MIKE SHOREMAN: First Athlete with Disabilities to cross all five Great Lakes @TeamNeverQuitPodcast

Uploaded December 2022 | Updated September 2026, 35 minutes ago

From a paddle boarding coaching career to becoming physically and mentally unbalanced. That’s the life-changing call for this week’s Team Never Quit guest, Mike Shoreman. Marcus and Mike discuss the affliction of the Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, and Mike’s relentless never quit the pursuit of a “normal” life. His mission to prove everyone wrong not only resulted in walking again, but getting back on the paddle board despite his vertigo, and becoming the first person with a disability to cross from one country to another by paddle board while raising funds and awareness for youth mental health programs and services. He crossed all 5 Great Lakes. Mike encourages all people to change their personal struggles into their greatest weapons and develop confident versions of themselves.

In this episode you will hear:
My Chicken Pox from when I was a kid re-activated as Shingles. My symptoms developed over five days, and all the nerves in my face shattered and it looks like I had a stroke.
I lost my independence, my business, and my identity.
I had a significant mental crisis and breakdown.
It was so easy to say “I’m fine.” I did that for months but I wasn’t fine.
As my physical recovery improved, so did my mental state.
I was forced into mental health treatment. I wasn’t eager to go and get it.
Mental health is the most underfunded of all healthcare systems.
That first crossing set everything in place that we needed to know.
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan gave me the most fight.
It took me 28 hours to cross. My feet “pruned” and I couldn’t stand. The Canadian Coast Guard and paramedics came to be sure I was okay.
The thing that set in was – Who this is for?
I was going 2 1/2mph to 3mph for 28 hours. I was literally going to the bathroom on myself every 10 minutes.
I had to say to myself “You’ve been through tougher than this and this isn’t going to last forever.
Men & women of service are deeply inspirational.
Nothing in life is permanent.
Life is a series of peaks and valleys.
Resilience is built.

Support Mike
instagram.com/mike_shoreman

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Support the Show
patreon.com/teamneverquit

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Special Thanks / Credits

Executive Producer & Artwork - Andrew Brockenbush
Audio Engineer - Joey Garza
Video Editor - John Fritzsching

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About TNQ Podcast:
Each week join Retired Navy SEAL and Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell, Morgan Luttrell, and Producer Andrew Brockenbush as they’ll take you into the “briefing room” to chat with incredible guests who share their greatest never quit stories. This humorous, heartfelt, and entertaining podcast is changing lives and has become a beacon of hope and resilience to those who are facing the impossible. One of the best ways we can support our community is to share their stories so that we might inspire others to Never Quit.

We’re bringing you real-life stories of men and women who took life’s toughest challenges and met them head-on, radically changing their own lives and inspiring others to do the same.

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$PHIL DONLON & GABE MANN: Forged in Fire: The True Stories of Americas Hotshot Wildfire Warriors Into the Fire: Storytelling and Survival with Phil Donlon & Gabe Mann In this week’s Team Never Quit podcast, Marcus and Melanie dive deep into the art of storytelling—both on stage and in the heat of real-life danger. Our guests are two visionary filmmakers with unique, gripping perspectives on their craft: Phil Donlon, award-winning actor, filmmaker, and theater veteran, and Gabe Mann, director and cinematographer of the groundbreaking wildfire documentary Hotshot. Phil Donlon takes us through his journey from the blue-collar streets of Chicago to the bright lights of Hollywood. A founding member of The Gilead Theater Company and a passionate storyteller, Donlon shares his experiences acting in renowned theater productions, signing with WME, and ultimately finding creative fulfillment by writing and directing his own films. His latest project, High & Outside: A Baseball Noir, is now streaming worldwide. On the other end of the spectrum, Gabe Mann puts us directly in the line of fire—literally. His documentary Hotshot is a heart-pounding, first-person account of elite wildfire fighters who battle the flames without water, capturing their raw courage with breathtaking cinematography. After six years running alongside these real-life heroes, Mann shares the intensity, sacrifice, and unexpected pull of wildfire that changed his life forever. From the front lines of nature’s most destructive force, this episode is about the power of storytelling, survival, and the relentless pursuit of passion. Tune in for a conversation that will leave you inspired, shaken, and ready to chase your own fire. In this episode you will hear: • There’s something about when you witness wildfire firsthand. It does something to you. The actual firefighters call it “The Firebug.” It taps into something primal in men. I caught it. 6:00 • Most of the photojournalists who actually do this right, are former firefighters. They actually have that certification. But for the most part, the kinds of people who are reporting for the Washington Post or The New York Times – they have no clue. 7:56 • I’m a storyteller. So however I’m doing it, whether I’m an actor, whether I’m producing something, writing it – I just want to tell good stories. 9:46 • We wanted to make a film that played like a narrative feature. 11:15 • They’re so distracted with the climate change narrative, which really has nothing to do with wildfires. It’s the accumulation of fuel. 12:08 • I’m the only dude in LA who’s actually from LA. 12:37 • When you continue to put it on something that we don’t have control over – like the weather – it’s a completely disempowering narrative. 14:04 • A wildfire is composed of 3 things. It’s called a fire triangle. You need all 3: Drought, Fuel, Ignition. 17:02 • People were crying over all these giant Redwoods and Sequoias that were getting burned down back in 2020. And nobody ever asked the very obvious question. These trees are 2,000 years old, but the fire cycle in that forest is once every 300 years – you get a purging wildfire – How did get to be 2,000 years old? What happened 2,000 years ago that made these trees so robust? 17:39 • There’s some people who have this gene that compels them to serve their country. 25:32 • If we can get some people in Washington to see this film, I think we could help make change. 27:03 • We have agency over wildfire. We can be proactive. We could solve it tomorrow, if we know what we’re supposed to do. If we look at what a hotshot crew does – literally all they do is get rid of plants. They’re either cutting them or burning them. That’s it. They don’t use water. 28:05 • We started the film with a question. I think doing that gives people the opportunity to engage with the art in the appropriate way, which is – they answer the question. 47:34 • Our motto when we were making this film was “Show, don’t tell.” 52:22 • This is what art is for. It is for explaining and getting people to feel the things that you cannot adequately convey with words. Socials: Support HOTSHOT – https://www.hotshotmovie.com/ – https://www.instagram.com/teamsiqfuti/# – IG: phil.donlon Support TNQ – IG: team_neverquit , marcusluttrell , melanieluttrell , huntero13 – https://www.patreon.com/teamneverquit Sponsors: – shipsticks.com/TNQ – Navyfederal.org – Robinhood.com/gold – strawberry.me/TNQ – stopboxusa.com {TNQ} – ghostbed.com/TNQ [TNQ] – kalshi.com/TNQ – PXG.com/TNQ – joinbilt.com/TNQ – Tonal.com [TNQ] – greenlight.com/TNQ – PDSDebt.com/TNQ – drinkAG1.com/TNQ – Shadyrays.com [TNQ] – qualialife.com/TNQ [TNQ] – Hims.com/TNQ – Shopify.com/TNQ – Aura.com/TNQ – Policygenius.com – TAKELEAN.com [TNQ] – usejoymode.com [TNQ] – Shhtape.com [TNQ]$

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