In this episode, I talk with David Saunders. David is from Kerry, teaches in Cork and is a member of the Irish Amputee Football Team. He also is starting to give motivational talks on his journey, resilience and mental health.

In our conversation, David talks about his life growing up in Kerry and his interest in all sports as young boy. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his ankle which lead to an amputation. Only a year later, the cancer returned in the lower leg and a further amputation was needed. David talks through these extremely tough challenges and how he managed to beat cancer, stay positive, develop resilience and became stronger for it.

We talk about his work as a teacher and how he’s bringing mindfulness into class. We also go into details on how David got involved with the Irish Amputee National team, how the game is played, and hopes for the upcoming European championships in Turkey. We also chat about David recently starting to give talks on his own story and linking this to resilience, motivation and developing the discussion on mental health that is growing in Ireland. This is timely as it’s May and Mental Health awareness month.

If you’d like to connect with David to get involved in the Irish Amputee Football team or learn more about his story, you can reach out to him in the following ways:

Email: youngsaunders@yahoo.ie
Twitter: @DavidSaunder82
Website: http://www.irishamputeefootballassociation.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=irish%20amputee%20footbal%20association
Twitter: @IrishAmpFootball

Thanks for listening.