Being Inspired and Impressed by Debbie Bean

Episode 117 - Being Inspired and Impressed by Debbie Bean In this episode of my marketing show, I don’t talk about marketing at all. Instead, I talk about overcoming challenges and coping with crises with a friend of mine from Franklin, the town in which I grew up, Debbie Bean. Debbie, 66, has experienced more than her fair share of health issues, the most severe being the loss of her hands and feet due to a very serious case of streptococcemia she suffered in late 2006. She was so sick at the time that the doctors were telling her family to say goodbye to her because she was not going to make it. Says Debbie now about that incident, “It changed my entire world. Instead of being so darned independent, I found myself dependent on everyone for everything. But every day thereafter, I’ve tried teaching myself how to do what I need done. I try to reinvent the wheel to make things work for me.” Not only did Debbie survive that terrible scare, though, she also has beaten cancer and undergone a handful of other successful surgeries. And as if all that weren’t enough, both of Debbie’s parents’ lives were cut short tragically, her mother’s due to cancer and her father’s as a result of an auto accident. Today, Debbie works as an administrative assistant, attends the Franklin United Methodist Church on Sundays and drives herself around town, enjoying life as a single mother of two daughters and a grandmother of four. Her attitude is as positive and optimistic as anybody’s you’ll ever know, which makes you feel good all over just being around her. She says she can either laugh or cry, and she chooses to laugh. I say I’m sure you’ll love listening to our conversation as much as I loved having it. Get ready to be inspired and impressed by Debbie Bean.