Mike Shoreman

First Athlete with Disabilities to cross all five Great Lakes

From a paddle boarding coaching career to becoming physically and mentally unbalanced. That’s the life-changing call for this week’s Team Never Quit guest, Mike Shoreman. Marcus and Mike discuss the affliction of the Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, and Mike’s relentless never quit the pursuit of a “normal” life. His mission to prove everyone wrong not only resulted in walking again, but getting back on the paddle board despite his vertigo, and becoming the first person with a disability to cross from one country to another by paddle board while raising funds and awareness for youth mental health programs and services. He crossed all 5 Great Lakes. Mike encourages all people to change their personal struggles into their greatest weapons and develop confident versions of themselves.

In this episode you will hear:
  • My Chicken Pox from when I was a kid re-activated as Shingles. My symptoms developed over five days, and all the nerves in my face shattered and it looks like I had a stroke.
  • I lost my independence, my business, and my identity.
  • I had a significant mental crisis and breakdown.
  • It was so easy to say “I’m fine.” I did that for months but I wasn’t fine.
  • As my physical recovery improved, so did my mental state.
  • I was forced into mental health treatment. I wasn’t eager to go and get it.
  • Mental health is the most underfunded of all healthcare systems.
  • That first crossing set everything in place that we needed to know.
  • Lake Huron and Lake Michigan gave me the most fight.
  • It took me 28 hours to cross. My feet “pruned” and I couldn’t stand. The Canadian Coast Guard and paramedics came to be sure I was okay.
  • The thing that set in was – Who this is for?
  • I was going 2 1/2mph to 3mph for 28 hours. I was literally going to the bathroom on myself every 10 minutes.
  • I had to say to myself “You’ve been through tougher than this and this isn’t going to last forever.
  • Men & women of service are deeply inspirational.
  • Nothing in life is permanent.
  • Life is a series of peaks and valleys.
  • Resilience is built.

Recent Episodes

Earl Granville

A National Guard Hero’s Journey of Loss, Survival, & Triumph - Losing A Limb To A Roadside Bomb
Listen to Episode →

Taylor Cavanaugh

Rising From Rock Bottom – A Journey Through Jail, the SEAL Teams, and the French Foreign Legion
Listen to Episode →

Kegan “SMurF” Gill

The Fighter Pilot Who Survived The Fastest Ejection, Surviving The Sound Barrier & PTSD
Listen to Episode →