Chasing the light at the end of the tunnel

Shima 0 comments 25.01.2016

Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s MCM title belongs to Nick Ekbatani, who has found a way to bring inspiration to those struggling to find acceptance in loss after losing a part of his leg in an accident in 2012.

Nick, 28, grew up in Torrance, CA. During his youth, Nick didn’t have many friends and was often bullied for being “chubby.” When Nick was 11, his mom decided that she would sign him up for Pop Warner Youth Football in hopes of getting him out of the house and active. Soon after signing up, Nick thought he hated the sport and wanted to quit.

Despite his frustrations with the sport, his mom did not let him quit. “We didn’t have a lot of money, so she wasn’t going to just waste it,” Nick says. In order to get through the season, Nick often cracked jokes about himself and found that laughing at himself helped him surpass the bullying too.

After making a conscious decision to work harder in football, Nick continued to get better and better. By the 8^th grade, he was one of the best linemen on his team and by his senior year in high school, Nick had been nominated as an All-CIF football player.

Nick participated in nearly every play of the game and owes a lot of his success to his mom, Tracy Ekbatani. “My mom was at every game and practice. She was the one who’d bring pizza, orange slices, Gatorade,” he says.

After graduating high school, Nick joined LA Harbor college. After one semester, he transferred to UCLA with a full scholarship and graduated with a major in Political Science.

In July of 2012, Nick’s life would be forever changed. He was involved in a catastrophic auto accident in which a van collided with his motorcycle. He woke up in the hospital and was delivered the news that doctors had to amputate his left leg.

Though highly drugged, Nick was able to laugh at himself like he did when he was younger. He explains that he went through several stages of grief, such as denial. However, in hopes of lightening an extremely difficult situation, he cracked jokes and tried to make the best of the situation.

Fortunately for Nick, he had been working out tremendously prior to the event, which ultimately is why he is still alive. Doctors explained to Nick his cardiovascular fitness helped to prevent him from bleeding to death. Despite being healthy, Nick remained in bed for 4 weeks while heavily drugged on painkillers.

Nick recalls the first two years after the accident as very challenging. He often fell in the process of recovering due to his eagerness to improve. Since he was visiting the doctor’s office at least once a week, he even moved to Santa Monica so that he was closer.

Nearly four years and a dozen surgeries later, Nick is still recovering. One of his greatest challenges has been battling a stubborn infection in his femur. He uses a prosthetic leg which he has to carefully clean and take care of, which also can be tiring to wear for a long time as it is tight on his skin. Being the joker that he is, Nick explains that he has benefitted by learning a lot about skin care in result.

When asked how Nick has been able to remain so positive during such a difficult time in his life, he explains that he is always seeking ways to chase the light at the end of the tunnel. “It only gets dark when you stop chasing it,” he says.

The accident has definitely had an impact on how Nick lives his life today. At times, he finds himself reacting overzealously in realizing that life is short. Other times, his fear/anxiety holds him back and scares him. Despite it all, he finds himself to be very grateful and has a changed perspective on life.

Nick genuinely feels blessed to have grown up playing football. He explains that he has become very disciplined due to the sport, which has helped him remain persistent to succeed. He loves football most for the virtues he has gained, relationships and mentors he’s found and how he is able to continuously improve his craft like an artist would.

Today, Nick remains as disciplined as ever. He remains very active, waking up at 4 a.m. to train clients and instruct classes at Orangetheory Fitness in Brentwood and West Hollywood. During times where he finds himself frustrated, he remembers that there are others out there who have it worse and no matter how bad it gets, he feels blessed to be alive.

Nick is currently pursuing his MBA from USC. He genuinely loves technology companies like Apple and athletic apparel brands like Nike and he hopes to establish his own business in the next five years where he can lead a team and inspire others.

When Nick is not studying, working or improving his recovery process, he is visiting patients of the doctors who’ve operated on his leg. It is very easy to see why Nick’s doctors value his presence, as he is able to present a positive, welcoming and high energy to others.

Nick spends time with patients who are in the premature stages of recovery and shows them that despite his loss, he is able to still do a lot for being in the position he is in. Helping new amputees throughout their recovery motivates Nick and gives him a deeper sense of purpose.

Thank you, Nick, for being a wonderful member of the south bay community and an inspiring and positive ray of light for those who still need help finding their way in a dark tunnel.

“Adversity has the way to advance us if we allow it. A setback is really a setup for us to come back.” – Nick Ekbatani

Flying with a Clipped Wing

Shima 0 comments 18.01.2016

Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s MCM title belongs to Philip Stokes, who has inspired many people through his motivational videos and blogs by emphasizing that with the right attitude, there are no heights you cannot reach.

Philip Stokes, 27, from Torrance was involved in a motorcycle accident in 2006 after a pickup truck ran through a red light into him and changed his life forever. Efforts to try to save his deteriorated arm were ineffective resulting in Philip to voluntarily decide to have his arm amputated due to the severe atrophy, advanced arthritis in his hand, elbow, and a shoulder that would disjoint constantly.

Philip had to even convince the doctors that he believed that this was truly the right thing to do. He had a spinal cord injury when he was 17 years old in 2006, and has been a full-arm amputee since October 2012. The accident resulted in Philip becoming paralyzed in his left arm, shoulder and chest. Not too far after his fall, Philip suffered from severe pain from the paralysis which took a toll on him resulting in frustration, depression, and prescription drug abuse.

He spent many restless hours struggling with nerve tests and experimental surgeries. After realizing that the frustration was getting the best of him, Philip decided that he needed to change his mindset. Although his spinal cord injury changed his life, it didn’t have to control him. In result, he decided to commit his life to the five essential elements of mindfulness that are necessary to overcome life’s obstacles which include: patience, perspective, positivity, perseverance, and passion.

Philip was turned on to the idea of the “3 P’s” by a friend of his, who was also his first soccer trainer when he started after his amputation. His friend read an inspirational book written by one of the most famous soccer managers in modern times who talked about “patience, perspective, and perseverance.” Philip thought, “Wow, how profound, yet simple, right? “

He started thinking about how those three things had been present in all of his transformations as he grew out of his anger and sadness. However, the 3 P’s seemed incomplete to him, as he felt there was more that made those transformations possible. In result, he added “passion” and “positivity” to the 3 to get “5 P’s”

As Philip began to implement these elements into his life, he realized he was moving forward rather than allowing the pain and frustration to get to him. Philip decided to create a website called, How to fly with a Clipped Wing, which he describes as “A motivational glance into the life of a spinal cord injury survivor, amputee, pilot, and soccer player.”

Philip used his website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel to communicate his stories and life lessons with others and how he has incorporated these He hopes that these stories will inspire others to incorporate these elements into their lives. Philip offers his motivational speaking services to all and everyone.

Philip was inspired to title his blog “How to fly with a Clipped Wing” after being asked, “How did you break your wing?” Since he spent many years in an arm sling, it appeared to be broken to others who did not know that it was completely paralyzed. He realized in the first few years after the accident that he was running very low on patience, perspective, positivity, perseverance, and passion in his life which was the real reason why he couldn’t get his life off of the ground. Without these five elements, Philip realized he could’ve fluttered all he wanted but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon without changing himself for the better.

Philip explains that a bird with its wing clipped has had it clipped by some other means outside of its own control. He explains that “sometimes the effects can be temporary, and sometimes they can be permanent. In either case, it is bound to the ground where it most likely doesn’t prefer to be.” In result, he realized this would be a great motivational approach to the ways that he has overcome his paralysis.

As time has passed, Philip has found the silver-lining to his accident. “I’ve gained such an immense appreciation for the power of patience, perspective, positivity, perseverance, and passion over the years that I felt it necessary to try to reach out to anyone willing to listen to my stories and try to improve their own lives in the same ways that I have improved mine,” he says.

Today, in addition to spending his time inspiring others, Philip is one of the few full-arm amputee general aviation aircraft pilots in the country. He spent a little over two years getting his license to fly single engine airplanes. He was inspired to become a pilot around the age of seven by his uncle who flew fighter jets in desert storms and he thought that flying was the “coolest thing humans could possibly ever do.”

After his amputation surgery, Philip worked hard at a finance analyst job he received after graduating college and essentially afforded the majority of training that way. Although he recently completed his private pilot’s license, he is currently working on an “instrument rating” which he explains is a secondary license that allows him to fly in bad weather, reduced visibility, and low clouds. His goals are to become trained to fly aerobatic planes.

He also loves remaining physically active by playing as a midfielder in soccer whether he’s playing futsal (indoor soccer), in 7v7 leagues, or men’s full field leagues. These two passions of his are what helped inspire the title of his “clipped wing” motivational series. In addition, playing video games one-handed is another one his remarkable accomplishments and hobbies.

Thank you, Philip, for allowing your strength, mindset and most of all, daily choice to not let struggles block you from achieving your goals and inspiring so many to keep flying high, even with a clipped wing.

Philip is willing to speak with all or anyone who’s in need of his motivational services. To contact Philip, please refer to the contact section of his website here.

Like his Facebook Page here.

Visit his Website here.

Visit his YouTube videos here.

“I think that we all have a bit of our own clipped wings at different times. These are the things that weigh heavily on us and inhibit us from getting where we want to go or what we want. The circumstances that we find ourselves in might be our clipped wing at the moment, but by changing the ways that we are patient with ourselves and others, by changing our perspective on the situation at hand, by changing our mindset to more of a positive and affirming mindset, by changing our willingness to persevere no matter how long it takes, and by changing the ways that we incorporate what we are passionate about into our lives, we can all learn to fly with a clipped wing.”- Philip Stokes