National Limb-loss Limb Difference

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W FOURCY Radio. Well, good
evening, good evening, and welcome to

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another segment of Setting it Straight with
Miss Gray and co host good night,

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good nay, good evening, good
day. How are you guys doing up

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there, Trey? What's all the
way from Virginia? What's happening? Hey,

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I'm doing well, Thank you,
fast and glad. The weather's coming

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up here. Okay, okay,
this is good. This is a good

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pastor. Come on in, hail
us, salute, pray, whatever you

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know. Tell us how you're doing
out here. We're doing well, We're

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doing well. It's Monday and beginning
a new week with a lot of hope

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and a lot of heat. Open
heat, yes, yes, and we're

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not gonna complain. Let's pray.
Father, we just thank you, we

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praise you, We give you glory
for you alonea worthy to be praised and

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thank you. This is the last
Monday in April, Lord, and you're

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just moving right along. Before we
know it will be in summer and we'll

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be back in the fall and the
winter. And here we go. Lord,

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but help us Lord to just make
a new day and accept the new

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day in you and to do what
we are expected to do from the heavenlyes.

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We just thank you and we praise
you. We thank you for our

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beautiful guest tonight. I'll have some
guests tonight and we just thank you,

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Fapa God. But we're your people. We're gonna get behind the cross.

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You do what you do, and
that set your captives free. In Jesus

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name, we pray, Amen and
amen. Well, as you know,

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we got a lot of things going
on this month. This is the last

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Monday in the month. This is
it. And throughout the month we've been

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talking about you know, National Limb
Lass and limb difference. I have my

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occupational therapist on I've had we also
have the library, you know, representative

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from the library to talk about all
the different activities to keep people busy,

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keep you unaware. But tonight is
a very special person and I know he

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is totally going out of his way
to be to join us tonight. Please

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help me welcome mister Ryan Getty of
the Amputee Coalition. Where you at?

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Ryan, yeay hi, thanks so
much for having me. Great to be

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here. Well, thank you so
much for joining us. And again we're

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sorry for your loss. You know, we just ask God to strengthen you

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and to guide you and the family
involved and everything else. We also want

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to just have a moment of silence
for there's another shooting. I think that

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in North Carolina, and then there
was one another one up north. I

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think an officer has succumbed to his
to the shooting. And then there was

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ten people shot at in Sanford recently
here in Sanford, Florida. So we

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just want to do a moment of
silence for that. I don't know why

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people are losing it. I don't
understand it. People of faith, we

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you know, we know that things
are happening in the world. Inflation is

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hitting everybody. I just don't understand
why people are not thinking and thinking twice

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before they do something that they will
live to regret. And it's every day

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now. It's every day now.
So but anyway, this month we celebrate

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or we bring into awareness national limb
laws and limb difference, and there's an

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organization that is hitting it on the
nail. They are in every aspect representing

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this population. I had never heard
of it until I became an amputee and

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I was just looking for support because
it's different thing, you know, when

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you lose a limb and whether you're
aware of it or you're not aware of

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it. And I just happened to
find this organization and they were having an

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online dialogue and I was had my
iPad next to my computer while I was

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listening to them and listening to what
services and then you know, things that

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they offer. And then they're like, yeah, go to our web page.

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We've got a lead advocate certification and
we have some other peer peer visitor

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opportunities. And I'm like, So
while they're talking, I was just looking

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and I was like, oh wow, okay, And so they were just

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asking us a questions on this one
feature of lead advocate and next thing you

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know is it congratulations, you're a
lead advacate. I said, wait a

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minute, wait, I didn't need
it. Oh how did I do that?

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And I love it because I became
a lead advocate, one of the

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lead advocates for Florida, and so
I was like, oh my goodness.

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But I'm not going to out talk
and everything. I want Ryan to share

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his heart and what he feels that. You know, our audience, and

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we do have an audience. They'll
pop in with some questions and things like

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that, and I'll circle back to
make sure we try to answer what we

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can. But Ryan, talk about
the amput Coalition. What is it all

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about and what do you do?
And I'm going to be quiet. Well,

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First of all, the Amputee Coalition
is a national organization representing the limb

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loss and limbed difference population, of
which I am a member of. We're

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federally funded and privately funded, and
we're you know, in part by both.

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We receive a grant from the Administration
for a Community Living to operate the

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National Limb Loss Resource Center, which
provides resources for people living with one loss

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and the different So that's the very
high level view of what the Amputi Coalition

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is. And we provide services including
support groups and advocacy training for people living

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with loss and the difference. What
I do is my official title is Senior

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Grassroots Advocacy Specialists, So a lot
of what I do is organizing people.

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I attend meetings with lawmakers and other
elected officials, and I just try and

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make sure that the needs of the
LEN loss and LON difference population are being

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met. At the governmental level.
He does a lot. He does a

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lot. He's being very humble,
but he does a lot, and he

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has the pulse of government and issues
nationally that we need to be aware of.

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Because unless you're a part of this
world is you know, you would

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not know of what the needs are. You wouldn't know really where to start,

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you know. I mean, it's
just so many things. And I

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love it because they are open as
a group to our ideas, what's going

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on, what are our needs per
state, per city. They are aware

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and they listen, and I'm just
so glad that they've got several streams of

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communication that we are as amputees can
be a part of. Whether it's about

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the conference and last year they had
their national conference here in Orlando during the

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week of my birthday. But I
said, I have to be there because

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it's happening in my city. I
got to be there, and I mean

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to walk in and to see so
many people and the companies we had vendors

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that were just remarkable and just networking
and you didn't feel out of place.

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I did not feel My occupational therapist
attended also, and she paid for on

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her own, took her own time
off, and went to several of the

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workshops and things like that, and
I'm just it's just it was remarkable,

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Ryan, how many people attended those
three or four days that you guys were

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here. Do you have an estimated
number or guests? I'm not sure off

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the top of my head. Several
hundred, for sure. I know I

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can't give you an exact number off
the top of my head, but several

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hundred just thinking about who was at
the who was at the big general meetings,

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certainly a large portion of whom were
members of the Len Loss of the

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Difference community, which we were really
happy with. They were happy and we

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were getting answers. The workshops I
went to, it was just amazing.

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And I got the host name of
the one that I went to. But

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she also had lost, yes,
similar losses like myself. So she brought

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in a lot of her prosthetics that
I didn't even know. Some of the

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pieces I didn't know existed. So
I was taking pictures of this and talking

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to my ot as well, and
I was like, I got to tell

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my prosthetic folks, you know,
why didn't I Why didn't you refer this

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to me? You know? And
I know, you know she was from

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up north, but it's like,
Okay, this does exist, you know,

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so it can help me, you
know, with my independence as well.

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So but yeah, I it was
remarkable and everybody was friending. Nobody

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had an attitude, and everybody was
just nice. They were just trying to

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help. It was. It was
just well attended and just nice people,

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just really humble folks. And they
were from all over I think I have.

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We had a was a part of
my group. That was the parents,

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the sister and the young man who
just experienced limb laws and they this

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is the first time they ever attended
anything, like they heard about it,

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and they came from Canada. They
flew in from Canada. And the dad

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was sitting there just really like,
oh my god, all of these people.

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You can look at his body language, and I said, you know,

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we're not going to bite right,
you know, and he relaxed.

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He said, I'm sorry, he
said, I'm grieving and I'm angry,

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but I'm trying to learn. I
had to come. I mean, he

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just had so many emotions all over
the place. And we were looking at

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his son's you know, prosthetics,
and the son was asking questions and stuff.

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They finally just relaxed. I saw
them later. They were smiling.

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They were happy, you really took
good care of us. You're planning and

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I believe you guys are heading to
Atlanta this year, so I wish you

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all well. But that that's right. I was once in martial arts back

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in my college days, and I
always said I wanted to get my black

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belt in Taichi and before this happened
to me. And so of course,

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while I'm going through this, I'm
like, well, there goes that.

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Well, you had not only taekwondo
degree black belt representative vendor at the conference,

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but she's she's not even too far
from me. She's in the next

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city over. And I'm like,
oh my god. And we took pictures

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that she was showing her self defense
and I'm like, I mean, I

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don't I can't speak for anybody else, but I can speak for myself.

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You all don't realize by choosing the
right people to come and to talk to

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us, how much you answered some
dreams, some hopes that most of us

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would think we would not have,
you know, be able to achieve.

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So I can only speak for myself. I'll be going. I'm on her

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Facebook page and we've been talking back
and forth and stuff like that. She's

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a nonprofit. She helps a lot
of disabled people and things like that.

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So I'm gonna go visit her and
talk a little bit more. Now,

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I'm a little biased with taekwondo folk. I studied Nisi gojiu hard karate,

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you know, and I used to
pick at people who took Type Quart and

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Dell because they were just hands and
feet. But you know, hey,

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if I could get to my dream
and get a black belt in something,

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I'm gonna feel really good. And
I feel very comfortable with Michelle. She

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since Michelle. She's very nice and
very understanding. All right, guys,

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don't let you Now you know,
I'm a social worker. I cannot talk

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to anybody, so I don't.
I don't want I want you to talk

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to riot ask them some questions and
things like that or anything else, Ryan,

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you feel that our audience need to
know. Like I said, we're

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on one hundred platforms. I did
put it out in the coalition thread that

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you would be on tonight. So
anything you know, please feel free to

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you know, say what's on your
heart and everything. Yeah. Well,

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again, I'm just really happy to
be here and have this opportunity to speak

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with you all. As as we've
discussed this is that we're coming up on

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the end of lem Loss and the
Difference Awareness Months, which has been very

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successful this year, thanks to all
the community members out there that have helped

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us with the proclamation campaign, especially, which is something that I've been involved

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in organizing. We've gotten governors and
I think twenty eight different states, so

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you know, more than half across
the country to sign a proclamation recognizing April

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as LOM Loss and Love Difference Awareness
Month, which has been an incredible boon

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for our advocacy efforts across the nation. It's really important for the advocates not

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only as a morale boosting thing to
see that the community is visible to people

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in power, but also it lends
significant weight to people around the country trying

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to get legislation passed to the benefit
of the lond loss and love difference community,

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and it lends the governor's voice to
the community. I would also encourage

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everybody listening to research the So Everybody
Can Move campaign. That's something that we're

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involved in at the Amplitue Coalition.
That is a movement, a nationwide movement

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with chapters in states all over to
try have physical activity oriented prosthetics and orthotics

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covered by insurance to make sure you
want to move the way you want to

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move, that insurance is not going
to stand in your way. So I

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guess that's what I'll say, and
I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone

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has or talk about whatever you'd like
me to talk about. Okay, guys,

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jump on in. Please, thank
you, Thank Country Country Sea coming

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in. As you mentioned, Ryan, that you touched on a topic that

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I'm very involved in, and that's
in the insurance world, and not only

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insurance for people under sixty five,
but also individuals who are sixty five and

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over with medicare. What would be
some of the what would be some of

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the guidance to help individuals when they're
faced like, for example, somebody on

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medicare who is facing an amputation due
to diabetes, what would what would be

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a route that they can take so
they can be able to get the support

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that they need and be able to, you know, understand that their fate

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that they face with an amputation,
and what would be something or what would

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be a good direction that they can
take so they can be able to overcome

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the fact that they had an amputation. Right. Well, I'll cave at

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this at the beginning with the fact
that I am not a medical professional,

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so I can't give you any you
know, official advice on that beyond my

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own personal experience living with an amputation. But I can say, uh,

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the probably the number one thing that
I would suggest is to get involved with

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a support group. If you are
just facing itation as an adult, or

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if you're the parent of a child
with an amputation or limb difference, to

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get involved with the support group or
just a group of people. It doesn't

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have to be a support group necessarily. Whenever I was young, I was

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involved with a lot of adaptive athletics, and I think that served the same

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role in my life that a support
group often does for people who are living

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with limb loss. As adults,
I'll say, so that's the first thing

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i'd say, if you're facing an
amputation, get involved with the support group.

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That's something that we're trying to expand
across the country through the Amputee Coalition

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with our support groups that we work
with in our hospital Partnership program, so

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that way medical professionals always have the
information they need to communicate with people that

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are facing imputation. Additionally, I
would say that once you have once you

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are living with limb loss, once
you've actually had your imputation, one thing

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that's really important to do is to
keep track of all the things that you

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would like to be able to do
post amputation, the things that you did

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for fun, the things that you
did around the house before you had your

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amputation, Because whenever they're asking you
about what kind of device you may need,

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about the kind of care that you
may need, they're going to want

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to know about the activities that you
do on a daily basis. They're going

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to want to know about the level
of activity you were at before your amputation,

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because that's what they're going to use
to judge what kind of care you

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need to get you back to that
level if possible, And I see a

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lot of people really underestimating the amount
of activity that they engage in on a

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daily level, on a daily basis
because it's so normal to them. But

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for instance, if you're playing with
your kids, that's an active activity for

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a lot of people. If you're
cleaning the house, that's an active activity

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for a lot of people, mowing
the lawn, all of these things that

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people don't even really consider as as
a physical activity that you're engaging in really

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is important to mention to your doctor
post amputation, whenever you're talking about your

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future care and the things that you
want to continue to be able to do.

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That was great and you landed right
on that. Go ahead, past

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her. I'll thank you, I'll
finish. Thank you. I just wanted

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to say thank you. Yeah,
because my prosthetic company, the main person

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with Stephanie, who's I've been in
contact with over four years now going on

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five years, and the owner was
listening in the interview as she was assessing

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me, and he went on to
make me a cosmetic arm as well for

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my left arm in hand because he
heard me I was acting. I was

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an actor. I was in an
Oprah Winfrey's movie. When this you know

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when this happened to me and when
I went into the hospital, and so

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he's like, well, I've got
a prosthetic hand for you, I got

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for my right hand, I got
a prosthetic arm for your left hand,

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a cosmetic one and a functioning.
And I'm like, oh, okay,

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Well, I was already ready to
give up. I'm not you know,

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I'm gonna call my agents and let
them know I'm not going to be returning,

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you know, and things like that. And then I happen to go

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on my agent's website and I looked
at my profile. They've added prosthetic prosthetics

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to their profile, so I could
check off if you have a hand,

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if you have to have prosthetic toes, and I mean, it's a whole

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little section there, and I'm like, oh, wow, okay, did

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you say you would be acceptable for
people in every state? This would be

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acceptable? I don't know what you
mean a country. See, anybody can

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answer that it would be acceptable.
Could you expand upon that question a little

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bit? Do they mean accessible?
Maybe? Oh, the coalition itself if

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they're talking about the coalition, Yes, it's nationwide. It is nationwide.

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That's what they Okay, thank you, Trey, thank you, but yeah,

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it's the assessment is very important,
so you know, oh yes,

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thank oh, missy. I'm sorry, thank you, hey, missy.

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The assessment is very important. Don't
hold back. This is what I used

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to do. This is what I
used to do, This is who I

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was, and they will listen to
you and then you go from there.

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But the biggest fight I think while
I was at the conference was the lack

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of insurance coverage for most people.
They were talking about the insurance. They

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were just trying a few people.
Even when we were talking about relocating to

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another state, that was you know, providing better coverage, you know,

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offering insurances that you know, services
and things like that. They were really

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serious about that because they're like,
what am I to do? So a

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lot of depression formed around that because
they don't have the coverage they have to.

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They only have six weeks of OT
and PT and and that's it,

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you know, and our parts.
When I was explaining about my prosthetics,

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every year, I go in for
an annual you know, tune up every

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year. It's then my life plan, and then every five years I can

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get a new prosthetic, you know, for my Olympic arm and come to

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find out, the sensors in my
Olympic arm were from the sixties, nineteen

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sixties. So then we just found
out there's new sensors that are ten years

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old. So I went back to
my you know, my hand surgeon,

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and he wrote out the script,
she needs this updated. So I got

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new censors in my arm. And
it's a totally new training that I had

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to go back to OT for,
you know. So it's this is a

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whole it's it's really involved. You
have to know what to ask for,

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and nothing's crazy. You know,
you prayed that you got a great team.

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And my prosthetic team and my foot
surgeon and my arm, my hand

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surgeon, they're part of my new
family. They call and check up is

285
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everything you need. You know,
are you doing good? It's time for

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you to come in for your tune
up, you know. But not everybody

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is fortunate for that. So this
is this is a whole different. Like

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I've shared on the show earlier that
being a therapist and being a social worker,

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I've never encountered anybody that had prosthetics. You know. That was Ampte

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the person that did. I remember
one coming in many years ago and he

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had an alcohol problem. We had
to get into detox. I didn't even

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have time to really ask. I
don't know what came first, you know,

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did the impute or did the drinking? You know, I didn't get

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a chance. I'm trying to get
into detox so we can dry them out

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and let's see what your needs are. So anything else, guys, come

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on, let's talk audience. Misty
country seat ask us some questions. Well,

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I think the question I have is, you know me, with the

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mental health feacet, are there any
provisions or that the insurance company will allow

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for therapy, especially after losing a
limb or you know, because like saying,

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the depression and you know how people
feel after that from going to being

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this way to now going to be
in another way, you know, a

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new normal. Is there something or
extra provisions because I'm not sure what the

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insurance coverages are for medicare. I'm
used to working like with people with the

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medicaid industry that has a different and
maybe it's even the same when it comes

305
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to uh, you know, amputy
or limb laws. So I'm not quite

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sure how that will work. But
you know me, I'm always thinking about

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how people feel and how they're navigating
so that they don't fall into a depression.

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Right. Well, unfortunately, there
isn't one simple answer to that,

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and and really the answer is is
that it depends on the state that you

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live in. If you're dealing with
the government programs, and it depends on

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that, you know, if you
if you have private insurance, it depends

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on the private insurance you have.
Right. So yeah, I mean,

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I'll say I'm I'm not aware of
specific insurance provisions that allow for therapy speci

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typically for after you lose a limb. Doesn't mean they're not they are.

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I'm just unaware of the specifics with
that. But so, but you know,

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it's just going to depend on your
state. You know, some state

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plans are going to be more expansive
than others and that are going to allow

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for you to have therapy after a
traumatic event, and and some are going

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to be much more restrictive. That's
it's going to be kind of a state

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by state basis. If you're trying
to find information on that, I can

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absolutely get you connected with one of
our patient navigators if you have a question

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about and this is you know,
to anybody out there, if you have

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a question about your individual circumstance,
we can get you connected to one of

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our patient navigators at the Amptanity Commotion
who can get you connected to the resources

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either through your insurance or or otherwise. Now, i will say Tray of

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one of the big components of the
marketplace or Obamacare was that mental health was

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something that had to be covered.
And it sounds like from what you were

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asking, when someone goes through such
a traumatic experience like that, there will

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be some resources in regards to the
benefits. And again it's also dependent on

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the plan and what they're offering.
And then when it comes to Medicare,

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they do have a mental health also
benefit to help individuals face what they've gone

332
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through and they can be able to
reach out to speak to somebody in that

333
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aspect. So the laws of twenty
twenty I'm sorry if twenty fourteen really was

334
00:27:53.480 --> 00:28:00.000
one of the things that helped out
for individuals that when they're facing mental challenge

335
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.039
blenges and then and they need to
go through therapy, that had to be

336
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:10.920
something that needed to be covered,
and they and the government really addressed that

337
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:18.640
issue. Because of what you mentioned. Gooding back, do they have a

338
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:23.400
use prosthetics that could help the people
who don't have insurance. When people trade

339
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:26.480
up their older pieces could be cleaned
up and given to someone in need.

340
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Does it work that way? Well, let me go back Country Sea for

341
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:36.799
the other question. When when should
a process start? I knew enough,

342
00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:38.920
when would the paperwork process start in
order to get things of misty? I'm

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00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:44.680
sorry, I'm sorry for me,
and I think I've shared this on the

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show. I just knew being a
social worker. That's the one thing I

345
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:52.799
asked of my discharge planner. And
I asked for somebody with a master's in

346
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:56.000
social work. And that was the
third thing I asked her for. I

347
00:28:56.039 --> 00:29:00.640
need you to apply for disability for
me. But before I lost my limbs.

348
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:03.119
But you know, my fingers and
my toes became necrotic in my hand,

349
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and so I knew whatever's gonna happen, I was not going to return

350
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to the life style I had.
And I told her, I said,

351
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:14.720
I need you to apply for disability
for me, and you get all the

352
00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:18.079
signatures there was there and they already
said that this was an inroad for me.

353
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:22.079
She was, I'm going to lose
all of my limb I'm gonna lose,

354
00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:26.160
you know, lose my fingers and
my toes and my hand. So

355
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:30.960
that was already going into the paperwork. So and I've shared with you all

356
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:34.920
that my story is different because this
was not something. I was not diabetic,

357
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.119
I was not a smoker, I
wasn't a drinker. I didn't have

358
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health issues. I just went to
the hospital one night with the stomach ache

359
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and my life changed after that.
So if you're already you know, having

360
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:56.240
the symptoms or the diagnosis of diabetes
or cardiac cardioc cardiac issues and things like

361
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that, there's a conversation your doctors
are already having with you that if we

362
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don't get this done, you know, this could happen, and that that

363
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that's the conversation I did not have
because I didn't have those health issues.

364
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So I would say, as soon
as you know that you're about to go

365
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through a life altering experience, you
need to have some conversation going and get

366
00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:22.519
your you know, practitioners ready to
assist you with that if that's the route

367
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:29.799
that if they're talking about that being
a part of your your journey, country

368
00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.359
seat, what was the other question
you asked about? Oh, Now that's

369
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:42.119
funny because do they use. Yeah. I called every UH, a company

370
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:51.279
that handles used medical equipment because I
had a different type of walker. I

371
00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:59.079
had UH a boot for my left
leg because of my toes, and they

372
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.519
wouldn't. Since COVID, they won't
accept stuff like that. I think prior

373
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:07.119
to twenty twenty they did, but
now they don't. It's you know,

374
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so some of the things I just
had to like put outside and hopefully somebody

375
00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:18.799
got it. But most of the
time they don't say we recycle those things.

376
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:22.720
It needs to be retrofitted. And
there's a whole process you go through

377
00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.480
just to be fitted. Whether it's
your hand, whether it's your foot,

378
00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:33.480
it's your arm, it's a whole
big it's a whole thing. So not

379
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:37.759
to my knowledge, and country Sea
there was another question, the people need

380
00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:40.559
insurance. Tradit oll the pieces could
be cleaned up and given to somebody,

381
00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:42.880
and it doesn't work that way,
not to my knowledge. Now I could

382
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:45.759
be wrong, but to my knowledge, no, would it be a good

383
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.759
idea to talk with the social worker
before things move forward? Oh yes,

384
00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:52.400
missy, if you if your doctor
has already said, you know what if

385
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.920
this doesn't stop, this could happen, you know, especially when it comes

386
00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:01.880
to amputation. You need to be
talking to somebody now, you need to

387
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:06.759
be talking to somebody and trying to
walk that out and see what okay,

388
00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:10.319
and see if my insurance covers what
do they cover? I went on disability,

389
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:19.400
and I went on Medicare disability though
I am I think I did.

390
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:24.200
I think I did qualify for Medicaid
briefly, but I went straight to a

391
00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:30.920
disability Medicare because of my age and
everything. And they have been they and

392
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:37.319
there's another process that's out there that
takes care of all of this. For

393
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:39.799
me, I had to have a
life plan. A life planner came to

394
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:45.799
the house to interview me and ask
me, who were you, what did

395
00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:49.359
you do before? What were you
involved in? And I looked at the

396
00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:52.200
plan that she typed up, and
she included all of that, who I

397
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.720
used to be, what I used
to do, all my activities and everything,

398
00:32:57.319 --> 00:33:00.559
and based on that, she said, these are the things that she

399
00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:07.559
will need for the rest of her
life. So it's it's in. Everybody's

400
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:10.119
situation is different. That's one thing. I mean, you know, listening

401
00:33:10.119 --> 00:33:15.559
to the folks at the conference,
everybody's story is different. Do you feel

402
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:21.799
that there are enough programs out there
for people to get help. Ryan take

403
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:24.440
that one, and then pastor you
also, and then I'll come back like

404
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:34.160
later. Well, I can say, you know, there's always more work

405
00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:39.440
to do, I think is the
appropriate answer there. Certainly, we we

406
00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:45.279
do our best at the NPT Coalition
to provide services for as many people as

407
00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:55.920
possible. One of the problems that
exists is a lack of data that exists

408
00:33:55.960 --> 00:34:00.079
for the limb loss and one difference
population in the United States. This is

409
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:05.279
something that we've been trying to remedy
at the Emputy Coalition. Speaking to my

410
00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:10.760
role in government relations, we were
working with Congress to get a study done

411
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:17.480
on the number of people living with
limb loss and one difference in the United

412
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:22.760
States, and then also commissioning our
own study on the number of people living

413
00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:25.480
with one loss and the different to
the United States. So, to answer

414
00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:30.719
the question more directly, no,
I mean, obviously people are still suffering.

415
00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:37.480
There's more work to be done,
but it takes people like average community

416
00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:43.039
members setting up support groups, working
with organizations like the Imputy Coalition or other

417
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:45.440
organizations out there as well. I
don't want to, you know, monopolize

418
00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:53.519
the community that way, but working
to help each other where the system won't

419
00:34:53.800 --> 00:35:00.800
or has not has not provided what
is needed. So I would say,

420
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:07.880
no, there's not, but everyone
should uh work as hard as they can

421
00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:12.199
to lift each other up. That's
what we're trying to do with the coalition.

422
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:16.039
And I know there's a lot of
passionate community advocates out here, like

423
00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:22.039
like the folks hosting this program that
are working to fill out and you can

424
00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.239
do it too. Thank you,
Thank you Ryan for for reading my mind

425
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:27.840
because that was going to be one
of my questions that I was going to

426
00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:35.239
ask, is what type of challenges
that you you face with with your role

427
00:35:35.320 --> 00:35:39.199
that you're that that you are working
in and and I and I kind of

428
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:45.880
want to ask because it's a very
unique title grass roots. When you know,

429
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:51.559
when we hear grassroots, we hear
we we think of door knocking and

430
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:58.079
and and people uh knocking on doors
to to to increase awareness. Exactly how

431
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:05.280
does grass roots work into your title? So grassroots advocacy is for me,

432
00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:10.519
if you've ever gotten an email from
the Ampute Coalition asking you to email your

433
00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:15.320
congressman or make a phone call or
write a letter, Uh, you know

434
00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:19.320
that very well may have been for
me. I do a lot of targeted

435
00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:25.000
uh targeted things whenever we're trying to
convince a legislator of something. UH,

436
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:28.800
you know, that's that's what I
do. I try and mobilize people in

437
00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:34.039
the district two to reach out average
people that are that are on our mailing

438
00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:36.800
lists, that are connected with the
Ampute Coalition in one way or another,

439
00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:43.199
to reach out to their elected representatives
and uh and and let them know that

440
00:36:43.280 --> 00:36:49.320
the limb loss and them difference community
is important and needs representation. So UH

441
00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:55.840
that that's how the grassroots title works
into to what I do on a day

442
00:36:55.840 --> 00:37:05.159
to day basis just mobilizing average people
to their voices heard in government. Last

443
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:09.679
summer I attended my oldest son went
with me the hurricane preparedness. How many

444
00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:14.679
times through life does people have to
reevaluate to see the changes and upgrades people

445
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:17.039
need. I'll talk about that in
a minute. Country see, because it's

446
00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:22.039
ongoing, it's going to be My
life plan is literally for the rest of

447
00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:27.880
my life, and I'm covered that
way. But I wanted to add a

448
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:31.480
share that last summer I went,
it was like May June, and I

449
00:37:31.559 --> 00:37:37.000
happened to see one of our mayors
there and I took a picture with them

450
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:39.039
and everything, and the Lord prompted
me to go talk to him. I

451
00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:42.920
said, I'm not sure if you
are aware. I know you've got a

452
00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:45.559
lot of things on your plate,
but we have the amputeue Coalition and I

453
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:49.639
didn't have any of my prosthetics on
me so he could tell. He said,

454
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:52.119
I'm never I didn't know. I
said, well, they're coming to

455
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:54.280
our town. We got company coming. He's like really, I said,

456
00:37:54.280 --> 00:37:58.440
could you write a letter just to
welcome? He said, yeah, get

457
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:00.360
in touch at my office of them. What you need. He said,

458
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:04.920
I will keep this in my mind
and I'll look for that request. I

459
00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:07.159
said, thank you. We have
two mayors here, Welfa County, Walfa

460
00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:09.599
City. So I said, well, if he could do it, let

461
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:13.559
me contact, you know, my
other mayor. And I just did it

462
00:38:13.559 --> 00:38:15.320
and he's got a whole template.
All you have to do is put in

463
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:19.800
the information, the date, the
name of the organization, click, click

464
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:22.039
and submit. Next thing I know, they let me know it's on its

465
00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:25.639
way, and I got them.
I found Ryan and I had never met

466
00:38:25.719 --> 00:38:29.920
Ryan, but I was like,
where's Ran. I want to see Ryan?

467
00:38:29.960 --> 00:38:31.199
And can I help. You know, I want to see Ryan please,

468
00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:36.119
and I want to place these these
two proclamations in you know, two

469
00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:39.519
welcome letters rather in his hand.
So I have a mayor that had no

470
00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:45.480
idea and the other mayor didn't either
that there was such a thing as an

471
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:50.960
Amputique coalition. And then they're gonna
be in our city for four days,

472
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.639
three days, four days. So
that was awareness. I'm going to go

473
00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:59.440
back to both of them and talk
their to their project managing people and say,

474
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:04.719
okay, I need you now that
you know we have a huge population

475
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:08.679
here in central Florida. What can
you offer to do? Now? Can

476
00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:13.760
you set some monies aside? Now
we're gonna need some support groups. We'll

477
00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:15.679
get a survey out there to you, you know, different things like that,

478
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:21.079
because people like to hear from other
people. So you know that we

479
00:39:21.159 --> 00:39:24.039
start That's what we do. We
start right there where we're at, with

480
00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:29.039
what we do have or who we
have access to, and we try to

481
00:39:29.079 --> 00:39:34.960
get things going country. See what
was your question again? How many times

482
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:38.639
do life do people? Does people? Does someone have to get re evaluated?

483
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:45.000
See, I'm telling you the one
thing that was concerning oh we got

484
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.800
only got five minutes. Where'd the
time go? It was just seven twenty

485
00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:52.960
six. Oh my goodness. This
always happens. My prosthetic folks are very

486
00:39:53.000 --> 00:40:00.320
concerned about whether I'm if I'm losing
weight in my arm or you know,

487
00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:04.199
this whole piece here and I'm working
out and everything, so they're prepared.

488
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:07.239
They're always asking to be bringing your
cosmetic arm. Let's see how that's looking.

489
00:40:07.719 --> 00:40:12.079
Because my hand that they had put
on there looked like a child's hand

490
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:15.119
and my my prosthetic person said,
no, I'm not going to know.

491
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:20.280
I'm turning it back in. Can
anyone write these letters or do you have

492
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:30.719
to be in the community right write
these letters for support or services? I

493
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:37.079
guess maybe for governmental assistance like we
have this here. Anybody anybody can get

494
00:40:37.159 --> 00:40:42.039
involved with that. And actually your
story about you know, your continuing relationship

495
00:40:42.119 --> 00:40:45.119
with the with the mayors is a
perfect example of what we train people to

496
00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:50.320
do at the Empty Coalition. With
our government relations program, we really encourage

497
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:53.480
people to not reach out just once, but to continue to reach out and

498
00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:58.440
build that relationship with the office so
that way they know you. You can

499
00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:05.079
build some kind of uh cache with
with the office so they know who you

500
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:10.559
are, they know that your input
is is intelligent and reasonable, and they

501
00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:15.119
are more likely to listen to what
you have to say. So building that

502
00:41:15.239 --> 00:41:22.079
relationship with with elected officials is a
really, really great way to make your

503
00:41:22.159 --> 00:41:25.880
voice heard for anything. And that's
what we encourage people to do for for

504
00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:30.559
them loss and the different advocacy.
So anybody can do it. There's plenty

505
00:41:30.599 --> 00:41:36.719
of resources on our website and you
know, I'd be more than happy to

506
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:39.320
help anybody out with that. You
can find my email on the on the

507
00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:45.199
website as well. Yeah, so
everybody in the audience please go to the

508
00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:52.440
Ampute Coalition and and take a look
at all the services and activities they offer

509
00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:54.639
and everything. And then, like
Ryan said, he's there, he will

510
00:41:54.639 --> 00:41:59.599
get right back to You'll get back
to you and and you'll make sure he

511
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:02.840
stands exactly what your question is so
he can give you point you in the

512
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:07.000
right direction and everything. He's excellent
with that. And there are other folks

513
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.079
too that are a part of that
that I've had to reach out to and

514
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:13.760
he'll very gently say, no,
what you know, you may need to

515
00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:15.800
talk to this person. And then
I go to that person and they're very

516
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:20.880
welcoming and everything. But yeah,
Country Sea things. Should we mention this

517
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:28.480
show? You could? You could
and say hey we met Ryan Getty and

518
00:42:29.320 --> 00:42:31.280
just say his name. They'll know
who he is. Okay, they will

519
00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:37.920
know and they're like, oh okay, but yeah, So as far as

520
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:43.599
retrofitting your size and everything, you
know, your body changes. You know,

521
00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:46.360
you can gain weight, you can
lose weight, and everything changes.

522
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:52.159
So I've had some pieces that I
had to for my fingers that for you

523
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:55.360
know, my right hand that had
to go back because they had to move

524
00:42:55.800 --> 00:43:00.920
different things around, and that whole
world of who old stuff and it's just

525
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:07.400
amazing, uh to see that so
and and to be a part of that.

526
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:10.679
And it's a whole little world.
It's a whole community, and we

527
00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:15.800
know what we're saying. We're asking
the questions, and even if we're not

528
00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:20.000
quite sure, there's always someone to
say, well do you mean this this

529
00:43:20.079 --> 00:43:24.719
way? Do you mean this this
way? You know? But yeah,

530
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.320
I think this is great and guys, thank you all for asking these questions.

531
00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:32.679
But please go on to you know, Amputy Coalition website and just say

532
00:43:32.679 --> 00:43:37.480
hey, we heard about we heard
right in mister Getty talking about some things.

533
00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:40.880
So we want to get involved.
We want to help whether you're a

534
00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:45.280
part of that, you know,
whether you're actually an amputea or not.

535
00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:49.639
But we want to you know,
support this group in our cities because I've

536
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:52.320
got folks from Louisiana, I've got
folks from Texas, I've got folks you

537
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:59.559
know here in Florida, Virginia,
you know, so we're kind of spread

538
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:02.000
out. And then we've got a
great audience that comes back behind the scenes

539
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:06.880
and re listens to the posts.
And like I said, we're on one

540
00:44:06.920 --> 00:44:09.800
hundred you know, platforms, so
we're out there pretty much and pretty well

541
00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:19.039
so but I'm just glad that we
could have this conversation. And again,

542
00:44:19.199 --> 00:44:23.079
I didn't even know this world existed
until I had to become a part of

543
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:28.960
it, and I was I'm going
to ask questions, and I'm going to

544
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:30.599
say, where does this, who's
doing this? What's doing you know?

545
00:44:31.159 --> 00:44:35.599
And count you know, you've met
some I mean, you need some good

546
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:38.480
people and they stay in touch.
I have a few people on the thread

547
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:42.440
that I said, give me a
call, you know, because I didn't

548
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:45.400
want to get, you know,
get too involved with the thread because they

549
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:50.199
were asking some personal things and if
they've actually called me and I've actually talked

550
00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:53.000
to them about resources and how to
a conversation you need to have with your

551
00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:58.079
practitioners and things like that. So
that's been rewarding. You know, we

552
00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:00.760
took it off the thread and you
know, they they you know, they've

553
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:04.840
emailed me back and say, hey, can you talk and stuff like that.

554
00:45:05.079 --> 00:45:08.719
So anything else, guys, you
all want to any closing remarks,

555
00:45:08.840 --> 00:45:14.480
Ryan, if you would, we
only have four more minutes, but anything

556
00:45:14.519 --> 00:45:19.559
you want to add please, Well, I'll just say thank you again so

557
00:45:19.679 --> 00:45:22.800
much for having me on. It's
been a pleasure to speak with you all

558
00:45:22.840 --> 00:45:27.239
about the EMPTT Coalition and and you
know my small role uh in in the

559
00:45:27.239 --> 00:45:31.559
movement uh for for disability rights and
for working for the limblocks and the difference

560
00:45:31.559 --> 00:45:37.480
population. It's a it's a great
thing. I hope. I hope to

561
00:45:37.519 --> 00:45:39.920
see any of you reaching out.
I'm more than happy to get you connected.

562
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:47.559
There's always work to do, uh, But keep fighting, keep spirits

563
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:53.000
high, you know, I think
that's that's an important thing. And work

564
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:58.880
with others. Uh. You know, nobody likes to to fight alone for

565
00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:02.360
the things that they need, so
getting connected with others is a really important

566
00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:07.480
thing. Well, Ryan, I
just want to say thank you. You

567
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:13.079
seem to be a very you seem
to be a young man who has faced

568
00:46:13.320 --> 00:46:19.239
a challenge and you've taken that challenge
and make it made it into an opportunity.

569
00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:25.559
And you've really increased the awareness.
You're showing that you're not letting obstacles

570
00:46:25.599 --> 00:46:32.880
stop you and you're really walking a
mile in regards to helping those who are

571
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:39.559
not knowing where to go. And
you are definitely that beacon of light that

572
00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:45.480
some people need to see and see
how you're advocating for them. So if

573
00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:51.440
you don't hear thank you, I
want to make sure you get thanks the

574
00:46:51.519 --> 00:46:54.960
thank you that you deserve. Well, thank you so much. That's very

575
00:46:55.079 --> 00:47:00.360
kind of you to say, Mickey, you have to. I think the

576
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:05.639
first thing I would say to somebody
is you have to find your new normal.

577
00:47:07.079 --> 00:47:08.519
And I just wrote that on one
of the threads. Find your new

578
00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:14.159
normal. Figure it out. It
takes a minute. It takes a minute

579
00:47:14.280 --> 00:47:19.960
because you look at where you were
prior to so encourage them. This is

580
00:47:19.960 --> 00:47:24.639
a new normal. Everybody's situation is
different. Get your and you're gonna have

581
00:47:24.639 --> 00:47:30.679
to embrace your your surgeons and your
prosthetic folk. You need to embrace them

582
00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:35.639
and let them know what you what
your needs are, because they can't read

583
00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:42.119
our minds. They cannot read our
minds, so I would that's one thing

584
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:45.039
I had, you know, when
COVID hit during this time, everybody's like,

585
00:47:45.119 --> 00:47:49.039
oh, you know, they're fussing
about oh this new normal is new

586
00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:51.719
normal, And I'm like, that
is so funny because I have a new

587
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:54.119
normal every day. I've been having
a new normal every day since I woke

588
00:47:54.199 --> 00:48:00.559
up out of the coma in twenty
eighteen while being in the hospital, So

589
00:48:00.920 --> 00:48:04.079
I you know you and to this
day, you know, I'm like,

590
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:07.199
I'm listening to my body. I'm
walking. My daughter was funny, I

591
00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:09.000
think it was my daughter. Yeah, it was my daughter. The other

592
00:48:09.079 --> 00:48:12.039
day. She goes mine, you're
walking kind of fast, you know,

593
00:48:12.079 --> 00:48:13.880
and I was like, yeah,
I'm just trying to get across the street

594
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:15.599
because you know, I don't know
if anybody can see me. You know,

595
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:19.679
I'm just trying to get to where
I got to go. But I

596
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:23.519
was determined. I'm working with a
trainer now who's never worked with somebody who's

597
00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:29.000
an amputee, so he's being taught
something. He's listening to me and he's

598
00:48:29.079 --> 00:48:31.840
watching and he's like, Okay,
he did a great assessment for me.

599
00:48:32.199 --> 00:48:36.440
But I have to you have to
let these people in, you know.

600
00:48:36.880 --> 00:48:40.039
And my social worker who came to
my room, she introduced herself. She

601
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:43.039
goes, I'm gonna have to get
in your business, and I said,

602
00:48:43.360 --> 00:48:46.320
I said to her, I'm gonna
have to let you. So we have

603
00:48:46.440 --> 00:48:50.119
to spend that. I have to
let you, you know, and make

604
00:48:50.159 --> 00:48:52.800
sure you got the Masters to social
work. Okay, that's our time.

605
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:55.960
Thank you all again. We're gonna
see you next week, same time,

606
00:48:57.320 --> 00:48:59.400
same station, Night night,