Podcasts by A Leg Up On Life
A Leg Up On Life is the podcast that take success to a whole new level. The host, Roni Sasaki, a Paralympic Gold Medalist in ski racing, interviews high achieving guests with disabilities. They will inspire and encourage listeners to push through all obstacles to reach their goals.
Further podcasts by Roni Sasaki, Paralympian and Inspirational Speaker
Podcast on the topic Wirtschaft
All episodes
#60 Jake French from 2022-12-18T14:41
In this final episode of A Leg Up On Life, Jake French shares how he lives life to the fullest from a wheelchair. Jake is a professional speaker, inventor, hunter, and fisherman. Fourt...
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#59 Laurie Hayn from 2022-11-27T17:05
Four years ago, on September 18, 2018, Laurie Hayn lost her left arm and leg in a farming accident. Up to then, she was an active outdoors person, having hiked 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail...
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#58 Nicole Ver Kuilen&Dee Palagi from 2022-10-17T22:02
Nicole Ver Kuilen & Dee Palagi led a team of adaptive athletes in the 2022 Hood to Coast relay, a 200-mile journey in Oregon from the base of Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean. Both women are below-...
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#57 Mary Riddell-Bowman from 2022-09-29T21:15
Mary Riddell-Bowman was born without her right lower leg and began skiing on her prosthetic leg at age four. Mary qualified for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team when she was fourteen. She raced with t...
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#56 Michael Belew from 2022-08-21T23:12:20
Michael Belew broke his neck after diving into a wave while taking a break from his intense military training. He is currently paralyzed from the chest down but hopes to one day regain the use o...
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#55 Mark Mohammadpour from 2022-07-29T15:57:28
Mark Mohammadpour lost 150 pounds and has kept it off for 15 years. He went from a public relations executive to the Chief Well-Being Officer of Chasing the Sun. He...
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#54 Colleen Young from 2022-06-29T20:08:42
Colleen Young knows how to adapt. She was born with Albinism, a condition that affects her eyesight and makes her legally blind. Colleen tried numerous sports as a youngster but thrived at compe...
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#53 Andrew Kurka from 2022-05-14T22:41:38
Paralympic Gold Medalist, Andrew Kurka, is making his second appearance on "A Leg Up On Life." In this episode, Andrew recaps his experience at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, emphasizing his philoso...
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#52 Mimo Pearl from 2022-03-29T13:40:57
Mimo Pearl nearly broke off her foot when a ladder collapsed underneath her. She has undergone numerous surgeries and treatments for almost a year to save her foot. Before her accident, Mimo was...
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#51 Kendra Herber from 2022-02-27T00:32:06
Kendra Herber was born missing part of her foot. Her parents decided to amputate the foot when she was two years old. It was a decision that worked in Kendra's favor, allowing her to be a "norma...
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#50 Kellie Delabitoria from 2022-01-22T18:18:38
Kellie Delabitoria is a full-time caretaker for her adult son, who is autistic. She lives by faith and prayer and takes one day at a time. She is a "behind-the-scene" hero who often goes without...
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#49 Michelle Kuei from 2021-12-18T21:46:31
Michelle Kuei is an international speaker, certified visibility coach, and author who empowers others to build resiliency, overcome tragedy, and find purpose in every challenge. When she was an ...
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#48 - Vasu Sojitra from 2021-11-28T01:39:29
Vasu Sojitra is an extreme back-country skier. When he was only nine months old, he had one of his legs amputated because of a blood infection. Vasu's passion is to spread the message that havin...
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#47 Candice Caesar from 2021-10-01T20:44:23
Candice Caesar is an Army veteran, and it was during her service that she became paralyzed. She learned to walk despite the doctor’s prediction that she would never walk again. At that time, she...
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#46 Maureen Manley from 2021-08-23T01:44:10
Maureen Manley is a world-class cyclist. She is a former member of the U.S. Cycling Team, where she won a National Championship. Manley also set a national record and won numerous medals at both...
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#45 Jesse&Joe Fay from 2021-07-31T20:19:35
Jesse Fay has faced life-threatening illnesses twice in his life. When he was only 3, he was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. After an a...
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#44 Angie Heuser from 2021-06-27T23:07:23
Angie Heuser injured her knee during a Taekwondo belt test. Her routine MCL tear led to numerous surgeries and crippling pain. Her knee refused to heal, and after years of medical procedures, An...
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#43 Chris Waddell from 2021-05-17T14:43:29
Chris Waddell is one of the fastest mono-skiers of all time, and he impacted his sport profoundly. Chris won 13 Paralympic medals in both the summer and winter events. He is a member of the Para...
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#42 Alvin Law from 2021-04-19T01:53:24
When Alvin Law looks in the mirror, he sees a fully competent and confid...
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#41 Jessi Machnik from 2021-03-23T12:57:12
Jessi Machnik is an equestrian who specializes in show jumping. She began riding horses as a young child, and it has been her passion ever since. A few years ago, Jessi lost her leg below the kn...
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#40 David Rotter from 2021-02-20T20:31:16
Dave Rotter, owner of David Rotter Prosthetics in Joliet, Illinois, is a world-class prosthetist who builds artificial limbs for many Paralympic athletes who travel far and wide to benefit from ...
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#39 Tony Drees from 2021-01-30T16:12:26
Tony Drees is a powerhouse of positivity. He is a Desert Storm Purple Heart Amputee. Tony miraculously survived a scud missile attack, but his right leg was severely damaged. He endured over 70 ...
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#38 Michael Belew from 2020-12-31T14:00:04
Michael Belew is a young man with a vision. While taking a much-deserved break from intense military training, he dove into a wave and broke his neck. Now he only has sensation from his chest up...
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#37 Bill Mayo from 2020-11-29T23:57:59
Bill Mayo battled a cancerous tumor (named Stanley by his grandchildren) for eight years. When cancer reappeared for the third time, he decided to have his leg amputated to get rid of it once an...
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#36 Mike&Jodi diPenna from 2020-10-24T21:35:49
Before Thanksgiving 2019, Mike diPenna was a healthy and athletic man. No one could have imagined that he would fall ill with a bacterial infection in his blood and meningitis. This rare combina...
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#35 Emily Purry from 2020-09-30T12:28:24
Emily Purry is an expert in accessibility, intersectionality, technology, and the world of ADA. Legally blind herself and the parent of a child with autism, she brings personal and professional ...
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#34 Nicholas Hinrichsen from 2020-08-12T21:24:33
#33 Gail Hamilton from 2020-07-22T13:32:41
Gail Hamilton will inspire you to live a life of vision, purpose, and action. She is a professional speaker and author of the book, Soaring Into Greatness. Gail has also earned two Mast...
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#32 John Register from 2020-06-28T15:42:27
John Register won the silver medal in the long jump at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. He had never heard of the Paralympics while he was a member of the U.S. Army and training t...
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#31 Melanie Ausmus from 2020-05-30T16:27:36
Melanie Ausmus was struck ill and hospitalized with COVID-19. The entire world is experiencing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Yet many of us do not know anyone who has been sick from the v...
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#30 Chris Madison from 2020-04-19T14:39:55
Chris Madison lost his foot in a boating accident when he was only ten years old. At that time, he gave up his dream to be a fighter pilot but continued to set goals that have since shaped his l...
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#29 Katie Leimkuehler from 2020-03-22T14:47:18
Katie is the granddaughter of Paul Leimkuehler, a World War II Veteran w...
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#28 Greg Mannino from 2020-02-15T22:46:44
Greg Mannino is one of the top one-legged ski racers of our time. He lost his leg at age seventeen and found skiing to be an ideal outlet for going fast and being competitive. He raced in 5 Para...
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#27 Bob Meserve from 2020-01-31T23:54:11
Bob Meserve was a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team from 1989 - 1993, skiing in a monoski. In 1992, he began to serve as the Winter Athlete Representative of the National Board of Directors f...
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#26 Prateek Dujari - Himalayan Bike Expedition from 2019-12-25T16:27:02
A Leg Up On Life welcomes back Prateek Dujari, who was our guest in Episode #21. During the interview, he shared about his upcoming 10-day bike expedition in the Himalayan Mountains in India. In...
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#25 Christina Chambers from 2019-11-17T15:45:46
"My wheelchair will only take me so far, but that's not as far as I can go!" At age 12, Christina Chambers became a paraplegic when her immune system attacked her spinal cord. A manual wheelchai...
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#24 John&Anni Furniss from 2019-10-20T15:56:30
John Furniss, also known as the Blind Woodsman, is a blind woodworker. His wife, Anni, is a painter. The two artists form a partnership that is the stuff movies are made of. John lost his sight ...
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#23 Elisa Hays from 2019-09-11T13:04:32
On an icy and snowy February night, Elisa Hays got hit by a semi-truck as she and her coworkers attempted to run for safety after their pickup and trailer slid on black ice. In this episode of "...
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#22 Bob Ewing from 2019-08-25T22:10:59
Leave your disability at the dock, is the motto of Footloose Sailing Association. In this interview, you will meet Bob Ewing, one of the founders of the sailing club specifically for in...
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#21 Prateek Dujari from 2019-07-20T14:44:22
In this episode of A Leg Up On Life, Roni Sasaki chats with Prateek Dujari, an engineer from Intel and avid outdoorsman who lost his sight in a climbing incident. Prateek found healing and purpo...
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#20 Shaun Williams from 2019-06-01T03:50:19
Shaun Williams is blind. He lost his vision gradually from retinitis pigmentosa (RP). In this episode, Shaun openly talks about what it's like to be blind. Shaun lives life to the fullest. First...
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#19 Ron Heagy from 2019-04-07T19:16:11
Ron Heagy dove into a wave on the day before his 18th birthday and broke his neck. Since then, he has been a quadriplegic, unable to feel anything from the chest down. Ron chooses to focus on wh...
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#18 Dave Carl from 2019-03-21T13:15:22
Dave Carl is a motivational speaker, author, blogger, and social worker. He was born with spina bifida, a condition where the spinal cord is not fully developed. Because of this, Dave is paralyz...
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#17 Shandy Welch from 2019-02-19T04:02:54
Shandy Welch was a clinical nurse practitioner in orthopedic medicine when she discovered that she had breast cancer. As part of her treatment, Shandy experienced a double mastectomy. She chose ...
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#16 Jim Lagerstrom from 2019-01-21T14:37:25
Jim Lagerstrom is a five-time Paralympian, winning numerous medals during a ski racing career that spanned 20 years. Jim lost his leg below the knee when he was five years old. Lagerstrom now wo...
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#15 Brenda Tyrrell from 2018-12-22T21:30:44
In this episode of A Leg Up On Life, Roni Sasaki interviews Brenda Tyrrell. Brenda is the mother of "Little Bob," who was born with Down Syndrome. Brenda candidly shares some of the frustrations...
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#14 Tammy Coates from 2018-11-30T04:38:27
In January of 2003, Clackamas County Sheriff's Seargent Damon Coates was shot in the face by a mentally disturbed 15-year-old boy. The incident devastated Damon's family and left him partially p...
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#13 Corina Muntean from 2018-10-23T02:56:12
When Corina Muntean was 29 years old, she began to experience numbness in her legs. Her condition quickly escalated until she was completely paralyzed from the chest down. Her triumphant story o...
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#12 Ana&Dave Wakefield from 2018-10-01T05:53:06
On October 18th, 2017, Ana Wakefield was in a devastating head-on collision that changed her life. She suffered a severe brain injury and multiple broken bones in her legs. The doctors were unsu...
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#11 Garce Garcia from 2018-08-31T13:37:47
In this episode of A Leg Up On Life, Roni Sasaki interviews Don "Garce" Garcia. Garce grew up with Cerebral Palsy and used it as an asset to create a life of adventure and achie...
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#10 Gordon&Jill Viggiano from 2018-07-31T05:14:39
Gordon and Jill Viggiano's story is one of determination and triumph. On Gordon's 51st birthday, he suffered a massive stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body, stole his memory, impaire...
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#9 Craig Blanchette from 2018-06-30T14:38:34
Craig Blanchette was born without a femur on both legs. He is a powerhouse athlete, having claimed numerous medals and world records in wheelchair racing. He is currently a health and life coach...
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#8 Roni Sasaki's Story from 2018-05-31T05:07:02
In this episode of A Leg Up On Life, host Roni Sasaki, shares her story of being born with only one leg. She held onto a secret dream to become an Olympic Athlete, even though it seemed unlikely...
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#7 Andrew Kurka from 2018-04-15T14:00:29
In this episode of A Leg Up On Life, former Paralympic Gold Medalist, Roni Sasaki, interviews Andrew Kurka, a Gold Medalist from the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics. Andrew won the Men's S...
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#6 - Rene' Steelman from 2018-03-24T20:37:05
Rene' Steelman is a professional speaker, radio show host and the mother of six children. Her sixth child, TJ, was born with severe Cerebral Palsy and Rene' is his full-time caregiver. In this p...
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Kip&Ashley Johnson from 2018-02-20T01:34:43
Kip Johnson was an all-star athlete in high school who experienced a life-changing injury while he was skiing. He crashed into a tree and broke his neck, becoming a C5/6 quadriplegic. Kip chose ...
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#4 Debbie Wooten-A Leg Up On Life from 2018-01-22T01:28:50
Debbie Wooten is a vivacious woman who contracted polio when she was five months old. She experienced many strikes against her, yet she chose to live by the mantra, "Kick Can't to the Curb." Deb...
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Bobby&Heather Asa #3 from 2017-12-30T20:27:48
In June 2017, Bobby Asa was in a devastating car accident, suffering severe brain and spinal damage. The doctors said that if he lived, he would most likely be a vegetable and a quadriplegic. Hi...
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A Leg Up On Life #2-Cathy Patti from 2017-11-29T04:38:46
In this episode, Roni introduces her new book, Listen
A Leg Up On Life - Episode #1 from 2017-10-25T02:50:45
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