As summer draws near, it means hot weather and long days, but it also means the season for Power soccer. Power soccer is a competitive team sport in which players maneuver power wheelchairs equipped with a specialized metal footguard. Two teams of four players each, use their wheelchairs and these footguards to move an oversized soccer ball around a basketball court. The rules of power soccer are similar to traditional soccer, and the team that scores the most number of points after two twenty-minute halves wins the game.

For more, we’re joined by two guests, Tyler Czapkay is a current player of power soccer, and Julie Fuller is a former power soccer coach. And our own co-host, Alexa Guerrero, played power soccer from 2009 to 2018.

April is Brain Injury Awareness Month. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, 1 in 60 Americans are living with a permanent brain injury, and 2.8 million traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, occur every year in the United States alone.

On today’s show, we are joined by Carl Magruder. In August, 2023, he was doing what he loved to do: ride his motorcycle. He got into an accident and, as he says, ”bonked my head.” That ”bonk” resulted in an extended hospital stay and a medically induced coma to give his brain time to heal. He was in the hospital for just over a month and then continued his healing process at home.

Carl Magruder is a Bay Area native. He earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion and followed his calling to become a hospice chaplain. Prior to his accident in 2023, Carl was a home-based palliative care chaplain in Humboldt County and then served as a chaplain at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Carl is an Advanced Practice Board Certified Chaplain with the Spiritual Care Association, and is endorsed by the Religious Society of Friends.

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a long-term disease that causes breakdown of the protective covering of nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This breakdown in the protective covering makes it harder for messages from the brain to travel to other parts of the body. MS affects each person who has it differently, and the severity of the symptoms varies widely. People with MS may have chronic fatigue, have trouble seeing, feel numbness, or have difficulty walking. There is no cure, but treatments can help reduce symptoms and slow the progression of the condition.

We’re joined today by two guests who have multiple sclerosis. Kelley Hartman is a retired occupational therapist, joining us from outside of Denver, Colorado. And from Steuben, Maine, Mary Pancoast is with us. Mary is an artist and retired Montessori teacher. Kelley and Mary share with us their experiences of life with multiple sclerosis and the physical, mental, and financial realities - from retirement to relocation and rearranging life priorities.