ADVERSITY, ADVENTURE, AND ARMOUR William Pike

[00:00:00] Welcome to the AMPD UP211 Podcast. Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by William Pike, an adventurer, educator, entrepreneur, and a true inspiration. After surviving the catastrophic eruption of Mount Ruapeu, William turned his personal challenges into a force for good. From founding the William Pike Challenge to empower young people, to creating ProArmor, a game-changing solution for amputees, William's journey is all about resilience, innovation, and stepping outside your comfort zone.

[00:00:30] Get ready for an incredible conversation with someone who truly lives by the mantra, every day is a good day.

[00:00:42] Mr. William Pike, welcome to the AMPD UP211 Podcast, sir. Good to see you.

[00:00:49] Thank you. It's a real pleasure to be here today.

[00:00:51] Yes, coming to us from beautiful, beautiful New Zealand.

[00:00:57] You got it. It's a beautiful day outside. I'm looking forward to an adventure this afternoon.

[00:01:01] Oh, that's wonderful. Good to hear. An outdoorsman, which I love. And so many adventures that I've been reading up on you. Fortunately, there's some really, really great content about William out there on YouTube and in the interwebs, as we say.

[00:01:22] Hey, your story is one of just an incredible set of circumstances.

[00:01:31] The perfect storm, let's call it. When people think about the possibility of a volcano erupting, that in itself is, well, that doesn't happen too often, does it?

[00:01:48] And it's like, well, no, that really doesn't happen too often. But then when you learn that someone was in proximity of that eruption and consequently losing a limb from it, well, that gets a whole other conversation going.

[00:02:08] So I want to dive right into that moment. And I know there's certainly a lot more preamble to this and circumstance. And you've been very offering in interviews about what led up to that moment.

[00:02:25] But I'm sort of indulgent in that moment when you made the connection. That volcano is erupting. And I'm really close to it right now. I mean, what was that moment, if you could describe it in a snapshot?

[00:02:48] Right. Well, I'll give the audience a bit of context just so that it does make sense now.

[00:02:55] It's not so cartoon. It's not so cartoon like, right?

[00:02:59] Uh-oh. Here comes the volcano.

[00:03:04] We'll lead them into it. So no problem at all.

[00:03:08] So my good friend, James and I were on top of this mountain called Mount Ruapehu back in 2007.

[00:03:17] We intended to go on this week-long climbing trip.

[00:03:20] And on our first day, it was a beautiful bluebird day out there.

[00:03:25] We'd walked about seven or eight hours up this mountain.

[00:03:28] It's about 10,000 feet high, caked in snow and ice.

[00:03:33] A really popular place to be as well.

[00:03:35] Snowboarders, skiers, sightseers at the lower level of the mountain anyway.

[00:03:41] And we had walked up to this small building and we had to dig the ice and snow out from in front of the doorway to get into what was called the dome shelter.

[00:03:52] And that was where we intended to sleep for the night.

[00:03:55] Later that evening, when James and I were asleep on the floor of this very basic box, you know, half-star accommodation, if you like,

[00:04:03] I heard a small rumble outside of the building.

[00:04:08] So I sat up and thought, gee, could that be an avalanche?

[00:04:11] Doesn't sound right.

[00:04:13] All of a sudden, the doorway to this little A-frame hut blew open with almighty force.

[00:04:19] And I was only a few feet away from this doorway.

[00:04:22] So I got up onto my knees.

[00:04:25] I was still in my sleeping bag, half asleep.

[00:04:27] I skidded across the floor, grabbed the doorframe to look outside and see what this fuss was about.

[00:04:33] And in front of me, I could see Mount Huropehu erupting.

[00:04:37] So only a couple of football fields away from us was this crater lake.

[00:04:44] And underneath this crater lake are multiple vents.

[00:04:47] And what apparently had happened is these vents had been blocked up by underwater rockfall over time.

[00:04:54] And the gas that was trying to escape to get out had been blocked, I suppose, but like a wine bottle and a cork, I suppose.

[00:05:02] Cork and a wine bottle.

[00:05:03] And the pressure had built up so much so that it let go.

[00:05:07] And that's what spewed millions and millions of cubic feet of mud and rocks and water up into the air before it obviously came crashing down on top of us.

[00:05:15] It was what's called a blue sky eruption.

[00:05:17] No one knew it was going to happen.

[00:05:19] It was a case of being absolutely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[00:05:24] As I looked out the door of this building, I could see a sky lit full of rocks and mud and ice just going beautifully lit by a back moon as well.

[00:05:34] Beautifully lit by a full moon, I should say.

[00:05:36] And before this debris came raining down on top of the entire mountain, we were a needle in a haystack.

[00:05:44] And I could instantly feel these rocks hurtling into the building, crushing my right leg, ripping flesh off it, smashing bones.

[00:05:51] There was rocks going right through the walls and the floors that were underneath me.

[00:05:57] It was phenomenal.

[00:05:58] It sounded like this jet plane was taking off outside, except it was this roar of this throaty volcano.

[00:06:05] It was insane.

[00:06:06] And after being smashed and pummeled for probably only 30 seconds, everything just stopped and went silent.

[00:06:14] And I always like to joke that that was when James woke up.

[00:06:17] He's definitely a deep sleeper.

[00:06:20] But he woke up after a slurry of mud and rocks and water and ice and snow was kind of sloshing around his feet.

[00:06:28] And he was able to stand up and move into the corner of the building, which was great because he was uninjured.

[00:06:34] And I just kind of was screaming across to him, help, you know, come and get me free.

[00:06:39] I think there's been an eruption.

[00:06:40] We need to get out of here.

[00:06:42] So he tiptoed over in his bare feet and just his underwear because we'd just been in our sleeping bags.

[00:06:48] And he started to frantically dig around my legs.

[00:06:53] But there was no amount of digging that was going to get me free.

[00:06:58] I was firmly stuck.

[00:06:59] We tried ice axes.

[00:07:00] We tried snow shovels.

[00:07:01] But there was nothing that would get me out.

[00:07:04] So we had this impromptu, I suppose, crazy conversation, you know, 10,000 feet up on what the hell are we going to do?

[00:07:13] And we quickly came to the realization that we needed to get James out of there and run down the mountain, hopefully save his life and maybe, just maybe, save my life as well.

[00:07:25] So he gave us some equipment, which was very hard to come by because everything was buried.

[00:07:30] And he ended up standing outside of the dome, shouted for the first time, dressed in his boots, no socks, his favorite blue undies, my Gore-Tex jacket, and that was it.

[00:07:40] Everything else was buried.

[00:07:41] He just was not dressed for the occasion to get out into, you know, sub-zero Celsius conditions.

[00:07:49] And he looked around and the upper mountain had completely changed.

[00:07:53] It looked more like a moonscape than a mountainscape, completely covered in black or, I should say, gray mud and, I guess, ash everywhere.

[00:08:03] And, you know, the next thing from him was, well, where do I go?

[00:08:06] And let's not forget, this was his very first time on the mountain.

[00:08:10] So it would have taken an enormous amount of courage and confidence for him to leave the relative safety of that building we were in and then make an attempt, a rescue attempt, you know, to run down that mountain.

[00:08:22] But thankfully, James was the man for it.

[00:08:25] And he said, all right, I'm out of here.

[00:08:27] And before he, I said, hold on, buddy.

[00:08:31] I said, hold on.

[00:08:32] And I really meant this.

[00:08:33] I said, can you please tell my friends and my family that I love them?

[00:08:36] Because I just didn't expect to see him or anyone else again.

[00:08:42] And he disappeared.

[00:08:43] It was very movie-like and it was just eerily silent as he disappeared.

[00:08:49] Now, from James's point of view, he had an enormous challenge on his hands to get down that mountain in one piece to save his life and, you know, hopefully raise the alarm for me.

[00:09:01] Meanwhile, I'm sitting, you know, up in this building, freezing cold.

[00:09:06] I was panicking.

[00:09:06] I was hyperventilating.

[00:09:08] I just made myself calm down.

[00:09:10] And my next thing was, you've got to have a plan.

[00:09:12] So I started doing some mathematics and I've never been great at mathematics.

[00:09:16] But I worked out that it might take the rescuers 10 hours to get to me on a good day, I thought.

[00:09:22] And then I worked out, well, I've probably only got five hours left to live here.

[00:09:27] So it dawned on me that I was going to die.

[00:09:30] And I started to think about my friends and my family and, you know, what on earth would they think when they'd heard that news?

[00:09:35] And that really did twist my guts.

[00:09:38] But I thought about all things I wanted to do.

[00:09:39] I wanted to go on more adventures.

[00:09:41] I wanted to be a principal because I was a teacher at the time.

[00:09:44] I wanted to have a family.

[00:09:45] But everything was just being ripped away from me at the time.

[00:09:48] And I couldn't do anything but just not give up.

[00:09:52] And for me, that was to have my hands underneath my leg that was stuck and just pull on it.

[00:09:57] But every time I did, the bones would pull apart inside of the leg and then crunch back together again.

[00:10:05] There was no cutting the leg off because I didn't have anything within reach that was sharp enough.

[00:10:09] And I was firmly stuck.

[00:10:11] And I was looking at my watch just trying to tell the time.

[00:10:15] But hypothermia had me and I couldn't tell the time.

[00:10:19] I was losing track.

[00:10:20] And I just drifted off to sleep thinking that I was never going to wake up again.

[00:10:24] Yeah.

[00:10:25] So it was a horrific experience to have gone through.

[00:10:31] But I'm very fortunate that James did make a successful dash, I should say.

[00:10:38] Probably an hour running down the mountain before he was able to see a snow groomer in the distance.

[00:10:43] He was able to go up to the machine, to the guy inside it, raise the alarm.

[00:10:47] And in the very early hours of the morning, they were able to mobilize a specialized Alpine rescue crew that did put their lives on the line to come and get just me.

[00:10:59] And I should point out at this stage and give James due credit that he was later awarded a New Zealand Bravery Medal for saving my life, which was quite a big thing.

[00:11:11] How long were they gone?

[00:11:14] So when they did return, how long did they say, hey, it took us this long to get back to you?

[00:11:22] So the eruption happened at about half past eight.

[00:11:24] James would have left before 9 p.m.

[00:11:27] And the rescuers, I understand, arrived at about 1 a.m. in the morning.

[00:11:33] So we're talking, you know, four hours.

[00:11:36] And at which point that they arrived, my body temperature had fallen to 25 degrees Celsius.

[00:11:44] So with 37 degrees Celsius being your normal, I was incredibly cold and incredibly sick.

[00:11:51] And they carefully dug me out of the building.

[00:11:55] I was unconscious.

[00:11:56] I was non-responsive.

[00:11:57] They put me on the back of the snow groomer right down the mountain before having two helicopter transfers up to a big hospital where I was able to be, I guess, resuscitated, leg amputated before waking up 24 hours after the accident and realizing you bet you I was alive.

[00:12:19] But there was a leg missing.

[00:12:21] Yeah.

[00:12:22] And so drifting off the way that you did, I'm sure there's a component of that, which was your body's saying to, you know, to the rest of yourself, hey, you know, this isn't going to work out well.

[00:12:38] But at the same time, through some sort of miracle, your vitals, you know, hung on long enough for a rescue and then obviously your subsequent surgeries.

[00:12:53] So waking up after that, where are you at?

[00:12:59] I mean, you know, you're alive, which is a, you know, which is a powerful moment to say, oh my gosh, I'm still here.

[00:13:09] But then knowing, okay, there's a part of me that didn't make it.

[00:13:14] What did that feel like for you?

[00:13:16] And what was that process for you?

[00:13:19] Well, to be honest, in those first few moments and perhaps those first few weeks, I was so wasted on morphine and ketamine.

[00:13:26] I mean, I don't know if I was William or Wally or quite what was happening.

[00:13:31] But all jokes aside, I knew that I had obviously lost a limb and it was going to be a life changer for me.

[00:13:39] And it was going to present some significant challenges and changes.

[00:13:42] Given the fact that my hobbies weren't video games and drinking, it was being active in the outdoors, climbing, hiking, diving, running, you know.

[00:13:56] As time went on, I realized that actually I was one lucky kid because I had no injuries from really my, well, from my kneecaps down were my injuries.

[00:14:08] Yeah.

[00:14:08] And the rocks could have landed on my head, on my chest.

[00:14:12] It could have been poor visibility that night.

[00:14:14] The helicopters might not have been able to fly.

[00:14:17] James could have got injured too.

[00:14:19] James might not have found his boots.

[00:14:20] So there are all these what ifs that could have played out.

[00:14:23] And if we, you know, like look on the positive side and it certainly is on this case.

[00:14:28] You know, there was so many beautiful things that went right that night that could have gone wrong.

[00:14:34] So me looking at my situation in hospital, yeah, I think although it wasn't great, I looked on the positive side of my situation.

[00:14:47] And there are obviously role model amputees out there that we've all heard of and we all know of.

[00:14:53] And, you know, there's certainly some here in New Zealand that have achieved some incredible things.

[00:14:56] And Mark Inglis springs to mind first double amputee to climb Mount Everest.

[00:15:01] And I had read his book months before the accident.

[00:15:05] And I remember thinking, well, far out.

[00:15:09] If he can climb Mount Everest with two missing limbs, I should be right.

[00:15:14] That's ironic.

[00:15:15] That's really ironic that you actually read that before your accident.

[00:15:21] That's pretty incredible.

[00:15:22] And I would think, and I appreciate that you very much embraced the positive aspect.

[00:15:32] Because we all look at our set of circumstances, right?

[00:15:37] As amputees.

[00:15:38] And we sort of take inventory.

[00:15:40] Okay, well, what's the stuff that, you know, I'd prefer went a different way.

[00:15:47] But here's all the things that went in a good way, went positive, were contributing to my survival or contributing to better outcomes.

[00:15:58] So I very much would press into, you know, kudos that you felt like, here's all of the things that went my way in that situation.

[00:16:11] Because it could have been so much worse.

[00:16:14] But moreover, here I am, very active guy.

[00:16:22] Fit.

[00:16:23] Physically well.

[00:16:25] Okay.

[00:16:26] Doing some, I mean, honestly, some, you know, pretty harrowing things previous to this accident.

[00:16:35] Putting myself in what most people would consider to be pretty dangerous situations.

[00:16:42] And being able to thrive in that space.

[00:16:46] Not just physically, but also mentally.

[00:16:50] Because I always say so much of the recovery in losing a limb, it's not just the physical.

[00:16:57] It's what's going on in your head.

[00:16:59] And sometimes we have to, our head has to tell our body that it's going to get better.

[00:17:08] I'm going to thrive.

[00:17:09] I'm going to improve.

[00:17:11] I'm going to slowly rebuild my life again.

[00:17:15] And so much of it is a mental game.

[00:17:19] Which, again, is why we need support systems, you know, like this and people hearing your story.

[00:17:26] But I would think for yourself, you know, taking that inventory critical part, but also approaching your recovery.

[00:17:36] And the what's next kind of situation.

[00:17:41] And the fact that you went back to, you know, where this happened.

[00:17:48] Because I've seen that footage of you.

[00:17:52] And I believe, you said it's Chris, right?

[00:17:55] The guy that you were with?

[00:17:56] James.

[00:17:57] James.

[00:17:58] Sorry.

[00:17:59] Chris James.

[00:17:59] Same thing.

[00:18:01] Thanks.

[00:18:02] James.

[00:18:03] James.

[00:18:03] Going back with James.

[00:18:05] I've seen footage of you going back with him.

[00:18:09] Am I correct?

[00:18:10] There's footage of this on YouTube.

[00:18:12] Yeah, there's probably some footage somewhere.

[00:18:15] Yeah.

[00:18:15] So, yeah, it was no mean feat to get back up there.

[00:18:20] That was definitely one of the goals that I set myself in hospital.

[00:18:23] But you, you know, I think as a new amputee, you can set yourself a bunch of goals.

[00:18:29] And it's probably quite naive at the time.

[00:18:31] You know, you don't really know how things are going to play out.

[00:18:33] But for me, it was something that, you know, I visualized.

[00:18:38] I planted in my head and in my heart to get back there.

[00:18:42] It's incredible to watch.

[00:18:43] And for me, you know, researching your story and not only in the reading piece, but also

[00:18:51] seeing you go back was very moving for me because that's one of those full circle moments

[00:18:59] of, okay, this is where this happened.

[00:19:04] This was the moment that changed everything for me.

[00:19:07] And now I'm here again and I'm safe and I'm well and I have people that love me and support

[00:19:15] me around me.

[00:19:16] And do you feel like that helped it all make a little more sense in that moment?

[00:19:26] Do you mean specifically getting back to the Dome Shouter?

[00:19:29] Yeah.

[00:19:30] So going back there and I could see that when you were speaking, it was sort of like a rush

[00:19:40] of emotions where you're sort of taking all of that in and having that moment of, I would

[00:19:49] think to some degree, and only you could describe it best, but some degree of like closure of saying,

[00:19:56] okay, this is, you know, this is where it happened.

[00:20:01] This is where this new, this new path was formed in my life.

[00:20:06] And given that you've embraced it to such a degree in many different ways, which we're going

[00:20:12] to talk about, what was that moment like for you?

[00:20:16] Was there clarity?

[00:20:17] Was there closure?

[00:20:18] Was there, you know, was there sadness?

[00:20:21] Yes.

[00:20:24] Look, I mean, getting back up there was incredibly special.

[00:20:29] To do it with James was the icing on the cake.

[00:20:33] And, you know, obviously when we got back up there, gave him a great big hug and thanked

[00:20:37] him again and again for saving my life as I do every year.

[00:20:41] But yeah, it wasn't scary.

[00:20:43] It wasn't, it wasn't a massive sense of closure either.

[00:20:49] It was really just an extreme sense of satisfaction that, you know, look, I've been knocked down

[00:20:56] five years ago.

[00:20:57] I've set myself this bloody big goal and all our goals are relative, right?

[00:21:01] And for me to get back to that dome shouter with James was just an enormous sense of satisfaction.

[00:21:07] And, you know, you achieve something like that and again, it's all relative.

[00:21:13] And for me, you know, it just, it gives you that confidence lift and that confident boost.

[00:21:18] It's like, well, hell, if I can do that, well, what else can I do as well?

[00:21:22] So yeah, to get back up there, to not let the mountain beat me was great.

[00:21:28] But look, overall, it's a beautiful place.

[00:21:31] And, you know, I just wanted to be back there.

[00:21:33] It's a stunning spot.

[00:21:34] But to have gone full circle was a huge sense of satisfaction and gave me that confidence

[00:21:40] kick that I needed.

[00:21:42] What advice would you give to someone who's facing life-altering challenges?

[00:21:49] I'd share some advice that I would share, I would share some advice that came through me

[00:21:57] speaking to a nurse in hospital.

[00:21:59] And here's a story for you.

[00:22:01] So this nurse would come in and Cynthia, her name was, would come in and change my dressings

[00:22:08] every day.

[00:22:09] And she had good chat and would chat away.

[00:22:11] And one morning she said, William, you know, you've got a choice here.

[00:22:14] I said, what do you mean?

[00:22:16] She said, well, you know, you can go back to your old life.

[00:22:20] You can be a teacher and you can go on your adventures and have a great old time.

[00:22:24] And I said, yeah, yeah, I intend to do that.

[00:22:26] But she said, or you can go on an adventure with this.

[00:22:29] You can really make the most out of this new situation.

[00:22:33] Go for a ride with it.

[00:22:34] Have some fun.

[00:22:35] Do something you never dreamed of.

[00:22:37] And I said, okay.

[00:22:39] And I just let that thought percolate, I suppose, probably over a week or two.

[00:22:45] And the penny dropped one morning when I was having my cup of tea in hospital.

[00:22:50] And I thought, actually, she's dead right.

[00:22:52] Like, there's absolutely no way I'm going to waste a second chance at my life.

[00:22:58] And yeah, I am going to go on an adventure with it.

[00:23:01] And it started by doing a few kind of press interviews.

[00:23:04] You know, that was a hell of an adventure for me.

[00:23:06] And although I didn't know exactly where it would take me, I was open to opportunity,

[00:23:13] but importantly, creating opportunity, taking a bit of risk, going on a bit of a challenge

[00:23:17] with this new adventure that I was on.

[00:23:20] And that would be the piece of advice that I would give someone that is facing a life-changing

[00:23:25] situation is to try and look at it from a glass half full as a glass half empty situation.

[00:23:32] Think, well, you're in the situation.

[00:23:33] You can't do anything about it.

[00:23:35] Let's go forward and go on a hell of an adventure with this and make the most out of it

[00:23:40] as opposed to getting by.

[00:23:44] Yeah, such great advice.

[00:23:46] And I would agree that when something like this happens, we can make it part of the story,

[00:23:55] sort of embrace it, engage, and then let it be part of who we are

[00:24:02] and sort of redefine ourselves through it.

[00:24:05] I feel the same way.

[00:24:08] You know, being part of this community, it's been such an incredible experience and meeting,

[00:24:17] having an opportunity to meet people like yourself.

[00:24:20] Because I've been asked, you know, what made you want to start a podcast?

[00:24:27] And the funny thing about my story in particular is I did not know what a podcast was.

[00:24:34] So, and I don't come from journalism.

[00:24:37] I don't come from, you know, this interview space.

[00:24:42] I've always had sort of a ferocious curiosity about people.

[00:24:47] I actually come from sales and marketing.

[00:24:50] But one of the reasons we embarked on this endeavor was actually very self-indulgent,

[00:24:59] which was I wanted an opportunity to talk to my heroes.

[00:25:04] I wanted an opportunity to ask them questions, to find out what made them tick.

[00:25:11] When someone survives a volcanic eruption that takes a limb,

[00:25:18] I mean, I'm one of those crazies that wants to meet that person,

[00:25:24] that wants to talk to them and feel their energy.

[00:25:28] And if I'm totally blessed in that exchange,

[00:25:33] I get to put it out there and let others share in that.

[00:25:39] So for me, it started as this sort of self-indulgent thing,

[00:25:45] like, oh, it'd be so cool to talk to William Pike and like hear about what he's gone through.

[00:25:50] But then there's the added benefit of, and then I get to share it with a community of listeners

[00:25:57] and people that ask me questions and say, you know, what was it like to talk to that person?

[00:26:03] Well, watch it on YouTube.

[00:26:05] I talked to him for an hour.

[00:26:07] You know what I mean?

[00:26:08] So our lives are shaped and we're woven into this interesting fabric together

[00:26:18] that creates this energy for the community.

[00:26:23] And I feel very fortunate that we're sitting here talking today.

[00:26:28] I want to talk also about some extraordinary things you've done with your book,

[00:26:35] Every Day's a Good Day.

[00:26:40] What would you say was the hardest part about being involved, you know, in an autobiography?

[00:26:50] I mean, how would you explain that?

[00:26:55] Well, when I reflect on that question and my experience of writing my autobiography,

[00:27:03] it actually was a really great process to go through.

[00:27:09] So I got approached by a publisher when I was in hospital.

[00:27:14] And I think I might have said to him at the time, let me get out of hospital first.

[00:27:19] And I want to go and just digest some of this.

[00:27:23] First things first.

[00:27:24] I got to get out of this hospital.

[00:27:26] I've got some priorities here to deal with.

[00:27:28] And once I got home and started my recovery journey, within a month or so,

[00:27:35] I was pretty bored.

[00:27:36] You know, I don't like sitting around doing nothing.

[00:27:38] And I got in touch with them and said, let's do this.

[00:27:42] Because I was sitting around reflecting.

[00:27:46] And I thought, man, this has got to be a great process to write this down.

[00:27:52] And to tell the truth, my biggest motivation for writing the book at the time was,

[00:27:58] I just wanted to document this wild experience and get it onto paper so that I never forgot it.

[00:28:04] And that perhaps one day I could share something with my kids.

[00:28:08] And this is the experience that I went through.

[00:28:11] So my motivation was never to be a top seller or to go get into Hollywood or something like that with the book.

[00:28:19] That might be nice one day.

[00:28:20] But it was more so of just getting that down on paper.

[00:28:24] So for me, reflecting on my time as a childhood, on the adventures that I had,

[00:28:30] on the experiences that really shaped me to overcome some big challenge and change in my life was significant

[00:28:37] and sometimes startling at times.

[00:28:38] And then to go through and talk to other people that had my close friends, the rescuers,

[00:28:45] the doctors, the surgeons, to get some of their extracts to put into the book too,

[00:28:49] just gave it such good variety and flavor.

[00:28:53] And yeah, when I came off the back of writing it, it took me six months.

[00:28:59] But this was like in bed or on the couch for six months because I had nothing else to do

[00:29:04] apart from doing a little bit of gym work and try and rest up.

[00:29:09] And yeah, I remember sending the manuscript off to the editors.

[00:29:15] And I think we probably started with about 80,000 words.

[00:29:19] And we trimmed down to about kind of 70,000 words.

[00:29:22] And I was just delighted to be able to retain my voice.

[00:29:26] And, you know, that's mine, you know, and kind of get that out there.

[00:29:31] So it served as a fantastic resource for the Willing Pipe Challenge program that we might kind of get into.

[00:29:39] And yeah, as you may have mentioned before, it's sold, I think, probably well over 12,000 copies now for New Zealand.

[00:29:48] That's pretty good.

[00:29:49] Okay.

[00:29:49] And it's been turned into Braille.

[00:29:52] It's a bit of a household read, especially for younger people and adults as well.

[00:29:57] So I should tell you how the name came around.

[00:30:00] Yeah, please do.

[00:30:03] James would come into hospital and see me, of course, being a good mate.

[00:30:07] And he'd say, how's it going, mate?

[00:30:08] And I'd say, oh, you know, every day is a good day.

[00:30:12] And when it came to writing the book, I think there were a few discussions around, you know, titles, of course.

[00:30:18] And that came up and that stuck.

[00:30:20] And yeah, every day is a good day.

[00:30:23] I mean, I guess, you know, in reality, looking back on it, probably a bit of false advertising because some days are shitty days, right?

[00:30:30] Yeah, that's for sure.

[00:30:32] Especially as amputees.

[00:30:34] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:30:35] But again, you know, you got to look at the glass half full and I guess that's being reflected through the title.

[00:30:41] Well, what an incredible friendship too, you and James.

[00:30:44] I mean, thinking about that as well, he seems to be such an integral part of your journey.

[00:30:53] And I think that that in itself is just such a compelling part of your story.

[00:30:59] I mean, this book, I personally see as your legacy.

[00:31:04] And being able to have something that you're sharing with the community.

[00:31:10] And yes, you are reaching a large audience.

[00:31:13] But being able to have something that you leave behind that your children, maybe your grandchildren, future generations, people can say, you know, there was this amazing thing that happened to this man.

[00:31:29] And, you know, we're proud that he documented it.

[00:31:33] And he was, you know, very, very transparent and very generous in sharing it with the world.

[00:31:42] And I think that that is just in itself, if you want to talk about, you know, as we get older, you know, I have a granddaughter now.

[00:31:53] And I do think about, well, what am I leaving behind?

[00:31:58] What am I?

[00:31:59] You know, I don't want to just be a, you know, a picture on the mantle.

[00:32:04] I mean, I want there to be other stuff.

[00:32:09] I want there to be other memories, other things, tangible things.

[00:32:14] You know, even if that's just digital content, whatever it is to say, hey, that's, you know, that's my dad.

[00:32:22] Or, hey, that's my grandfather.

[00:32:24] Or that's, you know, my great grandfather.

[00:32:26] And, you know, these people did great things.

[00:32:30] And they overcame, you know, huge obstacles.

[00:32:33] I mean, if there was a takeaway, you know, if I was to gift your book to someone, you know, what would you want them to take away from it?

[00:32:47] Yeah, I think it's just the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone to achieve your dreams and your goals.

[00:32:56] And probably just to go back a wee bit, you know, my motivation has never been to, I guess, how do I say this?

[00:33:06] You might want to edit some of that out.

[00:33:08] But I think with writing the book, I guess my motivations have been, let me start that again.

[00:33:19] Writing my book, ProArmor, Willing Pite Challenge, climbing, everything that I do, it's kind of driven by my why, you know.

[00:33:28] And for me, my why in life, it's education.

[00:33:32] It's helping people.

[00:33:33] It's a great outdoors.

[00:33:34] It's family, friends, people.

[00:33:36] And there's a whole lot of other values that I kind of live by.

[00:33:39] So I guess I just want to be seen to make, I just want to be seen to be role modeling, I guess, you know, my values and the things that I believe in.

[00:33:49] And with the book, yes, it will be a legacy.

[00:33:53] I hope it's version one of the legacy.

[00:33:55] I would like to write another book.

[00:33:57] I feel like I've done so much since then.

[00:34:01] And what will my motivation be?

[00:34:03] Yeah, it would be nice to leave that for the grandkids as well.

[00:34:07] And if it goes beyond that, then, and I would intend it to, then that would be an absolute bonus as well.

[00:34:12] But, you know, I reflect on my life and the ups and the downs, the opportunities, the challenges, the changes, the things that I've done.

[00:34:21] And I do believe that my, I guess, my secret to success for all of those things has just been my ability to step outside of my comfort zone.

[00:34:31] And, yeah, I believe that I developed that muscle as a youngster through the great outdoors, which, you know, as a young teenager, ultimately shaped me into the person that I am today and helped prepare me to overcome some big challenges.

[00:34:47] That's awesome.

[00:34:49] That's awesome.

[00:34:49] And I want to segue right into the William Pike Challenge.

[00:34:53] You know, how did that come about?

[00:34:55] Give us some background on that.

[00:34:57] Yeah, so I sure will.

[00:35:00] As a teenager, I was really lucky to do a lot of hiking and outdoor recreation through high school.

[00:35:08] And we had an outdoor education class.

[00:35:10] It was just, it was just thing.

[00:35:12] You just go outdoors and do stuff.

[00:35:13] It was great.

[00:35:14] And I remember spending weeks in the bush, climbing big hills with heavy backpacks, crossing these swollen creeks, sleeping in wet tents, raining for a week.

[00:35:26] And I remember, I look back on that now and think, yeah, that was great fun.

[00:35:30] But I guess I'm old enough and wise enough now to know that actually those things were teaching me how to be resilient, how to step outside of my comfort zone,

[00:35:39] how to be a team player, a good communicator, a leader, a problem solver, you know, all those kind of key life soft skills.

[00:35:47] And it was those things that, yeah, I think prepared me for big challenge and change.

[00:35:52] So come Mountedrape, come the accident, come recovery.

[00:35:56] I felt like I'd almost been prepared for that through some of the challenges that I had faced in my life and also through sport as well.

[00:36:04] And when it got back to, when I got back to the classroom after my accident, I was reflecting on my experience.

[00:36:11] And the question came in my head is, you know, are these young students in front of me going to get the experiences that they need to be prepared for the world that's ahead of them?

[00:36:21] Will they get prepped like I did through the great outdoors and those experiences?

[00:36:25] And I wasn't convinced.

[00:36:28] So I had this wild vision in mind and it was to prepare these young kids somehow for the future.

[00:36:34] And I thought, how cool would it be if I can get these kids really stuck into the great outdoors, contribute to community somehow and maybe just try new stuff.

[00:36:44] So I guess it's good to point out that I had this wild vision, but absolutely no idea how to kind of get there.

[00:36:50] Right.

[00:36:50] So I shared my vision with a lot of different people.

[00:36:55] And I ended up speaking at an event.

[00:36:57] It was an all-women's event.

[00:36:59] And I don't know how I got the invite, but anyway, it was a freebie that I did early back in the days.

[00:37:04] And I shared this vision and it somehow got from someone in the audience.

[00:37:10] I think it may have been a parent to someone on a board of a school, which eventually came back to me.

[00:37:17] And they said, hey, I hear you've got this idea on this, you know, this program for young people, you know, would like to collaborate with you.

[00:37:24] So I, of course, said, great.

[00:37:25] This is what I've been waiting for.

[00:37:27] And we got working.

[00:37:28] And after a year of collaborating, they said, hey, we love this concept, this program.

[00:37:34] Do you mind if we call it the William Pike Challenge?

[00:37:36] And I thought, oh, sounds a bit strange.

[00:37:39] I don't know about that.

[00:37:40] But they twisted my arm.

[00:37:42] And this was 12 years ago.

[00:37:45] And anyway, I kept teaching for a while.

[00:37:49] But other schools heard about this William Pike Challenge.

[00:37:51] And all of a sudden, two schools were keen.

[00:37:54] Four schools were keen.

[00:37:55] Eight schools, 16.

[00:37:56] And I was faced with this decision.

[00:37:58] What do I do?

[00:37:59] Do I carry on teaching?

[00:38:01] You know, I was in the infancy of my career.

[00:38:03] I've been teaching for two or three years at the time.

[00:38:07] Or do I, you know, jump over to this thing that wasn't really a thing, but it was.

[00:38:13] And I had to really look at myself in the mirror and make some values-based decisions around,

[00:38:19] you know, what am I really passionate about?

[00:38:21] I was passionate about education, the great outdoors.

[00:38:25] I loved a sense of adventure, not necessarily in the outdoors, but in life as well.

[00:38:30] And I guess I was willing to take a bit of a risk.

[00:38:32] And I've always liked to do things that money just can't buy.

[00:38:36] So for me, it was, yeah, I'm going to jump into this boots and all.

[00:38:40] And I had no business plan, no money, no strategy on it, just no real idea what I was doing.

[00:38:46] I was fortunate to have some good people around me that were able to kind of, I guess,

[00:38:51] scaffold me into building up a social enterprise.

[00:38:56] And yeah, fast forward to today, 12 years down the track,

[00:39:01] the Willing Park Challenge is really just about unlocking young people's or unlocking people's confidence.

[00:39:06] So it's a youth development program where we get young people to step outside of their comfort zone,

[00:39:13] which in turn, you know, lets them work out how that they can charge into their world with more confidence.

[00:39:18] So across the year, it's a year-long program.

[00:39:21] They do five outdoor activities.

[00:39:22] They do 20 hours of community service and 20 hours of passion projects.

[00:39:27] So our passion project is a new sports skill or hobby, rugby, cross-stitch, anything in between, you name it.

[00:39:34] It's about building and mastering new skills.

[00:39:36] And I guess at the end of this program, we wanted them to come out feeling more resilient,

[00:39:41] increase their well-being, lift up their connection, develop key life skills,

[00:39:44] just as the great outdoors did for me when I was a youngster.

[00:39:49] So we started off with just one school and now we've got 124 schools right around the country

[00:39:57] that are participating in the program.

[00:40:00] And New Zealand's a very small country with 5 million people.

[00:40:04] So I am incredibly proud with the impact that we've had on tens of thousands of young people over the years.

[00:40:13] And I do believe in sharing visions and goals.

[00:40:16] And my next thing for 2025 is to partner or scale up this,

[00:40:23] partner with someone or scale up the William Pike Challenge so that we're going not just business to business

[00:40:30] in terms of to schools, but B to C, more to families, to individuals, to perhaps people in workplaces

[00:40:37] because up until now, our online platform hasn't catered for that,

[00:40:41] but we've just reinvested heavily into it for this year.

[00:40:43] And we're now in an ability to do that.

[00:40:46] So I'm really excited about, yeah, taking the William Pike Challenge in a new but exciting direction

[00:40:52] to have more reach, more impact.

[00:40:54] And yeah, it's a really exciting place to be in right now.

[00:40:58] Yeah.

[00:40:59] And I do agree that encouragement to move outside your comfort zone

[00:41:06] has been a huge game changer for myself.

[00:41:11] Just being able to challenge myself, to explore.

[00:41:23] There's that old saying, right?

[00:41:26] Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk.

[00:41:28] And pushing myself into places, especially once I became an amputee,

[00:41:37] has been incredibly productive and very much a game changer in that realizing

[00:41:50] that although things are very different for me now, challenging myself, pushing myself,

[00:41:57] trying new things, getting involved in endeavors, whether that is physically or mentally,

[00:42:05] or pushing myself into spaces that are unknown to me.

[00:42:11] It's such a spark for personal development, confidence, resilience,

[00:42:17] all of the things that we're hoping that we can achieve.

[00:42:21] So to promote that with a younger crowd is so critical.

[00:42:29] And I don't know, I can only assume that in New Zealand, there are similar trappings as they are

[00:42:38] in the United States of kids that don't want to leave their house and, you know,

[00:42:46] don't want to put the game controller down and, you know, don't want to set the phone down and

[00:42:54] get out into the world.

[00:42:56] Because so many of my fondest memories from my childhood are outdoors, are being connected to nature

[00:43:08] in the sense of there's this incredible adventurous place out there.

[00:43:16] Even if it's just in your neighborhood.

[00:43:18] I'm not, I'm not even getting into like climbing mountains and, and, and doing all of those really

[00:43:25] extraordinary things.

[00:43:27] I'm saying the fact that, you know, some kids don't even want to leave their house.

[00:43:33] And I think, oh my gosh, there's this, this incredible world out there that we can all experience

[00:43:42] that's available to us.

[00:43:43] And to channel that in the right way, I think is so important to the, to the development of

[00:43:52] younger minds and developing that, that, that spirit and enthusiasm and for them to know

[00:44:01] there's something else out there for them to experience that it's all not necessarily

[00:44:07] on a device, let's say.

[00:44:09] And I'm not, I'm not trying to discount the importance of technology.

[00:44:14] It's, it's something that we all need and, and it makes life a little more convenient.

[00:44:20] But I think to maintain a balance between those worlds is pretty important.

[00:44:27] So I, I, I commend you that that movement has grown to, to what it has.

[00:44:35] And what a great by-product of your situation, the trauma that you went through and how this

[00:44:44] momentum continues to accelerate into positive spaces.

[00:44:50] And it's, it's such a beautiful part again, uh, of your legacy that this, this life-changing

[00:44:58] altering experience, what, what it has created as a result.

[00:45:04] Um, and again, uh, you know, moving into more of the, let's call it the, the engineering space

[00:45:13] of prosthetics and, and what you and I employ.

[00:45:17] Um, talk to me a little bit more about innovation and, uh, pro armor and how that came about.

[00:45:25] Yeah.

[00:45:26] Yeah.

[00:45:26] Thanks for that summary.

[00:45:28] So after getting back into the classroom as a teacher, yeah, one of the biggest challenges

[00:45:33] I faced was sand, dust, dirt, debris, food, hair, getting into my footshell.

[00:45:43] And as a, as a young teacher, I, I had a bit of a laugh with this because on my, in my classroom,

[00:45:50] I had jobs for the students, rubbish bins, computer monitor, library book monitor.

[00:45:57] And eventually I put leg cleaner on the bottom of my responsibility roster.

[00:46:02] And, you know, all jokes aside, like it was a legitimate job and boy, it was a real popular

[00:46:06] job too.

[00:46:07] But on a Monday morning, I would have a student come in, tear my footshell off, clean it out

[00:46:13] with a cloth, rinse it out under the things I needed to, put it back together, put it back

[00:46:17] on my leg, uh, and I was ready to go for the week.

[00:46:20] Um, and fast forward a few years down the track, I, I was getting frustrated on this and I thought

[00:46:27] I've, I've got to do something about it.

[00:46:29] So I took my idea to a manufacturer and said, make me this leg cover.

[00:46:33] And I think this is going to solve a lot of my hassles and problems and challenges I face

[00:46:38] as an amputee.

[00:46:39] And sure enough, uh, it was an absolute game changer.

[00:46:43] Uh, this cover that they, that they kind of made through my ideas, uh, just gave me an enormous

[00:46:50] amount more freedom and confidence to go and enjoy the places that I enjoyed.

[00:46:54] And I mean, not mountaineering, right?

[00:46:56] I mean like mowing the lawns or walking the dog on the beach or cutting, uh, or cutting,

[00:47:02] cutting some wood with a saw and not getting, you know, um, sawdust into my kind of foot

[00:47:07] shell, just basic everyday stuff.

[00:47:09] And of course it wasn't perfect.

[00:47:11] So we kind of, I made some iterations and changes kind of over the years.

[00:47:16] And this went on for about seven or eight years of me, my leg cover, my clean, uh, prosthetic

[00:47:22] foot shells, and just being able to do all the things that I wanted to do without having

[00:47:27] to shy away from them or opt out or destroy feet.

[00:47:33] When COVID came around, I was reading, uh, a book and it was by Peter Thiel.

[00:47:41] And I can't remember the exact question, but it was something along the lines of, uh, what

[00:47:47] very few secrets do people know that, that I know, you know, for something like that.

[00:47:53] And I thought, well, my big secret that not a lot of people know is that I've got this

[00:47:58] amazing leg cover that stops dirt and dust and debris getting into my feet.

[00:48:02] No one else uses it.

[00:48:03] No one else knows about it.

[00:48:05] I couldn't find any on the internet.

[00:48:07] And I also had the time and the space to reflect on, on, I guess, life during COVID.

[00:48:12] Things slowed down a wee bit.

[00:48:14] School programs, uh, you know, for the Willing Pike Challenge weren't happening.

[00:48:18] Uh, as a, as a, as a corporate speaker, I wasn't being booked because everyone was sitting

[00:48:22] at home, right?

[00:48:23] But instead of, I guess, baking a lot of bread and a lot, and watching a lot of Netflix as

[00:48:29] a lot of people in New Zealand did, I decided actually, I think I've got a business case here.

[00:48:35] I'm, I'm, I'm going to start a new business from scratch.

[00:48:38] And, and actually we're going to call it pro armor because, uh, this means, um, you know,

[00:48:43] prosthetic armor and this is exactly, exactly what this, this does do.

[00:48:47] So in, in the, I guess the thick of COVID, yeah, I put together the necessities of a, I

[00:48:54] guess, a business and a structure and took my, uh, I guess, early iterations of the pro

[00:49:00] armor covers, uh, to the next level in terms of change them up and then presented them to

[00:49:05] the, uh, to clinics in New Zealand and said, Hey, I've got this product.

[00:49:09] Do you want to buy some?

[00:49:10] And they said, we'll have a pallet.

[00:49:13] And I thought, wow, this is amazing because we've only got about 5,000 amputees in New

[00:49:17] Zealand and it's a very small market.

[00:49:19] So I guess I built some confidence off that and being in the bottom of this, uh, the, the,

[00:49:25] I guess, Pacific Ocean, you know, my closest neighbor is Australia and their population is

[00:49:31] five times the size of 20 million.

[00:49:33] And I literally sold pro armor products into Australia via zoom for over a year.

[00:49:41] And part of the beautiful thing about COVID was, is that zoom meetings were normalized.

[00:49:45] I didn't have to get on the airplane and spend an enormous amount of money and time traveling

[00:49:49] around, uh, the world, uh, it became normal to meet like this and have conversations and

[00:49:55] kind of, and sell, sell products.

[00:49:57] So, I mean, what we were selling into them, just so people get a bit of an idea was our,

[00:50:01] our first product that came was this one here, which is the pro armor light.

[00:50:06] And what it is, is, uh, it's a neoprene cover that comes up over the foot, uh, customized

[00:50:13] to fit a nice and tightly around the pylon, uh, with its sole job of stopping sand, dust,

[00:50:20] dirt, and debris, getting into foot shells and destroying componentry.

[00:50:24] And, and it does a phenomenal job of that.

[00:50:27] This one of course is designed to be used with footwear, shoes, sandals, or boots that

[00:50:32] would go over the top of this.

[00:50:34] And yeah, that's the first one that came onto the market, the primer light.

[00:50:38] And it's still, uh, you know, uh, a big seller, but people were wanting, uh, a, a cover with

[00:50:46] a rubberized sole.

[00:50:47] So we applied a rubberized sole to the bottom, which now allows, you know, uh, those that

[00:50:54] allow limb loss to, to walk around barefoot without chewing through foot shells.

[00:50:59] Uh, and also it's nice just to have that sand between the toes, isn't it?

[00:51:04] Or the grass and be kind of connected to the ground on your sound side if you're not a

[00:51:08] bilateral amputee.

[00:51:09] So, uh, so that's the pro armor plus, but yeah, I mean, just in summary, you know, it

[00:51:15] was, uh, an idea, uh, that I had because it was a problem that I faced and often they're

[00:51:22] the best business cases.

[00:51:23] You're creating a solution to solve a tangible problem that I was kind of facing.

[00:51:27] So, um, yeah, I'm just really, uh, I guess blessed in a way to be able to turn a problem,

[00:51:35] uh, that I had into, uh, or create a solution for that problem.

[00:51:39] And now to be able to share that with the world because it's worked so well with me, I thought

[00:51:43] it's got to work well with, with everyone else.

[00:51:46] And, you know, we've got that clear vision of giving those who allow limb loss the freedom

[00:51:51] and confidence to do more, to enjoy the happy places.

[00:51:54] And that's exactly what it does for me.

[00:51:56] It's exactly what it does for thousands of people, uh, all, all around the world.

[00:52:00] Yeah.

[00:52:01] And I was going to say it, it's, it's has a multi-purpose because as we all know as amputees,

[00:52:07] you know, whether you have an, a hydraulic ankle or there's, you know, parts and pieces

[00:52:12] that, um, you know, can't be exposed to the elements that can be incredibly limiting in

[00:52:19] what we can do.

[00:52:20] So not only are we preserving some, honestly, some really expensive gear, but also that

[00:52:29] opens the doors to a whole new range of possibilities in terms of activity.

[00:52:36] And what is the one thing that I hear most often from amputees is I just got to get more

[00:52:44] active.

[00:52:45] I've got to get more active.

[00:52:46] I've got to do more.

[00:52:47] I've got to get out more.

[00:52:48] I have to, you know, how can, how can I ever develop my gate?

[00:52:52] How can I ever build strength, flexibility, all of those things if I can't put myself into

[00:52:58] those spaces that I used to enjoy?

[00:53:02] And, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm don't really come from, you know, in, in the U S we

[00:53:10] refer to it as more as hiking.

[00:53:13] Um, I don't, uh, really come from hiking, meaning pre amputation, but because my partner,

[00:53:21] Sarah is, is very much into hiking.

[00:53:25] One of our first, uh, one of our first outings when we started dating was this, uh, this national

[00:53:34] park called Turkey Run and boy, oh boy, was this challenging.

[00:53:39] And, uh, this was kind of like baptism by fire for me because, um, my experience with,

[00:53:48] uh, hiking was, was minimal at best.

[00:53:52] And to her, you know, she thought this was, you know, beginner, you know, to intermediate,

[00:53:59] you know, kind of level and, and she's not an amputee.

[00:54:04] So, you know, for me it was, it was, oh boy, uh, I'm, I'm really not used to any of this.

[00:54:10] And of course, when I saw the product, you know, pro armor, I thought, oh boy, this, this

[00:54:17] would have been something that would have really deescalated my worry as an amputee about,

[00:54:23] you know, sand, dirt, you know, everything that I was experiencing going on this all day

[00:54:30] hike, because that's always pinging in the back of your mind.

[00:54:33] Like, okay, I'm getting it done physically, but what damage am I doing to my prosthesis

[00:54:40] right now?

[00:54:41] Yeah.

[00:54:41] And it's, it's an important thing.

[00:54:44] So the first thing I want you to share is how do we, um, find the product?

[00:54:50] What's the best way for people all over the world that are listening, um, to get in touch

[00:54:56] with, uh, pro armor?

[00:54:59] Yeah.

[00:55:00] So yeah, it depends on what country and it depends, you know, the channels and prosthetic

[00:55:04] care available, et cetera.

[00:55:06] You know, if we're thinking US centric right now, then I would say ask your prosthetist

[00:55:11] for a pro armor light or, or a plus, uh, they, uh, on occasions reimburse through, through

[00:55:18] insurance as well, uh, with, with, with an L code.

[00:55:21] So talk to them about that, uh, as a, as a first step.

[00:55:25] And then if you're not having any luck in that department, just visit our website, pro-armor.com

[00:55:30] and you can order them, um, off, off, off the website and we can kind of ship, ship them

[00:55:35] out to you.

[00:55:36] So, uh, two easy channels, ask your prosthetist or visit our website.

[00:55:40] Country to country is very different in terms of reimbursement and funding and things like

[00:55:44] that.

[00:55:45] So, uh, yeah, come to us with any questions that you've got, uh, hit a follow on, uh, on

[00:55:50] Instagram or Facebook where we're most active and you can see the products in, in action.

[00:55:56] And look, I mean, you know, case in point last night after dinner, I said to my

[00:56:00] boy, he's four, I said, let's, let's just go to the beach for a quick swim.

[00:56:04] And, uh, for me, you know, leg, yeah, there's, you know, you gotta think that through, right?

[00:56:09] So I was like, ah, but for me it was easy.

[00:56:11] I was like, okay, cool.

[00:56:12] I'm going to put my primer plus on and hopped in the car, went down to the beach, had my

[00:56:18] crutches with me because I, I don't like swimming with my leg in the water.

[00:56:22] And we walked through all the soft sand, which is just blowing everywhere up over my legs,

[00:56:26] like he had my cover on and then, uh, you know, took my leg off, uh, pulled my sleeve

[00:56:32] up.

[00:56:32] The wind was blowing on the beach.

[00:56:34] I didn't care because the sand wasn't going in top of my socket and it definitely wasn't

[00:56:37] going to my foot.

[00:56:38] Had a swim, came back out, walked up the beach with my leg on, sprayed it off under the shower,

[00:56:44] uh, you know, clean, clean my gear, uh, took my primer plus off, got back in the car and

[00:56:49] put him to bed an hour later, you know, and there was no cleanup.

[00:56:52] There was no mark.

[00:56:52] There was no issues.

[00:56:53] So it's those simple things.

[00:56:55] And it's, I think a lot of the advertising shows run, jump, hike, bike, you know, kind

[00:56:59] of people, but look, the world's population are near water or rivers or the ocean.

[00:57:04] And that's the biggest, some of the biggest challenges that us amputers are presented with

[00:57:08] sand versus carbon fiber doesn't go down too well.

[00:57:11] So, um, yeah, look, if people, um, are in that position, young, old, active or not, um,

[00:57:17] they're facing those challenges and yeah, jump onto our website, pro-armer.com or ask your

[00:57:22] processes for a pro-armer.

[00:57:23] And, uh, every day is a good day.

[00:57:25] Let's talk about how we can get our hands on that book.

[00:57:29] Yeah.

[00:57:30] You can visit our website.

[00:57:32] Um, you can go to williampikechallenge.co.nz and you can buy the book there.

[00:57:38] Uh, you can also find it on Amazon as well.

[00:57:41] So there are your two avenues.

[00:57:43] Yeah.

[00:57:43] Amazon, man, they, they, you can get anything on Amazon.

[00:57:47] It's crazy.

[00:57:49] No, it's, it's, uh, it's wonderful that we have these resources.

[00:57:53] I, I so appreciate you spending the time, not just sharing your story, but going to that

[00:58:00] next level of providing real solutions for people.

[00:58:05] You know, we can all sit around and talk and support and that's all good.

[00:58:09] Don't get me wrong.

[00:58:10] But you're one of those people that facilitates and provides, you know, good solid ways to

[00:58:18] problem solve, not only in the mechanical sense, but also in the spiritual sense.

[00:58:23] And, you know, the book, you know, very important piece of your story as well as, uh, you know,

[00:58:29] pro-armer, which is allowing all of us to get more active, to feel more confident in our

[00:58:35] active endeavors as amputees.

[00:58:38] So William Pike, thank you so much for being here today.

[00:58:42] My name is Rick Bonkowski.

[00:58:43] This is the Amped Up to 11 podcast, and I want to wish everyone health and happiness.

[00:58:49] And we'll see you next time.