Episodes
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Travel withLimb Difference You Don’t Have to Be Ready, to Be Read Confidence Comes After the First Step What if confidence isn’t what carries us toward the first step, but what waits for us on the other side of it? In this episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I continue my series on traveling as an amputee as I prepare for my first international trip since losing my leg. Last week, I introduced the idea of creating a “passport to confidence.” Every first: our first overnight stay, flight, rental car, or unfamiliar adventure, adds another stamp to that passport and another valuable experience to o
Traveling With Confidence as an Amputee What if every new thing you accomplished earned you another stamp-not just in your travel passport, but in your confidence passport? Solo flight to Chicago, O’Hare Travel has always been a big part of my family’s life, but traveling as an amputee has been an evolving journey. Seven years into life as an amputee, I’m still learning something new every time I walk into an airport. And with every experience, I become a little more confident in what I can handle. Recently, I took my second solo trip, flying to Chicago and doing something I’d never done compl
Advocate and Rise What happens when the people responsible for helping you move forward stop listening? You learn how powerful your own voice can become. In this episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I step back from the idea of constantly pushing forward to talk about one of the most important skills every amputee must develop: advocating for yourself. Self-advocacy has been a major part of my journey since long before my amputation. After tearing my MCL while preparing for my second-degree black belt test, I endured five years, ten surgeries, increasing pain, and complications caused by arthrofi
Building a New Version of Normal What happens when the life you want to return to no longer works the way you remember it? After amputation, we are often told that we can get back to doing the things we love, and I believe that is true. But I have learned that those activities may look, feel, and function differently than they did before. Recovery is not always about returning to the person we used to be. Sometimes, it is about reimagining what life can look like now. Losing a limb changes more than our appearance. It changes our balance, center of gravity, movement patterns, energy levels, an
Learning When to Push and When to Recover Have you ever started making progress with your fitness, only to be stopped by skin irritation, socket discomfort, phantom pain, fatigue, or an injury? As an above-knee amputee who loves working out, hiking, skiing, and staying active, I understand how frustrating it can feel when your body suddenly forces you to pull back. In this episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I’m talking about how we can pursue adaptive fitness without burning ourselves out physically or mentally. As amputees, our journey is rarely a straight line. It often feels like two steps f
One Step at a Time: The Power of Small Steps Toward Big Goals Have you ever looked at a goal and felt overwhelmed before you even started? Whether you’re learning to walk with a prosthetic, chasing a lifelong dream, beginning a new career, or simply trying to make it through a difficult season, sometimes the destination feels impossible. In this episode, I share a personal story that reminded me why the biggest accomplishments in life are built one step at a time. 1000 Step Challenge While attending a family wedding in Washington, I decided to tackle Suncadia’s famous 1,000 Step Challenge-500
Feeling Alone After Amputation? Why Community Is Part of Healing Have you ever felt completely alone—even while surrounded by people who love you? For many amputees, loneliness isn’t about the absence of family or friends. It’s about carrying a journey that very few people truly understand. In this heartfelt episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I share an honest conversation about isolation, fear, healing, and the courage it takes to build meaningful community. Drawing from my own experiences and countless conversations with amputees, I explore why loneliness often becomes one of the greatest hid
Understanding the Types, Triggers, and Coping Strategies What if the most intense pain you’ve ever felt came from a part of your body that no longer exists? As an above-knee amputee, phantom pain is one of the most difficult parts of my journey to explain. It’s invisible. It’s unpredictable. And unless you’ve experienced it yourself, it’s almost impossible to fully understand. Yet for many amputees, it becomes a reality we learn to navigate every day. On this episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I pull back the curtain on phantom pain and share my personal experience living with it over the last
Reclaiming Independence What if the thing holding you back isn’t the possibility of falling, but the fear of what happens if you do? As amputees, we talk a lot about mobility, prosthetics, and recovery. But there is one challenge that often doesn’t get enough attention: the fear of falling. In this week’s episode of BAWarrior Podcast, I share my own experiences as an above-knee amputee and explore how fear can quietly limit our lives if we allow it to take control. The truth is, for many of us, the fear of falling isn’t really about the fall itself. It’s about everything we think might happen
Join the Movement for Above Knee Amputees What if joining the movement means becoming part of the future of amputee care? In this episode of the BAWarrior Podcast, I had the honor of sitting down with Jake and Hiva, two PhD students from the University of Michigan, who are working on research that could help shape the future of prosthetic technology for above-knee amputees. This conversation was personal for me because I know what it feels like to step into the unknown for the sake of healing, hope, and future possibilities. Last year, I chose to take part in an experimental surgical procedure
What I Wish Every New Amputee Knew Seven years ago, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life: to amputate my leg. Looking back now, I can honestly say that journey has taught me more about life, resilience, and myself than I ever could have imagined. In this episode, I share seven of the biggest lessons I’ve learned through seven years of living as an above-knee amputee. These lessons aren’t just about limb loss, they’re about navigating life’s unexpected challenges, embracing change, and discovering strength you didn’t know you had. One of the first things I learned is that life is incr
Rewriting Your Mindset After Loss What happens when something you spent years building disappears in a single moment? In this deeply personal episode of BAWarrior Podcast, I open up about the emotional aftermath of being massively hacked on social media and losing access to over twenty years of connection, community, memories, and support systems I had built through Facebook. What started as frustration and heartbreak became something much bigger: a reflection on faith, identity, resilience, and what it truly means to keep moving forward when life knocks you down. As amputees and warriors, we
Join the Warrior Effect-Get Involved Today What if one story had the power to help someone walk again? After seven powerful weeks of interviews during Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, this episode of BAWarrior podcast becomes more than a reflection-it becomes a movement. In this heartfelt finale to the “Survivors to Warriors” series, I take listeners back through the incredible stories shared throughout the past seven weeks. These were not just interviews about limb loss. They were deeply personal conversations about fear, trauma, cancer, grief, PTSD, faith, family, resilience, a
Stride Robotics Lightweight Power Knee Redefining Movement This episode wrapped up Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month in a powerful way by looking toward the future of mobility, technology, and what it truly means to help people live again after limb loss. After a month full of stories about trauma, cancer, amputation, grief, fear, faith, and resilience, I wanted to end this series by asking a bigger question: once someone survives, how do we help them truly reclaim their life? That is why I invited Revanth, cofounder and CEO of Stride Robotics, onto the BAWarrior podcast. Stride Ro
Limbs For Humanity: Restoring Hope One Leg at a Time In this powerful and perspective-shifting episode of Be a Warrior Podcast, I sit down with two men who have not only walked alongside me in my own journey as prosthetists, but who have also chosen to step far beyond the walls of their profession to answer a much bigger calling. Randy and David, co-founders of Limbs for Humanity, join me to share the heart, mission, and real-world impact of bringing prosthetic care to those who would otherwise never have access to it. After spending the past month highlighting the deeply personal stories of s
Faith Fueled Resilience: Abri Bentley’s Story There are moments in life when everything slows down just enough for you to hear what truly matters. This episode was one of those moments for me. As I sat across from Abri, I wasn’t just interviewing a guest-I was witnessing a living, breathing testimony of what it looks like to hold onto hope when everything else tries to take it away. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” That verse from Romans 12:12 felt like it wrapped itself around this entire conversation. Because if there is anyone who embodies that kind of faith i
A Daughter and Mother’s Story of Resilience This week on BAWarrior Podcast, I had the absolute honor of sitting down with Bridget and her mom, Jamie, during Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, and I can honestly say this conversation will stay with me for a long time. Bridget is only fourteen, but the strength, maturity, and perspective she carries are far beyond her years. From the moment we started talking, I could feel that this episode was going to be something special. I first wanted people to meet Bridget for who she is today, not just through the lens of her diagnosis or her
Finding Joy in Chronic Pain What happens when the warrior you planned to interview is not quite ready to speak, but her story still needs to be heard? Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is pivot, honor the moment, and make space for healing. This week’s episode was deeply special to me because it was a beautiful reminder that not every story unfolds the way we expect it to. I had planned to sit down with Abri, a young woman who has inspired me for years, but life asked us to pivot. Instead, I had the privilege of talking with her mom, Nikkole, and together we shared the story of a young wom
Kainoa Spenser’s Road to Recovery Week 2: Survivors to Warriors April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, and this episode of BAWarrior Podcast is one that will stay with me for a long time. In this powerful and deeply emotional conversation, I sat down with Kainoa Spenser, someone whose story reflects the very heart of what it means to move from surviving to truly living as a warrior. Kainoa and I first connected while I was facing my own amputation journey, so having him on the podcast felt especially meaningful. What makes his story so extraordinary is not just the severity of
Life Behind the Numbers of Amputees and Limb Difference April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month, and this year on the podcast, I’m doing something that means so much to me. Instead of focusing only on my own story, I’m opening the door for other amputees to share theirs. That has become a tradition for me over the last five seasons, and this year I’m building the entire month around one powerful theme: Survivors to Warriors. I truly cannot wait for you to hear these interviews, because the young adults I have coming on embody courage, resilience, grit, and hope in a way that wil
The Canvas of Courage What if the very thing you’ve been trying to hide… is actually the most beautiful part of your story? This week on the BAWarrior Podcast, I found myself sitting in reflection after a weekend of rest, sunshine, and quiet moments here in Arizona. As spring starts to show up and life begins to feel a little lighter, I couldn’t help but think about something deeper, the parts of ourselves we often try to cover up. The broken pieces. The scars. The moments we wish never happened. The Beauty in the Cracks And I asked myself, and now I’m asking you, what if that brokenness isn’t
“The Name on the Bottom of My Foot” Do you feel like you belong? That’s the question I want to start with today. Because if you’re an amputee, or walking alongside someone who is, you’ve probably felt that quiet, unsettling shift… that moment where life no longer feels like it fits the way it used to. Welcome back to BAWarrior Podcast, a space for resilience, healing, and living life amplified exactly as you are. I’m your host, Angie Heuser, and I’m walking this journey right alongside you as an above-knee amputee. This past week, I did something playful… but it turned into something deeply me
Advocating For Yourself is Self-Respect, Not Entitlement What if the life you want is waiting on the other side of one powerful decision, the decision to advocate for yourself? In this episode of the Be a Warrior Podcast, I dive into something that took me years to truly understand and learn how to practice: speaking up for myself. Advocating for yourself sounds simple, but in reality, it can be incredibly difficult especially when you’re navigating the medical world, recovering from trauma, or learning to live life in a completely new way after an amputation. If you’ve been following along wi
What if the very thing holding you back isn’t your body… but your fear? In this week’s episode of Be a Warrior Podcast, I’m coming to you in real time in the middle of something new, uncomfortable, and humbling. If you’ve been following along, you know last week I talked about life lessons from the ski slopes and how we have to stop looking down at our feet and start looking ahead at what’s coming. That lesson didn’t end on the mountain. It followed me straight into this week. As an above-knee amputee, I’ve learned that one of our earliest survival habits is looking down. When you first get yo
Facing Fears, Letting Go, and Breathing What if the thing you’re most afraid of… is the exact mountain you were meant to ski? Welcome back to Be a Warrior. I’m Angie Heuser — above knee amputee, equine therapy lover, skier, and someone who refuses to live life from the sidelines. And if you’ve been following me the past several weeks, you know we’ve been diving deep into the energy of the Year of the Fire Horse — a year of movement, momentum, fearless expansion, courage, and decisive action. But before the fire horse came the snake. And I can’t stop thinking about that metaphor. The Year of th
