Turning Tragedy into a Foundation for the Paralysis Community with Hal Hargrave

James Berges 00:01 
Five days after college orientation, 17-year-old Hal Hargrave was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. He went from tasting independence to needing his parents for every basic need from eating, dressing, everything. 

Mai Ling Chan 00:14 
Yeah, but only six months later while still in recovery, Hal witnessed another patient who couldn't afford therapy. And at that moment, it sparked the Be Perfect Foundation, which is incredible, and has raised over 10 million for the paralysis community.

He's discovered that 50% of spinal cord injury patients have no insurance and most who do are uninsured. Did I mention he was only 17? 

Hal Hargrave 00:40 
I remained steadfast in my approach to be very positively minded because I understood in every negative moment I experienced another setback. And I was only at that point willing to take step forward not to embody and live the life that I once lived, but to take on this new life and this new persona with Tenacity and to start to live life on my own terms again and to create my life and to create my destiny. 

Mai Ling Chan 01:08 
Welcome to the Exceptional Leaders Podcast. I'm Mai Ling Chan, and together with James Berges, we're getting you top tips and resources for building and scaling your disability-focused offerings, straight from the forefront of disability advocacy and leadership. 

James Berges 01:26 
So when everyone else is finding their independence, Hal decided to grow up faster. I don't know if he really felt he had a choice, but he didn't stop at one fundraising activity.

He then created something called Perfect Step, which was his recovery center using activity-based therapy to build neuroplasticity after traditional care ends, but then of course nothing goes exactly as we plan it. And that's one thing about our guests, adaptable. So when COVID hit, they pivoted from Health Club Partnership to their own facility, growing from 8,000 to 23,000 square feet in just five years. 

Mai Ling Chan 02:01 
But what's beautiful is that after building these organizations and advocating on Capitol Hill, Hal's current focus is really personal. He's now a father of two, and he faces questions that he once wondered, could I ever be a parent and what kind of father would I be? 

James Berges 02:16 
So much in this episode, a couple of things that you'll learn, how grief has no template and why Howl chose growth over prolonging his story, the moment that turned an 18-year-old into a non-profit founder, why you may never move on from your grief, but you can always move forward, and how movement starts in the mind and not the body, and finally, what exceptional leadership looks like when it emerges from tragedy. 

Mai Ling Chan 02:42 
I just want to do a quick note before we start. His marketing team actually pitched him to us through email and it wasn't like those typical spray and pray ones where it's just they don't even know your name, they know nothing about your show, but it was very, very specific and they had a really good understanding of what the show is and what type of guests we're looking for.

So that's pretty refreshing, right, James? 

James Berges 03:03 
Yeah, I guess too many of those canned LinkedIn, hey James, just XYZ reaching out. So it's an example of doing it right.

And speaking of refreshing, I've been seeing you doing it right on social media. You've been posting a lot about AI Mai Ling. What's going on? 

Mai Ling Chan 03:18 
Yes. Thank you so much.

I'm hosting an open discussion on AI and how it affects us, the disability community. It's going to be on Wednesday, August 20th. You can definitely, like James said, check out my socials for the details. It's going to be organized for us to discuss and learn from each other rather than just a sit and get. I really think that there's a lot going on out there and us as leaders have so much to share with each other. It's so important. As for our listener, I really hope that you're there and we could hear your voice too.

What's going on? That's exciting for you, James. 

James Berges 03:50 
All right. Well, I'm going tomorrow on a plane. I have not given up my nomadic ways and I'm going to Spain to Costa Brava, one of my best friends from high school. He never had a wedding party.

So instead of that, his wife and him said, it's our dream to just rent out an Airbnb and have 10 of our best friends. And some of them have kids. Some of them are married. Some of them are single like me. No, I'm just kidding. And it's going to be like Love Island. It looks like a big villa just overlooking the ocean. So it's going to be relaxing. There's going to be lots of activities. And not to say that to brag or anything, but I just want to put it out there that I found remote work. And if anyone's looking for remote work, I think ever since COVID, one of the opportunities from that was that we learned to work in different ways. And as the world keeps evolving with AI, remote work, there's just more possibility than ever than you can imagine. And sometimes you just got to be a little creative. Not dissimilar from our guest, Hal Hargrave, who just kept adapting. So whether your story, wherever you are in your story, this interview will show you that you can transform it into a mission that serves others on your terms. 

Mai Ling Chan 05:08 
All right. Well, let's get to that interview. So today we have a really interesting guest, Hal Hargrave, and I want to share how we found him because I know that many times I go out and I find people on LinkedIn and I stalk them. I say that in a very nice way. That's usually how I find people.

But over the years, I have been getting emails from, I believe it's a marketing person, someone who is working for that person. And this one came to me probably a month ago or two months ago. And I was like, oh, this is perfect. Because I want you to know, I also get a lot of emails that are for guests that are not perfect. So they haven't even looked into the show. They have no idea what we're about. And they probably just saw business and they send somebody who might be business related. But this was a 100%. Yes, I want to meet Hal and I want to have him on the show. And so I just wanted to just give a little reflection on that in that, yes, this does work when people do it the right way. So hello, Hal, welcome to the show. 

Hal Hargrave 06:07 
Mai, it's a pleasure to be on and I'm just thrilled that Angie Crouch was able to connect us and that this came to be because everything that you stand for and everything that you built just kind of embodies what I believe should be very prevalent in today's society for not just leaders but the working class to take on this persona of being an exceptional leader. 

Mai Ling Chan 06:29 
Excellent. Thank you so much.

I love that you're using all of our words. When I first started moving towards exceptional, we were moving away from special ed, special needs. And now I can't imagine not using that term. You know, I just really think it encompasses all of the amazing efforts that we are all doing. Okay, so I'd love to start with a little bit of background and, you know, what brought you to this space of creation? 

Hal Hargrave 06:53 
17 years ago, I was injured in an auto accident. At the time, I had just turned 17, going on 18, and I was in high school, a new high school graduate, and quite frankly, life felt as if it had the trajectory that just felt a bit invincible to me. Just I had a sense of invincibility as a young, probably dumb high school persona if I'm just being real. And I felt as if there was just this perfectly paid path to my future of opportunities to go to college and get involved with business with other family members. And it just seemed as if there was clarity around all those things and much to little ambiguity. And as they say that cliche moment, in a split second, your life can change, became very real in my life.

And it was July 26, 2007, we're coming up on 18 years and I was driving an automobile, driving to Las Vegas from the Los Angeles area in the early part of the morning, ironically enough, making a delivery of handicap accessible bathroom equipment to a Home Depot in Las Vegas, because we were converting their bathrooms to be ADA accessible. This company I was working for was called Apex Imaging Services, and they are a general contractor that does remodel work. And they were on a remodel program for bathrooms for Home Depot to make them wheelchair accessible. Ironically enough, that is something I have a vast appreciation for now. There was debris in the road just outside of Barstow and I attempted to swerve and miss it and ended up rolling this truck with much material in the back of it four times before it came to an up halt. And, you know, there was, I would say some cliche moments and very theatrical moments that I lived there of things that would be very Hollywood-esque that rest assured they were very real, not staged, not light to camera action, just life happening. And after I came to an upright halt and the truck had rolled four times, I had come to be as a cervical level spinal cord injury. I broke my neck at the fifth and sixth vertebrae, paralyzing me from the neck down instantaneously.

And it was at the moment where paramedics showed up on the scene where it became real because there was other families, there was other personnel standing outside the truck for several minutes before the paramedics pulled up that had already called the corner because they thought whoever was in the truck was dead because the truck was mangled. It did not appear as if it had any life form left in it. So paramedics pull up and immediately there was an assessment of me to assess my cognitive state. And I was fully conscious, never became unconscious through the accident and was answering very simple questions of, can you get me in contact with your loved one or your next of kin? And how do we get in contact with family members? And I was rattling off that information on the receiving end of that, by the way. We were trying to get a hold of my dad. It was 6.30 in the morning. He was at his desk at his office. He had ignored the call twice because it was, didn't know. I know, right? Ironically enough, he was on the call or another call with his workman's comp agent on another claim. 

Hal Hargrave 10:22 
He ends up getting phoned by his desk staff saying, this is an emergency. It's about your son. You need to answer.

He answered, gets the news, jumps in the car. And I don't want to tell their status story of my mom and dad, but let's just say at a high rate of speed my dad drove home, picked up my mom curbside from here in the Inland Empire and drove up the Cajon Pass to try to come and find hopefully a living body. They get about 10 minutes away from the accident and they get a call from California Highway Patrol. Your son's been life flighted to Arrowhead Regional Hospital. Do you know where that is? And frantically my parents were saying, is he alive? And they said, for now.

So I get airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Hospital after getting cut out for 45 minutes by the jaws of life. And I land in Fontana Arrowhead Regional Hospital and they immediately take me into CAT scan and MRI to assess for injuries. Fortunately, I had no brain damage. Unfortunately, I did suffer a spinal cord injury at the cervical level fifth and sixth vertebrae, a non-spinal cord injured vertebrae fracture at the thoracic level first and second vertebrae and a broken scapula on my right shoulder.

And... I felt like the best of news came when they said, you're going to be getting a halo put on your head. To most people, they think there's some morbidity associated with something that is less than angelic of a halo, being kind of frustrated while you're wide awake and just under local anesthesia. But for me, it was a reminder in that pain-induced moment that I was still alive. While I was wide awake, they drilled four bolts into my skull to put a halo around my head and to pull my cervical level vertebrae, my neck, back into alignment. And I would say the rest, for lack of a better expression, is kind of my 17-year history of my journey of just laying in a hospital bed wondering if the next continued breath would come. And nearly 18 years later, I'd like to think that I've lived a life that has been more than full, but very purposeful as well. 

Mai Ling Chan 12:33 
Beautiful. Wow. Thank you for taking us on that very detailed journey. You may have told it several times, but hearing it for the first time is always shocking.

I'm a parent, I can't imagine getting that call and getting to the scene, or getting to you, getting to the scene, you're not there, going on to the next place, moving through that journey with you. You're only 17 when this happened, right? Yeah. You didn't have any medical background. 

Hal Hargrave 13:02 
did not at the time, I think I've been more or less for lack of a better expression indoctrinated with an honorary, you know, medical degree after 17 years of immersion into my own medical challenges and the complications and challenges that come along with living with the spinal cord injury. And I fully immersed myself into the acumen, into the knowledge, the understanding and then the practicality of what recovery looks like. And needless to say, it's been one heck of a learning experience and it continues to be each and every day with even a daylight today presenting new learning opportunities with new challenges to overcome something new.

And I'd say one of the greatest things I continue to overcome every day is now the perspective living as a parent myself and what that looks like to parent two young kids under the age of two. And how I take my own experiences to really rectify something that was a misnomer at the time of my accident of the wonder of A, would I ever be able to be a father again and B, what type of father of adequacy would I be at all? If I never had the opportunity to, you know, share and, you know, commune over a child with, you know, somebody that would grow to love me. And so those three things of finding love, becoming a parent and being the parent I want to be, those answers have come in stride over the past few years. And I feel like that's kind of the greatest hurdle to overcome every day is more of the parenting challenges more than it is the physical. So strong in mind, strong in body, as they say. 

Mai Ling Chan 14:35 
Beautiful. Wow. Amazing. So I'm hearing, you know, you're a teenager, and now you're spending most of your early young adulthood in rehab, you know, and going through this process, right? 

Hal Hargrave 14:46 
Yeah, which was, I think for me, I was seeing a lot of my friends go off to college and mind you, my accident happened five days after I had gone to orientation to start at Cal State Long Beach as a walk-on baseball player and somebody that was pursuing my business degree and I had five days earlier booked my housing on campus, set my schedule for the fall and five days later, I'm laying in a hospital bed as a pretty incapable 17-year-old and mind you, that is an impressionable age where it's kind of a coming of age at that time where you're taking ownership, you're finding independence, you're spreading your wings, you're at the brink of leaving home and maybe taking some ownership for your life and not relying on mom and dad and I went from dependency in myself at least so I thought because let's not devalue what a parent is at any stage of your life, let alone at 18 where they're the funding mechanism for many for even the blessing to go to college but then I became fully dependent upon my parents, my friends, my family for basic fundamental needs of feeding myself, getting out of bed, taking a shower, brushing my teeth, going to the bathroom, I mean these were things that at 17 you wouldn't think twice about because just hours before you were doing them yourself with fluidity and now it's the greatest of challenges in your life just to overcome basic activities of daily living. 

Mai Ling Chan 16:19 
Alright, so you're doing a lot of physical rehab and did you have counseling? 

Hal Hargrave 16:24 
Yeah, I did. And I completely leaned in. And I've leaned into this idea that the prevalence of psychological health and mental health was, it is so important, I think for my mantra is, I may never move on, but I've got to make a conscious choice every day to move forward.

And, you know, the grief process is, it's not something that is blueprinted. It's not something that would apply to you would apply to me. It's something that is secular to myself in my own journey. Certainly, there is bits and pieces of those teachings I've learned from others and namely from those I've confided in that have robustly given me opportunities to have high emotional intelligence and to overcome and move forward. But I remain steadfast in my approach to be very positively minded. Because I understood in every negative moment, I experienced another setback. And I was only at that point willing to take step forward, not to embody and live the life that I once lived, but to take on this new life in this new persona with tenacity, and to start to live life on my own terms again, and to create my life and create my destiny. I started to recognize in those, you know, 80 plus days in a hospital bed that lying there and sulking and playing well with me was not going to get me closer to my dreams and goals. So I had to wake up and then choose to move forward. 

Mai Ling Chan 17:56 
And again, I'm just thinking moving through these very early years, you know, when, when kids are really just trying to find themselves, right. It was an identity. 

Hal Hargrave 18:04 
crisis to say the least. And everybody goes through it at a different age.

And for me, I think I went through it at 17. And I'd say the questions in my crisis were probably a little different than most typical 17 year olds. And at the same token, they were much in the same. I mean, they were, of course, a little more pertinent around, you know, my physical abilities, but still all the mental, emotional, spiritual questions that any, you know, young adult has, I was having those two in stride with trying to overcome a physical setback as well. 

Mai Ling Chan 18:38 
So, this is a whole different world with an acquired disability versus one with, you know, someone has been born with it and the lens is totally different.

It's very interesting to move then into, you know, when did you start becoming a leader, like someone who is now creating more opportunities from the experience? 

Hal Hargrave 19:00 
I would say with a really humble tone, about six months after my accident, I had a light bulb moment, I had the aha moment. I had experience of something happening that whether I was going to change, I was going to be changed regardless. And I tend to think in this world, people resist being changed when others and the world is trying to implore upon them. But I saw this opportunity as an opportunity to change myself and embody a persona that was reflective of pride, reflective of inspiration, motivation. And more importantly, an example that when the going gets tough, there is continued opportunities that lie in front of you to continue to move forward.

And this happened when I was actually at physical therapy one day. And the therapy program I was at was down in San Diego. It was a really high intensity program. My insurance had run out and I was going to this facility because it was a high performance facility, but it was out of pocket pay. So resourcefully, transportation, the finances to be in the program were very challenging for my family, let alone other families. And fortunately, I had come from a background of financial blessings and opportunities of resources, of manpower and community and friends and family that could even give me the opportunity to travel a few days a week down to San Diego to get this top quality care at a place called Project Walk. I was leaving therapy one afternoon and I so happened to be at therapy that day with my dad who runs his own business, Apex Imaging Services. And I'm leaving therapy and I'm having this conversation with this individual by the name of Brian O'Neill. And I'm talking with Brian, it's, you know, mind you, I got injured in July, this is December, right before Christmas. And I said, hey, Brian, I'll see you after the holidays right after the first of the year. And Brian was newly injured, like six months injured, just like me. And he said, no, you won't. And I said, well, what do you mean? You just sat here and gave me, you know, kind of the feel good story of how this place is, you know, bringing you back. And he said, well, this comes down to putting food on the table for my family and making ends meet. And this just simply isn't in the card to pursue my dreams of ongoing health, the restoration and potentially walking again. At a very young and impressionable age at that moment, 18, I wheeled up to my dad and I said, dad, you know, as people of faith, I felt like I was being called to stewardship in that moment. I was like, this is the world talking to me, talking to our family. We've continued to ask ourselves, this community around us, the Foothill community, the Claremont community, where I grew up in, has completely embraced, supported and got behind my endeavors and my recovery story. And now it's time to pay it forward. And so I'm telling my dad this story. And I just, in stride said, we're starting a foundation. He said, yeah, we are. Go wheel up and tell the front desk. We'll cover Brian O'Neill after the holidays. 

Hal Hargrave 22:07 
So after an hour and 45 minute drive home of just kind of sitting there like a deer in headlights, like what did we just do? My dad, who at that moment in time had been in business as an owner for over 25 years, basically looked me in the eye and said, I don't care how physically debilitated you are. You've proven you have the spiritual, emotional and mental capacity to have empathy, to have feeling and to have an understanding of your situation and to identify your purpose of servantry, I'm gonna empower you to do this. And I'm gonna support you in doing this to the best of your ability.

Like if we're gonna do this, we're gonna go all in. And so it was in that moment on that drive home that the Be Perfect Foundation was formed. A 501c3 not-for-profit organization to support those living with paralysis. 

Mai Ling Chan 22:58 
If you're like me, you can't get enough of books, podcasts, blogs, and other ways to find out how to create, grow, and scale. That's why I brought together 43 disability-focused leaders to give you more of what you're looking for. You will hear their stories in three best-selling books, which focus on general offerings, augmentative and alternative communication, and speech-language pathology. I invite you to search for Becoming an Exceptional Leader on Amazon, so you can learn intimate startup pearls of wisdom, and keep growing your brilliant idea.

Now, let's get back to our amazing interview. You've probably heard this, just the astonishment that someone so young could see so much growth and value, and you're calling it servantry, just amazing. 

Hal Hargrave 23:45 
I think, you know, at such an impressionable age, you can be, you know, impressed upon and moved upon for the destructive things in life and the things that set you back or prolong your story, or you can be empowered to dive right in and grow up really quick and then just embody the young adult spirit of just pursuing dreams, careers, and opportunities. And for me, I was not letting myself succumb to my life being continued to be put on hold any longer.

Six months had already been enough of just turmoil, mental turmoil, challenges, relational challenges, trying to encapsulate and hold on to and create new friends and instill old friends to continue to come to the home and the bedside to support me and also conversely me support them in their endeavors. And it was evident to me life could have got out of control pretty quickly. And I had enough rationality in my emotional and mental mind to say, you know what, there is an unbelievable opportunity here to serve others and to be the benefactor in the process through serving others. And lo and behold, I've, you know, would say 18 years later, with what we've been able to do with the Be Perfect Foundation, there has never been a day that has gone by. And I say this, whether it's cliche, interpreted or not, this is just real feelings. I have been the benefactor every day to wake up and have the blessings, resources and opportunities to serve others at the capacity of which we've been able to as a large collective in a large community through the Be Perfect Foundation.

And I feel as if I've won. 

Mai Ling Chan 25:19 
Okay, so the Be Perfect Foundation was step one. Tell us about Perfect Step. 

Hal Hargrave 25:23 
Yeah, the Be Perfect Foundation was kind of what paved the purposeful life for me. It was something that opened my eyes, gave me purpose, gave me reason.

And 17, 18 years later, we've raised over $10 million for the paralysis community for our program services to support people through purchasing of wheelchairs and medical supplies and home and car adaptations and participation in therapy programs. And what that did was it exposed me to the entire paralysis community to identify other needs. And there was not just financial needs that were prevalent, because mind you, 50 to 55% of people at the time of injury don't have insurance. And about 60% of people that do have insurance are underinsured to have their fundamental needs met. And so going through the process of networking, meeting people, learning new stories, there was a common theme and a common thread. Here in a melting pot of Southern California and greater LA, there was a very lack thereof access to high performance training much like I was getting down in San Diego. And I had, again, the resources to travel to San Diego, the gas, you know, payments and car payments, and, you know, just paying for therapy at $100 an hour itself out of pocket. And there was people up here in the Inland Empire, greater LA region, San Fernando Valley, San Bernardino County, they did not have those resources, they did not see fit to drive an hour and a half in one direction. And so, again, went to my parents and said, we've taken a leap of faith and look at just nine months into the Be Perfect Foundation being born, we are actually since my injury, really just months after it was born, the Be Perfect Foundation had already raised three quarters or two quarters of a million dollars for the paralysis community and people were behind us in that financial realm. And now it's like, okay, we have something sustainable, it's grown legs, we believe that's our passion and purpose, it's going to be around for some time.

Where else can we turn to solve another problem? And to alleviate a challenge. And there was no accessibility to a paralysis recovery center in the Inland Empire. So we built what is known as the perfect step. We were at the Claremont Club, which is a private health and wellness club for 13 years, pre pandemic from 2007 to 2020, and had a rich history there of just an unbelievable marriage with their ownership group, in particular, their director, and their CEO, Mike Alpert, who really embraced this philosophy and this model of care of the perfect step to be a stepping stone after traditional care and run out and after insurance and run out, and to have the opportunity to integrate into a private health club, and to see the synergy of the able bodied working out alongside the disabled division, just created immense opportunities for just cultural reform at the club, and an opportunity for revival and all of our clients to just want more of their life out of motivation of those who they were working out alongside. 

Mai Ling Chan 28:35 
It's fantastic. So do you still have that? Cause you gave an end date to that. 

Hal Hargrave 28:39 
Yeah, so I did give an end date and that's that's very perceptive of you. So 2020 hits and like everybody you are challenged with the pivot with the reinvention and that was no different for us. Unfortunately, the Claremont Club after 47 years of family run business had to close their doors.

You know multiple shelter in places and county mandates to not be essential business as a health club forced them to shut down and not be able to pay staff and have dues coming in and so unfortunately a new challenge presented itself but at the same time a very robust opportunity and I remember deliberating with my parents in the summer of 2020. It was about five months after the pandemic had hit in March of 2020 and the Claremont Club had come to us and said hey the future here is done for everybody for everything an unfortunate and harsh reality and my family you know in a matter of three days after getting that news said okay what are we going to do and where are we going to do it and we actually moved over to the corporate business campus of the company of Apex Imaging Services that the company I was working for at the time of my accident. 

Hal Hargrave 29:53 
They had building space available and while it wasn't at the time our ideal location because we had experienced 13 years of synergy with the able-bodied population and just really believe that the the you know kind of existing facility model the health club model and integration into that as a boutique department is really ideal going to a freestanding facility presented new challenges of what would our culture look like there would be a different type of synergy without the able-bodied present working out alongside of us and for me to become a full business operator overnight of my own brand my own intellectual property of the perfect step my parents kind of had a conversation with me like are you ready for that undertaking that when your employees go home and go to sleep you're awake solving the challenge and the answer was yes because not at the root of it was money and opportunity for you know the wrongful growth it was the opportunity to serve our clients and to give them a place to go so we made that decision on August 3rd 2020 October 12th 2020 12 weeks later we opened our new 8,000 square foot facility and had new beginnings and so for the past five years the perfect step is a paralysis recovery center that treats individuals with neurological disorders and we treat them in a very high performance fashion whether you have spinal cord injury like myself traumatic brain injury stroke Parkinson's ALS cerebral palsy multiple sclerosis and a multitude of other neurological conditions we have as a team continue to meet the mark and subsequently we've had to grow to meet demand and our building has grown from 7,000 square feet to over 23,000 square feet like this five years and the future is looking very bright with opportunities for a my staff to have a career based in longevity and opportunity for leadership positions and positional growth and most importantly our education and our understanding and our acumen around the human body and how to treat it and how to treat the body neurologically to restore and refunction is growing and what that means is greater outcomes for our clients so we've never been healthier in terms of our client load and we've never been bigger in terms of the amount of clients we've treated but what also indicates is unfortunately people are continuing to get hurt so they're getting injured or diagnosed we gotta give them a place to go and we feel really honored that we are a part of the continuum of care life cycle for some of these people. 

Mai Ling Chan 32:36 
So how much are you working with sports science versus physical therapy versus you know, physiologists things like 

Hal Hargrave 32:43 
Yeah, that's a great question. And honestly, we're kind of a mend of all of those things. So we have positioned ourselves to bridge the gap between medical and fitness. We are not strictly fitness-based.

We are exercise physiologist, but we are not completely licensed and credentialed as medical professionals. So we do have collaborations and working partnerships with local hospitals that do have licensed skilled therapists and receive ongoing education, referrals, and opportunities through those partnerships. We also are kind of, I won't say reinventing the wheel, but paving a new path for this industry at large, which is called the activity-based therapy industry, which is basically an industry that once insurance runs out, we are a non-traditional approach towards recovery. That doesn't mean we're not safe. We've never had an injury on the job by staff or client. It means we take a little bit of a different approach towards restoring the body in recovery. And we do that, and we can do that because we don't adhere to universal medical code, not because of disagreement with it, but because we are not licensed skilled therapists to work in tandem with that to bill appropriately. So we really have the opportunity there to be very creative as an out-of-pocket pay program. And so we've taken a high performance approach towards restoration and recovery of the body with really one specific intention. We believe there's great opportunity to reactivate and reorganize the central nervous system, the connection between the brain and the spinal cord, to basically re-instill controlled involitional movement again through practice of what we call trying to achieve neuroplasticity and neuroplastic change. So through repetitions of movements and exercises and modalities with precision, over time, we have found that the body has the ability to regenerate new neuropathways around the side of injury and diagnosis to be able to restore some function to become proficient again in certain movements and exercises. And we've seen those results in real time look like clients that have gone to better achievement scores and activities of daily living. We've seen in some cases, people walk out our doors. We've seen people walk away from the assistive device but choose not to leave because they still see the benefits in our program. And then we see people that are really highly challenged with very severe diagnoses and injuries that are in the midst of a really challenging and potentially lifelong recovery, but they see the value proposition of our program to not just instill function, but most importantly, reduce secondary health complications, bladder infections, pressure source, heterotrophic ossification, blood pressure regulation, osteopenia and osteoporosis, a whole multitude of things that when your body is in motion, you're working on range of motion, you're working on the cardiovascular system, the pulmonary system, you're working on the endocrine system and gravitational load on the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system by way of nervous system based training. 

Hal Hargrave 35:52 
All of those body systems start to come back up to par and produce something of value with those body systems that gets your body back into a balanced alignment again to live a healthy life. So we're trying to just achieve optimal stages of health and I think our clients are led to believe they can get that here. 

Mai Ling Chan 36:11 
Amazing. The words I'm thinking is alternative, fringe, and people have to be very open-minded and flexible. You're going outside of the traditional medical model where I only work with physiologist and PTs. I also have experience in rehab post-stroke. We definitely saw a lot of doing that, the functional activities and trying to get small gains little by little. Then, of course, you have the plateau. As a rehab therapist, you only have so much time because the insurance is going to decide how much time you have, how much time they're going to pay for it, and then you're on your own.

This is absolutely fascinating that you are now on the outside of that. There's going to be people that are going to argue, well, you're not a doctor. You're not a physiologist. That's the whole thing. Well, you know what? You're not paying for that, number one. You speak the language. That's right. Yeah. The other thing I want our listener to really get here is you have a 17-year-old that has a traumatic, traumatic experience, but your family, your spirituality, obviously, your mentorship, and you just have this whole community around you, not just for your personal recovery, but you have now, through all of these years, moved through this growth process of continuing to find other opportunities and ways to serve. It's just incredible. I think a lot of people how they just see the iceberg on top like, wow, this is amazing. Look what he's created. The underneath is, well, we can't do this. Let's try that. We can't do this. Let's try that. Your eloquence in medical terminology and all of it, you can tell you have had a lifetime of lived experience. 

Hal Hargrave 37:51 
Yeah. And, you know, there's got to be, again, a choice to to live. Our mantra last year at The Perfect Step was to reinvent your life. And I think people think that a reinvention means something so different, so countercultural, that they lose a piece of themselves.

In fact, we are making a strong request and advisability and a partnership to hold people's hands through the process to get back to finding the root of themselves again. Now, the Japanese say a key guy. 

Mai Ling Chan 38:28 
Yeah, exactly. 

Hal Hargrave 38:28 
Exactly. Your center of being, you know, the embodiment of who you are at your core. And I think a lot of people, they haven't lost that, they've just lost sight of that. 

Mai Ling Chan 38:39 
Sometimes they didn't know it either. They're trying to fit into whatever peg, you know, they were working this, I'm a professional, I'm an accountant, I'm this, I'm that.

That's also the core of what I do with my books, with my speech training, you know, things like that is you love music, you love gardening, you know, whatever that is, you need to bring all of that together and 100% be you, that unicorn that you are. 

Hal Hargrave 39:03 
You know, I think there was a light bulb moment again for me through COVID. And I think everybody had some form of a moment, good, bad, or indifferent, growth worthy or setback worthy, you name it. For me, it was a moment of reflection of an understanding that, and this isn't intended to be at all political, or me taking a stance, it was the reality of what we all faced of shelter in place. And for very obvious reasons of safety, you know, these protocols were in place. And I think for all of us, you quickly recognize your value, your purpose and your needs in life are rooted in others, not yourself, not to be self serving, because when there was no mission of others, your life seemed purposeless, you were in a deep dark hole, you were having a mental health crisis, an identity crisis, your identity, your center of yourself is not found by yourself, it's found with the accumulation of others.

So what I have found that to be and what that to be symbolic and significant of is anything of great consequence in this world is done. As a team, it's done with others. And it's led me to believe that we, as a team here at the perfect step as a team at the be perfect foundation might be singular voices. But when we unite together, we can make great robust change. And with what I believe is one singular narrative, we empower people, whether it's through financial giving to meet their fundamental medical needs, or whether it's through opportunities to recover at the perfect step so they can get to a physical state that is more empowering towards pursuing activities of daily living.

The common threat is we want people to get back to living life again. And much like in COVID, there was this actionable paralysis on I don't even know how to live. Like if I don't have these things, like what is living? And we've got to understand living is a verb and it is an action and nobody takes it away from you. Because that action does not start with your legs, it doesn't start with your arms, believe it or not, it starts in your mind. It is a conscious choice every day to wake up to see the beauty in life, to see the blessings in life to see the blessings amid the curses and the challenges.

And true living is living in a moment mindfully, where you see the good, you take away the challenges as learning opportunities to grow. And you constantly are looking for opportunities to move forward, and not necessarily overcoming the big elephant I'm moving on, which you may never be able to do. So stay steadfast in your pursuit. It may be long, it may be grueling, but it will be very opportunistic if you look for the right thing, because you will always find what you're looking for. If you're looking at that good, and if you're looking for positivity, and you're looking at grace and growth, you will find that but if you're looking for toxicity, you'll find that too. 

Mai Ling Chan 42:06 
Okay, so your next big platform here is public advocacy, so share a little bit about what you're doing in that space. 

Hal Hargrave 42:13 
There's a lot going on in the world right now. And I think politics, unfortunately, are a very divisive entity in this world.

I have found a way for there to be bipartisan pursuit of the things that matter and to just be very net neutral and to be a humanitarian of just advocating, supporting, and being a vocal leader and an involved leader in the things that I believe can create change for the opportunities that should be pursued for the demographics of people that are in need. And there is several pieces of legislation right now that affect the disability community. And I have tried to be a champion of those pieces of legislation to be a vocal leader on behalf of the disability community, to not just speak the language, but to express the learned and lived experience. And not so people can reflectively look at me and say, whoa is me, Hal Hargrid, but so they can see as a representing body that I am to the greater paralysis community. Wow, there's an overlooked underserved community out there that needs our support because health should be accessible to all. And I'm a steadfast believer in that. So I've been pursuing opportunities at the local level, working with local council members, members of Congress, the Senate and the House, and also marching on Capitol Hill on multiple occasions to go advocate for these pieces of legislation that could affect the use of HSA and FSA dollars. So health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts to be used towards things like programs like the Perfect Step and gym memberships. I've also pursued pieces of legislation that could potentially make all private and commercial health clubs throughout the United States inclusive with accessible gym equipment and trained professionals to treat individuals with disabilities. So I wanna, for lack of a better figurative expression, put my money where my mouth is, where I don't wanna just identify a problem, I want to be a part of providing a solution to solve it. And the only way to do that and to not be a complainer in this world, you've gotta get up off the couch, gotta get away from potentially the desk at times, you've gotta get a little uncomfortable. And if all you ever wanna be known as a complainer, then just sit there and identify every problem in the world because you'll find them everywhere, they are. And to some people, they're not problems. And also problems aren't always problems, they're just challenges. And problems aren't always issues either, but there's something out there that will always call our attention. And for me, rather than just identify it, I want to be a solution or to solve it, to provide a blueprint, to provide support, to provide the most important currency in life, my time, my effort, my consideration, to get behind something, to support something, to advocate for something, to voice something. And I feel when I'm doing that for the right things, and more importantly, for the right reasons, that's the ultimate win in life, doing something and winning for something that is far bigger than just me. And just hopefully it could change this domestic world forever. 

Mai Ling Chan 45:22 
Little by little all of our steps. I love all of the pieces that you're sharing.

You can either you can sign Petitions, you know, you can physically be parts of protests. You can represent as you are doing You can be a part of that change of the future just incredible.

How can we stay in touch with you right now with what you're working? 

Hal Hargrave 45:42 
Please stay in touch.

I would love that you can visit the perfect step calm for more information about the perfect step You can go to the be perfect foundation org So be perfect foundation org that is the website for the be perfect foundation To learn more about our program services and how we serve the paralysis community or you can find me on instagram at how Hargrave That's h a l last name Hargrave and I'd be happy to engage with all of you I'd be happy to follow up You can also find me at linkedin by searching how Hargrave and you know That's a part of paying it forward is you know when people show an expressed interest and involvement not just in my story But in the story of others and the initiative of others here at the perfect step my entire team And our team at the perfect step in the be perfect foundation. I go 100% all in on Connecting with those people thanking those people and finding a way to involve those people on a movement that is much bigger than just me It is a movement towards living again and living with great and divine purpose

Mai Ling Chan 46:39 
And thank you so much, Al, for joining the show and for sharing your story and all of the amazing efforts that you were doing out in the world. 

Hal Hargrave 46:46 
Thank you, May. What a blessing, and you're a great host. I appreciate you having me on. 

Mai Ling Chan 46:51 
We hope you enjoyed this episode and invite you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and share the show with people you think will find value from it. This helps the show a lot.

Or have a great guest referral, reach out to us at xleaders at gmail.com. 

James Berges 47:06 
And if you want exclusive tips on becoming an exceptional leader, deliver straight to your inbox. Just go to ExceptionalLeaders.com and sign up for our mailing list. Thanks for listening.