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Hi, I'm Mark Desmond.

Welcome to High Hopes.

What's happening behind me?

This conditioning class.

People learning how to walk again after years in a wheelchair.

We here at High Hopes don't give up on anybody but find solutions for each individual person.

We've seen miracles even in the last few weeks.

There's some of these people behind me just started walking for the first time after years in a wheelchair.

They're both.

I'm delighted to welcome Mark Desmond, director and instructor for High Hopes Head Injury program, to our conversation tonight.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

It is my honor.

In my opinion, what you're doing in Orange County has been Orange County's best kept secret.

And I think our viewers need to know about what you're doing.

And you're so welcome.

And in order to do that, I want you to tell our audience what is the mission of High Hopes.

Mission is to, put people back together again that have, unfortunately, have had, accidents, traumatic brain injuries and strokes and even individuals that have acquired multiple sclerosis and, giving them a life back.

So our focus is taking those that, pretty much been given up on and, reclaiming their life, give them a life.

And, I mean, you've been an instructor.

I mean, your entire career teaching swimming is really when it comes to athletics.

But in order to, you know, read, I don't want to say repurpose, but in order to be able to heal from a traumatic brain injury, I mean, it's hard to diagnose exactly where a person should go with that because we're still trying to understand the brain.

Am I correct?

Yes, we know a lot, but everybody's, unique and and why?

There's similarities between each person.

There's many differences.

So, we're very fortunate we.

For the first brain injury program in the United States, we started, 1975, and, we're chair of organization.

And we had, I've had people from all over the world come on out and we'll be part of the program.

And, we never had anyone.

We didn't help.

So, we've helped thousands over the years, but the focus is on them.

That's probably why a lot of people don't hear about it.

And you only really hear about us when you need us.

And it's better if you never needed us to begin with.

But it's important because when I was doing my research, I mean strokes, I mean it it's one of the major causes that people lot it hits a lot of communities.

I mean, they it does not discriminate.

And a stroke can change your entire life.

Yes.

About 789,000 strokes and TBI is, 2,000,800,000 a year as of 2013.

So the government says, well, traumatic brain injuries can does that.

Is that part of the stroke or is that just is it an accident?

I mean, we've been learning about football and sports.

I mean, how does that how is that different from the traumatic brain injury different from a stroke?

Well, stroke is would be from a clot or a brain bleed.

So, it's it's where blood flow to the brain is affected.

In most strokes are clots.

There are some brain bleeds and things like that related to that.

The TBI is are false.

Number one in the world is people fall, especially when they're young, fall windows, fall out off the steps.

Get on their bicycle.

They don't wear a helmet, across the street, hit by a car.

And then as person, as people get older, then it's, sport related injuries and, gunshot wounds and, and then at our older individuals that are back to falls again, boundaries and they fall.

And, that's how it happens.

And when you look at how you rehabilitate from these types of, from TBI.

Oh, and we didn't even talk about mass as well too.

I mean, do you when a person comes to see you, is it really an individualized plan or.

I mean, because everyone's different and how we recuperate is different, correct?

Yes.

And that's the funnest part because everybody's different.

So it's it's a puzzle.

It's not just, one thing fixes each person there.

Again, similarities.

But I evaluate each person as they come in.

And and this is relatively new to us, we've been doing for about ten years.

We've had people actually get better and, and for the longest time until recently, physicians say that it it nobody gets better.

Not true, not true.

So the same thing with brain injury first started.

Don't bother with these people.

They're never going to get any better.

You're wasting your life and your time working with them.

And the truth is, is, it's all changed.

You know, people can get better.

And human beings are amazing.

Amazing.

If you do the right thing at the right time and, willing to work at.

It's not easy, but it's doable.

Well, in what really touched me when I was looking at your site are the testimonials.

And and one happens to be something that's really recent to tell us about.

And sure, what happened to and yesterday, and, she's been with us for about two years.

She's a pharmacist, worked work for, a a chain of, drugstores that are pretty common.

And, the, she had a stroke and, wheelchair bound, unable to speak, when she first started, very supportive family.

And, she's been making good progress all the way along for the last two years.

But yesterday, she was able to start walking with just holding her hand like this.

And, that was that was a big deal.

And, So all things are possible.

Does come easy.

No, she'd be the first one to tell you that, it wasn't easy process, but, so pretty exciting when you, you know, it's pretty exciting when you see somebody that, the world says it can't be done, and, and, and and they do it so we could see a lot of miracles and, a lot of amazing stuff from a lot of amazing people not just walking that arm of met and all sorts of things.

Well, and you talked about miracles and with miracles, there's it happens to support around them.

And I know that you have these individual plans, but how much of what you do is, you know, emotional to and spiritual support to keep your clients motivated.

It's it's it's a combination of everything between the robotics and the and the, therapies.

And, we train like, like Olympians, not just a little bit.

Each day.

We work really hard.

They work hard.

And, and then of course, believing in God and, and when you get to see other people around you improving, that also gives you a tendency to say, well, if that person could do it and why not me?

And if they could do it, I could do it.

Because again, the world says that, it's not supposed to happen.

The world says that you're supposed to quit.

Wheelchairs are designed to keep people in wheelchairs, not let them out.

That, the whole set up is, you know, this is all there is.

Particularly when the money runs out and most everybody high hopes under scholarship capital raise the money because the money's run out.

And, and I think that's important to talk about because, how you supplement, you know, extended it therapy to get a person like.

And it's two years.

That's 24 months.

That's a long time.

You know, at that point, medical insurance would run out for them.

It probably ran out for her years before.

Correct?

Yeah.

Everybody usually has a cap on your medical insurance.

It's $2 million.

And, brain injury or could be a million.

Once that runs out, you're pretty much done.

You'd still get, medical care every year when it the cycle goes back around for for a little while.

And, unless you have a large settlement or your workman's comp, any other settlement, there's, not a whole lot of funds.

People lose their businesses, you know, they the.

We have one person that two people would.

We live in California.

Two people are working at working.

They could just keep the lights on, keep the lights on, pay the bills.

Yeah.

What happens when one's can't and the other one has to quit to take care of that person?

So, it it it not just affects the person that's injured, but everybody around siblings, family members, husband, wife, all the dynamics it impacts the entire family.

Family.

So you mentioned this a few times and I want to ask you about this.

You talked about a lot of times when people, think about, you know, brain injuries, they think that the person they're done, there's no more that they can do, and they pretty much give up on that person getting back mobility and what you've been doing.

How does your organization change that?

I mean, do you I mean, you have robotics.

You have you have, instruction, but also to you need to change your mindset.

How does your organization change your mindset when people are already coming in, when people have been negative, put so much negative into them?

You got to go through that with him.

That's what I do is help them.

You go through this process and, so yeah, yeah.

People take swings that year and, and tell you where to go and.

Yeah, you know, all sorts of things along this process.

So it's like tough love.

Yes.

And yeah.

So, that's part of all this.

They have to believe.

You have to believe.

And, it's always great when there's other people around you that are doing well, you know, but it does take its toll on you when you're told that, that's all there is to it, but also families, it's, a hard process to go through, with their loved one.

They love that person.

But they also are not happy with that person because that person affected their life, changed their life, too.

They had that accident.

And why did this happen then?

They had a nice house or whatever it may be, and then those things now have changed for them.

So there's lots and dynamics that are involved in this process.

So you're telling me it's not just the physical, but it's the emotional and the spiritual and the emotional.

That's all a part of what makes High Hopes Program different.

Yeah, okay, I love that.

And we're not going to give up no matter what happens, whether money runs out or whatever, we don't care as long as they show up.

So perfect way to end this segment.

When we come back, we want our viewers to know how we can continue to help you do what you're doing, and also let our viewers know how they can find you out there.

Right.

Okay, great.

Come back to hear more from Mark.

Any night we pray you can do it.

You can do it.

Go for it all by yourself.

Walk by yourself.

I remember something Mark said to me when I first got here.

Walk normally.

Now we are not afraid.

Through the use of robotic technology.

My feet are actually moving.

For the first time in many, many years.

I can now stand on this machine and actually walk.

There can be miracles.

This is Nick and last year Nick, was just getting out of the wheelchair.

This year, Nick walks on his own and, he sold that wheelchair of his.

And, we are done with wheelchairs here.

And here we are walking.

You can, she.

Desiree just started walking about a week ago, and she's starting steps for the first time.

And we're so thankful for her opportunity to get better here.

And thank you for supporting high hopes.

It's our hope to recover, either partially or fully.

Best record is 2424 times.

This is her second for today.

All right.

Good job.

We try to teach everyone to be independent again.

It might not be the same as it was before, but we're going to get you there as close as we can.

Welcome back.

That was a fantastic first segment.

Thank you so much for educating our audience.

But also to giving us more insight to High Hopes head injury program.

Now with that being said, how can your program continue to help people with these traumatic injuries and provide scholarships?

I mean, there has to be some type of fundraising or something involved.

Am I right?

Yes.

So we rely on donations, grants in our annual fundraiser.

We have a few of them during the year of our biggest one is the Eric Meredith Home Friends concert.

And we put it on in the summer, and, in in tails.

Or a lot of people in music industry volunteer their time and come out and it's the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach.

And we do it every year.

We've done it.

This is our, this will be our 27th year next summer.

And so we've been very fortunate to have, the music community donate.

And we'd love to put on, events, relate to music or because music is a form of therapy as well.

Yeah.

Correct.

And and so even though you have the musical guest, you have the artists, you have people, from radio who volunteer their time as well.

How can the community be more part of this too?

So they have a footprint and what you're doing?

Well, we love to have sponsors, and a sponsor is, we have a pre VIP party, which includes all the entertainers.

And, so if you go to the, some of the theater venues and you want to see them, you have to have your binoculars.

Yeah, you're sitting in the back.

Well, you're actually at dinner with them and you get to hang out with them at a pre-party.

And, we have VIP seating, and, we have sponsors that come back each year.

And everybody that is a sponsor loves, loves, loves the event.

So we we need more sponsors.

You know, our sponsor people to do it well.

And with your sponsors, they can actually see, what you're doing to help your clients because you talked about robotics and we didn't go into detail with that.

Now, from with the robotics, you've designed those robotics, correct?

Well, we use robotics from all over the world.

And, I've worked with people that have invented them and gave them input over the years.

But, we get a lot from Europe.

We have a local match for which, for instance, is a, robotic therapy.

We have more in our building than the rest of the state of California.

We're very fortunate that, we able to acquire those on grants.

And we have robotics for upper extremities.

Reason I went with robotics originally.

It's just me.

And so it was a way of duplicating, and, helping more people at the same time.

So robotics help.

Robotics also are a very impressive, and, but it's really a combination between everything we do.

We have aquatic therapy and pool, and we do, you know, we we're working at it constantly.

Occupational therapy.

We have robotics for that, too.

And, and, we're kind of cognitive training at speech and address all sorts of issues with person because the brain functions so many different other areas of our body.

So we have to be able to address each of those to recover.

Correct?

Yes.

How do you think is everything?

How do you know when you walk up to the edge of a curb and cross the street?

How do you know the oncoming vehicle is judging their speed, or when to step off the curb?

Or, there you go.

I have a traumatic brain injury judgment, problem solving memory, are all affected.

So you have to relearn overcompensating skills for all those things.

Reading, writing, math skills, communication, interaction.

And on and on and on.

Well, and you have so many wonderful videos that you will share with us so our audience can see that when they support what you're doing, what they're doing is they're changing people's lives.

But there's so many different aspects to helping that person get back to a quality of life that they want to get back to, and it takes time.

I mean, you just said that with and, but I also too have noticed other people in your program too.

Now is the typical time two years or it could be longer.

Average is about five years.

Some longer, some shorter.

People graduate out of our program and they learn all the capacity skills, but they might be back ten, 15 years later and need help in a particular area.

So like, we all need to live our life a certain way, stay active and so on, so forth.

If not, you'll regress.

You'll go back.

So, you don't want to go backwards.

You want to maintain and move forward.

You don't want to be back in a wheelchair.

You don't want to be back.

Having difficulty in different areas.

So, you got to work at it for life.

Well, and what I'm hearing from you is that high hopes, head injury program does not ever turn away anybody.

Even if you've graduated, you can always come back.

Your door is always open.

Always.

But there is a cost involved with that.

Because what you're doing, it requires, you know, equipment, it requires instructors who know what they're doing in that program, like speech therapist.

So there's so many different facets of that.

How do you keep that all operational so that you can continue to have your doors open?

A lot of long hours, fundraisers, helping people.

Oh, God.

Kind of works it out.

A lot of times we get donations and support and then some, sometimes not at all.

And and we struggle and we keep going from there.

So like Covid was a struggle for us, I could understand.

And, so, we lost a few students, but not Covid, but because they weren't in the program.

So, it's a battle.

It's an ongoing battle.

And, we've been doing it for 50 years.

And, we've helped thousands of people, and we've never had anybody that didn't do well as long as they showed up.

Well, and you have said that several times, and I've been calling them clients, but I now I like students.

As an educator, I love the term students.

So all the student has to do is show up.

Now.

I can't believe our time is almost done.

But we talked about a component and we addressed it a little bit.

But I think it's something we should talk about because you see this a lot in what you do.

Your students having the mindset, we talked about that, but also to having the support of their family.

How do you counsel family as well or in your opinion?

What would be your advice to family members?

Because this is a journey that it's going to include more than one person?

Yes.

Usually, sometimes we're the only family.

And it's just us.

So if they have a family in, First of all, there's no quick fix.

Second item would be, is, you got to take care of yourself through this process, because as a family member, you don't want to be a statistic, too.

And, stick with it.

Never give up.

And it gets better.

It gets better.

You sound like a coach.

Well, that's kind of what I. Yeah, I know that's exactly what you are.

So we talked about the fundraiser, and people can find out about this concert in July on your website, sponsors and tickets, but also to.

There are people who want to keep in touch with you so that they can find out about more of the people you're helping.

Like.

And so where else could we find you out there on social?

Right.

We're in everything from YouTube to, Twitter.

Just reach out.

You can go to High Hopes, Dot, W.S.

or, you can Google House brain injury, or you can Google, high upstroke or any of those names, and you can find out information about us.

We're on all the social media channels and, as well as YouTube.

There's even instructions on YouTube how to help a family member.

You know, and, what to do because, we're located in California.

We do get people around the world, around the country come to us.

We've had ambassadors and religious leaders and calls from the white House.

Wow.

All sorts of things over the years in helping people.

And but we can't be everywhere.

No, you can't, but with the help of our viewers and people out there, we can continue to have you go on for another 50 or 100 years.

So you leave a legacy.

There you go.

You leave a legacy for the next 50.

Yes, yes.

So the next hundred will be the legacy.

But Mark, I am so happy that you are here because I really wanted our viewers to know about this gem that's in Orange County, that's helping people that have brain injuries move forward.

And as we said, as long as they come to you keep doing the work, they can move forward.

And I appreciate what you've been doing for over 50 years, although it's teasing you.

I was teasing them before saying what you do in this in like your a high school or something because he looks so young.

So whatever you're doing, keep doing it friend.

Yeah, they keep me busy.

They do keep you busy and I thank you.

We look forward to, a lot of people will be supporting you in July, so thank you so much.

Hey, thank you.

And thank you for supporting us.

My pleasure and and honor.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Hi, I'm Angela Williamson, host of everybody with Angela Williamson.

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