Episode 040: One More Step: The 1% Mindset Behind An Impossible Comeback Part 1 with Brock Mealer

Purpose Driven Success with Mo Salami

Episode 040: One More Step: The 1% Mindset Behind An Impossible Comeback Part 1 with Brock Mealer

In this episode of Purpose Driven Success with Mo Salami, Brock Mealer shares his extraordinary journey of resilience, faith, and determination after a devastating Christmas Eve car accident left him paralyzed with only a 1% chance of walking again.

Brock reveals how he transformed unimaginable adversity into a mission of helping others overcome their own challenges through mindset, discipline, gratitude, and purpose. 

Listeners will discover lessons on resilience, personal growth, overcoming limiting beliefs, and taking one step forward even when the path ahead feels impossible.

Ready to perform at your highest level predictably and sustainably?

If this episode resonated with you, this is the work I do privately with a select group of clients; helping them turn intention into measurable, exponential results in their business and life.

I work 1:1 with ambitious leaders and growth-driven professionals committed to operating at an elite standard.

Request your complimentary private strategy session today. Spots are intentionally limited to ensure high-touch, high-caliber support.

Apply now at mosalami.com/freecall.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And I I do remember the accident briefly, although I blacked out for a big portion of it. But uh, but I really didn't understand what was happening. Even though I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't move my legs, I couldn't get out of the vehicle without emergency assistance. I still didn't understand what was happening. And I I really for for days and even maybe weeks, I thought that I was in this nightmare and I was waiting for myself to wake up, this really realistic nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Welcome to purpose-driven success with Most Alone. Where real journeys, mindset shifts, and strategic insights meet purpose-driven success. I'm your host, Most Salami. Every week we dive into real conversations with high-achieving founders and leaders, uncovering the mindset, strategies, and takeaways that help you define and achieve success on your own terms. Welcome to another episode of Purpose Driven Success Podcast. We have an amazing guest today, and I'm just gonna jump right in to tell you a bit about this incredible individual. Rock Mueller is a speaker and a survivor whose definition of strength was forged in a single moment on Christmas Eve 2007 when a devastating car accident changed his life forever. After losing his father and his brother's girlfriend in the crash, Brock was left paralyzed and given just a 1% chance of walking ever again. Through years of relentless rehabilitation, faith, and discipline, Brock defied the odds, eventually leading the Michigan Wolverines onto the field at the Michigan Stadium in front of over 100,000 people in an unforgettable story of resilience and purpose. Brock, welcome to Purpose Driven Success Podcast. Honored to have you on the show.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Oh, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. It's been great to have this chance to talk to you.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Awesome. So, Brock, let's start at the start and take it away. Let's start with the big picture for a minute. And just so listeners understand the weight of your story and they understand that in your words as well. If you could, could you briefly share what happened on Christmas Eve and how that moment ultimately changed the direction of your life?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

You know, I spent so much time thinking about my story in terms of how it can help other people. It's helped me so much in my healing process to think about it and look back on my life and the lessons I've learned. But in 2007, I was a college student, and ironically, I was actually going to the Ohio State University, as they call it here, and was just about to finish and had my future laid out all ahead of me. Wanted to work for the family business after I've graduated college, had big plans. And my brother, my younger brother Elliot, had just committed to the University of Michigan, which is Ohio State's biggest rival in football and in many other sports. And so it was a very big moment in our families' lives, but something that was drawing us closer together. And, you know, as we all had these big plans, my my older brother Blake was just about to get married. And, you know, we had the future light out ahead of us. And on Christmas Eve, around nine o'clock in the evening, we were coming home from a family gathering, as many families do during the holidays, and uh man ran a stop sign in our car, and something happened to us that we never ever would have expected, something that we had rarely even seen close in our circle, this terrible tragedy that had happened. And and I I do remember the accident briefly, although I blacked out for a big portion of it. But uh, but I really didn't understand what was happening. Even though I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't move my legs, I couldn't get out of the vehicle without emergency assistance, I still didn't understand what was happening. And I I really for for days and even maybe weeks, I thought that I was in this nightmare and I was waiting for myself to wake up, this really realistic nightmare. I spent eight and a half hours on the evening of Christmas Eve and in in surgery, and again, still didn't know what was happening. I remember counting down from 10. I think I got to about eight until I went to sleep, and I woke up a few seconds later. I think it felt like about the time I got to zero, counting down from 10, I woke up eight and a half hours later. And that's when I was told I had surgery on my back. I had two vertebrae completely shattered. And just based on the experience of the surgeon, it was likely I would never walk again. She had mentioned that a 1% chance of feeling my legs or moving my legs or let alone walking would be the best that I could ever hope for. And during that time, I had to come to grips with the fact that my father had passed. Uh, that was something that I think I dealt with for months that I didn't really believe I was in that denial stage. And and and I spent about a week in a hospital bed before I was able to start going into physical therapy. And, you know, as I said, we had so many plans for our future that just came crashing down in that single moment. And and then I had to figure out what my life would be, considering all the things that had happened.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Before everything changed.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

What did a normal day in your life look like and feel like? What did you think you were building towards at that time pre-Christmas Eve 2007?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

I actually I I was going through a bad breakup. I thought I'd hit rock bottom. A girl I had dated for four or five years had broken up with me, and and I was getting I was getting on the other side of it where I felt like I was building myself up. I was probably in the best shape of my life, which I think I wasn't, you know, obviously planning on this tragedy, but I think it did help me a great deal. But I was even the morning of Christmas Eve, I I went on a run, and I remember it was it was snowing lightly, it was very cold, of course, and I remember thinking to myself, it'd be a lot better not to run. I remember my dad telling me, you don't have to run, it's probably slippery out there. And I remember very vividly what I felt and breathing in that cold air and just wanting to run. And you know, I almost felt compelled to do it, and I had no idea that that would be the last time that I would run, potentially. And and so I ran that morning, but I was I was very much building myself a normal day. I I had actually skipped a quarter of college. So most days I had a pretty easy schedule that I would go to business class, I had accounting and and you know, I'd have lunch with friends down in college in Columbus and go to class again, but again, a pretty easy schedule. I also was uh playing intermittent uh or actually I had a class in hockey, a hockey class, so I always enjoyed that, but a pretty typical college schedule. But it like I said, I skipped the quarter of college, so I was back home, which I'm so grateful for, and I really stayed home because I wanted to work at the family business, which is in concrete and it's more busy in the fall. And I knew in January and February it'd be really slow, so I could go back and then I would I could always go back later and finish schooling. And so I was home with family, and normal day of that would be waking up. My dad usually would have breakfast or be up when I got up and we'd leave to work. He worked for the Department of Transportation, but I would go to work, spend my days running our ready mix plant, uh, usually filling bins, things like that. And uh usually I'd race home to get to open gym, no matter what it took, you know, if I had to pack my shoes and go to open gym. Um, but you know, my dad usually would cook dinner, things like that. And and I was just looking forward to having that kind of a schedule after I finished school, to have a work schedule, to have my own place finally. I mean, I lived with roommates in school, but you know, really get out there into the real world. And that was the plan my brother Elliott was a senior in high school, so I would get to see him a lot. And uh when we talk a lot about him, you know, actually playing for Michigan, because I had to go back down to school, and you know, I would tell him I don't think I'm gonna wear Michigan's colors down in Columbus and and things like that. But we had just a like I said, I think at that time in our lives we were coming closer and closer together, and and you know, to have something just so tragic happen, it was a uh it shook everything that I thought I knew about life and my values and and beliefs.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Of course, you mentioned that after the accident, the optimist in you said on a wake up from this, this is just a moment. After the accident, what's the first moment that you remember realizing my life is not going back to what it was and what was happening around you in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I vividly remember when I was told to never walk again. I remember the 1% portion of it, but everything after that was kind of a blur. And e even then I still believed I was I was in this nightmare. I think it really hit me when I went to the University of Michigan for physical therapy, and I went through a week, two weeks going to physical therapy, having the schedule. They would bang on the pots and pans and wake you up at 6 a.m. And physical therapy was until 8:30 or 9. So I would say thank you and roll back to sleep. And and I think that routine, you know, after the days and weeks of being in that routine of going to physical therapy, feeling miserable. Most of the time I couldn't feel my legs. Sometimes just immense pain in my legs was all I felt. That period of time, sleepless nights, staring at the ceiling, talking to God. I I really said, This is my life now. And most of the times, you know, I was praying, like asking, where are you, God? Like, and and that's kind of when it set in that that I am I'm not on the outside looking in. This isn't a nightmare. Like this is life now. At some point here, I started to comprehend. I mean, in reality, I don't think I really came to grips with it until Easter of that year, which would have been in, you know, in the spring, I I came home just for a day trip. And I remember going to my house. My room was upstairs and I couldn't go to my room. And seeing my house really, really hit me that that this was real, that there was not a waking up point for this. This is what my life is now. And seeing, you know, that I couldn't go to my room, that my dad wasn't at home waiting for me really hit me that that uh my life has completely changed.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Mentioned briefly faith and what part did faith play in the arc of your recovery?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I I just think there's so many times in life that, especially in moments like this, when when faith is most important, it's it's so difficult to see, you know, to see those those miracles, those little miracles every day. I think many times I think that God sent me people, you know, and and and those people would speak certain words, and I don't think oftentimes maybe that was necessarily their intention, but they speak certain words that really stick to me and and I would remember. You know, I had so many people that even today, now, 18 years later, I have people come tell me how hard their families were praying, and they remember that night so so strongly because they know who called them, they know who they called. And it makes me think about that time because in hindsight, I can look back and see so many moments that are miracles, and so many moments that that God was there. And like I said, in the present, when I had those sleepless nights, I felt like I was completely alone. And now looking back, I I see where God was in everything that that happened in my life, and it it did play the strongest role from the standpoint that I think most people can see from the outside or hear me talk or or read about me, and they realize that that I couldn't get through what I went through. Like there was no way outside of that unknown, outside of that faith, and outside of a higher power. And that's that's what I realized when I look back because I know so many things that were out of my control and so many things that I felt like were taken away from me, you know, opportunities and the use of my legs that were taken away. But then I see how much has been given to me and how many things happened for me that just never could have happened randomly. And certainly the accident I feel, you know, was this random event. There's so many times I go back and think, if I had just stopped to tie my shoe before I got in the car, the accident wouldn't have happened. If we had gotten in the car a little sooner, maybe didn't take that last photo before we left, if we just gotten in the car and not taking that photo, we would have been by the intersection and the accident never would have happened. But, you know, that was that one moment that was, you know, a terrible tragedy. But there's been hundreds of moments since then that happened that that shouldn't have happened that that led to something good. And and that's a constant prayer I had was that if if God could make my life into anything positive, that it would strengthen my faith only because I knew how terrible everything was, and there's nothing in my mind, nothing good can come from these terrible, terrible things without someone helping along with some without someone intervening in my life. And as I said, I've been given you know so many of those moments that it's not the life I planned, but in many ways it has become so much better and so much more purposeful.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

And of course, prayers to your father David, to Hollis, to yourself, Brock, and to your brother Elliot as well. Brock, was there a specific night or a specific moment in the hospital or during rehab when it hit you the hardest? And what did that moment actually look like? And what did that moment actually feel like?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

I would say, I mean, you know, I not that I can point to a particular day, but I do know maybe a month into rehab, there was a time where I felt like some of the complications had had settled somewhat. You know, I was dehydrated for quite a while, then I was overhydrated. I didn't know you could be overhydrated, but I was, you know, low on sodium, potassium, and those things because I was so hydrated, and then I couldn't drink for a while. I had nausea all the time, felt very sick, and uh some of those things had subsided. But I know I had some really particularly hard days of having to get out of bed again and be helped in every facet of getting dressed and getting into a wheelchair and pushed down the hall to the physical therapy. As I said, most of the time I'd feel these pains. And after about a month of of doing that, it's it really hit me that in the and especially in the middle of the night, as I said, when it's really quiet, it's dark, almost silent, which I would say there's probably not a single night that my mom or my brother Blake, my older brother, wasn't in the hospital with me and sleeping on a chair. And uh, but I still felt this just immense weight. I mean, it just felt like I was being crushed and alone. And and I do remember a few of those nights that it really weighed on me heavily, but I feel like that's when I probably had the best conversations with God, which again, I felt like it was just me talking to him and me pouring out these emotions I felt and just wanting him to lift that weight. And and I think in a like I said, a lot of ways, I think he did. I I was blessed with great nurses. I don't know how they do what they do, but they're they come in every day and they're super positive and cheery. And again, maybe not in the moment, you know, there were times where I remember one of my nurses, Sarah, that was a night nurse, had told me that her arm, you know, was really sore and I can't remember what she did. She did something and it hurt. And I remember raising up my right arm, which was in a full cast, said, Hey, my arm hurts too, you know, and teasing her that you know, that her arm hurts. But but I did realize, you know, that there's probably a lot of days that they had a bad day or had a rough evening or something going on in their life I didn't know about. But they showed up every day and had, you know, this positivity. And and so I will say on the flip side of that, like I said, it felt like this heavy weight was on me. There was nothing I could do, and and oftentimes almost like drowning, because even though I could breathe, it felt like it was such a struggle to just move on to that next moment from one to the other. So I felt like I was just trying to survive every moment. But but on that flip side, these nurses would always find a way to pick up my spirits and just make me happy without uh, which I'm sure they probably were trying, but it didn't seem like they were going out of their way, you know, to entertain me or try to be humorous. I mean, just having a positive personality, and I think I caught on to that because I was very scared because, as you said, I've had this optimistic attitude, but there were many times during the day when I didn't. I know even times when I would vomit in the morning that they'd say, you know what, you can just take a day off. And I just couldn't do it. I just did not want to, I spent too much time in that bed that first week. If I had a chance to get away from it, I would, even if I was sick. And it scared me to think I'm falling towards this negative, this negative version of myself where it's too much. I'm, you know, even if it's thrown in the towel for the day, it really scared me that if I chose that path, that would be the path I would be on. And and I just never wanted to be that person.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

That was um that was so interesting what you said there about not even throwing a towel in even for one day. Talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

You know, a lot of it does go back to thinking so much about my dad in Hollis that passed away and and that I wanted to believe that I had like there was a purpose that I was here for. And and like I said, I did not see anything. I couldn't even come up with the most fantastical idea that here's why I'm here. It just wasn't there, but I wanted to believe that there was this purpose, and and so and I will say too, I part of it is just you know, living the most of the day, knowing that I'm I'm still here and I probably shouldn't be with what had happened, but tracing that purpose. But a big part of it was just I think lessons that my dad really instilled in us growing up, in that, you know, when we make a commitment to do something, uh, that we stick to it. And as much as I like to think that we we did have those conversations, I had people that would come in and and of course be praying for me to walk again to be healed. But I did myself pray for that and I wanted to walk again. And I told myself, you will walk again, it'll happen. But most days, by the end of the day, I realized that that seemed so far out of reach that it would beat me back down and I'd be discouraged. But but my dad taught many lessons when we committed to something that we stick to it, and I think that strongly kept me going, even on those days when I was sick, even those days that uh, and I I I I talk about it a lot when I go and speak with people that you know, that I know everyone has it hard, has difficulties. But back then I looked back and say, I had this golden platter of excuses. I had the best excuse you could imagine. I had a broken right arm, you know, I had just lost my father, we'd lost Hollis, I had uh obviously my back broken, couldn't move my legs, and all these excuses. So even someone saying, you know, their car didn't start or things that happen in our everyday lives, I realized I have a better excuse, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't make any difference either way. It's still just us not showing up, and it really only hurts us because um you can't, you know, benefit from it. Um, you know, there's certainly times when um, and I did, you know, when when physical therapy was done, I was in bed, I was sleeping. You know, I'd probably try to sleep any time I could because I couldn't sleep at night. Um I think at like 3 a.m. they would come in and draw blood. And I did have a really good nurse because sometimes I would wake up early before her shift was done and I'd say, Hey, you never drew my blood last night. And she said, Yes, I did. And I never knew it because I was sleeping and she was able to just you know sneak it away. But but, anyways, there's times for rest, there's times obviously, but every opportunity I had to go to physical therapy, I knew it was only gonna be uh I mean, occupational therapy and these other things that I had. It was only gonna be like six hours of my day in total. So if I had to sleep during lunch, then I would sleep at lunch, but I wouldn't miss those times. And I just think that was something so instilled in us growing up that we wouldn't just never throw in that towel, never give up that moment.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

So when the doctors told you that you had about a 1% chance of walking again, what did you do in the days after hearing that and what changed in your behavior or your daily actions?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Well, that first week it was very frustrating because it really wasn't again, in my mind, there's not much I can do. And obviously our minds that one thing where we can kind of control things and kind of organize things and lay things out the way we want. But but I was stuck laying in a bed, they would they would tilt me to one side, you know, throughout the day. So I was kind of leaning. But I remember four or five days after my surgery, they wanted to sit me up. And I remembered the nurses helping. There's probably three nurses, one grabbing my legs, one holding my shoulders to rotate me so I was perpendicular on the bed. And then she slowly let my legs down, and and then they both, you know, helped lift my abdomen up. So I was sitting up. And I remember feeling just extremely lightheaded, a lot of pain again, a lot of pain in my legs and in my abdominal region and and sweating. I was sweating because of the effort of just moving finally. And and uh I remember taking a picture during that and I smiled for just a brief second because then that smile went away. And it was the hardest thing I had done in my life up to that point is having these nurses help me sit up again. And again, I remember this discouragement of how hard it was to sit up with help. And I wanted to walk. Like I mean, obviously you have to be able to stand on your own, but you have to be able to sit up on your own before you can walk. And and that was very discouraging to me. But I do remember also I was kind of driven by this fear of never walking again. I I felt like I would anytime I had to close my eyes and picture that last run I had, or to picture walking around campus, or to picture uh walking around my house in the yard that I would, you know, try to visualize those things, but at times that would just make me more depressed to think about what I was missing. But I knew it would be even worse if I forgot about it, you know, and moved on. But but what really changed, I think, for me was just my my mornings. I really just pushed myself to start the day out in a positive mode and kind of have a clean slate because most days there wasn't much I could carry forward to say, hey, here's a good thing that happened, you know. There's there were always pe visitors and things that were bright spots, but I didn't have any good positive like physical effects where I said, Oh, I had, you know, I twitched this muscle or or I felt this thing, or I think I felt something, you know, I didn't have those things. So I kind of clean slate, forget the bad things, and start a new day out as positively as I could. And most of those days I did have something that happened in the morning that wasn't great, whether it was feeling sick or feeling a lot of pain, or but I tried to just get through that. And like I said, I talked about these moments because there's so often I felt like I just had to get through this very next moment. And that's been a staple throughout my story, which which has been just to just to do one more step rather than say I have to walk, you know, however many steps. I just think I have to just one more step and look at it. That was a big difference, I think, too, is I I looked at things on such a micro level, such a small level of progress, versus before where I wanted to look at graduating from college, I wanted to look at getting better pay at work, or I wanted to get a promotion and have a better job at work. And I looked at very small incremental progressions instead.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

When you were in rehab, what was something you had to learn or even relearn that we take for granted? You alluded to it there. Things like standing or balancing or trusting your body again. What was would you say was something that you had to relearn yourself?

SPEAKER_00 28:06

It's really hard to even imagine it, but sitting up was, like I said, difficult. And with time I started to feel that out again, which was the balance portion of sitting up. And I remember I remember uh they would use a balloon that they blew up and they would just tap it to you, just like you were a kid again, and and you would just reach and tap it again. Well, sometimes, you know, a balloon doesn't go exactly where you hit it, and you know, I'd reach a little bit far, which by far I mean my hand would go, you know, maybe just 12 inches to the outside, and I'd start leaning and and falling. And and on one hand it was frustrating. On the other hand, it was, you know, I tried to gamify it to say, okay, I want to I want to hit the balloon more times than I did before, and I would just focus on that. But I remember the day we started with a little kid's ball, like not even a kickball, but just a little bouncy ball. And I remember one of the interns took it to throw to me, and I stood there like ready to go, and it just hit me right in the forehead. And I remember the intern thinking he was gonna be fired for this, but I I don't know why, but it was like I, you know, so focused on the balance, I didn't react to like a ball because I wanted with that, I wanted to catch the ball, you know, and then be able to throw the ball. And and so it was it was really it was hard because I felt like it it took so much focus to think because nobody thinks about sitting up, but I had to think about these muscles and my back and how to fire those muscles, and it felt almost like I was reaching out. And and of course, during the course of rehab, I try to to focus on muscles in my legs. And before I left the hospital, three and a half months out, I got to where I could reach my hips, and I could see my my hip kind of twitch. If I was laying down, I could it would kind of twitch. And usually I'd have to convince somebody, like I saw it move because I'd look up at my my hips or look down, and and I could see like it would twitch. See that that just you know it did it, but but that was uh that was a very difficult thing. But I had to relearn how to get in and out of a out of my bed, which I had my broken arm, so I had to do that with one arm, which I think most people don't realize is I mean, if you can't move your legs, it's dead weight. And so I had to lift almost my entire body with my one hand just to to figure out how can I get out of bed on my own and let alone with my one hand, you know, pull on shorts and put on shoes. You know, I I never did get to where I could tie a shoe, but with one hand that is, but but even when I did get my other hand back, having to tie a shoe again and do those things was was a real challenge. But but I will say too, it it I had to uh with the wheelchair, there was so much to learn. And I remember going to a track meet, an indoor track meet, and I went with a younger kid that was probably eight, nine years old, and he was using a wheelchair, and he said, You haven't been in a wheelchair long, have you? And and I said, Well, no, I mean a month. And I guess he had been in a wheelchair for some time, and and he told me he could tell because of the way I gripped the wheels with my arms. I was doing these little pushes, you know, and um I think he told me it was like uh you know an elderly person pushing a wheelchair, and so he was telling me, and I was also wearing gloves, which apparently he said, you'll learn that they're just too much of a pain to, you know, you you won't have the patience to put your gloves on, take your glove, you just don't do gloves. And uh, but I remember learning so much from him with with just trying to be independent again and figure out this wheelchair. That was that was a whole nother challenge. But I could go on and on about little things I learned, but but so many things that even I took for granted before and just thought to myself, well, I know how to I know how to sit up straight, I know how to reach out while I'm sitting and grab something and pick it up. And I had to relearn all of that.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Um's with a wheelchair, it it sounds like when you have socks on with sandals, so you're doing not the dumb thing apparently. Um when did you shift? Because I, you know, I'm really feeling your positivity mindset here. When did you shift from I'm trying to survive this to I'm rebuilding a different version of myself? And what triggered that shift?

SPEAKER_00 32:45

I mean, I think a big part of it was getting back home, and it wasn't immediate, like once I got back home, because again, I feel like I I struggled for quite some time when I was back home with everything that happened. I mean, the the more difficult transition was really thinking about life without my dad. My dad had lost his father when he was, I think, maybe 19, 20 years old. And uh and he took he had talked to me about that growing up from time to time. And coming to grips with that was extremely difficult. Uh, but also coming home to I had people that were so kind, they made me a roll-in shower so I could shower on my own. Thank goodness. I mean, before they finished that, when I got home, my brothers would carry me into the bathroom and set me in there, and then just leave me for an hour, and then I'd get back ready again, and they'd come in and carry me back out. And uh, and so I was lucky with some of that accessibility that I didn't have. I mean, I moved my room downstairs, and that was easy enough, but I had people help with that. I think my mind really shifted, I would say it might have been a year later when I finally went back and got my driver's license again, and I started working on a part-time basis, but it just gave me some sense of normalcy. I mean, I had quite a while doing physical therapy when my mom would just take me to physical therapy every day, and I just feel like I really was as positive as I was, I just feel like I really hadn't taken hold of this life. You know, I was still in this mode of a transition where I'm, you know, I'm sickly, I, you know, I'm I'm broken, that kind of an attitude. And once I was driving again, I was getting back to work part-time. And even at that point, there was times I mean, I would get to get out and see some friends, or I'd have have friends come get me. And we didn't know what we were doing, but they'd throw my wheelchair in a trunk and I'd get in the car and everything. It'd be, you know, we figure it out. You know, we go to a baseball game, we do things, and and I felt like the big transition, I think, was when I people from the hospital I had met and connected with and stayed in touch with really convinced me that that you can have you can have the life you want, basically, after you know, whether or not you walk again, being in a wheelchair, I think that was the biggest, you know, I talked about having this weight on me or feel like I'm drowning, and I felt like that lifted that weight. And having so many people I met that that did these crazy things, you know, like like riding a four-wheeler or um uh or or they had a really big, you know, executive job, you know, and I mean they they went out and went after whatever they wanted. And and that was just such a lift for me, such an encouragement to to really get to know these people and know that you'll be able to do what you want. It's gonna be a little maybe a little bit harder, and you have to do it a different way, but but it can be done. And I feel like that's when things shifted and I started to think in my mind, you know, what do I want to do with my life now? Who who do I want to be? You know, what do I want to go and accomplish? And I didn't have to look back at what was lost, I could look at you know the opportunities that were ahead of me.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

You mentioned that one of your father's mantras was, you know, keep your commitment and obviously it's too in good stead. Is there any memory of your father that you'd like to share? Totally optional, of course.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Yeah, I I mean I have I have a bunch. I mean, I think uh one of the ones that really makes me smile, because we we talk about this a lot. I talk about it with a lot of people that have lost a loved one, and even recently, to let them know that as many tears as I've cried, I've had much more happy tears now as his time has passed, where I feel such gratitude and such appreciation for uh the time that I did have with him and and and just how great of a father he was. But but one of my one of my favorite moments actually was I think it was definitely a few weeks uh prior to the accident, maybe, maybe just a couple weeks prior. Um I was in my room playing guitar and my dad was this huge fan of the Beatles. And I remember him coming up to my room and and knocking on the door, making, you know, he could hear me playing guitar and came in and and he sat with me and just and I knew that he he knew that I was uh hurting, that I was going through a hard time uh with the breakup that I had gone through. But uh he didn't say much that I recall, but he asked if he could play the guitar. And so I gave him my guitar and he just strummed on the guitar. He never played guitar or didn't know the notes, but you know, it was just kind of funny and kind of the personality he had as a way of you know cheering me up. He was playing the guitar really badly, so I could feel like I was playing it well, you know. But then he he gave it back to me and and uh and I just played and I'm not very good, but it was kind of one of those hobbies I think that kept me distracted, even going after the accident. Eventually I got back into it as like this little hobby to take my mind off things, but but I still remember that moment just because he he talked to me a little bit after that and just about how I feel it, and about how you know the future's what we make it, and even though it feels like the end of the world that we can always move on, you know, or we can always that something better could come along, basically. And and you know, and like I said, it made me laugh, made me smile. But now when I think about that moment with him, um of course he had no idea what was in the future, but but I think that still you know held true, and you know, it's just one of those special moments I cling to and think about when I think about him and and uh and yeah, and I do, it does it uh now it now it makes me smile.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

So the big question is Brock, what Beatles song was he trying to play?

SPEAKER_00 38:58

I would say if uh if he if he was trying to play a song, it probably um that's more of a piano song, but the long and winding road is one of his one of many, but his all-time favorites that he really liked, and and uh it's one that really makes me think of him. And and I do remember actually, because I think that's more of a piano song, but but still I think that uh you know the lyrics remind me of him, but I think that he um I don't know, just he he would have loved to have learned just you know one song. I think the one I played for him was Two of Us, just because you don't really have to move around too much. It's a lot of uh twanging. But uh but yeah, it just makes me laugh because he oh he was just the biggest, biggest Beatles fan.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

And I just want to say shame because I'm trying to think Beatles songs. I think I know two, which is Come Together and Yellow Submarine.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Oh, yeah, Beatles. Yeah, Yellow Submarine would be another great one. But you know, we got we got such uh we're so lucky because we get to watch the yellow submarine cartoon, we got to listen to all of that music growing up and to this day. My brothers and I is all will uh talk about that. And and uh actually we got a chance to go to Sierra Clapton a few years ago, and and uh you know any chance that we get to see a Beatle will go do it. And uh it's it's just a cool bond that I feel very fortunate. And and of course, you'll have a song pop up here and there, and so it's always a nice, nice memory to bring back.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

So, other than Yellow Submarine and Come Together, what are two or three other Beatles songs?

SPEAKER_00 40:39

I'm sure I would know them if you say them. Uh, Let It Be is a great one. That's one that he played um actually at his funeral. Um the uh Hey Jude was a big one he loved, of course. But I love a lot of uh a lot of their music. Um while my guitar gently weeps and something I it's funny because growing up I feel like when I was a kid, I really liked Ringo, and then I really like Paul McCartney's songs, and and then John Lennon has a great like many lyrics that I like. Um, and right now I feel like I really like George Harrison's music, and so it's just always something that I've held on to so much because I knew he um you know he listened to him growing up, and actually that's another story he had told me that um after his father had passed, that's kind of how he would would grieve as his listening to their music.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

So what a song, what a great song, let it be.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

And uh George Harrison, I think uh I've got my mind set on you. Is that George Harrison? Yeah, yeah. And uh John Lennon, of course, hey Jude, etc. So what was it like being trained in the Michigan strength environment where I saw the videos, they were pushing you, you know, like an athlete. And how did that change the way you approached your recovery on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Well, I remember it was a huge pick-me-up because LA's coach at the time, which he was a new head coach, was Rich Rodriguez, and he came to the hospital and they told me I had a special visitor, which I had a lot of special visitors, and I always was excited to see people. Um, sometimes they'd be talking to me, and like I said, any chance I had to fall asleep, I might just fall asleep and I'd say, Oh, where'd they go? Like, well, you fell asleep, and they didn't want to wake you, obviously. But but I had a special visitor and it was the head coach, which at that time he was, I remember he was at the Gator Bowl, I believe it was, with the the team when Coach Carr, who's the coach that recruited Elliot, and he was all over the news because it was this big time hire, and then he was just in my room, which I hadn't realized till after, because I called my brother to say, You won't believe who just came to visit me. And it was, you know, of course, he had met him a few times since you know, and they had met the new coach and everything. But, anyways, my brother said, Oh, are you were you guys watching the Super Bowl? And I said, No, the Super Bowl was on, and he it was like his only time he could get away, I guess, and escape to visit me. And I thought that was such a cool thing. I thought, wow, you know, this guy that is in the middle of all this media chaos came to visit me. But then about a month later, a bunch of assistant coaches came out to visit me. I mean, I think like there might have been eight different coaches, which I don't know. Back then, I guess maybe I didn't realize how many coaches there are on a foot college football team, but but I do remember meeting Mike Barwith, who was a strength coach, and he was the only one that really was talking to me at great length while I was working out, you know, since he's in that that realm of the gym and working out, even though we're at physical therapy. But I love that story just because I I do remember my physical therapist kind of telling him, hey, like just so you know, like he didn't sprain his leg or something, like this is a spinal cord injury, so he's never gonna walk again. And I remember it kind of deflated my balloon because hey, don't just let him believe, you know, that that I can do anything. But he he did not get discouraged at all. He said, So when do you want to work out? I want you to come work out with us. And like I said, that was just a couple months maybe into being in the hospital and being injured. But I spent a year and a half two in physical therapy, and I finally the doctors and physical therapists really scared. They they told you after two years, you're gonna have what you have, and just that's it. And I could move some of my leg. I mean, I had twitching and I could kind of kick my leg if I, you know, again, I would tell like tell people like you can see it move, right? And I try to move it. And anyways, I finally asked Mike if I could like he would always bug me if I went to visit Elliot, come work out. And he just told me we're gonna have to work even harder than 100%, you know, have to work 120%. And and that was the thing. I working out with them, they they did, they treated me like anyone else. I mean, I had different workouts, but they just pushed me and pushed me. And I always tell people that I I've been amazed at the number of people that want to follow that path. We started a foundation to give people that opportunity, and there have been so many people that say they want that. And you know, and I tell them it's not, you know, it's not uh a surgery or it's not a medicine that you just boom, you're better, like it's a lot of work, and and they still want it. And it's very powerful and inspiring to me that they do that. But but Mike, he pushed me. And anytime that Mike had to go do his job, he had somebody that he said, You're working with him. So he really never left me alone to just sit there. He he had somebody that was helping me along and and Do these workouts, but um, but it did. It really being with the team and just being in that gym, I felt completely out of place in my wheelchair for a while. But once I embraced it, once I felt like I was part of the team, uh, we had he had a gold medalist come in, Peter Vanderkey, those a swimmer, and he he brought in, I got to wear his gold medal, and I, you know, looked at myself in the mirror, you know, and I just remember thinking, like, look at this, you know, not that I'm a gold blind, I'm I'm training with Olympians, you know, I'm at the highest level of of sport, and I just embraced it and said, you know, it's it's not the craziest thing to happen to me. So so I embraced it, and I really feel like that drove me so much towards reaching my goals, which I had gone back and graduated college, and I always tell people too. As unfortunate as I was, I feel like I was very fortunate. I had just finished college, and so I had this just open table of what do you want to do? You know, this open scenario. Uh many of the people I meet, you know, they have a family that they need to take care of. They're maybe they're in high school and they have so many other life events that they haven't experienced yet. But for me, finishing college, it was kind of that, okay, what do you want to do with your life? And so it was all these things aligning. Uh and it just drove me so much to have Elliot and my and his teammates just embrace me. And and it actually started as a rumor that they said, oh, he's training so he can walk us out onto the field for the opening game this coming season. And uh, and then the head coach eventually said, Hey, I heard this rumor. And I said, Well, I didn't I didn't tell anybody, you know, I was gonna do that. And he had told me in the hospital that I would be welcome to to walk, to roll, to just come out with the team anytime. But he said, I want to tell everybody that you're gonna walk onto the field. And at that time, I hadn't been walking in these leg braces that were extremely painful. And I also didn't really feel like I was walking because I was holding my body up with my arms on crutches, and I would swing my entire body to take a step, you know, not necessarily moving my leg, but but I of course just said, Yeah, of course, whatever you want, coach, you know, I'll make it happen. And and uh and then feeling a sense of dread that knowing how hard it was just to stand and I was gonna walk onto the field, but um, they had a countdown clock, and I remember it was not quite a year, it was maybe 280 days to the season opener, I think, when I was when I was training, because I was training in the fall prior to like during basically in the middle of a season, I started working out with them full-time. So that made it really interesting. But I remember that's the thing, I wasn't relying on my own motivation and my own will. You know, I I had them too to lean on, so that helped immensely.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

As I mentioned in our pre-call, just before this call, I had the opportunity to watch the video and to watch you walking out onto the field.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

So well done. And after reaching that moment that everyone was waiting for, you walked out onto the field. What was the next day like? How did that feel like in reality moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Well, I will say I had to walk out of the field, I had to touch this banner that so many players had had jumped up and slapped on their way and onto the field. And it was so cool because it was just a symbolic, you know, victory to to walk over and touch that. And I always tell people it's like one of the easiest things. I felt like I floated to it because I knew how everything I had done for almost a year and and really three years, almost three years up to that point since my injury was leading up to this. And as soon as I touched it, I felt like I could I could hear and I could see again, and it was like I actually could use all my senses again, like I did it. And I felt like it was a huge healing moment for my family. But even going, I mean, immediately after that, and including the next day, it was surreal. I mean, it really felt like that was a dream, you know. I felt like I was living this nightmare, and then boom, like now I'm in this dream where, you know, I was like, I hope I don't wake up because it's it's so cool. And and you know, the moment I thought my purpose was to walk again, which it was. It was okay, we're gonna we're gonna put this goal out there, we're just gonna do everything we can do and leave the rest to God that you're gonna walk again. And I touched the banner, and I think part of me was lying to myself to think that I can retire once I do that. I can just retire and just relax. And uh, but that next day, what I realized is I didn't want to. I I kind of was just open to every possibility to think if I could do that, I had just graduated from Ohio State and here I was getting a standing ovation at their biggest rival's stadium. Like if that could happen in my life, you know, what else could it possibly happen? Because I don't think I had set any crazy ambitious goals like that ever. And it happened. Like I had other goals that didn't, you know, come to fruition. I actually was doing a master's program after I graduated from Ohio State while I was getting ready to walk out on the field, and I never did finish that, and uh, I or at least the public affairs degree. I did go back and I did my MBA at Michigan, but there were things that I made that didn't necessarily finish or goals I set that didn't happen, but that was by far the most outlandish, craziest goal. So that next day I just was floating and uh and thinking about my future. And and I don't know if it hit me immediately, but I really thought to myself that obviously this is a prayer answered. And I think it was more than just one prayer answered. I think it also was about that purpose because, like I said, I was just trying to walk again, and Mike had always told me that I didn't owe him anything, but I said that I'll have a gift that God will give me and I should share it with everyone. And after I walked out and I realized how many people were excited, you know, they were excited for me, but they told they many of them would tell me their their own struggles and their own goals and ambitions and how much like I can, you know what, I can do that. I can get over this difficulty after seeing you do that. And then I realized, you know, that my purpose was much more than just walking out onto a field or overcoming the injury. And in a big way, I I also realized that the people I talked about before that used wheelchairs and told me that if if you're in this wheelchair the rest of your life, you can do anything you want to do. And if you get out of the wheelchair, you'll be able to do the things you want to do. I think that lifted off the pressure because I think uh for for people I meet, I always want them to know, and it doesn't, you know, the wheelchair could be anything in your life, but just because of this thing doesn't negate everything else to say you can't do this if if you can't get over that. Like you can you can still you know make things happen. I think it took, you know, we put too much pressure on ourselves that if I can't have X, I can't, you know, reach Y or whatever it is. And I feel like in my own way, I thought to myself, if I if I could walk again, I could help people. If I could walk again, I'd be more confident or any of those things. And the people I've met, including myself, like I said, when I was working out in that gym, you know, I had some very positive, and I feel like things happened fast comparatively for other people. Like, I mean, within a month, he had some muscle that was twitching that wasn't before, and and so I'm very blessed by that. But I didn't walk and then have all this confidence. I had the confidence before, and then the walking came later. And and I like to think that whether the walking came or not, I would have had that confidence I had just because, like I said, I embraced you know the company I was in, the team I was on. I embraced the people that that invested in me and the people that believed in me. And and so I knew great things could happen, but but yeah, to answer your question, that next day I was on a cloud and the world was just in you know in front of me to say, what do you want to do with your life? And I realized how much I could help people by doing something I was afraid of, which is speaking in front of groups, but also realizing it's a heck of a lot easier speaking in front of a group than standing out of a wheelchair in front of 113,000 people live and on TV and walking 60 yards like that, that uh that I could accomplish anything and have the courage to do anything I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

Thank you for listening to Purpose Driven Success with Most Alone. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. It's one of the best ways to help others discover the show. You can find links and resources in show notes at our website. And if today's episode inspired you, check out one of our other insight-filled value-packed episodes. Next week we'll have another amazing guest. So stay tuned for even more real stories and actionable insights. Work on your mindset, work on your skill set, and always move in the direction of the result you want before you see the result you want. And until next time, do the best you can consistently. Ciao