Show Transcript

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Kevin Lowe: It goes without saying that I wish the bad things in life never had to happen.

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Kevin Lowe: I wish that no one had to experience loss or heartache. I just wish it didn't exist in this world.

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Kevin Lowe: But in fact, of course it does. And so I pose the question, though, just what if?

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Kevin Lowe: What if the hard times that you and me experience, they're not there meant to

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Kevin Lowe: break us, But rather, maybe they're meant to have us create something even more.

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Kevin Lowe: To pick up the pieces, not to rebuild what was, but to build something new.

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Kevin Lowe: Something bigger. Something more impactful.

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Kevin Lowe: Today, you're going to meet Andrew Berger. A guy who's experienced unimaginable loss.

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Kevin Lowe: From that of his mother and his sister, Jodi, to his wife's health.

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Kevin Lowe: But what's awesome about Andrew is instead of giving in or giving up,

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Kevin Lowe: he created Jodi's Climb for Hope.

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Kevin Lowe: And with over a million dollars raised for medical research,

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Kevin Lowe: Andrew proves to us all that even in the darkest of times, we can choose hope.

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Kevin Lowe: Today, you are about to hear a story that's going to make you laugh.

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Kevin Lowe: It's going to make you cry and ultimately leave you inspired by a conversation

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Kevin Lowe: that proves that hope isn't something that happens to you, but is rather something

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Kevin Lowe: we create. one step at a time.

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Kevin Lowe: This, my friend, is episode 364.

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Kevin Lowe: But before you dive in, I want you to know this.

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Kevin Lowe: If you have a dream, if you have big plans for your life, I want you to realize that they are valid.

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Kevin Lowe: Because if nobody's told you yet lately, I want you to know that I believe in you.

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Kevin Lowe: You, my friend, because you're here today, choosing to listen to this very podcast,

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Kevin Lowe: I know something about you. And that is you are made for greatness.

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Kevin Lowe: You have greatness inside of you. And maybe you've just needed a reminder,

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Kevin Lowe: Somebody to remind you that, you know what? He's right.

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Kevin Lowe: Kevin's right. I'm capable. I'm able. And I am deserving of having all that I want in this life.

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Kevin Lowe: That is the truth, my friend. And I hope that today you're reminded of that,

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Kevin Lowe: that no matter what dreams you have, no matter how big or far-fetched they may

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Kevin Lowe: seem, that they are all indeed possible.

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Kevin Lowe: I believe in you. So with that, my friend, gain the inspiration you need from

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Kevin Lowe: today's amazing conversation with today's amazing guest, Andrew Berger.

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Kevin Lowe: I welcome you to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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Kevin Lowe: Hey, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and you are listening to Grit,

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Kevin Lowe: Grace, and Inspiration.

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Kevin Lowe: Andy, man, it's a pleasure to have you here. Welcome to the podcast.

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Andrew Buerger: Good morning. Good morning. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

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Andrew Buerger: And I'm looking forward to our conversation.

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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, well, me too. Well, Andy, I figured the best place that I would love to

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Kevin Lowe: start is asking you to kind of take me back and giving me a kind of snapshot

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Kevin Lowe: overview into growing up and specifically relationship with your sister, Jody.

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Andrew Buerger: Yeah well we're going a few years back how much time do we have today kevin,

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Andrew Buerger: it's like my therapist all over again talking about my childhood a year after

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Andrew Buerger: i was born my mother died of a rare blood disease and so leaving behind my father

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Andrew Buerger: a widow at age 27 and my me and my sister two kids in diapers she was just a

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Andrew Buerger: year older than i was i was one she was two.

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Andrew Buerger: And, you know, just from that moment on, super close, you know,

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Andrew Buerger: where I couldn't go to a birthday party without her.

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Andrew Buerger: You know, we went to, you know, I stayed close in high school.

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Andrew Buerger: We had high school friends. We went to college near each other, not the same school.

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Andrew Buerger: But then, you know, if I lived in Vancouver and she lived somewhere else,

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Andrew Buerger: you know, we traveled to see each other quite often, just as close as a sibling could be.

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Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Wow. I mean, in speaking to a tragedy at such an early age in life, I can only imagine that,

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Kevin Lowe: That would probably draw you guys closer together with the loss of your mother.

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Kevin Lowe: I mean, at such an early age.

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Andrew Buerger: Yes, it would bring anybody closer together. And I was very fortunate.

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Andrew Buerger: She's just an awesome human being, kind, generous, thoughtful.

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Andrew Buerger: And so, of course, we fought, you know, as all siblings do. But it was easy

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Andrew Buerger: to be close to her. It wasn't a lot of drama between the two of us.

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Andrew Buerger: There wasn't a lot of, you know, sibling rivalry. so it made for a very healthy,

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Andrew Buerger: strong, long-lasting relationship.

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Andrew Buerger: You know, then, you know, when our father died, when I was 31,

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Andrew Buerger: she was 32, we kind of also just had to lean into each other just a little bit

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Andrew Buerger: more than we already had.

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Andrew Buerger: We turned it from a 10 to an 11 in terms of our relationship,

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Andrew Buerger: in terms of needing each other, being there for each other, and supporting each other.

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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Now, as you guys grew older, were you able to stay?

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Kevin Lowe: Did y'all still live near each other?

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Andrew Buerger: No, we never had that luxury after high school.

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Andrew Buerger: That new statistic I heard after the age of 18, I think you only spend basically

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Andrew Buerger: one more year with your kids after they turn 18.

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Andrew Buerger: We didn't have the luxury. So she remained in Boston. So I went to college in

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Andrew Buerger: Vermont three hours away and she went to college in Boston.

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Andrew Buerger: She stayed there. So I lived in a lot of different places, Vancouver,

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Andrew Buerger: Hoover, Aspen, Boulder, Detroit, and then we'd see each other.

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Andrew Buerger: We were never physically close, but then I moved to Baltimore.

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Andrew Buerger: So we'd see each other, but no, we were never in the same city.

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Kevin Lowe: Okay, okay. Well, I know, obviously, a big part of our conversation today really

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Kevin Lowe: revolves around your sister Jodi's diagnosis with cancer.

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Kevin Lowe: Would you kind of go ahead and talk to me about this whole kind of chapter of the story?

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Andrew Buerger: Yeah, sure. You got to get the back story in terms of our relationship where

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Andrew Buerger: we were there for each other, to support each other through good times and bad.

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Andrew Buerger: Dance at her wedding, you know, and we're there for, obviously,

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Andrew Buerger: the birth of her children.

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Andrew Buerger: So it wasn't just the challenging times. We had amazing times.

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Andrew Buerger: And as I said, I lived in Vancouver.

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Andrew Buerger: We had some amazing experiences there. and then

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Andrew Buerger: when i was basically 40 years old she was 41

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Andrew Buerger: she was diagnosed with stage four metastatic

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Andrew Buerger: breast cancer for which there's no cure unfortunately they

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Andrew Buerger: have not found a cure for that when it's stage four yet when it's involves various

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Andrew Buerger: parts of the body from the brain to the lungs and the liver and so i've been

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Andrew Buerger: given a gift in life which is like this filter my brain no bad news goes in

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Andrew Buerger: there so every time something i get this news i don't see the bad news i can

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Andrew Buerger: only see an opportunity.

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Andrew Buerger: And I didn't think she was going to die. I heard that she had cancer,

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Andrew Buerger: but I didn't think it would eventually kill her because that's just about where my brain goes.

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Andrew Buerger: And so something switched in my brain. I said, I've got to do something.

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Andrew Buerger: So we started raising money for a very promising treatment here that happens

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Andrew Buerger: to be in Baltimore. I look for where the best treatment was being done.

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Andrew Buerger: And it was a woman named Dr. Alicia Emmons here in Baltimore that was doing

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Andrew Buerger: really cool research where they would take a woman's tumor cell,

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Andrew Buerger: turn off the DNA, chop it up into a million pieces and then put it back into

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Andrew Buerger: the woman's body with a low dose of chemotherapy that woke up the immune system

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Andrew Buerger: to fight that. I'm like, wow, that is really cool.

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Andrew Buerger: And so what can I do to help you? She said, I need money. So we started a nonprofit.

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Andrew Buerger: At that time, we called it Climb for Hope to raise money for that.

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Andrew Buerger: And so we raised a lot of money and we advanced her research pretty quickly,

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Andrew Buerger: but we didn't do it in time, unfortunately, to save my sister's life.

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Andrew Buerger: She died at age 45, leaving behind three of the most gorgeous kids in the world.

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Andrew Buerger: And an amazing, loving husband.

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Andrew Buerger: You know, it was hard to go through that with her and lose, you know,

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Andrew Buerger: basically my best friend after having gone through that fight with her and tremendous loss.

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Andrew Buerger: But what remains is her memory and an organization that's raised over a million

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Andrew Buerger: dollars for breast cancer research at Johns Hopkins.

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Kevin Lowe: Wow. So just to recap what we just heard is you lost your mother when you were only a year old.

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Kevin Lowe: Right. You lost your father when I think you said you were 31.

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Andrew Buerger: Yes.

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Kevin Lowe: And now you just told us that you lost your sister.

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Andrew Buerger: Yes. Yes.

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Kevin Lowe: That seems for a man who doesn't take in the bad news and finds opportunity,

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Kevin Lowe: it seems like anybody would say, wow, that was a lot.

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Andrew Buerger: Yeah, I can see. I can see where you'd say that.

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Andrew Buerger: It's a lot. And, you know, there's an amazing quote from Marcus Aurelius,

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Andrew Buerger: who was the last of the great Roman emperors and a student of Stoic philosophy.

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Andrew Buerger: And he once said, it is fortunate that this happened to me.

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Andrew Buerger: It is fortunate that this happens to me. So I embrace that philosophy.

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Andrew Buerger: You know, when I get to the top of a mountain or I have a good event at work

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Andrew Buerger: or something positive happens in my life, it is fortunate that this happens to me.

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Andrew Buerger: And then when something negative happens in my life, I also say that it is fortunate

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Andrew Buerger: that this happens to me because I know that there's a silver lining on the other side of that tragedy.

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Andrew Buerger: And all those losses turned out to be a gift to me in that I know why I'm on this earth.

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Andrew Buerger: I'm here to use all my creativity and energy to help take a bite out of disease

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Andrew Buerger: so that other families can live more fulfilling lives. So my life for the past

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Andrew Buerger: 20 years has been in this area.

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Andrew Buerger: As I said, we started a nonprofit that we've renamed from Climb for Hope to

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Andrew Buerger: Jody's Climb for Hope. And we've made a difference.

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Andrew Buerger: We've sped up research on that vaccine, which now is not necessarily treating

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Andrew Buerger: breast cancer, but now you're seeing immunology working for other forms of cancer, like skin cancer.

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Andrew Buerger: So not that that was all of our doing, but we were a tiny cog in the wheel that

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Andrew Buerger: sped it up. It may have saved some lives.

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Andrew Buerger: We've given hope to thousands of others that we can continue to advance cancer research.

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Andrew Buerger: And we skipped over one small detail in that I married this beautiful woman,

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Andrew Buerger: Jennifer, and six months after we were married, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

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Andrew Buerger: And so we're now also raising money for multiple sclerosis research.

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Andrew Buerger: And so the money we raised goes to breast cancer research at Hopkins,

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Andrew Buerger: as well as their amazing multiple sclerosis research center.

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Andrew Buerger: And so, again, we're helping move the needle there to find the next viable treatment for MS.

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Kevin Lowe: Wow. I think that is one of the most amazing life's purposes I've ever heard.

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Andrew Buerger: Thanks. Thanks.

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Kevin Lowe: The name of Jodi's Climb for Hope. Talk to me about the name,

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Kevin Lowe: Climb for Hope. What is that in reference to?

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Andrew Buerger: You know, we started it when she was still alive, and we wanted to give her

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Andrew Buerger: hope to live one more day, one more week, one more month with her kids.

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Andrew Buerger: We want to hope that hopefully we could find a cure or treatment that would keep her alive longer.

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Andrew Buerger: As it turned out, you know, we give her hope, hopefully advanced her life a

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Andrew Buerger: little bit to be with her family.

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Andrew Buerger: But as it turns out, we've discovered this interesting byproduct of our organization

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Andrew Buerger: where we go mountain climbing.

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Andrew Buerger: So we started this, you know, most places we're doing 5Ks, 10Ks to raise money for $10.

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Andrew Buerger: For breast cancer, where we started, our first fundraiser was climbing a 19,400-foot

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Andrew Buerger: mountain in Ecuador. So we didn't start small.

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Andrew Buerger: And so what we discovered by accident is that both of us carrying a backpack,

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Andrew Buerger: a weighted pack up that mountain, we got altitude sickness.

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Andrew Buerger: Some of us were literally vomiting, headaches, pain, fatigue,

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Andrew Buerger: overwhelming exhaustion of climbing for 12, 13 hours.

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Andrew Buerger: You know something? My sister went through that every single day for five years.

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Andrew Buerger: We could push through that pain. We could vomit and keep moving on that mountain

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Andrew Buerger: for 12, 13 hours because then we got to go home and rest.

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Andrew Buerger: Where those undergoing breast cancer treatment don't get that luxury.

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Andrew Buerger: People with multiple sclerosis carry a heavy pack every single day.

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Andrew Buerger: It's difficult for my wife to walk around the block, walk the dog.

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Andrew Buerger: So we figured she'll be walking her shoes when we have these expeditions.

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Andrew Buerger: And so we're understanding what these people are going through and we're giving

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Andrew Buerger: hope to people back home that we can continue to raise money and continue to make a difference.

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Andrew Buerger: Another thing that we stumbled upon was that we discovered this doctor early

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Andrew Buerger: and we found some other doctors very early on and we were able to give them,

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Andrew Buerger: you know, 50, $150,000 very quickly.

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Andrew Buerger: Didn't have to write grants, didn't have to fill out paperwork,

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Andrew Buerger: didn't have to do a lot of red tape. Here's your check.

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Andrew Buerger: And so they were able to get proof of concept of their research.

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Andrew Buerger: And then once they raised money, like, stop giving me money.

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Andrew Buerger: Now the government's giving me millions, go give it to somebody else.

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Andrew Buerger: And so we've discovered that the Climb for Hope can be a sort of a VC,

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Andrew Buerger: an early funder for people doing promising research, because you can't get money

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Andrew Buerger: until you have some kind of proof of concept and we allow them to do that.

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Andrew Buerger: And so again, we're giving hope that we can find a unique approach to disease research.

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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Where did the whole concept even come from about the idea to even start

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Kevin Lowe: such an organization and then, though, to do it not like everybody else with a 5K,

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Kevin Lowe: but instead we're climbing mountains?

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Andrew Buerger: Yeah, I tend to swim upstream a little bit.

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Andrew Buerger: I've got a couple of gifts. One is that filter that we talked about where nothing

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Andrew Buerger: bad enters my brain, drives my wife crazy.

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Andrew Buerger: I think that other things i triangulate things you know

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Andrew Buerger: i see when three things kind of appear to

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Andrew Buerger: me i'm like oh that's something and so

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Andrew Buerger: you know my sister getting sick meeting that that doctor i happen to be climbing

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Andrew Buerger: with a buddy of mine on pico de orizaba which is the highest mountain in mexico

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Andrew Buerger: uh at about 18 400 feet and we were climbing that mountain and i'm a horrible

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Andrew Buerger: climber It's not like, oh,

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Andrew Buerger: I'm a world-class climber who does this. I'm a horrible climber.

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Andrew Buerger: But I'm like, wait a minute, Crony. What if, you know, we've got a bunch of

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Andrew Buerger: friends together and made them raise $5,000 to go climbing with us?

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Andrew Buerger: And so I happened to get, again, lucky that the guy who ran the local climbing

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Andrew Buerger: gym happens to be one of the foremost climbers in the world,

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Andrew Buerger: a guy named Chris Warner, who now became the second American climber.

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Andrew Buerger: Ever to climb all the 8,000 meter peaks. So he said, yeah, I'll take you.

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Andrew Buerger: I won't make any money on you. And let's go climb the world's highest active

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Andrew Buerger: volcano down in Ecuador.

00:14:54.081 --> 00:14:57.561

Andrew Buerger: And so off we went, you know, we just, I wanted to take a little different approach.

00:14:57.761 --> 00:14:59.581

Andrew Buerger: She needed the money and I like climbing.

00:14:59.821 --> 00:15:03.821

Andrew Buerger: And so we've got a bunch of my friends together and it turns out we raised like

00:15:03.821 --> 00:15:06.981

Andrew Buerger: $150,000 the first year. We're like, well, let's try that again.

00:15:07.461 --> 00:15:12.161

Andrew Buerger: Went to Kilimanjaro and raised another $150,000 and just kept going.

00:15:12.581 --> 00:15:18.501

Kevin Lowe: Wow. I think that's amazing. I love not only, I mean, the mission behind it,

00:15:18.561 --> 00:15:22.641

Kevin Lowe: of course, but I love the creativity and stepping outside of the box.

00:15:22.841 --> 00:15:23.121

Andrew Buerger: Thanks.

00:15:23.661 --> 00:15:29.321

Kevin Lowe: Thanks. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, talk to me more about your wife.

00:15:29.681 --> 00:15:32.821

Kevin Lowe: How did the two of you meet in the first place?

00:15:33.781 --> 00:15:35.201

Andrew Buerger: I hate this story.

00:15:38.321 --> 00:15:42.861

Andrew Buerger: I always i always ask people do you want the truth or the story that i like to tell,

00:15:44.181 --> 00:15:48.881

Andrew Buerger: my kids love it too so yeah i was getting out of a bad relationship we tell

00:15:48.881 --> 00:15:52.581

Andrew Buerger: people that we met at a coffee shop because we live very close to each other

00:15:52.581 --> 00:15:56.561

Andrew Buerger: and i used to like that story better but in truth i was getting about a relationship

00:15:56.561 --> 00:15:59.941

Andrew Buerger: i'm like oh i need what i gotta what am i gonna do now.

00:16:00.141 --> 00:16:04.761

Andrew Buerger: So I went on mats.com, looked up and, you know, I saw this beautiful woman who's

00:16:04.761 --> 00:16:08.621

Andrew Buerger: well-read, well-traveled, well-educated, a master's degree.

00:16:08.741 --> 00:16:11.221

Andrew Buerger: She worked in an orphanage. I'm like, oh my God, she's a saint.

00:16:11.401 --> 00:16:14.401

Andrew Buerger: And I'm like, well, I guess I got to join this stupid thing. And so I,

00:16:16.761 --> 00:16:20.541

Andrew Buerger: and then, you know, went on one date on mats.com and that was it.

00:16:20.981 --> 00:16:21.341

Kevin Lowe: Wow.

00:16:21.941 --> 00:16:22.261

Andrew Buerger: Yeah.

00:16:22.601 --> 00:16:23.781

Kevin Lowe: That's crazy. Awesome.

00:16:24.581 --> 00:16:29.581

Andrew Buerger: Yeah, so we met in February, and then I decided to start the nonprofit in April,

00:16:29.641 --> 00:16:32.821

Andrew Buerger: and I had that meeting with Dr. Emmons, who's this amazing,

00:16:33.412 --> 00:16:36.292

Andrew Buerger: researcher and uh chris warner again who

00:16:36.292 --> 00:16:39.232

Andrew Buerger: i said is one of the foremost climbers in the world and we

00:16:39.232 --> 00:16:42.172

Andrew Buerger: had this meeting and we had like uh 20 people show

00:16:42.172 --> 00:16:45.192

Andrew Buerger: up and every one of the 20 people

00:16:45.192 --> 00:16:48.392

Andrew Buerger: signed up and one of those people and jennifer and

00:16:48.392 --> 00:16:52.072

Andrew Buerger: mckay you know we just started dating two months make you mind coming this meeting

00:16:52.072 --> 00:16:56.332

Andrew Buerger: with me and so she after the meeting she tells all my friends you're gonna have

00:16:56.332 --> 00:17:00.612

Andrew Buerger: to tell annie that his next girlfriend that his ex-girlfriend is coming on this

00:17:00.612 --> 00:17:06.572

Andrew Buerger: trip because you didn't know we'd be married or be still dating come January when the trip went off.

00:17:06.832 --> 00:17:09.932

Andrew Buerger: And so it was a big mountain and it was really challenging.

00:17:10.212 --> 00:17:13.452

Andrew Buerger: And it's hard and the altitude.

00:17:13.832 --> 00:17:19.892

Andrew Buerger: And so I don't remember this, but she said that if I got to the summit, we would get engaged.

00:17:23.652 --> 00:17:28.392

Andrew Buerger: So she made it up there. We did not get engaged up there, but she made it somehow.

00:17:28.712 --> 00:17:30.612

Andrew Buerger: And then we got engaged three months later.

00:17:30.832 --> 00:17:35.592

Kevin Lowe: Wow, that is absolutely amazing. I think that's an awesome story.

00:17:37.092 --> 00:17:46.132

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Now, did after that climb, did she continue to share that love of yours of climbing?

00:17:46.512 --> 00:17:50.572

Andrew Buerger: This interview reminds me of my interview for my life insurance.

00:17:50.952 --> 00:17:55.832

Andrew Buerger: It's like, tell me about your biological mother. Well, she died at 25.

00:17:56.092 --> 00:17:59.432

Andrew Buerger: Well, how about your father? He died of heart disease. How about your sister?

00:17:59.432 --> 00:18:01.392

Andrew Buerger: I'm like, do you really want to ask me these questions?

00:18:02.052 --> 00:18:07.912

Andrew Buerger: So I married this gorgeous woman. So we climbed a Cotopaxi in January of 2007,

00:18:08.252 --> 00:18:09.832

Andrew Buerger: you know, this 19,000 foot peak.

00:18:09.972 --> 00:18:12.692

Andrew Buerger: And we wanted to climb this other mountain because my buddy of mine,

00:18:13.152 --> 00:18:17.572

Andrew Buerger: John Guth, he signed up and wound up breaking his leg doing something stupid

00:18:17.572 --> 00:18:20.472

Andrew Buerger: that he shouldn't have never done. So I said, dude, I'll take you climbing.

00:18:21.061 --> 00:18:25.601

Andrew Buerger: In June on this mountain called Mount Shasta. So I got Jennifer,

00:18:25.841 --> 00:18:29.101

Andrew Buerger: who was then my fiancee, Gunnar, and then this other woman, Julie,

00:18:29.341 --> 00:18:30.801

Andrew Buerger: to go climb Mount Shasta.

00:18:30.981 --> 00:18:35.021

Andrew Buerger: And Jennifer loved it. It was this hippie town in Northern California, gorgeous.

00:18:35.481 --> 00:18:40.081

Andrew Buerger: You do this nice, tough hike up to base camp. And she was loving every second.

00:18:40.161 --> 00:18:42.141

Andrew Buerger: And she loved the town. She loved everything about it.

00:18:42.301 --> 00:18:45.081

Andrew Buerger: And she gets to camp and she's like, I don't feel a hundred percent.

00:18:45.201 --> 00:18:48.461

Andrew Buerger: I'm really cold and I can't regulate my body and i'm just

00:18:48.461 --> 00:18:51.481

Andrew Buerger: freezing and i'm just you mind if i don't go to the summit i'm

00:18:51.481 --> 00:18:54.461

Andrew Buerger: like hey you know we're not here to

00:18:54.461 --> 00:18:57.961

Andrew Buerger: go to the summit we're here for the experience so she really wasn't feeling

00:18:57.961 --> 00:19:03.041

Andrew Buerger: well we went up summited and came back down and so that was june and then we

00:19:03.041 --> 00:19:09.761

Andrew Buerger: got married in september of 2007 and then uh you know we decided to climb kilimanjaro

00:19:09.761 --> 00:19:13.041

Andrew Buerger: the following year That's what she chose.

00:19:13.761 --> 00:19:14.021

Kevin Lowe: Wow.

00:19:14.421 --> 00:19:19.401

Andrew Buerger: And then February, she wasn't feeling well. So we went to the doctor and we

00:19:19.401 --> 00:19:24.841

Andrew Buerger: knew because we had seen some MRIs and February 26, 2008,

00:19:25.701 --> 00:19:31.081

Andrew Buerger: six months, less than six months after our wedding date, we knew that the doctor

00:19:31.081 --> 00:19:32.641

Andrew Buerger: was going to give us bad news that day.

00:19:32.901 --> 00:19:37.321

Andrew Buerger: We knew because we saw a couple of lesions on her spine by this point that the

00:19:37.321 --> 00:19:41.281

Andrew Buerger: doctor was going to tell us she had multiple sclerosis. So we sat in that waiting

00:19:41.281 --> 00:19:43.621

Andrew Buerger: room, waiting for the doctor to call us in.

00:19:44.041 --> 00:19:50.361

Andrew Buerger: And I had the early BlackBerry back then. And sitting there, I couldn't focus.

00:19:50.581 --> 00:19:53.301

Andrew Buerger: So I was checking emails. And I got this email, congratulations,

00:19:53.701 --> 00:19:55.981

Andrew Buerger: Mr. Berger, your puppy has been born.

00:19:56.201 --> 00:20:02.821

Andrew Buerger: And we had put in paperwork to get a bull mastiff, the 140-pound dog that we'd bring home.

00:20:03.101 --> 00:20:06.921

Andrew Buerger: And so as soon as I got that email, the nurse said, the doctor will see you now.

00:20:07.181 --> 00:20:12.581

Andrew Buerger: Of course, he confirmed our diagnosis. that Jennifer had MS and that she'd never climb again.

00:20:12.881 --> 00:20:21.421

Andrew Buerger: So we went home, we cried our eyes out, and we woke up the next day and we named the dog Mount Shasta.

00:20:22.042 --> 00:20:24.642

Andrew Buerger: Mount Zest was the last mountain that Jennifer's been able to climb.

00:20:24.882 --> 00:20:29.742

Andrew Buerger: And his initials were MS. Because goddamn, MS was going to be something positive in our lives.

00:20:30.282 --> 00:20:38.242

Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. Talk to me about the effects of MS on somebody. What does this disease do?

00:20:38.642 --> 00:20:41.842

Andrew Buerger: It's unlike cancer where you can kind of, I don't want to say predict it,

00:20:42.122 --> 00:20:46.122

Andrew Buerger: but, you know, everyone has very similar journeys with cancer.

00:20:46.362 --> 00:20:50.562

Andrew Buerger: With MS, multiple sclerosis is multiple sclerosis or lesions.

00:20:50.562 --> 00:20:54.862

Andrew Buerger: You're getting lesions on your myelin sheath, which is the protective coating

00:20:54.862 --> 00:20:57.062

Andrew Buerger: on your spinal cord in your brain.

00:20:57.402 --> 00:21:01.962

Andrew Buerger: And so some people get them more in your brain. You get cognitive challenges.

00:21:01.962 --> 00:21:05.082

Andrew Buerger: Some people get them more on their spine, which correlates to,

00:21:05.202 --> 00:21:06.662

Andrew Buerger: you know, it's kind of like a computer cord.

00:21:06.762 --> 00:21:09.222

Andrew Buerger: If you're cutting up that plastic, you know, that outer coating,

00:21:09.442 --> 00:21:13.242

Andrew Buerger: you're going to get your computers in your haywire because the cords can be cut.

00:21:13.502 --> 00:21:19.382

Andrew Buerger: So people get weakness, fatigue, pain, difficulty walking, difficult using your

00:21:19.382 --> 00:21:23.782

Andrew Buerger: hands, losing feeling in your fingers, a lot of mobility issues.

00:21:24.122 --> 00:21:25.622

Andrew Buerger: Some people wind up in a wheelchair.

00:21:25.962 --> 00:21:28.222

Andrew Buerger: Again, it's very dependent on the individual.

00:21:28.782 --> 00:21:33.202

Andrew Buerger: And so, you know, there's a lot of great medications now that will stop the

00:21:33.202 --> 00:21:35.822

Andrew Buerger: progression. So if you've got several lesions, you get diagnosed,

00:21:35.862 --> 00:21:39.182

Andrew Buerger: you go on a medication, then that'll hopefully stop the progression.

00:21:39.362 --> 00:21:44.242

Andrew Buerger: And so we're fortunate that she was diagnosed, you know, now we're no less 15,

00:21:44.522 --> 00:21:49.002

Andrew Buerger: 18 years that medications have stopped it, But it still presents challenges every day.

00:21:49.202 --> 00:21:53.182

Andrew Buerger: And I think the worst symptom that she got was when we sat down.

00:21:53.282 --> 00:21:55.522

Andrew Buerger: The doctor says, woo, this is kind of aggressive.

00:21:55.962 --> 00:21:59.222

Andrew Buerger: So I need to put you on this drug and hopefully keep you out of a wheelchair.

00:21:59.482 --> 00:22:00.842

Andrew Buerger: But it means you can't have kids.

00:22:02.662 --> 00:22:06.902

Andrew Buerger: So I know my mission to help take about a disease. Jen's known her mission since

00:22:06.902 --> 00:22:12.982

Andrew Buerger: she was five years old, which is to be a mother to create healthy kids, mentally healthy kids.

00:22:13.342 --> 00:22:17.182

Andrew Buerger: She's a psychotherapist. and now the doctor's telling us five months after we're

00:22:17.182 --> 00:22:18.962

Andrew Buerger: married that we can't have kids.

00:22:19.262 --> 00:22:24.742

Andrew Buerger: That was the worst of the symptoms. It is fortunate that this happened to me.

00:22:25.122 --> 00:22:29.482

Andrew Buerger: It is fortunate this happened to me because what we decided to do was to go

00:22:29.482 --> 00:22:33.702

Andrew Buerger: to Ethiopia, one of the poorest parts of the world, and adopt two of the most

00:22:33.702 --> 00:22:35.722

Andrew Buerger: gorgeous kids on the face of this earth.

00:22:36.322 --> 00:22:42.262

Andrew Buerger: So now she lives her life mission every single day to raise these healthy kids.

00:22:42.362 --> 00:22:44.662

Andrew Buerger: I'm a motivational speaker.

00:22:44.822 --> 00:22:49.502

Andrew Buerger: So it's perfect. I get to travel and she gets to, I don't have any bad effects on the kids.

00:22:49.642 --> 00:22:51.962

Andrew Buerger: She does a great job of raising these two kids. They're now,

00:22:52.122 --> 00:22:56.622

Andrew Buerger: now 14, but it's, you know, life's challenging in terms of physically for her

00:22:56.622 --> 00:22:59.942

Andrew Buerger: mobility, pain, fatigue on a daily basis.

00:23:01.342 --> 00:23:04.822

Kevin Lowe: Wow. What a story. You're, you're kids.

00:23:05.622 --> 00:23:09.802

Kevin Lowe: I, I heard something, I think it was in one of the talks you did and I would

00:23:09.802 --> 00:23:15.802

Kevin Lowe: love for you to tell me the story that you you wrote their names on water bottles that you carried

00:23:17.416 --> 00:23:17.756

Andrew Buerger: Yeah.

00:23:18.156 --> 00:23:19.036

Kevin Lowe: What is that story?

00:23:19.256 --> 00:23:23.396

Andrew Buerger: That story, we were climbing Mount Whitney, which is the highest point in the

00:23:23.396 --> 00:23:26.016

Andrew Buerger: lower 48, at 14,500 feet.

00:23:26.276 --> 00:23:32.236

Andrew Buerger: And that point, you know, our kids were little and I had this startup going

00:23:32.236 --> 00:23:35.196

Andrew Buerger: and Jennifer obviously could no longer hike with me.

00:23:35.416 --> 00:23:38.016

Andrew Buerger: So training became an issue. I was getting a little older.

00:23:38.756 --> 00:23:41.396

Andrew Buerger: And so it was a challenging climb. We had to carry heavy packs,

00:23:41.556 --> 00:23:44.416

Andrew Buerger: not just to one camp, but to the second camp too.

00:23:44.636 --> 00:23:48.276

Andrew Buerger: And so I don't sleep well in a tent. So I had two nights of little sleep,

00:23:48.376 --> 00:23:51.876

Andrew Buerger: was sleep deprived, carrying a heavy pack of this mountain, altitude challenges.

00:23:52.156 --> 00:23:56.456

Andrew Buerger: And so I spent all my gas getting to the summit, which is a mistake because

00:23:56.456 --> 00:23:58.796

Andrew Buerger: 80% of the accidents happen on the way down.

00:23:59.236 --> 00:24:04.116

Andrew Buerger: You need more than 50% of your gas tank left to get back down. I didn't do that.

00:24:04.356 --> 00:24:07.836

Andrew Buerger: So I was having a real tough time climbing back down.

00:24:07.976 --> 00:24:12.436

Andrew Buerger: And so, you know, my buddies, I'm like, guys, I'm having a tough time.

00:24:12.556 --> 00:24:16.396

Andrew Buerger: Like, oh, base camp is just around the corner to the right. I'm like, okay, thanks.

00:24:17.016 --> 00:24:22.456

Andrew Buerger: And I get, you know, sum up all my energy. I go around that corner and it's not there.

00:24:23.516 --> 00:24:27.776

Andrew Buerger: And Danny's like, no, no, it's down a little bit around the corner to the left. I'm like, okay.

00:24:28.356 --> 00:24:31.076

Andrew Buerger: Put one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other.

00:24:31.236 --> 00:24:33.316

Andrew Buerger: And this camp still wasn't there.

00:24:34.056 --> 00:24:36.536

Andrew Buerger: I found out they were lying to me. We still had hours to go.

00:24:37.636 --> 00:24:41.196

Andrew Buerger: And I just wanted to lay down in the snow. But laying down in the snow and dying

00:24:41.196 --> 00:24:45.416

Andrew Buerger: just wasn't an option. because I had two water bottles, two Nalgene bottles.

00:24:45.536 --> 00:24:49.156

Andrew Buerger: I had written my son's name on one water bottle and my daughter's name on the

00:24:49.156 --> 00:24:51.296

Andrew Buerger: other water bottle to know why I was climbing.

00:24:51.516 --> 00:24:55.336

Andrew Buerger: It was to get back down safely to them and not just get to the summit,

00:24:55.336 --> 00:24:57.456

Andrew Buerger: but get back safely to see my kids again.

00:24:57.716 --> 00:25:00.416

Andrew Buerger: And every time I took a sip of water, I saw their names.

00:25:00.796 --> 00:25:04.456

Andrew Buerger: And I knew at that point how far my mind could push my body.

00:25:04.556 --> 00:25:07.396

Andrew Buerger: And I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of

00:25:07.396 --> 00:25:08.576

Andrew Buerger: the other until I was back at camp.

00:25:09.036 --> 00:25:13.596

Kevin Lowe: Wow. You know, you spoke about your life's purpose and...

00:25:14.301 --> 00:25:20.741

Kevin Lowe: I look at this as, you know, giving even purpose to that single climb of your

00:25:20.741 --> 00:25:24.081

Kevin Lowe: children's names, of giving that reason why,

00:25:24.241 --> 00:25:27.901

Kevin Lowe: like you said, why you couldn't give up, why you had to get down that mountain.

00:25:28.301 --> 00:25:29.681

Kevin Lowe: I think that's pretty powerful.

00:25:30.421 --> 00:25:37.281

Andrew Buerger: Yeah. Yeah. I learned the power of purpose when we were climbing Kilimanjaro

00:25:37.281 --> 00:25:42.701

Andrew Buerger: when, you know, we had gotten all of our climbers to the summit and then safely

00:25:42.701 --> 00:25:44.161

Andrew Buerger: back down over eight days.

00:25:44.301 --> 00:25:48.401

Andrew Buerger: It was a brutal, tough, cold, challenging expedition.

00:25:48.841 --> 00:25:54.581

Andrew Buerger: And we had seen this one other group on the mountain and I talked to them.

00:25:54.761 --> 00:25:58.001

Andrew Buerger: Finally, we got back down to the bottom. We celebrated reaching the highest

00:25:58.001 --> 00:26:01.261

Andrew Buerger: point of Africa. and raising $150,000.

00:26:01.741 --> 00:26:05.441

Andrew Buerger: And I was chatting with them. Only half their team made it. I'm like, what happened?

00:26:06.121 --> 00:26:10.561

Andrew Buerger: 12 of them, the 24 of them, well, Billy's feet got cold. So Tracy took them

00:26:10.561 --> 00:26:13.441

Andrew Buerger: down and Eric got tired. So Stacy took him down.

00:26:14.221 --> 00:26:19.701

Andrew Buerger: My sister was still alive. I had a flag that said, stay strong, JB, Jody Berger.

00:26:20.081 --> 00:26:26.001

Andrew Buerger: I wanted to give her hope, as we talked about. We had people's names that were undergoing treatment.

00:26:26.321 --> 00:26:29.861

Andrew Buerger: We promised we'd get their names to the summit. We had names of people who lost

00:26:29.861 --> 00:26:34.121

Andrew Buerger: their loved ones, we promised we'd get their names to the highest point in Tanzania.

00:26:34.421 --> 00:26:38.521

Andrew Buerger: We weren't going to turn around when our feet got cold and when someone was

00:26:38.521 --> 00:26:39.961

Andrew Buerger: vomiting from altitude sickness.

00:26:40.461 --> 00:26:46.001

Andrew Buerger: We had a mission to get those flags to the summit. And that's when I realized the value of purpose.

00:26:46.421 --> 00:26:49.021

Andrew Buerger: In my own life and in my business life,

00:26:49.608 --> 00:26:53.988

Andrew Buerger: purpose helps you climb your figurative Mount Everest.

00:26:54.268 --> 00:26:57.648

Andrew Buerger: One of my favorite books is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl,

00:26:57.768 --> 00:26:59.848

Andrew Buerger: who's a psychiatrist who survived

00:26:59.848 --> 00:27:02.908

Andrew Buerger: the Holocaust, one of the worst things ever in history of humanity.

00:27:03.168 --> 00:27:07.988

Andrew Buerger: And there's a quote from Nietzsche, he who has a why to live can overcome anyhow.

00:27:08.488 --> 00:27:12.008

Andrew Buerger: And so we can all climb our figurative Mount Everest if we have that mission.

00:27:12.248 --> 00:27:16.808

Andrew Buerger: And so, you know, my mission is to help take a bite of disease so other families

00:27:16.808 --> 00:27:17.948

Andrew Buerger: can live of fulfilling lives.

00:27:18.128 --> 00:27:22.368

Andrew Buerger: But it doesn't mean that an expedition, a day, something else,

00:27:22.388 --> 00:27:25.828

Andrew Buerger: you can't put your mission, a different mission statement on your water bottle.

00:27:26.048 --> 00:27:28.908

Andrew Buerger: You may carry that flag around with you of your life's mission,

00:27:29.068 --> 00:27:32.788

Andrew Buerger: but you know something, when you're on an expedition, what's the purpose of this mission?

00:27:32.928 --> 00:27:35.768

Andrew Buerger: Not to get to the summit, but to get back down safely to see my family.

00:27:35.888 --> 00:27:39.488

Andrew Buerger: And I wrote my mission of that journey on my water bottles that day.

00:27:40.908 --> 00:27:47.388

Kevin Lowe: Wow. What a valuable lesson for us all. I absolutely love that.

00:27:47.668 --> 00:27:53.188

Kevin Lowe: Your organization, Jody's Climb for Hope, at what point did you also expand

00:27:53.188 --> 00:27:58.028

Kevin Lowe: it to help with raising money for MS in support of your wife?

00:27:58.228 --> 00:28:03.028

Andrew Buerger: So we think our first expedition was in January of 2007, and she was diagnosed

00:28:03.028 --> 00:28:05.428

Andrew Buerger: a year later in February of 08.

00:28:05.588 --> 00:28:08.488

Andrew Buerger: And so within a year, I looked at Janice,

00:28:08.548 --> 00:28:11.508

Andrew Buerger: I guess we're raising money for MS now too so we do both

00:28:11.508 --> 00:28:15.228

Andrew Buerger: and we tend to you know basically split our you know if you raise a hundred

00:28:15.228 --> 00:28:19.428

Andrew Buerger: thousand we'll get 50 to each researcher on each side so it's a bit weird to

00:28:19.428 --> 00:28:22.708

Andrew Buerger: lump the two together we're raising money for breast cancer and ms but people

00:28:22.708 --> 00:28:26.528

Andrew Buerger: appreciate it people understand it and people embrace it but yeah we've been

00:28:26.528 --> 00:28:28.588

Andrew Buerger: doing it both of them for a while yeah.

00:28:28.588 --> 00:28:35.588

Kevin Lowe: That's absolutely amazing now kind of shifting gears i'm i'm very curious to learn how

00:28:36.069 --> 00:28:41.849

Kevin Lowe: You also had some type of discovery, I guess, while while hiking in Iceland

00:28:41.849 --> 00:28:45.589

Kevin Lowe: that led to you inventing some type of drink.

00:28:46.409 --> 00:28:49.889

Andrew Buerger: Right. So we talked about my triangulation. Right. So, again,

00:28:49.989 --> 00:28:53.169

Andrew Buerger: I've been very fortunate that I I'm like that kid's sixth sense.

00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:59.389

Andrew Buerger: I see things that are, you know, so when I triangulate things,

00:28:59.529 --> 00:29:02.169

Andrew Buerger: I'm able to see, you know, things that aren't there. And so,

00:29:02.549 --> 00:29:07.349

Andrew Buerger: you know, I had been a health nut for a long time and I couldn't find a convenient source of protein.

00:29:07.829 --> 00:29:13.249

Andrew Buerger: And this is, you know, going way back to late 90s that I tried to consume a

00:29:13.249 --> 00:29:15.389

Andrew Buerger: lot of protein without any sugar.

00:29:15.749 --> 00:29:19.469

Andrew Buerger: And obviously good fat, not bad fat. So I've been eating this lifestyle for

00:29:19.469 --> 00:29:22.089

Andrew Buerger: a long time, but I couldn't find a convenient source of protein.

00:29:22.269 --> 00:29:25.849

Andrew Buerger: So we're on this mountain and Jen was actually able to come to base camp.

00:29:25.969 --> 00:29:27.729

Andrew Buerger: And this could be just, you know, it was just car camping.

00:29:28.649 --> 00:29:32.269

Andrew Buerger: So we were climbing the highest mountain in Iceland. and they serve this,

00:29:32.289 --> 00:29:34.009

Andrew Buerger: this like yogurt thing for breakfast.

00:29:34.169 --> 00:29:37.429

Andrew Buerger: And I'm like, oh, I'm lactose intolerant. This is not going to be pretty,

00:29:37.589 --> 00:29:41.489

Andrew Buerger: you know, but we're going to consume like 6,000 calories that day.

00:29:41.669 --> 00:29:46.269

Andrew Buerger: So, you know, I ate it and I was fine. And I ate some more the next day and I was still fine.

00:29:46.809 --> 00:29:50.709

Andrew Buerger: And I said to the guy, Ivar, what is this stuff? He said, it's not yogurt, it's skier.

00:29:51.049 --> 00:29:55.509

Andrew Buerger: It's technically a form of cheese and all the lactose gets consumed by their probiotics.

00:29:55.809 --> 00:29:59.189

Andrew Buerger: It's basically, it's very similar to Greek yogurt. And so it's super high in

00:29:59.189 --> 00:30:01.549

Andrew Buerger: protein and tastes delicious without sugar.

00:30:02.129 --> 00:30:05.049

Andrew Buerger: So I looked at Jen and said, this is what I want to do the rest of my life.

00:30:05.785 --> 00:30:09.745

Andrew Buerger: Because, you know, as we talked about, my mission is to help take a bite out of disease.

00:30:10.005 --> 00:30:12.745

Andrew Buerger: And so I wanted to create a super healthy product that was convenient,

00:30:12.945 --> 00:30:14.845

Andrew Buerger: that, you know, you can go to a store.

00:30:15.025 --> 00:30:18.625

Andrew Buerger: It's obviously a lot different here in 2024. But this is back in,

00:30:18.665 --> 00:30:25.525

Andrew Buerger: you know, 2009, where, you know, all you got was like pork rinds at places for

00:30:25.525 --> 00:30:27.165

Andrew Buerger: a kind of a grab and go protein source.

00:30:27.325 --> 00:30:30.685

Andrew Buerger: And so I looked at Janet. This is what I want to do the rest of my life.

00:30:30.865 --> 00:30:34.045

Andrew Buerger: So I came home, quit my day job.

00:30:34.045 --> 00:30:36.985

Andrew Buerger: Again you know i'm not real bright but i'm i see things

00:30:36.985 --> 00:30:39.825

Andrew Buerger: and so i went to the university of vermont undergrad and we've

00:30:39.825 --> 00:30:42.525

Andrew Buerger: got a really good dairy science program there so i called up a dairy

00:30:42.525 --> 00:30:45.345

Andrew Buerger: scientist and he helped me came up with the recipe and we

00:30:45.345 --> 00:30:48.805

Andrew Buerger: created the first organic protein drink with

00:30:48.805 --> 00:30:51.905

Andrew Buerger: no added sugar you know stevia had just come to the markets we were basically

00:30:51.905 --> 00:30:57.885

Andrew Buerger: the first drink the market that used stevia and so we're able to create a drink

00:30:57.885 --> 00:31:02.345

Andrew Buerger: that a 30 grams of protein you know we mix it up with frozen fruit at home and

00:31:02.345 --> 00:31:04.765

Andrew Buerger: like wait a minute you know what if we did this commercially.

00:31:04.885 --> 00:31:06.325

Andrew Buerger: So we found someplace commercially to do it.

00:31:06.545 --> 00:31:11.465

Andrew Buerger: And we just took our skier that we made and mixed it up with fruit and put it in the bottle.

00:31:11.585 --> 00:31:15.665

Andrew Buerger: And next thing you know, we were in 40 states and largest supermarket chains,

00:31:15.805 --> 00:31:19.165

Andrew Buerger: Publix, Kroger, Whole Foods, Wegmans, all over the country.

00:31:19.665 --> 00:31:22.865

Kevin Lowe: Wow. Now, what is the brand name of the product?

00:31:23.305 --> 00:31:28.705

Andrew Buerger: Be More Organic. B apostrophe M-R-E. So in Baltimore, we call this town Be More.

00:31:29.225 --> 00:31:33.505

Andrew Buerger: So I called a product called Be More Organic. It's kind of a play on words.

00:31:33.865 --> 00:31:37.585

Andrew Buerger: We had to close that during COVID. But for, you know, for 10 years,

00:31:38.065 --> 00:31:41.405

Andrew Buerger: we had what I thought was one of the healthiest products on the market,

00:31:41.705 --> 00:31:45.985

Andrew Buerger: all organic, so no hormones or pesticides, high in protein and no added sugar.

00:31:46.265 --> 00:31:49.265

Andrew Buerger: So that was my life mission to help take about a disease.

00:31:49.725 --> 00:31:54.725

Andrew Buerger: And then we gave 1% of our sales to the nonprofit called Jody's Client.

00:31:55.165 --> 00:31:59.785

Andrew Buerger: So every day I was excited to go to work because, you know, I was living my

00:31:59.785 --> 00:32:01.605

Andrew Buerger: life's mission every single day.

00:32:02.125 --> 00:32:08.585

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Wow. That is, that is awesome, man. And I, I have never heard of that

00:32:08.585 --> 00:32:11.445

Kevin Lowe: product before. And I, that sounds amazing.

00:32:11.585 --> 00:32:14.065

Andrew Buerger: Well, unfortunately, yeah, we had to, we had to discontinue it,

00:32:14.145 --> 00:32:15.785

Andrew Buerger: but it was great for a long time.

00:32:16.245 --> 00:32:19.785

Kevin Lowe: Okay. Okay. Interesting. Wow. Well,

00:32:20.145 --> 00:32:28.805

Kevin Lowe: I guess the thing that I would love to ask you is how have you found a way to

00:32:28.805 --> 00:32:35.965

Kevin Lowe: kind of balance it all from the emotional stress of life to running a nonprofit,

00:32:35.985 --> 00:32:40.305

Kevin Lowe: to living out loud, hiking, to becoming a father.

00:32:40.725 --> 00:32:43.465

Kevin Lowe: How does one manage all of that?

00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:46.560

Andrew Buerger: My wife or kids would probably say I don't manage it well.

00:32:51.220 --> 00:32:56.100

Andrew Buerger: It's a lot of work, time consuming. When I had my for-profit business,

00:32:56.260 --> 00:32:59.900

Andrew Buerger: which was the protein drink and the non-profit, it was just love.

00:33:00.120 --> 00:33:03.040

Andrew Buerger: You know what I mean? It's like when you're a parent, it's the hardest job you

00:33:03.040 --> 00:33:05.080

Andrew Buerger: ever love. And it's the same thing.

00:33:05.300 --> 00:33:07.560

Andrew Buerger: You love what you're doing. You're passionate about it.

00:33:07.800 --> 00:33:11.840

Andrew Buerger: It didn't feel like work. You know, as I said, I got excited to get out of bed

00:33:11.840 --> 00:33:14.840

Andrew Buerger: every single day because I got to live my life mission.

00:33:15.080 --> 00:33:20.500

Andrew Buerger: You know, I have I'm also, you know, it's a big believer in as a leader and having a great team.

00:33:20.760 --> 00:33:25.000

Andrew Buerger: So I've got amazing volunteers at Joey's Climb for Hope who helped me organize

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:27.760

Andrew Buerger: all the missions. And then, you know, when I run a business,

00:33:28.040 --> 00:33:31.140

Andrew Buerger: there's an amazing team that always also supports me with that.

00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:35.520

Andrew Buerger: And then at home, you know, my team here is amazing. My wife is an amazing life

00:33:35.520 --> 00:33:37.800

Andrew Buerger: partner who does all the heavy lifting here.

00:33:38.260 --> 00:33:40.440

Andrew Buerger: So I'd say just, you know, a lot of great support.

00:33:41.040 --> 00:33:44.700

Andrew Buerger: One of the things I learned, you know, was when I told you I'm not a very good

00:33:44.700 --> 00:33:48.920

Andrew Buerger: climber. And so I always have a guide, you know, to keep me out of the crevasse.

00:33:49.040 --> 00:33:53.560

Andrew Buerger: They keep me on that when it's dark and I don't want to get lost on Mount Rainier in the cold.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.920

Andrew Buerger: We have a guide to help us. You know, I had my for-profit. We made the first

00:33:57.920 --> 00:33:59.600

Andrew Buerger: organic protein drink with no added sugar.

00:33:59.840 --> 00:34:03.740

Andrew Buerger: I called a guy named Seth Goldman, who created the first organic tea drink with

00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:07.580

Andrew Buerger: no added sugar. And so he was very generous with his time and mentored me.

00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:13.720

Andrew Buerger: And so I always had a guide in my for-profit business as well that guided me.

00:34:14.180 --> 00:34:20.000

Andrew Buerger: And so I realized that asking you for help is a sign of strength, not a sign of peace.

00:34:20.520 --> 00:34:23.500

Andrew Buerger: You know, when I do my motivational talks, I always ask the audience,

00:34:23.600 --> 00:34:27.060

Andrew Buerger: I said, who here likes asking for help?

00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:32.480

Andrew Buerger: You know, we have an audience of 300 people, maybe one, two people were raised.

00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:35.200

Andrew Buerger: And nobody actually like, oh, my God, I'm bothering somebody.

00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:37.620

Andrew Buerger: I'm going to bother Kevin. I don't want to do that.

00:34:38.455 --> 00:34:43.095

Andrew Buerger: And then I say, hey, raise your hand if you like helping people.

00:34:44.155 --> 00:34:47.875

Andrew Buerger: And all 300 hands go up, of course, because we all like helping people,

00:34:48.295 --> 00:34:49.455

Andrew Buerger: right? It makes us feel good.

00:34:50.155 --> 00:34:55.335

Andrew Buerger: Well, guess what? I made Seth Goldman feel good because, hey, dude, can you help me?

00:34:55.775 --> 00:34:59.795

Andrew Buerger: When I was having trouble raising my black son because I wasn't a very good

00:34:59.795 --> 00:35:03.455

Andrew Buerger: black father, you know, I didn't have a black father myself.

00:35:03.515 --> 00:35:08.215

Andrew Buerger: And so I knew the Baltimore Ravens because our smoothies were in their locker room.

00:35:08.455 --> 00:35:13.075

Andrew Buerger: And I called this 6'8", African-American man by name, Carl Davis,

00:35:13.175 --> 00:35:15.015

Andrew Buerger: who plays for the Dallas Cowboys now.

00:35:15.195 --> 00:35:20.575

Andrew Buerger: He played for the Ravens at 350 pounds. I said, Carl, can you help me mentor my black son?

00:35:20.895 --> 00:35:24.095

Andrew Buerger: So now I ask for help in all aspects of my life.

00:35:24.395 --> 00:35:27.335

Andrew Buerger: I have people helping me, mentoring me in business.

00:35:27.615 --> 00:35:34.135

Andrew Buerger: People who mentor me with raising kids. I have my friend who helps me with my diet and nutrition.

00:35:34.495 --> 00:35:38.775

Andrew Buerger: I ask, it's like a board of directors that I ask for help. because I feel it's

00:35:38.775 --> 00:35:40.155

Andrew Buerger: a sign of strength and not a sign of weakness.

00:35:40.295 --> 00:35:43.055

Andrew Buerger: And I make those people feel good because they get to help me.

00:35:43.255 --> 00:35:47.475

Andrew Buerger: So that's a long answer to a short question of how I get through it. I ask for a lot of help.

00:35:49.135 --> 00:35:56.695

Kevin Lowe: Wow. And I personally think that's the most amazing answer I could have expected

00:35:57.155 --> 00:36:01.955

Kevin Lowe: for the simple fact that there's so much power in that. There's so much love in that.

00:36:02.716 --> 00:36:09.876

Kevin Lowe: And this idea of what you illustrated is we hate to ask for help,

00:36:10.016 --> 00:36:11.616

Kevin Lowe: but we love to help. Yeah.

00:36:12.036 --> 00:36:19.196

Kevin Lowe: You know, I mean, it's such an ironic kind of predicament of this situation. Yeah.

00:36:19.416 --> 00:36:22.636

Andrew Buerger: Yeah. And I'm sure somebody like you probably struggles with it,

00:36:22.636 --> 00:36:25.196

Andrew Buerger: too. I don't want to ask for help. I don't need help. Right.

00:36:25.596 --> 00:36:28.816

Andrew Buerger: You know, you feel like it might put some sort of stigma on if you ask for help.

00:36:28.896 --> 00:36:30.316

Andrew Buerger: But, you know, people want to help.

00:36:30.656 --> 00:36:37.976

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, today, I know that you mentioned you do motivational speaking.

00:36:38.336 --> 00:36:38.496

Andrew Buerger: Yes.

00:36:38.656 --> 00:36:41.596

Kevin Lowe: If I'm not mistaken, you also have a book as well, correct?

00:36:41.696 --> 00:36:47.636

Andrew Buerger: I do. It's out there somewhere. Yes. It's called Carrying a Flag from Pain to Passion.

00:36:47.936 --> 00:36:50.536

Andrew Buerger: It's kind of about how we get that flag to the summit.

00:36:50.876 --> 00:36:55.716

Andrew Buerger: That flag can help you overcome a lot of obstacles if you carry it in your pack every day.

00:36:56.096 --> 00:36:59.456

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. I love it. Well, listen,

00:37:00.056 --> 00:37:05.536

Kevin Lowe: Andy, for somebody who would love to learn more about you, to stay plugged in

00:37:05.536 --> 00:37:10.576

Kevin Lowe: with your world, maybe to find your book or to look at hiring you as a motivational

00:37:10.576 --> 00:37:12.976

Kevin Lowe: speaker, where's the best place for us to send them?

00:37:13.256 --> 00:37:17.996

Andrew Buerger: I have a website, andrewberger.com. Andrew, as in my first name,

00:37:18.036 --> 00:37:20.836

Andrew Buerger: and then Berger, B-U-E-R-G-E-R.com.

00:37:20.836 --> 00:37:28.436

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, well, well, listen, I guess my last question for you is when I when I

00:37:28.436 --> 00:37:32.296

Kevin Lowe: listen to you talk about this kind of life story,

00:37:32.296 --> 00:37:39.776

Kevin Lowe: it's a story that it seems so amazing at your level of of giving back.

00:37:40.016 --> 00:37:44.796

Kevin Lowe: What do you hope at the end of the day when all is said and done?

00:37:45.096 --> 00:37:48.696

Kevin Lowe: What do you hope that that your your kids remember you for?

00:37:49.416 --> 00:37:52.676

Andrew Buerger: Jeez. You had to give the doozy at the end.

00:37:55.196 --> 00:37:56.776

Andrew Buerger: Oh, we're out of time. Look at that.

00:37:57.416 --> 00:37:58.016

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:38:01.536 --> 00:38:04.276

Andrew Buerger: You know, it's funny because, you know, when I was a kid, you know,

00:38:04.296 --> 00:38:07.356

Andrew Buerger: my dad used to put me in the car. I used to drive around town collecting money

00:38:07.356 --> 00:38:08.236

Andrew Buerger: for the community chest.

00:38:08.436 --> 00:38:12.476

Andrew Buerger: And I used to watch him, you know, go raise money for people less fortunate.

00:38:12.896 --> 00:38:14.376

Andrew Buerger: And now I'm on my computer.

00:38:14.836 --> 00:38:19.336

Andrew Buerger: I'm like, dad's on his computer again. But, you know, I'm sending out emails raising money.

00:38:19.516 --> 00:38:25.536

Andrew Buerger: I'm sending out doing work for logistics on the computer to do stuff for the climb.

00:38:25.656 --> 00:38:27.936

Andrew Buerger: You know, I'm not on the phone talking to people. Hey, guys,

00:38:28.016 --> 00:38:31.876

Andrew Buerger: here's what's going on. So they don't hear me and they don't see me doing it besides the computer.

00:38:32.136 --> 00:38:34.796

Andrew Buerger: So it's a real challenge for me. My kids know what I'm doing.

00:38:35.176 --> 00:38:38.476

Andrew Buerger: I was very fortunate the other day that my daughter opened the mail and there

00:38:38.476 --> 00:38:40.956

Andrew Buerger: was a $20,000 check in there.

00:38:41.376 --> 00:38:44.336

Andrew Buerger: And so she was able to see. Oh, OK.

00:38:45.636 --> 00:38:49.716

Andrew Buerger: That's part of it why dad is on the computer and I you can't see it but there's

00:38:49.716 --> 00:38:54.196

Andrew Buerger: a she put this little note finally on my wall said you're the reason that Client

00:38:54.196 --> 00:38:57.876

Andrew Buerger: for Hope is the way it is because of all of your hard work.

00:38:58.720 --> 00:38:59.240

Kevin Lowe: Hmm.

00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:05.440

Andrew Buerger: So I hope that they're able to see that I'm using my my brain and my all my

00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:09.700

Andrew Buerger: effort and my creativity to help take a bite of disease so other people can

00:39:09.700 --> 00:39:10.800

Andrew Buerger: live more fulfilling lives.

00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:16.460

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, I love it. Andy, man, it's been a real pleasure having you today.

00:39:16.720 --> 00:39:22.660

Kevin Lowe: I have really enjoyed getting to to hear your story and your perspective on

00:39:22.660 --> 00:39:23.960

Kevin Lowe: the way in which you look at life.

00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:30.140

Kevin Lowe: And I believe it's something that we can all listen to your story,

00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:34.940

Kevin Lowe: listen to your perspective and take at least something you've said today and

00:39:34.940 --> 00:39:36.500

Kevin Lowe: put it into action in our own life.

00:39:36.700 --> 00:39:39.700

Kevin Lowe: So I thank you in the most sincere way possible.

00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:43.320

Andrew Buerger: I appreciate you giving the opportunity to share my story and hopefully,

00:39:43.600 --> 00:39:46.640

Andrew Buerger: as you said, somebody will learn for it and just learn to take,

00:39:46.840 --> 00:39:49.020

Andrew Buerger: put one foot in front of the other to make it through the day.

00:39:49.520 --> 00:39:55.360

Kevin Lowe: Absolutely. For you listening today, My hope is always is that like me,

00:39:55.560 --> 00:40:00.200

Kevin Lowe: you've come away feeling a little bit better than when we started.

00:40:00.520 --> 00:40:07.440

Kevin Lowe: You're left with so much words of wisdom about life that I hope you do put it

00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:08.800

Kevin Lowe: into action in your life.

00:40:09.080 --> 00:40:15.540

Kevin Lowe: And of course, like I like to end every episode is I hope today's episode maybe

00:40:15.540 --> 00:40:21.080

Kevin Lowe: made today a little bit better than yesterday and makes tomorrow a little bit better than today.

00:40:21.080 --> 00:40:25.960

Kevin Lowe: I'm Kevin Lowe, and this is another episode of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:46.089