Nov 26, 2017
My guest on todays episode of the Join Up Dots free podcast interview, is a lady who wont let things in life get in the way of what she wants to achieve. She is an amazing woman who overcame a near fatal car accident, chose to remove her left arm, became the US National Champion in the Paralympics, competed in the World Championships in New Zealand, and is now a brand-new mother. That's not a bad start for any introduction. But the key thing to this story, and is what we will delve into in great depth, is how most of the things may not occurred, if she hadn't realised that mentally she was holding herself back from what she could achieve. As she says "I was in a car accident 17 years ago. So I had to always wear this sling and didn't have any motivation to move forward. My arm was paralyzed, a brachial plexus injury," She was intrigued and stimulated by here friends stories of running marathons, so set off to achieve the goal herself. But the whole experience was one of pain and distress, as her paralyzed arm pulled down the entire left side of her body, causing knee pain and even whiplash. It was like running with an anchor attached. She began to realize that her paralyzed arm not only weighed her down physically, it was a metaphor for all that was holding her back from living life fully. The anchor was weighing her down. Keeping her in one position, and stopping her moving towards the future she craved. So she realised that removing the arm, was going to be her saviour. Cutting the ties with the past could very well be the best thing that she could do. So she started considering amputation. "I wasn't there before, I think, emotionally" she says "I knew it was going to be different. The outward appearance is very shocking (to people); it's different now. I used to be asked all the time, 'What happened to your arm?' when it was in a sling," Making the decision to undergo such a major surgery proved difficult, even though she knew intellectually it was the right choice. Her solution? Set a series of athletic goals that would only be possible after the surgery. Make the surgery the first step to achieving what she wants in life, and wow hasn't she done just that! So, has the whole process been one that going back in time she would have done earlier? And does she see that the power of the mind, truly outweighs the capabilities of the physical body? Well lets find out, as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Tisa Cawthon.