Life to the Max Podcast
"Paralyzed Pulling a Parachute" Ft Curtis
Air Force Veteran, Curtis Grant Kmiecek, SMSgt, a fellow spinal cord injury survivor, shares with us his story during a terrifying skydiving mishap. With resilience that's nothing short of awe-inspiring, our latest episode takes you through the harrowing yet uplifting saga of Curtis's journey—from his accident to his remarkable recovery. His tale isn't just a solitary fight; it's bolstered by the influence of Patrick Rummerfield, an Ironman athlete and mentor who turned a similar fate into triumph. Curtis's ambition and recovery from such a debilitating injury will stir your soul and challenge your perception of the impossible.
Curtis unravels the nuances of his recovery, from the critical importance of timely medical interventions, to the profound impact of specialized rehabilitation facilities. It's a narrative that reinforces the power of advocacy, the necessity of mental strength, and the unquantifiable value of a supportive network. Curtis's experiences serve as a profound reminder of the dignity every patient deserves and the relentless spirit required to reclaim one's life after a spinal cord injury.
Life, as Curtis demonstrates, is an adventure that doesn't end with injury—it transforms. His post-recovery escapades, including tandem skydiving and scuba diving, are testament to an undying zest for life that refuses to be grounded. He extends an open invitation, including but not limited to veterans in need of support, to venture into a community that understands and uplifts. His message is clear and potent: in the face of life's toughest battles, it's not just about surviving; it's about thriving, connecting, and savoring every moment with the courage of a true warrior.
Join us for an episode that celebrates an extraordinary journey back to the Blue Skies.
Air Force Veteran, Curtis Grant Kmiecek, SMSgt, a fellow spinal cord injury survivor, shares with us his story during a terrifying skydiving mishap. With resilience that's nothing short of awe-inspiring, our latest episode takes you through the harrowing yet uplifting saga of Curtis's journey—from his accident to his remarkable recovery. His tale isn't just a solitary fight; it's bolstered by the influence of Patrick Rummerfield, an Ironman athlete and mentor who turned a similar fate into triumph. Curtis's ambition and recovery from such a debilitating injury will stir your soul and challenge your perception of the impossible.
Curtis unravels the nuances of his recovery, from the critical importance of timely medical interventions, to the profound impact of specialized rehabilitation facilities. It's a narrative that reinforces the power of advocacy, the necessity of mental strength, and the unquantifiable value of a supportive network. Curtis's experiences serve as a profound reminder of the dignity every patient deserves and the relentless spirit required to reclaim one's life after a spinal cord injury.
Life, as Curtis demonstrates, is an adventure that doesn't end with injury—it transforms. His post-recovery escapades, including tandem skydiving and scuba diving, are testament to an undying zest for life that refuses to be grounded. He extends an open invitation, including but not limited to veterans in need of support, to venture into a community that understands and uplifts. His message is clear and potent: in the face of life's toughest battles, it's not just about surviving; it's about thriving, connecting, and savoring every moment with the courage of a true warrior.
Join us for an episode that celebrates an extraordinary journey back to the Blue Skies.
This story is the reason we connected. Okay, one day I'm sitting there with her name is Dana. I sit here with Dana and she says you know, I'm one of the few men that you will ever find in your life that will admit that all men are pigs. Okay, you got the exact reaction I expected, and so I said however, you have to take into consideration what kind of pig are you? You could be a cute, cuddly pig. You could be a razorback boar pig, or you could be a piggy bank, which some women want. Yeah, the problem is we know which ones we are.
Speaker 3:We don't give too much and we don't give a fuck.
Speaker 2:I actually ended up really like you. That beat All right. Welcome back to another episode of life to the max. We got Curtis with us. You know what? Curtis is a good friend of Max, so I'm going to let Max start it off before the intro.
Speaker 3:So Curtis came strolling in my house when in 2019, I was kind of down a little bit and my sister's friend patients actually shot out patients.
Speaker 2:Well, no wait, I got a question. So Curtis just walks into your house without knowing anyone Just walk into a random house? No, no.
Speaker 1:I'll cut in on this to make that work. Basically, patients is the daughter of one of our clients in my wife's law firm and we won a. That's the lawsuit that ended up helping us get the beach resort in Jamaica. And so patients knew Max and patients asked you know, she knew my, I had spinal cord injury and everything, and you're starting to. You could go visit him and say, well, hell, yes, you know, and so that's, it wasn't random by any mean, but so and we're both vets, so that brought us a little closer to.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm only a year and a half, you're 24 years, but let's get into this podcast first. Right, I got. So.
Speaker 2:Right after Max's intro. Right after the intro. How about it?
Speaker 3:I'm a disabled that, and I'm paralyzed from a neck down, breathing through a machine, but that doesn't stop me from following my dreams and doing what I love to do. I don't have an excuse, and I should you. Let's get into Curtis's exciting episode.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Shit. I'm in there crying already. I understand so much of how that works. You know and and you know I don't want to hijack the episode, but I'll say to start out with for me, spinal cord injury recovery is all a lot physical, but it's about 98% mental. And when I met this man I says, you know he can get there and I you know it's just, if you have the brain power to fight through what it takes, you can get there. That's my, my mentors. We'll we'll talk about this later. My mentor is and hopefully he calls while we're here my mentor is Patrick Grummerfield.
Speaker 1:I'll give you the short story. It's 21 years old, drunk, with a buddy in a brand new Corvette, something like a 64. They decided to head to the highway and open it up and then they hit the ditch before the highway car went over three times. They had to pry Patrick out, so cut to the chase. 17 years later he ran the iron man in Hawaii. Wow, he, he builds himself. He builds himself as the first fully, fully recovered functional spinal cord injury patient, which is true. My problem is, I'm going to be number two.
Speaker 2:You know I, you know I can't let him get away with it. It's going to be number three.
Speaker 3:Bingo. You just nailed where I was going.
Speaker 1:Stop reading my mind, you know you know we, we can't let it stop us, and so that's that's kind of what got me here and that's what you're skipping steps.
Speaker 2:Tell, tell the people your story of your spinal cord injury.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my story. Yeah, sure, um, it's simple. I'm an active skydiver. The military taught me that nasty habit. I was in a joint command that was an airborne command and the reservists in the command had the option of they could jump or not, and if they raised their hand they could do it. So I did.
Speaker 1:Now Air Force kind of frowns on us leaving the airplane in flight, but I don't care about the Air Force. So anyway, I was on a relatively routine skydive. My son was on the load and I came out of the airplane. Everything was normal and I'm coming down, and so parachutes are designed to kind of open like they flutter open. You throw the pilot, shoot out. They're designed to flutter open and we call what happens when they open is opening shock. And I tell people I had industrial strength opening shock.
Speaker 1:Turns out I sustained about 7.2 Gs of force because you're attached to the shoulders, my head whipped forward and that created edema in the spinal, just swelling in the spinal cord. Wow, I was actually paralyzed under canopy. Wow, and I'm looking. My arms were broken. I thought they were just broken and I'm looking. Underneath me is the Fox River and there's a dam on the other side of the dam is all the rushing water. We had lost another skydiver there about a week before in a power glider, power paraglider accident. That engine gave out. I'm looking down Now. I'm a scuba instructor, I was before and I'm sitting there. I'm looking at the water, says I don't know what's going on, if I can survive that, and so I'm sitting here.
Speaker 1:go okay. Fortunately for me, my parachute took up a little right turn and to live in a tree, People on the load knew that I was there. That's how it worked in skydiving, so you paralyzed like neck down.
Speaker 1:Well, apparently, you know, I mean at this point, I just, I knew my arm Well when you when you first, when your parachute first opens, one of the first things you do is you go up to the parachutes are packed and stowed in what they call they stow in breaks. So you pull these two toggles with toggles, which are the steering toggles, and I really literally tried to get this left arm up to get to the toggle and pull it. It's good I didn't, because once you do it you move faster. So as far as I don't know, I don't know what my life it's been a parachute. I don't even know what my life is floating.
Speaker 2:Well, I couldn't.
Speaker 1:I couldn't feel my legs, so the bottom line is I ended up in tree.
Speaker 2:A funny part was luckily you ended up in a tree.
Speaker 1:Well, well they, they train you tree landings. Okay, we, we even learned tree landings in the military, but basically, tree landing, the object is, as you spread eagle, to try not to get hung up in all the branches, which I tried. But that's where I don't even know what. I didn't even know what my legs were like at that point, but anyway got in the tree team of people. My son was actually on the search team because he was also on the load, and so eventually they got to me Another guy who was running the drop zone for awhile.
Speaker 1:He was a dear friend, he also does. He did maintenance on my airplanes for awhile. His name is Donovan. Donovan saved my life. It was funny because the other guy, andre, who another parachutist who was out there with him. They found me in the tree. Now we have a release. You pull this one handle. It releases the main canopy. So I'm way up in the tree and Donovan. Now I think this is ironic.
Speaker 1:Donovan went to school to learn he was an arborist. He knows not an arborist, but basically he's a plant fellow. So he's hugging the tree, andres, climbing on his shoulders to reach up to my Cutaway. He gets up there and pulls it off. Now I come down, I take them both down to the ground and so, okay, now, at that point I probably I'm sure I wasn't breathing well because Donovan's smart guy, he's been in the business for his whole life and he had an ambi bag. He starts resuscitation with the ambi bag and some guys show up with a four-wheeler, carry me up to the drop zone and I Then engaged in what I call my thirty five thousand dollar helicopter ride that was off to off to a good Sam hospital.
Speaker 1:That was the first place I ended up. And the interesting thing is, my dear friend, who's my doctor? Dr Anthony Bellata. I have to put his name out there. Dr Bellata is alsoa designated medical examiner, examiner for pilots. So if you can your pilot's license, you need your medical, you go see drB. Dr B got to the hospital before my wife did, wow you know so how many doctors?
Speaker 1:How's that for a house?
Speaker 3:call. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, so that's the great.
Speaker 1:Anyway, that's a short story for me getting to the, how I got there, and then, of course, that's when the journey began.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about the journey.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so um.
Speaker 3:You're floating in the air, you're in the tree. When, when you were in the tree, were you conscious? Did?
Speaker 1:you see, no, at that point I think, I think I probably went out just because I, like I said, remember seeing the dam, remembers that. I remember the turn on the parachute, but then after that I don't remember anything, do you? I don't know if I went out under parachute at that point, but I certainly was out by the time they got me off the ground.
Speaker 3:So were you induced into a coma.
Speaker 1:No, no, fortunately not. Yeah, that didn't happen.
Speaker 3:It's okay. So when you are got to the, when you got to the hospital, you finally regain consciousness of what was. But where are you feeling? Like boys, you know? Obviously, life was turned upside down.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, well, she got there finally. And the interesting part now. Yeah, I got to throw in all that what I call the comical part of the whole thing, that's fun yeah anyway, I got to the hospital.
Speaker 1:My, you know we learn in SCI world to be very, not cynical, very cautious With what some medical people will say. There was a nurse in that first hospital. It was shift change and during shift change she was telling the oncoming nurse Don't worry about him, he's paralyzed. My wife heard that and blue and blue good, she ran to the cheek and grabbed the doctor, says get her out of here. And I don't want her anywhere near him because I was conscious enough to hear that shit. Yeah, sorry, I guess we can do that in this.
Speaker 3:In any event, you get the idea that you know some people just don't get it. Well, one of the things, doctor.
Speaker 1:Bellata was instrumental and stuff and this is important for anybody in the community to know. There apparently Is some kind of an injection. It's a steroid, steroid injection. Now dr B Natalie is a good medical doctor. He's also. He teaches emergency room medicine and he Come, basically Pressured the doctor. You have to give him that injection because it's important and in the old days they didn't do it and so this doctor resisted. Dr Bees had given to him. So I think that has a lot to do with my recovery, because that injection is a good medicine, because that injection you know You're in bad shape but you need to get that swelling down, whatever it is you all of the above, scar tissue and from spinal cord injury right?
Speaker 1:He's done his own work too.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, you have to know, yeah, the LCI community is so like niche, like there's, there's, like everybody knows everybody.
Speaker 1:If you're like these days is getting better.
Speaker 3:On the group, but what year did this happen?
Speaker 1:This is 2014 this happened 2014.
Speaker 3:A doctor said who cares? He's paralyzed.
Speaker 1:Well, that was a nurse.
Speaker 3:You know, I wouldn't say that doctor was okay Nurse, so that yeah, wasn't.
Speaker 1:Who cares. She just said don't worry about him. He's paralyzed. I don't know exactly what she meant by that. Maybe you don't have to work so hard.
Speaker 2:I don't yeah, but even even it doesn't. Even that case is how do I sound if I went up to the nurse that was clocking in for max and why he's paralyzed, neck down He'll be in bed all day.
Speaker 1:Don't worry about him. Right, right, that's kind of how that fell. Oh and, and, by the way, in the thing about being conscious, you laugh. I got to throw these plugs in. I Made a request of my wife. I tried my damnedest, I wanted to stand up and I got in a big fight with my son-in-law. Help me get up, stand. All I wanted to do at that Point is stand up, mm-hmm. And of course they wouldn't let me, which is fair. I understand what spinal cord injury.
Speaker 2:Did you have?
Speaker 1:Well, it's a C3 and 4. They call it a Dima swelling of the spinal cord, and then I already had a Fertiglut. They're basically a little bit of obstruction in that in the air. So basically the interior core of the of the Spine kind of presses up again, constantly presses against the spinal cord. Hmm and so yeah, and this they, you know from a medical stamp, or they reduce it to get you better. But as you go on, it's still there, doesn't go away ever.
Speaker 2:So, since we're talking about your first time in the hospital, and what was your initial thoughts Dealing with this, with this new situation, and what are your thoughts now?
Speaker 1:I'm trying to be polite how I say it, but it was like I F me.
Speaker 3:What do I have to be there was basically fucked me.
Speaker 1:What do I do? You know, and so, but beyond that, well, I guess my I can honestly say my initial thoughts. Well, mainly not so much because I wasn't that coherent in good Sam when I moved on to RIC, where they have a lot of spinal cord Patients, where they have all the equipment that you need, and so in the course of that, it says, I'm gonna make it through this.
Speaker 3:I see rehabilitation Institute, chicago Street or Phil.
Speaker 1:Well, this is. This is what this one was downtown, but I know they have a lot of branches.
Speaker 3:No, I know I stayed at the 7th floor. 7th floor Sorry See how you're talking about there you go.
Speaker 1:So anyway, through the experience at RIC, I says what basic. I'll fight my through this, fight my way through this and I'm not gonna let it get me down. So there it is. There's one other point, I'll get to it.
Speaker 3:So when you were the ICU, how?
Speaker 1:no, I was not. I am with the interesting thing. I don't think I was ever. Well, I probably was an ICI. I don't know if I was. I wasn't present to where I was at the point, but when I got, yeah, so that was a good Sam from good Sam.
Speaker 3:I went on to Well, how long I am now.
Speaker 1:I was only there. Well, I don't think I was there more than a few days because they moved me to RML and Hinstel and RML specialty is removing the ventilators. So I got through that successfully. So you were on a ventilator, yeah at the beginning. Yeah, so go to RML now. They, I Don't know real called creepy perk, was RML. My father was there before he passed away. Wow, that's where my dad was, yeah, so.
Speaker 3:Anyway, they specialize in weeding off the vein. They also specialize in skin care as well. They're very good, so I know exactly what you're talking about there you go they move down to a real medical station in Steve Chicago, and do you remember the therapist that really got you in gear? What gave you the motivation to start saying, you know, instead of like fuck me, fuck this, like you know what, fuck you up and I get through this.
Speaker 1:Well, perhaps in a kind of a fascinating question, given the circumstances is, I got to RIC. They have some very good therapists. I can't remember the names of any of them, but as you know, in the military and particularly for special operations, you only think of mission accomplishment. You think of here's the end game and that's where I'm going. I found that the RIC, there were a lot of therapists. There were kind of like oh well, we'll work with you as much as you can get. I was all in mental attitude. So every time they kind of, especially the speech therapist. I had nothing but trouble with this. He says you know what? You ain't in my game, I don't want to play your game. So RIC didn't impress me, even though they're known for this.
Speaker 3:They have this hospital in the world for spinal cord injury, so they say, because Christopher is always with their thousands. Well, now the one.
Speaker 1:I'll interrupt a little bit. The one that is that is Kennedy Krieger. The International Institute for Spinal Cord Injury is at Kennedy Krieger Hospital in Baltimore. I went there every 90 days for a while and basically what I love to the therapists, doctors and everybody get in there. I'm in for 100% recovery because that's where Patrick Rummerfield was and he was actually for a few years their patient advocate. So Kennedy Krieger was, basically was exactly what I was looking for.
Speaker 3:I want to know the vigor and the strength of what you did. What was your routine? What?
Speaker 1:was your food.
Speaker 3:What did you eat?
Speaker 1:Well, I, was going through the regular routine. I understand I was going through the regular routine of PT, ot and all that. And in answer to your question, I think what really kicked me in my ass was Patrick Rummerfield, when I was laying in bed at RAC. It was my wife, dana at the time, who found Patrick on the internet, the interweb. She found Patrick and he's got a book called Green Bananas and so we basically she basically read the book to me while I was in bed and to hear his story. I mean, the man, he's got the land speed record in an electric car, he's walked the Gobi Desert and he has some kind of a thing they do there. And he, like I said, he ran the Ironman in Hawaii. He didn't win it but he ran it, yeah, and so basically the answer is Patrick is my motivator and that's what got me basically saying this isn't the end.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, right. One person can just kick you and secure that For me. When I was, when I got paralyzed, I saw the same thing Fuck me, what am I going to do? Like? That's what's literally written in my book that I'm writing right now.
Speaker 1:Good on hearing him. I hate this is not rude, I don't think. Is there a chance? There's another one?
Speaker 2:No, problem Brothers sitting over there.
Speaker 1:I'm enjoying this too much. Yeah, you know what it's like. You're in a really, really bad space. Now, in your case, I know that you do have good family around you and, if there's one, your family and your friends.
Speaker 3:Well, it was tough for me because I was in young love too. I had young love. I had a girlfriend at the time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Wow, what a bad time yeah what a bad time.
Speaker 3:I was in love with her and I treated her bad sometimes, but I didn't treat her like terrible, but my life turned upside down like obviously. So it was just really hard on her and she said she wanted to get married to me two weeks before she left me, and she left me over a text message on the phone, and it was on Memorial Day.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you when all that was going on? So you had this girlfriend, potential wife and basically she lost it. It was basically you attributed to the injury and your recovery. She wasn't up for it.
Speaker 3:No, she was man, she was like my rock, she really was.
Speaker 1:At this time.
Speaker 3:She was sleeping on a cot, just so I have someone in the room with me every other day and she would drive from Chicago, from Elgin to Chicago, like she was a real, like she was an awesome person. But I think in retrospect she was thinking oh my god, this is my future. You know what I mean. Like, am I really?
Speaker 1:going to commit.
Speaker 3:Am I really going to commit or am I going to do something else? And, to be honest with you, I don't like the way she left, but I probably would have left too, because I mean, we're not married, we're just getting into our 20s. We dated for eight months and I was in the military, so I didn't even see her that much anyways, but I was in love with her and it was young love. Young love hurts the most.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Especially if you're dying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my heart really goes out to you on that, max, because I'm not going to waste time with the podcast on my drama. My wife was also my rock. She stuck through a lot. She did a lot to help me in recovery, but at the point I call it, when she lost her sense of humor, she basically said this is what's important for people in the community to know. I know there's a number of people in the community through some Facebook action I've seen that have had similar situations where their caretakers basically abandoned them and my wife can't remember who she was talking to said something to the effect of I wonder if, after six years of being a caretaker for an SCI patient, I wonder if something happens to somebody there. And so, fast forward, we're in the middle of a really ugly divorce. So she took care of me and I appreciate the time she spent taking care of me, but I guess she thinks it.
Speaker 3:I mean, curve is set up and it's all the time for people who are disabled, because it's either when you're young and when you're young they want to live their lives. Exactly, they want to go out.
Speaker 1:They want to do their thing.
Speaker 3:This is for young people Now, for people who have been married for 15 years. I wouldn't expect that person to leave. I really wouldn't, if you had a happy marriage.
Speaker 1:I thought we did.
Speaker 3:But for young people. I want to say a story about this guy, Mike Droeder. He's a real inspiration, Mike Droeder.
Speaker 1:Brzez Brzez.
Speaker 3:This guy, mike Droeder. He went to Hawaii and he asked his girlfriend to marry him Basically. After that happened, he dove into the ocean and broke his neck Fast forward. Two days later, when he wakes up in the hospital, he asks are you still going to marry me? And she says of course I'm going to still marry you.
Speaker 2:And then you laughed because you thought she was going to say no, yeah.
Speaker 3:They were in love, right, and she was his rock. She was always there. This and that Turns out she was cheating on him with his best friend for 18 months.
Speaker 1:Us poor GIs go through these stories all the time. Dear John, letters and everything. Anyway, I'm sure you're in this camp. I will never figure out women. It's impossible. I believe they have a book that their mothers give them and it's got all the stuff in there on how to be good and how to be shitty, and so the man that gets a hold of copy of that book will be the richest man in the world.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm saying, I believe it.
Speaker 2:Save yourself a whole lot of stress when you just don't try to understand.
Speaker 3:Well, let's get back to your recovery, man, because that's the real inspiration here. You know what I mean. You were paralyzed from the neck down and now you're moving your hands, walking, drinking a beer right in front of me. I'm kind of jealous.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just going to drink just the rest of my tea. Well, that's your new PT. That's more like OT, it's occupational therapy right there, right, no.
Speaker 3:So when you are, I remember, I remember in 2019, you said get on the bike every single day, get on the future electric simulation bike every single day.
Speaker 1:As often as you can.
Speaker 3:As often as you can, Because you said that's what Patrick Robert Field did right.
Speaker 1:Well, I have to give credit to Pat. Pat fundamentally invented the stim bike. He hasn't gotten any credit for it, any money for it, but the way it was is that in his recovery.
Speaker 1:for those of the old timers out there, you might remember the old extra exercise bicycle and it kind of looked clunky so and it actually had a motor on it and his dad slapped Patrick on that thing and forgot him. So he was on it for like about three hours. But now that particular machine did not have the stimulator pads, it just turned on all excited. But basically, you know, the motto at Kennedy Krieger was hope in motion. So that constant motion, three hours of it, whatever, is a lot of what got him coming back.
Speaker 1:And of course, the guy's rock and in the book he talks about when he first started running, how many times he fell on his face, blah, blah, blah. So yeah, anyway, I'll let you pick it up from there.
Speaker 3:I'll definitely give it a read. Do you search Green Bananas? Is that the name of the book Green Bananas.
Speaker 1:Now you should be able to order it on his webpage, but he said he kind of ran out of copies. But one way or another I'll get a copy. And this is Patrick.
Speaker 2:Patrick Rummer.
Speaker 1:No, he's in St Louis Anyway.
Speaker 2:If you could motivate him to sit up his table. We could fly him out.
Speaker 1:We'll fly him out. Well, he will get him up. Anyway, patrick basically was like I said, he's in St Louis and you know he's also a big thing on advocacy for us, so there's no problem. It's just a logistics issue. Military people know the logistics. We can make that happen, even if we have to remote him in. But he'll do it If I'm hoping he calls while we're here. But if he doesn't, I'll kick him in the ass and make it happen or I'll go down and drag his ass back here.
Speaker 3:Do you so this happened in 2014. When did you? When can you confidently say, you walked again?
Speaker 1:Well, I was in RIC for no more than eight weeks. I got frustrated. I don't want to be here. The guy that was there with me, also with spinal cord injury from just before he got married. He got on one of those riding bulls, fell off there, went his neck and he he died a little later. So it didn't happen to me. So, anyway, what was my point?
Speaker 3:You probably didn't like RIC, so you wanted to. I did, matt, I did.
Speaker 1:And while I was there it was like that's what motivated me to, you know, basically separate from all the negativity I can't these days particularly negative, you know, if anybody remembers the old movie Kelly's Heroes, I'm going to have to write that one down for others.
Speaker 2:I got an old list coming from you.
Speaker 1:Well, you're going to like this Kelly's Heroes. Donald Sutherland plays the role of a tank commander. He basically long blonde hair, looks like a hippie, and his whole thing throughout the movie. What's with all the negativity man? What's with that negativity man? No, and throughout the movie. So, anyway, that's Kelly's Heroes, and so.
Speaker 2:That's kind of the same energy I bring to Max, but not in the hippie version.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it doesn't matter, we're all familiar. Long blonde hair, right yeah, we're all familiar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but Max brings the negativity every morning, as soon as he wakes up, he likes shit and no people for entertainment.
Speaker 1:Why so negative man? You gotta watch the movie, You'll see. And the nickname for Donald in the movie is Oddball.
Speaker 2:Oddball yeah.
Speaker 1:Nice. So what's? Hunger games. You know the guy who was the leader in Hunger Games. It's Donald Southern.
Speaker 3:It's an old Donald Southern. I knew I'd remember.
Speaker 1:Say this 70-year-old vain is not matter.
Speaker 2:We keep working with it. Man, 70 years, so how long were you paralyzed?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so. You went to Baltimore. I'm guessing you did your therapy at home, and when can you confidently say, from 2014, that you were able to walk again?
Speaker 1:Well, from 2014,. I was walking easily in the early 15. I was at One year. Well, no, no, I was at RIC for about six or eight weeks. I said get me out of here. They didn't want to let me go. I said, no, I've had enough. So there was a gentleman at RIC, a doctor, who did research, and he hooked me up with a research study which I recommend to everybody. If you got a CI, anybody in the neighborhood doing research studies on the subject, do it, even if it's hard. He put me on this hanging harness treadmill affair where you have two physical therapists working your legs. I did that a dozen times. I picked up a bunch of orange juice once Therapist job, but anyway, after that that's what my wife credits to getting me to walk. So I was walking out of RIC. Probably within, certainly within three months. I was walking Three months.
Speaker 3:You were walking out of RIC. You were out of ventilator three months ago, paralyzed right back down hanging in a tree.
Speaker 2:Or you nailed it and you didn't have an excuse.
Speaker 1:Well, that's true.
Speaker 2:You hear that people.
Speaker 3:You didn't have an excuse, neither should you.
Speaker 1:I like that. I'm going to remember that one. Oh, who's the blonde Teasing me here?
Speaker 3:We got a slideshow going for everybody who's listening in their cars.
Speaker 2:I knew I shouldn't have put this TV on for the slideshow because I thought it would be distracting, but Max just got a 85 inch TV. Fellas, I had to turn it on for the decor. I'm thoroughly impressed.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, curtis, talk to me about Jamaica. So you win this suit right, you settle in it. You want to make this for us in Jamaica. You like Jamaica a lot. That's what you told me, in 2019. You're like, I'm going to bring you to Jamaica.
Speaker 1:We can go Now. I know why you keep coming back to that. It's no problem. Now you're giving me a challenge. The last thing you want to do is challenge a special operator, but we'll do it. That's why I told my wife, if she wants to divorce me, you're trying to divorce a special operations warrior. Do you really think that's a good idea? I do.
Speaker 2:So anyway.
Speaker 1:I'll answer your question. Yes, it's going to happen. I don't know how it will turn out with the resort, but when we built the resort it's 100% ADA compliant.
Speaker 3:Well ramps.
Speaker 1:Nice easy ride, Like if you've got a power chair but even a regular wheelchair. Nice easy ride into every room. Now, of course, there's a different story, but no pun intended. Well done, Thank you.
Speaker 2:I said I'll never forget your name, my son's name Eric, hopefully with a C, not with a K, eric, no, it's with a C.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, we do that Curtis all the time, a lot of time people want to make a K. Anyway, forget that. Anyway, we're going to go into the restaurant and we even have a ramp into the beach.
Speaker 2:Where's this resort?
Speaker 1:It's in the grill to make a well, we have to do the plug now.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, like a year ago Donna brought this resort up. You're totally bringing back memories, bingo.
Speaker 1:So anyway, it's called here. So here's time. We still have your coins, it's.
Speaker 2:Bingo.
Speaker 1:They're each worth a beer. They're worth a drink. We'll return the favor. It's called Blue Skies Beach Resort. It's in the grill, to make a right smack, in the middle of Seven Mile Beach, which is famous. It's within walking distance, chair distance, whatever of reggae every night. So if you want some live reggae every night, you can get there. So, regardless of how it turns out, I just sent a response to my lawyers last night with regard to basically, I was offered a settlement proposal which is unacceptable, but, depending on how it plays out, I told them I want to maintain an interest in the resort, one way or another.
Speaker 1:If she wants to get out of it, I'll go back and run it and one of the things you know to throw it out there to follow up on some of the school thought, the max is going. Since my injury, I've done three tandem skydives, which people would think why are you fucking crazy? You got paralyzed in a parachute. Are you an idiot? Well, maybe I am, but anyway, one of those was with my son, who was a tandem instructor at the time, so that was fine. I've done three and I've flown right seat in an airplane two times besides, I do drive so and I've done about a dozen scuba dives at this point, wow.
Speaker 3:You're like walking inspiration. You're like. You're like right under Patrick Romer, feel boxed. Well, I know we're that's the SCI challenge of the day.
Speaker 1:Alright, Patrick, you're number one, screw you 60 years old, just recovered from paralysis.
Speaker 2:Fuck it. I'm going to go skydiving a few times. I'm going to get in a plane. I'm going to go scuba diving.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, I have to jump forward a little bit. I'm coming back. We call it in the skydiving world, we call it a recurrency jump when you've been off for a while. I've been off for almost eight years and I'm. Last year I thought I was ready for my recurrency jump, but I'm not quite there. My plan is to do two or three jumps in the vertical wind tunnel. There's one right in Naperville, another one in Chicago, and so I do that for practice, just to see.
Speaker 1:I don't want to bog down the deal, but in skydiving you have to be able to maneuver your body enough to turn left, roll over and whatever. I had to truly think I'm there and certainly, by excuse me, I would be shooting for this July 7th, because July 7th is my anniversary of my injury. Except the only thing that will slow that down is I need about 10,000 dollars in gear. If I could get a sponsor, it would be great, but anyway, because I need to a new, I need a different, while the reason for my injury is stupidity. In a way, in skydiving we like to downsize the size of our canopy.
Speaker 1:I was jumping about a hundred and twenty yeah, a hundred and forty square foot canopy. But I wanted a downside because they're like a little more like a sports car. So I dined, I found a good bargain on a downsize canopy which actually already had a reputation for bad openings. So anyway, if I get the right, if I get the right yes, sir, if I get the right gear and my rigger, who's a dear friend we've talked about what can we do on the canopy for the toggle, such that I can reach them and work them, and so if I get a new gear, I'm coming back, no doubt.
Speaker 1:Well, you, know the workers are skydiving, just to make it clear it is an addiction. Adrenaline is a drug and don't question it.
Speaker 3:I was literally just about to ask you all this, like why do you want to jump out of an airplane so freaking bad?
Speaker 2:Well, you know I would think, if I'm traumatized, if I get paralyzed from skydiving, for example, I would think that I would want to overcome that trauma by doing it again.
Speaker 1:That's a little bit of that. So well, you know, I just said, yeah, it's an eagle thing, I got to prove it. But anyway, the first time I grew up in aviation, my father was a pilot. I'm a pilot. I tell people most of my passengers leave in flight, but that's a different story. But anyway, in survival school when I went to go, I worked on AWACS for five years.
Speaker 1:So they send you to survival school and they send you down to Florida and they put you on a looks like a little barge, it's a boat with a fence here and they have parachutes. The objective is that it's basically parasailing, if you're familiar with that. So basically they put you in that thing. They got two really fast speedboats and one. Next thing, you know, you're up to 300 feet and the objective is, while you're coming down under standard military parachute, you go through all the parachute checks as you're coming down. Fortunately you're coming down in the water, so it's not an issue. So anyway, being a pilot, most pilots say why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane and under a piece of fabric? Well, that taught me. I couldn't believe how solid I felt in that harness. So I say, well, maybe I could do this shit, and then fast forward to when I got into reserves, and so you want to do this. This is yes, sir.
Speaker 3:So that inspired you to start parachuting, going on the barge, basically parasailing.
Speaker 1:Well, I realized that the parachute wasn't any different than any air. It's like an airplane, it's a mechanical device that has its own stability. So, in any event, that's what, oh, my father got. Bless his real soul, he's probably think I was crazy, but that's all right. In any event, yeah, that taught me that these parachute things aren't what everybody thinks there are. So that's what got me here. I mean that's all, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:That is amazing. Like to hear that you walked in one year right, and you walked in one year being paralyzed from that, which is just outstanding. Now, that's off to you.
Speaker 1:Now, just well, and my dear friend Max, do not forget, it took well. Patrick was running, was walking and running pretty relatively soon, but it took him 17 years to get to the Ironman and so his recovery was long and arduous, but it took a lot of work. So that's why we will get to the point where he's a part of all this. He can answer all your questions on how he came along.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that would be amazing. I do have a question for you. So you probably take pride in your resort, jamaica, right, it's a fully ADA compatible, which is like just amazing for a lot of people, especially people in wheelchairs, because there's no place to really go on a vacation. It's hard for us, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, one way or another, one way or another in spite of my current what we call lawfare, in spite of my current battle, one way or another, even if it's just a time to get away. Airlines and everything are very accommodating when you try to travel. You know it's rough to travel, but you of course you probably have to have some folks come with you. Okay, the resort was because of. This is intended because we understand there's just huge. That's why, even though my wife sort of claims that the place isn't doing well, although I'll screw that I believe that there's a huge market in the handicap community and so if we'll get you down there one way or another, even because even if you just chill out on the beach for a while, we'll figure out a way Because you can I mean, he can still do a standard wheelchair, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, like a regular wheelchair, I can do it. Yeah, I can do a regular wheelchair. Yeah, if somebody's pushing you around, it's fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's all we need, and now I'm going to tease you a little bit. It's not just the resort. Now, this is a little bit of marketing, but what the hell we have. This was my idea, tell the people we have a 13 passenger Mercedes, sprinter, limo van that will come pick you up at the airport and, by the way, full bar and yes, there's a strip of Max.
Speaker 2:You get in the van in his wheelchair.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, he can get in the van, but they would stow the wheelchair and get him to the resort. Blue skies why is it named that in the skydiving community, which, by the way, it goes back to support in SCI Blue skies in the skydiving? My skydiving community has just flooded out in support ever since. Well, of course it could happen.
Speaker 2:You guys, your friends, parachuting down into the resort.
Speaker 1:Well, at the point yeah, that hold, that thought it's going to happen. So, anyway, the skydiving community because it could happen to any one of them has been so supportive of me, kept me alive in some respects. So the bottom line is blue skies when you're a skydiver. If you're signing off a text, signing off an email or even going away, you say blue skies, because what does the skydiver want? Blue skies so we can jump Clear skies.
Speaker 1:So that's blue skies beach resort. So there's the marketing pitch on blue skies. So we'll get there. And that's why, you know, in spite of the drama and spite of the divorce, I still maintain a vested interest in keeping that resort alive and going well. Patrick Rummerfield has always been my spinal cord injury mentor and, Patrick for those of you out there, rummerfieldcom is the way to get to his website.
Speaker 2:Nice. What's his website primarily about?
Speaker 1:Him Egotistical bastard yeah.
Speaker 2:And it sounds like this podcast will be a perfect platform for him, at least to start off.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and there's no doubt now. He's done all kinds of news interviews and stuff. He's actually went out as a motivational speaker for a while.
Speaker 3:But just hearing your story, man, like it's fascinating, you know, and it's like I want to say it's an inspiration, it is very inspiring. It inspires me to do better and to you know like, make goals Well.
Speaker 1:I gotta say I mean, you know, I hope In the course of developing the resort, I kind of came to a philosophy that says when in life you have a goal, you have something you want to do. With regard to goal, you have to be very concise and precise about what it looks like, figure that out and then, each and every day, measure just how much closer you got, even if it's only an inch. And so it's kind of in that from. The motivation thing is, if your goal is to walk every day, I mean I am so inspired it came in here how long ago Over a year 2019. I first met Max and I'm sitting there going. I remember he was just absolutely late, flat on his back on his bed, the best. I think. He had a little bit of upper strength in the core, but Hans didn't work and everything. And I'm looking at you today saying you know what this guy's going to get there? He just got, he just got. Keep fighting. It's not easy.
Speaker 3:I mean it is and I appreciate the support and I appreciate the compliment. I was lost in 2019. Man and I met this guy almost three years ago and we've just been trucking along podcasts and trucking along.
Speaker 1:Can't believe how proud I am. The whole podcast thing is a stellar idea, given what do you do when you really don't have physical capabilities?
Speaker 3:Well, you have a voice.
Speaker 1:Stuff a camera in your face. Go for it.
Speaker 3:Right, and that's the whole point of life for Max. Life for Max is to inspire and motivate people and to let them know.
Speaker 1:So let me ask a question what is the? What's the response? I mean how many folks are out there? I mean you're able to measure how many people are. I would imagine you have to be able to measure how many people are viewing it.
Speaker 2:Different platforms. So we got like around 7,000 downloads just from audio and our YouTube almost a thousand subscribers. Yeah and like yeah, we just started, and like every day we're getting better and better, like we're adding more additions. Our production is looking super professional.
Speaker 2:I'm impressed we're getting more guests and like I feel, like you know, just like your resort has some sentimental value to you, like, regardless of what our numbers are Like, we love doing this. We love sitting with new people and hearing new stories and getting inspired and motivated and letting those people inspire and motivate others. Like you, can't put a price tag on that?
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. Well, that's why I'm thoroughly impressed. Is that? Gotta keep up the good work? But there was a point I wanted to make on that issue was the. It'll come to me, but bottom line is that I feel like it's.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, here's the point. There is a Facebook page out there that I've been on for a long time. I was. I've always been intrigued. You know all these medical studies that are out there and everything. Nobody has ever and this is a relatively easy study, it's only statistics and get resources of all the Statistically.
Speaker 1:There is a webpage out there that's spinal cord injury statistics and it tells you basically what the numbers are. There's about 30,000 spinal cord injuries a year. So I'm saying, well, out the 30,000, how many walk in? How many basically get carried into the hospital and then walk out? Nobody can answer that question. So I am close. The statistic I was able to find is a website. I forgot what the name of it. Bottom line it tells you it's about 30,000 a year. There's a Facebook page called spinal cord injury walkers, which is basically a haul of us who have gotten to the point where we can walk on our own. The lady that runs that's up in Michigan. She's the sweet heart. But the bottom line is the spinal cord injuries walker webpage has about 6,000 subscribers, so it tells you about 6,000 out of 30,000 is the percentage of people that actually wind up walking.
Speaker 2:That's our guest list for the podcast Max, I'm going to go on that website. All right, let's try. Rodney, over here, you are right on.
Speaker 1:That's kind of what I'm saying is that it amazes me that the medical community doesn't even care about that number.
Speaker 2:I feel like it comes out of money. But also, when it comes down to therapy, they do everything physically, make sure you're physically healthy, but they don't do anything to make sure you're mentally healthy. And they'll tell you what you have to do to stay healthy, but they don't tell you what you could do to have fun. They don't teach quadriplegics how to paint with their mouth or do things.
Speaker 1:I'll back up and make a plug for Kennedy Krieger. The International Institute for Spinal Cord Insurias branched out in a number of areas. They take SCI patients sailing and scuba diving, and so they've got these programs that say you know, get the hell out of that house and go do something.
Speaker 2:That's what they need.
Speaker 1:These photos I'm seeing of Max doing all these things, going to their games and stuff, just blows me away, because that's what you got to do. Whatever it takes to, like you say, life to the max. I'm 100% enrolled.
Speaker 2:This reminds me of a fun fact when someone's mourning the death of someone, they actually say that it's healthy to be the one Like, let's say, you lose your significant other. The healthiest thing you could do is actually be the one that's coordinating and planning the funeral Too true.
Speaker 2:Because you stay busy, you keep your mind off the sadness and those intrusive thoughts and you get everything in order to stay busy and it really helps with the grieving process. And another thing I wanted to bring up I want to shout out Trey Max. When we went to a Dave Chappelle concert, a Dave Chappelle show, and I've seen another quadriplegic at the front entrance and I've always wanted to get another quad on the show for Max.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I love it.
Speaker 2:And I introduced myself, said what's up? His name's Trey, and he's in the same exact position, paralyzed, neck down, breathing through a machine. And I visited him out in Aurora and I asked him I'm like bro, like what's your dream, what do you want to do? And he stopped, thought about it and he's like shit, I don't know, be on a podcast, I guess.
Speaker 3:Well, I like him.
Speaker 1:Well, I want Trey's information. You can contact him. Let him know I'll get in touch with him. I want to talk to him. I'm not far from Aurora.
Speaker 2:Nice, definitely.
Speaker 1:Well, the thing is with regard to that is you know, what does he want to do? Fine, it's hard, it's hard to figure out, but the idea is that, oh, along the way in my recovery, one of the things I got to do I think we drove I want to say it was up in Michigan to a concert. You know, and I know, looking at your age, but anyway, folks out there will know, one of my favorites is a guy named Jethro Tall, jethro T-U-L-L. He is a rocker and he's the only floutest rocker. He plays flute.
Speaker 2:No way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and kills it. Well, we went up there and I had my power chair. I was in the front row. I damn near hurt myself because I was head banging and kicking my head. He was so close to me I could see the hair in his nostrils. So, anyway, that's the kind of thing is. You know, get out there and do it, even if it's just going to shows.
Speaker 2:Stay busy, and this is advice for everyone, it's not even just for people in wheelchairs and anything. I mean specifically for people that are going through things. But you know, even people that are totally healthy got both arms and both legs. We still get mentally weak sometimes. We still are our own worst enemy.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a story that's, uh, maxwell appreciate, in the sense that at one point I was in my power chair. We were at a mall, a shopping mall in Bowlingbrook called the Promenade, and I'm cut some of this cold out. I'm all blunt little up and I'm driving along and this couple was in front of us and the guy kind of turned to me hey, I'm walking here. I thought my wife was going to kill him because that's what we experienced.
Speaker 3:Here we are, full circle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so sounds like you're a bounty hunter for a wife.
Speaker 1:Pilios notwithstanding, I damn near came out of the chair.
Speaker 3:So I say all the time let me get out of this fucking chair, I'll be sure yeah.
Speaker 1:Our next MMA champion here, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, curtis, you told us your story. You know it's like beyond amazing. You know that gives me a lot of motivation, really does. Well, next, next for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what next for me is, you know, get through this whole silly divorce drama, see how that plays out, to what I end up with that's. But certainly next I I guess I'd like to shoot for July 7th, but I may shoot for my birthday, which is September 28th. I might be able to get some put together, some borrowed gear to do my recurrency jump and come back Nice.
Speaker 3:Well, all of this, how about me and Eric set up a GoFundMe for you and we say it's from life to max and we'll give you your entire story and we'll try to shoot for July 7th, your anniversary.
Speaker 1:So you can definitely fly this. I'll talk to my rigor and of course you'll have to come out and see it. It will be at Skydive Chicago and outside in Ottawa, and so I sort of don't. We've had kind of a falling out with the ownership there, but that doesn't matter. I'll suck up my pride and say and the good news is, I'm going to do like I said, I'm going to do some tunnel jumps and I'm going to do some two or three tandems.
Speaker 1:And there's a gentleman who wants to be part of when I opened my drop zone in Jamaica. His name is Chad, very religious, young man, sweet kid, tandem instructor. And so you know what, dad Chad, I'm coming out with you some tandems, I'm going to do some coach jumps and I'm going to come back, and so when that time comes, we will make that up. But anyway, yeah, I could use the help, because it's just to put a number on it, it's about right around 10 to $15,000 worth of gear, and then, of course, you have to. The problem is there's a lead time to get it in. So, yeah, I just basically it's to prove to the world that you can get over this thing and get back to your normal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know how many people will say being a skydiver is a normal life, but I want to get back to my normal life. Well, you asked earlier so why would you do that? You know why do you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Our response is there aren't any. Yeah, I've been in aviation all my life. I haven't found that perfectly good airplane yet. So, given that, if get all equipped to go do it, then they would be just awesome, because, yeah, I want people to know you can get your life back. It takes a lot of hard work, so does Patrick know that? So definitely we'll get Patrick with you, kirk. Oh, one other thing, one other plug Kirk Smith is my parachute rigger.
Speaker 1:He's also a certified parachute trainer rigger trainer blah blah blah. He's been in the business forever. He has a good history too. But Kirk and I in 2005 dropped a Jeep commander Commander from the sky. Wow, under three canopies. I'll make sure I send you the video, but anyway, the Jeep commander assist a new vehicle at the time.
Speaker 1:But they were involved. You may be familiar with. There's an organization called Operation Gratitude sends goodie baskets to troops in the field and they were doing this as a promotion and said, well, they wanted us to do it in Chicago. That wasn't going to happen. We're not put it out of C-130. It can't happen.
Speaker 1:So we figured out that use two heavy lift helicopters, one of them for the load with the Jeep I had to go out. This is right at the front end of a shooting war. I had to find the parachutes, find the platform and all the rigging and everything. So we did. We had 44 days to get it done. So we did three practice drops at Skydive Chicago and then we did two. We did one practice jump in near Detroit it was a Chelsea Provey grounds for Chrysler and so the idea to helicopters. We had seven skydivers in the one helicopter and the Jeep throw. That Basically suspended the Jeep from the parachutes, released it. Skydivers jumped out and they had banner flags. They were flying, circled the load. When it landed they had to cut the Jeep loose and the key was it's a seven passenger jump, so seven skydivers. Fortunately we had one woman and one really small guy to fit in the thing and they drive it up to the reviewing stand. So anyway, I'll make sure you have that video, that's my claim to fame, that's my parachuting claim to fame.
Speaker 1:That's why. Well, you know the company that hired us used the term I had never heard it word guerrilla marketing when you create an event that is so significant that all the news has to cover it. Well, in this case wasn't a lot of coverage, but ESPN made us. They used to have ESP in top 10 of the day. We were number three, nice, so that's awesome man.
Speaker 3:Well, it's been amazing having you on the podcast and you're definitely welcome back. You know your story is inspiring, your story is motivating.
Speaker 1:Frankly, my friend, so is yours. I mean, the transformation I've seen just since I saw you last is phenomenal. And you are getting there and I can't say it's going to be easy, but you're going to. I said in the beginning, 98% mental, the rest, the physical, you get over. And if you got the mental thing you do, and I believe you have that.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Curtis. I appreciate that. Well, everybody, this has been an honor episode. Life to the max. Please like and subscribe, and please comment so we can hear what you have to say. We have a YouTube channel. Life to the max podcast.
Speaker 1:That's it. You got me crying.
Speaker 3:And this has been Curtis's episode. Curtis, can you please look into that camera and tell yourself you are living?
Speaker 2:life. Say your name and say you're living life to the max and maybe, if you want optional, leave a message for the people before we conclude this episode.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll do that, but I don't mind my. I tell people my life is truly an open book. So here's the deal. My name is Curtis Grant, come me sec, come me sec. Anyway, my point is my email is Curtis, come me sec. C U R T I S K M I E C E K at a O L dot com. My cell phone, which grabs text and all that is 81571389, or got to talk like a pilot.
Speaker 1:Eight, nine or four. One double check that eight, nine or four. So any of you out there, if you're suffering from this, I will talk to you any time of the day, night, with specific given what we have with so many vets finishing themselves off every day. I talked to Patrick Rummerfield If he had ever considered suicide. Well, he admitted yes, frequently. I of course kind of gone, I've danced with it, but fortunately I have kids and grandchildren. I won't do that too. Bottom line is if you're that far down, call me or email me or text me, because I will be for that four in the morning if it takes, because I just I understand where we get and if we get, if you get there, come on down and talk to me.
Speaker 3:Nice, you're about to get flooded.
Speaker 2:That's all over the world needs more people like you.
Speaker 1:Well, you know see, we're all in the same game, so we just got to take care of each other. That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 3:That's very sweet.
Speaker 1:Life to the max. That's what I love the name Okay.