hello this is gotta run with will i am dale st clair your guest host today with peter shriner who we are going to speak about your experience and the fifth avenue mile in your journey that  when you approached the race did you have any idea that you would be able to move past your other participants and actually break the tape i knew that i had been putting up good times you know  practice runs and stuff and i felt i did feel confident and in myself i just well let's tell the audience what an exoskeleton is and i'm really interested in the trials that you do and the prep you did for the rice but let's dial back a little bit for what an them know when an exoskeleton is first so i mean i'm also pretty narrow things devices but from what i've learned an exoskeleton is a device that you kind of step into other's shoes you put your feet into and there's strap strap around your legs and lock out your knees and based on the model of the device it goes certain distance up your torso and it has motors on it and you started to use the axis kiloton how did that how did it feel from being not able to walk to having this device that enabled you to to walk and move calming effect on my mind you know and even as much as the walking just standing up straight and kind of being my normal height and seeing things from the perspective i used to see them all those all those factors were very welcome to me when did you start using the number twenty hours later or more a veteran a veteran and say the least i think it would be helpful to share well full disclosure i've known peter shriner since peter was nine months old our kids were nine mom and me to meet in our kids just happen to be best friends from from there and our families have grown up together from knowing you from for all those years and from watching how much you pro you've broken in your journey in this last year as has been  extraordinary and man in many ways and i know you've heard the so many times we're so proud of you and and know your journey is just beginning can we tell the audience what what happened last labor day weekend and how your journey memorial service i was a car accident i was in the back seat and the car hit a tree and i don't remember the action itself but i woke up of all spittle that morning obviously surprised and i was flown back to new york and begin my recovery well it was a it was a long journey when you were flown back to new york you know your family and friends just grateful that that you're here and there was a lot of prayers for you and and through today and i know you you you felt them and i'm just so grateful you're here and thrilled to be a part of this part of your of your journey when you start it when you were strong enough to begin therapy at mount sinai what how did how did you begin that do they kind of initially started trying to get me to do some therapy after a week or two and that you know consisted of just like setting me up in bed and try to get me to move my arms and do some upper body exercises just excruciating really difficult very demoralizing you know sorry for how hard those simple things were but as time passes i can do more and more and i'm outside i was really set up for chest level so everything below my chest at the beginning i couldn't feel or move at all and when i left the i c u i had was intubated with  i worked with speech therapists i got my voice back you know after three months i was able had my first sip of water orally and then from there i was able to start eating a little bit of food and so once that stuff started coming back it was a lot easier to kind of turn my attention and focus on the real issue but working with the therapist i was able to slowly to regain a lot of movement in my abdominals and trunk and that's just continued to increase in strength  and you know feeling has been coming back and my legs and torso and movement stuff on very good idea yeah you know at that's tremendous that's very exciting the  just when you going from mount sinai into kessler can you share so you left mount sinai and then you started that customer and then how did that how did that work in your in your and what was your week like when you that that point i think you were home know that i think about i went home from the hospital on the third december ninth so i was in the hospital about three months and you know the biggest thing for me was i just didn't want to slow i go we don't know you know you have this like this party that your injury might not be able to handle it or you can do it for this reason but i just every day i would annoy them about it and eventually they let me do it and then you know once i did that they're  the center you're out to use for rehab i mean they're not not all the more commercially available so ok you can just go somewhere and use it you have to be part of a protocol or part of a some kind of trial ok you know you can have any sort of study you can you know certain skin breakdown or other solar problems that would make it dangerous to the door and then probably a certain strength level that would imagine that it takes a lot of muscle yeah i mean you can you can have a higher level injury for the most part because you need to be able to balance with your arms and have some hand function and something to think how much just can you buy shark so tell us a little bit about some of the other individuals as you're doing it therapy and in the skeleton study there were other individuals i know you met along the way i've met a couple you spent more than i you know every person is different obviously who has it but also every injury is different even if it's categorized the same level or you know have been the same way like people just respond differently to having that injury so you know it's always interesting to learn about other people's experiences are somewhat how do you deal with this or why when did this happen for you and stuff like that so it's very useful to meet other people in the community hospital and then came the talk to me just about my situation and we met him through some mutual friends he even helped to design my bedroom when we did renovations in my house also remember tell you the second week i got to mount sinai talking to him and just kind of learning more about my situation and he was also in the right so it's kind of cool all these people that i had seen before and i kind of worked with them much while because you know i would see robert when i was out walking and he was there doing it or i'd see woody all the time outside and i went to the swimming program with him and stuff oh that's great oh wonderful now you mention  a certain level of your spine and they damage the spinal cord that they're supposedly protecting so you have your drastic spine is what all the t s come from so i'm at t for five injury and then there's the lumbar spine which is like way down your pelvis which is i think pretty rare and there's a b l one through five or something like that but pretty much wherever you are injured every every controls biceps and then if you have a c three injury it's your forearm and up you can use and then the seat to injury you're right you can use your wrists you know see one it's you don't have a hand function so it's type of work you do so i try my number one goal is to get back on my feet and so that is reflected in kind of how i spend my day my week but same time you know i want to i want to have some balance and  maintain my sanity so i go to work a few times a week the restaurant where i worked before i was happy to get back there and love the people i work with so that's kind of a safe space for me and stuff like that takes a little more time so that's kind of been the beginning part of my day i'm in the based on whether i'm going to therapy or work i'll do that you know sometimes i have to go to new jersey and then i'll come back and i'll have another appointment another therapy so between that you know i find time to you know pursue my hobbies and see my friends and stuff like that but the stuff well you know anytime i have free i try your aunt you cousin your cousin who who helped how did that all come together beautifully you know they're working with a really small space we all are going out and when i got home my bedroom was the only room in the house that bedroom in my bathroom so that they could be functional for me and so i was really just shoveled for about three three months five months i really care remember how long it took but when i was taught i mean it's a beautiful space and r your space going back to the race i know that the mount sinai had a race in riverside park at one point that was when i first saw the exit skeleton when i was with your  mom looking at the race that's where i first met robert woo and that was i don't remember what that x in the name of that race but that was the first time i saw the group together i think it was behind a five k they were doing the which is the name was limited to four people this time to make sure that the safety of everyone was insured and make sure that things that were thought about were thought about i know of the new york road runners have a has a dedicated staff for disabled athletes and everybody came together to do this by on a plane in terms of preparing for the race how did that go and what was and tailed also then find out about during the race  some something more tangible to focus on that i was training for which was good you know i paid more attention to the times that i was getting walking around the hospital and so forth and thinking about how i would translate walking inside outside  have be a serious all part of your journey and your you've inspired so many people i know the chairman of a new balance came expressively to see the see you and the other three it's a skeleton athletes and  i know there are more people are getting involved now that they know what this is and if we were to to want to find out more about the skeleton what's a good way to do that for those interested in finding out how  injury but you know there's a lot more money coming into it and there's just with everything the technology is amazing and so there's a lot a lot of attorneys that there weren't just a few years ago so you know i'm working in the anything and everything and