Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mark, where are you from and how did you get into Athletic Training?
A family friend owned the Milwaukee Bucks
We used to landscape his yard.
I was a sophomore or junior in high school and got connected with the Bucks AT.
Went through the Internship route
Worked Minor league baseball with the Brewers
Started working with Bellin Health after my internship
Passed on a low A ball job and stayed with Bellin
Tell some of your family origin story…did you have kids, tried but couldn’t, chose to not do natural childbirth…
Been married since 2010
One month before our wedding my wife-to-be ran a marathon and collapsed most of the way through.
2 months into our marriage she did a tilt table test and learned she had low blood pressure.
2011 convention in New Orleans and she was still running
She had a cardiac incident while in the pool…as in she actually died.
She ended up needing an internal defibrillator.
Talk about your adoption journey.
We were trying to have kids, but the heart meds were possibly affecting her.
We started using IVF and failed once, tried again and then my dad fell and broke his femur. Then we learned that it failed again.
It was heart breaking.
Then my dad passed away the next week.
Most of the football season was a blur due to all of the family trauma.
My wife took the lead in looking into adoption.
We did not know if we wanted local, foreign, foster care, straight adopt.
We connected with adopt help out of California and a social work back here.
Once people know, the stories started coming out of the woodworks. Lots of people I knew were affected by adoption in one way or another.
April 1st, 2014 we went live with our adoption. Which was coincidentally our birth mom’s birthday.
What conversations have you had with other ATs about the choice to adopt?
Our adoption is open.
We get lots of friends asking us to speak to friends in family in similar situations.
Our son knows he has a birth mother and a mom and dad here.
Contact
Jeremy – SportsMedicineBroadcast on IG
These people LOVE Athletic Trainers and help support the podcast:
Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.
Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)
HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST
MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some money, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.
Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.
Athletic Dry Needling – Save up to $100 when registering through our link.