What if you could overcome your fears? What would you do, and how different would you be?
Most people have no idea of what they’re capable of; I think they’re almost trained by fear to not attempt the amazing things they dream of,” says Jay Platt, whose feats include swimming across the Mississippi River while handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded. He’s subject of the new documentary, “Living Unstoppable.”
Platt was living his dream as a U.S. Marine when a cancer syndrome called von Hippel Lindau (VHL) exploded like a bomb on his life. It caused tumors in his brain and on his spine, as well as kidney cancer and the loss of his left eye.
“I was mad at the world, and maybe part of me was afraid of the fact that I would be considered a handicapped person,” says Platt, who was retired from the Marines due to his health.
After a personal journey of acceptance, however, Platt went on accomplish feats many world-class athletes wouldn’t consider. Along with his record-breaking Mississippi swim, he swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco with his hands and feet tied, and he was one of fewer than 300 people to have hiked the 2,100-mile southbound Appalachian Trail.
