Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the intersections of survival

Strength and resilience have always moved together in my life.
 I first saw strength in childhood, playing a game called “Monster” with the older boys in the neighborhood. It was rough. Drop kicks. Punches. Pure kid energy. At the time, it just felt like play.

Looking back, it was preparation.

Those moments taught me how to take hits, stand back up, and keep moving forward.
 They helped shape my mindset for challenges I could...

Gratitude is often framed as something we feel when life is going well. This episode takes a deeper road. It explores how gratitude can exist in ordinary days, difficult seasons, and moments that did not always feel kind or fair at the time.

This conversation centers on how perspective shapes what we call a “good” moment. It reflects lessons learned early in life, especially experiences that were not always affirming yet still plant...

 On Scarred Not Silent, I reflect a lot on identity. One thing I have come to realize is that, at my core, I have not changed as much as I once thought. I am still someone who leads with respect and kindness. I never allowed my kidney journey to spill over onto the people around me. If anything, the experience strengthened me. It pushed me to become a stronger advocate, more resilient, and more grounded in who I have always been. 

S...

In this episode of Scarred Not Silent: Stories from the Intersection of Survival, Rodney reflects on those early moments of advocacy and how they unknowingly laid the foundation for his future in social work.

He then brings listeners into a more recent and deeply human encounter. While waiting for a medical appointment, Rodney shares a brief conversation with a dialysis patient. It lasted only minutes, yet the impact lingered far lo...

Pain is honest. It does not whisper. It shows up loudly, unapologetically, and often without warning.

In this episode, I reflect on what pain has taught me. Yes, pain hurts like hell. There is no poetic way around that. But over time, I have learned that pain is not always in charge.

I talk about how the mind, the old noodle, can help manage some of the deepest pain. Breathing. Reframing. Grounding. Training the brain to work with th...

“What I Learned About Waiting” opens the mini-season chapter of Scarred, Not Silent. In this series, I’m debriefing the sub-topics underneath the big themes, so I can speak more freely and go deeper than I usually do.

Today’s focus is waiting. Waiting is something many of us are forced to do as kids, standing in lines, sitting in silence, being told “not yet.” But adulthood has its own kind of waiting, and it hits different. The que...

This is the final episode of my kidney journey. As I close this chapter, it is not goodbye. It is a moment to reflect on what this road has taught me, and what it may have quietly taught you, too.

Scarred, Not Silent will continue, just with new topics and new directions. I may take a week to breathe, rest, and gather my thoughts, but we will see.

To everyone who has listened, shared, and stayed with me through the highs, the setback...

Today, I’m tired. The kind of tired you can’t explain with a nap. And instead of pushing through like we’re all trained to do, I’m choosing something simple: rest.

This episode is a five-minute reset.

No fixing. No performing. No proving.

Just an invitation for you to shut the world out for five minutes and come back to yourself.

If you’re carrying too much, if your mind won’t slow down, or if your spirit feels stretched thin, let this...

Alert: This episode was recorded several days ago, and it continues my story of the heart valve replacement.

It felt fitting to share it on a day that was cloudy, cold, rainy, and flat-out gloomy, because it took me right back to that day in San Diego. The kind of day where your mind says one thing, your body says another, and you have to decide who’s driving.

Luckily, I’ve learned what to do when my mind and body aren’t on the same ...

In this episode, I reflect on a powerful quote from a famous gladiator that stopped me in my tracks while reading a recent gift I received. On the surface, the quote speaks to injury. But when you sit with it long enough, it reveals something deeper. There is a profound difference between being injured and sensing that you are injured.

I take a thoughtful dive into what that distinction means in real life. Not just in physical terms...

This week, I move us forward to my 2023 heart surgery.

You might be asking what heart surgery has to do with kidney disease. Fair question. The connection matters more than most people realize.

In this episode, I break down how medications interact, why staying focused on your dialysis treatment plan is crucial, and how one small oversight can have a ripple effect on your entire health journey. This is about awareness, discipline, an...

In this episode, I circle back before moving forward.

I briefly revisit our previous conversation about the sudden stoppage of my Social Security Disability benefits and the residual effects that followed. I share how and why finding employment after relocating to Arizona has been more complicated than expected, even when the motivation to work is strong.

From there, the conversation shifts inward.

I reflect on how easy it is to rever...

In today’s episode, I close the loop on a Social Security Disability fight most people never see coming.

I walk through how I uncovered a little-known loophole buried in SSD policy and procedure. Not a rumor. Not frustration. Research. Paper trails. Discrepancies that did not line up with what the beneficiaries were told.

I reached a point where I formally wrote to the President of the United States. The Biden administration responde...

This episode serves as a real-time reminder of what happens when you take risks and find out.

I was down with the flu. Flu A to be exact. Somewhere between pushing through and brushing off the early warning signs, I ignored what my body was clearly asking for. Rest. Attention. Respect.

From the fog of recovery, I reflect on how quickly things can unravel when we neglect our health, especially when we convince ourselves we will deal w...

Even on days when my body asks me to slow down, my heart still leans toward connection.

In this special holiday episode, I show up not at my strongest, but with intention. With Christmas approaching, I share a simple yet meaningful moment that unfolded during a fishing coaching session arranged by my wife. What began as a thoughtful gesture became a reminder of why fishing has always mattered to me.

I have been fishing since I was fi...

On the sixth day of the Festival of Light, I reflect on a moment when my own flame nearly went out.

This episode explores what happened when I decided to come off Social Security Disability and return to work. The intention was firm. The motivation was real. But the process was far more complicated than the programs promised.

I share what it felt like to navigate a system that encourages independence while placing most of the respons...

In this episode of Scarred Not Silent, the conversation moves beyond survival and into what comes next.

ChatGPT interviews me on Sections 5 and 6 of my journey, where we explore the creation of the Scarred Not Silent podcast and the deeper legacy behind it. We talk about why I chose to speak publicly, how storytelling became a form of service, and what it means to build something rooted in lived experience rather than performance.

I ...

In today’s episode of Scarred Not Silent, the tables turn.

I sat down for a guided interview with ChatGPT to reflect on Sections 3 and 4 of my kidney journey. This conversation centers on the transplant that changed everything and the quiet work of rebuilding purpose after survival.

We talk openly about the moment hope arrived, the reality of recovery, and the challenges that do not disappear once surgery is over. I share what life l...

This conversation steps back into the heart of your journey—how survival shaped your purpose, how storytelling keeps you grounded, and how the hard questions build the strongest foundations. In this episode, you open the door to the real work behind Scarred Not Silent: reflecting on your kidney story, revisiting the moments that changed your direction, and honoring the traditions and people who stood beside you when the path felt u...