Facing death taught me how to truly live with David Smith MBE (E215)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.8 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Paralysis taught me how to live”
This emotional conversation is an honest and vulnerable discussion about life, death and understanding our purpose.
In 2010, David Smith was given a life changing diagnosis: a rare, cancerous tumour was found in his neck. A focused athlete, previously competing in karate, running and bobsled, David aimed to put all of his energy into competing in the 2012 Paralympic games as a rower; “I didn’t have time for a tumour”. But, after having surgery on the tumour, David suffered a stroke. This was the start of a new life for David.
After multiple surgeries and a number of complications, David is now fully paralysed on his left side. Despite winning gold for Rowing with Team GB at the 2012 Paralympics, what really stands out is David’s appreciation for every moment, his resilience, and his deep understanding of what it means to really live. In the face of battling cancer and living with paralysis, David's unwavering commitment to his purpose and daily philosophy shines through. He shares the importance of embracing vulnerability and the preciousness of time.
A total of 6 major life-threatening spinal surgeries in 13 years, 6 weeks of radiotherapy and learning to walk after each operation meant his sporting career became more about staying alive than winning medals. David shares his profound wisdom with Jake and Damian, exploring how he is attempting to come to terms with death and how he finds strength in vulnerability.
We’re left with the core of David’s message: “I’m not scared of dying, I’m scared of not living.”
This was recorded in front of a live audience at Happy Place Festival, there may be some background noise.
Follow David's journey here: https://www.instagram.com/davidsmithmbe/?hl=en
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before we get going, just a quick reminder that you can download the High Performance app for free. |
| 0:04.8 | Download the app, use your exclusive code HPAPP, that's HPApp for access, |
| 0:11.6 | where you can hear Damien talk exclusively about combating perfectionist thinking with the Shakespeare principle. |
| 0:20.3 | Hi there, you're listening to High Performance, the award-winning podcast that unlocks the minds of |
| 0:24.7 | some of the most fascinating people on the planet. I'm Jake Humphrey, and alongside Professor |
| 0:29.7 | Damien Hughes, we learn from stories, successes and struggles of our guests, allowing us all to |
| 0:35.9 | explore, be challenged, and to grow. Here's what's coming up today. When I lay in that hospital bed, |
| 0:42.8 | and I looked around the ward at everyone fighting for their lives, and just trying to take that other |
| 0:47.3 | breath, I was like, wow, I've chased this thing, this meadow, or this sort of being of, to try and |
| 0:54.2 | maybe go back to my village, and everyone goes, wow, you're the gold medalist, and it really didn't |
| 0:59.0 | matter, because in a hospital room where everyone's fighting for their life, you realize that |
| 1:04.8 | actually just waiting up in the morning, and breathing is one of the best gifts that will ever be given. |
| 1:12.4 | I won't sit here and lie to you, there's days where I don't even leave my bed, I'm banging my |
| 1:16.7 | head on a wall, I'm crying, I'm just like, I know what, I've had enough suffering now, I'm ready |
| 1:22.4 | to shut my eyes and never open them again. I don't want to die, and it sits, yeah, it's scary, |
| 1:29.3 | and to deal with it and know that it's going to happen again, there has to be a level of acceptance |
| 1:35.1 | of mortality within it all. We come into this world on an inhale, and we leave on an exhale, |
| 1:41.3 | to very, very powerful defining breaths, but every breath we take is defining. |
| 1:48.0 | So, as you can hear from that short clip, this is an emotional and incredibly moving conversation |
| 1:54.9 | of high performance that we recorded recently at the Happy Place Festival in Tatton Park, so you're |
| 2:00.8 | about to hear from a man called David Smith. Now, it's easy to talk about David as an athlete, |
| 2:07.2 | he earned a black belt in karate, he was in the British squad for six years, took up sprinting, |
... |
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