Wounded U.S. Marine Shares His Survival Story | Ep. 65 with Patrick MacDonald
We all have a story to tell. Typically, it’s compared to a rollercoaster: a lot of ups and downs. … And often, when you find yourself in the lowest place in life is where God does the greatest miracles. That is especially true for this week’s podcast guest, who opens up about his transformational experience, and how he didn’t think he would even be sitting here today.
Our podcast guest this week, wounded Marine, Patrick Macdonald, shares his unbelievable story of hitting rock bottom from a freak accident to now being mentally and physically stronger than ever before. You’re not going to want to miss this raw, real story of someone who is thankful to even be alive today telling his story to you and I.
We recently just celebrated Memorial Day, and our platform wants to acknowledge and honor Patrick MacDonald, along with all the other men and women, who have served our country and fought for our freedom. Thank you for your bravery and service!
Follow along with Patrick's journey in Iceland at https://www.pmthefilm.com/
You can also follow their Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pm.prject/
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Transcript
Unknown
Sometimes at no gray areas. We love to simply share human interest stories. This week, after celebrating Memorial Day this past weekend, we have a powerful human interest story of a young Marine who had a tragic accident in his recovery process that took perseverance, tenacity and courage. It's a story that will inspire and motivate all of us.
::Unknown
Patrick McDonald, thank you so much for being on.
::Unknown
No gray areas. The week that this drops is actually the week right after Memorial Day. So we just celebrated Memorial Day. And as our audience is going to find out, you're retired Marine wounded. They're going to hear all that story a little bit. But let me just first of all, say thank you for your service.
::Unknown
No, thank you. I'm happy to be here.
::Unknown
I'm glad to be on the podcast and happy to show story a little bit more
::Unknown
well, we really mean that, especially on this Week, remembering that. But what does Memorial Day mean to you now? Or is it different since you've served and especially as an audience is going to hear you've been wounded and the whole story a little here in a moment, but is it changed for you?
::Unknown
I don't know if it's changed. For me, my understanding of Memorial Day has changed.
::Unknown
There's there's three different military appreciation days throughout the year. You've got Veterans Day, you've got Memorial Day, and you've got Military Appreciation Day. So each one of those days for especially for military members of our families, carries a different weight.
::Unknown
Right? Veterans Day is when we celebrate everybody who got out and everybody who's ever served at any time. Military Appreciation Day is when we should focus on the active duty guys. Memorial Day is when we focus on those who are no longer with us, regardless of how that is. And so. MORIAL They always say it's a little bit harder for those of us that are in because or have served, because it carries some punch and it hits hard.
::Unknown
And there's a lot of times when you'll see guys and they'll spend their Memorial Day out at a at a cemetery, they won't leave. They'll go to Arlington and they will sit there for 12 hours.
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
but that's just how they are going to live their life. Yeah, because when you lose your brothers or your sisters, that doesn't go away.
::Unknown
And so
::Unknown
it carries a different weight. Now, I don't know if it's changed, but it definitely I have a different understanding of all three of those days.
::Unknown
And that's why I asked Patrick, because I'm assuming that's the case. You know, we we as Americans, we honor the military and especially Memorial Day, those that have lost their lives or sacrifice our lives for that.
::Unknown
But it's probably hits a little closer to home. I mean, sometimes you may know someone or so it's
::Unknown
Absolutely. Absolutely.
::Unknown
Thank you.
::Unknown
Yes. Yes.
::Unknown
It is.
::Unknown
So I always knew I wanted to join the military. There wasn't really ever a question about that in my mind, in my family's minds. Once I had set my mind on that, it was just a matter of what branch.
::Unknown
So my grandfather was in the Navy and that was my first phone call. I called him and I said, Hey, I'm interested in doing this. I want to, you know, talk about going into possibly C.O.. Brogan I was like, What do I need to do? How do I need to prepare myself? Going to have a conversation with you guys just to get to know what needs to happen here.
::Unknown
And the first thing you told me was, I need your high school transcripts. I need the medical information. I need all of this. And I was like,
::Unknown
I just want to have a conversation. Like, I don't I just have some basic questions way too much. Exactly. I'm like, This is like he's like, Well, this is like, I can't.
::Unknown
I can't even talk to you. I have this sounds like, okay, so I hang up, go talk to my mom about it. My mom was all I mean, she was not happy. So she calls the records office and, oh, well, I guarantee she never has, because how many times you get some Christian white lady who you'd never expect to get a phone call from, and all of sudden she's like, You just had a conversation with my son.
::Unknown
And my father was in the Navy. And I feel so ashamed of you right now. And he was like, and, you know, it was like she and she didn't, like, yell at him. She just was like, totally just made him feel bad. And I was like, This is awesome. So then rather get Yeah. Oh, absolutely. You'd rather get reamed out by your C.O. ten times more than you'd ever rather get reamed out by a mom.
::Unknown
And so
::Unknown
the next day I drove down there and the Navy door was right here. And right next to it was a marine Corps door. And I was like, okay, I'm going in there. So I walked into the Marine Corps door and I was like, Hey, who can I talk to? You know, like, what school do you go to?
::Unknown
And I was like, okay, I know. Like him. And they point to a desk. I went and sat down and talked to him for three and a half hours, walked out of there.
::Unknown
A week later I signed my list of papers. Yeah. So it wasn't necessarily a conscious choice? Mm hmm. Yeah. No, like, like two and a half months.
::Unknown
Two and a half months after I graduated.
::Unknown
and a half months. You're on the bus
::Unknown
Yes. Yeah, I was wild. Yeah. Boot camps. Yeah. And it's like,
::Unknown
you know, you'll see like Army or Air Force boot camp. But with Army in the Air Force and I think the Navy as well, you get to have your phone there, you get to have weekends where you're not, you know, you have time off you maybe not you're not leaving, but like you don't have at the Marine Corps, you write letters like handwritten letters.
::Unknown
I would be interested. I wish I could talk to your mom and find out what it's like,
::Unknown
because I don't. Yeah,
::Unknown
yep. Yeah. And it's it's a it's a wild thing because,
::Unknown
they recruiters try and prepare you for and they try and say, hey, you know, this is what we're going to be doing, This is what you're going through, this is what you're, what's going to happen. You won't have any contact with the outside world, but it's like that's three months of that.
::Unknown
Like I talked to my mom twice over those three months. The only reason I got to do that was my senior director said, he's like, Hey, if anybody gets a perfect PFC, you're perfect. See if these are combat fitness test or a personal fitness test. So that's either a three mile run push ups and crunches or a 180 meter run called the movement to contact and then maneuver under fire, which is like basically an obstacle course with like ammo cans.
::Unknown
And you throw a
::Unknown
grenade at the tennis ball step singer. But you go you do that, and then you have an analyst for the for the CFD. And so those three and it's like if you get a perfect score for your age, you get to 300, 300 as a perfect score. And so like Rambo gets a 300 on their final P50 or the final CFD, I'll give you a phone call from my phone.
::Unknown
that
::Unknown
And that means a lot like that. That's like gold. That's like. So I got, I got a perfect CFT and
::Unknown
oh, I thought I was going to die that day. And every CFC I ran for score after that, I got a perfect CFD and I completely attribute it to my senior instructor because it's like the first one.
::Unknown
If you don't get a perfect one, you're probably not going to after that because it's just like,
::Unknown
You know what you're capable of? Yeah, that was where my brain was like, Okay, now I know I'm capable of getting it
::Unknown
camp were you when you did that. When you got to go home,
::Unknown
you're the first one was like, oh, two months.
::Unknown
And so. So yeah, well, and it was like two phone calls in like a week.
::Unknown
the audience. So some of the audience may not
::Unknown
Bootcamp for the Marine Corps is 13 weeks, or at least for me it was they've changed it. They've managed
::Unknown
with. That's kind of a new thing, right? What is that,
::Unknown
so now? Well, yes, it's it's the crucible.
::Unknown
And on the East Coast and on the West Coast, it's slightly different. It's the same timeframe, the same parameters. It's just different climates and different terrain. So but basically, we spend three days, 72 hours in on the West Coast. It's you're up at Camp Pendleton and you're hiking in the hills for all three days. You get about 6 hours of sleep over there, 72 hours, and you have an MRI for each day.
::Unknown
So that's about: ::Unknown
my kids feet are still messed up
::Unknown
from. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, it's
::Unknown
ridiculous. It's insane. But then on top of all the hiking and everything you're doing, like obstacle courses and so they have like different.
::Unknown
Yeah. Team building stuff. So typically it's, it's Medal of Honor recipients, Navy Cross, which in the Marine Corps in the Navy is just a step down from the Medal of Honor
::Unknown
and what they did. So you kind of try and recreate something similar to what that was in a training environment.
::Unknown
And so that's that's what you're doing. You're doing all these different obstacles and all these different crazy things on top of hiking, on top of no sleep. And then it all culminates with at least on the West Coast, the river And the river is a mountain that you climb that's basically straight up. I mean, it's near. It makes no difference straight up in the air.
::Unknown
And you start at like 3:00 in the morning and you hike out there and you're miserable and you're carrying £80 on your back, you're tired and you're sore and your feet are blisters and you don't want to be here, but you get to the top of the river in your morning. Yeah. And the entire every every moment, everything you've ever been called leading up to this is how you are recruit.
::Unknown
McDonald You had to refer to yourself. I refer to myself in third person, this recruit. I am not. I'm not I. I'm not me. I'm I in this recruit. This recruit like that is for three months. No, no, no. For three months. You call yourself this recruit. You're afraid yourself in the third person. Any time you're talking to somebody that's even remotely higher than you, and then
::Unknown
of a sudden you do the reaper and it's like, okay, congratulations.
::Unknown
And it's the first time your drill instructors recognize you as another human being. And so it's always really impactful for I mean, there's not a dry eye on the top of the mountain and your drill instructor walks up to you and he's got this little eagle in his hands, a little piece of metal, and it's probably worth about $3.
::Unknown
But that's the single most valuable thing I own
::Unknown
by far. Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Because you're drill instructor, the guy who's been torturing you for the last three months and one of the few individuals that you truly hate in this world walks up to you and he goes, Congratulations, Brain. And he shakes your hand and he hands you, This is AJ And you're like,
::Unknown
Holy cow, This is the biggest moment of my life.
::Unknown
And it's it's mind blowing. And then you hike back to the next ten mile hike back. It's horrible. But you know, you know, you know that the chow hall is all yours. So they open it up for like 2 hours for just the guys who have done. They're just coming back from the Crucible. Oh, what some guys did.
::Unknown
But you just sit there and you just eat and you just eat and you just eat.
::Unknown
So did you like boot camp? Was it a good experience for you or was it a love hate
::Unknown
relationship? Oh, yes. And I think everybody kind of has
::Unknown
it's a gradual thing. So it's like initially, you absolutely hate you hate every second.
::Unknown
And then you're like, I do not want to be here. I do not want to be doing this at all. And then transitions into like, okay, this is actually not too bad. And then you have a bad day and you're like, Why am I here? And you're sitting there in your bed at night and everybody else is asleep and you're just like thinking about like, I should actually, I should just.
::Unknown
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. You feel like you're the only person in the world, and then you wake up the next morning and you look. You're right. You're with your life now, like all these guys are also suffering with me. Okay, I think I can do this. And then, you know, you kind of slip stuff out of it. So. Yeah,
::Unknown
together, you
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
and suffering together is really what brings it all together.
::Unknown
because it's one of those things that if you, if you've ever suffered with somebody through a specific encounter environment, whatever it is, you have this sense of family with them in this connection that will never be broken. Like, I mean, I can talk to guys that I haven't talked to in years again, and it'd be like we never we were never a partner.
::Unknown
That's so true. Because, again, even if someone wasn't in the military, there's something they went through. Even through an emotional
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
Yeah, just. Just shy four years. Okay.
::Unknown
And you were in California, Texas,
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
Yes. Yes. I mean, was was 70, 81 as an aircraft rescue and firefighting specialist. So basically our job was to put out fires. Yeah. And if need be, kill people. So
::Unknown
Which is interesting, because that's what you were
::Unknown
talking about.
::Unknown
Yeah. The duality of the
::Unknown
may be trying to
::Unknown
it's it's it's wild. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, when we're training even outside of like and let's go outside of a camp, outside of area, we try and create the single most stressful environment that people have ever encountered in training.
::Unknown
Because once you know how somebody, you know works in a stressful environment, it's like, okay, hey, I know how to train, you know, I know, I know what you need to work for us, what we need to work on with you so that you're ready. If we ever have to do this. Yeah. So it's, it it sucks in the moment.
::Unknown
And when you're when you're the new guy and you're just suffering, you're like, This is the stupidest thing ever. And then you sit back and like, three years later, you're like,
::Unknown
wow, I needed that.
::Unknown
Well, Patrick, this, this Segways well into what we're going to talk about because
::Unknown
convinced that suffering teaches us something in life that enough that nothing else can.
::Unknown
So whether you're suffering through training like you're talking about, but you ended up at another level of suffering in a way, because then you've been in for about four years, you're in Twentynine Palms,
::Unknown
Yes. Tampons. Yep. Yeah. Well, so it was well, we were in Yuma that week. It was. It was I think it was a Friday,
::Unknown
yeah, so we were in. You're in Yuma. We were doing some firefighting training, and we'd done this, like, five or six times. So it was easy breezy going stay the night before, do the training Friday morning, hop in the car, drive back.
::Unknown
Simple. So we're driving back and they're like, okay, cool. Everybody's on leave. Like, Your time is yours. When we get back, get in your cars, go in. You're on the weekend. We're like, Awesome, sweet. So get back at some of my friends. I'm like, Hey, let's go. I'm like, I just need to get out of here. I don't want to be doing anything related to them.
::Unknown
Real world. So we go into Joshua Tree and we're like, basically the first rock that we fucking we go to get on and drive up to it, look at it. We're like, Well, we could climb this from the front side, but there is a section in the middle that we didn't know how we could get past. We're like, Let's see if we can climb on the back and like rappelled down and look at that up close so we can see.
::Unknown
All right. Yeah, I know this isn't flammable. And then we leave. Yeah. So climb around the backside. Get up there. It's pretty easy. Get our anger set in place. And I'm the kind of person where I'm like, I set the anchor, I'm testing it. I'm going first.
::Unknown
That's just the way it is.
::Unknown
you about?
::Unknown
That's 65 feet. So, yeah. Clipping.
::Unknown
Get my
::Unknown
rappelling device on there. And I hop over the wall and I'm putting my weight on the anchor and I'm like, This thing isn't going anywhere. I'm good. So I start to repel, get down a maybe three feet over the side of the wall and, you know, you rope jumps when you're rappelling because it just does. When you put tension on something like that, it's going to shift a little bit.
::Unknown
first few times that
::Unknown
Yeah. So. Oh, yeah, exactly. You're like, okay. And yeah, you're feeling it settle and you're like, okay, we're good. And so I start. Maribel And all of a sudden I'm just falling completely uncontrolled, just falling. And it, it was like
::Unknown
instantaneous so I had enough time to look over my right shoulder and I turned this way and shifted my whole body.
::Unknown
So when I hit the ground, I landed pretty much completely on my right logic, just completely obliterated it. And I went on top of a rock and then
::Unknown
my feet slammed into the ground, my head. So about 60 feet. Yeah. So hit
::Unknown
the initial fall was probably about 45, 45, 50. And then it was the actual tumble down added the hit that yeah, so I hit a rock.
::Unknown
So because it was like the rock went up and so we're on the top of this far so it we hit
::Unknown
at like the very base of this thing. So it's like probably a 45, 50 foot fall and then you tumble. And so I landed on my landing on my butt and hit my head, and that's when I blacked out, tumbled backwards, landed in a pit of gravel on my back, and it came to my best guess is about 5 minutes later,
::Unknown
I can only imagine what my climbing partner was going through in those few minutes.
::Unknown
But and I think. Oh, absolutely. Because she she couldn't see me for one two. She had no idea where I was and she couldn't hear anything like I was making a sound. She's saying, Oh, she thinks she's thinking I'm gone. And so I told my mom and I was in the hospital and I actually don't remember this conversation.
::Unknown
She's told me about it a couple of times, but I have no recollection of it.
::Unknown
she goes, Yeah, you said you basically were like, All right, look, you either take me right now or I'm waking up down there. And it was just a split second thought. Well, it's like, okay, this is either it I'm done, I'm gone, or I'm waking up and there's something else you want me to do here.
::Unknown
And I woke up and so I wake up and I just let out a groan, just trying to get my breath back. Right? I'm completely winded. Who knows how long I've been unconscious. It was just like. And I just a grunt. And she heard it and she came climbing down, ran down. And then I, like Crawl was able to still know how to do this.
::Unknown
I rolled over my right side, which was after a while we found out that that was the hip that was damaged the most. So I rolled over my right side, crawled over to Iraq and pick myself up on top of it, and was kind of putting went to go put my weight on my knees trying to get up.
::Unknown
And I just felt an absolute searing burning pain go all through my right leg. And I was like, Damn. So I thought I thought I had dislocated my hip because, you know, I'm like, I only felt a little bit it wasn't that bad. And, you know, I looked down on my leg and I'm you know, I'm bleeding a little bit, but I'm like, it's not that crazy.
::Unknown
my hip is all sorts. I can just see it's all sort of screwed up. I was like, I probably yeah, Oh, yeah. You can see you're like, you know what your leg looks like when it doesn't look like that. You're like, okay, that's something's wrong here. So
::Unknown
looked at through. I was like, I probably dislocated it.
::Unknown
I could put some weight on my left leg, so I would do that until it hurt and then I'd go back up in my arms. Jamie actually ended up running about a mile to get service on her phone. Call 911, tell them where we were and run back. She had flagged down a couple of motorcycles that were run by and they came over and they were helping me.
::Unknown
And so it was like I would go until my arms were shaking and then they would pick me up. And the way that the guy would pick me up because he didn't know how to pick me up, but he would cut off my brachial artery so my arms would go numb. And I'm like, okay, put me down now.
::Unknown
So when I couldn't feel my arms, I'd go back down on my arms until they start shaking again
::Unknown
and then pick me up. We did that for about 45 minutes or an hour
::Unknown
because you had you hiked into this place.
::Unknown
Well, I mean, it was right off the side of the road. So we were I mean, it was just like for this to happen in terms of a place, best place it could have happened, because she was able to just flag people down.
::Unknown
They could come over and help me. And then she ran to go find service and then came back.
::Unknown
So we're going to continue
::Unknown
yeah. So
::Unknown
um, with what injuries? Yeah. So the way I kind of introduce myself to a lot of people is I go, Hey, I'm Patrick McDonnell.
::Unknown
I fell six feet in a rock climbing accident, broke my pelvis, both my feet, my sternum, a concussion and TBI. And they're like,
::Unknown
What? What did you just say? And I'm like, Hang on. So, yeah, I broke my pelvis. I had spider webs of fractures all through my right, the right side of my pelvis. Pubic services was completely shot.
::Unknown
I don't have initial to porosity, so your sit bone, when you sit down, you feel like the bones in your butt don't have them right side. So I can literally just tilt myself to it. Right.
::Unknown
gone.
::Unknown
It's gone. Doesn't exist. So on the bike. Wild. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get into that. No, it's. It's crazy. Yeah. So I don't have a slip on my right side and then the.
::Unknown
Because of when I twist it. Yeah, it
::Unknown
just. Was that just shattered?
::Unknown
Yeah. Basically turn to dust because that's what. Yeah. The initial impact all on that. Yeah. All the issues you brought. Right. Roadside So hit that
::Unknown
and then I broke both my feet, my right or my left tailbone broke and in half because what happened was I landed on top of the rock and then my head sling slung back and my feet slammed forward.
::Unknown
So my feet slammed into the rock in front of my head. Hit. Yeah, my head hit the rock behind me and I tumbled back, you know, how am I have to die? It was just shattered. And I said, What does it mean? Especially climbing injuries? I said, Yeah. So it was just like,
::Unknown
see why it's almost a miracle your
::Unknown
death. Yeah.
::Unknown
Oh, yeah. So
::Unknown
basically the initial surgeries were like, Put me back together, hold me together. And then we did a couple more. We're I have two screws in my left heel. I've got about eight screws in a plate in my hips holding everything together. But I've got one big one that's about, you know, seven, eight inches long that goes straight through my S.I. joint.
::Unknown
So I have no mobility in my lower spine at all. So if I, like, read you over and touch my toes,
::Unknown
that is all hip mobility. That's not my back at all. It's basically Fuzed. Yeah. So like you're where your sacrum and your spine means you're where your sacrum in your iliac meet is called your S.I. Joint Cigaret Factory.
::Unknown
Mine was broken, right? So my A-side joint in that fusion between the two, the left and right side of my pelvis was broken. And so when they would roll me and they turn me on to my side, I could feel my hips shifting because they had I had some wounds on my backside that they had to check every day and sometimes multiple times a day to clean them out.
::Unknown
So yeah, yeah. So this is like, yeah, so like surgery is just like a week afterward and I'm still in the hospital, I'm in the bed, they're having to roll me on to my side and I can feel my pelvis shifting and I'm like, Hey doc,
::Unknown
I know this is probably not normal. And he's like, Yeah, we're going to look at that.
::Unknown
So we did, you know, MRI's and everything, but they ended up putting in a massive bowl. It's like an inch away from my spine.
::Unknown
when you go through airports, you definitely set off
::Unknown
Well, yeah. So yeah, I flew out to Denver like last weekend and
::Unknown
I go through the big scanner thing and they're like, I was like, yeah, I know I have metal in my hips and they're like, like you.
::Unknown
I was like, No, I don't. You can pat me down. He's like, I was like, Just get it over with. He's like, okay. And yeah. Oh, it's so I avoid flying now. I just try. If I can avoid it, I do and I'll just drive. Can't
::Unknown
imagine what they look at the screen
::Unknown
like it's just like a super dense piece of metal on my hips and they're like, this guy have like a gun on him or something.
::Unknown
And they're like, Shit. I'm like, Guys, I can show you the X rays. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now,
::Unknown
okay, so this injury happens
::Unknown
and they're
::Unknown
Yeah. So we just sat there. We, I literally just sat like five feet away from where I landed for the better part of 45 minutes.
::Unknown
you in a lot of pain.
::Unknown
Oh, absolutely. But it was just like I was in the beginning stages of shock, so I couldn't really feel the pain in my hips as much. My head was obviously pounding, but like, I just didn't really know what was going on. I was like, okay, you know, your body just goes in survival mode. So I was like, okay, I just going to hold myself up until I can and have somebody pick me up until they can't.
::Unknown
And then they'll put me back down and we keep going. And ambulance showed up and there was a new guy on the rig and I'm sitting there and I've been holding myself up on my arms for, you know, an hour. And so my veins are just blowing off right now. And he's like, Yeah, I want to get your BP reading and get you get an I.V. on you.
::Unknown
And I was like, That's not going to happen, dog. I was like, Let's get me on a board first. Let's get me out of here first. And he's like, Well, no, I need to get to BP. And I was like, okay. And he's like, trying to figure out how to get this BP cap on me. And he's looking at my veins.
::Unknown
And then one of the more senior guys in the rig walks around the corner and he's like, Why is this guy not on a board yet? Like, what are we doing here? And yeah, then you guys showed up and the guy's like, What are we doing to get get him off of his arms? Like, you can't get a BP reading.
::Unknown
He's flexing his muscle and they're like, Oh, okay. So they lay me down. They'd put me on a half boards. I don't know if you know what that is, but basically it's supposed to be half your body because I couldn't accelerate like at all. I tried to like they put me down on the board, like, okay, we're going to flip you over.
::Unknown
I was like, That's not going to work, guys. They're like, What do you mean, it's not gonna work? I was like, I can't move my right leg.
::Unknown
Like, it's it was stuck at 90 degrees. I tried to. It was so painful. Yeah. Yes, it was bent at 90 degrees and it was so painful to try and move it that it.
::Unknown
I couldn't open your hip. Well, yeah, because all the muscle attachments and everything was screwed. Yeah. So I couldn't move my leg.
::Unknown
And so I'm sitting there on this backboard, they, like, cut my pants off, cut my shirt off, cut my harness off, cut everything off of me. And like my both my feet are just ballooned up. So they're like trying to see if there's any way they can save my shoes.
::Unknown
I got my shoes. Them like, I don't care about it. Just get them off. So cut everything off. I mean, I'm laying there half naked on this backboard. My head's like this and my right leg sticking up in the air. And this junior paramedic walks up again and he goes, Hey, man, I need to put you in a car.
::Unknown
And I'm like,
::Unknown
See that? That's your cervical spine. It's twisted. I'm like, That's going to do nothing but put my nose in this board. And he's like, I'm sorry. I got to do it. And I was like, All right, go for it. So I like, pick my head up and they like, put the C collar on me and I put my face back down and the head paramedic who's, you know, working on something else turns back around and he just laughs.
::Unknown
He's like, Get that thing off of him. I was like, Thank you. Yeah. And take it off and print my head. And he's like, He's been holding himself up, turning like, if he had a neck injury, we'd know about it by now. And putting a C color on him now is not going to do anything. Just make him uncomfortable.
::Unknown
Yeah. And so they drove me about 5 minutes down the road and the helicopter came and landed.
::Unknown
And the last thing that I remember is hearing the flight medic come over and they're like, They're talking to John.
::Unknown
And he's like, Yeah, we're just going to just went with ketamine and delivered. And I'm not slicing, right? Because then they injected me and I was out. I was on cloud nine. I was I was not here. And
::Unknown
then we landed. I have a very, very, very brief memory of landing at the hospital and back on my back.
::Unknown
I don't know how I got there. And the flight medic looks over me. He's like, You're going to be okay. I'm like, Hmm, Yeah. And then I wake up like a day and a half later in the ICU
::Unknown
Yeah,
::Unknown
Yep.
::Unknown
So
::Unknown
I was in the hospital for, like, inpatient for like six weeks.
::Unknown
And then I was in a wheelchair for three months and then started to relearn how to walk. And that was all outpatient on hospital grounds. And then once I really learned how to walk, they're to like, okay, we're going to send you up north to Camp Pendleton to worry about dying. You're going to spend your time over there doing recovery.
::Unknown
And I was there for like two weeks, met a couple people that I knew, and I know one of my buddies, they had you know, they have all the adaptive sports programs. And he comes to my room, he bangs on my door. It's like 9:00 in the morning. And I'm like, I don't want to do anything today. He's like, You're coming out of like, right now.
::Unknown
Like,
::Unknown
I don't want to go like, I can't sit on a bike. I don't have a sitting on my right side. There's no chance you
::Unknown
have a background with biking
::Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. So mountain biking when I was a kid, but nothing crazy. I mean, it was like I'd never gotten on a road bike. I'd always been, like, that just seems crazy right now.
::Unknown
But yeah, like, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Let's
::Unknown
go out on a bike ride and
::Unknown
Mm hmm. I don't have. Yeah, it like, I don't have a I don't have a zipper, so I don't have a super right that I can't sit on a bike seat. Even if I could, it'd be so incredibly painful that I'm like, this would not be worth it.
::Unknown
You're hit to hit him. And he's like, No, no, there's. There's a way we can get you on a bike. Like, let's just go try it. If if you spend 10 minutes on you hate it, then we're done. And I was like, okay, whatever.
::Unknown
So I go out there with them and they put me in a recumbent bike.
::Unknown
So it's basically a trike where you're laying down. And I felt like I was in a fighter jet, Oh, is the greatest thing I've ever done in my entire life. And I was like, This is awesome. When can we do this again? And Brad, who's this cycling coach when he where he goes, Well, we went in and I ride every day at nine and then we do another ride at noon and I was like, okay, well, I won't take you guys to ride at nine, but I'll come at noon.
::Unknown
And so every day from then on, start right at noon, all the Marine Corps trials was a thing that was going on there. And so
::Unknown
we started having fun and Brad's like, Hey, you want to do the trials? Like it's all the talk about that one where when trials are about to come up
::Unknown
and we're like, trial. It just suits the Marine Corps trials.
::Unknown
It's for Warrior games.
::Unknown
basically. But it's just a competition. It's supposed to be fun. And then based off the results of that, they select the team for Warrior Games. And so I, you know, I was like, Yes, sure, I'll do it. And they're like, okay, well, you know, they like to have people do a couple of different sports.
::Unknown
So if you can figure something out, go it. And I'd been doing archery for a little bit while I was there just was like a it was a great mental health thing for me because it forced me to slow everything down. And cycling is fast. You're not going slow. Even if you are going slow and you're thinking about a lot of different things and you're always where it was.
::Unknown
And so it's like a very stressful type of environment. And so I did archery where I was like, okay, I really have to like center myself and focus and thinking. And it made a huge difference in my mental recovery because it just let me and forced me. So everything down, guys? Mm hmm. Yeah. So my brain was mush.
::Unknown
Yeah. Especially those for six months. And so
::Unknown
having cycling and having archery and having all these sports in the background were just phenomenal. And then on top of physiotherapy and, and speech therapy and all that
::Unknown
lot. Did it helping with other wounded warriors.
::Unknown
Absolutely.
::Unknown
Yeah. So
::Unknown
my buddy, one of my best friends now I was named Quint number was on Georgia. He's actually going to become a police officer and he was in a motorcycle accident. He was racing completely aboveboard. Marine Corps all knew about it. It was great. He'd done it before and never had an issue ring on his oilfield.
::Unknown
They're just not sure what exactly happened. But it failed. Started spewing oil all over his back tire. He decided and broke his back. So he's got two metal rods going up and down his spine. And so he was there are injuries or accidents were actually within a week of each other
::Unknown
and never met. We never interacted with each other, but
::Unknown
injuries happened within a week of each other.
::Unknown
And so then all of a sudden he'd been Wounded Warrior a little bit before I had Camp Pendleton. So I got there and we were in the same squad, that same squad leader at the same section leader and okay, cool.
::Unknown
you know, you just kind of get to know those guys a little bit more.
::Unknown
we were talking about
::Unknown
Exactly. And Yeah, yeah.
::Unknown
And will you meet somebody and it's like when you go to in your unit, you just kind of like, you know, like, okay, well hey, like, I'm not going to be antisocial because all these guys are here and they hate it too. So like, why not? Let's, let's just get to know each other. So
::Unknown
he was like, Yeah, cool.
::Unknown
And I'm like, I want to like and get pressure me, keep pressuring me. And I was like, No, no. And then the one day he just you're coming on a bike ride today and there's nothing you can say that's going to stop me. And it's like,
::Unknown
fine. And I fell in love it and
::Unknown
compete in the games? Did you compete with both archery and biking
::Unknown
and swimming?
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
I did. Yeah. A
::Unknown
Yeah, that was that was all like last second. Like we didn't know that was happening. Tell
::Unknown
the audience, you need to go Google the Invictus Games and
::Unknown
Yeah, No, please do. Please do. Because
::Unknown
Invictus is amazing.
::Unknown
Because the year before that: ::Unknown
So March of 21, I had gotten on a bike for the first time earlier in March, like two weeks before trials.
::Unknown
so
::Unknown
so I'm six I'm six months out of breaking my pelvis, both my feet having a concussion, TBI I've just re learned how to walk in the last month and a half and I'm getting on a bicycle.
::Unknown
Then two weeks later I'm in a bike race
::Unknown
at Wounded Warrior Battalion. Crazy. Oh, and I'm in. I'm in a I'm in a trike. So I've never done this before. Like, this is not remotely comfortable for me. I'm like, I don't know how I'm doing this all. And so then,
::Unknown
get done with trials and Brad comes up, he's like, okay, we're going to try an upright bike for you today because if you get selected for war, you're games.
::Unknown
I want you an upright bike because you're gonna be so much faster and you could you can win this thing. I was like, okay. So we tried it and it worked out. We didn't neither want to. We're like, This is going to be like, we're going to back weeks trying to figure out how I'm gonna be able to on this bike.
::Unknown
And it just
::Unknown
worked immediately. It was just like, Oh yeah, this is fine. Before
::Unknown
we go on, though, you got to tell me, does it is it, is it pretty weird, like we were talking
::Unknown
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so like, a bike saddle is not it's not a significant thing. I mean, you're basically sitting on a massive on a very small V, right.
::Unknown
And what's supposed to hold you up is your to sit Bones. Yeah.
::Unknown
Well I don't have one of those. All right. So, so when I sit down, regardless of where I'm sitting, my hips shift a little bit to the right. So I have to either overcorrect that with my back or overcorrect it with my core, which ended up helping me a lot because all of a sudden now I'm sitting on this bike seat and I already have the core strength that most people don't have
::Unknown
because every day of my life I'm having to overcorrect with my core, oh, for the last six months.
::Unknown
So we get on the upright bike and it just works
::Unknown
here your games at the end of: ::Unknown
They didn't tell us, you know, resistance, anything. I'm like, okay, so we're just going to put the resistance zero and you're basically riding this race downhill.
::Unknown
So my average speed was about 42 miles an hour, and I just I mean, we got me spinning up and Brad's looking at me. He's like, Dude, you're going to finish is way too fast.
::Unknown
I was like, Yeah, I really don't care. And so
::Unknown
we get going on the race and I'm cranking absolutely crank at my speed on my little computer in front of me is saying like 45 miles an hour, 48 And I'm like trying to hit 50 and I look down and I'm like, Oh, I'm like quarter of a mile away from being done in 7 minutes.
::Unknown
It like, this is supposed to take like 15, 20 minutes at least 7 minutes. And I'm like, okay. And I look at Brad and he looks at my computer and he goes, Well, push. And I was like, okay, crank it up. Another gear, Keep pushing, finish and write my time down. I think I finished in like 7 minutes and 38 seconds.
::Unknown
think it was like a 15 or 18 mile race finished in like 7 minutes. Yeah. And they're like,
::Unknown
What? What? And everybody was shocked. And there was another guy who is like more Abel than I was who was writing just next to me. And it took him seven more minutes to finish and it was like
::Unknown
and, I'm just saying with that math and like, that didn't work out.
::Unknown
Um,
::Unknown
we get done. And one of the athletic trainers that was there pours like water bottles over my head trying to cool me down because we're outside in California in August.
::Unknown
Yeah, it's hot.
::Unknown
it's not a cool place to be.
::Unknown
And so they're dumping water over everybody's heads and we're done. And,
::Unknown
we kind of stopped writing after that because we're like, games is done. We'd been training for games. We wanted to go win medals and they didn't get any medals for the original challenge. We're like, This is really stupid. And then come January, I get a phone call from our one of the guys who works at Battalion who's an amputee, and he goes, Hey, you know, Invictus is right.
::Unknown
Like, Yeah, he's like, Well, there's nobody on the roster. You want to go.
::Unknown
Yeah, think about it. I was like, Yeah. He's like, Okay. I was like, when I was like, What is the next? He's like, It's in April. So I'm like, So I have three months to just like, flip it. Yeah, it's like I flip it all back around because I haven't been riding for the last three.
::Unknown
And so I was like, Well, crap, let's go. And so I go talking about him like, Hey, I'm going to Invictus, we got to start now. And so we just jump right back onto the bike. I started going crazy. Invictus was an absolute not. It was in The Hague. Yeah. So it moves around this upcoming year. This year it's going to be in Dusseldorf, so I'll be there.
::Unknown
I'll just friends and family, so I'll be cheering everybody on. Yeah, yeah. So
::Unknown
Invictus Games. So I wrote down. I looked it up. Invictus actually means unconquered and I love their little
::Unknown
Yes. Yeah so I am Invictus
::Unknown
Yeah. So Invictus is actually the name of a poem. I don't remember the name. The guy who made the poem.
::Unknown
but in the poem it says, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. And I may be flipping those too, but it's along those lines. And basically that's kind of the whole mindset about Invictus.
::Unknown
Unconquered is the exact same. And so there's actually teams at Invictus for that, especially for the team sports that are team unconquered. And so it's specifically for countries who that are taking part that are not able to field a whole team for whatever that sport is so rugby, volleyball or basketball and there's an unconquered team and for some sports there's three unconquered teams.
::Unknown
For some sports there's none. And so you take part in Team Unconquered and they pull people from all the other countries who are just
::Unknown
extra athletes who want to play the sport, maybe didn't get selected for their team and you get to play. Yeah, they're playing and you're playing with people from six other countries. It's so cool. And and they call it Team Unconquered.
::Unknown
And one of my buddies was able to be on the unconquered team for Ukraine for volleyball and rugby. Wow. So that was really cool. It was really cool.
::Unknown
Patrick, take us back, though, to your end.
::Unknown
What was the lowest point for
::Unknown
you? There was a couple,
::Unknown
Yeah. I'm
::Unknown
Yes. Yes. So it was
::Unknown
kind of all over the place.
::Unknown
use this is peak to August of: ::Unknown
The guys that are literally sitting outside in the parking lot can't come inside. The building is
::Unknown
just sitting in there all alone
::Unknown
sitting there all alone. All I have is the nurses. I'm in ridiculous pain and they're super busy.
::Unknown
And so it's like every once in a while somebody is coming in to check on me, so I'm just miserable and
::Unknown
my life right now?
::Unknown
this is like three days. Oh, so. So for first the first week, first week and a half after I fell, I had no visitors. I had. I didn't. So I didn't eat all by myself. I had I didn't eat for a week.
::Unknown
I drank water. I had drugs. That was it. It was absolutely insane. And then I was waiting for surgery. Part of that was I was waiting for surgery for three days because I had a hematoma, which is basically a massive pool of blood inside my abdomen that was the size of my stomach and my liver combined. So big pool of blood about that big just sitting inside of my body.
::Unknown
And they were like, we cannot operate with that there because we don't know what one what's causing it if it's still bleeding and if it is, you could just bleed out and it's like we'd rather have you bleeding internally and we can actually try and figure out what that problem is because you're not dying in.
::Unknown
like you're close, but you're not there.
::Unknown
I was like, Thanks, doc. Like what? Yeah. And so then eventually they're like, Hey, bleeding is slow down
::Unknown
It's not critical. We can go in and operate. So they went in and they put the bolts in my hip. I put like three or four in my right hip and they put a plate. I'm a pubic sepsis and like four screws in there to hold that together.
::Unknown
And that was the initial surgery. And I was three days after the fall. And so I was just sitting there
::Unknown
with nothing for three days and they were turning, like I said earlier, they were turning me like two or three times a day to clean the wound that I had. So some oh, some of the most miserable moments in my life
::Unknown
And so then once they did the initial surgery, I got a little bit better once I was stable at that point, a few days after that, they transferred me by blow up and the the darkest day for me and my mom will say the same thing. So she flew out and met me in Balboa. So she got there later the same day that I did.
::Unknown
They there's an ambulance that was coming to pick me up. I was supposed to get flown from Palm Springs to San Diego. Basically, the government was like, No, we're not going to pay for that because it's unnecessary. He's already had a life flight. Like he doesn't need that again. He can take an ambulance. But because it was so last second that they said that they didn't get an ambulance with a medic on it.
::Unknown
So if you don't have an ambulance with a paramedic on it, they can administer drugs. So I had a four and a half hour ambulance ride at midnight in California from Palm Springs to San Diego with no medication at all. Not not like, oh, they can slip me some aspirin or they can send me nothing.
::Unknown
So they gave me Dilaudid when I left and they gave me a lot of it when got there.
::Unknown
But I had nothing for four and a half hours.
::Unknown
the last hour was hell on earth. Complete hell on Earth.
::Unknown
So we get in to Balboa at about 330 in the morning and they take me in there doing like intake stuff with me, getting me all set up till about 430.
::Unknown
I go to sleep an hour and a half later. First doctor walks in my room, start asking me questions and start doing his front four normal rounds of the day at 6:00 in the morning. I've had like an hour and a half asleep after the single worst night of my life. You know, I don't want to do this.
::Unknown
I really don't want to do. I don't want to. I don't. And to like. Okay, well, go ahead. Go. Actually, we'll come back And all of it was like, sweet. Immediately gone. Yeah. And so we come back 45 minutes later
::Unknown
same thing like guys on Really? Are we doing this? Yeah. When it's even worse and mother because what happens is all the underlings come in and talk to you beforehand.
::Unknown
Exactly. Exactly. So they want to have all the information so that they can then brief their their chief on what it's like. So I have six people come in and talk to me before 8 a.m.,
::Unknown
and then all of them come back in like 830. And I'm like, I can't we just done this now and let me sleep.
::Unknown
And the surgeon was like, Yeah, why didn't you guys? And they're like, Well, this is how we all know. Like, didn't you look at his chart and see that he got in at 430 in the frickin morning? And so they were not happy. The corpsman were not happy. It was just it was a whole thing.
::Unknown
is when
::Unknown
yeah, so my mom doesn't get into it that afternoon.
::Unknown
So
::Unknown
that whole day was tests. So it was MRI, it was X-ray CT scans, It was every test you can imagine basically was the first time I was at a military hospital. So they wanted to get everything from top to bottom. They wanted it all documented out. So I did something like 65, 70 X-rays that day. They did two MRI's and a CT scan
::Unknown
And they and what? Yeah, I mean, it's just it's just a mental drain because, I mean, I'm just.
::Unknown
pale, I'm exhausted, I'm drained, I've got no life left in me.
::Unknown
And this was
::Unknown
the first time your mom sees
::Unknown
Yeah. Girl. Back into the room. My mom's right there
::Unknown
as far as I'm any of my family members ever have seen me since. And she's like, I thought you were dead.
::Unknown
She's like, I thought you were dead. I can only imagine. Yeah. Yeah. So we actually call that day how holiday? Because it was,
::Unknown
mentally, emotionally, physically draining in every way possible.
::Unknown
Well, you're doing something pretty. So you've been in the Invictus Games and then you and your brother doing something pretty
::Unknown
cool. Yes.
::Unknown
l be like, no, it's it's it's: ::Unknown
Yeah, Yeah, a lot. But we're it's all part of a documentary that we're making about me and my story, and we're
::Unknown
basically trying to focus on the recovery aspect of it. And then from there really dive into like the mental health piece and how I mean, it happened for me, you know, it's like my darkest day was that holiday.
::Unknown
My darkest moments were the times when I put a gun to my head and I was like, I'm done with this. I am done with this. I am done with this. Yeah. Oh, multiple times more time. So that's actually why I have this tattoo and that's why I have this tattoo because
::Unknown
this, the ace of spades was a huge thing for me in my recovery, in my mental health side of things, because I went to mental health and like, hey, you sound like you would benefit from having, like a physical reminder, something with you, whether it's with you every day, you'd see it in the morning, whatever, where you can remind yourself, I am the
::Unknown
most important person in my life right now, and that needs to be constant. Yeah. And so what I did is I'm pretty much always I'm wearing a hat. So I got any speech, which is the highest card in a deck of cards, and I put it in my hat
::Unknown
and and that and I would I would take my hat off and I'd fix my hair and I'd look at it and I'd put my hat back on.
::Unknown
And it was just a super mundane act that nobody ever noticed, nobody ever thought of.
::Unknown
But it was just something that I could do if I was ever in a bad mental place, even remotely starting to downhill. I just look at my hat
::Unknown
you know, it was amazing.
::Unknown
Oh, Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So,
::Unknown
So you guys part of your story, then, is to tell that
::Unknown
people understand. It's
::Unknown
It's always there.
::Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. So, So the film is
::Unknown
PM the film dot com Collins actually publishing the website today as we're recording this so it's P in the film dot com.
::Unknown
No and spaces
::Unknown
pm the
::Unknown
the film dot com. It's the website and then the Instagram.
::Unknown
are you sure this isn't about me?
::Unknown
I'm we're going to find out we may I may just use you for some like professional photos you know I wish I was that dog like it's okay it's Photoshop he's he's done for a reason right
::Unknown
we have an Instagram that is PM it's the handle is at PM dot PR J
::Unknown
and that's the PM project and then
::Unknown
yeah and from there you can find like yeah, yeah, you can find my Instagram, you can find Caroline's Instagram.
::Unknown
From there you can find all of those. But those are the two big ones for the project
::Unknown
able to like actually follow your progress
::Unknown
Yeah. So we'll be posting updates
::Unknown
Yeah, well, yes, it be a little bit so we won't be getting dates until middle of June like June 14th or so. Yeah. So. Hmm.
::Unknown
to be starting there
::Unknown
Yeah. Yep. So we'll be writing in
::Unknown
actually, when people are hearing this. Will be writing in Calgary. In Colorado.
::Unknown
will be. I'll be training and I'll be doing Vail Pass. I'll be right in and out of there. Yeah. To get ready. So but yeah, it's, it's going to be a lot fun
::Unknown
to you. And
::Unknown
this story needs to be told for sure because like you said, you have an understanding of some of this stuff that no one else can.
::Unknown
you tell
::Unknown
Yeah,
::Unknown
The mental health part of it is really something we're trying to focus on because there's like I said earlier with, you know, Tennessee has the they have doubled the veteran suicide rate of anywhere else.
::Unknown
Yeah. It's I don't know. Yeah, they have they have the highest or highest veteran suicide rate in the country and it's double the national average. It's it's insane. And so suicide is a huge thing.
::Unknown
to me to think that the people went into the service
::Unknown
something
::Unknown
It does. It does. Yeah. So
::Unknown
I know the governor of Tennessee is really trying to focus on that.
::Unknown
The VA in Tennessee trying to focus on that. I know one of the guys who's trying to work into that program and trying to work through it. But I mean, suicide is just it's a taboo thing. Nobody wants. Stockwell Nobody wants to sit down and have the tough conversation say, yeah, I was at that point. I was at that point a couple of times when I was ready to just end it all right.
::Unknown
Then in there and there was I mean, there were times I'd be driving down the highway and there was so much going the other way. I'd be like, I could just
::Unknown
mind.
::Unknown
every time, every time. And and it's a constant thing. And once it's there, it doesn't leave. You just get better at handling.
::Unknown
And so it's one of those things where you really have to focus on how am I going to work through this and work past this every single day in my life?
::Unknown
WAS So you're saying that, that you haven't like,
::Unknown
Oh, it's never left me. The idea, the thought,
::Unknown
the thoughts, the thought is still there every day,
::Unknown
and it's never in the moment when you think, you know, it's like it's never, you know, something. You hear some sad news or it's just like you feel like you're having a good day and then all of a sudden it's like you see something, you hear something, some noise or something just triggers something in your brain and you're like,
::Unknown
What happened?
::Unknown
Patrick, what they're finding right, is
::Unknown
you know, certainly it's multifaceted
::Unknown
Yes.
::Unknown
injury. Some
::Unknown
Yeah,
::Unknown
yeah.
::Unknown
battle that they're having. It is.
::Unknown
So I can
::Unknown
appreciate that you're doing this. We are definitely going to be following you
::Unknown
and yeah,
::Unknown
story.
::Unknown
Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.
::Unknown
Yes. Yes. We
::Unknown
so. Okay, so I've got the shot in the back of the head. I met Prince Harry and
::Unknown
I have no feeling in the bottom half of my right like
::Unknown
no, no feeling the bottom of your. That's true.
::Unknown
That's true. It's actually both legs. So from my knee down, I have dead spaces in my entire left leg where it's like a bug. Oh, yeah. Somebody could, like, poke me in my leg, and I wouldn't. I wouldn't feel it. It's the weirdest thing because sometimes I'll get a feeling and it'll feel like there's, like, a bug on my leg where just time.
::Unknown
Whatever happened, it was negative five. I was skiing in Colorado like six months ago, and I felt I thought I felt mosquito on my leg. I was like,
::Unknown
That's not possible. That's just not possible. Just phantom. Yeah. And yes, but it's both legs. My right leg is a little bit worse. So that's
::Unknown
true. So then I'm between to you was shot in the back of the head or you
::Unknown
Prince Harry.
::Unknown
So yes, yes and no. I've seen him. I never actually met him. So is that the lie? Yeah. You set me up. Yeah. Yeah. So I've. I have met him. Met him? Yeah, I've seen him from, like, this far away. Like he's ten feet away from me.
::Unknown
I was like, Oh, that's cool. But I never met him. Yeah. So in boot camp,
::Unknown
actually it wasn't in boot camp was just afterwards. You do maneuvers under fire and basically it's at night and you're you're firing and you're shoot, moving and communicating all the same time with guys. And everybody's got an active rifle. So I run up and I get down and I start shooting.
::Unknown
Or the guy that was behind me to my right got up, didn't have his finger off of his trigger. And it came. That grazed the top of my helmet, shot me, hit me in the back of the head and went flying off.
::Unknown
So I legitimately got shot in the back of the head. Patrick,
::Unknown
have a lot of things that you can say this has happened to me and it probably never happened to you. Like, I
::Unknown
Yeah, Yeah, I know. Mm. Well, that's the thing is, like I was telling you before, I was like, I've got a couple of them, but it's like, I don't know which, ones to use. Yeah. So no, it grazed the bullet, hit my helmet and just grace off. He didn't hit me square on.
::Unknown
So I got really, really lucky. And yeah, he got a spark and kick to the chest and we never saw that kid again. Yeah. So,
::Unknown
hey. Well, thank you so much, Patrick, and good luck to you. This next month, we're gonna be cheering you on
::Unknown
Thank you.
::Unknown
again. Yeah. Thank you.
::Unknown
Yeah.
::Unknown
What an amazing journey that Patrick has had.
::Unknown
And it's a reminder to me that every person we lay our eyes on, we really have no idea the struggles that they're facing or the struggles they've gone through.
::Unknown
so if anyone you know, or maybe you even are struggling with some stuff we would
::Unknown
love if you would reach out to us, you can leave your comments below, or especially email us at info at no gray areas dot com
::Unknown
and remember to like follow and subscribe.
