From Tragedy to Triumph: Thomas E. Smith’s Story #57

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
From Maine's cold coast to Connecticut pride Vermont green
hills take it all inside Massachusetts traffic will clip
and we grind with a Dunkin iced coffee and don't be grind so New
England stand up crowd shouting way shouting loud from Fenway

(00:21):
chance to Rhode Island side. New Hampshire's crime Free or
die? Good freaking morning from New
England folks. Welcome back to episode 57 of
the So New England podcast. I'm your host Ian Brownhill,
joined by my Co host Robert Travisano.

(00:42):
All things life's better in New England.
So New England podcast producer Vinny G behind the camera.
And once again, folks, this one actually found us.
So we didn't we don't want to take the credit for seeking this
one out, but we are very, very glad that this individual has
been connected to our podcast because we're going to have a
wonderful, wonderful guest for you today.
So without further ado, RJ won'ttell us.

(01:02):
We have. We have yet another first today
on the pod, but this one, folks,might just take the cake.
He definitely has my boat and ifthat counts for anything, you
know how I feel about my things.Being counted for our guest
today is the truest form of a patriot and what defines a New
Englander? Integrity, grit, determination,
just to name a few. But if you ask me, my man is a

(01:24):
bad motherfucker. Our guest is the first person in
medical history to be paralyzed.Not once, not twice, but three
times and recover. Now tell me if that description
was wrong. From going top shelf on the rink
to Co founding a foundation thathas donated more than $1.5
million back to individuals and paralysis research here on the

(01:47):
So New England podcast to spreadthe uplifting F words like
family, faith and friends. We welcome Mr. Thomas.
Smith. Thank you so much for having me
guys. Yeah, thank you for making the
trek down from the North Shore. That's a pretty far drive to
come down a little roadie. Yeah, but I timed it so it

(02:08):
wasn't too bad with traffic. Awesome, that's awesome.
Well, welcome. We definitely appreciate your
time here as as that intro comesthrough, it's like Mesmer, like
you hear that and you're just like, wow.
Like right away. I just, I already feel like I'm
in awe and I want to know like everything.
And I want you to tell me the story about what has LED you to
where you are here today, if youdon't mind sharing.

(02:28):
Yeah, no, absolutely. And thanks so much for having
me, guys. Born and raised in New England,
Massachusetts. Threw through and actually grew
up in a small town about 40 minutes north of Boston in
Swampscott. Yeah.
So, so 3 square mile town and asit was funny over the 4th, we
had a a couple high school friends over and everything and

(02:50):
talking about childhood and, andone of my buddies said to me,
he's like Tom, what do you thinkof your childhood?
And I was thinking of myself andlike, it's kind of like
something out of like a Norman Rockwell scene, honest to God,
like 2 loving parents, older brother who's about six years
older, always tried, always tried to keep up with Chris.
And what's interesting about howI got introduced to hockey was

(03:10):
my dad and brother were extremely good baseball players.
So dad played minor leagues, Chris was recruited by Division
One schools. And when I was about four years
old, I put a bat in my hand and there's a story has it.
I flipped the bat upside down and start stick handling the
baseball and. They.
Said, OK, I guess, you know, we have a, we have a hockey player

(03:31):
on her hand. So my mom in Swampscott, we had
a pond behind our house. It was my mom who actually
taught me how to skate. And then as I got older and just
progressed through the years, not only did hockey become my
identity, it became my gateway to do better in all facets of
life. So I was AI was a good student.

(03:52):
I wasn't a great student that wasn't let for lack of trying.
School just came hard for me. But with hockey, I was able to
be on an eighth grade team wherewe played 90% of the New England
prep schools and get recruited by 6 of them.
So I ended up actually at the the Pingree School in Hamilton,
MA, which at the time was a top tier program.

(04:15):
And it for me it was great because it's in the league where
you know, Phillips XR Phillips Sando Avonal Farms schools that
were still pumping out several Division One players from their
senior class. But I was able to live at home.
So still get that small town feel.
But being a prep school and thenplay at the top level.
It was a New England prep schoolat the time was a a top three

(04:36):
league in in the country. So I went to Penguin for four
years, was lucky enough to play varsity all four years.
And my junior year, I'm a July baby.
My birthday is July 6th. 2 days after my birthday, July 8th, I
get a letter in the mail. And at the top, I see Yale
University. And so I, I vividly remember

(04:57):
opening that envelope. And Keith Elaine was the coach
at Yale at the time. So Keith went on to win a
national title with Yale and coached two or three of the
Olympic team. Just an unbelievable coach, not
only at the collegiate level, but professional level.
And the first line, said Thomas Smith.
You've you've been identified byYale University as a Division

(05:18):
One player. So when you think of like.
I got chills. That's I just got chills.
That's. I didn't even get like recruited
for like a management position at McDonald's, let alone a D1
school for sports. That's amazing.
No thank you but but for me it was awesome because it was
always a goal to play Division One and and mom and dad worked
really hard to get me through Penguin.

(05:38):
So would have been a unbelievable moment for me to
say, hey, mom and dad, I, I've college paid for, right?
Like whatever monies you save, go on a vacation, go, you know,
go buy yourself a, a new car, what, whatever that may be.
And so through my senior year, you know, University of Vermont,
Holy Cross, couple other schoolscontacted me and what we agreed

(05:59):
upon with all the coaches was that, and this is very typical
for, for high school players, just play a year at junior
hockey and hopefully sign in thefall.
So I would play if it's 60 games, 15 games, hopefully get
the school of my choice and thenthe remaining 45 just have a
year, right? So that's what I did.
And I, I was very, very, very excited to sign with the Boston

(06:23):
Bulldogs out of Salem, NH and was in my second tournament with
the team and, and unfortunately,my life changed forever after
that. So we, the tournament was hockey
night in Boston and I was skating down an opposing player
in both Yale and University of Vermont.
I'm at the game. So I'm skating my hardest,
skating down an opposing player,goalie come out, comes out to

(06:45):
poke Jack the puck. And the three of us met.
And that's the last thing I remember.
The video shows that my skates hit the goalie's helmet and I
went airborne parallel head first into the boards.
And now I was in an all out Sprint, right, right.
Trying to catch the opposing player.
And I didn't wake up for about 48 hours in the hospital.
And my first introduction to paralysis was when my mother's

(07:07):
hand was on my hands and I woke up and I looked at her hand and
I tried to squeeze her hand and I couldn't.
And that's when I lost it. And about 10-15 minutes later,
doctor came in and he said, Tom,I need to talk to you about
paralysis. You're paralyzed from me back
down. And so as I mentioned, my
birthday is in July. So I was 19 at the time and at
19 years old. That was August 2nd, 2008.

(07:31):
You think you're on top of the world, but when you're on that
path to play collegiate sports, I mean, you rely on your body
for everything. And here I am with nothing,
right? My body shut down.
So I injured the cervical part of my spinal column.
So for anyone who's listening, that's at the top of your neck.
And so paralyzed from my neck down.
Spent the the remaining of that week in the ICU, then got

(07:54):
transferred to Spalding. Rehab wasn't making much
progress. And when I got discharged after
several weeks in Spalding, it was five weeks after my injury
and mom, dad and I had a doctor's appointment at one of
the hospitals in Boston. And when we went in there with
the two neurologists, plus my case manager from, from
Spalding, and there was a big pamphlet, almost like a binder,

(08:16):
like on the desk. And in the binder was vendors to
install elevators in homes, shower chairs, outpatient rehab
centers and things like that. And the doctor looked at my
mother, my father and I and said, Tom is going to be in a
wheelchair for the rest of his life.
You really need to start gettingahead of things to make Tom's
life easier. Meaning he's never going to be

(08:37):
able to do stairs again and things, things like that.
And I remember when we were thinking about it and, and, and
we all just kind of looked at each other and had that moment
of, no, we're not going to accept this, but thinking about
it after being 19 years old, five weeks out from my injury,
like, how can you tell someone that?
Yeah, So my family and I really wanted to exhaust all resources.

(08:58):
And I'm very fortunate that we have, you know, closed Aunt,
aunt's uncles and everyone came together and we ended up finding
this place called the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
So come to find out, it's the world's most comprehensive
Research Center for individuals that suffer from a spinal,
spinal cord injury or neurological disease that
results in paralysis. So it was founded by the late

(09:21):
Nick Bonacani, which some of your listeners may know,
Patriots Hall of Famer, NFL Hallof Famer when his son Mark broke
his neck at Citadel in 1985. Now the world's most
comprehensive Research Center. So I go down at the end of
September, paralyzing my neck down.
My doctor was the Co founder, Doctor Barth Green says to me,
Tom, not going to lie to you, this really bad injury, not sure

(09:44):
of the outcome, but I can tell you this.
If I didn't, if I don't get you back on skates, I didn't do my
job. And so I'm thinking to myself,
well, three weeks ago in Boston where handed a binder for
elevator and home different rehabilitation devices,
outpatient centers like Tom's never going to be able to live
an independent life. And here they Co founded to the

(10:07):
world's most comprehensive Research Center saying if I
don't get you back on skates, I didn't do my job.
So obviously a bit of a bit of a180.
But I remember thinking to myself and leaving the hospital
with my mom and dad, This is theguy I want on the team, right?
And and this is these are the folks that I want to be working
with to try to make this recovery.
So I was put into one of their experimental therapeutic

(10:28):
programs and within three monthsI was walking.
That's crazy. Not perfectly so bad spasticity
in terms of like when my heel totoe would strike on each foot, I
would have convulsions and things like that.
But I was standing and I was standing on my own and and then
on occasion I have to grab the Walker and things like that.

(10:49):
But you look at that and saying,all right, Tom, then we're going
to walk again, leaves Boston, goes to Miami three months from
his first day of treatment, is walking again.
So I actually was able to go home for Christmas that year and
spent five days with my family. And then I was back to Miami.
And the agreement that I made with the doctors was five days a

(11:10):
week, 8 hours a day physical therapy basically until I, I, I
couldn't tolerate it anymore. And they didn't have to worry
about the injury or I guess me re injuring the cervical part of
my neck cause the, the dislocations and everything,
where everything was, was, was traumatized, was, was healed.
So now I was retraining the bodyon how to walk again.
So my, my days where I would show up at the, at the hospital

(11:33):
at the University of Miami, 9 to12 in terms of physical therapy,
walking on the gated treadmill, which is now evolved into the
robotic arms that are on each a person's leg.
I'm sure you've seen it on TV. They didn't have that.
So I had a therapist on each of my arms when they're trying to
move it as best they could, as best they could.
And then I would do 2 hours of aquatic therapy, one hour of mat

(11:58):
work. And then I would go home.
And there was a gold gym about 3blocks away from where I was
staying. So I'd do about an hour and a
half, two hours at the Gold's Gym as as best I could.
Dumbbells, mat work, flies, anything that I could do to keep
my body moving. That was five days a week.
You Fast forward five months to May of 2009.
I'm in the hospital room. Doctor Green, Dr. Dalton, three

(12:22):
attorneys from the hospital, mom, dad and I and Doctor Green
says to me, Tom, you have made aone in a million recovery and
you are no more susceptible thanthe average person that get hurt
again. If you want to go back to
hockey, you can. And at that moment, it was fear
and joy, right? Because and, and, and so I'll

(12:43):
talk about the joy first, right?My identity is a hockey player.
I had played since competitivelysince I was four years old.
I'm in the learning this gate. And so for for 20 or excuse me,
16 years of my life at 20 years old, everything was hockey
again, gateway to do better in all facets of life.
And then the fear was, OK, couldsomething happen?

(13:06):
And the agreement that I'm in with my parents was, well, if
the world's most comprehensive Research Center says I'm no more
susceptible than the average person to get hurt again, I want
to take the opportunity. And I remember thinking to
myself over the weeks when we were deciding this for, for me,
it was so important to obtain that college scholarship, but
also to say, mom and dad, I havecollege paid for.

(13:27):
And I never got pressured by them.
But that was a personal goal, right?
To, to, to financially alleviatethat burden and also student
debt. So, so as of July of that
summer, I'm playing competitive hockey again.
So it's about two months from when I got cleared.
That's insane. And August hit, and when I went

(13:49):
to training camp, USA Hockey hasall the teams of the junior
teams and of all circuits from 18 to 21 year olds who are
playing, submit their speed, strength, endurance.
You do all kinds of tests, Submit it to USA Hockey.
We get the results back right after Labor Day.
I'm in the top 2 percentile from18 to 21 year olds across the

(14:10):
country. I was in the best shape of my
life. I had one of the best
tournaments of my life in Labor Day.
And in the third week of September was when I was
contacted by three out of the four schools, so Yale,
University of Vermont and Holy Cross saying, hey, let's have a
conversation basically in November and hopefully we can
wrap this up by the end of the year.
And, and you'll be with one of the programs.

(14:30):
So unbelievable Living the dream.
And everything was working in myfavor.
And we were getting ready for a game.
It was October 1st, 2009, and wewere skating in a practice and
then we were going to get on thebus and go by an hour north.
And I'm skating around the net with one of my team mates,
something I've done 10,000 times.
And as I'm going around the net,our skates get entangled and he

(14:53):
goes into the board's feet firstand I go into the board's head
1st. And as soon as I hit the boards,
I knew I was paralyzed. I can tell you which coach was
first on site. I can tell you what teammates
both took my gloves off. I can tell you that the
paramedics and the helicopter, because they I was airlifted,
were wearing blue jumpsuits and when they wheeled me out of the

(15:16):
rink, I can tell you that it wasraining out.
I remember everything. So unlike my first accident
where I had a really bad concussion with this injury,
from moment of injury till we landed in Boston, I remember the
entire thing. Jesus Christ.
And that helicopter ride about 22 minutes from Salem, NH to

(15:37):
Boston Medical Center. The a couple things were going
through my mind. First was, Oh my goodness,
someone screwed up. I should not go back to hockey,
right? Second was why me?
Very much the pity party. And then the third was, what the
hell am I going to do with my life?
Right? Because hockey now is clearly
out of the question. So I get to Boston.

(15:58):
So going back to the first question, Oh my goodness,
someone screwed up. They rushed me out of the the
helicopter, go into the emergency room and then after
they did their procedures, they put me in the MRI machine.
They started the scans in the cervical part of my back.
So about 45 minutes went by, doctor pulls me out and says,
Tom, we can't find the injury. We have to scan your home back.

(16:21):
And I'm thinking to myself, whatdo you mean you can't find the
injury? Well, as they move down, they
found that I had broken T3 in half.
So cervical area, the top of your neck, T3S in between your
shoulder blades, 2 totally different parts of the spinal
column, two totally different parts of your back.
Doctor pulled mom and dad and about two hours later and it's

(16:41):
talking to us about the injury, what the next couple days are
going to entail. And he says, Tom, you had a
better chance of winning the lottery five times in a row than
having two separate accidents totally unrelated.
If if we were the doctors in Miami, we would have signed off
on you to go back. If we were you, we would have
went back to hockey. You had nothing to worry about.
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(17:03):
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by your side. And I remember after hearing
that news, going to the, the second question, well, why me,
right. So after this whole process and,

(17:47):
and, and we went through that first night, I'm in the hospital
in the next couple of days. To say that mentally they were
tough would would have been an understatement.
The mental toll that paralysis takes on individuals.
When you see someone who's paralyzed, you just see the
physical nature of the injury. But I would argue that it's 50%

(18:11):
physical and 50% mental. And it's not the mental aspect
of, oh, I think I'm going to walk again.
I'm going to walk. I'm talking about the mental
toll and that mental paralysis that those with paralysis face
on an everyday basis. And for me, it was that layer of
not only being paralysed from mywaist down, but thinking to
myself that that third question from the helicopter, what the
hell am I going to do with my life?

(18:32):
And so all this is running through my mind.
And then it was why me? Why me?
Why me? And my doctor at the time, who's
a wonderful individual and I'm very lucky to have a good
relationship with him now. It was six days after my
accident and I was having none of occupational therapy or
physical therapy. Didn't want to work with the P
TS and O TS. I knew Best didn't want really

(18:56):
much family in the room. My team mates wanted to come
down. The Bruins started to engage
with us. They wanted to help and I was
just in a very bad place mentally and very bitter, right
that this had happened. And so Steve's in my hospital
room, my doctor, and he says Tommy's like, I can't help you
if you don't want to engage. Therefore, until you want me to

(19:17):
come back, I'm not going to waste my time in here.
He goes you've for the past fourdays told off all the physical
therapists, all the nurses, No one wants to work with you and
we can't work with someone that doesn't want to help themself,
right. And basically I told Steve to F
off and I just said I I, I said this is it like, and I said to
him, I said, what if I told you right now that you couldn't

(19:39):
practice medicine and I ripped away your medical license?
Well, that's what hockey was to me, right?
It was my identity, it was my everything.
It was how I was going to get tothe best school as possible, how
I was going to live my dream andall.
And so that was a really hard afternoon and evening for me.
And visiting hours stopped at 7:00 that night.
So everyone's out of my room. No one really wanted to be

(20:01):
there. And as they're wrapping up the
the visiting hours for the folksin the other rooms, I see a
child who eight or nine years old, and he's going by my
hospital room and he's in a wheelchair and he's controlling
it by his tongue. And I'd seen things like that
when I was in Miami, but I'm extremely vulnerable at that
moment. And I remember thinking to

(20:23):
myself, well, what if I am just able to talk to this child and
his parents? And I still can't tell you to
this day about what. But I do a transfer out of my
hospital bed into my wheelchair.And I go out in the hallway and
as I'm rounding the corner, his father is picking up his arms to
hug his mother. So he was about 8 doors down in
the hospital. And I went back in my room and I

(20:45):
lost it and I cried like a baby for almost 2 hours.
And I remember thinking to myself, Tom, you are so selfish.
Come to find out shortly after that moment that he was the
victim of gun violence wasn't intent.
Bullet wasn't intended for him. It was intended to a family
member that he was walking with.So to no fault of this
childhood, he's in a wheelchair.And I remember thinking to
myself, well, it was your choiceto go back to hockey.

(21:08):
It was your choice to try to live your dream.
Why you? Why not you?
And as soon as I started positioning the question like
that, my whole perspective changed.
And, and, and still to this day is when adversity hits a, a lot
of the questions that I asked myself, well, I mean, well, why
not you, right? And I did 6 things that night

(21:28):
that have profoundly built a foundation in my life personally
and professionally that helped me be the best version of who I
am today. And I know we're all from New
England and we love to throw around the F word, but instead
of using the profanity, I said, you know what, we're going to
build the new F words. And that's how you're going to
really try to build your life from here on forward.
And that's faith, family and friends.

(21:50):
My family is amazing. Both mom, dad, brother, aunts,
uncles, cousins were very tight knit.
And yet I wasn't letting not only any really anyone help me.
I was being super nasty to them.And so I was like, all right, be
nice to your family, but really build a family around you with
not only relatives, but people who you want in your life that

(22:12):
can really help you thrive. Friends, My mom used to always
say to me, tell them, show me who you walk with and I'll tell
you who you are. So really surrounding myself
with friends, some of the family, but that would push me
and can be a positive influence and hopefully I can be a
positive influence in their lifeand faith where if I'm being
honest, since my accidents, I'm not a very religious person, but

(22:34):
I do believe in a higher being and I believe in karma in terms
of people, right. You put into the in in energy,
right? You put out into the world what
you hope to receive. And I just believe that there
are far more good people than bad people.
And if we all have a common goaland collectively try to be the
best version of ourselves, we can accomplish amazing things.

(22:55):
And then focusing on obviously our areas of interest.
So just faith in humanity, really.
And then the other three things that I did, which is what I call
my 3DS, and it's don't whine, don't complain and don't quit.
And I was whining, complaining and quitting for the past, you
know, weeks since my, my injury.So what I did was I wrote the
paper in half and I put each of those inside the soles of my

(23:16):
shoes. And I wore those shoes every
single day for about a year while doing rehabilitation.
So Fast forward through the hospital, I spent 42 days at
Boston Medical Center and I get out shortly after the first week
of November. So I'm doing physical therapy
again, similar to Miami, but don't have to go back to Miami

(23:38):
five days a week. And mom and dad are splitting
time in terms of driving me to physical therapy.
And then about two months later or a month and a half, couple
days before Christmas, I startedmoving my big toe.
So when you have the injury, obviously the furthest extremity
from your head, if you're movingit, it's a good sign and best
Christmas present ever. So get through the holidays and

(23:59):
pick up physical therapy after the new year.
And my dad was driving me to physical therapy.
It was a Monday, It was January 11th, 2010, and we were stopped
at a red light at Bell Circle inRevere.
And a distracted driver who was texting slammed into US going 40
miles an hour, and it was the longest 10 seconds of my life.
We both hit the windshield, had our seatbelts on, thank God, but

(24:21):
did get thrown forward and hit the windshield.
And I looked at my dad and he didn't move.
And I didn't know what was goingon, but I tried to move my big
toe about 15 seconds after this happened and I couldn't.
And I knew I'd gone backwards. So I'm immediately rushed to the
hospital to Boston Medical Center and my dad what is what
was as well. But we didn't I didn't hear

(24:42):
anything on his condition for about 6 hours.
Come to find out he broke 3 vertebra in his back and I re
broke T3. So my dad though not paralyzed
has been on disability since January 11th 2010 has not worked
since and it's changed his life.He has to walk with assistance
and, and you know, like for example, when we try to go to

(25:05):
the Bruins games, if we get off the train at the at North
Station, it's five to seven stops just to get to our seats.
So it's, it's definitely impacted his life and his
quality of life, unfortunately. And then I didn't walk for
almost three years with re injuring T3.
And I didn't know it at the time, but I became the first

(25:27):
person in medical history to be paralyzed 3 separate times.
So we were in really uncharted waters with the doctors because
it was like, huh, well, what should I do for physical
therapy? What should I end up like?
Tom, we're going to give you our, our best opinion from a
medical standpoint, but we've never dealt with this before.
So I think at that point, it wasa real fight or flight moment

(25:51):
for me. It was, do I want to continue
this or give up? And those couple of months
through the winter and early spring were were tough to to put
it lightly. But one of the people that
really helped me out of it was agentleman by the name of Tucker
Mullen. And I tell everyone, try to be a

(26:13):
Tucker in someone's life or findyour Tucker.
And Tucker for me was he's, he'slike a brother, but he's not
family. He was a teammate of mine.
And after my first accent, everysingle day, whether it was
practice or a game, Tucker wouldmake it a point to call me, keep
me involved, knew mentally I wasthat I was struggling but wanted
to inform of how the team was doing.

(26:33):
And that helped me so much as I was continuing to try to be
motivated and and battle back from paralysis.
After my second injury, same thing.
After the third one, same thing.And in my second and third
accident, Tucker was in college at that point.
So he is just a wonderful human being.
And when he visited me and marched 2 months after my

(26:56):
accident, he could tell that I was struggling.
He said, Tom, we need to pivot you from your passion, which was
hockey to your purpose. And you have to figure that out.
And my purpose at that moment was trying to do something that
was greater than myself and trying to reinvent who Tom Smith
was. So we came up with this idea for
the Thomas E Smith Foundation. And guys, honest to God, when we
found it, it was I saw the inequities in healthcare when I

(27:21):
was in the hospital. I saw how expensive this injury
is. We now, 15 years later, haven't
been able to identify a healthcare issue that is more
financially egregious for individuals and family than
paralysis. Because you think about it, it's
unique in that once you survive the injury you could live for 50
years. But the average out of pocket
cost in the US is is 4,000,000 bucks.

(27:44):
Jeez right? But yet one in fifty Americans
live with some type of paralysis.
So how is can this be? So when we founded, the
organization was trying to bridge the financial and
emotional gaps for individuals and families living with
paralysis. And we became a licensed
nonprofit in May of 2010. And that was really the
beginning of of my purpose. And I'm 36 years old now and I

(28:06):
tell people I lived the 1st 20 years of my life with a passion.
I've lived the last 16 with a purpose.
And that purpose has been tryingto do something greater than
myself. What would you say was the
hardest thing to learn growing up?
Probably learning how to like you, save or spend money.
You legit worked in banking, didyou not?
You're welcome. Are you still with Dime Bank or

(28:28):
you to Hollywood now? OK, rude, but yes, yes I am.
Imagine your followers finding out you're with the Connecticut
based bank. OK, first of all, they have a
branch in Wesley, Rhode Island, which is where we grew up.
So really, that's brownie pointsbecause I'm sticking to my
roots. Second, I think everyone would
appreciate that I'm with a bank that knows and understands their
community. Their tagline is legit.

(28:49):
Community banking lives here. Hey, hey.
I'm not asking you to sell me onit.
I've been banking with them for years and they know me on a
first name basis. I'm just saying I'm surprised as
all I can see the headlines now.Mr. Anti Connecticut actually
banks with local community bank.OK, you know what, follow along
with me here. They're FDIC insured, equal

(29:10):
housing lenders, wicked friendly.
They take care of all my personal needs, have expansive
products to help all my businesses, offer lending across
the board, merchant services. What more could I possibly want
or need? And you know that I secretly
like Connecticut so. Oh, I hope you heard that folks.
Dime Bank is the reason Ian loves Connecticut, OK?
Ridiculous. Funny story though, you know how

(29:32):
they have like the mobile app with like banking Lifesaver you
can do all the deposits. Have you tried to teach your mom
how to do the mobile deposit yet?
I was teaching my mom how to do it and she takes a selfie.
Instead of the check. Visit dime-bank.com to learn
more. I feel like the intention when
we started this podcast was of course, to just like have have
fun, chit chat it up. And then we kind of found

(29:55):
ourselves in this situation where we continue to have
incredible individuals such as yourself on come and share their
stories. And as you're mentioning purpose
and you know, we worked with JoeAndrusi for the Andrusi
Foundation, Matt Light for the Matt Light Foundation, and now
we're learning more about your foundation here.
But the story that got you thereand it just kind of, so it's a
lot of different things, especially in today's day and

(30:18):
age and a perspective. And it kind of makes the world
feel a little bit smaller when Italk to an individual like you,
because I feel like as a chronically online individual,
you're constantly exposed to thewhole world and you kind of feel
like you want to help the whole world.
And then you would know that youcan't.
So it feels overwhelming and youfind yourself in a position
where you feel like you have no purpose and you don't do

(30:38):
anything. So when a story like this is
told, it feels like I get pushedinto a, a state of mind where
it's like, well, there's a community of things that you can
control and you can do and you can find your purpose in that.
So #1 Thank you for sharing yourstory.
And the first follow up questionI was going to have, what you
kind of touched upon and I wouldlike to revisit a little bit if

(30:59):
you don't mind, is the psychological aspect of the, of
what occurred with. And the reason why I say that is
because again, mental health is something that I'm passionate
about. And I'm just genuinely kind of
curious about what, what you hadto do and how you did it when it
came to the mental fortitude it took to continue to push

(31:22):
through. Now I know you talk about your 6
steps, but I think I almost wantto get a little bit deeper if
you're OK with it. Because I think to myself like,
I can't imagine what that fear genuinely felt like when you
wake up and you can't move. Yeah.
And that must have damaged you for life.

(31:42):
Yeah, it's, well, it's interesting now because 16 years
later and I I still cannot have anything on my feet when I
sleep. So like the blankets are are
resting on my ankles and it's just a psychological thing where
and it might sound like silly, but because I couldn't move my

(32:03):
feet for so long, I just need tolike need to know that they're
still moving, right? So here we are all these years
later. So I think with my my injuries,
especially so after the third one, perspective was a big thing

(32:27):
putting things into perspective.Like before my accidents, I
thought an issue in my life was not putting the puck in the back
of the net, right? An issue as you wake up and you
can't feel anything below your waist or your neck and, and
you're laying in a bed with tubes coming out of your eyes,
ears, no, like everywhere, right?
And, and doctors are telling youthat this is going to be your

(32:49):
destiny, that that's an issue. And so I think being able to
compartmentalize big and small was a huge help, something that
I still live by. And when you, when you're
paralyzed to get, it's a marathon, not a Sprint,
literally your rehabilitation. So what I tried to do was try to
be 1% better today than I was yesterday.

(33:10):
And if I look at that and let's just take from a business
standpoint, right, like 5 business days in a week, that's
the amount of days I'm doing therapy.
Well, I'm 5% better and if there's four weeks in a month,
I'm 20% better. And then if we look at a
quarter, I'm 60% better and thenhalfway through the year I'm
180% better, right. So when you, when you, when you
look at that and say, OK, well, if I can compartmentalize and

(33:31):
put everything into perspective and then I can say, well,
looking back on everything that I've accomplished, I actually
have come far and have made a lot of like it.
It helps because when you look at these kind of audacious
mountains that you need to climb, it can be overwhelming.
And then thinking about my injuries and then how I've been

(33:53):
able to kind of position that inmy personal professional life
after I, I, I still live by the 1% rule because and, and some of
your listeners are going to be like, what the heck is he
talking about? Every single person listening,
including all four of us in thisroom, we've all been paralyzed.
That's our common denominator. And what I mean by that is we've

(34:15):
all had our moments in life thathave frozen us in time where
it's like, what the heck do I donext?
Most people it's mental paralysis, right?
Like, Oh my God, there's a deathin the family.
You have a, a, a, a traumatic diagnosis or relationships are
off. Like you, we've all had those
moments where we stop and say, what the heck do I do next?
And we're literally frozen. And a big thing for me was being

(34:38):
able to compartmentalize and break things down by the 1%
rule. And then also perspective.
Incredible now that that third injury, the three years that it
took you to get The Walking back, the rehab, were you fully
paralyzed again from the neck down the on the second injury,
did you have some movement and. Waist down.
Waist down the second time, OK. And when you were going through

(35:00):
rehab for those three years, like what were, what were like
the points for you where you're like, I need to get to this
particular area to know that it's worth to fight for the next
year, for the next 6 months. Like I always think about it a
good a good thing is like yesterday I went for a run.
I didn't really want to run. So what I kept doing was I kept
looking at a sign in front of me.

(35:21):
I said, just get to that sign then we can stop.
And then I got this just this sign.
Next thing you know, I put together a decent run.
So I'm like curious what those what those markers were like for
you? Like what did that look like?
Yeah, so there were definitely some days and weeks where the
gains were they they were slow. And so one of the best things I
did was when I pivoted back to the the roots I talked about

(35:42):
after my second injury being faith, family and friends,
having that support system that could pick me up when things
weren't going my way. And maybe those one percents
were 1/4 of a percent, right. That was huge.
And then also also asking for help.
I was a very and still am a veryprideful person, but it's kind

(36:06):
of like radical transparency andradical vulnerability, right?
Like I have no shame saying that.
I struggled for years mentally as I was battling back from
physical paralysis. That took me a while to say.
I, I for several years after didnot, you would never hear that.
But now that we've been so many years removed, I'm a lot more

(36:26):
comfortable saying that. So that definitely helped me now
that I think back of the on those three years.
But the big thing was you have to, in my opinion, when you wake
up everyday, have a sense of purpose, right?
Your job, personally, relationships, if you have
children, parents, like whatever.

(36:48):
There has to be a sense of purpose and my purpose come May
of 2010 to this day has been trying to build something and
impact the paralysis community like no one has ever before.
And and that's really what put me on the right track to pair
with my personal goals of tryingto walk again.

(37:11):
Incredible. Tell us more about the
foundation now that we've got a good, pun intended here.
Now that we have a good foundation, let's talk a little
bit about what the foundation does, how you get involved with
the individuals that you've beenmentioning, how you know the
foundation helps, the outreach programs that you guys do, how
other people can get involved tohelp, how people can utilize the

(37:33):
foundation for themselves if they need it.
Yeah. So this year is our 15 year
anniversary. So when we started the
foundation it was like it was a one to one, I guess grant
foundation. So we'd receive applications,
our Co founder and I tuck them on would would review them and
then we'd grant, you know, 30 forty $50,000 a year, right.
And our average grand size, 5 grand.

(37:54):
So maybe I don't know, 8 to 10 people.
And that's awesome. Like there's a lot of
foundations that that are out there like that and and you do
great work. But for me, I wanted to do
something that could try to reduce the risk of what I went
through for other hockey players.
So in 2011 I really got to thinking of could we make an

(38:14):
impact on the game of hockey at all levels, professional and
amateur without affecting the speed, intensity, heritage or
adding any more rules to the game.
So I got inspired by what NASCARdid when Dale Earnhardt senior
died at the Daytona 500, which was they added springboard and
foam behind the concrete barriers so when drivers hits,
he or she would have less vibration that's reducing the

(38:35):
rest of head and neck injury. And so when I, so we're thinking
to myself, well, that came and they obviously installed the
harnesses inside of of the race cars, but when the springboard
and foam came, they saw a dramatic dip when crashes
happened. Well, we crashed into the boards
all the time in hockey. So could we modify the boys?
And I had a buddy at the time who was at MIT and he was an

(38:57):
engineering student and we worked together for almost 14
months on over 38 different prototypes where we were trying
to modify the boards on the computer and we'd be utilizing
boat phone because you think of the density with boat foam when
you go over a wave, it absorbs the shock.
Something myself, alright, if you know you're going 50 miles
an hour, you have to absorb the shock for all these people on
boats. What could we do that so when

(39:18):
players at the boards, they lesslikely to break their neck or
suffer a head injury with three issues.
One was the cost, so there was no, and, and then the other two
with it being over $100,000, we thought to put in rinks.
The second issue was there was no data saying it would 100% or
even 80% reduce the risk. And the third issue was we were

(39:40):
affecting the game because sometimes when with different
models that we have, like the puck would hit the boards that
we have mocked up and it would spring off or it would die.
So we were changing the game. And so it's going against with
the principles of not affecting the speed, intensity, heritage
or any more rules of the game. So I took a step back and I
said, well, no one's going to spend over 100 grand to modify
the boards if there's no real evidence that it it, it helps,

(40:04):
right, Reduce the risk of head and neck injury.
What can we do and what have other sports done?
So I'm watching a Red Sox game, this is in the summer of 2012,
and left fielder goes back for afly ball and he's running
towards the Green Monster. But he never looked at the Green
Monster, put his eyes out on thewarning track.
And as soon as he did that, he put his arm on.
He slowed down. I said, Oh my God, a warning

(40:26):
track. So I immediately got on the
computer and found that the Yankees were the first one saw
the warning track in 1949 after one of their outfielders had a
shoulder injury at Yankee Stadium.
I'm like, well, what has football done to reduce the risk
when players go out of bounds? They moved the goal posts in
1972 from the goal line to the end of the end zone, and then
they installed that rectangular box beyond the perimeter line so

(40:48):
when players go out, they roughly have 5 yards before they
make contact with coaches, mediaor teammates of theirs or
players on the opposing team. My God.
Football has theirs. Baseball has theirs.
What has basketball done? Same type of deal in the 80s.
They started moving the post of the hoop back and then the rim
over the perimeter line. And if you watch a Celtics game
or whatever game at the professional level, those seats

(41:11):
are set back roughly 3 to 5 feet.
The whole point here is when a player goes out of bounds, they
have time to pick their head up and brace for contact before
making contact with a solid object.
Then two weeks later, I'm in thepool doing my aquatic therapy
and I look down in each lane, there's the black line and that
line stops roughly 9 feet beforethe end wall.

(41:32):
So I'm looking at it and I'm saying to myself, all right,
what's the science behind this? And the science is, is that when
it, when you make contact with the top of your head, the reason
why you don't see paralysis in terms of sports injuries and
youngsters that weigh under 60 lbs is because the body's not
big enough to break the neck, right?
You see paralysis with kids who have been in car crashes in a

(41:55):
fortune, situations like that. But sports is different.
So I started thinking that, OK, so head up versus head down,
what's the science? And when we lift our head up, we
have flexion in our spinal column.
So it absorbs the shock a littlebit more.
When you have your head down, everything's actual compression.
So when you hit, it's a crunch, right?
And then it breaks the neck, causes brain injury and things

(42:16):
like that. So as I started running this up
the chain medically, come to find out continuous visual
cueing in sports is the number one way to create a behavioral
instinct. And if you think about it, like
in hockey, we have a blue line, we have the red line, we get the
dots, goal line, all of it. So now I have this idea of the
look up line ice hockey's first ever warning track.

(42:38):
And I designed it where it's 40 inches of orange paint that
comes out of the boards. I have to find a rink who's
going to install this and give me a shot?
So I go back to my alma mater, Pingree.
And what what was working on my side and I got lucky with
Pingree, was obviously being a private school.
They don't have to report to a governing body, right?
DCR is owned by the state. Some of these leagues own 1020

(43:01):
ranks, like being an IndependentSchool.
They had a rink on campus, so they can do whatever they want.
So in March of two, 2013, Pingree installed the first ever
warning track inside of a hockeyrink.
No other school did it. So that year they had whatever
it is 1820 schools play on Pingree.

(43:21):
The following year we had 68% ofall New England prep schools
with look up lines in their hockey rinks.
That's awesome. So.
Love that. Amazing.
And the, the, the, the real big push that we got was when
Governor Baker was in office, hecalled us in 2015 and the state
of Massachusetts owns and governs the DCR ranks, which is

(43:44):
52 ranks. So he put into law, and it's
still into law today that every single DCR rank is supposed to
have a look up line installed init.
And then Marty Walsh when he wasmayor of Boston the year after
did the same. So all the nine city owned ranks
in Boston have look up lines in them.
And then before we knew it, mayor of Minnesota did it.
California, Texas and we had over 500 look up lines from the

(44:08):
day that we founded it four years later across the country.
And then we know of 65 rinks at least in Canada that have done
it and about a dozen in Europe. So it's still growing and we we
know we have a lot of work to do.
And some of the hockey purists are like, well, it's change and
all of that. And it's like, guys, we're never
saying that this is going to be the end all be all.

(44:29):
But what I do know is what othersports have done, the science
behind it, it dramatically reduces the risk of a head or
neck injury. And I was talking to a gentleman
in June and he's like, well, I need something that's proof
positive. And it's like, do you drive a
car? Right.
When you're in your car, you have a seat belt on.
That doesn't mean you can't get ejected from the car, but you
reduce the risk of leaving your seat.

(44:52):
Same thing with the yellow line.Does that mean that someone
can't cross the yellow line and hit you?
No, but it reduces the risk of it.
It's all we're trying to do withthe look up line.
So we have some, I think pretty impactful conversations that are
going to be happening this fall and winter considering the
positions that Marty Walsh and Governor Baker are in.
I say so I'll. Leave it at that.

(45:14):
And look, I think we're a a bit of a ways off from the NHL, but
it's nice that they want to havea conversation and and those two
gentlemen have been wonderful tome and our foundation and really
give us an opportunity. And I think it it paid off for
everyone. Like Massachusetts, Boston are

(45:35):
known as as Governor Baker beingthe first governor Marty being
the first mayor to mandate this.And it's had nothing but but
positive effects on individuals as well as adults or I should
say children as A and adults. So that was our real swing, if
you will, at trying to reduce the risk and prevent a family

(46:00):
going through what I went through.
And, and, and it was important to me to try to, to do that.
And, and then from there we said, OK, how can we make a huge
impact? And so my first big fundraiser
that we did was, and I think a lot of folks that are starting
to, to see how my mind operates.It's like if I'm going to do

(46:20):
something, I want to go big. And last time I used my
wheelchair was Christmas time of2012, right?
So it was important for me to do2 things after I got out of my
wheelchair. Now I'm walking with a Walker.
And then today I walk with forearm crutches, which was ride
a bike and try to do some type of road race again because
doctors said I'd never be able to do either.

(46:41):
And I wasn't a runner when I played hockey, but I was a huge
cyclist. I loved riding my bike.
So I worked over a year with my uncle to modify a bike and we
took a specialized bike and we weighted it in certain places
differently. We had a mirror off the front.
So I was using the bottom bars of the the extenders that we had
to line up the the the wheels because I still don't have great

(47:04):
feeling in my hips. So keep my balance and took me a
year. But I ended up learning how to
ride a bike and I called one of my best friends and I said,
Teague, I want to do something that raises $100,000 for our
foundation. We've never done that in one
event. And he goes, what are you
thinking? And I said, well, I want to ride
my bike from Boston to Los Angeles.
And he goes Boston to LA. He's like, why the hell do you

(47:25):
want to do that? I was like, well, think about
the, the ground we can cover andall this.
And he's like, Tom, why don't wetake a step back and why don't
we go Boston to Miami? Travel from the place that you
got hurt to the place that curedyou.
And so I don't know if you guys,I'm sure you do.
Remember 2015 was when we got the 110 inches of snow in
Boston, right? It was a mess.

(47:46):
So March 25th we left the Gardenwith several former Bruins
players, Jenny Johnson from Dining Playbook and and and the
Nest and host JC Monahan who wasat Channel 5 at the time and now
the NECN couple of local news reporters and Stan Grossfield
who is the lead photographer forthe Boston Globe.
We all left and we rode from Boston to Providence in Rhode

(48:10):
Island where we are now and and that was day one.
It was fifth, excuse me, 48 miles.
It was 28° and on May 1st, 22,015 we landed in Miami.
So I became the first person with paralysis cycle E to
Seaboard and we raised over $100,000 for a major STEM and
Schwanzel project that was goingon at the Miami project.

(48:31):
And what that did for our foundation from the look up line
to the bike ride from Page and again, New York Times, Miami
Herald, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, it really
put us on the map in terms of the awareness, but also we were
generating significant revenue. And then I pivoted back and
said, well, I can't ride my biketo Boston, Miami.

(48:54):
So it's 38 days, 31 days of riding.
We were taking every Sunday off.And I said, well, what can I do
to try to generate monies for our foundation and still be
physically at it? And that's where the Boston
Marathon came in. And I said to myself, I wanted
to try to become the first person that's been paralysed
multiple times to complete the Boston Marathon without the

(49:14):
useful wheelchair. And after about a year of
training in 2018, I completed myfirst Boston Marathon in the
122nd Boston and I've done so every single marathon since
outside of the year COVID when they didn't have it.
And this year I'll be going for number 8 and we've and we've
raised over $200,000 over these last couple years.

(49:37):
That's huge. So it it really.
I just like. I have no words, man.
Yeah. What is I like?
So now, now see, this has becomesuch a personal thing for me
because now I just like, I'm so intrigued.
What is the voice? Do you have a voice in your
head? Some people don't.
Not, not, not so much a voice, it's a fire that I think when

(50:00):
you believe in something so bad and you realize that you can
yourself, but also if you put a good team around you, that's as
outcome focused as you are, makea profound impact in what you
want to try to, whether it's solve, whether it's achieve,
whatever that may be. You just wake up every day with

(50:23):
that burning passion. And that's really what it is.
It's it's this desire to help people and people in what I
believe is an underserved cause.And also it's just so personal
because I've been there. I never tell people I know
exactly what they're going through, but I tell people I
have a good idea because every situation is different.

(50:44):
But I have a good idea of the financial hurdles that one has
to overcome. I have a good idea of the mental
paralysis when you're physicallyparalyzed.
I have a good idea of that. It's not, it's not fun when
you're in your 20s going out andtrying to date if you're
paralyzed from your neck down, right?
It's hard. Life is just that much harder.

(51:05):
It's not impossible. I did it, but it, it's hard.
And so I, I want to try to make a hard situation less arduous
for people. And that's really what, what
drives me. And then the results, I mean,
the results have to be that we are a foundation that measures
our results tangibly. And I think that's why, you

(51:27):
know, to date, we've donated over $2.5 million to individuals
and families with paralysis as well as cutting edge paralysis
research. Literally, we are in Miami at
the Miami Project in March and agentleman who hadn't walked for
17 years because of the trial that we funded did a whole
entire lap around a physical therapy track only supporting

(51:49):
10% of his weight in a harness. He didn't walk for 17 years.
So when I talk about tangible results and Blue was talking
about getting people back on their feet that have been
paralyzed for a decade and 1/2 plus.
And that's what drives me because that's just one person.
We have 10s of millions of people that we want to try to
afford this opportunity to. How does that make you feel when
you see, you know, 'cause you went through it, so you have

(52:11):
that empathy, you've dealt with it, you've essentially done it
three times. When you're in a position now to
help people and you see them do similar to what you just said,
like 17 years, 10% of his body and he just didn't a lap on a
track. How does that make you feel when

(52:32):
you have a hand in that and can say, you know what I mean?
I know I'm sure you'll probably be humble and take a little bit,
but like, how does that make youfeel when you see somebody
accomplish that? Yeah, it makes me feel proud
because we, when you have a nonprofit, I believe you're
stewards of your donors dollars,right.
So that means we're placing our capital and we're being smart

(52:54):
with the way that we're investing it.
I, I look at it just as a for profit company.
If it, whether it's in what we do is we make grants, right.
But I look at it as we're investing in the medical
community and, and, and some of these trials that we're, that
we've engaged with. So I'm very proud that, you
know, to, to have that opportunity, but it fires me up

(53:16):
to say, well, that's just one person.
We have 10s of millions of people who we need to afford
this opportunity to. And we talk about that driving
factor, seeing the results and seeing that a lot of what we've
invested in from the research standpoint has been extremely
positive. It fires me have to go raise
more money. It fires me up saying, OK, how

(53:36):
do we scale this? How, how can we work with the
doctors at the University of Miami Middle School of Medicine,
some of these other model centers around the country and
get them the, the resources thatthey need to Expo the process
and finding and care 'cause I'm not the only one that has gone
into the hospital, been paralyzed and, and is now
walking and the only one that's been paralyzed 3 times.

(53:57):
But other people have gone in with serious injuries and, and
recovered. But we're in the minority.
The majority have not. So when I see these results,
it's like, OK, how do we scale this?
How do we give it more access and opportunity to other people?
What is the narrative feel like from where you started to where

(54:17):
you are now? When you said why me?
And now you're saying that everything you've been through
has created a a higher purpose is the narrative.
Like I understand why I had to go through that now because of
what I'm able to do for others that wasn't being done prior to
at least not on the scale with the experience, the hands on

(54:39):
versus doctors saying, oh, I understand this is what the
medical book say, but you're like, no, but I did it.
So does that has that narrative changed or do you still kind of
have that feeling that's a little bit like, well, why me?
Why did this have to happen? So it's such an interesting
question because I still don't have an answer on why it
happened. No, it's not exactly what you're
asking, but it made me reposition my life and my

(55:07):
thought process. Where as I mentioned at the
beginning of our conversation, my soul, I thought my sole
purpose in life was to put a puck in the back of the net and
give people gratification for about 10 seconds, right?
And now I see, you know, we've impacted hundreds of people. 2.5
million plus donated like that to me is real results and had

(55:28):
the injury not happen. I know I don't know that I'd
ever have that perspective. And it's a shame because like my
mom and and she was diagnosed breast cancer a couple years
ago. Thank God she's OK.
But prior to that, has was very active in a board member in the
Salem, MA breast cancer walk, which is one of the large Susan

(55:48):
G Komen, which is one of the largest in Massachusetts.
And I was always the kid who waslike, Oh yeah, mom, I have this,
that the on Saturday, I have that because it used to be on a
Saturday afternoon and I was playing street hockey with my
buds on, on the Naha Causeway. And so the injury really, I
think showed me what it's the, the value of giving back and
doing something selfless greaterthan yourself.

(56:11):
So as I can't give you a short answer on why it happened, but
it happened in a way that has made me a better.
Person if that wasn't sure, you know, because often we all, we
ask ourselves why things happen.And sometimes it feels like the
universe will give you a definitive answer.

(56:31):
But considering the extreme circumstances in which you were
put through personally, and thenon top of that, you're talking
about your father having an issue and your mother going
through like that's a lot. It's a lot for one person to
handle. And that kind of burden and the
fact that you've continued to keep the spark and the fire
alive, you know, it just, it fascinates me on a personal

(56:55):
level to say like how not only you keep the fire lit, but like,
if you don't, is this your answer?
Why? And if it's not like I'm like,
wow, how could you keep going? You know, 'cause anything I've
been through, whenever I have the why, I'm like, oh, thank
God, I know why I went through that now, because I can
compartmentalize and put it awayforever.
So that's why I had. I had asked that so.
Yeah. And I think, you know, part of

(57:16):
it is like the more you give, the more you receive.
Like we don't do this to like with the foundation to, you
know, be flooded with recognition and things like
that, but people want to be around good people that are
doing great things. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think with our foundation and then thinking about what we
have coming up, so September's actually Spinal cord Injury

(57:38):
Awareness Month. So we have two big events coming
up towards the end of the month and beginning of October, but
it's been years of hard work that have got us to this point.
And the first event that we're being that we're having is on
September 29th, holding the first of its kind charity hockey
tournament at the Boston Garden.No other foundation has done so.

(57:59):
We've been the paralysis partnerfor over a decade.
And I sat down with Bob Sweeney,who's the president of the
Bruins Foundation last year, anda couple of people in the front
office and I was explaining to him that, hey, we're getting an
inbound right now that is far exceeding what we can not, not
only the individuals we can help, but the financial impact
that we can make. We just don't have enough money.

(58:20):
And we placed almost a half, $1,000,000 back in the community
last year. This year we're going to put in
between 610 and 620,000. Next year we hope to do 700,000
by. So we need another stream of
revenue with our big partners toto help us with this.
So we're thinking, OK, if you'rea men's league hockey player or
women's league hockey player, where would you want to play?
Where's the pinnacle for a a retiree, if you will?

(58:42):
It's obviously the Garden. Yeah.
So within three months, we put together what's now called the
Thomas E Smith Foundation Coverage Cup, powered by the
Boston Bruins Foundation. Four teams, 64 players sold out.
We have 4 coaches, Sedano Chara,who's now a board member of the
Thomas E Smith Foundation, Ray Bourke, Bob Sweeney and Andrew

(59:02):
Raycroft. So each team gets a coach 50
five or six of our players have already raised the five grand.
So we set it up like the Boston Marathon and the Pam Mass
challenge. Each player has to raise 5.
Corporate could sponsor them or individuals could kind of do it
the old fashioned way, which is go a friends family, which I
love. I, I think it's just freaking

(59:23):
awesome, but it's going to be anunbelievable event for us.
And 100 cents of that dollar goes into our care continuum
program and, and, and our Stronger Together grants, which
is how we impact families. So you think of our average
grant size being 10 grand, well,if we raise a quarter million
bucks, which we should net that from the event, that's over 25

(59:43):
families, right? It's unbelievable.
And so we're very fortunate for the Bruins.
And then the next or the following Saturday, on October
4th, we partnered with country music superstar Brett Young to
hold our Legacy concerts, our 15year anniversary celebration at
the new venue, Park City in South Boston, where 100 cents of

(01:00:04):
the dollar of the ticket proceeds are going towards our
grant program, which will directly go back into the
community in Massachusetts and New England.
Amazing. That's great.
So that's. What a way to do?
It two really cool events. Yeah, right.
Especially for this area cause. Should we put a team in?
Guys? I can't skate.
I'll just be a spectator. Or if you need an announcer, if

(01:00:26):
you need an MC, let me know. I'm a talker.
I'm not much of A skater. I cannot skate.
I've skated twice in my life andI think you've taken me both
times. Yeah, that's.
Right. Yeah.
Wow, that's cool. This has been like, you know, I
have, I have one more question and then we'll have a little bit
more fun. I am curious your perspective
surrounding the experience that you have in the medical field

(01:00:47):
when it comes to having someone say yes you can and no you
can't. And I feel like the narrative
that's been happening a lot, again, due to social media and
the exposure of people sharing their experiences and knowledge,
we are seeing an abundance of people who are finding the
strength to get second opinions and to dive a little bit deeper.

(01:01:11):
Because there's only so much medical knowledge, so much
medical experience, so much timeavailable, so much resources
depending on where you go to getyour treatments, where a doctor
will say to you, this is your life moving forward versus
someone be like, we can do this.And I'm just curious your
perspective on how how that can make a someone feel a family

(01:01:31):
feel the impact of that and how to how to move within that field
to find the strength and courageto be like, yes, like I
understand that this is a medical professional who has a
lot of knowledge and I don't want to degrade them, but I need
a second opinion. I need to make sure that this is
a forever thing. Like how do you navigate those
type of water? Because I feel like people are.

(01:01:52):
Scared I am just a a person thatI want to exhaust all resources
that I have and that and not everyone has a big network, but
we all know someone that can hopefully connect a few dots or
have a we have a computer, have our phone they can get.
I love 2nd, 3rd, 4th, sometimes 5th opinions because if
someone's going to try to control my destiny, I'm not just

(01:02:14):
going to accept that from one person.
Now it's it's kind of like the same right when when dots become
lines and lines become patterns.Well, yeah, OK, maybe you know,
there is a, a level of acceptance, but Even so, I am
just the type of person whether you think you can or you can't,
you're right. And if I can get up and fight,

(01:02:38):
I'm going to do that so I can fight no longer.
So I and we are, I mean, this iswhat I do, right?
I, I support the medical community.
I am a believer in science. I'm a believer in forward
thinking in terms of healthcare and medicine.
However, I think a lot of it hasto do at times with the

(01:03:01):
individual and you have to put in the work when it as it
pertains to paralysis now with some types of some other
illnesses and things like that, that that maybe some the rates
of fatality are a bit higher than paralysis.
I think people should be getting, you know, second, third
and fourth opinion like this is your life.
You only have really one thing in this world and that's your

(01:03:22):
body. And so I just am a true believer
in science and protecting my body and and I want to exhaust
all resources personally before I'm even going to think of OK,
if someone says I can't, maybe thinking about is that my
destiny? Is there a sense of like anger
with your original doctor at all?

(01:03:42):
No. Has that meant?
Anything like that where you're like, was it kind of more like,
huh, proved you wrong? No.
So the what was interesting was the best revenge that I got.
Oh, you're talking about the ones from Boston?
Originally, yeah, 'cause I mean,it's like, I feel like a lot of
people fly from all over the world to come to Boston for our
medical advice. So like, if someone in Boston
told me, I'd be like, all right,that's it, I guess.
I'm not walking. Like it was it again it was fuel

(01:04:05):
to the fire and the best. I think so.
I still have his e-mail. He hasn't responded to me in
over six years. But the year after COVID in
2021, we so my my cousin has a house on Lake Ornibisaki and
love that he strapped my feet. Now my my paralysis in my right
leg down so I can't feel my right leg.

(01:04:26):
So he strapped my my back leg in.
So like if I felt like my leg not going anywhere, foots not
going anywhere and I got up on awake board.
It took me two full days of practicing but we got up and I
sent the video to the doctor andjust literally said don't ever
tell someone what they can and can't do.
Let those control their own destiny that you have the

(01:04:48):
pleasure of being a doctor for and that are your patients.
He didn't write me back, but I know he got it.
So no, you're not angry. Not at all so.
Am I angry? No.
Am I hope that that was a lessonand that as he, he's still
active, continues to practice, that his narrative has changed?
Yes, I think in any industry andhe's not a bad doctor.

(01:05:15):
It was the approach that was off.
Don't tell people what they can and can't do.
You can say your your chances are are are are slim or things
like that. But but cutting something off
from someone, I just think medicines come too far and and
you can't do that. Yeah, and I, and again, I hate
to chime in and, and maybe this is my ADHD and how I try to
relate to an individual, but I ask you that question because

(01:05:37):
when I had gotten some testing done for some heart palpitations
that I was having at the height of COVID, the narrative of a lot
of doctors now seem to be that, oh, you have anxiety.
I'm like, well, yeah, the world is shut down right now.
Of course I have anxiety. But I'm telling you, there's
something going on. And they were like, you're 30
years old, right? You work out six days a week,

(01:05:59):
We're looking at you like, and I'm just like, I'm not asking
you for like an, an eyeball opinion here.
I'm asking you to like check me.And then lo and behold, had a
heart murmur, had swelling of the heart.
Found out the palpitations was an actual arrhythmia that was
going. So I found out like all this
stuff, but it literally took me pushing and saying like, I, I

(01:06:20):
hear you. I know I'm healthy, I feel OK,
but I know that there's something going on and I'm not
going to accept you looking at me and saying you're healthy.
You got nothing to worry about. You're having anxiety like it's
not enough like it, you know, Soit took me a little bit of
courage to do that. And I was just curious your
perspective because you went through of a hell of a lot more
than me just having a little little some, some going on so.

(01:06:41):
No, but I think it's it's it's the same situation in terms of
you have to be willing to advocate for yourself and you
have to be willing to say, OK, what do I have?
It's not really, I really only have my body and I want to, you
know, get the best care for it as possible.
And it did take us, you know, multiple it tries until we found

(01:07:01):
a doctor that, you know, we werecomfortable with.
And it saved my life. Thank God for that.
So. One other thing too is I was
going to ask you to wrap this upwas the current status of where
you are now. You said you don't have feeling
in your right leg. Yeah.
So it's basically I walk with forearm crutches and I use the
crutches for balance. So my heel to toe strike in my

(01:07:22):
right leg, I can't feel. So I use the crutches so I don't
trip over myself and my gait patterns not straight.
And over the years I've rolled my ankles so many times.
So I have a, a weak ankle that sometimes does roll with the
crutches, but I'm able to correct it very quickly.
So very fortunate and, and, and just so thankful that I was

(01:07:44):
given, you know, when I think ofour foundation and, and my
story, it's really access, right?
I was given access to some of the best healthcare and
treatment and that's what we tryto provide for others with our
foundation. So I'm I'm one of the lucky ones
and we're trying to give that opportunity and access to.
So how did you manage to bike then if you don't have I mean

(01:08:05):
you still? Great question.
Yeah, I was. I was going to ask, you're
biking and you're doing the marathon.
How are you doing that? So marathon is, if you think
about it, with my forearm crutches, my right leg swings
through. So it's a, it's a step and, and
kind of swing and drag, if you will, of my right leg step with
the left swing and drag with theright.
So I'm averaging just under 3 miles an hour.

(01:08:27):
So it takes me almost 8 1/2 hours to do the marathon.
Riding my bike was a bit more ofa, not a bit more of a
challenge, but just trial and error.
So what we did with my bike was we, we locked my right leg in
with a, with a, one of the clipping shoes and so that stays
locked in. My left is one of the slip

(01:08:48):
insurance. So if you see like a mountain
bike or whatever it had like thetoe cover, my left slips in and
out. So when I stopped at stoplights,
my left leg would slip out and that's the leg that I would
drop. And then and then if you were
curious on the on the look of mybike, go to the Thomas E Smith
foundation.org and you can see pictures.
And I had rods coming off the front with a mirror and I was

(01:09:11):
using similar to the lookup linevisual cueing to line up the
tire in the bottom bar. And that's how I was balancing
the bike. So once I got going, it was like
a bobsled, right? As I mentioned, it was weighted
a little more from what my uncleand I did.
Once I got going, no issue, but it was keeping my right leg
locked with the clip in the leftleg was the slip in.

(01:09:34):
So when I stopped at the stop sign or, or a red light or what
have you, that's how I would putmy foot down and not fall over.
And then the balancing was the visual cueing and lining the the
front tire up with the bottom bar.
That's fascinating. And it took me over a year to to
learn how to perfect that. And so your hip is able to still
kind of move your do you have like.
Movement. Oh yeah, my, my strength in my

(01:09:55):
right leg is about 80%. Oh.
OK, you just can't feel it. Can't feel it?
Wow. Yeah, which is crazy, right?
Because like when you think about nerves, nerves and, and,
and the movement and feeling, they don't often times
correlate. So when you have nerve damage,

(01:10:15):
sometimes you have lack of feeling, lack of movement or
both. Mine is feeling.
But in terms of movement and strength, yeah, I'm over 80%.
My right legs, excuse me, left leg is 98% and about 90% feeling
and, and 98% strength. But yeah, I have over 80%
strength in my in my right leg. That's cool.

(01:10:36):
So you wakeboarded. Wakeboarded.
You ride the bike. Not rode the bike, wrote it from
Boston to Miami. You've done the Boston Marathon?
Yep. What's next?
I. There's got to be something on
the docket that you want to do. I do.
Have a question after this too? Just a little small one, but go
ahead. Yeah, no, I, I want to try to

(01:10:57):
get to at least 10 marathons. And, and my wife and I, we don't
have children yet, but I, I toldher, I said if it affects the
way I am as a husband or a father, if we are fortunate
enough to have children, I'm done.
Like, I, I'm not doing this to, to, to, for any other reason
other than it's an unbelievable way to raise money and
awareness, but it's not worth meaffecting my health and, and

(01:11:20):
kind of what I, I, I, I want to do with my life.
But this year was interesting because it was my fastest time
and on my 7th marathon. So I feel like I'm in a pretty
good zone with that. And then what we really want to
do is try to diversify how we engage with folks.
So like the event on the 29th with the Bruins Foundation is
going to be unbelievable. The Brett Young concert at Park

(01:11:42):
City, which by the way, tickets are on sale if anyone wants to
wants to join us. And so we'll.
Have the link in the bio, If you're on YouTube you'll be able
to see it. Awesome.
October 4th, South Boston, 5:30 to 11:00.
And that's going to give us a, areach to an audience that may
not have heard about us and thatwe've been an athletic
foundation. So trying to diversify and then

(01:12:05):
giving like getting really good at some of those things on an
annual basis. So kind of the, I don't want to
call it a rinse and repeat because we always want to grow,
but I want to focus on getting our areas of fundraising to
where they need to be because that's going to allow us to
maximize the financial impact that we can make.

(01:12:27):
Yes. Absolutely.
That's so cool and that's what it's about.
It's it's how can we make the biggest impact for individuals
and families with paralysis as we can as a foundation?
That's awesome and I and I love that because you put it so much
emphasis on what you have made it a point to say.
That's what's more important nowfrom a selfish standpoint.

(01:12:48):
Can you skate? So I cannot skate even with
assistance. I've played sled hockey, which
was awesome. I, it's so different though,
than than regular hockey, obviously, right?
You're, you're, you know, on your, on your backside and then
your, your skates are held together.

(01:13:09):
The guys and girls who are are good at that.
I have such an admiration for itbecause you're like, you're
shot. It's all in your wrists, right?
Like when you shoot a puck, it'sin your hips.
Obviously, you know, you're whipping your stick and, and
things like that. And yeah, you need strong
forearms for when you do a snapshot and misshot and all of
that. But like, these guys and girls

(01:13:30):
are whipping this puck 7080 miles an hour, right?
Sometimes faster. I wasn't very good at it.
And also when I did it, I haven't done it since 2014, I
wasn't ready. I think, you know, I want to get
back on the ice, you know, in the next couple years trying to
play some hockey. But until I gain back feeling in

(01:13:53):
my right leg, skating even with a crate is going to be hard.
So my goal with hockey is to be able to do 1 lap around the rink
and that's it. If I will, I don't care if I
ever put on skates ever again, but I want to do 1 lap without
assistance. And if with assistance that's
fine, but around a rink and that's it, you done.

(01:14:15):
I was. Going to say too, hockey is one
of those sports. We we never played it.
We played just about everything else there was as far as like
the main sports. But I went to a school and you
know, we were pretty cool. It was very close in school and
like getting to know some of thehockey players, go to the games
and you see just how athletic, but it's like a different type

(01:14:38):
of athletic. But I will say, and I give you a
lot of credit because you've mentioned like the virtual, the
visual cues you've talked about.Yeah, I feel like hockey's like
top tier for that. I I mean, I know, I know you
kind of just know because you practice and it's certain
things. But like, I've played football,
basketball, soccer, and I feel like at any and lacrosse, yeah.
And I felt feel like I could have picked any of those up at

(01:14:59):
any time and known exactly what I was doing.
But I watch hockey and I'm like,how do they know that that's
where the puck's gonna be? They don't say anything.
They don't look at each other. I can't see the puck.
The puck's just there. I watch it.
I love going to games, but like,I just, I don't know where the
hell the puck went. Yeah.
No, it's so you think about it, right?
It's the fastest sport out of let's talk about the four major
sports, right? The fastest.
You literally have blades on your feet 100%, and the object

(01:15:20):
that we're playing with is on the ice, so inherently you're
going to cover your head down, yet there's no warning before
you hit the boards. Yeah.
How does that make sense? It doesn't, Right.
So we're trying to correct that at.
AI love it. I think it's an awesome thing.
That's so cool. This is this is crazy.
Absolutely informative. Thank you.
And then the kicker with the look up liners, it's cost less

(01:15:42):
than 500 bucks. That's with labor and materials
to install. So what we're asking folks to do
when you take out your ice, justpaint the line around the rink.
Yeah, before you freeze it over again.
Simple. So if folks are interested in
it, anyone in the in USA Hockey,it's in their rule book that
it's permissible for anyone to do as well as the NCA rule book.
And if you want to advocate for you at your local rink, please

(01:16:03):
don't hesitate to contact us because no one can say it's
expensive. And and if someone really has a
hard time paying for it, we cover the cost.
All right. We are going to move on to a
lighter note, but thank you for sharing such an incredible
story. I'm just I'm moved beyond words,
but we're going to get into our silly portion of the podcast
called the So New England segment.

(01:16:24):
Well, we're going to ask you NewEngland based questions now.
You're a North Shore boy. So what I would like to know
right off the RIP is what is thetop food in Boston?
Boston or the North Shore? All right, I will take one of
each. So obviously the seafood, I love

(01:16:45):
seafood. So I will say, you know, love a
good lobster roll. Hot or cold?
Cold. OK.
Yep. Love, love a good lobster roll
with lemon. Some people like butter.
I like lemon. That's why I go the I go the hot
route because I get the butt. And then North Shore roast beef.
That's it. We we have our North Shore beefs

(01:17:06):
and then the only 10 on barstoolin the Barstool Pizza review is
Monty's Pizza in Lynn next to where I grew up.
So for all you South Shore people that say oh we have the
best bar pie, Nope. Monty's Pizza in Lynn.
Has the best Let's go and so 3 answers Boston Love the seafood

(01:17:28):
and being from the North Shore, roast beefs and and Monty's
pizza. Love it.
What a great list. How about obviously hockey guy?
Big sports guy in general? I'm assuming you want to give us
a ranking of your top New England sports teams.
Yep, Boston Bruins #1 Yep. New England Patriots #2 Red Sox
three Celtics 4 right? And, and, and no disrespect to

(01:17:50):
the Celtics, I just was a lot ofhockey players were not good at
basketball. I tried in elementary and middle
school to be good. I just was not good at it.
And I have such an admiration for for the athletes, but yeah,
I just wasn't good at it. I feel like hockey is like the
one sport that does not necessarily there.
There wasn't a lot of cross athletes like they didn't maybe
football just because they were like brutes, but they weren't

(01:18:12):
the wide receivers. They were like the tight ends
and the linebackers. But as far as I feel like any
hockey players I've known, when I watch them play other sports,
I'm like, oh man, you are just built for hockey.
Translates to golf. Well, the motion.
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like, you know, I know.
Given a wrister bub, right? Did I say that?
Right. That's how the hockey guys say

(01:18:32):
it. That's a wrister bub.
When I was on Nest and I did a asegment about it, that was
hockey terminology. That's one of them.
I remember, I remember that's and A and a bit.
Was it biscuit or something likethat?
I don't know. Past the biscuit.
Yeah, past the biscuit. Something like that, anyways.
OK, how about movies? You're a big movie guy.
I am all right, not a huge movieguy but.

(01:18:54):
Movies, TV shows, Sure, give us your favorite New England
influenced movie or TV show likeThe Town, The Departed, Goodwill
Hunting. I was.
Going to say town departed blackMass.
Black Mass is a good one. Hasn't hasn't coming up yet.
No one has mentioned Black Mass.That's a great one.
Yeah, I thought Johnny Depp did a really nice job in that.

(01:19:15):
And then on, I guess on the softer side, I really enjoyed
Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea.
We are one. So we.
Are vibing right now. I love a good Manchester by the.
Scene that's a great movie to watch whether you're hanging out
with someone dating someone married whatever.
Kind of sad yeah but it it just being from the North Shore they

(01:19:40):
they filmed from Gloucester to Salem to Beverly to obviously
Manchester by the sea up to Gloucester.
So I don't know, I thought CaseyAffleck did a nice job and I
forget whether it was a Golden Globe or Academy that he won,
but one of the the larger awardshe did win for best, best actor.
Yeah, it's one of my favorite films, one of like top five
favorite films of all time, so. Yeah.

(01:20:00):
So north North Shore would be Manchester by say, Boston, MA
would be let's say Black Mass. All right, how about New England
states? We got 6 beautiful states here.
We got, you know, Mass, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont,
New Hampshire and Maine. Do you want to put those in
order for us? What do you think favorite to
least favorite or best to here? Why don't we do it this way?

(01:20:22):
Why don't we do rake the states by hockey?
By hockey, yeah, obviously I'll be biased and, and no, it's the
truth. Massachusetts is number one.
We always go back and forth between Mass and Minnesota for
in terms of the amount of skaters that that are playing.
Then I would say the other states have done a really good

(01:20:43):
job. I think New Hampshire, probably
2. Connecticut or Rhode Island?
Mount Saint Charles is a pretty popular.
Hockey, hockey, it's more like the, it's, I mean, Rhode
Island's very small, but it's like central Rhode Island, up.
Yeah, there's not much South of that, I'll say, but.

(01:21:04):
To your point, so that's where Iup, but the Bruins learn to
skate program has done such an unbelievable job.
And it's like for less than 200 bucks you can get your your son
or daughter fully suited if they're under, I don't know,
maybe 10-12 years old. Like it's it's part of learn to
skate. It's unbelievable with Bob
Sweeney and the Jacobs have havedone with the Bruins foundation.
So let's say Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine.

(01:21:27):
I love it. It's too cold in Maine.
It is too cold in. Maine, and it's crazy.
Right, because like Maine black bears unbelievable like southern
Maine has a great D3 program, but in terms of the youth, I
feel like a lot of kids are coming over the border.
It's. Because it's really I, I just,

(01:21:48):
there's not, I don't know. Maine is.
I feel like when you're still there's.
Just not a lot of programs of like available.
I feel like when you're the major cities, I mean, I mean,
Portland maybe I guess is a major city for Maine, but it's
so close to Boston that like you're just going to travel to
where the talent is, especially nowadays.
I mean, we're 33. You said you were 36.
It's like AAU was kind of, it was a thing, but it was like

(01:22:10):
really, really taken off and nowit's like AAU is far more
important than regular high school basketball or hockey and
stuff. I feel like no.
I don't know. I that's how I feel.
Like I mean maybe it's because it's click bait but I see stuff
from like if that's AAU that's ajoke but it could be click.
Behavior is very different than the talent.
The behavior is is is bizarre, but OK.

(01:22:32):
What do you think is the most overrated thing about New
England and what do you think isthe most underrated thing?
I I love The Four Seasons and sowe all have friends that have
moved out of New England and youknow, I think.

(01:22:55):
Probably to Florida. Yeah, Florida or some have gone
West and things like that. I don't know, even the winters
when they're when they're bitterly cold, even though I
can't play hockey anymore, like I enjoy it.
I enjoy that change. When I was in Florida doing my
rehabilitation, I was bored after two months.
Love to visit, love to go down for a week or two, but I don't

(01:23:15):
know. I know the the seasons
everyone's like, oh, they're beautiful.
But I I do enjoy winter still. Fall's my favorite.
That's. Going to be the next question.
Perfect. So I felt like we had an
unbelievable summer this year and, and spring's great, too,
the, you know, marathon in Apriland all of that.
But yeah, I don't know. And then overrated some of the

(01:23:38):
beaches where what I don't understand in the north shores,
no tourists known from the beaches being rocky, right?
Why the towns can't bring in, whether it's I don't know if
it's a backhoe or something to drag the sand on the beach, but

(01:23:59):
just move the rocks up against the wall.
They could, they just don't likeYeah.
Absolutely, and I'm not talking about like the rocks in the
water that would just wash up like the big boulders that
aren't going anywhere. You can move them like one of
our the the beaches in in the town.
I grew up in Phillips Beach. They finally somewhat a private

(01:24:19):
resident paid a a company to go in and pick up the rocks and put
them this next to this little club, the beach club that that
has a retaining wall and the beach is great now like but I
was at hope. You guys are listening, just
move the rocks. But like, I don't know, I'm just
like where where you can, you know, it's not like you have to

(01:24:41):
bring in a crane to move a rock.I feel like if the the town just
put in a little bit of money andsweat equity, you could clean up
the beaches a little bit. Love it.
OK, one last question. If there was a word or a phrase
that could best describe New England, your New England, your
New England experience, like oneword or one phrase, what would
it be? If I could think of one word or

(01:25:02):
words kind of boiling into phrases that would describe New
England. I think hard working, determined
and passion. I think hard working because you
know, growing up, my dad was outof the house 5:15 every morning
and my dad's in his late 60s. So he was of that generation

(01:25:22):
with his parents and things likethat passion.
We talked about the sports, right, Our passion for sports,
but also I think our passion forlife.
Like I, I feel like Boston and, and, and New England, we have so
many different activities and, and outdoor events and you know,

(01:25:43):
whether it's the mountains in the winter, the lakes in the
summer, the beaches in the summer, our sports teams, like
you see a lot of that passion come out.
And I think where that determination just to try to do
better because it is a, it's nota cheap place to live.
I think the American dream, whether in Massachusetts, Rhode

(01:26:06):
Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, like
each state is becoming increasingly expensive, is to
own your own home. And if you choose start your own
family and, and find a person and, and be able to enjoy each
other's company and, and enjoy family.
But without that, I think determination to, to want to do

(01:26:28):
better. That dream just I don't think is
possible. So I think when you look at the
hard work, the passion and the determination.
I was joking with someone actually the other week, like
we're working on a big project right now with the foundation
and and our partners and they will remain anonymous are in
another region of the country and they start their work day at

(01:26:51):
10:00 ten o'clock like, and if it's nice out, they'll be
golfing it too. It's a major, major, major
player in, in, in in healthcare,right?
And it's just a different mentality and we're like up
crack of dawn. You need me to jump on zoom at
636157 like I'm there nights, weekends, like we just believe

(01:27:14):
in this. So I don't know I'll I'll take
your question. I'll say in short, passion, hard
work and determination. It's great.
Love it. It's a great answer.
All right, Tom, where can everybody find you?
Where can they get in touch withthe foundation, Stay up to date
with events, fundraisers you have going on, and, you know,
stay in touch with what you're also personally doing because

(01:27:36):
something tells me you're going to end up on Everest in the next
year. For some reason I'm manifesting
it. No, no.
So if folks want to, you know, keep in touch with us, Thomas E
Smith foundation.org, our socialhandles at Thomas E Smith
Foundation, Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, we try to be
as active as possible on all theplatforms and, and let people

(01:27:56):
know, you know, just if you're adonor, where your dollars are
going and if you're helping us with the community impact, you
know, what we're doing and, and what your help is or your
volunteerism is doing. And then in terms of, of me
personally, it's at Tommy E Smith.
And I love, you know, engaging with folks like yourselves, but
also I do a lot of corporate speaking as well as speaking at

(01:28:20):
high schools and colleges and things like that.
So I just, I, I feel so, and I'll, I'll, I'll wrap this up
with you guys with this. I feel so blessed with this
opportunity to share my story and be on the positive side,
Like my story is not a story of tragedy.
It's a story of, of, of strength, perseverance,
unbelievable support system, access to awesome resources,

(01:28:44):
teams, healthcare, all of it, right?
It's a story of hope and no goodthing ever dies with hope.
And I firmly believe that. And I think I really, what helps
me in the process is, and still all these years later is sharing
my story and seeing a reaction. And then, you know, for example,
I did a speaking engagement not too long ago and, and, and you

(01:29:07):
know, someone coming up and saying, Hey, my mother just went
through her third round of, of chemo and hearing your story and
overcoming adversity, some of the 1% that don't lie, don't
complain, don't quit. Some of the things that you did,
I'm going to try to take that and apply it to my life so I can
be the best person. And supporting my mother like
that to me kind of makes this all worth it, right?

(01:29:30):
So I love sharing my story. So folks want to engage, you
know, we would love to chat, butreally want to thank you guys
for having me on and, and again this platform to share my story.
It's been a blast and I hope everyone that's listening has
enjoyed. Yeah, it's been an absolute
pleasure, man, Honor and a privilege.
I feel like a much, much better person that we had the

(01:29:51):
opportunity to connect today. And we're very grateful, as I'm
sure all of our listeners are, for you sharing your story
today. So thank you.
No, thank you guys. Really appreciate it.
Awesome. All right, folks, that is going
to conclude episode 57 of the SoNew England Podcast.
Please remember folks, was that the wrong number?
No, you're right, I just looked it in.

(01:30:12):
Please remember folks, life's better in New England red.
Sox crack and the Celtic fly, the Patriots fights and the
Bruins cry from six great states.
We raised this down New England strong, homeward bound the New
England with Ian Brown.

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From Tragedy to Triumph: Thomas E. Smith’s Story #57

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