This is the Empowered Caregiver Show.
If you are a caregiver or know someone who is,
this show is meant to uplift you through education and support,
while also lifting up every caregiver's invaluable role in society.
Now, here is the Empowered Caregiver and your host,
Liza Helen Brand.
You are listening to the Empowered Caregiver
and I am your host, Liza Helen Brand.
Today, I will be speaking with Noah Fulton
from Inner Wisdom Acupuncture and Wellness,
who will share ways that caregivers can take care of themselves
over the holiday season and beyond.
I'll also be speaking with Brent Seaman,
representing Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance,
who I am proud to say will be a 2024 sponsor
of the Empowered Caregiver Show and, last, but not least,
sprinkle them between these interviews.
I have my handy-dandy co-host with me, Mr. Caden Crute,
who will be sharing his experiences growing up
with multiple disabilities.
My first guest, Noah Fulton,
who works at Inner Wisdom Acupuncture and Wellness in Madison,
is joining me now.
Thank you so much, Noah, for being here.
Yeah, thank you for having me here.
Yeah, I contacted you because I learned that group health cooperative
was going to be closing its complimentary
medicine department in Madison,
where you worked and where I met you.
And I absolutely loved the complimentary medicine services
at GHC.
The providers were all awesome,
and it was a pretty non-avasive way to tackle your health
and wellness concerns without all of the side effects
of taking prescription medicine.
And I don't know when you listen to those commercials
and the 57 different side effects that go along
with the one problem, it scares me.
I run in the opposite direction.
So I loved the opportunity to get to know the providers
at the complimentary medicine department of group health.
But when I learned that they were unfortunately closing the doors,
I wanted to reach out to the people
that have helped me along the way,
so that people know where you're at,
what you do, how they can find you,
and so that you can help them as well.
So Noah, your primary practice is acupuncture.
And because this involves needles,
no offense, you were the last person on my list to go see.
I'm not a fan of needles.
Never have been.
Have some horrible stories to go along with this.
But I had this frozen shoulder situation several years ago.
And I was just in so much pain.
I thought, what the heck?
Why not?
I'm going to give it a try.
And honestly, I found it to be very helpful.
But I still don't know a lot about acupuncture.
So could you just give me a brief 101?
Yeah, of course.
So I'm glad you had such positive experience first and foremost.
As acupuncturists, we are trained in what's called traditional Chinese medicine.
And it's basically this kind of ancient way of looking at the body.
And it kind of treats the body as a whole instead of like Western medicine
is like to break things down into parts and treat things individually,
which can sometimes be helpful too.
But the practice of acupuncture involves placing needles
and kind of strategic points throughout the body.
And that's kind of how acupuncturists are able to influence the body to heal itself.
And that's really what we're trying to do with acupuncture is just allow your body to heal itself.
And sometimes like when we have injuries for even things like anxiety and depression,
different parts of our body can become blocked up in areas.
So that's kind of the basics of how acupuncture can benefit the body and how it works.
Well, and you touched a little bit on anxiety, depression, different things.
But I had always associated acupuncture as a form of pain management.
But what else is out there that acupuncture would be beneficial for?
Yeah, so it's really commonly used to treat musculoskeletal pain.
And one of the reasons that it does that is because when you get acupuncture,
your body is kind of put in this sedative state, right?
And it causes our nervous system to actually release its own painkillers endorphins.
But it also has these other kind of autonomic functions that can benefit the body as well.
So they've kind of hooked people up to MRIs and discovered all these kind of magnificent things that happen
when you get acupuncture.
And one of the things that happens is your brain actually cycles through serotonin and dopamine.
And these are just kind of common neurotransmitters that are flowing throughout our brain.
But sometimes can get blocked up when we are experiencing heavy stress loads
and kind of like elevated levels of cortisol from too much stress.
And so acupuncture basically is trying to stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system.
So without getting too technical into what that is,
it's kind of just the rest and digest responses in your body.
So in that way, it's able to kind of influence all kinds of different things within your body,
particularly with your emotions and sometimes lowering stress levels,
lowering anxiety and depression as well.
And you said rest and digest?
Rest and digest, yes.
So I can give you like a very brief kind of overview of the nervous system too,
if I would help kind of understand.
Well, basically we're either in fighter fighter flight mode or we're in rest and digest mode.
And oftentimes as Americans like when we're, you know, when we're so busy with all these activities
and caregiving, especially, we can kind of get stuck in what's called fighter flight mode.
And that's kind of where we're in this pattern of being overstressed.
And that has negative influences on the body.
No, that makes total, that makes total sense to me.
And that's why I asked because I struggle with anxiety and I just really this year
and really wrapping my hat around to wow, what degree I struggle with anxiety.
And with that comes digestive issues because I'm always in this fight or flight mode.
So, you know, if you're having those types of digest, digest, digest of issues,
then acupuncture would be something to explore.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, when I, when I mentioned earlier, kind of like treating the body as a whole, right?
So when we think of something like anxiety, you know, oftentimes people will associate that
with like butterflies in our stomach, right?
So there's that kind of mind and gut connection.
So oftentimes if somebody's coming in for anxiety, we'll kind of take a look at like your upper abdomen
and you might have an area there that is like really tight and really tense and stagnant.
So we'll place needles there and that can kind of almost open up this pathway between your mind and your body, right?
Or and your stomach or your gut or whatever seems to be bothering you.
So, stressful, kind of affect people in different ways.
So for one person, it might be abdominal issues for another person, it might be lower back pain.
So let's say you're coming in and you have really bad anxiety,
but it kind of manifests itself in your body as lower back pain.
Well, we can kind of address your back as well as do some points around your body to kind of lower stress too.
And that's kind of when I saw the benefit of acupuncture is treating the body as a whole.
We're not just targeting like one specific area, right?
We're trying to take your whole body into account.
And that's how kind of Chinese medicine has helped people for thousands of years.
So I love that.
I love that that philosophy, that concept, it just seems really awkward and clunky to me.
How the current medical system is just broken up in all of these departments and body parts.
And they don't talk to each other.
They don't communicate.
And it's a little mind boggling knowing what we know now.
So 100% aboard.
This is where things get tripped up for me.
Commitment.
How long do you have to commit to acupuncture?
How often do you have to go to see the full benefit?
Yeah, so I always tell people everybody kind of responds differently to every kind of medicine, right?
So it really depends on your background and just to give people a general rule of thumb.
If you've been, let's say, since we're talking to caregivers,
if you've been taking care of somebody for six or seven years and, you know,
this pattern of stress and anxiety or whatever you're coming in with has been manifesting for that lawn.
You're probably looking at needing longer term care more sessions, right?
Versus, let's say you, you know, you've someone just became ill and you're taking care of them.
And it's a little bit more of an acute situation, but you're feeling overwhelmed in that moment and you're seeking out care.
You might be a lot quicker to respond to treatment.
So not to beat around the bush, but it really is a very like case by case.
Sure.
Sure.
And is there ever a time where you have said to somebody, I think you should include this or I think you should do this.
Are you a firm believer in acupuncture?
Cures all.
No, I'm definitely not a firm believer in any like one size fits all models.
So I think and I encourage patients to try all kinds of things, especially if they've gone down the kind of like standard route,
like let's say taking medications and it just hasn't worked for them, right?
There's all kinds of different things you can try doing.
So whether it be seeking out other types of body care, you know, something like massage therapy can be really effective for anxiety and depression,
especially in the caregivers choose, you know, giving your your body time to to rest and kind of as opposed to pouring from your your own cup,
let somebody else kind of pour into your cup while you're, you know, receiving attention from from a massage or from an acupuncture session or rakey session or can be any number of things.
Absolutely.
You're listening to the empowered caregiver show and today I'm here with Noah Fulton from inner wisdom acupuncture and wellness.
Noah caregivers are prone as we have been talking about to experience higher levels of stress and anxiety,
doing to do to their caregiving a role and a land for many of them.
There's physical stress to if you know they're transporting and doing all of those different things with holidays just around the corner.
Do you have any other natural recommendations for caregivers to help them stay zen during this crazy holiday season?
Absolutely.
So one of the things I almost always recommend to my patients who are kind of like overstressed is just finding time to like calm their mind down, calm the nervous system down and take a break from your busy routines.
Doesn't have to be very long and one of the things I will recommend is this yoga practice called yoga nidra and it's not actually any sort of physical yoga.
You just lay down on a bed or lay down sit down in the chair and put headphones on and kind of go through this guided meditation.
So to speak and basically it's just kind of activating this rest and digest response in your body.
But it's just taking time to step away from the busy day step away from your life and let your let your body kind of catch up for a minute yoga that requires no yoga.
I'm down know before we would run out of time here, where can people find you?
Yeah, so you can find myself on my partner online at inner wisdom acu.com and our address is 3801 region street in medicine and we will be accepting new patients starting in January.
So if anyone's interested, please check that out and I'll definitely send that little information with you to post on your website as well.
I will. I will make sure that all the information is on my Facebook page after the show so that people can track you down.
Thank you so much for being with me tonight Noah.
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver show and I am your host lies a Helen brand later in the show.
I will be playing a interview that I had with Brent Seaman earlier this week about the great work that Wisconsin family and caregiver support alliance is doing and how you can be part of the alliance to support family caregivers across the state of Wisconsin.
But first I have with me the one and only Mr. Caden Crute who is also my son and the reason that I do the empowered caregiver show so welcome Caden.
Caden was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and has worked very hard and has achieved so many things.
And if you have a question for Caden what it's like growing up with multiple disabilities.
You can give me a call at one eight four four nine six seven two seven eight nine.
And we will be here to tell you what our our life story what it's like living with the disabilities and.
What's your point now Caden.
I think them like some you and I can't hear.
Oh you can't hear okay so.
Let me make this adjustment here so Caden I was it now better yeah it's better okay sorry about that we should check that out before we got on air huh.
So I wanted to ask you Caden or have you tell listeners.
Besides autism that you were diagnosed with when you were about two years old correct you also have some other disabilities.
Can you share with the listeners what some of the other challenges are.
I have an intellectual disability and learning disabilities.
Which means learning and understanding new information as well as problem solving can be more challenging.
Growing up it took me longer to speak walk even dress up and eat without help.
And it causes trouble learning in schools.
Yeah school was was tricky sometimes wasn't it.
So besides autism and intellectual disability what else did we find that you had along the way.
I also have ADHD which impacts my ability to stay focused and pay attention ADHD also impacts your brings exclusive function ability.
Yeah the executive function ability and that's kind of one thing that we were going to talk about because that's probably a new term that not everyone has heard about executive functioning.
No and I was only diagnosed with this like four years ago.
Yeah like a four years ago because we had a lot going on and it takes a long time to figure out what's what and what to do about it.
And all of that stuff so it was quite a journey.
But one thing that you just did a report for school on ADHD because I think you feel that's really one of the bigger challenges for you.
And that apple doesn't fall far from the tree there meaning that mom mom struggles with that as well.
But we were talking about these areas of executive function and that tend to be impaired and individuals with ADHD.
Remember when we were talking about it earlier there's actually just six.
I think they narrowed it down to like six different areas of the of the brain that are that are impaired or have challenges when you have ADHD.
And the first one was activation in which what with that include Kaden.
Well that would include organizing tests and materials and estimating time and getting started and getting started.
Sometimes it's just hard to even get started right.
Yeah.
I definitely feel that some days more than others estimating time.
You're pretty good at managing your time.
Yeah and I also set on alarms and I also am pretty good at managing estimating it at Kadenman's school.
Yeah well that's good that you say that you use alarms because a lot of people have to use different resources and different tools and apps to help them.
Organization you and I we probably both get an F you think in organization.
Are you pretty organized?
Well I think I'm pretty organized most of the time.
It's just like a lot of time I'll check where like I feel like that's a lot of the time why I don't lose my phone or wallet or AirPods or anything like that.
Because like I have places where I put things.
Oh yeah phone wallet and AirPods and that's really all you need in life right.
As long as you keep track of those you're good right.
And so another area that is impacted with ADHD that you wanted to share because you thought that it was important that we spread awareness on this on this issue because not a lot of people know about it.
Yeah.
And the other one was focus which is sustaining your focus or keeping your focus shifting your attention as needing as needed.
All things that we struggle with right.
Yeah because like ADHD can cause different like emotions in your mental state just like any other disability.
And I feel like people should kind of understand that to about ADHD instead of assuming that it's like just one temporary excuse.
Yeah.
Yeah. You feel you I did remember you saying that that it can get annoying or frustrating when people think that you are using 80 ADD or ADHD as an excuse.
Right.
I know a lot of people point out these days and they have it push is like yes and you said emotions and emotions is another thing that's that goes along with ADHD people with ADHD can really have a hard time managing their emotions their frustrations.
And dealing with their feelings so that's that's one thing that you said and then there was this one here what about this.
There's yeah there's effort and the to define effort is regulating alertness sustaining motivation and processing speed.
Yep. And those are all some things that that you have struggled with and we didn't talk about auditory processing disorder which is another one of the list of diagnosis that that you were given that that it can take a longer time for you to process information.
So there's sometimes where I talk to you and then I was like Kaden and you're you're paying attention.
You're just thinking about it. You're just thinking through and you're thoughtful in your in your answers. So that plays in as well. But then there's also memory.
And that can be a struggle for people with ADHD and then there is action which is monitoring and regulating your physical activity.
So I don't think neither of us are super hyper. Are we?
Like I would say I have like mild ADHD or somewhere moderate. I don't really know.
Yeah, but but some people really have a hard time sitting still.
I mean, yeah, I do. I do actually do. Okay. Yeah, I'm moderate.
Gotcha. So despite all your daily challenges, you have accomplished so much, Kaden.
I just wanted to share that you know, you were in forensics, special Olympics. You did youth leadership for forum. You're volunteered at the senior center. You worked at Middleton Parks and Recreation. You've worked at restaurants. You've been working at Marcus theater for a long time. How long you've been working at Marcus theater?
Like a couple years. A couple years. And you're going to college to be able to work in the school.
Yeah, because I just got my first semester sophomore year. Then next semester starts next month.
Yes. So, Kaden, I want you to stick around because there's more that we're going to talk about and people can feel free to call in if they have questions for either of us.
Now, next we're going to be talking with Brynn and then we'll come back to finish up with Kaden Crout.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host Eliza Helen Brand. I've been speaking with Mr. Kaden Crout, a young man with multiple disabilities who gets up every day and just slays it.
And if you have a question for Kaden, you can or you know what a question for me, but I am Kaden's proud to say I'm Kaden's mother and we have been on this autism journey kind of together for about 18 years.
So, if you have a question for us, feel free to give a call at 844-967-2789 and Kaden will be back to join me in the next segment and answer any questions that you may have.
Upcoming next is Brynn Seaman from Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance.
I have a pre-recorded interview with Brynn because not all people believe it or not are available in the evening to speak with me.
So, I am going to be talking to Brynn about their sponsorship that they have provided for the empowered caregiver coming up and they also wanted to add there was one thing that we forgot to talk about in our discussion that we had.
And that was on the website, on their website, there is the ability to click on Toronto.
Toronto is a partner organization with they they're actually the department health and human services, I believe, is the one that has paid for Toronto.
So, it is an expense that the state has encouraged, encouraged to help family caregivers.
So, you can go on that website and they provide resources, they provide training and also support groups and the goal is to not only support caregivers but to help seniors and others age in place.
So, it's an awesome platform to support caregivers and provide skilled based training support groups and, like I said, online families, communities for people to connect and stay together.
And we're going to go now to the interview with Brynn.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver show and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brandt and I am so excited to start the day off on a high note.
I have with me today Brynn Seaman from Wisconsin Family and caregiver support Alliance and why I have her on is a couple of different reasons.
One, they offer invaluable information and are doing a ton of great advocacy work.
And two, they provided a grant for me to become a sponsor of the show. So, I greatly appreciate that. So, thank you so much Brynn for being here with me today.
What I want, yes, what I would like to start out with is I'm sure many people, most people, even I struggled for the longest time,
in understanding what exactly the Wisconsin Family and caregiver support Alliance is.
Can you explain that one to me once more?
I can certainly try and I can't profess to be an Uber expert. I don't think yet because I still learn and I've been in this role for about two years.
And when I say this role, I'm an older American's act consultant and family caregiver support specialist with a nonprofit agency called Guar.
And we contract with the state. So my bread and butter, my day to day work is really around technical assistance, orientation, training for 11 county, I'm sorry, 11 tribes and 70 counties in our service region.
But as with any new job, there's kind of all these other duties as assigned and you need to get to know people and groups and this was certainly one of them.
So the Wisconsin Family and caregiver support Alliance is it's stand alone work group. It's a true Alliance of people who come together.
Typically, the history has been of those who are employed in some capacity that overlaps or works with family caregivers in some way.
And they donate their time. They make this a part of their work on to try and promote efforts that support family caregivers. Some of it's just awareness. Some of it is, you know, as far as advocacy and taking things up at the state and even national level.
So it is a separate Alliance and we have lots of great partnerships, some are nonprofits, some are part of DHS. And more recently, we've had a lot of membership growth too. So individuals who've joined our Alliance as well.
So that's wonderful. So anybody if I'm understanding you correct could apply to be part of the Wisconsin Family and caregiver support Alliance.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. As I said, traditionally, as I understand it, most folks have been employed, you know, they've been working in some capacity where they recognize family caregiving is an issue.
It's something that might be near and dear to them. Maybe they've had an experience or they are currently a family caregiver.
But we are really excited because we've had people who have a true lived experience either currently or in the past and are giving us their wonderful time.
You lies included and put forth a lot of passion and energy so you can be an agency and organization or an individual person who has a passionate voice and you can join the Alliance.
Are you able to disclose some of the agencies or organizations that are currently a part of the Alliance?
Yeah, as a matter of fact, we really like to promote them. That's one of the benefits we hope entices people to come to our Alliance is that when we do our marketing campaign in November for national family caregiver months, we do a press release.
We do an entire marketing toolkit and those partners are highlighted in that effort as well as we have a Facebook page as well. So throughout our Facebook page.
So I mentioned DHS. We have a representative from the Bureau of Aging and Disability Resource at Bader community living Alliance, of course, empowered caregiver.
The agency I work for or work for rather is called the greater Wisconsin agency and aging resources.
We're so lucky that Milwaukee County Department of Health Services too has recently in both the past year, year and a half joined.
We have Wisconsin Sibs, which is an amazing organization focusing on siblings of individuals with disabilities.
We have a care association, longstanding member, Wisconsin board of people with development of disabilities, and then the Wisconsin Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources.
So the list grows. These are powerful allies and partners, but we are happy to add more.
Right, because it takes more than just the, I mean, that's great. We've got these big organizations behind it, but we also need, like you said, the everyday caregiver that is passionate about the cause.
They have the lived experience. They know firsthand what it's like and their voices matter. So I encourage people to check it out.
I know you said that you have been doing this now for two years, so you may not know the whole history. But do you know a little bit about how this alliance came to be?
The little bit of anecdotal information that I have is that it was, it was much smaller than it is now.
It's been over a decade, though, I don't know the founding year. And one of the crowning jewels of the alliance is the website that I actually primarily help run now behind the scenes adding content.
So I think that the history itself has also changed hands from organization to organizations.
So I think that the history is much of our current mission. People recognizing that there's invisible work that's being done as the backbone of the health care system, people are maybe at their own health expense or financial expense caring for others.
I don't have any awareness to this very invisible population. We're losing, we're losing money in health care, we're losing caregivers, we're losing individuals who maybe have, I'm taking us there a little bit more of it past, maybe prematurely passed away because of, you know, an exhausted caregiver or caregiver who had other barriers and we weren't as a community as a society lifting them up.
I think all of those intentions were the founding cornerstones of the alliance.
Well, thank you for pointing that out. And I know some of the, some of the topics that we talk about do seem kind of morbid and hard to bring up, but it isn't excellent point, right?
If we don't take care of the caregiver, then how can that person take care of the person that that they're caring for? So it's essential.
A little bit about the mission, what are some of the goals of the Wisconsin family and caregiver support alliance?
I do not have the mission memorized, but I do have kind of a concise snippet of what our goals are, and it really is, I think, first about awareness, because we recognize that many caregivers don't see themselves as caregivers and the community at large.
It doesn't even recognize this for the most part as a population. We kind of are pulled into it overnight with the diagnosis and illness and accident, and we perform.
Because it's our spouse, our loved one, whomever it is that we're caring for, we just take on that responsibility and role.
So outside of awareness and identification that this is a population that is very special and very important and requires a lot of support.
Then after that, it's about education and trading and a lot of that can come in ways of advocacy. And this is a new area for me.
I'm just kind of flexing my muscle in the past year, year and a half talking maybe at a more local level city governments, county governments, and then beyond that and to state national government about how we can best support caregivers.
The other thing too is that we want to promote allies, people who maybe were former caregivers and have now the time because they aren't currently a caregiver, but still have that experience and know how important it is.
We'd like to lend their voice and their efforts and those training advocacy and education opportunities.
So lots of different avenues in which people can get involved. And I love the awareness. For me, 2024 is going to be all about the awareness because I think you're absolutely right.
So many people just do this caregiver role. They just do. That's it. That's where that's where it ends. They just do.
And they don't they don't acknowledge that they're a caregiver and they don't acknowledge or maybe know or understand what that means and what that means for their personal while being going into the future.
I love the awareness, love the advocacy piece and it takes more people. So I want to make sure that we get out there. Who are you looking for and then how can people go to join this alliance if they want to be part of the movement.
Great question. I think that we're looking for people who recognize the gap and want to be engaged, whether that's through passion or advocacy to be a part of some positive change.
So I mean, if you join our work group and in our alliance, we have, I think it's five different work groups, some focus on kind of life span. So from birth to death, if you will, and what it looks like to be a caregiver for a child, a young child with disability.
But it might also be for caring, you know, for an aging parent or aging loved one. And of course, respite throughout that life span is needed and as well as services to support the caregiver. So we have a work group dedicated for that.
And I believe, again, there's five of them and I can go through each of them. But if you go to our website on the Wisconsin caregiver.org, you're able to see each of those work groups. And if you're thinking that you could dial into one of those or you have something to share.
They typically only meet about an hour a month. Some of them are even less. They might only meet about an hour, an hour every quarter.
So the actual meeting time isn't significant, but there is work. We want you know, we want it to be a mutual beneficial relationship. So if you know you're taking on the assignment or the homework, if you will, from one work group to get things done and accomplished and report out for the next.
We want that because we want success. We want to see good momentum and positive change. So that's going to take passionate individuals.
And so you mentioned to go to Wisconsin caregiver.org. And I know that we're coming up on time. But I want to spend the rest of the time just talking about that because it is such an essential website for caregivers in Wisconsin. It's really a one stop shop. Can you let listeners know what they can find at Wisconsin caregiver.org?
Yes. And I do want to qualify that it's growing. So it is, you know, what it looks like now may not be what it looks like in six months as far as the content. Hopefully it'll be much more in six months.
But the Wisconsin caregiver.org site is really a supplement to the ADRC. You can find information about how to apply for grants that you might be eligible for information about the work group virtual caregiver support and other resources.
Thank you so much, Bren, for coming on today and sharing that information. I encourage everyone to go to Wisconsin caregiver.org. Check out the alliance. See if there's something that aligns with you, your beliefs, your values that you want to jump into and support.
And if not, there's tons of resources out there to support you. Thank you so much, Bren. Thank you.
You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Liza Helen brand. And I was speaking earlier with Mr. Caden Krut, a young man and my son with multiple disabilities who gets up every day and just nails it right.
Yeah, which is me. Oh, before I start, can everybody hear me? Yes. Perfect. Okay. Perfect.
Awesome.
Okay. Well, we were just listening earlier with Bren Seaman from the Wisconsin family and caregiver support alliance. Big key takeaway from her. Wisconsin caregiver.org. That's where you can go to find all things caregiving in Wisconsin, including when I was mentioning earlier.
The Toronto platform, which is an online platform that the state of Wisconsin pays for for caregivers to help them get the support resources online training that they need to be successful caregivers.
And so, Bren, I heard her say she just started flexing her advocacy muscle, which made me think of you, because you got some big muscles going on, right? Hit the gym. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely, especially this school you're right been doing it. Yeah. And not you're not skipping leg day, bro, right?
Not to not to anyone's knowledge, not to anyone's not fair enough, fair enough, but it's talking about flexing that advocacy muscle. That was one thing that I wanted to talk to you about, because I feel like when you learned to become an advocate for yourself, it increased your confidence.
And you really started to grow. So what does advocacy mean to you, Kaden?
Advocacy means like speaking up and telling people like what?
Telling people telling people what you need and oh, I can't hear myself. Okay, telling people what you need. Sorry, sorry about that.
Telling people what you need and like just kind of getting to, um, well, that's it. Ready?
Basically speaking up for yourself.
All all paying in situations and telling people what what you need.
What are some times you've advocated for yourself?
Something that I've advocated for myself for is like, um, let's see here now. Oh, like a time I have is when I was getting bullied.
When I wanted to be manager for the basketball team, another time was at work when I wanted to be manager for the basketball team. Tell me about that.
Um, I wanted to be manager for my school's basketball team, the school I go to right now. Yeah.
And I had to advocate the teachers about it. Yeah, you had to let the teachers know that you were interested in it, right?
And then that was like the year before. So then you had to follow up with it. And there's, there was steps that you had to take, right?
Yeah, I think, um, eventually as I got more into the school, like, as I was only new last year, I wanted to do something like that.
And then just this last semester, I got to, I won't be able to.
Okay.
And so you were able to become the manager. And then you also, uh, I did advocacy work at school, right?
And I would also like to advocate and see I can't hear anything on my headphones right now.
Well, advocacy and action. How about now? Can you hear me now?
Yes. Thank you.
Wonderful. Tell me about your school advocacy. Um, what did that look like? What's the time that you advocated in school?
Another time I advocated in school was what I wanted to perform in fine arts week. Um, uh, this was back in high school.
Uh, yeah, fine arts week. Yeah. I've totally forgot about that, Caden.
Why don't you tell listeners the story? Cause that's something that we never shared about your super secret power.
So I have this ability to remember, uh, days, years and like the day the week people were born.
Right. You can kind of go back and remember just about every day of your life. I believe it's hyper thymesia.
I'm never quite sure if I'm pronouncing that right. But when you were little, remember we went to Marquette University.
Yeah. That was on like Saturday, November 5, 2016. We went there in another time was on Friday, December 9, 2016.
Yes. That's right. You know, let's, let's quiz Nate. Let's put Nate on, on the spot for a minute.
Sheldon, right? You know, you mind telling us your, your birthday. If you don't want to give the year, you don't have to give the year.
I'll give the year. Okay. November 2nd, 1995.
November 2nd, 1995. Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. So what I'm going to do here is, um, gotcha.
Um, what I'm going to do here is so I'm going to take my sister's birthday because she was born one year before and by a month,
which would have been Tuesday, October 4th, 1994. But I know that went the same pattern as 2016.
And, um, so we got to go a month later. So knowing that Halloween that year would have been a Monday, I have to go to, um,
Wednesday, November 2nd and 94, but then you add one year later and then that's a Thursday.
So you got to Google it. He's not always right. Yeah. I have no idea what day of the week, my birthday.
Let me Google this. Okay. Okay. So we'll, we'll, and you're, oh, sorry.
And I, and you are also on 28 years old. Yeah. So, so you're saying that he was born on a Thursday.
And he's going to get back to us to see if that is correct. And that is correct. And so, and so next year in 2024,
what day will Nate's birthday fall on? Do you know?
A lucky Friday and he'll be 29. A lucky Friday. Well, I can only. That sounds correct.
I can only assume that, that you're, that you're right. But, uh, yeah, I remember you trying to explain this to me once.
And I, I did not get it. And all of that stuff that you were throwing out there, your sister's birthday Halloween and whatever you do, you do.
You got it right, right? Yeah. It's a special ability. It's just not by heart. Yes. And I remember that, that I stumbled upon that because I was teaching you.
How old were, how old were you when I discovered that you had this?
I was in fourth grade when we discovered this. You were like, how are you getting these days right?
Because I wrote on a sheet of paper that the first Avengers movie came out Friday, May 4, 2012. And you were like,
Kaden, that was two years ago. Well, 11 years ago now, but at the time.
Yeah. You wrote a list of movies down and the release dates. And I, and I said, where did you get these release dates?
And you said, oh, I know them. And then I said, go play. And I got the computer out and I checked them. And you are right on, on everyone, a whole list.
Yeah. It's crazy. Like, that's how I remember all the days. And it's one more thing I like to say.
A shout out to one of my friends who actually remembers my birthday by heart and my sister's day by heart.
I don't know how she knows, but, yes, she just knows it by heart.
Who, who's that? Were you giving a shout out to?
Nadia.
To Nadia.
Mary Christmas to Nadia and her entire family. Thank you for joining me tonight. Kaden Krut.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you.