A Close Call with Death

Nikki has a fascinating story of surviving a traumatic accident in New York City where she was hit by a car while walking through an intersection at night near China Town.  Nikki flew over 30 feet ultimately landing on her head causing extensive damage to her left side of her head and suffering from major damage to bones and vital organs on her left side.  Nikki has survived this accident and is still alive to share with us how you get though something like that and still go on and love others and stay vital in the success of others around her in this life.  Nikki is one tough and resilient person and it was a pleasure to sit down with her.  Thank you Nikki! 

*This recording has some technical issues with added vibration and added double voice.  That goes away quickly. Thank you for understanding as this story would have been difficult to record all over again.  

This session I talk with Mike Jones.  Mike comes from Southern California and recently Gilbert Arizona where he shares a story of being raised in a violent drug and mental health crisis life being kidnapped and then stashed away in a dark motel room for days on end suffering from malnutrition and psychological terror.  In his early teens being welcomed into a Southern California gang he became involved with drug traffic, and gang retaliation. Facing later bouts of depression there were attempts of suicide. When friends came to the rescue, Mike was saved and brought back to the light. Mike, now a converted Christian, lives a life of family, productive work and, actively pursuing a professional career advancement in Utah to provide for a family he loves and his goal is to take care of them in a manner he never experienced in his earlier life. Lesson learned, never count a human being out.  Anyone can make a comeback! Thank you Mike for being on the show!

Matt Oehler is our guest this week with an amazing life of serving our country from a missionary for the LDS Church in New York City, to a Marine in Iraq, witness to the planes flying into our World Trade Center towers, and currently serving our community as a police officer in today's challenging world.  Matt shares with us different sides of A Close Call With Death personally as well as seeing it take place from New York to Salt Lake and everywhere in-between.  Tune in on this one!  Thanks Matt for your service!

Audrey Overton walked into the recent networking meeting I was in and told a short story of how she has a uniqueness about her as she bit her tongue off when she was a child AND, had a terrible near death car accident that nearly took her life.  I knew my show needed to record her story. This session will unfold how this life threatening event played out and why Audrey is here today to talk about it.  Thanks Audrey for being on the show!

Teri Benson is our guest on the show bringing with her the story of her Aortic Dissection.  This heart and major heart valve / artery malfunction left her without a heartbeat for over 25 minutes as a talented surgical team operated on her for 18+ hours and brought her not only back to life, but she was able to continue her active life ever since. Teri has written a book called "How my ordinary became extraordinary," telling her story of going from healthy and active to near death in a moment. This story is hers of fighting back and living to tell about it.

Our special guest today is Jeff Smith.  Jeff is a great man and a "Serial Entrepreneur" in life. Jeff has grown and exited some great Utah companies and is currently Chairman of the Board of Jet Dental that he and his son Jordan currently President, created a few years ago. The cool thing is that Jeff donates large sums of money to some wonderful causes like Make A Wish, ShelterKids, Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Operation Underground Railroad! Jeff does a lot of good for others and perhaps this Close Call With Death has prompted him to even more.  Jeff and his other son Josh were in Kauai Hawaii in 2004 hiking the Na Pali Coast trail when their family of 5, Jeff, his wife Sandee, and their three kids, came to Kanakapi ai Beach about 2 miles in.  Josh, then 14 years of age goes out into the waters for a swim in Rip Tide conditions prior to Jeff and his wife and family arriving.  Josh got sucked out in a rip tide with 16 foot waves crashing in and when he was in trouble, Jeff jumped into the scenario and both became dangerously close to death in a battle of time, brutal conditions, and a fight for survival. This story will blow your mind.  Hug your children and your spouse just a little tighter tonight and just imagine what it would have been for you to have gone through this experience like they did!

Jeff is an avid family man, traveler, golfer, mountain climber, and surfer!!!  You will feel Jeff's energy and his love for his son and family 

Sue Urses joins the show today as a Utah native with a past as a Las Vegas Police Officer. She later moved back to Utah and pursued a career change to a Human Resource Executive serving in a national and international role to some of Utah's largest technology companies with employees that span the globe.  Sue traveled all over the world in her role. In the last few years she has fought a tough battle with breast cancer that she won while still working full time and traveling all over the world.  We listen in to how Sue battled this terrible disease while being a wife, mother and leader of thousands of employees. Sue, now at age 57, leads a full life with her sights set on living an active life. We have the opportunity to learn from her perservering attitude while having come dangerously close to death. 

This episode we talk with our guest Andrea Duncan who suffered a major heart attack just after the birth of her second child and discovering her heart was in jeopardy and not going to work any longer and she needed a new heart.  Andrea received this new heart from a donor and she shares with us her experience and a Close Call With Death.

Larry joins us today on our podcast and reveals his close call's! with death as he tells of his 4 near death experiences!! Larry lives here in Utah, is a graduate from BYU, with an MBA with an emphasis in international business from the University of Utah. He has lead many companies as CEO and authored books like CEO by Monday, and many many articles for Forbes. Larry is a husband, friend to many and proud Grampa! We are all very lucky to have Larry still in our world as he contributes much to it and I for one am so grateful that Larry stayed alive to tell us about his "Close Calls With Death!"