Speaker 0 00:00:00 Happy holidays and Merry Christmas. Welcome to the TBI Therapist podcast. Today on the podcast we talk with Seth Vincent. Seth is a brain cancer survivor and talks about his journey through surgery, medical complications, and struggles with the emotional side of brain injury. He shares about being your own advocate, making sure that you bug that receptionist, make things happen when things are wrong, speak up. He also says, Don’t wait to find your support group. Finding a brain injury support group of people who have similar stories is so powerful. He actually didn’t find his survivor group until just recently, so it’s never too late. I look forward to you hearing our conversation. Let’s take a listen. Hi everyone. Welcome to the TBI Therapist podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Jen Lin Chat, where we explore the heart of brain injury. Hi, Seth. Welcome to TBI Therapist podcast. Thanks for coming on the podcast today.
Speaker 2 00:01:25 Yeah, thank you for having me. I’m excited to join you.
Speaker 0 00:01:28 Good, good. So I just wanted to start out by hearing a little bit about your story of brain injury and anything really you wanna share for our listeners today.
Speaker 2 00:01:39 Okay. Well, the beginning for me started just after I graduated high school and, uh, I had just returned from a trip to Zimbabwe, Africa, and I started noticing that I was beginning to lose my eyesight. I was working at a store in the mall and I worked near the back in the shoe department, and I started to realize that I didn’t even recognize my closest friends when they were getting within, you know, 20 to 30, 30 feet of me. And, and then when I worked at the cash register, I couldn’t read the prices on the screen. And so I ended up going to my eye doctor, uh, with a little bit of fear, trepidation of what is going on because in addition, I was also starting to have excruciating headaches. And so we ended up going to the eye doctor and they were running all these different tests than I’d ever done before, and I could just sense that there was some sort of bad news that they were about to share.
Speaker 2 00:02:42 So they called my mom and I into, into the room and they begin to explain to me that I have a brain tumor, and they didn’t know much about it yet, that would, that would come in the, in the days that followed as I visited a neurologist for the first time. And I had my first mri. Um, and this was back in, in 1997. So I was, you know, 19 years old, didn’t really know, um, what to expect. Um, really all that was going on. Just tried to handle day by day whatever test they sent me for whatever doctor appointment I had prior to that surgery. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So in, in February of that year, uh, I underwent what would be my first brain surgery, and it was for a tumor called a cranial fringing, which is a tumor that was growing at the base of my optic nerves.
Speaker 2 00:03:42 And the reason it was causing the, the headaches and the, the, the loss of vision was because of where it was. So as it pushed on those optic nerves there, it caused a lot of pain and it caused my eyesight to to, to go. Thankfully, uh, after they were able to remove it, those things were restored, uh, there. And, you know, and I can see still to this day very well, uh, that was, that was an amazing thing to come out of surgery. I remember being able to look across the room, read this small little card on it, uh, and it was like this, you know, my, I remember my mom just kind of like celebrating the fact that her son could see. Uh, but yeah, that was done in Lewis and Maine St. Mary’s Hospital, but within, I think it was within a couple months, I’m, I’m just beginning to recover and the doctors would call and one day it would be, Well, you know, your recent blood test showed that you’re gonna need this medication.
Speaker 2 00:04:38 Oh, really? How long for the rest of your life? Oh, wow. Oh, uh, and then they’d call again and another medication would be required. And then they called in and they, it was, it was one of those really hard calls to take because they told me I needed radiation and it wasn’t something that they could offer me here in Maine. I had to travel to Boston mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and it was my last summer before college, and they wanted me to go down there and spend my, my last summer there, away from my family, away from my friends. Um, I didn’t have a place to stay right away. I stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for the first week. I traveled in and out of the city on the subways that I didn’t know. Um, it was a very difficult time. Um, you know, instead of hanging out with my friends and getting ready for school, I was exhausted.
Speaker 2 00:05:34 I was traveling through Boston. I was being, uh, you know, for radiation at that time for that type. My head was basically strapped to the table for 30 to 45 minutes a day and, you know, so that you don’t move so that they don’t, you know, basically fry anything that they’re not supposed to. Yeah. <laugh>, Wow. Scary stuff. Um, but yeah, so that was, that was that first one, and that was kind of all that encountered. And then, you know, I ended up going away to college about a week or two after that was over. Not quite the, the way that I expected to go into college.
Speaker 0 00:06:11 Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:06:11 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:06:13 So tell me about, like, you know, what you experienced after that, what your, how your symptoms were or what kind of, what was, what happened with regard to your brain injury symptoms?
Speaker 2 00:06:25 Well, as I said, my, my eyesight got better now. The headaches didn’t return, and so I ended up going through college without much of a hiccup, uh, in terms of my, my health and my brain tumor and, and all that that went with, um, more than the symptoms I struggled with. Kind of, that became a bit of my identity of I am now, uh, you know, a cancer survivor. I’m, you know, I, I had brain, you know, a brain tumor and it, and I really struggled with that on the emotional level. And, um, so in college it wasn’t as much the physical symptoms, but just the emotional side of things and, and recognizing, um, that, that didn’t have to define me in, in the way that, that it did. Um, and, and really, you know, I had yearly MRIs, I think at that time for a while. And I kind of thought I was outta the woods thinking, Oh, I’m never gonna have to worry about this again, very happy that I had made it through that surgery, uh, through the radiation and I was on with my life. That’s kind of what I thought was gonna happen.
Speaker 0 00:07:46 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:48 So I started, um, about six years later, I was at, um, just my yearly doctor appointment, therefore, uh, for my MRI reading, I’d already had the test done and I’m, my wife and I, right after college, my wife and I were married, my college sweet, uh, my college sweetheart and yeah. And, uh, and so we are planning to celebrate because we realize it’s, it’s been six years and, you know, hey, we should celebrate every year. And I recommend that to anyone celebrate, you know, every achievement, all of those anniversaries, they’re a big deal. So that’s what we’re doing in the doctor’s office, waiting for the doctor to come out of his office. And tell us about the mri.
Speaker 0 00:08:37 Was it, it was your anniversary that day?
Speaker 2 00:08:39 It was literally six years to the day.
Speaker 0 00:08:42 Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 00:08:43 Yeah. Of my first surgery.
Speaker 0 00:08:45 So of your first surgery. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:08:46 Yeah. And on that day, instead of the, the news that we expected of, Yeah, everything’s great, you know, I’ll see you in a year, it was, your tumor has returned. And it shocked me because I didn’t have those same symptoms. I didn’t have the headaches, I didn’t have the blurred vision, I didn’t have any of that. What it was, was they caught it so early before it had time to grow enough to bother me and make me realize that it was in there. Um, so in a way, you know, I was thankful that I didn’t have those symptoms, but at the same time, I just couldn’t believe that I had to go through this again. And, and this time was gonna be different. I was now living in Massachusetts, had a whole new set of doctors, and what we discovered was the very best doctor for this type of tumor was at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Speaker 2 00:09:48 And so I think at the time I was about 25 years old and I’m going into Children’s Hospital and I’m seeing all of these little kids going through all kinds of stuff and, um, I probably look like a giant to a lot of them <laugh>, but it turns out you can go there until a certain age and I forget what that is. But they, it was amazing being there. The doctors, the nurses are, are incredible. And so I was very thankful that I could, but I still felt outta place as I tried to cram into their MRI machines and, you know, I didn’t fit in the bed.
Speaker 0 00:10:23 They’re child size.
Speaker 2 00:10:24 Exactly. Yeah. The, they had to find a bed extension for me, you know, all of this stuff cuz I’m about six foot one.
Speaker 0 00:10:32 Oh, are you? Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:10:34 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:35 But yeah, it reminds me of a time I went to the, I went to the ER one time and they put me in like children’s er, and there was like fun house mirrors and I’m all in <laugh>. I went like in pain. So Yeah. Yeah, it’s probably, probably like an interesting dynamic to be Oh, very much adult in a children’s unit. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:53 Yeah. But while I was there, that’s when they decided to try a different technique for the surgery. The first time they went up through my nose mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, I still don’t fully understand how that happens. Uh, but this time it, it’s amazing this time they, they cut me open, uh, above, right above my forehead on my hairline, starting in the middle of my head and went down to my ear and kind of pulled things back, um, and then reconstructed it following the surgery. Uh, so, you know, we get some good news. Every, everybody thinks that they, they got it all, no radiation required. And again, kind of let’s go live life, uh, relatively new, uh, marriage. And we start thinking about having kids at that time. Um, and that’s when we figured we, we learned that, um, these tumors and the surgeries and the radiation had all had quite an impact on my body. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, it turned out that, you know, I, I lost my taste of smell. I lost my, um, ability to, to, to taste food as well, but I also was no longer able to, uh, to make anything that makes babies for, I don’t know the best way to say that, but
Speaker 0 00:12:12 Right. I had read that, and I think you had talked about it in other times, so I didn’t mention this yet on the podcast, but we go to the same church and I’ve heard your story. Like, so our church has a, um, a satellite site. And so I’ve seen you a bunch, but not met you in person. And I’m still not person interested <laugh>, but I’ve heard this story about, Yeah. So say, say more about this kind of your process and what kind of happened with you guys wanting to have kids and
Speaker 2 00:12:37 Yeah. Well, my wife and I both, we wanted to be parents. I wanted to be a dad. She wanted to be a mom more than anything. And so when we got this news and we had our first test that came back, like I had a zero count. Um, it was devastating for me because I couldn’t, I didn’t think I was gonna be able to be a dad, but for my wife, uh, it meant that she couldn’t because of me. Uh, and I, I really had a hard time with that. But what the doctors never said was, Well, it’s impossible for you to have kids. They were just using words more like, Well, it’s very unlikely given that you have a zero sperm count. And so we thought, Well, let’s see what’s possible. Let’s, you know. So we ended up going to my endocrinologist and they said, Well, if you try to, uh, to take this, basically it was a steroid through an injection, uh, it’s possible that you could, um, begin to make what you need and, and that process might, that might happen.
Speaker 2 00:13:38 So we thought, Great, this will be easy. Let’s, uh, let’s do this. But what it turned out was it was horribly excruciating because my wife was the one who had to give me the injections. And so that was basically how we got ready for bed every night, was she would come and sit next to me with one of those, uh, needles. And, and I had to sit there and, and fight the pain and, and, and do that. And so we did that together for 10 months. Wow. That was filled with pain and disappointment and, and just really a strain on our marriage. Um, but thankfully, like I said, 10 months later, 170 shots, we found out that she was pregnant and we had a happy, healthy baby boy, you know, nine months later. That was 2005. And we thought, this is the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 2 00:14:27 We’re, you know, she gets to be a mom. I get to be a dad, and we have this cute little kid. But then that’s when I started to notice, I think there’s a problem again. And, and so all of this excitement of being parents, my son was less than a year. I think he was about nine months. And we’re sitting, uh, with my family and I, I’m starting to notice some things with my eyes. Again, I wasn’t having the headaches, but the symptoms were, I was, I was basically looking straight ahead at two dots on the, on, on the napkin, and I could only see one of them. And I, I’m, I’m like passing it to my sister, like, Hey, can you see both of these? She’s like, Yeah, what’s wrong with you? And then she thought, Oh, no. And so I called the doctor and I said, Hey, I, I need another mri.
Speaker 2 00:15:18 And, um, you know, within a week or so, we knew that that tumor had come back a third time. Wow. And this, this time was only three years later mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it began to strike fear in us of how, how many more times are we gonna have to go through this? Um, is it gonna come back even sooner again next time? Uh, I started to worry about, am I gonna go blind eventually from this? Is, am I, am I not gonna make it? Is my child who’s less than a year going to have to grow up without its dad? Like all of those thoughts, all of those emotions were just real and raw at that time. But they said, We’ve, we’ve gotta act, we’ve gotta have, we’ve gotta do the surgery. And, and so this time I went back to children’s again, same, same great doctors, and they went from ear to ear this time, um, right along that hairline and leaving what my family and I kind of call the Mickey Mouse scar.
Speaker 2 00:16:19 Um, and it’s right below my hairline. You can still see it if you look close. Um, but they did that. And then I, um, I met with the doctors and they said, We, we believe that we got it all. We believe we do, but there’s a chance that we didn’t and we want to do radiation again. And so they said, But if we do, there’s a 15% chance that you could go blind at any point during the radiation. And over the course of the next two years. And so my wife and I were kind of left to make that decision. And, you know, we started just thinking about it. And some of the things I’d already mentioned, like, Well, what if it comes back next year? What if it, you know, all these what ifs mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we thought, you know what? Let’s put our trust in God, Let’s go for it.
Speaker 2 00:17:19 And so we walk in the doctor’s office right soon after, and we say, You know what? We’re gonna bet on that 85%. And the, and the doctor was literally like, Are you serious? Most of the times when I say there’s a 1% chance people will run outta the room, <laugh>. And we thought, No, no, no. We we’re, we’re gonna trust God. And, you know, whether I lose my sight or not, let’s, let’s be done with this. And, uh, it was a, it was a scary couple of months as, as I went through the radiation again, down in Boston, my family was with me, uh, got a, you know, a break from the job I was at, and, uh, found a couple places to stay. And we traveled in and out of the city and it was very challenging having, uh, you know, my young son there with us.
Speaker 2 00:18:05 But, uh, we did our best to make it through. And, um, and then we just kind of counted down the days of when is this two years going to be over? When can I stop worrying when I wake up? And I have a sleepy seat in my eye and I think I, my eyesight’s starting to go, you know? Um, and so we ended up, once that two years hit, we went and we went on what I, what we called an I can See tour, and I went to see a St. Louis Cardinals game in St. Louis. And we saw the Field of Dreams Field in Iowa. And we, you know, we just went and did all these things that I’d always wanted to see. Um, so it, it, it was a quite a celebration, um, of getting through that. And, and in the midst of it, I still don’t really understand my thinking, but in the midst of those two years, I just got that desire within me to try to have another kid.
Speaker 2 00:19:03 Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I, you know, I, I ended up going without my wife knowing to my doctor and just said, Hey, you know, what would it take for for us to try this again? Cuz my body had stopped doing what it needed. Uh, once the injections stopped before. And they said, Well, we think we know what to do now, so it, it could be quicker. Um, so we thought, okay. And so what I did was I wrapped up some needles and a new prescription for my wife at Christmas time, and that was my, like, big present for her. And it’s one of those things that nobody else would probably ever wanna receive. But man, did she ever cry tears of joy? Cuz again, she wanted to be a mom for more than one kid. She wanted all kinds of kids. And, uh, and so it was just this beautiful moment that we thought, All right, this is amazing.
Speaker 2 00:19:48 We’re gonna do this. But little did I know it would take 18 more months Oh my gosh. Of, of just a real hardship this time around. Um, because my body didn’t react the same way it had before there’d been another surgery, there’d been a lot more trauma to my body. And so we went through 17 months of, of failure. We had a false positive on my wife’s 30th birthday in which, you know, we thought she was truly pregnant and we’re kind of joking around, Oh, there’s a little soccer player in there, and, you know, all of those little things. And then it turned out, no, she’s actually not pregnant. We got near the end of it and we, we decided, you know what? This isn’t working for us. Let’s see if we can do an iui. And so we went to, to that type of a doctor, and we tried it, and that failed.
Speaker 2 00:20:43 And then the next month we thought, Man, if this doesn’t work, it’s like the door is just gonna close. And it was, it was at that point where it was like, There’s nothing else we can do. There’s nothing else the doctors can do. God, please intervene. And that’s when we found out we were pregnant. And it, you know, it didn’t come through the, you know, the, the iis or any of that stuff. It just happened naturally and it was the most amazing thing. And that, so that, you know, it was 372 injections. I counted every single one of ’em. <laugh>, I just, I don’t know, helped me, helped me for some reason. And I, I, during that time, I was so, like at a, a high of testosterone from, from all of the injections, they were cranking it up to keep my body going. I was like the incredible Hulk sometimes mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:21:40 <affirmative>. And I, I hated those feelings, but I knew that was what we needed to do. So I was so thankful that she was pregnant, that we could stop the medications that we could just move on. And, um, so like this, this year that youngest child is now 11. He is, um, just an amazing kid, high honors. He just finished fifth grade. Um, my oldest son is now gonna be 16. He’s, you know, he is gonna have his license soon, which is incredibly scary. Wow. Um, my wife and I are gonna be married for 20 years, uh, on June 23rd, and it will be 15 years of good health for me, uh, this August. So there’s like all these reasons to celebrate, like, Yes. And I just, I, I am so thankful, uh, that, that I can celebrate and, and I have this wonderful family around me and church family.
Speaker 2 00:22:38 And, um, I’ve, I’ve even started going to a brain tumor support group in which I find them. They’re, they’re like this new family of people who I never, I, I was very, uh, nervous about going to one of these. I just, I didn’t know what to expect. But the very first day I went in there and I’m looking at these people and I’m hearing their stories and I’m like, Oh my goodness, these people can relate to me in a way that nobody else can. They’ve experienced something very similar. And before I knew it, we felt this new connection. And I look forward to our, our support group meetings. And even though for me it’s been 15, I’m 15 years out, a lot of them are like right in the beginning stages. It’s like we have this connection. And, um, so I find myself very thankful for them as well.
Speaker 0 00:23:29 Yeah, That’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. Yeah. I mean, there’s so many things. I’m just wondering if you could speak a little bit, like going back to, you know, so part the hard part of it for you was like the mental health component of it, or, um, especially in your early injury. And I’m thinking of you like, you know, we’re, we’re pretty close in age now. I graduated in 98. Yeah. So I’m thinking of myself, Oh, it transported me back in time to like the, the nineties Right. Of my nineties teen self and how carefree I was and imagining like what it would’ve been like to have something like that happen at that phase of life when you’re just trying to launch and figure out who you are. Yeah. And I’m just curious how that affected you in that phase of life and kind of Yeah. Who it made you.
Speaker 2 00:24:16 Yep. Well, when I graduated, so I graduated high school in 96. I was a three sport athlete, the captain of baseball, soccer, basketball, loved sports, um, voted prom king, and, you know, all of these superlatives, um, loved being in youth group, was really involved in the church. And, and then as I stepped from high school, and then I went away for a while, like I said, to Africa, came back, was getting ready for college, and then all of this stuff hit. And on one side, like, it, it just, it took, it took my identity away that I, that I thought, I saw myself as like, Oh, I’m this healthy athletic guy who has lots of friends. And, and then I just became, I became someone else. I took on this, um, the hurt and just that the side of things that I never thought would happen to me mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:25:22 <affirmative>. Um, and I also had this fear because my grandfather on my dad’s side died of a brain tumor of brain brain cancer. And so when we first discovered mine, that was one of the first thoughts that every single family member had was, Oh my goodness, is this the same thing that grandpa had? Is this what grandpa died of? And is, is Seth going to die? So there was a lot of fear. And, um, you know, and as a teenager when you’re trying to figure out who you are, what do you want to do? Like, so I went away to college and I thought, Oh, yeah, I’m gonna become a teacher. I’m gonna do this or that. And I ended up just trying to figure out who I was. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I struggled big time with my grades, with my studies. My parents actually at one time wrote me a letter saying, We actually think you should drop out because it’s, you’re just not fully there.
Speaker 2 00:26:22 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you’re not really applying yourself. And I, I, I wasn’t mad at ’em for it. I kind of, you know, Understood. Um, but yeah, at, at that time of your life when you’re trying to figure out who you are, what are you gonna do with your life? I got, I kind of hit this pause button and, and didn’t know who I was anymore, where I was going. And, um, I’m, I’m really thankful that I did meet my wife. We met early on in college mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and we dated all through my junior and senior year. And she, she helped me in, in so many ways, um, not just like, she made me study before we could hang out, that type of stuff. But <laugh>,
Speaker 0 00:27:08 She did that though.
Speaker 2 00:27:09 Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. She definitely did. Uh, I probably wouldn’t have passed if, if it wasn’t for her, but, um, yeah, I don’t know. She just brought life back into me and reminded me of what we had in the future and, you know, that these college days were gonna end at, at some point. And all the wiffle ball games and things I was doing, like, yeah, those are fun, but what else? What else is there? And we actually spent one of our summers, uh, between our junior and our senior year in India together, and we worked at, um, different places with Mother Teresa’s Ministries. I worked at a home for, for adults with mental disabilities, and she worked at an orphanage. And every once in a while I got to go over to that orphanage and see her with the kids. And that was where I saw that love for kids, just like, Wow.
Speaker 2 00:28:04 And we, we’d talk about, you know, we weren’t engaged at that point, but we’d talk about, Oh, you know, maybe someday, Hey, you know, maybe, maybe you and I will have kids, and just those little things. And, and, you know, it took a long time to get to that. But yeah, I, I am so thankful for her, um, so thankful that she’s, she was there for me in, in the midst of all of those, uh, challenges that we faced along the way, helping me make decisions through the radiations and, and celebrating when things went well. Uh, very thankful.
Speaker 0 00:28:37 Yeah. Well, I’m wondering like if you can share like two or three kind of tips or tools for someone that has a brain injury that might be struggling.
Speaker 2 00:28:52 Yeah. Well, one thing, first thing that came to mind is, uh, you’ve got to be your best advocate. There is nobody else who’s going to make the calls to the doctors who’s going to make sure that you get in on time for those appointments. Or like, or if you feel like something’s wrong, like just make the call bug the, you know, the receptionist or whoever answers the phone, Like, make things happen. Um, even, you know, push to have appointments earlier, like whatever you can, if something’s not right, fight for your fight for yourself to get in, get things done, get your tests done, all of that stuff. But then also don’t wait 13 years to find a support group like I did start early find you’re, I think you’ll find the same thing that I found is that you’re gonna find a group of people who will, will just love you for who you are and, and have these similar stories that you can relate to in a way that nobody else can. And to have that is so special. I had no idea, um, that that’s what I would get out of it. I, I, I thought, Oh, maybe I can help somebody else. And, and what happened was they helped me deal with things that I’d been holding onto for a long time. So those are those, those would be the two things that, that really jumped out to me.
Speaker 0 00:30:17 Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, the community aspect, I think a lot of times when I see folks in my practice, they just don’t talk to any other people in their life that have been through something similar and they really kind of are holding so much in, And I encourage them, you know, Hey, go to the, there’s brain injury support groups, There is a brain injury conference. So there, there are tools, and I, there are people, and I think now since Covid, there’s just more access for like Zoom support groups and things like that that Yeah. Didn’t have before. So I think, you know, I’m, I’m encouraged by that and I hope that people can access them more.
Speaker 2 00:31:00 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:31:01 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:31:03 The one that, that I’m involved in, it’s on, it’s on Fridays at noon over Zoom. Oh, is that, So we, we’ve been able to meet, uh, pretty regularly.
Speaker 0 00:31:11 It’s Is that national or
Speaker 2 00:31:13 Local? Uh, it’s a local one. It’s out of the Augusta Hospital. It’s run by a lady named Kelly, uh, who’s, she does it in honor of her dad, Bob Burns. And, uh, it’s a, it’s a, there’s actually a lot of great people in that group that I, I could definitely see you interviewing, you know them at some point and, uh, love it. They would, they would be an inspiration to others as well.
Speaker 0 00:31:38 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s the point of all this to kind of get those stories out there, because I think so many people live with those stories inside them, they need to get out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:31:46 Yeah. Yeah. It’s so important to talk about it.
Speaker 0 00:31:49 Yeah. So I was gonna go to our rapid fire round
Speaker 2 00:31:55 <laugh>. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:31:55 It’s not super rapid. We can paste. Don’t worry. Uh, so what, what is one habit or routine that can help you or can help someone in their recovery? What’s helped you? What’s working now, maybe
Speaker 2 00:32:09 Hmm. In my recovery of,
Speaker 0 00:32:16 So it could be just a habit that you do now that really helps you. Um, it could be a habit that you use, like back when you were dealing with all the medical appointments and things like that. So,
Speaker 2 00:32:28 Yeah. I, I’m having a hard time answering that one.
Speaker 0 00:32:33 We can come back to it. Okay. Let it simmer. All right. Yeah, this might be easier.
Speaker 2 00:32:38 Okay.
Speaker 0 00:32:39 What is your favorite holiday food, and who does it remind you of?
Speaker 2 00:32:44 I have to tell you this, my, my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because I can’t taste, I honestly, there isn’t much that I’m like, woohoo, super excited about maybe my mom’s, uh, sweet potatoes with marshmallows. But as a kid, because I was very picky, my parents would go to McDonald’s the day before and get about six McDonald’s hamburgers, and that would be my meal on Thanksgiving. So when I think of that question, that’s what I go to. I, and I, I don’t do that anymore, but man, those were some good days.
Speaker 0 00:33:18 Yes. So, McDonald’s, hamburgers,
Speaker 2 00:33:20 <laugh>. Yes.
Speaker 0 00:33:21 I love it. I, I just think it’s just, it tells a lot about the person. Some people just tell me pie, but I love, that’s, that’s, that’s a really good answer.
Speaker 2 00:33:29 Okay.
Speaker 0 00:33:30 What’s one thing you would tell your younger self if you could?
Speaker 2 00:33:34 Hmm.
Speaker 2 00:33:37 I would tell myself that over time, you’re gonna do many things, many jobs, many, you’re gonna have different relationships, and you’re gonna see yourself in all of these different ways. But the most important way is as a child of God, like I’ve, I’ve walked with the Lord my whole life, and that is the one thing that I’ve been able to hold firm to since I was like four years old and I got lost at, at, at certain times. While I’m, I’m an athlete or I’m a cancer patient, I’m this, I’m that. But underneath that, at the core of who I am, was a child of God. And if I could have remembered that above all else, I think I would’ve dealt with things better mm-hmm. <affirmative> than I did. Um, it wouldn’t have changed my circumstances, but I think I would’ve been able to understand and appreciate them a little bit more.
Speaker 0 00:34:42 Hmm. I love that. Well, I think that is a wonderful place to end. So I think that people might be inspired by you and might want to reach out. So is there, I can certainly link a place to reach out to you, or is there anything that you’re working on or excited about that people can kind of, I think you mentioned the support group at any place. Yeah. People can connect with you. Would you be open to that?
Speaker 2 00:35:09 Yeah, I do. I totally would. Um, I mean, I’m on Facebook. I don’t use it much, but I mean, my email, if you ever wanna just reach out that way, it’s real easy. It’s just seth pathway vineyard.com. But I’m also here at church every Sunday. And, uh, and I also lead our Thursday night services here in, in the Lewiston campus at six o’clock. And it’s a, it’s a really cool group of people. It’s a small group. We meet in our cafe, we have coffee, and we just, you know, we have a, just a great time getting to know one another, learning more about the Bible, all that, like, it’s, it’s really cool. So that would be a great place to, uh, to make it, make an introduction and, uh, that I would love that. That would be great.
Speaker 0 00:35:49 Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Speaker 2 00:35:53 Yeah. Thank you for having me. This was fun.
Speaker 0 00:35:55 Of course.
Speaker 3 00:36:00 Thank you for joining us today on the TBI Therapist podcast. Please visit tbi therapist.com for more information on brain injury, concussion, and mental health. The information shared on today’s podcast is intended to provide information, awareness, and discussion on the topic. It is not clinical or medical advice. If you need mental health or medical advice, please seek a professional.
