From Motorcycle Accident to Miracle: Air Force Veteran Kijuan Amey's Journey from Blindness to Purpose

In this powerful episode of Live Parkinson's - Live an Exceptional Life, we sit down with Kijuan Amey, a US Air Force Staff Sergeant turned motivational speaker whose incredible story will transform how you view adversity and resilience.

At just 25 years old, Kijuan's life changed forever when a motorcycle accident left him blind while serving in the Air Force as an In-flight Refueling Specialist. Instead of asking "Why me?", he chose to ask "How can I use this?" - a mindset shift that led him from his darkest moment to becoming a bestselling author and founder of Amey Motivation LLC.

What You'll Discover in This Episode:

• The mindset shift that changes everything - How to move from victim mentality to empowerment when facing life's biggest challenges
• Practical resilience strategies - Real, actionable techniques for building mental toughness that you can implement today
• Redefining vision beyond sight - What true vision means and how to develop it regardless of your circumstances
• From military precision to motivational purpose - How Kijuan transformed his Air Force discipline into a mission to help others
• The power of not focusing on "Why Me" - Specific strategies for reframing adversity into opportunity
• Music as healing - How Kijuan's lifelong passion for drumming became part of his recovery journey
• Finding purpose in pain - How to turn your greatest struggles into your most meaningful contributions
• Practical daily habits - Simple practices that build resilience and maintain motivation during tough times

About Kijuan Amey:

Kijuan Amey is a US Air Force veteran (2011-2021), motivational speaker, drummer since age 7, and author of "Don't Focus on Why Me: From Motorcycle Accident to Miracle." His signature message: "I may have lost my sight, but I didn't lose my vision to help others" has inspired thousands to reframe their relationship with adversity.

Perfect For:

• Anyone facing unexpected life changes or health challenges
• People seeking practical resilience strategies
• Veterans and military families
• Those supporting loved ones through difficult times
• Anyone who feels stuck in a "Why me?" mindset
• Individuals looking to find purpose in their struggles

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Kiwan Amey: Military Veteran & Survivor
• 4:13 Rhythm and Resilience: Kiwan's Drumming Journey
• 6:03 Technical Precision: Life as a Boom Operator
• 12:46 The Day Everything Changed: May 5, 2017
• 19:54 Waking Up Blind: Confronting a New Reality
• 24:21 Beyond "Why Me": Finding Purpose Again
• 31:53 From Athlete to Advocate: Amy Motivation
• 43:45 The Power of Trying New Things
• 55:41 Making an Impact: Saving Lives Through Story
• 57:52 Final Thoughts: Defining Yourself

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello and welcome to Live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life. I'm your host, chris Kastenbader, and I've been living an exceptional life with Parkinson's for the past 15 years. The mission of this podcast is to help as many people as possible to live a great life with Parkinson's. Today, I'm excited to introduce you to someone whose story will challenge you on how you think about resilience, vision and what it truly means to overcome the impossible. Meet Kiwan Amey, a Durham, north Carolina native, who has lived what most of us would consider multiple lifetimes of experience.

Speaker 1: 0:41

Kiwan dedicated 10 years of his life to serving our country in the US Air Force, where he achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant as an in-flight refueling specialist and boom operator. For those who don't know, that's one of the most technically demanding and critical roles in aviation, requiring precision, focus and nerves of steel, as you're literally connecting aircraft mid-flight to keep missions running. But Kiwan's talents extend far beyond the cockpit. He's been a lifelong drummer, since the age of seven, and music remains a cornerstone of his life, something that, as you'll hear today, played a critical role in his journey of healing and purpose.

Speaker 1: 1:22

In 2017, at just 25 years old, kiwan's life changed in an instant. A motorcycle accident left him blind and facing injuries that would have broken many people's spirits. But here's what makes Kiwan's story so powerful Instead of asking why me, he chose to ask how can I use this? That mindset shift led him to found Amy Motivation LLC, a company whose mission is simple but profound inspiring people to achieve greatness and helping them find the motivation they need to reach their goals and unlock their full potential. Through his speaking, his writing and his personal example, kiwan has turned his greatest challenge into a great life. So welcome Kiwan. So what's been a highlight of your week so far?

Speaker 2: 2:15

Hey, thanks, chris, for having me. I really appreciate you having me on. Man, this is awesome and you make me sound amazing, by the way. I think I need to pay you for this. You make me sound amazing, by the way. I think I need to pay you for this. Thank you so far this week, man, just spending time with my nephews. They're in town and just loving the experience. You know the growth you can actually see and witness the growth of and how they're interacting with each other, but also with you. You know, you ask them questions and you figure out who's going to have the right answer or what kind of answer you're going to get, because, man, you never know what's going to come out of their mouth.

Speaker 1: 2:52

That nice looking drum set back in during the introduction and it is a nice looking unit back there. So can can you tell me a little bit more about your musical journey?

Speaker 2: 3:05

about your musical journey, man. I mean, ever since I was like five, I always kept my eyes on something musically. Now listening to music. I'm sure I've always been that groovy little kid that wanted to dance, but I knew I had a true love for music when I would go to church, because I grew up in the church and I would just watch the drummer. That's all I wanted to see. Not to say that I wasn't there for other reasons, but as soon as the music started up, I am looking at nobody else, I'm only looking at the drummer. Shout out to my friend Travis. But golly, I mean, at first it started out with my cousin Spunk, but yeah, now. Then it switched over because he left and went and played drums for his mother's church. And now, you know, I follow the footsteps of him and as well as travis, and now I'm on my own, kind of leading my and doing my own thing now. So, as you can see the drums behind me, man, those are my babies there.

Speaker 2: 4:03

I actually bought those after my accident. It's kind of a birthday gift to me because it was around my birthday and I bought them for a birthday gift to continue celebrating life. You know what I mean the fact that I can still play the drums at a high level. Not just play them, but I mean play them in all different places. I've been all the way to San Antonio playing. I'm like you know people asking me, are you coming back? And I'm like, yeah, if you fly me back out here, because I was only there for a vacation. You know, I wasn't there to play. They actually threw me on the drums. I was just there for a vacation man. Next thing I know I'm on the drums. I was just there for vacation man. Next thing I know I'm behind the set. Okay, so it's.

Speaker 1: 4:57

I know I've always loved music myself. When I was in middle school I played the drums. Well, I got to play the rubber pad and a little bit of the snare drum, but I always wanted to sit down and be able to wail on the drum kit and I just never got to do that. So I think that's why I moved on from the drums. But after I was diagnosed with Parkinson's, I really wanted to learn how to play guitar, because when I was a kid, I always loved listening to Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young from AC and they really inspired me to want to learn how to play the guitar. So over the last five to six years I've actually been learning how to play guitar and it's really been an awesome experience.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Being able to play some of the songs that you love is a great experience and it's also challenging. So I know what you're saying in terms of don't look at it as a disability, but think of it as the ability to still be able to do what you love to do or try something new. So that's really awesome. So with the one job that you had as a refueling agent, there was a lot of technical skill involved. Can you paint a little picture of what your job was like back then.

Speaker 2: 6:03

If I were to sum it up and make it as simple as it can be, because it's not. It's basically like pulling up to a flying gas station. This gas station does not stop, by the way. It keeps going. So you now have to get in position the whole entire time that the gas station is moving and that the pump or the nozzle is now in the air. So you have to get in position so that I can put it in your gas tank. And you have to be close enough, because if you're too far away, I'm not going to move, I'm just going to sit there and wait until you get closer, because there are certain limitations. I don't just have unlimited reach, you know, and so that's to keep me safe as well as you. You also don't want people to be too close either, because that's again a safety thing. But that's the simple way of putting it.

Speaker 2: 6:58

The knowledge, the studying sure, like you said, nerves of steel that it takes to do this job at 20,000 feet on average, it's just nuts. It's mind numbing sometimes, and I still remember the first day that I saw the actual boom, because that's what we call it, a boom. That's what we were filled with. And make the connection to the other aircraft. When I first saw that thing in real life now I mean we could talk about the simulation all day long, there's that computer compares nothing to the real thing, because when you really see something in the air just hanging there like, ok, I'm actually controlling this thing, you see it in the sim.

Speaker 2: 7:48

But when you're actually controlling it and you can feel the wind shake it, this is different. That does not happen in the sim. The wind actually shakes it in the sky. When you're fighting against the wind to pull that thing left and right, up and down, oh man, we can actually steer the aircraft. It's not like obnoxious, but you can actually steer the aircraft with it. I can slow it down if I push it all the way down. It's so cool because it's you know the aerodynamics of it. It's so much, I loved it so much, man, it's just one of those things that you can get so wrapped up in especially me, because I was also an instructor.

Speaker 1: 8:33

That's awesome. Now, to build on that, can you take us back to what your life was like when you were 25, before the accident? What did you do? For fun, tell us a little bit about how you lived back then.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Yeah, yeah, we can. That was yeah for sure. That's what my story is all about, man. And so, 25, I am six and a half years into the military at this point maybe just a little under, but yeah, military at this point maybe just a little under, but yeah, in six and a half years I've been on four deployments. I have become an instructor. I had numerous students you know, many teachers seen promoted all the way up to the rank of staff sergeant and maybe, I think, four years, was it? Yeah, four years. It took me four years to get to staff sergeant.

Speaker 2: 9:21

I was listening out when I tell you I was flying through everything. It took me, no, five years, five years. It took me to get to Staff Sergeant. I was like, listen, when I tell you I was flying through everything, it took me, no, five years, five years. It took me to get there in five years. But when I tell you I was flying through everything, it was just like life was so. Oh man, it was literally like if you blinked I would have missed it Because it was happening so fast.

Speaker 2: 9:44

And this is me being, you know, what they call a hard charger. That's one of the labels they put on it. You're a hard charger, go get her. You know everything. I mean, I love that they want to put labels like that on me. But I was just doing what I was told. Simply put, I was doing what I was told and what I was supposed to do. Simply put, I was doing what I was told and what I was supposed to do. That's the other thing, because some people do it, get told things they're doing but they don't do it. I mean, and then you speed life up from.

Speaker 2: 10:19

Because I went from active duty to the reserves, I did four, you know four years active. And then I what we call palace chase. That means if you don't finish your full active duty commitment, you go. You can go over to the reserves, but you have to double what you had left on your reserve commitment and put it on the reserve side. I said, well, that's fine, I don't mind, because I do still want to do the job. I just don't want to do the active duty part of it. And so I went to the reserves. They said welcome to the dark side. That's what they told me. Welcome to the dark side. I said the dark side. I thought this is where the cool guys come and hang out. Well, I guess the dark side means that is the cool guys, but it was so amazing I had a blast on the reserve side. Don't get me wrong. I did have some great times on active duty, but it was just the pace that we were running at.

Speaker 2: 11:09

I did all of my deployments on active duty Within the first three years. I had four deployments. The first two came within six months of each other. The first two came within six months of each other. I went from June to August I was deployed, and then October to December I was deployed, or that same year. Dude, that's what I mean. I was like I don't know what. Do I still live here? Should I just be detached? You know, it's one of those things and you really didn't want to. You know, say nothing, like you just kind of tucked your tail and like maybe this is how it's supposed to be. You know that kind of thing and that's that's just how I took it. And again, when I went to the reserves, never deployed again. Um, not because I didn't want to, but it was because we had a lot of guys who came over from another base that actually closed down and turned into an Army airfield that was near our base. So they took all our deployments, because they love deploying.

Speaker 1: 12:13

You definitely were a hard charger. Now, if it's okay, I'd like to switch gears and talk about that fateful day back in May of 2017,. If it's okay, can you walk us through that day and what happened, and then that'll kind of help us lead into what your life's going to be like after that particular day.

Speaker 2: 12:33

Comes May 5th 2017, man, after being in the reserves for two years and some change, yeah, yeah, two, two, two years. Yeah, may 5th, 20, 20,. May 5th, 2017 was the day of my accident, my life altering change, and it would come. I was here in North Carolina and I actually had a business that I that I used to own, called Kiwi Enterprise, where I did website design and management, social media marketing and photography. Well, I was actually doing some photography that day for one of the websites that I managed, and the place that I had to go to take the pictures it was only like 10 minutes away from my apartment and I had jumped on my motorcycle to go do it. So I said let me go run over here do this. And now you know it'll be real quick, because it was a really nice day in North Carolina in in the month of May.

Speaker 2: 13:31

I love spring weather. By the way, when it gets to the summer, it's too hot for me, even now that I don't ride. I just don't like the heat. But anyway, so I get done taking the pictures and I'm like I really don't feel like going to put this motorcycle right back up, because all I did was ride for 10 minutes, and if I ride back it'll be 20. And again, it's a great day out I mean beautiful day and so I said where can I go? So I went to one of my favorite spots to go relax, meditate, unwind you know just really just sit there and just be able to think, sit there with your thoughts.

Speaker 2: 14:10

You know, and that is a lake in North Carolina called Jordan Lake. Now, on the cover of the book that I wrote, don't Focus on why Me from Motorcycle Accident to Miracle. That is the backdrop that you see on the cover. That was where I was sitting at. That was Jordan Lake, and that was the exact spot that I was sitting at. Now, that motorcycle on the cover is the exact motorcycle that I rode that day when I had my accident. That was actually my bike. That's on the cover. Now, both of those pictures were taken by yours truly. I am the photographer of my own pictures on my book.

Speaker 2: 14:48

As I get ready to head out, because I had to work that night. This was a Friday night, may 5th. That May 5th in 2017 was a Friday, and so I had to go to work that night for the military in the Air Force. I would be there all weekend. I had to work that weekend on the base, so it was now time for me to head home so I can get my stuff and then shoot down to the base.

Speaker 2: 15:13

Well, before I get home, I get to an intersection on Highway 751, which is a back road. It's like a back what do you call it highway on North Carolina. We got, you know, these little back streets. There are only two lanes and they're pretty windy, but for the most part you got straight shots.

Speaker 2: 15:31

Now this back road would also have driveways, like I said, intersections, just sketchy BP gas station it was so small, it was like what is this gas station going to do, you know? And then, uh, a nursery, like where they have produce, so a produce farm. So I'm riding along and I get to the intersection of where said honda accord a silver honda accord would pull out in front of me and I'm doing 55 miles an hour because that's the speed limit. Back here I'm not thinking a car is going to pull out in front of me, though it didn't matter how fast I was going, I didn't think a car was going to pull out in front of me, you know. But he does and I say he because I do know it was a guy from the police report he pulls out in front of me and all I know is I wake up a month and a day later in the hospital.

Speaker 1: 16:31

What were you thinking at that particular moment? There you are, the last thing you remember you're riding your motorcycle. And then the next thing you know, you think you're waking up in your bedroom and you're probably looking around thinking what's going on here. Can you tell us a little bit more about that looking around thinking what's going?

Speaker 2: 16:45

on here. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? So yeah, june the 6th, I woke up out of my medically induced coma. Actually, first off, I was actually when I was in there. I just woke up. I felt so calm, I felt so peaceful coming out of that sleep, but what I thought it was because I thought it was sleep I didn't know. I was coming out of a coma because I had no idea, no recollection whatsoever, none.

Speaker 2: 17:07

And I am laying there in the hospital bed and then I hear voices. I'm like who the heck is in my room and why? And so now my military mind is kicking on to say do I need to, you know, drop to the floor and grab my pistol? Like that's what I'm thinking. See, some people don't know. You don't want to just pop up in a military guy's room. I'll tell you that right now we're trying to think of safety first. And so that's what I was thinking first, initially, until I sat there a little bit longer and I recognized the voices and I said oh wait, that's my mom and my ex-girlfriend. Well, it's the ex-girlfriend now.

Speaker 2: 17:53

But, at the time I'm like, okay, I understand why my girlfriend would be here, but what the heck is my mom doing in here? Why would she be in my room this early in the morning? I'm not ready for this, and so, anywho, as I'm listening to them talk, they are having a conversation about a motorcycle accident. I don't know it's about me, because they have not said any names. Everything is generalized like he, they, that, this, all of this stuff. I've never heard so many pronouns in my life, you know. And so, anyway, I was like they're the worst storytellers ever. You're supposed to name drop or something. So any who finally just get fed up with that. The fact that they are, you know, beating around the bush is what I would think.

Speaker 2: 18:49

And I go to open my eyes to kind of tell them and let them know that I am awake and listening to them, only to open my eyes and not be able to see anything. So when I wake up in the hospital, it wasn't a gradual eyesight loss, this was. I already lost it, it was gone already. I already lost it, it was gone already. So I woke up. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh. I close them really hard and then I reopen them. I'm like, yeah, no, this is not, this is not working, so something's off.

Speaker 2: 19:32

And so I go to speak to my mom and girlfriend and nothing comes out. All you hear is I couldn't talk because my jaw had been broken and they wired it shut. Now we can hit the panic alarm because I can't see, I can't talk. I'm like I didn't even realize I couldn't move that well, because I hadn't really tried to. I don't know, maybe my mind was telling me I shouldn't move, I don't know, I just hadn't tried.

Speaker 2: 20:04

And so now that they notice me, you know, trying to signal them or talk to them, they're both coming to my bedside and trying to get some information out of me. What are you doing? What's wrong? Are you okay? You know everything like that, and I'm doing my best to communicate it through a closed mouth, literally A closed mouth.

Speaker 2: 20:28

And so when they can't no longer understand me, my mom, she hands me a notepad and a pencil. Man, I don't know if you've ever given somebody a side eye? But I did and I said really Like it was one of those things Really, are you serious right now you want me to write on something and you know I can't see? And so she was like just do your best, you know, try to write it down and don't write over top of anything. These were the instructions I was given. I said okay, so I tried to, I wrote everything down the best I could without seeing, and it went a little something like this what is this motorcycle accident dream y'all are talking about? And she read it and she looked at me and she said oh, oh, no, that's not a dream, that's what happened to you.

Speaker 1: 21:14

And I that had to be just devastating. And you're probably thinking to yourself this isn't really happening to me, is it so? I don't know if you're thinking, if this is a dream or not. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Speaker 2: 21:31

Yeah, chris, I didn't, I didn't know what to do. That was like the last thing I would say again, it can't. It was more of a wait. What Time out? You know? Like, start over, say that again. You know, one of those I'm trying to. I'm trying to ask and answer my answer questions to myself. I'm not saying anything to anybody, I'm asking and answering the questions to me right now because I'm in such a state of shock I'm like wait a minute.

Speaker 2: 22:02

So all that stuff y'all were saying was about me. What the heck, there's no way. That's all I could think. And I mean, dude, I sat there with my thoughts for the rest of that day, even until, I think, the next day, if I'm not mistaken. I'm pretty sure even until the next day, and I finally started, you know, back communicating to ask the right questions.

Speaker 2: 22:25

And that's when I, you know, came up with the story that I told you already about what happened to me, that always, you know, kind of recapped and brought to my, I guess you could say, memory. I can't really say memory because I literally don't remember anything from the accident. I know about where I was before it, but I don't remember anything from it. You know that from what she said, what the police report says, because there were two witnesses there who saw the accident and said they saw me coming on the motorcycle and they don't know why he didn't, because they were behind him. They were actually behind him when, when the accident happened. So it was. I'm great, I'm actually grateful that they were there, because there's no telling you might have any at any accident, especially in what do you call a rural, rural area, such as where I was. There's no telling. People will leave you for dead man. Those stories about motorcyclists getting in accidents and people will literally leave them in a ditch, don't call the police, don't even look at their license plate.

Speaker 1: 23:31

So you're laying there now and you've come to the realization that, all right, I've been in this accident and this is going to be my life going forward. Now, I'm sure at that point it wasn't all gumdrops and lollipops. Can you talk a little bit about how you felt at that point and and where you thought, where am I going to go from here? Because I'm sure it wasn't. Oh, I'm, I'm in positive land right now. So can you walk us through that?

Speaker 2: 23:59

Yeah, yeah, heck. No, it wasn't into the positive yet, it was more of a. So, as you mentioned, in the um, in the, in the introduction, the why me did kick in at first. Um, which is kind of where my my book title came from. Don't focus on why me. So the why me, victimized mentality did come in.

Speaker 2: 24:23

Why did this have to happen to me? I was a CEO, going to school full time, I was trying to become a pilot, I'm in the military, I'm doing all these different things. I got a girlfriend, all these things that were coming to my mind. Man, and I'm sitting there like why, why'd you have to take that from me? And who am I questioning? Like I told you, I believe in God. So that's who I'm questioning here. God, why did you take all of this from me? Why did you allow this to happen to me?

Speaker 2: 24:54

And the reason is not to say that I don't trust what he's doing. It's to say that I need answers when you go through something, when you were in school, when you were at work, anytime you needed answers to a question, didn't you ask somebody? So that's what I did I asked who I knew to ask, because he's the only one that knows the answer to this question and I needed him to reveal it to me. And so it wasn't so much of me saying right, take pity, in the why me phrasing of this question, it was, I just want some answers. I need clarity, I need answers, I need direction, I need guidance Because right now I don't know what to do Absolutely. Once he he showed me what I can still do, because that's the biggest thing that we do me, what I can still do because that's the biggest thing that we do, as you know, the why me victimize mentality. We think about what we can't do instead of what we can.

Speaker 1: 25:51

How long was it from the time that you got through the questioning phase and accepted your new reality until the time you said to yourself wait a minute, I don't have to isolate myself and become a hermit, I can actually live the life that I wanted to live. So can you walk us through that change, and roughly how long it took and how you made that decision?

Speaker 2: 26:15

It was an up and down game. Some days, you know, I'm up with the positive, like yeah, I can do this, let's go. Some days I'm like God, it hurts. You know, this really sucks. I can't do this, I can't do that. And it was the reality that I couldn't do certain things because, you know, with the actual loss of eyesight there are legitimate things you can't do, like I literally can't see you right now. That's a legitimate thing, you know. But I can hear you all day long. So that's what I had to do. I had to say I might not be able to see him, but I can, dang sure, hear him.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Yes, my grandmother was blind from diabetes, and she always taught me that why worry about things Because a lot of times the things that we worry about don't actually come true and I really learned a lot from her.

Speaker 1: 26:58

She was, even though she couldn't see. She could do pretty much anything that anyone else could, whatever she put her mind to. She cooked, she spent time with us, she gardened, she did anything that anybody with sight could do, and her mindset was I'm going to continue doing the things that I want to do, and I learned that from an early age and that really changed my mindset from an early age on how to approach life, and I kind of took that same philosophy after I got diagnosed with Parkinson's. There's two ways to look at it. You can just curl up and isolate yourself, or you can say, all right, what am I going to do about it and how am I going to do the things that I still want to do and live the best life that I can, and so I think she had a real. She played a really big role in that when I was growing up, and so I understand a little bit about where you're coming from and that you can do things because of the experiences I had when I was growing up with her.

Speaker 2: 27:57

Absolutely, man. That's an amazing story, by the way, and I'm glad you actually I won't say glad, I'm encouraged that you got to experience that for your own, because when I hear stories all the time about people who even myself, who have had encounters with others that can see. But where the problem lies is, they understand that they're the majority and we're the minority, so they treat us like it and they'll push us to the side like we're the minority. It's not fair that we have to be treated that way, but yet we live in that, that kind of society. So if we're not advocating for ourselves, who's doing it for us? You know, because at some point they're going to want to and I don't want to say this incorrectly, but, for lack of better terms, they're going to want to push us out of the way and say that well, this isn't important, this is costing us too much money, and it happens. So, unless we stand up as visually impaired people that's what I call this VIPs up as visually impaired people. That's what I call this VIPs visually impaired people.

Speaker 1: 29:10

We have to do that so that we can show we still matter.

Speaker 1: 29:13

Living with Parkinson's for the past 15 years I've got a lot of friends with Parkinson's and a lot of caregivers, and I have some of my friends come up and say, you know? People walk up and say you don't look like you have Parkinson's and it's like, well, what am I supposed to look like? And I think everybody has, no matter what the condition, preconceived notions in their mind. But I think it's important to just realize that they're really just trying to help. But they maybe struggle a little bit with how to do that, and I think one of the things that both you and I have a similar belief in is that we can do anything that we put our mind to, but ideally we're. We want to help others live a great quality of life too and be the best they can, and and by doing, by trying to be a good example and helping others, and I think that goes a long way in helping people realize that I may have a disability but it's not going to hold me back.

Speaker 2: 30:05

Exactly, and one of the best ways I put it is my name is Kiwan Amy and I am blind, versus saying that's the blind guy Kiwan Amy. That's two different ways of putting it. I'm Kiwan first and then.

Speaker 2: 30:24

I have a disability. I wasn't born this way. And even the people who are born this way, they were born as a body first, and then you start to develop other parts in your mother's womb. So I'm born the body of me first. So don't focus on what I lack or the limitations that I have. Focus on what I do have. Do you mind if I talk to you, because I can do that? Do you mind if we sit down and eat, Because I can do that too? Do you mind if we sit down and eat, because I can do that too? Do you mind if we sit down and just have a thinker's conversation, because I do have a brain? So let's focus on the similarities.

Speaker 1: 31:12

Yes, I think you need to look at people individually. Whether you're blind or whether you're someone living with a chronic disease, you look at the person and what they were able to do and you respect them for that. As an example, I told you my grandmother was blind and people would always come up and say they would talk real loud and I would say she's blind, but she can hear, and a lot of people would go oh, I'm so sorry. And I think that people are trying to be very helpful but sometimes they don't know how to do it and it comes across as being awkward because they feel like they've got to tiptoe around and just treat the person like you would treat anybody else, and whether you have a disability or a chronic disease, people just want to be treated like everybody else. I know, I see.

Speaker 2: 32:02

Absolutely, absolutely. And you know I was. I started laughing because not not to offend you or anything or show any disrespect. That was because it happens to visually impaired people a lot. They for some reason, when I two things I am, either talk too loudly, some reason, when I two things I am, either talk too loudly it's for people that don't know me.

Speaker 2: 32:25

I'm talked to very loudly so that I can they can understand it. I guess they need me to understand. They're talking to me. I'm like I know who you're projecting your voice at, lady or man. And then, secondly, it's like does he need help? Who is he? And they're talking to my friend or my mom or someone. Well, I mean, yes, but you can talk to him about it, why are you talking to my mother? I'm a person like that. That's the part. Yeah, exactly, we all need help. But that's the part that they literally, this literally happens to blind people all the time, when somebody else is with us, they'll talk to them versus talking to us. I still don't know why we're trying to figure it out as a blind community we really are and it's almost like getting permission. It's almost like you have to get permission to talk to somebody visually impaired and I don't know where that came from. I don't know what it stems from, whatever. But regardless.

Speaker 1: 33:34

You don't have to talk to the individual the same way you would talk to anyone else. Yeah, so I thought that was interesting. So I guess then, how did you go from being in the hospital and you made that decision, rather than why me? To having that light bulb moment and saying, hey, you know what I really want to move on and I want to live my life.

Speaker 2: 33:56

Yeah, well, again, after God started giving me those, the blueprint and guidance and you know, encouragement to say you still can. That's what I did. I took that I still can and I ran with it. I mean, it was first a slow walk but eventually I got to a point where I actually can run. Now, man, I broke both of my legs in this accident. I broke my spinal cord. They all have metal in them and I can now run again. I couldn't even walk.

Speaker 2: 34:27

At one point. I had to learn how to walk again. Yeah, I literally had to learn how to walk again. Man, I don't wish that on anybody. Now, there's one thing to learn how to walk when you're a kid and I always say this as a child when you're learning how to walk as a child, you are somewhere around that 20 pound mark, somewhere around that. Yeah, try adding 100 to 120 pounds to that. It is not fun. It is not fun at all, because I was like literally skin and bones at that time and I had been in a bed for a month having countless surgeries, having new parts put inside of me.

Speaker 2: 35:06

These are no longer my bones. These are metal rods, this is titanium. Now, metal detectors see me coming from a mile away. I've set so many of them things off myself.

Speaker 1: 35:17

Well, how long did it take you then to fully recover?

Speaker 2: 35:22

I heard about it. I heard about it, yeah, so, but yeah, it was one of those things. Man, like I'm a million dollars by the way, I'm not quite as expensive as he is, I'm a million, but check that box. I mean that's, that's a. That's an interesting question because of the simple fact that Interesting, you know question, because of the simple fact that what really is recovery? You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 35:53

Because there was a point in time where I was just setting goals, what I wanted to get to that first year man from in 2017, after I got out of the hospital. Well, even when I was in the hospital, I just wanted to be able to walk. I just wanted to be able to transport myself. I just wanted to be able to get up out of the bed. Like, these are little things I'm trying to do. I want to sit myself up. You know, I'm trying to move my leg. These are little things, but every step, I was checking off goals and then, when I got out of the hospital, I said I want to be walking without any support. So that meant no wheelchair, no walker, no support cane, none of that. I didn't want any of it. I just wanted to be walking on my own by my birthday of 2017. My birthday is November 22nd, and so, from when I got out of the hospital, I was discharged from the hospital July 7th of 2017. And I said, from that point until November 22nd, I want to be walking without any support. Well, that goal was accomplished by almost a month.

Speaker 2: 37:04

Absolutely, man, and that's what I continue to do, even in the gym. Today, I go to the gym. Now I wasn't going to the gym. I mean I was, but these are like the physical therapy gyms, so I wasn't, like I was lifting weights like heavyweight. Now I'm lifting heavyweights. I'm getting bigger for real now, like I was just at the gym yesterday doing deadlifts and things that add nature, leg press doing well over 200 pounds, well over almost to. I am 15 pounds away from dead lifting, uh, uh, 300 pounds, right, five times 15 pounds away. So I did two. I did 285 yesterday, five times all right.

Speaker 1: 37:54

So let me ask you this then you oh, I was just going to say you set the goal of being able to walk again. So when did you have the change that you said hey, I really want to help other people and you start your, your, your company and go out before that.

Speaker 2: 38:09

Yeah, yeah, no, no problem. So with that, it's always been a goal of mine, that that's always been something that I wanted to do before I even had the company. So when I was in the military I was looking to help others because I'm serving my country. I mean, granted, yeah, we all know what we're doing, we take the oath, but it's more so like, wait a minute. Every time I come back home. I get to come back home and I'm not seeing what I saw over there. And that's when you realize the freedoms that you're fighting for, because you come home and you see, well, what the heck? But then sometimes you come home and you're like, what are y'all doing? Like I'm fighting for y'all not to act like this and yet y'all are acting like this. It's stuff like that that really bothers me in today's society. But then the other thing is, when I did even the first business that I started in Kiwi Enterprise, I was helping people. Then I was doing that for small businesses and those alike. And the reason I targeted I guess you could say targeted, or chose small businesses as a niche is because they get overlooked the big companies or these other people that are supposed to be big, big companies are hitting them over the head with costs in these particular fields. And the reason, I know, is because I was a small business and I couldn't find anybody who was affordable. And I couldn't find anybody who was affordable, I said, well, what? You know what? That's a problem. Let me be the solution, because I do know how to do these things and that's why I did it. So I was helping other small businesses there. So now fast forward to Amy Motivation.

Speaker 2: 39:58

I chose to pick this, or to build this business of keynote speaking for motivation, inspiration, and then resilience coaching and as well as trusted mentoring, because I understood there is a, not just an avenue for that, but there is a huge gap in what we need in society today. And you know what's even crazier is people don't even realize they need it. And you know what's even crazier is people don't even realize they need it Until I literally say again I was going to say, until I recently started talking to people about what I do, they were like, wait, wow, that's, that's interesting. You know, I know somebody who needs that and I'm like, yeah, I'm sure you do. A lot of people do. They just don't know they do until they talk to somebody about it. And why am I bringing this up? You don't know what you don't know first off, right, well, secondly is you don't know if you've never talked to the person who actually does it. I can judge you all day long and never talk to you, but as soon as you open your mouth and tell me what it is I need to know about you, it's like a light bulb comes on. Oh, that's crazy. If you would have just asked yeah, no, you are 100% right.

Speaker 2: 41:11

I played sports coming up and my best coaches, as you said, were the ones who challenged me. It wasn't the ones who were like, yeah, he's going to start regardless. No, no, they're going to be telling me hey, what's the name on your so-and-so is on your tail. You better get right. Oh, I'm going to start him this week. Hey, that was on Tuesday. We got till Thursday and I might not be starting, and so you know what I did for the rest of that week I'm busting his tail all week long. You know what I'm saying? So it was. It was a performance based, and I appreciate performance because of the simple fact that it made me better, Not just them. It made me better too, because I didn't get complacent in the position that I had. So, yeah, no, you're absolutely right.

Speaker 1: 41:59

All right, so the position that I had. So, yeah, no, you're absolutely right. All right, so back to your. You know talking about coaching and mentoring as a as a coach or mentor, as a motivational speaker, can you tell us a little bit about what are the? What are some of the things that are involved in how you get people to go beyond, to do the things that, to get them to take action so that they don't stagnate or stay sad.

Speaker 2: 42:25

Well, some of the biggest things that I would tell people I guess in the coaching realm for sure is to find that passion that you had and bring it back to the forefront. Why do I say that? So, for example, me being a musician and playing the drums, I found that passion again. I had to bring that back. That fire is what got me back in, I guess you could say, back into life. It made me get back up and say, hey, I can still have something to do here, I can still do things you know. And when you find what keeps you going in life, it actually helps you. So what am I saying? I'm saying when I'm saying not just me not just me, but when you find something that actually keeps you going, like the energizing bunny.

Speaker 2: 43:19

It makes for a better life. Something that you're not sitting around just saying you know what am I doing here? What's the Anything like that? It doesn't have you questioning life. It actually has you moving forward in life and thinking about life. And so when I think of resilience, or motivation, or inspiration inspiration I think in the manner of what can I keep doing to keep me going? And so that's why I continue to play the drums. I continue to learn new things in music because I learned the keyboard in the pandemic. So in October of 2020, I just started learning the keyboard. I learned them drums back at the age of seven. I'm singing um, what else I mean? I'm doing so much stuff like playing sports, so I do adaptive sports. Just recently went downhill skiing without sight man. So know, like I find things to do. Yeah, I find things to do that will keep me going, keep me feeling alive.

Speaker 1: 44:28

Yeah, exactly that's one of the things I've talked about on some of my other podcasts is doing things that you're passionate about. Because think back to when you were younger and say you know, a lot of times people say, well, I've got this condition, now I can't do these things. But you know, a lot of times people say, well, I've got this condition, now I can't do these things. But you know, a lot of times if you think back and say what are some of the things that I always wanted to do but I never tried before, and then go out and do it. I'm like you. I'm always trying to learn new things. I always whether it's adult learning classes, it's learning new things on the guitar.

Speaker 1: 44:58

I fly fish, so I tie flies and people say how do you tie flies? Your hands shake. Well, you just have to adapt to it. But one of the things that I always wanted to do was go fly fishing in Montana and I said to my brother two summers ago I said I want to go to Montana to go fly fishing. Do you want to go? And he said absolutely. And we went out and we had the best time out there. And we do catch and release, but we. We just had a great time, and it was something that I always wanted to do, and and it makes you feel good about yourself and it makes you want to press on and do even more more.

Speaker 2: 45:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm actually glad that you do get out and do things like that, especially with family. But sure enough, you just have to find things to do, man. It's too much for people to sit around and just be like, oh, like you said earlier, woe me and feel pity. That was the first thing I eliminated. As soon as people started doing it in the hospital, I had a guy come in my one of my friends.

Speaker 2: 45:59

I'll never forget it, dude. He knocks on the door and he comes in. Hey, what's going on, bro, how you doing and I'm like I'm good. How are you? He's like I'm doing pretty good. He's like you know what? Did somebody die? I don't know. I don't know if you're coming into this but you come into a hospital, not the morgue, not the morgue.

Speaker 2: 46:24

There's two different things. I'm still alive, sir, and I'm talking to you. I need you to act like I know. Something happened to me. I don't need you to come in here and take a pity on me.

Speaker 1: 46:36

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 46:37

That's the difference, you know. So that was the biggest. That was one of the things I actually wrote about in my book, so I call it. I think that was sympathy versus empathy. If I'm not mistaken, I think that was the chapter for that book.

Speaker 1: 46:51

Yeah, somebody could feel empathy for you and say not. You know, they don't have to say, oh, I really feel sorry, I'm so sorry and, and you know, kind of tippy toe around you or don't want to be around you because you're, you have whatever somebody has. So I think that that that's important. So I guess one of the things that what's for people that are listening, what's a simple thing that they could start doing today to help build their own resilience. Do you have any suggestions?

Speaker 2: 47:21

What I would say is, first and foremost, we're already building resilience. The thing is, you have to tap into it. I didn't know for the longest time that I was already building the resilience that I already had, but now I had to activate it for my. What I can say from from what this accident brought, it brought a lot through, a lot of a lot at once, shall I say, because, like I told you, already waking up without eyesight, I could not talk at first. Thank God I can. I can't even smell anymore. That's due to the reconstructive surgery they had to do on my face when they put the two metal plates in my head.

Speaker 1: 48:10

Yeah, I can't smell anymore either with Parkinson's. I know exactly what you're saying.

Speaker 2: 48:16

Yeah, yeah, thank God, I can still taste that.

Speaker 1: 48:18

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 48:23

A traumatic brain injury, ptsd. I told you the spinal cord medical infusion. I've got rods in both legs, a screw in my right foot, and now my right foot is not even the same size as my left. It's two different size feet. So I live with this stuff every day.

Speaker 2: 48:47

So when you talk about resilience, it's not so much as building it, it's tapping into it. How do we tap into resilience? Building it, it's tapping into it. How do we tap into resilience? I'm glad everybody asked.

Speaker 2: 48:59

So what you have to do is you really just have to say first off, I'm not going to take either the pity or the victimized route. That's the first thing you have to eliminate. If you don't do that, you can't tap into it. That's the first thing. Secondly, after you've cleared that I call that clearing the hurdle because I used to run track After you clear that hurdle, man, the next thing you do is is get your plan in place, like I was doing with the goals goal setting. That's a huge thing. I think everybody should do goal goal setting. If you don't do a goal setting, yeah. If you don't do goals, do goals, just do anything like, for example, like me, I wanted to also get back into sports.

Speaker 2: 49:52

I didn't know they had adaptive sports. I didn't know nothing about that. I mean, I knew about the special olymp, but I'm not talking to that. I'm talking about adapting, for example, archery, air rifle, tandem cycling. I told you about the skiing. They're rock climbing, power lifting, shot put, discus, bowling. You know what I'm saying. They have swimming too, but I didn't do that. It's a little harder for me to swim now. I could probably do better now, but at the time I was like no, there's so many different things. You just have to be willing. Be willing to try things. Be willing to, even if you don't come up with a hobby that you think you I won't even say come up with, try something and you might fall in love with it. Man, I never thought I would shoot archery and I felt like I was in the Hunger Games.

Speaker 1: 50:55

Yeah, because you gave it a try, you were willing to give it a try, and and then, next thing you know, you say wow, I really enjoyed this. So I guess, I did. Yeah, that's important. I agree a hundred percent, Cause I do. I tried to do that too. It's like somebody said do you want to play pickleball and I said, well, I don't really know anything about it and now I love it, like we get together and just have a great time.

Speaker 2: 51:31

So I got a great story about pickleball. So before we move on for that, yeah, last year, november in 2024, I went to this. I guess you say, oh, it was for wounded warriors project and we had went to and we had went to a pickleball court in caroling.

Speaker 2: 51:52

Was it caroling texas? Was it caroling texas? Was it Carrollton Texas? Was it Carrollton Texas? Somewhere in Texas it was close to Dallas. I don't have much, but anyway, we went to this big old when I say big old place with pickleball courts everywhere. There's like nine courts.

Speaker 1: 52:10

Wow.

Speaker 2: 52:11

Just pickleball. And so we went in there, you got your wristband and all that stuff, and to the point where they even had, like, food for sale. This is how big this place was, yeah. So, anyway, I'm just going to me personally, I was just going to sit out because I had never played pickleball in my life. But again, this is where trying things not knowing that they're going to be fun, and so I said I don't know how to play a pickleball, I can't see. You know, the ball is coming back at me. What you know? No, you know what we're going to play.

Speaker 2: 52:46

I guess pairs or whatever it's called. You have two on one one side, so it's a team basically got two and then two, and so I was the server and whoever was my partner had to hit the ball for me. Well, let's talk about this here real quick, because I I remember I think they only scored two points, dude, and we went to I don't even know where to go to Like 10 or 11, something like that, and so they only scored two and we scored 10. We scored ten. I was the server.

Speaker 2: 53:21

So you did pretty well then, underhanding and actually winning.

Speaker 1: 53:24

Wow, that's incredible.

Speaker 2: 53:26

Yeah, dude, I'll never forget it, man.

Speaker 1: 53:29

So just to switch gears how often do you go out and do talks to groups?

Speaker 2: 53:39

Well, it's all a situation-dependent one. There's no set schedule, it's all, hey, we need somebody to come speak, or we got a conference. Or next month in Dallas I'm going to a three-day conference, october I'm going to a two-day conference. I got conferences and stuff like that and'm going to a two-day conference. You know like, I got conferences and stuff like that, and then churches might invite me, you know, to their conferences, Bible school, all these different things. I come speaking. I was just speaking at my church on Sunday.

Speaker 1: 54:08

So what's one of the most? Meaningful things maybe anybody came back after hearing you talk and said hey, you know, after listening to your story I've really changed it. Did you have any of those? Can you think of maybe one of those?

Speaker 2: 54:26

I actually saved somebody's life, man, and this was not based off of a speech. It was actually based off of my book. My book talks about my accident, talks about the motorcycle accident, and it talks about the many different lessons that I, that I talk about life teaching me. And so the guy OK, first off, his sister DM me on Instagram and she said you know, I caught that message, I don't know because it was a request, so it didn't come directly to my box and I did read it and if I was to surmise it, it went a little something like this Thank you so much for writing your book.

Speaker 2: 55:11

It really saved my brother's life. He was involved in a motorcycle accident similar to yours, where he lost his eyesight, ended up in the hospital, you know, and thinking about taking it in his life because he didn't know what he was going to do next. And once I let him listen to your book, it changed his perspective on life and now he wants to stay here and find things to do, you know, give back and stuff like that. So my book has oh, oh. And then she said, uh, ps, he reached out to you but you never responded. I said, oh, shoot. So I went back into the DMs and looked for it and I responded to him first and then I responded to her.

Speaker 1: 56:00

Good thinking. That's an incredible story. So that's I mean that had to make you feel good.

Speaker 2: 56:07

Absolutely, and but the see the thing is that's that was the whole purpose for writing my book, not for you know, saving lives, but for making an impact, because not only did it impact him, it impact her life too because that's his sister.

Speaker 1: 56:25

Right, yeah, there's a snowball effect that goes along with that Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 56:30

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 56:31

Yeah, so if people wanted to connect with you, how would they do that?

Speaker 2: 56:36

Yeah, absolutely. You know, if you want to follow me on social media social media handle on all of these platforms, which is LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, is Kiwan Amy. That's K-I-J-U-A-N-A-M-E-Y, and you'll see a nice picture and I'll have on some shades smiling. So if you don't see me smiling with a really nice face, it wasn't me as other of you would like to book me engagements such as what I've already mentioned, or even something that you want to create new. Feel free to go to my website at amymotivationcom that's A-M-E-Y, motivationcom, and you can also find my book on there as well. Don't focus on why me from motorcycle accident to miracle. Or if you want to hear the audio version, you can go to audible or Apple books Apple books and search the same title and you'll get the book Awesome.

Speaker 1: 57:34

Now I think one of your signature quotes is and correct me if I'm wrong, I may have lost my sight, but I didn't lose my vision to help others that is absolutely correct and that's why I started my podcast to help others, and because, growing up with, I told you the story about my grandmother being blinded.

Speaker 1: 57:52

But my grandfather was a country doctor and he made house calls, and I learned from an early age that you help people just because it's the right thing to do, not because you're getting a benefit from it, and that's the thing we're both in the same boat on, that is, that you try to help others be their best and live their best quality of life, and so I really wanted to thank you for all the things that you've done, and is there any final thoughts that you have for people? That's something that you want to leave them with.

Speaker 2: 58:23

Yeah, I'll leave people with one of my favorite, because you already mentioned my quote, so I'll leave you all with a quote that helps me, keeps me from jumping down people's throats sometimes, and this is one that I picked up, actually, from a TV show back in the day, for those who aren't familiar First Prince of Bel-Air.

Speaker 2: 58:42

Oh yeah, season one. The quote goes something like this my situation does not define who I am. I define who I am, and what that means to me is don't allow people to put labels on you, because that's them reflecting on themselves of what you are, versus you telling them who you are. So always define yourself. Don't let anybody else define you.

Speaker 1: 59:17

Yeah, one of my favorite quotes is from the movie Jack with Robin Williams. Jack was about uh, had, uh, uh, where you age really fast, and he was giving his graduation speech and he looked like he was about 80 years old. But the quote that always stuck with me is he. He says make your life spectacular. I know I did so. That's kind of where I got the name of the book that I wrote to Spectacular, you know Four Strategies for Living with Parkinson's, but it's the same thing. So I really appreciate your time and I want to thank you for being on today. I think you're going to help a lot of people and hopefully people will connect with you and, you know, learn to. You know take that step and say, not why me, but you know why not, why can't I do these things? And you can go out and do those things.

Speaker 2: 1:00:06

Absolutely. Again, I appreciate you having me here, Chris, having me here, Chris.

Speaker 1: 1:00:11

Thank you very much and you have a spectacular day.

Speaker 2: 1:00:15

You do the same.