Unstoppable Attitude: How Jay Setchel Defies the Odds

Today’s episode dives deep into the extraordinary journey of Jay Setchel, a living testament to the power of resilience and a "never quit" attitude. Despite facing seven injuries and undergoing 73 surgeries, Jay has refused to be defined by his challenges. Instead, he embodies the belief that with the right mindset, anything is possible. His experiences, from serving as a U.S. Marine to overcoming immense physical hurdles, serve as a powerful reminder that our attitudes shape our realities. Join us as we explore Jay's inspiring story and discover how you can harness a similar spirit of determination in your own life. The discussion kicks off with the introduction of Jay Setchel, a remarkable figure whose life has been anything but ordinary. With a staggering seven injuries and 73 surgeries, Jay defies the odds, showcasing an indomitable spirit that inspires everyone he meets. His journey began on a farm in Illinois, where he learned the values of hard work and perseverance from an early age. Growing up, phrases like 'if there's a will, there's a way' filled his ears, instilling a mindset that would serve him well throughout his life. Despite facing significant physical challenges, including paralysis, Jay maintains a humorous outlook. He emphasizes that every setback is merely a setup for a comeback, a mantra that resonates throughout the episode. As Jay shares his experiences, he reinforces the idea that one's mindset can dictate success, urging listeners to cultivate a 'never quit' attitude. Whether it’s about overcoming physical limitations or navigating life's hurdles, Jay's story is a testament to resilience, inspiring us all to push through adversity with laughter and determination.

Takeaways:

1. The journey to success often begins with a strong mindset and a can-do attitude.
2. Jay Setchel's story reminds us that resilience can lead to unstoppable success, despite life's challenges.
3. Every day offers a new opportunity to pursue your goals with passion and determination.
4. Living life to the fullest means embracing every moment and never losing sight of your dreams.
5. Attitude plays a crucial role in overcoming obstacles and achieving personal success.
6. The power of visualization can be instrumental; envision your goals as if they've already been achieved.

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Transcript

Recording Started

Introducing Jay Setchel

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Unstoppable Success Podcast, where we spotlight visionary leaders who have mastered the art of growth, purpose, and powerful connections. I'm your host, Jacqueline Stollminger, connector, high performance coach, and creator of the Leap to Your Success Framework in Two Steps TS. Each week we dive into bold insights, real conversations, and powerful strategies to fuel your growth, deepen your relationships, and ignite transformational momentum. And why? Because you were meant to be unstoppable. Now let's leap into the podcast. Well, hello everybody, and welcome to another amazing episode of Unstoppable Success. This is the podcast where we hear from incredible leaders, people, professionals who have had amazing success, who have great insights, tips, and things that you can take away to put into your life so that you can have unstoppable success. And today I am so excited to welcome on this show Jay Setchell. Let me just tell you a little bit about Jay because you're gonna probably like if you're listening to this, your mouth is probably gonna be open. And if you're driving, please do me a favor and don't crash. Um but Jay, okay, seven injuries, 73 surgeries have left him almost paralyzed, but he has never stopped. He has a can do attitude. He is, you know, and I should say thank you for your service. Um, he served as a US Marine during Vietnam. So again, thank you for that service. And you know, along with being in there in the service, he um was with GTE, he retired, but not never done working, always moving, and he is all about never quitting. So let's bring him on so you can hear all about how he's his never quit attitude has helped him do so many great things and have unstoppable success. So welcome, Jay.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Thank you very much, Jacqueline. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, so okay, so we were talking before we hit record. Um, and I'm I'm truly amazed by I mean, obviously, what you have been through. And so many people don't have that get up and go. So I'm I'm curious, before you tell us a little bit about your story, where do you think the get up and go came from? Because you had to have the get up and go before surgery one.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Sure. Um I uh from my youth, from from from being being raised on the farm and from stepping on nails and having nails go through your feet or doing this and doing that. And and just, you know, I I was I was very, very fortunate, Jacqueline, to to be raised by some very good parents. Uh I had great grandparents. My dad's parents lived across the pasture from us. I was born and raised on a big working farm up in north central Illinois. But it it was you always heard words like, if there's a will, there's a way. Um, you can do anything you want, you just have to put your mind to it. You can you can become anything you want, you just have to put your mind to it. You know, uh that was inch by inch, it's a cinch, you know, small steps. You know, the journey of a thousand miles starts out with one one step. I I can't do that anymore. I have to use my power wheelchair now, but I hope the battery doesn't die. But but you know, I and you gotta look at it with a little humor, but I've just I I I I think being raised on the farm and understanding that you've got winter, which is a dead time, but that's when you repair stuff or work on stuff or there's other things to do. With springtime, you have to plant. There's a cycle of life, and you see success in the cycle of life in planting of the crops growing, of the cattle you've you you're feeding out. And I I I I just I've just never I've never understood I I don't understand quitting. I I mean I don't I can't spell the word. I can't. Right. I I I don't.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Right. Well, and you know, and so and and I think something that is really important, and I think, and I want to make sure that the listeners understand this, you know, growing up and having people say those things, right? Say it, you know, and you know, it you can do anything you want, you know, put your mind to it. How do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time, journey, right? All of those, whatever name you're saying. But but your experience on the farm was living pretty. So, you know, like those living those because you could be you could be in a in a um, you know, like I can I can remember numerous times where my where those some of those things were said to me, but it wasn't but I didn't see it happening because it wasn't it wasn't something visible in in my experience. It was like it was word salads, right? Right? So very different is you know, if you say it, believe it, do it, right?

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Well, uh that exactly, because I know some people that have heard those words and they've gone the opposite way.

unknown 5:39

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

They they just don't open their ears, they don't, they don't try. But I wasn't, I guess in a way, I wasn't I I recognize the fact that we had a lot of chickens and we had to pick up the eggs, and then we had a lot of cattle. And if you don't, if you don't get up before dark to be out to feed the cattle, you know, they they don't gain weight. They don't they they they'll die if you don't feed them, you know, if you don't get the crops and if you don't get the crops out. So there was always a reinforcing factor in that. So I like you just said, you know, you can hear the words, but unless you put it in action. And I started, you know, I it's like feeding calves when I was five years old with a nipple bucket and mixing your own your your powdered milk with the warm water and dragging it through the snow or dragging it through the grass in the summertime. You had to do it. That was up to you. It's your responsibility. So it if you learn the responsibility and the results of those actions, that's the big thing. It's just you know, it everything, it's discipline and it's consistency.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

It's just constantly, constantly driving it. Yeah, so yeah.

The Power of a Never Quit Attitude

SPEAKER_01 6:49

So like so now take us to, you know, you you're in the Marine Corps, you end up having surgeries, not all from that, um, but you have this, you know, hearing you speak, I mean you just you really have this never quit attitude. And that starts with your mindset. So talk about you know what it has been like to, you know, to you know, defy what people thought would have happened to you.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Um I I think some of it's what you want to have happen to yourself. Don't worry about what somebody else wants. I mean, when I broke my neck, they told me I'd never move again. They told me I'd never move my shoulders down. And my goal was to walk. And they said you'll never walk. I mean, I it I can I've got proof. I've got written proof, documents that they had like a what they call a round table, you know, five months into rehab or six months into rehab. And they said, you know, uh one of the three things that comes to my mind is they said that we're concerned about what Mr. Setchell's gonna think of or how he's gonna react, how his mental state is gonna be when he really realizes he is never going to walk. Well, that was at five or six months. I I hadn't gotten that far, but I was certainly on that on that mission. I mean, the prayer was there, my belief was there, my mind was there, I could see it, and I wasn't gonna quit. But they don't understand what what other people are capable of because they're not that person.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Right. You know, I've you hear you you're living proof, obviously, of mind over matter, right? So bless you. You know, which is so many times people say you you know, the power of our mind and what the mind can do is is just unbelievable. And you and mindset is everything. And and if you believe it and you, you know, if you if there, you know, the if there's a will, there's a way. But if there's a will and you have that will, you can do it. And I've I've seen it with other people too who have either been injured or some, you know, something has happened, and they they will it to happen because their belief is so strong.

The Power of Mindset and Attitude

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Yes, yes, 100 100%. And I I I I guess let me back up a little bit here. Number one in the in the in I I like I've got a Marine Corps sweatshirt that I it's it says the truth. I mean, I've had it for I don't know, a long time. It's pretty well worn out, but it says attitude is everything, United States Marine Corps. Okay, well, attitude really is, and and you know, the old the old word or the new word is mindset. I mean the mindset kind of came out like uh maybe 20 years ago, and it's it's to me it's really attitude, but uh I I I got a great example of that, if I if I if you don't mind my sharing it, go ahead. And and where it comes from is the mindset, and I had first heard this, the first time I heard it was uh probably 40 years ago, and I was on the east coast of of uh the United States, I was uh in Georgia and near Sea Island, Georgia, in that area. And there's the the beaches are miles long and they're beautiful, and they had these little sail carts that you sail sailed up and down the beaches with the with the sail up in the air on the like bicycle tires, you know, and and it was it was like it looked like hey, that's gonna be cool, you know. And they had one for two people, and I was had enough paralysis, they helped me in one, and and we took off and we hit this guy sets the sail and we go down the beach. Well, we're cruising down the beach probably, I don't know, 50 miles an hour. And it's like this is wow, it's beautiful. It's the wind's blowing off the Atlantic, it's a beautiful day. And in the sp in the distance is a little spat, and the spat's getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Well, it's another sail cart going northbound while we're going southbound. And so we pass each other about 50, 60 feet apart, but they're doing 50 miles an hour as well, give or take. So we pass each other at a hundred miles an hour combined speed. And it's like, I'm glad we didn't hit, you know. I mean, that'd have been my luck, right? You know, no, I'm serious. And so, anyhow, but I I started thinking, how in the heck are we going southbound with a wind that's blowing west in the same kind of vehicle, little sail cart, of another one going northbound? It just didn't make any sense. And I'm not a sailor, I don't, you know, I don't put this two and two together. And uh we get down to the end, we're kind of turning around and he finagles the sail a little bit, and now we're going northbound, just like the guy did before. Well, duh, all of a sudden I realized it's not the wind, it's not the cart, it's not the sand, it's the set of the sail. It's the set of your sail. So if you set your sail correctly, you'll go in the direction you want. Henceforth, the word mindset. So I see that back before it became a word. To me, it was attitude, but it was the set of your mind. Where do you want to go? If you really believe it, if you truly have the faith that you can do it, you just gotta do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

I like the thinking. We have a new word. I think it's gonna be called mind tude. Is what mind tune, like attitude, mind tude, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Mind tune. Oh, don't start so I don't, I don't have, I don't want to go get a new sweatshirt, you know. So you might you might be onto something though. You never know. I mean or attitude set.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Right. Well, you know, it's because everybody talks, it is, everybody talks about mindset, but really mindset's attitude. It's like where what is your attitude? Where where is it? And I actually I always like the word attitude almost like a little bit more because attitude it to me encompasses your full body versus mindset is just here. Your attitude is what you embody within your your head, your heart, and your and your and your soul, right? You know, how you want to be. So um, you know, I I love that. Now, your you know, as we were talking before, all of your surgeries have not necessarily been because of just one accident, it's been because of other things. Multiple accidents, multiple and you know, again, and and it comes down to your attitude. I mean, some people would be like, oh my god, like woe is me. But in some ways, you you not that you make a joke out of it, but you find the humor in it.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Well I I I'll I'll share this because it kind of it kind of brings it into focus because my broken neck was the really the hardest one to get over, because though I spent a year in the naval hospital from the Marine Corps, and and when I in that time I died, and they got me back, I you know, there's an old saying that kind of goes with that, and that is sweat dries, blood clots, and broken bones heal, suck it up. So even though I was in a coma, even though they put me back in a coma, I had 32 facial fractures, I had my head caved in, you know, my left foot turned backwards, you know, femurs broken, you know, all this stuff, third-degree burns. The thing is, they will heal. Time will heal those wounds. They may not be perfect, and you may have scars. And I've I posted something that scars are my medals, whether they're some are inside and some are outside, but I wear them with pride. You know, do not underestimate me because I've overcome things that you can't possibly imagine, and that's true. So I I I I look at that um from the I don't know. I I lost the question now. I I was sitting going kind of pumped on something.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

No, but it it but you're you're never you've never let an accident or something derail your your passion for life.

Overcoming Adversity and Finding Humor in Life

SPEAKER_03 15:49

No, and and to use this, and you're right on the spot, you're spot on, because it's like when when the when I got hit by the drunk, and the drunk got thrown out of his pickup truck, didn't have a seat belt on, got run over by his own truck and killed, and I rolled several times down in a ditch. A car saw it that was quite a ways away. We're all in the middle of the cornfields of the middle of nowhere, and they realized I was still in the car, so they went to get help in the little town, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I, you know, I remember the noise to this day. It was terrible, and the rolling and the stopping and the glass in my mouth, and and finally leaving my body because of because of I I bled out. But it was like, holy crap, you know, I got it. What am I gonna do? How can I get out of this? Well, I I you know, you fight it, you know, it's not, I'm not gonna let it go. And you used the word woe is me before. And then I I my my parents came and visited me after I was about three, three and a half months in in rehab from my broken neck. And I didn't break my neck until I was 31 and a half. So I died at 19, at 23, and then 31 and a half. And and um my mom, I wasn't having a good day, or I wasn't having the best day, or something, or I had a bad attitude, you know. And um my mom said something about, you know, is everything okay? And I and I and I kind of like, why me? And it wasn't why me because I broke my neck. I didn't mean that at all. It was why me? It's like this first time. I mean, when I was five days, five, six days after I turned 17, I was on a feeding auger coming down a silo, and my grandfather kicked the feeding auger on and then off, and I was getting ready to jump off with the feeding auger. But what happened was my foot slipped when an auger turned. I broke my right ankle, cut my boot open, cut my leg open. But if he hadn't turned it off, I'd have been ground up like sausage. I'd have just been hamburger at 17. So I was lucky then, you know. So it's just like, oh my gosh, here we go again. But I told my mom, I said, I mean it like, you know, when's this gonna quit? When's this gonna quit? This is getting old, you know. I mean, 19 for a year, 20, 73 for months, 81, I break, you know, it's like I got 50, 60, 70 years I want to live yet. I'm got how many more times do I have to go through this? You know, and she said, Jay, you know, the the the thing is that you did it. And it was hard truth, but she said, you're the one that jumped in the pool. Yes, somebody was gonna throw you in, and I should have let them throw me in, but I instead I jumped in the pool, landed on my feet, had a compression fracture, broke my neck in four places, and I drowned. So she said, You jumped in the pool. It was God that helped pull you out. It was God that spoke to that young lady that finally jumped in when you were turning colors after you had drowned. It was God that spoke to that young man that jumped in to help that young lady. And that kind of gave me a different perspective. And I I just I do, I have a passion for life. I'm gonna live. I am gonna live till God takes me permanently. And and when he does, that's his time. And one thing that people don't realize, the most precious commodity or asset that we all have is time. And people don't understand the balance of time. They can check their balance of their checking account. Get it out, go online, go and do it on my cell phone. But when you were conceived, God gave you 6,432 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes and seven seconds, and he's gonna take you. But we don't know how to, we can't check that balance. So live every day like it's your last. Live every day with passion, live every day with I can accomplish that. I'm gonna do that, I can do that, I know I can do it, I have the faith I can do it. So it's it's it's in my head. I can't get it out. I'm serious when I say I don't know how to spell the word quit or stop or don't. And and it gets me in trouble sometimes. Ask my wife, you know, quit arguing. I can't do it, I can't stop, you know. You know, I mean, but I gotta look at some things with humor, right? Because if you don't look at things with humor, I don't look, I don't think I'm disabled. I really don't. I'm differently abled, but I've got a mind. It's like people say, why don't you take notes? Well, you know, we're I I I I I'm gonna presume you're old enough to remember that half your mind used to be taken up by phone numbers and people's names. What happened? What happened to that part of your mind? Well, my mind is stuffed full of conversations, of numbers, of of data. And you know, because they say what we only use like a small percentage of our brain. Right. And so instead of me trying to scribble notes that I can't read later and I can't type for anything, I I I remember stuff. I just and my memory is like clear and it goes way back. And now I don't recall some things like hitting the tr hitting the semi when the when when they when he pulled out in front of us and all that. I that I don't remember. Some things God just takes out of our heads so we don't relive it, I guess. But but I just have a passion to to you know, I thank God for every day, every day, and I trust him that he's gonna give me a good day tomorrow. And the first day I wake up that I'm not in pain, I'm not hurting, and I Don't have to pull my legs out of bed with my hands or my arm or something, I'll probably know I'm dead. You know, be you know, and I'm not, and I'm saying it with as a joke, but it's it's true. You know, so I really get passionate about the fact that live your life for for someone else. I I've always believed the more people you help, the better person you become. I think that that's a it's a neat thing in you, you know, in the little term, if it is to be, it is up to me. You know, you have to do it. I can't do your job, you're not gonna do my job, you know. And like you said before, some people maybe they don't, they just like they will themselves to better. And that is very true. The strength you have in your mind, in my in my mind, anyhow, or that I think and in my thought pattern is that you can do that. You truly can. Because why is it that some people equally talented, equally this, equally that, equally that, or apparently appear equal, right? One person can't do it at all. None. And the other one excels at it. Same training, same person, same parent, same words, same everything. Why? I I don't have an answer. So go ahead.

The Power of Attitude

SPEAKER_01 23:26

It's I truly believe it ends up being as you as what we were talking about, is it's all in your attitude and how you feel about things. Do you do you look at things as being done unto you or being and done for you, or you're just gonna do it for yourself, right? And there's and there's a very different, you know, we you can take the victim mode, like, oh, I can't get it done. Like it's oh, you know, or you can take and say, you know what? I'm gonna help people along the way, and I'm gonna go after it, and I'm gonna go and get it, and this is what I'm gonna do. And I'm waking up every day, and this is I'm going, and I'm getting shit done, and I'm gonna be unstoppable. I mean, and that's what you have. I mean, you are you have that go attitude, and I think that's you know, listeners, I think this is the biggest thing. If you could, you know, besides the fact that that Jay has a great book, like, you know, never quitting, right? Like I really, really, really think to yourself, like what do what can you do every day to to move yourself and be inspired by yourself so that you can actually be unstoppable and never quit? It it's it's it's it starts in our heart.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

I would say that I've said it a million times. Between your heart and your brain, I kind of went backwards here, between your heart and your brain.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Heart and your brain, right?

The Power of Faith and Vision

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Yeah, I you know uh that's where it's at. I mean, how much heart do you have? You hear that, you know, and it's like I I can't uh I don't feel bad for people that can't do it. And that may be wrong to say, but it's it's you if you do, you're gonna feel bad for a lot of people. And that's not gonna help your mental attitude because some people just aren't. It doesn't matter what. It's just like employment. There's a there, whether there's jobs to fill or jobs not to fill or whatever, some people aren't gonna work. Even when we if everybody can have a job, everybody, some people are gonna elect not to work, so they're gonna elect not to perform, they're not gonna succeed, they're not gonna push forward, you know, and it's it's uh it's it's it's just it's a heart for passion, and and I and I genuinely mean that. I I love sharing, I love helping, I love I love it, and I have a passion for doing it. And that's just it's a I guess because I've overcome so much and I've been through so much, you know, and or whether I've been starting businesses or helped corporate solving problem solving or do I it's it's kind of like a I also say it's in my book, I put put put it's it's not always don't ask why, ask why not. You know, it's like when somebody tells you, oh Jacqueline, you can't do that. You know, this is gonna happen. Why not? Who are you telling? You're telling me, you're telling me, no, no, no, no, no. You got it wrong. And and I think that what you just asked a second ago about how do you do that every day, or you in in passing, you were saying that, it's when it becomes part of you, just like your skin. You can't take your skin off every day. When you wake up, it's got the skin still on you. Now, that doesn't mean because I think throughout our life, our skin changes two times over or something, they say, you know, you completely lose all the cells in your whatever they call your skin. I forgot the medical name. And but you change a little bit, but you don't change enough. And you can uh it just gets back to the attitude and and attitude and heart, attitude and heart. If you've got it, you can power through things that nobody, there's nothing out there, and and God's with you. I truly believe that you have to have the faith. And you know, it's like some people say, I hope I can do this. No, there's a difference between hope and faith. You know, I hope that chair can hold me, I hope I can sit in that chair, I hope that chair is comfortable, or whatever. I'm just using a chair and I don't have a chair sitting there, but but you know, but but you know, if you have the faith that you can do it, or getting back to being a Marine or being in the military, I hope I can hit that target, or being a hunter, I hope I can hit that deer, you know, if you're hunting or whatever, you know, or I know I can. And that sets your ability to do it.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

You know, listeners, to have that unstoppable success, I want you to know that. Like that is something that is so incredibly important. And just say you are going to be able to do it. If you're aiming for a target, I'm gonna hit it. If you are going for the hole in one at the golf course, I'm gonna get the hole in one. If you're going down a mogul field, right, skiing, I'm gonna hit all the moguls and I'm not gonna fall, I'm not falling on my tush. Right? Just tell yourself that and and you it it sets a tone and it lets your brain know, or or also let your like if you are going after, you know, for you, it's you know, it could be uh instead of saying I'm going to be walking, you tell yourself I'm walking. You know, it's right, like you you put yourself in there in the present tense.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

You envision it.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

You totally envision it, a hundred percent. When when many in 1980 oh god, I what year I don't remember, Mary Lou Retton got a tent. First time an American woman ever hit a tent in gymnastics or doing what she was in her vault or whatever it was she did. Okay, and I was with a gentleman that was a a a national speaker um and since passed away several years ago, and we were we'd been having a conversation and Mary Lou Rettin and I met Larry Mary Lou Rettin at our church oh about 20 years ago, too, later. And uh, but when I met Mary Lou Rettin the first time, and Lewis asked her, he said, What were you thinking before you did the vault that you scored the tenant? What were you thinking? And and her answer was something I had been doing for years, but I'm older than she is, and so it doesn't. But it's she said, I close my eyes and I thought and I saw and exactly every step, every breath, every vault, every time I touch something, I saw it in my mind. When I open my eyes, I did it. And I think that's it. Envision it. Have that vision. You know, you you talk about people that have a vision or they're visionary. Visionary means you're thinking about it, but vision is the true depth of it. And I I envisioned if to use the word again, myself walking way before I ever did it. I knew I was gonna do it. And that's what there I have another little story I can tell, but it's it's it's it's kind of funny, but it's kind of it it's it's it's up to you.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Go share it, please.

Reflections on Rehabilitation and Achievement

SPEAKER_03 31:28

Okay. All right. Um when I was Sister Kennedy Institute in Minneapolis, is where I went through rehab, which is like Craig at Denver. So if any of your listeners they're familiar, they may be familiar with it. It's a very, very big and very prestigious place. Uh I mean, as far as accomplishments. And I was in a room with three people. Well, there were three of us, and there was a gentleman that was a rock climber, and he had fallen down rocks, he was brain damaged real bad, broken neck real bad. He was, and he could grunt and groan. There was another gentleman to my left named Bruce. Bruce was uh, I was 31 and a half, 31, he was probably about 19, 20, and a bale of hay had fallen out of a bar and it hit him in the head, broke his neck. But when I got there, uh he'd already been in there in the hospital or at the rehab center, and he was able to move his legs a little bit and move his feet a little bit, and could even wiggle a toe. And I, you know, I mean, within a month, I'm telling, dude, you're gonna walk out of here. You're out of here, man. You know, and they had a certain kind of tractor, and I gave him a hard time about. I just I razzed him, I really I harassed him, you know. But but but but we had a good time, you know. I was like, you know, and then Jeff, the guy across that had the brain injury, all he could do was kind of grunt and groan and stuff, and and he would laugh at us, you know, and and yeah, but anyhow, so one day, this is like three months later, and I know Bruce is walking. I mean, I I'm so convinced. Anyhow, a guy comes walking into the room and he's got a white coat on, and you know, I I guess he's a doctor. I don't know, I've never seen the dude before. And he comes walking in and he's looking at the Bruce's chart back when they had paper charts at the end of the bed, you know. And and I said, Hey doc, I said, you know, Bruce is gonna be getting out of here probably maybe a month, six weeks at the most. He's gonna be out of here, he's gonna walk out. And a guy looks at it and all this and that, and you know, and and he says, Oh no, he says, I just looked at his chart, he's not gonna walk. I said, Pardon me? You who are you to say he's not well? I'm looking at I know the evidence. I mean, I'm looking at so make a long story short, I I it it pissed me off. I mean, I was just like, oh my God. And my left arm was working pretty good. So I reached down, I took the tube out of my urinal, took my urinal that was half full, and I just chunked it at him. I threw it across, I threw it across the room, it bounced off the end of the bed, got urine all over this guy, and you know, and in on the wall, I, you know, it was well, half a urinal. And so the guy left, of course, all in a huff. And about two hours later, there's a two doctor, there's two people come in. Dr. John Bauer was my doctor, and uh another gentleman named Robert A. McDonald. Robert A. McDonald was the director and CEO of Sister Kenny Institute. He was the director, he was the man. And you never saw him, but he was the guy. And he proceeded to tell me that I was gonna have to leave Sister Kenny Institute and find another place because of the actions and what I had done and said. And I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, I'm an old jar head. I didn't tell him that. You know, I mean, I'm I'm an old Marine, I'm not taking this crap, not even from him. That's bullshit. And so I told him, I said, wait a minute, you don't know the whole story. So I reiterated what happened, and Bruce 100% concurred. He had no problem, you know, talking or anything. And here's Jeff across the room. Jeff was a brilliant guy, brilliant young man. And he's go, you know, he's grunting his approval of what I'm saying. So two days later, I hear from my charge nurse, Dorothy Bright, the lady you know, in charge of the nursing. I said, What whatever happened with anything? I mean, I haven't heard anymore about getting out here. She said, they let the guy go. He was an intern, and he had no responsibility telling anybody they can't walk. You know, you were right. You were exactly right. Well, kind of as an ironic twist to the all of this, I was the first. I finally get out of the hospital, and it's the next spring. And the next spring, I get a couple of phone calls. Uh, one it's late in the afternoon from Sister Kenny Institute about this award. And I'm going, like, you know, I think it's guys from GTE playing with me, right? So I hang up the fellow phone. And my wife takes it the next call, and she says, Jay, they want you to, you're they've elected you as patient of the year. And they had never had in 86 years, they never had a patient of the year. And 44 years since I broke my neck, 44 years last July 4th, they've never had another one. Okay. They've had people for like hands or arms or legs or you know, little pieces, but they had nobody else. They had one person, it was me. And they have me back up, and uh my my plaque sitting over here, uh, and it says for exceptional rehabilitational achievement and attitude on the plaque, and at the bottom, it's signed by the man that presented it to me. You know what his name was? Robert A. McDonald, the same guy that was gonna throw me out. He's gonna throw you out, and when he presented it to me, I told him up front in front of everybody, there was probably three, four hundred people out there. I said, Can you say karma, sir? Because you were gonna throw me out for something that you didn't, you know. And we had a little talk off microphone, and uh and he said, I can't, but when I was there, Jacqueline, one thing that I did a lot of, I I went when I went to PT, when they pushed me to PT or OT, and or I eventually I got to where I could kind of push myself. It took me a long time to get there, but I would stop in rooms. There was there weren't a lot of people, about 60 people. And I would stop and I visited these two young guys, for example. Excuse me, and they had broken backs from they were drunk drivers, they were in an accident, they broke their back, and all they could do, no matter what you talked to them, was talk about getting out of the hospital, getting home, and getting drunk again. Well, I'm not gonna spend my time, I'm not gonna waste my time with people thinking like this. So I, the next room down, oh, there's a young lady in their name, Jacqueline. Okay, well, Jaclyn was skiing and and she broke her neck on the 4th of July. Oh, well, what a what a coincidence. I broke my neck on the 4th of July jumping into a swimming pool. So I talked to Jacqueline. Hey, how you look like you're doing pretty good. You got a pretty smile, you know. Let's let's what what do you are you are what are your goals? You know, and I would ask them outright. And then they most people didn't have goals, they couldn't envision it. And I would tell people, you know, hey, let's set a couple of goals. You know, I saw you in PT before, I've seen you over there, and I'm gonna come over, I'm gonna have Bill push me over, and we're gonna we're gonna see if we can't get you up on the parallel bars and see if you can walk or whatever. I, you know, a million different things. And and and I did that for months. I would stop and see people, and and and people moved on and people progressed, and people did things they never thought they could do. And I think that's why it says exceptional rehabilitational achievement. That's on my part, but attitude. And the attitude is always help other people. Yeah, you know, I mean, I wonder what happened to some of those people, how they live their life. I mean, they never expected me to live, much less walk. And now I have an opportunity to go up and speak to them next year on my 45th anniversary of breaking my neck.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

You know, I I love these, and and I could Jay, I could talk to you for hours about this, but here's the thing. So your book is the strength within you, it's always too soon to quit, right?

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

And I would totally 100% agree with you on the that you need to have that strength within you, and usually it is too soon to quit.

Connecting with Jay: A Journey of Resilience

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Most people quit right about the point, like right, like just shy of when they're gonna listeners.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

I want you to do me a favor. I want you to number one set the goal that you have. You hear you all you'll always hear me talk about the goals. Envision the goal, envision where you see yourself. Envision if your if your goal is to let's just say have a hundred thousand dollars in the bank account, envision the hundred thousand dollars sitting in the bank account, that it's already there. Envision it, envision what it is and go after it. Don't stop. Don't quit. It might be that you set the goal to hit it, you know, December 31st, but if you don't get it on December 31st, don't stop. Just move the date. Oh, absolutely. Don't stop. So don't quit. Don't be a quit, don't quit. And I want you to do me a favor, listeners. I want you, and I'm gonna put the link to the book in the show notes, but I want you to go out and get the book, the strength within you. It's always too soon to quit. Connect with Jay. Because if if if anybody is could have quit, it could have been you.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Many, many times.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

Many, many times, and you never did. So don't quit. Be like Jay and don't quit. So, Jay, how can they find you?

SPEAKER_03 41:39

I've got a website too. It's called uh get this never quit trying. How about that? Never quittrine.com. Yeah, and it's just my first name, Jay at Neverquitt Trying.com. I I'm on Facebook now. I've got a new site called The Strength Within You on Facebook. Um and uh let me see what else. Well, of course I'm on LinkedIn. But yeah, um, but that that's it. You know, I mean, I I would kind of like to I would like to talk to more people. I would like to I I I would just like to go out and and even speak to people. And I don't do it. I mean, I kind of in a 400-pound wheel power wheelchair and a lot of back pain, it kind of rehits, you know, it inhibits my ability to move around some. But but I I would like to do it. Even somebody's even mentioned Zoom, Zoom, uh, what do you call it?

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Virtual Yeah, virtual meetings and virtual summits. Yeah. Talk to people, make connections.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

But I I don't feel that I have um the the the organization needed to do that, but at the same time, I don't know that I need the organization because it's the damn passion of telling people, wait a minute, do it, do it now, do it completely, and follow through. Yeah, it's it's it's just being honest with people and telling them directly, you can do it. You just believe in yourself, you've got to do it. What can we do? Or where do you need to go? And and and reach out to people. That that's all I think.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

Yeah, that is it's actually it's actually really true. So do me a favor, listeners. I want you to reach out to Jay and get on a Zoom with him so he can talk to you. It's easy. It's easy. So, listeners, do me a favor. Besides, like I said, connect with Jay and then do me the other favor, make sure you hit subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. And please do me a favor, share this episode with your friends and colleagues because it is really important. We want to make sure that everybody has an unstoppable success and never quits. I'm Jacqueline Struminger. Thank you for being a great listener. And also, please do me a favor, you can also go to school S K O O L and find us on our we have a brand new, just a few members right now, but jump into this, jump in. Umstoppable. Success platform. We're going to be offering courses and um working Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of great things happening over at school. So please make sure you you share and you join us over in school. I'll put that in the show notes. And Jay, thank you for being an amazing guest.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

Thank you for being an amazing host. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Thank you. And thank you, listeners, for jumping in and listening to this. Thank you so much for joining me on the Unstoppable Success Podcast, where we don't just talk about growth, we leap toward it. If something today lit a fire within you, sparked a new idea, or gave you the extra push forward, please don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode and podcast with a friend, colleague, or fellow high achiever. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review, and most importantly, connect with me, Jacqueline Strominger, at leaptoyoursuccess.com for coaching, community, and your next bold move. Keep leading with intention, keep building your network with purpose, and most of all, keep leaping because you were meant to be unstoppable.