The Diagnosis

The Dirtbag Diaries

Duct Tape Then Beer

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt Martin and his fiancé, Hannah, were just starting out on their shared life, when a breast cancer diagnosis rewrote the script they’d imagined for life. Matt stepped into a new role – caregiver. Life became a blur of treatment, worry and existing with unknown outcomes. After a year of caring for Hannah, Matt received the chance to attend one of First Descent's week-long trips down the famed Rogue River. Under the guidance of legendary kayaker and cancer survivor Willie Kerns, Matt’s week on the river left him with a lasting understanding of the difference between reacting and responding to the difficult stretches. Support comes from Kuat Racks Terns Use code DIRTBAG to save 25% off your first order Diaries+ Members-- Their support is powering the Diaries- thank you! You can join today. Our book, States of Adventure, 30 stories adapted from The Diaries, is out in the wild. See if it's available on your local shelves or order it here: geni.us/StatesofAdventure

Transcript

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0:00.0	So I'm sitting in my kayak, I'm gripping the paddle, and water is splashing around me,
0:06.4	and the flow, the water is starting to pick up, and up ahead of me, the river turns at a 90-degree
0:14.1	angle, and the water splashes against that rock, and just there's this huge wave coming at me.
0:20.0	I know that I'm about to head into this
0:21.7	wave. This is Mad Martin. He's on Oregon's famed Rogue River. And he's new to the sport, but he's
0:29.3	under the watchful eye of a legendary kayaker. And as I approach, I'm getting more nervous and more
0:35.2	nervous. And I guess I leaned a little too far,
0:40.3	and next thing I knew, flipped upside down, and just the world goes dark.
0:47.9	And all you can hear is the hum of the rapids and the water running past me as I'm floating upside down, just stuck
0:56.2	upside down in this strange world.
0:58.2	You can't see where you're going.
0:59.4	Like all of your senses are gone and it's just this strange uncomfortable feeling.
1:06.1	I realized that when I was underwater, I had kind of been upside down underwater for about the last year and a half.
1:13.8	That's kind of the world I had been living in for the last year and a half, being stuck upside down,
1:19.5	floating through a river with unknown obstacles.
1:23.2	We're all a little affected, you know, and I think that being in wild places, feeling wildness
1:30.8	really invites you to get back to that, like, the essence of you.
1:38.2	This is Willie Kern.
1:39.4	The rocks aren't any softer.
1:41.1	The water is not going to be any more gentle with you because you've had a
1:44.3	diagnosis or, you know, you've experienced this trauma in your life and that's a really
1:49.7	important way to treat people. So technically at this moment, Willie is in charge of the safety of
	...

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