When Friends Become Our Hands & Feet: Patrick Gray & Justin Skeesuck
The Going Scared Podcast with Jessica Honegger
Jessica Honegger
5.0 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2018
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our guests this week epitomize the heart of friendship, determination and courage. Patrick Gray & Justin Skeesuck have been friends, literally, since birth, having been born in the same hospital merely 36 hours apart. When Justin was diagnosed in his early 20’s with a degenerative muscular disease, although they no longer lived in the same city, Patrick was at the ready to support and help as he could. Their mantra for their friendship centers around intentionality, and if the other person has a need, desire or dream, they are there for each other to support and facilitate it. When Justin, now wheelchair bound, voiced his desire to make a trek across Spain through the Camino de Santiago, Patrick didn’t hesitate to show up and see how they could make this dream a reality together. They share the details of this incredible journey (the inspiration for their book “I’ll Push You”) and how they look at “fear as an opportunity,” while following their hearts in friendship, instead of letting logistics get in the way.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Jessica Honegger, founder of the socially conscious fashion brand Noonday |
| 0:07.1 | collection. Welcome to the Going Scared Podcast. Welcome back everyone. |
| 0:14.0 | If you're new to the going scared podcast, |
| 0:16.5 | we cover all things, social impact, entrepreneurship, |
| 0:20.1 | and courage. |
| 0:21.6 | We've had so, so, so many people share their brave stories so far on the |
| 0:26.2 | podcast, but today's really, really moved me. It is such a powerful story of courage. Today's guest, |
| 0:37.3 | Patrick Gray and Justin Skisich demonstrate incredible courage in their friendship in facing Justin's terminal |
| 0:46.1 | neuromuscular disease and in looking at life through the lens of possibility instead of scarcity. |
| 0:54.7 | Justin has a degenerative neuro muscular disease |
| 0:58.5 | very similar to ALS that has slowly |
| 1:01.8 | caused him to lose all mobility from his neck down. |
| 1:06.0 | But that didn't stop him from wanting to hike 500 miles across Spain |
| 1:15.0 | on the Camino de Santiago in a wheelchair. What do you do when you want to hike the Camino Santiago in a wheelchair? |
| 1:21.3 | You reach out and ask your best friend if he'll do it with you. |
| 1:26.4 | When Justin reached out to Patrick, Patrick's first to apply was, I'll push you. |
| 1:33.9 | Today's podcast is all about what it looks like |
| 1:37.6 | when we come together and we push one another |
| 1:41.2 | through our dreams, through our fears, through our friendships, and through our |
| 1:46.1 | very lives. I was deeply impacted by today's conversation. It has stuck with me for days and I know that you will be too. |
| 1:56.0 | Hey Justin and Patrick, welcome to the show. |
| 2:00.0 | Thank you for having us. |
... |
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