Woman: 0:00

Hi dude.

Dude: 0:01

Hi woman.

Woman: 0:03

How's it going?

Dude: 0:04

Hey, it it's been a great day. So it's going real good.

Woman: 0:08

Yeah, if we could just get our neighbor to stop using the leaf blower, things would go even better.

Dude: 0:17

Yeah, small distraction, but hey, it's all good.

Woman: 0:20

Yeah. Hopefully hopefully we can remove the buzzing noise and post. so I I got a chance to do something I don't know if I've done in years, if ever, and that is talk to Liahni for less than an hour and a half.

Dude: 0:39

'cause 'cause what you're saying is they're generally much longer conversations.

Woman: 0:45

so much longer. Like you know when we get together for brunch it's we're they're ready to serve us a second meal, you know, we're there so long.

Dude: 0:55

yeah, I r I that wasn't too long ago you went and did that and that was hours, yeah.

Woman: 1:00

Yeah, it was hours later I came home. yeah, it's just I you know, there was something Liani and I were talking about how there's something about the childhood friendships, the friendships that formed from the same environment, the same background. There's just a bond there that it's it's hard to explain and it's hard to put your finger on. But and not all childhood friendships last into adulthood. I mean, that wouldn't even be realistic, but The ones that do remain through the decades, there's just a knowing. that you have with that other person that creates almost a shorthand language.

Dude: 1:45

We're we're Gen X, right? And we're what we're known as the latchkey kids. We've we've been through trauma together. So

Woman: 1:52

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean we survived lawn darts and metal slides and

Dude: 2:02

Yeah, the the hot metal slides that burn ya, yeah.

Woman: 2:05

Yeah, yeah. So and you know, just we grew up she she described it as a small town in a big desert and I was like, Yeah, that's that's accurate. That pretty much described we had lot I mean, you know, my house was right up against the BLM land. I had the entire desert, it felt like to as my backyard, as my playground and and so it was a college town, not a lot of family connections. A lot of us were there because of occupational choices. not because we were born and raised there within the church community. And so she and I were talking about how our church was our family. And you did things as a ward, as a congregation, on the Monday holidays, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July. it was just we got together a lot.

Dude: 3:04

And we experienced that when we went to Texas for graduate school. Right. You know, the the couple of elements. One, we would gather with other graduate students, but also as part of our board in our our church community. So there

Woman: 3:24

Mm-hmm.

Dude: 3:24

were a couple of commonalities. and you're right, it that was our family. That was we would get together regularly with these other grad students and young families and That that war did feel like our family.

Woman: 3:43

Yeah. something else we talked about and I I think you know this about Liahni. It's not something I bring up very often that she is twice an organ recipient.

Dude: 3:57

I I think that's new news to me. Yeah.

Woman: 4:00

Is that new news to you? Okay, so she received both a liver and a kidney. she calls it the gift of life. So she has two people who have posthumously donated their organs to her. and she talked about how she's striving to live in a way that honors their lives so that their sacrifices w wouldn't be in vain. And she talks that she talked about Every morning in her prayer she says to them, Thank you. Thank you for this gift. Thank you for one more day.

Dude: 4:36

Yeah, gives gives gratitude to them, recognizing them. That's that's beautiful.

Woman: 4:39

Yeah. Yeah. And and she also mentioned how becoming a recipient has caused her to change her career. And she just thought, you know, what am I doing with my life? I want my life to be about giving. I want it to be about service. And and so she left the corporate world and as you know, she now works for the Ronald McDonald House So it got me thinking, you know, she obviously was in a horrible situation with her health and to to quote the Princess Bride, death was on the line. But it kinda made me think about you and how death was on the line for you to the point that you crossed over into it and and what happened to you when you were eleven and you were electrocuted and You died and you were brought back and obviously I didn't know you back then and I don't know what you were like before. I only know what you're like since that. But she was older, you know, she was an adult when she received her gift of life. But I just wondered maybe it was too much for you to process as an eleven year old, but do you feel like there was ever a time in your life where you're like, you know what? I've been given a second chance at life. And with this second chance I'm gonna do this. Did that ever cross your mind?

Dude: 6:10

I mean I've had those thoughts every now and again. as an eleven year old kid. No. You know, i it was what happened to me? And then what's this big hole in my shin? and and and then just recovering and going back to school a couple of weeks later and I remember the principal saying, you know, the the boy that we've been praying for so much and and praying for the miracle is back here with us and y you know I I I wanna say a celebrity of sorts because of that, but not really a celebrity, right? Just I don't know, things seemed normal to me, aside from

Woman: 6:58

Well, you be you became you became the miracle boy.

Dude: 7:02

Yeah, well and and I still get you know, I I took on the nickname Sparky and

Woman: 7:08

Mm.

Dude: 7:09

that has stuck. and I mean, I enjoy it. It's it's kinda fun for those that know. not many people know 'cause I don't talk about it widely, but

Woman: 7:23

Yeah, it's it's definitely not part of your introduction where you say, Hi, I'm Bradford and I electrocuted and brought back to life and your name is, you know, yeah, it's it's definitely not something I feel like yeah, I don't feel like you use it as a

Dude: 7:32

Yeah, yeah. Hi. I died once. No.

Woman: 7:39

way to identify yourself, but I think your family definitely has through the years.

Dude: 7:43

Yeah. Yeah. So but but back to your question, as I have gotten older, I I do reflect on it periodically. I most of the time I'm just like, hey, I'm I'm a normal average everyday guy, right? I I I don't sit there and opine and and think on it a whole lot. but there are moments where I'm like, you know, I I do recognize the gift and the blessing and I mean, goodness, there's I mean there's been decades since that. So there's been some distance. but but again I do reflect on it every now and again and I'm like, man, I really have been given a gift and you know, there's some things that I just don't want to do or participate in. There are people that I don't want to associate with. I'm like, life's too short to be

Woman: 8:44

Mm.

Dude: 8:45

wasting time on this or you or you know, whatever that circumstance is and and I feel like more recently I've actually gotten better at that. and being more real with the value of time. and how to spend it so that I'm wiser with this gift that I have been given. That we've all been given. I mean the the reality is we don't have to be electrocuted or or die to have a realization of the gift of life and the gift of time and how to be wiser and better with its use.

Woman: 9:31

Well, and we don't have to receive two organs like Liahni has either. And

Dude: 9:38

Yeah.

Woman: 9:39

but I think there's something about when a major event happens to you, like it did to you and and did to her, it just makes it more real, it makes it more tangible. I think it makes it more of what we would call like a wake up call or a defining moment in our life. where I think we can imagine what it would feel like to get a second lease on life or but until you've

Dude: 10:04

Yeah. Well it

Woman: 10:07

experienced it I just i to me it just doesn't seem like it would be the same.

Dude: 10:12

For sure. And you know, there occasionally in the news I'll hear about people who were electrocuted and died. And that hits different for me, right? I I'm like,

Woman: 10:24

Yeah, yeah.

Dude: 10:27

wow, I've just so fortunate and so blessed and and that does spark those moments where like, okay, what do I need to improve on to take advantage of the gift that I've been given? And and I

Woman: 10:40

Yeah.

Dude: 10:41

imagine that happens with her too because not all transplants well one not everybody gets a transplant, right?

Woman: 10:49

Yeah.

Dude: 10:50

And so they don't get that extension and blessing. and and some do and it doesn't go well. So there's there's a just a wide variety of possibilities and

Woman: 11:04

Yeah.

Dude: 11:05

and so I'm sure she recognizes those but well she does. She every day gives,

Woman: 11:12

Yeah.

Dude: 11:13

you know, gratitude.

Woman: 11:16

Yeah, she has such an open heart and such a giving heart. And and I think honestly, I think she's always been that way, but I I can see what she means by once she got this gift of life from these two people she hadn't ever met in in their lifetime. it you know, it just I think it made her sharpen her a little bit, make her hone in on those traits that she's always had been carrying all along. And and and it is interesting being the Miracle Boy's wife, I think at times, because there's times where I think, wow, this wouldn't be my husband if he had you know, if it if the outcome had been different. I would have gone on a different path of life. I would have different children and I mean, even that sometimes comes to my mind a little bit. And and I just think, I'm so glad the right people were there at the right time to start CPR as quickly as they did before the ambulance could arrive so that I could have my best friend in my life.

Dude: 12:33

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I I I do have moments where I'm like, Wow What because so much could have gone wrong. I I mean it did go wrong, right?

Woman: 12:49

Yeah.

Dude: 12:49

But but there could have been like you say, my my neighbors were there in pretty quick order, to administer C PR. You know, what if they

Woman: 13:01

Mm.

Dude: 13:01

weren't there and there was no lack there was a lack of oxygen for an extended period of time and I had survived. I

Woman: 13:09

Yeah. Yeah.

Dude: 13:11

you know I would be dramatically different, I would imagine.

Woman: 13:15

Yeah. Yeah. And and I remember you telling me that there was a math game that you used to play at school and you loved playing it and and after your accident you just had no interest in really playing that game anymore

Dude: 13:31

it it

Woman: 13:31

Yeah.

Dude: 13:31

wasn't that I lost interest in it. I just was not able to function at the same

Woman: 13:39

You just couldn't solve those those little problems like you could before so quickly.

Dude: 13:44

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was I was generally I wasn't always the fastest to solve, but frequently was. I I I mean my mind was just raced like no one's business. And

Woman: 13:57

Mm.

Dude: 14:00

that that didn't carry over. But but that's all right.

Woman: 14:03

Yeah. And and so you you were just yeah, I I mean, you're definitely a very intelligent person. You're very successful. You you do math like no one's business with your work and so, you know, maybe maybe it just zapped that one little math game part of your brain cell or something.

Dude: 14:23

Maybe, but I'm super thankful for Excel spreadsheets that do so much

Woman: 14:27

Yeah.

Dude: 14:28

math for me. So yay.

Woman: 14:31

think we all are. I think we're all grateful. Did you used to do those little timed ditto papers with the purple ink and you know, and the

Dude: 14:38

yeah. absolutely. Yep.

Woman: 14:40

and the teacher would say go and then you try and get as many of the addition and subtraction problems as quickly as you could and and And I remember the teachers used to say to us, you know, we hated those. I hated those. We whined and complained and they were awful to do. And they kept saying, Well, you gotta get fast. You gotta get good at this. You gotta get accurate. And because you you think you're gonna have a calculator with you for the rest of your life, you're not. You gotta be able to do this math yourself. And I'm like, Yeah, joke's on you. We all carry calculators in our pockets now. but I am so grateful you survived your electrocution and

Dude: 15:24

Me too. I'm I'm yes, and I'm thrilled to be with you woman. I've I feel so blessed to be with you and and for the family that we have. I really appreciate the example, you know, that it's being set by giving gratitude every day, you know, to the donors and and just

Woman: 15:48

Mm-hmm.

Dude: 15:49

recognizing her blessings.

Woman: 15:51

Yeah, I think Liahni is a wonderful example of gratitude for all of us. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Bye, dude.

Dude: 16:00

Okay, bye bye woman.