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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Mike McKeller

Aired March 03, 2002 - 10:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well he does the things that most of us only dream about. The man you're about to meet loves to jump out of planes and hurl toward the ground at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour. This adrenalin addict dreamed of skydiving for more than 10 years, then set out to conquer his fears and make that happen in addition to many other types of sports that we're going to talk to you about.

Now what you may not know is that Mike is a wheelchair user. His name is Mike McKeller, but most of them just call him "Extreme Mike". I love that name. That's so cool.

MIKE MCKELLER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about why you do use a wheelchair. Let's go back a little bit in time here.

MCKELLER: OK, Kyra, I had a muscle disorder from birth. It made it very difficult to walk and also just to move around. I had surgery and took some medication that was supposed to make it better, but during my teen years, they -- I had a reaction to the antibiotics, and it ended up paralyzing me for a number of years.

PHILLIPS: So when you realized you were definitely taking on a life change, your family, your friends, I noticed this just by watching a lot of your videos, they didn't treat you any different from -- any differently at all.

MCKELLER: No not really.

PHILLIPS: And they never said never or you can't.

MCKELLER: Or if they did, that was a -- that was a ...

PHILLIPS: And you said sorry.

MCKELLER: That's right. That was actually my cue to go. No, they were very supportive. I had very supportive family and friends, and it really made me stronger because it made me believe that there's nothing that I can't do, even though I may have to do it a little bit differently than the average person would, I could still get it done and it -- and it meant a lot to me.

PHILLIPS: All right, well we're going to prove that right now. We're looking at some video -- now this is you going through your physical therapy, right?

MCKELLER: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. Building -- weight building.

MCKELLER: A little bit of weight training, that's right, build the muscles.

PHILLIPS: All right, and tell me about the swimming too, and how that helps you, and your endurance and to do the sports that you like to do.

MCKELLER: The swimming is really good for cardiovascular, and it also builds endurance. It specifically helps me with my scuba diving and just general fitness.

PHILLIPS: Wow, scuba diving. Do you -- tell me how do you -- how do you scuba dive -- do you get scared? I mean I've done it before and I get really claustrophobic, and I get nervous.

MCKELLER: It's a common question. People ask me that all the time. Scuba was very difficult for me to learn to do because at the time I couldn't swim, and I had a lot of fear to overcome. But I -- it was something I was really passionate about learning, and I knew if I was able to get past it, then it would take me up a level. So with modifications to my gear and with assistance from dive buddies and the instructor, I was able to do it, and it's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

PHILLIPS: All right, now this one blows me away. You've got to explain this whole waterfall trip that you took, OK? I know we have video of it. OK, there you are at the very top, what were you thinking Mike?

MCKELLER: I'm thinking that's a long way down and that water is probably really, really cold, which I was right on both counts.

PHILLIPS: And what did you do? Did you repel down the waterfall?

MCKELLER: It was repelling, right. I was initially attached to someone, and as we went down, the cord stretch that attached me, and they had to cut me loose, so they dangled me down a 150-foot waterfall, and it took -- it took awhile to get down, but it was pretty exciting.

PHILLIPS: So now you travel, you're a motivational speaker. What do you tell folks?

MCKELLER: I tell people that in my years of working with corporations and kids, that I've learned that any of us can overcome fear and adversity if we're willing to just put that idea into our head that it's going to happen. There are certain steps I talk about in my speaking engagements that I follow that always work 100 percent of the time. And if we just add some adventure to our lives then it'll make -- it makes us grow. We find out that we don't really know what our limitations are if we keep pushing.

PHILLIPS: Do people write to you and come up to you and say you know what, I have my hands, my feet, my eyes, my ears, and I get bummed out and depressed and think I can't.

MCKELLER: That happens all the time. And I tell people look, it's not about that. What it is, is what interest you in life. Are you able to take some challenges instead of saying well, there are a lot of reasons why I can't do that. Are there some reasons why you can figure it out, and let's work on that a little bit, and let's take a look at what is it worth to get past this, and if it is, the rest of it just becomes logistics.

PHILLIPS: Mike McKeller, thanks so much for being with us. You are such a neat person, and your Web site, Extrememike.com, folks can check this out and get in touch with you. We wish you the best of luck. Thanks for stopping by.

MCKELLER: Thank you. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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