Wheelin' With Dylan: Rolling Forward After Rehab With David

Leah Holderbaum: Okay. Welcome to the Ally program and today we're wheeling with Dylan, but we have my good friend, David Corridor. So we're wheeling with David today. How you doing? Thanks, thanks for joining. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of p guests that we have on here, sometimes I just meet these people. I've only talked to them, you know, once or twice or maybe a little bit more than that. but David is a rare appearance here because this is my my good friend. We we hang out all the time, we play tennis together and stuff like that. So I'm super excited to have him on today. how how are you doing? Good man. How are you? Good. Good. Can't complain. Happy to have you here today. I'd I can't wait to introduce you to our ally people out there so everybody watching and listening. I think they're gonna appreciate a lot of stuff that you're doing now, but also just kind of your background and your story, kind of how you got in the position today. you you do a lot of cool things for the community even now. So I'm super excited to to let you kind of share it to the world and everything. Awesome, yeah. so to start off, if you don't mind introducing yourself a little bit and also telling us how you got injured. Okay. my name's David Corridor. I'm a T four incomplete spinal cord injury. I'm not like the typical spinal cord injury because I didn't have a traumatic injury, if you would say. I mean what happened to me was traumatic, but traumatic in other ways. Yeah, traumatic mentally and no physically. Or but I guess it wasn't like a traumatic event. But for me, I was out in the Keys lobstering in twenty twenty one. and after the second day of lobstering, I got up out of the boat feeling fine, you know, and then I showered and whatnot, got ready to go to dinner and when I laid down on the couch, I felt my chest just like rip open. It felt like I like I was like, Am I having a heart attack? But I had my Apple Watch at that time and I was looking at it and I was like, my heart rate's fine and then I was like, This is really weird. but I just try to like I thought I was just like a cramp or something. And then basically the captain saw me and saw I was turning pale. I guess something was wrong. And then he's like, Yeah, we should go to the ER. And so I ended up getting going to the ER. It like stormy. I was about to r ride my moped, but I was like starting to see blurry. So then I had the captain sun drive. You first took me to a walk in clinic and when I told him my chest hurt, they're like, You gotta go to the ER. So once I got at the ER, I told all my prior complications and at first they thought I was just drunk. you know, I'm dude in his mid twenties showing up to the ER saying chest pains and all that and give him give me morphine. And they thought I was just drunk and then they were gonna release me, but I was I told him, Hey, check my aorta. 'Cause I had prior knowledge of that I had an aneurysm. and that was the only thing I could think about. So they checked my aorta and then they found out that I had a ruptured aorta and you know, they gave me pain meds and all that, and then they told me that I was gonna be flown out from Key West to Jackson Memorial in Miami for open heart surgery. you know, went, flew over there. I remember taking a photo on my on my phone before I got into the chopper because I'd never been on a chopper so I was like, yo, this is pretty cool and I snapped it. and then I remember getting to the hospital. It was literally right during COVID. So it was the second the Delta variant, sh the strain and the hospital was about to shut down. So I gotta see my mom 'cause she worked in the medical field and she was able to somehow work her way back there. Saw her before my surgery, you know, she was the one that made all the calls for me 'cause I was like so like drugged up and I couldn't really talk for myself. So whatever they choose a metal metallic heart valve. so I have surgery the next day. it was suc it was successful. So as they said, they called my mom, hey, you know, everything went well. It was a crazy surgery. They actually had a like stopped my heart because they had a fixed aorta. So they put like tubes into me and filtered out my blood and like chilled me down to cool my body. you know, put the aortic heart valve in and then they slowly put the blood back in and they did everything, put increased my blood pressure just to make sure there was no strokes. But something happened. I ended up having a stroke in my spinal cord. I'm around my chest, which was where the operation was at. and I guess the spinal cord vessels are so tiny so it's high risk of stroke, but they didn't tell us that going in. and then s I guess what they told me is that I told that I couldn't feel my legs when they were like, you know, after surgery they usually touch your feet, your toes and whatnot. And I said, Hey, I can't feel that and then I started saying that my elbow my tricep was going numb. And so they ran a bunch of tests and then they're like, What's going on? Is it COVID? They found that I did have COVID. So they had to intubate me. And then they're still running tests. and then they can't put me in a MRI because I have a metallic heart valve. So since it's magnetic, it would rip the heart valve out. So they had to find something compatible and it took like three days. So finally they found a compatible machine and then That's when they found that I had a spinal stroke and that was a reason for my paralysis. so it was pretty scary 'cause I was in ICU by myself during COVID. it was full lockdown, like couldn't see our nurses, like completely like covered, everything. would only come in when needed. And yeah, that's how I found out. I I ended up getting a little bit of movement at first and they were like super surprised and shocked and they thought, man, I was gonna make good recovery and so I was like pretty hopeful going in. I had my family there. I ended up spending like thirty one days intubated 'cause my lungs were wow, that's a long time. Yeah, my lungs my lungs weren't breathing, my diaphragm wasn't working, but that could also have been due to the spinal cord injury 'cause T four you don't really have the diaphragm strength and yeah, then after thirty one days I finally got my way out and was able to start inpatient rehab. Did it there at Lynn Rehab Hospital. That was really cool. tough times. but I had my brother and my family with me the entire time and my brother was there like he was there with me every day and was around me. So they let luckily let one person come with me to r rehab. So I gotta pick my brother or my mom. But my brother was usually the first option. And then my mom, if my brother wasn't there. and yeah, they basically did everything for me. all the paperwork, setting me up, getting me ready to go back home, you know, and it was crazy. It was like a shock. Once you get out of the hospital system, it's like you're on your own, you don't have people around you that also have your disability. So, you know, it was crazy learning how to do your bowel program and your cathing. So for the longest time my brother actually cathed me at night because I was so sedated at night with all these pain meds and nerve blockers that I wouldn't catch and sometimes I'd pull like eight hundred milliliters out 'cause I wouldn't be cathing. So so he helped me out a lot with all that stuff. and I ended up actually getting my first UTI in inpatient rehab and my mom could sense it. before it was even UTI she'd noticed that I was tired and was feeling cold. I didn't even know that. So then I c I caught a fever and then she was like, Hey, test them, do blood work 'cause she works in the lab. And when they ran it, they found out I did have a UTI and I was already super sick. And so she was mad with the doctors because they didn't believe her. And but yeah, I got treated for UTI and then that's when I realized like the importance of like cathing and being clean and all that stuff. And I'm sure that I was being clean because I was getting in health being cathed, but putting a foreign object into you still there's still risk of it. So you know, got treated for the UTI and then from there on I started using close system catheters because I did not want any more UTIs. Yeah. That that's that seems to help. Yeah. So Thanks for first of all, thank you for sharing that story. I mean I like I know I've talked to you about it before, but kinda hearing you go through it is crazy 'cause I mean, it's funny. You talk to everybody has a different story of how they got hurt. Like you said sometimes they're traumatic, sometimes they wake up out of a surgery, like even like a normal surgery, like where you didn't really think there was that much risk. In your case there w there was it was a way bigger deal. Yeah. but ever it's always good to hear like not good to hear, but it's interesting to hear Everyone's perspective. especially for me in my case, I've talked to you, like I don't remember like half my stuff. Like I kind of I got in a car accident, I kinda got knocked down, got sedated, all that stuff. But you like can like remember like when you start started not feeling good, when they literally you said you're taking a snap or a video on on the helicopter, was it? So that's that's pretty crazy. And then you get to Lynn Rehab, which is funny 'cause I've I've been there recently actually. I was just for the first time able to check out their facility a little bit. Great rehab there. then they have the like the Miami project. Yep. were you did you do anything with that? Were you kinda involved? They kinda told me about it and about how they have that program down there with the gym and all that. Yeah, yeah. But I wasn't I was questioning if I was gonna do rehab there, so yeah. I really didn't get involved, but they told me about the resources. They have a lot of resources in Miami. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean that's cool. I mean and like you said, one of the your first experiences as having a spinal cord injury is UTI. And how typical is that? Yeah. I mean it's actually very common and I've seen now it's very common for you to get a UTI in the hospital or in the inpatient rehab. It's either number one because you have a foliin, because those can cause UTIs, or you know, you're straight Catherine, like you said. it's a foreign object, your body's not used to it. also you just said you like one of your outputs was like eight hundred You we can't really that's like you know you're gonna get UTI if you have like that much in your bladder and it's just ha it just happens, you know, your your body's adjusting and they're probably putting an IV through you and and all that stuff. but you learned quickly the how much UTI suck, huh? Dude, yeah, they're terrible. And it's something that we gotta deal with, but like you said, you c you know, you have to learn what's best for you to reduce those UTIs immediately. You saw that at Closed System Catheter. was good and stuff like that. and and it's crazy the process of it. Like you said, you're sedated. For me, like sometimes I'll be so tired for physical therapy and stuff. It like it took a lot of my energy that even though I technically knew how to cast and stuff like that, I'd be like, I'd let a nurse do it or something like that. You're so tired. Yeah, you're so tired. Yeah. But you know, but now it's pr it's something that you don't even think about. But it's a lot to take in at first. You know, it's like, okay, you're Normally the number one thing in your mind is kinda like, All right, how can I walk again? Like this is crazy. Like I'm in a wheelchair. And then the next thing is like, wait, hold on, I got I gotta do what? Like I gotta cast, you know? Yeah. Do you remember some of like like your thinking process and stuff like that around that time? Dude, I remember that when I was in in the hospital in the ICU, I f was I'm alright, I couldn't feel much. I was really like I guess when you're freshly paralyzed you don't your nerves are not as good, so I was like feeling down there. fill my dude and then I feel a tube in there. And I'm like, whoa, what is that? And I was like and I couldn't really look down. And I told the nurse, like, you gotta fully, it's like clearing out your bladder. So yeah, I remember that. And then I remember them like seeing if I was paralyzed. They were trying to test like if I could pee on myself. So they're like, Do you need to pee? And they they waited like twelve hours and then they noticed I didn't pee. Mm-hmm. And yeah, they they did retention. And I remember one night the nurse was cool dude. was Kath and me, dude and I had over a thousand because he he was like, shoot, it's gonna it's gonna overfill. Overfill and overflowed and he's like, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and he yeah it in his hand and ended up getting on him, but he luckily had all that PPE on from COVID. So shout out nurses. For real, dude. I was like, Dan, that sucks to do that job. Yeah. Especially he was like my age, so it was but it was cool. He was like very professional about it and Yeah. I mean you meet a lot of cool people along the way like right away you're kinda like You have no choice but to get really close with these nurses. And real personal dude. Like at first it feels I hate to say like the word, but like so it's kinda humiliating. It's like dude, like you didn't expect this. It's not like you're planning on going to the hospital and the next thing you're like naked and these people are like touching you everywhere. It's like, bro, what are you doing? but you know, you get used to it. You they they're good. They normally have a great sense of humor. Yeah, they're making jokes and then you get close with your O Ts, your P Ts, you meet some cool people on the along the way. And I know that you were there at Lynn, but I met you like a couple months after your injury, or how how long do you think after once you got to Brooks? six months after. Six months after? Okay. So to fast forward a little bit, you got past that. when did you did you go straight from there to Brooks or were you home at one point? No, I was at home for a while. I did Tampa General, but they weren't really pushing me as hard. Not true. And I found about found out about Brooks 'cause I was getting stent in my leg and the travel nurse actually was from Jacksonville and he saw that I was paralyzed and he was like, H are you did you just get hurt? I yeah, listen like three months ago and he's like, You need to check out Brooks. They have like these people go in there and they walk out. He was just hyping them up, telling about the cyber dye and all that and I was like, Yeah, yeah. but I was very like down at you know, down at that time and so my parents did it all for me. They called and they talked to Bob and they explained this the the cyberdyne, everything. And then we set up a meeting that December. So literally like five months after my injury. And yeah, we set we had the initial evalve and then I started at the beginning of the year once my insurance re kicked in and I had sixty visits. So that's right. I started there and then my first day there actually I got I got a UTI. I was feeling sick. I Bob was showing me standing frame and funny enough, I was telling him, I'm like, Hey, where can I go? I think I have a UTI. Uh-huh. And he it's funny because Abby was listening in because Abby thought my brother was cute. So Abby was my PT. Well at first she wasn't my PT and then now she's my sister in law because she married my brother. Which is a wild story. Which we're have a whole nother podcast about probably crazy. Ethical. Ethical. but she heard about me having UTI and it was my first day and they told me about it urging no, they told me about UF health to go to their clinics 'cause they were better, they knew spinal cord injuries. Yeah. And literally had a UTI the first day and I felt like crap the n the first week. But yeah, and then Abby became IPT and then she and she's like, Hey, you're from Tampa, right? I have a patient from Tampa and I was like, really? We'll part and then she's like, I don't know, but he likes the Bucks and I was like, Cool And then you're from Brooksville, which is like an hour outside of Tampa, but you like the Bucks and then you were also a similar situation. We were both young. you were younger than me though, and but we both had brothers and that they came with us to rehab. and I think you were on break or whatnot, but then you're driving the Tesla at the time and You were driving by yourself and going to rehab by yourself and it was like just mind blowing to me watching you do everything by yourself. I remember like watching you jump a curb and I was like, dude, I think I'm gonna fall out the chair. And then I remember watching you break down your chair and your Tesla. And then I like recorded you and like did film study that night. And then the next day I asked you to come watch me, and then the chair got stuck. My front two casters got stuck underneath crazy the the car and I couldn't get it out and I was like falling out. I was dude, it was it was a struggle back then. I didn't have like any strength. I lost so much weight from and muscle mass from my surgery that it was wild. But yeah, we hung out a bunch and now here we are. Yeah, for real. Year years later now. but it's funny looking back at it, 'cause like you said, first of all, crazy that your brother and Abby Like are married now 'cause yeah, Abby was my PT and she mentioned, Yeah, there's some guys from Tampa that are coming and I'm like, okay, cool. and like for the I remember the first time I met you guys, I think you were I wanna say like you were in a standing frame and your brother was like by you and you both had like buck shirts on. Probably and I'm like, Yeah, dude, we're gonna be for best friends, bro. Like this is gonna be great. but yeah, it's it's funny w how you talk about that. So I w did rehab in Shepherds and I a lot of the peer support guys there, like this what you were saying, how you viewed me was how I viewed a lot of people there. Like it was like crazy seeing them. I remember one guy literally fell out of his chair on purpose to show us how to get back in your chair from the ground. Yeah. And I was like, you're crazy. Cause like you said, like when you first get hurt, like I went down to like I was 120 pounds. So like, you know, you lost every kind of muscle and fat that I dad possible. You are weak, it's tough. So like imagining yourself like doing floor transfers or hopping a curb or like you said a bid one is like breaking down your chair and seeing people be like super independent. I mean, at first it's kinda like Am I actually gonna be able to do that? Like that seems like so crazy. And now as you see now, you're so independent and and anybody who has a spinal cord injury and is independent knows it takes hard work but it's very possible. but It's so big sometimes meeting someone else, especially around like it's it's a lot cooler like when we're we're like the same age and you know, we're from around the same area and stuff like that. but seeing other people do it, it's like okay, it is possible. Like how can I do it? And that's the fun that's and we always talk about the story sometimes. I c it was so funny that I happened to be there the first time that you were trying to break down your chair and I'm like, It's you know, it's tough. Like it was it is very hard at the beginning. It's like one of the hardest things to like to me. And then You getting it stuck under the car, I was like, dude, that's cause you were like, Help, let's get it out. I'm like, I don't know how to get this out. This is crazy. Yeah, dude, that was wild. but it it's funny. But you know, we're so when did you get hurt? Like what month in your Mine was like late July, early August. Of twenty twenty. Twenty twenty one. And I got hurt in November twenty nineteen. Yeah, so I was like I had I had some time in a little bit and I was learning a lot about myself of being independent around that time as well because you we both know Jacksonville is pretty far from where we are from. Yeah. So you're like that was my first time at one point trying to kinda live by myself, even though my brother was helping me out a lot and my my family and stuff like that. Driving around, doing more like transfers and breaking it down. And then that was around the time I think you were like 'cause you're f you're locked in on like cyber dine and stuff like that. But then that's like the first time you I think started being like, okay. Like I gotta start being independent, doing stuff on my own too. So now but now we fast forward and I mean you you are like one of the busiest guys I know. So I wanna talk about a little bit how you got here to the today. One thing that I think that other people will find interesting that I think is really cool is what you do for work, for example. do you mind telling us a little bit what you did before your injury, kinda where you were at, and then how you got into like the gig that you are doing today? Yeah, so before I became disabled, I was doing construction, project management. I was working as for a home builder building tons of houses. So during COVID it was crazy 'cause it was boom. And it was such a fun job. It was like being grown adults but playing in like a sandbox all day, just building houses. And we had a cool group of guys and It was so devastating when I got disabled that I knew that I couldn't do that job because it required so much physical labor or like partial physical labor, like being able to go up steps and up homes that you're being constructed. So it's it's not a wheelchair accessible career. and so I started working on vocational rehab. I thought I was gonna go back to school, to be an architect. I had the engineering background, I had my eng Bachelors Engineering from UCF. So I was like, cool, I guess I could do design. I guess I can't build anymore. and then my best friend's aunt ended up telling me about position within the city of Tampa. And it's with the right-of-way. So the the right-of-way to explain it's anything in between from property line to property line. So if you think about like two two houses that face each other. There's a property line for the house and a property line for the other house. In between space of the road and the sidewalk, that's the right of way that's owned by the the municipality. and then so I I interviewed for that position and they thought I was great even though I was brand new and I told I was disabled and they're like that's fine, you know, it's desk job, you're able to do all this stuff. And so basically I a lot of my permit I issue permits for work within the right of way. So anything like doing utility tie ins, to scaffolding, and when you know when they're making new buildings right up to the property line, they have to close the road or close a lane for anything that involves that I I review those plans and issue permits. and the cool part is that I get to work on some of these big buildings that are going up downtown and I have to I look at the main maintenance of traffic plans and ensure that it doesn't affect pedestrians and that it is ADA compliant. So I know the I look up rule I know the rules, I look at them and look at the plans, ensure that, you know, detours aren't longer than a quarter mile for pedestrians, you know, If they can't, they're gonna have to do scaffolding, protect it from any o anything from overhead falling on them. Sometimes there's not enough space on the sidewalk that they have to close a lane on the road and then detour pedestrians on the road. so if you ever go to New York, there's a lot of scaffolding there and a lot of projects, you'll see that they detour people and pedestrians onto the road. But you gotta also make it ADA compliant. Yeah. you know. 'Cause there's no curb cuts in some of those, so they gotta make ramps, have water barriers to protect pedestrians from the road, and then sometimes I also work with you know when the buildings are getting permitted, I'll take a look at the construction plans and then sometimes I'll notice like, hey, like you know, this this doesn't have a curb cut. Hey, can you guys make this a curb cut? Or I've even had people know that I'm in a wheelchair reach out to me, hey, how can you help? this out there's this new development going up and someone in the area wants a curb cut and so I'm able to, you know, reach out and reach out to the building personnel and have them install this curb cut. and you know, try to make everything better for the community. so yeah, it's a really interesting job and it's funny because people get really mad when I disapprove their permits when then they're like I'm like, you gotta you I I can't approve it 'cause you you have no maintenance of traffic for pedestrians. And I'm like, what if someone in a wheelchair comes by and they're like, Nobody in a wheelchair is gonna be by himself? And then I'm like, actually I'm in a wheelchair and I'm travel myself and this is a big inconvenience. So and it's also funny, I've been in like in person training events and we literally did one off Fowler by USF and we went and walked around and write down everything that was wrong with their Yeah. Project and literally they saw me in a wheelchair and they they were like, dang. Yeah. But they saw that I was super strong and I was like able to wheelie through that area. But I'm like, listen, I like a upper body strength. There's some people that have more severe disabilities that can't do what I do. So I'm like, this needs to be fixed. So I kinda set that example by myself as an engineering with a disability showing them, Hey, this is why we do it. Yeah. Showing them reason. Exactly. That's awesome. Like who would you rather have like in your position than you? Like I'm in Tampa, so I'm glad that you're, you know, a part of this because how many times and I just know people who are part of the Ally program know about this, how many times are you on the sidewalk and and they are doing a project or something and then you're like screwed? Like you can't get through anywhere because they didn't think about someone like you said, like you've probably heard before. No one in a wheelchair is gonna be coming through here. What are you talking about? Like that happens all the time. So it's awesome that you're able to be a voice for that, but also no one is more particular than than you. Like I you are like very much like on it when it comes to like stuff like that. So I know like it's done right. and like I just think it's cool that you're able to make an impact like that because it's funny sometimes the way like life takes you. Like who knows that who knew that you'd be in this position today, but I'll tell you what, there are people that would thank you 'cause it's great to have an accessible city and and everything like that. So I would rather someone in a in a chair who knows what they're doing like you behind it, than someone who maybe doesn't understand or doesn't really care that much, right? Right. So it it's awesome that you're able to do that. and then for a little bit also I just want to talk about your day to day. So outside of your work, I know you you have a r very much a real life. I know you big family person too, involved with your family, but also, you got me into this other world that, you know, we're kinda into now with wheelchair tennis and stuff like that. what are some hobbies that you've picked up along the way since being in a chair? if you mind telling people what you like to do? Yeah, so I've always liked weightlifting, so I always go to the gym. I typically try to go to the gym now. Two to three times a week. to main to maintain strength and be able to be independent, open doors by myself, do transfers. but then I also discovered through the city of Tampa, actually, our ADA coordinator told me about wheelchair tennis. And I had picked it up during COVID because the only thing open were tennis courts and golf courses. So that's the only two things I could do to maintain cardio. Obviously, tennis was more has more cardio than golf. 'Cause you're just moving nonstop. And afterwards I found out about wheelchair tennis and so I went, I tried it, it was cool, I was able to hit it. The hardest part is obviously moving to the ball and learning the wheelchair, how to move in a wheelchair, being in a sports chair. So I tried it out, I liked it. I tried out wheelchair basketball, a little bit too rough for me, being on blood thinners and wheelchair football, a little bit too rough for me, so tennis was really cool. low cost sport to get into besides the wheelchair, you know, there's ten of courts everywhere. You just gotta get a racket and some balls. And I'm able to play with my brother. So it's able to be interable sport. So I got into it and I got applied for a grant with the Kelly Brush and the Challenge Athletes Foundation. I got my first sports chair, I got a tennis chair and I also got an off-road chair. So then once I got my own chair, I was really into it. I already had my own tennis racket. And then we had a cool group going. And then that's when I just instead of inviting you. And I met Andy as well at the gym. I met him at the gym and he looked like a cool dude my age. I was like, hey, do you wanna come play Wilcher tennis? Like, we'll just have a cool younger younger club. Like, you wanna come play? Just come check it out. And then he came out. you came out, Erman came out, so I just been inviting whoever I think would be a cool. good fit for our group to come play and then you kinda get that little tennis bug where you like you start getting good and then you want to keep getting better. And then you'll play your first tournament and then you meet so many other people that you want to keep going to different tournaments. And then this year, like my one of my goals is to like win like the C division and then move up to the B's next year. But travel to at least four level one tournaments in the area and like take it seriously. So Something I like I do to stay active and it's like a goal to have and it's good for goals. I always like playing sports, it teaches you a lot of discipline and like a lot of other things that other things can't. And yeah, so it's fun. I'm getting my girlfriend into it and yeah, I I'm obsessed with it. We got already got like three tournaments lined up. We got one this month, one in two in March and then one in another one in April. So That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, yeah you definitely you introduced me to the sport and now I understand the itch that you're talking about. It's very addicting. Yeah. Like it annoys me when I'm sometimes when I'm home and I'm like, I wanna go play now. It's like sometimes like we have work and we have like stuff we gotta take care of, but it's a fun sport and once you get into it it's like you don't you don't wanna stop. You just wanna like get better. And it's also cool, like I tried football and basketball out and for me it was more like a schedule conflict, for me but I it it it is definitely a rough sport. but it's a team sport, right? Yeah, you play doubles and stuff like that in in tennis, but it's very much like you. Like if you lose, right? Or if you miss a point, it's yeah, the other like it's that's on you. So it's like you're competitive with yourself and you can set goals and it's really fun. but you tell us a little bit, so you've traveled now For these tennis tournaments and probably just in general, probably like for vacations and stuff like that, I think. And I remember well we'll get into this another time, but your your girlfriend had lived in where? Michigan? Indiana. Indiana She went to school in Indiana, was she's from Michigan. Okay. So you've had to fly, drive far, all that stuff. What has been your experience traveling since being in a wheelchair? And has there been anything that you've learned along the way that's kinda helped you? Any any tips or anything like that? definitely it's really what really matters is the airline, going with the best airline that's gonna take care of you. For me, that's Delta. They always take care of me really well. you know, they don't charge me for medical bags. What I did prior to going on my trips is I literally just like went on YouTube. I followed a couple of guys like Wheels to Walking, Spinochord Living, and just watched them And saw how they did it. They would literally tell you what you could do. Like, you know, you could do curbside check-in. they told you about get one free medical bag. they told you about the aisle chair, you know, get there early to check in, let them know that you need aisle chair, like being very community. So the first time I ever f I flew by my s I flew with my brother to Boston, but that was my brother and some friends. and then I flew with my family as well to Columbia internationally. So I had help at those And those trips. My first solo trip was going to go see my now girlfriend Shay at co at her college. And I was never flown by myself. No, my parents were like, That's crazy, you're flying out to go see your girl and I was like, Yeah, I know it's kinda crazy, but it was well worth it. now that I have her living with me and but yeah, I went by myself, I did my homework, I got there early, you know, it was very communic commutative. You know, I put air tags on my wheelchairs in case I lose them. I put air tags on my medical supplies and catheters and my luggage. So I had everything and yeah, it was pretty smooth. It was direct flight. You know, I rented a car as well, and rented a hotel, so I stayed all by my I did that all by myself. I had done it prior to my injury, like traveled for work, so I kinda knew how to like do all that stuff, but Being disabled was a little bit different. It's different. You gotta think about hand controls now and that random car and stuff like that, right? I had a call about hand controls. I had a call about the ADA room, right? You know, and repeat that and but that trip was great. The car I mean it was crazy that the communication they were like, We don't know if you're gonna have your car ready and I'm like flying the next day. So stressful. Yeah so stressful. I brought my manual hand controls from Amazon just in case. And then so I I go to the hotel and I check in, whatever I got Dude, I got balled out. I got like the eighty a suite. It was so sick. but it was n it was not really bawling out 'cause it was Indiana. It's like a hundred and fifty dollars a night for the like the sweet man. It's not Tampa. Yeah, it's not Tampa prices and it was dope. so it was a really cool experience. traveling by myself and traveled back and then you know, we did long distance for like a year and a half, so I flew there a lot and she flew here, so it was obviously easier for her to fly down here. Just a logistically for her for for us. And I had a house and had to pay for a hotel. Her her dorm wasn't accessible. 'cause her bed was like six feet high and I couldn't get up there. Of course, right? It was a twin bed. I'm not gonna sleep in a twin bed. but yeah, dude it flew by myself, learned and I I've done it so many times now that I fly constantly by myself. Honestly, I just found out that parking. A parking's free at the Tampa International Airport. You just I think I heard that same time you did, my wife and I we looked at each other like, yo, that's a big one. Right. I just went came back from the trip from Christmas and it was like a a hundred and fifty and I went to the ticket booth with the s with the attendant and I was like, Hey, I've heard that if you have hand controls it's free And she goes, Yeah, let me see your hand controls but My hand controls are like so nicely built in. Yeah. She couldn't tell that I was holding the brake with my thumb. That's funny. And I like, yeah, they're right here and I like put it in neutral and revved it for her. and she's like, okay, yeah. And she just like called someone and then the gate went up and it was free and I was like, Dang, I've been paying like two hundred dollars, man. Yeah. Now I don't know that's every I do you know I don't know if that's every airport, but I know You might as well try. Might as well try bring it up. No one in Tampa, at least it is like when I heard that hack, I haven't flown because we just heard this like a two months ago, I think. Yeah. I haven't flown since then, but I'm excited to save some money on that. but you know, you're just a living proof and goes to show that, you know, a lot of people hold back on traveling because yeah, there's a lot there's more that goes into it. You do have to think more, you kinda have to plan ahead. But you just show like you said it's kinda like secondhand nature now. You're doing it all the time. There's a lot of people with spinal cord injuries who are traveling independently on their own. you're gonna learn things along the way and stuff like that. But don't need don't be scared to do it. Like airlines are set up to do it. You know, you you'll f you'll figure out some of those tips, like you said, like Delta and and you know, the hand controls, calling ahead, AD booking ADA, all that stuff. but it's w it's worth it for sure. I mean, you've been able to do a lot and I know we're kind of running o out of time now, but in the next time we're gonna have a part two with David and I wanna talk about your dating life after a spinal cord injury. and I'll share stuff with me as well. I think it's that's interesting and p it's a topic that I think we all like to talk about. but to wrap things up, I would like to talk a little bit for t a minute on the spinal cord injury community. So you've traveled to Nashville for a tournament like recently and you've traveled to I know you have we have another one coming up and stuff like that in Florida. But you've met a lot of f cool people along the way. I think the coolest person you've met was me. So thank thankfully for you no, I'm just joking. but you know, we've met each other and we've met a lot of people along the way. How important do you think it is to have like a community and people that you can kind of depend on and hit up to to you know, if you're kind of pro trying to problem solve something? What has that kind of meant for you? Yeah, man, I think it's important. It's important to have the right people because when I first got disabled, I was a part of a spinal cord injury group. But I was like, I don't wanna be friends with with with with those people. They're they're not like my friends are not my personality. Like I'm so who I am. And so like no offense to them, but they weren't like my personality, like we didn't vibe together. So, at first I didn't have really many wheelchair friends, but it I had you, you know, Andy. I have the tennis group. it's really cool because then you get to talk about real stuff. Like, yo, what about dating? Yeah. You start you get to talk about Kathine. Catherine or trips. you know, I've talked to you. I'm like, yo, how'd you propose to your girlfriend? Yeah, that's right. And I went to your wedding, I gotta see how you're like, if I want to have my wedding, how am I gonna set my wedding up? So I gotta see you. So, which is really cool. also tad a bit is like you're the first guy that I saw with like a Gorgeous girl girlfriend. When I when I met Kylie, remember you're in the standing frame and you're you kinda got hyped, you're like, all dude. I was like, dang boy. So was like, he so I was like, I guess you could do it and yeah, you were definitely one of the first guys that gave me like confidence, like, whoa, we could still get beautiful women and then I s even looking as ugly as me. So that's crazy. I mean you get nice hair, bro. And then And then I saw you propose and I asked you how you proposed and then I went to your wedding and I saw you how you did your dance with your wife and you stood while she came down the aisle, how you danced with your mom. That was that was really cool for me 'cause I was like, dang, dope. Like I could do this. I could still have the wedding that I pictured in my mind. So Yeah. That was real cool having friends like that 'cause you get a talk to them and you know, and you meet different people and yeah, you get a bond. It's like Something crazy. Whenever I see someone in wheelchair I'd like say what's up. For sure. It's just like, you know, you're in this club. but then when you have a g people that you can vibe with and talk to and like obviously sometimes you need to borrow a catheter or something, like hey yo. And then you know when you plan things you you you always think about accessibility. So you could do things together and then when you have people together, you guys could always help each other out. And yeah, man, it's really cool. I'm able to hang out people The wheelchair section, watching the Tampa Bay Lightning or the bugs. Yeah. Stuff like that. it's awesome. You know, you meet awesome people along the way and it's important if you have a community near you, that's great. But if you don't, right, some people don't live in Tampa where there's like a city, like it's it's maybe a little bit more desolate and there's still ways. You can travel, be part of a team, stuff like that. But also, you know, we have this New Motion Ally program that I think is really important because the internet brings people together. It just does. Everybody has a phone, everybody has a computer, something like that. and the Ally program is awesome. We're building it up. We have this community and we're hoping to engage more and more people because sometimes you have those questions, you know, about cathing or about anything. Accessibility. Volk rehab is a great resource that David has used more than I have. Like I've used it for stuff, but like you've taken great advantage of it. That's really helped you in your life. But how do you know that unless you're kind of talking to somebody else who's used it and done it before, right? so we're we're happy And encourage everybody to continue to use the Ally program. If you have any questions at all, put it in the chat. you'd be surprised. Like a peer is probably gonna can respond if you're having any issues, maybe from someone from New Motion might respond and offer some kind of samples or advice or anything like that. but it's awesome that we can just kinda rely on each other and who knows who you'll meet along the way, maybe here in an ally program or maybe in person, like David and I have. I told David before we started this, we could talk forever, we're we're buddies, this this is nothing new. but I I wanna talk about, you know, dating life and and more. I know there's a there's a lot more to you. I mean, you're a very busy guy. and it's awesome and we appreciate you coming on the podcast today and sharing some of your stories. Awesome, I had fun.