YouTube interview (Remarkable People podcast) recorded Oct 2022 in which Guy Kawasaki interviews Andrea Lytle Peet, who was diagnosed with ALS at 33 and has lived with it for eight years. Andrea describes completing a marathon in all 50 U.S. states using a recumbent/hand-cycle-style bike (final state: Alaska on May 28, 2022), founding the Team Drea foundation to fund ALS research (site referenced as teamdrea.org / transcript shows teamdream.org), and raising substantial funds (mentions having raised about $1,000,000). Themes: perseverance, gratitude, community support, and fundraising to find a cure.
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Thank you to all our regular podcast listeners. It's our pleasure and honor to make the show for you. Knowing that you like our podcast makes all the difference to us. Please follow the show in your favorite podcast app or find the latest episode every Wednesday@remarkablepeople.com. Hi, I'm Guy Kawasaki and this is Remarkable people. We're on a mission to make you remarkable. Helping me in this episode is the remarkable Andrea Lytle Peet. She was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 33. She quickly went from competing in marathons and triathlons to walking with a cane. While 80% of ALS patients die in two to five years. Andrea has lived with ALS for over eight years. She has participated in marathons all over the country using a recumbent bike and she is raising money for ALS research. At the same time, she has also created the Team Drea Foundation. This supports innovative research to help find the cure or effective treatment for ALS. Andrea has completed a marathon in all 50 states. Her last one was in Alaska on May 28, 2022. Hers is a story of remarkable perseverance. This interview occurred in October 2022. I'm Guy Kawasaki. This is remarkable people. And now here is a remarkable Andrea Lytle. Pete, I have great admiration for runners because I just can't handle the pain myself and the pecking order sort of runner. And then people who run half marathons and then people who run marathons and then people who run multiple marathons. And then there are people who run in all 50 states and then there's you who run in all 50 states with ALS, which basically means you are the big kahuna. You are on top of the stack.
Thank you.
Tell everybody what you did.
Sure. I became the first person with a DGA Marathon in all 50 states. He used Aubrey Common Attractory wheels. I pedal with my upbeat and yeah, it was an amazing humbling experience.
And which was your favorite race of the 50 states?
I have to say Alaska, which was a number of 50. It was not an easy. I raced to ride. I get a two in a ball flight, three hour ferry and an hour drive reached this ferry. Very small, a town about a great Alaska population. Like a thousand but the whole community comes out for the Irish and I had 50 of my friends and our family there with me and it was just an amazing journey that I never really thought that I would actually accomplish.
And now what are you gonna do? 50 countries, what's next?
Oh man. So we have completed a documentary, I'm writing a memoir and the only Creative thing I cannot think of to ascend my mind to achieve is a career for ALS in my time. So that is what I am laser focused on raising money.
If people want to support you, how can they do that?
So our foundation is teamdream.org we were bold innovative research to finding occur for ILS. When I was first diagnosed I wanted to challenge my friends family. Do they raise that? They were assured that they could finish and raise money for a loss. Are we assured? We now raise a million dollars in it and all of volunteers, we all just do it out of the appreciation of the attend that we have. Wow.
Wow. If I could come out of this interview with the answer to this next question, I would declare victory and call it a day. How's that for a build up for a question. So the question is how do you persevere with a condition like als?
So I als, I kill people in two to five years on average. I have been living with ALS for eight years now and I was diagnosed at the age about 33. I never thought that I would live to see my 40th birthday and here I am. So I guess I would say I persevere as I realized that I am I given the I gift of time. We never know what is coming next and I am so grateful to be able to be here, let alone doing marathons. Then I approach every challenge with gratitude.
Wow. Do you have advice for others dealing with such challenges?
I remember just after my diagnosis I was sitting in the car crying, I so depressed and I looked up and I just realized that I can be depressed or I can live my life now time would pass the same either way. So I think that whatever challenge that you are facing, find some hope in that and that is that catch me going. You never know when tomorrow will bring a good or bad. But I am just had the most amazing, incredible experience and I hope that others, no matter what you are facing, just appreciate the the time that you have now.
Found any sources of information particularly useful. And let me give you a little background on this question. So I have Meniere's disease. Meniere's disease is basically when you have vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss, which trust me, it's not the worst thing in the world to happen to you. Okay. Nobody ever died from Meniere's disease. But I have been very public about having Meniere's and inevitably people send me emails then these are well meaning people and they send me emails saying well if you took niacin or if you ate sweet and sour lobster or if you had more turmeric, or if you. I mean, they come up with these, like, you know, go get shots of whatever. And I bet something like this probably happens to you. So have you found any good source of information online?
No. Truly, I have learned that with a lesson with every disease. Probably. Let me stick to Alice. Everyone is so different. The sources, the causes are different. Everyone progresses at a different race. ALS is probably like cancer. Like, it's probably an umbrella that we are, like, trying to find a pill that will solve it. But I have come to believe this, that you have to trust yourself and your body and your experience and just do what works for you. You know, I'm Leighton, obviously, how to exercise, but isn't just doing marathons. I swim, I do Pilates. And what I do is focus on telling my brain, do I connect to my muscles? Then I. It apparently forgot how to do that on its own. But I specifically think about moving my foot and moving my finger and what it will take to do that. And yeah, that was a long answer, but thank you. Just have to learn what works for you and ignore the rest. You could spend a lifetime trying niacin and things that people recommend.
My last question for you is, what's your advice to the friends and family of people dealing with challenges of your magnitude? How can they best help?
For me, the best way to help that I have found is to help others. So we are raising money for research to finding a cure, and that is the only way that no one will have to go through this disease. And so I have turned my perspective the other way. And how can I help? I am so lucky with this disease and so many other families are. And so I try to be a source of hope, be a friend, be a resource, just listen, whatever you can do to get out of your own head and give back, I think it's better than the alternative of staying stuck.
You want to make any kind of closing statement or anything, you don't have to. I'm just giving you the stage.
First of all, I just really appreciate you for just. Reaching out. And you are so positive in what you do and the way that you talk to people. And I think when we take the time to get to know one another, be realized, then we're also different and just really appreciate you.
Thank you. And to put it mildly, I appreciate you and your remarkable story. So a week after I conducted this interview, I came to the realization, because of Peg Fitzpatrick, that Andrea's episode was coming out just before Thanksgiving. And I thought, who could give a better Thanksgiving message than Andrea Lyto Pete so here it is.
Hello.
Hello Andrea, thank you for letting me contact you yet another time. We looked at our schedule and your episode is coming right out. About the Thanksgiving time, I wanted to know if you want to offer a Thanksgiving message to my listeners.
I ask listeners just to be thankful for the gift about life. Everything from the way that your brain tells your muscles to move to your mouth. Being able to also tell the people that you love thank you for all that they do. I know that I am so thankful for my family, for my husband and just to us so dear.
That's a great message Andrea. But I am thankful that I discovered you. You have been a remarkable guest and friend.
Thank you so much. Happy Thanksgiving.
Oh my God. Andrea is such a remarkable person. I hope you enjoyed this interview. If there was ever a Remarkable People interview that personified perseverance, this is it. If you'd like to support Andrea and her research efforts to cure and treat ALS, go to teamdrea.org T E A M D R E A dot org I'm Guy Kawasaki. This is Remarkable People. A great Thanksgiving to you all. And if you're in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving right now, well, celebrate anyway. You can never give too much thanks. And speaking of thanks, my thanks to the Remarkable People team. That would be Peg Fitzpatrick, Jeff C, Shannon Hernandez, Alexis Nishimura, Luis Magana, and the drop in Queen of Santa Cruz, Madison Nessmer. Until next time, mahalo and aloha. Want to know when there's a new episode of Remarkable people? Simply text 831-609-0628 if you live in the US or Canada, don't miss upcoming shows. Take a moment to follow Remarkable People in your app or podcast player. This is Remarkable People.
