As heard on Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON with Heidi Feemster, LIVE every Wed. @ 10:00am & available archival via link at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/linkedlocalnetwork/2013/05/15/tamara-leighs-trend-on-with-heidi-james-perdue-edd

by Tamara Leigh, Host of Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON show LIVE every Wed. at 10:00am (CST) on the Linked Local Network & Founder of Tamara Leigh, LLC, A Communications Expertise Company Follow on twitter @tamaraleighllc

TamaraLeighLLC.com

Heidi Feemster,Co-Host o n Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON featuring Heidi’s Business Minute Follow Heidi @heidifeemster

THIS PAST WEEK on Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON – Engaging Your Audience to TREND ON You!  I dedicated the show with guest James Perdue Ed.D.  - Motivational / Keynote Speaker & Author, successful Teacher and Coach, and a Quadriplegic (blog post on Dr. Perdue & other guest, George Patterson, Insurance Specialist, to follow) to a dear friend of mine whom I’ve known since we were junior high kids running around the same neighborhood in Wonder Years glory.

(I hope he won’t mind my sharing here & I hope all who read this will do so with the good nature & tender heart, as it is intended.)

Today, we (he & I) affectionately refer to him as my “Stalker”, and he’s the one man given the “free pass” to do so, mostly because I go right past his house every morning on my run.

In all good humor, we have a “running” joke about the fact that ever since high school, he’s been spell bound by me and well, my boobs. Apparently it doesn’t take much to mesmerize him as they’re small by my way of thinking (or at least after 5 kids).  My “Stalker” keeps trying to get me to flash him as I run by, and since we’re both Packer fans (he a season ticket holder), I told him if the Packers made it to the Super Bowl in New Orleans this past year – it would seem the most appropriate place to flash him—and earn some green & gold beads!

Thankfully, the Packers dropped the ball there, much to his disappointment.  :(

Packer fans Christmas game day

So then I told him, once I bought new (bigger) boobs, then I would flash him.  (This seemed a sure safe wager since there’s no money in the budget for my vanity.)  Not to be dissuaded, “Stalker” said he would launch a kick-starter campaign for me and as the funds came in for my “improvements” a caricature of my chest could pump up the way many campaigns show a thermometer with mercury rising.  Again, I told him nice try, but no.

Then he said he was sure that my boobs were indeed magic – that if he only rubbed them he would be able to get up out of his wheelchair and walk.  After all, I am one of his few friends who remember when he was healthy.  Before Muscular Dystrophy rendered him wheel chair bound.  I told him no fair pulling on my heart strings.  He said it was worth a shot!

All kidding aside, what I have learned from my friend is that outlook is everything.  There have been many times that I’ve felt so stuck in my hometown, just like him, when my own life took a detour down a difficult path.  Our friendship is not based on pity.  (Or at least he tells me he doesn’t feel sorry for me, haha).  I truly admire him for his enthusiasm for sports, his quick (albeit sassy) wit & humor, and his ability to accept that life dealt him circumstances out of his control, and to make the best of it.  I am humbled, & humored, often by my dear “Stalker” friend.

Dr. James Perdue, Ed.D., Speaker, Author, & Educator, Persevering Past Your Paralysis!

 & Now,  for ONE MORE PLAY – the story of  Dr James Perdue, Ed.D:

          Irreversible split seconds of time.  They come and go 86,400 times in a day.  Intersection, Sliding Doors, and dozens of other movie’s premises are based on such moments –the simultaneously elusive and controlled timing of events in our life.  If only I hadn’t, if only I had… is life random chance of events or is there a magnetic pull to a pre-chartered map that makes our life happen as it does?

           On Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON – Engaging Your Audience to TREND ON You! with Heidi Feemster on the Linked Local Network this past week, my guest, James Perdue, Ed.D, Speaker, Author, Educator, is the epitome of that fundamental question –  and the answer.  In his most recent book, One More Play, Dr. James Perdue tells the powerful story of how One More Play, became that split second rendering the rest of his life irreversibly changed.

          As a promising professional ballplayer, James was a young determined kid on his way to fulfilling his major league dreams with a college scholarship.  One game into the season, James played a friendly pick-up game of football with his buddies.  Walking off the field to get on with homework and grab a bite to eat, James was talked into One More Play as the receiver.

He ran the ball, scored the TD, but before he could turn around for any celebratory high fives, a blur of force came rushing at James. He caught the movement out of his peripheral vision.  Then the split second hit him.   James was tackled and taken down—never to get up and walk again.

Paralyzed, paraplegic, nursing home.  Not scenarios anyone was to hear, particularly when you’re 19.  Especially not when you’re whole life had focused on being a professional athlete.

Taking his determination to play major league baseball, and redirecting that focus and discipline to his rehabilitation and education, Dr. James Perdue,now brings his story to others to help audiences see what is “paralyzing” them, whether emotionally, mentally, socially, or physically, and how to “Persevere Past Your Paralysis” to move forward to a more fulfilled life.

Easily said.  Much hard lived.

But sometimes help comes in equally unexpected ways.  Imagine, being James, determined to apply the “never quit” heart and mindset of an athlete to his circumstances.  One morning, shifting himself from his bed to his wheelchair, the chair rolled out from under him, leaving James stranded on the floor with his phone far away from him in the next room.  Two hours later, James had managed to propel himself to reach the phone and call for help.

Not always easy, but never alone.

After that incident, help came to James in the form of a four-legged companion, specially trained to be a service dog named Ricardo, and the hero of another one of James’ books, Never Fear Ricardo is Here!

Change, for better or worse, is inevitable – it’s what we do, or don’t do that determines whether you let it paralyze you – Paralyze being “whatever prevents you from achieving your goal.”   With Perseverance, Patience, &,Power, James’s 3 Ps for overcoming adversity — he  delivers a message with humility, humor, and gratitude to motivate people to triumph over tragedies. James’s wit engages audiences as they hear his inspirational story

**For Tamara Leigh’s TREND ON listeners, James has offered a special 2 for 1 book offer –just mention the show.

For more information, book James Perdue, Ed.D, as a speaker, or to order One More Play & Ricardo to the Rescue, or   James as a speaker, visit his website at: www.JamesPerdueSpeaks.com   

TODAY!! Tamara’s listeners Buy Both Books for $20!!  James has mad a special offer available to our TL’s TREND ON & LLN audience.