Episode #8 - Stacey Kozel (Ironwill)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 10 November 2016
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is an extra special episode.
Stacey Kozel was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 19 years and has fought a battle against it ever since. Not wishing to be defined by her disability, Stacey embraced the challenge of a complete thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. She was fitted with sophisticated braces, controlled by microprocessors, that allowed her to achieve the unthinkable. Stacey is a powerful advocate for the battle against lupus and is happy to speak with anybody who wants to know about her hike or the disease.
It was a privilege to be able to speak with Stacey and to find a funny, determined woman who never wants to regret not having tried her best. On her Facebook page, she is wearing a T-shirt that says "Living. It's the only thing worth dying for." And so say all of us.
Stacey can be contacted by email at skozel221@gmail.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:25.9 | Hi, and welcome to episode number eight. |
| 0:29.8 | This is going to be an extra special episode as we're honoured, truly honoured, |
| 0:34.3 | to have Stacey Cosell on the show today. |
| 0:37.0 | If you haven't heard of |
| 0:37.8 | Stacey, you either don't like hiking, in which case you found the wrong show, or you've been |
| 0:43.0 | living under a rock somewhere. I read about Stacey earlier in the year when I saw, probably on |
| 0:49.1 | social media somewhere, that she was attempting to hike the entire Appalachian Trail while paralysed |
| 0:55.8 | below the hips. Yeah, that was an opener for me as well. She was fitted with some sort of |
| 1:01.9 | braces that had microprocessors that, well, let Stacey explain, because I really can't. The point is |
| 1:08.9 | Stacey has just completed an AT through hike and I was |
| 1:11.8 | really keen to speak with her. Now, shyness not being a major part of my makeup, I sent her a message |
| 1:18.3 | through Facebook, marking me out, I guess, as something of a cyber stalker. I really wasn't |
| 1:23.3 | expecting a response. Luckily though, she's a bit old school and sees it as her duty to respond |
| 1:28.5 | to a polite request. She graciously agreed to be interviewed and the result will be on in the |
| 1:33.6 | minute. Trust me, you're going to be shaking your head in awe when you hear her. I'm constantly |
| 1:39.4 | looking out for ways in which I can improve the podcast and one recent suggestion was that I could |
| 1:44.1 | offer my opinion or a review on suggestion was that I could offer my opinion |
| 1:44.9 | or a review on various items that I took with me on the trail. To be honest I hadn't really thought |
| 1:50.4 | to do that on this show but then I thought why not? I was a new hiker trying to find my way through |
| 1:56.3 | the myriad options of hiking gear out there so sharing my rationale may help one or two people contemplating |
| 2:02.0 | this or indeed any other long-distance hike. I'll be reaching out to the manufacturers of the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Steve Adams, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Steve Adams and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.