Life & Limb - A monthly podcast about Living Well with Limb Loss

Courtney Gilmour is an award-winning stand-up comedian, television writer, and finalist on Canada’s Got Talent. She is one of Canada's most unique voices and sought-after comedy talents, named by NOW Magazine as “one of the top 10 stage artists to watch.” Courtney's victory at the 2017 Just For Laughs Homegrown competition was the first by a female comic in the 19-year-history of the event. Her first album - “Let Me Hold Your Baby” – was JUNO-nominated, and she’s released her new “Wonder Woman" album – which is a really funny take on life as a triple limb amputee when it comes to public perceptions that come with her unique disability.

“You don’t have to conquer the world; you just have to conquer your world,” says Andrew Haley. His is a story of a Halifax kid with a 35 percent chance of survival becoming one of Canada’s most accomplished high-performance athletes. Andrew shares what motivated him from that cancer diagnosis toward four Paralympic Games and five trips to the Paralympic podium.

Christa Couture is a musician, writer, broadcaster and now the host of Season 5 of the AMI travel docuseries “Postcards from...” Proudly Indigenous (mixed Cree and Scandinavian), queer and disabled, Christa highlights a different Canadian city each episode. Over her career, her work has explored personal experiences of loss, from childhood cancer that led to her amputation to the deaths of her two infant sons. She shares stories that intersect with disability.

A skydiver, surfer, rock-climber, snowboarder – Canada’s first Paralympic gold medalist in the sport in fact – a sailor and a contestant on The Amazing Race Canada reality show, the sky is not the limit for British Columbia’s Tyler Turner. The bilateral below-knee amputee, from a skydiving injury, lives by the motto: “It’s not about where you started or your end result. It’s the steps you take in between.”

Megan Williamson is the head fitness coach at Ocean Rehab and Fitness in Vancouver. She’s also the head instructor for the North American Council of Inclusive Fitness and co-author of a resource called Breaking Barriers: Fundamentals of Training Clients with Physical Disabilities. She’s all about bridging the gap between rehab and fitness, making exercise inclusive for everyone no matter what. Megan shares strategies for achieving better health for anyone living with limb loss or limb difference.

Alvin Law says “attitude” is so much more than an overused word and shares his remarkable story of life without arms - one that he’s told to over two million people on five continents. Abandoned by his birth family at just five days old, Alvin has spent his life doing things that he wasn’t supposed to do. That sounds rebellious, and it is in his own way. His rebellion involved playing trombone and driving a car – with his feet. "I refused to let other people’s labels and limitations hold me back," he says. Today, he's a renowned speaking professional, and best-selling author of Alvin’s Laws of Life… 5 Steps to Successfully Overcome Anything!

Prosthetics is an intriguing profession. It’s science. It’s art. And it’s social science in terms of relationships that are cultivated with patients or clients who, by way of life’s circumstance, may be hard to please at times. With over 35 years of experience with patient-prosthetist relationships, certified prosthetist Martin "Marty' Robison provides some perspective on these "partnerships."

Jakob Kepka, a military veteran and amputee, is prepared for all the risks associated with his upcoming "Hoperaising Expedition", a 900-kilometre bike ride from Krakow, Poland, to Kyiv, Ukraine, fearing Ukrainian drivers more than the Russians, he says. Jakob shares his personal motivation to pedal through the war-torn terrain as a beacon of hope for those with similar injuries, and physical and psychological challenges, to raise money to support Ukrainian amputees.

Kevin fought for years to rebuild his physical and mental health. He not only learned how to walk again, but ultimately joined the Canadian Paralympic Sledge Hockey Team and became a Sochi 2014 Paralympic Bronze medalist. Returning home from the Games, Kevin was continually referred to as a “hero”. His "Hero Mindset" was born with a mission to help others become a hero in their own story.

Centring disabled bodies and celebrating the unique ways we move through the world is what Alexis’s Stump Kitchen show is all about. By transforming her stump into playful, intricate cosplay characters, cooking tasty recipes, Alexis uses her stump as a kitchen tool and shares her content through social media. As an educator by trade, she’s passionate about speaking with audiences of all ages about the importance of authentic disability representation through stories of her experience as a disabled, queer creator.