Jordan Thomas - How a Double Amputee Turned Tragedy Into Purpose

Full transcript of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 994 with Jordan Thomas.

My name is Jordan Thomas from the Jordan Thomas Foundation, and this is the Tom Rowland Podcast.

Tom: Jordan, how are you, man?

Jordan: Man, all good. All good. Busy, but really all good stuff, fun stuff I get to do in my life. I'm just at a fun point in my life where I get to do stuff that fills me up, and I don't have to do anything I don't really wanna do, you know?

Tom: Well, tell me, tell me about what it is that you're doing that fills you up and has you being so happy right now.

Jordan: Yeah, man. So first and foremost, all the work that we're doing at the foundation. I mean, we're just growing like a weed, and we're able to impact kids' lives. We've got about a hundred and fifty kids that we'll provide prosthetics for until they reach adulthood. And not just that — it's like we've developed this community and support network and mentorship and scholarships. We're just coming alongside these kids and developing a community of people that have been through a whole hell of a lot, and there's just — it's filled with love, man. That's the driving force of it all. It's just love and community, and that's a pretty awesome thing to be a part of.

Tom: That is. And congratulations to you for taking something that was not such a positive thing and turning it into something that's ultra positive. For people that are listening, I obviously know your story, but I think that we're gonna need to go into your story so that people understand what this foundation is, where this foundation was born, and why. So do you mind telling your story a little bit?

The Accident

Jordan: Sure. Totally. I mean, the story all started in August 2005. I was just a kid that went scuba diving seven miles off the coast in the Keys, and I hopped into the water and was on the surface. It was real choppy and windy that day, so the swells were massive. Somehow I just kinda kept creeping closer and closer to the boat, and my mom saw how close I was getting. The fear was that the boat would crash down and come down on top of me. So, in an instant, she gunned the boat to try to get out of the way, and the prop pulled me in, and I knew what had happened instantly. I looked down and my fins were gone, and I just saw blood in the water. I knew what had happened pretty instantly.

Tom: Wow. And so what did happen is you lost both of your legs?

Jordan: Yeah, that's right. And so that made for one hell of a ride home — forty-five minutes on the boat. I'm really lucky that both my parents are physicians, so they knew how to apply tourniquets with croakies, towels, everything we had, to try to limit the bleeding as much as we could. And, yeah, I'll just tell you, it was so close to going the other way, and it didn't. For me, I was really lucky to survive. I was an able-bodied sixteen-year-old kid who was born into a circumstance where I'd have access to the best prosthetics possible, and it hit me that other kids didn't. It wasn't like God spoke to me in the middle of the night — I was just a sixteen-year-old kid who was like, man, this is ridiculous, this is not right. So I made a decision right then and there, as a sixteen-year-old in the hospital, to say we're gonna do something about this — we're gonna be a force for good for these kids that can't advocate for themselves. I just celebrated twenty years, 2005 as a sixteen-year-old kid — that's where it all started.

The Fight for Access to Prosthetics

Tom: So when I read up on you over the years, one of the things that kept coming up is that insurance doesn't pay for running legs. So was the prosthetic itself the problem, or was it that any prosthetic was difficult for kids to get? I mean, you're a golfer — we need to go into your golfing history — but I'm assuming one of the things you wanted to do immediately was get back out on the golf course, and you'd need special prosthetics for that. Was that the problem, or just any prosthetic at all for kids?

Jordan: Yeah. So it's changed somewhat. A lot of amputees that are active have a prosthesis that's specific to the activity they do. For me, I'm a big golfer, so I have a set of legs I only play golf in. Some kids, really active, need a running blade so they can run, some swimming legs — we've done all kinds of specific legs for activities. Those are never, ever covered by insurance companies, because they're not deemed medically necessary, which I can think of nothing more necessary in this world than giving a kid the opportunity to be a kid and to participate in life. A lot of the work we do at JTF is effectively — we've been the people as a nonprofit that have bridged the gap and said, okay, insurance industry, it's okay that you're not providing those, we'll provide them. So now we're a bit more on the front foot in terms of policy and advocacy, to implement legislation that's just common sense, that everyone realizes makes a whole hell of a lot of sense — that kids get prosthetics. We've really ramped up the work we do on the advocacy front to ensure that insurance companies do pay, to give kids access.

Tom: Wow. And how many kids do you think you've helped so far, over twenty years of the foundation?

Jordan: I would say probably over two hundred. The thing that's unique with us is that we make the commitment until they're eighteen. Kiddos outgrow their prosthetics similar to shoes, every six to eight to twelve months. So it's a long-term commitment we make to these kids and families, that we'll support them. Although two hundred doesn't sound like a ton, we've had kids that took the very first step of their life with a JTF prosthesis, and they walked across their high school graduation stage with a JTF prosthesis. Eighteen months to eighteen years, and we've been there the whole time.

Tom: What stories have you come across, of these children you've helped, that have been the most impactful to you?

Jordan: Man, I think the biggest blessing for me is to be somebody who can help alleviate a parent's stress. When I see the burden these families went through prior to JTF — like, we no longer had a savings account, we had an account that was specific for Liam's leg, or we canceled family vacations for five years to pay for our daughter's leg, we put our house on the market so we could afford a prosthetic for our son. To be able to say, hey, you don't have to worry about that anymore, you no longer have to fight insurance companies, we'll be here to support you to meet your child's needs, whatever they may be, until they're eighteen — that's a relief for a parent, and the emotion associated with that. That's the most powerful thing for me, and that's the thing that drives me the most — to be that resource for these parents, and then the impact it has on the kids' lives. It's like, prior to JTF, they were on a certain trajectory, and now with JTF, these kids are out full send. They're Paralympians, they're college athletes, they're engineers, they have the ability to pursue their passion and what they're meant to do on this earth. It's like, you wanna talk about impact and purpose — that's the reality of my story, man. My story is that of, through loss, I found. Through loss, I gained. That's the take-home message.

Turning Loss Into Purpose

Tom: You know, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you the most about — it's always kind of extreme stories where you get some of the best advice. For you, at sixteen, you lose your legs, and in a very short period of time — nine days, I'm seeing — you were starting on your foundation. But not everybody has such an extreme story. Going through something that extreme, what advice do you have for people going through something that is extreme to them? Not like losing your legs, but maybe they lost their job, or their wife, or some sort of opportunity. What advice do you have for how someone can turn something around like you did?

Jordan: Yeah. I think a lot of people tend to look at me and think, oh my god, how did you overcome that? The reality is that everyone has lost their legs one way or another. Mine is very visible, but I don't know what Tom Rowland's been through in his life that put him on this trajectory. I think there's this other thing where a lot of people, maybe your listeners, look at somebody like you that they admire, or somebody like me, and say, man, they must have something different that I don't have. I think that's nonsense. I think that through me and my experience, the loss revealed the depths and capacity of what I've got. I don't think without the accident I would have found that next gear — that's been the blessing of it. My hope is that people can utilize whatever their lived experience is, through loss, to find those depths of what's true to them, and pursue it like hell.

Tom: How long did it take for you to have that kind of perspective? I don't wanna trivialize it at all, but this is a gift in some way — you've been able to access different parts of your potential, your personality, your purpose, through loss. In some ways it could be considered a gift, but at the time it probably doesn't feel that way. How long did it take?

Jordan: Yeah. It's absolutely not been a linear journey. Even now there are times where it just kinda sucks — if I'm in a lot of pain, or hurting, or limited because of my disability, that's not always my perspective, but it's somehow the one I continue to come back to. It's like my anchor. I think for me, it took a little while — there were times right after my accident that were some of the greatest times of my life, because I had so much community and support around me, and for the first time I really felt, viscerally, a ton of love and people willing to run through a brick wall for me. So pretty early on I was able to see it as a gift. But then later on, that's not to say it didn't creep in — this idea of, man, this just kinda sucks, dude. So I had to lean into both — giving myself permission to say, yeah, man, what you've been through is a tremendous loss, and it hurts, and it's painful, and you gotta sit in that. And then you can come back to, well, ultimately, the perspective is that this is a gift.

The Day of the Accident

Tom: What was the draw to the Keys? Did your family go to the Keys all the time?

Jordan: Yeah, all the time. My dad's a big fisherman, and he loves to go lobster — he's been doing that with his group of guys for thirty years. So I was a sixteen-year-old kid who was like, oh, I'm gonna get scuba certified so I can do this with dad. That was really my first — I'd scuba'd a little bit, but I'd been certified maybe that spring, so I was relatively new. And I always think about it, man — you know the Keys really well, it's like we had the opportunity to go right, into the bay or the Gulf, or the opportunity to go left. We chose to go left. I think about that pretty often — man, what if we'd gone right? It's wild, because I think that would've been the worst option, which is crazy.

Tom: Why do you think that?

Jordan: Because, man, I wouldn't have found the fulfillment and the purpose and the meaning and the reason for why I exist as a human being. I don't put my legs on a single day without knowing why I'm meant to be on this earth. There are people who would pay millions of dollars to have that.

Tom: So when you have that kind of clarity on your purpose, how would you describe it — what is your purpose?

Jordan: To be of service, full stop. And then to be of service to the limb-loss community and to families that have endured such an overwhelming amount of grief, and to use my story to help inspire people to realize what they're capable of doing — that a majority of the limitations they face in their life are self-imposed, self-inflicted.

Self-Imposed Limitations

Tom: Well, I do — it's interesting. One of the most impactful conversations I've ever had was with a guy named Kyle Maynard. Do you know who he is?

Jordan: Yeah, tell me more. I know his name.

Tom: Kyle Maynard was a congenital quadriplegic amputee. He wrestled in high school — his arms only came to here, and his legs stopped just past the hip — and he's a truly incredible guy. He wrestled and played football in high school, played the line, and he could move well, and he was actually a very good wrestler. He even went on to do strength competitions — a version of the bench press using straps and chains — and he set a world record in that. He wrote a book called No Limits, and I reached out to him, and we did a TV show together on Saltwater Experience. My kids were around him, and he could do everything — eat with a knife and fork, everything — he doesn't have any hands. One of the conversations I had with him was about disabilities, or handicaps, or challenges, and he just looked at me and said, "Oh, I don't have a disability. I see people with disabilities all the time. Disability is negative self-talk. Disability is lack of confidence. Disability is a self-imposed thing." He said, "I don't have a disability, I've got challenges — might take me a little longer to put my socks on." He's got a great sense of humor, but he's like, "I know I can do anything I put my mind to." He, like you, has a very clear sense of purpose — he just doesn't have arms and legs. That conversation really stuck with me, because self-imposed limitations — everyone has them. I have them, everybody has them. How big can the Jordan Thomas Foundation get? Well, probably only about this big. Right? Who says so? You're putting that on yourself. How do you deal with self-imposed limitations, or when you see them in others, is there something you can do about it?

Jordan: Yeah. I mean, it's something I've struggled with my entire life, and I think it's just an innate part of the human experience, having to contend with those self-limiting beliefs, because we're conditioned all the time. We grew up in a world where it was like, if it's not getting done, it's because you're not doing it hard enough — a lot of that is rooted in either "I'm defective" or "I'm not enough" or "I'm not worthy" or "I'm not capable." It's taken me a long time to become aware that those beliefs even exist, and then to befriend them and get curious about them — like, what's that about? — and then challenge them. There's this internal dialogue that says the Jordan Thomas Foundation is only gonna get to a certain level, you can't possibly pass legislation in all these states, you can't possibly get every child in America access to prosthetics. But then you begin to challenge that, and it becomes, well, why not? That's where community is critical for me — surrounding myself with like-minded people who ask, okay, how is this possible? If this were to happen, how would it happen? But it starts internally, with self, with awareness and mindfulness of what's going on. I think a lot of people go through life with belief systems that don't work for them, without even being aware it's running in the background.

Tom: I think even when you are aware something's running in the background, there's still stuff running behind that — you find yourself being aware of it, and it's still happening, to everyone.

Jordan: And the exercise I love with that is — in our judicial system, there's a burden of proof, you've gotta prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of your peers. So, can you prove to a jury of your peers that you're not capable of doing this? The evidence only ever falls short. So maybe that's not true — maybe there's a world in which that's not true.

Tom: Has there been a major milestone or accomplishment, with the Jordan Thomas Foundation or elsewhere, that opened you up to the fact that maybe anything's possible? What was the first one?

Jordan: You know, there truly were people in my recovery process who doubted my ability to get back to doing the things I wanted to do, like ski or golf. They would literally say, hey, I don't know if that's reality, you may need to adjust to your new reality.

Tom: Those were doctors?

Jordan: Yeah, I had one doctor — I remember it clear as day. And every rep I did in rehab, every hard step I took, that guy was with me. Overcoming that, and getting back to walking, golfing, skiing, and doing all the things I do now — tremendous. And, you know what I need to do more of? Just give myself a little attaboy for what I've been able to do. I don't do enough of that — I think me and you are wired the same way, always, alright, what's the next big thing, let's go do that. Sometimes it's beautiful to look in the rearview. We just had a family reunion, sixty families, two hundred and fifty people filled a whole ballroom, and all of those people are there as a direct result of the work I've committed my life to. When I see the scale of that, and the relief of parents when I call and say, don't worry, we'll take care of your kid until they're adults — those are moments where I'm really proud of what I've been able to do.

The Family Reunion and the JTF Community

Tom: Tell me about that two hundred and fifty people — what was that about?

Jordan: Yeah. What we found is that providing the prosthetic device is critical for these kiddos, but so is the whole family system — what the parents go through, what the siblings go through, what the kid themselves goes through. So at JTF now there's a real emphasis on how we develop a community of people who can support one another in this journey. It's such an isolating thing, it can be such a lonely thing. That's my accident, dude — both my parents are physicians, but they had to go to Google to figure out how to find a prosthetic provider. It wasn't a de facto resource of people. So now, if you're a new family, we're gonna partner you with a family that went through something similar five years ago, to help guide you along that path. The real secret sauce at JTF is not just that we provide prosthetics — it's that we develop a community and support system for these families so they can love and support one another on the journey. That's the juice.

Tom: And that's what that reunion was — all those families coming together? That's gotta be amazing.

Jordan: It's wild, Tom. You gotta come to one. There's kids with no limbs just sending it, kids from all walks of life, every race, every ethnicity — and a lot of them, there aren't people within their community where they see themselves, they're only constantly otherized, they're different. And then they come in and see, wow, that kid's got a special leg like me — the power of that is beyond. They develop relationships and stay in touch with one another, and that's the real magic, the ripple effect. Something I always think about is that the greatest thing you can do in your life is have an impact on someone's life and they never know your name.

Tom: Yeah. When you were telling me that, I had this vision of you just sitting back for a minute, watching — this has grown into something so far beyond you. That's gotta be rewarding, surreal, otherworldly. What kind of feeling do you get when you see that?

Jordan: Yeah, it's overwhelming pride. It's further affirmation that this is what I'm meant to do in the world, and ultimately it's fuel — it's the thing that sustains me. So when I'm talking to a legislator, or fighting an insurance company, or talking to a donor, it's like I'm doing this on behalf of all of them who are here with me, who don't have a voice, who don't have the ability to advocate for themselves. On the tip of the spear for all of these people — let's go.

Tom: You know what's interesting too — the secret sauce of your foundation is really outside of just the child. As a parent myself, of three, you just want everything to be okay with your kids. I can't even imagine something happening to my kids when I wasn't even — well, now I'm aware of it, the well-being of my children is really, really important, but I've had to get out of the way, they're off living their own life. But when they're little, you could get blindsided so badly by something like this, because you didn't see it coming — you're in control of that little child all the time, you're stopping them from going across the street, keeping them out of trouble, and then all of a sudden something happens. I could see where that would be a total blindside — now this has happened, and I don't know where to turn. That seems like a place where you really fill a void. To get to that point, I'd imagine your parents had to be an instrumental part of this, because at sixteen, that is a different galaxy — you don't have kids, you don't have that experience. It's taken me twenty-five years of parenting to get to the place where I'm like, wow, that would be really something to have an accident like that, because at the time it's not even in the cards, you don't even see it. So how did your parents help with this?

Jordan: Man, I think the first thing is — my mom was driving the boat that hit me. I was with my dad and my mom, it was the three of us. A lot of the emphasis with JTF around the family system was born out of my own experience — I may have been the one who lost my legs, but as a father, there's no question, in an instant you'd put yourself in the water instead of your kid. No question. So for my mom, that's the burden I've seen her carry throughout her life — my biggest hope for my mom is for her to give herself forgiveness for all that happened. I don't think there's a day she doesn't feel some sense of responsibility. But to answer your question, after the accident, they were instrumental, huge — we leveraged their community and network to get the foundation off the ground. But I think the part they played was well before that. I was born into a life of privilege, and what they really instilled in their children was that privilege is bestowed upon us to give to others. They didn't just talk the talk, they walked the walk. There's a clear moment, as an eight-year-old — I remember driving up Missionary Ridge, and there's a mom with two kids in the rain, walking home with groceries, and my mom just says, "Get the groceries and get in the back." So I got the groceries, put them in the trunk, sat in the back, we drove them home. My mom doesn't say a word about it, but slips five hundred dollars on the counter, and we're out — no praise, no pomp and circumstance, we didn't even really talk about it. But those kinds of things were instilled in me as a kid, so it was just a natural response, at sixteen, to see a problem, to see that I was in a position where I didn't have to worry about it, and then you act. But I did have to rely on them to help get all the logistical stuff sorted out around what a foundation needs.

Tom: Wow. That's heavy, man, about your mom.

Boating Safety

Tom: So much of this podcast and the guests we have are fishing related, diving related, boating related — it's kind of an outdoor audience. A lot of people listening right now have been exactly where you were — lobstering hundreds, thousands of times, and no accidents have happened. But once an accident has happened, maybe you have a different perspective on what could have been done, or what are good safety practices, being in the water around boats with people you trust. How do you trust somebody more than your parents? What's your perspective on boating safety?

Jordan: Yeah, man. I think it's just something we've gotta have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation and awareness of. I think a natural tendency, if this wasn't your lived experience, is to think, oh, they were inexperienced boaters, they just made a dumb mistake. The reality is that's not true — this doesn't always just happen to other people. I'll tell you, Tom, I probably get ten calls a year or more that are boat propeller related amputations. It's far too common. Having a really healthy respect for what a prop can do to someone, and how suddenly it can change — I think my mom made the right decision, the more dangerous thing was for that boat to come down on my head and I'm killed, or it breaks my neck and I'm paralyzed. It can just happen in an instant, and it requires that we have this healthy appreciation and respect for the level of injury that can be sustained from a prop. Just like mother nature itself — the ocean wins, it's gonna win, and we're so finite and so small in comparison to that. Now my dad still continues to lobster down in the Keys all the time, but he has all the necessary safety stuff on board with him now — a bag with all the necessary first-aid stuff, all the related comms and safety stuff. And we were really lucky, man — we were seven miles out, and we just so happened to be on the emergency channel on the radio, so there was an ambulance waiting when we got back to the marina, and then I got airlifted out of there.

Tom: You went to Hawks Cay, right? That's our whole base of operations. So there was an ambulance there — I wonder why they didn't bring a helicopter, because you probably could land a helicopter there. When we had Jameson Reeder on a couple weeks ago, he lost one leg because a bull shark bit it off on Looe Key, which isn't very far from where you were, a little south. He went in, and his dad realized the single-engine boat they were in wasn't gonna be fast enough to get him to shore, so he looked across the reef, saw another boat — a thirty-six-foot Invincible with triple three-fifties on it — and handed his son over to a stranger, and they took off at seventy-five miles an hour to the marina where the ambulance would be, and then had to go to Big Pine to get airlifted out. Do you know where you were airlifted out, where the helicopter actually landed?

Jordan: Big Pine, I believe, a little north of Hawks Cay.

Tom: Which hospital did you go to, do you remember?

Jordan: I don't remember the first one — it was wild, Tom, because both my parents are intensive care physicians, and they were there with me. I got pulled in, I was on the gurney, and the doctor there clearly was out of his league — not a trauma center, they knew how to sustain, slam fluids, try to stop the bleeding, just triaging. My parents had the awareness — he's gotta get medevaced out of here, flown out somewhere else. I remember clearly, the trauma helicopter in Miami was in the Everglades for another trauma, but Jackson Memorial is a level-one trauma center, so they had to have a secondary helicopter. My mom was on one side of the hospital bed, the physician on the other — she grabs him by the shirt, pulls him in, and says, "Get another helicopter here now." So they did a hot landing — loaded me in right away, flew up to Miami, went straight into surgery.

A Sense of Peace

Jordan: But I'll tell you this — it was wild, Tom. At no point did I feel pain, after that, on that boat ride back. Man, I was the most serene I've ever been in my entire life — the most at peace, the most connected to the universe I've ever been.

Tom: It's very interesting, because Jameson Reeder was telling us a similar story. I'd love to hear about what you felt on the way in, because we just heard a very similar story a couple weeks ago. When you say you were the most serene you've ever been, tell me about it.

Jordan: Yeah, man. I was lying on my back, my dad's full bore wide open, my mom had my legs elevated. I just felt the presence of something significantly greater than me, and I was at a place of complete willingness to accept whatever the outcome was. There's a high degree of awareness that death is kinda right there, it's close — but, man, I was at complete peace and surrendered entirely, and I felt the presence of something infinitely bigger than me. I can't be convinced otherwise. A lot of people will say, well, you were in shock — but I remember everything, my senses were fully attuned. I felt like I was being held, and I was in the presence of something significantly greater than me.

Tom: Wow. That's really similar to what Jameson told us — and this was a kid where it happened two years ago, so it's still really fresh. People were telling him he was probably in shock, and he said, no, I remember everything. He said he looked up and saw what appeared to be a man on fire, and he thought it was Jesus. The funny part of his story — there was a person helping stop the bleeding, and Jameson said, "I see the light," and the guy said, "Stay away from the light, don't go to the light," and Jameson said, "No, no, I see the light." It was interesting how similar those two stories are. What kind of boat were you in — what did your dad have at that point, single engine?

Jordan: No, I think it was a double engine center console, maybe twenty-something, thirty feet. At that point he hadn't bought his own boat yet — he has one now that he keeps in the Keys, but we'd rented that boat for the week, week and a half.

Tom: And you'd just gotten your scuba certification, so were you in scuba gear? Did you have tanks on when this happened?

Jordan: I did, yeah. I went in first, because I was an impatient sixteen-year-old kid, and it had taken us forty-five minutes to get out there — I'm like, dude, let's go. My dad was getting geared up. So I went in, and then I was good, and it's weird, I just remember becoming aware that I was getting closer and closer, getting pushed by the waves or the tide. I got closer and closer, and suddenly I heard the engine go, and I knew immediately what had happened. My dad hopped in — he jumped off the back immediately because he knew what was going on, and he was using the tip of his spear gun to try to push me away because he knew how close I was. He hopped in, and I looked at him and said, "My feet are gone, we gotta go." He was like, "What?" And he looked down and came back up, and there's a snapshot I remember of that look of terror on his face. But they quickly flipped into physician mode — there was pretty hysterical panic all around, and then there's me, man — it was just peace. A wild kind of combo.

Tom: You know what, that's exactly what Jameson said — it's so strange to hear these stories at such close proximity to one another, but he was the one who remained calm, everyone else was panicked, and he was the one who remained calm. That is so wild. Do you ever go back down there, have you been back down to the Keys since?

Jordan: Dude, you're my reintroduction to the Keys — I'll only go back if you take me fishing on the flats or something. That's my only way of going. It hasn't been a conscious thing, it's not like I've avoided boats, I just haven't been back down, but I'd love to go. I'm actually thinking maybe this year, in October, because that's when my dad goes down to go lobstering with his buddies.

Tom: But your dad continues to go — just no interest for you, or not the right opportunity?

Jordan: Yeah, it's like, dude, I'm a golfer, man, I wanna play golf. Fishing's cool, but I'd much rather be on a golf course. So I just haven't been back down — but I for sure would go.

Adaptive Golf

Tom: So what about the golf — are you better before or after the accident?

Jordan: Definitely after. Because you just get older, and when you get older you get wiser — you just know the game and how to make it happen. It's really cool because adaptive golf has become such a big thing — the USGA, the governing body of golf, has created an adaptive US Open, and I'm the number two double amputee in the world right now, number three American overall.

Tom: Wow. How much are you playing currently, to be number two?

Jordan: Probably like three days a week — I'm finishing my master's right now, so that's taking a lot of bandwidth, doing my master's, and JTF, and golf on the side, so it's a lot of juggling. But to get ready for big tournament season, which is over now, luckily, I'm playing five days a week minimum, working pretty damn hard at it.

Tom: And what are you getting your master's in?

Jordan: Clinical mental health — to help grow out the mental health resources we can offer our families.

Tom: Did you have to have any particular undergraduate degree to get into that program?

From Private Equity to Purpose

Jordan: Yeah, I got my undergrad degree at Rollins College, and then I went the way of private equity, venture capital, thinking that's what I needed to do, and after a couple years of grinding that out, I suddenly realized, dude, I'm not meant to do this, this isn't my passion. So I went full-time back into JTF, and we've gone to the moon ever since. But I feel really passionately, based on my lived experience and on those of our kids and families, that this mental health piece is something we've gotta really invest in. So I put my money where my mouth is and said, if I wanna do this, I need to go be qualified to do this.

Tom: Tell me about the time you were in private equity and venture capital. I know for myself there was a moment where I was like, no, I'm not doing this anymore, I'm doing this over here, and I went full-on into fishing — it was like a burn-the-boats moment. Tell me about that moment for you, because it's almost powerful, man, when you decide that — I wanna know what it's about.

Jordan: A hundred percent, man. It was similar for me — it was definitely a burn-the-boats moment. There's a slow degradation within your soul when you realize you're meant to do something and you make some dumbass choice to do something different. That degradation, dude, where it finally comes to a head, and there's a point where you're just like, I'm not doing this anymore, I will not do it another day, and I'm gonna go do this thing I know I'm meant to do, and I'm gonna honor that, and go full bore.

Tom: Was there a trigger — what happened for you to have that realization?

Jordan: Yeah, it wasn't one defining moment, I guess — it was just the degradation, it got to a point where it was like, what am I doing? Just that awareness, like waking up — it was literally like waking up and being like, nope, I just don't wanna do this anymore, this isn't where I wanna put my energy and my passion.

Tom: What is the difference — obviously it's been great, you're obviously super happy, super passionate, very clear in your purpose. Compare that to where you were before.

Jordan: Yeah, man. Every day I wake up, dude, and I'm like a rocket, ready to go rip it. Mine looks different than yours, but it's still driven by the same thing — absolute clarity and certainty. When I was working in that world, I was just unhappy, irritable, not fulfilled, I didn't have any purpose or meaning, and I didn't care about another transaction or another investment. It was like, so what, what does another hundred dollars, or ten dollars, or whatever the figure was, do? That ain't the mission here — this life is not meant to be a gross acquisition strategy. My whole life was predicated on that — I was conditioned to think I gotta go acquire more stuff, and maybe if I acquire enough stuff, I'll finally be enough. Talk about an exercise in futility, man.

Tom: Yeah, I don't think you're alone in that — I think there are so many people who feel like that, and have this simmering desire underneath, and honestly that's one of the reasons I started a podcast, because I wanted to hear these stories about people's change. There are so many people who were on some kind of path and decided, similar to your story, this is not what I'm supposed to do — I'm supposed to do something that's so wild. For you, you had a real clear purpose, but some other people just feel like they want to buy a sailboat and sail around the world, or they started a YouTube channel and have millions of people watching them, making a great living doing exactly what they want. There are so many people who've done that successfully, but so many who are afraid of it for whatever reason — well, I know the reason, it's scary. To say, I'm not doing this, and I'm going to do this instead, when this over here is certain and sure and a clear path to some success, and I'm doing fine at it, but I'm throwing it all away for something where I don't even know what the challenges are — whether that's starting a fly shop, or changing careers, or just wanting to be a creator. That's a thing now — you can be a creator and do things you really wanna do. I think that's a place where you could offer a lot of advice to somebody with that desire to do something more meaningful. What do you tell somebody like that?

Jordan: Well, dude, I think it's why people have such deep admiration for you, why you have so many passionate listeners, because you've walked that walk and that journey, and I think you stoke that flame for people — you invite that.

Tom: Well, that's what I want with the podcast — to get other people like yourself who've done it, to tell that story, and then people say, you know what, if they can do it, I can do it, and they do it.

Jordan: Yeah, completely, and it does, man — it just requires a tremendous amount of courage. Even right now, I'm in a position where I have this desire to create some golf content that has social impact for the foundation, and it just takes that little shitty committee in your head that jumps in and goes, dude, why would you do that, that's so risky, you can play it safe, you don't need to start a podcast or a fishing show. But eventually, dude, it wins out, and if you challenge that committee enough, and you listen to this thing — that's where juice happens.

Tom: This thing being your gut?

Jordan: Right — your gut, your heart, your soul, your spirit, the thing that's way more powerful than anything that other thing can conjure up. That thing just writes shitty first drafts all the time for me, man — I gotta throw it out.

Mind, Body, and Grief

Tom: It's so interesting, the more I learn about the mind-body connection, how powerful your mind is, and how it can overcome so many things, or send you down — it can be the most powerful thing for propelling you to whatever success you want, or it can be the worst thing ever, telling you all these bad things and keeping you from doing things. The more I learn about it, the more I realize there's a lot more to learn about it. In so many ways it seems very simple — just turn the voice off — but it's one thing to say that, and another thing to do it once, and another thing to do it constantly, all the time, and to be aware of it. You seem to have been on that journey — when did you start to realize that? Was the accident part of it, or did it come later as you started to mature?

Jordan: Yeah, man. A lot of it, the accident was the jumping-off point, but the journey wasn't linear. The grief and all of the unresolved stuff — I'm a firm believer that trauma is stored within the body, on a very cellular level. So for me, I had to do a lot of work to move that stuff out of my body, and then go into a place of honoring my body. My body was a really unsafe and painful place to be, for a long time, at a lot of points in my life. Like you said, the mind is just a tool, but I over-rely on my mind to do all kinds of stuff, when I need to slow down and get in touch with that mind-body connection and make that journey from head to heart. When I'm in a place of clarity, I can get alignment between the heart, as the starting point, and the mind, the cognitive element that figures out the logistical steps — that's a powerful combination. And then when I can connect with like-minded people like you, saying the same thing, looking to go to the moon — bro, you don't wanna see a Tom-and-Jordan combo, because it's gonna be something special.

Tom: Well, I wanna know about what kind of partners you've been able to develop, because when you talk about getting around like-minded people, you're developing a team — a lot of that team is donors, supporters, probably the families themselves. But what has been — it's an interesting path you're walking, having to learn about legislation, how politics work, donors, building a foundation — it's not enough to just be somebody with a purpose, you still have to learn all this other stuff, which is a lot. What do you think has been the biggest challenge — the donors, the legislation, or all of it?

Jordan: Yeah, the one I'm challenged with the most right now, the most clear and present one, is having a very clear vision of what it is I wanna do, and my challenge is how do I get it out to more people. Because when I tell people about what we do and why we do it, and the impact it has, it's the easiest sell in the world — probably easier to sell than Salt Off. It's like, how do I get in front of more people? That's why I'm so grateful for opportunities like this — it exposes me to a group of people who had no idea about this, who then say, man, I'm really interested in this, I believe in what you're doing. But I've got a really good group of people around me who believe in what I'm doing, because it can get deflating sometimes when you don't make progress as quickly as you think you should. My self-limiting thing is always some iteration of "you're not doing enough," so I've gotta have people around me who can help me do more, but also help me slow down and say, look, stop — at the family reunion, look at these two hundred and fifty people, and see what you've done.

Tom: Who are those people for you?

Jordan: Man, my family's a big one — they're so deeply involved in JTF, and have supported me since day one. I've got a great group of people on my board, like-minded people who wanna see us succeed, who support me. I've got great friends I can connect with, not just on the logistical stuff — like how we need to approach Blue Cross — but people I can sit with quietly, and be real and authentic with, and say, hey, man, I'm fearful of this, I don't feel capable here, can you just support me and love me through this, and they're like, hell yeah. That's really powerful for me, and it's taken me a long time to develop that community, and I still yearn for more people like that — but we've made a start.

Innovation and Accessibility in Prosthetics

Tom: What about the progression of limbs themselves, with AI and so many advancements in materials and technology — where do you sit with that? Are we looking at a lot more advancements coming with AI?

Jordan: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a huge opportunity in utilizing AI, three-D printing — a lot of opportunity there, it's always on my radar as far as innovation. I think the trend for a lot of innovative prosthetic folks is doing things that link brainwaves and the functionality of the prosthesis. It's great, but it's three hundred thousand dollars. I wanna make stuff as accessible as possible, and dumb the tech down as much as possible, so it's more accessible, so I can go beyond the borders of the US — I can go to landmine-torn countries, or places where there's active war, and provide prosthetic devices. The Israeli-Gaza conflict, for instance — there are more amputees as a result of that conflict than you'd think, a huge number of people. My thing is, I don't care what flag a kid flies under — that kid deserves access to a prosthetic, and I'm gonna support that. So where I wanna innovate is not in making stuff more sophisticated, more closely mimicking the movement of an actual foot — it's making it accessible, durable, dependable, and more affordable. That's the innovation I'm really interested in.

Tom: I think that's an interesting perspective, because sometimes I see stuff on Instagram — these more advanced hands and feet and legs that people are creating, or Neuralink and that kind of thing — but I can see your perspective, that's great after we provide a prosthetic for as many people as possible, then you could upgrade. But getting them to as many people as possible, I can see why you're feeling that way, as opposed to chasing the most advanced technology — because you could have one of those hands, or three hundred of something else.

Jordan: Yeah, and that's not to bash the people who are innovating on that front — let's have people pursuing it on both levels. But here's a crazy stat: the Jordan Thomas Foundation is the largest purchaser of pediatric running blades in America.

Tom: Really?

Jordan: Which is insane. So what I'm looking at is bringing fabrication in-house, through strategic partnerships with people who do this, so we can make it more affordable, almost open-source, so it's available to people, and figure out how to create these devices at a more affordable rate. Because I'm no longer willing to accept the reality that a family has to sell a home to get a leg. Not gonna do it, man.

Tom: As you move into that — my son-in-law is an engineer who just graduated from Auburn, and his passion, while he's interested in building things generally, is biomechanical engineering for prosthetics. He's super smart, super sharp — he's never lost a limb, doesn't know anybody who has, but he's fascinated by it, and has long said that's what he wants to do.

Jordan: There you go — I'll get him in my network of people for sure.

Tom: Yeah, I just think it's interesting when things connect like that — maybe there's something there, maybe not.

Serving Veterans and the Road Ahead

Tom: Anyway, a lot of this conversation has been pretty heavy, and I really appreciate you coming on and telling your story. Do you do interviews like this a lot, to tell your story over and over again, or has it started to morph, moved on?

Jordan: Yeah, I do. It's starting to morph a little bit more away from the accident and that day, but it's hard to avoid — that's the origin point, that all of this amazing stuff has been born out of something unimaginably tragic and awful. I do tell that story quite a bit. I think what's changed is that I'm able to tell it from a place of deep authenticity, not what I think people wanna hear, so there's some relief in being able to share openly about the really dark times after my accident, when I'd wake up thinking I was still in the water, and the tears and the pain and the trauma and the grief — that it wasn't just sunshine and puppy dogs and smooth sailing. It was a battle, and at times, it still is.

Tom: When you were waking up thinking you were in the water again, like out of a bad dream — do you still have that?

Jordan: No, not anymore. But I'd say for a solid six months, maybe once a week, I would wake up from a dream and literally think I was in the water. It just speaks to the power of trauma.

Tom: Wow. Your work has mostly been for children — have you thought about military, or are you gonna stick with the path of kids?

Jordan: Yeah, for the foreseeable future at least, it'll stay within the pediatric space, because that's a niche that's underserved, unserved. There are a lot of good organizations within the VA, and outside of it, doing good work — I'm really pleased that from the military guys I know, the VA does a tremendous job giving them access now, which for a while wasn't the reality. We were treating our kids like we weren't giving them the stuff they needed, and that was unacceptable. So I'm really proud of the VA — I think it does a phenomenal job with the limb-loss community, with kids coming back who've made such an amazing sacrifice. Let's take care of our kids. It's wild — their kids are old enough now that it's like these grown men are like children to me.

Tom: A lot of them are — and children are eighteen-year-olds, that's exactly right. That also makes me feel super old, but I am old, I get older every day, I just had a birthday. So what I wanna do is finish up with some hot seat questions — just quick questions that help people understand you a little more, outside of the accident and the things we've talked about.

Hot Seat Questions

Tom: You ready? Alright. Sunrise or sunset?

Jordan: Sunrise.

Tom: River, lake, or ocean?

Jordan: Lake.

Tom: Coffee, tea, or energy drink?

Jordan: I hate to say this — energy drink.

Tom: Mountains or beaches?

Jordan: Mountains.

Tom: Winter Olympics or summer Olympics?

Jordan: Oh, summer.

Tom: Drive or fly?

Jordan: Oh, fly. Let's get there and let's get after it.

Tom: The Office, Friends, or Parks and Rec?

Jordan: Parks and Rec, for sure.

Tom: Would you change what happened to you if it meant the foundation never existed?

Jordan: Hell no.

Tom: Favorite state for golf?

Jordan: Oh, jeez, that's really good — California. Billing California, just unreal.

Tom: One golf course you wanna play?

Jordan: Pine Valley.

Tom: Where's that?

Jordan: New Jersey — it's unreal.

Tom: Best win in your golf career?

Jordan: The US Adaptive Open.

Tom: Where did that take place?

Jordan: Pinehurst. Yeah, that was big.

Tom: A movie that makes you laugh?

Jordan: Step Brothers, or Airplane — Airplane's a throwback for me.

Tom: Those are two of the most popular ones on the hot seat list. Text or call?

Jordan: Call.

Tom: Instagram or Twitter?

Jordan: Instagram.

Tom: One thing you're afraid of?

Jordan: My first thing was spiders, and then, just not waking up every day and getting after it.

Tom: And if everything were to go away right now, and nobody had anything to remember you by, and you could just leave one little note — what would you want people to remember about Jordan Thomas?

Jordan: Just the sheer beauty of being of service, being kind, being loving to others, and the fulfillment that ultimately gives us. That ultimately we're put on this earth to do something way beyond ourselves, and if we can dedicate ourselves and our lives to being of service, to supporting people who can't do it otherwise, you're gonna have a good life.

Closing

Tom: I love it, man. I'll tell you what, Jordan, I really enjoyed having you on the podcast, and I wanna thank you for what you're doing, being of service to so many different people. I'm in your corner, man — if I can ever help you do anything, I would love to come to one of your events, I think it would be so awesome, and it would probably stoke the fire in anyone to make them wanna do more, contribute more, help more. Thank you, brother — make that happen.

Jordan: I appreciate it so much, and same — I'm in your corner forever and always, and I'm really, really grateful for the opportunity and for what you do. Don't ever discount the power you have in people's lives — you change people's lives through this avenue, and I really appreciate it.

Tom: Well, I appreciate you saying that, thank you very much. And if people wanna help you, follow you, or help your foundation — I should have put this at the very beginning — what would they do if they want to support you?

Jordan: Yeah, JordanThomasFoundation.org. Instagram — we have an amazing Instagram account that shares the story of what we do, come be a part of it, come check it out, and I dare you not to be compelled or moved to be a participant in some capacity, whatever that may be.

Tom: Awesome, I love it. We'll put all that in the show notes, and hopefully people will reach out. Thanks again, man, I really appreciate it, and keep doing it, keep getting after it.

Jordan: Thanks, brother. Appreciate you.