1. What It's Like to Survive a Death Event 41:15

In July 1990, Joyce Mikal-Flynn died after finishing a swimming race and sinking to the bottom of the pool.  After 22 minutes of CPR, she was revived–but her recovery took much longer than that.  One of her doctors later said, “You are the luckiest person I've ever met.”  In this episode, Dr. Mikal-Flynn describes her death-defying–and life-altering–experience, her road back to health, and how she found new purpose in helping others grow and thrive.  She is now a professor and an expert in Resilience and recovery; she also has developed a system called metahabilitation, which helps veterans, first responders, people dealing with addiction, and others with post-traumatic growth.  Dr. Mikal-Flynn's story–and her work–are models of courage and Resilience.

In this episode:

  • Describing the actual event (01:58)
  • What happened (medically)? (03:47)
  • Waking up in the hospital the first time, and the impact on her kids (09:15)
  • Beginning to rehab her body, and her brain (13:19)
  • Processing, making sense of (even finding positives in) the experience (17:07)
  • Learnings about post-traumatic growth (18:30)
  • Coming to appreciate “the little things” (21:49)
  • Describing metahabilitation and the steps involved (25:49)

Want to know more about Dr. Joyce Mikal-Flynn?

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Elizabeth Pearson Garr has spent a lot of her life asking questions. A daughter of a professor and a principal, as a kid she loved sitting at the “adult table” during their dinner parties so she could participate in the “real” conversations.

Elizabeth went on to graduate with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature, and promptly attended professional cooking school to become a food writer. That led to various career opportunities, including becoming one of the first employees of the Television Food Network; writing/producing gigs at networks from PBS to E!; anchoring/reporting at the NBC affiliate in Billings, Montana; earning a graduate degree in Documentary Film & Video from Stanford University; and various and sundry other things. The through-line to all this has been curiosity. Elizabeth is a skilled interviewer who loves diving deep into research, finding connections, and telling good stories.

Elizabeth has a husband, two daughters, and a fluffy white dog who rarely leaves her side.