Trigger warning: this episode discusses the topic of suicide

Muscular Dystrophy is something that has really only started to become more commonly known in the past decade or so. But even now most people might have a rough general idea of it, but not actually know the details of just how varied and complicated it can be.

Rhiannon Anderson was diagnosed at 3 and her parents were told she would not live past her 18th birthday. This was compounded by her need for scoliosis surgery in 2012.

Since then she has graduated from the University of Southern Queensland with honours and a Bachelor of Law in 2023. She has worked as a paralegal and now as a Life Coach, runs a successful blog and lives her life with her two dogs, Lexi and Levi, goes on day trips to the Gold Coast with her family, and enjoys watching Aussie Rules Football, and working with horses.

In this episode Rhiannon shares:

• What it was like being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy
• Why it took so long to be diagnosed
• What it was like growing up as a kid with Muscular Dystrophy
• How her MD progressed as she hit puberty and how this affected her
• What her condition is like now
• The challenge of being diagnosed with scoliosis as a kid as well
• What the journey to recover from scoliosis was like
• The mantras and inspiration her grandpa gave her that helped her through her recovery
• How she lives knowing she has a terminal condition
• The ways she lives her life despite her condition
• Her remarkable big goal to achieve despite her condition
• Why working with horses has helped her as a form of therapy
• Her thoughts on how going through the mental challenges helps develop her into the person she is

Key Quotes

“I had to walk the entire hallway unassisted. And it took me 12 minutes to walk a 50 metre corridor.”

“I went from being able to sit on the floor and pull myself up to having to only sit on a chair, in the space of a couple of months

More about Rhiannon

You can find her via her website: https://livingabled.com.au/

Or on socials.

Instagram: Living_abled

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingabledcoaching

You can get involved with the podcast online

To try out our resilience course: https://www.challengesthatchangeus.com/surviving-2-thriving-course1

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites: www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve been a long time listener of this podcast you’ll know the advocating for awareness around POTS is something very close to my heart.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome can be absolutely debilitating, and that’s not taking into account how many years it can take for someone to actually get a diagnosis.

All of this can be truly crushing for anyone, but is especially so for someone who is incredibly active, driven and passionate.

All of those words could be used to describe Claire Clark who, prior to her diagnosis had been a scuba instructor, founder of female focused bootcamps, paramedic and more.

Since working through that challenge and coming to grips with her new reality, Claire is an advocate for the POTS Foundation and her story will blow you away.

In this episode she shares:

• Her early life of active work
• Her life as a paramedic
• The moment she got injured at work
• How her injury was exacerbated and led to a full health breakdown
• The numerous times her medical team dismissed her symptoms and almost didn’t diagnose her
• How she finally did get a diagnosis
• How the door to more issues that was opened by her POTS
• The moment she realised she would never return to her former health
• How she learned to recalibrate her load of work for a day
• How she got in touch with the POTS foundation
• The additional illnesses and medical dangers she has gone through since her diagnosis

Key Quotes

“At the moment even walking to my letterbox is difficult.”

“I was always somebody that helped others and I couldn’t help myself”

More about

You can support the POTS Foundation by becoming a volunteer here: https://potsfoundation.org.au/get-involved/#volunteer

You can support Claire’s art here: https://www.instagram.com/unmuddledartist?igsh=Z3FmNXVpNXc1Mnhh

POTS Page Turners Go Fund Me Bookclub https://gofund.me/0cd66e31

You can get involved with the podcast online

To try out our resilience course: https://www.challengesthatchangeus.com/surviving-2-thriving-course1

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve spoken before about what happens when High Performers push themselves so hard that they break down. But what happens when the physical break down symptoms occur, but you don’t realise it is because of your anxiety and mind?

That’s the position Georgie Dent found herself in when her anxiety and stress sent her into a physical breakdown that took her over 4 months to recover from.

Now she is the CEO at The Parenthood, ad writer and public speaker, but the journey to all of that was full of false starts and a lot of wrong answers that she had to overcome.

In this episode she shares:

• Her life before her breakdown
• What happened at the moment of the breakdown
• What happened the day after the breakdown
• How living with her health conditions showed up as anxiety and a constant negative scared mental loop
• Why thinking the symptoms were in her head sent her into a spiral
• Why she hated people being supportive and checking in with her
• What the 4 months after the breakdown were like
• The mental drain of continuously not finding a diagnosis
• The appointment that was her turning point
• Her experience going to a psychiatric hospital
• What her life is like now and whether the anxiety remains
• What happens when her health dips now and how she manages that
• What it was like integrating back into society as she recovered

Key Quotes

“So much was making sense to me about how unforgiving I had been to myself for so long.”

“I was living in a state of constant panic and anxiety that I didn’t realise.”

“I had internalised this idea that because I had these medical issues I was deficient in some way.”

More about Georgie

You can find out more about Georgie and her projects here: https://georgiedent.com/

Info on The Parent Hood is here: https://www.theparenthood.org.au/

The two programs that make Georgie laugh are Schitts Creek and VEEP.

You can get involved with the podcast online

To try out our resilience course: https://www.challengesthatchangeus.com/surviving-2-thriving-course1

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.