What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

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93: Brook lost a leg to a shark Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

Few things are scarier than being attacked by a shark.

Australian Mick Fanning was in a professional surfing competition, which was being broadcast live around the world. Viewers watched as a shark approached him and he was quickly rescued by nearby safety crews – the only damage was the leash that connected him to his surfboard had been chewed through.

In 1963, Rodney Fox was competing in a spearfishing tournament. A great white shark attacked and bit him around his midsection, puncturing his diaphragm, crushing his rib cage, and leaving many of his organs exposed. He survived with surgery and around 400 stitches.

One summer on the Jersey Shore, five shark attacks happened in 10 days, resulting in four deaths. That period is often thought to be the inspiration for the classic movie, Jaws.

As scary as it sounds, the reality is that shark attacks are quite rare. In fact, your odds of being attacked by a shark are around 1 in 11 million. Of course, that’s not much comfort if you’re one of the unlucky people to actually experience a violent attack by a shark.

Just ask Brook.

If you would like to help Brook with her ongoing recovery, here is her GoFundMe account.

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This episode is sponsored by StoryWorth. Preserve your loved one’s memories in a keepsake book, and get 10% off your first order at StoryWorth.com/WHAT.

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92: Andrew head-on crashed his snowmobile Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

I’ve lived in places where the winter is really cold. Personally, I can say I prefer to live here in Florida, where it’s usually relatively warm.

I don’t miss shoveling snow, or driving on roads that are icy, and it’s been a long time since my fingers and toes felt numb from the cold temperatures. I know some people prefer a colder climate, and I’m fine with that. The world is more interesting because we are all different.

But when you live in an area where there’s cold weather and lots of snow, one of the things that makes it more bearable, and even fun, is to ride on a snowmobile. These things are a blast. For an avid snowmobiler, there is nothing better than a sunny day and a wide open field of fresh snow.

And my guest today, Andrew, definitely falls into that category – he is a huge fan of snowmobiles. He goes out riding every time he gets a chance. And he’s one of those guys that sees a hill, and he knows that with enough speed, he can get his machine to go airborne. That’s his thrill, and he’s been doing it for years.

But there was this one day, he went flying up a hill and caught air, without realizing that there was someone on the other side of that hill. Someone on a snowmobile, coming TOWARD Andrew, who also was about to fly through the air, at the exact same time.

And in that split second, while they were both in the air, Andrew realized that the other driver was someone he knew very well.

This episode is sponsored by the Disturbed: True Horror Stories podcast. Get it on any podcast app, or at DisturbedPodcast.com.

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91: Bonus episode - Childbirth Stories Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

This is a bonus episode of What Was That Like.

If this were a regular episode, you’d be hearing someone telling a story of how they survived a mass shooting, or when they got attacked by a grizzly bear, or that time they won $100,000 on Wheel of Fortune. We have guests on with all kinds of crazy stories, and they tell exactly what happened, first hand.

But this episode is different. A while back, I asked my listeners to send in their stories about a specific topic: childbirth. What happened, what went right, and in some cases, what went wrong. This is real life, and not every story has a happy ending.

I really enjoyed hearing these stories, and to those who sent one in, thank you.

And if you have a story about something unusual that’s happened to you, not necessarily related to childbirth, but anything unusual or interesting, hang around and at the end I’ll tell you how we might be able to use that here on the podcast in a future episode.

Here is Sylvia’s story about her experience with Postpartum Psychosis.

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90: Emily was a surrogate Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

We live in a pretty amazing time. Private citizens are going to outer space, cars are able to drive themselves to places without a human, all kinds of crazy things that our grandparents would never have imagined. I love hearing about the advances in science and technology.

And what we’re talking about today might seem like it’s always been around, but it’s actually fairly new. We’re talking about the idea of surrogacy. Being a surrogate mother means you carry someone else’s baby for them. And the first surrogate pregnancy just happened in 1985. Scientists and doctors just figured this out recently, during my lifetime!

We’re talking today with Emily. She lives in Canada, and she was a surrogate. I could tell when we first spoke that she was kind of an upbeat, positive person. I wanted to know how surrogacy works, why she wanted to do it, if she got paid for it, all those things. She answered my initial questions, then we got into her story.

So today, we’re going to chat with Emily as she takes us on this journey of when she decided to be a surrogate mother for a young couple there in Canada. She had never done this before, but she had some basic expectations of how it was supposed to work.

But what actually happened was not what she expected at all.

Emily on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyf_27/ Emily email - emilyf_27@hotmail.com

Resources:Surrogacy.ca (Canada) Surrogate.com (US) PAIL Network - https://pailnetwork.sunnybrook.ca/BabyStepsFoundation.org

October – International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month October 15 – Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

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This podcast is sponsored by the LOL with Kim Gravel podcast – inspiring, uplifting conversations with intelligent people. Find it on any podcast app, or at LOLKim.com.

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89: Alex was trapped under an ATV Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

Do you have a best friend?

I have a best friend. His name is Tim. He and I grew up together in Ohio. We went to the same school, same church, we would sleep over at each other’s house all the time. And we each have younger brothers, and they were also good friends, and our parents were really close as well.

Of course I’m in Florida now, and Tim still lives up in Ohio. We haven’t seen each other in years, but we still communicate by phone and on Facebook pretty regularly. Tim’s the kind of guy that if I told him I had some kind of emergency and needed him here, he’d be on the next plane. And I’d do the same for him. That’s just what best friends are supposed to do.

My guest on the podcast today is Alex, and his story kind of illustrates that.

He was out working one day with a group of guys. This was in the summer, and they were working on a mountain that in the winter functioned as a ski slope. They were using chainsaws and getting the long mountain slope cleared of trees and other debris.

Alex ends up getting seriously injured. But it wasn’t his chainsaw that caused his injury. And he didn’t get hit by a falling tree. Alex was run over from behind by an unmanned 1800 pound ATV, and he found himself trapped underneath it. He couldn’t get out; he couldn’t even move. And since he didn’t know if anyone else had seen this happen, he suddenly felt very alone.

Then, his best friend Greg showed up.

Alex’s podcast website: https://thebuildersjourney.com

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

Suicide Prevention Text Line: 741741

This podcast is sponsored by Better Help online counseling – get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

This podcast is sponsored by Green Chef, the #1 meal kit for eating well – get $100 off including free shipping, by visiting GreenChef.com/WWTL100 and use promo code WWTL100.

This podcast is sponsored by A Life’s Story podcast – incredible true stories of amazing people. Binge all 14 episodes of Season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

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88: Tim lost friends on September 11 Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

Most adults remember where they were on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

In New York City, there were some thunderstorms the night before, but that day, 9/11, had started out beautiful and sunny, with clear skies.

Then people started noticing that some large passenger planes were flying too low.

When the first building was hit, there was confusion. Even the office workers who were in the building didn’t know exactly what had happened, just that there was an explosion and lots of smoke.

The New York metropolitan area is home to the busiest airport system in the United States, with 3 major airports: JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia. On that morning, the air traffic controllers were also communicating about what they were seeing, and trying to figure out what was happening.

On the ground, there were many 911 calls coming in. Firefighters were deployed from stations all over the city, as well as police officers from the NYPD and the Port Authority.

One of the people involved on that day is my guest for this episode, Tim Brown. He was a New York City firefighter for 20 years, and that knowledge and experience lead to a job working in the Mayor’s office. He was specifically equipped to know what to do when any big emergency happened. He was one of the people who were in charge.

But like everyone else on that morning 20 years ago, he had no idea what he was about to experience.

Tunnel to Towers Foundation: https://t2t.org

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fftimnyc

Website: http://www.fftim.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timbrown682/

Tim Brown email:

tbrown@thebravest.com

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS

This episode is sponsored by A Life’s Story podcast – available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever you get your podcasts.

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87: Victoria's neighbors brought horrible news Aug 27, 2021

Show notes

I was watching a video online recently. I don’t remember where it was, probably in a subreddit. It was recorded on a security camera in some business. There’s no sound, but you can pretty much tell what’s going on. These two men are standing there, and they are obviously in some kind of argument. You know how, even when you can’t hear what someone is saying, it’s easy to see that they’re upset just because of their body language? That’s what this was.

I don’t know if they were two customers, or a manager and a customer, doesn’t really matter. But they were angry. And they were getting up in each other’s face, but neither of them had touched the other one yet. It looked like it might evolve into a fist fight, but for now it was just a verbal confrontation.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a third person enters the view of the camera. He comes up behind one of the guys, and, from behind, hauls off and closed-fist punches him right in the head. And he’s out cold. Of course, he never had a chance to defend himself, or even to brace for the hit, because he never saw it coming. That’s what’s called a sucker punch. It just comes out of nowhere and knocks you right out.

That’s kind of what we’re talking about in today’s podcast episode.

But this story has nothing to do with a physical fight or anyone being hit in the head. I’m talking about an emotional sucker punch. This is when someone looks you in the eye, and they deliver some kind of news that you were not expecting at all, and what they just told you suddenly changes your whole life. As in, you know nothing is going to be the same going forward.

That’s what happened to Victoria one Saturday morning, when a former neighbor showed up on her doorstep.

Warning about this episode. Some of the content may be triggering, and isn’t suitable for children. So if you have kids in the car, you might want to skip this one or listen to it later.

This episode is sponsored by A Life’s Story podcast – life stories of incredible people. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

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86: Jen was robbed at gunpoint Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

There’s something I find really fascinating, and that’s learning about the wildly different ways people react in a sudden emergency situation.

Imagine you’re in a restaurant and the main dining room is full of people. Everyone’s talking, servers are buzzing around to their various tables, people are enjoying their food. Then suddenly at the table next to you, a middle-aged man clutches his chest, yells out in pain, and falls from his chair. It’s pretty clear he’s having a heart attack. He’s still conscious and breathing, but he is clearly in distress.

And what does everyone do? No doubt, there will be a person who will yell out for someone to call 911. There will be people who see what’s happening, and their first reaction is to quickly look around the room, like they’re looking for help. There might be someone who goes to the man and tries to do CPR. Incidentally, if someone is still awake and breathing, you don’t need to do CPR. I can guarantee that many of the people at the nearby tables will not do anything – they’re definitely going to watch and see what happens, but they won’t take any action themselves. And there will be some people who will immediately get up and get away from what’s going on. Their brain tells them they need to leave. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen.

And there will be some people who remain calm, and try to help. They’ll make sure someone has called for paramedics (or they’ll just take out their phone and make the call). They’ll get the man into a comfortable position, maybe talk to him, maybe check his pulse. These are the people you want to have around when something happens.

But that’s the interesting thing about this. If you’ve never been in a situation like that, you don’t really know for sure how you’ll react.

My guest today, Jen, doesn’t have to wonder about that. She knows how she reacts. That’s because one day at work in a retail clothing store, she turned around and was facing the barrel of a gun.

Jen’s podcast is called I NEED BLUE – www.IneedBlue.net

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

This episode is sponsored by Felix Gray blue-light glasses. Get yours at FelixGrayGlasses.com/WHAT.

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85: Bonus episode: Jessica's story Aug 06, 2021

Show notes

This is a bonus episode on an off-week Friday.

Today you'll hear Jessica's story of what happened to her fiancé Mike. Jessica and Mike have been together for seven years, and have five children.

After a short family vacation, Mike got sick and was unexpectedly diagnosed with Covid. He was unvaccinated.

If you would like to help, a GoFundMe account has been set up.

Music credit:

Almost in F by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3354-almost-in-f

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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84: Robert was in a gunfight with pirates Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

Today’s story takes place off the coast of Somalia, a country in Africa.

If you look at Africa on a map, you’ll see Somalia on the east coast, right on the water of the Indian Ocean. In fact, of all the countries in Africa, Somalia is the one with the longest coastline. And for the Americans listening, to give you an idea of how big it is, Somalia is almost the same size as the US state of Texas.

But here’s the thing about Somalia. It’s considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world. I mean, here in Florida, we have homeless people. Some of you know, I work with a group here to help the homeless population get the things they need. But in Somalia, literally half of the people in that country don’t have a home or any kind of permanent residence. This means there are millions of people who are desperate, and hungry, and they’re vulnerable to abuse.

And just on the north side of Somalia is the Gulf of Aden. This is a very popular water route for large ships carrying lots of cargo, headed either to or from the Suez Canal. In fact, each year there are around 20,000 of these ships passing by. That’s more than 50 ships every single day.

So there’s a certain sector of the Somali population who sees all this valuable cargo going by each day, and they see an opportunity to make money. These are modern day pirates. They see many of these big ships as easy targets. I mean if there’s a large cargo ship carrying manufactured goods, they just want to get from point A to point B. They typically aren’t equipped to fight off or defend their ship from being hijacked and held for ransom.

But today we’re going to hear a story from Robert. There was a time he was on one of those big ships, off the coast of Somalia. The pirates saw it as easy money. What they didn’t see was that Robert’s ship, the one being attacked, was a warship in the US Navy.

This episode sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

Reach more prospects by being a guest on podcasts! The Monetize the Mic conference, August 10-11, 2021, will teach you how to do that. Get your tickets at this affiliate link: WhatWasThatLike.com/conference

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