LIFE COACHING

Bi Lateral amputee on bicycle

This is a beneficial experience for both of us. You will get the information you are looking for and I have gained a new visitor and hopefully a new friend.

Whatever the reason you are here, the greatest decision making tool you will ever have is in your possession already. Your intuition knows what's best for you but sometimes the way you are thinking with your brain (self talk) conflicts with your intuitive self guidance.

This is where I come in. Do you need someone to discuss your circumstances? Do you need someone to help you get organized, develop a game plan, find your life purpose, get out of your own way, be the best you? Saawheet!

Next take a look below and see if anything resonates with you. Is there something we have in common, something I have done that you would like to do? Do you align with my challenges in life? The best relationship I can have with you is if we have a connection.

I graduated in 1982 from Florida State University with a degree in Business Management and a Minor in Finance. Since graduation, I have started 5 different business and am now on my path to fulfilling an underlying personality theme for my life as a Life coach.

 

In 1982 I worked for my Dad in his business called Dazzle Wash Inc. It was a mobile truck washing business. This position only lasted a year as Dad and I clashed all the time! I've always been handy with tools and building things, so I immediately started a handyman business. Building, painting, landscaping.. I had lots of room to stretch my creativity gene.

 

Soon after I started the handy man business my wife and I became pregnant with our daughter. We quickly saw the writing on the wall that I needed a better job. My Dad offered to sell me one of his mobile truck washing vans and I started my own business called Clean Image Services. I sold this business in 1991, the year my father died and two years after my sister was murdered. Yes a tough period in my life.

In May of 1997, I was 37, life changed dramatically for me. I was the General Manager for an Environmental Company and was working 5 days a week in Jacksonville, Florida while my wife and children lived in Tampa. I would come home on Friday night and return to Jacksonville Monday morning.

We had an interesting job going on. Our company was dredging a lagoon at a paper mill and taking the gunk we dredged up to a nearby forest and tilling it into the soil as fertilizer. There was lots of heavy equipment involved and many workers. One afternoon I was supervising a crew of laborers who where making a turn around area in the forest so the big vehicles delivering the product to be tilled into the ground, would have a solid surface to turn around on. We were spreading a layer of clay on the ground and ran out of it in order to complete the days work. There were two dump trucks on site and I asked the laborers if they would stay and wait for two more loads of clay. They agreed. Being short on drivers , I jumped in one truck and another driver in the second. He followed me out of the forest and onto the main road heading for the borrow pit.

Two miles down the road, my left front tire came apart and it pulled my vehicle into an oncoming, fully loaded, semi truck. With no time to react, the two trucks slammed into each other head on. I was thrown from my truck and one of the few recollections I have was someone trying to drag me away from the wreckage. I couldn't open my eyes but told them to be careful as I thought my legs were broken. They told me it was necessary to move me as both trucks were on fire. Little did I know that both of my feet had been severed in the accident.

After several operations both of my legs were amputated 5 inches below my knees. I also developed osteomyelitis ( a severe bone infection) in my left leg and had to have many operations to help fight that. Within the next year, I had a total of 16 operations before I could begin learning to walk again.

After the accident, I woke up in the hospital unable to see, my eyes were bandaged and a tube down my throat left me unable to speak. I was unable to move my legs. Somewhere in the darkness, there was a priest asking me if I wanted him to pray for me.

One of the interesting things about being knocked unconscious in an accident, is that your brain does not have enough time to record what happened and can spare you the terror of living the episode over and over again. Other than a few moments at the crash site where I have recollection of some of the sounds and telling someone to be careful moving me, the only part of the time line I remember was a few moments before the crash. So waking up in a hospital, unable to see, move or talk was very nightmareish, to say the least.

Having almost died with three children and a wife to care for. Life became a gift for me. Rehabilitation took a while and physical therapy was grueling but life became regular again and I started to explore being physically challenged.

I do not like the term handicapped, and do not think the term “disabled” should ever used to describe a human. I understand, people need to use terms for reference and if this must be so, I prefer “physically challenged”.

Life does show me that I am challenged to lead a life missing the lower part of my legs, but that does not mean that I should give up on the things that I want to do physically.

 

Since 1997 I was on the US Sailing Team for 10 years and received a Bronze Medal for Sailing in the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

I have been National Champion and National Disabled Champion for sailing a single man boat and held National Titles for Sailing on Team Boats.

I have climbed the great wall of China.

I hang my own Christmas Lights each Christmas, yes climbing a ladder.

I have kayaked for 8 days down the Salmon River.

When I turned 50, I bicycled across the Unites States with a friend of mine. It took us 68 days. We started in Anacortes, Washington, where we put our rear tires in the Pacific Ocean and 68 days later we put out front tires in the Atlantic Ocean at Newport, Rhode Island.

I dance Salsa.

I play Pickleball 3 or 4 days a week.

I ride horses.

I am a better snow skier than when I had my legs.

 

Do I have a condition that disables me? Hmmm..I think not!

Being active as an amputee gets me a lot of attention. If I'm in an airport or shopping or in a museum, pretty much anywhere people see me, people come up to me and tell me something like I am amazing. I don't feel amazing as in different, I feel like this is my life and I make the best of what I have. I choose not to be disabled.

Walking in long pants, people see me with a limp. If I try real hard I can walk without a limp, but not for long, and it is difficult. Wearing shorts, I get the attention of most people I pass by. I am unusual and people are curious. Sometimes I have fun with this curiosity, my kids are well aware of this! But a benefit of walking in shorts is that it encourages people to engage me in conversation about my legs. During many of these conversations, people will give me a phone number to call of someone that they would like me to speak to and encourage them to have the quality of life I do. Parents will ask me to talk to their child who has an amputation. Even people who are about to get a medical procedure that will remove one or more of their limbs like to get my point of view. Last year I encouraged someone to become an amputee. Even though the person had both feet, their quality of walking was poor because of a foot problem. After getting half their leg amputated they were happy they did so and are walking great!

I find attitude is the platform for your life. Your attitude can motivate you to the point where you see no obstacles in your path or just as easily, your attitude can bind you from seeing anything positive about yourself. Both types of attitude are contagious. Hopefully my positive attitude an help someone in your life. Please email me and let's get started! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..