April 7, 2025 • 27 mins
🎯 In This Episode with Rebecca Denae, You’ll Discover:
- How cancer at 18 reshaped her life and future
- What phantom limb syndrome actually feels like
- The mindset and faith that helped her endure two amputations
- Why she wrote Limitless and how it's opening doors for advocacy
- How to embrace your story—even the painful parts
📝 Episode Summary
What happens when your identity is amputated along with your leg? In this powerful episode, Rebecca Denae shares her raw journey from an athletic 18-year-old to a two-time amputee, author, and speaker. Diagnosed with bone cancer just out of high school, Rebecca’s life took a dramatic turn. But instead of giving up, she chose to lean into faith, resilience, and storytelling.
We talk about chronic pain, phantom limb syndrome, toxic positivity, and the courage it takes to keep showing up—especially when you know what pain feels like. If you’re struggling to make sense of your story, this episode will remind you: it’s not over yet.
👋 About Our Guest
Rebecca Denae is an author, speaker, and two-time cancer survivor who shares her journey of resilience and faith to inspire others. Her debut book Limitless is a memoir that advocates for better patient care and amplifies voices often unheard. Rebecca speaks on topics ranging from amputation and recovery to overcoming trauma with hope.
💡 Key Insights from Rebecca Denae
- Rewriting the Narrative – Your diagnosis doesn't get the final word.
- The Power of Perspective – Choosing a lens of blessing changes everything.
- Resilience Is a Daily Decision – It’s not about never falling—it’s about refusing to stay down.
Connect with Rebecca Denae:
🌐 Website: https://rebeccadenae.com
📷 Instagram: @Rebeccadenae.Author on Instagram
📘 Facebook Page: Rebecca's Facebook page
✝️ Faith Connection
Rebecca’s trust in God gave her peace during the worst parts of her journey. Her story models how faith doesn’t remove pain—it gives you something to hold onto in the middle of it.
🎨 Multipassionate Application
Rebecca’s pivot into authorship and advocacy proves that your past pain can fuel your creative purpose. Whether you’re writing, speaking, or creating—your story can be your platform.
💪 Resilience Corner
Resilience isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it looks like showing up with less-than-perfect energy and still giving your best. Rebecca models that beautifully.
🧠 Leadership Insight
Great leaders don’t hide their scars—they use them to show others what’s possible. Vulnerability builds trust. Use your story.
❓ Reflection Question
What limiting belief have you carried about your pain? What might happen if you reframed it as purpose?
📱 Connect With Us
Instagram: @leadwithjim
Facebook: facebook.com/leadwithjim
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Grace and theGrind, the podcast where we dive
deep into the journeys ofheart centered and purpose driven
leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
(00:23):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,where we're here to tell the inspiring
stories of behind the Story.
And today we have a new friendto the show, Rebecca.
Welcome to the show, Rebecca.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate you having me.
Yeah.
So why don't you take 60 to 90seconds and let the audience know
who you are and what you do?
Sure.
Like you said, my name is Rebecca.
I'm an author and a speaker.
(00:44):
So last year I had theabsolute blessing to publish my first
book.
It's called Limitless and it'sa memoir of my journey through cancer
and my first amputation andlearning to recover from that and,
and everything that went alongwith that.
And luckily from then I'veactually been able to start breaking
into speaking.
I can speak about a variety ofthings, so I talk about patient advocacy,
(01:06):
patient care, talk aboutovercoming and resilience, pretty
much anything that pertains tothe story that I can use to encourage
people or lift people up.
That's what I like to do.
And hopefully I'll bepublishing more books and doing more
speaking and just keeping theball rolling with it.
So I like, I love where thisepisode is going to go because I
could already, we can already tell.
(01:27):
You're like, I'm an amputee,I'm an author, I'm this.
I'm like, I love it.
So I want to hit the amputeething first.
And the question I have firstis, you said my first amputation,
are you planning another one?
I'm not planning another one,nor did I plan my second one.
But I unfortunately and insome ways fortunately have had two
amputations.
So in 2019, I was diagnosedwith stage three bone cancer.
(01:51):
I went through chemo and inorder to fully remove the tumor,
we had to do a surgery.
And so they chose a limbsalvage surgery where they took out
part of my tibia, replaced itwith a cadaver bone, put some metal
in there, and then they toldme I would never walk again.
And I was a stubborn little 19year old that wouldn't have it.
So I started walking andrunning and doing all kinds of crazy
(02:12):
stuff, which unfortunatelycaused the bone and the metal to
break clean through three anda half years later.
So that Was the point of myfirst amputation where they wanted
to do another limb salvage surgery?
I said, yeah, I wasn't reallyfeeling the first one.
It didn't really work out for me.
So how about you just take itoff and give me a new leg?
So that's where we did with that.
It was a below knee amputation.
(02:33):
I had that for about a yearand a half.
And then unfortunately, issueswere coming up with that because
they left some of the cadaverbone in the metal in.
So it came to a head again.
We had to decide on another surgery.
And then, like I said, thatwas going to be my second amputation
where I went above the knee.
Okay, so did you actually evergo above the knee or is it.
(02:54):
I am.
I'm above the knee now.
Okay.
So they took off with an extra section.
That's what I'm hearing.
Okay, yeah.
Because when you said my first.
I'm sitting here.
Is this like Walmart or something?
Am I going back for more?
Like McDonald's?
I'm loving it.
I don't know.
Where do you go with that?
Let's hold on there and.
Okay, so I want to make surewe hit this because I think this
is super important.
You're 19 when this happens?
(03:15):
Yes, sir.
I was actually diagnosed.
I was 18 and then eight monthsinto chemo.
I was 19 when that surgeryfirst happened.
And that puts me at 24 now.
24.
So walk me through, like thefirst diagnosis at 18 year old, you're
like, you have bone cancer.
19, you're losing a leg.
Like, what is that?
What is going through your emotions?
(03:35):
Walk us through that.
It was a crazy time.
It took a couple of months toget diagnosed because I was having
some knee pain, but I was alsoan athlete at the time.
And so I thought, I'm gettingwhat every athlete gets.
Like, you get the achy joint,you have to wear the bra.
And all of a sudden everyonestarted getting really concerned
about that achy joint and theywanted to do a biopsy.
(03:56):
And so it was one of thosethings where when they started saying
biopsy, I think I knew in theback of my mind, okay, this is going
to be a little bit worse thanwhat we were hoping.
So it didn't take terriblylong to get diagnosed.
Any time to get diagnosed is terrible.
But it was luckily very short.
I think about three months.
And the funny thing was thatwhen I got diagnosed, I was in a
(04:17):
private room in the hospital.
Happy go lucky.
After surgery, after thebiopsy, and my surgeon walks in and
he says, hey, I'M really sorryto tell you, but what we found in
your leg was malignant.
And my mom and my thenboyfriend's mom, they were standing
at the head of my bed withtissues hidden behind the bed.
And I looked at the surgeonand I said, okay, so you're telling
(04:41):
me I can't go back to schoolthis semester because it was my first
semester in college, I wassuper ecstatic to go back.
And it broke the tension inthe room.
And he said, no, I don't thinkyou're going to be going back to
school this semester.
And from then on, I just cameto acceptance.
It was a very miraculous thing.
There's no way I could havecome to that acceptance on my own
(05:02):
where I felt peace about it.
And I thought, okay, if God'sbrought me this far, he's going to
bring me farther, so I'm notgoing to freak out about it.
And when the surgery came, thesame situation, I said, okay, if
this is what I have to do,this is what I have to do.
And admittedly, it didn't allreally hit until a couple of years
after that first surgery whenI started having to live with the
(05:25):
consequences of the surgeryand living with chronic pain, living
with having to change mynormal day to day, even changing
my athletics because of thechronic pain or because of the limitations
that it put on me.
And that's when I reallystarted to feel the frustration of,
so this is what that did to me.
And then of course, from therewe had to go through both amputations,
(05:45):
which has been a revolvingdoor of learning new things and coming
to terms with what my lifelooks like.
And so it's definitely difficult.
And it's very difficult when Isit back and think I'm not even a
quarter of a century old yet,and this has been the last six years
of my life.
But at the same time, it'sbeen so incredible because of the
(06:08):
things that I've learned.
And so one of the big thingsthat I've learned is if I look at
the past six years through thelens of blessing, the fact that I'm
alive, I'm walking, I've beenable to do all these cool things
with my book and withspeaking, I've been able to impact
people's lives.
If I look at it through thatlens, it is so, so much better than
looking at it through the lensof, oh, why me?
(06:29):
This is awful.
My life is terrible.
And so I just, I put it in mymind to, to see it through the good
lens.
I love that.
So there this Brings up acouple questions for me.
Number one, my curious.
We're going to follow mycuriosity first and then I want to
talk about.
Then we're going to talk aboutthe perspective.
Okay.
Because I am hyper.
A hyper curious individual.
A multi passionate guy.
(06:50):
Chronic pain.
Now I'm somebody who liveswith chronic pain.
Like I have chronic pain allthe time.
But I'm trying to figure out,like, when you're missing a limb,
where's the chronic pain?
Obviously at the site that itwas amputated.
But like, help me understand that.
I want to hear like, where'sthe chronic pain?
Like, that just is suchfascinating to me.
So this is my new favoritequestion because I actually live
(07:12):
with phantom limb syndrome,which is where you feel the pain
in the limb that's not there.
And I have no idea how to.
How to describe that in a waythat makes any kind of sense.
But I will tell you this.
I have been sitting in frontof people before and I've reached
down to scratch my leg and itwasn't there.
Because the sensations of painand itching and tingling, they're
(07:37):
all so real that sometimes Ijust forget that it's not there.
I'll reach down and then Ijust short circuit for a few seconds
because my brain goes, wait, that's.
It was.
We felt that it was supposedto be there, right?
Yeah, because I was like, waita minute, how do you feel pain on
something that isn't?
And I understand phantom limb,but I'm like, oh, wow, that.
So that's so fascinating to me.
(07:59):
But let's go back a second.
First and foremost, what.
What sport were you playing?
You said you were an athleteat 18, 19.
Before this happened.
What sport were you playing?
So I wasn't doing a specificsport at that time.
I was just generally super athletic.
I was doing working out bymyself and stuff like that.
I was doing, I believe, Ithink I was doing Zumba at that point
and then just doing someworkout classes while I was on campus.
(08:21):
So athletics.
Yeah, Zoom.
The whole vibe in itself.
Yeah, I've seen some of the videos.
Not your videos, but Zumba in general.
Yeah.
We can go down a hole.
That's.
That would be bad.
There may be.
Although that would be funny now.
So you've named your leg,right, Hal?
Did I get that right?
Yes.
Where did that come from?
Where did that come from?
So this is going to sound alittle bit crazy, but all of my legs
(08:44):
have had a personality.
And I know that's really weirdcoming from an inanimate object,
but I'VE actually named all ofmy legs.
So the very first one I got, Inamed Herbert because Herbert's like
a fun, cute name.
And my leg was very.
Learning to use it was veryfun and comical.
And I trip over my own foot.
So I decided to go with kindof a cute, fun name.
(09:06):
And then my second one I namedHelen, actually after Helen of Troy,
into kind of like a Spartanhistory, more of a fun name, like
an athletic name.
And then when I got this onethat I named Hal, it went back into
the fun, dorky stage becausewatching me try to walk around with
this thing for the first timeand even now it's still pretty funny,
(09:29):
is just a trip.
So I decided I'm going to nameit something fun and just have some
fun with it.
Yeah, I was just, I waslaughing when I read that on Facebook.
I was like, how now I could goa couple different places.
You either named it becauselike the Green Lantern, his name
was Hal, or because we cannerd out.
I'm a nerd.
Or you watch the, what was it?
The war games from like 90sabout the how, which was the supercomputer
(09:53):
that tried to destroy the world.
I was like, it could be one orthe other.
And I was like, I gotta figurethis one out.
So.
And my leg has electronics, so.
It does.
No, so your prosthetic haselectronics for your leg.
I have an app for my leg.
I have to charge it every night.
It's crazy.
So is it like a, is it like acomputer based leg that moves or
(10:13):
something?
Or is it like when you say Ihave electronics in there, like you
can attach your phone andcharge your phone with your leg.
Help me understand that.
So cool.
I would love that.
So it's actually the electronics.
How do I say they learn how Iwalk and then they adjust the.
To match how I walk.
So I actually.
Computer system in there?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
I was not expecting that.
(10:34):
I was not expecting that.
That was the last thing I wasexpecting here.
That.
So now Hal, the supercomputerthat takes over the world is more,
is much more likely to be yourleg because it's got, it's already
got the AI chips in there.
So with that being said, we'regonna, we're gonna table Hal for
a second.
I, I find it amusing that it'sall H's, by the way, so.
Right.
That was on purpose.
(10:54):
Oh, I'm sure.
But I just thought that was cool.
Hal Hubert Herbert, let's goback to your perspective because
I, I love your perspective.
I love the refreshingness of that.
Who taught you how to.
Who taught you that?
Like, how did you come to theconclusion that says, I'm going to
make sure that I look on thebetter side of this and figure out
(11:15):
the goods, as opposed to justbeing, like, the reality of what
is about to happen?
Like, where did you learn that skill?
Because that's a skill youneed to learn.
Absolutely.
I say this almost everyquestion always seems to come back
around to my mom, but my momwas really the one.
We're so close.
We've been so close my entire life.
She was really the one thattaught me about that kind of positivity.
(11:37):
And it started.
A lot of it started when I gotdiagnosed, because you have a cancer
diagnosis, so you're trying tofigure out the tiniest little things
to be okay with.
And so it would start.
We would.
We would be stuck in asituation that we didn't want to
be in, and we would say, hey,what's the positive?
And sometimes it did go into,I'm alive.
And that is more than what alot of people can say.
(11:59):
But that mindset, when youstart to think like that in those
little positives, oh, we'regetting my favorite pizza today.
That's fantastic, or myfavorite TV show was on and I got
to watch it today.
Something like that, it startsto snowball in your mind, and all
of a sudden, you're seeingthese bigger positives.
Oh, I went in for chemo today,and I didn't get sick all day, or
(12:23):
I was able to get off of mymeds much sooner than what we expected.
So I'm having less sideeffects from that.
Like I said, it snowballs.
So eventually, you end upseeing the whole big picture.
Instead of these little tinydetails, you just see a whole big
picture of good things.
And we trained each other todo that because we would always be
on opposites, where I would behaving the worst day of my life,
(12:45):
and she would be going, well,think about it.
The sun's outside.
You like the sun.
Go sit in the sun and get some sunshine.
And then we would flip.
She would be having the worstday ever, and I would get to do the
same for her.
So we taught each other how todo that.
That's beautiful.
So then two questions come up.
Number one is, how do youguard against toxic positivity?
Oh, gosh, that's.
(13:05):
That is something I've had todeal with a lot recently.
I am still learning how to dothat, because when it came to the
second amputation, of course,the people around Me, they had known
this strong, tough Rebeccathat had survived all of these things.
And when faced with somethinglike that, a lot of the times it
became, well, you've survivedthat, you can survive this too.
(13:26):
And sometimes I wasn't readyfor that positivity yet.
I was ready to wallow in selfpity for a bit and just not have
to face reality of it.
But I think what it became forme was setting these mental boundaries
of a lot of people project.
A lot of people see thingsthrough their own perspectives and
through their own experiences.
(13:47):
And so I had to teach myselfto put up boundaries, find out who
those safe people were to talkto and to listen to, more importantly,
because it's very importantwho's going to be speaking into your
life.
And I would evaluateeverything that was said to me and
if it did come to those pointsof toxic pox, toxic positivity, I
(14:09):
would just acknowledge it.
I really wouldn't.
I don't need to make a bigdeal out of it, but I would just
acknowledge it and move on andnot allow it to invalidate the things
that I was feeling.
Right, okay, so then, so allof this happening, so then what point
do you decide to get back into sports?
What point do you decide thatyou're ready for that?
That's a good point.
(14:29):
Especially being in the middleof deciding that now time, it looked
different.
So after the first surgery,like I told you, it was my stubbornness
that said, I'm going to dothis because you told me I wouldn't.
And I never really decidedthis is what I'm going to do.
It was more of a gradual thingof, oh, I said I would walk, I walked
again.
(14:49):
I could try running and then,oh, I'm running again.
I can try Spartan racing,which was a bit of a jump.
We had some in between, but itwas a pretty gradual thing.
After the second amputation,it was a really nerve wracking decision
to figure out, am I even readyfor this again?
Because my first step back wasa Spartan race and I really just
(15:12):
had to jump in and do it andsay, you know what, I've got a team
surrounding me.
I've just got to trust that ifI can't get myself through this by
myself, that my team is goingto get me through it for all of us.
And then at this point, it'sthe same thing.
I actually just recentlystarted going back to the gym because
you have to play a game withprosthetics of is it going to fit
(15:33):
today?
Is it going to be falling off today?
Are the electronics going tocooperate with me today?
And so eventually, I think youjust have to get over all of those,
Those limiting things in yourmind and just say, I'm going to attempt
it today.
And if we hit all these goals,that's fantastic.
And if I hit some of thosegoals, that's great.
(15:53):
If I don't, we'll try again tomorrow.
And sometimes you just got tojump in and go for it.
And that's been my mindsetlately, is, wake up, attempt it.
And if not, attempt it again tomorrow.
Yeah, definitely.
And so let me say this to thelistener, and I know some of you
guys over there, more hearts,more scars are going to be listening.
Shout out to you guys who takethe athletes through the courses.
(16:14):
I am also an athlete when itcomes to more, more scars or even
Oscar Mike.
Shout out to those Missionguys, to the listener.
Look both of thoseorganizations up.
Amazing people get connected.
I wanted to take that and justshout those guys out real quick now
for coming back to you.
So something that really juststicks out and it really hits me
and says, brings a question tomind, let me say it that way, is
(16:37):
why was the decision harderthe second time than it was the first
time?
Because the first time youlost the leg like you lost the whole
bottom half of your leg, andthe second time you lost the smaller
section.
So why is it harder for youthe second time to jump in than it
was the first?
I think it was because I knewwhat I was getting myself into the
second time.
(16:57):
So the first time they cantell you what to expect for an amputation,
but until you've done it, it's.
There's no real processingwhat you're going to expect.
And on top of that,unfortunately, there was a lot of
trauma surrounding theamputation itself and surrounding
the recovery.
And so when it came to thepoint of that second amputation,
all I could think about was,is all that going to happen to me
(17:20):
again?
Am I going to suffer like that again?
Am I going to feel those samekinds of pain?
Is it going to take as long?
And also knowing that thedifference between a below knee and
above knee amputation, thatthe above knee is indescribably more
difficult to recover from andto learn to use a prosthesis.
And so while the first time Ijumped in a prosthesis and a couple
(17:43):
of weeks later I was walkingaround having a great time, I also
had to process.
This could take months.
I can't predict how easy thisis going to be.
And so combining this terrorof the trauma and the pain with.
I don't even know when I'mgoing to be able to stand on my own
two feet again.
Right.
So what kept you from quitting?
I just knew I had to do itbecause my options were never walk
(18:08):
again, not use a prosthesis,keep the chronic pain of what was
going on with the below kneeamputation, or suffer through a couple
of months and have hope for abetter future.
And the hope of having thatbetter future, even if it's more
difficult or even if it wouldtake longer, was just enough to push
me over the edge of not justsitting there paralyzed in fear,
(18:30):
refusing to do what I knew Ineeded to do.
I honor you for that.
I think that's a beautiful story.
Just, you know, the ability topush through is a hard thing.
In general, the ability topush through twice is even harder.
So the courage you have, Ijust want to honor you for that.
One more question and then Iwant to dive into your book because
I think this.
The book seems to be very amazing.
(18:51):
It's called Limitless.
Like you are living thislimitless life.
Like, I have a major limit, no leg.
But I'm trying to fight theemotions of that.
And I'm still doing Spartans.
And maybe down the futureyou'll do a triathlon.
Who knows?
But at least for right now,there's that.
But one more question beforewe get into.
And this again, one morecuriosity before we get into the
(19:11):
authorship.
When you lost the second half,like when they took the extra part,
the second amputation, did youfind that the phantom leg grew to
the place of the amputation?
Did it change?
Grew to the place?
So at first, because it wasbelow the knee, I could only really
feel like the bottom half ofmy calf and my foot.
(19:33):
And then when I lost more it.
Now I can feel my knee.
And the crazy part is that Istill think I can move my knee, my
ankle, my toes.
So it did expand, expand, andit actually changed the way it felt.
I have no idea how to describewhat it felt like at first versus
what it feels like now, but itactually changed.
It was mind blowing.
(19:54):
How it does that.
Yeah, I just.
I've never had the opportunityto ask that.
And I was like, I gotta ask this.
This is cool.
All right.
So.
Because I find this wholeconversation to be so refreshing
and.
And again, the.
The listeners deal with allsorts of different things.
I have listeners who havemental health challenges.
I have listeners who do havephysical challenges.
So you're very uplifting and encouraging.
(20:16):
So I appreciate you going downthese lines of thinking and conversation
with me.
So with that being said, let'smove over to the book.
At what point do you wake up,Rebecca, and you go, I want to write
a book today.
Like, where did that come from?
I have wanted to write a booksince I was 8 years old.
I just never knew what Iwanted to write it about.
I didn't know if I wanted togo fiction or nonfiction.
(20:38):
And in the chaos of highschool and my first semester of college,
it got shoved to the backburner because I was doing so many
other things.
And really what happened wasbecause of the amount of trauma,
especially that happenedduring chemo and the things that
I wanted to change, itreplanted that seed in my mind that
said, this could be what youwrite about.
You could write about all ofthese experiences and start advocating
(21:01):
for change through your story.
And so it was a seed.
It was here and there.
And then I just.
I believe I went to church onemorning, and I just felt it.
Write a book about your story.
Stop trying to pick a topic.
Stop trying to say you want towrite to patients or write to providers,
and just tell your story.
(21:21):
And that was a disturbinglyshort time before my leg broke and
before I had to get the first amputation.
So I had started the book.
I was having a great time.
I thought, this is where I'm starting.
This is where I'm ending.
And then my leg broke, and I went.
The whole story just changedbecause now I am in the middle of
the plot again.
So I had to push it to theback burner because I said, I actually
(21:43):
have to survive this before Ican talk about it.
So I had to survive it.
And then once I got past thatrecovery phase, I went, okay, how
am I going to.
Where am I going to take this now?
And I still stuck with thesame thing.
Just tell your story.
And so I just spent, I think,about a year and a half drafting
(22:03):
and editing this thing thatbecame my baby.
And now it's birth.
Now it's out there.
Now everybody can pick it up.
Yes.
And to you, the listener, wewill put it in the show notes.
So don't worry, don't fret.
We will make it easy andaccessible in the show notes, so
make sure you check it out.
So what opportunities haveopened up since you got this book?
So I've been able to do a lotmore speaking.
(22:25):
One of my fun facts is thateven before the book, I used to speak
at one of the universitieshere to their med students.
And so I would tell my story,and I joked with them, but it wasn't
really a joke.
I said, I'm going totraumatize you with what I was traumatized
with so that you don't do thisto other patients.
And so I was trying to usethat the best I could to at least
(22:46):
plant in their minds as newproviders don't do these things.
Think about it in this way.
Think about it in the patient.
I call it my patientperspective talk.
And so I started doing that.
But after the book, I ended updoing some event speaking.
I've done a couple of podcastsand little did I know.
But since all of this happeneda couple of months after the release
(23:07):
of the book, I've got peoplebugging me for a sequel.
So it looks like the nextopportunity is going to be or one
of the next opportunities isgoing to be a sequel.
It has opened up a lot ofdoors to.
To share the story in so manydifferent avenues.
Not just survivorship, but theability to overcome things or share
things.
With athletics, I've done someevents for athletics and now doing
(23:30):
this entrepreneurship andbusiness it.
There are just so many aspectsthat can be shared with the story.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So with you being anentrepreneurship, so as a primary
author, where do you seeyourself going?
Are you going to be likecoaching or you go like, where does
this go for you?
So I have quite a few bookideas, so certainly going to stay
for now down the author avenueto try to get a few of those ideas
(23:53):
out.
Now that I've told myself thestory and now that I'll be telling
a little bit more of the storyfrom more recent things and I would
love to be doing more speaking.
There's.
I know speaking right now is asuper huge thing.
Podcasts became a super hugething, so doing more of that would
be cool.
But really, I would justreally love to advocate and to speak
(24:15):
in a more advocacy situation,whether that be amputee conferences
or more with med students.
At this point, just want tocontinue that path and see where
that takes me and see whatother paths open up because.
Okay, and so what do you findis your greatest challenge right
now?
I think the greatest challengeis teaching myself to be flexible
(24:36):
because of all of the thingsthat have happened in the past few
years.
You go from these highs of I'mdoing, doing my thing, I'm living,
I'm writing, I'm looking atamputation, and then I'm back to
doing my thing and I'mpublished and I'm doing book signings
and I'm doing anotheramputation and Trying to teach yourself
the flexibility of saying,okay, my 100% six months ago does
(25:01):
not look like what my 100%right now is.
And that's okay.
My 100% in three more monthscould change.
And so trying to teach myself,there are going to be days where
I log in and I bust out somuch work, so productive, get all
the things done.
And then there are going to bedays where my to do list gets a mile
long and I do one thing.
(25:23):
And so teaching myself to beokay with that and translate that
into all the other aspects ofmy life, like with athletics, any
aspect of my life in thatmatter, that's, I think, my biggest
challenge.
So with.
So let's lead that into, youknow, for the listener, you know,
a section, this is with thehashtag wisdom bomb, which is where
we leave a purple truth fromthe guests.
(25:45):
With that being said, what isa wisdom bomb you would leave for
the guest?
For the listener.
You are the guest.
The listener.
So I think it would be to beokay with giving yourself the grace,
to be flexible, because itreally is a form of self grace to
allow yourself to go throughthe seasons of life and go through
the different challenges oflife and just being able to show
(26:07):
up during each one of those, Iwould say, have the grace of flexibility
on yourself.
So awesome.
So how do we find you?
If we want to.
If we want to connect with thereal Rebecca through Facebook, through
whatever.
How do we find you?
You can find everything youneed to know through Rebecca Dene
dot com.
That's my website.
You'll find the book, you'llfind podcasts, social medias, more
(26:29):
of my story, anything like,that's the central place for it.
Awesome.
And as always, we're going tolink that right down in the show.
Notes that you.
All you have to do is clickand head on over there.
And I would highly suggestthat you do that so that you can
support and learn more aboutwhat it's like to live a life that
is limitless.
And so with that being said,thank you, Rebecca, for being on
the podcast today.
We love having you.
(26:50):
We love the conversation.
We appreciate you.
Yeah, thank you so much.
It was a great conversationand it was a fun avenue to take.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so with that being said,we will see you on a future episode.
And you've been listening toGrace in the Grind.
And it's.
We're just here to inspire.
Well, actually, we're here totell the story behind the story,
(27:10):
to inspire and encourage youto do all that God has called you
to so with that being said,thanks for listening and we'll see
you on a future episode.
This has been Grace in the Grind.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
If you did, make make sure to,like, rate and review.
And we'll be back soon.
But in the meantime, find uson social media.
LeadWithJam.
(27:31):
Take care of yourself, andwe'll see you next time on Grace
in the Grind.
Welcome to Grace and theGrind, the podcast where we dive
deep into the journeys ofheart centered and purpose driven
leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
(00:23):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,where we're here to tell the inspiring
stories of behind the Story.
And today we have a new friendto the show, Rebecca.
Welcome to the show, Rebecca.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate you having me.
Yeah.
So why don't you take 60 to 90seconds and let the audience know
who you are and what you do?
Sure.
Like you said, my name is Rebecca.
I'm an author and a speaker.
(00:44):
So last year I had theabsolute blessing to publish my first
book.
It's called Limitless and it'sa memoir of my journey through cancer
and my first amputation andlearning to recover from that and,
and everything that went alongwith that.
And luckily from then I'veactually been able to start breaking
into speaking.
I can speak about a variety ofthings, so I talk about patient advocacy,
(01:06):
patient care, talk aboutovercoming and resilience, pretty
much anything that pertains tothe story that I can use to encourage
people or lift people up.
That's what I like to do.
And hopefully I'll bepublishing more books and doing more
speaking and just keeping theball rolling with it.
So I like, I love where thisepisode is going to go because I
could already, we can already tell.
(01:27):
You're like, I'm an amputee,I'm an author, I'm this.
I'm like, I love it.
So I want to hit the amputeething first.
And the question I have firstis, you said my first amputation,
are you planning another one?
I'm not planning another one,nor did I plan my second one.
But I unfortunately and insome ways fortunately have had two
amputations.
So in 2019, I was diagnosedwith stage three bone cancer.
(01:51):
I went through chemo and inorder to fully remove the tumor,
we had to do a surgery.
And so they chose a limbsalvage surgery where they took out
part of my tibia, replaced itwith a cadaver bone, put some metal
in there, and then they toldme I would never walk again.
And I was a stubborn little 19year old that wouldn't have it.
So I started walking andrunning and doing all kinds of crazy
(02:12):
stuff, which unfortunatelycaused the bone and the metal to
break clean through three anda half years later.
So that Was the point of myfirst amputation where they wanted
to do another limb salvage surgery?
I said, yeah, I wasn't reallyfeeling the first one.
It didn't really work out for me.
So how about you just take itoff and give me a new leg?
So that's where we did with that.
It was a below knee amputation.
(02:33):
I had that for about a yearand a half.
And then unfortunately, issueswere coming up with that because
they left some of the cadaverbone in the metal in.
So it came to a head again.
We had to decide on another surgery.
And then, like I said, thatwas going to be my second amputation
where I went above the knee.
Okay, so did you actually evergo above the knee or is it.
(02:54):
I am.
I'm above the knee now.
Okay.
So they took off with an extra section.
That's what I'm hearing.
Okay, yeah.
Because when you said my first.
I'm sitting here.
Is this like Walmart or something?
Am I going back for more?
Like McDonald's?
I'm loving it.
I don't know.
Where do you go with that?
Let's hold on there and.
Okay, so I want to make surewe hit this because I think this
is super important.
You're 19 when this happens?
(03:15):
Yes, sir.
I was actually diagnosed.
I was 18 and then eight monthsinto chemo.
I was 19 when that surgeryfirst happened.
And that puts me at 24 now.
24.
So walk me through, like thefirst diagnosis at 18 year old, you're
like, you have bone cancer.
19, you're losing a leg.
Like, what is that?
What is going through your emotions?
(03:35):
Walk us through that.
It was a crazy time.
It took a couple of months toget diagnosed because I was having
some knee pain, but I was alsoan athlete at the time.
And so I thought, I'm gettingwhat every athlete gets.
Like, you get the achy joint,you have to wear the bra.
And all of a sudden everyonestarted getting really concerned
about that achy joint and theywanted to do a biopsy.
(03:56):
And so it was one of thosethings where when they started saying
biopsy, I think I knew in theback of my mind, okay, this is going
to be a little bit worse thanwhat we were hoping.
So it didn't take terriblylong to get diagnosed.
Any time to get diagnosed is terrible.
But it was luckily very short.
I think about three months.
And the funny thing was thatwhen I got diagnosed, I was in a
(04:17):
private room in the hospital.
Happy go lucky.
After surgery, after thebiopsy, and my surgeon walks in and
he says, hey, I'M really sorryto tell you, but what we found in
your leg was malignant.
And my mom and my thenboyfriend's mom, they were standing
at the head of my bed withtissues hidden behind the bed.
And I looked at the surgeonand I said, okay, so you're telling
(04:41):
me I can't go back to schoolthis semester because it was my first
semester in college, I wassuper ecstatic to go back.
And it broke the tension inthe room.
And he said, no, I don't thinkyou're going to be going back to
school this semester.
And from then on, I just cameto acceptance.
It was a very miraculous thing.
There's no way I could havecome to that acceptance on my own
(05:02):
where I felt peace about it.
And I thought, okay, if God'sbrought me this far, he's going to
bring me farther, so I'm notgoing to freak out about it.
And when the surgery came, thesame situation, I said, okay, if
this is what I have to do,this is what I have to do.
And admittedly, it didn't allreally hit until a couple of years
after that first surgery whenI started having to live with the
(05:25):
consequences of the surgeryand living with chronic pain, living
with having to change mynormal day to day, even changing
my athletics because of thechronic pain or because of the limitations
that it put on me.
And that's when I reallystarted to feel the frustration of,
so this is what that did to me.
And then of course, from therewe had to go through both amputations,
(05:45):
which has been a revolvingdoor of learning new things and coming
to terms with what my lifelooks like.
And so it's definitely difficult.
And it's very difficult when Isit back and think I'm not even a
quarter of a century old yet,and this has been the last six years
of my life.
But at the same time, it'sbeen so incredible because of the
(06:08):
things that I've learned.
And so one of the big thingsthat I've learned is if I look at
the past six years through thelens of blessing, the fact that I'm
alive, I'm walking, I've beenable to do all these cool things
with my book and withspeaking, I've been able to impact
people's lives.
If I look at it through thatlens, it is so, so much better than
looking at it through the lensof, oh, why me?
(06:29):
This is awful.
My life is terrible.
And so I just, I put it in mymind to, to see it through the good
lens.
I love that.
So there this Brings up acouple questions for me.
Number one, my curious.
We're going to follow mycuriosity first and then I want to
talk about.
Then we're going to talk aboutthe perspective.
Okay.
Because I am hyper.
A hyper curious individual.
A multi passionate guy.
(06:50):
Chronic pain.
Now I'm somebody who liveswith chronic pain.
Like I have chronic pain allthe time.
But I'm trying to figure out,like, when you're missing a limb,
where's the chronic pain?
Obviously at the site that itwas amputated.
But like, help me understand that.
I want to hear like, where'sthe chronic pain?
Like, that just is suchfascinating to me.
So this is my new favoritequestion because I actually live
(07:12):
with phantom limb syndrome,which is where you feel the pain
in the limb that's not there.
And I have no idea how to.
How to describe that in a waythat makes any kind of sense.
But I will tell you this.
I have been sitting in frontof people before and I've reached
down to scratch my leg and itwasn't there.
Because the sensations of painand itching and tingling, they're
(07:37):
all so real that sometimes Ijust forget that it's not there.
I'll reach down and then Ijust short circuit for a few seconds
because my brain goes, wait, that's.
It was.
We felt that it was supposedto be there, right?
Yeah, because I was like, waita minute, how do you feel pain on
something that isn't?
And I understand phantom limb,but I'm like, oh, wow, that.
So that's so fascinating to me.
(07:59):
But let's go back a second.
First and foremost, what.
What sport were you playing?
You said you were an athleteat 18, 19.
Before this happened.
What sport were you playing?
So I wasn't doing a specificsport at that time.
I was just generally super athletic.
I was doing working out bymyself and stuff like that.
I was doing, I believe, Ithink I was doing Zumba at that point
and then just doing someworkout classes while I was on campus.
(08:21):
So athletics.
Yeah, Zoom.
The whole vibe in itself.
Yeah, I've seen some of the videos.
Not your videos, but Zumba in general.
Yeah.
We can go down a hole.
That's.
That would be bad.
There may be.
Although that would be funny now.
So you've named your leg,right, Hal?
Did I get that right?
Yes.
Where did that come from?
Where did that come from?
So this is going to sound alittle bit crazy, but all of my legs
(08:44):
have had a personality.
And I know that's really weirdcoming from an inanimate object,
but I'VE actually named all ofmy legs.
So the very first one I got, Inamed Herbert because Herbert's like
a fun, cute name.
And my leg was very.
Learning to use it was veryfun and comical.
And I trip over my own foot.
So I decided to go with kindof a cute, fun name.
(09:06):
And then my second one I namedHelen, actually after Helen of Troy,
into kind of like a Spartanhistory, more of a fun name, like
an athletic name.
And then when I got this onethat I named Hal, it went back into
the fun, dorky stage becausewatching me try to walk around with
this thing for the first timeand even now it's still pretty funny,
(09:29):
is just a trip.
So I decided I'm going to nameit something fun and just have some
fun with it.
Yeah, I was just, I waslaughing when I read that on Facebook.
I was like, how now I could goa couple different places.
You either named it becauselike the Green Lantern, his name
was Hal, or because we cannerd out.
I'm a nerd.
Or you watch the, what was it?
The war games from like 90sabout the how, which was the supercomputer
(09:53):
that tried to destroy the world.
I was like, it could be one orthe other.
And I was like, I gotta figurethis one out.
So.
And my leg has electronics, so.
It does.
No, so your prosthetic haselectronics for your leg.
I have an app for my leg.
I have to charge it every night.
It's crazy.
So is it like a, is it like acomputer based leg that moves or
(10:13):
something?
Or is it like when you say Ihave electronics in there, like you
can attach your phone andcharge your phone with your leg.
Help me understand that.
So cool.
I would love that.
So it's actually the electronics.
How do I say they learn how Iwalk and then they adjust the.
To match how I walk.
So I actually.
Computer system in there?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
I was not expecting that.
(10:34):
I was not expecting that.
That was the last thing I wasexpecting here.
That.
So now Hal, the supercomputerthat takes over the world is more,
is much more likely to be yourleg because it's got, it's already
got the AI chips in there.
So with that being said, we'regonna, we're gonna table Hal for
a second.
I, I find it amusing that it'sall H's, by the way, so.
Right.
That was on purpose.
(10:54):
Oh, I'm sure.
But I just thought that was cool.
Hal Hubert Herbert, let's goback to your perspective because
I, I love your perspective.
I love the refreshingness of that.
Who taught you how to.
Who taught you that?
Like, how did you come to theconclusion that says, I'm going to
make sure that I look on thebetter side of this and figure out
(11:15):
the goods, as opposed to justbeing, like, the reality of what
is about to happen?
Like, where did you learn that skill?
Because that's a skill youneed to learn.
Absolutely.
I say this almost everyquestion always seems to come back
around to my mom, but my momwas really the one.
We're so close.
We've been so close my entire life.
She was really the one thattaught me about that kind of positivity.
(11:37):
And it started.
A lot of it started when I gotdiagnosed, because you have a cancer
diagnosis, so you're trying tofigure out the tiniest little things
to be okay with.
And so it would start.
We would.
We would be stuck in asituation that we didn't want to
be in, and we would say, hey,what's the positive?
And sometimes it did go into,I'm alive.
And that is more than what alot of people can say.
(11:59):
But that mindset, when youstart to think like that in those
little positives, oh, we'regetting my favorite pizza today.
That's fantastic, or myfavorite TV show was on and I got
to watch it today.
Something like that, it startsto snowball in your mind, and all
of a sudden, you're seeingthese bigger positives.
Oh, I went in for chemo today,and I didn't get sick all day, or
(12:23):
I was able to get off of mymeds much sooner than what we expected.
So I'm having less sideeffects from that.
Like I said, it snowballs.
So eventually, you end upseeing the whole big picture.
Instead of these little tinydetails, you just see a whole big
picture of good things.
And we trained each other todo that because we would always be
on opposites, where I would behaving the worst day of my life,
(12:45):
and she would be going, well,think about it.
The sun's outside.
You like the sun.
Go sit in the sun and get some sunshine.
And then we would flip.
She would be having the worstday ever, and I would get to do the
same for her.
So we taught each other how todo that.
That's beautiful.
So then two questions come up.
Number one is, how do youguard against toxic positivity?
Oh, gosh, that's.
(13:05):
That is something I've had todeal with a lot recently.
I am still learning how to dothat, because when it came to the
second amputation, of course,the people around Me, they had known
this strong, tough Rebeccathat had survived all of these things.
And when faced with somethinglike that, a lot of the times it
became, well, you've survivedthat, you can survive this too.
(13:26):
And sometimes I wasn't readyfor that positivity yet.
I was ready to wallow in selfpity for a bit and just not have
to face reality of it.
But I think what it became forme was setting these mental boundaries
of a lot of people project.
A lot of people see thingsthrough their own perspectives and
through their own experiences.
(13:47):
And so I had to teach myselfto put up boundaries, find out who
those safe people were to talkto and to listen to, more importantly,
because it's very importantwho's going to be speaking into your
life.
And I would evaluateeverything that was said to me and
if it did come to those pointsof toxic pox, toxic positivity, I
(14:09):
would just acknowledge it.
I really wouldn't.
I don't need to make a bigdeal out of it, but I would just
acknowledge it and move on andnot allow it to invalidate the things
that I was feeling.
Right, okay, so then, so allof this happening, so then what point
do you decide to get back into sports?
What point do you decide thatyou're ready for that?
That's a good point.
(14:29):
Especially being in the middleof deciding that now time, it looked
different.
So after the first surgery,like I told you, it was my stubbornness
that said, I'm going to dothis because you told me I wouldn't.
And I never really decidedthis is what I'm going to do.
It was more of a gradual thingof, oh, I said I would walk, I walked
again.
(14:49):
I could try running and then,oh, I'm running again.
I can try Spartan racing,which was a bit of a jump.
We had some in between, but itwas a pretty gradual thing.
After the second amputation,it was a really nerve wracking decision
to figure out, am I even readyfor this again?
Because my first step back wasa Spartan race and I really just
(15:12):
had to jump in and do it andsay, you know what, I've got a team
surrounding me.
I've just got to trust that ifI can't get myself through this by
myself, that my team is goingto get me through it for all of us.
And then at this point, it'sthe same thing.
I actually just recentlystarted going back to the gym because
you have to play a game withprosthetics of is it going to fit
(15:33):
today?
Is it going to be falling off today?
Are the electronics going tocooperate with me today?
And so eventually, I think youjust have to get over all of those,
Those limiting things in yourmind and just say, I'm going to attempt
it today.
And if we hit all these goals,that's fantastic.
And if I hit some of thosegoals, that's great.
(15:53):
If I don't, we'll try again tomorrow.
And sometimes you just got tojump in and go for it.
And that's been my mindsetlately, is, wake up, attempt it.
And if not, attempt it again tomorrow.
Yeah, definitely.
And so let me say this to thelistener, and I know some of you
guys over there, more hearts,more scars are going to be listening.
Shout out to you guys who takethe athletes through the courses.
(16:14):
I am also an athlete when itcomes to more, more scars or even
Oscar Mike.
Shout out to those Missionguys, to the listener.
Look both of thoseorganizations up.
Amazing people get connected.
I wanted to take that and justshout those guys out real quick now
for coming back to you.
So something that really juststicks out and it really hits me
and says, brings a question tomind, let me say it that way, is
(16:37):
why was the decision harderthe second time than it was the first
time?
Because the first time youlost the leg like you lost the whole
bottom half of your leg, andthe second time you lost the smaller
section.
So why is it harder for youthe second time to jump in than it
was the first?
I think it was because I knewwhat I was getting myself into the
second time.
(16:57):
So the first time they cantell you what to expect for an amputation,
but until you've done it, it's.
There's no real processingwhat you're going to expect.
And on top of that,unfortunately, there was a lot of
trauma surrounding theamputation itself and surrounding
the recovery.
And so when it came to thepoint of that second amputation,
all I could think about was,is all that going to happen to me
(17:20):
again?
Am I going to suffer like that again?
Am I going to feel those samekinds of pain?
Is it going to take as long?
And also knowing that thedifference between a below knee and
above knee amputation, thatthe above knee is indescribably more
difficult to recover from andto learn to use a prosthesis.
And so while the first time Ijumped in a prosthesis and a couple
(17:43):
of weeks later I was walkingaround having a great time, I also
had to process.
This could take months.
I can't predict how easy thisis going to be.
And so combining this terrorof the trauma and the pain with.
I don't even know when I'mgoing to be able to stand on my own
two feet again.
Right.
So what kept you from quitting?
I just knew I had to do itbecause my options were never walk
(18:08):
again, not use a prosthesis,keep the chronic pain of what was
going on with the below kneeamputation, or suffer through a couple
of months and have hope for abetter future.
And the hope of having thatbetter future, even if it's more
difficult or even if it wouldtake longer, was just enough to push
me over the edge of not justsitting there paralyzed in fear,
(18:30):
refusing to do what I knew Ineeded to do.
I honor you for that.
I think that's a beautiful story.
Just, you know, the ability topush through is a hard thing.
In general, the ability topush through twice is even harder.
So the courage you have, Ijust want to honor you for that.
One more question and then Iwant to dive into your book because
I think this.
The book seems to be very amazing.
(18:51):
It's called Limitless.
Like you are living thislimitless life.
Like, I have a major limit, no leg.
But I'm trying to fight theemotions of that.
And I'm still doing Spartans.
And maybe down the futureyou'll do a triathlon.
Who knows?
But at least for right now,there's that.
But one more question beforewe get into.
And this again, one morecuriosity before we get into the
(19:11):
authorship.
When you lost the second half,like when they took the extra part,
the second amputation, did youfind that the phantom leg grew to
the place of the amputation?
Did it change?
Grew to the place?
So at first, because it wasbelow the knee, I could only really
feel like the bottom half ofmy calf and my foot.
(19:33):
And then when I lost more it.
Now I can feel my knee.
And the crazy part is that Istill think I can move my knee, my
ankle, my toes.
So it did expand, expand, andit actually changed the way it felt.
I have no idea how to describewhat it felt like at first versus
what it feels like now, but itactually changed.
It was mind blowing.
(19:54):
How it does that.
Yeah, I just.
I've never had the opportunityto ask that.
And I was like, I gotta ask this.
This is cool.
All right.
So.
Because I find this wholeconversation to be so refreshing
and.
And again, the.
The listeners deal with allsorts of different things.
I have listeners who havemental health challenges.
I have listeners who do havephysical challenges.
So you're very uplifting and encouraging.
(20:16):
So I appreciate you going downthese lines of thinking and conversation
with me.
So with that being said, let'smove over to the book.
At what point do you wake up,Rebecca, and you go, I want to write
a book today.
Like, where did that come from?
I have wanted to write a booksince I was 8 years old.
I just never knew what Iwanted to write it about.
I didn't know if I wanted togo fiction or nonfiction.
(20:38):
And in the chaos of highschool and my first semester of college,
it got shoved to the backburner because I was doing so many
other things.
And really what happened wasbecause of the amount of trauma,
especially that happenedduring chemo and the things that
I wanted to change, itreplanted that seed in my mind that
said, this could be what youwrite about.
You could write about all ofthese experiences and start advocating
(21:01):
for change through your story.
And so it was a seed.
It was here and there.
And then I just.
I believe I went to church onemorning, and I just felt it.
Write a book about your story.
Stop trying to pick a topic.
Stop trying to say you want towrite to patients or write to providers,
and just tell your story.
(21:21):
And that was a disturbinglyshort time before my leg broke and
before I had to get the first amputation.
So I had started the book.
I was having a great time.
I thought, this is where I'm starting.
This is where I'm ending.
And then my leg broke, and I went.
The whole story just changedbecause now I am in the middle of
the plot again.
So I had to push it to theback burner because I said, I actually
(21:43):
have to survive this before Ican talk about it.
So I had to survive it.
And then once I got past thatrecovery phase, I went, okay, how
am I going to.
Where am I going to take this now?
And I still stuck with thesame thing.
Just tell your story.
And so I just spent, I think,about a year and a half drafting
(22:03):
and editing this thing thatbecame my baby.
And now it's birth.
Now it's out there.
Now everybody can pick it up.
Yes.
And to you, the listener, wewill put it in the show notes.
So don't worry, don't fret.
We will make it easy andaccessible in the show notes, so
make sure you check it out.
So what opportunities haveopened up since you got this book?
So I've been able to do a lotmore speaking.
(22:25):
One of my fun facts is thateven before the book, I used to speak
at one of the universitieshere to their med students.
And so I would tell my story,and I joked with them, but it wasn't
really a joke.
I said, I'm going totraumatize you with what I was traumatized
with so that you don't do thisto other patients.
And so I was trying to usethat the best I could to at least
(22:46):
plant in their minds as newproviders don't do these things.
Think about it in this way.
Think about it in the patient.
I call it my patientperspective talk.
And so I started doing that.
But after the book, I ended updoing some event speaking.
I've done a couple of podcastsand little did I know.
But since all of this happeneda couple of months after the release
(23:07):
of the book, I've got peoplebugging me for a sequel.
So it looks like the nextopportunity is going to be or one
of the next opportunities isgoing to be a sequel.
It has opened up a lot ofdoors to.
To share the story in so manydifferent avenues.
Not just survivorship, but theability to overcome things or share
things.
With athletics, I've done someevents for athletics and now doing
(23:30):
this entrepreneurship andbusiness it.
There are just so many aspectsthat can be shared with the story.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So with you being anentrepreneurship, so as a primary
author, where do you seeyourself going?
Are you going to be likecoaching or you go like, where does
this go for you?
So I have quite a few bookideas, so certainly going to stay
for now down the author avenueto try to get a few of those ideas
(23:53):
out.
Now that I've told myself thestory and now that I'll be telling
a little bit more of the storyfrom more recent things and I would
love to be doing more speaking.
There's.
I know speaking right now is asuper huge thing.
Podcasts became a super hugething, so doing more of that would
be cool.
But really, I would justreally love to advocate and to speak
(24:15):
in a more advocacy situation,whether that be amputee conferences
or more with med students.
At this point, just want tocontinue that path and see where
that takes me and see whatother paths open up because.
Okay, and so what do you findis your greatest challenge right
now?
I think the greatest challengeis teaching myself to be flexible
(24:36):
because of all of the thingsthat have happened in the past few
years.
You go from these highs of I'mdoing, doing my thing, I'm living,
I'm writing, I'm looking atamputation, and then I'm back to
doing my thing and I'mpublished and I'm doing book signings
and I'm doing anotheramputation and Trying to teach yourself
the flexibility of saying,okay, my 100% six months ago does
(25:01):
not look like what my 100%right now is.
And that's okay.
My 100% in three more monthscould change.
And so trying to teach myself,there are going to be days where
I log in and I bust out somuch work, so productive, get all
the things done.
And then there are going to bedays where my to do list gets a mile
long and I do one thing.
(25:23):
And so teaching myself to beokay with that and translate that
into all the other aspects ofmy life, like with athletics, any
aspect of my life in thatmatter, that's, I think, my biggest
challenge.
So with.
So let's lead that into, youknow, for the listener, you know,
a section, this is with thehashtag wisdom bomb, which is where
we leave a purple truth fromthe guests.
(25:45):
With that being said, what isa wisdom bomb you would leave for
the guest?
For the listener.
You are the guest.
The listener.
So I think it would be to beokay with giving yourself the grace,
to be flexible, because itreally is a form of self grace to
allow yourself to go throughthe seasons of life and go through
the different challenges oflife and just being able to show
(26:07):
up during each one of those, Iwould say, have the grace of flexibility
on yourself.
So awesome.
So how do we find you?
If we want to.
If we want to connect with thereal Rebecca through Facebook, through
whatever.
How do we find you?
You can find everything youneed to know through Rebecca Dene
dot com.
That's my website.
You'll find the book, you'llfind podcasts, social medias, more
(26:29):
of my story, anything like,that's the central place for it.
Awesome.
And as always, we're going tolink that right down in the show.
Notes that you.
All you have to do is clickand head on over there.
And I would highly suggestthat you do that so that you can
support and learn more aboutwhat it's like to live a life that
is limitless.
And so with that being said,thank you, Rebecca, for being on
the podcast today.
We love having you.
(26:50):
We love the conversation.
We appreciate you.
Yeah, thank you so much.
It was a great conversationand it was a fun avenue to take.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so with that being said,we will see you on a future episode.
And you've been listening toGrace in the Grind.
And it's.
We're just here to inspire.
Well, actually, we're here totell the story behind the story,
(27:10):
to inspire and encourage youto do all that God has called you
to so with that being said,thanks for listening and we'll see
you on a future episode.
This has been Grace in the Grind.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
If you did, make make sure to,like, rate and review.
And we'll be back soon.
But in the meantime, find uson social media.
LeadWithJam.
(27:31):
Take care of yourself, andwe'll see you next time on Grace
in the Grind.
Host
Jim Burgoon
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