Bombardier Blood follows the journey of man with a severe bleeding disorder, determined to summit the world’s highest 7 mountains
[Interview with Chris Bombardier and documentarian Patrick James Lynch]
Chris Bombardier talks about the motivation behind risking his life in the making of Bombardier Blood, how his family supported him and how he continues to redefine his mission. Documentarian Patrick James Lynch, shares his own life experience that moved him to dedicating his film career to giving a voice to the unheard.
Before the Bombardier Blood interview:
Rob and I talk a lot about what we admire in people and what we can do to emulate those qualities. We also spend a lot of time talking about the best way to spend our own short time on this planet (mostly because of my intense anxiety about dying, without having accomplished anything of real value to the world, but I digress). In every conversation, despite the conversational tangents about website content and podcast topics, the root of what brings us the most happiness is in the moments we feel like we’ve made somebodies day, just a little bit better. When we hear your stories about how the podcast got you through a rough patch or that Tim’s movie reviews bring you a sense of community, that really matters to us.
I’ll admit though, we struggle with not feeling like we’re doing enough. We talk about leaving our secure jobs and instead going to work for a non-profit or moving to Africa and digging wells for water. But we to be honest, it’s hard to take those risks. It’s scary to lose security and so, we continue to just admire.
Leading up to the interview:
Needless to say, we felt quite a bit of pressure sitting down with two people who are so wholly living in a way that serves the world for better. Two people who have taken their obstacle, and instead made it a job and a mission. Two people we truly admire.
Chris Bombardier is the first person with hemophilia to climb the Seven Summits, to raise awareness of the disparity in treatment for those with bleeding disorders in developing countries. He is the executive director at Save One Life, an international nonprofit that assists people with hemophilia, where care is limited. Then, Chris reaches out to award-winning filmmaker and global health advocate Patrick Lynch and their connection is instant. Patrick also lives with hemophilia and spends much of his professional career advocating for many important causes. Their mutual passions were the perfect mix to bring Bombardier Blood to life.
During the interview:
I had one question that was really important for me to ask. I wasn’t exactly sure how it would come off, but I needed to know.
Was becoming the first person to climb to the top of 6 giant mountains and then traveling to and summiting Mount Everest over the course of 50+ days, whilst infusing their blood with clotting medication enough?
The pursuit of success and meaning and purpose is such a tricky thing and I needed to know if me (probably getting trapped on the side of a mountain and Rob having to send a rescue team) accomplishing an amazing physical feat would somehow bring that desired sense of success and completionism.
We hope you enjoy Chris and Patrick as much as we did. Check out the trailer for Bombardier Blood and find it on streaming now!
Rob: Chris, Patrick. Rob and Carrie here. Can you hear us okay?
Chris: Yeah, I can hear you.
Rob: All right.
Carrie: Hello.
James: How’s it going?
Rob: Going well, that sound you may have just heard was not Carrie cracking open a beer, although it is two o’clock here in Madison, Wisconsin so it’s beer time somewhere, unfortunately.
James: Obviously, it’s a Friday quarantine. Have at it.
Carrie: I know we were on. We were chatting with somebody a couple weeks ago and it was early, and they had already cracked the beer, and I’m like, Well now I’m in the basement. I can’t get up. It’s weird if I leave, but I want to. So, how are you guys doing?
James: Pretty well over here. All things considered. So, I’m in LA, Chris is in Salem. How are you doing over there?
Chris: I’m doing well. I’m doing pretty well. Yeah, sorry. It’s Friday. It’s Friday afternoon.
Rob: Salem. So, I thought maybe you’d be calling in from my hometown or my home state of Colorado. That’s where I’m originally from. I understand you’re from Colorado as well.
Chris: Yeah. Yes. I just moved out to Massachusetts, almost two years ago. So, but you know, born and raised in Colorado all the rest of the time, so yeah, yeah. Where in Colorado?
Rob: I went to school all throughout school. And in high school. In high school is where I grew up in Thornton area.
Chris: Oh, cool. Yeah. I was in Aurora, so.
Rob: Oh, very nice. Yeah, we were probably rivals. Not on the baseball field. I know that. I didn’t play baseball.
Carrie: Too old to be rivals.
Rob: Yeah, probably. I’m probably too old. I always think of myself as being younger than I am.
Carrie: Yeah, we are. Yeah, Madison we are. I don’t know. It’s not so bad. We live like 20 minutes outside of Madison. So, it’s, uh, I don’t know, we’re feel like we’re just kind of living in a bubble. Like we both work from home, we do all this stuff from home, and so it’s like, we can order our groceries online. Like we can sort of like the world is going on around us kind of feeling, but yeah, no complaints I guess.
Chris: Totally. Yeah. This is the first time I haven’t been on a plane. Oh, I haven’t been on. I’ve only been on one flight this whole year. It’s so weird. It’s bizarre.
Rob: Yeah, I’m definitely not going to hit my Hilton honors points goal, or my frequent flyer miles goal that I had set out in the beginning of the year.
Chris: Yeah, yeah, I think I’m going to lose my status.
Rob: I see Shannon’s joining us. Well, hey, Shannon, thanks for coordinating this. Appreciate it.
Shannon: Of course, I’m just here if y’all need anything.
Rob: Okay, perfect. Thank you. And Patrick, you’re supporting Chris’ shirt. I love it. That’s the website right.
Patrick: You know, that’s Yeah, that’s Chris’s in his brand. And it’s, yeah, it’s got a cool design and I like to think I’ve co-opted it a little bit too, you know, and it ultimately drives people to Bombardier Blood. So, it’s just a big win all around.
Rob: Yeah. Well, that’s a great segue actually, because that’s what we’re here to talk about is the upcoming release of Bombardier Blood. Congratulations, number one on the on the documentary. Extremely moving. I’m a sucker number one for any mountain climbing, particularly anything Everest related in general. I’m just a big, big fan. Not a climber myself, but just find it so fascinating. But then coupling it with kind of your personal story, Chris, that that went through it was extremely moving and inspiring. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to chatting about Bombardier blood with both of you. And just curious to how did how did you to get connected? How did this all start this relationship?
Chris: Well, you know, I had been quite, I’ve been doing a few of the climbs of the Seven Summits. And it was getting ready and starting to think about Everest in knowing that, you know, Everest is the climb that everyone’s heard of. And, also that Everest is located in Nepal, where the disparity and if care is like very profound. And then I had been very familiar with Patrick’s work as another person with hemophilia, working in the community creating a lot of really cool content. I thought it’d be really cool to approach him and ask him to partner on this film as two people with hemophilia that are chasing our dreams that are very different dreams. But, you know, still overcoming those obstacles of having a bleeding disorder. So, I actually didn’t know him very well. So, I just sent him a message on Facebook and I was like, “Hey, man, I have this idea. You want to sit down and chat? And kind of went from there really, which is pretty cool.
Rob: So, Patrick, you waited a little bit to see if Chris, this guy, was serious, right? Like you didn’t just you know, for summit, you know, okay, well, let’s see if he makes the first one to me.
Patrick: After what you’ve done about five and he will tell me to make it happen. So, there’s a couple of points actually in there. As I see it, he had done five by the time we sat down, so I’m not a climber whatsoever. So, from that though, I was like, “alright, you’re legit, you know what you’re doing? You’re obviously figuring it out the affiliate piece, you’re figuring out the lifestyle, you’re figuring it out. So, you got that part covered.” Great. Then the concept was a no brainer. I mean, the way he just described it, like, got it and as a storyteller filmmaker, that dramatic disparity, incredible. Let’s tell that story of accomplishment versus where the needs still are. Got it. “How do you see us finding the budget the support? Do you have any idea? I know it’s expensive just to go there. Do you know what documentaries cost?” And he was like, “I have no idea what documentaries costs, I have no idea how it’s going to get funded, I’ve had a lot of trouble getting funding for the first five. No clue.” But it’s a lie. And I was like, this dude’s honest. Amen. Amen. So that was literally the thing that tipped the scales for me was there was no BS in the sale. He had an idea, he had something to share, he adds value, and he just laid it out. And then when asked the tough questions, he was honest. So, I was like, all right, I don’t know, either. But I’ll join you on this.
Carrie: That’s Awesome. So, do you feel like, so it felt like going through the movie, it felt like you really did focus on some different elements that you pulled together. Obviously going out and sort of telling the story of, other people who experienced this in underdeveloped countries, then you sort of you focus on your relationship with your wife and with your family. And then you really focus on the relationships between the people that you work with to actually execute these climbs. And it’s like, “I don’t think people would probably understand how complicated pulling all this just to do the climb together is and to see that come together is really interesting, from the viewer standpoint. So, thinking about all those things that you chose to focus on, did you guys kind of collaborate on what was important? You know, like what things you really wanted to highlight within the documentary?
Patrick: Yeah, for sure. You know, that first conversation really set the track for us. And then, what was nice about this film is that it’s following a quest in real time, right? So, there’s an actual timeline to hook on to. So, for the early part, interviewing Chris, meeting his family, talking to his clinicians. Now that all is pretty blocking and tackling, to be quite honest, and you want to make it interesting and kind of fine with the nuggets are, you know what you’re going for. When we got to Nepal, that was the opportunity to make some decisions with the limited amount of time we had about who we wanted to talk to, about what and why, how would we be able to utilize that in our story. And we also had to be, you know, we never talked about this actually, but Katmandu is one of the most polluted cities in the world. And that’s why when climbers of Everest generally go, you have to go through Katmandu to get to Lukla, to get to Everest. But they generally do just that, they go to Katmandu, Lukla, Everest, and then maybe on the way back they’ll hang out in Katmandu for a little bit. But it’s so polluted that you don’t want to be there for too long, soaking that into your lungs before spending two months trying to get to the top of the world. So, we also have to consider, alright, we want Chris to meet these families, we want these young guys with hemophilia to meet Chris, but we also don’t want Chris to fall over and keel because we made him traipse around Nepal irresponsibly for days and days and days and days of the climb. So, we did have to be specific about what are our goals. Although, I will say what was interesting to me and Chris, you might feel differently, but when we were in the edit, there’s actually pieces of the hemophilia history. And hemophilia has some pretty bleak moments in its history. That felt important to share but also, could become a distraction or could kind of open this whole other like whoa, what is that film? Its kind of its own, 90% of people got hemophilia or got HIV from hemophilia drugs like, you know, that’s a headline. But Chris and I, as guys we’re going to be 35 this year, born the year that the medicine was treated to prevent against that. So, we’re literally on the cusp of that first generation. We knew how important this was for the guys just a few years older than us and I knew, as an advocate and a fellow guy with hemophilia, that was on Chris’s mind while he was climbing. So, there was a lot of early, when we first started sharing it with intimate people and advocacy world in the filmmaking world, that was by far the biggest split. Should there be anything about HIV AIDS in there, should there be more, should there be less, and that came down to Chris and I just deciding what we felt was important.
Rob: I appreciate that you leaving that in there because honestly it was eye opening. Just as a casual observer of not knowing too much about the bleeding disorder in general, like I had no idea about that particular history. And I think you’re right, it is its own, it could probably be its own, documentary too. On that note, I’m actually curious with blood banks and things like that. I understand factor eight and factor nine, which is the treatment protocol for it. I understand was derived from blood. Are there any issues with blood banks being kind of depleted recently where that’s impacting or is it synthetically made now?
Chris: Yeah, so it’s more synthetically made. They still do produce some products with through plasma from blood products. But most a lot of products now are recombinant. So, it’s made from a cell line. And I don’t, yeah, we don’t need to give them the technical aspect of it. We got most of it synthetic now. So, nothing’s really impacted us in that sense right now. But yeah, the clean blood supplies been like a big, big thing for the hemophilia community since the HIV, and see thing. So that’s just been like been a big focus of our community, which is interesting.
Rob: And Chris, you can speak the language, because you actually worked as a clinician, or I’m not sure on the formal title, but you worked in in the Colorado hemophilia area, is that right?
Chris: Yeah, actually was in the research lab, which was really interesting to learn about my condition in a very, like different way, like more scientific way, which has been really cool. And it’s really opened up a lot of cool opportunities for me to, travel to Kenya and work in a lab. And yeah, just like really get to understand this condition and how complicated our bodies are, you know, just the simple thing, like getting a blood clot is like, so complicated. It’s crazy. But yeah, it’s really cool perspective to have on my condition, I think.
Carrie: Yeah, I think it was really important context setting, like Rob already said, for us to sort of understand it as if you’re not as close to it. Obviously, as you are, but I think generally, I’ll just say What I really loved about the documentary is that while I know like a big focus on this is raising awareness that you can overcome these obstacles which you obviously did. Which, by the way is like mockers. And sort of separately, I would ask you like, Patrick, like as you’re taking this whole thing in, so does this mean that you’re along for this whole track to Rob and I were asking each other that question yesterday, are you along for this whole experience?
Patrick: Yeah, it’s interesting. So physically, I was not on Mount Everest. We could send one guy from the production team to Mount Everest for the two months that it takes, which is something I knew nothing about any of this coming in. But I’m sure even casual like, Mount Everest is a two-month commitment. Once you’re there, never mind the preparation to get there. So, our company, I was getting married at the same time. It just wasn’t going to be possible. And that was as a filmmaker, that was something for me to process and kind of, okay, you’d like to talk about leadership by committee and empowering people to be their best selves, well, money where your mouth is because your film is largely going to be in the hands of others. And that was interesting. I will say emotionally, I felt like I was with Chris from the moment we sat at that table, and he pitched the idea. And that is what I sunk my hooks into as a storyteller because again, I knew nothing about mountains and we didn’t know if he’s where we don’t know what the outcome is going to be. But my bank shot was that, so long as we’re with Chris, and we can be with in his head, and in his heart, and know where he’s coming from, and feel the relationships that means something in his life, and how this is impacting them will track what happens, but it kind of won’t matter what happens. So long as we are with Chris the whole way and can appreciate this guy is trying to do something that is going to globally effect these people in a way. And that was that was my bank shot. And I figured if I could set us up to do that whatever happens, whoever filming whatever we don’t get or do get, we can figure it out so long as we are with Chris. And I think my emotional connection to him enabled me to kind of drive us in that direction.
Carrie: I think we were too. We also feel like you were emotionally…
Rob: Don’t blush Chris but yeah, you’re the real you’re the real deal and it really comes across. And Patrick to your point when the camera flipped it, I think it said like day 50, I was like, why are you there for 50 days?
Carrie: We’re like, what are you doing three or four-day thing? We have no concept of time. And when that started ticking up there were like day 50?
Chris: yeah!
Patrick: I don’t know that when we sat down I will be, I maybe would have been I didn’t know the whole day50 part until we had, wait a minute, this is like a commitment.
Chris: Yeah, yeah. That was actually one of the hardest parts about being on Everest, I think is keeping your head in it, because you’re there for so many days. From our second rotation up the mountain, tell when we got ready to go for the summit was actually 16 days of waiting for good weather and waiting for the ropes to get fixed to the summit. And trying to like convince yourself that like, you can do this and like keeping your head in it for 16 days while you’re looking at the mountain every morning and you’re just like, man! And you know, personally, I was just like, “I’m ready to do this.” Like the more I think about it, the harder it is to convince yourself you can get up there and yeah, the mental challenge was like, such a different struggle on Everest and that some of the other climbs just because of the waiting part.
Rob: Yeah, no staring at your ballplayer…
Patrick: I don’t mean to like to ruin the show but I’ve literally never thought about this. Do you think because you were a baseball player and like as a sport, there is a degree of patience and waiting and just being prepared for the moment? As opposed to basketball, we’re just constantly going around, soccer is constantly running around. In some ways, you’re being a baseball player and kind of disciplining yourself competitively in this patient way. Do you think that helped you in a way that’s different than maybe other climbers?
Chris: Yeah, I actually thought about that just recently in one of these interviews. In the same way of like, I think both tasks are very physical and mental, like baseball is a very mental game. Climbing is just as hard mentally as it is physically. So, I do think that baseball and maybe that’s why I was drawn to climbing as it because they had those similarities. But yeah, I remember thinking about that the other day of just like, baseball, it’s you go for three and a game or something and you’re trying to like put your head back into it, like you got this, you can do this. Climb is the same way, you’re feeling really terrible one day and you’re like, alright, keep taking another step, keep taking another step and convincing yourself you can do it. So, I think so I think that had there’s a connection there.
Rob: It’s a great question. Yeah, it’s funny like you were just waiting for your pitch. It just took 50 days to talk to come, right?
Chris: Yeah!
Rob: Well, you didn’t do it alone. You had a ton of support.
Chris: Yeah.
Rob: I see, you know, I mean from a financial support, emotional support, you’ve had the whole range. I’ll focus in, I know that Alex Borstein was part of this project as well too. I noticed that she’s an executive producer on this. Tell me about her involvement. How the two of you got her involved.
Patrick: Yeah, Alex, so she’s a carrier of the hemophilia trade. She has mild hemophilia herself as her daughter and her brother has severe hemophilia and grew up during this period where viruses were running through the medicine. So, she growing up had a front row seat to just how difficult hemophilia could be on a household. So, while as an adult, it hasn’t been a large part of her day to day experience. She’s actually been very quietly involved in work at the National hemophilia foundation and other hemophilia advocacy work for quite some time. So, I have met her over the years at hemophilia events and being a filmmaker and content producer, we had things to talk about. So, we kept in touch. And when this was at a certain point, I thought if she would be interested in getting involved in it. She, at some point in her past, worked on the hemophilia documentary for a little while, so I thought it might be of interest. And she just immediately said yes, and was an outstanding support. We did a screening for a patient group in New York, and world hemophilia day of 2018. And she brought a bunch of the cast from the marvelous Mrs. Nasal. They’re all participating afterwards and taking pictures and talking to the whole community that was there. And she’s just been outstanding. She came on board and she’s everything I could have asked for. And, someone like that saying yes to being an executive producer of a film like this.
Carrie: It seems like it’s just a really tight knit community.
Patrick: Yes, very much.
Carrie: It seems like I was connected there and when you can really like sympathize with other people. It seems like that’s been really important for growing awareness and so on and so forth. While I think, Chris, it’s amazing that you climb to the top of Mount Everest, I think closely behind that the MVP is your wife in the documentary, I’m watching this probably differently than Rob, as I’m sitting here and feeling similar feelings to her. And I’m sure similar to what she’s experiencing of like probably the push-pull of wanting to be so supportive of something that is so important to you and that matters so much like Patrick said to society and to moving things forward, but also wanting to keep you at home and just have you there every day so that you’re not gone. So, I definitely, like think that she’s fantastic. And I think she’s really portrayed that way in the documentary, which is awesome too. But I guess can you talk a little bit about that sort of journey, like has it her sort of journey to get there with this and support all of this. Is it something that’s been a process through your relationship? Or How is that evolved?
Chris: To be honest, she’s always just been so supportive of me.
Rob: Tell me, tell me more.
Carrie: I am supposed to say it was years and years or more.
Chris: I mean, as any relationship we’ve definitely had our ups and downs and thankfully for me, she stuck with me through a lot of my struggles with depression. I think she saw as soon as we started dating, like that was a really profound thing for me. And I didn’t really understand what was happening either with that. I think it’s because you know, with a chronic medical condition like we’ve been struggling with these feelings for our entire lives, like I’ve never not known having hemophilia, and so I don’t think you’d recognize like a shift in like not being depressed. I think I was for just my most of my life. And I think she saw that and recognize it. And she was the one that like, encouraged me to like, get help in that sense. But also, she saw I was just searching for something to be passionate about and be connected to and then as soon as I came back from Africa and was like, I want to do all this stuff. She was just like, okay. Like never wants to, she like, let me think about it, never once was she like. And then when I was like, I’m going to leave my job and try new things and like, and she’s like, sure, go for it. She was just super supportive. And I hope that I’ve been equally supportive back to her and like it helped her. Yeah, I don’t know. But she’s just spectacular. And I don’t know how I got too lucky.
Rob: I have a lot of crazy dreams that, Carrie has been very supportive, we’re obviously doing a podcast together. So that’s one word about movies.
Carrie: That I don’t, I’m not as close to his prowess. But you’re right it is so important to find somebody that you can connect to on the passions and her passions might be different, and it’s, I feel like the more you give, the more you get, like in those relationships. And that’s definitely the sense that I got and took away from the documentary, which was just fantastic. So, Well, yeah.
Rob: Both done a tremendous job. Because I know Chris, you say it in the he never wanted to be defined, you know, by the by the disorder. Now, I think you’re taking steps where you’re making the legacy of the older generation that you had mentioned, plus, others who in these developing countries, you’re showing that they can define themselves and you are a sterling example of that, and you were both were able to kind of bring that to light in the work. How are you managing that, feeling of responsibility now after the fact?
Chris: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think that’s something that I, I don’t know if I anticipated. And I do take it very seriously is like trying to be like an example to our community. And like, I also think by working for save one life and doing the work to help people in developing countries, I hope I’m showing like, I’m also willing to do the work to make a difference. Yeah, I don’t know, it doesn’t like, I think I’ve texted Patrick a few times, and just, like vintage, like, oh my gosh, like, I feel like there is like a little bit of a pressure, you know, around that, but I also have great friends like Patrick and a lot of other friends in the bleeding disorder community that helped help me in that sense. And we are like very tight community. So, I think, in that sense I don’t feel like I’m doing it alone. Patrick, too, is also the amazing leader in the community. And so, I feel like we get to go on this journey together, which is pretty cool. Which is kind of cool, we didn’t really know each other when this started and now we’re like, we’re more than just blood brothers, like literal brothers kind of. Which is really cool and special. So, it doesn’t feel as big of pressure when you got your best friend and your brother with you doing along on the journey, which is pretty cool.
Rob: Yeah, Patrick, you have an incredible body of work and filmography whether it’s through your acting or through your producing or directing in this case, is you’ve done a great job providing a voice for the for the voiceless, bringing empathy to wider audiences. I’m a film school dropout myself. But it feels like you’ve really locked in on a mission and you’re, sticking to that, mission statement. Are you ever drawn into you’d mentioned being in the Los Angeles area is Walter ever drawn into the commercial world like you’re like tempted by moving away from your mission ever?
Patrick: I so appreciate that question that run up. I actually Chris has been on the on the other side of texts about this a little bit, the only the only thing in my creative world that I’ll say the mission has felt as though it’s kind of co-opted in a way is it. My acting work is something I don’t get to do as much anymore and my most of my work is as a producer, then probably as a writer, then as a director, I’m also an advocate, and a husband, and a bunch of other things more important than being an actor, frankly. But I love it. And it was the first thing I found as a person with hemophilia that felt like it was for me, because sports with my body growing up just weren’t going to be something I could pursue the way I wanted to. But when I found theater and acting, and made sense of my feelings, it made sense of my energy, it gave me a place to go and belong. So there have been times where this mission that we’ve been on has, at times just given me a little bit of sadness in a way for like kind of grieving that. It’s not to say I can’t obviously. You could be an actor at any point in your life. But if we’re realistically speaking as a 35-year-old guy who is now married, that has a mortgage and as a company like, to make a decision to pursue it in the way that I had been doing it 10 years ago that just doesn’t feel responsible frankly at this point. I think I have too much stuff going on. It’s more interesting that’s making a difference in people’s lives, that’s creating employment for people, and that I’m very fulfilled by. So, it’s something Chris kind of brought up about you just learn to live with things that you have your whole life and sometimes don’t actually take the time to analyze them, it’s okay to be sad about a grieving process, that’s part of it, and it’s okay that like that doesn’t motivate me to necessarily want to change my behavior much. It’s just acknowledging like that there’s some sadness for maybe things that didn’t happen as a result of making this choice. But then what is this choice again? And to what you said at the beginning, like I have been able to do a lot and it’s been quite varied and it has made an impact. And so, if I don’t spend too much time in that sad place, then I’m good and when I am I’m, it’s ego. So, no, it’s not really drawn. If anything, I just want to do more work with the people I’ve come to really enjoy working with, and now because of some of our credits, I’m developing new relationships with people who have differently interesting portfolios and things to add. It’s like, oh god, what can we collaborate on. So that part of me is now just raring to go.
Rob: Yeah, I see you have a lot of success. A lot of irons in the fire as well. So, I’d be remiss to say, besides Bombardier Blood that’s getting a lot of critical acclaim that you have, sometimes I think about dying, which I understand has been shortlisted for. What will be an interesting academy award season?
Patrick: Thank you. It was shortlisted didn’t make it for this year, but you are definitely correct about the 2021 Academy Awards, good luck to all. But that was a very cool opportunity that project and seeing that grow from the theater piece in New York into an Oscar considered short film. That was very, very neat and premiering at Sundance and those are just cool checkmarks when you’re trying to do this thing, and being able to do them. And then also at the same time being like, life’s just life and you keep working and that doesn’t, you know, just like as a kid, sometimes those things like, I used to think like, oh, then you’ve like made it, and it’s a place. And as I’ve gotten older, it’s like, no, it’s if anything, success is a thing to be managed. So, if you’re lucky enough to be successful, congratulations, you got a lot more to manage.
Carrie: We absolutely talk about this all the time and it’s funny because as you’re saying this I’m just sort of like reeling it all in of like, this is exactly the conversation that Rob and I have and we thought about it too with Chris is he’s literally doing this amazing feat. It’s just sort of like we sort of race towards all these milestones and we work and then there’s this high was really, factually for you literally. But there’s a sort of high that we get when we, you know, even talking to you guys today like, this feels great and it’s wonderful, and then you guys are making movies. I mean, you think about like, the magnitude of something like that. And then when you’re done with it, there’s always this sort of feeling of, what’s the next thing? And you’re always like, sometimes it’s hard to stop yourself and be like, look at all these things that I’ve already done that are really remarkable. And it seems like Patrick, what you said is always the base of where Rob and I get the thing that’s most meaningful is the relationships, the relationships that we build, and that we foster and that we develop, because those are the things that keep us sustaining. Like those long-term things. And so, it’s interesting that while yours is much cooler, the things that you’re talking about what your message can apply to every single person?
Patrick: All the same, yeah, its all the same, isn’t it?
Carrie: Yeah, so but that begs the question of what’s next. Is there Other mountain to climb? What’s next?
Chris: I think for me, it’s been transitioning to from the climbing and building bringing awareness through the film and the clients to actually getting down and doing the work had saved one life. I’m also getting my master’s degree in global health, which I have like three weeks left, and I get my degree and I’ll be done with that. Sweet! But I am so excited to be able to do the work to hopefully help people with bleeding disorders in developing countries and like that’s sort of my passion lies now. And so, maybe not as many mountains, big mountain climbs in the future, but that’s a big mountain in a different sense. And then there is one like outdoor adventure that I really want to do. It’s still on my list is I want to ski to the South Pole. So, you can go from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and it’s like 500 miles. Like 45 days something like that. And yeah. After went to Antarctica in 2018 for mount Vinson, I just fell in love with it down. So beautiful in just this. It feels like a different planet kind of way. And I was just so energized by being down there that I want to get down there again somehow and I think that adventure would be pretty sweet.
Rob: I’ll still hold out hope for Bombardier Blood 2 in space.
Chris: Yeah!
Rob: That’s what I’m looking forward to. But if you do something south pole you got to bring that uncle of yours along. What a character.
Chris: Uncle Dave. Yeah, absolutely.
Carrie: Another MVP, another MVP. We were just like, oh my gosh, everyone needs this uncle. You know?
Chris: Totally, totally. Uncle Dave’s the best.
Carrie: That’s awesome. I love that he was highlighted and I had to mention this also, is that the Tashi who was on there, the scene that you capture of him repetitively hugging you, both Rob and I were just like, we realized that we were like leaning into each other. Cause it was just such a sweet like real moment like, I don’t know. I loved the way that part was captured.
Chris: Yeah.
Patrick: Well, to that, so just a shout out to Rob Bradford, the producer and mountain director there because I think from a filmmaking standpoint, the discipline he had, that moment just unfolded right like, this is a spoiler, you’re gonna watch the film or not probably based on my thing, this isn’t gonna change anything. But when Chris’s wife leaves and it’s time for Chris, now they’re getting ready for Everest and his Sherpa comes in, the moments just happening, Rob had the discipline to just stay back and just let it happen and not worry about trying to get a different angle or he just he let it be. And that was 1, 000% the right thing to do. But instinctually sometimes there’s this, oh, I gotta, and he’s the only person, right? He’s our only camera, e’s our only sound, he’s our only everything, and that’s such pressure as well. So big shout out to him as a filmmaker for in that moment having the discipline to hang back because it’s one of the most powerful moments in the entire film. And if he just if he tried to do more with it, it would have fell apart as a film.
Chris: Yeah.
Carrie: Right. 100%, 100%.
Rob: Yeah, well, we absolutely loved the film, and we are closing in on time here as well too, but just loved it so much. We’re excited to share it with our audience and it’s going to do very well, it’s going to gain a lot of traction, and bring awareness to a lot of lot of things beyond just being compelling to watch. I think it really does open up a lot of eyes, through your organization. Now, Chris, that you’re the executive director of save one life. Carrie and I are now participants and that as well too. So, it certainly moved us enough to contribute there as well too.
Chris: Wow Thank you.
Carrie: And you should too.
Rob. Yes, and you should too. Absolutely.
Carrie: And then tell us where you should go to donate.
Chris: Yeah, go to saveonelife. net to donate and there’s a bunch of cool things you can learn about our organization on the website and different ways to contribute and yeah, that’s awesome, saveonelife. net. And follow us on all social media stuff.
Carrie: Yes! Please do that too.
Rob: And I believe limited to Patrick on your organization is fantastic too. That’s where all those productions and opportunities for, maybe even film school drop, maybe it’s not too late for me. Maybe there’s somewhere I can fit into the ring there.
Patrick: I think our full-time team is 14 people. And I don’t know if any of us went to film school. So, if it’s of any comfort, I think we might have not a single film school person on staff we’re self-taught and yeah. So now there’s plenty of common. I’ll say here too quickly. We have yes about the next project and your audience might be interested to know this. But we talked earlier about HIV, AIDS and people may know the name Ryan White. It comes up very briefly in our film. But we are working on a piece about who Ryan White was and his name is attached to the largest bill we have in the United States. For people with HIV AIDS, the Ryan White Care Act it has helped more than half of all families. Ever affected by HIV in the United States, a huge piece of legislation that this 18-year-old boy’s name is attached to. He had hemophilia contracted HIV and was one of the reasons we were able to eventually get over the stigmatization and other rising of people with HIV and come together to fight it. So that’s the next thing that believe that is working on. So, for people who are interested in this kind of drop to your point, this mission to create entertainment that’s effecting change. Keep an eye out for what I hope will be called Poster Child when it’s all said and done. But in the meantime, Bombardier Blood.
Rob: Bombardier Blood and good luck at my alma mater, Chris. I’m a Northwestern film school dropout. So, who knows what that would have done for me, anyway. I ended up switching to communications but good luck with your three weeks left virtually, I imagine.
Chris: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, virtually, all virtually.
Rob: And congratulations to both of you for just a wonderful documentary where I kind of want to re-watch it again.
Chris: Yeah, do it.
Patrick: Wow. What a compliment. This was such a great conversation. Really. Thank you for having us on.
Carrie: Thank you
Rob: Likewise. And we look forward to connecting again for Poster Child when that when that comes out as well.
Patrick: Yes, please, let’s do it.
Rob: All right, perfect. Well, thank you all take care.
Carrie: All right. Thank you.
Shannon: That’s great. Bye
Chris: Bye