Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: A gift that reopened the world

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

We hear how an off-road wheelchair Zack built for Cambry when they started dating reopened her world and changed hundreds of lives. Also: life lessons from a singing grandad and a young climber; and King Charles turns DJ.

My name is Zach Nelson. And I'm Cambry Nelson. And you're listening to The Happy Pod. On the BBC World Service. Hello, it's Alan Smith with you for half an hour or so of uplifting stories from around the world. This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. And in this edition, how one couple's love of outdoor adventures inspired an invention that helped hundreds of people.

So just riding the rig has opened my world and yeah, I love it. Seeing people out enjoying life and the outdoors, that's super satisfying. Why you're never too old to succeed at something new. Even Laura came to me and said, my dad, you're going to go on TikTok. I said, can I go on what? Or too young to inspire others. I was so scared of falling from so high up. I need some time to step back and reflect.

Plus, we've Italy's top dog. She likes to cuddle, but she loves to run and to have fun on her favourite beach. When she's in the ring, she's like, look at me. The Whippet who secured the country's first ever win at the world's biggest dog show. To start though, a question. I wonder how good you are at identifying sounds.

One of the things that makes me happy is collecting sounds on my phone. So just for fun fun I thought I'd set you a HappyPod challenge. Can you work out what sound this is? I'll give you three options. Is it A. Rain B. Something in a frying pan or C. Static crackles on an old style radio? I'll tell you the answer and why it makes me happy at the end of the podcast. Our first story is about the extraordinary lengths one man went to for a woman he just started dating, something that ended up changing both their lives and helping hundreds of people.

When Zach Nelson met Cambry six years ago, he wanted to share his love of hiking and the great outdoors. But the wheelchair she used because of a spinal cord injury wasn't up to going off-road and they couldn't afford those that were. So instead, he invented and built something just for her called the rig. The couple, who are now married and live in Utah, went on to set up their company Not a Wheelchair to try to reduce the costs and delays others face getting custom-made mobility equipment. Zach and Cambry Nelson have been talking to Harry Bly, starting with the moment Cambry

tried out the very first version of the rig. I was just kind of blown away. I just kept smiling. It was so fun. I could go on grass and not have any issues. Because in my manual wheelchair, like I can't get very far on gravel and grass and dirt. And so it was really fun to just go.

I don't know, the first day we went a few miles. It just kind of felt like the world reopened because I just got used to like the pavement and being in accessible places. So just riding the rig has opened my world and there's just a feeling you get when you feel like, yeah, I love it. It's really fun to ride. Getting outside was something that I enjoy doing and I wanted her to come with me.

And so that was the goal to get her outside. But also like the more I got to know Cambry, the more I realized that everything about accessibility is just super, super expensive. There was other off-road wheelchairs out there that cost 10 or $20,000, but when you're dating, that's not a good day-date price point. So I decided to weld two electric bikes together to make that first prototype. I don't know, I think Zach is very like practical and logical and he wants everybody to be on the same playing field. And so I see that being really rewarding,

but I think also when we get videos of people enjoying their rigs, like it hits a deeper level that sometimes we forget about the impact it really has on people's lives. And that's really fun. The whole thing is just fun for us. Cause like we us because we've sold hundreds of these active wheelchairs, seeing people out enjoying life and the outdoors and knowing that they didn't break the bank to get there, that's super satisfying, I think. Tell me about some of these videos that you've

received from customers who've bought your products. There's been a lot. I mean, one of my favorites is there's this girl up in Canada actually who bought one and she just goes to like the craziest national parks. Like there's a video of her like crossing this rope bridge in one of our off-road wheelchairs and like I never really expected it to be in that kind of extreme scenario. We also have a kid version and seeing the little kids just out spinning donuts in the snow is like... Sometimes it's surreal because I lived with my injury for 15 years and just navigating this world. All the ups and downs that come with sustaining a disability and then

you know, all the ups and downs that come with sustaining a disability and then, and dating and just like all aspects of a disability because I walked for 18 years and then I became a wheelchair user and I just kind of saw the world a little bit more black and white, I feel like, until I met Zach and it's just been really rewarding to not only have some of my barriers removed, it's been really rewarding to see it affect other people's lives because I know what it's like being in a wheelchair. And I know how frustrating it is from a lot of different standpoints.

And so it's nice to be able to, I guess, share the wealth of Zach's incredible brain and drive and the team that is supporting really a large part of the disabled community, I feel like. Your company is called Not a Wheelchair. Why is that? Well, I think part of the name of Not a Wheelchair came because like I would drive it on the trails and people would stop us and be like what is that? And I just think it was kind of fun to be like well it's not a wheelchair. And there was a lot of people that were like oh where can I get myself one of those? Like that looks really fun and I really enjoyed that about the rig is that it didn't make me like maybe this is vain but it didn't

make me look more disabled. And I feel like sometimes there's medical equipment out there that just kind of looks like rickety and old. And I feel like our rigs are kind of souped up and fun that it entices more than maybe just the disabled community to want to hop in. I know I have friends that will hop on one of them with me. And it's one of their favorite pastimes is to go race rigs around with me. Cambry and Zach Nelson were talking to Harry Bly. Now, here's a story that proves it's never too late to follow your dreams or to try something new for that matter.

When lifelong singer Edwin Rayner lost his wife of 60 years, he felt there was no reason to carry on performing. That was then. Now, almost a decade on, the 92-year-old's musical renditions have been viewed by millions of people on TikTok. His latest success is this cover of Chapel Rowan. Sally Nugent and John Kay caught up with Edwin, the social media star. I'm very lucky, aren't I, you know, at my age I suppose, but then I don't think age

comes into it, does it? If you've got ability, you should, doesn't matter how old you are, it's not important. You can be like some of the kiddies going in singing at school or whatever, and then when you get a bit older like me you still keep singing and I'm very very fortunate yeah I'll be 93 on the 31st of March but I'm so lucky I had a wonderful wife unfortunately I lost my Margaret 10 years ago and I miss her terribly and she was a wonderful wonderful wonderful woman and it's because the way she looked after me is that I'm 93 and I can do what I can do. I can still drive my car and I can still do my housework and I can look after myself.

I've got two wonderful daughters, of course, who are magnificent help me and some wonderful grandchildren and two of them. It's their fault that I'm on TikTok because one day, Liv and Laura came to me and said, Randa, you're going to go on TikTok? I said, I'm going to go on what? And then we had a TikTok. Anyway, we put this song on TikTok. I think it was one from The Wizard of Oz, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Yeah, we put it on. It was one from The Wizard of Oz, somewhere over the rainbow. Yeah, we put it on and we thought,

remember I had a couple of hundred likes on it. I think we got about six or eight thousand likes, which was unbelievable. Don't think it was possible. Anyway, so we went on and I began to put more songs on. I began to get quite a magnificent following I've got. What does it mean to you? That, you know, you said numbers and age doesn't matter,

but likes and hits and shares, I mean, it's extraordinary. Well, it is absolutely extraordinary, and there's no doubt about it. And I get thousands and thousands of comments, and I try and read them all. It takes me ages and ages and ages. But it's so gratifying because some of the people that comment on me were in despair. And my singing, my songs have brought back life to them and it's so pleasing

to know I've done this and I can do this and I've been a singer and entertainer all my life I'm very lucky to be able to do it and I thank God that I'm able to do these things. What an inspiring chap. Edwin Rayner speaking to Sally Nugent and John Kay. Now when it comes to being top dog, winning Crufts really does take some beating. It's the biggest dog show in the world with more than 18,000 entrants from around the globe and this year it's been won by an Italian dog for the first time. Four-year-old Whippet Muccia from Venice was named best in show last weekend.

Her handler is Giovanni Liguri. She's a sweetheart. She's truly a sweet dog. She always wants to be super close to me. She likes to cuddle, but she loves to run and to have fun on her favorite beach. Also the other aspect of her personality is that she's very alert and very happy to be shown. So when she's in the ring she's like look at me. It's been an amazing journey, it's been fantastic to attend craft, it's been my first time there and the results couldn't be better than this.

I couldn't believe it actually. So for me it was like the epitome of my careers. It's really hard to describe the emotion you are like feeling in that exact moment but I can guarantee that it's a super nice feeling. Mucha's proud handler Giovanni Liguri. And Mucha wasn't the only Wippet winning prizes. A one-year-old Wippet Saluki Colly Cross, who was a rescue dog, claimed a top award after judges heard she gave her owner a new lease of life after a traumatic childbirth left her unable to leave the house. Lola, owned by Bex Hall from the

southeast of England, won the Scruffs Family Crossbreed of the Year title. Stephanie Prentice spoke to Bex. The judge didn't actually announce Lola straight away. She basically said that she thought that the worthy winner was the dog that saved the human because it could have gone completely the other way and while she was saying all of this I was thinking oh my gosh that's me I just couldn't believe it I felt so overwhelmed. Scruffs, James Welbe Love Scruffs, Crossbreed Dog of the Year, Lola and Brexit! I was just so happy and just so surprised that this little lurcher that nobody wanted could come this far,

beat hundreds of dogs in the qualifiers and win. And you mentioned that the judge said that Lola had saved you. Would you mind telling us what Lola did for you? Lola came to me at a really tough time in my life. I had a three-month-old son and I'd had a traumatic birth and I didn't feel like I wanted to leave the house. Getting Lola just meant that I had to leave the house to take her for a walk around the block. And then suddenly I was putting things in the diary that I wouldn't have even thought about before

and slowly I was getting back to being an actual person, an actual human being when just being a mum that sits inside the house all day worrying about everything I felt a little bit of me return, it was really nice. And you mentioned there that Lola was a little dog that nobody wanted but it sounds like her character had such a positive effect on you as well. She came, she was this confident little puppy and it just gave us like a whole different energy in the house. The whole house just sort of came alive, if that makes sense. You

were always going, oh my gosh, where is she? What's she doing? Oh my gosh. What would you say to anyone that's thinking of getting a rescue dog? I would definitely say go for it. It's the most rewarding thing. Essentially, I wanted a pedigree whippet. I wanted to go to compete at crufts. And then this little lurcher came. And I can't imagine having any other dog. I can't imagine having a pedigree whippet at all. I think it's just really rewarding. And a rescue dog is just as good as any pedigree dog. What a worthy, worthy winner and a big thank you to the judges as well. That's the way to do it. Congratulations to Bexhall and Lola.

Bexhall, whose rescue dog ended up rescuing her. Still to come in this podcast... I always recall his words, that people have a voice inside of them. He gave the world that voice in a way that no one who heard could ever forget. A rather unusual broadcast from King Charles. Now to a remarkable story about someone who's overcome her fears and set a new record and she's still only nine years old. Veronica Chick began climbing at the age of five and was soon winning indoor competitions. But after switching to outdoor climbing, she developed a fear of falling and had to take a break.

Then she overcame that fear, became the youngest person from Hong Kong to complete a challenging 31-metre route called the China Climb and won gold at her first national championships. Veronica and her mum Vivian Wan have been speaking to Nish Tatlada. When I was small, I saw those monkey bars and then I wanted to climb them and then like I really like it so much. And then my grandfather, he brought me to climbing and then I like it so much. I like to climb everywhere and it's like very happy and calm and then it's like a sense of joy. After a year she started to do competition and then she has been winning all the competition and all of a sudden she told me she wants to be in Olympia and so I started to look into it and then try to

find her national coach and you know all that. What's it like as a mother to watch her go through it? Do you feel the fear as a mother when you watch her climbing? Yes. Well, it's a roller coaster of emotions. I feel scared. the same time I feel very proud. We were like, should we continue or not? Should we give up or not? And then performance will surprise you. And it makes me feel there is a hope. I told her, do you want to give up? No. Okay. So I asked her many times. Veronica is shaking her head. She does not want to give up. If this is what she wants, we'll go for it. I know you then took a little break from climbing, didn't you, last year?

Why was that? Tell us about that. I was so scared of falling from so high up. I need some time to step back and reflect. It was very scary. How did you get over what you'd been feeling? How did you find that strength to go back and resume outdoor climbing? My parents took me to Paris to watch the Olympic Games. I found my climbing passion again and

helped me overcome the fear of falling. And I know you climbed the very famous China Climb, didn't you? Which is extraordinary. What was that like? It was like a mix of happiness and disbelief. It felt surreal to achieve something I had worked so hard for and I couldn't believe I was finally standing at the top. When she finished China Climb I wasn't there. Her father called me and she was like, mommy mommy mommy, and I was like, what happened? I thought she had an accident, you know? And he was like, she finished! I burst into tears and I cannot believe she can finally get it done. It was unbelievable.

You must be so proud of her. Yes, very proud. Each week, either me or my husband take her to training in China and then it's like five to six hours each way on a high-speed train. It's a huge commitment. And you've already achieved so much. What are the big goals for you? What would you like to do? Um, I want to do some harder routes to prove myself that I can do challenging routes and stuff.

My dream is to become an Olympian and inspire other people to like climb. I always tell her you can be what you want to be. So no matter what you said you want to be and I will fully support you. Vivienne Wan and her daughter, the nine-year-old climbing star Veronica Chick, talk to Sports Hour, which you can find wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now here's a fascinating personal story of triumph over adversity. Hannah Studley, who lives in Israel, was attacked and badly injured twice in her early 20s and experienced chronic pain for decades. But then a psychologist suggested she might be able to tackle that pain by changing the way she thought about it. And she says that for her, it worked.

Hannah now has her own coaching practice and she says she's helped hundreds of clients around the world. She spoke to Richard Hamilton. I got very messed up in my head. I was terrified to leave the house. I wasn't eating properly. I wasn't sleeping. The doctor just kept asking me to tell the story again. But I remember screaming in my head thinking, I do that all day at home. I need you to help me not do that. So I never went back. That was the only treatment I ever got. But you lived for many years with chronic pain.

Yes, I had chronic pain for about 25 years. And so bad that there was a couple of times I was paralysed and rushed into the emergency room. It was agony. I had a walking stick by the time I was 27 years old. About 10 years ago I came across a new understanding of how the mind works and I went to London to train as a practitioner and when I finished the six-month course all my pain had gone away. It was amazing. I learned about it from a friend and as soon as I heard that I didn't have to do all these techniques and activities to control my thinking anymore, I fell in love with it because I now see that's why my body was screaming at me because I

was constantly trying to fix and change how I felt. And when I stopped doing that, the pain went away. And the basic idea for me was that I wasn't broken and didn't need fixing. Yes, my body had gotten damaged, but really the inner part of me can never be broken. Everything from the pain to being anxious or fearful, we're feeling that thinking and that's what's creating our experience. I didn't know that my pain could go away. I thought because of the damage that I had experienced that it would be with me for the rest of my life. So when I got excited about these ideas, it wasn't to fix the pain. But as my mind slowed down, as I started to understand and I had

more and more insights, my body didn't need to scream at me anymore. So the pain went away. Have you come across a lot of skepticism from traditional psychotherapists and counselors and medical experts? Yeah, they kind of see me as an amateur. I work with people with physical issues because that's my experience. I work with people with trauma and anxiety. I work with people with all kinds of mental health issues. And I haven't found any situation where this hasn't been helpful. It's been amazing. One of my very first clients had fibromyalgia and she'd had

it for five or seven years. She was in so much pain she couldn't sit in a restaurant to eat a meal because the chair was uncomfortable. Her husband couldn't even give her a hug. After a few sessions, she started to feel better. She started to have her own insights. And by the time we finished our group of sessions, she ended up flying from Germany, where she lived, to Miami for a vacation, a dream holiday. And she's doing great and we're still in touch and I know she's still doing wonderfully. I've seen all kinds of situations where people feel like their world is very small and things

are hopeless. And when they understand that they were just feeling some really horrible negative thinking and that thought has passed, they're free and their bodies get free too. Chana Studley who found a new way to overcome her chronic pain and rebuild her life. Of course, we recommend consulting your doctor before trying any new treatments. Now, if you're looking for some music to make you happy or even get you dancing, how about some royal recommendations? Britain's King Charles has drawn up a list of his favourite tracks from around the Commonwealth and presented them in a special podcast to

mark Commonwealth Day. I always recall his words, that people have a voice inside of them. He gave the world that voice in a way that no one who heard can ever forget. Kylie Minogue came to St. James's Palace to perform this song in 2012 in advance of the Diamond Jubilee visit to Australia. We had a large reception for Australians in the United Kingdom and as Kylie is an ambassador for my now King's Trust, she very generously agreed to come and perform. The song is the locomotion and this is music for dancing. Again it has that infectious energy which makes it, I find incredibly hard to sit still. This very last song is one of

my particular favorites. It is Upside Down by Diana Ross. When I was much younger it was impossible not to get up and dance when it was played. And I wonder if I can still just manage it. The programme called The King's Music Room, made with Apple Music, is thought to be the first time a British monarch has appeared on a podcast. Will Chalk asked the BBC's royal correspondent, Danielle Orelf, what was behind the idea. It was something they very much wanted to do because of its connection to the Commonwealth. That was the big push for them. But it is something new in terms of what the King has

done before. Yeah, I think when most of us picture a stereotypical royal, they're probably listening to classical music or a string quartet or something. Clearly from this program, that's not the case. So what does this say about attempts to modernize the royal family's image? Look, I think we should first say that the king is an expert on classical music. So I think that is probably his comfort zone. But he does like more modern music, we're told, especially

because on all those trips that he does around the world, he is exposed to the music of those countries and clearly some of them have had a real impact on him. But a long list was drawn up where his family, friends, people he worked with were consulted. That long list was taken up to the King at Sandringham one weekend a few weeks ago where he listened and made his own short list. And it's interesting what he says during the programme about the choices that he has made. He talks really movingly about meeting Bob Marley and the impact of meeting him decades ago and subsequently the contact he's had with the Marley family and the visits to Jamaica,

but that really moved him and it was a voice that he said was hard to forget. And then, you know, in more recent times he clearly knows and likes Kylie. I don't think there's any question about that at all. You know, Kylie Minogue on this programme representing Australia, she's played in front of the King a number of times. There is this common theme actually when you listen to what he says about dancing. I was going to bring that up because again, you don't often picture a king dancing, but then does that feed into, is this an effort from Buckingham Palace to kind of humanise

maybe a bit? 100%. I mean, you know, he obviously is an incredibly formal figure in public life and I think any attempt there is to reach new audiences, to perhaps take the edges, the formal edges off the king, they will try to do. It also gets people thinking about the Commonwealth countries and where he is working and where he's visited. But the dancing thing is a common theme. Diana Ross, Kylie, it's all there. Ray, Michael Buble, Beyonce, Crazy and Love makes the cut as well. So it's a really eclectic list, very much focused on modern music. That was Daniela Relf.

And that's all from the HappyPod for now, but just before we go, here's that happy sounder played you at the start. Did you work out what that was? Well, the answer is rain. I recorded it in the Lake District in the northwest corner of England, which is the place that I grew up. So from the very young age, I was taught to love the rain

because without it, we wouldn't have the lakes that the region is famous for. I still like the sunshine, mind. And this got us thinking, is there a sound that makes you happy? If there is, we'd love to hear about it. Why not send us a voice note to tell us about the sound that's special to you?

Send it to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. We'd love to hear about it. Why not send us a voice note to tell us about the sound that's special to you? Send it to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. And you might like to know that you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the HappyPod. This edition was mixed by Nicola Brough and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkeley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alan Smith.

Until next time, it's goodbye.