From Blindness To The Light: Kevin Lowe's Journey On Faith, Family, & Resilience (Inspirational)

What if the biggest challenge of your life turned into your greatest purpose?

Life can take unexpected turns, and sometimes, the biggest setbacks lead to the greatest breakthroughs. Kevin Lowe's story is a testament to resilience, faith, and unwavering determination. If you've ever struggled with life's unpredictability, this episode will show you how to find strength in the storm and transform challenges into opportunities.

In this powerful episode, Reginald D welcomes Kevin Lowe, an inspirational speaker and the host of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration podcast. Kevin shares his life-changing journey from a normal teenage life to waking up blind after a surgery meant to save him. Despite unimaginable adversity, Kevin found his purpose, transforming his pain into motivation to inspire the world. He talks about overcoming obstacles, rediscovering life’s joy, and how faith and resilience shaped his path to success.

Whether you're facing struggles or seeking motivation to push forward, Kevin's story will ignite your determination to rise above.

1. Learn how to overcome unexpected life changes with faith and determination.
2. Discover how Kevin Lowe turned blindness into a powerful purpose-driven life.
3. Get inspired by a story of resilience that proves obstacles can become steppingstones to success.

Hit play now to hear Kevin Lowe’s extraordinary journey and gain the motivation to push through any challenge life throws your way!

Kevin's Website: https://GritGraceInspiration.com

Transcript

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Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. On today's episode, I have Kevin Lowe. Kevin is an inspirational speaker and the host of Grit Grace and Inspiration podcast. Welcome to the show, Kevin. Oh, man, I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me, man. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Kevin, can you share a little bit about your background and where you grew Yeah, absolutely. So I have been blessed to be born and raised in the same town that I live in now. And so that is Ormond beach, Florida are a little bit more well-known neighbor is Daytona beach. So basically you wouldn't know if you entered one city or the other. And you know, man, I was blessed to grow up here, a small town, which I mean, now our town's getting way too big and it's kind of ruining the small town feel. But I had a great childhood growing up, was real into riding dirt bikes, was my biggest hobby, kind of turned into my biggest passion all as a child. And other than that, I mean, it was, it was one of those childhoods, you know, back before like the kids today who they like never leave the house. Like we were always outside. It was outside, you know, riding dirt bikes, playing games out in the woods, you know, all that crazy stuff that now, like, you know, we think it was crazy that our parents allowed us to do the stuff that we did. And childhood was great. And then, you know, coming up to my teenage years, um, kind of two big moments that I would say kind of encompass my teenage years. And the first was turning 16. That's always a pretty big year for most teenagers. And for me, it was huge. I got literally my dream truck. So I had grown up always hearing the stories about the truck that my dad got for his 16th birthday. And it was an old, I think, I forget what year, but Ford F-150, and he had it raised with big mud tires and all that. I knew I wanted that same type of truck when I turned 16. And sure enough, man, one day I was driving with my mom to the grocery store, to Publix, and there on the side of old Dixie Highway sat my dream truck with a for sale sign in the window. and it was a forest green ford f-150 raised with big huge 38 inch tsl super swamper mud tires and i just knew i like it was the only time in my life i've experienced love at first sight and um and it was with that truck and so Anyways, getting that truck was incredible. It was the first time in my life that I had, like, pure and utter freedom. Just driving down the highway, windows down, country music blaring, had the big CB whippin' titta whippin' in the wind, and of course the big loud hum of those mud tires, and man, I loved it. Oh my gosh, I loved it. And unfortunately, I only got to drive it for one year. Um, because, uh, roughly a year after my 16th birthday, I would find myself in my started my junior year of high school and junior year started out amazing. You know, I was a kid who hated school. I always said that every year I would pray that I would get the flu just so that I could get to stay home. And finally come sophomore year, junior year. suddenly school wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me. I finally had found like a really awesome group of friends and so life was going really good for a teenager. Then I always say that it was going great until it wasn't and at the same time here my junior year of high school, I had been having some health issues that had really been plaguing me for almost my entire childhood. Things like migraine headaches, things like being so thirsty. My mom would tell the doctor, she's like, you don't understand, he drinks more than any human you've ever seen. To the fact that at 17 years old, I still hadn't gone through puberty. I hadn't begun growing, I was only five foot three. And the doctor always just kept telling us that, oh, I'm just a late bloomer, give it some time. And so finally, it took my mom and my grandmother, my nana, both of them finally kind of said enough is enough, and they got me into a different doctor. And that's when the ball started rolling. And so while life, as I said, was going great at school and with my friends, I got the results of an MRI back, and those results changed everything. We found out that I had a brain tumor. Now, thankfully, the type of brain tumor I had was non-cancerous, but it was large. They compared it to the size of a plum, basically right in the center of my head. And they literally gave me six months to live if this tumor wasn't removed. It had completely encased the pituitary gland, was in the crosshairs of the optic nerve, and had begun pressing against the carotid artery. And so as devastating and scary as this news was, the leading pediatric neurosurgeon was literally an hour from my home over in Orlando, Florida. He was the leading doctor in the entire country. His name is Dr. Eric Trumbull. He is my hero today. And he assured us everything was going to be perfectly fine. He's like, I do these surgeries all the time. And so sure enough, I went into surgery October 28, 2003 with that very mindset. I knew I was going to be out of school for about a month. Doctor told me I had to stay off of my four-wheeler for six months, which I thought was a little bit unreasonable, but I was willing to work with him. And anyways, that was my mindset. It was a speed bump, um, that was happening in my life. And instead, um, that day marked the end of a life as I knew it in the beginning of a new life. And that is because I came out of that surgery to be left completely blind. Wow. Wow. Did they say that was one of the risks Yeah. So when we met with the doctor the first time and we went over the surgery that we were going to have and the type of surgery, they literally, the tumor was so large that they were literally going to have to cut my skull basically and kind of like remove the front quadrant of my skull and kind of lift up the brain and get to this tumor. And so, um, there were all kinds of crazy risks involved, but. Ironically, looking back now, it's very ironic, because the one that stood out the most to me was the very last thing the doctor said, is he said that there's a 1% possibility of going blind. It was the last thing he said, and it was not even in the equation. No one even Wow. Wow, man. You are a remarkable man. Things like that, man. That's got to be a lot to deal with, man. You think about you're going in to get one thing done, trying to get your life saved, and then Yeah, it, without a shadow of doubt, has been the closest thing to what I would call hell on earth. Because when I, you know, say that I became blind, I became completely blind. Now, I didn't know this before going blind, that most people who are blind, they still have some degree of sight, some degree of light perception, where again, I was that 1% where I became completely blind. But the fact is that on top of that, I had to deal with all these other medical issues that I still deal with today because of the brain tumor killing off the pituitary gland. And so the pituitary controls all of your body's hormones. And so now my body, I have to rely on medications to replace what the brain, the body should be doing naturally, which I always say, I mean, thank goodness for medicines. But the truth is, I mean, they are a poor alternative to what God designed us to do naturally. And so as the years would go on, and especially many years later and where I sit today, I can actually tell you that In terms of a quote like disability, I've actually come to understand that being labeled as a panhypopit, having no pituitary function, is actually a far greater disability than even being blind. A lot of people can't believe that, they don't realize it, but I say, I'm like, as much as becoming blind has been absolutely horrible, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It has stolen so much from me. At the same time, I have tools that I can overcome it. As opposed to the other medical issue, you know, I always say, I mean, when I wake up one day and my body has zero energy, it's all the effort I can do to lift up my arm, There's nothing you can do to overcome that, but just to wait it out. And so that is another aspect that I came out of that surgery with, with not only becoming blind, but with this other new medical issue that we Wow. That's incredible. Cause out of all the things you've been through and all the things you go through, you know, you kept pushing and you started the Grit Grace and Yeah, yeah. So the podcast came a long time later. You know, for the first 10 years after becoming blind, I say that was a period of learning how to love life again, even though I couldn't see it. And so I did go back to school for the start of my senior year. So I was out of school the entire rest of my junior year. I made it back to school for the start of my senior year in which I only went to school just for one class a day. And then the rest I did at home, my mom would drop me off at my Nana and Papa's every morning. and I had teachers who came who taught me my school subjects, who taught me how to do what I called at the time blind stuff, which I wasn't too enthused about, like learning braille and how to use a talking computer and all this stuff. And so I ended up though, I still graduated with my class. That was a huge goal that for some reason, which now I can only know that it was God who instilled that goal in me. Because as I said, I was a kid who would rather be sick with the flu than go to school. And yet now I go blind, I'm doing all this stuff. And yet the one thing I keep saying is I just want to be able to graduate with my class. And so I did, I graduated with my class in 2005. And then, like I said, that was basically a year later. Go through the next nine years of literally just both surviving through so many different medical issues that I kept dealing with. to, again, learning how to love this life again, even though I couldn't see it. And it took a really, really long time. Up until, honestly, about 2013, so basically 10 years later, I had finally gotten an internship, well, I'll back up real quick, is I got signed up with a program through our local Center for the Visually Impaired, CVI, and they did a job readiness program. And at the end of this little three-month-long program, they would set you up with an internship wherever you wanted. And so the two areas that I was interested at the time were travel and radio. And so lo and behold, I literally did an internship on our local AM radio station, and then I also interned at a local travel agency. At the end of those internships, neither one was willing to hire me. And so I was kind of back to square one until I learned about, hey, you know what? I can start my own business. And so I opened the doors to Better Days Travel in January 2013, and I would run and operate a travel agency, booking everything from cruises to honeymoons to all-inclusive resorts to all kinds of amazing trips for people. I did that for the next seven years, up until 2020. And of course we all know what happened in 2020, which was not so great for travel. And so when we were in the midst of 2020, height of the pandemic, my travel agency had all but had every trip on the books canceled, literally was going to be my best year ever turned to the worst year ever. And we're sitting at home in quarantine, and I decide to start a YouTube channel. Something I had been thinking about for a long time, and so I got excited. This is my opportunity. I start ordering stuff off of Amazon, and then it hit me one day. It was literally like the light bulb moment. The light bulb finally went off for the blind guy. And it was, if you don't have somebody here to film you, you're not going to be able to do this by yourself. And if there's one thing I've learned is that the less you can rely on others, the better off you are. And so I realized at that moment, I was like, why didn't I think about this before I started ordering all this equipment? I'm like, I can't do this on my own. I have to have somebody here. And so that's when my sister said, well, why don't you do a podcast? And my response, of course, was what the heck is a podcast? And lo and behold, I start listening to podcasts and then I start listening to podcasts about how to start a podcast. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I found my jam. I'm like the world of audio. I'm like, God designed me for podcasting the world of audio. And so, I dove in headfirst and the podcast, if you go all the way back to episode one, which I would encourage you not to do because it sounds terrible, it was actually called, at the time it was The Lowdown on Life and Travel. So The Lowdown, a little play on my last name of Low. And so I talked about travel because at the time I still thought I was going to be a travel agent. I was talking about travel, I started interviewing different suppliers with the different, you know, cruise companies and tour agencies. And then, you know, man, I always say that the podcast—I mean, it was rough starting out. I mean, it's way more work than anybody could imagine doing a podcast. Yet all of a sudden, I realized the podcast was kind of taking over my life. I was starting to get into interviews with people, not about travel, but about just life. And I was realizing that I was loving it. And I can remember so distinctly, so many times, being in the midst of an interview and literally just saying a prayer right then, silently, thanking God for putting me right here and saying, God, I don't know where this is going. I don't know where it's leading, what you want, but I know it feels right. And I thank you for putting me here. And so sure enough, I never went back into travel. I didn't know what I was going to do to make money, but I knew the podcasting thing was where I wanted to go. And so two rebrands later, so we went from the lowdown on life and travel to then the lowdown with Kevin Lowe, and then finally to what it is today of grit, grace, and inspiration. And I mean, this year is five years that I've been doing it, which is crazy. And I love it, man. The podcast has been probably one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me for the simple fact that I've learned in life that some of the greatest things that we can ever do are the experiences we have and the relationships we create. And getting to sit down on a podcast and interview somebody from on the other side of the world, I get to check off both those boxes. I get to meet somebody, and I get to have an experience at That's awesome, because when you know something is real and it's from God, sometimes He always shifts you to another direction, just like He did with you on the podcast. You went in and was talking about one thing, this started shifting. It wasn't because of you, it was because God had His hands on you, and that's very amazing. So, what So again, I'm trying to figure out what I wanted to do, you know, as far as work, trying to make money, you know, in relation to the podcast. And so I got into coaching, doing life coaching. And so I was doing that for a while. I still do that on occasion. But really, man, my desire, I mean, I want to help people, but I want to just inspire people. I love to light people up. I love to get people excited about life. I love to just get people motivated in this way of overcoming their own challenges and, you know, turning those obstacles into opportunities. Somebody finally said, they're like, Kevin, you should really start getting into doing more public speaking. And that's what led me into this realm of inspirational and motivational public speaking is through that. Again, another just kind of natural progression. As I said, man, I didn't know where this journey was going to take me. I honestly still don't know where exactly I'm supposed to end up. But I realized that when you know you're on the right path in life is when it just feels effortless. I said, you know, my seven years as a travel agent, man, I worked it. I mean, I loved it, but I worked it. And it was constantly paddling upstream. When I started this podcast and started getting into coaching and then public speaking, The stream has felt effortless. I've been going downstream. I'm just literally not paddling. I'm floating on my back going down the stream. Not sure where the heck it's leading, but I know it feels right. So I know I'm just going to keep on following it and trusting God that he's You hit that right on the head. So how did you develop the mindset to keep pushing forward despite your obstacles? Because for you to be doing all the stuff you're doing and the circumstances that you went through and you keep pushing, man, it's crazy to You know, I would love to, maybe I would love to say, you know, that, you know, oh man, it's just because I did this and that, you know, I'm so great. The honest truth is God, 110%, is that I believe in all my heart that God designed me to be a person because he knew what was gonna happen when I turned 17. He blessed me with a natural glass half full, if not overflowing type personality. His hands were at work from the beginning because he knew what was gonna happen on October 28th, 2003. And he knew that I would be a person who would be able to take what happened to me and use it for good, and give him all the glory, and use this as a testimony to hopefully touch other people's lives. And so that's how I've been able to do it, is a combination of the fact of just the person that God made me to be, and then, of course, leaning on the two pillars of my life that have gotten me through the darkest moments over the past, oh gosh, what has it been, coming up on 22 years, has been my faith and my family. I always say that after I went blind, I would lay in bed every single night and I would cry myself to sleep, sobbing into my pillow, begging, pleading, screaming at God to please just stop this, to please let me wake up and be able to see again. And yet every morning I'd wake up and I'd see the same thing that I did when my eyes were closed. And I can tell you that I would also pray at times that I just wish God would give me the courage, the strength to just kill myself. Because I knew if I was in heaven, I'd be able to see again and all this would be gone. But it never went further than just that prayer. Because then of course my mind would always turn to my family. I think about my mom and my dad and my sister, my grandparents, and they were struggling too. I always say what happened to me didn't just happen to me, it happened to an entire family. And if I was to kill myself, what would that do to them? And so I always say that it's through my faith and Yeah, I could tell that faith played a major role in your journey. Yes. So let me ask you this, Kevin. What advice would you give someone that's struggling with unexpected life changes? You know, something bad just happened out of the blue and they weren't expecting it and now they're trying to deal with I say the first thing and the most important thing is to give yourself grace, to give yourself a break. You're going to have people around you who are going to have their own opinions and thoughts on what you should be doing, where you should be at in your journey, but the fact is true is the only person who really knows is you. And so I would encourage you to just give yourself a break and to let yourself understand that what I've just gone through is a lot. And it's okay to be sad. It's okay to be upset. It's okay to not be out into the world, pushing forward, making all these other people's expectations come true. No, it's just up to you. But realize that at some point in time, you're gonna come to a point when you're ready to move forward. And so depending upon, of course, what the obstacle is, is don't hesitate to reach out to get help. And sometimes, honestly, the best help you can get is just from the people you're closest with. I mean, yeah, the experts, they're great. They help. But your family, your friends, the people who you can just lean on for that moral support, they're the people who truly matter. And so if you can find that support system, you're going to be that much better off When you have tough days, what keeps you motivated to show up and continue My biggest thing, honestly, is is my dream for for something more, for something bigger. I'm constantly chasing after wanting to make a bigger impact in the world. You know, I know without a shadow of a doubt that what happened to me happened for a reason. And I wanna be sure that when I get to heaven, that God can look at me and pat me on the shoulder and say, Kevin, you did it. You did exactly what I wanted you to do with what happened to you. And so for me, that's what it is, man. I just, I look at the world we live in today and I look at all the people who are hurting in one way, shape or form from so many different things. And yeah, look at me. I'm a guy who went blind. I'm a guy who has these complex medical issues. And yeah, all I want to do is just to make, today a little bit better for someone else. If I can make somebody smile or laugh or think about things a little bit different, I mean, that's what I want to do. And that's honestly, that's just what drives me. It gives me fuel in the morning is to wake up and days when maybe I don't feel like recording a podcast, but I always say, I think about that person on the other side of the world. who I'll never meet and I'll never hear from, yet something I say reaches them, and it gives them that little spark to just keep going one more day. That's the kind Yeah, you and I have a lot in common, because at the end of the day, out of all the stuff we do and how we try to inspire people, when it's all said and done, we just want to At the end of the day, that's the mission. Yes, absolutely. So someone's dealing with doubt. A lot of people can't get ahead in life because of doubt. What's the one truth you always remind yourself of? Oh, We are all so much more capable, able, and deserving of, I believe, having all that we want in this life. We can doubt that it will ever come true, but if we get stuck into living in doubt, then yeah, you know what? We're probably not going to live out our fullest potential. We're probably not going to show up as our best. Because, I mean, if you think about it, when the team takes the field at the Super Bowl, if they have any doubt in their mind that they're going to win, no, they're probably not going to win. If they're doubting their ability, they're not going to catch the ball. They're not going to show up as their best. And so I understand that for some people, it's not as easy as it is for me. I get, I'm a glass half full kind of guy. I understand there's people who view it as half empty. It's just part of them. And so I understand that they might have to work at it a little bit harder than I do to not have doubt in their abilities, not have doubt in something better. But for myself, I mean, life is really tough and If I can't have hope and belief that there's something better waiting for me tomorrow, well then what a sad life that is to live. And so I would encourage anybody who's dealing with doubt, who's doubtful of what tomorrow will hold, just to try changing up your mindset. Try to think of the positive. What if, what if it all works out? What if it all comes together? And It will, it will. And that is so, so true. And one thing I love about you, I love the vision that you have. You know, some people in the world that has their eyesight, but they're still blind. Yes. You know, and for you to say, you know, when you in doubt or you have moments of doubt, think about the one chance you have for things to go the right way. Yes. You know, just think about there is a chance that this thing can work. But you've got to have faith and believe in yourself and believe in God, too. Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's next for Kevin Lowe? Got Oh man, my biggest goal right now is honestly to start getting on more stages. I've been working with an awesome coach, helping me with my speaking business. And so that is my biggest goal right now is obviously podcast continues, pumping out episodes. I just love that way too much to ever think about stopping. But yeah, the biggest goal right now for me is to grow that inspirational speaking business, getting on more stages, impacting more lives. And honestly, I mean, just getting to live out this life. Every year, it's January, we all have big visions and hopes. And yeah, I'll be the first to tell you, a lot of times, Come December 31st, yeah, the year didn't go as glorious and amazing as had thought and planned and hoped. But again, I have hope and I have a vision for a better tomorrow. And so right now my plan, my goal is, yeah, that come the end of 2025, I'm going to be able to look back and say, wow, that was one heck of a year. Yes, absolutely. I like that. Yeah, you are. I was kind of nervous. I thought he was going to tell me he was going to drive four-wheelers, but. Stay right there. Absolutely. Yes, yes. We'll stay off of the four-wheeler. Yeah, but Kevin, man. God, man, I'm just overwhelmed with you and the way your heart is, man. The world needs more people like you. I mean, absolutely, man. I mean, if we had more people like you, I mean, what a difference this world would be, you Oh, man, thank you so much. That means the world to me. It just goes back to what we've talked about today, is You know, I have to be in some ways, and I know this may sound crazy, but grateful that God chose me to be the one, that he chose me to be the one to go through all of this, to go through this struggle for the simple fact of getting to be a help to somebody else. And that's what it's all about to me, is just being able to light up somebody else's day, to make their life a Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And I need to ask you this question because I feel God pulling me on this one. If someone is feeling stuck or unmotivated today, what's one action step that they can take right now to shift their mindset? Oh, I think the biggest thing is You have to have a bigger vision for what you want out of life. Don't think little, don't put any limitations on it, but you have to have something big in your mind. that gives you a reason to keep going. Because if we just gonna keep going without any destination, I mean, it's kind of like setting off on a road trip. You're all packed, you got the snacks loaded down, the luggage, but you don't have a clue where you're going. Where are you gonna go? Probably nowhere. You're gonna go in circles. Well, I can't help but feel like it's the same thing in life. For myself, I mean, I have a vision. I have a vision of me on stages. I have a vision of me, you know, in a snowy cabin up in the mountains of Colorado. All these different little visions that keep me driving forward. And I would encourage you for the first and most important step is to get clear on what you want out of life. get clear of who you want to be, what you want to be known for. Or maybe it's just as simple as what do you want? Is it a bank account that has a few more commas in it? Is it a little bit less stress? Whatever it is, get clear on it. Understand that it's possible. Maybe it seems far-fetched right now, but I promise you, you're only a couple of steps away from making it happen. You just have Well said, well said. So lastly, Kevin, where can Melissa's connect with you and support your work and listen Absolutely. So I think the best place to go is head on over to my website, which is gritgracenspiration.com. And right there from the website, gritgracenspiration.com, you can listen to my podcast. It comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. And you can also get on my email list, which I send out a weekly newsletter every Friday called Where Grit Meets Grace. So you can sign up for that right there. And like I said, I mean, if you're somebody who possibly is part of an organization, association, ever looking for speakers, you can find out more information into what I can offer as a speaker. So all of it is right there on the There you have it. There you have it. Kevin Lowe, Kevin, man, I really, really appreciate you taking the time out to get on the podcast with me. I really, really admire your story. I really admire you as a person you are and the person you are becoming. Oh, man, that means so much to me. Thank you so much. It has been an absolute joy and pleasure to be here today. You've Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald D. If you enjoyed listening to Real Talk with Reginald D, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts. See you next time.