RESILIENCE

In this episode of The Real P3 Podcast, host Philip sits down with Dustin Sheppard, sharing a deeply inspiring conversation about resilience, recovery, and the power of perseverance. Dustin's story is one of remarkable strength, having overcome a severe vehicle accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. Despite the odds, Dustin has made an incredible recovery, learning to talk, read, and write again.

Key Learnings:

 The Accident and Initial Recovery:

·        Severe Injury: Dustin suffered a traumatic brain injury and a crushed skull in a head-on collision with a heavy goods vehicle (HGV). The injury left him unable to speak, walk, or use his right hand.

·        Hospitalization and Early Challenges: Dustin's initial prognosis was grim, with friends and family uncertain if he would recover. His injury affected the left central nerve, leading to significant physical and cognitive challenges.

Journey to Recovery:

·        Rehabilitation: Dustin undertook an intensive self-directed rehabilitation process. Rejecting conventional rehab, he created his own path to recovery, learning to speak by practicing the alphabet and re-learning words.

·        Small Victories: the ability to walk again was a monumental milestone for Dustin. He emphasizes the importance of celebrating small victories on the road to recovery.

Resilience and Determination:

·        Unyielding Spirit: Dustin's drive to become the best version of himself is evident in his dedication to training six to seven days a week. His focus on continuous improvement and setting goals has been crucial to his recovery.

·        Finding Joy in Progress: Dustin draws happiness from achieving small milestones and continually strives for perfection.

 Advice and Insights:

·        Self-Acceptance: Dustin advises people to be comfortable with themselves and not compare their journey to others. Everyone is different, and success should be defined by personal progress.

·        Living Life Fully: Emphasizing that "hurting is easy, living is hard," Dustin encourages others to live life to the fullest and push themselves to achieve their best, despite challenges.

Inspiration for Others:

·        Impact on Friends and Family: Dustin's story has inspired those around him, demonstrating the power of resilience and determination. Philip shares how Dustin's journey has influenced his own life choices and inspired him to dig deeper.

·        -Message of Hope: For those facing similar challenges, Dustin's story offers hope and a reminder that recovery is possible with perseverance and a positive mindset.

 Join The Real P3 Podcast to hear Dustin Sheppard's incredible tale of resilience and recovery. Subscribe for more enlightening discussions with individuals who have overcome significant challenges and continue to inspire others with their journeys.

Connect with us on :
Instagram @therealp3_podcast
LinkedIn @The Real P3
Facebook @The Real P3
Our Website

Transcript

Philip
0:00:00
Hi everyone. So today I'm here with Dustin Sheppard. This is our take two podcast recording. It's my first video recording. It's our take two because we didn't behave ourselves very well in the last one. How are you doing, Dustin?

Dustin
0:00:15
Good, thank you. I'm excited and happy we are getting a second try.

Dustin
0:00:25
Yeah.

Philip
0:00:26
So, yeah, if you want to know what two Zimbabwean boys get up to, like don't put them in front of a microphone together. And, but we hear what they say, and yeah, we're old school friends, and it's not a bias recording at all because of that. I think Dustin's story is an incredible one, and one the world needs to hear,

Philip
0:00:44
because I'm like a huge fan of Dustin, and a huge, like I draw a lot of inspiration from you and what you've done. Just to give people background on why this is happening and why we're doing this recording, is Dustin, you're involved in a really bad vehicle accident.

Philip
0:01:03
I don't know, how many years ago was that now?

Dustin
0:01:05
It's almost, no, seven years. Last month, it was seven years ago. That's incredible.

Philip
0:01:14
I mean, the accident happened here in Zimbabwe. I was around, I was part of your sort of initial journey and part of the injury was actually a brain injury. So you could just share what that actually, what that injury actually was?

Dustin
0:01:27
Yeah, because I had a head on with the HGV. So because of the smaller, I was the smaller person, my brain was the most of the input, impact. 7, the terebrae, and then I've crushed my skull on the back of the car because of the and a bad way to be there. NEIL MAHEYAVSKY Yeah, and that's an understatement

Dustin
0:01:57
because I remember getting the call, we all called Dustin Sheppard, Sheep, and I got the call, Sheep's been involved in an accident and I think I got there the next day and I met your dad outside the hospital and it wasn't, no one thought she was going to recover.

Dustin
0:02:11
And it was a really long journey. We're telling you guys about the injury straight off the bat

Dustin
0:02:16
because we obviously would like people to understand that there may be some speech difficulties coming through from Dustin, although I've seen huge progress, even from your last visit, I'm noticing progress. So if we could just bear with the speech because that was a part of the brain that was damaged.

Philip
0:03:05
If you can just share that part of the brain that got impacted.

Dustin
0:03:08
Yeah, my left, the central nerve was where I've had most of the impact. I've got feeling and the right side of the sort of went to sleep in some terms and then because of the lot of rehab and gym got feeling and then muscle mass back. That's good, yeah. And I think the part of the brain

Dustin
0:04:15
that was damaged also, you had to relearn how to talk,

Philip
0:04:18
relearn how to read, relearn how to write. Like you had a really long journey. And I mean, I remember visiting you in hospital a lot of times. I mean, I'd sit there and I'd read one of the books that I wrote to you.

Philip
0:04:38
And like, I remember actually getting emotional the one time coming back to work and saying to a work colleague that my friend's gone, you know, like we didn't know what you could see, what you could understand, if you could understand us, and to see you talking today.

Philip
0:04:52
And that's why I really wanted to bring it up because I think you encompass everything that's resilient. And we're going to talk about your journey, but I just have to really stress the point where someone who's got up, who's had such a really bad injury,

Philip
0:05:05
which affected the brain, you've really learned how to talk, how to write, how to read. You could never spell in the first place. I think your spelling's improved.

Dustin
0:05:13
Now I have to concentrate on what I'm wanting to do. Yeah, because I'm a practical man. I was hands on and then I was not happy with my progress of my accident. I chose to do my own rehab, not the rehab people because I know what will help. And then I had to do, I couldn't talk at all. get the ABC alphabet on a paper and then I would have to learn every set word again. of minor spelling, of having small big words that struggle to pronounce because of more case of really learning to my brain what I have to do.

Dustin
0:06:55
Yeah, and it's an incredible journey. And the brain is an amazing thing, right? Like your story, I've pulled a lot of strength from your story. You encompass everything that's unstoppable. You are unstoppable. We knew it from school.

Dustin
0:07:10
We'd always say that.

Dustin
0:07:11
If we got into a school fight, we would say, if you want to beat people in a fight, you've got to knock the guy out, because he's not going to stop. And you coming through something like this, people give up with a lot less, people stop moving,

Philip
0:07:48
people use any sort of disability as a sorry for me story, and you're certainly the complete opposite of that, because you're living in the UK now, you're independent, you're working, you're earning your own money, you've never wanted someone to sort of help you, you want to do it yourself,

Philip
0:08:04
you want to keep going. And you know, everything we're doing on resilience, people are, you know, around the world are finding different struggles in life, whether it's a recession, whether it's farming in isolation, it doesn't matter, people are having battles. Yours was a physical battle, but also impacted your personal life, it impacted your learning ability.

Philip
0:08:24
But you're getting up and you're moving and you're getting stronger. Where does that sort of

Dustin
0:08:27
drive come from? Yeah, stuff happens and what can you do about it? Hurting is easy, living is hard. So I want to live the best person can be. So I train six, seven days a week because I want to be the best person of the version of myself because I know what I was was like before my accident. So I've got memories of my previous life. So I have resilience there's hope for getting my body back to normal. Yeah, yeah, and I said, and I'm going to keep saying it,

Philip
0:09:43
because your story is impacting people around you, whether you realise it or not. I mean, me for one, I mean, I've made some life choices because I know your story, you know. I've dug deep because I know your story, and it's something that I hope we can find a space for,

Philip
0:10:04
you know, where I think the world deserves to hear your story. I think very, you know, likely there's a family looking at a loved one lying in a hospital bed somewhere thinking they've lost that person because, you know, exactly what we saw with you. You said to me it was really difficult because you were trapped

Philip
0:10:20
because you could hear, you could see, you could understand everything going on around you, but you were unable in any formal way to communicate that. And I think that gives a lot of hope as well for people who are either going through brain injury

Philip
0:10:33
or even taking that to their own lives. So, you're doing good, but...

Dustin
0:10:38
ANTHONY MUSUZUMAGABABA Yeah, you have to be proud of what small goals you can do. Because I have a femur and the brain don't talk to each other. So the femur didn't help heal too well. So now I have a shorter leg. I was in a wheelchair for a year and I couldn't, I'm a leader to say, I couldn't handle people having to push me through my wheelchair because I couldn't use my right hand

Dustin
0:11:36
so I needed help for everything. So, my proudest moment was getting, actually walking again, and I gained to actually be able to walk the door. I'll never describe the joy I had. My family, my friends, it was a special day. I'm sure. Is that what it is like Dustin? Have you set little goals to achieve

Philip
0:12:28
through the recovery period or have you set one big goal and then you're taking that day by day? How are you in your head mapping your road to recovery and to the point you've got to?

Dustin
0:12:39
I have achieved don't dwell on my achievement and then because I want that main goal to be better. You keep striving for perfection,

Philip
0:13:24
you want more and more and more,

Philip
0:13:26
so you keep striving to be better, keep striving to be better.

Dustin
0:13:30
maybe it's a bit of a habit of trying to do more for myself and in turn that makes me a happier person. Good. So you're driving happiness from the successes

Philip
0:13:54
and the small milestones, so that's good. And I got a question to ask, and I didn't ask you the first time around because we're having too much fun. What advice would you give your younger self? You know, maybe pre-action, pre-injury,

Philip
0:14:16
is there something you would say because there was a definitive life-changing moment for you when you went through this? And, you know, we all feel we're bulletproof, right? I don't know if it's everywhere in the world, but we all feel like it won't happen to us or nothing bad.

Philip
0:14:32
Like we just put these bulletproof vests on and we hit life in different ways. What's your advice to your younger self that hopefully a younger and even an older audience

Philip
0:14:43
could take home from?

Dustin
0:14:44
Yeah, be comfortable with your own self, don't think about the other people, because everyone is different. with myself. That's an interesting one. And I'm hearing it a lot, actually, these days. I think it's coming a lot through my own algorithms on social media and stuff.

Dustin
0:15:15
It's like, stop comparing yourself to other people.

Philip
0:15:17
That's exactly what it is. Like, your success isn't defined against what someone else is doing, it's what you're doing. And I think your recovery and your process is defining that as well, right?

Philip
0:15:26
Like, it's me against me. My biggest challenger, my biggest competition is me to be a better version today of what I was yesterday.

Dustin
0:15:44
Yeah. Yeah.

Dustin
0:15:45
There's no, when you had a piece of the brain missing, there's no competition. I realized that in the very beginning because I didn't snap my neck so I should So I should be able to do normal things. So I try not to push myself too much, but push myself in a certain way.

Philip
0:16:51
A healthy way every day.

Philip
0:16:52
That's really good, Sheep. Yeah, so I think that's our time coming up. I think we're going to definitely get you back on the show so that people could be a part of witnessing your journey. This is seven years down the line. It's been a long seven years.

Philip
0:17:06
You're talking again, you're writing again. The best part of my week, so when I get the voice notes from Sheet, usually loaded with insults. And we really want to see, you know, how this sort of progresses and develops.

Philip
0:17:23
And I'm hoping as well, people can listen to this and really be able to find the space to reach out as well. If they know of someone who is struggling or they know of someone who's been in injury, I think we chatted about it where, I think the door's certainly open

Philip
0:17:36
for people to reach out and chat to you, you are an inspiration, and just keep doing what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Philip
0:17:42
Thanks Justin, well we'll catch up with you. Thanks Justin, well we'll catch up with you.

Dustin
0:17:44
Cheers, bye bye.