The Crackin' Backs Podcast

Don’t ever let someone count you out- with Aaron Baker

• Dr. Terry Weyman and Dr. Spencer Baron

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In 1999, a motocross accident resulted in a tragedy that would forever change the life of one individual.

The diagnosis? A broken neck, leaving Aaron Baker paralyzed with seemingly no hope. Fast forward to the present, and against every odd stacked against him, Aaron isn't just standing, he's traversing across continents and scorching deserts.

Welcome, listeners, to the Crackin Backs podcast. Today, we journey into the extraordinary story of resilience, defiance, and unwavering determination.

Witness the difference between 'probability' and 'possibility'. Dive deep into the overwhelming surge of emotions when faced with the harsh reality of spinal cord injuries, and more importantly, learn about the light at the end of the tunnel.

With staggering numbers of individuals dealing with spinal cord injuries, yet limited facilities, what's the next step? As a leading figure for WINGS FOR LIFE, Aaron's mission transcends his personal journey, reaching out to millions.

In his book 'The Rebellious Recovery', Aaron penned, 'My Achievements do little to contribute to the world unless they illustrate something fundamental about me and about you. May my history inspire and provoke you to think of your own story as an adventure.'

In this episode, Aaron Baker will do just that - inspire, provoke and share.

We are two sports chiropractors, seeking knowledge from some of the best resources in the world of health. From our perspective, health is more than just “Crackin Backs” but a deep dive into physical, mental, and nutritional well-being philosophies.

Join us as we talk to some of the greatest minds and discover some of the most incredible gems you can use to maintain a higher level of health. Crackin Backs Podcast

Dr. Spencer Baron:

In 1999, a motorcross twist of fate saw Aaron Baker shattering his neck and facing a life of complete paralysis. But what if I told you that the very man who was pinned into a hospital bed not only rose to stand again, but also bicycled across the United States twice, and to fold steps across the unforgiving terrain of Death Valley? Welcome to the cracking backs podcast where today we unravel a story of sheer will, unyielding spirit, and an unparalleled resilience of a man who defines impossible on his own terms. Aaron Baker, a symbol of human perseverance is with us today. prepared to be inspired.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

All right, the title of this show of cracking backs is don't ever let someone count you out. And in 1999, our guest, Mr. Aaron Baker, broke his neck and another cross accident leaving him completely paralyzed. Yet, despite all odds are he defied both medical sociological expectations and changed his destiny. And years later, he stood up out of his chair. So please tell us your story. Because we have not, we have heard you not only rode a bike across the United States twice, but you also walked across Death Valley, and you're not supposed to be able to feed yourself. So tell us a story, bud.

Unknown:

Well, first, thank you both Dr. Terry, Dr. Spencer, for having me on the cracking backs podcast, I appreciate the time and the opportunity to share with your audience. So yes, thank you, um, shoot, man. That's a loaded question. That's my, this is two and a half decades of, of a new life. As you mentioned, I did race motorcycles. When I was young, I loved that chapter of my life for what I learned from the motorcycle, the discipline, the managing of fear, ever changing conditions, I learned responsibility. And I apply a lot of the things that I learned from the motorcycle in those days racing to my life today. Both in rebuilding from paralysis and as a father and as a professional. So I'm grateful for the motorcycle and I say it often, but I would not change a thing, Terry, you know, I had an accident. Many do. And I am grateful for the adversity that I face. Because it sharpens me. It activates my potential. And it forces me to live mindfully, gratefully with reverence. And so, although I'm challenged every day, you know, if I circle all the way back, you said it, I was paralyzed from the chin down. Doctors gave me a one in a million chance of ever been able to feed myself, I was going to be completely dependent on doctors and nurses and family members and even friends for all of my needs. And that was true for a long, long time. For for the first few years, I I had to be fed, I had to be bathed, I had to be dressed. If I was going somewhere, somebody was picking me up and put it taking me out of bed and putting me in a chair or picking me out of a chair and putting me in a car. I was I was literally an infant, a baby at 20 years old. And that that, as you can imagine, weighs heavy on a person's psyche on a person's sense of self. Especially a young, you know, arrogant young man 20 years old, you know, full of full of life and getting a taste of independence. For that to be stripped away it's it's quite difficult. So needless to say, dark times set in I became very depressed naturally. And I feel as though I was very fortunate because I did have tons of love. Tons of support from my mother, my father, my sister, friends in our area, Tara you know many of them. A lot of my friends then are still my friends now. Because they they just love me unconditionally and they were there. But at the time It wasn't enough to pull me out of that dark place. You know, it was just I lost my identity, my, who I was what I was here to do, I felt as though I had become an extreme burden. And I wanted to be able to control something, I wanted to take something into my own hands, although my hands didn't work. And all I could imagine was, was committed suicide. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to live this way. And I, I came very, very close. I drove my electric wheelchair, you know, it's over 200 pound electric wheelchair, I'm strapped to it with seatbelts. And I drove it to the edge of the deep end of a swimming pool. And I thought they're very seriously contemplating my next move and and then, you know, the longer I sat there, and the deeper I stared into the water, the more I recalled the love and the light in my mother's eyes. You know, as she stood over my bedside in the beginning of the, of this journey, you know, in the hospital, she she was always there, she stared into my eyes, my grandmother was there like that love was so deep and so profound that it literally pulled me out of out of my own abyss out of my darkness. And I again, remembered that I have more to do here and to to sit and sulk. And you know, wallow or drown in my own despair. So I pulled the joystick back, I pulled back from the edge of that swimming pool. I turned around, I sobbed I screamed, I yelled at the sky, like holy shit, you know. The movie, Forrest Gump, you know, Lieutenant Dan screaming at the sky. You know, that was that was literally me, in my wheelchair, swerving down the sidewalk, like a drunk, just pissed. But here, I'm here, and I'm ready to do some work. And that decision right then was made to just do work. I mean, it's just hard work. And, and I found a lot of solace. In the work in the rehab process in learning my body, in those infants decimal little twitches and flickers of movement that were massive improvements, huge wins. You know, I lay down at night, satisfied with my effort and life. And I don't know how many of us can say that you're really satisfied at the end of your day with what you put out what you gave of yourself. And I learned that about myself, like my metal, what am I made of? What can I actually do and achieve with my time with my love with my effort. And so that's why I say guys, you know, I wouldn't change it, although it's, it's hard man. I didn't recover from a spinal cord injury, I am actively pursuing recovery, I'm actively trying to, to improve the quality of my life every damn day. And this is 24 years after. And I'll tell you, wow, it doesn't get easier. Aging, as you know, is hard enough now age with with a spinal cord injury. And you got to be a real student of the body. You got to become a master of your mind. And I, I find purpose and real passion in sharing how I do what I do with others like yourselves. So

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Aaron, with that said, you know, I want to make it really super crystal clear to the audience that this isn't just any spinal cord injury. I mean, especially those of us who are involved in caring for athletes and sports, you know, we hear about spinal cord. This is a severe injury you experienced and against the odds are, you are functioning when you weren't supposed to you are functioning in a way that you know, not just physically but emotionally and You know, the road is filled with these potholes and smooth driving and ups and downs. And, you know, you're you're an inspiration. And if they're, you know, whether it's a physical disability or mental disability Doctor cheering I've been interviewing people that have come close to killing themselves and you know, suicide. But what is that part of your journey that keeps keeps you moving forward? Is there something that you say to yourself continuously? That that drives you forward? Because you are, you're just a natural born, from what I've seen, you know, on, on video and in the book and all that you are driven. What is that?

Unknown:

When you said natural born, I just thought about Woody Harrelson and Natural Born Killers. Shit, man. I'm a natural born killer. Killer, right? I mean, I go to war with myself every day, you know, my target moves, my y changes. I mean, now I'm a father. You know, that's a big shift, I have to do this, on behalf of this little girl. You know, if I want her to be a well adjusted, happy, capable woman, I need to be an example. In my adversity is a wonderful platform for me to be able to do that for her. She is going to be able to see the world in a way that I think is, is going to be as beautiful. She sees me struggle, but sees me persevere. And she's already so empathetic. She helps me with neighing she wants to help me get my shoes or, you know, push my wheelchair ride on daddy's lap, or, you know, she's not scared of walking up to somebody else with a disability or some kind of difficulty. And she's right there and lending a hand already. But to answer your question, you know, more specifically. This spinal cord injury gives me the opportunity to cut through the BS of life. And it immediately breaks the ice for conversation on a real level with individuals. It is obvious that I have challenges. So it gives permission, other people permission to share their vulnerabilities, their insecurities, their struggles. And then together, inspiration occurs and it's cyclical. It goes back and forth. They're inspired by me and how I persevere. And at the same time, so much by them. And so that's how we like, you know, feed off of each other and keep moving forward. Churchill said it when you're going through hell just keep going.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Back awesome, either. When you were in my office day, I asked you because I had to keep remind myself especially as a as a chiropractor deal to the spine, I had to keep remind myself that you didn't bruise the spine and you weren't paralyzed from swelling, you were paralyzed because you severed the spinal canal canal. And how did you and you explain to me how you bypassed all that and got your toes wiggling? Again? Can you explain the odds how that happened?

Unknown:

Well, I mean, just to qualify this, we do recognize that all spinal cord injuries are different. Everybody has dramatic, drastically different outcomes, I was very aggressive with the way in which I approached recovery and my thought process in the healing of the body. And so that makes a big difference, because you have to willfully send signals through an interrupted part of the electrochemical cord. Right, like you have to intentionally reroute a signal. And you do that with extremely focused thought. And it started with with a funny little, like, story, my sister came into my hospital room and wanted to paint my toes with nail polish, as a way of kind of cheering me up or, you know, making fun of the fact that I couldn't move but and she was just going to have a go I mean, so she, she ended up painting my toes, rainbow colors, like all the different colors, blue, red, yellow, green. It was, you know, kind of cheeky about it was like, if you can kick me then I'll stop. brother sister relationship. And I was totally pissed. You know, I'm laying there totally effing paralyzed and there she is. Making my toes look like skittles or m&ms thought what was I going to do? So, but what ended up happening was I, I kind of instinctively, instinctively already understood the art, if you will, of visualization because I used it as an athlete, you know, racing motorcycles, closing my eyes and seeing in my mind's eye, perfect technique, perfect lapse, you know, seeing myself winning projecting a positive outcome. And suddenly, I started to apply that same technique to my body in my anatomy. And although I'm, I had no formal reference for human anatomy, I did, I could, I could close my eyes, and I could see my systems, I could see my skeleton, I could see my musculature, I could see the electrified nervous system and how that connected and where an impulse would be sent in, hit a muscle belly and cause a contraction and, you know, make that particular movement happen. So, you know, it all made sense in my mind. So when I started to close my eyes and and think about my toes, I used the color as a tangible target for my mind to focus on and I, instead of just this ambiguous electricity, it was more colorized it was blue, my left leg, red, my right leg, yellow, green. And I started to move the color and swirl it through my spinal cord, and intentionally bring it up into my mind and then back down into my body, reinforcing this, this mind body connection. And I called it focused willed intent. And that's essentially how I began to literally connect my mind to the muscle. And my left Bluto twitched first voluntarily. I built on that built on it over years, I still do it. My toes are painted right now.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

I Aaron, A, you, you say something that is absolutely brilliant that it's, I'm going to quote you on it. It's probability outcomes versus possibility outcomes. And that to me, needs at needs some further explanation I teach. I get a lot of interns and lecture and I teach the interns it's, it's easy to be a great doctor, especially in the sports world, and you got to inspire your patients to get better. How did you come up with this, this realization about where doctors talk about probability? And you describe possibility?

Unknown:

Yes, it's this is something I'm very passionate about speaking to healthcare professionals about is bedside manner about planting seeds of possibility. Because healthcare professionals hold so much power in a person's most vulnerable times. And they can make or break an outcome in a single interaction. And I propose that a person in that position use their knowledge and expertise to state facts and be like, Look, this is your system, this is your injury. Statistically, these are outcomes. If you do not adopt an active healthy lifestyle, if you do not take full responsibility for your nutrition and your activity and your rest and your lifestyle in general, then outcomes are very predictable for you. Bodies degenerate naturally over time. But with your situation, you can expect to have bone D mineralization, osteoporotic outcomes, you can expect your muscles to atrophy, your joints to contract, you can expect to have bowel and bladder complications, blood pressure issues, thermo regulatory complications, autonomic dysreflexia, like there's a long list of shit, that you are going to suffer from literally, and you're going to have to learn how to manage that. But if you do take responsibility, and you really intentionally aggressively adopt a lifestyle, then I have no idea what your outcome is going to be. The possibilities are endless. There are countless stories out there of individuals that are having extraordinary recoveries, high quality of life, and you can too, but it's up to you. I'm here to answer your questions, but I'm not here to project your future.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

You lecture to regular folks. Oh, And or folks that are in the same situation that you were in or are in thought about, ever thought about lecturing to doctors and physical therapists even, you know, or any health care professional because they don't understand that stuff. It's all clinical, very linear. You know,

Unknown:

I'd love to, I'd love to know, I mean, I see myself in the future. And when the doors of, you know, those opportunities open I am, yes, absolutely, I will be there.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

That's great. I think that's really important, because that's not that's not inspiring patients is not taught, you know,

Unknown:

that just, yeah, it's in, there's a fine line there, right? We want to be ethical, we're not giving any kind of false hope. We're staying within our guidelines, but we're also opening the door for them. Because the moment they leave that environment, the world is on their shoulder, it's up to them.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

You know, on that note, I asked you the other day about question, and and, and you gave me permission and and that is the emotion when you walk into somebody, and they're on the and they had the exact same injury as you, you do. And they're being fed by somebody else. And they're, they're laying on the bed, and they're paler, and they have bed sores and and they can't move. And that's the same injury, how do you? What do you say to them? And how, what's your emotions? When you see that person laying there? And you know, they're looking up at you and going, why you and not me? And you're looking at them going, Why me? Not you? How do you handle that?

Unknown:

Oh, okay, that's, it's tough, man. I mean, human suffering is hard, when you're, when you're really open and vulnerable, and you, you can feel them and you're empathetic. And, you know, it's it's a kaleidoscope of emotion in the moment, where, one, your heartbreaks, and then two, you feel with so much gratitude and thankfulness that you do have these abilities or that you are relatively well. And you recognize how far you've come like that contrast is fluctuating in that moment. And all I've been able to do at those times is to just sit with that person. Just sit with them. And not try to smooth it over with a bunch of banter or try to distract them from the reality of that is, but to just be there, meet them right on that level, right there, where they are. And if there are questions asked, then I'm there to feel them and try to, you know, relate, you know, share my own struggles of the shittiest parts of this thing, because that's what they live with. And I know that and I've had that. And I still deal with it. It's not past tense, this is now and and then together, we decide to just carry on. And I'll lean on them, and they'll lean on me and and we'll try to just endure the next moment.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

You know, on that on that know how they have any doctors or scientists figured out why you are recovering the way you are, and others aren't?

Unknown:

Well, I mean, Terry, as we said, so there's a ton of individuals like myself that are even, you know, have experienced, far better outcomes. And, again, that's just the complicated nature of the neurological systems, ability to rewire through plasticity. As we know. People are becoming more more optimistic about recovery. They're pursuing it more aggressively. their lifestyles are active. I mean, everything that we've already talked about, people are living and doing and so there is a thing called neuroplasticity. And if we provide the right opportunities, the right environment, the right mindset, the body will do what it naturally does, which is heal and restore and reconnect and find new ways to thrive. We just have to believe it. We just have to live it. And you know, I attribute a lot of my abilities to that way of being seeing and thinking and doing. I know for certain, as I said that if I did not do these things, then the stats are correct. And I would be a dependent. It would be a completely different world, if at all, because I probably wouldn't be here.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Aaron do these people still ask you? Oh, you're just one in a million?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a fine line, like a tight rope. In the, in the world of spinal cord injury, where guys like myself that are chronic 10 plus years, say, Oh, he's just lucky. He's, you know, one of those anomalies. And I have to, I have to tread very lightly, tactfully, respectfully. And, you know, that's why I choose to be a part of the solution for spinal cord, in the realms of research, with my roles, with Red Bulls, nonprofit Wings for Life, and funding, leading, cutting edge science and research around the globe. And I just, I'm transparent with my own suffering, and be like, Look, guys, we all have our shit. Where we're trying our best to navigate the world, despite our struggles. So I just happen to have this level of injury at this point. And you're at this level, or you're at this level, it doesn't matter. We're all trying our best.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah, when want to later on, we'll ask you more about the Wings for Life. But I am so curious, for you to share this bike ride that you took America and the walking across a desert? You got it, you got to tell the story. You got it?

Unknown:

Well, I mean, the truth is, is that it's, it's so hard for me to just get out of bed and walk down my hallway, to a bathroom or to the dining room or the living room or anywhere. That if it's that hard for me to go 10 feet, then why wouldn't I just go for 10 miles in a place that is, you know, wild and adventurous. And, you know, I get to feel that sense of accomplishment and, you know, break up the monotony of just everyday struggle. Like if I'm going to struggle, then let's struggle and have a damn good time at it. So that's kind of my rationale. With all did

Dr. Spencer Baron:

you did you? Did you ask yourself these crazy ask questions before you got injured?

Unknown:

No, I mean, I was just

Dr. Spencer Baron:

just your behavior. Well, character,

Unknown:

I think, yeah, I mean, my mom is, you know, that's where I get my, my, I guess the fire in my belly is you know, she's a Norwegian American Indian blooded woman. Oh, so she's, she's fiery. She's fierce. My grandmother, man, you want to talk about tough. These women were cut from different cloth. And so I know that that's where some of this Moxie comes from. And I was always pretty wild as a child, adventurous, you know, making my own bungee cords building my own go karts, and I built a wingsuit when I was like, six years old? Of course, he did. Yeah, but I mean, for me, this was all within the realm of my comfort. You know, I was fairly calculated for my level of understanding, you know, wrote my notes and I planned out my, my, my projects and then went and experimented. So

Dr. Spencer Baron:

the bike ride and the and the, that that long stroll you took it, tell tell us a little bit more. Yeah,

Unknown:

I mean, those are just natural progressions of of my recovery process where, you know, it goes from the flicker of movement to the ability to sit on a recumbent bicycle with electrodes helping to fire my muscles and turn the pedals to then turning the pedals over myself autonomously. Feeling that input reconnecting to the muscle to then an upright stationary bicycle to then a tandem bicycle. And a tandem bicycle was not on my radar before an injury. That thing was pretty lame. You wouldn't ever catch me on the back of a tandem. But it was interesting because I could sit on the back of a tendon with my hand strapped to the handlebar. As my feet taped to the pedals, and somebody else could steer it, and I would be able to just sit on the back. And as we were talking about, right, like, you turn neuro pathways into neural highways with repetitive movements, and pedals, you know, over a few hours at a time, that's a shit ton of pedaling, that's a lot of signals. So I'm flooding my body with signals by cycling. And so that was the, that's the thought process, right? Like, sit on the back of a tandem and just go as long and hard as you can. And hopefully, you're forging new pathways. So again, that's how I'm thinking. And we went from five minutes on the bike, because I would literally like fall over my torso wouldn't hold me up. My arms wouldn't hold me up to then be able to do five miles and five miles to 10 miles, 10 miles to you no more. And then I saw an ad on a billboard for the LA Marathon. 26.2 miles. And I thought, okay, there's, there's a target. Let's work towards that. It my mother, and I just kept pedaling. I mean, three, four or five days a week, we would ride the tandem bike with the goal of competing and and completing the LA Marathon. And we did that no, we did the LA Marathon. We did it in 2003. We did it in four, and then again in six. And at that time, I was actually my mother and I were presenting to an audience. And I was on stage and sharing the whole LA Marathon experience. And I thought it if we're riding this tandem bicycle in these marathons for 26 miles, why don't we just write it like Forrest Gump across the country? And, you know, her jaw dropped and the audience went silent. And I basically declared it right then and there then okay, that's what we're gonna do. And lo and behold, June 10 2007, we set off from dog Beach, San Diego, and we traversed 3182 miles across the southern tip of the United States to St. Augustine, Florida.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Well, all right, you should have stayed here.

Unknown:

Hey, that's a great place. We literally we literally rode the tandem right into the sand. Right there. Oh, my gosh, San Marcos something or what is that? Yeah. Anyways, that's. That was the first one. Cool.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

And then the second

Unknown:

one. Well, I mean, as you can imagine, I was pretty tired of riding behind the sweaty darier of a person in front of me. And fortunately, I became strong enough to pedal my own cycle. At that time, I got creative and Ken was able to fabricate a three wheeled bicycle, two wheels in the back and one in the front, which allowed me to sit and stay clipped into the pedals and maintain my balance. And when I realized I could ride that thing, five miles I went. Let's do it again. So I wrote it from San Francisco. I wrote it from San Fran to DC 4200 miles.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

And then, because I asked you, I said what was harder that or walking across the desert, and you'd even hesitate tell us about the desert walk?

Unknown:

Well, I spent the better half of a decade cycling, a lot of cycling and although it was good for me in the beginning, I ended up creating a lot of dysfunction. A lot of muscle imbalance, a lot of chronic holding patterns on a bicycle that are not conducive to activities of daily life. And on the heels of a Paralympic bid, because after I finished the tour, I started racing the tricycle for the United States Paralympic program competitively. I won a national championship and was on the verge of of going to London for the games in 2012. And two days before I was to get on the plane to meet the team there I got a bladder infection. And I went to the hospital and sent my coaches a selfie said Sorry, fellas, I'm not making it. And so my my Olympic dreams ended right there. And it was then that I realized I needed to retire the bicycle and focus on one step at a Time. And it was while I was in a grocery store with my then girlfriend, I was holding on to a shopping cart. And I was walking very slowly through the produce aisle. And I was like, Hey, honey, I'm actually taking some pretty good steps right here. I need to actually keep going, can we do some more laps around the, the stores. And then as I'm walking out of the store, and across the parking lot, a gust of wind hit. And usually without that cart, I would topple over. But that cart was like really secure. And I'm like, Man, I need to just keep going, like, literally keep walking like this as far as I can. And in that moment, I had that, that vision of the sailing stones. Are you guys familiar? What a sailing stone is? It's that iconic photo of like a volcanic rock in the middle of that dry desert. And it looks like it's left a snail trail. And you wonder how that rock has gotten out there? Yeah, and some people think it's alien. Some people think like, anyhow, there is science behind how that rock gets out there. But I saw myself as that rock. And I thought that's where I need to go. I need to go to that lunar landscape and walk. And that happens to be Death Valley, one of the lowest driest hottest places on the planet. It's anyway, so that's where that's where the whole like thing was hatched the idea and I thought, well, I can't steal one of these shopping carts. What how do I get something like this? I literally went on eBay. And I look for baby jogging strollers. You know the kinds you see moms jogging down the street? Three Wheeler. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Terry, that giant mountain bikes makes one with suspension and knobby tires and a front brake and cut their water bottle holders. And it was a it was one right here locally 100 bucks. I went and picked up the the baby jogging stroller. I cut all the baby stuff out of it. And you know, put put bicycle grip tape on the handlebars and fashion my, my solar panel and my umbrella and carried all my own gear was about 100 pounds. And I use that as my life support vehicle or my life support wagon or whatever. My cart. Yeah. And I push that thing. 20 miles across Death Valley.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

How many steps is that?

Unknown:

What was it? I don't know. It's like 27,000, something like that. One of the there was a film made. There's a lot of steps.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah, I think it was more like 70,000 something. I don't know it was.

Unknown:

But I mean, then to get to that point, I had to take a lot more. So that was just the money.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

And people have to understand and not only did you walk across the desert, but you walk self contained. So you fed yourself you went to the bathroom, you had to pull stop, pull out a bed to sleep on and it yo and I asked you I go, what's it like to walk across 20 miles? He said, It's like you going on your hands and trying to walk it do a handstand walk on your hands is is that pretty fair?

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah, that's about as accurate as I could be. For the average person that, you know, is not a gymnast, to try to do a handstand, you know, the amount of strength it takes for one to hold your body weight up. The amount of coordination and balance to coordinate those movements and hold yourself up against gravity and to move through time and space. While in a handstand is about it's as close as you can get to what it feels like for me to think about movement and make my body walk. There's actually look at my hand right here, guys, this is an experiment. If you put your hand on the table and you extend your ring finger and you push down through your hand and you try to lift this finger off the table.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh yeah. Wow.

Unknown:

That's paralysis.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Nice example

Unknown:

shots. Apply that to all four limbs. And that's like the mind.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

That was fantastic. That was huge. Yeah. Very cool. I'm gonna be working on that.

Unknown:

Yeah, try to make that happen.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah, yeah. It's not happening very well. Come on.

Unknown:

Yeah, a lot of self talk. Come on, man. Yeah.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Aaron, how about nutrition? How big a role was that for

Unknown:

you? It's huge. It's fuel in the tank, right? I mean, yeah, you're not gonna put sugar in your car tank. Although, you know, I'm, I'm guilty of, you know, having my cravings and I listened to my body, I think that's the most important thing. You know, if I need sugar, I have natural sugars, if you know proteins and fibers, and it's just balanced. You know, I've followed trends and things in the past that I've explored. diets and fads and it's nothing works quite as well as just being mindfully aware of the quality of food that you're eating. The nutrient timing of your meals is pretty important in my world. You know, when you eat quantity, you eat quality you eat my digestive system functions that maybe 60%. So, you know, I can't just eat and then eliminate that food sits with me longer. And, you know, I deal with bloating, and impaction. And I will gain a lot of nutrients through high impact juicers. So that it assimilates quickly or quick, quickly, enters the bloodstream and gives me what I need. But I just pay attention to those things. I'm not a zealot, but I I know the difference in quality did

Dr. Spencer Baron:

the nutrition you learned or did you learn during motocross? Because that's obviously extremely rigorous. Did any of that apply to walking across death?

Unknown:

Well, the nutrition for Death Valley was specific. And I can go into that if you want. But to answer your question. No. I mean, I was too young and naive. And I didn't have a lot of specific guidance in the realm of nutrition at that time. My mom was a great cook. As a boy, she introduced me to a lot of different culture and food, eclectic foods. But I didn't really understand how I could gain a performance edge with my nutrition at that time.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Earlier, I'm gonna go back a little bit because I'm playing with my finger here and realizing how hard it is to get off the damn table. And, and, and, and when, when, you know, I was thinking about this whole thing and and in the beginning of the injury, or you start a business, or you leave your truck and you start this walk or this. Yeah, let's talk about the walk. The first part is like, euphoric, you've got this and all that kind of stuff. And then he hit that middle section, where your gains aren't as good and reality sets in and, and the loneliness sets in and the struggle sets in. And it's the same thing like in business or anything, but everything. It's not, it doesn't progress as fast you have that shoot. And then now you're in that role. What'd you learn about the desert? It took you six days to go 20 miles? What did it take? Would you learn about that middle section that maybe you had learned from your other struggles? What did the desert we always hear? I'm sorry, for rambling we always hear the desert is a great teacher. What did the desert teach you?

Unknown:

It humbles you. I mean, it really brings you down into the present moment, into the very basics of being alive. And it, it filters out the noise. The you know, as you said, you start off, you're excited. You're all prepped, you feeling good, you're hydrated, you got energy, but then, you know you're really in it. And you're D and there's no way out. And you need to really come down into that moment. And face it with humility, and with reverence and respect the earth and then in the present moment, because if you don't, you're dead. I mean, you will succumb just like the natural order of life. So you need to come in there and pay attention. And every breath, every thought, every morsel of food, every step you take has to have meaning. It has to have movement and momentum. And you just, you begin to mindfully move. With the flow of the earth, and the stars and the wind, and the animals and the plants, and you just merge. It's a wonderful, wonderful place to be.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Did you learn anything in there that you hadn't learned in all your rehab up into that moment that helped you move on to where you are now?

Unknown:

Well, that moment brought me back to a death experience that I had in the hospital. I mean, that was the my death experience is the single most profound moment of my entire life. And being back in the desert at that point, was analogous to the merging that I experienced when I flatlined.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, you really did.

Unknown:

Yeah. Yeah. She's that's, that's the basis for my entire being now is my understanding of this interconnected, true oneness that all religion and philosophy and theology and science it alludes to, but we are we fail to articulate the true essence of what it means. And my experience was I use the analogy of a raindrop falling through the sky. Our life is that raindrop and the moment you land in the ocean, your being your, your sense of matter, your coalesced energy, merges instantaneously with the entire sea, and you are indistinguishable from the whole. And that was my consciousness. The moment my last breath left my body, my heart stopped beating, it was not some light or dark or been or some form. Everything like the final scene in The Matrix, when Neo is standing in the hallway, and Neo, and the walls, and the other beans, and everything, everything was ones and zeros. That means that everything is pure potential and can manifest into any form anytime, for any reason. And that was what I awoke with when I was resuscitated. Shocked back into my paralyzed body. I opened my eyes without understanding. And that's where I was in the desert.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Okay, that just registered on the Goosebumps scale. That was oh, yeah, I remember that. That was

Unknown:

awesome. I it's scary as hell. It's scary as hell until you get there. And when you're there, it's bliss.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah. Gracious. All right. I think I'm pretty fired up right now, as well. I hope you are too, because we are going into one of our favorite parts of our podcast. It's called the rapid fire questions, and we got five of them for you. Cool. So are you ready, Aaron?

Unknown:

I'm always ready.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

All right, my man. So the way this works is I'll ask you a question. You got to give it to me quick and easy and simple and, and brief. But we ended up getting interested in the answers and start talking about it more. So here we go. Question number one. We want to know about your love of writing down trails at Snow Summit, especially when you follow your friend. Josh

Unknown:

the half. Josh, I love Josh Baltimore. He is one of my my rocks in life. That guy is so so trustworthy, so loyal. I mean, I can call it for anything, so I follow him with a smile on my face. I'm eating dirt and rocks. And I can't stop laughing because we we pick up right where we leave off every time. We're a couple of young boys. Just loving it. So yes, I am flying down the trails behind him on my recumbent mountain bike. Trying to hit all the jumps to the best of my ability. So much so that I break my equipment. That was our last time

Dr. Spencer Baron:

wrapping your neck

Unknown:

Well, it's funny there's a video there's actually a video of that where my other friend Luke has the GoPro and I'm laying on the ground. I broke my bike in half and literally snapped and I tumbled and some other riders came up and you hear Luke saying it's okay. It's okay. He's already paralyzed.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Hey, Aaron, do you do for our YouTube video? Do you give me permission to run that video?

Unknown:

Yeah, it's on there. You got to fast forward a couple of minutes to the mid trail, but it's a brutal rackets.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Oh, Josh gave it to me yesterday.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Run it. Alright. Yeah,

Unknown:

I got lucky. I got lucky on that one.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah. Question number two, Aaron. If there would be if they would do a major motion picture about you? Who would you choose to play your role?

Unknown:

Oh, good question. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe, I guess McConaughey or what's his name? Shit, Leonardo.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, that'd be great. Or Neo? Or?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, he's a little he's a little dark. He, he's a little dark. But somebody of my likeness, that that can actually like really embody the contrast of my personality where I can either be, you know, a sage and in a pure meditative spiritual space, or I can be the fucking devil.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

I don't love it, but kind of, hey, what kind of he would do it? All right. Excellent. Question number three. If you if you could go back in time, and ask someone one question, who would you want to meet? And what would that question be?

Unknown:

dang good question. Back in Time I mean, I'm not going back too far, but maybe just to sit with my my great, great grandmother. In the real hard times of, of surviving, you know, like a Dust Bowl era, living with a large family and providing and persevering. sitting, sitting with that woman, you know, around an open fire.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

You've heard stories about her.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, these were hard people were soft these days.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah, yeah. Excellent. Man that I did not expect that answer. And that's a beautiful one. Question number four. What is a book that you love, that you feel that everyone should read? Other than yours?

Unknown:

Well, okay, I love Siddhartha by Hermann, heaths s. But I also love. This book is pretty empowering. And I met this man. Bruce Lipton is called The Biology of Belief. He's a cellular biologist. And he just talks about how we can influence our biology with the way in which we think it's called epigenetics. And we don't have to be predisposed to our genetics, we can actually affect how we turn on and off our genes. And so it's empowering to understand that, so I like that.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Absolutely. Brilliant. Yes. Bruce Lipton, it's fantastic. Hold up your book. Let me see your book. Oh, hold it up for some of our viewers.

Unknown:

I'm proud of that one. It's been a lot of work. Yeah.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

So where are we? Very, very good.

Unknown:

I wrote this, really just for my daughter, you know, like to share this, this and hopefully others glean it, some valuable things out of it, but also, you know, for, I want her to know that where she comes from.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Fantastic. Thank you for that. That's inspiring. Now, the last of the question, you say you are an open book. Yeah. But what is something that most people don't know? That you would, that they would be surprised to learn about you?

Unknown:

Just, I think the depth and breadth of my personality. You know, I do a lot of my work on my own. Because I go to places that are very uncomfortable in the mind and body. And I like it there. The fierceness in which I do my exercises and the way in which I do them is not going to be very enjoyable for somebody to join me. The way in which I meditate and can become complete Leave. Immersed in the silence. And my ability, as I've been told, even when I was younger, to be a chameleon, and to be able to merge into different cultures with respect, and reverence, and patience, empathy, compassion, like, this is a massively broad scope of being. And I do not subscribe to any one way of life, because life is far too diverse. And I want to be as malleable as possible so that I can experience and reflect the essence of being alive.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

That's great. That's great. You know, I'm curious as to why there's so few long term facilities in the nation, only 35 of them. And there's 1.4 6 million Americans with some sort of spinal cord injury and why why is that? And I want to hear more about this Wings for Life Red Bull that you're with? So go for that.

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, what is it every two minutes somebody has some form of spinal cord injury or disabling incident? Well, it back when I had my business, a rehabilitation facility, it was one and five now it's one in four Americans, it's one in six globally. It's like 16% of the global population has a disability. And actually, if you factor in mental disorders, it's it's a far larger number. All the more reason for the work that I'm preparing myself to do, which I'm not ready to disclose that, but I will be focusing on research, rehabilitation and recreation, and providing opportunities in those three rooms. But the work that I've been doing, specifically to answer your question about research and Wings for Life, which is Red Bulls charity. You know, as I mentioned, I feel very strongly about being a part of the solution, and investing in our future, and finding ways to improve quality of life through cutting edge science, rehabilitation, robotics, stem cell, you know, even neuro stimulations, like it's going to be a combination of a lot of those areas that will yield something efficacious. Right now, there is no pill that's gonna get you out of a chair. And even if there was somebody with a chronic spinal cord injury to all of a sudden feel their body to try to move with all those secondary complications I mentioned earlier, I mean, that's a nightmare. So will there be a cure in my lifetime, I don't look at it as I don't look at it as a cure because it's not an ailment. It's an injury, spinal cord, specifically, injuries as we spoke about can heal. If provided the right opportunities. I feel like a lot of those secondary complications will be addressed. And we will return hand function we will improve bowel and bladder, we will, you know, reverse a lot of those issues. And I think people will have opportunities in the not so distant future to walk out of their chairs. I just want to be a show example. Now, you can have a healthy active lifestyle

Dr. Spencer Baron:

is when for life doing anything in particular that is different.

Unknown:

Yeah, one. It's a unique charity in that 100% of every dollar raised goes to our mission. Because Red Bull is our founding father and underwrites all the expenses all the operating costs for the charity. And that's pretty unique. Nonprofits, a lot of nonprofits can't say that. And they match dollar for dollar. So we are infusing the brightest minds with the financial stimulus needed to carry out long term research programs to get them off the bench and into practical applications like human trials. And we have human trials under our umbrella. We find globally. I am on the board of the US portion of Red Bulls, charity planks for life USA and there's a lot of promising stuff out there. It's it's getting closer we another distinguishing fact about Wings for Life is that we, we encourage are not encouraged, we actually mandate that all our projects cross pollinate each other, meaning we share the data, it's open source, so that it reduces redundancy, it actually can feed off of each other. Every year, we hold a symposium in Austria, the home base of Red Bull and Wings for Life. And all the scientists from around the world, all those that we fund come together and present and share their findings, whether the data is good or bad, it doesn't matter. It's all good. Because we're sharing it openly. And we're moving the needle. It's great. Great, sorry, that's a lot of info. But

Dr. Terry Weyman:

no, no, no, that's just the stuff we're looking for. You know, yeah. So it gives us hope, if there's somebody out there that is, maybe doesn't have access to a lot, how can somebody that's newly injured or in the middle of their struggle? Is it? How can they find some of this stuff.

Unknown:

Wings for life.com is, is a, I mean, a central hub for tons of information. There's also something called trials finder.com, of which we have funded, where you can type in your location and your level of injury, and it will link you to relevant projects in your area. But wings for life.com Obviously, reach out to me, I am available. This is what I do with individuals with families. So I'm Erin baker.com. Please, I'm always a phone call text or email away.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Wow. All right. In closing, that first off, thank you for your time. But in closing, I'm going to read a quote you wrote in your book. And for those who, and I'm gonna put a link to it. For those who want to know more about your book, it is a incredible read. It's called the rebellious recovery. And I think everybody should get a copy of this book, not only for inspiration, but it's just a great I think it's a great business book, because it teaches people not to give up when they get hit with a with adversity. So I hope that I hope this quote resonates in the minds of our listeners, it says my achievements do little to to contribute to the world unless they illustrate something fundamental about me and about you. May my history inspire and provoke you to think of your own story as an adventurer. And for the con. Just construct of these pages to become a mirror for your mind. Aaron, the floor is yours. Please leave us with some final thoughts.

Unknown:

Fellas, we do it together, man. You know, having a platform like this the fact that you guys have opened up yourselves and sharing your time and, and bringing, you know people like myself and others that are just doing their best to live well. And to share that ride is what it's about. You know, let's Let's support each other and lean on each other. Push each other. And together we'll rise.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Great. The good guy. Good. Very inspiring.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Thank you, and thank you for your time. Likewise. Thank you.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Thank you for listening to today's episode of The cracking backs podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you follow us on Instagram at cracking backs podcast. catch new episodes every Monday. See you next time.