Living Limitless After Losing a Limb – Rebecca Denae's Story of Resilience
🎯 In This Episode with Rebecca Denae, You’ll Discover:
- How cancer at 18 reshaped her life and future
- What phantom limb syndrome actually feels like
- The mindset and faith that helped her endure two amputations
- Why she wrote Limitless and how it's opening doors for advocacy
- How to embrace your story—even the painful parts
📝 Episode Summary
What happens when your identity is amputated along with your leg? In this powerful episode, Rebecca Denae shares her raw journey from an athletic 18-year-old to a two-time amputee, author, and speaker. Diagnosed with bone cancer just out of high school, Rebecca’s life took a dramatic turn. But instead of giving up, she chose to lean into faith, resilience, and storytelling.
We talk about chronic pain, phantom limb syndrome, toxic positivity, and the courage it takes to keep showing up—especially when you know what pain feels like. If you’re struggling to make sense of your story, this episode will remind you: it’s not over yet.
👋 About Our Guest
Rebecca Denae is an author, speaker, and two-time cancer survivor who shares her journey of resilience and faith to inspire others. Her debut book Limitless is a memoir that advocates for better patient care and amplifies voices often unheard. Rebecca speaks on topics ranging from amputation and recovery to overcoming trauma with hope.
💡 Key Insights from Rebecca Denae
- Rewriting the Narrative – Your diagnosis doesn't get the final word.
- The Power of Perspective – Choosing a lens of blessing changes everything.
- Resilience Is a Daily Decision – It’s not about never falling—it’s about refusing to stay down.
Connect with Rebecca Denae:
🌐 Website: https://rebeccadenae.com
📷 Instagram: @Rebeccadenae.Author on Instagram
📘 Facebook Page: Rebecca's Facebook page
✝️ Faith Connection
Rebecca’s trust in God gave her peace during the worst parts of her journey. Her story models how faith doesn’t remove pain—it gives you something to hold onto in the middle of it.
🎨 Multipassionate Application
Rebecca’s pivot into authorship and advocacy proves that your past pain can fuel your creative purpose. Whether you’re writing, speaking, or creating—your story can be your platform.
💪 Resilience Corner
Resilience isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it looks like showing up with less-than-perfect energy and still giving your best. Rebecca models that beautifully.
🧠 Leadership Insight
Great leaders don’t hide their scars—they use them to show others what’s possible. Vulnerability builds trust. Use your story.
❓ Reflection Question
What limiting belief have you carried about your pain? What might happen if you reframed it as purpose?
📱 Connect With Us
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Facebook: facebook.com/leadwithjim
Website: www.leadwithjim.com
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Transcript
Welcome to Grace and the Grind, the podcast where we dive deep into the journeys of heart centered and purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
Speaker A:We're here to equip and encourage you on your journey.
Speaker A:So let's get started and find the grace within the grind.
Speaker A:This is Grace in the Grind.
Speaker A:And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
Speaker B:Welcome to Grace in the Grind, where we're here to tell the inspiring stories of behind the Story.
Speaker B:And today we have a new friend to the show, Rebecca.
Speaker B:Welcome to the show, Rebecca.
Speaker C:Thank you so much.
Speaker C:I really appreciate you having me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So why don't you take 60 to 90 seconds and let the audience know who you are and what you do?
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:Like you said, my name is Rebecca.
Speaker C:I'm an author and a speaker.
Speaker C:So last year I had the absolute blessing to publish my first book.
Speaker C:It's called Limitless and it's a memoir of my journey through cancer and my first amputation and learning to recover from that and, and everything that went along with that.
Speaker C:And luckily from then I've actually been able to start breaking into speaking.
Speaker C:I can speak about a variety of things, so I talk about patient advocacy, patient care, talk about overcoming and resilience, pretty much anything that pertains to the story that I can use to encourage people or lift people up.
Speaker C:That's what I like to do.
Speaker C:And hopefully I'll be publishing more books and doing more speaking and just keeping the ball rolling with it.
Speaker B:So I like, I love where this episode is going to go because I could already, we can already tell.
Speaker B:You're like, I'm an amputee, I'm an author, I'm this.
Speaker B:I'm like, I love it.
Speaker B:So I want to hit the amputee thing first.
Speaker B:And the question I have first is, you said my first amputation, are you planning another one?
Speaker C:I'm not planning another one, nor did I plan my second one.
Speaker C:But I unfortunately and in some ways fortunately have had two amputations.
Speaker C: So in: Speaker C:I went through chemo and in order to fully remove the tumor, we had to do a surgery.
Speaker C:And so they chose a limb salvage surgery where they took out part of my tibia, replaced it with a cadaver bone, put some metal in there, and then they told me I would never walk again.
Speaker C:And I was a stubborn little 19 year old that wouldn't have it.
Speaker C:So I started walking and running and doing all kinds of crazy stuff, which unfortunately caused the bone and the metal to break clean through three and a half years later.
Speaker C:So that Was the point of my first amputation where they wanted to do another limb salvage surgery?
Speaker C:I said, yeah, I wasn't really feeling the first one.
Speaker C:It didn't really work out for me.
Speaker C:So how about you just take it off and give me a new leg?
Speaker C:So that's where we did with that.
Speaker C:It was a below knee amputation.
Speaker C:I had that for about a year and a half.
Speaker C:And then unfortunately, issues were coming up with that because they left some of the cadaver bone in the metal in.
Speaker C:So it came to a head again.
Speaker C:We had to decide on another surgery.
Speaker C:And then, like I said, that was going to be my second amputation where I went above the knee.
Speaker B:Okay, so did you actually ever go above the knee or is it.
Speaker C:I am.
Speaker C:I'm above the knee now.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So they took off with an extra section.
Speaker B:That's what I'm hearing.
Speaker B:Okay, yeah.
Speaker B:Because when you said my first.
Speaker B:I'm sitting here.
Speaker B:Is this like Walmart or something?
Speaker B:Am I going back for more?
Speaker B:Like McDonald's?
Speaker B:I'm loving it.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Where do you go with that?
Speaker B:Let's hold on there and.
Speaker B:Okay, so I want to make sure we hit this because I think this is super important.
Speaker B:You're 19 when this happens?
Speaker C:Yes, sir.
Speaker C:I was actually diagnosed.
Speaker C:I was 18 and then eight months into chemo.
Speaker C:I was 19 when that surgery first happened.
Speaker C:And that puts me at 24 now.
Speaker B:24.
Speaker B:So walk me through, like the first diagnosis at 18 year old, you're like, you have bone cancer.
Speaker B:19, you're losing a leg.
Speaker B:Like, what is that?
Speaker B:What is going through your emotions?
Speaker B:Walk us through that.
Speaker C:It was a crazy time.
Speaker C:It took a couple of months to get diagnosed because I was having some knee pain, but I was also an athlete at the time.
Speaker C:And so I thought, I'm getting what every athlete gets.
Speaker C:Like, you get the achy joint, you have to wear the bra.
Speaker C:And all of a sudden everyone started getting really concerned about that achy joint and they wanted to do a biopsy.
Speaker C:And so it was one of those things where when they started saying biopsy, I think I knew in the back of my mind, okay, this is going to be a little bit worse than what we were hoping.
Speaker C:So it didn't take terribly long to get diagnosed.
Speaker C:Any time to get diagnosed is terrible.
Speaker C:But it was luckily very short.
Speaker C:I think about three months.
Speaker C:And the funny thing was that when I got diagnosed, I was in a private room in the hospital.
Speaker C:Happy go lucky.
Speaker C:After surgery, after the biopsy, and my surgeon walks in and he says, hey, I'M really sorry to tell you, but what we found in your leg was malignant.
Speaker C:And my mom and my then boyfriend's mom, they were standing at the head of my bed with tissues hidden behind the bed.
Speaker C:And I looked at the surgeon and I said, okay, so you're telling me I can't go back to school this semester because it was my first semester in college, I was super ecstatic to go back.
Speaker C:And it broke the tension in the room.
Speaker C:And he said, no, I don't think you're going to be going back to school this semester.
Speaker C:And from then on, I just came to acceptance.
Speaker C:It was a very miraculous thing.
Speaker C:There's no way I could have come to that acceptance on my own where I felt peace about it.
Speaker C:And I thought, okay, if God's brought me this far, he's going to bring me farther, so I'm not going to freak out about it.
Speaker C:And when the surgery came, the same situation, I said, okay, if this is what I have to do, this is what I have to do.
Speaker C:And admittedly, it didn't all really hit until a couple of years after that first surgery when I started having to live with the consequences of the surgery and living with chronic pain, living with having to change my normal day to day, even changing my athletics because of the chronic pain or because of the limitations that it put on me.
Speaker C:And that's when I really started to feel the frustration of, so this is what that did to me.
Speaker C:And then of course, from there we had to go through both amputations, which has been a revolving door of learning new things and coming to terms with what my life looks like.
Speaker C:And so it's definitely difficult.
Speaker C:And it's very difficult when I sit back and think I'm not even a quarter of a century old yet, and this has been the last six years of my life.
Speaker C:But at the same time, it's been so incredible because of the things that I've learned.
Speaker C:And so one of the big things that I've learned is if I look at the past six years through the lens of blessing, the fact that I'm alive, I'm walking, I've been able to do all these cool things with my book and with speaking, I've been able to impact people's lives.
Speaker C:If I look at it through that lens, it is so, so much better than looking at it through the lens of, oh, why me?
Speaker C:This is awful.
Speaker C:My life is terrible.
Speaker C:And so I just, I put it in my mind to, to see it through the good lens.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:So there this Brings up a couple questions for me.
Speaker B:Number one, my curious.
Speaker B:We're going to follow my curiosity first and then I want to talk about.
Speaker B:Then we're going to talk about the perspective.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Because I am hyper.
Speaker B:A hyper curious individual.
Speaker B:A multi passionate guy.
Speaker B:Chronic pain.
Speaker B:Now I'm somebody who lives with chronic pain.
Speaker B:Like I have chronic pain all the time.
Speaker B:But I'm trying to figure out, like, when you're missing a limb, where's the chronic pain?
Speaker B:Obviously at the site that it was amputated.
Speaker B:But like, help me understand that.
Speaker B:I want to hear like, where's the chronic pain?
Speaker B:Like, that just is such fascinating to me.
Speaker C:So this is my new favorite question because I actually live with phantom limb syndrome, which is where you feel the pain in the limb that's not there.
Speaker C:And I have no idea how to.
Speaker C:How to describe that in a way that makes any kind of sense.
Speaker C:But I will tell you this.
Speaker C:I have been sitting in front of people before and I've reached down to scratch my leg and it wasn't there.
Speaker C:Because the sensations of pain and itching and tingling, they're all so real that sometimes I just forget that it's not there.
Speaker C:I'll reach down and then I just short circuit for a few seconds because my brain goes, wait, that's.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:We felt that it was supposed to be there, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, because I was like, wait a minute, how do you feel pain on something that isn't?
Speaker B:And I understand phantom limb, but I'm like, oh, wow, that.
Speaker B:So that's so fascinating to me.
Speaker B:But let's go back a second.
Speaker B:First and foremost, what.
Speaker B:What sport were you playing?
Speaker B:You said you were an athlete at 18, 19.
Speaker B:Before this happened.
Speaker B:What sport were you playing?
Speaker C:So I wasn't doing a specific sport at that time.
Speaker C:I was just generally super athletic.
Speaker C:I was doing working out by myself and stuff like that.
Speaker C:I was doing, I believe, I think I was doing Zumba at that point and then just doing some workout classes while I was on campus.
Speaker B:So athletics.
Speaker B:Yeah, Zoom.
Speaker B:The whole vibe in itself.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've seen some of the videos.
Speaker B:Not your videos, but Zumba in general.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We can go down a hole.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker C:That would be bad.
Speaker B:There may be.
Speaker B:Although that would be funny now.
Speaker B:So you've named your leg, right, Hal?
Speaker B:Did I get that right?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Where did that come from?
Speaker B:Where did that come from?
Speaker C:So this is going to sound a little bit crazy, but all of my legs have had a personality.
Speaker C:And I know that's really weird coming from an inanimate object, but I'VE actually named all of my legs.
Speaker C:So the very first one I got, I named Herbert because Herbert's like a fun, cute name.
Speaker C:And my leg was very.
Speaker C:Learning to use it was very fun and comical.
Speaker C:And I trip over my own foot.
Speaker C:So I decided to go with kind of a cute, fun name.
Speaker C:And then my second one I named Helen, actually after Helen of Troy, into kind of like a Spartan history, more of a fun name, like an athletic name.
Speaker C:And then when I got this one that I named Hal, it went back into the fun, dorky stage because watching me try to walk around with this thing for the first time and even now it's still pretty funny, is just a trip.
Speaker C:So I decided I'm going to name it something fun and just have some fun with it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I was just, I was laughing when I read that on Facebook.
Speaker B:I was like, how now I could go a couple different places.
Speaker B:You either named it because like the Green Lantern, his name was Hal, or because we can nerd out.
Speaker B:I'm a nerd.
Speaker B:Or you watch the, what was it?
Speaker B:The war games from like 90s about the how, which was the supercomputer that tried to destroy the world.
Speaker B:I was like, it could be one or the other.
Speaker B:And I was like, I gotta figure this one out.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:And my leg has electronics, so.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker B:No, so your prosthetic has electronics for your leg.
Speaker C:I have an app for my leg.
Speaker C:I have to charge it every night.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker B:So is it like a, is it like a computer based leg that moves or something?
Speaker B:Or is it like when you say I have electronics in there, like you can attach your phone and charge your phone with your leg.
Speaker B:Help me understand that.
Speaker C:So cool.
Speaker C:I would love that.
Speaker C:So it's actually the electronics.
Speaker C:How do I say they learn how I walk and then they adjust the.
Speaker C:To match how I walk.
Speaker C:So I actually.
Speaker B:Computer system in there?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:I was not expecting that.
Speaker B:I was not expecting that.
Speaker B:That was the last thing I was expecting here.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:So now Hal, the supercomputer that takes over the world is more, is much more likely to be your leg because it's got, it's already got the AI chips in there.
Speaker B:So with that being said, we're gonna, we're gonna table Hal for a second.
Speaker B:I, I find it amusing that it's all H's, by the way, so.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:That was on purpose.
Speaker B:Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker B:But I just thought that was cool.
Speaker B:Hal Hubert Herbert, let's go back to your perspective because I, I love your perspective.
Speaker B:I love the refreshingness of that.
Speaker B:Who taught you how to.
Speaker B:Who taught you that?
Speaker B:Like, how did you come to the conclusion that says, I'm going to make sure that I look on the better side of this and figure out the goods, as opposed to just being, like, the reality of what is about to happen?
Speaker B:Like, where did you learn that skill?
Speaker B:Because that's a skill you need to learn.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:I say this almost every question always seems to come back around to my mom, but my mom was really the one.
Speaker C:We're so close.
Speaker C:We've been so close my entire life.
Speaker C:She was really the one that taught me about that kind of positivity.
Speaker C:And it started.
Speaker C:A lot of it started when I got diagnosed, because you have a cancer diagnosis, so you're trying to figure out the tiniest little things to be okay with.
Speaker C:And so it would start.
Speaker C:We would.
Speaker C:We would be stuck in a situation that we didn't want to be in, and we would say, hey, what's the positive?
Speaker C:And sometimes it did go into, I'm alive.
Speaker C:And that is more than what a lot of people can say.
Speaker C:But that mindset, when you start to think like that in those little positives, oh, we're getting my favorite pizza today.
Speaker C:That's fantastic, or my favorite TV show was on and I got to watch it today.
Speaker C:Something like that, it starts to snowball in your mind, and all of a sudden, you're seeing these bigger positives.
Speaker C:Oh, I went in for chemo today, and I didn't get sick all day, or I was able to get off of my meds much sooner than what we expected.
Speaker C:So I'm having less side effects from that.
Speaker C:Like I said, it snowballs.
Speaker C:So eventually, you end up seeing the whole big picture.
Speaker C:Instead of these little tiny details, you just see a whole big picture of good things.
Speaker C:And we trained each other to do that because we would always be on opposites, where I would be having the worst day of my life, and she would be going, well, think about it.
Speaker C:The sun's outside.
Speaker C:You like the sun.
Speaker C:Go sit in the sun and get some sunshine.
Speaker C:And then we would flip.
Speaker C:She would be having the worst day ever, and I would get to do the same for her.
Speaker C:So we taught each other how to do that.
Speaker B:That's beautiful.
Speaker B:So then two questions come up.
Speaker B:Number one is, how do you guard against toxic positivity?
Speaker C:Oh, gosh, that's.
Speaker C:That is something I've had to deal with a lot recently.
Speaker C:I am still learning how to do that, because when it came to the second amputation, of course, the people around Me, they had known this strong, tough Rebecca that had survived all of these things.
Speaker C:And when faced with something like that, a lot of the times it became, well, you've survived that, you can survive this too.
Speaker C:And sometimes I wasn't ready for that positivity yet.
Speaker C:I was ready to wallow in self pity for a bit and just not have to face reality of it.
Speaker C:But I think what it became for me was setting these mental boundaries of a lot of people project.
Speaker C:A lot of people see things through their own perspectives and through their own experiences.
Speaker C:And so I had to teach myself to put up boundaries, find out who those safe people were to talk to and to listen to, more importantly, because it's very important who's going to be speaking into your life.
Speaker C:And I would evaluate everything that was said to me and if it did come to those points of toxic pox, toxic positivity, I would just acknowledge it.
Speaker C:I really wouldn't.
Speaker C:I don't need to make a big deal out of it, but I would just acknowledge it and move on and not allow it to invalidate the things that I was feeling.
Speaker B:Right, okay, so then, so all of this happening, so then what point do you decide to get back into sports?
Speaker B:What point do you decide that you're ready for that?
Speaker C:That's a good point.
Speaker C:Especially being in the middle of deciding that now time, it looked different.
Speaker C:So after the first surgery, like I told you, it was my stubbornness that said, I'm going to do this because you told me I wouldn't.
Speaker C:And I never really decided this is what I'm going to do.
Speaker C:It was more of a gradual thing of, oh, I said I would walk, I walked again.
Speaker C:I could try running and then, oh, I'm running again.
Speaker C:I can try Spartan racing, which was a bit of a jump.
Speaker C:We had some in between, but it was a pretty gradual thing.
Speaker C:After the second amputation, it was a really nerve wracking decision to figure out, am I even ready for this again?
Speaker C:Because my first step back was a Spartan race and I really just had to jump in and do it and say, you know what, I've got a team surrounding me.
Speaker C:I've just got to trust that if I can't get myself through this by myself, that my team is going to get me through it for all of us.
Speaker C:And then at this point, it's the same thing.
Speaker C:I actually just recently started going back to the gym because you have to play a game with prosthetics of is it going to fit today?
Speaker C:Is it going to be falling off today?
Speaker C:Are the electronics going to cooperate with me today?
Speaker C:And so eventually, I think you just have to get over all of those, Those limiting things in your mind and just say, I'm going to attempt it today.
Speaker C:And if we hit all these goals, that's fantastic.
Speaker C:And if I hit some of those goals, that's great.
Speaker C:If I don't, we'll try again tomorrow.
Speaker C:And sometimes you just got to jump in and go for it.
Speaker C:And that's been my mindset lately, is, wake up, attempt it.
Speaker C:And if not, attempt it again tomorrow.
Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:And so let me say this to the listener, and I know some of you guys over there, more hearts, more scars are going to be listening.
Speaker B:Shout out to you guys who take the athletes through the courses.
Speaker B:I am also an athlete when it comes to more, more scars or even Oscar Mike.
Speaker B:Shout out to those Mission guys, to the listener.
Speaker B:Look both of those organizations up.
Speaker B:Amazing people get connected.
Speaker B:I wanted to take that and just shout those guys out real quick now for coming back to you.
Speaker B:So something that really just sticks out and it really hits me and says, brings a question to mind, let me say it that way, is why was the decision harder the second time than it was the first time?
Speaker B:Because the first time you lost the leg like you lost the whole bottom half of your leg, and the second time you lost the smaller section.
Speaker B:So why is it harder for you the second time to jump in than it was the first?
Speaker C:I think it was because I knew what I was getting myself into the second time.
Speaker C:So the first time they can tell you what to expect for an amputation, but until you've done it, it's.
Speaker C:There's no real processing what you're going to expect.
Speaker C:And on top of that, unfortunately, there was a lot of trauma surrounding the amputation itself and surrounding the recovery.
Speaker C:And so when it came to the point of that second amputation, all I could think about was, is all that going to happen to me again?
Speaker C:Am I going to suffer like that again?
Speaker C:Am I going to feel those same kinds of pain?
Speaker C:Is it going to take as long?
Speaker C:And also knowing that the difference between a below knee and above knee amputation, that the above knee is indescribably more difficult to recover from and to learn to use a prosthesis.
Speaker C:And so while the first time I jumped in a prosthesis and a couple of weeks later I was walking around having a great time, I also had to process.
Speaker C:This could take months.
Speaker C:I can't predict how easy this is going to be.
Speaker C:And so combining this terror of the trauma and the pain with.
Speaker C:I don't even know when I'm going to be able to stand on my own two feet again.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:So what kept you from quitting?
Speaker C:I just knew I had to do it because my options were never walk again, not use a prosthesis, keep the chronic pain of what was going on with the below knee amputation, or suffer through a couple of months and have hope for a better future.
Speaker C:And the hope of having that better future, even if it's more difficult or even if it would take longer, was just enough to push me over the edge of not just sitting there paralyzed in fear, refusing to do what I knew I needed to do.
Speaker B:I honor you for that.
Speaker B:I think that's a beautiful story.
Speaker B:Just, you know, the ability to push through is a hard thing.
Speaker B:In general, the ability to push through twice is even harder.
Speaker B:So the courage you have, I just want to honor you for that.
Speaker B:One more question and then I want to dive into your book because I think this.
Speaker B:The book seems to be very amazing.
Speaker B:It's called Limitless.
Speaker B:Like you are living this limitless life.
Speaker B:Like, I have a major limit, no leg.
Speaker B:But I'm trying to fight the emotions of that.
Speaker B:And I'm still doing Spartans.
Speaker B:And maybe down the future you'll do a triathlon.
Speaker B:Who knows?
Speaker B:But at least for right now, there's that.
Speaker B:But one more question before we get into.
Speaker B:And this again, one more curiosity before we get into the authorship.
Speaker B:When you lost the second half, like when they took the extra part, the second amputation, did you find that the phantom leg grew to the place of the amputation?
Speaker B:Did it change?
Speaker B:Grew to the place?
Speaker C:So at first, because it was below the knee, I could only really feel like the bottom half of my calf and my foot.
Speaker C:And then when I lost more it.
Speaker C:Now I can feel my knee.
Speaker C:And the crazy part is that I still think I can move my knee, my ankle, my toes.
Speaker C:So it did expand, expand, and it actually changed the way it felt.
Speaker C:I have no idea how to describe what it felt like at first versus what it feels like now, but it actually changed.
Speaker C:It was mind blowing.
Speaker C:How it does that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I just.
Speaker B:I've never had the opportunity to ask that.
Speaker B:And I was like, I gotta ask this.
Speaker B:This is cool.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Because I find this whole conversation to be so refreshing and.
Speaker B:And again, the.
Speaker B:The listeners deal with all sorts of different things.
Speaker B:I have listeners who have mental health challenges.
Speaker B:I have listeners who do have physical challenges.
Speaker B:So you're very uplifting and encouraging.
Speaker B:So I appreciate you going down these lines of thinking and conversation with me.
Speaker B:So with that being said, let's move over to the book.
Speaker B:At what point do you wake up, Rebecca, and you go, I want to write a book today.
Speaker B:Like, where did that come from?
Speaker C:I have wanted to write a book since I was 8 years old.
Speaker C:I just never knew what I wanted to write it about.
Speaker C:I didn't know if I wanted to go fiction or nonfiction.
Speaker C:And in the chaos of high school and my first semester of college, it got shoved to the back burner because I was doing so many other things.
Speaker C:And really what happened was because of the amount of trauma, especially that happened during chemo and the things that I wanted to change, it replanted that seed in my mind that said, this could be what you write about.
Speaker C:You could write about all of these experiences and start advocating for change through your story.
Speaker C:And so it was a seed.
Speaker C:It was here and there.
Speaker C:And then I just.
Speaker C:I believe I went to church one morning, and I just felt it.
Speaker C:Write a book about your story.
Speaker C:Stop trying to pick a topic.
Speaker C:Stop trying to say you want to write to patients or write to providers, and just tell your story.
Speaker C:And that was a disturbingly short time before my leg broke and before I had to get the first amputation.
Speaker C:So I had started the book.
Speaker C:I was having a great time.
Speaker C:I thought, this is where I'm starting.
Speaker C:This is where I'm ending.
Speaker C:And then my leg broke, and I went.
Speaker C:The whole story just changed because now I am in the middle of the plot again.
Speaker C:So I had to push it to the back burner because I said, I actually have to survive this before I can talk about it.
Speaker C:So I had to survive it.
Speaker C:And then once I got past that recovery phase, I went, okay, how am I going to.
Speaker C:Where am I going to take this now?
Speaker C:And I still stuck with the same thing.
Speaker C:Just tell your story.
Speaker C:And so I just spent, I think, about a year and a half drafting and editing this thing that became my baby.
Speaker B:And now it's birth.
Speaker B:Now it's out there.
Speaker B:Now everybody can pick it up.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And to you, the listener, we will put it in the show notes.
Speaker B:So don't worry, don't fret.
Speaker B:We will make it easy and accessible in the show notes, so make sure you check it out.
Speaker B:So what opportunities have opened up since you got this book?
Speaker C:So I've been able to do a lot more speaking.
Speaker C:One of my fun facts is that even before the book, I used to speak at one of the universities here to their med students.
Speaker C:And so I would tell my story, and I joked with them, but it wasn't really a joke.
Speaker C:I said, I'm going to traumatize you with what I was traumatized with so that you don't do this to other patients.
Speaker C:And so I was trying to use that the best I could to at least plant in their minds as new providers don't do these things.
Speaker C:Think about it in this way.
Speaker C:Think about it in the patient.
Speaker C:I call it my patient perspective talk.
Speaker C:And so I started doing that.
Speaker C:But after the book, I ended up doing some event speaking.
Speaker C:I've done a couple of podcasts and little did I know.
Speaker C:But since all of this happened a couple of months after the release of the book, I've got people bugging me for a sequel.
Speaker C:So it looks like the next opportunity is going to be or one of the next opportunities is going to be a sequel.
Speaker C:It has opened up a lot of doors to.
Speaker C:To share the story in so many different avenues.
Speaker C:Not just survivorship, but the ability to overcome things or share things.
Speaker C:With athletics, I've done some events for athletics and now doing this entrepreneurship and business it.
Speaker C:There are just so many aspects that can be shared with the story.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:So with you being an entrepreneurship, so as a primary author, where do you see yourself going?
Speaker B:Are you going to be like coaching or you go like, where does this go for you?
Speaker C:So I have quite a few book ideas, so certainly going to stay for now down the author avenue to try to get a few of those ideas out.
Speaker C:Now that I've told myself the story and now that I'll be telling a little bit more of the story from more recent things and I would love to be doing more speaking.
Speaker C:There's.
Speaker C:I know speaking right now is a super huge thing.
Speaker C:Podcasts became a super huge thing, so doing more of that would be cool.
Speaker C:But really, I would just really love to advocate and to speak in a more advocacy situation, whether that be amputee conferences or more with med students.
Speaker C:At this point, just want to continue that path and see where that takes me and see what other paths open up because.
Speaker B:Okay, and so what do you find is your greatest challenge right now?
Speaker C:I think the greatest challenge is teaching myself to be flexible because of all of the things that have happened in the past few years.
Speaker C:You go from these highs of I'm doing, doing my thing, I'm living, I'm writing, I'm looking at amputation, and then I'm back to doing my thing and I'm published and I'm doing book signings and I'm doing another amputation and Trying to teach yourself the flexibility of saying, okay, my 100% six months ago does not look like what my 100% right now is.
Speaker C:And that's okay.
Speaker C:My 100% in three more months could change.
Speaker C:And so trying to teach myself, there are going to be days where I log in and I bust out so much work, so productive, get all the things done.
Speaker C:And then there are going to be days where my to do list gets a mile long and I do one thing.
Speaker C:And so teaching myself to be okay with that and translate that into all the other aspects of my life, like with athletics, any aspect of my life in that matter, that's, I think, my biggest challenge.
Speaker B:So with.
Speaker B:So let's lead that into, you know, for the listener, you know, a section, this is with the hashtag wisdom bomb, which is where we leave a purple truth from the guests.
Speaker B:With that being said, what is a wisdom bomb you would leave for the guest?
Speaker B:For the listener.
Speaker B:You are the guest.
Speaker B:The listener.
Speaker C:So I think it would be to be okay with giving yourself the grace, to be flexible, because it really is a form of self grace to allow yourself to go through the seasons of life and go through the different challenges of life and just being able to show up during each one of those, I would say, have the grace of flexibility on yourself.
Speaker B:So awesome.
Speaker B:So how do we find you?
Speaker B:If we want to.
Speaker B:If we want to connect with the real Rebecca through Facebook, through whatever.
Speaker B:How do we find you?
Speaker C:You can find everything you need to know through Rebecca Dene dot com.
Speaker C:That's my website.
Speaker C:You'll find the book, you'll find podcasts, social medias, more of my story, anything like, that's the central place for it.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:And as always, we're going to link that right down in the show.
Speaker B:Notes that you.
Speaker B:All you have to do is click and head on over there.
Speaker B:And I would highly suggest that you do that so that you can support and learn more about what it's like to live a life that is limitless.
Speaker B:And so with that being said, thank you, Rebecca, for being on the podcast today.
Speaker B:We love having you.
Speaker B:We love the conversation.
Speaker B:We appreciate you.
Speaker C:Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker C:It was a great conversation and it was a fun avenue to take.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And so with that being said, we will see you on a future episode.
Speaker B:And you've been listening to Grace in the Grind.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:We're just here to inspire.
Speaker B:Well, actually, we're here to tell the story behind the story, to inspire and encourage you to do all that God has called you to so with that being said, thanks for listening and we'll see you on a future episode.
Speaker A:This has been Grace in the Grind.
Speaker A:We hope you've enjoyed the show.
Speaker A:If you did, make make sure to, like, rate and review.
Speaker A:And we'll be back soon.
Speaker A:But in the meantime, find us on social media.
Speaker A:LeadWithJam.
Speaker A:Take care of yourself, and we'll see you next time on Grace in the Grind.
