A Near-Death Experience That Changed Everything (Part 1)

Hi to all viewers. My name is Anastasia. I'm filling in for Nadia today on her channel, Cup of Life, and today we have a repeat person we're talking to, Val. Val had a near-death experience in his 30s from a cardiac arrest, which is very unusual, and Nadia already interviewed him in Russian, but we do have a lot of English-speaking viewers as well, and so we would like to repeat that story in English, because it's a very compelling story. So, Val, welcome. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for taking out the time in your busy schedule with your family and all that's going on with you. So, we'll just kind of go through your story in English. Yes. Okay? Thank you. So, let's start by having a little bit of background. Are you from your family? What do you do? Yeah. So, I'm originally from Ukraine, and I was born in a village. Grew up there up until the age of 14 before we moved to US. You know, lived in almost like on a farm-like kind of lifestyle. Until age 14. Until age 14, yep. We had a big forest across from where we lived, and just a childhood was very... That sounds magical. Yeah, just like you. Very magical. Just like your property here. So, we enjoyed a lot of outdoor activities. Very healthy too. Yeah. Healthy start to your life. Yeah. So, it was great. And then at 14, we moved to US with parents. Why? I mean, everybody was moving back then. Were you refugees from the Soviet Communists or another reason? Well, it was based on, what do you call it? You're going to have to cut this entry. Asylum? How do you say that? Anyway. Refugees. Refugees, right. But there was a word. I think there was a specific word for that. Anyway, we flew out. So, yeah, we came in and, you know, got here with parents. Obviously, had no choice. You know, they just brought us over and... Decision was made for you. My older siblings were old enough to tell my parents that, hey, we got to move. If you guys don't move, we're going to move. Really? Yeah, because we've already had, my parents had multiple opportunities to move before. And they just, my dad wouldn't want to move. It's hard to uproot. Yeah. So, after my older brother turned 18 and he just said, hey, if you guys are not moving, I'm moving. How big is your family? How many siblings? We have a total of 11. 11? Wow. And everybody moved as a unit here? Yep. Okay. So, we have older, so there's, I'm number four in the family. There's four brothers, then four sisters, then there's another brother, and there's two sisters. Oh, wow. Are you all still close? Yeah. All local or all over the US? Majority of us are, well, we moved to Washington State. So, that's where I grew up until... Same here. Which part? Vancouver, Washington. Okay. Yeah. So, and then 2012, I moved to North Carolina. And that was your independent adult decision? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then my other sister moved with her family, then my brother moved, and another sister moved. Okay. So, there's few of us here. Majority are still on the West Coast. And you said you're still close? Yeah. So, it's a good support system for whenever things happen. That's good. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So, you moved to Washington State? Moved to Washington State first, and started going. So, I went to middle school and high school. Met my high school sweetheart there, and got actually married to her. Is she American or also Slavic? She's from Moldova. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, we went to the same church. And then we also went to... Yeah, typical story. And we went to the same high school and, well, middle school, then high school. I didn't really date in middle school. I liked her, but she was kind of out there doing her thing. I was kind of, I liked her, and we just kind of moved to high school. And then, I think about sophomore year in high school is when we started dating. Okay. She's your age mate, right? She's about a year and a half younger. Okay. So, I finished high school a year before her. She was in her senior year when we got married. Wow. Yeah. So, she got pregnant, and then she was, and the whole, throughout the senior year, she was pregnant. And then at the end of the, almost at the graduation time, she was almost due at that time. So, she... So, she was a teen mom. Yeah, yeah. I mean, she was 17. I was 19 when we got married. Yeah. That's actually a typical experience for the Slavic people. Yeah. I mean, not now, but back then, for sure. Yeah, 20 years. We just celebrated 20 years. So, back then, 20 years ago, I mean, it was pretty typical. A lot of Slavic people getting married young. I agree. I had the same story, and all of my friends. Yeah. So, yeah. And, you know, life started just kind of like with its own ups and downs. You know, just, I started, I always liked construction, you know, growing up with, my grandpa was a carpenter. In Ukraine? In Ukraine, yeah. And so, he's done everything in the building from, like, building wooden barrels, to kitchen utensils, to building houses. Okay. So, I've got that passion from him. So, he influenced you into the construction area? Yeah, definitely. I still remember being maybe four or five years old, sitting in his lap, and he handed me this handheld planer where you take the bark off the trees. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he was just, like, showing me how to take the bark off. And as he was carving everything out of the wood, I was looking at it, I was very inspired. I was like, I want to grow up and want to do something with that. Yeah, yeah. So, out of high school, I actually, I dropped out at one point. Really? Just to pursue my, I really wanted to make money, you know, I wanted to get into construction, you know. So, again, it's a typical thing. Did your parents approve? No, no, they did not. They made me, I mean, half a year I was out, they made me go back and they're like, at least get your diploma. So, you made a rebellious teen choice. Your parents didn't approve and you were persuaded to go back. Yeah, I was like, I'm gonna do homeschool, you know. And again, homeschool, half a year flew by. There was, you know, there was nothing out of that. So, I went back and during that time, when I was back at school, I got my, so my first job was as a newspaper, newspaper carrier. Yeah, I was delivering newspapers. Me too. Yeah, I guess that's the Slavic experience. Yeah, that was interesting because I didn't know any English back then. And the person that handed me this position is like, you know, just, you got to know where to place your newspaper because, you know, some older folks, they wanted to place in specific places on a chair, this and that. And I didn't know at first, it was hard to figure it out. Again, it's like new culture, no English. And this is when you were 14. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes you throw it in the wrong place and then you get complaints. I don't know if you get that. At one point, I received like 13 complaints in one day. And so then I come to find out they took my rote and they give it to somebody else, basically got fired. Wow. Yeah. Okay. So during high school, I was doing like after school, going out and doing some construction work. And then... Where? With who? I had, so my brother, he was older. And so he got in into doing flooring. He was laying down linoleum. So you were working with your brother. So I was going out with him and helping him out on the weekends after school. So it was all under the table, not official employment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I'm thinking, how is a teen employed in construction? Okay. Yeah. Then when I turned legal age, I think it was, I don't know, old enough to be working at a grocery store. Went to do my, again, very, very little English. And for me, the hardest thing was to talk to the customers. And I was... Because of the language barrier. Yeah. And I remember stocking shelves and people would come up to me and ask me for something like, where's this item? And I've learned a few phrases. So I would go in and say, let me go and ask the front. So I've learned that phrase. By the time I get to the... Industrious. By the time I get to the front, I forget what they were asking me for. So I'm like, I can't go back because they're waiting over there. So where do I go? I go to the bathroom. Wait it out. So I sit there for 30 minutes. I came back, I come back around. I'm like, hopefully they're not tripping on my cart. Cause it was right there in the hallway when I was stocking the shelves. I come back and that person's still there. He's like, he's like, so did you find out? I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, sorry. Let me go find out. Again, I'm making rounds. Oh wow, you've had some adventures. So then the manager called me and she's like, you gotta... And another thing too, they're like, you got to smile when you talk to customers. But you know, it's a lot of culture. We were not really smiling a lot. That was such a big change for us as well. So she's like, if you don't smile, I can't have you out in public. So they put me in the back, stocking the freezer. So, and you know, when you open a fridge and you have all this milk and everything. And so somebody opened a fridge and they were going to grab something from the shelf. And it was a lot glass. I think it was maybe some kind of a milk or something. And they're like, they see me back there. He's like, do you have any more of this? Like, let me go check the back. No, I'm like, check the back. I'm already in the back. But your go-to phrases. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, again, you know? So it was just a lot of, a lot of this going on growing up and learning. Sounds like a lot of challenges. Yeah. Which is good. Getting through the language barrier. We're in the formative years. Yeah. But I was very eager to learn. I was very ambitious. As soon as I got out of the high school, started doing siding and then moved on to floor and it rained a lot over there. So doing siding was, was very, it was very hard. Cause yeah, I guess like it's always raining and you're out there and you're wet, soaking wet every day coming in a home. So it's like gotta switch something. So got in into laying carpet and there's a story in that, but anyway, it's, knew nothing about laying carpet. And long story, long story short, you know, me and my brother were like, well, let's, let's figure out how to lay carpet. We went and saw somebody for a couple hours and we're like, okay, I think it's simple enough. So we went and my brother had a friend who, who was working at the flooring store at that time. And he asked, because of those connections, we were able to get a carpet job. So we load up this giant roll of carpet in the van. We're driving on the freeway, doors open in the back and it didn't fit. Yeah. And we're just rolling. We're like looking at each other. We're like, we have no idea what we're doing. And we're like, we're going to do it. And we have no idea what we're doing. That's what I love about the Slavic spirit. It doesn't matter. We'll figure it out. And so we got there and like, you know, obviously caught at the carpet wrong way. We were short. We were like, uh, going through a lot of struggle. Yeah. Trying to get that done three days later. Yeah. Three days later. I mean, we finally finished that job. And um, later as we went doing more and more of these kinds of jobs, I mean, that kind of job took us six hours as we learned how to do it. But the first day, the first time was like three days and there was a lot of issues there, but we, we got past that. Yeah. And then, um, just, I got into flooring business, um, had a flooring company and grew my flooring company to like 30 crews. Wow. Very impressive. Yeah. Where did your ambition come from? Um, my ambition came from, um, not having much growing up and, and seeing opportunity and going for it. And it was just like, I know I'm going to be able to get it done. So there wasn't much going on in the little village that you grew up in. Yeah. No, there wasn't, there wasn't any opportunities there. But one thing I was growing up, I, I told myself, if I, if God will ever give me a chance to, to make more money, I'll be able to, I want to be able to help somebody else. I want to be, I never want to be able to struggle in life because growing up, I was wearing clothes of my elder siblings as it was kind of passed down. So I just, I've always wanted to achieve a level where it's, um, where I'm not struggling. Yeah. Financial stability. Yeah. Um, and so I was just always driven. I saw an opportunity and it's just like always, okay, I can multiply this by two. If I multiply this by five, you know, and it was always going that way. Um, yeah. And then, um, fast forward to, uh, we went, so before I moved, that's the company already grew. And, um, my, me and my brother started together. Then we separated at one point, his, his company grew, my company grew. Um, and, um, as I was moving, um, to Charlotte, to Charlotte, yeah. I was just looking for a better place to raise a family. West coast wasn't the best place to raise a family. That was just, um, more of a liberal state. I want just to more something that would be a lot like family, family, more conservative Bible belt. Yeah. So this, um, you know, I consulted Google, what's the best place to move. And it was, yeah, Charlotte came up as one of the well, um, my, uh, my sister came over and we were, uh, her, her husband and I were friends and they came over and I like, do you guys want to move just randomly? That's the beauty of you. You can just spontaneously get up and go. Yeah. He had a car dealer business and he was also kind of being burnt out in a way, just like life is overtaken. He's like, sure, why not? Just like spontaneous, random. And so I was like, sure, you guys want to do it? And like, yeah. So we agreed that evening that we're going to do it. So we're your spouses too. Yeah. Yeah. We're all just like sitting together, you know, small kids. We had like four small kids at that time. And next thing, you know, we're like, okay, let's, let's book tickets. So we actually think of that same evening, we booked tickets to fly out and check out the city. Um, so two weeks later we're here checking out Charlotte, went to Raleigh and just like explore like, Oh, it's a beautiful city. Came back. I listed my house on the market. That was, uh, 2012. The market was horrible. Yeah. And it was like nothing was selling. Um, I got an offer and it was a great offer and I was supposed to bring $10,000 to sell my house. I was like, there's no way I'm going to bring $10,000 to sell it. If we can work it out, I break even then I'll sell it. So you were under with your, yeah. So after working in numbers, and I think realtor got his commission down, whatever they made it work. So we broke even or got it down to where it was even. And they're like, okay, congratulations. Congratulations. Such a great deal. You're going to sell it and you don't know anything. Yeah. What a warped view. Yeah, that was, that was the reality of that time. And that didn't stop you from making a life change. No, no, no. This business was doing great. And I've made some money at that point. And I was like, you know, I had, I had enough to come in and restart. Okay. So, uh, I called my sister and I was like, and my brother-in-law, I'm like, okay, we're in a market 30 days. We're going to close. We're moving. Um, uh, then at that point, I flew out again, one more time to find a place to rent. I flew out for one week. I found a place. And he's telling you, by the way, we can't move. I'm like, what do you mean? You committed? You said you're going to move. It's like, yeah, we just found out we're pregnant. And his, uh, so my sister worked at the bank and through her bank, she had insurance. And so it was like, we've got to stay here for another year. So yeah, then we moved by yourself. I moved by myself. Six months later, it was this nostalgia. Like I was really wanted to move back. There was nobody here. My wife is at home with four kids and, and now she got pregnant with fifth and we have four under eight. I'm the only one working. Uh, we're restarting. And I got in, I was at that point too. It was like something hit me to try something different. And I was like, why not try trucking? Uh, trucking was doing great at the time, 2013 trucks were like making, making a killing. It was like four or $5 a mile. It was like, okay, I don't know nothing about trucking, but I've got story of my life. And so, um, I started doing trucking and, and we are busy. We're just like, we're trying to grow this trucking company. Like you were driving yourself or you started a business? I started a business. Yeah. Yeah. I think about you trucking. No, no, no. I wasn't driving yet, but I was just, just started a business. Yeah. Started hiring and I just started all of these issues about how to hire a driver. And all these drivers are like, they're also sketchy. They're all stealing money, like filling up other cars. Oh, there's a lot of stories in the truck. But anyway, so, um, six months goes by and we're like, I don't know if we can do it. So we're like, let's move back. So, so, so we decided to move back. So we were renting this house and we found a rent. It was $2,000 back for 2012. It was a pretty high rent, but when we moved from West coast, which in West coast, it was okay, normal. So we're still kind of living off of the budget West coast budget, but living in the East coast, he was, uh, you know, things were a little bit differently. So we're kind of, we're burning through our money a lot and quick because buying truck, first truck, second truck, and then we're growing and we're, we're hiring other dispatchers. And now we have five trucks and we're in trucks starts to break down. Yeah. And all of a sudden, all of our savings are going down and it's going down quick. So, uh, we get to the point where like, let's move back. It's not worth it. So, um, we go to our, uh, lease agent and we're like, we're going to move back. We were six months into, and they're like, well, pay us $12,000 and you can move and you can leave this lease. Yeah. Cause we had a one year agreement. So it was $2,000 a month, six months left. They're like, why don't we just stay here for another six months and then leave? You know? So we agreed on that. We stayed another six months. Then I am one, our lease was about to expire. We're like, how about we just take a trip there and go visit, see it one more time. We went back, saw the family, saw the state and everything. And we're like, there's no way we're going to be able to live here. Cause everything was so different. We didn't even realize how beautiful Carolinas were. That's one of my favorite aspects, the nature. Yeah. You can only kind of compare it when you go back. And then we flew back and we're like, oh, the streets are so clean. Everything is landscaped so beautifully. Like the grass is mowed and like, there's no trash on the roads. And like, it was so beautiful. Like, no, this is where we want to raise our family. Yeah. And the deciduous trees, green all year round. It's beautiful. Yeah. Then fast forward to 2013 and 14, we're still in trucking. Things are still going down and all of a sudden the trucks are breaking down. We have no money. Now we burnt through all of our cash. Now we're selling our cars to try to repair the trucks. Oh no. And I sold my truck. I had an F350 lifted like this. This baby was beautiful. Like it was a nice truck. It was putting a lot of money into it. I'm selling it to putting into trucking. I went and I traded for a Prius. And so it was such a reality check. And then we had a GL450 and that was my wife's car. All of a sudden I'm selling her car to be putting into trucking. And we're like, no, this is not going to work. And we got to a point where we burnt through everything. We had nothing else left. We couldn't pay our mortgage. Eight months into our mortgage, we're not making our mortgage anymore. And we are receiving bank notices for foreclosure. Oh, wow. That must have been scary. So it was- Especially with little kids, the uncertainty. Yeah. So we went from being fully confident, fully stable, fully just like life is great to completely taking it down, downhill so fast before we could even realize we were down. And here I am like down, depressed, laying in my bed, can't get out of my bed, just like laying there. And I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. Just like, I have no desire for nothing. Overwhelmed. At this point, we already parked our trucks. We had some leases on the bank. Bank is already coming over, picking up our trucks. And I'm just like, I don't know what I'm going to do. Dead end. Dead end. So at that point, I got a call. It's beginning, I think, 2015 now. Got a call from one of my siblings and I got this bad news, like somebody is on the other line saying my mom got an accident. Your mom? Yeah. Wow. And I was like, what? Not that. My mom got an accident. And I don't even know- So in addition to everything that's going on in your personal life, your mom gets into an accident. Were you close to her? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And so that was such a shocker. And I knew I had to fly there, but I had no money to buy a ticket. And one of my siblings bought a ticket for me. And so I remember flying in there and seeing my mom just laying like unconscious. She was in a coma? She was in a coma, yeah. And my mom was just laying there unconscious. And she was in a coma for 40 days. Are you serious? Yeah. Yeah. What kind of accident was it? So she was going through an intersection and she was T-boned in a door. So they had to completely cut the car in half to pull her out. Jaws of life. Yeah. Okay. And so here she is laying with all broken bones and broken ribs, internal organs, everything messed up. Wow, I can't imagine. I was there for a week and there was no signs of life in her. So I got back and I was like, okay, my mom has no signs of life and here I am, I still have life in me. So I still have a chance to make a difference. Oh, that's interesting. Instead of being brought down, you used it like a motivation. Yeah. I was like, I have life. When you're at the end of life, then that's it. You finally rest. You have nothing else that you can do. You're just done. But as long as I have breath in my lungs, I can still do something. You can make a difference. That's such a great outlook. And so then I just went back to what I knew. I was like, I know how to do floors. So I bought this old beater, old 99 Ford F-150, collected everything I had and just bought a trailer, put all the tools. I still had all my tools and went back and just started doing flooring jobs, just taking one job at a time. And a couple of years- But you were working like a subcontractor, right? Yeah. I was just going, I went to big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe's and they were selling the jobs and I was just doing the jobs. So you laid their floors. Okay. So they give you leads. Okay. It was not a lead. It was pretty, it was a solid job. And it was like, it was a, it was all right. The job was already sold. So I just show up, pick up and I just installed the floors. Yeah. So I did that for a couple of years. And again, my, my ambition is always big. So I'm growing the company and all of a sudden, again, I'm hiring people and grow it to think five crews. And I've always was intrigued by construction. I, I, at that point I was spent enough years on the floors where my knees were swollen. And at one point I woke up and my knees are just like big swollen knees. Cause I was just, I've spent over 10 years and you know, from Washington experience and now into here. So I knew I had to get off the floors and I was like, okay, I got to get in into something else. So I started remodeling and remodeling was like, I didn't know how to remodel, you know? I like the theme of your life. So I the, I got in into bathroom remodels. I didn't know how to remodel bathrooms. So I went and I was advertising a free bathroom remodel. So I picked up this job. So it was a free bathroom remodel. So I was spending money to do a bathroom remodel. But with that, I've also, I was like a giveaway on Instagram. And so I said, I want to do one free bathroom. And then I give away. And then I said, I'm going to do two 50% off bathroom remodels. So I give away one free bathroom. Then I give away two 50% off. And off of those, I've made money off of that 50% off. Cause I was, the projects were escalating to other things and I was making money on other things and then the word spread. And then off of that, there was more clients. And so all of a sudden off of that one free bathroom, which was a disaster, by the way, that story was crazy. Oh, they did complain. Oh, that was horrible. I was doing a free bathroom remodel and I'm pulling out this tub. This guy, I don't know. Yeah. There's something else. But anyway, he's YouTubing everything we're doing. He's not trusting us. His wife is completely in line. And, and, and, um, the wife is just a beautiful soul. She loves us. She's just, she's like, I'm so sorry about my husband, but he's like, he's there watching us. He doesn't leave the bathroom. He's in there watching every step of the way. He's not paying, but he's YouTubing. And he's like, you destroyed my bathroom. This bathroom was beautiful. This, you didn't have to do nothing to it. What are you doing? And like his wife is his opposite. She's like, I want this bathroom remodeled. And he's, he's there with it. You know, this is not right. You're not doing this right. So yeah, I had a tile guy who could not be there any longer. He's like, I'm leaving. He's like, don't pay me nothing. I don't care. I'm leaving. Yeah. Yeah. Hired another guy. The second tile guy also walks off the job. He's like, I can't do this. So you stayed, I'm still there to the point where this guy is like, I'm going to sue you. He's like, I'm going to sue you. So I'm talking to his wife. I'm like, look, I'm sorry. Here's, here's all the material here. Here's the vanity, like brand new vanities. Like here's the bathroom. Here's a tile. I'm like, hire somebody else to finish it because I can't do it. He does. This guy's going to sue me for doing a free bathroom remodel. Wow. So we walked out probably 75% finished. We walked out, could not finish because he was, he was just threatening us. Yeah. But that was the experience how I got into remodeling. You know, that's what I find about people who take free stuff. They're like that quality. I don't know what it was, but that's, that was the experience. Oh, okay. So you started getting word of mouth, so you must have attention to detail, doing a good job if people were referring you. Yes. Okay. Yeah, definitely. Um, and then I was I know how to take the next step. Next step was to get into like bigger remodels. Um, I signed up with like home advisor and thumbtack and start getting leads, start, start doing more and more. And then, uh, the next step for me was to get in and to do my first flip, a house flip. Um, so somehow I reached out and I met your brother, Valeri. Oh, you know him too. Yeah. So Valeri was the guy that sold me my first flip. Okay. So back in 2017, end of 2017, a funny thing he told me is like, just to let you know, there is no value in that house. You know, only getting land because there's no value in the house. Oh, that old house had trees growing through the roof, broken windows. And I mean, the house was destroyed. I was like, watch me, you know, I can do it. So I got in. You like a challenge. Yeah. I love a challenge. Anything with the challenges is, it has, it has my name written all over it. So, um, I was like, I'm gonna restore this house. The house just watched me. I walked in, I, I, um, I kicked the door open and the fumes just came out of the house. Almost knocked me out. Mold. Yeah. Mold. And I mean, it must've been 30, 40 years. Nobody lived in that house. Cause I mean, there was just like literally trees in a dining room. I was a tree living, going through that. Yeah. And I write it out floors and I don't know. That would be a cool before and after. Oh, I have some. Yeah. Publish that in your book. Yeah. And, um, and not only that, but there was a bunch of trees growing around the property. And so you couldn't really see the house. We had to cut everything around to even get to the house. Uh, but anyway, I got in, I was like, huh, you know what? I can do it. So I'm, I'm here, uh, taking down the drywall and I see this, these beans are just falling from the ceiling. I'm like, why would somebody hide beans in the ceiling? Yeah. You know, but I'm like, older people live there. They probably just, you just want it. Yeah. Yeah. And this was January. It was like freezing weather and it's kind of colder. And you know, I was like, and my gloves and it's cold, miserable, but I'm like, Hey, I've done other things, other challenging things before. So I can do this. Yeah. So I'm, um, I'm looking at the floor and these beans are disappearing. Mike, what's going on? They're rolling, rolling away. Yeah. So I thought the floor was, the floor was uneven. Okay. So I pull more and more, more comes down. So all the way again, looking, they're all disappearing slowly. I'm like, why are they rolling away slowly? And I, I start paying attention that those are cockroaches. Are you serious? That would have been the day I walked out of that house forever. So we, we start traveling them with a shower because there are so many in the walls. You when you pull out, it's filled with cockroaches. Are you serious? We literally made a pile in the back of the house and start burning until the fire department showed up. Wow. They, they, they're there with the hoses. I still have a video of them hosing down. They didn't let you burn the cockroaches? They wore, but there was so many of them and, uh, they're running, scattering away. Yeah. They had to be hosed back in. We made up. It sounds unreal, but I, but I have a video to prove it. Um, somebody called neighbors had called the, the fire department. I don't know, because maybe of the smell or maybe, or maybe just because they said, yeah, you're not allowed to do fire. Was it a rural property or like an HOA? In a city, in a city limits. Yeah. Um, but anyway, we, that was such a horrific experience. Wait, how did you feel in the moment when you were battling cockroaches? Oh my God. Did you want to walk away? I wanted to walk away, but I already started. I'm not going to back out, back out. Um, so here I am. I ended up taking all, pretty much everything down to the sub floor. I'm rebuilding the walls. I reframed the house. I reframed the roof, everything got ready. I'm ready for inspections. I called the inspector. He comes out and he says, where's your permit? It's like, Oh, you need a permit? It's like, yeah, you need a permit. Like, but I'm like, but it's my house. He's like, yeah, but you still need a permit. I'm like, really? I'm my house. I can, I can do it. So I found out I was like, he's like, yeah, you go get a permit. So like, okay. I go to the County. Uh, Mike, I'm here to get a permit. Like, okay. Who's your GC? Like, Oh, you need a GC. It was like, uh, okay. Let me go talk to some people. Let me get a GC. I start calling around. Nobody wants to give me a, lend me their license. Yeah. It's a liability. Yeah. I called my cousin. He was my last hope. I know he has a South Carolina license. Cause this was a South Carolina house. He's like, I would lend you, but I'm currently going through a lawsuit because of, of similar experience. I landed somebody license. That's why people are hesitant. Yeah. So it's like, okay, I can do this. I'm gonna do it myself. So while remodeling that house, I'm still doing flooring jobs through the week and then evenings and weekends I'm spending them. They're working and learning the license. Eight months later, eight months later, I finally take a test. I don't know. There wasn't much sleep. It was a lot of stress. Wow. Okay. A long story short, eight months later, I get my license and finish the house, sold that property. And that was the beginning of construction. Okay. And then that was in 2017, end of 2017, beginning of 2018. From there started buying more properties, remodeling. And then I think like end of 2018, I started building new construction, getting into new construction. First, first built, second built. Then at one point partnered up with another guy, which that went downhill quick, but it was a good partner at the beginning. And then it would turned out to be a more of a selfish act from, from a guy who, who always wanted more. And, um, it had just, our vision was different for what we wanted for the company. But, uh, at that time we grew a company and we started building and we built, uh, 2022, 2023, we're building a hundred houses a year. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. So that was like right after the COVID rush. Yeah. The interest rates were like at 3%. Yeah. So during COVID, during COVID, we're building, during COVID, we're building like a hundred houses. What about all of the supply backlogs? We were building cookie cutters and, and it was like, we just basic bare minimum stuff. And they were selling like, I mean, quick. Okay. They were selling before we were even, even listing that we were before they, we listed, they were already sold. So we had a lot of, a big shift of population down here as well from the North and everything. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was such a hot rush. I didn't know your company was that huge. Wow. Yeah. And then, um, uh, at that time sitting in that time and realizing we, uh, we have everything, you know, everything I've ever dreamed of. I've had everything at that moment. I already built a beautiful house, um, personally for yourself. Yeah. Personal house. Um, I have five kids. I have a family. Business is doing great. Everything is doing just, just wonderful. Financially stable. You're on the pinnacle of your life. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, sitting out to the back porch with my wife one evening, I'm finding myself being unhappy, unhappy with life. And I'm just like, what is the purpose of life? You know, because I've had everything. So before you were busy achieving, struggling to get where you want to. And then when you got there, the question popped up. Okay. When I got there, I was like, what is the purpose of life? Cause I'm at this point I'm depressed. I have like, I have everything and I'm not happy. Okay. And so at that point I was like, I got to give myself to a new challenge. Ah, you thought that was the issue? Yeah. Okay. Well, I was like, what, what is it? What am I searching for? Because I already achieved everything. What about family? Raising a family? I have family. Well, I have family. I have kids. Everything's going well, but I, it was just weird. I felt like there was something more. And at this point you, you were, uh, you were in the faith, right? You were a believer? Yes. Okay. Yeah. I'm Christian, you know, I attend church. I attend church. I probably didn't know God as much as I know him now. Cause that led up everything from that point on was leading to that, uh, event, December 13th event where, uh, where I was found dead in a pool and completely, yeah, completely had a change of my mindship perspective. I mean, the last three months was, and still is a discovery of something much greater than, than any kind of achievement that I've done in life. So you kind of jumped into a different plane of living. Okay. Yeah. But two years ago you were sitting at the pinnacle of success. Yeah. Not happy. Yeah. And then what did you decide? So I decided what is the next challenge? Um, I wanted to get into some type of a physical sport. Um, I was also physically maybe, uh, not very fit at that point. I was sitting at 207 pounds. Uh, I wasn't very physically too active. You did mostly managing. You didn't actually do the work. At that point. I mean, we were building houses. I didn't even have chance to drive down to the houses I was building. Houses were being built and sold without even, I've never even seen them. That was the point. Cause I mean, all my job was at that point, I was just always seeing, overseeing project managers and operations managers. Cause I already had everything built out. I have an operation manager, school managers, everything here. I had a, uh, in-house bookkeepers. I had an in-house, um, the people who were, um, going out and purchasing land and then we, we are, we, we had a full system. You had set up a successful system. Did you go to like business classes or how did you set it all up? No, I've never went to college. I've never, I've never got instinct. Yeah. I just learned. I don't know how, but I've, um, I grew companies before. So I knew, um, in order to multiply, you have to grow. There's obviously a lot of pain comes with growth as you're coming through. That's a different topic, but, um, I've learned, yeah, growing pains. So I've learned how to overcome those and, and getting to a point where, um, systems help you grow companies. And so I've got into that where I was just managing a system. Okay. So you were just from your previous experience, you were able to implement. Okay. Yeah. You're a very intelligent person. I'm very impressed. Most people who go to a four-year degree to do this. I think just a highly driven personality can get you there as well. Yeah. Drive is important too, but also intelligence, like putting the pieces together. Yeah. I am, uh, I listened to a lot of books. I don't really like to read a lot of books, but I listened to a lot of books on business and self-development in the last two years. I've been working on myself a lot and, um, just learning. I like to learn just at my own pace and just finding material that resonates with me. And that's how I learned. So I think sometimes you don't need college. There's just, you know, you can learn a lot. There's a growing trend left that school of thought. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but anyway, so I got in into sport and how I got into that. I was, uh, searching for some kind of challenge. I Googled it again, and Google comes in handy. Google is your advisor in life. A triathlon came up and I didn't know anything about triathlon, but I said, Hey, this is looks challenging and offline. Let me try it. Um, went on the Facebook marketplace and I needed a bike. It was a triathlon, so I needed a tri bike. Um, I went and I found a bike. Um, and I, is it tri bike? It's a specialty bike. Yeah. It's a, it's like a speed bike. It's, um, you know, it has like a, it's got the arrows. You have, you're gotta be sitting in a certain position. And so it's, uh, it's a bike, it's an aerodynamic bike and it's a very light bike. I mean, eight to 10 pounds is the weight of the bike. And it's, it's very fast. And, uh, so I went and I found a bike, met with this guy. He turned out to be a triathlon coach and he was selling his, his old version bike. And so is, uh, at this point I already signed up for a race. Not even without it. Yeah. Well, I have having any knowledge. I love your life philosophy. Yeah. I, uh, I've, I've always just kind of done that. I shoot first, think later. Yeah. I've, I've always just like, I'm going to get, get set a goal and then use momentum to get me there. And it's like, I've used this analogy. It's like, you know, if, if a car has no brakes and you, you take it downhill, it's going to go downhill fast and it's going to make it uphill about halfway. And then you only need to push it about halfway to that hill. Yeah. Yeah. Almost there. Yeah. So that's what I did. I signed up and I'm like, I'm going to use momentum and I'm, and I'm just, uh, okay, what'd I do next? Okay. I got to get the bike. Okay. I got the bike. What's next? I got to learn about what the sport is. So I'm meeting this guy, he's triathlon coach. I'm like, Hey, can you train? Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and he's like, no. He's like, when is your race? I'm like in three months. You have any experience? No. He's like, okay, you're going to fail. I'm like, okay, watch me. So anytime anybody ever told me you can do it through something rises up in you. Like they say through hell and hot water, I'll do it. So, um, again, three months later, I proved him wrong. I finished the triathlon. Again, there's a, there's a lot of details that goes into that. I don't think we have time for that, but, uh, finished my first, uh, triathlon. I was like, okay, what's next? What's the bigger challenge? Because, uh, this seems like this seems good, but I need to set myself a bigger goal. So, um, searched that up. There was this race called Ultraman and Ultraman, uh, is a 321 mile race. So you've got to be kidding me. Yeah. Like all at once or it's a three, it's a three day race. It's a 6.2 mile of swimming. It's, um, 261 miles of bike riding and 20, uh, 52 miles of running. Wow. So that sounds big enough. So it's a year out. It's a year out. I go ahead and sign up. So I signed up for that race and then I'm like, I'm going to train to it. So to train to it, I'm signing up for other races and I'm signing up for, um, half Ironmans. So, um, the first race I did is a half Ironman it's, um, 70.3 miles. And that includes 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of biking and 13 points, some of running. So I'm signing up for more of half Ironmans and then, um, completing those. I'm signing up for some marathons as well. Just, just to get myself trained up to that. At this point, I already have, um, I have a coach. I've never swam before actually do as another details. I've never, I mean, swimming just like regular swim across the pool. You can, but to swim professionally, it's a whole different thing. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta be able, you know, just, just like you're breathing, uh, right now you have to be just keeping that same breathing pattern in the water. And so you have to tie your stroke to your breathing pattern. And as you're just swimming, you have to be able to connect that and make that natural. So that was very big struggle for me. But, uh, a long story short, I got that figured out. I started swimming. So I started training now. Now I'm, um, now I'm completing a second half and then I'm completing a third half and then I'm training up to a full Ironman. And now at this point, uh, November 2nd of last year was my full Ironman. Yeah. Okay. It was my full Ironman. It's 140.6 miles. It's a 2.4 mile of swimming. It's, um, 112 miles of biking at 26 miles of running. So here I am on November 1st, a day before my race. And for the first time I started feeling this burning pain in my arm, extending to my chest and right arm. Yeah. And, um, yeah, strangely enough, usually left, but this is a right arm. Um, later I found out that it's actually normal. Sometimes it's the right arm. Um, and so, um, here I am, I'm like, I can do this. Uh, and the pain, usually I've through pains before that kind of pain that, um, that I've done before. I mean, it was, you had to break some mental barriers in your heart, in your head to get through some of the pains that you are going through in these races. Um, how do you mean? So like, you want to walk away, but you don't. Yeah. So like, I don't know if you've ever done anything, um, like physically challenging. You always got to get to a point where your hand is telling you to stop. Like if you're running and you're doing a long run and you get into a point where you're, you're like, your head is like, you are done. Get to that next pole, light pole, and then walk because, um, because your body's telling you to stop. Yeah. Okay. When you start to negotiate in your mind about, I have to stop. These are the points where your body's telling you like, okay, you're about to break me. You have to get to that barrier. And the way you get through that brave barrier is you don't listen to what your head is telling you. So you are completely, yeah, you are completely, you're going hard and your, your, your body, your mind, everything in your body is telling you to stop. And you agree in your mind, you agree. I'm like, I'm going to stop. Except when you get there, you don't, you just got to keep going. So there's a lot of mindset training going into this. Oh yeah. 50% of it is mine. Yeah. And so I've broke a lot of those barriers where it's like, okay, you're done. You're, there's no law. And so, um, and then when, during this burning pain, this was the pain that I could not break through. I could burn. Mind tricks wouldn't work. It was, it was that kind of pain that I had to stop. It was the burning pain in my chest. Superficially or deep inside. What do you mean by burning? Inside, inside, like, I mean, yeah, no, from my arm into my chest. And it was like the kind of burning pain. Like a sunburn? It was like a heartburn, but like a hundred times more. Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh, so I had to stop when I stop and I start walking, slowly goes away. And then I start running again, comes back again. And so 30 minutes until this pain goes away. And then I continue with my workout. So at this point you've been training for two years? Yes. Okay. And before you started training, did you get any medical evaluations or is it just kind of just. I did. Um, at the, at the beginning of last year, I've, I've started doing a lot of, um, medical evaluation. Um, one thing that kind of was a red flag for me that my calcium score was at 42, which was kind of saying something about maybe potentially having some kind of black buildup. Okay. Um, but. Was that investigated further or just kind of like. Um, so the doctor said, we're just going to watch it. Okay. So we'll just keep an eye on it. And the doctor knew that you were training for. Yeah. Athletics. Okay. Um, so we were just kind of keeping an eye on it. Okay. So you started feeling pain, burning pain in your arm, which was a new sensation for you and you weren't really sure what it was. Correct. Okay. And so that kind of brings us to the beginning of the actual near-death experiences and the events surrounding it. Yeah. Um, and I think for today we're going to have to call it because I really want to dig into the actual event, what happened, the near-death experiences, days leading up to it, days leading after. So I think we're going to have to do a part two. Yeah. There's definitely a lot to unpack. Yeah. So thank you so much for coming today. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. And we'll get back soon again for this riveting story, part two, and I think part three as well. Thank you. All right.