Miley Rhoad on Quad Rugby and the Power of Peer Mentors

Eric Wang grew up in the Bay Area. He went to UC Berkeley where he met his future wife in the first semester of his freshman year. They married right after graduating and have been together for 37 years. After UC Berkeley they moved to Boston for graduate school at MIT, then Eric's love for biking brought them back to California where he took a research position with a professor at UC Davis researching mountain bikes in the early 90s. At the time, he was biking a ton, mostly road racing. In one year he logged over 10,000 miles. After finishing his PhD at UC Davis, they moved to Reno, Nevada, to work at the University of Reno and have access to all the outdoor sports that the Sierra Nevada has to offer: mountain biking, road biking, skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, camping, hiking, etc. They've been there ever since, had two kids along the way, and at the end of 2025, Eric retired after 30 years working at the university. Guest info:@anothercyclistAdditional Resources:https://highfivesfoundation.org/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Miley Rhoad is a 19-year-old wheelchair or "quad rugby" player from South Carolina. I've gotten to know Miley over the past few summers when she has attended the Empower SCI teen summer program and emerged as a confident, encouraging, and fearless leader amongst her peers. She has a bright future and found time between rugby tournaments for a conversation about her life and future aspirations.  Guest info:@miley.rhoadAdditional Resources:https://www.empowersci.org/https://highfivesfoundation.org/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Carlie Cook has lived nearly her entire life with her disability after she was paralyzed in a car accident at three years old. Now, as an adult, she has a full life in Western Massachusetts where she is a a professional adaptive climber, Child Life Specialist in a pediatric ER, and partner to her fiancé. Louis Arevalo knows her through adaptive skiing together in Vermont in recent years, and he has been pushing to share her story, describing Carlie as a warrior of optimism – a description that is spot on!Guest info:@c_cook20Additional Resources:https://www.paradoxsports.org/https://highfivesfoundation.org/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Cole Bernier and I initially connected on a work call. After discussing collaborative opportunities between Bowhead, where he works on the sales team, and EmpowerSCI, my workplace, we chatted generally about our experiences with spinal cord injury. Cole was very open about his struggles with mental health and belief in how important mental health interventions are, especially for men with spinal cord injuries. I was a bit caught off guard. Cole is a burly paraplegic dude from British Columbia with a background in motocross and crossfit. Not the first person I would expect to be an evangelist for mental health. We've connected multiple times since and had a longer conversation this spring. Guest info:@cbreezyridesAdditional Resources:https://www.bowheadcorp.com/https://highfivesfoundation.org/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Dianne Vitkus and I met five and a half years ago in Spaulding Hospital while she was in inpatient rehab after her spinal cord injury and I was there for a PT appointment. Over the years we've become friends through our mutual enthusiasm for adaptive sports, the organizations that we are both involved with, as well as being members of the Boston spinal cord injury community. She is currently the resource program manager at the Travis Roy Center in Spaulding Hospital, where she helps newly injured patients find the resources that will prepare them for returning home. She leads the SCI consortium, a group of several New England-based spinal cord injuries coming together to tackle larger issues. I visited Dianne in her apartment in the Charlestown Navy Yard, across the water from where I live in East Boston. After catching up, we began exploring grief, an emotional state that I have come to understand advances and recedes often unpredictably and not in a linear way, like we are often led to believe. Dianne and I both have experienced a resurgence of grief in the past year or so. We also have many wonderful things in our lives. This conversation exemplifies the ability for grief, sadness, and loss to coexist with joy, connection, and love in a person's life. Guest info:@vittysvoyage@impossibledreamcataramAdditional Resources:https://www.theimpossibledream.org/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

A couple years ago we started hearing about a wheelchair accessible resort in Northern Minnesota call North of North. Several Unexpected Journey guests and listeners visited and raved about it. I reached out to Sean Leary who, together with his wife Jill built and owns North of North, a micro-resort with three fully wheelchair accessible cabins on a beautiful lake a few miles outside of town in Ely, Minnesota. They have also started AWWR, which stands for Adaptive Wilderness Within Reach, to support outdoor adventure opportunities for folks with disabilities in Ely. After an initial conversation with Sean, I decided I needed to check out North of North. This past February I made the trip along with a couple good friends. We met in Minneapolis and drove up for a a magical three days that included frigid dark starry nights, sauna time, ice fishing, dogsledding, wolves, and the wintry beauty of the Boundary Waters Wilderness area.Sean was paralyzed and became paraplegic from a car accident when he was 18 years old. He went on to college and in his early 20s met Jill while working in a summer camp. Jill asked Sean out and the rest of his history. They are now married, have two beautiful daughters, two dogs, and careers in environmental consulting and education. They live in a suburb of Minneapolis and have spent the past several years building their resort and program up in Ely, where their hearts lie.Guest info:@northofnorthresortnorthofnorthresort.com Additional Resources:https://www.awwr.orgContact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Landon McGauley grew up in British Columbia. Like many of our other guests from BC, he spent his formative years in the outdoors exploring the mountains and at an early age fell in love with biking, riding around his neighborhood with a shovel to build dirt jumps. In 2011, at the age of 15, he was in a biking crash resulting in a T5 spinal cord injury and paraplegia. Landon and I initially connected for an interview in 2022 when he had fully adapted to life as a paraplegic. In the years after his accident, Landon found his way to adaptive mountain biking and was amongst a crew of hard charging pioneering riders. He was working as the High Fives athlete manager, and notably, in the planning stage for an ambitious mountain biking and rafting trip with his brother. As we were assembling that episode and before Landon had a chance to embark on his big adventure, he was in another biking accident. This time breaking his neck resulting in quadriplegia. Landon now has the very unique life experience of living as a non-disabled or able-bodied person, a paraplegic, and now a quadriplegic. He is a thoughtful, well-read individual, and and openly shared his wisdom in this conversation.Guest info:@landonmcgauleyAdditional Resources:www.highfivesfoundation.orghttps://mhanational.org/resources/suicide-prevention/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/suicide-prevention.htmlContact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Last fall, I traveled to Oman for the World Inclusive Sailing Championships. It was an incredible experience. The inaugural event brought together many of the best adaptive sailors in the world, all competing to be world champion in one of three different classes – the RS venture connect - a two person boat, the Hansa 303 - a one person boat, and the Far East with three visually impaired sailors and three sighted sailors per boat.  Beyond the racing and crowning world champions, the event had a larger mission: to showcase the skill, passion, and level of competition of the international parasailing community, in an effort to get sailing back into the Paralympics after it was dropped following the 2016 Rio Games. Over 100 sailors from 36 different countries competed. In addition to enjoying the wonderful warmth of the Omani people, culture, landscape and weather, and mixing it up on the racecourse, my highlight was meeting the other sailors from around the world. In the quiet moments in between racing and exploring, I spoke with three of them to hear their stories.Guest info:@pintobp05Additional Resources:https://www.sailing.org/world-sailing-inclusion-championships/Contact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

After talking with Tanja Kari in Episode 57 we were super excited to learn more about the TetraSki, an emerging technology for the adaptive alpine skiing community. If you haven't already, I recommend giving episode 57 a listen before continuing this episode. We wanted to hear from several voices, so I reached out to athlete Becca Farewell who is now in her fourth season skiing and racing in the tetra ski.  Becca lives in Salt Lake City with her family and is highly involved in the adaptive sports and TetraSki communities. We also reached out to three individuals who are highly involved in the design, adoption, and usage of the TetraSki. Dr. Jeff Rosenbluth is the Medical Director of TRAILS adaptive program which he founded in 2003 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and has been a leader of the TetraSki revolution from the start. Cullen Robinson formerly worked as an adaptive ski instructor at New England Disabled Sports in New Hampshire and is now a Program Coordinator at TRAILS where he works with Jeff and Tanja and continues to be highly involved in adaptive skiing. Allie Peterson, is a leading adaptive ski instructor in New England who has extensive experience working with a wide range of adaptive ski equipment and adaptive athletes who also works as an inpatient acute care occupational therapist for her day job. Guest info:@avibexAdditional Resources:https://www.tetraski.us/https://www.utrails.us/www.highfivesfoundation.orgContact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer

Tanja Kari is a Paralympic gold medalist in cross country skiing from Finland. In 2010 she was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame, she has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sports Person of the Year with a Disability, and in 1998 and 2002 she was voted Finland's best disabled athlete. Since retiring from competitive sport she has become a strong and passionate advocate for the expansion of para sport opportunities and now works at TRAILS Adaptive in Utah on efforts to make adaptive sports both competitive and recreational accessible to more people with complex disabilities.Guest info:@karitanjaAdditional Resources:https://www.tetraski.us/https://www.utrails.us/www.highfivesfoundation.orgContact us: Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypodEmail: [email protected] Hosted and produced by Tim BrownEditing and sound design by Louis ArevaloOriginal theme music by Jesse LaFountaineEpisode cover art by Lewis Falconer Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer