The Bald and The Beautiful - with Dave Eller Dave Eller

Imagine waking up in a Cambodian Hospital and being told that doctors will probably have to amputate your leg at the hip. My friend, Matty Blazsanyik, was overseas in Asia facing this very real possibility, as the flesh on his leg was being eaten away.
 
This flesh eating disease is called Necrotising Fasciitis, and it is an infection that results in death of parts of the body's soft tissue........and it's not pretty..........just google some photos to see how full on it actually is.
 
The thoughts that must of run through his mind whilst confronting images of his own leg are incomprehensible. The emotional struggle, the pain, the acceptance of having your leg cut off! Man, what a journey of the mind. How would YOU handle that? How did HE handle that?
 
Have a listen to the conversation and find out.

Dr Arne Rubinstein is the author of a magnificent book titled "The Making of Men', and if you are a parent with a son, or even a grandparent with a grandson, it is one you should be reading.
 
He is an expert on Rites of Passage and adolescent development with over 30 years experience as a medical doctor, counsellor and workshop facilitator. The seminars and programs he has helped develop have been attended to by over 100,000 people globally and are designed to assist boys and girls to successfully make a safe and healthy transition in to adulthood.
 
I visited him at his home in the Byron Hinterland out near Mullumbimby. Dropped in the middle of nature, you will hear the sounds of the wildlife in the background of our conversation.
 
You can check out the amazing work that he and his team do at The Rites of Passage Institute by clicking the link below. Enjoy :)
 
www.ritesofpassageinstitute.org
 
 

Have I got an interesting guy for you to meet today! I've known him for about 15/16 years or so. And my son even calls him Uncle Matty. A colourful character with an even more colourful past.
 
He took rugby to the United State some 30 years ago, playing for a start up University team in San Diego. But his love for travelling saw him board a plane for anywhere, and a chance meeting with a man named Carlos took him.... everywhere. He became a gem smuggling gypsy, travelling from India to Thailand to Hong Kong, all around the place, with a backpack full of illegal gems.
 
Eventually working in real estate, he lost his fortune in the Global Financial Crisis, and so jumped on a plane to Thailand to getaway and de-stress. And as so many tourists do, he hired a motorbike to travel around. But he had one hell of an accident that saw him end up in hospital in intensive care for 3 months with a broken back, fractured skull, punctured lung, broken ribs and a bunch of other broken bits and pieces.
 
He has released a book called 'Crazy Shit in Asia', all about how stuff can go astray when overseas. He also hosts a breakfast radio slot on Byron Bay's community radio station, Bay FM.
 
www.matttowner.com
 
www.bayfm.org

I really enjoyed this conversation! Articulate, smart, and funny.....my guest was the very first person I met and became friends with when I moved to Byron Bay about 8 years or so ago.
 
He has a big personality, is very opinionated and brutally honest.... which will either attract you to him, or push you away from him.
 
Proudly Jewish and a dad to three boys, he's a former junkie and a recovering alcoholic, just getting out of rehab to control his bottle of vodka a day indulgence. He has also been diagnosed with bipolar 2, a condition that sees him experience incredible periods of extreme depressive lows and the hypomanic highs that reside on the other end of the condition.
 
We were meant to catch up for a walk on the beach, but the persistent rain, forced us onto the deck at my place for a coffee and a chat. He started telling me about how the rehab centre he just visited is divided into three different groups...the sad, the mad, and the bad! I knew this was going to be a great conversation so I stopped him and asked if I could mic him up for the podcast.
 
And so here we go.......I love this guy. The man with the beautiful mind. Jason Adamek.
 
 

My beautiful guest for this episode is an Australian Aboriginal artist, singer, dancer, cultural ambassador and university lecturer.
He has taken Australian Aboriginal culture to many parts of the world, teaching children and adults alike.
Raising 4 kids of his own, he makes a conscious effort not to force his art and cultural interests down their throat. In fact, he doesn't push it onto anybody. But he does firmly believe that a better understanding of Australian Indigenous culture is what is needed to bring the country together.
As an artist, the theme close to his heart is 'water', and he depicts this on canvas, murals and even surfboards; having painted boards for the likes of the great Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson.

The man I sit down with today is at a critical point in his life. Married with two kids, he runs a boxing gym, and helps people overcome their fear of combat sports by training them in a 10 week fight camp which culminates in an actual fight inside a professional boxing ring, in front of about 1000 people.
 
He himself is a professional boxer, having had 8 fights for 6 wins, with 4 wins by way of knockout. But he is the one who has been beaten this time; beaten by a drug that he has battled for over 22 years.
 
His foray into heroin began at just 13 years of age, thats right....13. He has overdosed 6 times, and is now back in an addiction rehabilitation centre. 
 
He decided to go very public with his relapse by posting a heartfelt confession on social media, thinking that most people knew about it already. The thing is....they didn't. But he understands that part of making his rehab different this time is to fully admit where he is at, own it, and talk about it openly.
 
So that is why I went to visit him in rehab; to help him share his story, and bring awareness to the reality of the heroin culture.