What does it take to turn a life challenge into a lifelong passion for sports and coaching?
On this episode of We’re Not Stumped, host Mike Bolland talks with Marc Burkom, a double below-knee amputee born with fibular hemimelia who has built a life around athletics, coaching, and helping others reach their potential.
Marc shares how his parents made the difficult decision to amputate his feet when he was just two months old — a choice that allowed him to grow up active in sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball.
Today, Marc works in coaching education and advocates for expanding opportunities for adaptive and amputee athletes. In this conversation, Marc and Mike discuss growing up with prosthetics, the role sports played in building confidence, coaching amputee soccer, adaptive sports like amputee basketball, and how prosthetic technology has evolved over the years.
Marc also shares why amputee athletes should be treated as athletes first — not charity cases — and his vision for future prosthetic innovation.
Mike also introduces Enable Review, a platform where amputees can share honest experiences about prosthetists to help others navigating limb loss find better care.
This episode is a powerful conversation about resilience, sport, leadership, and redefining what’s possible.
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What happens when you begin losing your vision as a child—and refuse to let it define your future? In this inspiring episode of We're Not Stumped, host Mike Bolland welcomes Kathy Nimmer, recipient of the prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award, author, speaker, and retired high school English teacher who spent nearly three decades educating and inspiring students while living with blindness. Kathy shares her remarkable journey of progressive vision loss caused by a rare retinal degenerative disease, the challenges she faced along the way, and the resilience that helped her build a life filled with purpose, achievement, and impact.
Host Mike Bolland welcomes Whitney Lavender — Miss Wheelchair Tennessee 2026, author, advocate, and host of the Wits Grit podcast — for an inspiring conversation about resilience, purpose, and overcoming unimaginable challenges. After a devastating fall led to a diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Whitney faced years of severe pain, countless treatments, and ultimately bilateral leg amputations. Rather than allowing adversity to define her, she rebuilt her life and discovered a new purpose through advocacy, storytelling, and empowering others. Whitney’s story is a powerful reminder that our greatest challenges can sometimes reveal strengths we never knew we had.
Ever since announcing his return to competitive bowling, Mike Bolland has been getting one question after another from friends, bowlers, podcast listeners, and people discovering his story for the first time. In this episode of We’re Not Stumped, Mike answers the top three questions he keeps hearing: 🎳 How did he start bowling? 🎳 Why did he walk away from the sport? 🎳 Why is he coming back now at 61 years old? Mike shares the story behind becoming the first person with limb loss to compete on the PBA Tour, the life experiences that pulled him away from bowling, and how volunteering with Arizona Disabled Sports unexpectedly helped inspire his comeback journey toward the PBA60 World Championship.
