What’s in it for me? Learn the inspiring true stories of the smaller heroes who overcame the odds and fought the giants.
As a meteorologist, Janice Dean is no stranger to storms – both literal and figurative.
From a home invasion in her thirties to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, she has had her fair share of bad weather.
One of the biggest storms she’s had to endure came when both her husband's parents died of Covid-19 within two weeks of each other.
While dealing with this grief, she came to learn that these preventable deaths were being covered up by then-popular New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
This discovery sent Janice on a seemingly impossible mission: to try to bring this injustice to light.
After months of campaigning, and through the brave rallying of countless other people, Andrew Cuomo was eventually taken down, resigning in disgrace.
The whole experience left Dean wondering: How can an individual change things for the better?
And what drives someone to go up against a much larger opponent?
Just like the young David of the Old Testament, who brought down the giant Goliath with nothing but a sling and a handful of stones, who are the people who stare down the seemingly untouchable, and take their shot?
This Blink is about people who face the storm.
It's about the Davids who fight back against the Goliaths of the world.
Janice Dean talked to many individuals who stood up to the bigger foes: organizations, powerful men, personal hardship.
Some of them survived sexual assault or grievous bodily injury.
Here are five of their stories.
Stories of hope, resilience, and perseverance, that just might inspire you to fight for the truth, even if you have to do it alone.
A Mother against the Opioid Crisis.
What does it take to face up to one of the biggest monsters ravaging the heart of America?
Shelly Elkington had to learn the answer when she found herself up against the devastating opioid crisis.
In 2015, Shelly’s daughter Casey died by suicide at the age of 26 after a long struggle with opioid addiction.
Casey had been diagnosed with a terrible inflammatory bowel disease that left her in incredible pain, making her endure multiple surgeries.
It was after one of these surgeries that a doctor prescribed her a powerful pain medication: Oxycodone.
Her mother, Shelly was initially happy – after all, what parent wants to see their daughter in pain?
But for daughter Casey, this was the beginning of the end.
By the time Casey was discharged from hospital, she was completely dependent on opioids.
The doctor prescribed them, so Shelly told herself that they couldn’t be bad, right?
But eventually Casey found out that heroin was cheaper and easier to get.
In the final months of her life, Casey was rarely seen by her parents – instead hanging out with heroin dealers and ex-prisoners.
One of the last times that Shelly talked to her daughter, Casey told her: “It’s not my fault, Momma.
” It was a few months after Casey's death that Shelly started her fight.
She talked about her experience with newspapers and other parents who had gone through similar things.
Learning that she wasn’t alone gave her the strength to keep fighting.
At the time, government and society were ill-equipped to deal with the opioid crisis.
Laws and stigmas made it hard for emergency teams to help, or addicts to talk about their problems.
It was the only disease that was addressed as a political issue, rather than a medical one.
Shelly found strong allies in lawmakers who had also lost loved ones to opioids – politicians from both sides of the political spectrum.
Together they fought for small changes and small steps forward.
Now there's legislation that allows emergency responders to carry Narcan – a drug that can save someone from an overdose.
There was also a settlement hearing in 2022 where people who had lost loved ones to opioids were allowed to directly address individuals whose businesses profit from this dangerous drug.
One particularly big victory for Shelley came in 2018, when she was a guest at the State of the Union address to acknowledge the attention she had brought to the opioid crisis.
But a lot is left to do.
This Goliath hasn't yet fallen.
Shelley sometimes has to ask herself: “When do you give up?
” It’s hard, but Shelley remains optimistic.
She is grateful for the years she had with her daughter, and is strengthened by the thought that she might help others in ways that she couldn’t help Casey.
Adam Curry has had a rich and colorful career.
If you’re a fan of podcasts then you have him to thank.
A Visionary against MTV.
In the early explosion of the internet, he was the one who realized that a computer could be used to scan and download radio shows at regular intervals.
This innovation even got him in front of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Jobs is just one of the big names that Adam has rubbed shoulders with.
As a Video Jockey – or VJ – on MTV he interviewed stars like Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne, all Goliaths of fame in their own way.
It was back in 1987 when Adam’s big battle started.
During his time as a young, ambitious computer geek announcing videos on MTV, Adam was one of the first people to learn about the internet.
On his clunky Mac Plus with its 20 megabyte harddrive, he started talking on message boards and writing about this exciting technology.
Because the internet was so new, nearly any domain name was available.
He ended up registering many names, one of which was MTV.
com.
He started telling people to look for the MTV server when he was presenting on the TV – to him it was just another way to connect with fans.
There was no money involved, so his bosses at MTV didn’t seem to care.
That is until he received a knock on his door one Saturday morning.
MTV had realized the value of the internet and was suing him for the ownership of MTV.
com.
Adam marched into the offices – like David charging Goliath – and informed them that he was not giving it up without a fight.
He knew he had the moral high ground.
The settlement only took a few weeks and, though Adam can't legally discuss the details, it's safe to say he came out happier than when he went in.
The funny part is, he says he only fought back because MTV were being bullies.
If they had asked nicely, he would have happily given them the domain.
Don’t believe him?
One of the other domain names he registered was elvis.
com.
When he received a call from none other than Elvis Presely’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presely, he gave it to her without asking for a cent.
It just goes to show, a little manners go a long way, and sometimes a little moral righteousness is all it takes for David to stand up to Goliath.
A Whistleblower against the Governor.
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo was a popular and powerful man, with some dark secrets.
During his eventual downfall and resignation it came to light that he had been deliberately covering up Covid-19 deaths in hospitals.
But it was a single tweet in December 2020 that proved to be the first stone flung at this Goliath.
In response to the question on social media: “Name the worst job you’ve ever had,” Lindsey Boylan, former aide to the governor, replied with this: “Most toxic team environment?
Working for @NYGovCuomo.
” These few words started the first tremors under the Cuomo empire and his circle of enablers.
It was an open secret that he and his administration had been bullying and harassing employees for over a decade.
But due to the charming popularity of the so-called “Luv Guv,” the idea of coming forward was unthinkable.
But not for Lindsey.
After the positive support she received from her tweet, Lindsey went on to publish an essay describing the sexual harassment she endured while working for Cuomo, including being forcibly kissed during a meeting.
Lindsey says that if it had just been her, she would have been tempted to keep it to herself, and avoid all the public shame and backlash.
But there were other victims, and when her story encouraged them to also come forward, she knew she had done the right thing.
But with a Goliath like Cuomo, it’s also about the people around him, like his top aide, Melissa DeRosa.
Melissa would help manipulate and hide information, and would try to discredit and smear those who spoke up against her powerful boss.
Lindsey had to endure attacks on social media from Melissa and the rest of Cuomo’s enablers.
And endure them she did.
When videos of her testimony were released online, she had to deal with the shame of the whole world seeing her relive her painful experiences.
Lindsey, and the 11 other women who came forward all took the risk.
They knew what they were up against, and knew that it could backfire.
But that’s the most important thing in these David vs.
Goliath moments: You do it not because victory is safe, but because victory is necessary.
In this case, victory was achieved – Cuomo went on to resign in disgrace – and Lindsey Boylan is still standing.
She may be tired and disheartened with the nature of politics, but she's still prepared to fight for good in the world.
For a lot of people, the year 2020 came with its own storm to face: the global pandemic of Covid-19.
A Nurse against Covid-19.
During the chaotic first year there was one group of people who had the toughest time facing up to this Goliath: nurses and medical workers.
When the Mayor of New York declared that the city needed 45,000 more medical staff, travel nurse Arlene Simmons left her family in Georgia to fight on the front line.
What followed were two of the worst months of her life.
New York was one of the hardest hit cities in the U.
S.
.
Hospitals were understaffed, without the supplies they needed to deal with the sudden influx of patients.
Arlene recalls having to face desperate crowds gathered around the hospital entrance, begging for news of their family members.
Inside the hospital was chaos and pandemonium.
Volunteers running frantically around.
No schedule.
Nurses sleeping in corridors or crying in corners.
Some would just give up from exhaustion and walk out of the room; simply leave the building and never come back.
Arlene still cries thinking about it – all the patients who couldn’t get the help that they so desperately needed.
If she had only had a suction to clear the backs of patients’ throats then she could have saved many dying of pneumonia.
But the equipment just wasn’t there, and the body bags continued to pile up.
When she finally returned to Georgia after what felt like a lifetime, Arlene was unable to find peace – within a few days of coming home, she came down with chills and could barely leave her bed.
These were typical symptoms of COVID, and she was terrified she had brought it back to her family.
She prayed to God and waited.
The next day it was a miracle; she woke up completely symptomless, and cried with relief.
So, what did Arlene learn from this storm?
Nowadays, she takes nothing for granted.
She knows the value of life, and doesn’t want to waste it.
She believes she was sent to New York for a reason, to help people in any way she could – and she would do it again.
Fear, she says, is in all of us.
But on the other side of that fear is possibility and accomplishment.
One person can change the world, simply by influencing the next person to do something too.
This kind of trickle effect shows that even the smallest individual can stand up against the toughest storms.
A Warrior against an IED.
This next account might be the ultimate David-and-Goliath story.
It's about the struggle of a soldier fighting against the giant of war, long after returning from the frontline.
As a lost and unambitious 21-year old man, Aaron Hale enlisted as a cook in the U.
S.
Navy.
But after 9/11, he wanted to get a bit closer to the war on terror.
This is how he came to be in one of the most dangerous jobs in the army: Explosive Ordnance Disposal.
In other words, disarming and dismantling bombs.
It was on his second tour of Afghanistan that things went wrong.
After successfully disposing of an Improvised Explosive Device or "IED", Aaron was heading back to the truck to get rid of the materials.
He didn’t see that there was a second bomb, less than 30 meters away.
The explosion struck his head, and he was flung backwards.
As he checked his body for injury, he realized that his helmet was now missing.
The explosion had cracked his skull, taken out one of his eyes, and left him leaking spinal fluid from his nose.
And so began Aaron’s life as a blind person.
The first year and a half were incredibly tough.
Aaron says the demons were there, but he stayed strong, remembering that he was still a soldier.
A husband.
A father.
These were the roles he had to live, no matter what.
There is a story Aaron likes to tell when asked about his ordeal.
In an Army drill, teams of three are given a massive shipping container of equipment.
Hazmat kits, power tools, robots – everything they could need.
The trick comes in trying to decide what can be taken on a mission.
Afghanistan is mostly dirt trails that have to be traversed on foot, so a soldier can only take what they can fit on their back.
They have to do the job, but with less help.
This is how Aaron sees his injury.
He’s just a couple of tools down – his hearing and sight – but he’s still going to get the job done.
Just like the biblical David and his simple sling, Aaron's learned to work with what he’s got and make the most of it.
He believes that whenever you do something you thought was impossible, every day becomes a little easier.
And this way a single person can change the world, one opportunity at a time.
We all have our Goliaths to face.
Our storms to weather.
It could be a bully who won’t leave us alone, or a loved one we’re helping through a hard time, or maybe two years living in the fear and isolation of a global pandemic.
But no matter how small or helpless we may feel, there’s a strength inside all of us.
Anyone can stand up for what they believe in, or inspire change in others.
Final Summary
When everything seems hopeless, and the winds of fate tell you that you cannot withstand the storm, that’s when the warrior within you whispers back: “I am the storm.