Latest / Numotion Ally Program Podcast / Wheelin' With Dylan: Finding Strength With Garrison Redd
Transcript
- Leah Holderbaum: Yeah. Well, this is Dylan with Wheelin' with Dylan, part of the Ally program, and we have an awesome guest today. Look forward to chatting with him. Hey Garrison, how are you doing? I'm doing pretty good, Dylan. Can't complain. The Knicks are champions, you know, life is good here in New York. I I bet you can y hear the parade from your ⁓ your door today practically. Of course. You know, everywhere we've been partying. That's awesome. I ⁓ I'm excited and happy for for all you Knicks fans and it w it was well deserved. So ⁓ great great to to chat with you. Thank you for taking some time out of your day, out of your busy Knicks day. I think Knicks are in heaven right now. It's probably hard to concentrate on anything else, so we appreciate it. Yep. ⁓ so Garrison, I think many people follow you ⁓ from afar. The cool thing about social media is even if you don't know someone super well you can follow along with them and kinda keep up to date, see what's going on, stuff like that. ⁓ if you don't ⁓ mind me asking, I was I've always been curious just kind of what made you kinda start wanting to create ⁓ content and kind of share that part of your life with with people. You know what's crazy, Dylan? No lie. I just started out doing it organically. It was not so much It was just me doing stuff daily in my life and it started to take off and blow up a little bit. And from there I just try to be consistent but keep that authenticity that I think sometimes you could forget when you're on social media. So it was to me it was just organic. Let me just record things that I do every day. Awesome. Yeah, that's great. And and to share with others who don't know, do you mind sharing ⁓ what kind of what level ⁓ injury you have and and some of your background? Okay, definitely. So I'm a T eleven, T twelve, incomplete, paraplegic, of course. And ⁓ twenty almost twenty one years ago, I was injured. I was injured at seventeen years old from a gunshot wound. and yeah, that's the start of like a journey. you know, ⁓ for the first seventeen years of my life I aspired to be a professional football player and Sometimes things get taken from you, but it's all about how you bounce back from it, you know. It could take a day, it could take two days, it could take ten years, it doesn't matter. As long as you keep trying to get better each and every second, then that's all you could reward yourself with. Yeah, no, that's a good point. I heard you mentioned the word journey. I think ⁓ people who we have on ⁓ this podcast ⁓ we typically like to talk about everyone's journey 'cause it's it's different for everyone. ⁓ yeah. You know? And every s we always say every spinal cord injury is different, right? But everybody's journey is certainly different. Your background sounds like you want to be a football you know, a football player, aspiring for that. ⁓ your perspective and every in your life just kinda changes and we as anyone in ⁓ with a spinal cord injury knows you gotta adapt. That's a big word. I think adapt is just like one that comes up a lot. ⁓ what what was your journey like? What what how was adapting to ⁓ having a spinal cord injury for you. Did it take some time? Did you you did you get into it kind of quick and to kind of try to find a new hobby or what? I gotta take you down the road though. So I'm gonna make a I'm gonna make a l long story sh as short as possible. But ⁓ when I was and when I initially sustained my injury back in two thousand and five, I remember the doctor telling me like when I was like still in ICU, like you can see the glass has half full. Or half empty. It's all about perspective. And I didn't know what that meant at the time. But she did also tell me, like, you might not be able to play football no longer, but you could be like a coach. And if you be a co if you're the coach, well, you're a leader. You're still a part of the game. And now you just have a different role. And at some point, anybody that plays any sport will lose that ability just by age. So With that, I didn't really hi know what she meant. I wasn't really listening to her, but things started to come like into perspective. And then I had two very supportive parents, my mom and f my mother and father. Like they wanted to see the best of me. So if they heard that there was a person out there that was a paraplegic and was doing something, then they felt like, yo, you're gonna do that. ⁓ and life is gonna go on, we're not gonna feel sorry for you. And you're gonna stay in this rehab hospital as long as you as long as we could keep you here until you as independent as possible. So un unlike a lot of people that are that sustain a spinal cord injury as low as mine, I stayed in the hospital for eleven months. So when I was in rehab, I pretty much learned how to do everything by the time I came home. So it was like an I came home was like, Now you just gotta figure out. You have the tools, you have the mobility, you have the skills. And your intellect is still there, you know, that didn't go anywhere. So time to go to my mother was like, it's either find a job or go to school. So I was like, it's time to go to college. Cause when I was when I sustained my injury, I was going into my senior year of high school. And I j like I said, I did eleven months in rehab. So that's almost twelve months in total of being in the hospital and in a hospital setting. So I graduated from high school in the rehab center 'cause Back in those days, Rusk Rehab, shout outs to NYU. They had schools. They had classrooms. So there was a elementary classroom and like a junior high school, high school classroom because a lot of the pediatric patients would stay in the rehab for quite some time. ⁓ longest days, like four plus months, because I was amongst people with all different types of injuries, disabilities. So cerebral pausley, spina bifida. You name it almost I was like, ⁓ I was amongst people. So when I'm amongst these kids, they was always happy when it was in rehab. And you're like, how they so happy? And they never had the ability to walk, to play football, to play basketball, and do some of the things that I did, but I'm like not like there. And you know, it's normal with somebody with a spinal cord and you know, when you go through that type of trauma, it's just normal. So it was like, All right, I gotta get it together. I might not have to accept my injury, but I have to adapt. Cause I have to go out into the world. And being that I have to go on out to I have to go out into the world, time is gonna still ticking, the clock wanna still rollin', and me being here, I gotta catch up. This is New York City. Things pass really fast. And if you don't catch that wave, then it's gone. And it's like you gotta wait for the next one. So I had to go to school right away. My mom was like, I didn't want to go to work. I'm like, I don't want to go to work. I'm gonna be working for the next 50 years of my life and what I'm gonna do without a degree, you know. I I'm not gonna be able to do much with my hands because of my physical abilities now, but I could do something, you know, that involves my brain. And in order to get a job that involves my brain, I have to be somewhat educated. So I have to go to school. So it was ⁓ easy option for me. And By me going to school, that was like the best decision I probably ever made because it was like everything I thought the world would see me as was just in my brain. It was never it never realized. Like those things just never happen. A lot of things that's w comes to a point that I tell people, especially when I meet newly injured ⁓ spinal cord injury individuals. It's like a lot of things you're gonna tell yourself is never gonna happen. Like I was the man on campus. Like everybody knew me. I was the man. It was like every day it's like, yo, where's they would call me G. Where's G at? We gotta link with G. We take him to parties. We're gonna have fun, carry him upstairs, it doesn't matter, and we're gonna go to class in the morning and do it again the next day. So that was kinda like my story. So I guess just going out into the world was the best way of adapting that the moral of it. That's a good point, yeah. Throwing yourself in the fire a little bit. ⁓ honestly I feel like I haven't heard of ⁓ anyone who's been to rehab for that long, but I'm sure you've learned so much and was probably very independent by your the end of your stay that you were ready to to get to life and ⁓ and that's that's fun thing that you say about school. ⁓ and it's funny that you said it's like, you know, we're harder in our own mind. You know, we think of all the worst possibilities ever, this is gonna go bad, this go bad and then you get out there and you realize It ain't that bad. And in fact, a lot of the times it's like it's I'm not saying it's more fun, but I mean we get a lot more attention. I feel like there and people want to like, hey, let's have a good time. So I'm sure that I'm sure that you ha it sounds like you had a good time in school and everything. So school school was a great decision. I made sure and got those grades good that had good grades. So but that's good. That's awesome. I enjoyed. I ha lived the best of both worlds in there. Sweet. Sweet. So I'm always interested when people have a A hobby or a real passion. Honestly, whether you're hurt or not, I'm always interested in how people found that, but especially when someone was h with a spinal cord injury has some kind of passion or has a a hobby that, you know, they take up and ⁓ and they're motivated to do every day. I'm always interested in kinda how they got there and I know just from following along with you, you are, you know, very into power lifting and climbing. Is that correct? Yep, you got it right. You got it right. Hey, I'm Dylan from Wheelin' with Dylan. And I'm Leah with the CAFCast. If you're listening to this, you are already part of the conversation. But there's a lot more to explore inside New Motion Medical Supplies Ally program. And all our podcasts live there too. So if you want to catch past episodes or get the earliest access to new ones, that's where to go. And the podcast is really just one piece. Inside Ally, there's a full library of articles, webinars, and short videos focused on bladder health. Catheter use and building routines that work for you. It's also a great place to see how others are navigating things day to day. Real setups, real experiences, and things you might not always hear in a clinical setting. And a big part of that is the community forum. There are sub-forums for different experiences and stages of life. So whether you're just getting started or have been doing this for years, there's a space for you. You can ask questions, share what's worked for you. Or just read and see how others are handling similar situations. It's a really easy way to connect and not feel like you're figuring everything out all on your own. And it's simple to access. If you're a New Motion Medical Supplies customer, you can log in with your My New Motion account information and start exploring right away. It's completely free and everything's in one place at catheters.newMotion.com/slash ally. Head to the Ally program today and join the conversation. We'll see you there. Tell please tell us ⁓ how did you how did your journey take you to power lifting and and climbing? Alright, so honestly, the way I made Team USA for both both sports, ⁓ kinda in the same fashion. So how I got in so I was just I'll give you the rundown. Let's do it. That's what we're hearing. So it started after I graduated college, I started working for the IRS. I hated that job. It was like the worst. But I was working there and it was like go work, go home, work, go home. And I wasn't myself. Like I didn't have that social aspect that I had in school. So it's like I have to do something to socialize with people because I've been in I stay in a cubicle all day, talking to people on the phone. And it's like, all right, what I'm gonna do? And at the time, like my weight, I just like started getting like secondary stuff. Because of my spinal cord injury, my weight was dropping. I just wasn't myself. So I was like, I need to go to the gym. I think the gym would solve everything. I like lifting weights. But I was hesitant in getting back into sports. The reason being is because I didn't have enough education on adaptive sports and what adaptive sports was out there at the time of my injury. And I couldn't manage going to school, having like a part-time job. And playing sports at that point in my life. And and therapy. Like I couldn't even manage therapy at that point in my life because I already did almost a year of therapy to do another year of maybe outpatient therapy where you go once or twice a week for a hour and the commute is actually longer than the therapy session. And it's like I just to move maybe you know, just like it's it's It's a catch twenty two, especially depending on how old you are as well. So it's like, how I'm gonna figure this out and so I was like, All right, I have to cut out the therapy right at this moment, 'cause I got school and then I ha have to work 'cause I gotta pay bills 'cause I have a car. So, you know, it I was like, All right. So I was like, I gotta cut out certain things. But I knew I could add things as well. So like I could take a hour out of my day to go to the gym. So I signed up for a gym membership and The first week so when I played football right prior to my injury, I was bench pressing like three hundred and fifteen pounds at seventeen years old. I was a great football player. It was good and then it was great. High school players. So with that said, ⁓ I knew once I got back into lifting weights, I'd be cool with that. Like that's fine with me. And yeah, I just was in a gym. The first week I probably went I don't know, each day for fifteen minutes, but I went each day and I just did a little something and then the following week I did a little more. And then I met this guy from the Wheelchair Sports Federation, my boy John Hammer and ⁓ Jason and it was like, yo and these are able body individuals and it was like, Yo, but they coach ⁓ w they the heads of the wheelchair sports federation, which is ⁓ adaptive sports organization nonprofit organization here in New York City. So they put on a lot of the adapters of sports events here. And with that said, I ran Jason just used to go to the gym. Jason's type Browly. That's what we say for somebody muscular in New York. And ⁓ yeah, so Jason would come to the gym and one day he approached me, he was like, Are you interested in playing wheelchair football? You seem pretty strong. And I remember benching one thirty five and I felt so humbled, like, dang Week, how I gotta get I gotta get back to three fifteen and doesn't matter if I have to use a wheelchair. And this probably was like eight years after my injury. So it was it was some time. And I was like, All right, I'm gonna do this. So I started getting stronger and like I'm repping like two twenty five at a gym for like three reps or whatever, which I'm way stronger than that now, but yeah, I'm repping it and ⁓ Jason like, Yeah, come out to the wheelchair. football practice, see what it's about, and you know, you never know. You might be interested in it. So I came out. It was kind of too physical for me because I'm like, I gotta go to school and work. I don't think I should be falling on the floor out of my chair. Stuff like that. You never know. Accidents happen. But I could play quarterback and they love me at quarterback because I can actually throw. Like I'm like, nah, I used to really play football. Yeah, I don't understand. Like I could play. So He's like, yo, you should play some basketball and other sports. I'm like, nah, I don't really want to play team sports. That was my my barrier because I'm like, I don't want to invest a lot of time. And with basketball is that person that's not going to pass you the ball. I'm I'm going to start arguing. I'm a New Yorker. I'm going start arguing and it's not going to work. So he was like, nah, there's tons of ⁓ individual sports that you could play, like fencing, ⁓ shot put. javelin, discus, all types of ⁓ tr even track and feel events. So it started with track and feel. I was on the New Jersey Navigators and I used to wheelchair race. But the thing with the wheelchair racing is I'm not I'm I'm like you saying ball. I only want to do like a hundred met. I'm a sprinter. Long distance that's too much. That's too much exercise for me. And it's funny I say that 'cause I'll lift weights but with too much cardio, I'm not really with that. I just push my chair. So, ⁓ yeah, through Wheelchair Sports Federation, ⁓ then meeting with the New Jersey Navigators, and this is all random meetings. So I always tell people, especially people, you know, living with disabilities out there, you miss every shot you don't take. You know, we don't get as many as others in some cases, but we do get them. And you just gotta take every opportunity, even if it's something you're not interested in or in at the moment. You could be good. Your skill set, you know. Your skill set that you have already might translate well to another ⁓ sport or another hobby. So ⁓ my coach with the navigator was like, how much you weigh? I'm like, I don't really know how much I weigh because I go to doctor facilities. There's never a skill or never a way to accommodate people that use wheelchairs. So it's like, I don't know how much I weigh. He's like, ⁓ we got tons of equipment that could get you weighed. We got a wheelchair skip. So they had everything, like their infrastructure was cool and I remember the first practice, the coach Jimmy Cuevas said, like, he pointed to different athletes and he was like, Yo, he won a gold medal at Rio twenty sixteen. This kid over here right here, he's gonna be the next like whatever. Like, he just was naming all of that and like their uniforms was cool. I'm like, ⁓ this is a team, this is what I wanna be a part of. Yeah. So he entered me in a power lifting event and I didn't know what I was doing, but I was able to lift 250 pounds, weighing about a hundred and twenty-one pounds at the time, and not knowing what I'm doing. And then Team USA emailed me and I ignored the email. But then the following week it was another event that I invited my mom to and everybody's congratulating her. And she's like, What's going on? Like I he's he's coming in last in the wheelchair races. Then the coach was like, Did you get that email or from Team USA? They've been trying to get in contact with you. They're reaching out to you because they want to invite you to a camp. And then ⁓ they invited me to a powerlifting camp and flew me out to Colorado Springs, the Olympic training facility. And now I was able to lift like 275 pounds with like a month of training with ⁓ John Gaglione. He's also the head trainer for Larry Wheels, this like famous social media weightlifting influencer. But yeah, that's how I got on Team USA and climbing was the same thing. So in my Past career, before became an MSAM with New New Motion, when I was working at Mount Sana as the outreach coordinator for spinal cord injury, I coordinated event through a grant that I received from Craig Nielsen. And ⁓ I took some individuals that wanted to learn how to adaptive climb to Oakland, California to a climbing camp. And at the climbing camp, somebody is like, Hey, you ever climbed? And I'm like, nah, I never climbed before. I'm not really into height. It's like you should climb. But if anybody check checked out my Instagram before, I do a lot of pull ups. So I go to the park and play on the bars and stuff. So somehow I ended up finishing fourth in the country and climbing. I made it to like the finals and everything. And I was maybe two spots away from finishing second. And I end up on Team USA climbing. That's funny. Yeah, yeah. So it's just like I think it's competitive nature and sometimes your skill set could translate over to something else. Yeah, that's awesome. And I'm sure you've been able to make a big int impact on people in different ways, obviously, like through even social media. ⁓ those who, you know, f are newly entered and they see a guy who is powerlifting or is climbing and have some kind of passion, clearly has a you know, good quality of life, has independence. It's cool to see. But also that, you know, I'm sure your previous jobs and stuff like that, ⁓ been able to work with people who have ⁓ new spinal cord injuries and now you have a role w as with new motion as an MSAM which probably a little different, I don't know, than what you've done in the past when it comes to but you still have that an a big impact on people who have spinal cord injuries. what are you talk a little bit about, you know, the difference that you're looking forward to make as in MSAM ⁓ new motion and why you think it's important to for, you know, these patients Who are newly injured to find the right catheter and to have a, you know, reliable supplier. Well, at the end of the day, it's all about quality of life and I feel like too many individuals out there that have to rely on catheters for like urinary retention and, you know, incontinence issues are are treated unfairly. Like, you know, UTIs is probably the number one issue in the spinal cord injury community. Yep. ⁓ It's more than anything. So with that said, I wanted to make an impact in that in that aspect, in that field, you know, from the top, you know, I get a opportunity to connect with the clinicians to inform the clinicians what's the best, you know, product for their patient. Because there's so many products out there and people living with spinal cord injuries only are often shown one product. And that's the product they have to stick with through the entirety of their life in most cases. So With that said, it's not fair to tell someone what you gotta urinate with. Like they should be able to pick what they can what they want to urinate with. And that's one of the things that I feel like I'll have a big impact in that aspect and bring some a different, you know, a different flavor to the world of urological needs, ⁓ incontinence. And, you know, I want more people out there to enjoy life at the end of the day and have to spend less time worrying about UTIs, being in the bed, being on antibiotics. And that causes so many secondary issues that are are unspoken about in a lot of cases. Like that causes depression. I remember me when I was battling UTIs that was chronic back to back. And it was like, When is this gonna ever end? And it doesn't. It's could be consistent. You're on medication for ten days, you come off it for five days and you're back on it for ten days again. And, you know, A lot of people need to know what's out there. They need to be educated. ⁓ they need someone that they could connect with personally that they know. You know, a lot of times, you know, being an end user, we can actually tell other individuals like this might not be the best product for you. ⁓ this this what this particular product causes. Like I didn't have anyone to tell me like for instance like certain condom catheters, if I chose to use one, can cause skin breakdown. So people need to be educated on all of these issues that are in the community and I think I'm w the one to do it. Absolutely. No, we're we're really excited to have you here on the team with New Motion and think you hit you know the nail on the head right there just about how UTIs directly affect your quality of life for sure. ⁓ because if you are again on like you said, antibiotics make you feel awful. I really try to avoid ⁓ at all costs, but unfortunately at one point we've all probably been on ⁓ and they just they just kinda knock you out. I feel like even your brain kinda gets foggy and you're just not thinking you're not thinking right and it's easy it's easier to get depressed when you're on those antibiotics. Exactly. Very, very You're not you right now. I mean it's just like your body just doesn't feel right or ⁓ when they do get chronic and ⁓ enough you can go to the hospital. Now you're having to take time off of work, you're having instead of ⁓ go on vacation, PTO and now you're taking sick days, right? ⁓ so I it I think it's really important to have have like that spinal cord injury, some advocacy in these in these hospitals for people who have that experience, people who have used catheters, people who have ⁓ understand how important they are to to keep away from those infections. ⁓ keeping Exactly. Yeah. So we're I'm you know, really glad that You know, you'll you're definitely all ready probably, but you know, going to continue to make an impact ⁓ there in New York. Yep, yep. That's the plan, man. I see big things happening for myself in New Motion. Absolutely. And and make sure you tell everybody about the Ally program, all right. So that's where that's where we'll though everybody will is finding our podcast here today. It's also available on ⁓ Spotify and YouTube, but here on the Ally program, ⁓ like you said, I think a lot of times people just need to be educated. You something about condom catheters and and skin breakdown. It's little things that sometimes people don't think about. But ⁓ here at the Ally program, ⁓ we have resources, there's articles, it goes into depth about UTIs, why they happen, how to avoid them, ⁓ clean techniques as well is is something that's super important. ⁓ but also, like you said, all of that ties into independence and quality of life. And so talking with people like you Garrison, people ⁓ talking to different people we've had on the podcast before. who have some kind of passion or are doing and stuff in their life, you see the the cool stuff. You see the power lifting, ⁓ you see the climbing, you see for other people some kind of wheelchair sports. ⁓ but you don't only see, you know, obviously the, you know, in between games or in between sets or whatever, you know, you gotta go to the bathroom, empty your bladder. ⁓ but you have to, you know, do it in the right way. You have to have the product that works for you to limit those UTIs so you can continue to have a live a good full life and go to the park and and live as li full of life as you are. ⁓ so exactly it's awesome. I'm I'm very glad that y you're here on the team with New Motion man. Yeah, yeah. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. And yeah. Gonna continue to make an impact, you know. I feel like my me and New Motion was meant to be. It was meant to be. So For sure. For sure. Well thank you so much for for joining the podcast today. ⁓ look forward to talking to you again in the future. I have a feeling that we we will be able to. In fact I think we're gonna get to meet in person here in the next couple of months, ⁓ which I'm excited. Yeah. I'm excited for that, man. I'm looking forward to it. Awesome. Well thank you so much for joining and ⁓ for those who have not joined the Ally pod ⁓ program yet, please do it. Join the Ally program. There's so many resources. We also have a community here. We talk about the spinal cord injury community, but we have community forums here on the Ally program where we can ⁓ chat with each other, ⁓ c ask questions, we can ⁓ answer questions as well to ⁓ to one another. So ⁓ please make sure you join and ⁓ till next time Garrison. Alright, Dylan, stay strong, bro. Alright, appreciate it. Have a good one. ⁓