Life and Limb – Details, episodes & analysis

Unstoppable Tracy is about more than inspiration. She provides life-changing action-able results. She has a #1 Best Selling Book and is a Female Transformational Global Leader winner. She’s earned awards as an athlete, businesswoman and for her work in underdeveloped countries. She has spoken to audiences in over 40 countries and is Toronto’s most virally viewed speaker with over 30 million views in three months in 2019. Born a four-way amputee, she’s climbed the Himalayan mountains, captained a towering 110-foot tall-ship, and conquered challenges that many would never dare attempt. Unstoppable Tracy has never let limits define her and promotes to others that they need not as well.

Rob Larman lost his right leg above-the-knee when he was 14 after a friend dared him to jump on a slow-moving freight train. He ended up under the wheels. But not long after, he became one of the early graduates of The War Amps Child Amputee Program. Forty-plus years after his injury he’s still part of the “CHAMP” program, with 25 of those years as the Director of the Association’s PLAYSAFE/DRIVESAFE program. An educator and role model, Larman talks about parenting with a disability, and support for families of child amputees.

Megan Williamson is the head fitness coach at Ocean Rehab and Fitness in Vancouver. She’s also the head instructor for the North American Council of Inclusive Fitness and co-author of a resource called Breaking Barriers: Fundamentals of Training Clients with Physical Disabilities. She’s all about bridging the gap between rehab and fitness, making exercise inclusive for everyone no matter what. Megan shares strategies for achieving better health for anyone living with limb loss or limb difference.

Alvin Law says “attitude” is so much more than an overused word, and shares his remarkable story on Life and Limb, thrive magazine’s podcast. It’s a story of life without arms that he’s told to over two million people on five continents at over 7,500 events. Abandoned by his birth family at just five days old, Alvin has spent his life doing things that he wasn’t supposed to do. That sounds rebellious, and it is in his own way. His rebellion involved things like playing trombone and driving a car – with his feet. "I refused to let other people’s labels and limitations hold me back," he says. Today, he's a renowned Certified Speaking Professional, and the best-selling author of Alvin’s Laws of Life… 5 Steps to Successfully Overcome Anything! 

Prosthetics is an intriguing profession. It’s science. It’s art. And it’s social science in terms of relationships that are cultivated with patients or clients who, by way of life’s circumstance, may be hard to please at times. With over 35 years of experience with patient-prosthetist relationships, certified prosthetist Marty Robison provides some perspective on these "partnerships."

Jakob Kepka, a military veteran and amputee, is prepared for all of the risks associated with his upcoming "Hoperaising Expedition", a 900-kilometre bike ride from Krakow, Poland, to Kyiv, Ukraine, fearing Ukrainian drivers more than the Russians, he says. Jakob shares his personal motivation to pedal through the war-torn terrain as a beacon of hope for those with amputations, and similar physical and psychological challenges that he faced after the loss of his leg, to raise money to support Ukrainian amputees.

Host Jeff Tiessen chats with Canadian Paralympian Kevin Rempel. Kevin fought for years to rebuild his physical and mental health. Not only did he learn to walk again after a motocross accident that resulted in an incomplete spinal cord injury, but he has walked across countless stages sharing his story and encouraging others. A member of Canada’s Paralympic Sledge Hockey Team, Kevin speaks candidly about his journey back from traumatic injury, and his strategies to combat his struggles. Plenty of practical “get-started” advice to adopt to become a hero in our own stories.

In this first episode of Life and Limb, host Jeff Tiessen chats with Edmonton's Alexis Hillyard.

A teacher by profession, Alexis is a motivator, influencer and a YouTube content creator. She’s incredibly passionate about being her authentic disabled, queer self. She’s a rock climber, musician, mom of two, chef and much more, and she can be unapologetically silly.

Born without her left hand, Alexis knows all about limb difference, and has navigated that on her own terms since she was a child. Many know her from Stump Kitchen, her YouTube show (100 million+ views) that celebrates the unique ways we move through the world. She shares more on that, and the joy she finds in being genuine, and about her love for play.

Watch on YouTube

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• StumpKitchen.com

Motivational speaker Michael Laughlin has brought his extraordinary story of trauma, loss, love, resilience, hope and triumph to readers with his new book “Untapped 60” to encourage others to face vulnerabilities and find strength in the face of adversity. Mike is a career firefighter with Kingston Fire & Rescue. He has faced unimaginable personal and professional challenges in his life, and defied tremendous odds to twice return to his career to become Canada's only full-time above-knee firefighter.

A nurse of 40+ years and an above-knee amputee of about seven, Kirsten Woodend has experienced healthcare from both sides - practitioner and patient - and shares the irony of how little she knew about amputation, let alone what a "prosthetist" is? She's an associate professor of nursing at Trent University and a two-time Dean of Trent’s School of Nursing. Today, Kirsten is the president of the Amputee Coalition of Canada (ACC). Her current research in osseointegration and peer visiting serves ACA's primary pillar of Peer Support very well.