Faith Through Hard Times: Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Medical Mysteries

David Pascalone was a kid who grew up, and you can say the cards were stacked against him.

I don't know about you, but how was your childhood?

Did you have the cards stacked against you?

David sure did.

Matter of fact, he went through childhood with so many medical issues, yet nobody would listen to him.

He was just a kid.

Everybody just kept blowing him off.

Until, of course, there came a time when he became an adult and he could take control.

Even through all the hard times, through his childhood, into his adult years, David kept with his faith.

His faith in something better, his faith in something more, a faith in his creator.

And at the end of the day, when you hear David's story, you're going to think to yourself, my gosh, this guy has been through a lot.

And yet he's still his faith in God front and center.

Today is a story meant to inspire you, to empower you on the good days and the bad.

When you're having a rough day, I want you to think of today's episode, of today's death.

And I want you to be empowered by it, to remind you that you know what?

I can do it too.

My friend, I welcome you to episode 268.

What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit Grace of Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

Twenty years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery only to find that I was left completely blind.

And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

And here on this podcast, I want to share this insight with you.

Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right path today, we'll consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

Are you keeping track of your score?

Being sure you're doing good, improving a little bit each day?

Well, chances are you said no, not at all.

Well, this podcast focuses on personal development, so it makes sense that I'm gonna give you something to help you out.

I want you to download our brand new Rise and Thrive personal development tracker.

It's totally free, and I've made it specific for you, my friend.

All you have to do is text the word Rise R-I-S-E Rise to 33777.

Again, get your very own personal development tracker by texting the word RISE-33777.

Or if you're not into texting, you can also find the link inside of today's show notes to get access to that tracker as well.

My friend, with that said, here we are diving into the story of today's cast.

I introduced David Pascola.

SPEAKER_00: So my parents were never married, and then both families didn't like each other, and both parents had issues they didn't deal with.

So my parents not only weren't married, but they weren't together.

So I was raised by my mom, a single mom, and she moved in with my grandmother.

And my grandmom, when we moved in, you know, from birth, she had like cancer.

So I knew her for the first four and a half years.

She was an amazing woman, but she was always sick and struggling.

And then on the other side, my mom loved me, but she had her own issues and demons she was dealing with.

And, you know, I spent a lot of time with my grandmom.

And then when my grandmother died, my mom got like super, you know, depressed and added to the already existing issues.

So it was never like a normal, let's say, childhood there.

And there was issues which, you know, I love my mom.

She's still alive.

I still talk to her, and we, you know, she's in town.

But um, you know, it definitely wasn't the ideal childhood, so to speak.

So then when I was, you know, we were really poor, like very poor.

I'm American poor, but still poor.

And when like it rained stuff, water would come in the house, and you know, it the roof was like no joke, like six feet high, maybe.

It was just an old house built, you know, people came over from Idley and my family, and they built it, and they built it out of scrap wood, and they just built room to room to room.

And you know, I'm thankful for a home, I'm thankful for a shelter, but it just wasn't again ideal.

So when I was a kid, I was always getting sick, and they didn't really know why, and they just assumed nothing was wrong.

And they thought I think it's you know, basically sometimes your parents they use you for attention.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: I think pretty much what the doctors thought was I was always getting sick because I was modeling my mother's behavior, or she was putting me up to it to get attention.

So again, it was just back then, you know, it wasn't, it was just you are what you are, and you stay with your family and you're you just work through the problems, or you just take the abuse.

So I didn't ever say anything to anybody, I just went through it.

But when I was like 11 and 12, I started getting really sick and sick meaning like tired all the time, couldn't breathe right through my nose.

Really just weird things.

It was like I was getting the flu or strep throat every couple weeks.

It was just really bizarre.

And so everybody was telling me I was depressed and you know, all this stuff.

When I was 15, I just stopped going to the doctor because I was so sick of them telling me nothing was wrong and just prescribed me antibiotics.

And then from 15 to 18, I just kept getting sicker and sicker and sicker.

And then my senior year, I turned 18.

Now I can actually have some say in what's going on.

So when I went to the doctors, I'm like, I want my tonsils and adenoids out.

And like, why?

I'm like, I get sick every week or two, and I'm always feeling run down, and I just want them out.

I'm tired of this.

And like, whatever.

So they're like, they're gonna take them out.

And at this point in my life, I was always trying to work to make money because I didn't want to be poor, and I was always trying to work out because I didn't want to be sick and fat.

So when I was 18, I was wrestling and I love wrestling, but I could literally go to practice and feel like trash.

But other people would tell me I was like strong.

I was like, what?

I thought they were making fun of me.

And then I'd go run like six miles, but then I'd go to bench press and I couldn't even lift 100 pounds.

Like it would just fluctuate.

Like one day I could bench 225, no problem.

The next day I couldn't bench a hundred pounds.

Uh and I was sleeping all day in class, but I couldn't sleep like straight through the night.

I was I carried a backpack with a roll of toilet paper in it at all times because carrying tissues just wasn't enough.

Constantly blowing my nose, constantly sick.

Uh, anyways, so I go to the doctor, I told him to do it.

And back then they did pre-op inspection, I don't know what you call it.

And a week before the surgery, I went in and the nurse is like, hey, oh, hold on, I gotta back up.

I went on a trip to Orlando.

It was the first vacation we ever took, second vacation we ever took in 18 years.

Went to Orlando, and it was a trip I didn't even really want to go on, but it was like, okay, it's a vacation.

Going to Disney World, might as well, right?

And when we went, you know how like you go on a flight and your ear blocks?

Yes.

My ear blocked and it stayed blocked the entire trip.

And then we flew back and it stayed.

And at this point, you know, I was interviewing, I don't know what you call it, but I was talking to the Army, Marines, Air Force, uh, Navy.

I wanted to serve God in my country, to go to college, to become an officer, to serve my country.

Well, I remember getting back and my ear was blocked, and I was telling the Air Force recruiter, we were sitting in the public library.

It's like, just grab your nose and blow.

And I'm like, pushing, pushing, pushing.

Could not unblock my ear.

And he literally laughed at me, like, you're basically you're a puss, like you're a wuss.

We don't want you.

And he got up and walked away.

And I was like, huh, that guy's a giant a-hole.

I don't want to deal with guys like him anymore.

So I'm like, Air Force is off the table.

And then I took my ASBAB just because I didn't plan on going enlisted, but just in case, you know, I took it and I scored like a 99 or something, or 98 out of 99.

And then I found out they had a mistake on their test.

So they were like really trying to recruit me.

But all this is going on.

I hate school.

I'm always sick.

My house was a nightmare.

I'm not even going to talk about that, like the personal life there.

And then now I'm in this pre-op.

I haven't been able to hear.

And during the same time, there was a lump in the roof of my mouth, which I told the doctor about when I went to see him about my tonsils and adenoids.

He didn't, he said, you know, he didn't even acknowledge it.

So now the nurse is there and she's like, Hey, when did you get this abscess?

I'm like, I've had it for like six months.

It's like, what?

I'm like, yeah, I've had this for six months.

I told the doctor.

And she's like, it's not in the notes.

I'm like, that's not my fault.

So they're like, okay, well, we should get a CAT scan just to be safe to make sure it's not near.

And guess what?

We'll give you antibiotics.

I'm like, yeah, big surprise there.

Yes.

So I go to take this, you know, CAT scan.

And then I go back home and normal, you know, I've finished school, finished wrestling.

I'm sleeping because I'm exhausted, right?

I'm sleeping on the couch.

My best friend's over sleeping on the other side of the couch.

And I get a phone call like eight o'clock at night.

My mom's still not home at work from work.

And uh it's the hospital, and like, hey, we got your CAT scan back.

And they told me on the phone, like, you have a tumor, uh, you need to come in right away.

We think it's cancer.

You need to come in right away.

What's going on?

And I was like, huh.

I was like, yeah, I'll call you tomorrow.

I'll get something booked.

And I hung up.

And then instantly I felt this like relief.

Because all these years they've been telling me nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong.

And I knew something was wrong.

Yes.

But I didn't, you know, here I'm a kid, nobody listens to me.

So I tell my best friend, I'm like, guess what?

I'm like, you know, I'm always sick.

He's like, yeah.

It's like I actually have a tumor in my head and they think it's cancer.

And he turned white as a ghost.

Because you remember the movie Kindergarten Cop.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_00: And then sure enough, it's a tumor, right?

So he turned white as a ghost.

I'm like, dude, it's okay.

I'm like, you're you're fine.

I'm like, this is great news.

He said, number one, I'm not crazy.

And number two, if I die, at least all the money problems will be solved for my mom, and I'm gonna be in heaven.

I don't care.

I'm gonna be with God forever.

I'm happy.

So I totally had peace, and I went and I took a nap, and it was great.

It was fantastic.

So then my mom comes home, I tell her, and she flips out.

I'm like, what are you flipping out about?

I'm either gonna be okay, I'm gonna go see God, or you're gonna be rich.

It's it's the end of it.

So, long story short, they go in and I'm gonna fast forward through all this.

The dude looked at the hospital, the one that they found it.

Okay, dude butchered me.

Like he was trying to take biopsies, putting cuts in my roof, my mouth, and just it's just a butcher job.

And then he's like shaking, literally shaking, because all these doctors know, oh damn, we're screwed.

This kid's been telling us years prior, then he stopped coming.

Now, you know, months, something's wrong.

We didn't take him seriously.

This is total malpractice.

And he's shaking, he's like, Hey, do you mind if we send you to Boston?

And remember, I'm so poor that I didn't have insurance or anything.

And so I got on this when I turned 18, I was on my mom's insurance until 18.

But then once I turned 18, I didn't have anything.

So they put me on the state insurance.

And even though, you know, welfare and all the socialist programs in their true form, they're made to help people in this exact position while you need it, and then you work yourself out of that position.

You know what I mean?

Exactly.

I was 18 and I had no insurance, so they gave me the best possible insurance.

I was so thankful.

And they sent me to Dr.

William Montgomery, the head of the ENT at Mass I and Ear in Boston.

Right.

And this dude was world-known.

He's wrote books, he has patents, he has any ENT doctor listening now, they probably know who Dr.

William Montgomery is.

He was flying to foreign countries to work on Sheiks and Princes and then coming back to work on a poor kid from Milford Mass.

So it was just great how God worked it out.

Long story short, he's like, hey, this is what we think you have.

We don't know.

Death percentage for the surgery is over 50%.

Easy.

He said deformation is near 100, retardation is 80.

I mean, they were being like just legit with all the stats.

When it was done, I was like, I'm good.

Let's do this, right?

I'm like, kill me.

And that is son.

I had a private conversation with him.

I said, Hey, I know you can't legally make these decisions.

I said, but I don't want to be 40 years old and my mom's changing my diapers because I'm handicapped.

I said, if things go south in the surgery, just snip, snip, cut something that shouldn't be cut and just let me go home.

And he just wanted to come at me and said, I promise.

I said, good, we're good to go.

Either send me to see Jesus or heal me.

So I go into the first surgery.

It was brutal.

Like it wasn't like a couple hours of surgery, it was a three-day surgery.

So the first day you go in, they do an embolization because the tumor was a size of like you'll see in the story, it kept growing back.

So I think the first one was the size of a baseball with a tail down my throat.

And they went in and they planned to, you know, break my jaw, you know, deform me, do all these things.

And when he was in surgery, so the first day they did embolization, they go through your groin, they go up, they fill your basically they fill the tumor and everything they're gonna cut with supergluen plastic.

And when they're filling this with supergluen plastic, you know, if you budge or move, you can have an aneurysm, you can die.

There's like all sorts of bad, bad things that can happen.

So after they did this surgery, which was hours and hours and hours, you can't move for 24 hours afterwards.

That, Kevin, to date is still, I've had crazy stuff happen.

That was the most painful thing ever.

I mean, when I say you can't move, you can't even move your head, you can't move your back, you can't move your feet, you can't move your hands.

You don't want anything that's gonna increase blood flow or pressure.

So as soon as that was done, they're like, What do you want to eat?

I'm like, I want to take a shower.

That's what I wanted.

I took a shower and then I ate, and then the third day, you have surgery.

And I think my surgery was like 16 hours.

But when he was in there, God just gave him the idea.

So he cut out my palate.

You know, your roof of your mouth are you in touch with your tongue.

Yeah.

He just took off the right side of my palate, and he said, as soon as they went in, the tumor just rolled out like into his hand.

Oh wow.

It just like delivered.

Like, so they this surgery still took, like I said, it took, I forget, I get I get confused because there's that you're gonna see another surgery.

I don't remember if it was like 14 hours or 13 hours, but it was a long time.

I mean, I was in that room, hundreds of stitches, but they didn't have to break my jaw deforming.

So I wake up and everybody is like, Are you okay?

Can you see?

I'm like, Yeah, I'm fine.

And I was, you know, after a major surgery like that, usually you have blood transfusions and huge longs.

They told me I'd be in the hospital for 30 days or more.

Back then, you know, they actually tried to help you, not just run you home and call it.

Yes.

So long story short, I woke up, it was a Wednesday, and I got discharged Saturday.

And during the surgery, I only lost 250 cc's of blood.

So my number one concern, that was remember back in the 90s, HIV was huge and not understood.

They still don't fully understand it, but it really wasn't understood.

And I was terrified of a blood transfusion.

And they said you lost less blood having a major surgery than most people lose on a nosebleed.

So I was like, cool.

So they discharged me on Saturday, and then I feel so good.

This was stupid, but I was like mowing the lawn a week later.

And that's really retarded, but that's the truth.

So I just felt so good.

It was years of not being able to breathe, years of not blood flow.

So all that fatigue, the tumor was not only it was a benign tumor they found out, but it was acting malignant.

And I'll and you're gonna show you how, but it was eating away at all of my bone and my jaw, and it was sucking my blood supply, and it was putting pressure on my brain.

And when I was 14, I couldn't breathe sometimes.

And uh the doctor told me I had asthma.

I'm like, I don't have asthma, I can go run around and I don't have any issues.

It's when I get hot.

So what happened is it would get hot and I couldn't breathe.

So then I'd go in front of the refrigerator freezer and I breathe in cold air, and eventually it would get better.

So what would basically happen is the tumor got hot, things expand, couldn't breathe.

So looking back, it was just it's almost humorous.

So then again, I'm going through all the details, I don't know why.

But, anyways, so I go through and then I try to go off to college, and then I start feeling run down again, like the same type of run down three months later.

So now we're in August, and I'm feeling just trash.

And I go to see the doctor, and he's literally again, he's overseas working on a like a I think he was working on a print.

And I get the other doctor, who again, mass general, mass ironier, these are some of the best doctors in the world.

But this guy was such a jerk.

He was a stumbag.

He he's like, your tumor didn't come back.

He's like, you're fine.

He's like, you're having like basically he was saying it's in your head, just like all these other doctors.

And he goes, you know, you just were so sick so long, your body's just balancing out, it doesn't know what to do, blah, blah, blah.

And he made fun of me.

And I looked at him, and at this point, I knew, no, no, no.

Nobody knows my body better than me.

And I might be a poor kid.

And I thought I was stupid and an idiot.

And like I did not have a high opinion of myself after after years of being told you're worthless.

But at that point, I was like, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die on my terms.

So I looked at him, I said, listen, man, every time you order an MRI, you get a kickback for your Mercedes payment.

I said, Shut your mouth, sign the paper, and give me it and prove I'm wrong.

He's like, fine.

It's like I'm gonna prove you're wrong and laugh in your face.

I'm like, fine.

And it was that hostile.

You know, back then, you know, I was 18, I had a girlfriend with me, and she was just like looking at him like this guy's an a-hole.

And I'm like, Yeah, this is what I've experienced my whole life.

And like Dr.

Montgomery.

So I go back and you know, so I'm feeling like questioning myself again.

Am I really sick?

Is it mental?

Am I uh what's that hypochondriac?

Week later, I get a call and like, hey, this is Dr.

Montgomery's office.

You gotta come in.

I'm like, okay.

So I get in the car with my mom and my girlfriend, drive the hour to Boston, sitting there talking, and the doctor's there.

Dr.

Montgomery, he's back, and the doctor who gave me the You're an Idiot lecture is standing behind him with his head down, quiet.

And Dr.

Montgomery goes, Dave, you know, your tumor was really rare.

He's like, we've only seen a handful in recorded medicine.

And when I say handful, not a handful of the tumor I had, but a handful of like the size and magnitude and the aggressive.

And he said, you know, yours grew back.

He's like, we don't know if we it was like a barbell type effect, and we we were so focused on one side, we missed the other.

And I'm thinking to myself, as an 18-year-old who's not medical, that doesn't sound very reasonable.

And he's like, he's like, but we can't imagine it growing back that fast.

He's like, it's it's almost the same size, and it's in like, you know, near the same position.

We we gotta get it out.

And I'm like, okay.

I'm like, that's cool.

And then he looks at the other doctor and he's like, you have something to say.

And the doctor's like, he's like, I'm really sorry.

He's like, I just didn't think this was possible, and and I'm wrong.

And I'm like, listen, man, I forgive you.

I understand that's an exceptional situation.

I said, but if you've ever been on this side of the chair, every time you're told, you know, nothing's wrong, it makes you feel crazy.

And if I had a real problem or if I had a fake problem, it's just gonna get worse.

I said, you gotta do your due diligence and believe people.

I said, especially if you have the the history of proving there's something really wrong.

So Dr.

Montgomery looks at him and says, I feel what he said, but basically, don't open your mouth again and stand there.

And then he looks at me, and this is the the number one dude in the world.

He's like, Dave, this guy has a lot of degrees.

It's like there's a lot of people out there who are more intelligent than me.

He's like, but as many PhDs as we might have, it's like nobody has more knowledge about your body than you.

He's like, I don't care if it's me.

If you feel like there's something wrong, you pursue it, and you be your best advocate.

He's like, because we're just men and this is a practice, not a profession.

He's like, You tell us what's wrong.

You don't let us tell you what's wrong.

And that is like if for the listeners, that's a huge takeaway.

If you know something's wrong, fight.

Fight for yourself, fight for what's right, fight for your kids, fight for whatever you need to fight for, but don't quit till you win or die.

That's how I look at it.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I mean I would like.

To just add to that is that is an attribute that makes a doctor amazing.

Yep.

Is a doctor who understands that.

And that is, I mean, that is just that is incredible.

And I mean, standing there in one room, you have the total opposites of doctors.

Yeah.

And uh wow.

So what happened with this, with the second time?

SPEAKER_00: So the second time they go, they said, okay, Dave, listen, you have a huge amount, your palate's gone.

You have a huge amount of your you know veins.

There's a vascular tumor acting malignant.

And when I say acting malignant, it was like dissolving bone, right?

Okay.

So he's like, we have to take it out again, but now your your death rate's like 75%, you know, whatever he said.

And then he's like, your deformation rates at basically 100%.

We're definitely gonna have to break your jaw and mandible, and you know, you're gonna have some issues.

And and then I'm like, okay, just do it.

I said just the same deal as before.

I don't want to be a vegetable, I don't want to be crippled.

So just snip snip if you get a snip snip, you know, everybody makes a mistake.

So we go into the surgery and they're sending like counselors to my room, and I'm like, I swear I'm fine.

They they're like back then again in Boston.

Even the policies I don't agree with.

The thing I love about Boston is most people, if you like, if you actually interviewed people and took a checklist to see if they're let's say Democrat or Republican, we'll keep it simple, right?

Okay.

Most people in Boston are gonna say I'm a Democrat.

But if you looked at the value system, they're gonna be a Republican.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: Because that's just but they don't even understand what it means.

We're just we were trained as kids, Democrat, good working class, Republican, evil, rich, bad, bad, you know?

So when they have policies up there, even the most back then at least, you know, sending a counselor to your room before surgery, they had good intentions, right?

Someone had good intentions.

Now, you know, 30 years later, things are very skewed and a lot of people don't have good intentions.

But back then they were sending counselors to my room because they were trying to say this an 18-year-old kid who could die or be deformed, he's gonna need, you know, some kind of mental help.

But when I was there, I'm like, listen, I know God.

I trust in him as my savior.

I was 15.

I know that no matter what happens, I'm gonna be with him in eternity.

I know that if I live or die, it's his will.

I know that no matter what happens, we'll adapt and overcome, right?

So the lady's like, yep, you're fine.

And she walks out of the room.

So then the next day I have that same surgery, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday embolization, Tuesday the rest to let it dry.

And then Wednesday, you know, again, 14, 16 hours, whatever it is.

Well, this time when Dr.

Montgomery goes in, he has this idea.

What if we take off his cheekbone?

SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00: So they cut my lips like underneath between your, I guess, your gums and your skin, and they pull my lip like above my head.

It's like basically, yeah, it's just skin, it'll it'll snap back.

And then they take a chisel and hammer and make a square window, a rectangular window in my cheekbone.

And his theory is he's 18, he's still growing, it'll heal.

So he goes in, and then sure enough, just like the first one, he can access the tumor and take it out through that window, just like he did the palate the first time, and then he shows me back up.

And this time, Kevin, I lost only 25 cc's of blood, which is not even realistic.

After the embolization, remember I told you there's a bunch of the first day where they put the plastic and the super glue, they tell you you can have like, you know, strokes and and and all sorts of issues and blindness and blah, blah, blah.

Okay.

I actually woke up from that.

And you wake up and you can't move.

Like you can't move, you can't stretch, you can't do anything.

And when I woke up, I couldn't see out of my eye, my left eye.

And I was like, oh.

And I was like, hey, mom, can you get the nurse?

And I'm trying to stay cool because like I knew my mom would flip out more than me.

And I just had no vision in my eye.

And I was like, God, you know, I don't.

And I just prayed, I can't tell you what I prayed, I'm not gonna lie.

I it was just basically help me, I don't understand.

You know, I don't want to be blind, but whatever your will is.

And I remember crying, but it wasn't like, you know, there's different types of crying.

Then you cry happy tears, sad tears, fearful tears.

Mine was just like frustration and helplessness tears.

And when I cried, my vision came back.

Just washed it away.

So my vision came back.

And I know you and I, we've talked about this, just that that at that point that was a different experience.

Of course.

And so then I get up, same thing, I want to take a shower, then I ate, then I go into surgery, and then I wake up and there's a giant sign.

And I mean a giant sign.

Like, remember when uh printers had the paper where it was on a ream and you had to like tear off the little circles?

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: The nurses and my family and friends made this sign that went like it must have gone 15, 20 feet across the wall of the hospital.

It said the luckiest boy in Boston, and then they all signed it.

Because when I woke up, I found out the tumor came out like it did.

They didn't have to disfigure me.

I had no damage that they knew of.

And uh the surgery was a complete success.

And like I said, I was discharged the next day.

Wow, just incredible.

It was all God a hundred percent now.

Look at some people have God and their outcome, and I can talk about I don't know if we have time, but I mean, I got sick when I was older, and I was sick for years from something totally different.

You know, it was just agonizing pain for four years, right?

So God's gonna plan, and I don't ever want to go through those days again.

But looking back, I'm thankful for them because I learned so much.

But at this point, you know, I'm 19, I wake up, says the luckiest boy, no, I'm 18, I'm says the luckiest boy in Boston, and I'm back.

So now I'm like going, I'm like, okay, well, I don't want to go back to college because I just had two major surgeries in a row and my face is like, you know, I got a hole in my palate, a hole in my cheekbone.

Wrestling's off the table because if I got hit, that could have a real bad issue.

I didn't have the facial just stability of the structure.

So fast forward, now we go from September, October, November, around December.

I start getting sick again.

Oh no.

Man, this can't be happening.

I'm like, no way.

I'm like, even I'm like, there's no way I'm sick again.

So I go in, talk to the doctor, take an MRI with contrast, and they're like, Dave, it's back again.

And like this time, we know it's not a barbell.

Your body.

They said, what happened?

This tumor is only in men between the ages of 12 and 25.

It's a hormonal tumor, and your body, because it was there so long, they said it's usually a small pea-sized tumor in your nose that causes nosebeds.

No big deal.

They said yours was there so long because the doctors didn't listen to you that it grew out of control and it's just become part of your body.

There's like, we need to do radiation or chemo.

And I'm like, huh.

And now I'm like thinking, maybe I should be considering other paths here, right?

Uh huh.

So I'm like, okay, I'm like, you know, let's look at the options.

And I knew chemo was poison.

So I'm like, I'm not gonna do poison.

Radiation causes cancer, and they want to radiate my head to stop a tumor.

Yeah.

So I said, What's statistically, like, what's the tridest, the truest, what's got the best success rate for this type of sine?

He's like, Dave, there's only been two people in recorded history that are close to this.

And he's like, I gotta be honest with you, you're gonna be in the record book, you're number one.

I'm like, okay.

I'm like, so we got new ground here, right?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, praying about it.

And I said, Well, you tell me what you think.

And he's like, I think radiation would be the best approach because we can like basically pinpoint it and and zap it.

But it was in my you know, face and throat.

So he's like, we're gonna have to do two do like double the dose and you know, do this.

Like basically, instead of doing something we do in 30 days, we do it in 14 or 21 days.

They they like sped the process because once you start getting radiation, you get sores and all sorts of other complications.

And uh, am I giving too much detail?

I feel like I'm just taking a long time.

SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, this is your story.

No, yeah, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, hopefully I'm not boring the listeners because this all comes down to honestly, God is good, he loves you, and he's gonna get you through it.

But absolutely I just yeah, no, no.

SPEAKER_01: I got I got more questions once we get through this part.

So, yeah, you keep going.

SPEAKER_00: Okay, so anyway, so I have the radiation, and that's first off, I'm claustrophobic.

So every time I took an MRI, it just got more and more intensified.

And now, if you've ever had radiation on your head, they strap you to a chair.

This is not a joke, they put a straw in your mouth and then they pull like a fiberglass mesh over your face.

So you you know, like in Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Han Solo stuck in the stuff.

Yes, they basically pull a mesh over your face and mold it to your face, and then they proceed to plaster you.

And the the the whole process takes almost you know an hour.

So they have me strapped to a chair, breathing through straw.

And remember, I can't breathe through my nose because I have a tumor in my head.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So any kind of drainage or drip.

I mean, I'm like, seriously, you I could have real issues in that chair.

So I'm claustrophobic, the whole thing was just terrifying.

And then every day, twice a day, I had to go to Boston to get zapped for like I can't remember it was 14 or 21 days.

I just remember it was around I finished on Valentine's Day actually in '96.

So whatever I did, I started in January and I finished right before Valentine's Day.

Cause I remember I was dropped down to like 133 pounds and I couldn't eat.

But I remember having like Valentine's Day, just thinking, okay, this is over, this is done.

So they do the radiation, and at the same time, I was so sick.

I started going to an alternative medicine doctor.

Okay.

And he did something called contact reflex analysis, where they basically they put his assistant puts her hand on your shoulder and then she puts her arm up, and then they ask your body with the energy, hey, what does he need or what's wrong?

And the arm drops if it's weak, it stays strong.

And at first this sounded ridiculous, but I'm like, what do I have to lose?

Right.

And then I asked the guy, I said, right up front, I said, listen, by what power do you do this?

I said, I don't understand electricity, but I use electricity every day.

I don't understand how you know an engine works fully, but I use a car every day.

I said, by what power do you do this?

God or Satan?

And he's like, No, God, I believe in God.

I'm a Christian, I've trust him as my savior.

He's like, It's just I'm using the energy that God created to identify what's wrong with you.

Like, okay.

I'm like, if if it's Satan, tell me I'm gonna die with I'm not gonna use you.

I said, but if it's God, we're good, right?

So I'm just like 19 at this point.

I'm just trying to, as long as I don't dishonor God, I could care less.

All I care about is honor God.

And then um, he does this, and then the radiation, nothing was really happening afterwards, and like talking about doing more or putting me on chemo.

So then I see this guy and I go on all these herbs, and again, being poor, the alternative path is not cheap, usually, right?

It's like if you buy vegetables, it costs more than buying a box of uh mac and cheese.

So, but the mac and cheese is gonna kill you, the vegetables are gonna cure you.

So I'm juicing now every day.

I'm taking handfuls of medicine, like not medicine, herbs.

I'm taking stuff that I remember at one point back then, I was taking this liquid that cost more an ounce than gold.

And it was just, I mean, every day, if I could work, I worked and I made money to pay for these supplements.

But the key was getting rid of all dairy and sugar.

And what doctors know, what anybody that knows anything about basic medicine, which I didn't know because they don't tell you this in school, they don't tell you this in the media, but tumors feed off of sugar.

So, and even the MRI dye, they put sugar in it and die.

And what happens is it goes through your bloodstream, and then guess what?

The tumor absorbs it, and then that's how they can see the concentrated spots.

So, this is like not only a known fact, but it's how they diagnose a tumor, right?

But no doctors typically tell you, hey, by the way, cut out all dairy and sugar because that feeds the tumor.

Well, what happens if you starve it?

It goes away.

So at that point, I went through two major surgeries, radiation, and I was dying.

Well, I got on this holistic diet and started getting better, and better and better and better and better.

And after three, four years, I started introducing foods, and now I eat like everybody else, sadly.

I eat crap, right?

But my body got strong, I'm healthy, and God blessed.

And there's like I said, there's no healthier now than I've ever been.

And the tumor continued to shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink.

So if I, you know, for the rest of my life, I guess technically there would be a tumor in there, but every time I took an MRI for the last 30 years, it just keeps getting smaller, smaller, smaller.

SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.

Yeah.

So that's incredible.

So you started this whole journey when you found out about the tumor when you were 18, correct?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I found out when I was 18.

Yep.

Yes.

Because I turned 18 in March.

I got, you know, went to the doctor, and I remember I was diagnosed with this.

You know, they told me originally it's a cancerous, malignant, inoperable tumor.

Yeah.

You're gonna die.

That was the first diagnosis.

And then they said they got me to Dr.

Montgomery.

He's like, we need to get you in a surgery right away.

And I remember it was two weeks before my graduation.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

And I said, wait till after my graduation.

Like, no, we need to do this now.

You could die.

I'm like, this is a vascular tumor, right?

Like, yes.

I'm like, this tumor bleeds, right?

Like, yes.

I'm like, listen, man, I've had this for years.

I'm 18 years old.

I've been playing all the sports with my friends recreationally, including tackle football.

I said, I box regularly, I wrestle competitively, and I've never had a bloody nose in my life.

And look at it, I've broken it at least twice.

I said, I want to graduate.

I want closure.

I said, I hate school.

I don't want to get better and have to go back.

I am finishing school even if I die.

That was it.

So I went, graduated, and then one week from my graduation, I was in surgery.

SPEAKER_01: Wow.

So how old were you then when you found the tumor a third time?

SPEAKER_00: 19.

Yeah, 95.

March of 95 was my birthday.

I found it in May, had surgery in June, had another surgery in September.

So 96.

Oh, I guess I was still 18.

So everything happened when I was 18.

And I because I was done with radiation by Valentine's Day in 96.

So I was just recovering when I was 19.

It took me over a year to get even close to normal after all those surgeries.

SPEAKER_01: And what's I guess incredible is how fast that thing would grow back.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

And they told me something that was terrifying to me.

So my whole life, all I wanted to be, uh like, and this is true.

I just, I never had a father, I never had a family.

I just wanted to be a good husband and father, and I want to have a lot of kids.

And they told me straight up, because this is a hormonal tumor, you're gonna be one extreme or the other.

You're either gonna be super fertile or you're gonna be sterile.

So now I'm like in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, wait a second, I don't care about right now.

Down the road, I want to get married and have kids.

You tell me I can't have kids.

I'm like, well, there's nothing I can do about it.

So let's just focus on today.

And thank God I was the extreme of if I touched somebody, you know, if I touched my wife, she got pregnant.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

Yeah, I guess that can be a good thing and a bad thing.

So I guess.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no.

I love my I have my two kids, 21 and 20, and they're amazing.

SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.

So, one question that has come to my mind this whole time that you're sharing this journey is your faith.

And you said that when you were 15.

What led to that?

And and how did you come to know Jesus?

SPEAKER_00: So that's actually a great story, too, because I grew up in an Italian area and everybody was basically, you know, what are you, or Catholic.

But my mom, she went to this like really off-the-wall, people would call it charismatic church, but not all charismatic churches are bad.

But this church was just out of their mind, it was like a cult.

So between my birth and you know, five years old, I had my mom taking me to this.

Even at five years old, I recognized Kevin.

I'm like, these people are crazy.

And I told I told my mom that.

Like I always thought kind of like an adult because I had to.

And so I had my grandmom like smuggling me to Catholic church and going to mass.

I had my mom taking me to this charismatic, crazy nut job church.

So I always knew there was a God, but I'm like, I don't think God's in either one of those.

And I remember having this little Bible on the shelf, like a Gideon Bible.

And actually, it was before it was it was Gideon Association, but it was like, I forget the name inside of it.

But basically, they gave this Bible to my uncle when he signed up for Vietnam.

He brought it home in his rucksack, gave it to my grandmom, and then it ended up just because we live with my grandmom on the shelf.

So I remember when things were chaotic in my home, seeing this Bible and everything else would like vibrate and move and be chaos, but that would stay steady.

And I still have that Bible to this day, and I even crayon my name in it, right?

So I always believed there was a God, but I didn't know God.

And then when I was, oh man, like 10 to 12, my mom started going back to church.

And there was this pastor that always be there on the basketball courts when we were out there trying to talk to us, and he's always invited us to youth group and come knocking on our door, and we'd jump down the couch and hide, like you know, like when the Jehovah's Witnesses come, because we we just associate these people with if they come to your door, they're a cult.

Yes.

So all that's going on, and then my mom stops going to church again.

When I'm 15, I'm always sick.

I'm always being told I'm not sick.

That was that pivotal point where I just stopped going to the doctors.

But what was simultaneously happening is I thought I was losing my mind.

I looking back now, I guess I was having what people would consider panic attacks.

And I remember going to my mom and saying, like, hey, I'm going crazy.

But what's amazing is, okay, I actually just skipped a major step.

Right before we stopped going to church when I was 12 years old, that my mom was going to that church with that pastor who was always, you know, inviting us to youth group.

I went to an event with them to see a gentleman named Tim Lee.

And he was a soldier who had, he was a Marine, had his legs blown off in Vietnam.

And he preached on God's love and heaven and hell and what it is.

And he said, if you haven't trusted Christ as your savior, when you die, you are going to hell.

Or the worm dies not, where the fire is not quenched, you'll be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Or if you trust Christ and you know he's the only way to save you, and God loves you and wants that for you, he said, you'll have eternity and peace and joy with our Lord.

So I went forward that night, and that's when I trusted Christ at 12 years old to save me.

And I gave my life to him.

But the first thing, the very first thing, the person who was like, you know, counseling me, working with me, said, How do you feel?

I'm like, Oh, I feel good.

I feel happy.

And the dude like interrogated questioning me where he made me feel like I did it wrong and I wasn't really saved.

So I went from going down, and I believe that is the day, the moment I got saved.

I trusted Christ, but then immediately the seed was stolen and the joy was stolen, and then I didn't know.

And then my mom stops going to church.

You talk about the perfect storm, right?

Well, then I'm 15, and when I'm 15, I think I'm going crazy, but in my heart, God wasn't saying, you know, go to a council or do this or that.

It's like you need to go to that church.

You need to go to that church.

So I go to that church and it's a Wednesday night.

I remember my mom wouldn't even go in.

She drops me off, and I go in, and Kevin, I don't know the difference between a Bible and a hymnal.

I'm sitting in the back row because, you know, at school you want us in the back away from everybody.

And the pastor's preaching, and it's a small church in New England, maybe like 50 people there.

When the pastor's preaching, I'm raising my hand and asking questions.

Nobody said a word.

And he just, without missing a beat, he's like, Well, let me show you where that is in the Bible.

And I couldn't even follow.

I had to just listen, right?

And then Sunday morning I went back.

And then I went back Sunday night and then Wednesday.

And so this went on for like three weeks.

And not one person at church did anything but be kind to me and smile at me and and love on me.

And I remember it was a Thursday night after like a youth group.

And so I'm like learning and growing.

I don't really understand.

And the pastor's walking up this like gravel hill, and it's Pastor Carl Kuhn, by the way, and his wife, Bev.

Amazing people.

Still talk to them to this day.

I thank God for them.

He puts his arm around me, Kevin.

He says, Dave, see, it seems like you have a lot of questions.

I'm like, Yeah, I do.

He's like, he's like, you know, sadly, we don't have a lot of men in our church.

And he's like, the men we do have are really busy with work and family and you know their life responsibilities.

He's like, but I got a friend over in Bellingham.

It's like a town over like 20 minutes away, which seems forever when you're 15, you don't have a car, right?

Of course.

He said, I got a friend, and he's like, he's willing to come out here once or twice a week and meet you and disciple you.

Does that sound like something you'd want to do?

Like, what's disciple?

And he's like, Oh, he's like, basically, sit down with the Bible and answer the questions you have.

I'm like, oh yeah, that sounds awesome.

So this guy, Tony Stefanini, comes out and he came out twice a week regularly, sat down with me.

I got assurance of my salvation when I was 15, changed my life completely at that point.

So all that fear and the panic attacks, everything just went away.

Everything, like a bunch of the anxiety and hostility and anger, all just went away.

God just dramatically changed my life.

And then my friends would come to the Bible say we.

Me and they trusted Christ as their savior, and it was just a beautiful thing and a beautiful time, and it changed my life.

So that's how I got saved.

So that's why when I was 18 and they found this tumor, I didn't care.

I knew a hundred percent God's in control, everything happens for a reason, and absent with the body, present with the Lord.

So that that's kind of my story.

SPEAKER_01: Wow.

I mean, can I just say though, that I mean, the fact that in such a short period of time after becoming saved, to have that level of faith of an 18-year-old boy faced with a life or death scenario in the way that you discuss it and the way you talk about it, of being so sure, like, well, the worst case scenario is I get to go to heaven, you know?

And I think that's pretty remarkable.

Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, I really mean this isn't super fake humility.

It's God, like I mean, there's I thank you for saying that.

I understand what you're saying, but I think that's I think the key is just you know, God talks about childlike faith.

Man, I was too stupid to know any better.

So I just think God made promises, God keeps promises, the Bible never lies, God never lies, so I got nothing to fear.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: You know, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged.

So the Lord will be your God, He will be with you wherever you go.

You know, Joshua 1 9.

That's actually in front of me on the wall right now.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love it.

So after all of this with the the tumors and everything, what path did you take?

I I did you go into the service?

Not what happened?

SPEAKER_00: No, so what's ironic is when I'm 18, I'm dating this girl after high school.

So everything happened after I graduate, right?

Okay.

So I backslide into sin there.

So I'm still living right, so to speak, in all the you know, Christian circle ways, but now I'm having sex out of marriage with this girl, which I know is wrong.

Every single time I feel guilty and sick, every single time.

And nobody was really saying anything.

And I it doesn't matter what anybody says, it matters what God thinks, right?

So I'm dating this girl, but my mindset is like, I know Sane's trying to trick me, and I know I did this, and you know, it's like, well, I already did it, why not do it more?

So, you know, I'm just self-justifying, right?

But now what it's doing is it's like compiling these doubts.

It's like Sane couldn't get me one way, so now he's trying to get me with another.

So damage for me to go to the military, I'm damaged goods, that's off the table.

For me to go wrestle, that's damaged goods, it's off the table, right?

So now it's like, well, what do I do with my life?

I I at that point I thought I was a poor, stupid moron, had no value.

So do I get a job?

Do I get a trade?

Do I go to college?

Do I just go help a missionary?

Well, then I'm like, dude, you're not right with God.

You're gonna go curse the mission field.

You don't want to do that.

So that same pastor, he brought me to this like college presentation for Penn School of Christian College.

And Penn School of College, not only did I go there, not only did I have a great experience, not only did it give me friends for life, not only did I get career opportunities for life, not only did I end up going back teaching there.

I'm telling you how I thought at 19.

I'm like, well, I can go there for a year, try to get right with God, then I'll leave and go to a real college.

Yes.

All right, that was how I was thinking, because it was a Christian college, and at that time it wasn't accredited.

But I had a killer education that's better than most Ivy League schools, to be honest with you.

So I end up going down there and I'm still recovering.

Like I'm still sick as a dog, I'm still juicing every day.

I'm barely 145 pounds, but that's kind of where I went.

And then once I got to college, that's when God really started working on my heart and my mind and teaching me and growing me and toughening me up, actually.

That's when it was like, you know, you're in the I was in the middle, and the middle is the worst place, the lukewarm, the gray.

So you can be at Heathen and you're cold.

You can be on fire for God and you're hot.

I was just lukewarm.

And the more I was at that school, I had people, people who didn't believe in God tell me I was a nut.

People who were Christians tell me I wasn't good enough.

And I'm like going crazy.

I'm like, man, I just can't figure this thing out.

So I end up going to college, and then to this day, we're still friends.

Seth Myers, he's a missionary to Africa, one of the greatest humans I've ever met.

He was actually on my podcast.

You can check it out.

Remarkable stories.

And um, Seth comes up to me before we had chapel, you know, four times a week.

And he's like, Dave, he's like, Here's a flyer from neighborhood biotime.

He's like, You gotta check it out.

He's like, You'd be amazing at it.

He's like, You should be an evangelist this summer.

And I'm like, What?

I'm a mechanical engineering major.

I'm I don't even think I'm right with God.

I'm like, this ministry is for preacher boys, and like like I'm like, I'm gonna curse it, man.

What are you crazy?

It's like Dave, just promise me one thing.

I'm like, what do you want me to promise you?

Because I won't promise it unless I'm gonna keep it.

He says, promise me you'll pray about it just once.

I'm like, whatever.

And I'm like, I will pray about it, Seth.

And to back up like 10 minutes in this conversation, I was engineering, so I was always barely making it from class to class to chapel.

I was always late because that's just the nature of what you do.

You have a 5,000-pound backpack, you have to switch it at once to another 5,000-pound backpack, and you're running around and you're in classes all day in labs at night.

But this is no joke.

It was the only time that whole semester, my freshman year, that I was early for chapel.

And then I run into Seth, he hands me this flyer.

So I'm like, okay.

I go up to my seat.

I remember I was in the balcony.

Kevin, like I'm laughing, I'm about to cry.

I remember sitting in the balcony saying, God, I think this is totally ridiculous.

But I prayed.

I told Seth I'd pray.

Please just let me hear your voice.

I don't want to hear Seth's voice, I don't hear anybody's voice.

I don't even want to hear my voice.

Just what's your voice?

What do you want me to do this summer?

And it's a Friday chapel, I think.

It was, I think it was like a Friday chapel or Wednesday.

I don't remember.

I remember just I lift my head, we go, we start singing, the pastor comes up, and the cool thing about Pensacola Christians is they get pastors from all over the world and they come in to speak at these chapels.

So you hear just amazing preaching all the time, right?

From great men from the Bible from all over the world.

Guess what the guy preached on that day, Kevin?

What?

What are you gonna do this summer?

So I'm like, son of a gun.

So I go back and I'm and I'm thinking about it, and maybe it wasn't a Friday, but I remember it was a Friday that I basically broke down and I said, fine.

I'm gonna, this was before email and and cell phones.

You know, I had to go to my room, use a phone hooked to the wall.

And I call the number of the brochure, and I'm thinking I'm smart.

It's like 8:30 on a Friday night.

Nobody's gonna be working.

I'm gonna clear my conscience, leave a voicemail, they're never gonna call me back.

And then I hear, never heard by all times.

Brother Homeshire, how can I help you?

And ends up in 50 back then, it was like almost 50 years of that ministry.

They had one evangelist that wasn't a preacher boy, and I was number two.

And brother Holmesher ended up being like my grandfather, him and brother Tunnen and Paul Romig, and even Jan, his daughter, and it's my homeshire, his wife, just some of the most loving, godly humans I've ever met.

I got to grow and be with them.

And the first summer, he actually kept me back at the office, which I was so I wasn't an evangelist.

I went to be an evangelist, I ended up being a workhorse, and I didn't understand it then, but again, I just had a trust.

And then the second summer I went back and I was an evangelist.

And so evangelist means I just go church to church and I work with the teens and hang out with them and tell them about Jesus and get them engaged and hopefully put them on a path to just see God's love for them.

So that's what I did.

And so Seth handed me that flyer and told me to pray, just set me up for a changed life.

And then that's my whole life changed, and I got on, you know, I just my passion was God and just move forward.

SPEAKER_01: Wow, what one heck of a testimony.

My gosh, man.

I love that.

Isn't it just awesome how God can work?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh yeah.

And and you never the older I get, the more I see, and I listen, there is a place for like what we call church, right?

Yes, but we have religious circles that aren't godly at all.

And we have a lot of social structure that even within the church is so backwards and warped.

And why I'm saying all that is we've got God in this box that He has to work a certain way, or it's not God.

Man, you go read your Bible, Old Testament, New, cover to cover, God is consistent and God is love and God is goodness.

But he doesn't work the same.

He's God, he doesn't have to.

But by faith, you know, Hebrews 11, by faith, by faith, by faith, through every dispensation or time period, that's the common thread.

Faith.

You know, for with a heart man believeth unto righteousness with a mouth, confession is made to salvation.

So everyone who's trusted Christ has done so through faith.

I I had somebody on my podcast I just released two days ago, uh Lena Sabula.

She was sex trafficked and raped and a prostitute and a heroin addict for 20 years.

You know how she got saved, Kevin?

How her unemployed or her bodyguard was unemployed and needed a job.

He was a Jew who got saved and was a Christian.

In Canada, he becomes a bodyguard for a prostitution ring.

And for two years, he told her how much God loves her and he treated her with dignity and respect.

And she got saved, and now her whole life has changed.

And you can check that out the Remarkable People Podcast, the Lena Sabula story.

Wow.

Now, if you ask the pastors, you know, am I encouraging people to go work for prostitutes, prostitution joints?

No.

Am I saying that that's a normal outcome?

No.

But that's how God worked in her life.

He sent a man that was saved from the Jewish religion, was sold out for God, and just simply showed her love and told her about God's love.

And that's how this woman gets saved.

And now she's married with children.

And the story is just mind-blowingly remarkable.

But what I'm saying is, God doesn't work in a box, and we shouldn't try to put them in that box because God is God.

So the characteristics of God are always the same.

And if something's against the Bible, it's not God, you know?

But we should be as Christians, what I pray all the time is like, God, help me to hear your voice and discern it.

Like it talks about the shepherd and sheep and how a sheep know their father's voice.

Man, I hope my heart and mind and ears are always attuned that I clearly hear my father's voice and I'm not being deceived, you know?

Or I'm not missing it.

But yeah, so so just if you're listening out there, you should be praying to God.

That's how we talk to God.

And when we read our Bible, that's normally how God talks to us.

But sometimes He talks different ways.

So just make sure you're listening and then funnel everything back through prayer in the Bible.

And if it's true, it will, there's never going to be a contradiction in the Bible.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love it.

How does life look for you today?

SPEAKER_00: Other than having the sniffles from this cold I had for two and a half weeks, great.

No, I mean, seriously, I got, you know, there is a lot other more in my story.

Again, I got sick, critically ill, went through a horrible, horrible divorce, but God was with me, you know, and I know we're running out of time.

I gotta go, you gotta go.

Today, I'm probably healthier than I've ever been.

And when I say healthier, my relationship with God is good.

My relationship with myself is better than it's ever been.

My relationship with those around me is the best it can be.

Like I do my best, you know, not that I'm perfect or not that I'm not annoying to people or cause them pain, but it's not conscious.

And even though it might happen, I try to fix it, you know, if I did something wrong.

But financially, business is good.

Our podcasts, a remarkable people podcast, a top 1% podcast.

We've been doing it for over four years.

We have national affiliates now.

Uh, like, you know, I love it.

I don't know if you do affiliates, Kevin, but most affiliates are thieves.

They they use you and they steal and they don't ever pay you a commission.

We have MyPillow as our top, top sponsor.

And not only are they amazing quality American products, right?

Not only does that company stand for God in America, not only do they give our listeners up to 80% off everything they buy.

So anybody who uses the promo code REMARKable, Kevin, they get up to 80% off everything they buy at mypillow.com.

And that's like sheets, pillows, blankets, slippers, I mean, mattress toppers.

There's 250 products, right?

So they're giving our listeners an amazing deal.

They have an American employee-owned company that's growing.

And then every time somebody buys something, our podcast gets more supported so we can reach more people with the gospel.

So it's just like mind-blowing to me that I get to record, like you, episodes that are going to hopefully reach people, connect with people, and help them know God loves them and help them grow, right?

And then at the same time, it's being funded while people who are listening are saving money, while the company selling the products is making money so they can take care of their employees.

And then our podcast is being supported.

So that I'm in a kind of a place of like awe right now.

It's like I'm getting paid to tell people what God's love.

This is pretty great.

SPEAKER_01: Dude, I absolutely love it.

And I mean, I do have to give a shout out.

Yes, my pillow, that is what I slept on last night.

There's sheets, their pillow, everything.

So, so yes, absolutely.

Shout out to the my pillow guy.

SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, Kevin, I won't promote a product unless I use it, you know, first.

And I use my pillow for years.

And I have actually an episode with David Harvetz where he's a physical therapist and I had this knot for like three years.

And he's like, dude, you're like, you're one of the people that need a new pillow.

He's a get on my pillow.

And it was part of the process of healing that knot that went away after three years.

So I believe in the products, and I'm telling you, I sleep on them every night.

I got the mattress topper like you.

I got the sheets, I got the pillow, I got the slippers.

They're freaking amazing.

Even the slippers.

I even have the slippers, and then I bought like so.

I went out and I bought my girlfriend, her daughter had a baby.

So I went and my pillow has these great kids' pillowcases with really bright, vibrant colors and like Bible verses on them.

Oh, wow.

Like Noah's Ark and stuff, and they're on clearance.

Those, so those are like the 80% off products.

And then they ran the special for free.

I think they're still running it.

So if you use promo code Remarkable, not only will you get 80% off, but you get free shipping right now, right?

So it might end by the time people hear this, but it's awesome.

So when I ordered these, I thought, oh, well, those are pretty expensive, but they can 80% off.

And it's like, okay, I'll go ahead and order it.

So I ordered two of them.

I thought it was just a pillowcase I was ordering.

I got a little mini my pillow and a pillowcase that fits it, custom.

It was the cutest thing in the world, man.

So now that like little Max, he's got like, you know, a little Bible pillow and a little my pillow, and they're just really legitimately great products.

I sleep better.

Everybody I know, some people hate the pillow, some people love the pillow, right?

It depends on your body type.

But when you try those sheets, do you love your sheets?

Are they not ultra comfortable?

SPEAKER_01: Oh, they're insane.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love your story.

I love the faith aspect.

It's just absolutely incredible.

Thank you for sharing it with me and my audience today.

You are an amazing guy.

And uh thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00: Oh man, Kevin, it's always a pleasure.

And I look forward to having you on my podcast soon.

And uh, that's it.

If anybody needs anything, reach out to me at davidpasqualone.com.

That's you can hit the contact us page, and that is the number one way to get a hold of me.

I know a lot of people are on social media, which I am, but man, that's all I do all day for a living.

I'm a marketing and sales consultant.

So if you want to get a hold of me, send me an email, and usually within 48 hours I get back to you.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, fantastic.

Well, I will be sure that that is inside the show notes for easy access.

Dude, you are amazing.

Thank you.

And to you, my listener, thank you as always for being here on the show.

And uh, you know, David is just another guy who reminds us of just how good people are.

The greatest thing about this podcast is that we get to meet people.

I get to meet people all over the world who I otherwise would have never even known existed.

And yeah, I get to meet them.

I get to bring their story to you.

And I feel like that does us all a whole lot of good.

My friend, get out there and enjoy the day.

This is Kevin Love with great great and it's great.