September 5, 2024 • 32 mins
As the Paralympics light up Paris this week, with athletes from over 170 countries showcasing their incredible talents, I felt compelled to do a special show to honor their achievements. My journey led me to the inspiring story of Danielle Campo—someone who has never let her disability define her. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and once told she'd never walk, Danielle not only defied their predictions but went on to become a world record holder and an eight-time Paralympic medalist in swimming.
In 2021, Danielle faced an even bigger battle. This time, it wasn't in the pool but in a hospital bed, fighting against life-threatening sepsis. With just a ten percent chance of survival, she was even given her last rites. But just as she's done her entire life, Danielle fought back, turning pain into purpose.
Her story is one of faith, hope, and unmatched resilience. I weave Joel Dembe, a fellow Paralympian and celebrated keynote speaker, into the show. Joel provides context on Danielle's achievements and her will to survive and even offers her ideas on how to share her story on the conference stage.
To book Danielle Campo for a speaking engagement: https://www.daniellecampo.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
To me, freedom is finding your passion.
I struggled with finding the right words to open the show.
As this woman that you're about to hear from is a world champion
in everything she's encountered, her health issues, her approach
to life when she chose to focus on her abilities versus succumb to
her disabilities. At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with muscular
(00:28):
dystrophy. I was told this body would never
be able to walk. Becoming the best in the world in her sport, but even
with the slew of gold medals, taking more from a bronze
medal that she won. An 8 time world record
Paralympic swimming gold medalist
because I found my
(00:50):
passion which led me to my freedom.
And she knocked on death's door, not once but on several occasions.
Given her last rights, but she refused to surrender, drawing upon the
collective energy of her family, her friends, and 1,000 more that
prayed for her to get better.
This is Chatter That Matters with Toni Chapman
(01:12):
presented by RBC. RBC. She's
also an extraordinary mother, partner, author, and speaker. Her name is
Danielle Campo, and this is her story. Danielle, welcome to Chatter That
Matters. Hi, Tony. Thank you so much for having me.
I just loved everything about your story,
but obviously as a father of daughters, I don't love the cards you
(01:35):
were given. So tell me a little bit about early years. You're
misdiagnosed with muscular dystrophy, but what did they end up one day finding
out what was wrong with you? I come from an amazing family. I have 2
older brothers, and so my mom shares the story
of screaming that across Ontario could hear her yell when she found
out it was a girl. And, you know, they brought me home
(01:57):
and and thought life was gonna go, normal. And what
they noticed was I met my developmental milestones, but when I
started walking, I would fall all the time, or it has to be picked
up. So my mom made an appointment with the family doctor. My dad's
flat footed, and so, of course, blamed it on my dad and said,
she must be flat footed too. Made an appointment with the family
(02:20):
doctor. The family doctor sent us to a specialist. And at that specialist
appointment, it took about 5 seconds for the specialist to see me
and say, this child has muscular dystrophy. How did your
mom react at times to your illness? My
mom's world and my dad's shattered.
Back in 1987, this diagnosis had no
(02:42):
information. They went right to, you know, Jerry Lewis telethon,
and these kids don't survive, and and is she gonna walk, and what if her
heart is affected? And so there was a
lot of trials and tribulations shortly after the diagnosis. I was
right in for my first surgery, and then we
started navigating life with a disability and
(03:04):
what that was gonna look like. My my mom shares, you know, every
time I fell, she would be so angry and say, you know, get
back up, and had to deal with that as her own, you know,
parenting struggle being a parent with a child with a disability. And
and so we navigated these, you know, journey of having
this muscular dystrophy. And and as research continued to
(03:27):
grow, and, you know, muscular dystrophy would
continue to do amazing work around finding out
different neuromuscular disorders, my diagnosis changed not
once but twice, to my final diagnosis of
spinal muscular atrophy. And what is the difference between
the two illnesses? So muscular dystrophy
(03:48):
Canada actually covers a 160 and more now,
neuromuscular disorders. So each neuromuscular disorder
kind of plays its own field, and it's all about, you know,
what protein is missing or where it is on your DNA marker.
So for me, the biggest difference is for 10 years, I was
told my children had zero chances of having a
(04:11):
neuromuscular disorder. My husband and I went on to to
have, 3 beautiful children together, only to
find out that in fact, with my spinal muscular atrophy
diagnosis, they had a 50 50 percent chance. So 2 of
our children also have spinal muscular atrophy. What I
loved in our pre interview is the smile you gave me, and I said, did
(04:33):
you have any happy places as a child? And you talked about the swimming
pool. The water. The swimming pool is my
place of happy, my place of freedom.
I started in the water as a form of physiotherapy because
my physiotherapy was so painful. And as soon as
I found that water, I got it. I grow up in an
(04:55):
athletic family. They move their body to the best of their abilities,
and on land, I couldn't do that. And then they put me in the water,
and I could do everything that anyone else could do.
And there was no barriers. There was no stairs. There wasn't, oh,
I can't jump. It was watch me jump in the water. These muscles
move the way they're supposed to. It's my freedom. I laughed out
(05:17):
loud when you talked about your brothers, you know, and coming to watch you in
the pool and, you know, thinking, wow, that's really sweet of them. But then you
said, actually, it was a side hustle because they were betting their friends that this
girl that struggled walking on the ground would beat anybody in the swimming pool. Is
that is that truly actually had a bit of a side hustle going with you?
Like, I will never forget the joy of my brothers standing on the
(05:39):
pool deck watching me at one of my swim practices, and I'm that little
sister that's thinking, they think I'm cool only
to find out that then when their friends would come into our
family backyard pool and their friends would think I was cool because
they wanna race me, I'd race them. I'd beat them. And
then later to find out my brothers were actually getting paid for
(06:00):
this. Like, they had this side gig going on that I knew
nothing about. I still haven't received my cut for that, by the
way. You decided that it wasn't just gonna be the
backyard pool, that you felt there was enough inside you
to compete amongst the best in Canada and one day the
world. So tell me how that came along because when you send me a picture
(06:23):
of your gold medals, I I wouldn't be able to lift my neck. There were
so many of those things hanging around your neck. So just give us a sense
of how that trajectory happened from that kid in the
backyard helping your, your your brothers make a little side
hustle money to becoming the best in the world? I tried to play
hockey like my brothers. I did learn to skate. I scored on my own
(06:43):
net in my first game, so that wasn't the career for me.
And I was in a local summer swim club, and a coach approached my
mom actually and said, you know, she's really good in the water.
Have you ever thought of putting her into competitive swimming?
There is a disabled sports club called the Windsor Bulldogs.
And, my mom and dad kinda were like, disabled sports
(07:06):
club? You know, we she doesn't need that.
But I was begging, you know, please bring me. Please bring me. And they they
brought me out to my first practice at the Windsor Bulldogs.
And, Tony, no lie. I dove in that water. And when I finished that
practice, I looked at my parents and I said, these are my
people, and this is where I belong. And my parents
(07:28):
said it was time for us to buckle up and to
stop trying to lead you, but to walk alongside you.
And so from that moment, I set a goal of I'm
going to go to the Olympics. And after
understanding more of living with a disability, I
said, okay. Then I'll go to the Paralympics. And it
(07:50):
really became my outlet for all the bullying and all
the difficult times of living with a neuromuscular disorder.
I would take it to the water and I'd own it, and I'd get better
and faster. And so that became the journey of, I'm gonna
take all of this pain, and there's gotta be purpose for
this pain. And I set my goals on the podium. This concept of
(08:13):
connecting pain and purpose has become your mantra. It's it's
it's part of your keynote speeches. It's part of your books. It's part of
your conversation to anybody that feels that they can't overcome
circumstance. Where did that come to you? And is that something
that continues to evolve as your personal thesis in life that says no
matter what cards I'm dealt, I'm gonna play them to my advantage?
(08:35):
Absolutely. I think it's come with, you know, all of the struggles
that I've I've gone through. I think it comes from having an
amazing support system like my parents who have been
honest and have been real and raw and haven't said, you know,
we've been cheerleading through all the lifts. They've had their moments where they've,
you know, been mad at muscular dystrophy. We call it our joy
(08:57):
stealer. It steals the, you know, moments that are just supposed to be
joyous. And so, you know, when I had to take my shoes
off at graduation because I wouldn't couldn't walk across the stage
at my high school graduation wearing the same shoes as all the other
girls. I had to give this pain purpose. There had to be
a reason for this, but I walked across that stage. And so we
(09:20):
continue, you know, to take that attitude of
whatever comes, thy will be done, and we will give
that pain purpose. And talk to me about the
Paralympics because in in the past, it seemed to
be a distant cousin. But what I'm celebrating now is this
the host city now hosts both Olympics. It's
(09:41):
finally gaining the attention it deserves because the people
that find their way to the podium, to me, are some of the most
extraordinary hero's journeys out there. Yeah. When I was competing
in the Paralympics, when you'd say Paralympics, your job was
to be the advocate. You you had to explain what the Paralympics
were. And now, you know, having 3 young kids and getting to be
(10:03):
around their friends and and hear them say, oh, I know what the
Paralympics are. It's amazing. And to see where it's come,
I think it was education. I think it was understanding,
you know, that meaning of being parallel. And now it's like
the twin of the Olympics, and I love it because it's great to see
the coverage. And you're and you're so right. You see those athletes
(10:26):
standing on the podium, and not only are they the best of the
best, but they figured out a way to overcome some of
the most awful obstacles put in front of them
and to celebrate, hey. I've taken a really bad thing, and now I'm gonna
use it for good. And I think it's so important we keep
building the education of the Paralympics. We look at Terry Fox,
(10:48):
and we look at Rick Hansen as 2 of the the great iconic
symbols of overcoming any kind of circumstance.
What do we need to do as a country to also elevate people
like you who have arguably one of the best records in
international competition of any Canadian that's ever existed? I think we just keep
talking about it. We keep, as a country, celebrating our
(11:11):
successes. I've I've seen the power of coming together
and what that can do for someone, when a community, you
know, unites. I think we so often wanna just
wrap our arms around people and celebrate, you know, the moments of
it's the little steps. Doesn't have to be the big things. It's the
little steps. And and I, as a Paralympian, can think of so
(11:34):
many of my other teammates that have, you know, stories,
not quite as difficult as mine sometimes, but I I
just see, you know, we need to stay connected. We need to
keep celebrating, you know, what it takes to just get up in the
morning. So I've teased about how decorated you are as an athlete, but just give
me the highlight reel. How many medals have you won in your
(11:56):
career? Just give me a sense of the pride that your brothers and
your parents must feel for this girl that they didn't think
could and certainly did. Yes. I won, 7
Paralympic medals, and in total, I won 18
international medals, including worlds and, Commonwealth game
medal. And any of those gold medals? Oh, yes. Of course, I got
(12:18):
to stand on the podium. I won 3, gold
medals, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals. That's
amazing. And yet you talk about a bronze that you got in Athens
as one that had the most meaning. And I'd love for us to understand
with someone that has tasted in one being the best in the world, why coming
3rd mattered even more. So it was my 2nd Paralympic games.
(12:41):
I had swam technically the best race.
I left everything I had in that pool, and that
day, my best was a bronze medal. And it really
taught me about, you know, sometimes we're gonna give
it our all, and we're not going to be the best. But when I
looked back at that race and my coach said, you know, Danielle, what could have
(13:03):
you have done differently? And the answer was nothing.
I knew that this was a new path for me, that sometimes
my very best isn't going to be the best, and that bronze
medal became just as much as my gold medals at
the previous Paralympics. And your parents and your brothers, I mean,
they must have felt such immense pride each and every time you won one of
(13:26):
those medals. It was amazing to always get to see, you know, the
support. My favorite story is that when I won my first gold
medal, my dad passed completely out, and,
someone from team Japan was there helping to fan him back.
So it was my grandfather, my my brothers
always cheering me on, you know, not knowing a lick about
(13:47):
swimming, but would try their best and cheered me on all the time.
Many years ago, I interviewed Rick Hansen for Chatter That Matters, and I realized
that I just finished talking to one of Canada's most
extraordinary athletes. And that lesson taught me to spend more
time understanding the journeys of Paralympians. Their
remarkable stories, instead of focusing on their disabilities, they focus
(14:11):
on their abilities. What are they capable of doing? And they chase the
podium with the same level of commitment, courage, and conviction
that anybody else that dreams about being the world's best. Take Joel
Demby, a well decorated Paralympian. He won Canada's
1st international medal in wheelchair tennis. And today, he's a writer,
he's a speaker, and an advocate for RBC's mission to promote
(14:34):
accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. Joel, what was it like
for you to compete on the world stage? Not only as an individual,
but also somebody representing Canada. Competing in the Paralympics
meant everything to me. It was my lifelong goal
to one day become a Paralympian. And once
you're a Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian.
(14:57):
All of that hard work, all of the dedication
and sacrifices that I had to make in order to make that dream
happen, it it gave me the greatest feeling, especially to
represent Canada and to do it with family,
to do it with friends. Watching me, it was one of the most
incredible moments of my life. And watching the
(15:19):
Paris 2024 Paralympians, it sort of brings back those
same memories
Canadian outfit and competing for your country. And so
to see these athletes do the same thing, whether they're playing
wheelchair tennis, which was my sport, or athletics, wheelchair
(15:41):
basketball, it all means the same thing, and that's to represent Canada,
to hopefully win a medal. And again, once you're a
Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian. When we
return, my conversation with Paralympian Danielle Campot
shifts gears because her life changes drastically from
standing on podiums to lying in a bed, fighting
(16:03):
for her life.
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(17:13):
When we arrived at the hospital, it was chaos. They
quickly rushed me in. I heard a voice tell Denny, get
her family here fast. Another loud booming voice said,
these veins are shit and we're losing her. It was at
that moment that I locked eyes with a nurse and I said,
I am a mum. You can't let me die.
(17:35):
I am a mum. You're listening to Chatter That Matters
with Tony Chapman presented by RBC. Welcome
back. My guest today is one of Canada's elite athletes.
And I think in the next decade, we'll also consider her one of
Canada's top motivational speakers. Paralympian,
Danielle Campo.
(17:58):
You know, we talk about how at times people never seem
to be dealt a fair hand. Here you are,
you've had such incredible success on an international stage,
but in 2021, you get hit with
a sledgehammer that almost takes you out. Yes.
I had my 3rd beautiful child on August
(18:22):
2021, and her birth was perfect. And
my recovery, unfortunately, was everything but
perfect. I had complication after complication. I
was in the hospital for 28 days, and then
home for just 4 hours to be rushed back to the
hospital. I left my house in an ambulance, and I
(18:44):
remember looking at my children thinking, I may never
see them again. And what happened was I was in a
severe sepsis infection and began,
the fight for my life and and my worst nightmare. And for what I
understand, I mean, it wasn't an easy fight. They gave you a
10% chance of living, and you
(19:06):
had your last rights given to you more than once. Unfortunately,
for my family, when I did arrive back at the hospital and I saw
what was going on around me, I had a chance to make a phone call
to my mom, to say goodbye and,
and to my kids, you know, to just say, I want them to know
joy. Even if mom's not gonna be here, I want them to know joy.
(19:29):
I was put into a medically induced coma, and my family was
told, not once, but three times to say their
goodbyes. And my mom put a post on
Facebook saying, pray now. We're losing her. And
I had an amazing medical team that said, we gotta get her
to a specialized hospital, and my family said,
(19:51):
you know, their goodbyes. My husband refused. He said, you
take all of what you need from me and you fight like hell, but you
make it to that hospital. And they
celebrated like crazy in a rainy corridor
at the hospital when they heard that I had survived. And so
the doctors at, the hospital said they were cautiously
(20:14):
optimistic, but yet we still had a big fight
ahead. You know, your husband said take all you need. Your mother also said
something. My mother said you give her the opportunity to
get up, and she will get up. How much do you
believe in intervention? I'm not asking for
your spiritual faith, but you have to believe that the sense of
(20:36):
positive energy must have just roared through you and was part of your ability to
reach and reach for a rung on the ladder and just keep climbing. That Facebook
plea grew to 1500 people over all
across the world, lighting candles, praying, sending
messages to my husband, saying, you know, we're praying
for her. And so my pain had
(20:59):
purpose. Everything I had gone through had built that
toolbox to be the fighter that needed to be the
Olympian, and my new Olympics were simply to survive
and to get back home to my kids. So I held on to that bottom
rung of that ladder and fought like hell until I
knew, okay. I can do this, and I'm I'm coming back.
(21:21):
When you're that close to death, does your body sense it? Do
you feel it? Do you even remember it? Or being in a in a coma,
those sensations are purposely taken away from you? I think I
knew, that how difficult and how close,
I was. I remember, you know, moments of my coma
and knowing that, watch me go now. I I will
(21:44):
fight. And I remember waking up and understanding,
and I'll never forget opening my eyes and my husband explaining kind of what
had happened, and knowing that I had lived my
life with a neuromuscular disorder, that this body might not work
one day, and suddenly, I was thrown into
my worst nightmare. And what am I going to do to
(22:06):
be okay with this? How am I going to, you know, take that
next breath and and push through this? And it was
one minute, one second at a time. Today, as you look
at life, I the people that I've talked to in the past that have been
given their last rights, they have an an appetite for life. They
experience life differently. Like, every day is something they
(22:28):
treasure. Where I would argue many of us who feel some sense of immortality
never really think about the day as being of immense importance.
Do you have that sense that life is very different? I connect with that on
so many different levels. You know, celebrating the
simple everyday moments with my children, you know, getting
to be here when we just moved my youngest from her crib to
(22:51):
a big girl bed and celebrating those moments.
But it even comes in the funniest moments. I think of when my gas
tank is empty and I simply get to fill it back up. And I'm
like, I did that. My tank was empty and I filled it back up, and
I'm grateful for those moments. I've even been grateful standing in the
long lines at Costco because I'm here to do it, and I'm
(23:13):
here to, you know, supply for my family. So, absolutely, I
never take a minute for granted. I never take, you know,
the chance to make a connection with someone, for granted. And for
me, it's the beautiful things outside of nature and God
getting to dive back into that water feeling alive
again. Just I loved it so much at the beginning
(23:35):
and after going through this. There's nothing better for me than that moment
of being back in the water. And you're talking about life as it goes on
with, you know, your version of normality, but there's a very good
chance that an infection could come and take you down once again, and
you're gonna have to have another fight for your life. How do you
compartmentalize that and still go on and say, I choose joy
(23:57):
over hiding in a bubble? Yeah. I think I I
I know, that, you know, there's there's a high chance of
infection. It's not that you ever live life after sepsis. It's
life with sepsis. And so, you know, every you know, an
ingrown toenail can cause havoc in your world.
So every day I say, you know, there's a reason for today. I
(24:20):
fought like hell, and I will fight like hell until the very
end. And I choose to not hide. I need to
share my story. There's a reason that I'm still here, and I
will continue, you know, to share my story. Because if even one
person can find that spark to fight their own
journey, then it gives my pain purpose. So every
(24:42):
time I continue to share my story, I know that I'm I'm
doing that. And there are moments where, you know, I have to wrap
around my circle of support, and I get scared, and I get worried,
but then I get back up, and I continue to keep getting back up.
Before we get into your speaking on stage and
why I'm gonna be such an advocate for Canada to hear you, talk to
(25:05):
me about your book. My book is my thank you letter
to the community and to anyone who reads it. My goal was
that when you read this book, you would feel like we were sitting, having a
coffee together, and I could share my story. I
always heard three things while I was sick in the hospital. We've
prayed so hard for you. We lit our candles, and you need to write
(25:27):
a book. So I thought, okay. I gotta listen to that,
and I collaborated, with Marty Beneteau because
writing is not my strong point. And there was a unique
way that that relationship came to be. And so we wrote,
my memoir and my stories of, you know, why my pain
has purpose, and I was able to share them as my gift. And the
(25:50):
title is resurrection, my will to survive as Olympian. Absolutely.
And as a branding person, I'd say that's a long title. But when I read
it, I realized that's a beautiful title because it compresses
everything about your life in the sense of being Olympian. It extends far
beyond the world competition stage. And Rick
Hansen said, your story demonstrates how faith, hope,
(26:12):
and tenacity can lead the way forward. How do you feel about
having someone like Rick Hansen in some ways pass the torch to you
and say what I've done is important, but now
you've got to get out there and also light a path to people
with disabilities? I I was so humbled for Rick
to, you know, to be calm and to comment and and
(26:36):
those words, and you you couldn't have said it better. I feel the
responsibility, and the honor to carry that torch
with him, you know, the amazing work he's done in our
country. So to be connected to that in any way, it
gave me that, Danielle, we're doing it. We are
surviving. We are Olympian, and we will keep fighting. And
(26:57):
so it ignited that torch for me to share my story.
Sharing stories is what we do on Chatter that matters. Sharing stories about
positivity and possibility. But I'm just an interviewer.
Where I think it matters most is when people like Danielle Campo or
Joel Demby find their way in front of an audience and share
their lessons in life, and what they had to do to
(27:21):
make the most of their abilities. Because I think those are lessons that we can
all benefit from. I know Danielle wants to become one of Canada's great speakers, and
her story is one she is so eager to share. So I had Joel Gemby
on. I asked him, as someone who's
a very successful speaker in his own right, what kind of advice
(27:41):
does he have for someone like Danielle on request to not
only own the podium, but own the stage? To be as authentic
as possible. Be yourself in front of the audience. Be
engaging. Be honest. Somehow be
a little bit relatable. I think we all go through struggles. We
all have had to experience health concerns or at
(28:03):
least we we know family or loved ones who have gone through
that. And you know, how do you get past that? How
do you move forward? What are the tools that that you
have to overcome all
obstacles? I think these are important things to share with an audience.
Practice. Speak in front of different audiences, whether it's
(28:25):
schools, whether it's, seniors. You know, you have to
craft a different speech for for different audiences,
in in my opinion. And think about your audience first and,
you know, your yourself second.
Now I gotta give you a true confession. There's a there's a little jealousy in
my part because I I like to think I'm a pretty talented
(28:48):
speaker, and I'm pretty good on stage. But you show up at speaker slam,
which gives you, like, 5 minutes to sorta strut your
stuff, and you walk away winning it. I mean, I I'm getting a
little tired of you, actually, with all these bestsellers and gold
medals and no. But tell me how that was, Speaker Slam. How did that come
about? I had been, connected with Speaker Slam, and
(29:10):
so I finally you know, for years, I had said, I'm not competing on stage.
Nobody is gonna tell me what my if my story is good or not.
And then I learned it's about, you know, storytelling. And,
I I went all in Olympic level athlete, and,
I, yes, 5 minutes to condense this story.
I got on that stage, and that adrenaline of competing,
(29:34):
you know, took over. And I I shared my 5
minutes and to see the audience connect, and,
you know, just loved every moment of that. And I thought,
oh, maybe there isn't just the water. Maybe there is this
new world that I do love. And to find out I won,
my husband took this amazing video of my reaction because I was sitting
(29:56):
in the audience. The first two people announced, and in my head, I
was thinking, okay. You gotta stay. You know, poker face, if they don't
call your name you didn't place, that's okay. And, then to hear my
name, was amazing.
(30:19):
It just ignited a a whole different spark of,
getting to share my story in such a unique, fun way. So what's
next for you? You're such a young age. You've got 3 children at
home, 2 that you're gonna need some special care that you talked about, and
writer, speaker, everything going on. The next
decade, what am I gonna be reading about when I'm reading about Danielle Campos?
(30:42):
Oh, my dream is that you read that she is sharing her story all
over, that she is continuing to inspire
people to give their pain purpose and to be
their their best, not the best. And so
I will continue, you know, to find stages to share my
story and to motivate audiences. I'll just, you know, on my
(31:04):
daily struggles, it will be to get my kids' socks on like every other
parent, and enjoying life
and connecting before collecting from as many people
as I can and sharing my story. I want my
story to be out there. I'm thankful for my struggles because they
allow me to connect to so many different audiences. You know,
(31:26):
Danielle, I've had the honor of speaking to so many people. I think
we're over 250 episodes now, And
I have gotten so much joy from someone who lives to bring joy to the
world, and that's talking to you. And I always end with, like, 3 things. And
the first one is probably it's such a lesson in life. These are
my people. When you were in the pool the first time and your parents
(31:48):
said, it's time we walk alongside you
versus trying to lead the way, and I think that's a lesson in
life for all parents and their children. Whether it's
my people because you are with people that you that related to you and weren't
gonna bully you and understood who you were, or whether it's your
child has a passion for music or art or sports
(32:10):
or breaking things apart and trying to build them back again. I think it's so
important that we allow people to untap what's important and
to walk alongside them versus try to lead them to where we think is important.
This whole pain with purpose is such an extraordinary to
you, it seems almost effortless, and you've had such pain in your life, but it
really does remind us that we're gonna have circumstances we're gonna face in
(32:32):
life. And some are gonna look insurmountable. Some very well might be
insurmountable, out of our control, but I think just keep putting our
feet forward, keep moving forward, keep understanding that we can
learn from them, and your case, embrace them. Actually, make something
special out of them, I think, is phenomenal. And I get I just changed at
the last second because you talked about focus on being your
(32:55):
best, not the best, is another lesson I think
we as leaders, as parents, as coaches, and
us as individuals can really take hold of. Because if we give it all as
you did in the pool that day and feel so good about what
we did, that's really all that matters. Even in Speaker Slam, whether you
were called up or not, in your case, you were number 1, these are some
(33:17):
powerful lessons in life. And I wanna know how all the
people listening that are looking for speakers, especially, how
can they get hold of Danielle Campo and book you to come and
share your story and, light up the room like you've light up so many others?
It's daniellecampo.com. And Campo is c a m
p o. I'll put the, in the show notes. But Campo is a lot of
(33:39):
people might think it's p e a u, but it's Campo. That's right. Yes.
You can find me on Instagram at the Danielle Campo.
I'm also on Facebook as well. So those are the the best
ways to get a hold. Danielle, I am so thrilled, and I just thank you
for being part of Chatter That Matters. Thank you so much, Tony. Chatter
That Matters has been a presentation of RBC. It's Tony
(34:02):
Chapman. Thanks for listening, and let's chat soon.
To me, freedom is finding your passion.
I struggled with finding the right words to open the show.
As this woman that you're about to hear from is a world champion
in everything she's encountered, her health issues, her approach
to life when she chose to focus on her abilities versus succumb to
her disabilities. At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with muscular
(00:28):
dystrophy. I was told this body would never
be able to walk. Becoming the best in the world in her sport, but even
with the slew of gold medals, taking more from a bronze
medal that she won. An 8 time world record
Paralympic swimming gold medalist
because I found my
(00:50):
passion which led me to my freedom.
And she knocked on death's door, not once but on several occasions.
Given her last rights, but she refused to surrender, drawing upon the
collective energy of her family, her friends, and 1,000 more that
prayed for her to get better.
This is Chatter That Matters with Toni Chapman
(01:12):
presented by RBC. RBC. She's
also an extraordinary mother, partner, author, and speaker. Her name is
Danielle Campo, and this is her story. Danielle, welcome to Chatter That
Matters. Hi, Tony. Thank you so much for having me.
I just loved everything about your story,
but obviously as a father of daughters, I don't love the cards you
(01:35):
were given. So tell me a little bit about early years. You're
misdiagnosed with muscular dystrophy, but what did they end up one day finding
out what was wrong with you? I come from an amazing family. I have 2
older brothers, and so my mom shares the story
of screaming that across Ontario could hear her yell when she found
out it was a girl. And, you know, they brought me home
(01:57):
and and thought life was gonna go, normal. And what
they noticed was I met my developmental milestones, but when I
started walking, I would fall all the time, or it has to be picked
up. So my mom made an appointment with the family doctor. My dad's
flat footed, and so, of course, blamed it on my dad and said,
she must be flat footed too. Made an appointment with the family
(02:20):
doctor. The family doctor sent us to a specialist. And at that specialist
appointment, it took about 5 seconds for the specialist to see me
and say, this child has muscular dystrophy. How did your
mom react at times to your illness? My
mom's world and my dad's shattered.
Back in 1987, this diagnosis had no
(02:42):
information. They went right to, you know, Jerry Lewis telethon,
and these kids don't survive, and and is she gonna walk, and what if her
heart is affected? And so there was a
lot of trials and tribulations shortly after the diagnosis. I was
right in for my first surgery, and then we
started navigating life with a disability and
(03:04):
what that was gonna look like. My my mom shares, you know, every
time I fell, she would be so angry and say, you know, get
back up, and had to deal with that as her own, you know,
parenting struggle being a parent with a child with a disability. And
and so we navigated these, you know, journey of having
this muscular dystrophy. And and as research continued to
(03:27):
grow, and, you know, muscular dystrophy would
continue to do amazing work around finding out
different neuromuscular disorders, my diagnosis changed not
once but twice, to my final diagnosis of
spinal muscular atrophy. And what is the difference between
the two illnesses? So muscular dystrophy
(03:48):
Canada actually covers a 160 and more now,
neuromuscular disorders. So each neuromuscular disorder
kind of plays its own field, and it's all about, you know,
what protein is missing or where it is on your DNA marker.
So for me, the biggest difference is for 10 years, I was
told my children had zero chances of having a
(04:11):
neuromuscular disorder. My husband and I went on to to
have, 3 beautiful children together, only to
find out that in fact, with my spinal muscular atrophy
diagnosis, they had a 50 50 percent chance. So 2 of
our children also have spinal muscular atrophy. What I
loved in our pre interview is the smile you gave me, and I said, did
(04:33):
you have any happy places as a child? And you talked about the swimming
pool. The water. The swimming pool is my
place of happy, my place of freedom.
I started in the water as a form of physiotherapy because
my physiotherapy was so painful. And as soon as
I found that water, I got it. I grow up in an
(04:55):
athletic family. They move their body to the best of their abilities,
and on land, I couldn't do that. And then they put me in the water,
and I could do everything that anyone else could do.
And there was no barriers. There was no stairs. There wasn't, oh,
I can't jump. It was watch me jump in the water. These muscles
move the way they're supposed to. It's my freedom. I laughed out
(05:17):
loud when you talked about your brothers, you know, and coming to watch you in
the pool and, you know, thinking, wow, that's really sweet of them. But then you
said, actually, it was a side hustle because they were betting their friends that this
girl that struggled walking on the ground would beat anybody in the swimming pool. Is
that is that truly actually had a bit of a side hustle going with you?
Like, I will never forget the joy of my brothers standing on the
(05:39):
pool deck watching me at one of my swim practices, and I'm that little
sister that's thinking, they think I'm cool only
to find out that then when their friends would come into our
family backyard pool and their friends would think I was cool because
they wanna race me, I'd race them. I'd beat them. And
then later to find out my brothers were actually getting paid for
(06:00):
this. Like, they had this side gig going on that I knew
nothing about. I still haven't received my cut for that, by the
way. You decided that it wasn't just gonna be the
backyard pool, that you felt there was enough inside you
to compete amongst the best in Canada and one day the
world. So tell me how that came along because when you send me a picture
(06:23):
of your gold medals, I I wouldn't be able to lift my neck. There were
so many of those things hanging around your neck. So just give us a sense
of how that trajectory happened from that kid in the
backyard helping your, your your brothers make a little side
hustle money to becoming the best in the world? I tried to play
hockey like my brothers. I did learn to skate. I scored on my own
(06:43):
net in my first game, so that wasn't the career for me.
And I was in a local summer swim club, and a coach approached my
mom actually and said, you know, she's really good in the water.
Have you ever thought of putting her into competitive swimming?
There is a disabled sports club called the Windsor Bulldogs.
And, my mom and dad kinda were like, disabled sports
(07:06):
club? You know, we she doesn't need that.
But I was begging, you know, please bring me. Please bring me. And they they
brought me out to my first practice at the Windsor Bulldogs.
And, Tony, no lie. I dove in that water. And when I finished that
practice, I looked at my parents and I said, these are my
people, and this is where I belong. And my parents
(07:28):
said it was time for us to buckle up and to
stop trying to lead you, but to walk alongside you.
And so from that moment, I set a goal of I'm
going to go to the Olympics. And after
understanding more of living with a disability, I
said, okay. Then I'll go to the Paralympics. And it
(07:50):
really became my outlet for all the bullying and all
the difficult times of living with a neuromuscular disorder.
I would take it to the water and I'd own it, and I'd get better
and faster. And so that became the journey of, I'm gonna
take all of this pain, and there's gotta be purpose for
this pain. And I set my goals on the podium. This concept of
(08:13):
connecting pain and purpose has become your mantra. It's it's
it's part of your keynote speeches. It's part of your books. It's part of
your conversation to anybody that feels that they can't overcome
circumstance. Where did that come to you? And is that something
that continues to evolve as your personal thesis in life that says no
matter what cards I'm dealt, I'm gonna play them to my advantage?
(08:35):
Absolutely. I think it's come with, you know, all of the struggles
that I've I've gone through. I think it comes from having an
amazing support system like my parents who have been
honest and have been real and raw and haven't said, you know,
we've been cheerleading through all the lifts. They've had their moments where they've,
you know, been mad at muscular dystrophy. We call it our joy
(08:57):
stealer. It steals the, you know, moments that are just supposed to be
joyous. And so, you know, when I had to take my shoes
off at graduation because I wouldn't couldn't walk across the stage
at my high school graduation wearing the same shoes as all the other
girls. I had to give this pain purpose. There had to be
a reason for this, but I walked across that stage. And so we
(09:20):
continue, you know, to take that attitude of
whatever comes, thy will be done, and we will give
that pain purpose. And talk to me about the
Paralympics because in in the past, it seemed to
be a distant cousin. But what I'm celebrating now is this
the host city now hosts both Olympics. It's
(09:41):
finally gaining the attention it deserves because the people
that find their way to the podium, to me, are some of the most
extraordinary hero's journeys out there. Yeah. When I was competing
in the Paralympics, when you'd say Paralympics, your job was
to be the advocate. You you had to explain what the Paralympics
were. And now, you know, having 3 young kids and getting to be
(10:03):
around their friends and and hear them say, oh, I know what the
Paralympics are. It's amazing. And to see where it's come,
I think it was education. I think it was understanding,
you know, that meaning of being parallel. And now it's like
the twin of the Olympics, and I love it because it's great to see
the coverage. And you're and you're so right. You see those athletes
(10:26):
standing on the podium, and not only are they the best of the
best, but they figured out a way to overcome some of
the most awful obstacles put in front of them
and to celebrate, hey. I've taken a really bad thing, and now I'm gonna
use it for good. And I think it's so important we keep
building the education of the Paralympics. We look at Terry Fox,
(10:48):
and we look at Rick Hansen as 2 of the the great iconic
symbols of overcoming any kind of circumstance.
What do we need to do as a country to also elevate people
like you who have arguably one of the best records in
international competition of any Canadian that's ever existed? I think we just keep
talking about it. We keep, as a country, celebrating our
(11:11):
successes. I've I've seen the power of coming together
and what that can do for someone, when a community, you
know, unites. I think we so often wanna just
wrap our arms around people and celebrate, you know, the moments of
it's the little steps. Doesn't have to be the big things. It's the
little steps. And and I, as a Paralympian, can think of so
(11:34):
many of my other teammates that have, you know, stories,
not quite as difficult as mine sometimes, but I I
just see, you know, we need to stay connected. We need to
keep celebrating, you know, what it takes to just get up in the
morning. So I've teased about how decorated you are as an athlete, but just give
me the highlight reel. How many medals have you won in your
(11:56):
career? Just give me a sense of the pride that your brothers and
your parents must feel for this girl that they didn't think
could and certainly did. Yes. I won, 7
Paralympic medals, and in total, I won 18
international medals, including worlds and, Commonwealth game
medal. And any of those gold medals? Oh, yes. Of course, I got
(12:18):
to stand on the podium. I won 3, gold
medals, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals. That's
amazing. And yet you talk about a bronze that you got in Athens
as one that had the most meaning. And I'd love for us to understand
with someone that has tasted in one being the best in the world, why coming
3rd mattered even more. So it was my 2nd Paralympic games.
(12:41):
I had swam technically the best race.
I left everything I had in that pool, and that
day, my best was a bronze medal. And it really
taught me about, you know, sometimes we're gonna give
it our all, and we're not going to be the best. But when I
looked back at that race and my coach said, you know, Danielle, what could have
(13:03):
you have done differently? And the answer was nothing.
I knew that this was a new path for me, that sometimes
my very best isn't going to be the best, and that bronze
medal became just as much as my gold medals at
the previous Paralympics. And your parents and your brothers, I mean,
they must have felt such immense pride each and every time you won one of
(13:26):
those medals. It was amazing to always get to see, you know, the
support. My favorite story is that when I won my first gold
medal, my dad passed completely out, and,
someone from team Japan was there helping to fan him back.
So it was my grandfather, my my brothers
always cheering me on, you know, not knowing a lick about
(13:47):
swimming, but would try their best and cheered me on all the time.
Many years ago, I interviewed Rick Hansen for Chatter That Matters, and I realized
that I just finished talking to one of Canada's most
extraordinary athletes. And that lesson taught me to spend more
time understanding the journeys of Paralympians. Their
remarkable stories, instead of focusing on their disabilities, they focus
(14:11):
on their abilities. What are they capable of doing? And they chase the
podium with the same level of commitment, courage, and conviction
that anybody else that dreams about being the world's best. Take Joel
Demby, a well decorated Paralympian. He won Canada's
1st international medal in wheelchair tennis. And today, he's a writer,
he's a speaker, and an advocate for RBC's mission to promote
(14:34):
accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. Joel, what was it like
for you to compete on the world stage? Not only as an individual,
but also somebody representing Canada. Competing in the Paralympics
meant everything to me. It was my lifelong goal
to one day become a Paralympian. And once
you're a Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian.
(14:57):
All of that hard work, all of the dedication
and sacrifices that I had to make in order to make that dream
happen, it it gave me the greatest feeling, especially to
represent Canada and to do it with family,
to do it with friends. Watching me, it was one of the most
incredible moments of my life. And watching the
(15:19):
Paris 2024 Paralympians, it sort of brings back those
same memories
Canadian outfit and competing for your country. And so
to see these athletes do the same thing, whether they're playing
wheelchair tennis, which was my sport, or athletics, wheelchair
(15:41):
basketball, it all means the same thing, and that's to represent Canada,
to hopefully win a medal. And again, once you're a
Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian. When we
return, my conversation with Paralympian Danielle Campot
shifts gears because her life changes drastically from
standing on podiums to lying in a bed, fighting
(16:03):
for her life.
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(16:25):
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(16:48):
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(17:13):
When we arrived at the hospital, it was chaos. They
quickly rushed me in. I heard a voice tell Denny, get
her family here fast. Another loud booming voice said,
these veins are shit and we're losing her. It was at
that moment that I locked eyes with a nurse and I said,
I am a mum. You can't let me die.
(17:35):
I am a mum. You're listening to Chatter That Matters
with Tony Chapman presented by RBC. Welcome
back. My guest today is one of Canada's elite athletes.
And I think in the next decade, we'll also consider her one of
Canada's top motivational speakers. Paralympian,
Danielle Campo.
(17:58):
You know, we talk about how at times people never seem
to be dealt a fair hand. Here you are,
you've had such incredible success on an international stage,
but in 2021, you get hit with
a sledgehammer that almost takes you out. Yes.
I had my 3rd beautiful child on August
(18:22):
2021, and her birth was perfect. And
my recovery, unfortunately, was everything but
perfect. I had complication after complication. I
was in the hospital for 28 days, and then
home for just 4 hours to be rushed back to the
hospital. I left my house in an ambulance, and I
(18:44):
remember looking at my children thinking, I may never
see them again. And what happened was I was in a
severe sepsis infection and began,
the fight for my life and and my worst nightmare. And for what I
understand, I mean, it wasn't an easy fight. They gave you a
10% chance of living, and you
(19:06):
had your last rights given to you more than once. Unfortunately,
for my family, when I did arrive back at the hospital and I saw
what was going on around me, I had a chance to make a phone call
to my mom, to say goodbye and,
and to my kids, you know, to just say, I want them to know
joy. Even if mom's not gonna be here, I want them to know joy.
(19:29):
I was put into a medically induced coma, and my family was
told, not once, but three times to say their
goodbyes. And my mom put a post on
Facebook saying, pray now. We're losing her. And
I had an amazing medical team that said, we gotta get her
to a specialized hospital, and my family said,
(19:51):
you know, their goodbyes. My husband refused. He said, you
take all of what you need from me and you fight like hell, but you
make it to that hospital. And they
celebrated like crazy in a rainy corridor
at the hospital when they heard that I had survived. And so
the doctors at, the hospital said they were cautiously
(20:14):
optimistic, but yet we still had a big fight
ahead. You know, your husband said take all you need. Your mother also said
something. My mother said you give her the opportunity to
get up, and she will get up. How much do you
believe in intervention? I'm not asking for
your spiritual faith, but you have to believe that the sense of
(20:36):
positive energy must have just roared through you and was part of your ability to
reach and reach for a rung on the ladder and just keep climbing. That Facebook
plea grew to 1500 people over all
across the world, lighting candles, praying, sending
messages to my husband, saying, you know, we're praying
for her. And so my pain had
(20:59):
purpose. Everything I had gone through had built that
toolbox to be the fighter that needed to be the
Olympian, and my new Olympics were simply to survive
and to get back home to my kids. So I held on to that bottom
rung of that ladder and fought like hell until I
knew, okay. I can do this, and I'm I'm coming back.
(21:21):
When you're that close to death, does your body sense it? Do
you feel it? Do you even remember it? Or being in a in a coma,
those sensations are purposely taken away from you? I think I
knew, that how difficult and how close,
I was. I remember, you know, moments of my coma
and knowing that, watch me go now. I I will
(21:44):
fight. And I remember waking up and understanding,
and I'll never forget opening my eyes and my husband explaining kind of what
had happened, and knowing that I had lived my
life with a neuromuscular disorder, that this body might not work
one day, and suddenly, I was thrown into
my worst nightmare. And what am I going to do to
(22:06):
be okay with this? How am I going to, you know, take that
next breath and and push through this? And it was
one minute, one second at a time. Today, as you look
at life, I the people that I've talked to in the past that have been
given their last rights, they have an an appetite for life. They
experience life differently. Like, every day is something they
(22:28):
treasure. Where I would argue many of us who feel some sense of immortality
never really think about the day as being of immense importance.
Do you have that sense that life is very different? I connect with that on
so many different levels. You know, celebrating the
simple everyday moments with my children, you know, getting
to be here when we just moved my youngest from her crib to
(22:51):
a big girl bed and celebrating those moments.
But it even comes in the funniest moments. I think of when my gas
tank is empty and I simply get to fill it back up. And I'm
like, I did that. My tank was empty and I filled it back up, and
I'm grateful for those moments. I've even been grateful standing in the
long lines at Costco because I'm here to do it, and I'm
(23:13):
here to, you know, supply for my family. So, absolutely, I
never take a minute for granted. I never take, you know,
the chance to make a connection with someone, for granted. And for
me, it's the beautiful things outside of nature and God
getting to dive back into that water feeling alive
again. Just I loved it so much at the beginning
(23:35):
and after going through this. There's nothing better for me than that moment
of being back in the water. And you're talking about life as it goes on
with, you know, your version of normality, but there's a very good
chance that an infection could come and take you down once again, and
you're gonna have to have another fight for your life. How do you
compartmentalize that and still go on and say, I choose joy
(23:57):
over hiding in a bubble? Yeah. I think I I
I know, that, you know, there's there's a high chance of
infection. It's not that you ever live life after sepsis. It's
life with sepsis. And so, you know, every you know, an
ingrown toenail can cause havoc in your world.
So every day I say, you know, there's a reason for today. I
(24:20):
fought like hell, and I will fight like hell until the very
end. And I choose to not hide. I need to
share my story. There's a reason that I'm still here, and I
will continue, you know, to share my story. Because if even one
person can find that spark to fight their own
journey, then it gives my pain purpose. So every
(24:42):
time I continue to share my story, I know that I'm I'm
doing that. And there are moments where, you know, I have to wrap
around my circle of support, and I get scared, and I get worried,
but then I get back up, and I continue to keep getting back up.
Before we get into your speaking on stage and
why I'm gonna be such an advocate for Canada to hear you, talk to
(25:05):
me about your book. My book is my thank you letter
to the community and to anyone who reads it. My goal was
that when you read this book, you would feel like we were sitting, having a
coffee together, and I could share my story. I
always heard three things while I was sick in the hospital. We've
prayed so hard for you. We lit our candles, and you need to write
(25:27):
a book. So I thought, okay. I gotta listen to that,
and I collaborated, with Marty Beneteau because
writing is not my strong point. And there was a unique
way that that relationship came to be. And so we wrote,
my memoir and my stories of, you know, why my pain
has purpose, and I was able to share them as my gift. And the
(25:50):
title is resurrection, my will to survive as Olympian. Absolutely.
And as a branding person, I'd say that's a long title. But when I read
it, I realized that's a beautiful title because it compresses
everything about your life in the sense of being Olympian. It extends far
beyond the world competition stage. And Rick
Hansen said, your story demonstrates how faith, hope,
(26:12):
and tenacity can lead the way forward. How do you feel about
having someone like Rick Hansen in some ways pass the torch to you
and say what I've done is important, but now
you've got to get out there and also light a path to people
with disabilities? I I was so humbled for Rick
to, you know, to be calm and to comment and and
(26:36):
those words, and you you couldn't have said it better. I feel the
responsibility, and the honor to carry that torch
with him, you know, the amazing work he's done in our
country. So to be connected to that in any way, it
gave me that, Danielle, we're doing it. We are
surviving. We are Olympian, and we will keep fighting. And
(26:57):
so it ignited that torch for me to share my story.
Sharing stories is what we do on Chatter that matters. Sharing stories about
positivity and possibility. But I'm just an interviewer.
Where I think it matters most is when people like Danielle Campo or
Joel Demby find their way in front of an audience and share
their lessons in life, and what they had to do to
(27:21):
make the most of their abilities. Because I think those are lessons that we can
all benefit from. I know Danielle wants to become one of Canada's great speakers, and
her story is one she is so eager to share. So I had Joel Gemby
on. I asked him, as someone who's
a very successful speaker in his own right, what kind of advice
(27:41):
does he have for someone like Danielle on request to not
only own the podium, but own the stage? To be as authentic
as possible. Be yourself in front of the audience. Be
engaging. Be honest. Somehow be
a little bit relatable. I think we all go through struggles. We
all have had to experience health concerns or at
(28:03):
least we we know family or loved ones who have gone through
that. And you know, how do you get past that? How
do you move forward? What are the tools that that you
have to overcome all
obstacles? I think these are important things to share with an audience.
Practice. Speak in front of different audiences, whether it's
(28:25):
schools, whether it's, seniors. You know, you have to
craft a different speech for for different audiences,
in in my opinion. And think about your audience first and,
you know, your yourself second.
Now I gotta give you a true confession. There's a there's a little jealousy in
my part because I I like to think I'm a pretty talented
(28:48):
speaker, and I'm pretty good on stage. But you show up at speaker slam,
which gives you, like, 5 minutes to sorta strut your
stuff, and you walk away winning it. I mean, I I'm getting a
little tired of you, actually, with all these bestsellers and gold
medals and no. But tell me how that was, Speaker Slam. How did that come
about? I had been, connected with Speaker Slam, and
(29:10):
so I finally you know, for years, I had said, I'm not competing on stage.
Nobody is gonna tell me what my if my story is good or not.
And then I learned it's about, you know, storytelling. And,
I I went all in Olympic level athlete, and,
I, yes, 5 minutes to condense this story.
I got on that stage, and that adrenaline of competing,
(29:34):
you know, took over. And I I shared my 5
minutes and to see the audience connect, and,
you know, just loved every moment of that. And I thought,
oh, maybe there isn't just the water. Maybe there is this
new world that I do love. And to find out I won,
my husband took this amazing video of my reaction because I was sitting
(29:56):
in the audience. The first two people announced, and in my head, I
was thinking, okay. You gotta stay. You know, poker face, if they don't
call your name you didn't place, that's okay. And, then to hear my
name, was amazing.
(30:19):
It just ignited a a whole different spark of,
getting to share my story in such a unique, fun way. So what's
next for you? You're such a young age. You've got 3 children at
home, 2 that you're gonna need some special care that you talked about, and
writer, speaker, everything going on. The next
decade, what am I gonna be reading about when I'm reading about Danielle Campos?
(30:42):
Oh, my dream is that you read that she is sharing her story all
over, that she is continuing to inspire
people to give their pain purpose and to be
their their best, not the best. And so
I will continue, you know, to find stages to share my
story and to motivate audiences. I'll just, you know, on my
(31:04):
daily struggles, it will be to get my kids' socks on like every other
parent, and enjoying life
and connecting before collecting from as many people
as I can and sharing my story. I want my
story to be out there. I'm thankful for my struggles because they
allow me to connect to so many different audiences. You know,
(31:26):
Danielle, I've had the honor of speaking to so many people. I think
we're over 250 episodes now, And
I have gotten so much joy from someone who lives to bring joy to the
world, and that's talking to you. And I always end with, like, 3 things. And
the first one is probably it's such a lesson in life. These are
my people. When you were in the pool the first time and your parents
(31:48):
said, it's time we walk alongside you
versus trying to lead the way, and I think that's a lesson in
life for all parents and their children. Whether it's
my people because you are with people that you that related to you and weren't
gonna bully you and understood who you were, or whether it's your
child has a passion for music or art or sports
(32:10):
or breaking things apart and trying to build them back again. I think it's so
important that we allow people to untap what's important and
to walk alongside them versus try to lead them to where we think is important.
This whole pain with purpose is such an extraordinary to
you, it seems almost effortless, and you've had such pain in your life, but it
really does remind us that we're gonna have circumstances we're gonna face in
(32:32):
life. And some are gonna look insurmountable. Some very well might be
insurmountable, out of our control, but I think just keep putting our
feet forward, keep moving forward, keep understanding that we can
learn from them, and your case, embrace them. Actually, make something
special out of them, I think, is phenomenal. And I get I just changed at
the last second because you talked about focus on being your
(32:55):
best, not the best, is another lesson I think
we as leaders, as parents, as coaches, and
us as individuals can really take hold of. Because if we give it all as
you did in the pool that day and feel so good about what
we did, that's really all that matters. Even in Speaker Slam, whether you
were called up or not, in your case, you were number 1, these are some
(33:17):
powerful lessons in life. And I wanna know how all the
people listening that are looking for speakers, especially, how
can they get hold of Danielle Campo and book you to come and
share your story and, light up the room like you've light up so many others?
It's daniellecampo.com. And Campo is c a m
p o. I'll put the, in the show notes. But Campo is a lot of
(33:39):
people might think it's p e a u, but it's Campo. That's right. Yes.
You can find me on Instagram at the Danielle Campo.
I'm also on Facebook as well. So those are the the best
ways to get a hold. Danielle, I am so thrilled, and I just thank you
for being part of Chatter That Matters. Thank you so much, Tony. Chatter
That Matters has been a presentation of RBC. It's Tony
(34:02):
Chapman. Thanks for listening, and let's chat soon.
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