Life As Best Friends & Professional Paralympic Swimmers/w Anastasia Pagonis & Gia Pergolini 2/2 | Episode #22
Life As Best Friends & Professional Paralympic Swimmers/w Anastasia Pagonis & Gia Pergolini 2/2 | Ep #22
This episode is the conclusion of the conversation with Anastasia and Gia! These two extraordinary young women talk more about their daily life, training regimen, and how their long distance friendship keeps them going day to day.
Don't miss out – hit that subscribe button and join us on a journey that's all about smashing expectations, celebrating victories, and embracing the power of the human spirit. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and totally blown away by Anastasia Pagonis & Gia Pergolini.
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0:00:10.1 Gia Pergolini: Hi, I am Gia Pergolini. I am a Paralympic swimmer. I have Stargardt disease, so I'm legally blind. And I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and that's where I'm here now. But I do go to college and I swim for college at the Florida International University.
0:00:30.4 Anastasia Pagonis: Hi, I'm Anastasia Pagonis. I'm a Paralympic gold and bronze medalist and I'm from Long Island, New York. I have a few diagnoses, very lucky in the eye department. So one disease that I have that took away pretty much my central vision. It doesn't have a lot of research. It's a very big gene, but it's called ABCA4. And I have another disease which is autoimmune retinopathy. So my body thinks that my retina is bad and attacks it very similar to the way that alopecia attacks your hair follicle and kills it.
0:01:02.0 Dr. Patrick Droste: Well, you girls are rockstars.
0:01:06.7 AP: Thank you.
0:01:07.5 DD: So, but just keep it up.
0:01:09.9 Nicole Guidici: Toss, I know you have a big social media presence on Instagram. Along that line, can you give us some insight into just your social media reach and how you contribute to the narrative for visually impaired people? But also I'm curious, I know you guys are very close as visually impaired young adults and you have the swimming in common, but is there a network of people that you guys can kind of fall back on and kind of rally around. And if there is such a thing, how would somebody who's looking to get into this, how would they find that network of people and kind of insert themselves in there?
0:01:47.5 AP: Yeah, so I do a lot on Instagram and TikTok. And my thing is pretty much to change the way that people, "see the visually impaired and blind," because I feel like there's a huge stigma on the visually impaired and blind that we have to look a certain way, act a certain way, and be a certain way. And that's just not true. People think that I have to walk around with sunglasses and a cane and walk like a zombie, which just isn't the case. So I wanna show them that no, I can dress cute, I can wear makeup, I can be a professional athlete and kind of break down those stereotypes for them. And on Instagram, I kind of share my life, and I do a lot of dark humor 'cause that's my way of sharing myself. And I it kind of gravitates to people. For me personally, I didn't... And I don't really have a group of visually impaired people that I talk to. I kind of just have Gia. And when I want to go to Starbucks in the morning, and nobody can take me, I call her and I cry on the phone and tell her, "why can't I drive?" And she says the same thing for me. [laughter]
0:02:48.5 Speaker 5: I just wanna say that I follow you on TikTok, and I spend time looking through your comments and stuff and just seeing...
0:03:00.1 AP: I'm sorry. Yeah, they're wrong.
0:03:03.2 S5: No, well, not... But I'm talking more of the positive ones.
[laughter]
0:03:08.4 S5: Just the ones where you have these younger, especially girls who look up to you and see the way that you are living and stuff like that. And I think it's awesome. So I just wanted to let you know. [laughter]
0:03:23.1 AP: Thank you. I appreciate that 'cause I do get a lot of negativity. And in the beginning, it was really hard for me. My mom was like deleting comments all the time. Again, 'cause people are super ignorant and they just, they don't understand blindness in any way. They're like, "oh, well, you're moving your eyes, you're blinking, you're faking, you're not blind." And I'm like, "oh, okay. Yeah."
[laughter]
0:03:42.6 AP: "For sure."
0:03:42.9 S5: Unfortunately, it's like everyone who presents themself on social media, who is, has really any sort of disability, you have those people that think they're right about everything.
0:03:55.9 AP: Of course.
0:03:56.9 S5: And wanna call you out. And... [laughter]
0:04:01.1 AP: Of course, I mean they're ignorant, and that's the thing. Like, they just don't know any better. And that's why I'm kind of trying to teach them in a way that they would understand again, with my dark humor and like kind of putting it in their perspective and trying to explain it to them in that way, so I can kind of keep their attention and be funny, but at the same time, hope that they're learning something. [laughter]
0:04:22.6 NG: Do you happen to know, as far as like your social media followers, do you have more followers who are visually impaired? Or do you have more followers who are not visually impaired?
0:04:34.2 AP: I don't know, but I would definitely say I have a pretty large following. So I would assume that most of them are not visually impaired. But I definitely have a good handful of people that are visually impaired and that we can bond over that I guess. Or I'll get a comment here and there being like, "yeah, like same, definitely same." I think I just recently posted pretty much like it was a reel about how I was talking to the neighbor outside, but she wasn't talking to me. She was on the phone, but I thought she was talking to me, so I was talking back to her. And I had some people commenting like, "oh, I do that all the time." And I'm like, "oh, same." [laughter]
0:05:14.2 S5: I just did that at work today. I was cleaning. Well, I was cleaning a cabinet and I didn't realize there was a mirror in it. And so I was sitting talking to myself in the mirror. [laughter]
0:05:25.9 AP: Okay, I have not gone to that level, but it probably was cute. You're like, "oh, she's [0:05:32.5] ____ over there."
[laughter]
0:05:34.3 S5: Oh my god, it was so bad. [laughter] So I understand the pain. [laughter]
0:05:39.9 AP: Yeah, definitely.
0:05:42.5 GP: Yeah, she's a really amazing person. She's being super modest, but she has touched so many people and she puts in so much hard work into her videos and into her social media. And I see the behind the scenes and I know I'm her best friend, but she is literally my role model, and I look up to her every day. And she's younger than me, but I inspire to be her one day [laughter] when I'm older. But yeah, I love her to death, and she's the most hardworking person I've ever met, and she deserves every positive comment, positive thing that comes her way.
0:06:23.9 AP: Thank you. I appreciate that. And she's being humble herself. I feel like we both went on different directions. Like I just, I couldn't handle school and especially being on a D1 team and all that pressure. So she inspires me every day with that as well. Like I just know for me, like I could never do that. I could never be in a different place without people there that could help me all the time. And like going through campus and school and being a division one athlete with no other disabled people, like on her team, it's actually freaking crazy. I feel like people underestimate that, but it's insane.
0:06:58.0 DD: But you see, this is what I'm saying, you're both very gifted in different ways and you're both using your gifts to a maximum to help the world you're in.
0:07:07.3 AP: Thank you.
0:07:08.9 DD: So I think that's what our podcast, what the PRRF is trying to do. And so we're just very fortunate to have you with us. And this is gonna go around the world, this podcast. And don't be surprised if you hear some people from Europe or the United Kingdom.
0:07:28.0 GP: Please, I'll go to Europe. Are you okay? [laughter]
0:07:29.8 DD: And then, so now how close physically, I'm talking about geography now...
0:07:36.7 AP: Not close.
0:07:39.3 DD: Do you... Not close. All right. So you do it all electronically then, right?
0:07:42.8 AP: No, we visit each other. We try to see each other probably like four times a year. I mean, we're very close. I was just up there in March and I think she's coming, I think she's coming next week to come see me.
0:07:53.8 GP: I've been trying to come next week. I am doing everything in my power...
[laughter]
0:08:00.0 AP: We try to see each other often. But again...
0:08:03.0 DD: So where do you live, Ta?
0:08:03.0 AP: I'm on...
0:08:06.2 DD: Toss, Toss. Sorry, Toss.
0:08:09.2 AP: It's okay. I'm Long Island, New York.
0:08:13.0 DD: Okay. And Gia?
0:08:13.1 GP: I'm in Atlanta, Georgia.
0:08:14.4 DD: Alright, so...
0:08:16.4 GP: So it's 50,000 phone calls a day. 40 million hours each phone call. And we...
0:08:24.1 DD: Well, then that's good. [laughter] That's really good. Now are you on the same team when you go to the Paralympics? You must be the same team, right?
0:08:33.4 GP: Yes.
0:08:34.8 AP: Yes. We both on team USA.
[laughter]
0:08:35.2 GP: We're always roommates. That's great.
0:08:38.4 DD: So when does that start? I mean, we're two year... No, you're only a year away. So when does training... I mean, I know you train all the time, but let's just say formal training, when does that start?
0:08:50.3 AP: For swimming, I feel like formal training is all the time. So we're constantly training for the end goal, which is Paris for us. Obviously I'm not training right now, but I'm hoping to get back into it soon. Well, not soon, hopefully by the beginning of next year. [laughter] And I feel like we're always kind of training for that end goal. But our first kind of meet to set us in place for Paris will be trials in June and then hopefully getting our ticket to Paris.
0:09:20.0 DD: So the trials are next June?
0:09:23.0 AP: Yes, trials are June, 2024, and then Paris will be August 2024. And hopefully me and Gia will be roommates again. [laughter]
0:09:32.0 DD: Is there such thing as getting prepared too soon and then being on the daily mind of your physical preparedness or do you have to time it carefully?
0:09:40.0 GP: I believe it's not, I feel like it's not mostly physical. For me, I mean, I've been training... Before Tokyo, I was training for Tokyo for years and years and years. But when it became mental, I didn't fully invest into it until a year prior or... Yes, a year prior to Tokyo. And so you can train all you want, but if your head's not in it, then you're not gonna go anywhere. And I believe that's what made Toss and I so successful in Tokyo is because we had that mental aspect along. We had an end goal, we wanted to achieve it. We were fully invested in our sport and that's what made us successful during the Paralympics.
0:10:30.1 DD: Can you describe a little bit about the preparation for people that don't know much about swimming? What would be, let's say a year before your date, what would your workout trial be? What would you do? Let's say now, 'cause it's June of next year is when the trials are, so how are you preparing now?
0:10:53.1 AP: I just wanna mention something quickly. Me and Gia are both supposed to be competing at Worlds in Manchester right now, but we're both kind of on a medical leave. So just to put that out there right now. So I'm also gonna let Gia take this question because she obviously I think would better answer it.
0:11:12.0 GP: Okay. So yeah, as of right now, yes, I am on a medical leave, so I'm not... I believed for myself and for my mental health, I needed to take a small break from swimming, but I am still training, just I have more control over it and I'm falling back in love with the sport again. And I'm very excited for swimming season for my college to start again. So I will be starting again in a month. But I feel like my best, best example would be before Tokyo, a year prior to Tokyo, I was in high school still and I was on a very, very high level club team. I think it's Dynamo Swim Club, it's third in the nation, very, very hard. So I would be, I was a sophomore and I would be going to morning practice for two hours, then I would be going to school from 8:15 to 3:45 and then for practice again from 4:00 to 6:30.
0:12:19.0 GP: So it's a lot of training, a lot of hard work and there... It is tough, but in the moment, yes, it's exhausting, but you're kind of in the groove of things. Like you don't know what it's like to, I don't know, be settled down, if that makes sense. I was so used to my schedule that it was kind of, I was on autopilot the whole time of when I was training and going to school. And yeah, that was kind of what I was doing before a year prior to Tokyo. And it wasn't until the year of Tokyo where I was like, "okay, I really need to get my mental aspect in and not my physical aspect," because like I said, I was kind of in autopilot just doing what everyone told me. But I wasn't really invested or thinking about, "okay, how can I achieve these goals and make my practice worth it," if that makes sense. Because you can be out of practice and just do the workout and get no benefit from it. But if you are in it to get better and saying, "hey, maybe I can do this better or focus on this certain aspect in my swimming during this practice to make my times faster for the next meet," then that was more closer to the year of Tokyo. So.
0:14:00.7 DD: Do you or, and Toss, have any spiritual reservoirs that help keep you fueled or any... I'm asking that you can dig down when faced with conditions beyond comprehension? I mean, do you have a...
0:14:18.1 AP: Yeah, I feel like I got a lot thrown at me this past year. It's been a very interesting year. So I'm kind of just trying to hold onto myself and keep myself kind of grounded in the situation. And something that's been helping me a lot is honestly just taking each and every day one step at a time. So today I was just focusing on physical therapy and like how can I do everything in my power today to make my shoulder stronger and taking it one step at a time, and then kind of back in like race mode. I always pray before my race. I feel like that's something that really helps me. And it's something that actually me and Gia did right before our race. My race was the race right before hers. And actually right when I got out of the pool, I was interviewing with NBC and I was told that Gia also won a gold medal and it was just a really special moment. But anyways, before that we prayed together and something that I kind of do every time before my race is I eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. I don't know, that was my thing.
0:15:19.8 GP: I always try to steal her Lucky Charms when...
0:15:23.4 AP: I was so mad. I was like, "you cannot eat my lucky charms. I need those. [laughter]
0:15:30.9 GP: Always.
0:15:31.8 DD: That's great.
0:15:32.9 GP: But we're very... I'm personally very spiritual and very, very close to God. And I definitely owe him all for all my successes and he is the one who's given me all this. And I definitely, me and... Like Toss said, we definitely pray before our races and...
0:15:52.8 AP: We're both really nervous and it was really cute. I remember being in the elevator with her... [laughter]
0:15:57.8 GP: We're eating our lucky charms and then praying. [laughter] and hey, it worked. So now...
0:16:05.2 DD: It works. It always works. Yeah. You just throw it up there and say, "Lord, let me do the best I can do and you do the rest." Right?
0:16:14.1 GP: Amen. [laughter]
0:16:15.7 DD: All right.
0:16:15.8 NG: Okay. I'm curious, how does this come to fruition that you end up on the Paralympic team? Are you scouted? Who are these people? Where are they finding you? How does this all come to fruition?
0:16:27.9 GP: So for me, I was 12 at the time and my club coach, coach Ansy, love him, he came up to me and he was like, "have you ever heard of Paralympics?" And I was like, "no, I never heard of it." He was like, "it's for athletes with disabilities." And I was 12, I was young, I didn't quite understand it. I was like, "I don't have a disability." I was kind of offended in a way because I didn't know what it was, and I was so young and naive at the time. And so he was like, just look it out, "just see what it is." And I told my mother, and Georgia is actually one of the, has a pretty big Paralympic swimming... What's it called?
0:17:25.2 DD: Program.
0:17:26.0 GP: Program, yes. Paralympic swimming program, which in the Tokyo, there was actually, I think four Paralympic swimmers from Georgia. So I visited one of them and she told me about it. And we went to a Fred Lambeck meet, which if you don't know, Fred Lambeck started, it's like a huge person for para swimming in Georgia. He started the whole program, and I went to one of his swim meets to see what it was. And I was really fascinated, and I met people with similar disabilities to me, and I was so in awe. And then all of a sudden they were like, "you should go to Canada." I'm like, "oh, what?" [laughter] And so I went to Canada for national championships and I was in awe. I saw some of the biggest Paralympic swimmers, Michelle Konkoly, who else? I don't remember who else. But [laughter], I saw some of them and I was just in awe.
0:18:33.0 GP: And then Coach Queenie, who was the head of the coaches at the time, came up to me. Mind you, I was 12, so I didn't know what was going on, but I was just so fascinated by everyone and impressed with everyone. And she was like, "we want you to get classified," which means go get tested, go see doctors so you can be determined which classification you should be in. And I ended up being an S13, but to be classified, I needed to go international. So I went to Berlin and I was very young, very new, but I kind of, I was kind of scared and intimidated at the same time, but it was so amazing seeing people from other countries competing. And I fell in love with it. And then all of a sudden I was going to world trial, world championship trials.
0:19:36.7 DD: You were 12 and 13 years of age?
0:19:40.7 GP: Yes, 12, 13 years of age. And I was in Berlin, travel... My mom was a basket case. I was traveling by myself to Berlin and meeting up with the team. But then I was pretty successful there, so they were like, "go to world championship trials." So I went to world championship trials in Colorado Springs, and then I made the team and then I got to go to Mexico City for World Championships in 2017. And I got silver in the hundred backstroke there. And ever since then, my goal was Tokyo. So that's kind of how I started just when I was 13, going from Augusta, Georgia to Mexico City in a year.
0:20:27.1 DD: Wow. Amazing story.
0:20:28.5 NG: How about, Toss?
0:20:31.0 AP: I kind of got involved from my mom, my mom's big research person. So she found out about the Paralympics and I went to my first meet, which was a US open in Cincinnati. And it was really amazing being able to kind of race against people who had similar disabilities to me. It was amazing being able to do that. I got my butt kicked, but not the point. And I was kind of able to do that, which was amazing. And I slowly was building my way up. I was able to get classified, which I ended up getting classified as an S13 at the time. And then I went to my first international meet, which was in Italy and I got reclassified again as an S12. And it was just an amazing experience. And for the Paralympics, there are four different teams that you can make.
0:21:19.3 AP: So there's the emerging team, which is pretty much a time standard that you have to qualify to be able to make the team. So there's emerging and then there's National Team C, national Team B, and national team A. So me and Gia are both on national team A, and it's pretty much a certain percentage off of whoever won third place at the previous games, if that makes any sense. They take a percentage from it and pretty much figure out what the national cuts will be for your classification and for whoever podiumed. It's a very confusing process. But yeah, that's kind of how I got into it and kind of how the national team and everything works.
0:22:00.5 DD: Thank you. Thank you. It's very, you're really educating us. Thank you very much.
0:22:08.0 NG: Do you think there's anything that we haven't asked you that you would like everybody to know?
0:22:16.6 AP: I don't think so. Gia?
0:22:18.6 GP: No.
0:22:20.9 S5: I have one more question for you guys before we go. So we've talked a lot about swimming and how it's basically your entire worlds and stuff, but when you guys aren't training or competing or stuff, whatever, what do you guys like to do?
0:22:35.8 GP: Call each other.
0:22:39.2 AP: Yeah, pretty much.
0:22:42.2 GP: You wanna go or should I?
0:22:45.8 AP: Let's do it like a head nod as if you could see that, "Go. Yes, go."
0:22:47.3 GP: I couldn't see it, but thank you. Like I said, I'm in college. I love hanging out with friends, spending time with them. I mean, it's a very rarity when we get free time, so I love to use that wisely. Sometimes I love to just be lazy and I'm obsessed with movies and TV shows. Toss can attest to that, but just either spending time with friends, calling Toss, or watching a movie or eating junk food, that's also a good fun side for me. But yeah.
0:23:24.8 DD: But don't you think that's kind of necessary considering the strict regimen that you both of you have put yourself into? I mean, that's almost unnatural. That's almost unhealthy to... And I think you need to time the veg. It just balances out. It's kind of like sleep. How much sleep do you get at night when you're training?
0:23:51.3 AP: I sleep a lot. Well, not at night, but during my peak training, I unfortunately was training about an hour away from my house. But I would go to sleep at around 10:00 and then I would have to be up at around 3:45 or 4:00 because I had practice about an hour away at 5:00 AM, so it was a lot. But I would take very, very long naps. I was really blessed to be homeschooled, so I was able to kind of sleep on the car ride home, do some school on the car ride home, and then I was able to take a nap, which was a big thing for me. So in my spare time, I'm not in school anymore. But I like to kind of nap, relax. I have a guide dog Radar, so I love to do things with Radar and call Gia.
0:24:38.8 NG: Okay. I have logistic questions 'cause I'm super curious. I think I missed it. Toss, what stroke do you swim normally?
0:24:45.0 AP: Yeah, I'm a distance freestyler and then IMer.
0:24:48.3 NG: Okay. So you guys keep talking about flip turns and it boggles my mind. When you flip turn, how do you know where you are in the lane? Like how do you keep that straight? Because that even as a sighted person, I'm gonna confess and I'm trying to learn how to swim and I'm not very good. But even as a sighted person, it's hard to flip turn and come off of that wall and have your bearings about you, where you are in the lane, how deep you are, all of that. How do you do that?
0:25:20.1 GP: I mean, definitely... I guess the best way to explain it, we swim 4,000 yards a day and we do so many flip turns. You kind of get muscle memory on where, for me at least, where I am and where I'm at in the pool. So flip turns are kind of like, I don't know how to explain it, just an instinct already for...
0:25:51.7 NG: Do you have like a radar that kind of tells you when you're getting close?
0:25:56.2 GP: My echolocation.
0:25:58.2 NG: Echolocation. Yeah.
0:26:01.2 AP: For me, it's a little bit different. I was actually at, one of my first national meets and I went into the other lane. So yeah, definitely a little bit more confusing. But it's again, all about muscle memory. So when I'm flipping, I have to make sure that my legs are grounded like perfectly, and I put the same and equal amount of pressure on both legs, because if I push too much with my left, I'm going in the right lane. So I kind of like focus on that and kind of making sure that every detail is pretty specific. Again, I use tappers, so my turns will never be good. And that's something that is kind of expected in my classification. Listen, if you find someone in an S11 category that has good turns, God bless them. But it's not me. And it's just something that again is muscle memory. But I am pretty much expected to not have a good turn. Thankfully, my race in Tokyo for my 400 free, everything went super well for me. I think I had one bad turn on my last 50. I got pretty close. The announcers were like, "ooh, that was a close turn for Pagonis." But it's okay. We made it.
0:27:16.3 DD: Wow. What a story. Does anyone else have any other questions for our two superstars here?
0:27:24.2 NG: I don't have a question, but I'll make a comment that I admire you, Toss, so much for taking the step back and publicly voicing the mental health break that you need. And I think it's only been in the very recent years that Olympic athletes have really started speaking out about this, and I don't think the public was aware. And just to hear you talk about that and to bring light to the Paralympic audience that the same problem exists. Kudos to you. I really do admire you.
0:27:56.2 AP: Thank you. I really appreciate that. I feel like mental health is something that needs to be kind of talked about enough. In Tokyo, Gia can 100% say that this is true, I had a really, really bad mental breakdown one day. I was getting extremely overwhelmed with like media. I was doing too much and it was just something that got carried away. And I had a crazy mental breakdown and I told Gia, I'm like, "I'm not coming to practice today." And I was bashed for it, like from the coaches and stuff. And I was like, "Gia, you tell them that I'm not coming and I'm staying here because I needed to focus on my mental health. And if that meant that I was missing a day of practicing a few days before the biggest event of my life, then so be it. It was something that I needed to do." And Gia can definitely, yeah. I was definitely like yelling and snapping at her.
0:28:44.5 GP: Oh yeah. The sport is majority, I think any sport is definitely more mental than physical, and that's why I knew it was best for me to step back this summer and focus on my mental health if I want to be successful in Paris. And a lot of... Some athletes speak out on it, but not a lot of people know that mental, being mentally ready and being mentally in it is so important. And if you're not in it, then there's no point in doing it. So yeah, that's why this summer I was like, I need to focus on my mental health and get back into it and fall in love with the sport. And it's the best thing I did for myself because now I am so ready to come back and start swimming again and get ready for Paris.
0:29:44.8 AP: Yeah, I'm definitely so proud of Gia for like kind of learning her, learning her limits in a way and kind of knowing that she needed to take a step back. And that's something that not a lot of athletes do. They kind of just keep pushing themselves 'cause that's what we're trained for. But yeah, I'm just really proud of her for that.
0:30:03.3 GP: Thank You. Thank you. And before Tokyo, there was also a lot behind the scenes. I mean, I suffered with alopecia and being in high school and also being visually impaired. I had a full on mental breakdown three months prior to Tokyo and I almost quit swimming. But thankfully, I talked to some people, I talked to my support team, and I knew if I quit, I would regret it in five years. So I pushed through it and I got... My coach at the time, coach Nick, also really helped me get back into the sport. And that's why him and my support team are pretty much the reason why I did so successful in Tokyo. And I think I just pushed it after Tokyo a little too much. So now, I'm like, "okay, now I need a break."
0:31:07.4 DD: I think that's good decision making. I think that's part of the life skill thing I was talking about, because it just doesn't affect you as swimmers, but it affects professionals and it certainly affects physicians. No question about that. And you gotta kind of know when to unplug. I just have one other question, which is just regarding... I hope I'll get her name right. Toss.
0:31:34.3 AP: Yeah, you do.
0:31:34.8 DD: Do you find your social media activity is, is it helpful to keep you balanced? Do you think it's a distraction? And how many hours a day do you spend on your, would you say, on your social media mission?
0:31:49.2 AP: Yeah. So I started social media as a way of kind of therapy for me. I started by sharing my story and sharing my journey and talking about things and feeling vulnerable. And at the time I had 10 followers, but those 10 followers were really supportive of me. And I slowly was able to grow my platform and get this huge following of people that wanted to learn and that were interested in me and that were able to, even though they might not have a disability and they might not be visually impaired, but they kind of were relating to me in a way, which I thought was really important. I'm just so thankful for kind of the community that I have grown. I personally think that social media is a 24/7 job because you will never get a break. Last week I was, me and my mom were up until like one o'clock in the morning just trying to figure things out because it can definitely be very stressful and a lot. But I love it so much, and I love the supporters and honestly the family that I've grown on social media, because obviously I have people that aren't super fond of me and they might be confused and ignorant and not understanding, but I hope that I'm able to kind of teach them in some way and I don't know, shine my little light.
0:33:04.9 DD: That's beautiful. Shine your light. Both of you have shined it very well. We would really like to thank you for your time and we hope to bring you back again. You're so engaging and enchanting. And as I said earlier, your lives are gonna take incredible upward spirals and we would like to kind of stay in touch with you. And I know you're gonna be a great inspiration to the people that listen to this podcast, many of whom are starting on the journey that you started years ago. So on behalf of the PRRF and Through Our Eyes podcast, I'd like to thank you very much for your time, both of you. And does anyone else have anything else to say?
0:33:46.3 NG: No, you guys were amazing. I learned so much and I can't wait to see how you guys do next year.
0:33:52.1 AP: Thank you.
0:33:52.1 GP: Thank you.
0:33:55.9 DD: And we, like Nicole, I guarantee you, you are on the radar now. I am gonna start looking at Paralympics and the training and so on. I didn't even know it was on TV, to be honest with you. But I'm not a big TV person. I have to have a motion or a reason to watch TV. But you've certainly given all of us a reason to follow you.
0:34:18.6 AP: Thank you. I'm glad that Gia and I could kind of share the light of the Paralympics for you guys. So thank you.
0:34:21.1 DD: You certainly have. And many other lights I might add.
0:34:26.9 NG: I was just gonna say, you guys are definitely amazing athletes, but you are so much more than that.
0:34:32.3 DD: Yeah, you're good team.
0:34:34.7 NG: Thanks for sharing.
0:34:34.8 DD: You're a very good team. The two of you.
0:34:36.5 AP: Oh yeah. I would not have survived Tokyo without this girl. So although me walking into her door a few times was not the funnest experience, but we live and we learn.
0:34:45.5 GP: There's so many stories, but that's for another time. But it's definitely the blind leading the blind.
0:34:54.6 DD: Well, you're doing such a noble job. Alright. Well, thank you very much. And we will be watching you very carefully. And not only that, we are gonna be praying for both of you.
0:35:06.4 AP: Thank you.
0:35:06.7 GP: Thank you.
0:35:07.2 DD: Because I think it's the most powerful force on earth. And we will certainly keep you in our prayers because we know you're in a very stressful situation. Thank you very much.
0:35:15.9 AP: Thank you. We both appreciate that. So.
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0:35:21.3 DD: The podcast is called Through Our Eyes. Make sure to like and follow our Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. And let us know whether you have any questions or have a topic you would like us to cover. We have tremendous things planned, and we hope you tune in again for our next podcast. This is Dr. Droste saying goodnight to all of you on behalf of our staff, the PRRF. Thank you.
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