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- [00:00]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Foreign.
- [00:13]
Jack Wagner
Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. What you're about to hear is one of my personal favorite episodes that we've made so far. It involves family history, war, immigration, premonitions, and a lot more that I should probably not mention because I don't want to spoil anything. It takes place in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Yes, that Sleepy Hollow. And it takes place on Friday the 13th, which is a wild coincidence given the nature of this show. But honestly, it's a little misleading when it comes to the actual theme of this episode because the story is not very frightening at all. In fact, I'd say it's quite inspiring. It comes from a man named Chris who works in the wine industry and was actually introduced to me by a friend of mine named Anna who reached out, out of nowhere, saying that she met this Palestinian American guy who has an incredible story. She thinks it would be great for Otherworld. She actually reached out right after meeting him, and I'm very glad that she did because it really is an excellent story. There are so many layers to this one, and I think it kind of speaks for itself. So I'll let Chris take it from here. This episode is called the Overpass, and you're listening to Otherworld.
- [01:54]
Chris Nas
Hello, is this Bobby?
- [01:55]
Jack Wagner
Yes, it is at its core, the.
- [01:57]
Chris Nas
Science you can't argue with. I'm so worried about all of a sudden up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm literally. I'm gonna die. Its limbs were just like, wrong.
- [02:08]
Podcast Guests/Promoters
Everybody moves back into the light, even.
- [02:10]
Jack Wagner
If it takes them a.
- [02:36]
Chris Nas
My name is Chris Nas. I'm 35 years old. I'm from Sleepy Hollow, New York. I've been in the software industry as head of sales and account management for 10 years, as well as importing my own wines from Europe. My father's Palestinian. My mother's from Greece. Both immigrants. They met in New York working as chemical engineers. Kind of classic New York American story. My dad came here in 1972, four years after the Six Day War. He was a Palestinian refugee. We're from Bethlehem. And the occupation pushed him and his sister out of our ancestral homeland. He not only couldn't see a future there, he applied for asylum to America and was able to enter the country by being accepted by Columbia University. At the time, the Jordanian military was in control of the west bank territory, and 10 minutes away is 1948 line Israel. So the fighting spilled out all across our. Our. Our little border. He was caught in crossfire a handful of times. He'd be walking from our home in Bethlehem to our farmland, which now we no longer have access to. He'd be going there to harvest our apricots, our olives. And one of the times specifically, there was a battle between Israeli and Jordanian tanks and he was caught in the crossfire. His memory is ducking for cover and hearing the loudest noises for about a half hour until the Jordanian tanks retreated. He describes just not even knowing where he was after that. It took him like two hours to get home when. When our house was like a half hour walk away. Even before the Six Day War, my dad, from the age of seven, had honestly, he'd grown up putting his friends body parts in burlap sacks and bringing them back to their parents after the Six Day War. He was 18 at the time, and he could actually leave. Not that it was easy. He could only actually leave through getting accepted to a university here. He knew there was no future for them and he didn't want to leave. But after all of the death and, you know, lack of freedom, he. It was really the only option. So he left. So in 1972, he came to New York. He initially lived in Yonkers, and he'd commute from there to Harlem and he, you know, he finished his entire engineering degree through there. He ended up getting a job for Kraft Foods working on the Kool Aid bottle and Capri Sun Pouch. And their old New York headquarters was in Tarrytown. Sleepy Hollow, New York. That's where he met my mom. And that's where I ended up, you know, growing up right on the banks of the Hudson river in one of the biggest Halloween towns besides Salem. I'd say I just remember summer ending and always looking forward to fall because of Halloween coming in and all of the festivities and, like, spooky stuff that was about to come our way. Growing up, we'd have. There's an old. It's called Phillipsburg Manor, and it was a Dutch plantation. They would use that plantation, they still do to this day, as a, like a Halloween festivity area. And what they would do was recreate the late 16 to early 1700s. They'd have the headless horsemen riding around. They'd have a storyteller who'd speak in Old English and tell you the legend of Sleepy Hollow. So I almost was too close to the spookiness, that it was, like, familiar. I think that it urged me on the side of me wanting to believe and kind of just knowing that there's more to life than what we see and have evidence of so concretely growing up. I just remember my first nightmare. I'm lying face down on the side of the road and there's this overpass off in the distance. It's nighttime because there's this car that's coming at me or what seemed to be a car. It's a very bright light approaching me. And I feel like this happens a lot in dreams. But I couldn't move. And despite like my best effort to kind of try and get out of the road, I can't move. And the light keeps coming closer and closer. And right before it comes over me, I woke up sweating. And honestly, I was so young. I was like five. Five, maybe at most seven. The thing is, it. This dream was recurring. It kept happening. I. I can't say how many times, but it's. It's almost like I don't remember my early dreams, but I remember this early nightmare and, you know, I forgot it. I forgot it for a very long time. It wasn't until at the age of 14, I moved to the current house that my family lives in. And also still in Sleepy Hollow on old Sleepy Hollow Road. Anyone who's been here would know that these roads weave through New York like the Rockefeller State Park. And so there's no street lights. And they're these windy roads that you could almost imagine, like the Headless horseman riding, chasing Ichabod Crane down. They're just at night. You. You did. They're almost silent, completely dark. And it was. It was when I moved here at 14 that I went down to get my mail. And that nightmare came flooding back into my memory and that sensation of terror because when I went to get the mail and looked down the street, I saw that overpass. And seeing that overpass just made it all click, like a eureka moment that this road, that was the road from that nightmare. And you know, I remember from the age of 14 until I graduated college, even though I moved away for college, I wouldn't let anyone drop me off at the bottom of my driveway out of fear that, like, somehow I would fall and not be able to get up and that like, this dream would play out. So flash forward 20 years. It's 2024. I'm living in Brooklyn with two friends. I'm working in software, sales and account management for a startup out of Toronto. And I've started my own wine importing business with five labels of my own, coming from Europe, mostly Greece, family vineyards and then France. So it's actually Friday the 13th of September of 2024. I go from Brooklyn back to Sleepy Hollow. And I work an event, just essentially serving and selling my wine. After that, since I'm in my hometown, I meet up with a few hometown friends at a pizzeria and we chill for like two hours from 10 to midnight. And I remember promptly at midnight, which was kind of uncharacteristic for me, I decided to leave. And it's because I'm having a huge party in Brooklyn, a bunch of friends coming over, and I had to be back there in the morning. So though my friends wanted me to stay, I left promptly at midnight, the pizzeria being only eight minutes away from my house. You know, I had my event the next day, so I hadn't been drinking that night. I do drink, obviously, considering I'm a wine vendor. But that night I was being more responsible than I generally am. So upon saying goodbye to my friends, one friend actually decided to leave at the same time. We walked to our cars together in the nearby school parking lot. It's actually where I went to school second and third grade. And we talk for an hour. Most of everything that I know, like, I remember, but also I have timestamps because of my friends. So I actually end up talking from midnight to like, one with my buddy Saeed. And I get in my car at 1 o', clock, and I should have been home by like 1:10. After getting in the car and starting my drive, my memory escapes me. But what I do remember is a bright light in my face as I'm taking a turn about 0.3 miles from my house. I'm on Old Sleepy Hollow Road. I'm on a straightaway, actually, and I'm about to start turning, and then I see this bright light. And once the bright light dissipates, there's a tree right in front of me that I cannot avoid. I end up hitting this tree. And I remember the moments after hitting the tree. I don't know what damage has occurred to my body, nor really the car, but I did know that I was trapped and that I was pinned. Not only could I not open my door, get out of the car, I couldn't even move out of my the driver's seat to get my phone. I think it might have just been in the passenger seat or maybe flung to the back. What actually did occur was that my driver's side tire had been pushed into my cabin and ran over both of my legs. My dashboard collapsed onto the tire and effectively tourniqueted my leg. My right leg in particular, because that tire went over my left foot broke my tibia and fibia, went straight into my right femur and severed my femoral artery. And the amount of trauma that occurred sent so much blood up upwards that I had acute kidney failure and a pulmonary embolism and a traumatic brain injury. All of this happened at that juncture. I don't remember being in pain. I just remember being stuck. And there was a moment, there was a realization moment it was that somebody was going to come find me, or they weren't, and I was going to make it out of that car or I wasn't. And that's where things took a turn and got really weird. I don't know if it's from blood leaving my body or the beyond, but the bottom line is my car's temperature changed, like, 10 degrees. And although it was dark on the road, it got darker. The thing is, that sounds like it would be scary, but it was actually one of the most calm Zen moments of my life. It's really kind of inexplicable. But what else also, like, occurred at that moment was the milestones in my life went through my head. My travels, my relationships, my accomplishments. And I really kind of came to peace with, like, how I'd lived. And I was. I was sitting there, pinned, ready to embrace death, like, not scared at all, just almost what will be, would. Will be. Just that year, I had hiked Machu Picchu, gone to the pyramids in Giza, and I'd also done a walk from Bethlehem to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem with 5,000 other Christian Palestinians. And those events specifically ran through my head. And it was like, little Chris always wanted to, like, go to those places and do those things. And it was like, dude, you did it. That, and then just my closest relationships. So I saw my roommates, I saw my, you know, best friends in Brooklyn, my brothers, this girl that I was dating at the time. And I was like, dude, you gotta go pick her up. Maybe that was the only sense that I had of, like, something undone, as silly as that might sound, but it partially is what kind of kept me tethered and, like, not wanting to just leave yet, because from my, like, life standpoint of, like, you know, doing those things that I'd done and starting my business, there was a sense of accomplishment and, like, willingness to kind of let go. But from that responsibility sake of, like, the people that I need to be here for, I was kept. I was on death's door for sure. Little did. Did I know. I. I didn't know what bodily damage had occurred But I'd broken a dozen bones, severed my femoral artery, my lung, left lung had popped open, acute kidney, you know, injury and a traumatic brain injury to boot. But with all of the memories that kind of came to me, and considering I was like trapped in the dark alone, it really was one of the most peaceful, calm times of my life. As the memories fade and the coldness and darkness sets in, I'm still in this state of calm and this black hole appears over my head. And smoke starts to rise out of my head into it and kind of just trails almost like as if you. When you light an incense, the smoke was just weaving into the hole. And what was happening was that my life was leaving my body. I was allowing it. I wasn't fighting it. There was a feeling of I could resist. And I don't know what that would have done, but I didn't. And as this smoke trails into the black hole, eventually I enter this black space. I, like, leave my car into this never ending blackness. It was like a place that was empty and black and like completely dark. There was no existence. I wasn't even myself anymore. There was no sense of individuality. It was almost like existence was this blackness and emptiness. It was at that moment that an image of my mom entered this blackness. Shortly after, my dad joined her and then my three younger brothers. And the image of my family went from essentially like a photo to a video. And the video itself was the individual life of each member. I could see them living out their lives without me in it. You know, my mom's sick with cancer, and thankfully my, you know, my dad's healthy, my brothers are healthy. They're all leading their own careers in New York City and Westchester County. What I could see going from that image of them together into this video was how their lives would be in my absence. Things quickly took a turn for the worse and my mom's health deteriorated and she ended up passing. My dad was a broken man, having lost his eldest son and the love of his life. I saw my brothers kind of try to carry and soldier on, but it was as if they had this huge chip on their shoulders. That's the entirety of what I saw. And it was at that moment that I was propelled back into my body. And I kept my eyes open. I just kept my eyes open. I had this feeling that if I closed my eyes, that was it. I was gonna go to the dark place and wherever it took me after that. So after being shot back into my body and just making this decision to just keep my Eyes open because I knew if I closed them, I would I perish. It's almost as if time didn't exist. But the next thing I kind of remember is being outside of the car looking down at it. And it was almost like it was through like a fisheye lens. I see my Mercedes with a tree wedged between the hood. And I see like this dark road is now lit up and it's all lit up with emergency medical responders, fire truck, two ambulance, a police car. And it's really, it's the red, white and blue lights that are just flashing and there's all these people trying to get me out of the car. The thing is, although I'm looking down at the car, I am very much inside the car. I see paramedics, firefighters, and like two cops off to the side. They're all like around my passenger and driver's side door and they're trying to get me out of the car. I could feel all of their attention focused and fixated on my vehicle, on me in the car and working in unison to like, get me out of there. One of the most bizarre elements of.
- [24:31]
Jack Wagner
This.
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Chris Nas
Third person view that I was in was that although I was looking down on this vehicle like, and I couldn't even see my body, but I was very much myself trapped in the cockpit. And like, this is one of the weirdest things to describe or have feeling and memory of, but it's like I'm looking through a camera, like gta and I am myself though in the car, knowing I'm tracked. I've never had an experience like this, I guess you could call it is an out of body experience. But I'm looking at this scene and I'm very much trapped in the cockpit. And I, I only like, I remember the feeling of being pinned, being trapped and trying to push myself out. Like I am pushing against this steering wheel and trying to press my body, like out. And I keep doing it and I like, I just keep pushing and I keep pushing and like it's not budging, but I just keep pushing and I push hard enough finally, and I wake up in a hospital bed with like very blurry vision. These bright lights all in my face. And there's what I know now to be the medical staff with their masks on. I had woken up from a coma and I was in the icu. I really woke up with these blinding lights and masked figures, rods going through my legs. I felt like it looked like a scene out of like what somebody describes as an alien abduction. Honestly, until I saw my dad's face, I, I was about to just freak out. And upon waking up, I ripped this tube out and the staff's like, freaking out and they're like, holy. Like, this dude's like, what's he gonna do? I obviously can't move though, and broads in my legs. But that definitely alarmed everybody. And then my dad is just like, habibi, habibi. Like, you're alive, you know? He goes on to tell me that I'd been in a terrible car accident, but I could see how happy he was that I'd awakened and was still myself.
- [27:30]
Jack Wagner
Okay, we have to take a quick break, but we'll be right back with the rest of Chris's story. This episode is sponsored by Quints. It's a new year officially, and it's also very cold out right now, which is when your winter stuff really has to do its job. A bit of a reset this year, a winter purge you might call it. Got rid of so many of my old things and focused on getting just a few nicer, high quality items in my closet. And Quince has been a big part of that. Quince has amazing outerwear that is very impressive. They have down jackets, wool coats, and Italian leather outerwear. Each piece is made from premium materials by trusted factories that meet rigorous standards of craftsmanship and ethical production. By cutting out the middlemen and traditional markups, Quince delivers the same quality as luxury brands at a fraction of the price. My favorite thing that I've gotten recently from Quince is an Italian wool chore jacket that I've been wearing a lot. Also, this black knitted sweater was in heavy rotation in the last month for me. Another thing I've been a big fan of, always been a big fan of, is Quint's bed sheets. They have incredible bedding and stuff for your house. So Quint makes premium thoughtfully made pieces without the luxury markup and it shows. Refresh your winter wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com otherworld for free shipping on your and 365 day returns now available in Canada as well. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com otherworld for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quint.com otherworld hey there.
- [29:19]
Podcast Guests/Promoters
We're Corinne Vien and Sabrina D', Anaroga, here to introduce our newest podcast, Crimes of a Crime House. Original Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the Paranormal, Unsolved Murders, and more. Our first season is Crimes of Infamy. The true crime stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Listen to and follow Crimes of Available now wherever you get your podcasts.
- [29:48]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
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- [30:27]
Chris Nas
Upon my dad telling me about my accident, I'm like, wait, I have to get to my apartment. Like, a bunch of people are coming over and my dad's like, chris, that was three days ago. You know, I'd never experienced that much of a loss of, like, time or lapse of time or, you know, I was in a coma for three days. When I woke up, like, I was. I've never been more parched in my life. What I found out was since I was intubated, like, the only liquids that were coming in were via iv. And so upon ripping that tube out of my esophagus, I try to talk and I've damaged my vocal cords and I can't talk. So I motion to the staff for a pen and paper, and I just remember writing down, water, Water. And I show it to them and they're like, no. They're like, we can't give you water. This was, like, probably the most torturous part besides being trapped in my vehicle of my entire experience. I needed water so bad, and all they could do was give me an ice cube. I'm not sure the medical reason that I couldn't drink. I don't know if I had a surgery lined up or something that I needed to be fasting for, but I remember, like, pleading with my family to, like, sneak me some water or something, even though I couldn't talk. And, you know, they just abided by what the medical staff said. No liquids for me, that was torturous. But what I started to learn was that we don't know who called in my accident. We don't know what it is that I tried to avoid on the road that day. But what I became aware of was the extent of the damage that had been done to my body. I had broken both legs on the right side, broke my femur, severed my artery. I found out they were able to reconnect the artery in my right leg. In the days following, they did a bunch of tests and told me that they reconnected the artery in my Right leg. But it was as if they connected the highway and all the roads leading off were gone. And those roads were my nerves. I had no feeling in this leg. And the doctors left the decision up to me. They said, listen, there's blood flowing. You can keep the leg. But it would be what we call a post. You'd walk with a cane and like kind of drag it. And I, I remember within 30 seconds of the doctor kind of finishing that statement, I looked at him and I said, can you use any of this right leg on my left leg? And he looked at me and he was like, that's a really good question. My follow up question was, how do you feel about the state of prosthetics? And he was like, well, it's the best they've ever been and they're only getting better.
- [33:50]
Jack Wagner
Yeah.
- [33:51]
Chris Nas
Again, within 30 seconds, I made my decision. I told him, you got to hack it off. Which ended up being the amputation of my right leg above the knee. You kind of find out who you are in these situations. Like, I, I think that I've just kind of built myself up to be. And maybe just some of it is like a priori, like you're just born, like, as a certain character. I was like, well adjusted to handle this. I was just, just so in the moment of like, okay, this damage has been done. What can we do now? And I was just asking like a bunch of different questions. It was, I was in this, like, inquisitive but then very like driven state. I was, I was fighting for my life. I went in for my amputation and I woke up, you know, without my leg. And there's two things that occur when somebody has limb loss. Phantom sensation where you can feel the limb still being there. And then there's phantom pain, which is what I can only describe as feeling like I could feel my right foot, which is no longer there, or any part of that leg below the knee that's no longer there. And it feels as if someone's twisting it in the opposite direction and then having it in a vise at the same time. And it's all nerve pain. It's not like muscle or bone pain. It's almost like excruciating instant, like flash pain. I still experience it from time to time, but post amputation was definitely the brunt. There's something interesting I noticed. I don't know if this is. This was a whole new mode of life. A, I couldn't leave my bed. B, I was dependent upon staff for everything from food to, like, going to the bathroom to just asking for liquids. I mean, for the first week, they wouldn't let me drink. And there were so many other surgeries I needed. Needed to occur. The entire reconstruction of my left leg, the reconstruction of my right arm. I. You know, it's like the amputation was one of 24 surgeries that I went through before leaving that hospital. It's four weeks before I decide to, like, ask for a phone, get my phone back, and feel like I'm ready for it. And when I get my phone, I have a lot of voicemails. But the one that really sticks out is a voicemail from my business partner. He says that he had a dream, and it was, like, so vivid and real for him. And he had this dream of me and him both having families. Him with his wife and two kids, and then me with what he believes to be my future wife. And he could see her so vividly. He described her features like olive skin, darker hair, bright green eyes. He Sundays, I have two kids, a boy and a girl. And in that dream, he sees me with a prosthetic leg. He summed the dream up by saying, I gave him, like, so much faith that I'm gonna be just fine. And, you know, this is all being communicated while I'm still in a hospital bed and I have no end in sight. It was kind of motivating to me. Not just that, like, you know, I'd have my leg and be fine, be able to, like, start a family, lead a normal life with all major concerns I had at the time. But then I got a call from my. One of my best friends, the last friend I was with before getting on the road that night. Saeed. He tells me he's had a dream, and it's within, like, three or four days of my business partner's dream. He has a dream that we're hiking Roman Ruins and in Sicily. And in that dream, too, I had a prosthetic leg. So I was listening to that voicemail, and all of the sudden, the nightmare for my youth of me lying on the side of the road with a blinding light coming at me just came to the forefront. And I realized that, like, holy shit, you had that dream so long ago and realized that when you moved to Sleepy Hollow, that the road you're living on was the road from that dream. And then 20 years after that, that accident was a quarter of a mile down that very road. It was almost as if that dream had been a premonition of something that was going to occur in my life. And, like, I was either gonna make my way out of it or not. In the nightmares, I'd wake up right before this light, you know, hit me or came over me. I feel that now that this was, like, some inescapable, unavoidable milestone that I had to face. And I think I negotiated my way through it. All in all, I spent exactly 75 days in the hospital, and I'm released on Thanksgiving Eve. I remember just sending out prayers to the universe that I could go home for the holidays, and they didn't know when I'd be able to leave. And I end up getting released on Thanksgiving eve, and just in time to spend that holiday time, Thanksgiving and Christmas, like, at home with my family, which is, like, all I wanted, some semblance of normalcy. I obviously did go forward and get a prosthetic leg. I have, like, an awesome mechanized bionic leg. It's one of, like, three on the market. It's got me back to, like, 80% of what I was able to do before. And I started one of my great passions and hobbies of biking. And it was about a month ago now. I got down to the bottom of my driveway on my bike, on E bike, make things a little easier. Pedaling with a robotic leg is not as easy as you'd think. But when I get to the bottom of my driveway, there's this SUV approaching, and they stop in the middle of the road, and it's this elderly gentleman and his wife. And he says, I don't know if you remember me, but I was there that night. I'm a firefighter who is on the scene. His wife starts crying, and I asked him if he could just, like, pull over to the side of the road and, like, get out of his car so we could talk. And he gets out, I get hop off this bike, I give him a big hug, and I just thank him for saving my life before anything. And we get to talking, and he says, listen, you know, I appreciate you thanking me, but he's like, you gotta know how much a part of saving your own life you were. It's like, because you were awake for the two hours it took us to get you out of the car. And you were working with us, you were able to tell us this is relieving pressure. This is causing this kind of pain. And he was like, if it weren't for your responsiveness, we would have had to amputate both legs. And, you know, who knows from there? And his wife was just like. She was just looking at me and tearing up and he remembered the exact day. He was like. It was, you know, Friday the 13th of 2024. I saw him in October. So it was just this past October. So it was just about a year and a few weeks since the accident. It was really eerie. But I feel like things are kind of maybe meant to be. And I also think that all of us have a time here that can't be mitigated. Like there's a time you come, there's a time you go, and it's like nothing can change that. One thing that sticks out for sure is that this, this dream I had from youth, I, I made it through that nightmare. It just wasn't my time. So that's kind of come to fruition in a way regards to kind of going through my near death experience. Like my mother does have cancer, but she is still here with us, you know, through talking to her. And my journey through this has almost been paralleled with hers. And I think we're supporting and bolstering each other up. What I saw in that vision and me coming back prevented it from becoming true that my family isn't dealing with the loss of me and what that would have created, but rather I'm here to be with my family and like be with my mother in this time. And then lastly, kind of I think about the dreams that my friends had. Those two have some like, semblance and fruition that's come. Five days after I left the hospital, I met someone special that, dare I say, fits the description of my business partner's dream who happens to want two kids. So I don't want to jinx anything, but fingers are crossed that that too can come to fruition. I'm also scheduled to go to Sicily this summer and who knows, maybe I'll find those ruins that my friend had seen me hiking. It's dawning on me that like life is just extremely mysterious. But there's, there does seem to be some kind of an order or intelligence or method to the madness of the universe. Because in the year and a half leading up to my accident, I, living in Brooklyn, I had formed a group called the Collective K U L L E C T I V E. It's, it's a small collective of 10 members. Israeli Americans, Jewish Americans as well as Arab Americans like myself, who had formed in protest together to raise awareness about Palestine and what's happening in Gaza. But after six months of protesting post October 7, we decided that what we really needed to do beyond raising awareness was allocate funding to Gaza. It started with an art sale and then two follow up concerts. We actually had Zoran Mandani speak at our last concert, which is where I where I met my girlfriend. The donations we would source would go all to this organization that you can also find on Instagram, Heal Palestine. And they were for making makeshift hospitals and providing prosthetic limbs to children in Gaza. You know when I say you can't make this shit up. When I had to make the decision to amputate, I thought of the kids that I had been supporting for a year and a half that I watched crawling in dirt that didn't even have a hope for a wheelchair, let alone a limb. And I was sitting in a level one trauma center in New York. It just put everything into perspective and made me feel like although things were so bad for me, they were still so great and like I was still so like blessed. Their struggle is what motivated me to keep going as I am now. I'm now walking, biking, driving again. I feel like I've got a second lease on life and a newfound appreciation for life. And I feel really pulled to focus my efforts on the amputee and limb loss community. I'm a peer mentor for other amputees, provide light and kind of shed light and direction to other people who have just lost limbs. But beyond that, I want to double down on starting my own foundation for providing these prostheses to the people of Palestine. The fact that I'm in this community now and know the prosthetists, those prosthetists, a lot of them donate their time to go to like Ghana, Kenya, India. You know, I've broached the subject of when the war is really over and there is a time to go to Gaza, you know, do that work. And that's something that I'm going to do the rest of my life. I feel funny saying like I was destined to like have this horrible accident and lose my leg, but like, like I'm almost also accepting of that. This is kind of like some kind of a higher calling. It's definitely made me stronger and I don't know, I think that it's really important, your intention and your will. Because honestly, without those two things, especially my will, I wouldn't, wouldn't be here today, but I also wouldn't be walking, driving, biking, living. You know, we haven't had our metal tested until it's really been tested. And having had my metal tested, I found out that I was exactly who I thought I was and who I am. And despite, you know, everything that's occurred. I've come out of this very much the same person, if not bolstered up and stronger. Certainly that day I faced death. But it's not because I'm so brave. It's because I think I've lived the way that I wanted to live and was true to myself.
- [49:42]
Jack Wagner
A major thank you to Chris for sharing this story. An interesting coincidence that's maybe worth mentioning is that we ended up recording this interview exactly a year after he got out of the hospital. This is something we realized while we were talking and of course was not planned. There were a few synchronicities like that in Chris's story and in the process of making it, which I always think is a good sign. One of those is Chris's organization, which he mentioned in the episode. He became involved in that effort to help amputees in Gaza before his own accident, which I think is really interesting. And as you can imagine, that cause became even more important to him after his own recovery. If you want to learn more, his organization is called Kollective that is spelled K U L L E C T I V E. I'll put a link to their Instagram account in the description of this episode. Thank you once again to Chris for sharing his story. This episode was called the Overpass and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our producers are Theo Schaeffer, Theo Krantz, Haley Pearson and Nikki Kate Delgado. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is is by North Americans. Our artwork is by Cul de Sac Studios. Please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five star review and telling your friends about the show. If you want to hear bonus episodes of Otherworld, you can become a patron@patreon.com Otherworld Our social media is Otherworldpod. Thank you to the team at Odysee. Leah Rees, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josefina Francis, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor and Hilary Schuff. Follow and listen to Otherworld now for free on the Odysee app or wherever you get your podcasts. And finally, if you or somebody you know has experienced something paranormal, supernatural or unexplained, you can send us your stories@storiesotherworldpod.com.
- [52:13]
Podcast Guests/Promoters
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