Mike Shoreman

Transcript

they say that eyes are the windows to the soul and that a smile is the mirror to the heart but what happens when a sudden neurological condition robs you of both when my feet touched the ground that morning i knew my life was going to be different i placed my hands on the wall for support and i staggered towards the door fumbling to get it open i struggled down the 13 stairs slowly disoriented dizzy nauseous my mother saw me put down her coffee and guided me gently to the hallway mirror mike we need to get you to the emergency room my face had collapsed on

the right side and was now sunken in hours later i'd be diagnosed in hospital with ramsay hunt syndrome a condition leaving me unable to walk properly speak properly function properly overnight i went from being a vibrant athletic young man an entrepreneur with his own successful paddleboarding business to being unable to walk from the living room to the kitchen of my parents home a sudden loss of independence social life and the identity i had become so proud of part of my condition was that my face collapsed the nerve shattered and it dropped it looked like i'd had a stroke with my face now sunken in my

one eye nail bulging out my smile gone i looked like a white walker from the game of thrones and as i stood leaning on the bathroom counter for support one cold january morning i looked into the mirror and i didn't recognize myself anymore totally disconnected with who was looking back at me physically and emotionally a loss of identity so painful i could barely look tears filled my eyes as i crossed my hands to my face i looked like a monster and this is how others would now see me too when we'd go for short trips to appointments or to the grocery store i would get

looks everywhere we went people stared clearly questioning why this former dashing waterlike guy was now needing to hold on to someone to walk wondering what had happened to his face i would cry myself to sleep most nights thinking why me god what have i done i even prayed we had a lot of good shots didn't we bargaining tears soaked my pillows at night while i thought to myself who will ever love this who will ever love a monster i researched and found the best plastic surgeon in the country who would fix me transferring nerves from my leg to the right side of my face every

appointment would end with we want to wait a little bit longer see what natural nerve repair can happen on its own it can take up to two years finally i needed a way out of the pain i needed to believe that there was hope i couldn't imagine feeling like this for the rest of my life so i pulled out my ipad and i began googling famous people my condition i needed to normalize what i was going through a few names popped up on the screen and right at the top was celebrity fitness guru and founder of p90x tony horton just seeing that there was someone

else like me suddenly i didn't feel so alone anymore i saw that he had struggled just like me and that our shared condition had put him temporarily in a wheelchair and that he had worked really hard to come back i tracked tony down on social media he had hundreds of thousands of followers and a fan base of millions of people with p90x what would be the likelihood that he would respond to me but it couldn't hurt to try i spent hours crafting the perfect message i tell tony i used to be athletic that we have the same condition and then i'm in pretty rough shape

i press send and it goes out to the universe sitting at home a short time later a message pops up with a friend request guess who tony horton the yoda to miweek skywalker the one with all the answers kind compassionate generous his messages of encouragement and support motivate me they light a fire in me and i start fighting with everything that i have it's been almost two years of fighting this uphill battle every step painful but rewarding every small win setting me up for my next i got back on the paddleboard when the doctors said it wasn't possible in fact i went on to become

the 2020 international stand-up paddleboarding man of the year i won canada's largest inspirational speaking competition standing on stage sharing my story and today you're looking at a new man with a renewed sense of purpose and a new business the leader of a global movement and spokesperson and advocate for national organizations helping other people struggling and as for my eye and my smile we are now nearing that big day the surgery i desperately wanted to make me feel complete and normal the surgery that would make me feel whole again only i've realized i don't need a surgery to make me feel whole i already do this

year has been magical the love and support the community and connections but most of all the self-love and self-acceptance that has come from finding my value beyond the crooked smile and the eye that can't quite close if i had to go through all the pain again to get to where i am now i would yeah i'd go through all of it again no adversity is meant to break us no challenge no shortcoming no obstacle meant to defeat our battle scars are here to remind us where we came from badges of honor we stumbled we struggled we survived this eye the window to my soul this

crooked smile the mirror to my

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.

Transcript

mic shoreman the Justice League Superman Wonder Woman Batman we fell in love with them alone they're powerful but united as a team they're a League of Justice warriors who can overcome anything for the last several years people called me Aquaman a paddleboarding coach on the water sup an acronym for stand-up paddle a superhero if you will but we are all superheroes we all have superhero qualities within and when we bring those gifts together extraordinary things happen but like in the comics in my story there was a villain waiting to strike my villain a sudden neurological condition attacking me 12 months ago Ramsay Hunt syndrome took

me down in five days my face collapsed on the right side permanent hearing damage speech and vision problems and I lost my sense of balance in the Batman comics the protagonist crippled by a broken back me I'm still in physiotherapy learning ways to walk normal way again my independence my business my social life on my terms gone but the night is darkest just before the dawn that's what they said in the dark night am i right but the dawn didn't come darkness days weeks months my world got very small I felt very alone that's forward to March my dad's birthday using a cane wearing an

eyepatch my face as it was looking like two Batman villains the penguin two-face from my end a lot of internal hesitation to this dinner reservation but it's my dad he's the best dinner in a restaurant though the biggest of tests the loud sounds lights of a busy restaurant that night super sensory overload finally the server took our orders when she brought our drinks I asked oh can I please have a straw I now need a straw to drink properly she said well aren't you demanding she was rude to me in front of my family sprayed by another villain the Scarecrow with its fear gas but

this was not my childhood imagination from some comic book hallucination this was a fear inducing intoxication I was now immobilized for a predation sat there in my seat that night I was hit with the greatest of kryptonite paralyzed again this time by fear no Bam's biff spouse out of me it was clear that this stand-up guy this stand-up paddleboard coach could not stand up for himself crushing defeat straw was my lifeline my voice gone I didn't matter anymore me fighting back tears we sat in disbelief I said it's okay I didn't to my grief my dad this man built of steel down his beer said

grab your jacket we're going elsewhere you don't deserve that no blue or red tights he flew me to safety he stood up for my rights it's because of people like him my mom my Wonder Woman who shielded me with her love this year my physiotherapist the flash who pushed me when I broke down my friends the Green Lantern's many of whom sent me straws this year and the paddleboarders my Atlanteans from around the world hundreds of them from 39 countries 18 states who flooded my social media with their support took pictures of themselves with their paddles up to support me when I fell my Justice

League my community they came together transforming me into these strong version of myself the unbalanced paddleboarder this former Paulo coach now stands on the board again when doctors said it wasn't a reality for a few minutes this stand-up guy now stands up for other fallen superheroes who are voiceless and champions them it's because of community coming together I had the strength to become the face the voice of this rare neurological condition in our metropolis and around the world in what became a viral international movement the last few months we are stronger together yeah so join forces and rise with your utility belts carrying kindness compassion

and patience your Trident blasting out empathy understanding and respect your lassos unleashing acceptance tolerance and love when we come together we all fly higher we are a force these gifts our powers united we are unstoppable

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.

Transcript

they called me Sherman the board man I'm Apollo coach with paddle Canada I teach stand-up paddle boarding in front of the Toronto skyline I taught beginners on the water often nervous at first a lot of I don't think I can so a lot of I'm not Shores but eventually those nose turned into yeses at the end of my lessons I line my students up on their boards with their backs to the city I was ready to capture their moment but the Sun setting and the planes landing just behind them I'd say paddles up this moment celebrated their power their confidence and was theirs but it

was also mine you see I built my own atlantis on our waterfront I became Aquaman I take great pride in building others up and sharing my passion in keeping people safe out there being on the waters where I feel most confident most alive and then it hit the biggest wave I didn't see it coming eight months ago today as a 35 year old my chickenpox virus from when I was a kid reactivated in my ear when shingles attacks your eyes your ears it's called Ramsay Hunt syndrome it's rare in a very short period of time five days my life altered a medical misdiagnosis I missed

72-hour window for treatment caused damage to my fifth seventh and eighth cranial nerve facial paralysis vertigo dizziness speech and vision problems permanent hearing damage pain said to be worse than the shattering of kneecaps but the scariest of all I lost my sense of balance I've been in vestibular rehab therapy retraining my brain ways to walk normally ever since on April the 2nd of this year i sat in a specialist office but tears streaming down my face I was told this is going to be devastating considering what you do your paddle boarding no longer a reality the tsunami that hit me from behind five months earlier

in now taking me down as this was being said I could feel the oxygen leaving my lungs the water now filling the pressure of just crushing me I couldn't breathe I was drowning I closed my business the lights faded the color of my eyes went from blue to gray it's not a reality I'm now the unbalanced Paulo boarder my mental health is Jiri rated very quickly in the mirror for months I saw a monster I didn't want to be seen in public I didn't want to run into people at the supermarket and just two days after that appointment I'd find myself entering a mental health

treatment facility I need help processing everything sitting at home a short time later an email came through from the Canadians a boding council asking me to be their water safety expert for their media day a year earlier I dented or safety demonstrations for a line of press as long as this stage the lights came on the color of my eyes great a blue I had to reach for this lifeline and say yes I called my friends in the paddling community and I said please come help me and they said yes of course a day of our exhaustion it was awesome and then my friends asked

me to test the waters get on a board for the first time only months earlier I'd been forced to switch from showering to sitting in a bathtub with the door open bathing in a swimsuit in case someone needs to rescue you is scary to spin out as if on a carousel of Terror while simply leaning back to rinse your hair only to come up and vomit all over yourself is traumatic to know that you now have to have another bath and do that all over again is horrific that day I said yes for the third time I lasted three nervous minutes sitting down on the

board that day and let me tell you as a 35 year old guy who has needs it was the most satisfying three minutes I've had in the last year I've been paddleboarding several times since that day I've even stood up for short periods the tsunamis in our lives that take us down all look very different when facing rough waters we have two options sink or swim saying yes again brought me back up to the surface when we say yes to ourselves one time yeah just once it makes it easier for us to say yes to ourself the next time two yeses became three and three

became five and before I knew it I'd stop saying no to myself things may look different when we get back up to the surface but as you gradually start saying yes to yourselves more and more you will feel that crushing pressure go away the water now rushing out the oxygen filling your lungs again you will breathe you're still you powell's up

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.