To me, freedom is finding your passion. I struggled with finding the right words to open the show. As this woman that you're about to hear from is a world champion in everything she's encountered, her health issues, her approach to life when she chose to focus on her abilities versus succumb to her disabilities. At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. I was told this body would never
be able to walk. Becoming the best in the world in her sport, but even with the slew of gold medals, taking more from a bronze medal that she won. An 8 time world record Paralympic swimming gold medalist because I found my passion which led me to my freedom. And she knocked on death's door, not once but on several occasions. Given her last rights, but she refused to surrender, drawing upon the collective energy of her family, her friends, and 1,000 more that prayed for her to get better.
This is Chatter That Matters with Toni Chapman presented by RBC. RBC. She's also an extraordinary mother, partner, author, and speaker. Her name is Danielle Campo, and this is her story. Danielle, welcome to Chatter That Matters. Hi, Tony. Thank you so much for having me. I just loved everything about your story, but obviously as a father of daughters, I don't love the cards you
were given. So tell me a little bit about early years. You're misdiagnosed with muscular dystrophy, but what did they end up one day finding out what was wrong with you? I come from an amazing family. I have 2 older brothers, and so my mom shares the story of screaming that across Ontario could hear her yell when she found out it was a girl. And, you know, they brought me home
and and thought life was gonna go, normal. And what they noticed was I met my developmental milestones, but when I started walking, I would fall all the time, or it has to be picked up. So my mom made an appointment with the family doctor. My dad's flat footed, and so, of course, blamed it on my dad and said, she must be flat footed too. Made an appointment with the family
doctor. The family doctor sent us to a specialist. And at that specialist appointment, it took about 5 seconds for the specialist to see me and say, this child has muscular dystrophy. How did your mom react at times to your illness? My mom's world and my dad's shattered. Back in 1987, this diagnosis had no information. They went right to, you know, Jerry Lewis telethon, and these kids don't survive, and and is she gonna walk, and what if her heart is affected? And so there was a
lot of trials and tribulations shortly after the diagnosis. I was right in for my first surgery, and then we started navigating life with a disability and what that was gonna look like. My my mom shares, you know, every time I fell, she would be so angry and say, you know, get back up, and had to deal with that as her own, you know, parenting struggle being a parent with a child with a disability. And and so we navigated these, you know, journey of having
this muscular dystrophy. And and as research continued to grow, and, you know, muscular dystrophy would continue to do amazing work around finding out different neuromuscular disorders, my diagnosis changed not once but twice, to my final diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy. And what is the difference between the two illnesses? So muscular dystrophy Canada actually covers a 160 and more now,
neuromuscular disorders. So each neuromuscular disorder kind of plays its own field, and it's all about, you know, what protein is missing or where it is on your DNA marker. So for me, the biggest difference is for 10 years, I was told my children had zero chances of having a neuromuscular disorder. My husband and I went on to to have, 3 beautiful children together, only to find out that in fact, with my spinal muscular atrophy diagnosis, they had a 50 50 percent chance. So 2 of
our children also have spinal muscular atrophy. What I loved in our pre interview is the smile you gave me, and I said, did you have any happy places as a child? And you talked about the swimming pool. The water. The swimming pool is my place of happy, my place of freedom. I started in the water as a form of physiotherapy because my physiotherapy was so painful. And as soon as I found that water, I got it. I grow up in an athletic family. They move their body to the best of their abilities,
and on land, I couldn't do that. And then they put me in the water, and I could do everything that anyone else could do. And there was no barriers. There was no stairs. There wasn't, oh, I can't jump. It was watch me jump in the water. These muscles move the way they're supposed to. It's my freedom. I laughed out loud when you talked about your brothers, you know, and coming to watch you in
the pool and, you know, thinking, wow, that's really sweet of them. But then you said, actually, it was a side hustle because they were betting their friends that this girl that struggled walking on the ground would beat anybody in the swimming pool. Is that is that truly actually had a bit of a side hustle going with you?
Like, I will never forget the joy of my brothers standing on the pool deck watching me at one of my swim practices, and I'm that little sister that's thinking, they think I'm cool only to find out that then when their friends would come into our family backyard pool and their friends would think I was cool because they wanna race me, I'd race them. I'd beat them. And then later to find out my brothers were actually getting paid for this. Like, they had this side gig going on that I knew
nothing about. I still haven't received my cut for that, by the way. You decided that it wasn't just gonna be the backyard pool, that you felt there was enough inside you to compete amongst the best in Canada and one day the world. So tell me how that came along because when you send me a picture of your gold medals, I I wouldn't be able to lift my neck. There were
so many of those things hanging around your neck. So just give us a sense of how that trajectory happened from that kid in the backyard helping your, your your brothers make a little side hustle money to becoming the best in the world? I tried to play hockey like my brothers. I did learn to skate. I scored on my own net in my first game, so that wasn't the career for me.
And I was in a local summer swim club, and a coach approached my mom actually and said, you know, she's really good in the water. Have you ever thought of putting her into competitive swimming? There is a disabled sports club called the Windsor Bulldogs. And, my mom and dad kinda were like, disabled sports club? You know, we she doesn't need that. But I was begging, you know, please bring me. Please bring me. And they they brought me out to my first practice at the Windsor Bulldogs.
And, Tony, no lie. I dove in that water. And when I finished that practice, I looked at my parents and I said, these are my people, and this is where I belong. And my parents said it was time for us to buckle up and to stop trying to lead you, but to walk alongside you. And so from that moment, I set a goal of I'm going to go to the Olympics. And after understanding more of living with a disability, I
said, okay. Then I'll go to the Paralympics. And it really became my outlet for all the bullying and all the difficult times of living with a neuromuscular disorder. I would take it to the water and I'd own it, and I'd get better and faster. And so that became the journey of, I'm gonna take all of this pain, and there's gotta be purpose for this pain. And I set my goals on the podium. This concept of connecting pain and purpose has become your mantra. It's it's
it's part of your keynote speeches. It's part of your books. It's part of your conversation to anybody that feels that they can't overcome circumstance. Where did that come to you? And is that something that continues to evolve as your personal thesis in life that says no matter what cards I'm dealt, I'm gonna play them to my advantage? Absolutely. I think it's come with, you know, all of the struggles
that I've I've gone through. I think it comes from having an amazing support system like my parents who have been honest and have been real and raw and haven't said, you know, we've been cheerleading through all the lifts. They've had their moments where they've, you know, been mad at muscular dystrophy. We call it our joy stealer. It steals the, you know, moments that are just supposed to be
joyous. And so, you know, when I had to take my shoes off at graduation because I wouldn't couldn't walk across the stage at my high school graduation wearing the same shoes as all the other girls. I had to give this pain purpose. There had to be a reason for this, but I walked across that stage. And so we continue, you know, to take that attitude of whatever comes, thy will be done, and we will give that pain purpose. And talk to me about the Paralympics because in in the past, it seemed to
be a distant cousin. But what I'm celebrating now is this the host city now hosts both Olympics. It's finally gaining the attention it deserves because the people that find their way to the podium, to me, are some of the most extraordinary hero's journeys out there. Yeah. When I was competing in the Paralympics, when you'd say Paralympics, your job was to be the advocate. You you had to explain what the Paralympics
were. And now, you know, having 3 young kids and getting to be around their friends and and hear them say, oh, I know what the Paralympics are. It's amazing. And to see where it's come, I think it was education. I think it was understanding, you know, that meaning of being parallel. And now it's like the twin of the Olympics, and I love it because it's great to see
the coverage. And you're and you're so right. You see those athletes standing on the podium, and not only are they the best of the best, but they figured out a way to overcome some of the most awful obstacles put in front of them and to celebrate, hey. I've taken a really bad thing, and now I'm gonna use it for good. And I think it's so important we keep
building the education of the Paralympics. We look at Terry Fox, and we look at Rick Hansen as 2 of the the great iconic symbols of overcoming any kind of circumstance. What do we need to do as a country to also elevate people like you who have arguably one of the best records in international competition of any Canadian that's ever existed? I think we just keep talking about it. We keep, as a country, celebrating our
successes. I've I've seen the power of coming together and what that can do for someone, when a community, you know, unites. I think we so often wanna just wrap our arms around people and celebrate, you know, the moments of it's the little steps. Doesn't have to be the big things. It's the little steps. And and I, as a Paralympian, can think of so many of my other teammates that have, you know, stories, not quite as difficult as mine sometimes, but I I
just see, you know, we need to stay connected. We need to keep celebrating, you know, what it takes to just get up in the morning. So I've teased about how decorated you are as an athlete, but just give me the highlight reel. How many medals have you won in your career? Just give me a sense of the pride that your brothers and your parents must feel for this girl that they didn't think
could and certainly did. Yes. I won, 7 Paralympic medals, and in total, I won 18 international medals, including worlds and, Commonwealth game medal. And any of those gold medals? Oh, yes. Of course, I got to stand on the podium. I won 3, gold medals, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals. That's amazing. And yet you talk about a bronze that you got in Athens as one that had the most meaning. And I'd love for us to understand with someone that has tasted in one being the best in the world, why coming
3rd mattered even more. So it was my 2nd Paralympic games. I had swam technically the best race. I left everything I had in that pool, and that day, my best was a bronze medal. And it really taught me about, you know, sometimes we're gonna give it our all, and we're not going to be the best. But when I looked back at that race and my coach said, you know, Danielle, what could have you have done differently? And the answer was nothing.
I knew that this was a new path for me, that sometimes my very best isn't going to be the best, and that bronze medal became just as much as my gold medals at the previous Paralympics. And your parents and your brothers, I mean, they must have felt such immense pride each and every time you won one of those medals. It was amazing to always get to see, you know, the
support. My favorite story is that when I won my first gold medal, my dad passed completely out, and, someone from team Japan was there helping to fan him back. So it was my grandfather, my my brothers always cheering me on, you know, not knowing a lick about swimming, but would try their best and cheered me on all the time. Many years ago, I interviewed Rick Hansen for Chatter That Matters, and I realized that I just finished talking to one of Canada's most
extraordinary athletes. And that lesson taught me to spend more time understanding the journeys of Paralympians. Their remarkable stories, instead of focusing on their disabilities, they focus on their abilities. What are they capable of doing? And they chase the podium with the same level of commitment, courage, and conviction that anybody else that dreams about being the world's best. Take Joel Demby, a well decorated Paralympian. He won Canada's
1st international medal in wheelchair tennis. And today, he's a writer, he's a speaker, and an advocate for RBC's mission to promote accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. Joel, what was it like for you to compete on the world stage? Not only as an individual, but also somebody representing Canada. Competing in the Paralympics meant everything to me. It was my lifelong goal to one day become a Paralympian. And once you're a Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian.
All of that hard work, all of the dedication and sacrifices that I had to make in order to make that dream happen, it it gave me the greatest feeling, especially to represent Canada and to do it with family, to do it with friends. Watching me, it was one of the most incredible moments of my life. And watching the Paris 2024 Paralympians, it sort of brings back those same memories
Canadian outfit and competing for your country. And so to see these athletes do the same thing, whether they're playing wheelchair tennis, which was my sport, or athletics, wheelchair basketball, it all means the same thing, and that's to represent Canada, to hopefully win a medal. And again, once you're a
Paralympian, you're always a Paralympian. When we return, my conversation with Paralympian Danielle Campot shifts gears because her life changes drastically from standing on podiums to lying in a bed, fighting for her life. Hi. This is Tony Chapman. I wanna talk to you about what RBC Wealth Management is doing to support healthy aging. Old age is becoming old news. We're living longer, and planning for our future means we need to integrate health, wellness, and our financial matters.
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her family here fast. Another loud booming voice said, these veins are shit and we're losing her. It was at that moment that I locked eyes with a nurse and I said, I am a mum. You can't let me die. I am a mum. You're listening to Chatter That Matters with Tony Chapman presented by RBC. Welcome back. My guest today is one of Canada's elite athletes. And I think in the next decade, we'll also consider her one of Canada's top motivational speakers. Paralympian, Danielle Campo.
You know, we talk about how at times people never seem to be dealt a fair hand. Here you are, you've had such incredible success on an international stage, but in 2021, you get hit with a sledgehammer that almost takes you out. Yes. I had my 3rd beautiful child on August 2021, and her birth was perfect. And my recovery, unfortunately, was everything but perfect. I had complication after complication. I was in the hospital for 28 days, and then home for just 4 hours to be rushed back to the
hospital. I left my house in an ambulance, and I remember looking at my children thinking, I may never see them again. And what happened was I was in a severe sepsis infection and began, the fight for my life and and my worst nightmare. And for what I understand, I mean, it wasn't an easy fight. They gave you a 10% chance of living, and you
had your last rights given to you more than once. Unfortunately, for my family, when I did arrive back at the hospital and I saw what was going on around me, I had a chance to make a phone call to my mom, to say goodbye and, and to my kids, you know, to just say, I want them to know joy. Even if mom's not gonna be here, I want them to know joy. I was put into a medically induced coma, and my family was told, not once, but three times to say their goodbyes. And my mom put a post on
Facebook saying, pray now. We're losing her. And I had an amazing medical team that said, we gotta get her to a specialized hospital, and my family said, you know, their goodbyes. My husband refused. He said, you take all of what you need from me and you fight like hell, but you make it to that hospital. And they celebrated like crazy in a rainy corridor
at the hospital when they heard that I had survived. And so the doctors at, the hospital said they were cautiously optimistic, but yet we still had a big fight ahead. You know, your husband said take all you need. Your mother also said something. My mother said you give her the opportunity to get up, and she will get up. How much do you
believe in intervention? I'm not asking for your spiritual faith, but you have to believe that the sense of positive energy must have just roared through you and was part of your ability to reach and reach for a rung on the ladder and just keep climbing. That Facebook plea grew to 1500 people over all across the world, lighting candles, praying, sending messages to my husband, saying, you know, we're praying for her. And so my pain had
purpose. Everything I had gone through had built that toolbox to be the fighter that needed to be the Olympian, and my new Olympics were simply to survive and to get back home to my kids. So I held on to that bottom rung of that ladder and fought like hell until I knew, okay. I can do this, and I'm I'm coming back. When you're that close to death, does your body sense it? Do you feel it? Do you even remember it? Or being in a in a coma,
those sensations are purposely taken away from you? I think I knew, that how difficult and how close, I was. I remember, you know, moments of my coma and knowing that, watch me go now. I I will fight. And I remember waking up and understanding, and I'll never forget opening my eyes and my husband explaining kind of what had happened, and knowing that I had lived my life with a neuromuscular disorder, that this body might not work one day, and suddenly, I was thrown into
my worst nightmare. And what am I going to do to be okay with this? How am I going to, you know, take that next breath and and push through this? And it was one minute, one second at a time. Today, as you look at life, I the people that I've talked to in the past that have been given their last rights, they have an an appetite for life. They experience life differently. Like, every day is something they
treasure. Where I would argue many of us who feel some sense of immortality never really think about the day as being of immense importance. Do you have that sense that life is very different? I connect with that on so many different levels. You know, celebrating the simple everyday moments with my children, you know, getting to be here when we just moved my youngest from her crib to a big girl bed and celebrating those moments. But it even comes in the funniest moments. I think of when my gas
tank is empty and I simply get to fill it back up. And I'm like, I did that. My tank was empty and I filled it back up, and I'm grateful for those moments. I've even been grateful standing in the long lines at Costco because I'm here to do it, and I'm here to, you know, supply for my family. So, absolutely, I never take a minute for granted. I never take, you know,
the chance to make a connection with someone, for granted. And for me, it's the beautiful things outside of nature and God getting to dive back into that water feeling alive again. Just I loved it so much at the beginning and after going through this. There's nothing better for me than that moment
of being back in the water. And you're talking about life as it goes on with, you know, your version of normality, but there's a very good chance that an infection could come and take you down once again, and you're gonna have to have another fight for your life. How do you compartmentalize that and still go on and say, I choose joy over hiding in a bubble? Yeah. I think I I I know, that, you know, there's there's a high chance of infection. It's not that you ever live life after sepsis. It's
life with sepsis. And so, you know, every you know, an ingrown toenail can cause havoc in your world. So every day I say, you know, there's a reason for today. I fought like hell, and I will fight like hell until the very end. And I choose to not hide. I need to share my story. There's a reason that I'm still here, and I will continue, you know, to share my story. Because if even one person can find that spark to fight their own
journey, then it gives my pain purpose. So every time I continue to share my story, I know that I'm I'm doing that. And there are moments where, you know, I have to wrap around my circle of support, and I get scared, and I get worried, but then I get back up, and I continue to keep getting back up. Before we get into your speaking on stage and why I'm gonna be such an advocate for Canada to hear you, talk to me about your book. My book is my thank you letter
to the community and to anyone who reads it. My goal was that when you read this book, you would feel like we were sitting, having a coffee together, and I could share my story. I always heard three things while I was sick in the hospital. We've prayed so hard for you. We lit our candles, and you need to write a book. So I thought, okay. I gotta listen to that, and I collaborated, with Marty Beneteau because writing is not my strong point. And there was a unique
way that that relationship came to be. And so we wrote, my memoir and my stories of, you know, why my pain has purpose, and I was able to share them as my gift. And the title is resurrection, my will to survive as Olympian. Absolutely. And as a branding person, I'd say that's a long title. But when I read it, I realized that's a beautiful title because it compresses everything about your life in the sense of being Olympian. It extends far
beyond the world competition stage. And Rick Hansen said, your story demonstrates how faith, hope, and tenacity can lead the way forward. How do you feel about having someone like Rick Hansen in some ways pass the torch to you and say what I've done is important, but now you've got to get out there and also light a path to people with disabilities? I I was so humbled for Rick to, you know, to be calm and to comment and and
those words, and you you couldn't have said it better. I feel the responsibility, and the honor to carry that torch with him, you know, the amazing work he's done in our country. So to be connected to that in any way, it gave me that, Danielle, we're doing it. We are surviving. We are Olympian, and we will keep fighting. And so it ignited that torch for me to share my story. Sharing stories is what we do on Chatter that matters. Sharing stories about
positivity and possibility. But I'm just an interviewer. Where I think it matters most is when people like Danielle Campo or Joel Demby find their way in front of an audience and share their lessons in life, and what they had to do to make the most of their abilities. Because I think those are lessons that we can all benefit from. I know Danielle wants to become one of Canada's great speakers, and her story is one she is so eager to share. So I had Joel Gemby
on. I asked him, as someone who's a very successful speaker in his own right, what kind of advice does he have for someone like Danielle on request to not only own the podium, but own the stage? To be as authentic as possible. Be yourself in front of the audience. Be engaging. Be honest. Somehow be a little bit relatable. I think we all go through struggles. We all have had to experience health concerns or at least we we know family or loved ones who have gone through
that. And you know, how do you get past that? How do you move forward? What are the tools that that you have to overcome all obstacles? I think these are important things to share with an audience. Practice. Speak in front of different audiences, whether it's schools, whether it's, seniors. You know, you have to craft a different speech for for different audiences, in in my opinion. And think about your audience first and, you know, your yourself second.
Now I gotta give you a true confession. There's a there's a little jealousy in my part because I I like to think I'm a pretty talented speaker, and I'm pretty good on stage. But you show up at speaker slam, which gives you, like, 5 minutes to sorta strut your stuff, and you walk away winning it. I mean, I I'm getting a little tired of you, actually, with all these bestsellers and gold medals and no. But tell me how that was, Speaker Slam. How did that come
about? I had been, connected with Speaker Slam, and so I finally you know, for years, I had said, I'm not competing on stage. Nobody is gonna tell me what my if my story is good or not. And then I learned it's about, you know, storytelling. And, I I went all in Olympic level athlete, and, I, yes, 5 minutes to condense this story. I got on that stage, and that adrenaline of competing, you know, took over. And I I shared my 5 minutes and to see the audience connect, and,
you know, just loved every moment of that. And I thought, oh, maybe there isn't just the water. Maybe there is this new world that I do love. And to find out I won, my husband took this amazing video of my reaction because I was sitting in the audience. The first two people announced, and in my head, I was thinking, okay. You gotta stay. You know, poker face, if they don't call your name you didn't place, that's okay. And, then to hear my name, was amazing.
It just ignited a a whole different spark of, getting to share my story in such a unique, fun way. So what's next for you? You're such a young age. You've got 3 children at home, 2 that you're gonna need some special care that you talked about, and writer, speaker, everything going on. The next decade, what am I gonna be reading about when I'm reading about Danielle Campos?
Oh, my dream is that you read that she is sharing her story all over, that she is continuing to inspire people to give their pain purpose and to be their their best, not the best. And so I will continue, you know, to find stages to share my story and to motivate audiences. I'll just, you know, on my daily struggles, it will be to get my kids' socks on like every other parent, and enjoying life and connecting before collecting from as many people as I can and sharing my story. I want my
story to be out there. I'm thankful for my struggles because they allow me to connect to so many different audiences. You know, Danielle, I've had the honor of speaking to so many people. I think we're over 250 episodes now, And I have gotten so much joy from someone who lives to bring joy to the world, and that's talking to you. And I always end with, like, 3 things. And the first one is probably it's such a lesson in life. These are
my people. When you were in the pool the first time and your parents said, it's time we walk alongside you versus trying to lead the way, and I think that's a lesson in life for all parents and their children. Whether it's my people because you are with people that you that related to you and weren't gonna bully you and understood who you were, or whether it's your child has a passion for music or art or sports
or breaking things apart and trying to build them back again. I think it's so important that we allow people to untap what's important and to walk alongside them versus try to lead them to where we think is important. This whole pain with purpose is such an extraordinary to you, it seems almost effortless, and you've had such pain in your life, but it really does remind us that we're gonna have circumstances we're gonna face in
life. And some are gonna look insurmountable. Some very well might be insurmountable, out of our control, but I think just keep putting our feet forward, keep moving forward, keep understanding that we can learn from them, and your case, embrace them. Actually, make something special out of them, I think, is phenomenal. And I get I just changed at the last second because you talked about focus on being your best, not the best, is another lesson I think we as leaders, as parents, as coaches, and
us as individuals can really take hold of. Because if we give it all as you did in the pool that day and feel so good about what we did, that's really all that matters. Even in Speaker Slam, whether you were called up or not, in your case, you were number 1, these are some
powerful lessons in life. And I wanna know how all the people listening that are looking for speakers, especially, how can they get hold of Danielle Campo and book you to come and share your story and, light up the room like you've light up so many others? It's daniellecampo.com. And Campo is c a m p o. I'll put the, in the show notes. But Campo is a lot of people might think it's p e a u, but it's Campo. That's right. Yes. You can find me on Instagram at the Danielle Campo.
I'm also on Facebook as well. So those are the the best ways to get a hold. Danielle, I am so thrilled, and I just thank you for being part of Chatter That Matters. Thank you so much, Tony. Chatter That Matters has been a presentation of RBC. It's Tony Chapman. Thanks for listening, and let's chat soon.