Mark Bell's Power Project - Flex Wheeler's Leg Amputation Explained ft. Flex Wheeler

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everybody, welcome back to Mark Bell's Power Project podcast hosted by Mark Bell, co-hosted by Nseema Iyeng and myself, Andrew Zaragoza. Today we have another Power Byte for you. Just in case you're unaware, a Power Byte is just a shortened clip from a full-length podcast that we really want to draw attention to. Today we're going to share a clip from one of our favorite podcasts that we've ever done. One of the just most amazing guests we've ever had, the one and only Flex Wheeler. And this episode was just an emotional roller coaster. We laughed, we cried, we got inspired. And right now this Power Bite is going to focus solely on the more emotional side of things

Starting point is 00:00:40 where Flex Wheeler explains all the pain, all of the, uh, just really just the difficult time that he faced when he had to get his, uh, his leg amputated. He explains the whole thing of, you know, all the pain he went through and finally all the way down to actually amputating it. And also how he wants to be a voice for other amputees, uh, that maybe think that they don't have a way out or they, they can't live the life to the fullest. He wants to be that voice. So if you guys feel anything from this episode, check the links down in the podcast show notes, YouTube, Facebook descriptions, reach out to Flex, tell him you appreciate this message and give him a follow. He has an awesome YouTube channel and just let him know what you guys think. Let him know that this

Starting point is 00:01:27 conversation affected you. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this Power Bite with the great Flex Wheeler. You had some just crazy things that you went through that were very public. You went through the car accident and then you went through the thing with your, and then you went through the thing with your kidneys. Yeah. And then more recently, I think you had like your leg amputated or something happened with your leg.

Starting point is 00:01:54 Excuse me for I don't know the full story on what happened to your leg. What did happen with your leg? So it's a DVT, deep vein thrombosis. I've been dealing with it for probably about two years before I lost my leg. Just, you know, incredible pain. And it could continue to get worse. I still travel all around the world and it would be sometimes where I couldn't even walk to an airport. I would just stop, and I'd be in tears. I was going to every specialist. I live here in Henderson, Vegas, Nevada, and I went to every specialist you could think of.

Starting point is 00:02:35 I have some pretty incredible friends who would introduce me to some of their greatest doctors, and I'm going to all of them, and nothing's getting better. I even went to the emergency room a couple of times over the years and they were like, Oh, you pull the muscle. You know, they put my leg in a cast and put in a splint and I'm like, you guys are idiots. You know, I've torn muscles before. This ain't a damn torn muscle. You know, what hurts specifically like your foot or your calf or your shin or something.

Starting point is 00:03:03 So to explain it to you and what was happening is it's a lactic acid-like burn. So when you're training and your butt muscle starts burning, normally you stop, right, because it gets too much. Well, that's what would happen when I'm walking, that buildup, and it would burn, but it wouldn't go away. And when I stop walking, it'd take about 20 minutes for it to subside. That's a long time to the point it breaks you. So what truly was happening was the blood flow was being cut off.

Starting point is 00:03:37 So imagine, you know, your muscles, as a lack of acid buildup, they're starving for more oxygen, for more blood. Well, my complete lower, below my calf, below my knee was being cut off on blood supply. So that buildup was getting greater and greater and greater because there was no blood flow. We didn't know what was going on. To fast forward, long story short, I got very upset with my doctor. You know, I've said at least he got extremely upset and said, you know, I just said some choice words. We're very close.

Starting point is 00:04:09 And he respected that. And I said, we've got to do something more. This is bullshit, man. You know, there's no way in the world that I should be hurting like this. We had tried everything.

Starting point is 00:04:18 So he said, you know what, let me call in for a ultrasound. I was like, okay. Cause I had, you know, everything else, x-rays and all this garbage. And went in for a ultrasound. I was like, okay. Because I had, you know, everything else, x-rays

Starting point is 00:04:25 and all this garbage. Went in for an ultrasound and geez, like within five seconds, a lady found it. And she just stopped and stared at me, you know, probably for like ten seconds. That's a long time. Ten seconds of silence

Starting point is 00:04:41 is a long time. And her eyes got watery. So, you know me, I'm an emotional emotional person i look at her and i'm like my eyes are getting wired i'm like what you know what is it that you see and she goes do you have a do you have a staff or something in your leg do you have a you know artificial you know artery or something like no i, I have one in my groin for my kidney transplant. When I had my kidney transplant, my donor, when they got us on the operating table, her main artery from her kidney was too short. So they had to go into my left quad and take out my main artery to make her artery long enough.

Starting point is 00:05:22 And then they replaced it with a plastic stent now a graft so no i said i had a graft in my groin area but you know it goes to my right leg but i don't have a i mean a uh a stent in my calf she goes okay so she kept going and she literally just started crying so i started crying i go please tell me what do you see she goes I can't she goes you know they can't tell you anything you know I'll turn it into the doctor you know blah blah blah and when she broke down in tears you know so did I and I just begged her please you got to tell me what do you see she and she said um have you who have you been to I told her everybody I told the hospital she goes no that's not possible those are some of the greatest hospitals we have here in Henderson.

Starting point is 00:06:07 They should have seen it, you know, within seconds ago. Seeing what? She goes, either you have a graft in your calf that you don't know about, or I'm looking at the biggest blood clot I've ever seen in my life. So that got my attention. And she goes, I got to stop. I got to call stop i gotta call the sin stat i gotta get the emergency team in here michael really is that bad she goes you have no idea how bad it is so i had to wait there an hour and they came in and did this stuff and they said you know all right your

Starting point is 00:06:37 doctor's gonna call you now we're gonna go ahead and release you and i said okay she goes don't worry he's gonna call you here he can explain i can't tell you no more so i'm driving home and i said okay she goes don't worry he's going to call you he can explain i can't tell you no more so i'm driving home and i pull up my drawer my garage and uh my doctor calls me and he goes where are you an urgent you know voice on that so just put up my garage he goes wow he goes like i'm surprised you even made it home like what do you mean by that man he goes it's bad i go go, how bad, man? I'm not supposed to be going to Honor Classic Australia. You know, my flight leaves in two days. He goes, so I wouldn't get on that flight if I was you.

Starting point is 00:07:13 I'm like, listen, you don't understand my game. They already paid my flight. This is a first class ticket, so you're talking thousands of dollars. The hotel is already booked. I'm already announced to be there. You don't back out of these situations. And he said, you know, it's like the viewer, my, my family member, you know, um, I wouldn't let you get on that flight. Like a man, tell me what's going on. He goes, you have a DVT. I'm like, what the is that? I don't know what that is. He goes, I don't have

Starting point is 00:07:38 time to explain, you know, get down here. I'm going to give you some medication, some blood thinner and grass, see if we can break it up. So again, fast forward, um, I'm still going to give you some medication, some blood thinner, and see if we can break it up. So, again, fast forward, I'm still going to go to Australia. I've got to make money. You know, this is what we do, right? So the day before I take my flight, I'm packing my clothes. And I can't even walk around my house to pack my clothes. I'm in so much pain. And I lay down, and I go to sleep crying because I'm in so much pain. And I wake up and I go to sleep crying because I'm in so much pain.

Starting point is 00:08:05 And I wake up at night and it's about 10 o'clock at night and I can't feel my leg, my right leg. I can't feel my arm. I can't feel my chest. I can't feel my junk, my groin. And I remember parts of movies where people say, you know, they couldn't feel their arm and it was a heart attack, you know, like, God dang it. So I called him, I talked and I said, hey, man, I couldn't feel their arm, and it was a heart attack. You know, I'm like, God dang it. So I called him. I talked, and I said, hey, man, I can't feel my leg. You know, nothing. He goes, get to the hospital now. I'm calling in.

Starting point is 00:08:33 I go, go? Why? I go, I've been to these bastards three times. They don't know what the freak they're doing. He goes, get there and tell them you got a DVT. I'm like, dude, what is that? He goes, but you don't have time. Just get there.

Starting point is 00:08:43 My stupid butt, right? is that he goes but you don't have time just get there my stupid butt right i step at burger king before i go because i'm like ah i'll be there a couple hours you know i'm hungry you know so i'm like at least i'll be full so anyway i get there and all that stuff all crap hits the fan i get there my blood pressure is you're gonna think this is crazy but my blood pressure was 210 over 205. So when I got there, I'm joking. And when I look at my blood pressure, everybody just stops. And more and more doctors and nurses are walking around,

Starting point is 00:09:18 and they're just staring at me. How do you feel? I'm like, my leg hurts. He goes, that's it? I'm like, yeah. He goes, okay. How bad does it hurt i go bad enough for a grown man to be crying here in front of you and i'm like okay so you know we're going to get you out of pain so they they drug me up and uh it just goes downhill from there um long story short

Starting point is 00:09:37 um they they put me under and i don't remember anything else. What I'm telling you now is from everybody telling me. I literally signed a consent that they could put me under because they had to go into my vein and try to do these blood clot busters or whatever, and I was moving around too much because I was in pain. And I guess they put me under, and they were telling one of my family members they still can't do the surgery because I was still moving around. And the doctor was yelling at my family member because she was saying give him more then

Starting point is 00:10:11 because she went to medical school. And he goes, no, we've given him enough to kill a horse. And it's still fighting us in a coma. So I was in a coma for 10 days. I was in a hospital for four months, and when I came out of my coma, I just didn't know what the hell was going on. Again, long story short, you know, they've done all these surgeries. They thought they saved the leg.

Starting point is 00:10:41 Actually, I even put the video on Instagram where the doctors say, I think we salvaged the right leg. But it it was something inside me i just knew it didn't work and i even remember telling my family members i won't be walking too long you know i'm gonna lose my leg and they thought i was giving up like you can't say that you've given up you know i'm like no i just i just so i can tell so you know i got out of hospital, I think it was in June. I went back to the emergency room probably 30 times during that time, just in just incredible pain. And it got to the point where they finally started saying, you know, Flex, listen, there's no other surgeries we can do. We've done every surgery imaginable. There's no more arteries. There's no more veins there for us to attach the only other surgery

Starting point is 00:11:26 we can do is uh is take your leg when that time comes so i started preparing myself mentally that you know i was going to lose my leg and find being comfortable with it um i was in billings montana on a business meeting to open up my own nutrition company and i couldn't even walk around i was just in tears and everybody was asking me what was wrong i was like nothing i'm okay i got back to the airport and i was with a business partner of mine i could barely walk to the airport and i'm just sobbing and he's looking at me like how the hell are you going to go to i was supposed to leave to go to brazil i'm not brazil dubai for a month he goes how the hell hell am I supposed to leave in two days? How in the hell are you going to get, you know, work in Dubai?

Starting point is 00:12:06 You can't even walk to the airport. And it came over and I'm like, damn, I'll have to cancel. I can't go. And I just made my mind up. I go, man, you know, when I get back home, I'm just going straight to the ER. So I contacted my wife and I said, hey, this is what's going on. I'm just going to go to the ER. She goes, all right, well, when you get there, I'll meet you.

Starting point is 00:12:26 You know, let me know when you land. And when I landed, I told her, hey, listen, I'm on my way to the ER. She goes, you know what, it's like, just come, you know, come home and I'll drive you. Got to the ER, same ER I had been going to, but I was in the hospital for four months. And they did an MRI, ultrasound, I'm sorry. And she came back and she just stared at me. She goes, we're at that point in time now. I go, what do you mean?

Starting point is 00:12:52 She's like, you know, 90% of your calf on your right side is 90% black and on the left side, you know, it's a black 100%. And I was just like, take it. She goes, you sure? I'm like, yeah just like take it she goes you sure i'm like yeah just take it and um my wife was like you know we need to talk about this we're like no we need to talk about shit this is my leg you know i'm the one who's going through this i said take it and i go plus if you're saying i had that type of blood clot it could break free and kill me right she goes She goes, that's very true. I go, just take it. Just take it. Wow. And so are you missing from the knee down? Yeah, I'm

Starting point is 00:13:36 below the knee, BK. Yeah, I'm below the knee. And then how has your pain been since that time? Yeah. Worse, actually. I'm sorry to say, during the surgeries that they were doing to try to save my leg, it caused tremendous nerve damage. We call it neuropathy. And actually, one of the times I almost died in the hospital one of the times they they actually had the scent that i told you or the graph that i told you was in my groin they have reason to

Starting point is 00:14:11 believe that it's the main factor that caused the dbt because it started failing and they were explaining to me that you know it's plastic and it was never meant to last 15 years technology had gotten better i'm like damn like they'll give you a recall on your freaking seat belt you know in a car but you guys never called me to let me know that you know might want to come and have this damn thing looked at so after all the surgeries the doctor you know before they took my leg when i was in the hospital for four months um they actually he actually decided to create a new graft. That graft goes from my pec here, and it goes all the way down to my right leg.

Starting point is 00:14:54 And they thought, that's when he said, you know, in a video, we think we saved it. Well, even in that, of course, you know, anatomy, all your veins where I lost uses of my right side, my pec, my shoulder, my arm for, you know, like three months. I couldn't even use my right arm. And it caused tremendous nerve damage and neuropathy where, you know, it hasn't came back yet. So I'm in constant pain like that. And one of the pictures I showed on instagram of my once powerful bicep it's it just sagged over i can't even uh flex or make it move or anything like that so the pain i go through it's it's uh neuropathy and also phantom pain from losing out my my limb so um you know it is what it is i want to make it seem like a sob story. I want to, you know, end this on by saying, you asked me before, you know, were you ever happy?

Starting point is 00:15:48 Ever happy? Never. Never. When it shows all the money I've made, all the crazy cars, never. Once I lost my leg and I decided, you know, before they took my leg, I said, I want to be a spokesperson for transplant. You know, I want to be a spokesperson for amputees. You know, I really feel that, you know, God didn't allow me to go through. He didn't allow me to go through all this in life for no reason.

Starting point is 00:16:23 And I felt that every battle that i had every great thing that i did was to prepare me for this and i just made my mind up man you know i can't be this global name and figure and then when the worst thing imaginable happens when we go duck and hide so that's when i started doing all these interviews with myself on camera while i was in a hospital because i just knew i had to I wanted to bring awareness to this and to people who are amputees and so on so um it's great and you know to finish answering your other question about me being happy first time in a while I've ever been happy you know I remember the first time I went to the airport to pick up my daughters because

Starting point is 00:17:01 they were coming to see me after I lost my leg and I was sitting there in my wheelchair at my wife and I was like, Kronos is so embarrassing. She goes, what? I go, you know, just having everybody look at me like this. She goes, oh, Flex, don't worry about them. And then she stops. She goes, you know what? I'm going to shut up because I don't know what it's like what you're going through. you know what I'm gonna shut up because I don't know what it's like what you're going through I was like it's sad because people look at me with empathy when they have no idea I'm so happy so you might look at all those great pictures and videos of me I'm like wow this dude must be happy you look at him I hated myself and it took for me to lose my leg to find complete and utter happiness. I don't care about what I look like

Starting point is 00:17:48 when I go in public. You know, I don't care if I'm sitting straight or standing straight. So it brought me so much joy and happiness. It's a gift. That's what happened to me. And now I can help people who are in a genre that I could never help before.

Starting point is 00:18:05 I think what you brought up is really interesting because, okay, now someone can physically see that you're missing something. So somebody, they may pity that. They may have empathy towards that because they might say, this is all I know is to live this way with two legs. I wonder what it's like to be him. I wonder what it's like to live the way that you're living. But we don't do that enough sometimes when we're thinking about, and I don't mean pity, but we don't put ourselves in people's shoes enough to have good consideration of somebody else's perspective.

Starting point is 00:18:39 You mentioning you grew up in the ghetto and you mentioning you guys didn't have money and you were abused and all these things, you know, the interactions that that maybe you and I have. Maybe we come to like a misunderstanding. And maybe from my perspective, I should think, well, maybe that guy's got some shit going on in his life that I just don't know anything about. You know, so I think sometimes it's good to have these recognitions. And with what you have right now people can clearly uh people can clearly see it and so i think it allows you to to be a spokesman for this side of things in a maybe more obvious uh circumstance yeah yeah you know um when you go

Starting point is 00:19:22 through um you know a lot of my military buddies um they call it dark waters you know when you just inhale here you're just it's like being out in the middle of the ocean and it's pitch dark you feel like that when you go through really dark times like that unless you're a complete idiot or not self-aware i'll take that back from being an idiot you look at other people and you'll give them space you'll give them a second look because you don't know what they're going through again before we all agreed all you see in a person is their greatness and what they've done you have no idea how hard and so you you might feel some type of way because they have this but you don't

Starting point is 00:20:01 know what hell they've been through so um and that's kind of one of the reasons why i choose to be transparent now you know i know some people look at it as a weakness and you know oh man you can never say that it's a punk move i wasn't talking to you you know what i mean my message wasn't for you you know a lot of people gave me some crap when i went back on olympia stage because i i didn't look like the guy I was before. I'm like, this message wasn't for you. This message, I went back on Olympia stage because I wanted to show people just through the worst, unthinkable

Starting point is 00:20:32 things, you don't have to stop fighting. You can get up in the morning and if I can go through everything I've been through and get back on stage with more scars and having a fight with Freddie Cougar and Jason, if I can get back up on this stage and still try to fight, maybe I can inspire you just to get up.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Because sometimes, man, when you're going through depression like I go through or when you're suicidal, I've been suicidal all my life and still is, it's just trying to make it through the next second. It's a challenge. And I just want to show people who was in that type of environment man we can still keep fighting and try to just be a little bit of a bright light for them so for everybody

Starting point is 00:21:12 who didn't understand the message or don't understand the message that I'm saying now man that's great I'm happy you don't know what I'm talking about because that means you don't know and you haven't experienced what I've experienced but for the people who have yeah I'm talking to you and you truly understand what I'm talking

Starting point is 00:21:28 about

Mark Bell's Power Project - Flex Wheeler's Leg Amputation Explained ft. Flex Wheeler

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