[Applause]
alright so now for something a little
different I’m lying in a ditch 12 miles
outside of Roswell New Mexico and the
storm that just kicked up out of nowhere
is blowing like an unbelievable
scientific documentary there’s dust
filling my lungs and I’m coughing
uncontrollably I’m on the phone but no
one can understand my pleas for help
what would you do if you’re in a
situation like that how many of you out
there today have found a circumstance in
your life that you set yourself up for
that you are expecting to fail I’m gonna
tell you the only reason I’m on stage
here today is because I’m a failure now
being open to fail allowed me to do
something no one thought was possible to
inspire an entire community and
potentially break a world record being
okay to fail is the only way I know to
see how far you can go now let’s take
this step back to February of 2012 I’m
about to make the most important
decision of my life
it affects my family my friends my
career everything two weeks earlier I’d
gotten an answer that I’ve been seeking
for over seven years why I was having
trouble signing my name why my right leg
was stiff and why my right arm didn’t
flow naturally remarkably the decision
was really easy for me I made the
decision to immediately tell everyone
that I have Parkinson’s disease early
onset a rare neurological disease of 15
point O 1% of the population but now
what I’ll tell you what being open about
my disease allowed me to find my passion
push my personal boundaries and find
positive outputs it also allowed me to
immediately begin competing free to
compete really in the last letter
competitions for the Michael J Fox
foundation for Team Fox which is
important because as I learned X
size is the only thing that slows the
progression in Parkinson’s so over the
next five years I completed 10 marathons
had some pizza in Brooklyn nine
triathlons including a full Ironman I
formed a 60 person triathlon team climb
Mount Kilimanjaro completed the dopey
challenge and Disney and many more all
his fundraisers I also started a
five-year study called ppm I to find
biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease now
this is a pretty invasive study it
involves datte scans spinal taps and
extensive blood draws and I know I look
pretty happy here I’m gonna be open with
you guys again when my wife had her
wisdom teeth pulled I almost passed out
so as you can imagine this wasn’t easy
for me in 2016 I began planning an event
that would allow me to connect and
hopefully inspire people with
Parkinson’s in a way that would
highlight the importance of exercise and
in a manner in which my wonderful sister
so eloquently described my efforts as
ordinary people doing extraordinary
things that’s my sister I formed a board
of directors and we started a charitable
organization called uncorked adventures
in our first event I would walk across
the United States in 46 days trying to
find someone organically each day who
had a connection to Parkinson’s disease
if we accomplished our object I would
break the world record for running
across the u.s. but we had one very
important rule if we saw barbecue we had
that is true by the way let’s fast
forward to August 2017 I’m in the bio
dynamics lab at Armstrong State
University my body was digitized and
analyzed I’m here to optimize my gait
for the walk I’m excited but it turns
out the data is very concerning my right
foot only uplifts four degrees whereas
normal persons would be eight to ten my
trunk rotation is half of what’s
expected and my right foot with every
step is catching on the treadmill making
a chirping noise just reminding
everybody of this so my Olympic coach
the physical therapist in the bio
dynamics professor stage and
intervention they tell me I can’t do it
I’m not physically capable of it now
this isn’t a casual conversation this is
serious they say I need to bicycle a
large portion of it life all comes down
to a few moments and for me this was
definitely one of them the fear of
failure is so powerful for everyone what
would you do when the world’s foremost
experts tell you you shouldn’t do
something how would you respond I asked
myself one question was I okay to fail
and I was so I’m gonna go for it and I
did I’ll be it on my own so being okay
to fail allow me to pursue my passion
but that doesn’t guarantee success so
what does that look like let’s fast
forward a little bit further to December
2017 I’m in the Mississippi Sports
Medicine Clinic and I haven’t turned on
my data location services as I normally
do every day because I don’t want anyone
to worry about me
the truth is I’m in a lot of trouble I
was just featured on The Today Show but
I can barely walk I have massive
blisters on both of my feet my left foot
is so badly damaged I should be in the
hospital and my feet and legs are
severely swollen you can see it here on
the right side of the screen now
I promise you guys I’m not gonna be seen
wearing open-toed sandals at the pool
this summer based on this and remarkably
the team in Mississippi was able to give
me the tools to keep going on this great
adventure and I’d love to tell you that
I solved all my problems in Mississippi
and never looked back
but the reality is when you’re pushing
boundaries you will be challenged life
will throw everything at you and you
have to be prepared to persevere now
rewinding back to where we started this
conversation I climbed out of that ditch
in New Mexico and I walked the 12 miles
into Roswell in the most Horatius wind
storms you’ve ever seen and this type of
perseverance is critical throughout this
entire journey to get me to the end I
had to overcome five inches of snow in
Mississippi I think there’s one shovel
stress fractures a foot infection a
damaged Achilles tendon I had 16 dog
attacks an encounter with a bear I had
to cross a closed bridge over the
Mississippi River walk hundreds of miles
on roads with no median
I lost my medication I went off my meds
for over a week
don’t tell my doctor but I kept going
and remarkably the people that I
inspired became my inspiration and
helped me push through these obstacles
any one of which could have caused me to
quit here’s an example of that
inspiration the very first night I
happened into a McDonald’s at 2:30 a.m.
I was still walking I was starving I
grabbed the door and it’s locked
the store manager answers and she says
sorry
I explained to her why I didn’t have a
and see she told me her story of a
really difficult life and recent hard
work leading their promotion it was an
amazing story free food free coffee and
a thank you of inspiration I was on my
way next morning a truck flies up in
front of us
guy gets out and I see the the night
manager
she says she was so inspired by our
conversation that she’d been out that
morning bought me several pairs of socks
and written an inspirational note to
keep us going on our first day then an
hour later I encountered a man of pretty
modest means sifting pecans under a tree
we shared stories ate a few pecans
together he got his wallet out and gave
me everything he had was four dollars
I said look there is no way that I can
take this he looked at me with tears in
his eyes and said bill it’s so inspiring
what you’re doing I’d give you more
money if I could afford it I can’t take
this back and I wish you the best of
luck on your journey every day I met
people like this that provided that type
of inspiration it was unbelievable by
the end of the trip we had met almost
200 people with connections to
Parkinson’s disease some of whom had
driven or flown hundreds or even
thousands of miles just to walk with me
Neal Levin who has Parkinson’s disease
and had just gotten back from the Mayo
Clinic he had knee replacement surgery
drove 200 miles not knowing where I was
just to shake my hand and say thank you
a woman surprised me at 7:00 a.m. on a
lonely road 32 degrees in her robe she
had just had a double mastectomy tubes
still attached said she was so inspired
by my story she wanted to walk with me
just to tell me she was going to try and
run a marathon something she always
dreamed of trying John Ball the author
marathoner and 20-year veteran of living
with Parkinson’s disease took planes
trains and automobiles just to walk with
me into the finish online communities
cropped up like the support that I had
from my current employer the pampered
chef which resulted in hundreds of
people virtually walking and running
with
every day this was incredibly
inspirational by the time I got to San
Diego there were over 50 people with me
some of whom were in wheelchairs and
walkers this had become so much bigger
than me now
now what started out as the singular act
of walking across the country became an
incredible lesson for me about the
importance of being open to failure and
how finding your passion and pushing
through boundaries can lead you to
discover what you’re truly capable of
now I failed to break the world record
for running across the u.s. that Frank
Jean you know set in 1980 but I did
complete the truck from Tybee Island
Georgia to San Diego in 67 days
averaging 39 miles a day one and a half
marathons a day without stopping
back-to-back and it turns out I may have
the world record for walking across the
unbelievable Guinness is reviewing it
right now in fact I just got an email
from them about an hour ago they need
more information shocking but more
importantly we touched the lives of
thousands of people with Parkinson’s
disease and created an amazing
inspiration we did over 50 media
interviews touching tens of millions of
people creating incredible awareness so
my request of you is to find your
passion and your path regardless if you
think you’re gonna fail and give it a go
I guarantee you’ll be successful beyond
anything you can imagine right now you
might even change the world we can all
[Music] [Applause]
alright so now for something a little
different I’m lying in a ditch 12 miles
outside of Roswell New Mexico and the
storm that just kicked up out of nowhere
is blowing like an unbelievable
scientific documentary there’s dust
filling my lungs and I’m coughing
uncontrollably I’m on the phone but no
one can understand my pleas for help
what would you do if you’re in a
situation like that how many of you out
there today have found a circumstance in
your life that you set yourself up for
that you are expecting to fail I’m gonna
tell you the only reason I’m on stage
here today is because I’m a failure now
being open to fail allowed me to do
something no one thought was possible to
inspire an entire community and
potentially break a world record being
okay to fail is the only way I know to
see how far you can go now let’s take
this step back to February of 2012 I’m
about to make the most important
decision of my life
it affects my family my friends my
career everything two weeks earlier I’d
gotten an answer that I’ve been seeking
for over seven years why I was having
trouble signing my name why my right leg
was stiff and why my right arm didn’t
flow naturally remarkably the decision
was really easy for me I made the
decision to immediately tell everyone
that I have Parkinson’s disease early
onset a rare neurological disease of 15
point O 1% of the population but now
what I’ll tell you what being open about
my disease allowed me to find my passion
push my personal boundaries and find
positive outputs it also allowed me to
immediately begin competing free to
compete really in the last letter
competitions for the Michael J Fox
foundation for Team Fox which is
important because as I learned X
size is the only thing that slows the
progression in Parkinson’s so over the
next five years I completed 10 marathons
had some pizza in Brooklyn nine
triathlons including a full Ironman I
formed a 60 person triathlon team climb
Mount Kilimanjaro completed the dopey
challenge and Disney and many more all
his fundraisers I also started a
five-year study called ppm I to find
biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease now
this is a pretty invasive study it
involves datte scans spinal taps and
extensive blood draws and I know I look
pretty happy here I’m gonna be open with
you guys again when my wife had her
wisdom teeth pulled I almost passed out
so as you can imagine this wasn’t easy
for me in 2016 I began planning an event
that would allow me to connect and
hopefully inspire people with
Parkinson’s in a way that would
highlight the importance of exercise and
in a manner in which my wonderful sister
so eloquently described my efforts as
ordinary people doing extraordinary
things that’s my sister I formed a board
of directors and we started a charitable
organization called uncorked adventures
in our first event I would walk across
the United States in 46 days trying to
find someone organically each day who
had a connection to Parkinson’s disease
if we accomplished our object I would
break the world record for running
across the u.s. but we had one very
important rule if we saw barbecue we had
that is true by the way let’s fast
forward to August 2017 I’m in the bio
dynamics lab at Armstrong State
University my body was digitized and
analyzed I’m here to optimize my gait
for the walk I’m excited but it turns
out the data is very concerning my right
foot only uplifts four degrees whereas
normal persons would be eight to ten my
trunk rotation is half of what’s
expected and my right foot with every
step is catching on the treadmill making
a chirping noise just reminding
everybody of this so my Olympic coach
the physical therapist in the bio
dynamics professor stage and
intervention they tell me I can’t do it
I’m not physically capable of it now
this isn’t a casual conversation this is
serious they say I need to bicycle a
large portion of it life all comes down
to a few moments and for me this was
definitely one of them the fear of
failure is so powerful for everyone what
would you do when the world’s foremost
experts tell you you shouldn’t do
something how would you respond I asked
myself one question was I okay to fail
and I was so I’m gonna go for it and I
did I’ll be it on my own so being okay
to fail allow me to pursue my passion
but that doesn’t guarantee success so
what does that look like let’s fast
forward a little bit further to December
2017 I’m in the Mississippi Sports
Medicine Clinic and I haven’t turned on
my data location services as I normally
do every day because I don’t want anyone
to worry about me
the truth is I’m in a lot of trouble I
was just featured on The Today Show but
I can barely walk I have massive
blisters on both of my feet my left foot
is so badly damaged I should be in the
hospital and my feet and legs are
severely swollen you can see it here on
the right side of the screen now
I promise you guys I’m not gonna be seen
wearing open-toed sandals at the pool
this summer based on this and remarkably
the team in Mississippi was able to give
me the tools to keep going on this great
adventure and I’d love to tell you that
I solved all my problems in Mississippi
and never looked back
but the reality is when you’re pushing
boundaries you will be challenged life
will throw everything at you and you
have to be prepared to persevere now
rewinding back to where we started this
conversation I climbed out of that ditch
in New Mexico and I walked the 12 miles
into Roswell in the most Horatius wind
storms you’ve ever seen and this type of
perseverance is critical throughout this
entire journey to get me to the end I
had to overcome five inches of snow in
Mississippi I think there’s one shovel
stress fractures a foot infection a
damaged Achilles tendon I had 16 dog
attacks an encounter with a bear I had
to cross a closed bridge over the
Mississippi River walk hundreds of miles
on roads with no median
I lost my medication I went off my meds
for over a week
don’t tell my doctor but I kept going
and remarkably the people that I
inspired became my inspiration and
helped me push through these obstacles
any one of which could have caused me to
quit here’s an example of that
inspiration the very first night I
happened into a McDonald’s at 2:30 a.m.
I was still walking I was starving I
grabbed the door and it’s locked
the store manager answers and she says
sorry
I explained to her why I didn’t have a
and see she told me her story of a
really difficult life and recent hard
work leading their promotion it was an
amazing story free food free coffee and
a thank you of inspiration I was on my
way next morning a truck flies up in
front of us
guy gets out and I see the the night
manager
she says she was so inspired by our
conversation that she’d been out that
morning bought me several pairs of socks
and written an inspirational note to
keep us going on our first day then an
hour later I encountered a man of pretty
modest means sifting pecans under a tree
we shared stories ate a few pecans
together he got his wallet out and gave
me everything he had was four dollars
I said look there is no way that I can
take this he looked at me with tears in
his eyes and said bill it’s so inspiring
what you’re doing I’d give you more
money if I could afford it I can’t take
this back and I wish you the best of
luck on your journey every day I met
people like this that provided that type
of inspiration it was unbelievable by
the end of the trip we had met almost
200 people with connections to
Parkinson’s disease some of whom had
driven or flown hundreds or even
thousands of miles just to walk with me
Neal Levin who has Parkinson’s disease
and had just gotten back from the Mayo
Clinic he had knee replacement surgery
drove 200 miles not knowing where I was
just to shake my hand and say thank you
a woman surprised me at 7:00 a.m. on a
lonely road 32 degrees in her robe she
had just had a double mastectomy tubes
still attached said she was so inspired
by my story she wanted to walk with me
just to tell me she was going to try and
run a marathon something she always
dreamed of trying John Ball the author
marathoner and 20-year veteran of living
with Parkinson’s disease took planes
trains and automobiles just to walk with
me into the finish online communities
cropped up like the support that I had
from my current employer the pampered
chef which resulted in hundreds of
people virtually walking and running
with
every day this was incredibly
inspirational by the time I got to San
Diego there were over 50 people with me
some of whom were in wheelchairs and
walkers this had become so much bigger
than me now
now what started out as the singular act
of walking across the country became an
incredible lesson for me about the
importance of being open to failure and
how finding your passion and pushing
through boundaries can lead you to
discover what you’re truly capable of
now I failed to break the world record
for running across the u.s. that Frank
Jean you know set in 1980 but I did
complete the truck from Tybee Island
Georgia to San Diego in 67 days
averaging 39 miles a day one and a half
marathons a day without stopping
back-to-back and it turns out I may have
the world record for walking across the
unbelievable Guinness is reviewing it
right now in fact I just got an email
from them about an hour ago they need
more information shocking but more
importantly we touched the lives of
thousands of people with Parkinson’s
disease and created an amazing
inspiration we did over 50 media
interviews touching tens of millions of
people creating incredible awareness so
my request of you is to find your
passion and your path regardless if you
think you’re gonna fail and give it a go
I guarantee you’ll be successful beyond
anything you can imagine right now you
might even change the world we can all
[Music] [Applause]
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