Given a 1% Chance to Live – Matt Long’s Incredible Survival Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: THE ED MYLETT SHOW – Episode: "Given a 1% Chance to Live – Matt Long’s Incredible Survival Story"

Podcast Information:

• Title: THE ED MYLETT SHOW
• Host/Author: Ed Mylett | Cumulus Podcast Network
• Episode Title: Given a 1% Chance to Live – Matt Long’s Incredible Survival Story
• Release Date: February 4, 2025

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Introduction

In this emotionally charged episode, Ed Mylett welcomes Matt Long, a New York City firefighter whose life was tragically altered by a devastating accident. Matt's story is one of resilience, faith, and an unwavering spirit that defied a mere 1% chance of survival.

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Matt Long’s Pre-Accident Life

Before the accident, Matt Long led a fulfilling life as a New York City firefighter for 12 years. An avid athlete, he had recently qualified for the Boston Marathon after completing the New York City Marathon at the age of 38, proving he was in better shape than he had been at 21.

Notable Quote:

"I was a New York city fireman for 12 years at that point. An athlete my entire life." – [03:24]

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The Fateful Day: December 2005

In December 2005, amidst a Transit Authority strike crippling New York City, Matt decided to bike to work despite the freezing temperatures. Near his apartment on 48th and 3rd Avenue, he encountered a tragic accident when a bus made an illegal turn, hitting him and dragging him beneath the vehicle.

Notable Quote:

"I got sucked underneath the bus. And the bike and me became one basically." – [06:50]

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Immediate Aftermath and Medical Intervention

Matt suffered severe injuries, including bone fractures and massive blood loss. In this critical moment, a police officer recognized him as a firefighter and took immediate action to save his life by clamping his femoral artery, preventing him from bleeding out. Matt was then rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where his survival hinged on timely medical intervention.

Notable Quote:

"He took the chance because he knew I was a firefighter." – [08:29]

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Battling for Survival: Five Months in the Hospital

Over five harrowing months, Matt underwent 43 surgeries to repair his shattered body. His injuries included compound fractures in multiple bones, nerve damage, and a severed rectum requiring a colostomy bag. Despite the grim prognosis, Matt's determination to survive never wavered.

Notable Quote:

"I had 43 different surgeries in that period of time." – [25:25]

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Mental and Emotional Struggles

While his body faced immense challenges, Matt grappled with profound mental anguish. The absence of immediate family support and the loss of physical dignity led him to contemplate ending his life. However, a pivotal conversation with his mother served as a turning point, inspiring him to fight through his darkest moments.

Notable Quote:

"God doesn't give weak people hard things to do. God gives hard things to do to strong people." – [23:29]

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Rebuilding and Rehabilitation

With unwavering support and sheer perseverance, Matt began the arduous journey of rebuilding himself. From daily physical therapy to overcoming mental hurdles, he transformed his pain into purpose. His commitment culminated in an extraordinary achievement three years after the accident: completing the New York City Marathon.

Notable Quote:

"The first thing you have to do is accept it." – [36:12]

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Triumph: Completing the Marathon

Defying all odds, Matt crossed the finish line of the marathon in seven hours and thirty minutes. This monumental feat symbolized not just physical recovery but a testament to his indomitable spirit. Surrounded by family, fellow firefighters, and his physicians, the moment was both emotional and celebratory.

Notable Quote:

"The marathon was a reward. That's why I did what I did to run that marathon." – [40:53]

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Lessons and Insights

Matt emphasizes that adversity is a universal experience and that faith, resilience, and setting meaningful goals are crucial for overcoming life's most daunting challenges. He advocates for introspection to rediscover one's passions and dreams as a pathway to recovery and self-improvement.

Notable Quote:

"Look back at things you're doing when you were happiest. Start dreaming again." – [49:15]

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Impact and Legacy

Matt's story resonates deeply with listeners, inspiring millions to persevere through their own struggles. His dedication to sharing his journey through speaking engagements and his book, "The Long Run," serves as a beacon of hope and motivation for those facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Notable Quote:

"I'm lucky enough to be able to sit in platforms like this and tell my story. The real reward comes in the email that will follow." – [32:47]

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Conclusion

Ed Mylett and Matt Long conclude the episode by reinforcing the message that resilience can transform tragedy into triumph. Matt's journey from a near-fatal accident to marathon finisher underscores the power of the human spirit and the importance of support systems in overcoming life's most challenging moments.

Notable Quote:

"If you can come out from under this bus, crushed, bleeding to death, split in half, about to die, tell them 1% chance to live, you can certainly come back from what you're going through." – [12:54]

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Key Takeaways

1. Resilience is Key: Matt's ability to rebuild his life after catastrophic injuries highlights the importance of mental toughness and resilience.
2. Support Systems Matter: The immediate actions of the police officer and the unwavering support from Matt's family were crucial in his survival and recovery.
3. Faith and Purpose: Matt's faith and sense of purpose propelled him to overcome physical and emotional traumas.
4. Inspiration for Others: Sharing personal stories of adversity can inspire and offer hope to others facing similar challenges.

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Resources and Further Information

• Book: The Long Run by Matt Long
• Website: MattLongSpeaker.com
• LinkedIn: Matt Long's LinkedIn Profile

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Ed Milet]

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This is the Ed Milet Show. Welcome back to the show everybody. So you know when I do an in person interview, something big's about to happen. Today. And so the gentleman to my right had a 99% chance of not being here today. And I don't mean in our studio. I mean of still being on earth and being alive. A significant event happened in his life that you're going to hear about in a minute. He was given a 1% chance to live, and you're going to hear the story of what happened to him today and his comeback and the amazing lessons that were taken from that tragic event and the journey that he's been on. Today's gonna be emotional for you, but more than anything, it's gonna give you perspective, it's gonna give you deep reasons, and it's gonna be some insights of how to make a comeback, or if you don't need a comeback, just take your life to the next level. He's also a tremendous speaker and communicator. He has a book that's been out now called the Long Run. And you're gon just in about 10 minutes here why it's called the Long Run. So my guest today is Matt Long. Matt, welcome to the show.

[Matt Long]

Ed, thanks for having me, man.

[Ed Milet]

Thank you.

[Matt Long]

Really appreciate it.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah, thank you for being here, brother, and coming in in person, too. So let's kind of go back to December of 2005, and had a pretty good life going at that time.

[Matt Long]

Yeah, I would say so. You know, I was a New York city fireman for 12 years at that point. An athlete my entire life. And I had just completed the New York City Marathon qualifying for Boston. I'm 38 years old, and I'm in better shape than I was when I was 21.

[Ed Milet]

And that was the big goal. You did the New York because you wanted to run in the Boston marathon, right?

[Matt Long]

Correct. 100. Boston is that unique stature where, you know, you meet someone that ran it. You say, where'd you qualify? When you meet someone who finished New York, you ask them how fast they ran. Did you? Like, four hours. But Boston is like this. You got to qualify to get there, at least back then. And. And that was our goal in the group guys I was running with when you were prepping.

[Ed Milet]

Just so I understand the whole genesis of the story, you had left, like a Wall street job, I think.

Right.

And then become a New York City firefighter. Is that right? Am I right?

[Matt Long]

Correct. Well, I was an accountant, of all things, so wasn't even as sexy as Wall Street.

[Ed Milet]

Okay.

[Matt Long]

I was an accountant at one of the big eight accounting firms. And I knew that wasn't for me, so I wrote it out for two years, the best I could, and got involved in bartending and in the restaurant business and then became a New York City firefighter when I was 26.

[Ed Milet]

So you' in this profession that everybody now looks up to and understands the heroic nature. By the way, just with the fires recently in la, just watching those guys made me think of you because I knew we were going to be doing this interview. And so sometimes you look at those guys, you think they're supermen, but they're, they're men, right? And so were you. And we can all be hurt and injured or have tragedy enter our life. So here we go, everybody. So let's take them through what happened in December of 2005 for you.

[Matt Long]

All right? So in New York City, the Transit Authority went on strike. So it basically crippled the city during the busiest time of the year. You know, we have 8 million people that live there, another 8 million people come there for the holidays. Transit Authority goes on strike, no buses, no trains, nothing.

[Ed Milet]

Okay?

[Matt Long]

The mayor put in these travel restrictions and I lived in the heart of Manhattan. I lived in 48th and 3rd and had a small one bedroom apartment. My firehouse was up in Spanish Harlem and I was at this point, an instructor at the Fire academy. So in order for me to get to work, I could have driven my car, but then I wouldn't have got back to Manhattan by myself if the strike was still on. Okay, so 18 degrees with a wind chill probably of 10, probably about an 8, 9 degree day. And I'm not a foul weather athlete, you know, maybe running, but not biking or anything else. I'm like, you know what, it's done for the day. I got on my bike and I tried to ride my bike to work. And I got four blocks from where I live.

[Ed Milet]

Oh my gosh.

[Matt Long]

And you know, I remember driving up North 3rd Avenue north and this big white bus just coming from all the way to the left. And I'm like, and I'm like, what's going on? Like, it's getting close. It's 5:30 in the morning, it's pitch black. And I'm like, holy. And I'm like, holy. Like he's turning now. He was turning down a narrow street, like a one way street in Manhattan that a bus would normally never turn down. Maybe 57 to 34th, the double two lane streets, boom, right? He gets right in front of me and I couldn't stop. And for whatever reason, I didn't bounce off the side of the bus, I got sucked underneath.

[Ed Milet]

Oh my gosh. So I Knew it. So you, everyone I knew. He got hit by the bus. You went under.

[Matt Long]

I was under the bus. And the bike. The bike and me became one basically. You know, I don't mean to be too graphic, but it's the only way to tell the story. And so the bike basically split me open like a can from my anus to my sternum.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my gosh.

[Matt Long]

So I. I was crushed. Bone fractures and stuff like that. But the worst is I was bleeding.

[Ed Milet]

To death out in the street in the cold. Are you conscious of what's happening or are you. Have you fallen unconscious or in and out?

[Matt Long]

I'm in and out. I would, I'd like to say I was semi conscious, but I think the mind, you know, we all underestimate our. The power of our mind and our thoughts. Right. So I think that the mind immediately said he doesn't need to remember any of this because if he lives, he'll never function again. So I started. I blacked out, like, pretty much. I don't remember anything. The last word I remember hearing the fireman. The firehouse was right around the corner. Now, I've told you, I was in the bar business, restaurant business, so I knew a lot of firemen. And once they cut the hood off my head, I heard one of the firefighters say, holy. It's Matt Long from 43 Truck.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my gosh.

[Matt Long]

So at that moment, I knew I was in good hands. Not that we would not take care of anyone else any differently, but I'm a brother.

[Ed Milet]

You're a brother. Yeah.

[Matt Long]

And extra care goes into that. And the first life saving act was from a police officer, you know, our friendly rivals. But a police officer said he's a firefighter. And instead of putting on the blue glove in that cold weather, he just reached into my groin and held my femoral artery.

[Ed Milet]

You're literally bleeding out.

[Matt Long]

Bleeding out.

[Ed Milet]

This man saved your life.

[Matt Long]

He's the first order of business with it physically.

[Ed Milet]

With his hand.

[Matt Long]

With his hand.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my gosh.

[Matt Long]

Now I know he wouldn't have done that to an average person because there's.

[Ed Milet]

Too much at risk.

[Matt Long]

He took the chance because he knew I was a firefighter.

[Ed Milet]

Wow.

[Matt Long]

And then that's all I remember.

[Ed Milet]

Before we go to the next step. Are you in physical pain? Maybe that's a naive question. Or are you such. In such shock you're not feeling anything?

[Matt Long]

Total shock. Didn't feel a thing.

[Ed Milet]

Okay.

[Matt Long]

I know I was screaming because they told me I was. Anything I could tell you now, anything I've told in the past Is what recounts of other people's interactions with me from this moment on.

[Ed Milet]

What were you screaming for, do you think? Pain or fear you were going to die?

[Matt Long]

Probably pain. And, you know, I don't think I knew the magnitude of what was happening. It was probably pain. You know, the fear of or the thought of death didn't come into play probably till six or seven weeks later when I. When I was awake and realized what I was going through. You know, pity parties that we'll talk about.

[Ed Milet]

I want to just first stop and think some. You're going to bleed to death in the street.

[Matt Long]

Yeah.

[Ed Milet]

Because a part of the story, in every story, when someone has a story like yours, there are other heroic things, kind of even like the fires in California that I'm referencing, like, of all the tragedy there, and if there was arson involved. But then there's all the heroic things, not just the firefighters, but the people that are donating and showing up every day. So this man did. Do you know who he is?

[Matt Long]

I have his name. Really, but we've never met. I tried to go a couple of times when I was fresh out of the hospital, and the comeback was on top of me. Like the comeback was happening. And I wanted to make sure all those people that did something for me knew that it was happening.

[Ed Milet]

That's awesome.

[Matt Long]

The comeback wasn't for me only.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah, well, it won't be for you only today either. There's gonna be. Millions of people are gonna be inspired. First things first. Everybody, let's just step back for a second. I know you think you're having a bad day or a bad week or a bad month, you're going through a bad time. I would just say to this to you, and you may really be, but compared to what. And if this man can go through what he went through, to be sitting here today on the other side of this, and successful speaker and author, great family man, because we're going to go through this journey. If he can come out from under this bus, crushed, bleeding to death, split in half, about to die, tell them 1% chance to live. You can certainly come back from what you're going through. You can certainly survive this time. And God is in your life as well. Okay, so let's walk through what's next from there. What's the next thing you remember? The next things that happened.

[Matt Long]

So the next thing that happened was they stabilized me, slowed the bleeding, and got me to New York Presbyterian Hospital. There was two options, right? They. They could have. They could have made a right turn down second Avenue and take me to Bellevue. Or they could. They went to first and made a left to New York Presbyterian. So I think that was the first, second order of business to save my life. I'm not.

[Ed Milet]

Why?

[Matt Long]

Because it was just the right hospital with the right doctors and at the right time. Like, I've gone back to tell my doctors thank you for what you've done for me. And. And one of them was brutally honest with me, says, look, we didn't save your life. He goes, everything happened, everything was in line, like you weren't meant to die. And I was like, what? What? What do you mean? He goes, he goes, your accident happened at 5:38 in the morning. He goes, if it would have happened at 6:38 in the morning, all those operating rooms would have been booked, done, ready to go, and you would have been waiting in that emergency room for another hour and died and died.

[Ed Milet]

Oh my gosh.

[Matt Long]

So he says, so the fact that you got here before everyone else, everyone else got bumped and you went from room to room to room to room, we had you stable, you know, that.

[Ed Milet]

Makes me think, ironically, one, how blessed you are that that was the case and it was destiny that you're here. But the other part of it is just what struck me when you said it is like this is tragedies are happening daily to the point where there's not even enough beds. And we just go through our day thinking, oh, this person gave me a like that I didn't get on Instagram or said something bad to me or cut me off in traffic or the things we magnify in our life. And as we're magnifying those things, there's people like you that are on the verge of losing their life anywhere in the world right now, at any moment, in any emergency room, at any hospital, at any time. It's just the things we make a big deal in our life compared to the actual big deals.

So, hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow. And also taking a look at the future, if you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second. Growthday.com forward/ed. My friend Brenda Burchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability, journaling horses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other influencers, like the avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward/ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. Hey guys. So before I hurt my back, one of the things we were doing more of is I was snowboarding and I loved it. And we had great friends who were skiers, so we'd go on these cool ski trips. Here's what I didn't like about these cool ski trips. Dragging these snowboards and skis through the airports. Any of you that know what I'm talking about, it's stressful.

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You now are there, you've gone to the right place, what ends up saving your life or when is the decisions made, etc. Etc. What, what are you faced with?

[Matt Long]

So, so in the first like five or six hours of the ordeal, they, they gathered my family, right? So I, I'm, I've, I'm one of nine children. I'm the second oldest. Seven boys, two girls, there's three firemen and the rest, different jobs, Wall street school, teachers, whatever. So they gathered my mom and dad. I was single, so they got my mom and dad, they got all my family members to the hospital and this is when the percentage was given out. I always feel for doctors, as they have in this situation. An ER doctor has a tough job, like they got to go outside to a family member and give them hope. But there's a line between false hope and actual, like, something's going to be positive here. So I don't know how they do it, but it's part of their profession. They know how they do it. Doctor goes out to tell my mom and my dad that this is as bad as it gets. We're going to do everything we can. But he has about a 1% chance to live. And he only went out. Now, again, I'm still friends with him as well. And he only went out because the nurses begged him to stop wasting blood and to let me expire. So he said, let me go out and talk to the parents and I'll be back in 30 to 60 seconds and we'll see what happens.

[Ed Milet]

Whoa.

[Matt Long]

So my mom, this is, this is a very pivotal point for my, in my journey because I teach the strength of my mother. And she basically, stubborn Irish Catholic woman. And she told the doctor flat out, do the best you can. He's running the Boston Marathon in April. And the doctor was like, now he was a runner who just finished the same marathon, but an hour And a half slower than me.

[Ed Milet]

Are you kidding me? So he said an hour and a half?

[Matt Long]

Yeah. He's like, what? He's running Boston. So he ran back into the room, looked up at the monitors, and my heartbeat was down somewhere, 29 to 31 beats per minute. And he said, keep working. We're not dealing with a regular person here. His body is trained to go through insult. Keep working.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my gosh.

[Matt Long]

And 68 units of blood in 11 hours.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my gosh.

[Matt Long]

Yeah.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my God. So that's why the nurses are like, hey, we're just pouring blood into this guy's going out.

[Matt Long]

I was like a sieve.

[Ed Milet]

Oh, my goodness.

[Matt Long]

But they finally got me to interventional radiology, and a doctor there sealed up all the veins that were cut. Wow. And. And they finally, finally took care of it, and I stabilized over the next five to six weeks.

[Ed Milet]

What was your. Do you remember your first thought when you woke up or what you remember from that experience?

[Matt Long]

Oh, I wanted to get the hell out bed, like, as soon as I woke up.

[Ed Milet]

Did you not understand the magnitude?

[Matt Long]

No one? No idea. So when I talked about the mind earlier being so powerful, I forgot things before the accident. So when they come in to do, like, a cognitive test to see how bad the head was hurt, and they were asking me if I like to travel, and I'm sitting there with, like, I had, like, maybe a fireman in the room with me and my mom, and I'm like, no, I don't like to travel. And my buddy goes, we just went to Puerto Rico together. We had a big. I went, oh, yeah, yeah, we went to Puerto Rico. So when people told me things, they came back. And I think that was just part of the mind saying, this guy doesn't need to know what happened to him.

[Ed Milet]

Wow. It's God's way of protecting us somehow or.

[Matt Long]

Exactly.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah.

Okay, here we go, guys.

And we're going to pull apart some lessons from this as well. I'm just. It's interesting when you hear stories like this. You read it in a book. It's powerful. I recommend everybody read the book. Or if we do a podcast and you listen to it, or we do zoom, it's different when you sit right next to someone this has happened to. I just can tell you, even my own personal experience listening to you, it's very different being three feet away from a person who has gone through something like this. You just feel something from them. Something about their spirit's a little bit tougher. I don't, you know, tougher is what I would say about you also. Just listening to you. You're a real person, you know, I mean, everyone can hear your family background and where you come from and what your career was. This is a real human being. I think we always think Superheroes are like, 6, 8, can reverse windmill dunk, you know I'm saying? Or can sing like Adele. Everyday people are heroes. There's. There. You can't measure the heart of a champion, right? You can't. So after all of this sort of settles out and now you are alive, then there's this idea of, like, walking, right? That would be nice to be able to do again. What was the prognosis on that even happening? Never mind ever running again or running a marathon again. What about walking? I'm just curious. Was that in the cards from the beginning or was there a concern about that?

[Matt Long]

No, that was in the cards from the very beginning, I think because of my personality. Once I woke up, I was. I was like, okay, let's. You know, how do I get out of here?

[Ed Milet]

What's.

[Matt Long]

What's happening? What are these pieces of metal coming out of my abdomen? My leg, what's on my neck? I, you know, I was on a ventilator. I had a feeding tube. My guy, I need to go. So. And the doctor was like, my brother Jim and I were the closest of the nine. He's only like 13 months apart, younger than me. But he had to be there to say, hey, look, listen, you know, you were. You were run over by a bus. And I'm like, what? He's like, matt, you know, you need to listen. You're in a good place, and the doctors are taking good care of you, and you need to listen what he has to say. So I sat there. Well, I was laying there and the doctor said, listen, you're going to be here for quite a while. And I said, okay. And, well, what's next for me, doc? He's like, look, let's not go down that road right now because you have a lot of surgeries. We have a lot of things to fix. And he goes, we're going to do the best we can. He goes, but I can't guarantee anything. You'd be lucky if you're walking with a cane or a crutch the rest of your life.

[Ed Milet]

Wow. It's amazing. You literally sometimes will say to somebody, kind of joking, like, well, what if you got hit by a bus?

Yeah.

What would you do if you got hit by a bus? You were literally hit by the bus. Now you shouldn't have probably lived. You end up living metal stuff sticking out of everywhere ventilator and probably aren't going to walk. I'm gonna give you guys a spoiler alert just so you're about to know the lessons. This dude ran that marathon three years later. I just want you to get this. So from that right where we are and the reason I give you the spoiler alert. So we're going to fill the gaps in with the lessons. But from that bed, three years later, he runs that marathon. Just so you know, by the way, that's badass. And you're a stud. Yeah, you're a stud. I mean, I know it's your story, but maybe sitting here hearing yourself like, I know you've told it a lot, like, is that not freaking ridiculous that three years later you end up doing that? Is that not.

[Matt Long]

Yeah, it's insane. No. And I accepted the fact that it was insane. And I don't think I knew how badass it was. The one. One day when I was rebuilding myself, I would go from different gyms where I lived and I'm training and some guy came up to me in the gym and he said, are you. The guy got hit by the bus? And I'm. I was like, yeah. And he goes, and you got your 1%. And I was. I'm. What? He goes now. He goes, the stuff that seals are made of, the stuff rangers are made of, those special military people that made us. That's what you're made of.

[Ed Milet]

And you know what? Something's interesting. I think you'd agree with me on this because you are. You won't ever know that about yourself in life until you go through your biggest valley in your life. Would you like a SEAL figures out I made of this stuff because they went through SEAL training, right? They know that most of us will never know what we're made of unless in some strange way we're given the gift almost of the toughest moments of our life. Would you agree with that?

[Matt Long]

100%. I say it all the time. God doesn't give weak people hard things to do. God gives hard things to do to strong people. And I. And I. Ed, I've said this a thousand times, and I got this from my mom. But I was chosen because I was strong enough to do it. And maybe my story being told by you or John, our friend, or through the book, will help someone not as strong not give up.

[Ed Milet]

I love that, by the way. And that's a lesson for everybody else. What you're going through right now. And then your. Your test becomes your testimony. Your testimony can help the weaker person go through what they're going through, and that's why you need to get through it. Man, I'm loving this right now. Just so you know, this is kind of why I did the show. What we're doing right now. I do a lot of topics, but if we're going to go to kind of the core why I do the show, it's this right now. He used a term a minute ago that I caught, which was rebuild myself. I want to talk about that. Take us through the different surgeries you had, how many you had, but this idea of rebuilding yourself. I think a lot of people need to hear real close what you're about to say, because I think a lot of people, they may not have been hit by a bus, and I don't mean to be too goofy here, but metaphorically, something's hitting them like a bus right now. Their business gone away, Their relationship went away. They're a friends, you know, hurt them in a way, or someone stole or taken. Lost a loved one. Exactly. And life's hit them by a bus, and they're gonna have to rebuild themselves. So what did that look like? How many surgeries? What did you start to do? And what about this rebuilding yourself thing?

[Matt Long]

All right, so we'll go through the hospital. I spent five months in this hospital. I did my rehab there and everything after, but I spent five months in the hospital, had about 43 surgeries in that period of time.

[Ed Milet]

43.

[Matt Long]

43 different surgeries. Most of them were internal. Look, bones heal. They put bones back together. But I'll start with the left foot up. Broken foot. Every fracture was compound, meaning the bone came out the skin. Tib, fib, compound fracture, femur, compound fracture, right side of the pelvis, compound fracture, right shoulder, compound fracture. My doctor would explain to me, and I, to this day, really don't understand how it's possible, but his exact words to me was that my right leg was no longer functionally attached to my body. I'm like, okay, yeah. I don't know what to say about that. Now, that is the leg that has most of my muscle damage and nerve damage. And then the worst of all was my abdominal wall was cut by the bike and severed my. My rectum. I was. Had a classic bag for two years. Multiple skin grafts to close the wounds.

[Ed Milet]

My gosh.

[Matt Long]

Yeah, I mean, you know, it was as bad as it gets. And. And he. He. He operated on a lot of soldiers and stuff. Like that. And, and I don't like to compare myself to that at all. You know, I, I hold all our military in the highest regard, so I never. So do I compare myself? But he said, he goes, I I've been to war zone hospitals because and you're as bad as it gets.

[Ed Milet]

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What about your mind when you say that I thought of, you know, any PTSD or your spirit in your mind just like going why this? You had to had some moments of why this happened to me or I don't Want to. This isn't fair. You must have had some of that.

[Matt Long]

I had a lot of it and it didn't get really bad until I left the hospital. So when I was in the hospital, oddly enough once me in hospital five months. But it was. There was a safety factor there. I had that little button and if I needed anything at night, I hit that button. In the next few minutes, a nurse was coming to see me. When I was sent home, I was still in a wheelchair. My younger brother moved into my house, put his life on hold and he lived on my couch. And I didn't have that button anymore. So what I did have at was a side table about as big as that one in the middle here with about 19 different medications on it. And night after night I rolled over and looked at them and said, is it enough? And I. The fight with myself was, well, you just got ran over by a 40,000 pound bus. I'm not sure it's enough.

[Ed Milet]

What do you mean by is it.

[Matt Long]

Enough to kill me?

[Ed Milet]

I thought that's what you meant, but I wanted to make sure.

[Matt Long]

Was it enough to take wow, that would make me go to sleep and end this. And jokingly my personality and my, my grit that I didn't know I had, you know, this, this, this will not to give up that I didn't know I had. Or maybe some stories in my life before should have gave me a warning, they have it. But I said, well, if a bus didn't kill me, I'm here now and I take all those. What happens if it doesn't kill me? What am I a vegetable? What do I do to my family? You know, am I brain dead? What do I do? What do I do? What am I doing?

[Ed Milet]

What? If you would have. Was there ever a moment there, Matt, where if you knew it could have taken your life, you knew it would have worked, Would you have partaken in taking it, do you think? Was there ever a moment like that?

[Matt Long]

Yeah, I think if I knew for sure that I could stop the pain, really and the doubt of what my life was going to be like, the unknown, I would have done it.

[Ed Milet]

Wow.

[Matt Long]

Yeah. If I knew for sure. But I didn't. And I'm glad I didn't.

[Ed Milet]

I'm glad you didn't. A couple million people are glad you didn't.

[Matt Long]

Thank you.

[Ed Milet]

Well, more than that, probably.

[Brendan Burchard]

Do you think, wow, Ed.

[Matt Long]

My, my, my moments of pity, I call them pity parties, right? So I allow myself a pity party even today. But I don't want the pity party Win. And my moments of pity were not, why me? Why did this happen? Why. Why am I hurt? Why I'm in pain. My moments of pity were one question. Why did I live? And I remember having a conversation with a family priest about it. And he had asked me. He came in to visit me, and I was very angry. I was still in the hospital. I was very angry at the time. And my parents said, you know, let. Let Father Jim go in and talk to him. So Father Jim came in and I was rolling my eyes a little bit, like, here we go, you know, God has a plan for me, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay, this is the first time I remember lying to a priest. I'm 38 years old. I felt bad about it. He asked me flat out if I was angry with God, and I should have said yes. And I didn't. I said, no, I'm not angry with God. I said, but, Father Jim, I don't need to know why this happened to me. I need to know why I lived. And he said, that's between you and him. And that was the end of the conversation.

[Ed Milet]

Are you convinced that part of the reason you lived is like, what we're doing right now, like, you writing the book and us talking about this and the inspirational part of it?

[Matt Long]

100%, yeah. 100%. I believe that the first 38 years of my life were great. I was a happy go, lucky kid, running around Manhattan firefighter, you know, chasing women, doing everything I could. Jock. The first time I had the opportunity to tell my story, I didn't think anything of it until I got an email. They got another email. Then I got another email that I'm getting text and someone's following me on Instagram or someone's doing else, and they're saying thank you.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah.

[Matt Long]

For not giving up.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah, well, thank you for not giving up. I can tell you that today this moves me. FYI, like, it moves me. I want to go back to this not knowing thing. You got me a little bit today, bro. I'm a little bit emotional on this one. You. Was that as hard as the physical pain? I think a lot of people listening to this, like, they're like, hey, you know what I'm most struggling with isn't even so much that this stuff's happened to me or that I'm in this spot. It's that I don't know what's next. I don't know what's coming. How hard was that part of it? And. And what did you do about that? Just put your head down day by day or what did you do?

[Matt Long]

The mental part of it was the worst. Right, so.

[Ed Milet]

So that says a lot based on your injuries and 47 surgeries.

[Matt Long]

Correct. And it is, it is. And it's probably that way for everyone. No matter what that, what we talking about, whether it's the loved one that they lost or, or a diagnosis they got or, you know, lost their job, the mental side of it is the worst. And I remember talking to my doctor one time and I was kind of like sarcastically saying, I'm like, well, thanks a lot. You know, I still had a colostomy bag. I was still in pretty bad shape and I was, I was hoping to get rid of things. I didn't want the colostomy back, you know, at all. And I said, so he said, I said to him, I appreciate your hard work, but you fell short. And we had that kind of rapport. And he said, listen, our job is not to worry about the quality of life. It's about saving your life. We saved your life. I said, okay, because the quality of life is up to you. So that was the first like little smack I got from someone outside family. But, but yeah, pretty much family now is a doctor and I took a long time for that to set in. Like what, what does that mean? Like what? The quality of life is up to me. I mean I'm walk, I, I'm in a wheelchair part of the day. I have a colostomy bag. I went from 178lbs 12 body fat to 122lbs, no muscle tone. And I look like my 90 year old grandfather said I don't understand this and that. And a conversation with my mother that really, really made me change my outlook about what was happening to me. Okay. Adversity. Right. A lot of us in this business or talk that have stories, we talk about the adversity we overcame. Okay. And I know for a fact just from talking to you earlier that you haven't overcome your adversity from your baseball accident. You live with it.

[Ed Milet]

Yep.

[Matt Long]

So I had to accept this accident. I had to accept all the injuries. I had to accept the new body and say, what are we going to do about it? What quality of life am I going to get back because I can't go to a doctor for it. So I started plugging away.

[Ed Milet]

I'm just picturing you because now I'm doing the math. So if you're two years with a colostomy bag, you're a year out of that and run the Marathon, right?

[Matt Long]

Correct.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah. That's bananas. So was part of. Obviously, we would spend hours on the physical pain of physical therapy and going through the surgeries and the mental pain of waking up with it every day. It's one thing to hear a story, it's another thing. Like, Monday was this way for you. Tuesday was this day, Wednesday the next, Monday the next. It's every day. Any of you that have ever even had the flu for eight days, imagine years of surgery, pain, physical therapy. You can no longer also do what you used to love to do, which is to be physical and be active. Was part of what got you through? Or were you not envisioning this, setting the goal to go run this marathon again? Was that, like, I got something to look forward to? I've set a goal. Did that help get you through, or. It wasn't till years later you're like, yeah, maybe I run a marathon.

[Matt Long]

It wasn't to a moment in my. In. In the journey. So. So, no, that is not what got me through.

[Ed Milet]

What is it that got you through?

[Matt Long]

So the catalyst to get my human spirit fired up and all the burners inside me to start working again was a conversation with Mom. And I had said to my mother in. In a nutshell. I just said to her, I'm glad you prayed and I lived. I wish you prayed for me to die. And that's something, you know, you don't say to your mom, especially the Irish Catholic, stubborn mom who told the doctor he's running a marathon in four months. After this, get. Patch them up, put a bandaid on. Right? She. And then she said to me, enough's enough. She said, you're not the only person in this world that is suffering. You are not the only one going through a tough time because we have not left your side for five months, 43 surgeries. Everyone has been here. If you want to be a miserable SOB the rest of your life, do it by yourself. End of conversation. Some tough love. Now that was the spark that I needed to hear. It took about two weeks before I got over the pity parties and started to say, my mom was right. There are other people. And I listen to the people you have on here when you bring in the real life story like mine. And I'm like, you know, the woman you had on recently lost her limbs.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah.

[Matt Long]

I'm like, yep, she's 10 times worse than the life I have. So mom was right back then. She's right today. I started plugging away. That's when I put my head down. That's When I said to myself, all right, Matt, what were you doing in your life when you were happiest? What were you. What was driving you forward as a kid? The dream to play high school basketball. You played high school basketball. What was your next dream? To make it to the college level. I didn't care where I played. I wanted to play college well. So I always had a goal. Athletic, push myself, the ironman, the marathon. Because I was confused, and I didn't know what I could do next and knew nothing else but to push my body to its limits. So I said, I want to close the chapter on Matt Long, MARATHON RUNNER MATT LONG TRIATHLETE I wanted to go back and do those two things and then figure out what's next. And, you know, I knew they wouldn't be the same because I've accepted this new body, accepted this adversity in my life. So, you know, I came back and did that marathon. Three years. It took me seven hours and 30 minutes.

[Ed Milet]

You finished it?

[Matt Long]

I finished it, yeah.

[Ed Milet]

It's interesting. When you're in person with somebody, your whole physiology, spirit. Did you see that, Stephen? Completely changed once you talked about your mom's conversation, like, by the way, and your intensity level, and you leaned in and humans are awesome. When humans flip that switch, the mind, the spirit, they're capable of so much because your whole. Bro, your. Your whole being was different. And then the goal to actually run. But it's like, did you see that Stephen, too? Like, in person, the switch in you. Same guy. Like, just different. Just. It's like a switch.

[Matt Long]

And my mother did that for me. When I talk on stage and we're. I'm probably a little older than you, but if you remember back in the day, the old stove, the white stove, and if you touch the middle of the stove, there was a pilot that always burns. Not electric like today. There was always a pilot light. And I. My story is that analogy is that's the human spirit. We all have this pilot light burning inside of us. How do you get the four burners going?

[Ed Milet]

Wow.

[Matt Long]

And my mom did that for me. She lit them all up, and anything is possible when they're firing up.

[Ed Milet]

Bro. That's awesome. What was finishing the marathon like?

[Matt Long]

Finishing was awesome. It was. It was a. It was an emotional finishing finish line. My family, the fire department, guys from my house, and all my doctors. Well, not all, but some of my.

[Ed Milet]

Doctors, were they there?

[Matt Long]

My one doctor, God rest his soul, he's not with us anymore, but he had just had a baby during my ordeal so he missed a lot of his things with it with his third child, third daughter. And I crossed the finish line. Everyone's, you know, superstited for me, congratulating me. And he pulls me aside and this I loved. He pulls me aside really quick. He said his wife and that we took a picture and he looks at his kids. He goes, girls, this is why daddy misses Christmas. And we have a bond to this day with that family. But I was like, like that. Another story within my story right here. He is a guy who sacrifices his whole life to help people. The sacrifice comes in these children.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah.

[Matt Long]

He operated on me on Christmas, on New Year's, and time after time at the time. And, you know, this was a reward. That's why I did what I did to run that marathon. Let them know that their. Their sacrifices did not go on unfinished, unpaid back, you know.

[Ed Milet]

Yeah, bro, your story's bananas.

[Matt Long]

Oh, such a clutch off season pickup, Dave.

[Ed Milet]

I was worried we'd bring back the same team.

[Matt Long]

I meant those Blackout motorized shades.

[Ed Milet]

Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds.

[Matt Long]

Hard to install.

[Ed Milet]

No, it's easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install hall of fame son. They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world.

[Matt Long]

Blinds.com is the goat shop.

[Ed Milet]

Blinds.com right now and get up to 45% off select styles, rules and restrictions may apply. Let's pull some more lessons out, everybody. Why'd you call it the Long Run? The book.

[Matt Long]

The book is a spin off of a story they did in Runners World magazine. I know, and it was called the Second Life, which is what I really liked. But we can't do that again. So the running magazine, world, the running community, we needed to have something about running. It's. It's not only about running, of course.

[Ed Milet]

Not very little about running.

[Matt Long]

The long run, the journey. And like I jokingly take people back to who I was. My personalities as a kid. Overconfident, cocky kid from Brooklyn. I get it. Not for everyone, but. But. But when. When hit the fan in real life, real time, it might. It could have been 10 years for me to run that marathon again. It could have been longer or. The truth of the matter is that even though I wrote it, even though I did the marathon, did the iron man, and I'm living a pretty good life, still wake up in pain.

[Ed Milet]

I know you do.

[Matt Long]

I still struggle and have pity parties. So my run is not over.

[Ed Milet]

Brother, I love that you're being honest about that. By the way, just the idea that 2005, you're under this bus and a freezing day, bleeding out, guys, holding your artery, your femoral artery, so you don't bleed out, that three years later, you're crossing the finish line of the. It's the New York City Marathon. You finish that thing, right? It's just bananas. It's just. It's just unreal. And. But it should give everyone hope. Like, by the way, it's a long life and a long run, but the turnaround sometimes feels long when you're doing it, but it may not. You may be one decision away, one new relationship away, but you can also be one event away from your life changing. But to your point of your. Today, I want to say something to you that I noticed when I came down the stairs to greet you. You turned around, and I was a little bit struck. You look great. Anybody watching YouTube will see this. But you do still struggle to some extent, physically. We both were talking about our ailments coming in here. I missed our interview when we were scheduled, guys, for a root canal. And this guy survives being pulled under a bus. So there's two caliber of men sitting here today. He was going to joke about it. I said, well, someone needs to bring it up. I literally had to reschedule our first interview for a root canal for a dude who was dragged under a bus.

[Matt Long]

And I let him know about it.

[Ed Milet]

The caliber of toughness here is not equal. But you do still have the remnants of this, because sitting here and hearing you people like, okay, he's passed it. It's over. This guy must be just perfect. But not true, right? You still struggle.

[Matt Long]

That's it. I still struggle. Like. Like. Like I said about my right leg not being functionally attached to my body. A lot of the muscle never came back. So I like to joke with my wife. If we're walking down the street, I said, could you mind standing the other side so you could put your hand on my left cheek? Because my right cheek is mush, and it makes me feel bad that you're touching something that I can't feel. And we have a joke, laugh about it, whatever. So. So I have, like, my stabilizer muscles on my right side are gone, so I can't stand on my right leg alone. And that's. That's easy. But to be, you know, being. Having your rectum and your anus torn apart.

[Ed Milet]

Gosh.

[Matt Long]

And being in a classroom bag for two years and a doctor saying, we can put you back together. But we don't know how long. We don't know if it's going to work. Like, we. You have to train. Like, yeah, I told John about this and I get. I don't openly talk about it because it's. Who wants to talk about it? Like, you need open. And I had a train my rectum to operate again because it was doing nothing for two years. So before the doctor could put. Take the classmate bag out and put me back together, he had to know that I wasn't just going to walk.

[Ed Milet]

Around, wow, crapping myself everywhere, right?

[Matt Long]

So what I went through at the word dignity, you know, was gone. I had to enlist a friend to come in my apartment and squeeze Cream of Wheat into my rectum. And as soon as he was done, I kicked him out. And then I had to record how much went in and how much and how long it stayed in.

[Ed Milet]

My goodness, bro.

[Matt Long]

And that I did that for seven months. Twice a week for seven months. And it worked.

[Ed Milet]

My gosh.

[Matt Long]

You know, and the doctor knew my mentality. And he said to me, you trained for marathons. You trained for Ironmans. I need you to train to get whole. And I did it. And I mean, when he told me and I left that doctor, I was like, no way. No way. But I did it. I don't eat Cream of Wheat anymore.

[Ed Milet]

But I think probably nobody is. But after that. But I'm glad you shared it, because the real details of a comeback, it's easy to hear in a story. Oh, he was in pain. Oh, my gosh. He had surgeries. By the way, that's a good friend. Yes, it's pretty damn good friend.

[Matt Long]

Goes down anonymous. Yeah.

[Ed Milet]

God, yeah. But still, that's. That's brother right there. Gosh, what. Could you come back from that? Are listening to this. Are you hearing what this man went through? I'm sitting right with him. And by the way, I had the highest regard and admiration for you. But you're just a man, right? You're just a man. Now I really believe this. You can't tell from looking at somebody what they're made of. And I think most human beings don't know what they're made of until they face it. Until the bus of life hits them, right? And then you're defined as a man or a woman.

We're all going to get hit by.

Life'S bus, whether it's happening right now or not. They can reflect on this later. If it's not happening to them. What would you say to that person? It's just happened. If they ran into you at Starbucks. My husband just left me. I just lost my dad. My business just failed. I'm totally lost. And I don't have a dream in my life right now. You go, well, I know a little bit about that. What would you say, what I would.

[Matt Long]

Tell people is, or that person is Two things I would say. One, what I said earlier, that God doesn't give good people easy things to do. Your journey doesn't have to be a bus isn't my journey. And where I would say to start is to look back in your life and figure out. Because a lot of times we go through life without. Oh, yeah, we had a good. You had a great time on your football feast. Wasn't that awesome?

[Ed Milet]

Yeah, it was.

[Matt Long]

So you look back at things, you're like, I. Sometimes we just go through life and forget those things. Right. I had to do an inventory check on my life when I was in the worst mental state, period. I had to do an inventory check, look back in the rearview mirror, said, what was Matt Long doing when I was happiest? And the answer kept coming back. I was dreaming. As a kid, I was dreaming and dreams of goals, right? You set the standard, you set the habits, you create the plan, and you make sacrifices. It's still a dream that you want to bring to fruition. So that's what I would tell someone who's going through a hard time right now. Okay, take a deep breath. 1. My mom says you're not the only person going through it to God knows you're strong enough to succeed. Three, go back. What were you doing when you were happy? Figure it out and redo it, repeat it, start dreaming again. That's the way I would approach adversity, on a blanket conversation.

[Ed Milet]

I love that answer. You know, in the Hebrew, my understanding is the word dream and health are very closely correlated or almost the same word. It was just, Chris Hodges has become a friend of mine, runs a very, very big church. And he was discussing dreams and health. And he was saying. And I'm saying this, too, is that the happiest I've ever been in my life is when I'm dreaming, when I've got a vision. It's also like, dream and vision can kind of be a cheesy word, but imagination is another word for that. Like when you're using your imagination, you're imagining your life like God gave you this imagination. And when you're a little boy or a little girl, one of the reasons I think kids are happy is they're full of imagination and dreams and, and, and so that is a direct connection to health and well being. You know, you said God a couple times. But I'm around, you know, I'm around the some real God God guys, you know. You know, some of these guys are, that are friends of mine and I guess I'm, I'm told that I'm that guy a lot too. I'm wondering in your case, you're not one of these guys that runs in praise God, praise God. You know, you're, you're a quiet man that way, dignified in that regard. But I'm wondering how it impacted you. Did it make you believe in God more and less? Got closer to God? Not connected at all with just overall. You can't go through that and not have some consideration of God and life and dying and what it means or where you'd go or any of that stuff.

[Matt Long]

Brought up and raised Irish Catholic Church every Sunday with the family, same pew, blah, blah, blah. I believe I'm a man of faith. Do I go to church every Sunday? No. I would like to try to do that better with my family and my kids. There are some things my belly is not acting right today to start part of my adversity. And I just say I'll watch online or see you after church. But I do believe that he put that bus there. I do believe that this was, was, this was something I was meant to withstand, to go through. I do believe that conversation with Father Jim when he said my purpose will be known and he'll when I'm ready. You know, I'm lucky enough to be able to sit in platforms like this and tell my story and I'm lucky enough to get on a stage and get paid to tell my story. But whether, whether I'm paid or sit here in a conversational space, the real reward comes in the email that will follow this podcast, the email that will follow a speech and, and I, and when I talk at like yourself, you're on stage and you're talking to adults. Yeah, right. Professional. Some better, high net worth successful professionals. And then you have time for Q and A and it's like they're back in high school. They don't want to raise their hand. No one raised their hand. But before my plane lands from west coast to east coast, I got 16 emails in my box. And you could see the tears in the email like thank you, thank you. I'm going through something here. I didn't want to raise my hand. And that's That I believe was divine intervention. Like, okay, I'm not the smartest guy in the world. I may have been the toughest, mentally toughest guy, at least in my circle, but I was chosen for this to, to help others.

[Ed Milet]

I love that answer, by the way. It's honest. It's honest, which is what you are. You're good, man. You're a good man.

[Matt Long]

Thank you.

[Ed Milet]

How's it changed you?

[Matt Long]

I'm. I'm still cocky, confident type of guy. And I'm, I try to do things, but I, I think it gave me a little more empathy towards people that might be going through things. Maybe a little more empty, especially towards my, to my kids and my nieces and nephews a little bit. You know, I'm still a tough uncle and I think I'm a tough dad, but, but I think especially to my family and my kids and I, I joke with them all the time, but I'm like, you know, you know what daddy went through? You know what daddy went through. You know, it can, it's going to help you. You know, you, you're built the same way.

[Ed Milet]

And, and you come from this.

[Matt Long]

Yeah, you come from this. You're cut from the same cloth. And my, my 12 year old doesn't get that yet, but that's okay. But yeah, she will. She'll. She'll get it someday.

[Ed Milet]

You know what they do? I. My kids, I think a lot of things with kids, I've said this before, is caught, not taught. And usually what they catch, they're not aware of until they leave your house and then they very much are aware. I've noticed that just with my kids as well. And they're catching a bunch from you, brother. And by the way, millions of people are catching a bunch from you today too. All right, Last thing I want to ask you, by the way, this has been remarkable. I mean, I'm really honored to sit.

[Matt Long]

With you and so am I.

[Ed Milet]

Well, thank you.

[Matt Long]

In your presence. It's great.

[Ed Milet]

You're a tough dude. You're a tough dude. I mean, root canal took me out, but, but, but it's the perfect metaphor, by the way, that you were the interview. I had to move for the root canal. I think it's pretty hilarious, you know, as I sit and listen to you, I, I asked you, you know, how it's changed you. And then I wonder. I've had life incidents. I'm going to push you really hard on the last question here. I have life incidences where I've taken a lesson from it in the moment. And then I've taken another lesson a little while later, and then I've come and given answers on shows about something and then I've really changed my mind about something. And so I wonder how much of what we talked about today was like how you felt then compared to now and if you could go back.

[Matt Long]

If I can go back 19 years ago or to have the bus miss me. No.

[Ed Milet]

Wow.

[Matt Long]

And the first time I was asked that question, I paused. But then I thought about the things that I have now in life. You know, my children, my wife, the people that have emailed me thanking me for, for surviving, thanking me for writing my story, thanking me for not quitting. All that will go away, Ed. Now that's a lot to put on a person. And I wasn't ready for that. I mean, I got emails from people that were 10 times worse than me and I didn't know what to say to them, but keep fighting, brother. Keep fighting, sister. You got this. And. And I would go away. I'm like, oh, my God. I just got an email from a guy who's. They told me he's quadriplegic. What am I going to do? He's over Christopher Reeves. He wants to meet me. I'm like, this is not good. I'm going to walk in there and this is, you know, I can't. This is not what I'm, I can't handle this. And you know what? He's walking and we're friends.

[Ed Milet]

That's awesome, man.

[Matt Long]

So all that would go away.

[Ed Milet]

That is.

[Matt Long]

And I wouldn't want that to happen.

[Ed Milet]

So you would not have the bus miss you. But, bro, this is an all time conversation right here.

[Matt Long]

I do it again.

[Ed Milet]

This is. My producer. Never gets emotional. Like, that's incredible. Ah, boy. If you guys don't share today's episode, I have no idea why we're doing this because this is just one of the most remarkable conversations ever. Matt, I'm really grateful we did this. I'm grateful to John for introducing us. I want everybody to go get the long run. You can hire Matt to speak. You can follow him on social. Where should they find you?

[Matt Long]

So LinkedIn is the best. Matthew Long. Mattlongspeaker.com is my website.

[Ed Milet]

Okay.

[Matt Long]

And Matt Long, speaker at Gmail. Any questions? I love taking emails and if it's just for a word of confidence or a booster, you need shoot it out.

[Ed Milet]

All right, all right, everybody. I hope you enjoyed today like I did. Gave you perspective. Did everything I told you to give you perspective, make you emotional and give you key takeaways and insights. It's why we do the show here. This was just perfect today. God bless you, everybody. Max out. This is the Eddie Milan Show.