MY DRIVE TO SURVIVE With Kelly Munford and Perise Perise

Howard. Hello. It's Howard Brown. It's the

Shining Brightly Show. And oh, I have a good one for you today. I

have two amazing, incredible individuals, and I gotta tell

you, they're based in New Zealand. Live from Royal Oak,

New Zealand. I'm in Royal Oak, Michigan. The two Royal Oaks,

we're talking together today. I want to welcome Kelly Munford

and Perise Perise

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's early in the morning there. So, so we're just waking

up having breakfast with them. And I have to tell you that

these two are so inspirational. Oh my goodness. They've been

through a lot, but they are here to help others. Let me tell you

a little bit about Kelly first. So Kelly is a motivational

speaker and an author, and she says, this is quote, okay, every

day above ground is a good day, right? And she suffered from

falling asleep at the wheel, a broken pelvis, a broken neck,

traumatic brain injury. And so she fell asleep, and she crashed

into a tree, and oh my goodness, she went through so much to lift

herself back up again with rehabilitation. And took, took

years, and she still affected that, but she's now okay, this

amazing motivational speaker and author, and she just helps

students from her experience, which I call a walk in darkness,

and I'm so thrilled. Your story is one of Meltzer toughness, you

faced adversity, and you are just someone who I actually just

got to know, but I really admire. And Paris, we're not

going to leave you out here. Okay. Paris is very kind

hearted, a very community oriented guy, and he has his

passion is music. He loves helping people, and he puts the

needs of others first. And he actually overcame an assault. He

was struck by a shovel, and he suffered a traumatic brain

injury as well, and he is actually recovering still. It's

still a daily process for both of them, just like me as a two

time cancer patient, survivorship is every day,

right? We look in the mirror, we're blessed and grateful and

we're lucky, but it's every day, and you actually are a musician

and Oakland University Choir, you use music to help, as your

therapy, to heal, and it's just amazing that you two have come

together and you actually say that rocking your crown of

confidence, your crown one snarky comment at a time. I love

it. I love it. So I those are impressive bios, but I need to

ask you both a question. Okay, so Paris, tell me something that

we may not know about you, that you'd like to share.

Well, from little I'm grateful that I'm I actually met the

Queen of England. Yes, you met Queen Elizabeth Herman seven

years or eight years old at the time. So, yeah, my father took

me there, and I saw her and I met her. So it was, it's a

highlight of my life,

long than the queen. Oh, right. And so, Kelly, did you want to

tell me something you want to share? Or do you wanted to tell

me how you shine brightly.

I shine brightly by lifting people about sharing

my story, preventing such things from happening to others, and

the look on their faces when I share my story makes me want to

cry.

Well, you again. Yoga, we're going to learn. But

Kelly's done 1000s of talks all over and she touches new drivers

and students lives all the time. So it's such a beautiful thing,

and that's what shining brightly is all about. Now I have to ask,

how did you guys meet? How did you guys become friends, and how

and you support each other.

We met at headway, at brain injury place.

Perise was running a music session, and I went to one of

the music sessions. And afternoon and, yeah, it was

leading it, and then we exchanged Facebook. Yeah, so, so

What instruments do you play and how do you use

music as therapy there? Paris.

Singing, even though that I've part of my recovery as well.

That's a reason why I end up with this program. The company

here that's called headway. They asked me to to be a leader of

the music. They didn't have someone to do that, so I did,

and I put my hands up, and I say, Yes, I would to help people

as well, to my recovery as well. So you know, and that's where I

met, yeah, Peter piano.

And so how does, how do you think music and singing? How

does that? How does that work, and how is that so therapeutic

for people,

for us with brain injuries and strokes, it does soothe Your

your inner person as well, your mind calms you down with

everything that you go through. It is music. It is therapeutic

for people.

Alright, so now I have to ask, do you have kind of your forever

song? What's What's your forever song? Kelly, what do you love?

What? What's your favorite song?

Awesome way. I wrote a song and praise. He

plays the music. He owns the copyright for the music, and I

wrote some works well, that's all. And what's

the song called? What's the song called the

All the glory to God.

All the glory to God. Oh, my goodness, I'm gonna,

I'm gonna try to see where, if I can put a link to that into the

into the show notes so people can listen to it. That's

beautiful. You wrote, you you composed and published a song

together. Oh, I love that. That's cool.

It's for our therapy. Um, yeah, absolutely,

yeah. So I have, I have a forever song. It's by

journey, and it's, don't stop believing.

No, I don't stop

believing. That's my forever song too, because you

gotta believe. And I also like walking on sunshine too, because

I'm shy. So from Katrina and the wave. So that's absolutely

incredible now, so I would like you to, you know, tell me a

little bit, and we'll have ladies first, Kelly, what

happened when you were driving, what happened? And tell me a

little of your story.

I fell asleep at the well, and I woke up, and

then I over corrected, and then I hit the tree. So I was nacoma

for three weeks, and then a wheelchair for a year and had to

relearn how to walk again, and yeah, and it's been a bit of a

struggle ever since I slowly built myself back up with the

help of others. So now I want to shine brightly and help others

too.

Now, have you driven it? Can you drive now? Do

you drive in a car or no? No, no, I have. You've never been

back in a car.

No. I mean, I taxi and busses. Yeah,

I saw you riding a bicycle, though? I

yeah, that was really cool. Yeah, I I really

learned how to ride my bike in the year 2017 everybody was

like, No, you won't, you won't ride it. And I went out and I

bought a $320 bike that I couldn't even ride. I couldn't

sit on it, but I had a vision of riding along the beach, and then

now I am,

it's amazing, just truly, just such resilience

and such an incredible determination. I because I went

to your Facebook page and I was, I was wondering if you'd ever,

you know, drive again, but you got on that bike and right away,

and just the smile on your face, the accomplishment, it really

just absolutely incredible. And you're still a work in progress.

You still work on yourself, and you are still healing. It's, I

mean, this happened, your accident happened with 2011

right? Yes, 13 years ago, 13

years ago, wow, wow, wow. And Paris, tell me a

little bit about your it made me very sad when I heard it, but

when you got assaulted,

yes, was actually I went to, I was invited to a, a. Uh, eight

year, 80th birthday, and, and so I went. And then the guy I know,

the person throughout years and that and, and I didn't even

think that this was going to happen to and then, yeah,

throughout the birthday and, and he just came from behind, and

ithit with with a spade, and, yeah,

then you were taken to the hospital.

Yeah, I was in common for three weeks, and that's Kelly, okay,

yeah, so the family, my family, was ready to to bury me,

actually, as a result, the doctors, surgeons, actually,

they reopened my the skin of my head and to re connect whatever

he was doing, where they were doing. And, yeah, I guess I have

life to to live in life, to to help people in life. Yeah,

sorry, I've I have a physio so I can't find words most of the

time. So yes,

I doing great. You're doing just great.

Thank you. It's only, it's only been like two, three years,

three years, so it's going to be a process. Yeah, but you know,

I'm very grateful. I'm very grateful that I've actually, I

work hard. I work hard to I end up with a stroke, I couldn't

talk, you know, all those sometimes. And then I end up,

end up at university, helping grad graduate students in their

last years to become doctors, Speech, Language psychologists,

so So I'm face to face with these students at Auckland

University, which is One of the highest University in Auckland.

I'm in New Zealand, but yeah, I'm grateful to do that. And

also at Auckland University itself, i i in the band, the

choir, the choir, yeah, and use my music to soothe a lot of

people with brain injury and strokes as well. And, yes,

I want to tell you that both. It's incredible. Okay, all of

us. I mean, I'm a two time cancer survivor. You have brain

injury, stroke, and we're here talking. It's to me, this is

fantastic. I'm so excited because we've been knocked down

very hard in life, and others in business, and others in health

and in relationships, and we are living proof that you can get

back up. It's hard. No one says it's easy. It's hard and

emotionally, physically, financially and in

relationships, it is hard, but it can be done. And I What's the

some of the advice that you give students, Kelly,

Sleep before you drive,

sleep get oh, don't get in the car if you're

overtired.

Yeah, sleep before you drive. Also

not drinking and driving, right? Don't drink and

drive and

make good choices. Make good choices.

Yeah, your decisions affect others as well, not just

yourself,

yeah, well, yours affected the tree. It could

have, could have been worse, right? Definitely,

so, but that I didn't enjoy anyone but myself,

me and the trees.

Yeah, you got it pretty bad. You won. You won.

Not

there anymore. And I say, You're welcome.

Wow,

I'm blessed to be able to laugh about it now,

true,

very, very true. I it's very serious. It is

absolutely, very serious. And let me ask you a question.

Baris, the person that swung the spade it to, did any

consequence? Did anything happen to them, or did you have to ever

face them again?

Yes, it did. He Is in jail, but I was told that he's he was

supposed to do sentence for five years, and he's out, in and out,

kind of thing. So it frustrates me because, like, I'm going

through this, it's a lifetime sentence for me, and now he's

out not even halfway of his sentence, and it's something

that I have to struggle with. Like, you know how to chuckle,

whether it's to face to face him or just carry on. I'm worried

sometimes as well, he's gonna do the same thing from behind and

in my life that I don't know and I worry about that, you know?

So, yeah, I'm not, I'm not worried about being dead. I

mean, everyone goes through that anyways. But in my own time,

that God would give me the time to live in life, kind of thing.

But, you know, I have a lot of things to do, and I'm enjoying

now my journey now helping people. Now I think that I

believe that was my purpose, to help people, and I

want to ask, so do you see, and again, this is very personal and

deep. Do you see your ability to potentially forgive or that's

just not possible? I'm going to ask the same question, Kelly,

that's

the that's the reason, if I didn't forgive this guy, I'll

probably in jail myself. Yeah, yeah. I've actually for the

first year from the rehab into home, I was so frustrated right

through the year, and then I just pray and pray. And I have

closed my my wife for a week to pray and pray, and I say, God,

please help me to my journey. You know, I'm sure you gave me

the life to live again and give me what you want me to do in

life. And the answer was to forgive him, fully forgive him.

If I didn't fully forgive them. I don't know, probably in jail

myself, but God gave me the opportunity to to be out there

and and help other people as well, and my music as well. And

it's in my recovery, you know, it's, it's amazing to be honest,

to forgive.

Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing that. Kelly, Do you

forgive yourself? Have you forgiven yourself for falling

asleep and changed your life in this way forever?

Yeah, I when I was really down at one stage, and

then I just sort of had to hard up, harden up, because I said

you did this to yourself. You're the only one that can change it.

true. That's true. Nobody, nobody

did it to me. So I had to change it myself. But I wouldn't.

That's what I do public speaking for I remember sitting there

thinking, wow, if I want to change my life, then I need to

learn to public speak.

Yeah, it's absolutely incredible. Both your

testimonies are so powerful. Your human resolve is absolutely

amazing. And I, I feel very connected with you, because

we've, I call what we walk through as we walk through

darkness, and now we are walking in the light together. Yeah, and

I have to tell you very powerful stories. So this is my favorite

part of the show. I'm going to ask you to grab sunglasses.

Okay, but I'm here, so I'm glad, yeah, and we're going to do the

shining brightly spotlight. We are shining so brightly from

Michigan to New Zealand, Royal Oak to Royal Oak. And I'm going

to ask you how they should get in touch with you. I will

definitely we can put links of the book and how they should get

in touch with you, and then each of you share a little

inspiration, and then kick it back to me, and I'll close out

the show. So go

ahead, do think in touch with me on Kelly's

journey, yeah, and my inspiration. I don't have a

quote. Me aspiration, though,

it's just helping people.

And apples my my grandma used to always say,

apples will grow again. And I just said, Hey, I have. Whole

tree.

Oh, my goodness, Paris, do you want to offer any

inspiration as well?

Is just for the students itself that I work at the students as

just inspire themselves in their lives, that they go through and

look at people like me and Kelly or anyone else their own lives

as well, then and to help them

in the lives. Never give up.

Yeah, they never give up in life. Never

give up. Absolutely. That's the bottom

line. Well, thank you for that. This is absolutely amazing. So

this has been the shining brightly show, and I want to

give thanks to the people that support me. Front edge

publishing. Read the spirit magazine. Read the spirit.com my

podcasting crew, the amplify you. Network folks and diamond

beauties, diamond moments magazine, and you can find

me@shiningbrightly.com and my book is there. If you'd like me

to come and speak or facilitate a fundraiser or workshop, you

can contact me about speaking. Also. This podcast is there as

well. And then I'm most proud about my advocacy work, just

like Kelly and Paris, helping people so, helping people with

cancer, helping young entrepreneurs, helping folks in

the interfaith world, that's what brings me joy. That's how

we shine brightly. So just remember, if you choose to shine

brightly for yourself and then use that to lift up others, we

become a force multiplier for good and positive change, and

yes, the world becomes a better place. Kelly and Paris, you are

just angels on this earth. It's been amazing. Thank you for

coming out.

Thank you very much for having us. Thank you

very much.

Absolutely great.