A Close Call with Death

Moka Best. Super cool name to go with someone who has been the best in many athletic events. Moka accomplished many goals in sports and actually reached a level of professionalism in the world of triathlon and became an Olympic hopeful for the United States. But, a deadly disease fell upon Moka called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) where the blood...

Mark Webb, active guy, sports enthusiast, golfer, motorcycle enthusiast, family man with a wife and four kids, and fighter.... Mark suffers with Stomach Cancer and this month celebrates a two year period of fighting for his life. Mark has found over the last two years more about life, what is life, how fragile it can be, and what next? How is Mark dealing with his condition and battling for more t...

Mark Haley, Survivor of a tragic hot rod crash that caught fire and burned Mark over much of his body and nearly leaving him dead in the cockpit. First responders sped to Marks aid to pull him unconscious and on fire from his wreck. Mark suffers a majority of his body having to be skin grafted back together, the loss of his left arm and all the fingers from his right hand and even facial burns and...

JR Celski, a phenomenal Olympic star and team mate to famous Apollo Ono has won many national and international competitions including winning the Bronze medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver Canada. He has won many silver and bronze medals over this career and at the top of this game he had a terrible accident on the ice qualifying for the Olympics in 2010 when he fell on the last turn s...

Darren Ewell's life was spared when a fast action hero nurse came to his rescue and started immediate CPR on Darren after suffering cardiac arrest! Darren was playing softball one night in Murray Utah when suddenly he fell onto the playing field without a heart beat and unconscious. Darren had complete blockage to his heart and it stopped. Immediate and aggressive CPR was provided on scene by...

Matt Blanchard is most likely one of the only human beings on the planet that have experienced TWO near death experiences that resulted in two head on wrecks, being extracted TWICE from the scenes with Jaws of Life equipment from his first responders, TWICE LifeFlighted to the emergency room nearby and TWICE Paralyzed...... Seriously a unique experience of pain and suffering! He is another one of...

Peter Vidmar!   Peter is one of the most decorated American gymnasts in Olympic History.  The winner of numerous national and international titles, he finished his successful career at the 1984 Olympic Games.  As the USA men's gymnastics team captain, he led his teammates to America's first ever team gold medal, with their stunning upset victory over the defending world champio...

Neal Middleton is our guest on the podcast series, A Close Call With Death,  and Neal comes to us from an intro from my daughter Adrienne who sends me some of the most amazing touching stories on the planet.  Adrienne knows Neal and his wife who he talks about very lovingly in the interview.  Adrienne said "You have to talk with Neal! He has a close call with death and his life is i...

This week we sat down with another miracle story of survival and A Close Call With Death for Lori Higbee.  Back in 1994 Lori was 16 years old and had plans to spend some fun in the sun on Utah Lake with her friends. While out Jet Skiing, a storm blew in and created dangerous conditions that ultimately stalled the craft her and her friend were on and engine stopped.  They were stranded on...

Leslie Hubrich, what an inspiration of incredible power and upbeat attitude that came fiercely from this small super strong 5 foot nothing human being! Leslie Hubrich was out for the day doing what she loves and that is extreme sports with her husband Dan in southern California. Suddenly the Powerglider she was flying had mechanical failure and she plummeted 60 feet approximately to the ground! Le...

Wayne Roberts. Miracle.  It was mind blowing to meet Wayne.  I was told he had a tragic ski accident just a couple of months prior to a meeting with him and he was walking, talking, and mixing with a group of people without much physical impairment or any mental impact.  Wayne looked normal as can be and yet, Wayne had wrecked while skiing at Solitude Ski area on an icy double black...

This episode is a true miracle where the Mathis family was engulfed in flames when the trailer they were sleeping in while camping and deer hunting had a slow propane leak and filled the space with explosive gas.  It took three clicks of Mike Mathis's lighter to cause a huge explosion that burned the whole family leaving Mike, Amie and their three children on fire and later fighting for their...

Abigail Ward, Abby, survived a terrible fall while climbing to Lisa Falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah with her 15 year old brother. Abby survived this 70 foot fall down the granite lined spout into only 6 inches of ice cold glacier water and rock resulting in afterwards being in a coma for nearly three months! This is only the epic most tragic close call with death as Abby has also been hi...

This episode is interesting sitting down with a young man age 22 Ulrick Humes who was in Utah for just a week and then going back to his homeland Belize where he grew up as a boy with 8 siblings and a single Mother who had to leave them in an orphanage to gain the care they needed to live.  Ulrick is a shy, happy, kind young man who had the determination to get out of a crime infested country...

This episode is an incredible conversation with Kacey McCallister who is a 32 year old Spartan Athlete and international motivational speaker who, as a 6 year old, was struck down by a semi truck resulting in him losing both of his legs. Kacey has proven to himself and all those who come to know him, that he can do anything he puts his mind to. Kacey's mother always told him that he can do everyth...

Isaac Childs sits down with me to discuss his recent as well as a past survival of cancer and then a heart attack that nearly took his young life. Isaac shares with us a very vulnerable story of battling a cancer time of his life then, when working hard to be top physical shape of his life and staying on top of a very demanding schedule as CEO of Rustico, INC., he suffered a near fatal heart attac...

In this episode my wife Karrie and I were traveling overseas to Ireland to hike the "Dingle Trail" along the gorgeous cliff, beaches and farmland of Ireland.  We stayed in Bed and Breakfast Inns along the way between hikes navigating between little villages.  On our stay in Dingle Ireland, we stayed at the Brosnan B&B. that is where we met John Brosnan a retired fisherman at the age...

JB Ellison.  One lucky young man who in his teen football hero days of high school, was engulfed by a homecoming bon fire along with friends, and survived. JB was always the epicenter of unintentional mischief and things going bad, and this time, he experienced a "Close Call With Death".  Tune into this episode and see how this type of experience can literally change a persons outlook on...

David Osmond, amazing talk with him discussing how cool life can be coming from a famous family of musical artistry and decades of fame being the son of Alan Osmond of the Osmond brothers who performed all over the world and, nephew to Donny and Marie Osmond. David has been a performer at an early age and professionally very busy with music industry and corporate work.  Fighting the result of...

Noelle Pikus Pace, US Silver Medalist Olympic Champion in the Sochi Russia 2014 Winter Olympics.  Noelle experienced a tragic accident when a bobsled left the track and hit Noelle on the right leg resulting in a compound fracture that took her out of the sport for a period of time and nearly ended her carrier.  Noelle has come so far developing her skills as an athlete in track and field...

Terry Grant is our guest in this episode of A Close Call With Death.  Terry is a well known dynamic professional in the Salt Lake City Community and currently President of Alta Bank and former President of Key Bank where I first met Terry.  Terry and his wife Janet were traveling along a southern route in Utah on a vacation outing when their rear tire blew and caused them to launch into...

Landon Pitcher was this cool guy with a huge smile and smart looks that was introduced to me by another friend at an open house for ISO Talent here in Utah.  Austin Miller, Owner and President of ISO Talent said, "Meet Landon, he's a high energy business development executive for us and you will like this guy".  It only took a moment of business talk to dig a little deeper into life and...

Christian Deputy is our guest experiencing what every outdoor enthusiast fears most and that is, a severe accident that can cause life long physical and emotional trauma on you and how do you live out the rest of your life from that event or in this case, A Close Call With Death.  Christian went out one day in the Wasatch Crest mountains of Utah and had a tragic wreck on his mountain bike hit...

Dave Saljestad comes to me as a friend of a friend who over lunch tells me of a story where he faced certain death when washed overboard a fishing boat in the treacherous waters of the Bearing Strait off the coast of Alaska in 15 degree water that instantly froze the decks as they fished throughout the night.  Scarey! yes!  Dave is alive to tell about this adventure trying to make seriou...

Bret Hutchings is our guest representing the men and women who risk their lives going out in adverse conditions often to respond to the efforts to save the lives of people in accidents, lost, injured, and need urgent care with a helicopter rescue mission.  Bret has been a pilot for The University of Utah Airmed, Intermountain Healthcare LifeFlight, and Utah Highway Patrol Helicopter Service....