『Be-YOU-tiful Adaptive Warrior』のカバーアート

Be-YOU-tiful Adaptive Warrior

Be-YOU-tiful Adaptive Warrior

著者: Angie Heuser
無料で聴く

今ならプレミアムプランが3カ月 月額99円

2026年5月12日まで。4か月目以降は月額1,500円で自動更新します。

概要

Breaking through mental and physical barriers to becoming your best self, living your best life.©2021 Be-YOU-tiful Adaptive Warrior Podcasting 衛生・健康的な生活
エピソード
  • From Diagnosis to Dig, Bridget’s Journey as a Teen Cancer Survivor
    2026/04/22
    A Daughter and Mother’s Story of Resilience This week on BAWarrior Podcast, I had the absolute honor of sitting down with Bridget and her mom, Jamie, during Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, and I can honestly say this conversation will stay with me for a long time. Bridget is only fourteen, but the strength, maturity, and perspective she carries are far beyond her years. From the moment we started talking, I could feel that this episode was going to be something special. I first wanted people to meet Bridget for who she is today, not just through the lens of her diagnosis or her limb loss. She described herself as funny, athletic, and someone who tries to be outgoing, and I loved that. What stood out most to me was how clearly she wants the world to see that amputees are not limited. She wants people to understand that having limb loss does not mean your life becomes small. In her mind, amputees can still go after anything they want, and I think that message alone is powerful. Bridget found her passion and purpose with volleyball. She made her high school volleyball team! As we moved into her story, her mom Jamie helped fill in some of the earliest pieces. Bridget was only six years old when a soccer injury led to swelling in her leg, which quickly turned into tests, X-rays, an MRI, a biopsy, and the devastating news that no parent ever wants to hear: cancer. Jamie shared how ironic and heartbreaking it was that their family had already been deeply involved in raising money for St. Jude before ever realizing their own daughter would become a patient there. Within days, their whole world changed, and they moved to Memphis where Bridget underwent chemotherapy, a below-knee amputation, and months of treatment. Listening to Jamie speak as a mother hit me deeply. She talked about the helplessness of watching your child suffer and not being able to take that pain away. As a mom, I felt every word of that. She described the trauma of treatment, the fear, the exhaustion, and the emotional weight of having to stay strong in the middle of the battle. And yet through all of it, Bridget kept moving forward. Bridget’s strength was apparent almost immediately! She’s a fighter! What amazed me most was that cancer and amputation were not the end of Bridget’s hardships. After treatment, she endured broken femurs, osteoporosis, growth plate complications, more surgeries, and more recovery. But even with all of that, she never seemed to settle into a mindset of defeat. Instead, she kept looking for the light. She kept believing there would be something better ahead. For Bridget, that turning point came through sports. When she was able to get back into athletics, especially volleyball, it gave her life, purpose, and joy again. You could hear it in her voice. Sports helped her step out of survival mode and back into being a kid, an athlete, and a competitor. That part of her identity mattered, and it became a huge part of her healing. One of my favorite moments in this episode was hearing about her determination on and off the court. She made her high school volleyball team, and even after her prosthetic blade cracked, she still found a way to keep going. Duct tape and all, she showed up. That story alone says so much about who she is. She is tough, gritty, and absolutely unwilling to let obstacles define her. We also talked about her dream of making the U.S. Paralympic volleyball team, and I have no doubt she is on a beautiful path toward something incredible. She spoke about how meaningful it is to be in a space where her disability feels normalized, where she is not looked at as different, but as fully belonging. That really stayed with me. USA Paralympic dreaming What Bridget shared at the end was simple, but powerful: it gets better. Maybe not overnight, maybe not quickly, but there is always something better ahead. That kind of wisdom from someone so young is exactly why this month’s Survivors to Warriors series matters so much. This episode reminded me that warriors do not always look loud or dramatic. Sometimes they look like a fourteen-year-old girl with quiet strength, relentless hope, and the courage to keep going. Bridget is absolutely one of them. Make sure to join us on YouTube, HERE , or your favorite streaming platform for Bridget’s story and for several more Limb Loss Awareness month interviews of Survivors to Warriors. Like, Share, Subscribe today!!! Have a beautifully, blessed week and remember what a warrior you are! And as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!! Much love,
    続きを読む 一部表示
    52 分
  • When Survival Becomes Worship-Abri’s Faith Walk
    2026/04/15
    Finding Joy in Chronic Pain

    What happens when the warrior you planned to interview is not quite ready to speak, but her story still needs to be heard? Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is pivot, honor the moment, and make space for healing.

    This week’s episode was deeply special to me because it was a beautiful reminder that not every story unfolds the way we expect it to. I had planned to sit down with Abri, a young woman who has inspired me for years, but life asked us to pivot. Instead, I had the privilege of talking with her mom, Nikkole, and together we shared the story of a young woman whose life has been marked by unimaginable hardship, extraordinary courage, and unwavering faith.

    A young Abri, when they discovered Ewing’s Sarcoma.

    Even during the early struggles, humor was her super power.

    I first met Abri years ago, shortly after my own amputation. I was still on crutches, still trying to process what my future might look like, when this little girl came over to meet me in a church parking lot. She was only around nine years old at the time, and yet she was the one encouraging me. She told me I was going to be okay. I have never forgotten that moment. Even then, I knew there was something incredibly special about her.

    Shortly after my amputation, Abri made her post-amputation debut with her dance troupe, I went to be inspired… and I was!

    In this conversation, Nikkole opened up about who Abri was before cancer ever entered their lives. She was fearless, fiery, adventurous, and full of life. She was the kind of child who made her mom nervous because she was always climbing, running, exploring, and living boldly. Then came the devastating diagnosis of Ewing’s sarcoma at just seven years old. What followed was every parent’s nightmare: hospital stays, chemotherapy, surgeries, uncertainty, and heartbreak.

    What struck me most in talking with Nikkole was not only Abri’s strength, but the strength it took for her family to keep going. As moms, we so often go into survival mode for everyone else. Nikkole shared what it was like trying to hold her family together while watching her daughter suffer. She talked honestly about the crying in private, the fear, the exhaustion, and the isolation that can come when you are trying to be strong for everybody in the room.

    A teenager at heart, doing teenager things, despite being more experienced in things no teenager should have to be experienced in.

    Abri’s story did not stop with surviving cancer. She endured a failed limb salvage, chose amputation in order to get back to living, and returned to dance with the kind of determination that leaves you speechless. But even after all of that, the battles kept coming. Chronic pain, sepsis, ongoing medical trauma, and the emotional toll of living in a body that has endured so much have all continued to shape her journey.

    And yet, through it all, Abri continues to shine. Her faith is powerful. Her spirit is undeniable. She is still in survival mode in many ways, and that deserves our respect. Some stories are not easy to tell while you are still living them. Some wounds are still tender. This episode is a reminder that healing is not linear, strength does not always look loud, and having a voice sometimes means knowing when you are not ready to use it yet.

    Sharing her talents with guitar playing and song writing, using worship music to tell her story and to connect with God.

    What I hope listeners take from this episode is simple: do not give up. Your story is not over. You are more than what has happened to you. Abri is not just a cancer survivor. She is a warrior, a young woman of deep faith, and a light that is touching lives whether she realizes it or not.

    When she is ready, I know she will tell her story in her own words. Until then, this episode is about honoring her journey, her family, and the sacred space healing requires.

    Make sure to Like, Share and Subscribe so you have access to all of my episodes and especially so you don’y miss out when Abri is ready to tell her story.

    Keep moving forward, Warriors. Your story is not over, it is just beginning!

    And as always,

    Be Healthy,

    Be Happy,

    Be YOU!!!

    Much love,

    続きを読む 一部表示
    52 分
  • Finding Strength in Ohana: Faith, Family, and Healing
    2026/04/08
    Kainoa Spenser’s Road to Recovery

    Week 2: Survivors to Warriors

    April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, and this episode of BAWarrior Podcast is one that will stay with me for a long time. In this powerful and deeply emotional conversation, I sat down with Kainoa Spenser, someone whose story reflects the very heart of what it means to move from surviving to truly living as a warrior.

    Kainoa and I first connected while I was facing my own amputation journey, so having him on the podcast felt especially meaningful. What makes his story so extraordinary is not just the severity of what he endured, but the way he speaks about it with honesty, humility, faith, and wisdom beyond his years. Kainoa is a quadruple amputee, having lost both legs and most of his fingers after a devastating and sudden illness in 2017 while he was away at college.

    Meeting Kainoa for the first time at PT!

    Before everything changed, Kainoa was a young man full of curiosity, ambition, and heart. He was studying international affairs, deeply involved in school, active in sports, passionate about history and philosophy, and rooted in the values of family and community. Those Hawaiian values of ohana—that no one gets left behind or forgotten-were already woven into who he was long before tragedy struck. And in many ways, those same values became part of what carried him through the darkest season of his life.

    During our conversation, Kainoa shared the terrifying progression of his illness, from feeling sick during finals week to being misdiagnosed, flown home in critical condition, and rushed into emergency care where his health rapidly deteriorated. A strep infection had entered his bloodstream and lungs, leading to septic shock and necrotizing fasciitis. He spent weeks in a medically induced coma, and when he woke up, his life had changed forever. Some of the amputation decisions were made while he was unconscious, leaving his parents to make impossible choices. Other decisions, including the loss of his fingers, required his own consent in the middle of unimaginable pain and confusion.

    What impacted me most was not only the heartbreak of his story, but the courage with which he spoke about the mental and emotional battle that followed. Kainoa was honest about the grief, the fear, the thoughts of being a burden, and the moments where he wondered if the weight of it all might break him. He spoke about missing the things many people take for granted-interlocking fingers with someone you love, standing in the shower, feeling sand beneath your feet. Those losses are real, and he did not try to minimize them.

    But what also came through so clearly was this: healing does not happen in isolation. Kainoa’s story is a powerful reminder that community matters. Family matters. Faith matters. The right people around you can become the bridge that carries you from despair to hope. Through meeting other amputees, witnessing independence modeled before him, leaning into his faith, and receiving overwhelming support from loved ones and community, he slowly began to shift. He began to see that this was not the end of his story.

    Today, Kainoa is thriving. He finished his education, worked in high-level public service roles, became a homeowner, regained independence, and is now continuing his education at Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is living proof that resilience is built in layers, in waves, and through the willingness to keep turning the page.

    This episode is a reminder that even in our deepest pain, there is purpose. Even in the valley, there is light ahead. Kainoa’s journey is not just about limb loss. It is about faith, perspective, gratitude, community, and discovering that life can still be beautiful, meaningful, and impactful after everything changes.

    Make sure to Like, Share and Subscribe so you catch more inspiring stories, like Kainoa’s in the coming weeks.

    And as always,

    Be Healthy,

    Be Happy,

    Be YOU!!!

    Much love,

    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分
まだレビューはありません