June 30, 2026 • 32 mins
Most kids your age are busy with school and hobbies, but 13-year-old Sam Richardson is teaching us what true resilience looks like, living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) while pursuing his passions and redefining what's possible. When pain and fatigue aimed to hold him back, Sam discovered that mental strength, creative outlets, and a fierce determination to keep moving forward turn obstacles into stepping stones.
Sam’s journey began with a silent struggle, tired legs and unexplained pain that went unnoticed until a diagnosis at age six. Gluten, processed foods, and gut health became key to managing his condition, but that was just the start. Despite daily chronic pain, Sam doesn’t just cope, he conquers—building muscle through tailored exercise, advocating for his needs in school, and staying positive through acting, Lego-building, and even earning a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. His story reveals how mental resilience and a proactive mindset can defy the limits that others might accept as inevitable.
In this heartfelt episode, you'll discover:
- How Sam uses food labels, supplements, and movement to manage EDS symptoms effectively.
- The mental strategies he employs to override pain and stay focused on his goals.
- Why sharing feelings and asking for help are signs of strength, not weakness.
- The importance of celebrating achievements, big or small, despite ongoing health challenges.
- Practical advice for young people facing invisible disabilities and the power of a resilient mindset.
Sam’s story is a reminder that being strong isn’t about never feeling pain, it's about showing up every day, despite it. His ability to navigate health struggles with courage and creativity offers invaluable lessons for anyone facing their own unseen battles. Perfect for parents, teachers, or young listeners seeking inspiration to push past limitations, this episode proves that resilience is a muscle you can develop and strengthen over time.
If you’ve ever felt held back by invisible challenges, Sam’s journey will ignite your inner strength and inspire you to keep going. Don't miss this celebration of perseverance, positivity, and the indomitable human spirit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
When you feel like life has dealt you a hand of
unfair cards.
Instead of voting, you doubledown.
You're stuck in the game.
You face battles.
You felt broken.
But hey, do us a favor.
Put your hand on your heart.
You feel that.
You're still here.
Welcome to the Resilience FilesUnlock, where survival meets
(00:25):
transformation.
Back to the Resilience FilesPodcast.
I'm your host, Carrie Bernanz,and today's episode is a special
one.
Resilience doesn't always lookloud or dramatic.
Sometimes it looks like it'sshowing up quietly every day,
even when your body is workingagainst you.
(00:48):
Our guest today is so special.
He's only 13 years old.
And as we do here on theResilient Styles Podcast, we
love to read our guest's essay.
Well, Sam is gonna read hisessay today and tell us more
about his resilient journey.
So, Sam, take it away.
(01:08):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Hi, I'm Sam.
I'm 13 years old and I haveEllis Danlos syndrome,
hypermobility type.
I was diagnosed when I was sixyears old after always feeling
tired in my legs.
I didn't really know it was painat the time.
I just felt tired and couldn'talways keep up with the
kindergarten sports my mum putme into and had to take lots I
couldn't seem to walk or run forvery long without my legs
(01:30):
becoming really sore and tired.
I didn't really understand whatuntil I got a bit older.
I struggled with PE andendurance activities, money
especially.
I would always walk at the backof the cross-country race.
It didn't feel nice.
I grew up eating normal food andeven though we were healthy, I
didn't really know what foodswere making my pain and fatigue
(01:51):
worse.
I was really often it was reallyafter one Christmas when we had
a lot of sugar and pastries thatmy mum and dad noticed that my
pain was a lot worse.
For EDS kids, the cold can beworse for joint pain also.
It's a bit like rheumatoidarthritis that way.
A physiotherapist checked out myjoints and recommended I go and
(02:12):
see a rheumato rheumatologist.
You have to be a certain amountof hypermobile joints on
something called the Baiton testto be diagnosed with EDS.
Turns out it's in lots of foodsthat I was eating.
So for about seven years now, Ihave had to stop any gluten
foods.
I also had to cut out processedfoods and sugars.
(02:34):
More recently, my mum and daddiscovered I have something
called gut dysbiosis where thehealth of my gut is poor.
Poor gut health is alsoconnected to EDS, so we had a
bunch more tests done.
In the past seven years, I'vehad all kinds of tests done.
I've had blood tests, restricteddiets, vitamins, C B D oil,
(02:54):
physiotherapy, and prolotherapywhere they put needles into the
back of my knees.
When I was younger and even upto quite recently, at night,
well not at the moment, but atnight the pain would be so bad
that my mum and dad would haveto carry me into bed in pain.
I didn't s I did start to goswimming regularly, as it was
easier on my joints and I neededto do some exercise that didn't
(03:17):
hurt.
But it eventually becamedifficult, and again, mum and
dad would have to keep carryingme out of the pool.
It w it felt very embarrassing,but I kept pushing every week
nevertheless.
Now I'm thirteen, the pain is nobetter.
It's still here every day, butsomething has changed in my mind
and how I deal with it.
I realized that if I couldrealise if it was coming on
(03:39):
badly during swimming, I couldtake a reset, some food or a
rest, and sometimes even pushthrough.
The pain is felt in my brain, soI had to find a way to turn it
off immediately.
Mentally.
So some days it worked and somedays it didn't.
Everybody with EDS is different.
Some kids don't even really getthat much pain.
(03:59):
They just get injured easily.
We're all different.
What I do is I know that becomementally very tough around
certain things in my life tomanage it.
I read food labels to make surethere's zero gluten anywhere and
like just not not too much ofsugar or added flavour colours
like um what sort of stuff,artificial stuff.
(04:20):
I try to eat every two hours orjust eat a lot because I have
fast metabolism to stop thehyperglyglycemia running out of
food in my body, which triggerspain, because when I don't eat
for a while, when I dig when Idon't when I don't eat for a
while, my legs can hurt when I'mhungry.
(04:40):
I go to the gym gym to buildstronger muscles around my
joints, even though some daysthat triggers my pain.
I know I have to do it.
And like a lot of the time gymdoes feel really good for me.
It's just and I have friends whodo it with me, so that also
makes it a lot better.
Uh I ride a pedal bike toschool, like a pedal assist
bike, like e-bike, but it's notthe full throttle, it's just the
(05:03):
pedal assist.
Even though other kids ride fullthrottle, I still want to make
an effort to exercise on theway, so I'm actually still
moving my legs.
I take CBD oil to edge off thepain, because pain relievers
don't work and are bad for mygut.
They just don't Many other kidstake them who have EDS, but I
don't want to make my stomachworse because I already have the
whole gut thing.
(05:24):
I take between seven and tennatural supplements a day to
keep my body working properlyand make sure making sure
everything is moving well.
I read, build Lego, and keepmyself busy to help my mind be
strong and creative, which helpsdistract me from pain.
I took up acting, which alsomake me feel good.
It's very fun, I've achieved alot of stuff there.
(05:46):
Things I've achieved, despitebeing diagnosed with EDS
hand-having death, I have I'vegotten my a black belt in
taekwondo, well second damnblack belt for anyone main parts
and school plays and medals foracting in Australia.
I've swam at sometimes helparound the house and do chores.
As long as I take breaks, likesometimes the pain comes on
while I'm doing that.
(06:07):
But anyway, and that's prettymuch it.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Wow, Sam, thank you so much for sharing that.
How do you feel reading that outloud?
SPEAKER_01 (06:15):
Well, yeah, I feel like it's a good thing for
people to know about this.
Like, I feel comfortable readingthis out loud.
After all, I did mention beingan actor.
This is no acting, by the way.
This is just me talking from myheart.
I I don't feel likeuncomfortable reading.
SPEAKER_00 (06:32):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much fortrusting us with that.
One thing that stood out to meis that you're very young, and
this started when you were veryyoung.
I I would like to go back toyour early experience.
When you were little and yourlegs had felt very tired, but
you didn't know it was pain.
What did that feel like?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Well, a lot of the time it wasn't as much pain.
It was a lot of tiredness.
So, like, once again, I wouldalways get carried around and I
would just say that my legs weretired to my parents, but they
didn't really like they didn'tfully know what was going on
until later when we actuallydiscovered what was going on.
(07:12):
So, like, are you asking aboutbefore we figured out what it
was or when Yeah, before yeah,before you figure it out.
Yeah, because like I like whenrunning and doing activities, I
did feel a bit slower than someof the other kids, because like,
you know, my legs were justgetting really tired and I
(07:32):
didn't know what's going on, andI was like really young, so
yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Yeah, I bet that felt very confusing, especially
when the other kids didn't feelthat same way.
What moment did you realize likesomething was going on different
than the other kids at yourschool?
SPEAKER_01 (07:48):
Well, once again, we talked about that one Christmas
where it you were eating sugar,like a lot of desserts and
stuff, and also specifically alot of gluten.
We didn't really know about thesugar part there.
Mm-hmm.
We mainly just realized that thegluten was making it worse.
Like, because even though mylegs didn't hurt as much, like
it was more tired and sore, mylegs felt a lot more sore after
(08:11):
that.
And even after I figured out andcut out gluten, my legs still
hurt, but they hurt a lot lessthan they did when I had gluten.
SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
Yeah, that makes sense.
At the moment at that time,prior to finding out your
diagnosis, you were doing races.
You said you were incross-country and you happened
to be in the back.
At that moment, did you feellike you were giving it all you
got during those races?
Or what did it feel like to bein the back and walking, or did
you just feel like maybe thisjust wasn't your sport?
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yeah, I felt like I wasn't much of a runner.
Like I didn't know that that wasactually something to do with my
legs.
I just thought that just Ididn't feel like that was sort
of me.
And say I'm not like super muchof a runner, but like I'm better
than I was, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
That also comes with Yeah, well, I think that shows a
lot of courage for you,especially at a young age, just
to keep showing up even in themidst of pain.
And I can teach a lot of peoplethose moments.
I know you said there weremoments that you had to be
carried out of the pool.
And remind me, was that beforeor after you found out your
(09:18):
diagnosis?
SPEAKER_01 (09:19):
Well, it was a bit after because I started swimming
training a lot later because ofcourse I've swum in two
different groups.
So I swam at this Palm Beachpool, yeah, then at Laurie
Lawrence, and then the PalmBeach Pool, little fun thing.
So there wasn't really much thatwe were doing that would trigger
my pain.
But when I moved to LowryLawrence and started swimming at
(09:39):
higher levels and like beingbetter, getting better at
swimming and doing a lot more ofit, I noticed that that also
mainly triggered a lot more painbecause I was doing a lot more
laps, going a lot faster,pushing a lot harder.
And that would sometimes triggerYeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
So I wanna take a moment and like what did you
feel like when you found outyour diagnosis and you you all
like went to a doctor and yousaw a specialist?
Were you surprised?
Like, how did that make you feelat that moment?
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
Well, the problem is since I was so young, I can't
quite remember how it was when Igot diagnosed.
I just remember like finding outall this stuff was cut out.
I had diets, I had vitamins, Ihad CB, I had all that stuff.
Like it just a bunch of stuffjust started happening.
(10:35):
I just didn't really know.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
We're gonna have a lot of people that have children
and a lot of people that aregonna send this to their child
because there's other childrenthat go through a variety of
diagnoses during some pointearly childhood.
I guess in that moment of likemaybe between then you don't
remember because it was soyoung, it was so early.
(10:58):
But now, was there ever a momentwhere you felt like, you know,
you had to change your completediet?
Did it just feel like, okay,this is just what it is, or did
you ever feel like why can't Ieat gluten or those things?
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
Well, I did feel a lot of that at the start where I
just like like I I missed eatingall this delicious stuff that I
used to do.
But over time, it's just becomejust the normal thing for me.
Like I've gotten a lot betterwith diets, especially with my
recent diet.
I've had this big diet, but um,I went well with that.
I didn't do any cheats, I didn'tlike have breaks from my diet.
(11:39):
I did exactly what I wassupposed to do with the diet
until it was over.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Yeah.
Oh, good for you.
Wow.
I will say, you you are a strongboy.
I think so many people like whenpeople just naturally fast or do
a diet, it's very difficult andit's very hard because you're
like, you want to break it, youknow.
But it takes a lot of strength,and I appreciate you continuing
to share that.
Did at that moment of you goingthrough that, did you know
(12:08):
anyone of your other friends orpeople close to you that was
diagnosed with any type ofillness?
Did it feel relatable or did youfeel like you were all alone in
that journey?
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Well, the thing is none of my friends really have
any of that stuff.
Well, not that I know of.
But uh one of my close friends,uh, am I allowed to mention
names?
SPEAKER_00 (12:31):
If you want to, if they're close to you, but maybe
uh if if it's a better if it's aperson that you don't like,
don't say their name.
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
So one of my close friends,Maximus, he I know he went
through a tough time.
Uh I don't really feel like it'smy sort of place to share that.
Anyway, so he um his um parents,they're vegan, and like so that
means he has to be vegan too,except the problem is he doesn't
(13:00):
really like being vegan, so he fhe struggles with that a bit.
SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
Yeah, well that makes sense.
I can understand that.
And I know some other peoplethat have a similar story.
It definitely has itschallenges.
But that is interesting thatthere is some relatability there
of like you have a special diet,he kind of has a special diet
due to circumstances.
(13:25):
I wanna go to like presentmoment.
So what keeps you what helps youstay mentally strong on the days
when the pain is really bad,when you do continue to play the
sports?
You said you were a black belt,second-degree black belt, right?
In Taekwondo?
SPEAKER_01 (13:42):
Yeah, second and black belt.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Which is belt, yeah.
Um, well, a lot of the time I soI actually am not currently
doing taekwondo anymore.
Because I just started I was alot young, it was like two years
ago when I stopped.
Because I wasn't I was a bit,but I wasn't super as much
(14:06):
mentally strong as I am now, andI just because taekwondo used to
be fine for me, but then itstarted just not being good with
my EDS, my legs would just hurtand I would have to go.
It's with like you said, withthe um figuring out how to
overcome that sort of stuff.
Yeah, I've done that a lot morebecause I I know that pushing
through I'll feel a lot betterafterwards.
(14:29):
I feel like I've overcome it, Ifeel stronger mentally and
physically after a nice bigsession of swimming.
And I did, like when I there'stimes that I did overcome it, I
felt so good afterwards.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
That's great.
I'm really proud of you.
That shows true resilience, notgiving up when it's hard and you
push through.
And um, and I I think you wereprobably checking and adjusting.
And if there was moments thatyou felt like you couldn't do it
because of feeling too weak,would you give yourself a break
or a moment to stop and to likeregather yourself or just take
(15:02):
the day off?
SPEAKER_01 (15:03):
Yeah, sometimes I would um like I would have a bit
of a break.
But yeah.
Since like I said, sincetaekwondo was a little while
ago, I didn't really do all thisstuff.
But since swimming is a bit morerecent, I would take breaks
during my swimming and then likejust have a snack or a break or
(15:24):
just whatever I needed, just sitin the side a bit, and then I
would go back in and just maybejust do like an arms, like just
use a pool boy in my legs andjust use my arms for like
strokes.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Yeah, I love that.
And I'm so happy that you foundsomething that you really love
and enjoy doing.
And in regards to swimming oreven doing any type of sport or
even being in class, do you feelcomfortable at moments when you
are weak to share with yourfriends or people around you
what's going on?
Or do you just keep it toyourself?
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
Well, of course, I do often like I do if my friends
and I like playing a game atbreak and like I start to feel
it coming on, I'll I'll justtell them and then hopefully
they'll understand and like abit of a break, and then like if
we're like playing tag and we'rerunning around, I'll just let
them know.
I'll have a bit of a break.
And and with teachers, like ifI'm in class and I need some
(16:21):
food, there are certain teacherslike I can just ask them and
then they're happy to let me goback and get some food, and like
I can just eat in class, andthat makes it feel a bit better.
Maybe take a break.
Cause once again, yes is mental,and of course, so is school,
like learning stuff, sosometimes it can be a bit
(16:42):
stressful, and then that can aswell as getting things that
trigger my EDS are things likegetting frustrated or annoyed or
being sad or that.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
In regards to that, things thattrigger what's a few things that
what's one or two things thatyou can do every day that helps
you feel more in control?
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Well, once again, I do s I can sometimes mentally
override it, but that can bequite difficult, and I can't do
that all the time.
So sometimes like I might read,I might watch something, most I
might do some gym, likesometimes and I might just take
a break from whatever I'm doing.
(17:27):
Once again, take a rest, eatsomething, eat eating is a is a
big part of it too.
And uh then I can just dosomething I and then I'm okay
again.
SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
Yeah.
When you say mentally overrideit, I think some people might
ask you, what is mentallyoverriding it?
Is it saying like you convinceyourself that it's something
different or that the pain isgoing away?
SPEAKER_01 (17:51):
Yeah, like kind of being mentally strong, because
once again PDS is a mentalthing, and if you can control it
enough, you can bring it down abit.
Like if not fully, just a bit,like, but it can be quite
difficult, and I can't do it allthe time.
Oh, well, I'm really oh goahead, I'm sorry.
(18:13):
Especially if it's really bad.
Yeah, it's quite difficult.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Absolutely.
Well, I'm proud that you'vecreated a system for staying
strong during those moments.
How do you make sure EDS isn'tsomething that defines who you
are?
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
Well, I like to stay positive and just try not to
focus on it too much.
I mean, I'm happy to talk aboutit today, but um, like I once
again I I just do what I can tobe normal and it's actually been
a lot better recently.
Yeah.
Than it used to be.
Once again, I've I've gottenstronger physically and
(18:51):
mentally, and that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
I think that's an importantreminder that you are more than
your condition and that you areI think that's beautiful and
someone definitely Let's go backto some of your achievements
because I do feel like you arepretty remarkable to, you know,
EDS that challenges youphysically, but despite that,
you earned a black belt.
(19:14):
I think that's incredible.
Like, how has how has um how hasthat helped you?
And I know that you stoppedbecause of your body and you
said like you needed to take abreak for your legs, but during
that process, like I also dotaekwondo, by the way, and I
know getting a black belt is abig thing.
Like you go through a lot ofrigorous training.
(19:35):
What made you like continue onthat journey despite having pain
when you went through it?
SPEAKER_01 (19:40):
Well, of course, I so the problem is with
taekwondo.
When I was younger, of course, Idid a lot more fun stuff in
Taekwondo.
But being younger, like Ienjoyed doing that as well as
doing the taekwondo because thathelped me focus.
But like, as I continued on,they kind of stopped doing the
(20:02):
fun stuff a bit, and then thatkind of made me like I'm sure if
I did it now, I would be finebecause I I'd focus more on the
actual taekwondo than it justkind of helped me a bit more
when we did like like littleactivities as well as doing
taekwondo.
Yeah.
And um, except as we as like itjust started being like just
(20:24):
training and exercising, whichI'd be fine with now, but two
years ago I was as I wasyounger, as I said, I was just a
bit more like wanted to doactivities and actual taekwondo.
So I'm sure I could join againand I'd be better, but like,
yeah, it's just whether I don'tknow.
Yeah, no, then and and also Ifelt quite good about um getting
(20:50):
such a high belt.
Like a lot of my they were alsolike I used I had a bunch of
friends who did it with me,except as like seated in the
belt, some of my closest friendsdecided to stop doing it.
And then I kind of just had onefriend who was still doing it,
but then like I just kind of Idon't know, because yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Yeah, I think it has its own set of challenges, and
that makes sense.
And sometimes people do drop offas you elevate and you grow up,
and you should be very proud ofyourself.
And um, and I get it, you know,like I I feel like different
ages of our life or differentseasons of our life.
We like something more thananother, and then sometimes in
another season of your life, youmay revisit things that you
(21:34):
liked in the past.
And I don't see anything wrongwith that.
That's that's the beauty oflife, and as you grow older,
you'll understand it too, evenmore.
You mentioned that you're inacting, and I want to know,
especially with EDS being reallymental, how has acting helped
you mentally?
SPEAKER_01 (21:51):
Well, I just really enjoy acting.
Like I've never had a moment ofEDS while while doing acting
because I just enjoy it so much.
It's one of those things.
That I told you a mental breakand just enjoy it.
Like, cause I don't find thatsort of stuff stressful.
I just find it enjoyable.
It's one of those things I canjust enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_00 (22:12):
I love that as creativity has become a part of
your own strength.
And you say you don't even feelEDS when doing it.
We might need to give you ascript every five seconds.
I don't know.
Not that it happens every fiveseconds, but since that's like
that's like you're you'rebeating muscle at that of the
moment.
I love that.
Um I have another question onresilience for you.
(22:36):
Um, because I know there's someyoung person that's listening
today, and I know you mentioned,you know, when your body feels
like it's giving up, you do alot as far as like mentally
override it.
And I just kind of want to dig alittle deeper into that
question.
Like, what helps your mind keepgoing?
(22:56):
What exactly are you tellingyourself at that moment, just in
case someone says, like, well,what do I say?
Because they they're frozen,they don't know what to say.
They just want to what would yousay to that person on things
that they can say out loud or tothemselves?
SPEAKER_01 (23:11):
Well, I just tell myself usually when I get pain,
or this can be the other peopletoo who also have EDS, just you
can be strong, you you can dothis.
Like, that's what I think tomyself whenever I feel pain.
Because it's like it's achievingsomething.
Like I said, when you actuallyfinish the session, even if
(23:33):
you're struggling, you feel sogood.
You want to remember the future,yeah, how it'll feel good
afterwards, rather than feelingit in the moment, feeling the
pain in the moment.
Like because you know you'llfeel so good afterwards, you'll
you'll you'll feel so happy foryourself that you completed
this, even with all thechallenges.
And while there were other ifeven if there are others who are
(23:56):
doing it, like and but they theymight have challenges, they
might not, but you know that youfaced your challenge and you
just overcame it.
SPEAKER_00 (24:07):
Yeah, I love that.
It sounds like you're your focusis on focus on is your your end
goal, like what is the vision?
What are you reaching towards?
What is that goal for you?
Um, and during your journey ofhaving EDS and going through
life in class and school, and ifyou feel like another kid is
(24:29):
dealing with something like aninvisible pain that people can't
see, but we know that it exists.
They know that it exists.
One of the things that we talkabout on the Resilience Fouls
podcast a lot is this likemindset of invisible
disabilities.
And that's like a person mayhave something going on, but no
(24:49):
one knows.
And because they don't know,they don't treat the person with
maybe a little bit more care ora little bit more gentleness or
or even offer them help.
Um, just a couple questionsaround that.
When you are in pain like that,are you okay with accepting help
or asking for help?
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
Yeah.
Often, like, once again, whilewhile I did feel embarrassed, I
did feel a bit embarrassed afterlike I would have to be carried
away from stuff.
But actually lately in the pool,I have been like able to get
myself out of the pool like andjust walk out because rather
(25:29):
than having myself carried outof the pool or carried upstairs.
So I can accept help, but partof being strong is yes,
accepting help, but alsoremembering that you can do it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:42):
Yeah.
I love that it's okay withaccepting help and remembering
you can do it, but for formoments that you are literally
like, I'm in so much pain, Ican't do this, and you're
telling yourself that you can.
Do you think it's okay withasking for help in those moments
or to let someone know how youfeel?
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah, often like if I'm sore at home, my parents do
encourage me to like let me knowif something's wrong.
So lately I have been lettingthem know if I'm feeling pain.
So then they can know and thenthey can help me.
And yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:17):
Yeah.
Well, good.
I wanted to just re-emphasizethat because I do know that um I
think so often like we want togrow and we want to be so big
and and we know that we can do alot of things on our own, but I
also want people to know thatit's okay with asking for help
and that they're not alone andthat there are people that
surround them, that love them,that want to help them.
(26:39):
So at least if a person knowsthat something is going on,
they're, you know, they're therein case anything goes worse than
what it is, but they're alsothere to offer a hand of help in
case, like, you know, you needthat and that it's okay and it
shouldn't be embarrassed byasking for help.
It would only make you strongerand you know, have someone
(27:04):
there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Yeah.
Cause as I mentioned earlier,there are like my parents, but
then there's also those friendsand those teachers who help me
out, like in class or school, oreven like if we're if I'm
hanging out with a friend, I canlet them know.
Most of the time though, sinceI'm hanging out with a friend,
I'm distracted and I because I'mhanging out with a friend and I
feel the pain because I'mfocusing on them.
(27:27):
But like, yeah, if I'm feelingpain, I'm happy to let someone
know if like if necessary, likeif I just anyway, as I told you,
I can let people know if I'mfeeling pain, they can give me a
break or help me out.
SPEAKER_00 (27:45):
That's also that's good, that takes courage, and I
think it's also important thatpeople know that.
Um Sam, if you could talk toyour younger self, I know you're
not you're not that old, you'reonly 13 years old, but if you
could talk to your younger selfum that just received the news
that you have this, what wouldyou tell him?
SPEAKER_01 (28:03):
Well, I'll probably tell him that he can work
through whatever he wants to.
Nothing's gonna hold him back.
Nothing's gonna hold you back.
You can like you can do this.
You you can build up your mentalresilience, you can choose
whether you decide you don'twant to do something, but you
can also keep going through.
Don't be afraid to accept helpfrom others.
(28:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
I love that.
Well, that was beautiful.
Sam, is there anything else thatyou would like to share with the
audience that that are listeningtoday?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Yeah, the uh the other day I had a swim carnival.
And despite, of course, my EDS,I managed to, this was in my
school, I managed to get, inspite not swimming for a while,
I did manage to still get thirdplace.
SPEAKER_00 (28:49):
Wow, that's impressive.
I'm so proud of you.
And you say you went to statelevel in swimming, right?
SPEAKER_01 (28:55):
Yeah.
My peak of swimming was probablylast year, but at the moment
I've been doing more gym likeexercising than I have been.
I used to have a bit of strugglewhen doing gym, but um, now that
I have like I have a specialfriend who does it with me, like
I have a specific friend, andwhile he can't always do it,
(29:16):
like I have other friends whoalso go.
So that also makes it a lotbetter.
Yeah.
Uh when I have a friend with mebecause it can help distract me,
and I can do it, I can do thegym with them.
I can usually get through awhole session, and I just
haven't really had any bad gymsessions lately.
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
That's good.
I'm so proud of you.
Sam, I think your story, well, Iknow your story is so resilient.
It's so beautiful.
It shows the act of not givingup, mind continuing to pour into
yourself mentally, that mentalstrength is by far the biggest
skill that you could take away,especially from this episode.
I really appreciate you beingvulnerable with us, sharing this
(29:59):
with and I know that some youngperson is listening to this
today and they're being inspiredand they're gonna push harder,
knowing that if you can do it,they can I want to say thank you
everyone for listening to theResilience Fowls podcast.
If this episode with Sam wasinspiring to you, share it with
someone else.
If you know a young person thatmay be going through a
challenging time that needs someinspiration, share this with
(30:21):
them too.
I don't know if you have socialmedia.
I know you're so young, but Iknow that you're acting and
you're doing a lot of phenomenalthings.
If you have social media oranything that you would like
people to stay connected on yourjourney, feel free to share it
right now.
If you don't, it's totally okay.
SPEAKER_01 (30:38):
Well, I do have a YouTube channel, but uh that's
kind of just um it's not reallyanything special about this sort
of stuff, it's just me doingLego stuff.
So and it's not I've only postedlike a couple of videos.
Well I'm saying that.
I'm planning on doing more Legostuff for it.
And yeah, and my friend Jude andI, we also made a YouTube
(31:02):
channel.
We haven't posted anything yet,but it's gonna be an acting
channel.
Like it's gonna be because myfriend Jude, he does acting with
me.
So that also helps a lot.
Because like I have a friend whocan do it with me, because he he
loves acting just as much as Ido.
And we can just anything we dotogether, we're pla if we like
(31:22):
we're just planning on maybelike taking videos like behind
the scenes or like yeah sharingwhat we've done with on this
YouTube channel.
It's I actually can't rememberif it got deleted or not, but
like I hope it still exists.
If if not, we'll try to make itexist again.
SPEAKER_00 (31:40):
Yeah, if not, you're 14 and you can create a hundred
YouTube channels if you want to.
And uh yeah, post the Lego stufftoo.
I mean, people watch people lovewatching people build things and
people love watching people likemake toys and move in motion,
stacking stuff.
And if you want to, do you know,and your parents let you, that's
(32:01):
the key first.
Ask the parents, and then youknow, free range.
Like you got the creativity, youcan do this.
When you feel like life has dealt you a hand of
unfair cards.
Instead of voting, you doubledown.
You're stuck in the game.
You face battles.
You felt broken.
But hey, do us a favor.
Put your hand on your heart.
You feel that.
You're still here.
Welcome to the Resilience FilesUnlock, where survival meets
(00:25):
transformation.
Back to the Resilience FilesPodcast.
I'm your host, Carrie Bernanz,and today's episode is a special
one.
Resilience doesn't always lookloud or dramatic.
Sometimes it looks like it'sshowing up quietly every day,
even when your body is workingagainst you.
(00:48):
Our guest today is so special.
He's only 13 years old.
And as we do here on theResilient Styles Podcast, we
love to read our guest's essay.
Well, Sam is gonna read hisessay today and tell us more
about his resilient journey.
So, Sam, take it away.
(01:08):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Hi, I'm Sam.
I'm 13 years old and I haveEllis Danlos syndrome,
hypermobility type.
I was diagnosed when I was sixyears old after always feeling
tired in my legs.
I didn't really know it was painat the time.
I just felt tired and couldn'talways keep up with the
kindergarten sports my mum putme into and had to take lots I
couldn't seem to walk or run forvery long without my legs
(01:30):
becoming really sore and tired.
I didn't really understand whatuntil I got a bit older.
I struggled with PE andendurance activities, money
especially.
I would always walk at the backof the cross-country race.
It didn't feel nice.
I grew up eating normal food andeven though we were healthy, I
didn't really know what foodswere making my pain and fatigue
(01:51):
worse.
I was really often it was reallyafter one Christmas when we had
a lot of sugar and pastries thatmy mum and dad noticed that my
pain was a lot worse.
For EDS kids, the cold can beworse for joint pain also.
It's a bit like rheumatoidarthritis that way.
A physiotherapist checked out myjoints and recommended I go and
(02:12):
see a rheumato rheumatologist.
You have to be a certain amountof hypermobile joints on
something called the Baiton testto be diagnosed with EDS.
Turns out it's in lots of foodsthat I was eating.
So for about seven years now, Ihave had to stop any gluten
foods.
I also had to cut out processedfoods and sugars.
(02:34):
More recently, my mum and daddiscovered I have something
called gut dysbiosis where thehealth of my gut is poor.
Poor gut health is alsoconnected to EDS, so we had a
bunch more tests done.
In the past seven years, I'vehad all kinds of tests done.
I've had blood tests, restricteddiets, vitamins, C B D oil,
(02:54):
physiotherapy, and prolotherapywhere they put needles into the
back of my knees.
When I was younger and even upto quite recently, at night,
well not at the moment, but atnight the pain would be so bad
that my mum and dad would haveto carry me into bed in pain.
I didn't s I did start to goswimming regularly, as it was
easier on my joints and I neededto do some exercise that didn't
(03:17):
hurt.
But it eventually becamedifficult, and again, mum and
dad would have to keep carryingme out of the pool.
It w it felt very embarrassing,but I kept pushing every week
nevertheless.
Now I'm thirteen, the pain is nobetter.
It's still here every day, butsomething has changed in my mind
and how I deal with it.
I realized that if I couldrealise if it was coming on
(03:39):
badly during swimming, I couldtake a reset, some food or a
rest, and sometimes even pushthrough.
The pain is felt in my brain, soI had to find a way to turn it
off immediately.
Mentally.
So some days it worked and somedays it didn't.
Everybody with EDS is different.
Some kids don't even really getthat much pain.
(03:59):
They just get injured easily.
We're all different.
What I do is I know that becomementally very tough around
certain things in my life tomanage it.
I read food labels to make surethere's zero gluten anywhere and
like just not not too much ofsugar or added flavour colours
like um what sort of stuff,artificial stuff.
(04:20):
I try to eat every two hours orjust eat a lot because I have
fast metabolism to stop thehyperglyglycemia running out of
food in my body, which triggerspain, because when I don't eat
for a while, when I dig when Idon't when I don't eat for a
while, my legs can hurt when I'mhungry.
(04:40):
I go to the gym gym to buildstronger muscles around my
joints, even though some daysthat triggers my pain.
I know I have to do it.
And like a lot of the time gymdoes feel really good for me.
It's just and I have friends whodo it with me, so that also
makes it a lot better.
Uh I ride a pedal bike toschool, like a pedal assist
bike, like e-bike, but it's notthe full throttle, it's just the
(05:03):
pedal assist.
Even though other kids ride fullthrottle, I still want to make
an effort to exercise on theway, so I'm actually still
moving my legs.
I take CBD oil to edge off thepain, because pain relievers
don't work and are bad for mygut.
They just don't Many other kidstake them who have EDS, but I
don't want to make my stomachworse because I already have the
whole gut thing.
(05:24):
I take between seven and tennatural supplements a day to
keep my body working properlyand make sure making sure
everything is moving well.
I read, build Lego, and keepmyself busy to help my mind be
strong and creative, which helpsdistract me from pain.
I took up acting, which alsomake me feel good.
It's very fun, I've achieved alot of stuff there.
(05:46):
Things I've achieved, despitebeing diagnosed with EDS
hand-having death, I have I'vegotten my a black belt in
taekwondo, well second damnblack belt for anyone main parts
and school plays and medals foracting in Australia.
I've swam at sometimes helparound the house and do chores.
As long as I take breaks, likesometimes the pain comes on
while I'm doing that.
(06:07):
But anyway, and that's prettymuch it.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Wow, Sam, thank you so much for sharing that.
How do you feel reading that outloud?
SPEAKER_01 (06:15):
Well, yeah, I feel like it's a good thing for
people to know about this.
Like, I feel comfortable readingthis out loud.
After all, I did mention beingan actor.
This is no acting, by the way.
This is just me talking from myheart.
I I don't feel likeuncomfortable reading.
SPEAKER_00 (06:32):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much fortrusting us with that.
One thing that stood out to meis that you're very young, and
this started when you were veryyoung.
I I would like to go back toyour early experience.
When you were little and yourlegs had felt very tired, but
you didn't know it was pain.
What did that feel like?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Well, a lot of the time it wasn't as much pain.
It was a lot of tiredness.
So, like, once again, I wouldalways get carried around and I
would just say that my legs weretired to my parents, but they
didn't really like they didn'tfully know what was going on
until later when we actuallydiscovered what was going on.
(07:12):
So, like, are you asking aboutbefore we figured out what it
was or when Yeah, before yeah,before you figure it out.
Yeah, because like I like whenrunning and doing activities, I
did feel a bit slower than someof the other kids, because like,
you know, my legs were justgetting really tired and I
(07:32):
didn't know what's going on, andI was like really young, so
yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Yeah, I bet that felt very confusing, especially
when the other kids didn't feelthat same way.
What moment did you realize likesomething was going on different
than the other kids at yourschool?
SPEAKER_01 (07:48):
Well, once again, we talked about that one Christmas
where it you were eating sugar,like a lot of desserts and
stuff, and also specifically alot of gluten.
We didn't really know about thesugar part there.
Mm-hmm.
We mainly just realized that thegluten was making it worse.
Like, because even though mylegs didn't hurt as much, like
it was more tired and sore, mylegs felt a lot more sore after
(08:11):
that.
And even after I figured out andcut out gluten, my legs still
hurt, but they hurt a lot lessthan they did when I had gluten.
SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
Yeah, that makes sense.
At the moment at that time,prior to finding out your
diagnosis, you were doing races.
You said you were incross-country and you happened
to be in the back.
At that moment, did you feellike you were giving it all you
got during those races?
Or what did it feel like to bein the back and walking, or did
you just feel like maybe thisjust wasn't your sport?
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yeah, I felt like I wasn't much of a runner.
Like I didn't know that that wasactually something to do with my
legs.
I just thought that just Ididn't feel like that was sort
of me.
And say I'm not like super muchof a runner, but like I'm better
than I was, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
That also comes with Yeah, well, I think that shows a
lot of courage for you,especially at a young age, just
to keep showing up even in themidst of pain.
And I can teach a lot of peoplethose moments.
I know you said there weremoments that you had to be
carried out of the pool.
And remind me, was that beforeor after you found out your
(09:18):
diagnosis?
SPEAKER_01 (09:19):
Well, it was a bit after because I started swimming
training a lot later because ofcourse I've swum in two
different groups.
So I swam at this Palm Beachpool, yeah, then at Laurie
Lawrence, and then the PalmBeach Pool, little fun thing.
So there wasn't really much thatwe were doing that would trigger
my pain.
But when I moved to LowryLawrence and started swimming at
(09:39):
higher levels and like beingbetter, getting better at
swimming and doing a lot more ofit, I noticed that that also
mainly triggered a lot more painbecause I was doing a lot more
laps, going a lot faster,pushing a lot harder.
And that would sometimes triggerYeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
So I wanna take a moment and like what did you
feel like when you found outyour diagnosis and you you all
like went to a doctor and yousaw a specialist?
Were you surprised?
Like, how did that make you feelat that moment?
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
Well, the problem is since I was so young, I can't
quite remember how it was when Igot diagnosed.
I just remember like finding outall this stuff was cut out.
I had diets, I had vitamins, Ihad CB, I had all that stuff.
Like it just a bunch of stuffjust started happening.
(10:35):
I just didn't really know.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
We're gonna have a lot of people that have children
and a lot of people that aregonna send this to their child
because there's other childrenthat go through a variety of
diagnoses during some pointearly childhood.
I guess in that moment of likemaybe between then you don't
remember because it was soyoung, it was so early.
(10:58):
But now, was there ever a momentwhere you felt like, you know,
you had to change your completediet?
Did it just feel like, okay,this is just what it is, or did
you ever feel like why can't Ieat gluten or those things?
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
Well, I did feel a lot of that at the start where I
just like like I I missed eatingall this delicious stuff that I
used to do.
But over time, it's just becomejust the normal thing for me.
Like I've gotten a lot betterwith diets, especially with my
recent diet.
I've had this big diet, but um,I went well with that.
I didn't do any cheats, I didn'tlike have breaks from my diet.
(11:39):
I did exactly what I wassupposed to do with the diet
until it was over.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Yeah.
Oh, good for you.
Wow.
I will say, you you are a strongboy.
I think so many people like whenpeople just naturally fast or do
a diet, it's very difficult andit's very hard because you're
like, you want to break it, youknow.
But it takes a lot of strength,and I appreciate you continuing
to share that.
Did at that moment of you goingthrough that, did you know
(12:08):
anyone of your other friends orpeople close to you that was
diagnosed with any type ofillness?
Did it feel relatable or did youfeel like you were all alone in
that journey?
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Well, the thing is none of my friends really have
any of that stuff.
Well, not that I know of.
But uh one of my close friends,uh, am I allowed to mention
names?
SPEAKER_00 (12:31):
If you want to, if they're close to you, but maybe
uh if if it's a better if it's aperson that you don't like,
don't say their name.
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
So one of my close friends,Maximus, he I know he went
through a tough time.
Uh I don't really feel like it'smy sort of place to share that.
Anyway, so he um his um parents,they're vegan, and like so that
means he has to be vegan too,except the problem is he doesn't
(13:00):
really like being vegan, so he fhe struggles with that a bit.
SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
Yeah, well that makes sense.
I can understand that.
And I know some other peoplethat have a similar story.
It definitely has itschallenges.
But that is interesting thatthere is some relatability there
of like you have a special diet,he kind of has a special diet
due to circumstances.
(13:25):
I wanna go to like presentmoment.
So what keeps you what helps youstay mentally strong on the days
when the pain is really bad,when you do continue to play the
sports?
You said you were a black belt,second-degree black belt, right?
In Taekwondo?
SPEAKER_01 (13:42):
Yeah, second and black belt.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Which is belt, yeah.
Um, well, a lot of the time I soI actually am not currently
doing taekwondo anymore.
Because I just started I was alot young, it was like two years
ago when I stopped.
Because I wasn't I was a bit,but I wasn't super as much
(14:06):
mentally strong as I am now, andI just because taekwondo used to
be fine for me, but then itstarted just not being good with
my EDS, my legs would just hurtand I would have to go.
It's with like you said, withthe um figuring out how to
overcome that sort of stuff.
Yeah, I've done that a lot morebecause I I know that pushing
through I'll feel a lot betterafterwards.
(14:29):
I feel like I've overcome it, Ifeel stronger mentally and
physically after a nice bigsession of swimming.
And I did, like when I there'stimes that I did overcome it, I
felt so good afterwards.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
That's great.
I'm really proud of you.
That shows true resilience, notgiving up when it's hard and you
push through.
And um, and I I think you wereprobably checking and adjusting.
And if there was moments thatyou felt like you couldn't do it
because of feeling too weak,would you give yourself a break
or a moment to stop and to likeregather yourself or just take
(15:02):
the day off?
SPEAKER_01 (15:03):
Yeah, sometimes I would um like I would have a bit
of a break.
But yeah.
Since like I said, sincetaekwondo was a little while
ago, I didn't really do all thisstuff.
But since swimming is a bit morerecent, I would take breaks
during my swimming and then likejust have a snack or a break or
(15:24):
just whatever I needed, just sitin the side a bit, and then I
would go back in and just maybejust do like an arms, like just
use a pool boy in my legs andjust use my arms for like
strokes.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Yeah, I love that.
And I'm so happy that you foundsomething that you really love
and enjoy doing.
And in regards to swimming oreven doing any type of sport or
even being in class, do you feelcomfortable at moments when you
are weak to share with yourfriends or people around you
what's going on?
Or do you just keep it toyourself?
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
Well, of course, I do often like I do if my friends
and I like playing a game atbreak and like I start to feel
it coming on, I'll I'll justtell them and then hopefully
they'll understand and like abit of a break, and then like if
we're like playing tag and we'rerunning around, I'll just let
them know.
I'll have a bit of a break.
And and with teachers, like ifI'm in class and I need some
(16:21):
food, there are certain teacherslike I can just ask them and
then they're happy to let me goback and get some food, and like
I can just eat in class, andthat makes it feel a bit better.
Maybe take a break.
Cause once again, yes is mental,and of course, so is school,
like learning stuff, sosometimes it can be a bit
(16:42):
stressful, and then that can aswell as getting things that
trigger my EDS are things likegetting frustrated or annoyed or
being sad or that.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
In regards to that, things thattrigger what's a few things that
what's one or two things thatyou can do every day that helps
you feel more in control?
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Well, once again, I do s I can sometimes mentally
override it, but that can bequite difficult, and I can't do
that all the time.
So sometimes like I might read,I might watch something, most I
might do some gym, likesometimes and I might just take
a break from whatever I'm doing.
(17:27):
Once again, take a rest, eatsomething, eat eating is a is a
big part of it too.
And uh then I can just dosomething I and then I'm okay
again.
SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
Yeah.
When you say mentally overrideit, I think some people might
ask you, what is mentallyoverriding it?
Is it saying like you convinceyourself that it's something
different or that the pain isgoing away?
SPEAKER_01 (17:51):
Yeah, like kind of being mentally strong, because
once again PDS is a mentalthing, and if you can control it
enough, you can bring it down abit.
Like if not fully, just a bit,like, but it can be quite
difficult, and I can't do it allthe time.
Oh, well, I'm really oh goahead, I'm sorry.
(18:13):
Especially if it's really bad.
Yeah, it's quite difficult.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Absolutely.
Well, I'm proud that you'vecreated a system for staying
strong during those moments.
How do you make sure EDS isn'tsomething that defines who you
are?
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
Well, I like to stay positive and just try not to
focus on it too much.
I mean, I'm happy to talk aboutit today, but um, like I once
again I I just do what I can tobe normal and it's actually been
a lot better recently.
Yeah.
Than it used to be.
Once again, I've I've gottenstronger physically and
(18:51):
mentally, and that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
Yeah.
Well, I love that.
I think that's an importantreminder that you are more than
your condition and that you areI think that's beautiful and
someone definitely Let's go backto some of your achievements
because I do feel like you arepretty remarkable to, you know,
EDS that challenges youphysically, but despite that,
you earned a black belt.
(19:14):
I think that's incredible.
Like, how has how has um how hasthat helped you?
And I know that you stoppedbecause of your body and you
said like you needed to take abreak for your legs, but during
that process, like I also dotaekwondo, by the way, and I
know getting a black belt is abig thing.
Like you go through a lot ofrigorous training.
(19:35):
What made you like continue onthat journey despite having pain
when you went through it?
SPEAKER_01 (19:40):
Well, of course, I so the problem is with
taekwondo.
When I was younger, of course, Idid a lot more fun stuff in
Taekwondo.
But being younger, like Ienjoyed doing that as well as
doing the taekwondo because thathelped me focus.
But like, as I continued on,they kind of stopped doing the
(20:02):
fun stuff a bit, and then thatkind of made me like I'm sure if
I did it now, I would be finebecause I I'd focus more on the
actual taekwondo than it justkind of helped me a bit more
when we did like like littleactivities as well as doing
taekwondo.
Yeah.
And um, except as we as like itjust started being like just
(20:24):
training and exercising, whichI'd be fine with now, but two
years ago I was as I wasyounger, as I said, I was just a
bit more like wanted to doactivities and actual taekwondo.
So I'm sure I could join againand I'd be better, but like,
yeah, it's just whether I don'tknow.
Yeah, no, then and and also Ifelt quite good about um getting
(20:50):
such a high belt.
Like a lot of my they were alsolike I used I had a bunch of
friends who did it with me,except as like seated in the
belt, some of my closest friendsdecided to stop doing it.
And then I kind of just had onefriend who was still doing it,
but then like I just kind of Idon't know, because yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Yeah, I think it has its own set of challenges, and
that makes sense.
And sometimes people do drop offas you elevate and you grow up,
and you should be very proud ofyourself.
And um, and I get it, you know,like I I feel like different
ages of our life or differentseasons of our life.
We like something more thananother, and then sometimes in
another season of your life, youmay revisit things that you
(21:34):
liked in the past.
And I don't see anything wrongwith that.
That's that's the beauty oflife, and as you grow older,
you'll understand it too, evenmore.
You mentioned that you're inacting, and I want to know,
especially with EDS being reallymental, how has acting helped
you mentally?
SPEAKER_01 (21:51):
Well, I just really enjoy acting.
Like I've never had a moment ofEDS while while doing acting
because I just enjoy it so much.
It's one of those things.
That I told you a mental breakand just enjoy it.
Like, cause I don't find thatsort of stuff stressful.
I just find it enjoyable.
It's one of those things I canjust enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_00 (22:12):
I love that as creativity has become a part of
your own strength.
And you say you don't even feelEDS when doing it.
We might need to give you ascript every five seconds.
I don't know.
Not that it happens every fiveseconds, but since that's like
that's like you're you'rebeating muscle at that of the
moment.
I love that.
Um I have another question onresilience for you.
(22:36):
Um, because I know there's someyoung person that's listening
today, and I know you mentioned,you know, when your body feels
like it's giving up, you do alot as far as like mentally
override it.
And I just kind of want to dig alittle deeper into that
question.
Like, what helps your mind keepgoing?
(22:56):
What exactly are you tellingyourself at that moment, just in
case someone says, like, well,what do I say?
Because they they're frozen,they don't know what to say.
They just want to what would yousay to that person on things
that they can say out loud or tothemselves?
SPEAKER_01 (23:11):
Well, I just tell myself usually when I get pain,
or this can be the other peopletoo who also have EDS, just you
can be strong, you you can dothis.
Like, that's what I think tomyself whenever I feel pain.
Because it's like it's achievingsomething.
Like I said, when you actuallyfinish the session, even if
(23:33):
you're struggling, you feel sogood.
You want to remember the future,yeah, how it'll feel good
afterwards, rather than feelingit in the moment, feeling the
pain in the moment.
Like because you know you'llfeel so good afterwards, you'll
you'll you'll feel so happy foryourself that you completed
this, even with all thechallenges.
And while there were other ifeven if there are others who are
(23:56):
doing it, like and but they theymight have challenges, they
might not, but you know that youfaced your challenge and you
just overcame it.
SPEAKER_00 (24:07):
Yeah, I love that.
It sounds like you're your focusis on focus on is your your end
goal, like what is the vision?
What are you reaching towards?
What is that goal for you?
Um, and during your journey ofhaving EDS and going through
life in class and school, and ifyou feel like another kid is
(24:29):
dealing with something like aninvisible pain that people can't
see, but we know that it exists.
They know that it exists.
One of the things that we talkabout on the Resilience Fouls
podcast a lot is this likemindset of invisible
disabilities.
And that's like a person mayhave something going on, but no
(24:49):
one knows.
And because they don't know,they don't treat the person with
maybe a little bit more care ora little bit more gentleness or
or even offer them help.
Um, just a couple questionsaround that.
When you are in pain like that,are you okay with accepting help
or asking for help?
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
Yeah.
Often, like, once again, whilewhile I did feel embarrassed, I
did feel a bit embarrassed afterlike I would have to be carried
away from stuff.
But actually lately in the pool,I have been like able to get
myself out of the pool like andjust walk out because rather
(25:29):
than having myself carried outof the pool or carried upstairs.
So I can accept help, but partof being strong is yes,
accepting help, but alsoremembering that you can do it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:42):
Yeah.
I love that it's okay withaccepting help and remembering
you can do it, but for formoments that you are literally
like, I'm in so much pain, Ican't do this, and you're
telling yourself that you can.
Do you think it's okay withasking for help in those moments
or to let someone know how youfeel?
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah, often like if I'm sore at home, my parents do
encourage me to like let me knowif something's wrong.
So lately I have been lettingthem know if I'm feeling pain.
So then they can know and thenthey can help me.
And yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:17):
Yeah.
Well, good.
I wanted to just re-emphasizethat because I do know that um I
think so often like we want togrow and we want to be so big
and and we know that we can do alot of things on our own, but I
also want people to know thatit's okay with asking for help
and that they're not alone andthat there are people that
surround them, that love them,that want to help them.
(26:39):
So at least if a person knowsthat something is going on,
they're, you know, they're therein case anything goes worse than
what it is, but they're alsothere to offer a hand of help in
case, like, you know, you needthat and that it's okay and it
shouldn't be embarrassed byasking for help.
It would only make you strongerand you know, have someone
(27:04):
there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Yeah.
Cause as I mentioned earlier,there are like my parents, but
then there's also those friendsand those teachers who help me
out, like in class or school, oreven like if we're if I'm
hanging out with a friend, I canlet them know.
Most of the time though, sinceI'm hanging out with a friend,
I'm distracted and I because I'mhanging out with a friend and I
feel the pain because I'mfocusing on them.
(27:27):
But like, yeah, if I'm feelingpain, I'm happy to let someone
know if like if necessary, likeif I just anyway, as I told you,
I can let people know if I'mfeeling pain, they can give me a
break or help me out.
SPEAKER_00 (27:45):
That's also that's good, that takes courage, and I
think it's also important thatpeople know that.
Um Sam, if you could talk toyour younger self, I know you're
not you're not that old, you'reonly 13 years old, but if you
could talk to your younger selfum that just received the news
that you have this, what wouldyou tell him?
SPEAKER_01 (28:03):
Well, I'll probably tell him that he can work
through whatever he wants to.
Nothing's gonna hold him back.
Nothing's gonna hold you back.
You can like you can do this.
You you can build up your mentalresilience, you can choose
whether you decide you don'twant to do something, but you
can also keep going through.
Don't be afraid to accept helpfrom others.
(28:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
I love that.
Well, that was beautiful.
Sam, is there anything else thatyou would like to share with the
audience that that are listeningtoday?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Yeah, the uh the other day I had a swim carnival.
And despite, of course, my EDS,I managed to, this was in my
school, I managed to get, inspite not swimming for a while,
I did manage to still get thirdplace.
SPEAKER_00 (28:49):
Wow, that's impressive.
I'm so proud of you.
And you say you went to statelevel in swimming, right?
SPEAKER_01 (28:55):
Yeah.
My peak of swimming was probablylast year, but at the moment
I've been doing more gym likeexercising than I have been.
I used to have a bit of strugglewhen doing gym, but um, now that
I have like I have a specialfriend who does it with me, like
I have a specific friend, andwhile he can't always do it,
(29:16):
like I have other friends whoalso go.
So that also makes it a lotbetter.
Yeah.
Uh when I have a friend with mebecause it can help distract me,
and I can do it, I can do thegym with them.
I can usually get through awhole session, and I just
haven't really had any bad gymsessions lately.
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
That's good.
I'm so proud of you.
Sam, I think your story, well, Iknow your story is so resilient.
It's so beautiful.
It shows the act of not givingup, mind continuing to pour into
yourself mentally, that mentalstrength is by far the biggest
skill that you could take away,especially from this episode.
I really appreciate you beingvulnerable with us, sharing this
(29:59):
with and I know that some youngperson is listening to this
today and they're being inspiredand they're gonna push harder,
knowing that if you can do it,they can I want to say thank you
everyone for listening to theResilience Fowls podcast.
If this episode with Sam wasinspiring to you, share it with
someone else.
If you know a young person thatmay be going through a
challenging time that needs someinspiration, share this with
(30:21):
them too.
I don't know if you have socialmedia.
I know you're so young, but Iknow that you're acting and
you're doing a lot of phenomenalthings.
If you have social media oranything that you would like
people to stay connected on yourjourney, feel free to share it
right now.
If you don't, it's totally okay.
SPEAKER_01 (30:38):
Well, I do have a YouTube channel, but uh that's
kind of just um it's not reallyanything special about this sort
of stuff, it's just me doingLego stuff.
So and it's not I've only postedlike a couple of videos.
Well I'm saying that.
I'm planning on doing more Legostuff for it.
And yeah, and my friend Jude andI, we also made a YouTube
(31:02):
channel.
We haven't posted anything yet,but it's gonna be an acting
channel.
Like it's gonna be because myfriend Jude, he does acting with
me.
So that also helps a lot.
Because like I have a friend whocan do it with me, because he he
loves acting just as much as Ido.
And we can just anything we dotogether, we're pla if we like
(31:22):
we're just planning on maybelike taking videos like behind
the scenes or like yeah sharingwhat we've done with on this
YouTube channel.
It's I actually can't rememberif it got deleted or not, but
like I hope it still exists.
If if not, we'll try to make itexist again.
SPEAKER_00 (31:40):
Yeah, if not, you're 14 and you can create a hundred
YouTube channels if you want to.
And uh yeah, post the Lego stufftoo.
I mean, people watch people lovewatching people build things and
people love watching people likemake toys and move in motion,
stacking stuff.
And if you want to, do you know,and your parents let you, that's
(32:01):
the key first.
Ask the parents, and then youknow, free range.
Like you got the creativity, youcan do this.
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