Show Notes
From having only 6 months to live at 17 years old to being completely blind for the past 21 years... Discover the inspiring story of your host, Kevin Lowe.
Who Is This For?
This episode is here for anyone facing seemingly insurmountable challenges or seeking inspiration to overcome life's obstacles. If you've ever wondered about the resilience of the human spirit or the untapped potential within us all, Kevin Lowe's story will leave you in awe and filled with hope.
Looking for the Links?
Connect with Kevin by sending him a voice message
Listen to Kaley Z's Inspiring Story
Plus Meet Kevin's Grandmother - Nana
What's It All About?
In this deeply moving and inspiring episode, host Kevin Lowe switches roles and becomes the interviewee on the 21st anniversary of the day that both saved and changed his life forever. Interviewed by Kaley Z, Kevin shares his journey from a 17-year-old high school student facing a life-threatening brain tumor to becoming completely blind after surgery. He opens up about the challenges, the dark moments, and the incredible discoveries that followed, including learning to adapt to a new way of life. Kevin's story is a testament to the power of faith, resilience, and the human spirit's capacity to find light in the darkest of times.
Some Key Takeaways:
Discover how Kevin's childhood experiences unknowingly prepared him for the challenges ahead
Learn about the power of acceptance and how it can lead to finding new purpose in life
Gain perspective on overcoming challenges and finding meaning in life's unexpected turns
Why Wait Any Longer? Just Press PLAY!
Hey, it's Kevin!
I hope you enjoyed today's episode! If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to reach out. Below, you will find ALL the places and ALL the ways to connect!
- I would LOVE to hear from you! Send me a Voice Message
- Want to be a guest on GRIT, GRACE, & INSPIRATION? Send Kevin Lowe a message on PodMatch!
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- Plus Hangout with Me on LinkedIn
- Let's Schedule a Virtual Coffee Date
- Come Checkout the Website
Stay Awesome! Live Inspired!
© 2024 Grit, Grace, & Inspiration
Grit, Grace, & Inspiration, Kevin Lowe, Kaley Z, blind inspiration, overcoming challenges, echolocation, resilience, personal journey, brain tumor, life transformation, living with blindness, inspirational podcast, mental health awareness, finding hope, disability advocacy, celebrating life, gratitude, motivation, strength in adversity, life-saving surgery
Show Transcript
Kaylee Z.Welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.
Kaylee Z.
I bet you're wondering why Kevin, your host, suddenly sounds like a woman.
Kaylee Z.
This is Kaylee Z.
Kaylee Z.
And I'm taking over the podcast.
Kaylee Z.
Today.
Kaylee Z.
I have the distinct honor of getting to interview the creator and host of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, Kevin Lo.
Kaylee Z.
I'm sure all of you know this by now.
Kaylee Z.
Kevin is truly a gift to the world.
Kaylee Z.
He is the quintessential symbol of strength and resilience.
Kaylee Z.
And as you will hear in this episode, today is a very special occasion, and I felt it was important for all of Kevin's listeners to get a deep dive into his journey and story.
Kaylee Z.
Today we will learn how, in fact, Kevin became the beacon of hope and strength that he is and how he created this space for inspiration and transformation, which is really what the podcast is.
Kaylee Z.
I'm really excited to guide all of us on this journey together today.
Kaylee Z.
So please join me in welcoming our very special guest host, Kevin Lowe.
Kevin Lowe
Yo.
Kevin Lowe
Are you ready to flip the script on life?
Kevin Lowe
Cause those bad days, they're just doors to better days.
Kevin Lowe
And that's exactly what we do here at Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.
Kevin Lowe
Your host, Kevin Lowe, he's been flipping the script on his own life, turning over 20 years of being completely blind into straight up inspiration, motivation, and encouragement just for you.
Kevin Lowe
So kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Well, I feel so honored today to get to interview you, Kevin, so I'll just let everyone know.
Kaylee Z.
My name is Kaylee, and this is the greatest honor.
Kaylee Z.
I put Kevin on the spot all of a sudden and said, wait a second.
Kaylee Z.
Have you been interviewed?
Kaylee Z.
Maybe you should be interviewed.
Kaylee Z.
So today we are doing this very special interview in honor of your anniversary.
Kaylee Z.
So why don't you get us started there, Kevin?
Kaylee Z.
What does it mean that this is your anniversary?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So October 28th of this year was my 21st anniversary of, as I say, the day that both my life was saved and the anniversary of the day that my life was forever changed because of that marking.
Kevin Lowe
Also, the day that I became completely blind.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
And, you know, obviously, I have so many questions.
Kaylee Z.
I feel I'm the one being interviewed a lot.
Kaylee Z.
This is very different for me to get to interview you.
Kaylee Z.
And I just want to say, in preparation for this, it was extremely humbling to realize that.
Kaylee Z.
First of all, there's so much I hope that we'll be able to share today.
Kaylee Z.
But just in hearing you talk about this anniversary, you were pretty young, right?
Kaylee Z.
How old were you?
Kevin Lowe
I was.
Kevin Lowe
I was 17.
Kevin Lowe
So I was in my junior year of high school.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Which for all of us listening, you know, you can only imagine what that's like.
Kaylee Z.
And.
Kaylee Z.
And it's bittersweet, in a sense.
Kaylee Z.
Your life was saved.
Kaylee Z.
And did you know when you went into this, this all unfolded from a surgery?
Kaylee Z.
Correct, Correct.
Kevin Lowe
So we found out that I had a brain tumor.
Kevin Lowe
It was non cancerous, thank goodness.
Kevin Lowe
But yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So this all relates to me going in to have this brain tumor removed that they literally, at the time that we had found it, they gave me only six months to live if it wasn't removed.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
So here we are celebrating.
Kaylee Z.
And, you know, if everyone could see me right now, I'd be, you know, lifting a glass for you and toasting to your life.
Kaylee Z.
We're celebrating your life.
Kaylee Z.
And yet that surgery did not go as planned.
Kaylee Z.
Did you know what?
Kaylee Z.
Like, was this a risk?
Kaylee Z.
Were you told that this could be a risk?
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
So if anybody's ever had any type of procedure before, you know that like the doctors, they always go through, like, all the big, long list of possible risks, you know, and it's ironic now when I think back on it, because I always remember the last one, he said, and it was a 1% possibility of becoming blind.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, I'm covered in chills.
Kaylee Z.
That was the last risk you were told, and it was 1%?
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So I say you can decide how you want to look at it.
Kevin Lowe
I'm either the most unlucky or the luckiest person alive.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, gosh.
Kaylee Z.
See, Kevin, this is why I feel so honored to interview you.
Kaylee Z.
Because you just said that.
Kaylee Z.
That.
Kaylee Z.
Of course he would say that.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
So, I mean, you.
Kaylee Z.
You've already opened so much I want to ask you about when you found out that.
Kaylee Z.
Go back a little bit.
Kaylee Z.
When you found out that there was a brain tumor, your mom.
Kaylee Z.
Your.
Kaylee Z.
I actually got a chance to talk to your mom.
Kaylee Z.
That was the coolest thing ever, by the way.
Kaylee Z.
She's so special.
Kaylee Z.
She told me about that moment and how she just.
Kaylee Z.
She just sort of was frozen, staring, and she just said, I just kept staring.
Kaylee Z.
And I just kept staring at him, at the doctor.
Kaylee Z.
What was that moment like for you?
Kevin Lowe
The moment when.
Kaylee Z.
When you found out there was a tumor.
Kaylee Z.
When you were told there was a tumor.
Kevin Lowe
So we had went to a doctor.
Kevin Lowe
So when all of this, this whole kind of ball got rolling, basically all started by me going to a new family doctor.
Kevin Lowe
And that doctor basically was the one who put all the pieces together of all these different symptoms I was having.
Kevin Lowe
I had.
Kevin Lowe
I had always had, like, migraine headaches you know, I wasn't growing.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, 17 years old, I hadn't gone through puberty.
Kevin Lowe
All these things that my pediatrician always just kept blowing off, basically that I was just a late bloomer, you know, that I'm just gonna be short, you know, all this stuff.
Kaylee Z.
So frustrating.
Kevin Lowe
And so.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
And so when we went to this new doctor and he was just a new family doctor in town, and he immediately.
Kevin Lowe
He was the one who told my mom out in the hallway, like, listen, I.
Kevin Lowe
We need to get him to a specialist.
Kevin Lowe
And so that then brings up the first time that the term brain tumor was ever said was in the doctor's office of the endocrinologist.
Kaylee Z.
But you had now spent not just years, like your entire childhood.
Kaylee Z.
Right.
Kaylee Z.
Going through different symptoms that they were just ignoring.
Kaylee Z.
Kind of like, he'll grow out of it.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
My entire childhood was.
Kevin Lowe
When you look at it now from the big picture, it was just textbook symptoms that should never have been missed.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my gosh, Kevin, like, what?
Kaylee Z.
Tell us about those symptoms.
Kaylee Z.
What was your childhood like?
Kevin Lowe
So I think it was maybe in kindergarten is when I failed the eye exam at school.
Kevin Lowe
And so that started my journey of getting glasses.
Kevin Lowe
Then, as I would continue to grow up and keep going to eye doctors, all of the eye doctors I went to, they always found it strange that they could never get my vision to perfectly correct, even with glasses.
Kaylee Z.
So there was always sort of something off.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, yes.
Kevin Lowe
Same thing with my mom.
Kevin Lowe
She would tell the pediatrician, she's like, you don't understand.
Kevin Lowe
She's like, he drinks more than any human you've ever seen.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, Kaylee, I didn't know what a night's sleep was because I literally.
Kevin Lowe
When I would go to bed at night, I would wake up every single hour.
Kevin Lowe
And I would wake up, I would use the bathroom, I'd get a drink of water, go back to bed, and repeat.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my gosh.
Kevin Lowe
And so we.
Kevin Lowe
Another textbook symptom of what was going on.
Kevin Lowe
And so when I would go to school, I wouldn't be able to drink enough.
Kevin Lowe
And so at the end of every school day, especially starting in middle school, is when it got really bad.
Kevin Lowe
I would come home every day with a raging migraine headache.
Kevin Lowe
It was because I was totally dehydrated.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, my God.
Kevin Lowe
And literally, I remember my.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, my Nana, she would pick me up from school, and I'd come home, and I would literally drink an entire pitcher of tea, just dying of thirst.
Kaylee Z.
So you're describing just one component of this.
Kaylee Z.
What we're talking about.
Kaylee Z.
I didn't say this earlier.
Kaylee Z.
We're talking about a tumor on the pituitary gland.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know, you know that this is my field.
Kaylee Z.
So, I mean, the pituitary gland is responsible for so much.
Kaylee Z.
I don't think a lot of people understand the implications.
Kaylee Z.
You're describing one mechanism.
Kaylee Z.
Tell us more about, if you want to, the pituitary gland.
Kaylee Z.
And it feels like the impact could be endless.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, basically.
Kevin Lowe
So, basically my understanding, basically, the pituitary is.
Kevin Lowe
It's just like the powerhouse of controlling all of your body's hormones.
Kevin Lowe
And so unbeknownst to us, I had this brain tumor that was slowly either encasing or pressing against whatever it was interfering with the pituitary gland.
Kevin Lowe
And so that's why me talking about drinking.
Kevin Lowe
It was the thirst hormone, you know, it was testosterone, growth hormone.
Kevin Lowe
The drinking, you know, they ended up giving me a thing called, like, diabetes insipidus.
Kevin Lowe
And it's not that I have diabetes, but it's this condition that is related to the pituitary with my thirst hormone.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
And so all of this stuff and.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
And so every symptom I had was all related back to the fact that a brain tumor was basically killing off my pituitary.
Kaylee Z.
And it's.
Kaylee Z.
It's so easy.
Kaylee Z.
I know it wasn't.
Kaylee Z.
It now probably is very clear, but for any of us listening, I think it's.
Kaylee Z.
You could see it's like a doctor is going to just look at that one aspect and what's so important when we look at the body, we have to look at the whole organism.
Kaylee Z.
I can only imagine what it feels like to you.
Kaylee Z.
It's like, well, if one doctor had just picked up on that sooner.
Kaylee Z.
Does that ever cross your mind, like, how different your life would have looked?
Kevin Lowe
I don't let myself.
Kaylee Z.
Sorry to bring it up.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, no, no, no, no, no.
Kevin Lowe
Honestly, no.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, it's a good question.
Kevin Lowe
And it is a question that I think me and my whole family have thought about many times.
Kevin Lowe
And I've learned in life that you can literally drive yourself insane if you get stuck in the trap of what ifs.
Kaylee Z.
Totally.
Kaylee Z.
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
I learned that.
Kaylee Z.
I learned that when I married now.
Kaylee Z.
I was engaged with once before.
Kaylee Z.
I don't remember if we spoke about this, you and I, but my first fiance died.
Kaylee Z.
And.
Kaylee Z.
And of course, like, all the what ifs went through my mind.
Kaylee Z.
You know, what if I had been there?
Kaylee Z.
What if, you know, he had called me first, like, maybe like anything, because I was out of town at the time.
Kaylee Z.
And a good friend taught me, he said, you cannot do the what ifs.
Kaylee Z.
Anytime a what if pops into your head, you have to just shut it down, change the subject, think something else.
Kaylee Z.
Because you can't know.
Kaylee Z.
If you say, like, well, what if I had been there?
Kaylee Z.
Or what if.
Kaylee Z.
What if a doctor saw it sooner?
Kaylee Z.
We don't know how that would have played out.
Kaylee Z.
So I really value you sharing this.
Kaylee Z.
I think it's one of the greatest lessons that anyone listening can hear.
Kaylee Z.
Because you kind of lose out on your life when you play the what if game.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, absolutely.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kaylee Z.
So I took us back.
Kaylee Z.
So I just wanted to get a better sense.
Kaylee Z.
So you talked about the thirst.
Kaylee Z.
Anything, like, what other symptoms were you going through?
Kaylee Z.
Were you experiencing as a child?
Kevin Lowe
Basically, the most like, say, like, impactful were the migraine headaches.
Kevin Lowe
Always going to the eye doctor, always getting different glasses and such.
Kevin Lowe
But the most debilitating would be the migraine headache.
Kaylee Z.
Sure.
Kevin Lowe
Just the thirst factor, which, I mean, it was such, like, a slow, gradual process that, I mean, I didn't think anything weird about it.
Kevin Lowe
You know what I mean?
Kevin Lowe
It wasn't like I didn't realize, honestly, it was just part of my life that I woke up every hour during the night.
Kevin Lowe
Whoa.
Kevin Lowe
That was just life for me.
Kevin Lowe
And that is why when we finally got the diagnosis, that it just took me by complete shock.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
When all of this started happening and went to the new family doctor, and then he referred to the endocrinologist, and they sent me to the neurosurgeon and MRI and all that stuff.
Kevin Lowe
I never thought it was going to be something like.
Kevin Lowe
Like a brain tumor.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
I can only imagine that kind of surprise.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Especially after years of sort of these things being dismissed or taken as, like, piecemeal.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
How soon after discovering that it was a brain tumor, was there a plan in place to have surgery?
Kevin Lowe
So I can remember when we.
Kevin Lowe
When we got to meet with the pediatric neurosurgeon, and I remember that we were there the first day that we met with him.
Kevin Lowe
And when he went over everything, he had the results of the mri, of course, and he actually had an opening.
Kevin Lowe
I think it was the next day.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my gosh.
Kevin Lowe
And my mom, she wanted me to take it.
Kevin Lowe
I did not want to.
Kevin Lowe
And, you know, she.
Kevin Lowe
You know, she was scared.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Everybody.
Kevin Lowe
Everybody was dealing with their own emotions.
Kevin Lowe
And ultimately, though, we decided to wait.
Kevin Lowe
And I think it was maybe somewhere around maybe, like two weeks later, maybe two, three Weeks later, something like that.
Kevin Lowe
When I would go back in for surgery.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
You said, everybody's emotions.
Kaylee Z.
We're in a different place.
Kaylee Z.
Where were your emotions?
Kevin Lowe
So when my mom told me about the news that she.
Kevin Lowe
So she had gotten the call on, like, a Friday evening.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
With the results of the mri.
Kevin Lowe
And so she was the one who would tell me.
Kevin Lowe
And we had taken our boat that evening up the Intracoastal waterway up to St.
Kevin Lowe
Augustine, Florida, and we were staying there for the weekend.
Kevin Lowe
It was one of my favorite trips that we would take on our boat.
Kevin Lowe
And my mom, she waited to tell me till we got up there.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my God.
Kevin Lowe
And so I was down in the cabin of the boat.
Kevin Lowe
I always say that, like, this part of my story is always weird because it's like, I just remember, like, photographs, like, snapshots.
Kevin Lowe
The first snapshot being down in the boat, sitting there, flipping through a magazine.
Kevin Lowe
And that's when my mom came down and she told me.
Kevin Lowe
And the next snapshot is me getting out of the boat and just running.
Kevin Lowe
Running up the dock.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
And the next snapshot is me up at the top of the marina, leaning against the railing, looking out at the marina.
Kevin Lowe
I didn't know why I was upset.
Kevin Lowe
I guess it was just the simple fact of.
Kevin Lowe
I never thought it was going to be something like a brain tumor.
Kevin Lowe
You always just think it's going to be something easy.
Kevin Lowe
Especially then.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, I never.
Kevin Lowe
You never even heard of anybody having a brain tumor, let alone that I would be the one.
Kevin Lowe
And so after that initial shock wore off, and after I would get confirmation, you know, from the doctor, from the neurosurgeon, that everything was gonna be okay.
Kevin Lowe
He literally told me.
Kevin Lowe
He's like, I do these surgeries all the time.
Kaylee Z.
Whoa.
Kevin Lowe
And he, you know, he let me know.
Kevin Lowe
He's like, kevin.
Kevin Lowe
He's like, it's gonna be no big deal.
Kevin Lowe
He said, we'll go in.
Kevin Lowe
We'll remove the tumor.
Kevin Lowe
Basically, they had to kind of remove, like, the front quadrant of my skull.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
When you said, no big deal, I was like, I'm sorry.
Kaylee Z.
Didn't they open your skull?
Kaylee Z.
Like, didn't they have to, like, remove.
Kaylee Z.
I mean.
Kaylee Z.
Sorry, this is graphic.
Kaylee Z.
But, like, your forehead, like, what?
Kaylee Z.
No big deal.
Kevin Lowe
Y.
Kevin Lowe
It was.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, it was no big deal to the nurse.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my God.
Kevin Lowe
But honestly, you know, like, for me.
Kevin Lowe
And so, you know, literally, I mean, he told me, and he told me, you know, I'd be back to school in three weeks.
Kevin Lowe
And so I've always had a really good Personality.
Kevin Lowe
And so I immediately realized the positives.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
I got to get out of school for three weeks.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Your mom mentioned you really didn't like school.
Kaylee Z.
You mentioned you were highly intelligent.
Kaylee Z.
Did well, always got straight A's.
Kaylee Z.
But didn't like it.
Kevin Lowe
No.
Kevin Lowe
So literally, as soon as I got this news, first day back at school, went into my guidance counselor.
Kevin Lowe
Amazing.
Kevin Lowe
Ms.
Kevin Lowe
Tully told her.
Kevin Lowe
Ms.
Kevin Lowe
Tully, I've got to drop out of trigonometry.
Kevin Lowe
Much to my disappointment.
Kevin Lowe
And so that was literally the greatest day of my life when I got to walk into class and see all my friends, and I got to hand a slip to the teacher and say, see you later, suckers.
Kevin Lowe
I'm going to be an office aide, you know.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
And so you're seeing all the pros.
Kevin Lowe
All the pros.
Kevin Lowe
And to the point that I even.
Kevin Lowe
I named my tumor Bob.
Kevin Lowe
Bob the Tumor.
Kevin Lowe
And literally, like our whole family, before surgery, we had a going away Bob party.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, my gosh.
Kaylee Z.
I love that.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
And I mean.
Kevin Lowe
And even all the way up to the day of surgery.
Kevin Lowe
Well, it was actually the day before when we had to go over to the hospital over in Orlando, Florida, about an hour away.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, my mom's minivan was loaded up.
Kevin Lowe
Like you would have thought we were going on vacation because we had everything.
Kevin Lowe
All kind of bags of clothes, everything.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
And we went over there and I mean, up to the fact, Kaylee, the night before my surgery, I'm literally in the hospital room.
Kevin Lowe
My family's there.
Kevin Lowe
I wanted Outback Steakhouse for dinner.
Kevin Lowe
So literally, my sister and aunt went out and got takeout from Outback for everybody.
Kaylee Z.
Nice.
Kevin Lowe
And I'm literally sitting in my hospital bed eating my Outback steak.
Kevin Lowe
The end of the night, when everybody else left, I remember we pulled up my.
Kevin Lowe
One of my favorite movies was the Too Fast, Too Furious.
Kevin Lowe
And.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
And we had it playing.
Kevin Lowe
This is how old it is.
Kevin Lowe
It was on dvd, on a laptop.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kaylee Z.
I saw it in theaters.
Kaylee Z.
You know, I.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly, exactly.
Kaylee Z.
I got you.
Kevin Lowe
And so I remember my sister got into the hospital bed with me, and we laid there and was watching that movie.
Kevin Lowe
This, Kaylee, was a bump in the road.
Kevin Lowe
We finally found the problem.
Kaylee Z.
Right.
Kevin Lowe
And I thought we were just solving the problem, and then I'd get to get back to life, and life would be really great after this.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
And no idea.
Kevin Lowe
Nobody did.
Kevin Lowe
Not even my surgeon.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Nobody had a single clue what was going to happen.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
One of the things that I almost can't unhear that your mom shared with me she said that they gave you a heads up before surgery or they told them.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know if they told you.
Kaylee Z.
Actually, you'll tell me.
Kaylee Z.
If they told you that you would have eye patches or like, like gauze or a bandage.
Kaylee Z.
A bandage over your eyes so that when you would first wake up, you wouldn't.
Kaylee Z.
You wouldn't be able to see.
Kaylee Z.
But then.
Kaylee Z.
But because you knew that to, like, not worry.
Kaylee Z.
So, yeah, it's almost like I can't.
Kaylee Z.
I can't even imagine what that means for you to then have found out that, like, you were told to, like, okay, that's just normal, stay calm.
Kaylee Z.
But so then it was like a delay.
Kaylee Z.
You only realize much later, right?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
I always say it's really tricky because I don't really know, like, everybody wants, like, that really, like, awesome point of the story.
Kevin Lowe
Like, when did you realize that you were blind?
Kevin Lowe
You know?
Kevin Lowe
And like, as somebody who loves a good story, I wish I had a good, like, climactic point, you know?
Kevin Lowe
Like, unfortunately I don't.
Kevin Lowe
And you're right, though.
Kevin Lowe
My mom says that she really thinks that that's partly to do.
Kevin Lowe
Why when I did start waking up that I didn't freak out is because they had told us that, you know, so.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
When you did realize, what was that like for you?
Kaylee Z.
What were your first thoughts?
Kaylee Z.
What ensued in the, you know, in the following days?
Kevin Lowe
I had my surgery October 28th.
Kevin Lowe
I stayed in the ICU and didn't come home until, I think November 13th.
Kevin Lowe
I think I came home on my sister's birthday.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
I don't remember.
Kaylee Z.
You guys have big milestone days.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
And so I don't remember any of the time in the hospital after surgery.
Kevin Lowe
My memory doesn't come back until sometime later, being back at home.
Kevin Lowe
And I can tell you that for a really long time, every day when I woke up in the morning, I had to face the reality that I couldn't see.
Kevin Lowe
Especially because every single night I'd go to bed and I'd beg.
Kevin Lowe
I'd beg God with all my being to let me see again.
Kevin Lowe
And I truly knew that God could heal.
Kevin Lowe
And I knew that God is capable of everything, of anything.
Kevin Lowe
And I would beg and I would plead him to please let me wake up in the morning and be able to see.
Kevin Lowe
And yet every morning, I'd wake up and I'd open my eyes and I'd see the same thing that I did when they were closed.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
How you share this saying, you know, I know God can do anything.
Kaylee Z.
How do you maintain that faith.
Kaylee Z.
Here you are, years later, still wake up seeing the same thing as when they're closed.
Kevin Lowe
God has blessed me, Kayleigh, in the most amazing ways possible.
Kevin Lowe
It took a really long time to be able to understand it and to believe it and that this was all in God's plan.
Kevin Lowe
When I look back on my childhood, Kaylee, everything about my childhood was in preparation for what was to come.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
He made me a kid who was super organized.
Kevin Lowe
A skill that lends its hand to when you become blind.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
He.
Kevin Lowe
He made me a kid who always wanted to try something new.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, my mom will tell you that I drove her crazy as a kid.
Kaylee Z.
She did tell me that I didn't test her.
Kaylee Z.
He's right.
Kaylee Z.
She did say that it was like how many hob surfing every few weeks was something new, right?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, pretty much.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
And so God was letting me just try out all kinds of things to the fact also of being blessed with an opportunity to get to travel.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, I got to see the Florida Keys.
Kevin Lowe
I got to go up snow skiing in Snowshoe, West Virginia.
Kevin Lowe
You know, I even got to.
Kevin Lowe
In middle school, we went to Alaska.
Kevin Lowe
Wow, that's so cool.
Kevin Lowe
I got to see Alaska.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
God let me see all of these things.
Kevin Lowe
And then even the little stuff like the fact that my sister Tiffany, she's five years older than me.
Kevin Lowe
I remember when she was in, like, her junior and senior year of high school, same high school that I would go to Seabreeze, and I hung out with Tiffany and her friends all the time.
Kevin Lowe
I went to all the high school parties with Tiffany.
Kevin Lowe
I went to all the high school football games.
Kevin Lowe
I went to the concerts and everything.
Kevin Lowe
With all of them.
Kaylee Z.
You lived large.
Kevin Lowe
I got to live.
Kevin Lowe
I got to live out my senior year.
Kevin Lowe
Then all of this to say God was preparing me and especially, especially prepared me when I was in.
Kevin Lowe
I think it was sixth grade.
Kevin Lowe
So I guess I was probably 12 years old when I would go to my Nana's house every morning.
Kevin Lowe
My mom would drop.
Kevin Lowe
Drop me off at Nana's.
Kevin Lowe
She would take my sister to school, then she would go to work, and then Nana would take me to middle school and then pick me up the afternoon.
Kevin Lowe
It was one morning.
Kevin Lowe
I had been helping my Nana with a program that she was doing through her church, through a First Baptist.
Kevin Lowe
And it was a program called Faith.
Kevin Lowe
And it was a program that she had no understanding of why in the world she would volunteer to sign up for because it was totally out of her comfort zone.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
And it was where, like, her and a small group would literally, like, visit people's homes and sit down and talk with them and go through this whole, like, faith program.
Kevin Lowe
And so she had to have this stuff, like, memorized.
Kevin Lowe
And so every morning she would help, like, quiz me on my stuff, and then I would quiz Nana on her little studies of the faith program.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, this is so cute.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
And so we would do that every morning before middle school.
Kevin Lowe
Well, all of a sudden, one day it was towards the end when Nana had gotten really good, had got the whole thing nailed down.
Kevin Lowe
Something changed, because when she was telling it back to me, all of a sudden she was speaking to me, and she came over.
Kevin Lowe
She came over.
Kevin Lowe
She had been over in her recliner.
Kevin Lowe
I was over on the couch.
Kevin Lowe
And she came over and she knelt down in front of me and she took my hands.
Kevin Lowe
And together, I accepted Jesus into my life as my Lord and Savior.
Kevin Lowe
Kaylee.
Kevin Lowe
I didn't realize that that was the greatest gift that I would ever be given until five years later when I would enter into a world of hell.
Kevin Lowe
And the only way that I would be able to make it out is through Jesus.
Kevin Lowe
That was the final thing he had to do to prepare me for what was to come.
Kevin Lowe
And so today I can tell you that I believe in all my heart and all my being that God had it in his plan for me to become blind at 17 years old because he knew that I would make a greater difference in this world having gone through what I did, than if I hadn't.
Kevin Lowe
I have to find great honor that God chose me to be the one.
Kaylee Z.
You know, I believe that.
Kaylee Z.
I believe that what you're sharing is actually all of our lives.
Kaylee Z.
That if any of us really took the time to look back on our lives, we would see that each step was preparing us for right now, and then for the next challenge or for the next milestone, you know, for the next stage.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah, but it takes some digging, you know, that doesn't.
Kaylee Z.
It doesn't come easily to most people.
Kaylee Z.
What was your journey like in.
Kaylee Z.
You're sharing this.
Kaylee Z.
Did you.
Kaylee Z.
And yet you were, you know, every night begging, you know, let me see in the morning.
Kaylee Z.
When did it click for you that, oh, I was chosen.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, good gracious.
Kevin Lowe
A really long time.
Kevin Lowe
It took.
Kevin Lowe
It took the better part of about 10 years before I even came to a place where I was finally ready to really move on with life.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
I finally realized, like I said, it took about 10 years that I didn't have to give up on my faith singing again one day.
Kevin Lowe
But I realized at that moment that it probably isn't going to be till I'm in heaven.
Kevin Lowe
And so right now, I got more life to live.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
You had to just really accept it was a radical acceptance that allows you to then step into a new phase.
Kevin Lowe
Absolutely.
Kevin Lowe
And it would be sometime later on when I would really come to this point.
Kevin Lowe
And honestly, it was probably a lot through this podcast when I started it back in 2020 and I got into it and I started to understand more of my superpower that God gave me, being able to turn my disability into a superpower.
Kevin Lowe
And it was really through the podcast that I got to really understand and bring me to that point of truly understanding that what a gift it is.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
I'm amazed by what you just said.
Kaylee Z.
It's not that you had all that awareness before and then started a podcast about grace and inspiration.
Kaylee Z.
You're saying that as the podcast unfolded, that became clearer and clearer.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
So why start the podcast?
Kaylee Z.
What, like, that's not.
Kaylee Z.
I would assume the opposite.
Kaylee Z.
Like, you know, you realize, okay, this is my purpose.
Kaylee Z.
You're like, no, I realize that during.
Kaylee Z.
It is a superpower, by the way.
Kaylee Z.
I feel so.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Honored and blessed to call you a friend.
Kaylee Z.
It is.
Kaylee Z.
It's truly superpower.
Kaylee Z.
And I'll try to hum.
Kaylee Z.
I'll try to say this humbly.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know if it'll come out this way, but, you know, a lot of people say that about me, that I'm their.
Kaylee Z.
Their inspiration, that I, I find the light in the darkness and I look at you and I'm like, okay, no, if there's a person finding the light in the darkness, it's Kevin.
Kaylee Z.
So I'm blown away by this, that it happened the other direction.
Kevin Lowe
What?
Kaylee Z.
You're still surprising here.
Kaylee Z.
Go ahead.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, I mean, the podcast.
Kevin Lowe
I always say that the podcast kind of, I think, saved my life in the fact of I had been a travel agent for seven years.
Kevin Lowe
So in 2013 is when I started my own home based travel agency.
Kevin Lowe
And I did that up until 2020.
Kevin Lowe
And by that point, I mean, I knew that I was supposed to be doing something more with my life, but I didn't know what more was.
Kevin Lowe
And so then when the pandemic came and we're all stuck in quarantine and the travel agency, I always say it went from my.
Kevin Lowe
What was going to be my best year ever to the worst year ever.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
It gave me the opportunity to try my hand at a podcast.
Kevin Lowe
And you know, Kaylee, the joke is, is that originally I was going to start a YouTube channel.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
And.
Kevin Lowe
And so I started.
Kevin Lowe
I started getting excited about that.
Kevin Lowe
I thought, perfect opportunity.
Kevin Lowe
We're in quarantine.
Kevin Lowe
Great.
Kevin Lowe
And so I start ordering stuff off Amazon.
Kevin Lowe
And then I always say it was kind of like that light bulb moment, you know?
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
And yes, blind people have light bulb moments, but that did not cross my mind.
Kaylee Z.
Thank you for clarifying.
Kevin Lowe
Of course.
Kevin Lowe
Of course.
Kevin Lowe
And so I realized, what am I doing?
Kevin Lowe
I'm like, if I don't have somebody who is here to film to do all that stuff, I'm not gonna be able to do this on my own.
Kaylee Z.
And I can't believe anything crossed your mind that there's something you can't do on your own.
Kaylee Z.
I'm sorry, hello?
Kaylee Z.
Like, you're telling me how, oh, it's so convenient that I'm really organized.
Kaylee Z.
That's very helpful when being black.
Kaylee Z.
I don't even know if people register what that means.
Kaylee Z.
You have to figure out what color your clothes are.
Kaylee Z.
Like, all that.
Kaylee Z.
Then you're managing a podcast.
Kaylee Z.
I mean, just for the listeners to understand this, I asked Kevin when he interviewed me, how did you.
Kaylee Z.
You referenced, at some point, like, oh, yeah, I was, you know, trying to keep track of my questions.
Kaylee Z.
Or we were going.
Kaylee Z.
I'm thinking, I've got my notes in front of me.
Kaylee Z.
I can see them.
Kaylee Z.
I can see our little, you know, streamyard window.
Kaylee Z.
I've got.
Kaylee Z.
I can see my microphone.
Kaylee Z.
I can see the cup of coffee next to me.
Kaylee Z.
I was like, wait a second, how are you doing that?
Kaylee Z.
And you taught me this was new information for me that you had.
Kaylee Z.
It's just like when people multitask, right?
Kaylee Z.
They've got like seven tabs open on, you know, a browser.
Kaylee Z.
I was blown away that you could listen to the next questions coming while you're listening to me.
Kaylee Z.
Totally blew me away.
Kaylee Z.
So, I mean, when you say, like, wait a second, I can't, you know, make this happen, I'm like, I don't know.
Kaylee Z.
You probably could.
Kaylee Z.
No pressure, but if anyone could do a YouTube channel, you probably could anyways.
Kaylee Z.
That's a different tangent.
Kaylee Z.
Go ahead, continue.
Kevin Lowe
No, no, I love it.
Kevin Lowe
And so, you know, the fact is, you're right.
Kevin Lowe
I probably could have.
Kaylee Z.
But I'm not trying to make you feel bad that you should have done it.
Kaylee Z.
I think your podcast is great.
Kevin Lowe
Well, trust me, the fact is, I am proudly.
Kevin Lowe
Now, no video.
Kevin Lowe
Because I.
Kevin Lowe
I'm not falling victim to the sighted world wanting to see stuff all the time.
Kaylee Z.
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
So I am proudly.
Kevin Lowe
No, Vinny, but so What I was gonna say, though, is at this point when I'm crushed that I can't do a YouTube channel, my sister says, why don't you do a podcast?
Kaylee Z.
Nice.
Kevin Lowe
My answer, what the heck is a podcast?
Kaylee Z.
Oh, for real?
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
For real.
Kevin Lowe
And so I start listening to podcasts about how to create a podcast, and I realize I'm like, oh, my gosh, I just found my jam.
Kevin Lowe
The World of Audio.
Kevin Lowe
I'm like, this is made for the blind eye.
Kaylee Z.
This was made for you.
Kaylee Z.
Yes, Kevin, yes.
Kevin Lowe
And so when I started the podcast, I thought I was still gonna be a travel agent.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
I always say that God hadn't cued me in on the plan yet, so I started the podc.
Kevin Lowe
This podcast, if you go back to the very beginning, was called the Lowdown on Life and Travel.
Kevin Lowe
And so I was doing travel related content, sprinkling in little bits of stuff about, like, my life being blind.
Kevin Lowe
And then the podcast took over my life.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, yeah.
Kevin Lowe
What happened is once I started getting into interviews and I started switching from just travel, and I started just this natural, gradual, beautiful transition into having these amazing conversations with people.
Kevin Lowe
And when we would get off the call, I would have people constantly tell me.
Kevin Lowe
They're like, Kevin, they're like, you ask me questions that no one else has ever asked.
Kevin Lowe
Or I had one lady tell me.
Kevin Lowe
She's like, you see parts of my story that no one but my therapist has ever seen before.
Kevin Lowe
For me, you know, of course, Mr.
Kevin Lowe
Funny Guy, my response has always been, well, you should really be interviewed by more blind people, because it was quite evident, you know.
Kaylee Z.
No, you really have a gift.
Kaylee Z.
It's true.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
So you had it just unfolded.
Kevin Lowe
It did.
Kevin Lowe
It was the most natural progression in.
Kevin Lowe
And I think the most important lesson here for anybody listening is that a lot of times in life, we try to figure out if we're on the right path in life.
Kevin Lowe
And I realized then what it felt like to be on the right path.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
Is that.
Kevin Lowe
For seven years, I literally paddled and paddled and paddled upstream trying to make it work as a travel agent.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
Kaylee.
Kevin Lowe
When I started this podcast, it literally was like I was flipped over on my back floating down the lazy river.
Kaylee Z.
Nice.
Kevin Lowe
It was effortless.
Kaylee Z.
That's how it should be.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
When you're.
Kaylee Z.
When you're doing it right.
Kaylee Z.
When you're.
Kaylee Z.
When you're on the right track, it's.
Kaylee Z.
Doors should just open.
Kaylee Z.
It should be with ease.
Kaylee Z.
We're not supposed to swim upstream.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
We are not salmon.
Kevin Lowe
No.
Kaylee Z.
We are not Salmon, it's amazing, and it's so profound to see the impact that you've had and how quickly it's grown and the amount of inspiration that comes out of every conversation.
Kaylee Z.
And I really.
Kaylee Z.
I really value what you shared, you know, about, like, you being chosen for this and how much you've leaned into this.
Kaylee Z.
I think everybody's going through something, you know, everybody's facing something.
Kaylee Z.
And to be able to hear your perspective through huge challenges, you know, it's just like it could just get someone through the day, you know, it's.
Kaylee Z.
It's profound how it can change a life.
Kaylee Z.
One thing that I would love to know if you're open to sharing more about, you know, we're talking about your vision and being blind, and yet I know the pituitary gland was impacted.
Kaylee Z.
I know this isn't the only thing going on for you.
Kaylee Z.
Can you, you know, share a little bit more about what else is going on in your life?
Kaylee Z.
You're inspiring others, but there's more you are navigating, right?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So for a really long time, I believed in all my heart that if I could have one prayer answered, it would, of course, be that God would let me see again.
Kevin Lowe
It took a really long time to get to a point when I came to understand that being labeled is panhypopit.
Kevin Lowe
Having no pituitary function is actually a far greater disability than being blind.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
Being blind, I can overcome it.
Kevin Lowe
I can learn tactics.
Kevin Lowe
I can do all this different stuff, but there's not much I can do when I wake up in the morning and I don't feel good today.
Kevin Lowe
There's not much I can do when I just can't sometimes live a normal life because maybe stuff that wouldn't affect others, for me, it just wipes my body out.
Kevin Lowe
And so my life is.
Kevin Lowe
It's.
Kevin Lowe
Honestly, it's a constant balancing act of medicines always trying to replace what the pituitary should be doing.
Kevin Lowe
I do that through medications.
Kevin Lowe
And I mean, thank goodness.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, they are what makes me still be here today.
Kevin Lowe
But I always say they're no comparison to what the body should do naturally.
Kevin Lowe
And so that is definitely one thing that I have come to understand is that that condition is definitely more of a disability than being blind.
Kevin Lowe
100%.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
So there's so much more that you are juggling than I think most people realize, especially when they hear your story.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know that that comes up so much.
Kaylee Z.
And one of the other things that, of course, stands out is, you know, you are labeled and you've also labeled yourself like this now with your podcast, but as an inspiration.
Kaylee Z.
I think a misnomer of that is a lot of people think that someone who's so positive and so optimistic that somehow that's.
Kaylee Z.
That they're just always happy.
Kaylee Z.
They always see the glasses half full.
Kaylee Z.
I would love if you could share, you know, how you actually cope and how you manage those hard days.
Kaylee Z.
You know, the days when you said like, your body's just not with it.
Kaylee Z.
How do you get through those moments?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, such a great question because you are right, you know, especially in this day and age of, of social media, the highlight reel.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, nobody wants to post about the boring stuff or the dull stuff or the bad stuff.
Kevin Lowe
We only post about the good stuff in our lives.
Kevin Lowe
And so it's so easy to think that you're the only one not living this amazing life.
Kaylee Z.
Right?
Kevin Lowe
Well, it's honestly the same thing about the podcast.
Kevin Lowe
I get on the podcast and I build up my energy.
Kevin Lowe
Even on days when I don't feel good, I know that I gotta, I treat it like a performance.
Kevin Lowe
I gotta show up, I gotta do the thing.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
Now, what's powerful about it is most of the time it.
Kevin Lowe
By the end of recording an episode, I come out feeling 100% better than when I started.
Kaylee Z.
The power of the mind.
Kevin Lowe
It's amazing how.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, exactly.
Kevin Lowe
And so all that to say is that, yeah, I do have bad days.
Kevin Lowe
I will say that I am so grateful that they don't happen very often anymore.
Kevin Lowe
I say that I believe it's the power of time passing is I do believe that time, time does heal and it makes things a little bit easier because, I mean, I don't know that I can remember the last time that I had a full out cry over not being able to see.
Kevin Lowe
But it's more like in today's point in my life.
Kevin Lowe
It's just when certain things happen and you get frustrated over something that is only frustrating because you're not able to see it's something wrong, technology wise.
Kevin Lowe
And if I could just see it, I could fix it.
Kevin Lowe
Or it's a fact of a loss of freedom.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, I have family.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, I could call an Uber.
Kevin Lowe
But it's not the same as walking out your door and get in a car and driving away.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, those are the kind of things that sometimes can get to you.
Kevin Lowe
Now, like I said, Luckily, 21 years later, rarely do I have those moments that I even think of that I just don't.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
But I think the most important thing that I want to be able to say is that there's nothing wrong, though, that if you do.
Kevin Lowe
Yes, there is nothing wrong with being sad, with wanting to cry, of just wanting to stay in bed all day.
Kevin Lowe
Now, if that turns into a week and months, yeah, then we got to do something.
Kevin Lowe
But to just have a bad day, sometimes I don't think it's such a bad thing.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
It would almost be weird if you had told me you never had any bad days.
Kaylee Z.
You never broke down and cried.
Kaylee Z.
I would think that's just weird.
Kaylee Z.
That would concern me, Kevin.
Kaylee Z.
I'd be like, what?
Kaylee Z.
But you shared so beautifully that, like, it took a decade to actually accept this reality.
Kaylee Z.
And I think that's so powerful for people.
Kaylee Z.
I think a lot of times people see people like us and think, why aren't they like that?
Kaylee Z.
How come they haven't managed to be more positive or to be stronger?
Kaylee Z.
Oh, maybe they're just not strong enough.
Kaylee Z.
Maybe they're weak and we're the strong ones.
Kaylee Z.
Like, no, there's a process here.
Kaylee Z.
Some stuff we gotta get through.
Kaylee Z.
And I really value you sharing so honestly about that.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, absolutely.
Kevin Lowe
It's been a journey.
Kevin Lowe
It has been a journey.
Kevin Lowe
And I always.
Kevin Lowe
I always say, though, that I never, like, I never want people to think that my situation is any worse than, say, somebody else's, you know, that's always been a big thing of me, really, ever since I went blind, is wanting people to understand that their problems are just as big to them as what I'm going through.
Kevin Lowe
For me, yeah, you know, it doesn't matter.
Kevin Lowe
We're not supposed to compare one thing to another.
Kevin Lowe
That's not what life is about.
Kaylee Z.
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
I felt that so much growing up with illness.
Kaylee Z.
You know, we talk about this in a different interview, but I grew up with ms, multiple sclerosis, and I always felt the same exactly how you're describing.
Kaylee Z.
Like, I wouldn't have chosen some of the challenges other people were facing around me growing up.
Kaylee Z.
And it really taught me that, like, you should never compare.
Kaylee Z.
This was the lot I was given, and I'm learning to navigate this.
Kaylee Z.
I would like to not have to figure out how to adapt to those other situations.
Kaylee Z.
Everybody's facing some.
Kaylee Z.
Something, you know.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kevin Lowe
Exactly.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
There's so much I want to ask you.
Kaylee Z.
I don't even know how much time we have.
Kaylee Z.
I could be here for days.
Kaylee Z.
You mentioned how with something like blindness, you know, you can adapt, you can figure out workarounds.
Kaylee Z.
So I would love if you could share a little bit with us about Echolocation because that blew my mind when you shared that.
Kaylee Z.
I told some friends about that, and there's a long list of questions.
Kaylee Z.
But can you just tell us, first of all, what is echolocation and how you learned to see again?
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So, yeah, echolocation is the cool tool in my toolbox.
Kevin Lowe
And it is the thing, though, that I didn't even learn about until 14 years after becoming blind.
Kevin Lowe
Even though I went to all these places, like, you know, blind services center for the visually impaired division, you know, of blind services, all these resources that are amazing and have helped me so much throughout the years.
Kevin Lowe
Nobody ever mentioned anything about echolocation.
Kevin Lowe
And so when I found out about it, thank goodness, it was at the point when I was a travel agent, and one of my travel agent friends saw a YouTube video about this guy named Brian Bushway, and he was blind and he was using echolocation.
Kevin Lowe
And so fast forward through the story.
Kevin Lowe
I end up going out to Los Angeles, California, with my mom and sister for, oh, gosh, you think about 10 days.
Kaylee Z.
Well, that's fun.
Kaylee Z.
That's where I'm from.
Kaylee Z.
You get.
Kevin Lowe
Is it okay.
Kevin Lowe
Amazing.
Kevin Lowe
So we went out there.
Kevin Lowe
I think we were in Culver City.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
And so I got to train one on one with Brian learning echolocation.
Kevin Lowe
Now, it was not easy for the first three days.
Kevin Lowe
It was ridiculous because here I am, you know, Brian, he's doing this clicking technique, and he's telling me, and I'm trying to learn how to do the clicking technique.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
And it's basically just with the.
Kevin Lowe
With your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
And so what happens is, is when you do that, you make that little snap with the tongue suctioned to get the roof of your mouth.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
That is a sound that then bounces off of the objects around you in front of you.
Kevin Lowe
They come back through your ears, and your brain's visual cortex learns to interpret them as images.
Kaylee Z.
It's profound.
Kaylee Z.
It's something you hear about or see in a movie.
Kaylee Z.
It didn't just happen, though, right.
Kaylee Z.
The brain had to kind of learn that that's what you were doing and then get you those images.
Kaylee Z.
Like, my mind is blown.
Kaylee Z.
Like, walk me through this.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
So it was interesting.
Kevin Lowe
So before I went out to California, something happened.
Kevin Lowe
I didn't even realize that it was echolocation kicking in, But I was walking down.
Kevin Lowe
I think I was with my mom, and we were at a shopping plaza, and we were walking down the sidewalk.
Kevin Lowe
And as we were walking, from the sound of our footsteps, all of a Sudden, I could tell every time we passed a column, because we'd be walking, and I'm like, there's a column.
Kevin Lowe
I just saw it.
Kevin Lowe
Whoa.
Kevin Lowe
You know?
Kevin Lowe
But I didn't even know what that was.
Kevin Lowe
So come to find out.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, that was kind of a form of echolocation.
Kevin Lowe
And so it took.
Kevin Lowe
I think it was on day three of training, the first time that I got to see something.
Kaylee Z.
It took three days.
Kaylee Z.
I'm like, that's all till you could see something?
Kaylee Z.
That's crazy.
Kevin Lowe
Well, what's crazy is I remember talking to Brian before I went out there, and I asked him, how long does it take?
Kevin Lowe
And he said, generally, about three days.
Kevin Lowe
And sure enough, I mean, it was day three of training.
Kevin Lowe
We were in the Airbnb apartment that we had rented.
Kevin Lowe
My mom and sister, they would go out every day doing tourist stuff.
Kevin Lowe
Me and Brian were working in the apartment, and we were identifying corners of the room.
Kevin Lowe
Cause corners are kind of easy to identify.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kevin Lowe
And so he's having me make the little click, and then I'd back up and make the click.
Kevin Lowe
And all of a sudden, it was like somebody turned on a light switch.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
Because all of a sudden, Kaylee, the wall in front of me, it turned all of a sudden.
Kevin Lowe
I could see it.
Kevin Lowe
It was like this fuzzy gray.
Kaylee Z.
Huh.
Kevin Lowe
But I literally could see the whole wall.
Kevin Lowe
And to the point that I could literally walk right up to it and stop without touching it.
Kaylee Z.
Whoa.
Kevin Lowe
And then I remember I kept doing the clicking technique, and I walked along the wall, and then all of a sudden, it stopped, and it was like this big, like, dark cavern.
Kevin Lowe
It was the opening to the kitchen.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kaylee Z.
It was like a doorway.
Kaylee Z.
So when you say you could see it, can you.
Kaylee Z.
Can you compare what.
Kaylee Z.
What this site is like now through echolocation versus how you saw before?
Kaylee Z.
Could you describe that for us?
Kevin Lowe
So I've been doing that.
Kevin Lowe
So I think I went out to California in.
Kevin Lowe
I guess that was 2017.
Kevin Lowe
And so it's what, 20, 24, so what, seven years?
Kevin Lowe
And today I can tell you.
Kevin Lowe
And it's a good way to kind of describe how it looks.
Kevin Lowe
And what I'm talking about is I will be standing, say, in my kitchen, and the faucet will be on, and maybe the water hits a dish a certain way, where all of a sudden, literally, it's like the light turns on, and I can look over and I see my mom's figure standing in the kitchen.
Kaylee Z.
Whoa.
Kaylee Z.
So other things trigger it.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, not typically.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
But.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
And so it literally, I could see My mom's figure.
Kevin Lowe
I can see just the figures of the cabinets.
Kevin Lowe
It's like a world of.
Kevin Lowe
Of different shades of gray and dark.
Kevin Lowe
And you can identify even, like, texture, because I always say, like, it's easy to identify, like, where a faucet is, because you'll get.
Kevin Lowe
I describe it as, like, a little ping off of the faucet.
Kevin Lowe
So almost like you think of, like, one of the commercials for, like, glassware, and they show, like, a visible, like, little sparkle.
Kevin Lowe
That's literally how it handles with the shiny metal like that versus, like, say, a couch.
Kevin Lowe
It's more just like a fuzzy gray, but I see the shape of it.
Kaylee Z.
That's so interesting.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
And so literally, it's changed my life so much that my life is no longer like it used to be.
Kevin Lowe
It's no longer nothingness, but instead the world around me has shape and dimension.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kevin Lowe
You know, it has been the truly the most profound thing that ever happened.
Kevin Lowe
And I'll share with you that while I was in California that day, the first day when it happened, I remember going to bed that night.
Kevin Lowe
I remember laying in bed, and I remember praying, and I remember saying to God.
Kevin Lowe
I remember smiling.
Kevin Lowe
It was like, God, you let me see again just in a whole new way.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kaylee Z.
You know, I'm Jewish, and every morning there's, like, a series of blessings that we say, and one of them is, you know, blessed are you, you know, master of the universe who gives the blind sight.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, wow.
Kaylee Z.
And when you were telling me that every night you went to bed asking to see.
Kaylee Z.
Asking, asking to get your sight back, and I knew, of course, you and I have talked about echolocation.
Kaylee Z.
I was thinking.
Kaylee Z.
I was like, wow, it's like that blessing, and now you just said that, and I'm like, wow, you.
Kaylee Z.
You actually got to live that.
Kaylee Z.
You were given that.
Kaylee Z.
I mean, I have that in a very small way.
Kaylee Z.
I also.
Kaylee Z.
I.
Kaylee Z.
I've had a lot of vision issues, and I went blind in one eye.
Kaylee Z.
So when I read that blessing, I feel like, yes, I've experienced that.
Kaylee Z.
I'm like, but your brain developed, and it's.
Kaylee Z.
You developed an entirely new way to see.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
It's been the biggest life changer.
Kevin Lowe
Honest to goodness.
Kevin Lowe
I am so blessed to have gotten that opportunity to even learn about it, because I learned in the blind, like, circles of organizations and stuff, they almost view the whole echolocation thing kind of like doctors view, like, chiropractors, you know, like, they're not real.
Kevin Lowe
They're not real doctors or something that's.
Kaylee Z.
So, like, that's crazy.
Kaylee Z.
This is so powerful.
Kevin Lowe
It is crazy.
Kaylee Z.
What a gift.
Kevin Lowe
Well, and that's what I remember when I realized it and I understood and I learned it.
Kevin Lowe
I remember I was so also, like, upset at the same point, thinking, I've been blind for 14 years.
Kevin Lowe
Why aren't these organizations teaching this?
Kaylee Z.
Yeah, why?
Kaylee Z.
I'm, like, blown.
Kaylee Z.
I'm so confused by what you're saying right now.
Kaylee Z.
What an amazing gift.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, exactly.
Kevin Lowe
And it's been amazing.
Kevin Lowe
And what's cool is it blossomed into an amazing friendship that I'm still friends with.
Kevin Lowe
Brian Bushway.
Kevin Lowe
Me and him, we talk all the time.
Kevin Lowe
And just two really good friends because of that whole thing.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow, that's.
Kaylee Z.
Well, I mean, he sounds like what an incredible.
Kaylee Z.
What an incredible person.
Kaylee Z.
I just.
Kaylee Z.
I just.
Kaylee Z.
For.
Kaylee Z.
For technical purposes, I'm just curious.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know if you've ever ridden horses, but I'm wondering if the click is similar.
Kaylee Z.
Is that similar?
Kevin Lowe
Oh, no.
Kaylee Z.
Okay.
Kaylee Z.
Can we hear it?
Kevin Lowe
I'm gonna try.
Kevin Lowe
My mouth is so dry.
Kevin Lowe
But so it's.
Kaylee Z.
Sorry.
Kaylee Z.
Sorry to put you on the spot.
Kevin Lowe
So it's kind of more like a.
Kaylee Z.
It's much.
Kaylee Z.
It's much more subtle.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
And so you do it in different circumstances.
Kevin Lowe
You can make it louder or quieter.
Kevin Lowe
And so.
Kevin Lowe
But the whole key is when I was learning how to do it, it come out not as a click, but a cluck, because you can't have two little clicks.
Kevin Lowe
Just have to have one click.
Kevin Lowe
And so it took a while to figure out how to do it, to do it really good.
Kevin Lowe
And then, I mean, you know, and so, yeah, most everybody, when they try to do it, they instead make a clocking noise and they're like, yeah, no, that's not it.
Kaylee Z.
Well, that's why you had to do all that training.
Kaylee Z.
And I think it's so profound.
Kaylee Z.
It's such an amazing example of the power of the human spirit.
Kaylee Z.
You know, if you really want something, you just stay determined and dedicated and fly to the other side of the country to.
Kaylee Z.
To figure it out.
Kaylee Z.
And the power of the brain, you know, that that's.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
And I just want everyone to also hear this.
Kaylee Z.
This isn't like.
Kaylee Z.
This is already a brain that has been through significant damage and you still were able to develop, you know, an entirely new skill.
Kaylee Z.
It's profound.
Kaylee Z.
I want to ask you, sort of, maybe it's a weird question.
Kaylee Z.
I don't know if.
Kaylee Z.
If you could go back and the surgeon could tell you that this is what was going to Happen.
Kaylee Z.
Let's say the surgeon said, look, we're going to save your life.
Kaylee Z.
And this, you know, this is the only way.
Kaylee Z.
We have to, we have to do the surgery.
Kaylee Z.
It's what will save your life.
Kaylee Z.
But you know you'll lose your sight.
Kaylee Z.
What would you have done with those two weeks?
Kaylee Z.
What would you have wanted to see?
Kaylee Z.
What do you think you would have done?
Kaylee Z.
I'm asking, you know, for others what we can do to savor the gift of sight that we have.
Kevin Lowe
You know, Kaylee, the truth is that I often say that when they pushed me through the operating room doors that morning, I remember my mom and dad, they walked back with me.
Kevin Lowe
I said goodbye to them as they pushed me through the doors.
Kevin Lowe
If I knew then that I would never get to see their faces again, I don't think I could have allowed them to push me through those doors.
Kevin Lowe
Because honest to goodness, becoming blind, Kaylee, it has been the most God awful hell on earth experience I ever even knew.
Kevin Lowe
I didn't even know that such pain could exist on earth.
Kevin Lowe
And so I am so grateful that God did not give me that option.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow, so you're grateful you didn't know.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah, wow.
Kevin Lowe
Definitely, wow.
Kevin Lowe
Because I don't think there's any way I could have prepared myself.
Kevin Lowe
And I think it's important, I guess, maybe to even note is that when a lot of people hear blindness, there's actually a very big spectrum of blindness.
Kevin Lowe
Matter of fact, it's a very small percentage of people who say they are blind that are completely blind.
Kevin Lowe
Most have some degree of sight.
Kevin Lowe
Whereas me, I am completely blind.
Kevin Lowe
And so I am so grateful that I did not have that option.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
I.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
I mean, I can't even imagine.
Kaylee Z.
And I'll just say, like, that really hits home for me right now.
Kaylee Z.
You know, as you know, I was just back in LA with my parents and we almost lost my dad.
Kaylee Z.
And so as you described, that was like, wow.
Kaylee Z.
Like, I'm so glad we got on a plane and thank God, thank God he's making a miraculous recovery.
Kaylee Z.
But no, there were many moments of like, wow, like this.
Kaylee Z.
You know, it could be it.
Kaylee Z.
And it's, it's a really precious thing that you just described, like just being able to see your loved ones.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kevin Lowe
Oh.
Kevin Lowe
I mean, when I would pray about getting to see again, I would also always just beg God, I would say, God, if you won't let me see anything else, just let me get to see my family.
Kevin Lowe
Just let me get to see my family.
Kevin Lowe
That probably has been the hardest Thing.
Kevin Lowe
And even today, if I allow myself to go, there is the thought that I don't even get to know what my mom, my dad, my sister, my cousins who are young.
Kevin Lowe
I don't even get to know what they look like.
Kevin Lowe
Heck, Kaylee, I don't even know what I look like.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, wow.
Kaylee Z.
I haven't even thought about that.
Kevin Lowe
You know, now, my family, they think it's amazing that I remember them how they looked 21 years ago.
Kaylee Z.
They probably appreciate that you haven't seen them age.
Kevin Lowe
As my sister told me one time, she's like, kevin, you would be really disappointed.
Kaylee Z.
I'm glad you all have a sense of humor about this.
Kevin Lowe
We do, we do.
Kevin Lowe
But it's a really weird thing.
Kevin Lowe
And memory is something like remembering what things look like, especially people.
Kevin Lowe
It's very interesting because when I.
Kevin Lowe
When I remember, when I, like, actually try to remember, like, what somebody looks like, I always go back to a photograph that I had seen of that person.
Kevin Lowe
And I think it's because, like, a photograph is just a snapshot of time that makes time stand still and allows you to focus on them.
Kevin Lowe
And so when I think of my Nana, I think of a photograph of her standing in her kitchen with a red shirt on and her apron on, cooking with her gold rimmed eyeglasses.
Kevin Lowe
I think of my mom, a picture of her.
Kevin Lowe
That was her standing in our kitchen cooking.
Kevin Lowe
And it was one, like, Saturday morning.
Kevin Lowe
She had, like, her white robe on, her hair pulled up with the big gold hair clip.
Kevin Lowe
I always said it looked like a whale's tail that she would pin up, you know, and there's different photos like that of, like, my sister or my dad.
Kevin Lowe
I think I always think back to a photograph because sometimes, sometimes it scares me when I start to lose that.
Kevin Lowe
And I'll go back and I'll just make myself remember that photograph.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Do you have one of you that you go back to?
Kevin Lowe
I do.
Kevin Lowe
It was me sitting in my truck that I got when I turned 16.
Kevin Lowe
It was taken outside of my nana's house, and it's a picture of me sitting in it with the door open.
Kevin Lowe
And that's the picture I remember.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Nice.
Kaylee Z.
Nice.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow, Kevin.
Kaylee Z.
I mean, just talking to you is such a journey.
Kaylee Z.
And.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah, I've got tears streaming down my face as we talk right now.
Kaylee Z.
You know, like I said, there's.
Kaylee Z.
There's so much.
Kaylee Z.
I've literally got a list here of just topics we didn't even cover.
Kaylee Z.
And.
Kaylee Z.
And yet I sort of feel.
Kaylee Z.
I feel a sense of peace, I guess.
Kaylee Z.
I would call it.
Kaylee Z.
I think that, yeah, when we talk about, you know, today or whenever this is going to air, being, you know, close to your anniversary or on your anniversary, and you shared, you know, you were chosen.
Kaylee Z.
God chose you for this.
Kaylee Z.
This day.
Kaylee Z.
This day was also chosen.
Kaylee Z.
This anniversary was chosen.
Kaylee Z.
And the day that your life was saved, in turn, became a blessing for innumerable amounts of people.
Kaylee Z.
Like, we can't.
Kaylee Z.
We can't even count how many people's lives you've touched.
Kaylee Z.
And the way that you share, it's like.
Kaylee Z.
It's, like, profound.
Kaylee Z.
Like, you're so real, you're so authentic and so grounded, while also, like, silly and high in the sky.
Kaylee Z.
Like, all of it, you know, so expansive, so spiritual.
Kaylee Z.
It's like, it's just such a blessing.
Kaylee Z.
And.
Kaylee Z.
And you are such a blessing.
Kaylee Z.
And I want to just say, like, I really want to ask.
Kaylee Z.
I want to ask that God, you know, continues to bless you with continued miracles, and I do want to ask for your sight, you know, like, let's keep asking for that.
Kaylee Z.
That it's like, you're still going to be the blessing.
Kaylee Z.
You're still going to be inspiring.
Kaylee Z.
I'm here, you know, to ask for that and for your health.
Kaylee Z.
And more than anything, that you continue to have the energy, the desire, the willingness to keep, you know, having these conversations, inspiring others to keep showing up every day, even on the hard days.
Kaylee Z.
And I just want to thank you.
Kaylee Z.
It's a weird moment.
Kaylee Z.
I'm like, can I thank you on behalf of, like, the thousands of people who've experienced you?
Kaylee Z.
I'm going to do that.
Kaylee Z.
I'm doing that.
Kaylee Z.
That's.
Kaylee Z.
That's my thing, you know, And I'm grateful to God for bringing you on this journey.
Kevin Lowe
Aw.
Kevin Lowe
Kaylee.
Kevin Lowe
You know, I always say that we don't get to always choose what happens in this life, you know?
Kevin Lowe
Yes, I know, but we.
Kevin Lowe
But I think we do get to choose what we do with it.
Kevin Lowe
When I started this podcast, I had no idea that I would get to meet people like you.
Kevin Lowe
And I've come to understand that in this life, the things that matter the most are the people we meet and the experiences we have.
Kevin Lowe
Well, this podcast, I say it checks both of those boxes, is I get to meet people like you.
Kevin Lowe
I get to have an experience with you, and I can't think of a better thing to do.
Kevin Lowe
And the fact of getting to meet you, to have you do this amazing episode today on such a special occasion for me personally.
Kevin Lowe
It means the world to hear you coming from the Person who you are and how highly I think of you.
Kevin Lowe
I thank you in the most sincere way possible.
Kaylee Z.
You know, I think, Kevin, we established the last time we spoke or not the last time we spoke, the first time we spoke, clearly, we are soul family.
Kaylee Z.
And what.
Kaylee Z.
One of the things that I've learned through my journey is that we come here with a mission, Our souls come here with a mission, and our soul groups sort of go, okay, I'm going to help you with this.
Kaylee Z.
I'm going to help you with that.
Kaylee Z.
And let's hope along the way, we remind each other of our mission, of our path, and you do your best to hope that you actually, you know, live your purpose and fulfill your mission.
Kaylee Z.
Maybe you even get to a part of it.
Kaylee Z.
Maybe not all of it, but, okay, some of it is soul success.
Kaylee Z.
And being able to know you and having this conversation with you today on your anniversary is one of those moments that makes me feel like, you know, the fact that we met, the fact that we get to have this connection to then have this conversation and inspire others is like, we must have planned this.
Kaylee Z.
You know, our souls must have said, like, all right, then you're going to talk, and then you're going to do this, and you're going to do that.
Kaylee Z.
And, like, it just.
Kaylee Z.
That's all I feel right now.
Kaylee Z.
I feel like this is a moment of confirmation that, you know, our souls are doing what we're supposed to do, that we are.
Kaylee Z.
That we're showing up for the mission that we set out to do.
Kaylee Z.
And it's really amazing when you get.
Kaylee Z.
When you get those little glimmers and kind of, you know, can peek behind the curtain and go, like, oh, okay, yeah, this was.
Kaylee Z.
That is what we wanted.
Kaylee Z.
This is what I came for.
Kaylee Z.
So it's really special to get to share this moment with you and everyone gets to hear us have this moment.
Kaylee Z.
And if it's appropriate, you know, I want to tell you happy anniversary and.
Kevin Lowe
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
And what are you going to do with it for yourself, for your family?
Kaylee Z.
Because I know obviously this changed your whole family's life.
Kaylee Z.
How will you guys be marking this day off air?
Kevin Lowe
Oh, my goodness.
Kevin Lowe
Well, first, I will say that I echo everything you say, and I believe that I put it maybe a little less elegantly than you in the fact that I believe that you're my sister from another mother, and I have to believe that it's all part of the plan and it's all working out.
Kevin Lowe
Yep, it's all working out.
Kevin Lowe
For our good for celebration.
Kevin Lowe
Well, we have A thing we do that we don't do it every single anniversary, but we do it a lot is we kind of go back to where it started is our family goes out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.
Kaylee Z.
I was hoping you were going to say that.
Kaylee Z.
Tell me it's Outback.
Kevin Lowe
Yep.
Kaylee Z.
You got to have Outback sponsor your podcast.
Kevin Lowe
I should absolutely listening right now.
Kevin Lowe
I'll reach out to.
Kevin Lowe
I will definitely have to reach out.
Kevin Lowe
But.
Kevin Lowe
But the funny thing, Kaylee, is when we go is, you know, obviously the waiter, waitress when there's a big party.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, what are you guys celebrating?
Kevin Lowe
Oh, wow.
Kevin Lowe
That's when it gets awkward and we're.
Kaylee Z.
Like, what are you celebrating?
Kevin Lowe
What do you say?
Kaylee Z.
What do you say?
Kevin Lowe
Well, I say it's the 21 year anniversary of Bob's death, which then they're like, what?
Kevin Lowe
Okay, like Bob.
Kevin Lowe
Bob the tumor.
Kevin Lowe
Bob the tumor.
Kaylee Z.
Bob the tumor.
Kaylee Z.
Okay, that's a good answer.
Kevin Lowe
But no, it's, you know, as I said, the anniversary, it's a celebration.
Kevin Lowe
It's a celebration of the fact that I'm still here today.
Kaylee Z.
Yes.
Kevin Lowe
As I said, they said I had less than six months and I would have died at 17 years old.
Kevin Lowe
And so for me, it's a celebration that I'm still here with my family.
Kevin Lowe
A celebration that I just still get to be here on Earth.
Kevin Lowe
And you know, Kaylee, even on the hard days, I always just want to make a difference in somebody's day.
Kevin Lowe
That's the whole mission of this podcast, is to just make somebody's day a little bit better because they hear something that I say or you say, and that's what it's all about.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, wow.
Kaylee Z.
Amen to that.
Kaylee Z.
Amen to that.
Kaylee Z.
I know that that's what you are doing, and may it continue.
Kaylee Z.
And for all of those listening, you know, tell Kevin, let him know the impact.
Kaylee Z.
You know, you don't realize how much it means to hear these stories.
Kaylee Z.
And it's, you know, he deserves to know.
Kaylee Z.
He deserves to know.
Kaylee Z.
So let him know.
Kaylee Z.
Well, Kevin, thank you for this opportunity.
Kaylee Z.
Like, I, I'm so, I'm like amazed that we got to do this.
Kaylee Z.
So.
Kaylee Z.
It's so special.
Kaylee Z.
So special.
Kaylee Z.
And the one thing I just want to say, we didn't have time to talk about your family.
Kaylee Z.
You keep referencing them and, and you know, I know it goes without saying this affects everyone and I know how special they are to be on this journey with you and to also have been chosen for this journey.
Kaylee Z.
So I just want to also acknowledge them also, because today also is a big day in their lives.
Kaylee Z.
So I just want to take a moment.
Kaylee Z.
I know that that's also important to you, so I just wanted to make sure we got that in there.
Kevin Lowe
Oh, absolutely.
Kevin Lowe
And that kind of brings up a good point, is I will say that anybody who would love to meet my mom or to meet Nana, I'll link interviews with both of them in the show notes today that you can go listen to.
Kaylee Z.
That's awesome.
Kaylee Z.
Oh, that's so cool.
Kaylee Z.
I'm really excited about that.
Kaylee Z.
Yeah.
Kaylee Z.
Your mom is so special.
Kaylee Z.
I love talking to.
Kaylee Z.
Loved it.
Kevin Lowe
Yes.
Kaylee Z.
Amazing.
Kaylee Z.
Amazing.
Kaylee Z.
Is there anything else that you would want to share, Kevin, on your anniversary before we close?
Kevin Lowe
I think we covered it all.
Kevin Lowe
I think this was amazing.
Kaylee Z.
Wow.
Kaylee Z.
Kevin, I feel so honored and humbled.
Kaylee Z.
This has been so, so special.
Kaylee Z.
I'm sure that all your listeners agree with me that you truly are a blessing.
Kaylee Z.
Not just because you're always strong and optimistic, because you're real about the challenges as well.
Kaylee Z.
Thank you for being you.
Kaylee Z.
On behalf of all of those whose lives you've touched, we wish you a happy anniversary.
Kaylee Z.
And we look forward to celebrating this anniversary in complete health and complete eyesight.
Kaylee Z.
And we're always wishing you nothing but health and happiness.
Kaylee Z.
Thank you so, so much for this incredible opportunity to be the host of your podcast and to share your story in this amazing space that you've created.
Kaylee Z.
Kevin, you truly are the epitome of grit, grace, and inspiration.
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