Olympic Bobsledder to CTE Advocate

Imagine traveling down a sheet of ice at 90mph when your bobsled flips over and you slam your head into the ice wall. Meet William Person, 9 year member of the US Olympic bobsledding team. Join us as he shares his journey from college track and field, mental health advocate, member of the US Olympic bobsledding team to brain injury survivor and advocate. He saw first hand how untreated brain injuries devastate not only athletes but also military veterans and their families. William spent years in agony due to his repeated concussions. He only found relief when he began Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. His message is simple, “If your loved one is doing something that’s out of the norm, get them checked out!” Individuals with CTEs do not see how their behavior impacts those around them. Loved ones do. 
Guest Social Media Info - 
https://www.instagram.com/willp1234567?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr#
https://www.facebook.com/william.person.792233/ 
https://www.facebook.com/one.man.with.a.chamber.hbot 

Transcript

William P.: 0:00

And so like, I came out that machine and I was clear for six days, no clouds, and oh my God, I, I was like, I was walking around in 3D or something. Like every, this, everything smelled different. Everything looked different and it was just, the world was beautiful again.

Bernard: 0:26

Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the hosts bindwaves or the Brain injury network. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, the diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Thank you.

Cohosts: 0:53

Hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and a member of BIND. And I'm Brittany. I'm a brain injury survivor and member of Bind. Today our guest is William Person, a former nine year team, USA Bobsledder whose life was turned upside down by CTE, like symptoms endured depression, severe confusion, and saw firsthand how untreated brain injuries devastate not only athletes, but also military veterans. A CTE diagnosis can only be confirmed after death, while alive, the symptoms strip away quality of life and mental clarity. William found renewed hope through hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which rapidly restored parts of his world he thought were lost for good, now works tirelessly to help others access similarly care. Um, tell us about a little, about yourself and personally and as an athlete for Team US. A.

William P.: 1:54

Oh, thank you. First of all, thank you for having me. I, I appreciate what you guys do. I really respect it. Uh, very important. Uh, at first, before we get started, I, I just wanna know why she intimidated me with all the long hair. I just, just, what is that?

Carrie: 2:11

I feel left out

William P.: 2:15

i, the, the funny part is my hair is only long because of my injury. I was, yeah, I was bald my whole life. I always buzzed my hair. And, um, one day, um, I have a cousin, he got, matter of fact, he got in trouble in Texas for some strange reason. He is in. Yeah. So he, he got in trouble and he was telling me about these bizarre things that happened in his case. Like he knew somebody on the jury, his public defender was sleeping. Uh, they picked the wrong person in a lineup and it sounds so ridiculous. I'm like, okay, buddy. Uh, and. But I said, at least I'll look. It is, it was, it is my, uh, his mother and my mother's sisters. And they both passed. And I said, well, the least I can do for outta respect for my aunt is check on her son. So I actually started pulling the record. Well, before I pulled the records, I couldn't remember to pull the records. I kept forgetting and then he'll call me. It would be months go by, I forgot to do it again. And it just kept happening. And I said, okay, you know what? I'm not gonna cut my hair again until I put some love in on this case. And one day I looked in the mirror and I was like, why is my hair so long? And my friends had to remind me, oh, you said you was going to check in on your cousin's case before you cut your hair again? And, and then it just kept growing. Like that's how, and it reminded me to check on this case, which I did, but that's why my hair, it just, it's here now. I never knew my hair would grow.

Carrie: 3:39

Oh, that's, I like it.

William P.: 3:40

Yeah.

Carrie: 3:40

Mm-hmm.

William P.: 3:41

you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Carrie: 3:45

So, yeah. So you'll just tell us a little bit about yourself so our

Cohosts: 3:48

Well,

Carrie: 3:49

can get to know you. We can get to know you because we

Brittany: 3:51

okay,

Cohosts: 3:52

read so far.

William P.: 3:53

well, I, I grew up in, uh, in the Midwest. Um, and the truth is I was a track track. We call this track heads or I loved running track and all I wanted to do was run around the circle. So when, uh, college was over, I mean, high school was over. You can either quit running or you can go to college and run. And so it took me to college and I stayed on that path. That path took me from college or took me through college. When I left, I started working in the mental health field, and then I started doing, uh, like movies like Jeremy McGuire, uh, any given Sunday. Uh, yeah. And then, um, so I, I just kept running track and I was about 28 at that time. So I'm starting to wind down my track career and then bobsledding shows up. And, uh, I really didn't want to do it to be honest, but I was like the fastest American in, uh, Utah at the time. I was training at, uh, Brigham Young University and, uh, they called NBC called me. They were doing tryouts, and I was like, man, I might be able to pick up a sponsor or something if I go to this tryout. So I went to this tryout and this guy, um, it was like, I don't know, maybe a hundred people out there. And they had this treadmill and they take it, and what they do is they, um, put it on a high incline.

Carrie: 5:08

Uh huh.

William P.: 5:09

Then they had these like, uh, bobsled handlebars connected to it. So you gotta hold these things real tight. And this, that treadmill was hooked up to a computer and they punch in 10 miles an hour. And so the faster you run on that thing and the more pressure you apply, the quicker you get to 10 miles an hour. So I didn't know anything about this sport, so I watched the first maybe 30 people go through. And then it was my turn. I get up there and, um, like I said, NBC's covering this thing, all these hot lights are on me. And so I get on this thing and I just take off. And when I finished the driver, his eyes were like this big. So I knew I did really good or really bad. I didn't know which one. And um, and so at that time, actually I owned a youth treatment facility. I wrote the first ever independent living transitional housing program for youth. In Utah. And so they opened me as a pilot program. So that's kind of what I was doing at the time. So, um, so when we went for the tryout, we, I went through it, uh, this guy's eyes get big. Okay. So, so I get a little glitches sometimes I'd be like, okay, where am I at? So I call it a glitch in my little matrix, but yeah, it happens. So, uh, this guy puts his arm around me and he is like, Hey, um, if I offered you$50,000 for the next three months, would you race on my team? So I'm a businessman, so I'm like, yeah, if it's a fair price, but, um, if not, we can renegotiate later. But I'm thinking 50 grand for three months. Write my check right now, please. You know, and so that was, that trial was on, uh, uh, or Wednesday, I think. I want you to bobsled track and pushed for the first time that Sunday. Some things happened when I was there as I was getting off the bobsled truck. We at the top of this mountain. I get off this truck, one of my teammates from college, his name is, uh, Billy Schauer. He sees me, he's like, Will, I've been trying to call you man, like, where you been? Like, I've been looking for you so you can race on our team. So this driver, he panics. He's like, Hey buddy, uh, I'll get, don't leave me. I'll get you more money. So I'm thinking I'm getting 50,000 plus, I'm getting some more. But, but one thing I learned really quick is, um, his like. Our Bobs were built by NASCAR at the time. This guy named Jeff Bodine. So they looked like NASCARs. They, this guy sled was shaped like a spaceship. It had a bubble on it. It was just not aerodynamic. And no matter how fast I pushed him down that hill, the girls were beating us to the bottom. And I was like, hey, wait a minute. How's he gonna pay me 50 grand? Like we, we gonna lose everything, you know? And the truth was, he didn't have any sponsors. He, he tricked me. He, he didn't have any money. Yeah. And so, uh, I wound up leaving that team that week. Another team picked me up and we won, actually, I won a medal America's Cup medal that first week. So within seven days of joining the sport, I won the medal and it was being televised by NBC. And, and they ran the story. I never even saw the story. People told me about it, and it was just like, um, it was fun, different, and I, and I stuck around for nine more years. So, so that's kinda how I got involved in, in the sport itself. And. And that was my journey there.

Carrie: 8:21

That's very crazy. I mean, to go just, yeah. No experience to look at you winning medals right away. That's pretty awesome.

William P.: 8:30

Yeah. I was just running like, I was always a runner and uh, only, only difference is I was now running on ice, like no big deal. It's the same thing.

Carrie: 8:40

I guess is the just, and totally off topic, but not off topic. So is the driver, the guy in front.

William P.: 8:45

Yes.

Carrie: 8:46

Okay, so

William P.: 8:47

Yeah,

Carrie: 8:48

the one that's in, and you're the one pushing it to get it going. Okay.

William P.: 8:51

well there's a, there's a two man sled and then there's a four man sled.

Carrie: 8:55

Yeah, I knew

William P.: 8:55

So in a four man, I'm all the way in the back usually,

Carrie: 8:58

mm-hmm. Okay.

William P.: 8:59

and a two man, I'm all the way in the back of course. So, yeah, but not

Cohosts: 9:03

look at

William P.: 9:04

driven.

Carrie: 9:05

a whole lot differently now when the Olympics come back around, but yeah, that's

William P.: 9:09

Oh, oh, oh.'cause like, oh, so a lot of people always ask me. It was like, so when you guys are going through the terms, you guys synchronized doing this'cause they saw that movie Cool Runners and they think that that's a real thing. Like, no, that's the G-forces kicking our butt. That's why we're doing this. We, we got no control over that. Yeah.

Carrie: 9:27

That's Funny. That's very funny. Um, so, um, the first time you kind of started realizing maybe you had a concussion or you were having concussion symptoms, was that. Back in the track days or did that not happen until the bobsledding.

William P.: 9:42

Bobsledding.

Carrie: 9:44

Okay.

William P.: 9:44

Yeah. Bobsledding. A hundred percent.

Carrie: 9:46

Okay. And so what made you maybe realize that you needed to seek medical treatment? Did, did you just realize it or did someone on your team kinda help?

William P.: 9:57

Well, my first concussion was, um, right before the 2002 Winter Olympics we're racing, uh, world Cup in St. Maritz, Switzerland. And we had a really, really nasty crash. And um, like the guy who was actually sitting behind me that day, I'm u I'm usually the guy in the back, but on this day I was sitting number three spot and um, he was knocked unconscious.

Carrie: 10:19

Oh.

William P.: 10:19

there's a video I can actually, it's on my YouTube channel, I can send it to you. But yeah, he was knocked unconscious and um, we all got beat up pretty bad. Except the driver.'cause the driver and one thing about him, they know when we are about to crash. So you could, you start seeing'em shuffling around, they'll start ducking up underneath the, the little dashboard. I'm like, you supposed to ride that out with us. But they know, see, I don't know. We've crashed until either I hit my head or sometime we are on our side and we're sliding. And what happens is two things can touch the ice. When you, when you crash on your side, it's your shoulder. Which is very dangerous.'cause if you leave your shoulder on that ice at that speed, it's gonna burn all of the flesh off all the way to the bone. And if you, and then your helmet could be on the ice. So, but for your helmet on the ice, you, you guys remember being in, uh, elementary school and you get the fingernails in the chalkboard like that sound,

Carrie: 11:18

yeah.

William P.: 11:19

multiply that, multiply that by 30 to 40, like. Yeah, so that noise, so you got your head on the ice'cause you don't want your flesh to burn off, but then that noise is just destroying you. And then you're just like, you get that, but then that, now you warming this up again. So it's like a, you know, you're doing your best to just kick this off, but

Carrie: 11:38

Right.

William P.: 11:39

yeah. And um, yeah, so that was my first crash. And then after that, like we went back, like to the hotel. I couldn't walk straight for a week. I had vertigo.

Carrie: 11:49

Oh

William P.: 11:50

And, uh, and of course my, my break was unconscious, so it was just, it was, it was or wasn't pretty. So that was my first con, first concussion with the sport. And, um, my symptoms didn't kick in for me until... I had some things going off in 2012. So it was like a 10 year span when it started getting unbearable. And then the second wave kicked in about another five to six years after that. And so like, I just, that's when life gets unbearable. Like you don't, like, like I, I, I struggled with reading and writing and doing basic math and, and in college I was an electrical engineering student. So math is my background and so it's, I got the point where I just couldn't function anymore. I was just literally crawling around on my, on my floor, in my apartment, and, um. I thought it was diabetes. It, it looked, it looks like, uh, people with low blood sugar, like you have no energy. I had these random days I was cloudy and then those random days of cloudiness turned in random days of clarity and it, it switched up on me and I didn't even recognize it. It was too late. And next thing I know, I, I'm just, I'm like this zombie or something. I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain, but yeah.

Brittany: 13:08

Uh, we get it'cause we say we all have brain injuries and a brain injury. You don't know a brain injury until you got a brain injury. So definitely with all the symptoms here

Cohosts: 13:18

Yeah.

Brittany: 13:18

your brain injuries, we know like least like what halfway you're going through.'cause we either went through it or seen it or felt it. Right. Experienced it. Yeah. First on, and

Carrie: 13:28

that's the same thing we say, you know, if you've met a brain injury, you've met one brain injury.'cause we, while we can relate. We don't necessarily, you know, it's, the brain is so amazing that the way each brain is affected is not affected in the same way. I mean, we could have the exact same head injury and still be affected differently.'cause the brain, the brain says, well, I'm gonna pick this to be wrong with this person and this to be wrong with that person. But um, did so. What, I guess got you on the track to start seeking treatment that you're like, okay, this is more than just brain fog or not feeling right; I need to get help, what kind of promted you to go seek that help.

William P.: 14:16

I, I had a teammate, um, he was, um. I had a teammate. We weren't even friends. We weren't friends during bobsledding days. We were, we were just teammates. We weren't, you know, we didn't spend time together. We, we were cordial with each other, but we just didn't have that bond like that. And, um, when I left the sport, uh, he wanted to become a writer. And so I moved back to la I was, um, writing shows and optioning shows to different net networks at the time. And, um, so he would call me and he, he would have these really. Crazy ideas like these scripts. And I'm teaching them, I'm teaching'em how to fix'em and how to make'em into a story. And, and so we had these calls, like right there were random calls when he called me about it. And um, and, and, and the truth is, I just now, like, this was prior to COVID and I'm just now understanding what this really was, what I know now. I figured out like these stories he had, they weren't, uh, creative writing. His mind had already started to slip. And so what I thought was just this guy's, he's gonna be a brilliant storyteller. No, his mind was gone and I didn't know it. And so the last time he called me, he, he was speaking gibberish and, uh, like I couldn't understand anything he said. And I, I, um, he got so frustrated, he, he hung up the telephone. And, um, like I told you, my background was mental health and, um, I knew he needed help. And I told myself every day, I gotta help my buddy. I gotta help him. I have to help him. And, uh, the truth, I didn't do anything to help him. I, I just, every day I talked about it in my mind to myself. I was living alone and like, there's a time lapse for me. Like, I don't know what I did in my apartment every day.'cause the TV wasn't on, the radio wasn't on. I was, I was really gone. And, um. So when I found out, um, well, I, I don't know how much time passed. Like there's a, there's a gap there in my mind. I don't know. So eventually I got the word that he went to his family's factory and he hung himself.

Carrie: 16:19

Hmm.

William P.: 16:19

And, um, I felt, uh, man, just responsible. Uh, I felt like my hands were just dirty'cause I didn't help him. I knew he needed help. That's my background and I did nothing. And, uh, that's when. I started trying to find help because I started calling around to my teammates and found out it was all of us. It wasn't like one or two people. And as you mentioned earlier, it affects us differently. Like I've got teammates with memory loss, I've got teammates with Parkinson's and everything in between. I've got teammates that already killed themselves and and many others who've tried. So yeah, it really affects us all differently, you know? And, but what bothered me is just, uh, it just broke my heart. And, um, and that's what that was, that's what spurred the class action. And, uh, and the truth is, I found out later, I I, it took me a long time to forgive myself, but when his autopsy came out, he was in stage four CTE and that's how I knew what was wrong with me.'cause this thing now has a name. Now I can, I can say, okay, this is what this, yeah. And, um, it, it, it was just. Like, another part that helped me to forgive myself was, um, at that time when I'm calling myself helping him, like I couldn't help him'cause I needed help. I was literally crawling around on the floor of my own apartment. I know that. And, but I didn't realize, man, I just needed this help man. I just thought it was, this diabetes was on me and it's gonna get diagnosed eventually and they gonna gimme this insulin and, but it, it just didn't work that way. Yeah,

Brittany: 17:58

So, um, tell me, how did you go, like to get treatment, like you started it'cause it affected your life, so you went and started to get a treatment and what kind of treatments?

William P.: 18:09

Well, that's the problem. There is no treatment. There was never any treatment and that's why we are what we are, like most people, like for example, I, I talked to you about that first crash I had, right? Uh, my brakeman was unconscious. I had vertigo. They sent us back. We, he was my roommate, so they sent us back to the hotel and what they actually told us to do was ridiculous. They said, um, watch each other, make sure you don't go to sleep. So who's supposed to watch you? Me, I can't sit up in the bed without the room spinning. And he was already knocked unconscious. So that's, that's what, um, that's what the treatment of concussions were back then.

Carrie: 18:48

Yeah. Yeah.

Brittany: 18:50

now they say that, I remember that as a kid, you know, playing soccer, it's like, you know, you get hit on the edge and you, they just look at your parents and go, okay, well just don't let'em go to sleep Yes. Yes.

Carrie: 19:00

Mm-hmm.

Brittany: 19:00

Yeah.

Carrie: 19:00

I remember those days. And do you know now talking about that, do you know has I know a lot of the sports? I'm a big hockey fan, so,

Brittany: 19:08

Oh, they got it bad. Ooh.

Carrie: 19:09

well, I, I know hockey has, and, you know. Created new concussion protocol. So there's like, you know, you get hit on the eyes, you immediately get taken back and get checked out, and they do stuff. So, do you know, I know you're not currently in bobsledding anymore, have they added any kinda concussion protocols in the bobsledding sport that you're aware of?

William P.: 19:31

They have because of my lawsuit.

Carrie: 19:33

Oh, okay. I didn't Yeah. had a lawsuit. Okay.

William P.: 19:36

There's a class action lawsuit. And what I, I asked for, like, when I went in, like I thought my days were numbered. I didn't, I, I thought I was about to die or soon and I was praying for death, to be honest. I was praying for it. Um, and so. The one thing I asked them for, or two things, I said, take care of my guys. And I asked'em, I said, if something happens to me, this case goes on, right? And they, they promise me yes. I said, okay. So take care of my guys. And the number one thing is warn the new generation. I said, it's too late. It's too late for me, but it's not too late for them. And they should understand what they're getting into. And, uh, they're still fighting me on the wording on that thing. I don't understand it. That's the one reason why I haven't settled this case is because there's offers on the table right now. Like the offer is not, they only want to evaluate us, no treatment, and I don't understand that, right. and they still, yeah. I'm sorry, go ahead.

Carrie: 20:31

No, I was just thinking, I was just, yeah, no, you go.

William P.: 20:34

Yeah, I asked the judge the other day we're in court. I was like, your honor, like would you send your child to a doctor who's not gonna treat'em? Like, where's the care at here? You know, where's the medical, like we need, we need help. I came to court for help and for relief and, um, I said, we're not getting that. They just want to document us dying. And that's, that's, that's unacceptable for me. So my, my last three days, three, my last three court hearings, um, it was virtually me versus my lawyers and Olympic lawyers who are working together now. Like they wanna push this, this. Settlement through. And here I'm Theone person right here. Like, like mm-hmm. No, I'm all by myself in court right now. It's, it's the most ridiculous thing. Uh, I had some lawyers, a huge lawyer come aboard. Uh, it was, uh, Robert Shapiro. Matter of fact, I spoke to his office. I spoke to him directly. He was like, oh my God, I know what they're doing. I said, I'm gonna see if I can help you. He did his investigation. We had a couple more phone calls. He sends me an email. He says, Hey, Will Um, it says, I fired your lead attorney. I kept your co-counsel'cause I know them. We're gonna get you guys the help you need. And I was like, yes,

Carrie: 21:50

That's, that's good news,

William P.: 21:51

well not done yet.

Carrie: 21:53

okay. Oh.

William P.: 21:55

24 hours later he sends me another email will, unless the judge does not accept the offer that's on the table, I can't help you. And I said, well, if you my lawyer, the judge won't ever see the offer that's on the table.'cause it,'cause I rejected it so you really shouldn't be taking it to court. And so he said, um, so we went to court. I represented myself versus my lawyers. And the other lawyers. The judge sided with me, but Shapiro did not come back. I knew he wasn't coming back.'cause he, I, I knew his energy told me from the beginning he wasn't coming back. And, um, so like I haven't been able to find other lawyers to come in and take over. And so I'm really fighting this thing to the end by myself. So that's where we are right now.

Carrie: 22:41

Okay. Well, we'll, we'll wish you luck. We'll have to get more information about that. But I know one of the big things you've talked about that I know we're curious and our members are curious, is about the hyperbaric oxygen

William P.: 22:55

Yeah.

Carrie: 22:55

treatment. How did you start, how did you find out about that and how has that helped?

William P.: 23:02

Well, I found out about it. Um, I, whenever I had some kind of clarity, I'm on the internet. I'm trying to figure it out like, but I'll tell you one thing about CTE. If you look it up, it'll make you just want to give up because, um, these, these. Athletes and other people with it, they're killing people. They're killing their wife, their, their spouses and their, uh, their, their mothers, their, their, their girlfriends and or they're murdering themselves.

Carrie: 23:30

Yeah.

William P.: 23:30

And so it's just all brutal. You look at it and like it gives you no hope. So one day I found one, um, it was Joe Namath, um, football guy, and he said he used hyperbaric oxygen to reverse his CTE symptoms. I was like, what? You know, so, um, only thing I knew about hyperbaric oxygen was Michael Jackson had one, and I was like, I don't want to be the creepy guy with a hyperbaric oxygen machine. You know, that that's what everybody looked at, Michael Jackson as he was the weird guy. And so I went and tried it and it was crazy. Like, um, I was in that chamber for one hour. When I came out, see my glasses are, uh, slightly tinted'cause I'm now sensitive to light smells and sounds, which you probably already know. You probably probably do the same thing I would assume. And, um, I, I, I came out that chamber, I went to put my glasses on and I took'em off a few times and then the salesman was like, what's wrong? I said, I don't know. Everything extra bright and the skies are actually blue, like. I said I don't think I was really seeing colors before. And I said, I don't think I need my glasses. And he said the craziest thing to me, he said, oh, you're one of those. And I'm thinking, oh, here come the salesman. He's gonna try to sell me this$25,000 machine that I can't afford right now. And uh, but he was right. Some people get immediate relief, but some people need like, um, 30 days of two a day sessions to get the same relief that I get with the one session. And so like, I came out that machine and I was clear for six days, no clouds, and oh my God, I, I was like, I was walking around in 3D or something. Like every, this, everything smelled different. Everything looked different and it was just, the world was beautiful again. And I realized, like I didn't see the beauty in anything for a long time. And, uh, I went back the second week at the end of that week. And tried it again. And now I'm clear for nine days. And I knew this was no fluke. It was no accident. This thing is real. It wasn't no, uh, like sometime you just want to be healthy so bad, you can trick yourself. It wasn't none of that. And uh, man, and then I had to buy one. So I have one in my back bedroom. So. Yeah. It, it is been a lifesaver. Without that, that's the only relief I've ever received at all. Like I saw, yeah. I don't know if you guys have, but, uh, like my doctor tried to give me a, a Zoloft one time and it made things even worse.

Carrie: 26:04

Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah. Sometimes depression medicine works and sometimes it doesn't oh, you off the

William P.: 26:11

yeah. Yeah. I have to give it up. I was, no, well, no, I just, yeah.

Brittany: 26:17

Um, I also saw that you launched a GoFundMe campaign to make hyperbaric oxygen chambers therapy accessible to all. What are

William P.: 26:25

Yeah,

Brittany: 26:26

challenges in scaling? Example, cost regulation, hurdles and physician buy-in and facility requirements.

William P.: 26:35

well, I'm, I'm, I'm doing something a little bit different, like I'm not opening one. See, there's different levels of chambers.

Cohosts: 26:41

Mm-hmm.

William P.: 26:42

Uh, there's like, the one I have in my home is what they call a 1.3 atmosphere, and then there's a 1.4, there's a 1.5, there's a 2.0. Then you get up to that stuff you find in a hospital like 3.0. Those are the ones, like if you a burn victim or something, they'll put you in there. If you got bed sores, they'll put you in there. Uh, if you go too deep in the ocean, come up too fast, they'll put you in there. So, but I want to use the simple ones, the ones that I've been using that works for me. Uh, they're less, uh, dangerous. Um, and so is the regulation part is really not there. I'm opening it as a wellness center, so like, I have one right now, like I can bring as many people as I could through there, but it's, I have a soft chamber and it's not gonna hold up. It's not, it wasn't designed to have, uh, that type of traffic going through it.

Carrie: 27:31

Sure.

William P.: 27:32

I need to get the bigger ones that are made out of metal and I can, I can treat four people at a time depending on what size I get. I can get one that can accommodate two people. Two at a time. And that's really, and so my biggest thing now is just getting the word out, what we're trying to do. And like, and other thing is people are telling me like, you need to charge. And, but my thing is I don't wanna charge at all. Like, this has to be a free service, otherwise people won't come get the service. Um, yeah. And I, I don't want that. And then for me, even for myself, I looked at it like this. When I found out this thing was saving my life, now I need one. But now I can't afford the medicine, which is the machine I, I literally laid back down on the floor and I was. Ah, I was fading away again slowly because I didn't have access to treatment anymore. And then my girlfriend was talking to my dad, and the next thing I know, this money shows up in my account. My dad saved my butt, you know, he's like, go get that machine. And he had been promising, he'd been asking me to for a while and I was like, nah. I said, you know, I, I'll figure it out. I'll move some things around and I'll eventually get it. And, but they saw me fade back out into the abyss and they was like, no, no, no. So now I have one. And so like I, I just keep my maintenance up on it. But the, my only side effect for me is like, if I go 30 days without treatment, I, I go backwards. Where a lot of people get permanent treatment, bro, permanent relief. For me, it hasn't been, I haven't been that lucky. So, um, so yeah, so I now have to maintain it and, um, yeah.

Carrie: 29:15

Okay. um. I wanna, I mean, I, I love all this. I feel like we could talk more and I wanna talk more, but unfortunately we kinda have to cut things short. So before we might talk about seeing, getting you back on later and get more into it, but, Yeah. what is, like, what's your final piece of advice that you would like to give out there to listeners?'cause I know CTE is one of those things that again, yeah, we can't, you can't really diagnose unfortunately,

William P.: 29:42

Yeah.

Carrie: 29:43

to death, but. There are symptoms, like you said, there are just heavy concussion symptoms and things, but so like what one piece of advice would you like to leave our listeners?

William P.: 29:53

How much time do you have?

Carrie: 29:56

Um, you, you tell us. You give it to, we'll give you the time. Yes.

William P.: 29:59

Well, I, I would say, um, if your loved one, because this is the only, your loved one can see this in the people that's suffering. No athlete that I've known, including myself, saw it in myself. Other people had to point it out, so. If your loved one is doing something that's out of the norm, check on them. Check on them. If you know they were playing, uh, sports work or things, they did something, maybe they just fell down and hit their head, but now they're doing something that's, uh, outta their character. Get'em to the hospital, get'em checked out because, um, and a lot of these things are being misdiagnosed. And reason why I ask you how much time you have, I, I just barely figured something out the other day. This amount, this might sound even crazier. My background is mental health. I cut my teeth at this place. It was the first mental health facility west of the Mississippi River in Stockton, California. So I, I saw all the extreme behaviors. Everybody flocked there for service, right? Um, and so I really know, like all the disorders I've been around them, so. Let me uh, slow down just a little bit. So I went to watch the Kanye West, um, documentary last week, right? And I'm watching this guy and I'm like, that guy's not bipolar. I always said that, I always thought he might have been schizophrenic, but I said never bipolar. So I'm watching him and then all of a sudden I start doing the math. Nobody gets a bipolar diagnosis at 40. You get that at 18, 19, 20, it's the one that's gonna kick your butt. You might make it to 21, but you're not gonna make it to 40 with that, without that diagnosis.'cause you gonna be doing something so bizarre, somebody gonna turn you in. It is like, come and get him. You know this. That's what happens. So I did the math and I said, wait a minute, 40. No way. I said his symptoms and his behavior lines up with CTE. I was like, but he is a rapper. And then I remember one of his songs, he had a song, he, he raps about getting in a car crash. He broke his jaw, his jaw was in the back of his mouth. You almost didn't get this contract because of it. And I went, oh my God, he's misdiagnosed. I bet. I said, I bet you this is from his concussion. Because, and then I did the math. I, I took out a, I came home from the movies and I put on a chart. My, my symptom, my crash was in 2002. My symptoms kicked in in 2012. That's 10 years. The next one was another six years, so I did the math and I, I literally picked the year that he had his car crash Without knowing, I said it has to be 2002 or 2000 at the earliest, but around 2002, and my girlfriend looked it up and it) said 2002. Booyah!, Yeah! So even with him, oh, our symptoms look like something else. It is easy to, for your loved ones, to get misdiagnosed. These doctors, trust me, they've, they've always checked my blood, never checked my brain. So when your loved one's doing something out the norm, just don't turn your back on them. Don't go to sleep at night without getting them some help. It's out there. And the number one thing, this, this diagnosis, these head injuries,'cause they didn't, they just didn't treat'em. They never treated them. It's the only injury I've ever had that they said go do nothing usually as a treatment plan. So that, that would be my advice.

Carrie: 33:13

Yeah. Okay. That's, that's good advice. And I think we all, I mean, people don't think enough and pay enough(attention) Like I said, some of the sports world, CTE kind of came into the headlight, I would say 10, 15 years ago with that movie, will Smith did, Concussion. You know, that was the first time I heard about CTE and. you know the NFL quickly tried to shut that movie down and you, that's when you

Brittany: 33:42

Yeah.

Carrie: 33:42

seeing the, the big sports start introducing concussion protocols. And I still like, I'm like you, there's a lot that's not done that could be done for the sports world and. Concussions and just the general public because mm-hmm. Concussions happen so easily that Yeah. You don't think about it like, we have so many people with traumatic brain injuries from a car crash, from a bike crash, from getting hit, you know, different things. So

William P.: 34:08

Yeah.

Carrie: 34:08

understand what you're saying and it is a undiagnosed, misdiagnosed. Treatment. There are things we can do, but um, like I said, we might have to have you back on, talk more about hyperbaric oxygen and costs and how that can help and what that can do. But we so much

William P.: 34:25

Yeah.

Carrie: 34:25

Apprieciate Your time today, your story. It's exciting to get to know you and hear about your fun life and we look forward to learning more about you and, Yeah. thanks again for coming on.

William P.: 34:36

Yeah, but please guys, please find our crowdfunding. That's the only way we can treat these people for free. We wanna start with the athletes and the military, our veterans.'cause they're coming back and I, I put a video out one day. I told people on the last court day, it's on film. You guys can look it up. I said, the athletes aren't the ones I'm worried about. Our military, they're coming back here with the same injuries and they're trained killers. And I put that out in the following week. We had a, a military mass shooting in Montana. The following week we had one, uh, military guy went on the base and shot some people up. And if you saw on last Sunday, uh, one of our veterans went in and shot that church up and burned the other half of it. And they're still trying to dig bodies out. So guys, we need to treat these guys for free. They, they need help. They're asking for help, and they're being denied. And it's so simple. One hour. The chamber changed my life, brought me back from crawling on the floor, and uh, I should help a lot of people. Help. Joe Namath, he's the leader of this thing. I don't take the credit, I send it, send it back over there. Yeah. I love that guy. I never met him, but I love him. So, yeah. So thank you guys for having me. Yeah.

Carrie: 35:37

Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, and to thanks to all our listeners for listening, and remember, you can find our new episodes on all your favorite platforms. Until next time. Until next time.

Rick: 35:48

We hope you've enjoyed listening to bindwaves and continue to support Brain Injury Network in our nonprofit mission, we support brain injury survivors as they reconnect into life, the community, and the workplace. And we couldn't do that without great listeners like you. We appreciate each and every one of you. Please remember to click the like button, the share button, and the subscribe button on YouTube. And follow us on Instagram at bindwaves and Brain Injury Network on Facebook. You can email us at bindwaves@thebind.org or go to our website bindwaves.org or call us at(972) 769-2463. Please continue watching. Until next time.