astonished at the
33:31
amount of people that, and you'd probably say,
33:33
oh, I never knew that they do it. You know, Michael
33:36
J. Fox and Trinking. And I've seen a few shows
33:40
that he's been on. Brilliant. And what better
33:44
way to put it out there and say, yeah, it's a
33:47
thing. And if that means me getting out there
33:50
and, Being very public about it. I am his agent
33:53
now. Correct. I know your wife. Yeah, she might.
33:59
But yeah, it's however we can get out there and
34:02
do it and normalize it and say, it's okay. People
34:06
deal with it. And it's treatable. But treatable
34:12
is such a vague word. You know, everything is
34:14
treatable. You know, hangovers are treatable.
34:19
Doesn't mean they're enjoyable. But yeah, it's
34:23
just, it's, there's so much money needed for
34:26
research and so many paths to go down to try
34:29
to figure it out that, you know, the more events
34:33
and the participation in the events, like showing
34:36
up for punch out or a concert or a golf tournament
34:39
or riding a bike or supporting somebody who's
34:43
doing that stuff, you know, every bit counts.
34:46
It's at the end of the day, a dollar is a dollar.
34:50
And it's a dollar more closer to that cure. Everything,
34:54
it all matters. Yeah. Whether it's, you're just,
34:58
even just having a conversation, raising a little
35:00
bit more awareness. That way, if I talk to Malcolm
35:03
about, about MS, maybe Malcolm will talk to somebody
35:09
else about it. And then when we're raising awareness
35:13
with a ride or punch out, that person will see
35:17
it and be like, actually, I was talking to. Malcolm,
35:20
and he was telling me about somebody's story.
35:25
And now I want to contribute. I want to help
35:27
out. And for those people that maybe haven't
35:30
come out with their diagnosis yet, we do that
35:34
out of fear. Fear that there won't be support.
35:38
And it's probably the wrong way to look at it,
35:41
but that's that you don't want sympathy from
35:44
people. And the more people are talking about
35:47
it, for me to be in that room, 17 years ago at
35:51
an event to promote a bike ride for MS nobody
35:54
knew I had MS and to be there and see the support
35:59
made me more comfortable with it and thinking
36:02
hey there is a chance we'll figure this out because
36:04
look at all the love of the people who care I
36:07
can only imagine the thoughts going through your
36:09
head when you're told this initially if you're
36:12
like that's that's scary you think of all the
36:15
bad stuff you have to initially come to like
36:18
obviously to tell tell your family, tell your
36:21
support number, but you have to come to terms
36:22
with it yourself. Yeah. That might not, you're
36:26
like, okay, it's not, my life is over. It's okay.
36:32
Fight is start. Yeah. The, the challenge is on
36:36
and how do we fix it? What do we do? What, uh,
36:39
what changes, you know, they, and unfortunately
36:43
the internet is full of stuff that can. change
36:46
your way of thinking and, and whatever, and different
36:48
people react differently. And I've seen relationships
36:52
and over it. And it's just, it is what it is.
36:57
It's a hard thing and a big unknown, but when
37:02
you get support, you know, from people, my wife
37:04
is very supportive and she's a very great person
37:07
and an excellent fighter. And I would never say
37:10
anything bad about her because she'll, she'll
37:13
beat me up. You're like, I need a sparring partner.
37:20
But once you have that support, that's where
37:22
it is. And at the end of the day, people don't
37:24
know. They don't see it. They don't know how
37:29
they can help. While talking about it helps.
37:33
And like I said, I'm so grateful that you came
37:36
on today to even talk about it. Because I know
37:38
for a lot of people, this is a hard conversation.
37:41
You know what I mean? Did you see it? And they
37:43
tell us like a backstory. That's tough. Yeah.
37:46
10 years ago, I couldn't do it. I couldn't talk.
37:48
I couldn't, you know, one of the symptoms of
37:50
MS is you get overly emotional and it's a weird
37:54
thing to deal with, especially with these sappy
37:57
commercials or shows that play all the time.
37:59
I'll be sitting there with, with Jody and she'd
38:02
be like, are you crying? I'm like, no, but it's
38:06
yeah. Any, anybody talking about it and to see
38:10
events like punch out. And, you know, the concert
38:13
we're putting on, you can go and have a great
38:15
tie and help out. We're not just holding our
38:18
hand out, you know, and saying, just give us
38:21
money. It's putting on great events and put on
38:24
a great show that is going to be even better
38:27
because it's Di Demas. Not that any of the fighters
38:30
would do, you know, a lesser fight if it wasn't
38:35
for a charity, but that motivation is there.
38:38
You know, you're fighting for a cause. I find
38:41
it way more. The bands that I have doing this
38:44
concert that we have coming up, they're jacked
38:47
about it. They're like, this is great. And they
38:49
have connections, but they know, you know, and
38:51
I told them it's July 5th at the London Music
38:54
Hall. And the tagline I came up with was three
38:58
bands, one cause and a room full of people who
39:00
care. I love that. And that's ultimately putting
39:03
on a show that's, you know, and I've been open
39:07
with people. Hey, I've been riding my bike or
39:09
I've been asked for money to raise money. This
39:11
time, I'm going to give you a night you won't
39:12
soon forget. And we're going to do this every
39:16
year. And you can come out and have a great time.
39:20
There'll be a silent auction. I got three bands.
39:23
It's going to be, you know, mostly covers. And
39:26
we're just going to rock it out for a night and
39:29
have a blast and raise some money. And for years,
39:35
I've wanted to do a golf tournament. I'm a pretty
39:38
big music junkie. So I thought, what better way?
39:40
I love golf. This gives people an experience
39:44
that they'll never forget. And they'll remember
39:49
that fun night. You know, we go to a concert,
39:51
you go to a concert now, it's hundreds of dollars.
39:53
And yeah, it's an experience. So let's give people
39:56
an experience for a cause and raise money. And
40:01
at the end of the day, hopefully. Make a difference
40:06
and have some fun for a night. That's at London
40:09
musical on, on June 5th. Yeah. It'll be a blast.
40:14
It'll be a blast. Be a silent auction online.
40:17
We can partake in with some great stuff, a ton
40:21
of great support from, from the city. Downtown
40:24
London has, has jumped on board to support it
40:26
with a silent auction item, which is pretty cool.
40:30
So it's great. People are happy to help. And
40:34
at the end of the day, it's, it'd be a night
40:37
to remember and hopefully we can build it, you
40:40
know, from this is the inaugural one. So, I mean,
40:43
if punch out as it like is any indication of
40:46
the people want to, or they do, they just don't
40:50
know how. Yeah. And like, this is the third punch
40:54
out and it's grown exponentially every year.
40:59
Concert is just going to get bigger and bigger.
41:01
You know, it's five years, you're going to end
41:03
up having a music festival. Yeah, who knows,
41:06
right? All of a sudden it's MS rocks the park.
41:10
But better. You know, but better. But better.
41:13
I can only, I can, I'm just envisioning bands
41:17
seeing this and going, how do I get involved?
41:21
What can I do? How do I support you? It'll be
41:23
a good time. It'll be a good time for sure. And
41:25
it's, it'll be fun. Well, it fills up the spring
41:29
nicely with Punch Out. coming up, and then we
41:33
do the concert after, and then the bike ride
41:37
at the end of July, which I look forward to the
41:41
weekend. I won't. I mean, you know what? My wife
41:48
is starting to win. I might actually have to
41:50
build a calendar. Whoa. Because I do everything
41:54
off February, and now with all this going on,
41:57
I might actually have to get a calendar. Well,
41:59
you have to because I know if you, well, you
42:03
never told me that. If your wife says you never
42:05
told me that and you know you did, if you don't
42:08
have proof, you didn't tell your wife that. And
42:11
even if you have clear evidence, you didn't tell
42:15
her. We'll see. I'm stubborn. Why don't I know
42:19
it? I am very stubborn. I might have to cave.
42:24
Happy wife, happy life, right? Exactly. So we
42:28
talked about the poncho, talked about the event
42:34
at Music Hall. The bike ride. Oh, that's a two
42:38
-day event? Two days, 150 kilometers. So what
42:43
kind of bike do you have? I have a old road bike,
42:49
like a good bike that might be 20 years old,
42:52
but it works. A good family member of mine cycled
42:59
a lot. And I said, one year, I'm like, can I
43:04
borrow your bike for the weekend? Just so I could
43:06
have something decent to ride. So I was doing
43:08
it on a mountain bike, like a hybrid. And he
43:11
said, yeah, give it a try. So I used it for the
43:13
weekend. Game changer. Like a nice light bike
43:17
with thin tires. Different story. So I gave it
43:20
back to him. Thanks very much. And then the next
43:22
year, hey, can I borrow it again? He's like,
43:24
sure. And I bought it and he had just gotten
43:27
a new bike. So I, I didn't, I wasn't quick to
43:30
get it back to him. And after about two years,
43:34
he's like, tell you what, instead of donating
43:35
this year, how about you keep the bike? I'm like,
43:38
perfect. So it was, it was an excellent bike
43:41
many, many years ago. And it does a trick now.
43:44
And I always tell people if you can, if you can
43:46
get a decent bike, it's going to make it a little
43:48
easier and a little faster, but it's, there's
43:53
people. There's people who do the bike ride on
43:55
like whatever they can find. And that's the,
43:58
there was one year, who's the cyclist with the
44:01
purplish blonde hair, Kurt Carnot or whatever
44:04
from years ago, Canadian cyclist. He did the
44:07
ride one year, the special guest. And he went
44:10
up on stage after and he said, I've got a $500
44:14
suit that I wear. I've got a $3 ,000 bike. I
44:17
got $600 shoes. He says, that was a, that was
44:21
a good ride. Because you guys are out there on
44:23
your mountain bikes and your BMXs and doing it.
44:26
But everybody does it. It just takes some people
44:28
longer. And at the end of the day, it's not a
44:30
race. It's a fun weekend. I know I've had a team
44:36
in previous years, and we built up a good group
44:39
that does with us. We have a lot of fun. We have
44:41
a brewery that sponsors us. So there's lots of
44:46
beers after to carb load on Saturday night. Sunday
44:51
is a little bit shorter on the route going back
44:54
to Grand Bend. We start in Grand Bend. We ride
44:56
to Fanshawe College, stay in the dorms, and then
44:59
we ride back on Sunday. So there's a big celebration
45:02
on the Saturday night, big ceremonies. We have
45:05
dinner and then have a cup of beers. Then everybody
45:07
gets up in the morning. But the good thing is
45:10
on Sunday, you've had a really good warm -up
45:12
ride the day before. So usually you've got enough
45:14
recovery time, usually done about noon, 1 o 'clock
45:17
riding. You start bright and early in the morning.
45:19
So you're not riding in the high heat, but it's
45:23
a great ride. It raises a ton of money. We're
45:25
building back from COVID. Obviously, the ride
45:28
was shut down for a couple of years, and it's
45:30
tough to convince people to come back and do
45:33
it when they didn't have to do it for a couple
45:35
of years. So building back up, but I think the
45:38
target this year is around $750 ,000 that we'll
45:41
raise, maybe $850 ,000. So it's a ton of people.
45:45
I think they had about 600, 700 riders last year.
45:48
It's just a great event. And it's all side roads,
45:51
controlled roads. They're not nothing major.
45:53
And it's usually the weather's pretty good last
45:57
week of July. But it's a great event. Again,
46:00
a bunch of people. And I've seen kids as young
46:02
as 12 years old do it and as old as 87. And it's
46:07
amazing. It's unbelievable. And I see a lot of
46:11
them because they. I know. I feel like I see
46:14
everybody who does the ride because I start off
46:17
near the front. and everybody passes me. So I
46:19
get to see everybody and wave to them and say,
46:22
hey, thank you. Absolutely. I'm a host by nature.
46:26
Everybody asks me every year, like, have you
46:28
been training? Like, yeah, no, no, but that's
46:32
okay. You can do it. Bicep curls on Saturday
46:35
night. Yeah, well, Jody's got me downstairs in
46:38
the gym a couple days a week, and she's relentless.
46:42
Well, you should join us in the ring, too. Yeah.
46:46
I'll stick to putting on a concert. I think my
46:49
stepson Noah's doing it as well. Okay. That's
46:53
what I thought. I wasn't sure if he's the fight.
46:56
He's going to be the fight right after me. Oh,
46:58
perfect. Yeah. He's pretty excited about it.
47:02
Okay. Is this his first boxing? First boxing.
47:06
He's a fourth degree black belt. Yeah. But he
47:10
had a tournament on the weekend and he does sparring
47:12
as well. And he didn't do so good. Cause he's
47:15
in boxing mode. Yeah. And it's very different.
47:18
So, but, uh, he's pretty pumped up for it. It's
47:22
funny. Like when we were talking, uh, the other
47:27
day, uh, having different martial arts, everything,
47:31
it's totally different. Very different. Dance
47:33
is different. Very different. Move is different.
47:35
Yeah. The way you defend yourself is different,
47:37
which is super important. Yeah. But, uh, I'm
47:41
looking forward to seeing him. He's, uh, he's
47:43
in pretty good shape. So he's excited for it.
47:47
He's, he's motivated to do it. Obviously, uh,
47:50
the fact that he's doing it is awesome. And,
47:53
uh, the fact that Jody's doing it is awesome
47:55
and is willing to do it. She, this will be her
47:58
third time doing it for, she did the fight Dan
48:01
and then it's done punch out. That's now it'd
48:03
be a second year. So she's the face changer.
48:07
Yeah. Yeah, she is. She, yeah, she's powerful.
48:12
Yeah. And like, Steamboat. Yes. Hence the excellent
48:19
relationship we have. And I am a very giving
48:23
husband. And I make sure when she says she needs
48:26
something, it's done. I got you. Got you covered.
48:30
So, yeah, it's special to have both of them do
48:32
it. Obviously, it's a big deal. Everybody does
48:37
it. The more people we can get out to watch it
48:40
and to help out, support it, and be part of it.
48:43
You know, I guarantee you out of the three, 400
48:46
people that probably get there watching it, there's
48:49
probably 40 or 50 people with MS that nobody
48:52
knows has MS and they haven't told anybody yet
48:55
because they were recently diagnosed or whatever.
48:58
They're just supporting for whatever reason,
49:01
but that's going to help them. Being there is,
49:05
you know, this disease is tough to fight every
49:07
day, but it's about energy and it's about...
49:12
Fatigue is one of the number one symptoms that
49:15
we all face. And to be in an event like that
49:18
and see people that care and getting their face
49:22
punched in for a cause. Don't say that too loud.
49:25
I'm all hyped. All of a sudden, you have a little
49:28
more energy that day. And it's easier to get
49:31
through that day and get through, you know, every
49:34
day. The inspiration is a big part of it. You're
49:40
a huge inspiration for while we're in Game of
49:42
the Rings. Hey. No. At least, I'd rather we can
49:45
return your favor, but honestly, you're a huge
49:47
inspiration. Because I wouldn't have known what
49:50
MS was until last year. And to have this conversation,
49:54
like, my mind is blown. I've learned so much.
49:56
And then, after doing the event, now I'm learning
49:59
about other people who, you know, sends in family
50:02
and people I care about have MS. And it's like,
50:04
wow, last year I learned the rate because I wanted
50:07
to handle the rain and learn a little bit of
50:09
MS. Now I know about the relations of people
50:12
who are on the medicine side. And so many more
50:14
people that you're able to connect with. And
50:16
that's amazing. You said the best medicine is
50:21
the support that surrounds you. So it's great.
50:26
I envy you guys for doing it. I love the fact
50:29
that I was able to get involved and put my name
50:32
on the back of the shirts. You know, hopefully
50:34
before you put it on, have a look. you know forget
50:38
about me i'm just one of hundreds of thousands
50:40
of people but that's why you're doing it so for
50:45
yourself like you were diagnosed saying 2009
50:49
and 17 years later you're doing all these different
50:53
events you're raising all this awareness himself
50:55
like if it wasn't for you not as like nobody
51:00
would know as much about this Especially in life.
51:03
Yeah. If, if I can get it out there, like I said,
51:07
I will help out in any way I can. I'm open to,
51:11
you know, probably the true reward for me is
51:13
when I can talk to somebody who's recently diagnosed
51:16
and let them know that it's not, it's not all
51:19
doom and gloom and you can, you know, you're
51:22
in a battle and you can win it. And it's, you
51:25
know, it's, it's the, the strength that you need
51:28
to, to get through it. The support of events
51:31
help. But it's, you know, like I do my bike ride
51:35
and I started saying it years ago and I don't
51:39
know where I stole it from or where I got it,
51:41
but I say, I have MS, it doesn't have me. And
51:45
that's, you know, at the end of the day, there's
51:47
people that are going to step in the ring in
51:50
a few weeks who have MS and they're fighting.
51:55
Who knows how many fighters are participating
51:58
that have MS that nobody knows they do. But they're
52:02
taking it head on. They're, you know, not something
52:05
I can do. I can do this. I can promote. I can
52:08
help. I can try to raise money and know that
52:12
every little bit counts. And like I said, I'm
52:16
relentless with it. So I'm going to beg people
52:19
to go to the concert and bribe them and, you
52:22
know, corporate sponsors, bribe them with free
52:26
drinks or whatever I got to do. So book a table
52:29
and drinks are included. But yeah. It's these
52:31
great events that keep us all going. If I can
52:34
do my small part and do a little bit extra, then
52:37
that's going to help me and somebody down the
52:40
road. And we'll figure it out. We keep plugging
52:42
away at it. I just find it so cool. The evolution
52:45
of off the bench and how it's evolved. It's like
52:50
when we came up with the off the bench game,
52:53
we were like. just talking back before like ah
52:56
what about this what about that i forget some
52:58
of the possible means we had yeah i don't remember
53:00
they weren't good but we just ended up landing
53:04
on off the bench and now it it started as us
53:09
talking about football that is transitioned to
53:13
us going yeah no get off the bench get off the
53:16
couch get off of whatever you're doing get out
53:20
in the community Whether it's bettering yourself,
53:23
bettering your community, raise awareness, get
53:26
off the bench, go do something. Do something
53:30
because something is better than nothing. The
53:32
way I view off the bench was, and Juan Acosta,
53:38
Jay, and even Brett Lucia, they started a cause.
53:43
Fight to end homelessness. Punch out MS. You're
53:47
rock out MS. You're now a part of that. that
53:50
equation where it's like people are out there
53:53
making a difference in authority and you're getting
53:57
off the bench and you're doing something and
54:00
the community is coming to you. They're getting
54:03
off the bench to come to you. That's all our
54:06
audace is about. For you guys to do it, it's
54:10
to allow me to be part of it, but that's the
54:14
voice. You guys are putting the voice out there
54:16
that we need. and and the community needs for
54:20
every cause not just ms for for everything that's
54:23
out there and if we sit on our hands or sit on
54:26
our couch and and don't do anything then or sit
54:30
on the bench and watch the game you know you're
54:32
not helping us win don't just watch it out and
54:35
do it yeah start focusing on the negatives and
54:37
let's look to the positive of the season oh exactly
54:41
well i'm sure uh when you again when you're first
54:45
diagnosed Even now, if you start thinking about
54:48
all those negative things, it starts going down
54:51
that downward spiral. But then once you start
54:53
looking on the positive side of like the community,
54:57
how you're able to raise health people, all of
55:02
those positive things, it boosts you up. It gives
55:05
you that extra fuel. It helps everything. I look
55:07
at it, you know, doing the bike ride and it just
55:10
happened. If I'm not working at that restaurant
55:14
and they're not having that. that pub night,
55:16
I maybe don't get involved right away. But that's
55:19
exposed that and move back to London. Oh, there's
55:21
a London ride. Great. How do I get involved?
55:23
And then you start raising money and you realize
55:25
the support. And as that builds, it's how can
55:27
I, how can I do more? You know, it's this concert
55:30
hopefully will raise a ton of money and give
55:33
people a great time. And it's, you know, I think
55:35
I'm hoping if the concert goes well to eclipse
55:38
$100 ,000 in lifetime money raised. And if I
55:43
can get that to a million. And before my time's
55:48
done, then that's what it needs. And we need
55:52
a million people raising, you know, a ton of
55:56
money. And it's every single person is that small
56:00
piece of the puzzle that we'll figure it out.
56:02
And the fact that you guys do it, give me the
56:04
opportunity to come on here and talk about it
56:07
and give you a little insight and hopefully get
56:10
a few people more to come and watch the fights
56:12
and maybe somebody to. To get in the fight next
56:15
year. And this could be a week long event. You
56:19
got to qualify prelims, the undercard. You got
56:23
to get on the main car. Who knows where it goes?
56:26
But yeah, that's how we build it. And we do it
56:29
by talking about it and not sit back and keep
56:31
it quiet. At the end of the day, I know there's
56:34
people out there that have MS and, you know,
56:37
recently diagnosed or have been diagnosed for
56:39
a while that are fighting a battle that we don't
56:42
see and we don't know about. eventually you'll
56:46
get out there and do it. And because people want
56:49
to help. And, you know, I tell everybody when
56:52
you're ready, you let everybody know. So they
56:54
want to, they want to support you. It's true.
56:57
Nobody deserves to go through it alone. No. And
57:00
you don't have to. Call me. Well, how does someone
57:02
get ahold of you? Go to my website. If you're
57:05
looking to buy a house, KLSRealEstate .com. You
57:07
can find it in the comments. Is that what you
57:09
say? It's in the comments. Okay. But yeah, reach
57:15
out, reach out to you guys and you can get ahold
57:17
of me and I'll, if anybody just wants to talk,
57:19
I'm there to listen. You know, I'll share my
57:24
story with you or listen or whatever you need,
57:27
or if you just need to figure it out, you know,
57:33
and obviously the MS clinic in London, Dr. Juan
57:37
and the gang. are amazing. He was all over me
57:42
today. We were talking about he wants involved
57:44
in the concert and how he can support it. There's
57:49
great people in the city, but the resources are
57:51
out there. And I'm just one dude who's happy
57:53
to jump on the phone with you. So feel free to
58:00
pass my number out to anybody that needs somebody
58:03
to talk to. I can't promise great advice, but...
58:07
I can promise a conversation. Like if I was just
58:10
diagnosed with MS, I have no idea what's going
58:13
on. I'm freaking out. And I'm spiraling. I, now
58:18
I have someone that I call and is going to say,
58:22
it's okay. And just listen to the stoop and relate.
58:26
And that's the big thing for me. And I had a
58:28
couple of people that I was able to talk to and,
58:30
you know, talking to my family. It's all you
58:33
get. All you get as well. What do you feel like?
58:36
How do you feel? And you're trying to explain
58:38
it where I had other options where I could have
58:41
that conversation with somebody who got it, who
58:43
understood it. That means more to you. Yeah.
58:47
And then you'd have some fun. I mean, like, I'll
58:48
see your two Advil and raise you a two ton. And
58:52
how many pills are you taking today? Did you
58:55
take your vitamin D? Yeah. All the fun stuff.
58:58
But yeah, there's some great, I see a ton of
59:01
stuff. Obviously, you know, we all get scrolling
59:03
online. Your phone figures out what you want
59:07
to see. I see more MS stuff online than anything.
59:11
And it's, I saw one today that lady was like,
59:15
you know, what people see but don't realize.
59:17
And it's, you know, constantly scratching and
59:20
feeling like you need to lean on something and
59:23
sit down. And to everybody watching that, they
59:27
have no idea. And then it brought up the scratching
59:29
again because it's the kind of thing where you
59:31
get tingly. The people with that mask, you look
59:34
at it and go, yeah, that's the stuff. But everybody
59:37
else looks at it and goes, what are they talking
59:39
about? So that's the community and if we can
59:44
support each other. And if you know somebody
59:46
who's living with it, just, you know, talk to
59:50
them. Hey, what are you going through? What can
59:52
I do? You know, what's it like? And sometimes
59:56
they just want to talk about it and sometimes
59:58
they don't. And if you've got a good friend who's
1:00:01
watching a... shrinking and they start crying,
1:00:04
then, you know, let them cry. They might not
1:00:07
be able to control that. Sure, sure. Well, I
1:00:09
think this episode alone, we can definitely set
1:00:12
it to people who, you know, maybe just got diagnosed
1:00:15
or have it. And it's like, you know, this is
1:00:18
going to sit very well with them. Only because
1:00:21
of you, though. And I really appreciate it. So
1:00:25
I thank you once again for coming on the show
1:00:27
today. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
1:00:30
Anytime. And if you're ever talking hockey, I'm
1:00:34
your guy. Oh, what's your team? New York Rangers
1:00:36
fan. Rangers fan? I'm a Rangers fan. It's kind
1:00:39
of weird, but I think when I was super young,
1:00:45
my brother was an Islanders fan because they
1:00:47
were the dynasty back in there at that time.
1:00:49
So I think I became a Rangers fan out of spite.
1:00:52
And when Mark Massey came into the league. I
1:00:55
became a very big Messi fan. And then when he
1:00:57
went to the Rangers, it was like, oh yeah. So
1:01:00
I'm, it's, it's an obsession. The fact that I'm
1:01:04
missing a game right now is my commitment to
1:01:08
the cause. But they're almost in the bottom of
1:01:11
the league. So that's okay. It's not a big game.
1:01:17
Calgary is. I need Calgary to win a couple of
1:01:20
games because it's all about the draft position
1:01:23
now. So I've been in this race to the bottom.
1:01:27
And every time I look at a Calgary score, they
1:01:29
went lost again. But I think they won yesterday
1:01:32
or the day before. So they've actually pulled
1:01:34
ahead of the Rangers. So that's one better draft
1:01:37
position. They must have someone in mind that
1:01:40
they're trying to draft. And that's why they're
1:01:41
like, we could win a few games. Well, there's
1:01:44
Manny Malhotra's kid is in the draft. He's around
1:01:47
that four or five spot. I think both the Rangers
1:01:50
and the Flames might have a little connection
1:01:52
there that they want to go after him. But yeah,
1:01:55
I'll come and talk hockey with you guys until
1:01:57
I'm blue in the face. You're a Leaf fan guy,
1:01:58
aren't you? No, I don't really have a hockey.
1:02:00
That's fine. That's good. See, I'm like that
1:02:02
with football. I don't know. I was a huge, huge
1:02:04
Peyton Manning fan for his whole career. And
1:02:06
then now I'm just whoever I draft come fantasy
1:02:10
time. So I find myself cheering for like the
1:02:13
Texans or something, which is super weird. It's
1:02:17
strange to see this. Right? I was told once that
1:02:20
I was an Oilers fan. Someone decided for me.
1:02:23
They were like, no, you need to have a team so
1:02:27
I can bug you when my team needs yours. I was
1:02:29
like, sure. But their cousin was paid for. The
1:02:33
Flames? No, played for Edith. Oh, okay. Nice.
1:02:39
All right, well. Cheers. Thanks for having me.
1:02:43
Thank you again. Thanks for coming. We wouldn't
1:02:45
be doing this without you. Love it. Even though
1:02:49
my mom hates it. Your mom hates it. They don't
1:02:52
do a boxing. Yeah. Is she like just super uncomfortable
1:02:55
with it or? Yeah. Another one in the books. Off
1:03:02
the bench. London. Where life and sports collide.
1:03:07
Let's go. If you're rocking with the show, let
1:03:09
me hear you say yeah. Hit the like, subscribe,
1:03:11
show the love. We'll be right back. like button
1:04:06
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1:04:08
the whole city know off the bench london is the
1:04:11
place to go off the bench if you're rocking with
1:04:14
the show let me