From Ski Slopes To Storytelling: How A 28-Year Friendship Built A Podcast

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A tech hiccup tries to shut us down, and we answer with the story that started everything: two friends who met at Challenge Aspen, found a shared language on the mountain, and built a creative life that refuses to shrink to fit. The real co-host finally steps into the spotlight as we trace the arc from a purple walker on a snowy day to a 28-year friendship that powers books, interviews, and a podcast that became much more than a side project.

We talk about what Challenge Aspen does so well—adaptive skiing, year-round access, and a culture that treats disability as a reason to participate, not opt out. That space shaped how we work today: clear communication, calculated risk, and celebrating small wins that add up to big momentum. You’ll hear how a single book release led to microphones, an unexpected full-time gig, and a co-creator who moved from assistant to on-air partner to author. The theme beneath it all is practical resilience: start where you are, build community, and let feedback guide the next step.

We also go candid on health. Corticosteroid injections are on deck to calm hip and leg pain, with sedation to keep CP from complicating the procedure. We unpack the reality of C diff and why a fecal microbiota transplant might be the exit ramp after brutal rounds of antibiotics. There’s straightforward talk about Botox for spasticity, nerve blocks, and the admin slog of joint consultations, plus the mindset that keeps us steady: advocate clearly, escalate care in sequence, and rest without quitting. If you’re navigating disability, chronic illness, or just a hard season, you’ll find tools you can use and a friendship that models staying power.

If this story moves you, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your support keeps this community strong and the conversation going.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
There we go.
Technical difficulties.
You guys always, always Zoom isgonna swallow his foot one day
and not let us record.
And I thought that was gonna betoday, but apparently not.
And so and the EOS laughing atme because I said Zoom monsters

(00:29):
coming to get us.
But basically what we're goingto do is I get this question, I
don't know, about once once amonth, I would say.
And that question is who theheck is your co-host?

(00:53):
Who the heck is your co-host?
Who the heck is the cute Bonniesitting on the other side?
Well, since we have a bunch ofnew listeners, my co-host is a
real life person by the name ofDaniel Carter, who I met what

(01:16):
twenty.
I always get the the yearswrong.
Help me out here, D Oh, help meout here.

(01:38):
Do we met twenty Okay, it'salmost twenty-nine years.

(01:59):
Twenty-eight.
Yeah, it must have beentwenty-eight.
Well I didn't I I didn't realizethat I knew where I met Danielle
it would lead to uh everlastingfriendship.

(02:21):
I met Danielle through afabulous program, which Danielle
is still involved with, andDanielle is still she even has a
sweatshirt on to represent it.

(02:43):
Okay.
That sweatshirt says, since theaudience can't say it, Danielle,
that sweatshirt says challengeaspen.
Challenge Aspen is a year-roundprogram that helps people with

(03:07):
all disabilities, from theveterans to the TBIs, tremendous
brain injuries, to the peoplewith cerebral palsy, to family
members who just want theirloved ones active, to I mean,

(03:32):
challenge aspen basically is allexcept the caregiving part.
Um which I believe thatChallenge Aspen was and is the
greatest place on the planet,and that's why I want to go back

(03:58):
and ski, because out here, well,out here in Arizona, Phoenix, we
don't get snow.
And I would have to drive twohours away to Fragstaff to get

(04:21):
um adaptive skiing.
Yes, that's wonderful, but whenyou come from the land of
spoiled ski mountains, and whenyou come from one of the top ski
resorts in the country, yeah,you don't you don't mess with

(04:44):
me.
And Danielle is also aphenomenal snowboarder, a
phenomenal bi skier, and I'mgoing to ask her in a couple of
seconds here what she likesmore, and she'll probably tell

(05:04):
you, and I know that answer.
But I met Danielle in 95 becausewe were doing a challenge aspen
play camp.
Now, the challenge aspen playcamp over the years has been um

(05:28):
uh one of those things that'sevolved, and but we've had
members from age five to agegeez, how old is Robin?
Robin is fifteen nine and Robinhas a TBI.

(05:57):
Robin is one of the um newparticipants, but the age um gap
the age gap you can say, theages go from um five to about
fifty-nine and so age agedoesn't matter, disabilities

(06:25):
don't matter.
Challenge Aspen seems to makeeveryone feel equal.
And of course, um I met Daniellethrough challenge asmons through
that playground, didn't evenrealize she had Sam Holy at the

(06:47):
time.
All I saw this all I th saw wasthis cute little purple walker,
and I loved the cute littlepurple walker, didn't didn't
even realize the young woman init would become my best friend

(07:08):
for life here.
Um all I saw was purple walkerand didn't even realize she was
my tribe, and then we go onseparate ways.
Danielle lived in Kansas City atthe time, and so we go on
separate ways, connect onFacebook, surprise, surprise, me

(07:32):
being an idiot like I always amuh ask asked Danielle a bunch of
questions, and you probablythought, Nan, this person is
nuts.
This person is absolutely bananabecause she knows who I am, but

(07:54):
yet she doesn't know who I am,and I'm like, yeah, I probably
wasn't nuts back.
Well yeah, yeah, because um youmeet you meet a lot of people

(08:15):
that to my credit, you meet alot of people at week with
totally different disabilities.
I mean, I am basically local andnot local.
I mean, I had a friend that umgot hit by a bus and landed up

(08:39):
in a wheelchair non-Reball, andshe was at the original play
camp too.
Haley was at the original playcamp, and then um she passed
away from my injuries two yearslater, I believe.
And so it's challenge as been istotally interesting.

(09:06):
And fast forward, I said toDanielle, do you want to start a
project with me?
Well, I didn't realize theproject would be my full-time
job.
Danielle would be my assistantforever and a day, and Daniel

(09:29):
would be behind Mike.
I thought, okay, fun little sideproject after I wrote the book.
No, the book turned into thebook, I win turned into a green
monster that now I can'tcontrol.
Now I'm working on a book aboutpodcasting.

(09:52):
And um yeah, Daniel decided topick up the pen.
And Daniel decided to pick upthe pen behind me, and then she
decided to write a book behindme.

(10:15):
And this is a dream littlesample pulsing monster that we
can't control.
Yeah.
So basically that's it.
Yeah.
And I Danielle and I will keepthis project going as long as we

(10:36):
can.
And considering I'm dealing witha injury right now.
Injury is going to keep um keepme not away from this because I
love it.

(10:56):
And so, yeah.
And people ask me all the time,how?
How do you do it?
I d I don't know how I do it.
I don't know how I do it.
Um, without Daniel.

(11:17):
I would be crazy without Daniel.
And so and so there we go.

(11:43):
And my medical update, a shortmedical update, well, the long
long of the short of it is I'mimproving, I'm not going
backwards, but um on Friday, uhFriday morning, I find out

(12:10):
whether I get to get to havecortical steroids injected into
me.
Yes, they're knocking me out, soI don't jump when the shot goes
into me and CP doesn't get inthe way.
And cortical steroids will comedown whatever going on in my

(12:36):
leg.
And whatever going on in my hip.
I think it's more I believe fromday one it's more the hip than
leg.
But um so God goes stealers,here we come.
And yesterday I got a call whatis today, Wednesday, Tuesday, I

(13:03):
um Wednesday, October 21st.
So it would have been Tuesdaythe 20th.
That's what we we called this.
I got a call confirminginsurance about I have to do a
fecal mando transplant.
Google that as your own risk,people.

(13:26):
I'm not explaining it.
It's TMI, basically.
TMI.
To those of you who didn't knowI had C diff, which Google that
too.
I mean C diff is a bunch ofdiarrhoea and it's really,
really awful.

(13:47):
And days and days and dayshospitalized.
Twice for no three times.
Three times for it.
And yeah, and I buy strong assantibiotics.
And so now um that's in theworks.

(14:07):
My um I don't know what's goingon with my Botox injections.
I w went for Botox injections.
They landed helping calming downthe spasms, which yay finally.

(14:28):
But I don't know which is goingto um I don't know what is going
on with my Botox injection.
My Botox doctor wants me to meetwith the specificity doctor to

(14:49):
get a nerve block to get ahigher dose.
So that's all I know, and thenthey called me this morning um
Wednesday, October 21st, andsaid, Well, you need a meeting
with doctor, you both talkdoctor before you meet with the

(15:15):
asbestos doctor.
I said, no.
They want to do a jointconsultation.
And they're like, okay, we'llask her.
And I'm like, yes, this is whatshe wants to do.
I'm following the lead.
So twice I've had to fight withdoctors, and I've had to fight

(15:36):
with osteoporosis doctors whothat's in January, and I'm like,
really, really, you people can'tget it together.
I have to be my own medicaladvocate even though I have
help.
So there's my um now if thecardical sterilized um work um

(16:06):
work that would be amazing tocome down the pain.
And they also mentioned um sortof like the bone stimulator I
have I had for bone growth uhafter my back.
So I I don't know if you guysrealize I had because of my

(16:31):
osteoporosis, I had uh um bonestimulator because of
osteoporosis and weak bones androds and all that crap.
So uh it's kind of like thestimulator they're talking about

(16:55):
is kind of like that, but itdesensitizes the body from the
pain.
So I don't know.
So first of all, we're trying tocall the code steroids, and then
if they don't work, then I'll gofor the bigger guns, which is

(17:16):
desensitizing the brain frompain.
I don't know how that works.
Uh yeah, so that's the healthupdate, and that's how I meant
Danielle and Yeah, so there yougo, but you get to kill two

(17:36):
birds with one stone, and I'llbe giving a longer health update
when Daniel is gone.
Solo episode me.
And so I'll um be recordinganother solo episode.
I also will have an interviewcoming out today after I record

(18:02):
it, so we'll figure it out.
And so I'm gonna let Danielle usout.
Thank you for following us youguys.
Bye you guys.