RALPH CORNWELL RECEIVED AN UNEXPECTED SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE
He initially showed up to the hospital simply wanting a stronger acid reflux medicine. But he was rushed to the Yale Cardiac Unit after it was determined that his current heart was not able to support life any longer.
“Because I was very fit with the exception of my heart, I was moved to the top of the national transplant list,” Ralph said. “This meant I was one of the sickest people but I also had a good chance of survival.”
Remarkably, Ralph got his heart in about 48 hours.
AARON GUZMAN’S NEWBORN DAUGHTER MOTIVATED HIM TO NEW HEIGHTS
In fact, it was to the point where if Aaron would sleep on his back, he’d stop breathing.
“I went to the doctor and after an ultrasound, they saw I had a large liver, kidney stones and a lump on my gallbladder,” Aaron said. “The doctor said if I keep this up, I won’t make it past 40-years old.”
The thought of leaving his family and not seeing his daughter grow up killed him inside. He knew he had to make a change.
AFTER BEATING HIS ADDICTION TO METH, BRIAN RECREATED HIMSELF
“To get off my addiction to meth I had to make a difficult choice and completely remove myself from the group of friends that I was hanging out with,” he said. “Not saying they were bad people it’s just what was best for me at the time. I’d also just split up with my girlfriend, so I felt completely alone. That led to my first suicide attempt.”
Brian said that with his alcohol addiction, he had friends and family to help get him on the right track but ultimately it was up to him to decide what he wanted from this life.
DESPITE TWO HIP REPLACEMENTS, JESUS FRAGOSO IS STILL TAKING HOME AWARDS IN POWERLIFTINg
Just two months after that run, he finally went in and had X-rays done on his hips. The Orthopedic then informed Jesus that he had end-case arthritis in his left hip and that his right hip didn’t look great either.
“Managing the pain is what I was told I’d be doing for the rest of my life,” he said. “I was 39-years old and the thought of simply eating painkillers was not an acceptable option for me. I started doing some research and found Dr. Pritchett in Seattle. Dr. Pritchett agreed that a hip implant was in order and in 2013 I had my left hip replaced, less than 7 months after running 106 miles.”
AFTER A LIFETIME OF OBSTACLES, BEN MIRANDA USES MMA TO OVERCOME HIS DEMONS
“I grew up alone for the most part,” he said. “My ‘half’ childhood, as I call it. My mom had very bad OCD so my brother and myself had to learn how to live unlike most kids. We were not able to hang out with our friends, to have them at our house, that kind of thing. So we grew up alone in a way. When you’re in that kind of situation, you think your world is falling into pieces.”
RYAN MCGREGOR OVERCAME A VICIOUS AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE ON HIS WARPATH TO REDEMPTION
“At the beginning of June is when my autoimmune disease flared up and I started to experience extreme arthritis in my knees, hands, and ankles barely being able to walk, and losing 22 pounds,” he said. “I couldn’t even hold my daughter. I wasn’t able to get diagnosed and start treatment until the end of June. During this time, my friend introduced me to the APEMAN brand. I went through the APEMAN strong Instagram and reading the cards. People always asked me how I felt and I couldn’t really explain how until I read the PERSEVERE and LIFTED cards.”
AFTER MULTIPLE TUMORS, JON SAARI IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF ONLY FORWARD
“That’s when it was removed and it took half of my chest muscle with it,” Jon remembered. “That growth was the size of a softball and tissue was removed all the way down to my ribs. In 2014 my pancreas started shutting down making me Diabetic on insulin. When they diagnosed me Diabetic, I told the doctor that we better have this tumor beat since I am running out of glands to have shut down!”
TODD CLASEN REFUSES TO LET ADDICTION AND TRAUMA WIN
Todd said the meanings on each shirt and each story made him realize something. He had been living for several years battling addiction, trauma and a lifetime of type1 diabetes.
“I had a special connection to the LIFTED shirt as I had lived in the darkness and despair of addiction with seemingly no hope, on the verge of divorce, losing my family and the very reality of death,” Todd said. “Had my wife not been there to revive me as I was found not breathing, no registered blood sugar with no pulse from an overdose in 2014.”
CALLUM MCCASH IS THE DEFINITION OF STRONG IN THE STORM
“He was born 13 weeks early due to complications with his placenta that led to him having a condition known as Severe Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR),” Alex said. “He was outgrowing what the placenta could give him which stunted his growth and eventually led to him going into distress and needing to be delivered.”
NAVY VETERAN GENESIS RAMIREZ HAS BEEN AN EXAMPLE OF PERSEVERANCE HER ENTIRE LIFE
“I used to run 10 miles like nothing and that day I could barely run one,” she said. “I was struggling. I started to cough blood and decided to get checked by the doctor. At first, I was told it was nothing serious by a corpsman. My Chaplain knew something was wrong so made the doctor check me personally. They found something on an x-ray and I was flown off the ship the next day. I went to Germany and that’s when they found out that I had this fungus called coccidioidomycosis on my lung and airways.”
ERIC GOBBLE AND THE NEW COMMUNITY SCHOOL IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA BRING APEMAN MENTALITY AND HOPE TO STUDENTS CHALLENGED BY LEARNING DIFFERENCES
“Overcome resonates because all of our students are pushing forward, only forward, in an education system and a world that often isn’t built to accommodate them,” said Eric. “Scars is important, too. All of the students who come to New Community come because they need this school. All of the students realize that about each other. It makes them feel less alone and less different. They are inspired by each other’s struggles — in the classroom and, now, in the weight room.”
KATELYN KAHN USES TRAINING AS FUEL TO OVERCOME PRIOR TRAUMA
“As time went on though, I started taking the lifestyle to the extreme and stopped nourishing myself properly,” she added. “Along with excessive training, I obsessed over every calorie, eating as little as possible and the ‘cleanest’ as possible.”
Heading into her junior year of college, she dropped to an extremely low weight, was constantly cold, lost large amounts of hair, was always tired, and stressed about eating out and social settings around food.
BRENDAN PHALEN USED MMA AS HIS REBIRTH
“I’ve been struggling with my mental health for years, however, I’ve always kept it hidden,” he said. “In front of my friends I’d try my best to be very happy and cheery, but then when I was alone or with people my mood would just drop off, and I would switch between those hourly.”
Brendan said he always felt pressured to do things for other people, and never did what he truly wanted.
But he recently opened up about his issues and is working through them.
CROHN’S IS NO MATCH FOR JONATHAN GRAY
“Around February 2004 is when my symptoms of Crohn’s started,” Jonathan said. “On an almost daily basis it would feel as though a hot knife had been stuck in my stomach and someone was twisting it around. The pain would be so unbearable that it would make me vomit and it got to the point where my college roommates were used to finding me passed out in the bathroom.”
TONY STRUGGLED WITH A RARE DISORDER FOR YEARS, BUT WOULDN’T LET IT CONTROL HIS LIFE
“At age 18, I was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal disorder called 22q-deletion syndrome,” Tony Bonanno said.
22q-deletion syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that can cause a wide range of health and developmental issues, including heart defects, breathing issues, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, immune and endocrine systems, differences in the palate, slow growth, autism/developmental delays or learning disabilities in some individuals.
FIGHTING PAST DEPRESSION, BILLY BROWN WENT ON TO BREAK THREE STATE POWERLIFTING RECORDS
“I was using booze to medicate, which exacerbated the problem,” he said. “But I knew that I had to keep moving forward somehow, and fitness was always a catalyst for me to move on and move forward in life. I was usually too hung over to handle the intensity of a CrossFit workout, so one day I went back to my gym and just did squats. That got the ball rolling and after a few months, my drinking and eating was under control, I was out of my depression, and I was back on track.”
AFTER BEING RUNOVER BY A TRACTOR, STEVE ULCH COMPETED IN POWERLIFTING
“Years ago, I was a ranch manager and I still am an automotive technician,” Steve recalled. “We, my son and I, were using one tractor to jump start another. My son's foot slipped off the clutch and the left rear wheel caught my feet, threw me on my side, and walked up my legs until my son got it stopped directly over my hips.”
JASON GRICE PERSONIFIES THE NEVER GIVE UP MENTALITY APEMAN STRIVES FOR
“I was physically, mentally, emotionally, and sexually abused as a kid,” he said. “I tried to commit suicide twice when I was around six years old. I was exposed to the worst of humanity and it wrapped itself around me like a blanket trying to suffocate me. I always tried to do the right thing and live by a standard that was self-imposed. I escaped my reality by reading comic books, watching cartoons, and movies. Anything to get my head out of what was truly around me. I learned morals and values from Batman, Optimus Prime, He-Man, and Lion-O. I just wanted to escape my world. We moved frequently, I think I went to around 5 or 6 different elementary schools. I’m not sure, I don’t remember most of my childhood.”
PATRICK KANEY OVERCAME ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ADDICTION TO FIND PURPOSE IN HELPING OTHERS
“I had become the person I didn’t think I would ever be,” he said. “I had become an alcoholic and an opiate addict. I went from someone who wanted to help everyone, to not even being able to help myself. I hid my addiction from everyone for as long as I could, until one day I went to work and ended up in jail. I had finally broke down, tired of fighting, and told someone I needed help.”
JIM CORVIN: RECORD -SETTER DESPITE ONCE HAVING A BACK INJURY SO BAD IT ‘LOOKED LIKE A BOMB WENT OFF’
“My wife and I were working out in our basement doing some light deadlifts when I felt the twinge in my lower back,” Corvin said. “Not too alarmed I continued the workout. Just two hours later I had trouble navigating the stairs to get back to the living room. Long story short, I found myself in need a of discectomy just months later.”
During rehabilitation of this minor surgery while heading out the door for work, Jim fell on some icy stairs and later found out he had broken his L5 and needed another surgery to clean up what the doctor later described as, “looking like a bomb went off in your back.”