Olympic Bobsledder to CTE Advocate

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And so like, I came out that machine and I was clear for six days, no clouds, and oh my God, I, I was like, I was walking around in 3D or something.
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Like every, this, everything smelled different.
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Everything looked different and it was just, the world was beautiful again.
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Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the hosts bindwaves or the Brain injury network.
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This podcast is for informational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, the diagnosis or treatment.
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Always seek the advice of a healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
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Thank you.
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Hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and a member of BIND.
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And I'm Brittany.
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I'm a brain injury survivor and member of Bind.
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Today our guest is William Person, a former nine year team, USA Bobsledder whose life was turned upside down by CTE, like symptoms endured depression, severe confusion, and saw firsthand how untreated brain injuries devastate not only athletes, but also military veterans.
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A CTE diagnosis can only be confirmed after death, while alive, the symptoms strip away quality of life and mental clarity.
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William found renewed hope through hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which rapidly restored parts of his world he thought were lost for good, now works tirelessly to help others access similarly care.
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Um, tell us about a little, about yourself and personally and as an athlete for Team US.
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A.
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Oh, thank you.
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First of all, thank you for having me.
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I, I appreciate what you guys do.
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I really respect it.
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Uh, very important.
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Uh, at first, before we get started, I, I just wanna know why she intimidated me with all the long hair.
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I just, just, what is that?
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I feel left out
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i, the, the funny part is my hair is only long because of my injury.
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I was, yeah, I was bald my whole life.
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I always buzzed my hair.
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And, um, one day, um, I have a cousin, he got, matter of fact, he got in trouble in Texas for some strange reason.
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He is in.
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Yeah.
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So he, he got in trouble and he was telling me about these bizarre things that happened in his case.
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Like he knew somebody on the jury, his public defender was sleeping.
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Uh, they picked the wrong person in a lineup and it sounds so ridiculous.
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I'm like, okay, buddy.
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Uh, and.
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But I said, at least I'll look.
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It is, it was, it is my, uh, his mother and my mother's sisters.
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And they both passed.
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And I said, well, the least I can do for outta respect for my aunt is check on her son.
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So I actually started pulling the record.
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Well, before I pulled the records, I couldn't remember to pull the records.
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I kept forgetting and then he'll call me.
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It would be months go by, I forgot to do it again.
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And it just kept happening.
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And I said, okay, you know what?
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I'm not gonna cut my hair again until I put some love in on this case.
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And one day I looked in the mirror and I was like, why is my hair so long?
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And my friends had to remind me, oh, you said you was going to check in on your cousin's case before you cut your hair again?
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And, and then it just kept growing.
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Like that's how, and it reminded me to check on this case, which I did, but that's why my hair, it just, it's here now.
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I never knew my hair would grow.
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Oh, that's, I like it.
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Yeah.
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Mm-hmm.
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you.
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Thank you.
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I appreciate it.
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So, yeah.
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So you'll just tell us a little bit about yourself so our
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Well,
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can get to know you.
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We can get to know you because we
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okay,
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read so far.
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well, I, I grew up in, uh, in the Midwest.
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Um, and the truth is I was a track track.
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We call this track heads or I loved running track and all I wanted to do was run around the circle.
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So when, uh, college was over, I mean, high school was over.
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You can either quit running or you can go to college and run.
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And so it took me to college and I stayed on that path.
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That path took me from college or took me through college.
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When I left, I started working in the mental health field, and then I started doing, uh, like movies like Jeremy McGuire, uh, any given Sunday.
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Uh, yeah.
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And then, um, so I, I just kept running track and I was about 28 at that time.
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So I'm starting to wind down my track career and then bobsledding shows up.
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And, uh, I really didn't want to do it to be honest, but I was like the fastest American in, uh, Utah at the time.
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I was training at, uh, Brigham Young University and, uh, they called NBC called me.
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They were doing tryouts, and I was like, man, I might be able to pick up a sponsor or something if I go to this tryout.
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So I went to this tryout and this guy, um, it was like, I don't know, maybe a hundred people out there.
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And they had this treadmill and they take it, and what they do is they, um, put it on a high incline.
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Uh huh.
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Then they had these like, uh, bobsled handlebars connected to it.
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So you gotta hold these things real tight.
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And this, that treadmill was hooked up to a computer and they punch in 10 miles an hour.
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And so the faster you run on that thing and the more pressure you apply, the quicker you get to 10 miles an hour.
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So I didn't know anything about this sport, so I watched the first maybe 30 people go through.
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And then it was my turn.
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I get up there and, um, like I said, NBC's covering this thing, all these hot lights are on me.
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And so I get on this thing and I just take off.
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And when I finished the driver, his eyes were like this big.
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So I knew I did really good or really bad.
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I didn't know which one.
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And um, and so at that time, actually I owned a youth treatment facility.
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I wrote the first ever independent living transitional housing program for youth.
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In Utah.
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And so they opened me as a pilot program.
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So that's kind of what I was doing at the time.
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So, um, so when we went for the tryout, we, I went through it, uh, this guy's eyes get big.
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Okay.
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So, so I get a little glitches sometimes I'd be like, okay, where am I at?
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So I call it a glitch in my little matrix, but yeah, it happens.
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So, uh, this guy puts his arm around me and he is like, Hey, um, if I offered you$50,000 for the next three months, would you race on my team?
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So I'm a businessman, so I'm like, yeah, if it's a fair price, but, um, if not, we can renegotiate later.
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But I'm thinking 50 grand for three months.
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Write my check right now, please.
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You know, and so that was, that trial was on, uh, uh, or Wednesday, I think.
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I want you to bobsled track and pushed for the first time that Sunday.
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Some things happened when I was there as I was getting off the bobsled truck.
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We at the top of this mountain.
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I get off this truck, one of my teammates from college, his name is, uh, Billy Schauer.
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He sees me, he's like, Will, I've been trying to call you man, like, where you been?
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Like, I've been looking for you so you can race on our team.
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So this driver, he panics.
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He's like, Hey buddy, uh, I'll get, don't leave me.
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I'll get you more money.
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So I'm thinking I'm getting 50,000 plus, I'm getting some more.
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But, but one thing I learned really quick is, um, his like.
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Our Bobs were built by NASCAR at the time.
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This guy named Jeff Bodine.
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So they looked like NASCARs.
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They, this guy sled was shaped like a spaceship.
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It had a bubble on it.
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It was just not aerodynamic.
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And no matter how fast I pushed him down that hill, the girls were beating us to the bottom.
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And I was like, hey, wait a minute.
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How's he gonna pay me 50 grand?
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Like we, we gonna lose everything, you know?
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And the truth was, he didn't have any sponsors.
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He, he tricked me.
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He, he didn't have any money.
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Yeah.
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And so, uh, I wound up leaving that team that week.
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Another team picked me up and we won, actually, I won a medal America's Cup medal that first week.
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So within seven days of joining the sport, I won the medal and it was being televised by NBC.
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And, and they ran the story.
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I never even saw the story.
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People told me about it, and it was just like, um, it was fun, different, and I, and I stuck around for nine more years.
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So, so that's kinda how I got involved in, in the sport itself.
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And.
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And that was my journey there.
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That's very crazy.
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I mean, to go just, yeah.
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No experience to look at you winning medals right away.
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That's pretty awesome.
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Yeah.
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I was just running like, I was always a runner and uh, only, only difference is I was now running on ice, like no big deal.
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It's the same thing.
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I guess is the just, and totally off topic, but not off topic.
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So is the driver, the guy in front.
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Yes.
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Okay, so
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Yeah,
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the one that's in, and you're the one pushing it to get it going.
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Okay.
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well there's a, there's a two man sled and then there's a four man sled.
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Yeah, I knew
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So in a four man, I'm all the way in the back usually,
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mm-hmm.
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Okay.
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and a two man, I'm all the way in the back of course.
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So, yeah, but not
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look at
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driven.
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a whole lot differently now when the Olympics come back around, but yeah, that's
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Oh, oh, oh.
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'cause like, oh, so a lot of people always ask me.
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It was like, so when you guys are going through the terms, you guys synchronized doing this'cause they saw that movie Cool Runners and they think that that's a real thing.
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Like, no, that's the G-forces kicking our butt.
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That's why we're doing this.
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We, we got no control over that.
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Yeah.
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That's Funny.
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That's very funny.
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Um, so, um, the first time you kind of started realizing maybe you had a concussion or you were having concussion symptoms, was that.
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Back in the track days or did that not happen until the bobsledding.
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Bobsledding.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Bobsledding.
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A hundred percent.
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Okay.
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And so what made you maybe realize that you needed to seek medical treatment?
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Did, did you just realize it or did someone on your team kinda help?
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Well, my first concussion was, um, right before the 2002 Winter Olympics we're racing, uh, world Cup in St.
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Maritz, Switzerland.
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And we had a really, really nasty crash.
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And um, like the guy who was actually sitting behind me that day, I'm u I'm usually the guy in the back, but on this day I was sitting number three spot and um, he was knocked unconscious.
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Oh.
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there's a video I can actually, it's on my YouTube channel, I can send it to you.
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But yeah, he was knocked unconscious and um, we all got beat up pretty bad.
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Except the driver.
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'cause the driver and one thing about him, they know when we are about to crash.
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So you could, you start seeing'em shuffling around, they'll start ducking up underneath the, the little dashboard.
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I'm like, you supposed to ride that out with us.
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But they know, see, I don't know.
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We've crashed until either I hit my head or sometime we are on our side and we're sliding.
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And what happens is two things can touch the ice.
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When you, when you crash on your side, it's your shoulder.
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Which is very dangerous.
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'cause if you leave your shoulder on that ice at that speed, it's gonna burn all of the flesh off all the way to the bone.
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And if you, and then your helmet could be on the ice.
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So, but for your helmet on the ice, you, you guys remember being in, uh, elementary school and you get the fingernails in the chalkboard like that sound,
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yeah.
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multiply that, multiply that by 30 to 40, like.
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Yeah, so that noise, so you got your head on the ice'cause you don't want your flesh to burn off, but then that noise is just destroying you.
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And then you're just like, you get that, but then that, now you warming this up again.
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So it's like a, you know, you're doing your best to just kick this off, but
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Right.
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yeah.
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And um, yeah, so that was my first crash.
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And then after that, like we went back, like to the hotel.
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I couldn't walk straight for a week.
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I had vertigo.
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Oh
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And, uh, and of course my, my break was unconscious, so it was just, it was, it was or wasn't pretty.
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So that was my first con, first concussion with the sport.
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And, um, my symptoms didn't kick in for me until...
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I had some things going off in 2012.
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So it was like a 10 year span when it started getting unbearable.
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And then the second wave kicked in about another five to six years after that.
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And so like, I just, that's when life gets unbearable.
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Like you don't, like, like I, I, I struggled with reading and writing and doing basic math and, and in college I was an electrical engineering student.
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So math is my background and so it's, I got the point where I just couldn't function anymore.
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I was just literally crawling around on my, on my floor, in my apartment, and, um.
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I thought it was diabetes.
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It, it looked, it looks like, uh, people with low blood sugar, like you have no energy.
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I had these random days I was cloudy and then those random days of cloudiness turned in random days of clarity and it, it switched up on me and I didn't even recognize it.
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It was too late.
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And next thing I know, I, I'm just, I'm like this zombie or something.
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I don't know.
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It's kind of hard to explain, but yeah.
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Uh, we get it'cause we say we all have brain injuries and a brain injury.
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You don't know a brain injury until you got a brain injury.
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So definitely with all the symptoms here
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Yeah.
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your brain injuries, we know like least like what halfway you're going through.
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'cause we either went through it or seen it or felt it.
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Right.
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Experienced it.
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Yeah.
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First on, and
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that's the same thing we say, you know, if you've met a brain injury, you've met one brain injury.
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'cause we, while we can relate.
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We don't necessarily, you know, it's, the brain is so amazing that the way each brain is affected is not affected in the same way.
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I mean, we could have the exact same head injury and still be affected differently.
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'cause the brain, the brain says, well, I'm gonna pick this to be wrong with this person and this to be wrong with that person.
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But um, did so.
00:13:59.998 --> 00:14:16.067
What, I guess got you on the track to start seeking treatment that you're like, okay, this is more than just brain fog or not feeling right; I need to get help, what kind of promted you to go seek that help.
00:14:16.707 --> 00:14:20.067
I, I had a teammate, um, he was, um.
00:14:20.113 --> 00:14:21.462
I had a teammate.
00:14:21.462 --> 00:14:22.602
We weren't even friends.
00:14:22.602 --> 00:14:24.373
We weren't friends during bobsledding days.
00:14:24.373 --> 00:14:26.442
We were, we were just teammates.
00:14:26.442 --> 00:14:28.663
We weren't, you know, we didn't spend time together.
00:14:28.663 --> 00:14:33.043
We, we were cordial with each other, but we just didn't have that bond like that.
00:14:33.763 --> 00:14:38.263
And, um, when I left the sport, uh, he wanted to become a writer.
00:14:38.322 --> 00:14:44.623
And so I moved back to la I was, um, writing shows and optioning shows to different net networks at the time.
00:14:45.192 --> 00:14:49.692
And, um, so he would call me and he, he would have these really.
00:14:50.202 --> 00:14:52.393
Crazy ideas like these scripts.
00:14:52.543 --> 00:14:56.023
And I'm teaching them, I'm teaching'em how to fix'em and how to make'em into a story.
00:14:56.023 --> 00:15:00.493
And, and so we had these calls, like right there were random calls when he called me about it.
00:15:01.452 --> 00:15:09.552
And um, and, and, and the truth is, I just now, like, this was prior to COVID and I'm just now understanding what this really was, what I know now.
00:15:10.452 --> 00:15:14.293
I figured out like these stories he had, they weren't, uh, creative writing.
00:15:14.472 --> 00:15:15.972
His mind had already started to slip.
00:15:17.082 --> 00:15:20.923
And so what I thought was just this guy's, he's gonna be a brilliant storyteller.
00:15:21.052 --> 00:15:23.533
No, his mind was gone and I didn't know it.
00:15:24.013 --> 00:15:31.602
And so the last time he called me, he, he was speaking gibberish and, uh, like I couldn't understand anything he said.
00:15:31.602 --> 00:15:36.013
And I, I, um, he got so frustrated, he, he hung up the telephone.
00:15:36.807 --> 00:15:41.427
And, um, like I told you, my background was mental health and, um, I knew he needed help.
00:15:41.998 --> 00:15:44.668
And I told myself every day, I gotta help my buddy.
00:15:44.668 --> 00:15:45.388
I gotta help him.
00:15:45.508 --> 00:15:46.317
I have to help him.
00:15:46.977 --> 00:15:49.107
And, uh, the truth, I didn't do anything to help him.
00:15:49.312 --> 00:15:52.888
I, I just, every day I talked about it in my mind to myself.
00:15:53.638 --> 00:15:57.298
I was living alone and like, there's a time lapse for me.
00:15:57.298 --> 00:15:59.488
Like, I don't know what I did in my apartment every day.
00:15:59.518 --> 00:16:02.457
'cause the TV wasn't on, the radio wasn't on.
00:16:03.418 --> 00:16:04.947
I was, I was really gone.
00:16:04.947 --> 00:16:05.638
And, um.
00:16:06.148 --> 00:16:10.798
So when I found out, um, well, I, I don't know how much time passed.
00:16:10.798 --> 00:16:12.628
Like there's a, there's a gap there in my mind.
00:16:12.628 --> 00:16:13.197
I don't know.
00:16:13.528 --> 00:16:18.538
So eventually I got the word that he went to his family's factory and he hung himself.
00:16:19.038 --> 00:16:19.258
Hmm.
00:16:19.317 --> 00:16:23.067
And, um, I felt, uh, man, just responsible.
00:16:23.577 --> 00:16:27.118
Uh, I felt like my hands were just dirty'cause I didn't help him.
00:16:27.118 --> 00:16:28.077
I knew he needed help.
00:16:28.288 --> 00:16:30.057
That's my background and I did nothing.
00:16:30.717 --> 00:16:31.827
And, uh, that's when.
00:16:32.697 --> 00:16:37.618
I started trying to find help because I started calling around to my teammates and found out it was all of us.
00:16:37.648 --> 00:16:39.148
It wasn't like one or two people.
00:16:39.957 --> 00:16:42.508
And as you mentioned earlier, it affects us differently.
00:16:42.508 --> 00:16:48.477
Like I've got teammates with memory loss, I've got teammates with Parkinson's and everything in between.
00:16:48.898 --> 00:16:52.317
I've got teammates that already killed themselves and and many others who've tried.
00:16:53.038 --> 00:16:57.258
So yeah, it really affects us all differently, you know?
00:16:57.918 --> 00:17:00.793
And, but what bothered me is just, uh, it just broke my heart.
00:17:00.942 --> 00:17:04.093
And, um, and that's what that was, that's what spurred the class action.
00:17:04.903 --> 00:17:16.573
And, uh, and the truth is, I found out later, I I, it took me a long time to forgive myself, but when his autopsy came out, he was in stage four CTE and that's how I knew what was wrong with me.
00:17:16.603 --> 00:17:17.923
'cause this thing now has a name.
00:17:18.553 --> 00:17:22.212
Now I can, I can say, okay, this is what this, yeah.
00:17:22.212 --> 00:17:24.347
And, um, it, it, it was just.
00:17:25.708 --> 00:17:36.837
Like, another part that helped me to forgive myself was, um, at that time when I'm calling myself helping him, like I couldn't help him'cause I needed help.
00:17:37.288 --> 00:17:39.867
I was literally crawling around on the floor of my own apartment.
00:17:39.867 --> 00:17:40.498
I know that.
00:17:41.278 --> 00:17:44.548
And, but I didn't realize, man, I just needed this help man.
00:17:44.548 --> 00:17:54.028
I just thought it was, this diabetes was on me and it's gonna get diagnosed eventually and they gonna gimme this insulin and, but it, it just didn't work that way.
00:17:55.393 --> 00:17:55.813
Yeah,
00:17:58.258 --> 00:18:09.688
So, um, tell me, how did you go, like to get treatment, like you started it'cause it affected your life, so you went and started to get a treatment and what kind of treatments?
00:18:09.942 --> 00:18:11.053
Well, that's the problem.
00:18:11.653 --> 00:18:12.643
There is no treatment.
00:18:13.303 --> 00:18:21.163
There was never any treatment and that's why we are what we are, like most people, like for example, I, I talked to you about that first crash I had, right?
00:18:21.732 --> 00:18:23.262
Uh, my brakeman was unconscious.
00:18:23.982 --> 00:18:24.823
I had vertigo.
00:18:25.452 --> 00:18:26.143
They sent us back.
00:18:26.202 --> 00:18:32.952
We, he was my roommate, so they sent us back to the hotel and what they actually told us to do was ridiculous.
00:18:32.952 --> 00:18:35.682
They said, um, watch each other, make sure you don't go to sleep.
00:18:36.462 --> 00:18:37.962
So who's supposed to watch you?
00:18:37.962 --> 00:18:40.212
Me, I can't sit up in the bed without the room spinning.
00:18:40.482 --> 00:18:42.222
And he was already knocked unconscious.
00:18:42.853 --> 00:18:48.643
So that's, that's what, um, that's what the treatment of concussions were back then.
00:18:48.928 --> 00:18:49.438
Yeah.
00:18:49.692 --> 00:18:50.113
Yeah.
00:18:50.577 --> 00:18:58.992
now they say that, I remember that as a kid, you know, playing soccer, it's like, you know, you get hit on the edge and you, they just look at your parents and go, okay, well just don't let'em go to sleep Yes.
00:18:59.202 --> 00:18:59.682
Yes.
00:19:00.057 --> 00:19:00.178
Mm-hmm.
00:19:00.317 --> 00:19:00.607
Yeah.
00:19:00.688 --> 00:19:01.587
I remember those days.
00:19:01.617 --> 00:19:06.357
And do you know now talking about that, do you know has I know a lot of the sports?
00:19:06.357 --> 00:19:07.857
I'm a big hockey fan, so,
00:19:08.327 --> 00:19:09.347
Oh, they got it bad.
00:19:09.647 --> 00:19:09.867
Ooh.
00:19:09.958 --> 00:19:12.238
well, I, I know hockey has, and, you know.
00:19:13.077 --> 00:19:15.238
Created new concussion protocol.
00:19:15.238 --> 00:19:21.807
So there's like, you know, you get hit on the eyes, you immediately get taken back and get checked out, and they do stuff.
00:19:21.807 --> 00:19:29.938
So, do you know, I know you're not currently in bobsledding anymore, have they added any kinda concussion protocols in the bobsledding sport that you're aware of?
00:19:31.032 --> 00:19:33.163
They have because of my lawsuit.
00:19:33.913 --> 00:19:34.468
Oh, okay.
00:19:34.468 --> 00:19:35.083
I didn't Yeah.
00:19:35.127 --> 00:19:35.817
had a lawsuit.
00:19:35.847 --> 00:19:36.417
Okay.
00:19:36.613 --> 00:19:37.932
There's a class action lawsuit.
00:19:37.992 --> 00:19:42.103
And what I, I asked for, like, when I went in, like I thought my days were numbered.
00:19:42.103 --> 00:19:46.692
I didn't, I, I thought I was about to die or soon and I was praying for death, to be honest.
00:19:46.692 --> 00:19:47.472
I was praying for it.
00:19:48.133 --> 00:19:49.032
Um, and so.
00:19:50.053 --> 00:19:53.593
The one thing I asked them for, or two things, I said, take care of my guys.
00:19:54.883 --> 00:19:57.732
And I asked'em, I said, if something happens to me, this case goes on, right?
00:19:57.732 --> 00:19:58.962
And they, they promise me yes.
00:19:59.563 --> 00:20:00.073
I said, okay.
00:20:00.073 --> 00:20:01.153
So take care of my guys.
00:20:01.813 --> 00:20:05.083
And the number one thing is warn the new generation.
00:20:05.772 --> 00:20:06.492
I said, it's too late.
00:20:06.492 --> 00:20:10.242
It's too late for me, but it's not too late for them.
00:20:10.242 --> 00:20:12.103
And they should understand what they're getting into.
00:20:12.673 --> 00:20:15.222
And, uh, they're still fighting me on the wording on that thing.
00:20:15.732 --> 00:20:16.732
I don't understand it.
00:20:16.903 --> 00:20:22.962
That's the one reason why I haven't settled this case is because there's offers on the table right now.
00:20:22.962 --> 00:20:29.343
Like the offer is not, they only want to evaluate us, no treatment, and I don't understand that, right.
00:20:29.383 --> 00:20:31.032
and they still, yeah.
00:20:31.063 --> 00:20:31.633
I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:20:31.917 --> 00:20:34.262
No, I was just thinking, I was just, yeah, no, you go.
00:20:34.633 --> 00:20:36.373
Yeah, I asked the judge the other day we're in court.
00:20:36.403 --> 00:20:41.232
I was like, your honor, like would you send your child to a doctor who's not gonna treat'em?
00:20:41.923 --> 00:20:43.722
Like, where's the care at here?
00:20:44.532 --> 00:20:47.053
You know, where's the medical, like we need, we need help.
00:20:47.053 --> 00:20:51.403
I came to court for help and for relief and, um, I said, we're not getting that.
00:20:51.403 --> 00:20:53.202
They just want to document us dying.
00:20:53.893 --> 00:20:57.282
And that's, that's, that's unacceptable for me.
00:20:58.692 --> 00:21:09.432
So my, my last three days, three, my last three court hearings, um, it was virtually me versus my lawyers and Olympic lawyers who are working together now.
00:21:09.432 --> 00:21:10.932
Like they wanna push this, this.
00:21:11.353 --> 00:21:12.252
Settlement through.
00:21:12.643 --> 00:21:14.292
And here I'm Theone person right here.
00:21:14.292 --> 00:21:15.073
Like, like mm-hmm.
00:21:15.103 --> 00:21:17.502
No, I'm all by myself in court right now.
00:21:17.502 --> 00:21:19.063
It's, it's the most ridiculous thing.
00:21:19.962 --> 00:21:22.573
Uh, I had some lawyers, a huge lawyer come aboard.
00:21:23.353 --> 00:21:24.913
Uh, it was, uh, Robert Shapiro.
00:21:25.182 --> 00:21:27.403
Matter of fact, I spoke to his office.
00:21:27.823 --> 00:21:29.053
I spoke to him directly.
00:21:29.053 --> 00:21:30.972
He was like, oh my God, I know what they're doing.
00:21:30.972 --> 00:21:32.712
I said, I'm gonna see if I can help you.
00:21:32.833 --> 00:21:34.093
He did his investigation.
00:21:34.782 --> 00:21:36.313
We had a couple more phone calls.
00:21:36.343 --> 00:21:37.393
He sends me an email.
00:21:37.603 --> 00:21:42.597
He says, Hey, Will Um, it says, I fired your lead attorney.
00:21:42.688 --> 00:21:44.907
I kept your co-counsel'cause I know them.
00:21:45.897 --> 00:21:47.397
We're gonna get you guys the help you need.
00:21:47.577 --> 00:21:49.258
And I was like, yes,
00:21:50.022 --> 00:21:51.373
That's, that's good news,
00:21:51.988 --> 00:21:53.157
well not done yet.
00:21:53.323 --> 00:21:53.653
okay.
00:21:54.073 --> 00:21:54.103
Oh.
00:21:55.198 --> 00:22:04.917
24 hours later he sends me another email will, unless the judge does not accept the offer that's on the table, I can't help you.
00:22:05.637 --> 00:22:09.807
And I said, well, if you my lawyer, the judge won't ever see the offer that's on the table.
00:22:10.288 --> 00:22:13.587
'cause it,'cause I rejected it so you really shouldn't be taking it to court.
00:22:14.278 --> 00:22:17.428
And so he said, um, so we went to court.
00:22:17.847 --> 00:22:19.768
I represented myself versus my lawyers.
00:22:19.768 --> 00:22:20.637
And the other lawyers.
00:22:21.087 --> 00:22:24.627
The judge sided with me, but Shapiro did not come back.
00:22:25.107 --> 00:22:26.008
I knew he wasn't coming back.
00:22:26.008 --> 00:22:30.538
'cause he, I, I knew his energy told me from the beginning he wasn't coming back.
00:22:31.363 --> 00:22:35.353
And, um, so like I haven't been able to find other lawyers to come in and take over.
00:22:36.163 --> 00:22:38.682
And so I'm really fighting this thing to the end by myself.
00:22:39.492 --> 00:22:40.718
So that's where we are right now.
00:22:41.442 --> 00:22:41.682
Okay.
00:22:41.682 --> 00:22:43.212
Well, we'll, we'll wish you luck.
00:22:43.212 --> 00:22:45.012
We'll have to get more information about that.
00:22:45.403 --> 00:22:54.732
But I know one of the big things you've talked about that I know we're curious and our members are curious, is about the hyperbaric oxygen
00:22:55.393 --> 00:22:55.782
Yeah.
00:22:55.843 --> 00:22:56.353
treatment.
00:22:56.353 --> 00:23:01.123
How did you start, how did you find out about that and how has that helped?
00:23:02.022 --> 00:23:03.403
Well, I found out about it.
00:23:03.883 --> 00:23:07.212
Um, I, whenever I had some kind of clarity, I'm on the internet.
00:23:07.212 --> 00:23:11.472
I'm trying to figure it out like, but I'll tell you one thing about CTE.
00:23:11.472 --> 00:23:16.782
If you look it up, it'll make you just want to give up because, um, these, these.
00:23:17.218 --> 00:23:20.248
Athletes and other people with it, they're killing people.
00:23:20.248 --> 00:23:29.938
They're killing their wife, their, their spouses and their, uh, their, their mothers, their, their, their girlfriends and or they're murdering themselves.
00:23:30.018 --> 00:23:30.307
Yeah.
00:23:30.597 --> 00:23:32.248
And so it's just all brutal.
00:23:32.248 --> 00:23:34.288
You look at it and like it gives you no hope.
00:23:34.948 --> 00:23:44.067
So one day I found one, um, it was Joe Namath, um, football guy, and he said he used hyperbaric oxygen to reverse his CTE symptoms.
00:23:45.133 --> 00:23:46.032
I was like, what?
00:23:46.272 --> 00:23:55.992
You know, so, um, only thing I knew about hyperbaric oxygen was Michael Jackson had one, and I was like, I don't want to be the creepy guy with a hyperbaric oxygen machine.
00:23:55.992 --> 00:23:59.413
You know, that that's what everybody looked at, Michael Jackson as he was the weird guy.
00:24:00.133 --> 00:24:03.313
And so I went and tried it and it was crazy.
00:24:03.313 --> 00:24:06.252
Like, um, I was in that chamber for one hour.
00:24:06.643 --> 00:24:13.242
When I came out, see my glasses are, uh, slightly tinted'cause I'm now sensitive to light smells and sounds, which you probably already know.
00:24:13.452 --> 00:24:15.373
You probably probably do the same thing I would assume.
00:24:16.212 --> 00:24:24.583
And, um, I, I, I came out that chamber, I went to put my glasses on and I took'em off a few times and then the salesman was like, what's wrong?
00:24:25.452 --> 00:24:26.232
I said, I don't know.
00:24:26.593 --> 00:24:30.232
Everything extra bright and the skies are actually blue, like.
00:24:31.163 --> 00:24:33.268
I said I don't think I was really seeing colors before.
00:24:33.268 --> 00:24:35.008
And I said, I don't think I need my glasses.
00:24:35.788 --> 00:24:39.417
And he said the craziest thing to me, he said, oh, you're one of those.
00:24:40.347 --> 00:24:42.718
And I'm thinking, oh, here come the salesman.
00:24:42.718 --> 00:24:47.067
He's gonna try to sell me this$25,000 machine that I can't afford right now.
00:24:47.817 --> 00:24:48.988
And uh, but he was right.
00:24:48.988 --> 00:24:58.587
Some people get immediate relief, but some people need like, um, 30 days of two a day sessions to get the same relief that I get with the one session.
00:24:59.323 --> 00:25:11.353
And so like, I came out that machine and I was clear for six days, no clouds, and oh my God, I, I was like, I was walking around in 3D or something.
00:25:11.353 --> 00:25:13.663
Like every, this, everything smelled different.
00:25:13.663 --> 00:25:18.028
Everything looked different and it was just, the world was beautiful again.
00:25:18.032 --> 00:25:22.002
And I realized, like I didn't see the beauty in anything for a long time.
00:25:22.873 --> 00:25:25.782
And, uh, I went back the second week at the end of that week.
00:25:26.833 --> 00:25:27.883
And tried it again.
00:25:28.182 --> 00:25:29.893
And now I'm clear for nine days.
00:25:30.913 --> 00:25:32.502
And I knew this was no fluke.
00:25:32.502 --> 00:25:33.673
It was no accident.
00:25:34.182 --> 00:25:35.292
This thing is real.
00:25:36.103 --> 00:25:41.022
It wasn't no, uh, like sometime you just want to be healthy so bad, you can trick yourself.
00:25:41.022 --> 00:25:41.982
It wasn't none of that.
00:25:42.792 --> 00:25:45.163
And uh, man, and then I had to buy one.
00:25:45.163 --> 00:25:46.932
So I have one in my back bedroom.
00:25:48.222 --> 00:25:48.732
So.
00:25:49.182 --> 00:25:49.663
Yeah.
00:25:50.198 --> 00:25:51.583
It, it is been a lifesaver.
00:25:51.583 --> 00:25:55.452
Without that, that's the only relief I've ever received at all.
00:25:55.843 --> 00:25:57.313
Like I saw, yeah.
00:25:57.403 --> 00:26:04.333
I don't know if you guys have, but, uh, like my doctor tried to give me a, a Zoloft one time and it made things even worse.
00:26:04.502 --> 00:26:04.792
Yeah.
00:26:05.563 --> 00:26:05.863
Yeah.
00:26:05.863 --> 00:26:06.272
I, yeah.
00:26:06.567 --> 00:26:11.067
Sometimes depression medicine works and sometimes it doesn't oh, you off the
00:26:11.262 --> 00:26:11.502
yeah.
00:26:12.222 --> 00:26:12.462
Yeah.
00:26:12.462 --> 00:26:13.123
I have to give it up.
00:26:13.123 --> 00:26:15.883
I was, no, well, no, I just, yeah.
00:26:17.097 --> 00:26:25.077
Um, I also saw that you launched a GoFundMe campaign to make hyperbaric oxygen chambers therapy accessible to all.
00:26:25.573 --> 00:26:25.813
What are
00:26:25.827 --> 00:26:26.067
Yeah,
00:26:26.323 --> 00:26:27.853
challenges in scaling?
00:26:27.913 --> 00:26:34.633
Example, cost regulation, hurdles and physician buy-in and facility requirements.
00:26:35.367 --> 00:26:39.928
well, I'm, I'm, I'm doing something a little bit different, like I'm not opening one.
00:26:39.988 --> 00:26:41.488
See, there's different levels of chambers.
00:26:41.837 --> 00:26:42.258
Mm-hmm.
00:26:42.327 --> 00:26:50.518
Uh, there's like, the one I have in my home is what they call a 1.3 atmosphere, and then there's a 1.4, there's a 1.5, there's a 2.0.
00:26:50.968 --> 00:26:53.847
Then you get up to that stuff you find in a hospital like 3.0.
00:26:55.107 --> 00:26:58.798
Those are the ones, like if you a burn victim or something, they'll put you in there.
00:26:58.798 --> 00:27:00.688
If you got bed sores, they'll put you in there.
00:27:01.167 --> 00:27:05.337
Uh, if you go too deep in the ocean, come up too fast, they'll put you in there.
00:27:06.268 --> 00:27:10.438
So, but I want to use the simple ones, the ones that I've been using that works for me.
00:27:11.053 --> 00:27:14.173
Uh, they're less, uh, dangerous.
00:27:14.682 --> 00:27:17.323
Um, and so is the regulation part is really not there.
00:27:17.323 --> 00:27:26.472
I'm opening it as a wellness center, so like, I have one right now, like I can bring as many people as I could through there, but it's, I have a soft chamber and it's not gonna hold up.
00:27:26.472 --> 00:27:31.182
It's not, it wasn't designed to have, uh, that type of traffic going through it.
00:27:31.573 --> 00:27:31.813
Sure.
00:27:32.202 --> 00:27:38.222
I need to get the bigger ones that are made out of metal and I can, I can treat four people at a time depending on what size I get.
00:27:38.252 --> 00:27:40.093
I can get one that can accommodate two people.
00:27:40.678 --> 00:27:41.278
Two at a time.
00:27:42.357 --> 00:27:47.367
And that's really, and so my biggest thing now is just getting the word out, what we're trying to do.
00:27:48.298 --> 00:27:53.097
And like, and other thing is people are telling me like, you need to charge.
00:27:53.157 --> 00:27:55.048
And, but my thing is I don't wanna charge at all.
00:27:55.048 --> 00:27:59.218
Like, this has to be a free service, otherwise people won't come get the service.
00:27:59.907 --> 00:28:01.528
Um, yeah.
00:28:01.528 --> 00:28:02.817
And I, I don't want that.
00:28:02.817 --> 00:28:06.268
And then for me, even for myself, I looked at it like this.
00:28:07.032 --> 00:28:11.292
When I found out this thing was saving my life, now I need one.
00:28:12.012 --> 00:28:18.323
But now I can't afford the medicine, which is the machine I, I literally laid back down on the floor and I was.
00:28:18.932 --> 00:28:23.113
Ah, I was fading away again slowly because I didn't have access to treatment anymore.
00:28:23.712 --> 00:28:28.782
And then my girlfriend was talking to my dad, and the next thing I know, this money shows up in my account.
00:28:29.202 --> 00:28:33.222
My dad saved my butt, you know, he's like, go get that machine.
00:28:33.702 --> 00:28:37.573
And he had been promising, he'd been asking me to for a while and I was like, nah.
00:28:37.573 --> 00:28:40.032
I said, you know, I, I'll figure it out.
00:28:40.032 --> 00:28:42.343
I'll move some things around and I'll eventually get it.
00:28:43.212 --> 00:28:48.133
And, but they saw me fade back out into the abyss and they was like, no, no, no.
00:28:49.198 --> 00:28:50.127
So now I have one.
00:28:50.127 --> 00:28:52.978
And so like I, I just keep my maintenance up on it.
00:28:53.698 --> 00:29:01.678
But the, my only side effect for me is like, if I go 30 days without treatment, I, I go backwards.
00:29:02.758 --> 00:29:06.147
Where a lot of people get permanent treatment, bro, permanent relief.
00:29:07.498 --> 00:29:09.657
For me, it hasn't been, I haven't been that lucky.
00:29:09.657 --> 00:29:14.577
So, um, so yeah, so I now have to maintain it and, um, yeah.
00:29:15.373 --> 00:29:15.732
Okay.
00:29:16.633 --> 00:29:17.232
um.
00:29:17.667 --> 00:29:19.468
I wanna, I mean, I, I love all this.
00:29:19.468 --> 00:29:24.387
I feel like we could talk more and I wanna talk more, but unfortunately we kinda have to cut things short.
00:29:24.387 --> 00:29:29.563
So before we might talk about seeing, getting you back on later and get more into it, but, Yeah.
00:29:30.028 --> 00:29:35.278
what is, like, what's your final piece of advice that you would like to give out there to listeners?
00:29:35.278 --> 00:29:41.577
'cause I know CTE is one of those things that again, yeah, we can't, you can't really diagnose unfortunately,
00:29:42.778 --> 00:29:43.167
Yeah.
00:29:43.532 --> 00:29:44.637
to death, but.
00:29:45.462 --> 00:29:53.472
There are symptoms, like you said, there are just heavy concussion symptoms and things, but so like what one piece of advice would you like to leave our listeners?
00:29:53.682 --> 00:29:54.673
How much time do you have?
00:29:56.053 --> 00:29:57.432
Um, you, you tell us.
00:29:57.432 --> 00:29:59.083
You give it to, we'll give you the time.
00:29:59.143 --> 00:29:59.682
Yes.
00:29:59.803 --> 00:30:07.752
Well, I, I would say, um, if your loved one, because this is the only, your loved one can see this in the people that's suffering.
00:30:07.873 --> 00:30:10.923
No athlete that I've known, including myself, saw it in myself.
00:30:10.923 --> 00:30:12.498
Other people had to point it out, so.
00:30:13.542 --> 00:30:17.472
If your loved one is doing something that's out of the norm, check on them.
00:30:17.833 --> 00:30:18.373
Check on them.
00:30:18.673 --> 00:30:27.972
If you know they were playing, uh, sports work or things, they did something, maybe they just fell down and hit their head, but now they're doing something that's, uh, outta their character.
00:30:28.738 --> 00:30:33.298
Get'em to the hospital, get'em checked out because, um, and a lot of these things are being misdiagnosed.
00:30:33.688 --> 00:30:37.347
And reason why I ask you how much time you have, I, I just barely figured something out the other day.
00:30:37.347 --> 00:30:39.268
This amount, this might sound even crazier.
00:30:39.298 --> 00:30:40.498
My background is mental health.
00:30:41.157 --> 00:30:42.657
I cut my teeth at this place.
00:30:42.867 --> 00:30:47.157
It was the first mental health facility west of the Mississippi River in Stockton, California.
00:30:47.157 --> 00:30:48.748
So I, I saw all the extreme behaviors.
00:30:48.748 --> 00:30:50.458
Everybody flocked there for service, right?
00:30:51.057 --> 00:30:55.857
Um, and so I really know, like all the disorders I've been around them, so.
00:30:57.028 --> 00:30:58.438
Let me uh, slow down just a little bit.
00:30:59.008 --> 00:31:04.887
So I went to watch the Kanye West, um, documentary last week, right?
00:31:05.907 --> 00:31:09.688
And I'm watching this guy and I'm like, that guy's not bipolar.
00:31:10.347 --> 00:31:13.557
I always said that, I always thought he might have been schizophrenic, but I said never bipolar.
00:31:14.188 --> 00:31:18.958
So I'm watching him and then all of a sudden I start doing the math.
00:31:19.468 --> 00:31:22.798
Nobody gets a bipolar diagnosis at 40.
00:31:23.577 --> 00:31:27.748
You get that at 18, 19, 20, it's the one that's gonna kick your butt.
00:31:28.107 --> 00:31:32.337
You might make it to 21, but you're not gonna make it to 40 with that, without that diagnosis.
00:31:32.367 --> 00:31:35.938
'cause you gonna be doing something so bizarre, somebody gonna turn you in.
00:31:35.938 --> 00:31:37.347
It is like, come and get him.
00:31:37.347 --> 00:31:37.948
You know this.
00:31:37.948 --> 00:31:38.577
That's what happens.
00:31:38.907 --> 00:31:43.167
So I did the math and I said, wait a minute, 40.
00:31:43.317 --> 00:31:43.887
No way.
00:31:44.488 --> 00:31:47.667
I said his symptoms and his behavior lines up with CTE.
00:31:48.657 --> 00:31:49.978
I was like, but he is a rapper.
00:31:50.278 --> 00:31:55.048
And then I remember one of his songs, he had a song, he, he raps about getting in a car crash.
00:31:55.048 --> 00:31:57.208
He broke his jaw, his jaw was in the back of his mouth.
00:31:57.688 --> 00:31:59.728
You almost didn't get this contract because of it.
00:32:00.778 --> 00:32:03.567
And I went, oh my God, he's misdiagnosed.
00:32:03.567 --> 00:32:03.928
I bet.
00:32:04.617 --> 00:32:06.867
I said, I bet you this is from his concussion.
00:32:07.048 --> 00:32:08.968
Because, and then I did the math.
00:32:09.073 --> 00:32:12.567
I, I took out a, I came home from the movies and I put on a chart.
00:32:13.873 --> 00:32:16.603
My, my symptom, my crash was in 2002.
00:32:16.813 --> 00:32:18.432
My symptoms kicked in in 2012.
00:32:18.432 --> 00:32:19.153
That's 10 years.
00:32:19.452 --> 00:32:33.883
The next one was another six years, so I did the math and I, I literally picked the year that he had his car crash Without knowing, I said it has to be 2002 or 2000 at the earliest, but around 2002, and my girlfriend looked it up and it) said 2002.
00:32:34.413 --> 00:32:37.962
Booyah!, Yeah! So even with him, oh, our symptoms look like something else.
00:32:37.962 --> 00:32:40.512
It is easy to, for your loved ones, to get misdiagnosed.
00:32:41.682 --> 00:32:46.752
These doctors, trust me, they've, they've always checked my blood, never checked my brain.
00:32:47.173 --> 00:32:51.762
So when your loved one's doing something out the norm, just don't turn your back on them.
00:32:52.063 --> 00:32:54.853
Don't go to sleep at night without getting them some help.
00:32:55.333 --> 00:32:56.292
It's out there.
00:32:56.952 --> 00:33:01.932
And the number one thing, this, this diagnosis, these head injuries,'cause they didn't, they just didn't treat'em.
00:33:02.262 --> 00:33:03.192
They never treated them.
00:33:03.823 --> 00:33:10.063
It's the only injury I've ever had that they said go do nothing usually as a treatment plan.
00:33:10.708 --> 00:33:12.387
So that, that would be my advice.
00:33:13.198 --> 00:33:13.498
Yeah.
00:33:14.653 --> 00:33:15.042
Okay.
00:33:15.042 --> 00:33:16.212
That's, that's good advice.
00:33:16.212 --> 00:33:32.782
And I think we all, I mean, people don't think enough and pay enough(attention) Like I said, some of the sports world, CTE kind of came into the headlight, I would say 10, 15 years ago with that movie, will Smith did, Concussion.
00:33:32.803 --> 00:33:36.252
You know, that was the first time I heard about CTE and.
00:33:36.633 --> 00:33:42.057
you know the NFL quickly tried to shut that movie down and you, that's when you
00:33:42.167 --> 00:33:42.458
Yeah.
00:33:42.567 --> 00:33:47.278
seeing the, the big sports start introducing concussion protocols.
00:33:47.278 --> 00:33:53.488
And I still like, I'm like you, there's a lot that's not done that could be done for the sports world and.
00:33:53.833 --> 00:33:56.413
Concussions and just the general public because mm-hmm.
00:33:56.833 --> 00:33:59.383
Concussions happen so easily that Yeah.
00:33:59.383 --> 00:34:07.333
You don't think about it like, we have so many people with traumatic brain injuries from a car crash, from a bike crash, from getting hit, you know, different things.
00:34:07.333 --> 00:34:07.633
So
00:34:08.108 --> 00:34:08.347
Yeah.
00:34:08.742 --> 00:34:13.722
understand what you're saying and it is a undiagnosed, misdiagnosed.
00:34:14.367 --> 00:34:14.967
Treatment.
00:34:14.967 --> 00:34:24.088
There are things we can do, but um, like I said, we might have to have you back on, talk more about hyperbaric oxygen and costs and how that can help and what that can do.
00:34:24.088 --> 00:34:25.108
But we so much
00:34:25.572 --> 00:34:25.842
Yeah.
00:34:25.985 --> 00:34:28.168
Apprieciate Your time today, your story.
00:34:28.438 --> 00:34:35.128
It's exciting to get to know you and hear about your fun life and we look forward to learning more about you and, Yeah.
00:34:35.128 --> 00:34:36.507
thanks again for coming on.
00:34:36.838 --> 00:34:38.847
Yeah, but please guys, please find our crowdfunding.
00:34:38.907 --> 00:34:41.097
That's the only way we can treat these people for free.
00:34:41.547 --> 00:34:44.487
We wanna start with the athletes and the military, our veterans.
00:34:44.518 --> 00:34:46.887
'cause they're coming back and I, I put a video out one day.
00:34:46.887 --> 00:34:49.858
I told people on the last court day, it's on film.
00:34:49.947 --> 00:34:50.938
You guys can look it up.
00:34:51.268 --> 00:34:53.257
I said, the athletes aren't the ones I'm worried about.
00:34:53.902 --> 00:34:57.713
Our military, they're coming back here with the same injuries and they're trained killers.
00:34:58.072 --> 00:34:59.693
And I put that out in the following week.
00:34:59.693 --> 00:35:02.452
We had a, a military mass shooting in Montana.
00:35:02.842 --> 00:35:06.532
The following week we had one, uh, military guy went on the base and shot some people up.
00:35:06.532 --> 00:35:12.802
And if you saw on last Sunday, uh, one of our veterans went in and shot that church up and burned the other half of it.
00:35:12.802 --> 00:35:14.632
And they're still trying to dig bodies out.
00:35:14.632 --> 00:35:16.853
So guys, we need to treat these guys for free.
00:35:17.003 --> 00:35:18.023
They, they need help.
00:35:18.083 --> 00:35:19.733
They're asking for help, and they're being denied.
00:35:19.733 --> 00:35:20.572
And it's so simple.
00:35:20.572 --> 00:35:21.143
One hour.
00:35:21.472 --> 00:35:26.963
The chamber changed my life, brought me back from crawling on the floor, and uh, I should help a lot of people.
00:35:26.963 --> 00:35:27.293
Help.
00:35:27.353 --> 00:35:29.032
Joe Namath, he's the leader of this thing.
00:35:29.032 --> 00:35:32.182
I don't take the credit, I send it, send it back over there.
00:35:32.182 --> 00:35:32.452
Yeah.
00:35:32.483 --> 00:35:33.172
I love that guy.
00:35:33.172 --> 00:35:34.313
I never met him, but I love him.
00:35:34.373 --> 00:35:35.813
So, yeah.
00:35:35.873 --> 00:35:37.222
So thank you guys for having me.
00:35:37.222 --> 00:35:37.282
Yeah.
00:35:37.682 --> 00:35:37.922
Absolutely.
00:35:37.927 --> 00:35:38.458
Thank you.
00:35:38.547 --> 00:35:45.898
Yeah, and to thanks to all our listeners for listening, and remember, you can find our new episodes on all your favorite platforms.
00:35:45.958 --> 00:35:46.918
Until next time.
00:35:47.728 --> 00:35:48.451
Until next time.
00:35:48.451 --> 00:36:01.650
We hope you've enjoyed listening to bindwaves and continue to support Brain Injury Network in our nonprofit mission, we support brain injury survivors as they reconnect into life, the community, and the workplace.
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:05.971
And we couldn't do that without great listeners like you.
00:36:06.780 --> 00:36:09.181
We appreciate each and every one of you.
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:15.451
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00:36:16.036 --> 00:36:21.585
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00:36:22.456 --> 00:36:37.155
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00:36:38.865 --> 00:36:40.186
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00:36:42.106 --> 00:36:43.186
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