The Struggle is Real: Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Success

It's easy to look back on our lives and think that we've always been able to do what we wanted, when we wanted. But the truth is, many of us have struggled with adversity and doubt at some point in our journey. For Kenny Easley, a former NBA player, one of those struggles came in the form of hip dysplasia. A minor case, he was told, but one that would change his life forever.

For Easley, the diagnosis was devastating. He had always been an athletic person, and basketball was more than just a game - it was his passion. But with the news that he could no longer walk, let alone play basketball, he felt like his world had come crashing down around him. The end of his basketball career seemed inevitable.

But Easley refused to give up. He knew that he still had so much to offer, and he was determined to find a way to continue playing the sport he loved. So, he turned his attention to basketball tricks and hand-eye coordination, trying to pass the time while he waited for his body to heal. It wasn't easy - he struggled with the pain and frustration of knowing that he could no longer do what he had always done.

Despite the challenges, Easley's determination paid off when he was invited to try out for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 10-day try-out was like a reality TV show, where one player would be cut each day until only the best were left. Easley made it through the try-outs and eventually became a member of the team, traveling the world and performing on stage.

For Easley, joining the Harlem Globetrotters was a dream come true. He had always wanted to be a part of this iconic team, and now he was living his passion every day. But even as he was enjoying his success, Easley faced another setback - his hip dysplasia came back with a vengeance.

Diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia, Easley's doctor told him that he would need to have both hips replaced in order to continue playing basketball. The news was devastating, and Easley wondered if he would ever be able to pick up a ball again. But even as he struggled to come to terms with his new reality, Easley refused to give up.

Three years ago, Easley had his left hip replaced, followed by the right hip replacement just a month later. The surgery was grueling, but Easley knew that it was necessary if he wanted to continue living his dream. And now, as he looks back on his journey, Easley realizes that his struggles have taught him valuable lessons about perseverance and determination.

"It's okay to struggle," Easley says. "But it's not okay to give up. You take your pain and do something negative with it, or you turn it into something positive." For Easley, that means continuing to play basketball, despite the challenges he faces every day. And it also means helping others - whether through his work with the Harlem Globetrotters or simply by being a role model for young athletes everywhere.

Easley's story is one of hope and inspiration, reminding us that even in the darkest moments, we have the power to choose how we respond. We can let our struggles define us, or we can use them as an opportunity to grow and learn. And sometimes, the fastest way to get out of a tough time is to take our eyes off ourselves and help someone else.

The Power of Others

Easley's story is not just about his own journey - it's also about the impact that others have had on his life. From Kenny Smith, who recommended him to the Harlem Globetrotters, to the countless fans who have supported him along the way, Easley knows that he couldn't have done it without their help.

And so, we want to take a moment to thank all of those people - past and present - who have inspired us with their own stories of struggle and perseverance. Whether you're facing adversity in your personal or professional life, know that you are not alone. There are people out there who care about you, who want to help, and who will inspire you to keep going.

The Giant Butterfinger

Finally, we want to leave you with a special treat - a giant Butterfinger bar that's as big as it is delicious. This isn't just any ordinary candy bar - it's a symbol of the incredible things we can achieve when we set our minds to it. Like Easley, who was once told that he would never be able to walk again, but refused to give up on his dreams.

So, take a bite out of this giant Butterfinger and remember that you too have the power to overcome any obstacle. Whether it's hip dysplasia or something else entirely, don't let anyone tell you that you can't achieve your goals. With determination, perseverance, and a little bit of help from others, anything is possible.

As we look back on Easley's journey, we're reminded that success is not just about achieving our goals - it's also about the people we meet along the way. It's about the struggles we face, and how we choose to respond to them. And it's about the power of others, who can inspire us to be our best selves.

So, let's raise a giant Butterfinger bar to Kenny Easley - a true inspiration to us all. May his story remind us that no matter what challenges we face, we always have the power to choose how we respond. And may we always remember that with determination, perseverance, and a little bit of help from others, anything is possible.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to How To Cook That I am AnnReardon and today we are making a giantButterfinger chocolate bar with crunchythin layers of caramel with peanutbutter in between. Here on How To CookThat I make giant chocolate bars andgive them to people who doing giantthings and we've done a giant Hershey'sKiss, a TimTam, TobleroneSnickers, Kit Kat, Twix, Mars Bar and even a Ferrero Rocher.Let me know what you'd like to see nextin the comments below. This one had heapsof requests but we don't actually haveButterfinger here in Australia so I hadto order some in from the US so Icould have a taste.Butterfinger bars taste peanutty andthey have an unusual crunchy layeredtexture so it took lots of experimentingand doing things in my kitchen to figureout how we can make something verysimilar without the use of commercialmachinery and without commercialingredients. So to make it what you'regonna need is sugar,peanut butter, water, glucose syrup orcorn syrup, more peanut butter, and cornflour or cornstarch. And you'll also needa tiny bit of citric acid. I'll put allthe recipe quantities on thehowtocookthat.net website for you ingrams and ounces and cups and i'll puta link to that below. With the peanutbutter in the corn flour we want to warmup the peanut butter in the microwaveand then mix through the corn flour.Now we don't need the peanut butter tobe hot we just need it to be a littlebit more liquidy to make it easier tomix in. In the real butterfinger theyuse freeze-dried flakes of corn and ifyou can get hold of those just switchthem out for the cornstarchbut they're not corn flakes like theserial corn flakes so don't use that.Place the sugar water and glucose syrupinto a panand stir that until the sugar isdissolved. Then use a wet pastry brushand wash down the sides of the pan.This just gets rid of any sugar crystalsthat are on the side of the pan becausethey can cause it to crystallize backout which is not what we want.Add a candy thermometer and then add inthe citric acid just sprinkle it overthe top. And now we want to let that boilunstirred until it goes golden and wewant to keep heating it up until itreaches 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove itfrom the heat and stir through thepeanut butter that doesn't have thecornstarch in it. And this is only onesixth of the total amount we're going toneed for this giant bar but we have tomake it in sections or it would be toobig to handle for the next step that weneed to do. Immediately pour that outonto a large baking silicon mat andspread it out evenly be careful not totouch it as you know it is extremely hot.Let it cool slightly and then spreadsome of that peanut butter cornflourmixture over the top of one half. Usingthe mat fold the hot sugar over thepeanut butter and press it down slightly.Lift the mat off, now if it's sticking tothe mat like this it needs to be alittle bit cooler. Try flipping it overand see if the bench is cooled down theother side so you can peel off that one.Spread more peanut butter mixture on onehalf and then fold it over again.Then fold it again and you can see thatwe are starting to get layers there butwe want them to be much, much thinner. Try and keep it in a rectangle shape justuse your hands to shape it. Then put themat over it and roll it out with arolling pin just to flatten it slightly.Then fold that in half and roll it againand we want to continue to roll and foldand roll and fold because this will makethe layers thinner and thinner. And I'mgoing to do this about 10 times and ifit gets toofirm to work with just pop it ontray in the oven for about 30 seconds towarm it so that you can try again.And you want to make sure you shape itinto the shape of our bar.I'm doing this bar in two halves becausei have to get it into my hand luggageand onto an airplane.So if i wasn't doing that I'll just makeit is one big one but you still gotta doit in batches obviously. So make yourrectangle shape and then leave that oneto cool and when you make your nextbatchyou're just going to stack that warm oneon top of the one that's cooled. Justpushing it down gently with your hand sothat that's stacked up there so we'll havethree batches stacked up on each half ofthe bar.Pour some tempered chocolate onto thebaking paper and add the bar on top andyou can see all those layers in thecandy there.Once that chocolate is set take aknife and trim around the base to makeit nice and straight. Now balance the baronto two glasses and pour temperedchocolate over the top just letting itdrip down the sides. Now if you have nottempered chocolate before I have a wholevideo explaining the various ways to doit at home and what it means.It just means that the chocolate willset firm at room temperature.If you don't do that will only be firmwhile it's in the fridge which is notgoing to work when we've got to take it on a plane. Now you can go to thechocolate playlist on Youtube.com/howtocookthat or I'll put alink to it below so you can find thatchocolate secrets video.Once those drips have set, just run aknife along the base to cut them off. Nowto wrap itjust place the two halves topside downonto some yellow contact and obviouslyif you're not going on a plane you couldjust have the one bar instead of the twohalves. And then place a piece of core-fluteboard over the top and wrap the contactaround sticking it together at theunderneath there. Then flip it back theright way up and at each endpeel off the backingand then just fold that down over theend of the bar like you're wrapping a present.Then pull out the sticky part, just pullit out to flatten it and push the endstogether.Cut off the excess using pinking shearsso you get that jagged zigzag edge. Thenyou just want to print out the words andglue them on over the top.So today's guest we have Seth Franco whois a famous basketball player and amotivational speaker who speaks tostudents all around the world.Hey, nice to be here. So I have a fewquestions for you first I'd like to knowwhere do you live?Well i live in Pittsburgh now and I'moriginally from New York.Nice place. And what is the best thingabout Australia? The food!Are you sweet tooth or savory? Uhhh I'm more of a sweet tooth. You're onthe right channel!What is the longest time you've everspun a ball on your finger for? Youcan pretty much spin it as long as youwant. And is there a world record?I believe it's over three hours long.I have a confession i have never triedto spin a ball on my finger before. Do youwant to try and spin a basketball. Hmm, yeah.We go speak at schools especially withthe young kids, I'll spin a basketballand i'll grab their finger and put iton. I'm a bit nervous. Don't be nervousJust like that. There you go that's pretty cool!Now if i actually wanted to learn how todo that how long did that take to learnto do it yourself?I tell kids that if they practice everyday for a few minutes probably about amonth and then how to do it or theycould. Or they could just have you and then you can do it instantly.Okay is your favoritebasketballer Kobe or Jordan?Michael Jordan in my book is the bestpart who's ever played the gamebasketball. Some people may have an argument. Yes in the comments let us knowwho you think it's the best. And youwere playing college basketball you hada scholarship, life was on the up forsomeone who wants to be a basketballerthen what happened?I woke up one morning and I wasn't ableto walk. That's pretty scary!Yeah i was frustrated and scaredI reached out to a buddy of mine, hetook me to the hospital and I hadsurgery on my left leg.I went from being in a wheelchair tocrunches to using a cane to walking. How longwith that process?Oh a couple months. It sounds easy infast-forward and I'm sure it would have been frustrating.Yeah, during that time when Icouldn't work on playing basketball mylegs I worked on basketball tricks andhand-eye coordination just trying topass the time.And so with that the end of yourbasketball career basically? No Icontinue to play,even though i was struggling. I was stillstrong enough to compete and hide my pain.Kenny the Jet Smith a former NBA playerwith the Houston Rockets who playedduring Michael Jordan's era,he recommended me to the HarlemGlobetrotters. So I went out and triedout for the Globetrotters, a 10-day try-out.Every day like a reality TV show theywould cut one player and ended up makingthe team.That's awesome. Yeah and so yeah Istarted to live my dream out. Wetraveled all over the world, was ontelevision, newspapers, magazines, radio it wasa dream come true.So you went from living what you thought wasgoing to be a dream to your hopes justgetting totally dashed and then wasthere ever a moment there where you justactually felt like giving up?That's a great question because thatmoment came after playing with theHarlem Globetrotters.Ok. I never finished that year so thatdream came true and I never finished myrookie year, I was two weeks away.We were in France on a world tour I wentto get up into the game and I started tocry.I couldn't get up the trainer took me to avehicle and we went to the hospital andthe doctors came out and said you havewhat's called hip dysplasia. In Australiaeverybody, all the babies like I know mykids were screened for that and I getput in a brace if they have it.Yeah most of the time if you diagnosedit's when you're young child or an infant.I had a minor case of hip dysplasiaand they say the minor cases of hipdysplasia or the worst because they goundetected. Right.That is not like a text book situation.Yeah i lost the ability to walk later on.I had to stop playing and they said youhave to have both your hips replace. Wow,how old we then? I was 25. And so that'snot something a 25 year old usually goes through.Yeah, so three years ago I had my lefthip replaced the next monthmy right hip replaced. Wow. So my story isstill unfolding and I go through timeswhere I feel discouraged but I'velearned something great ...it's okay to struggle but it's not okayto give up. Take your pain and dosomething negative with it and hurt someoneelse or you can take your pain and turnit into something positive.That's powerful. And sometimes thefastest wayto get out of a tough time is to takeyour eyes off yourself and help someone else.I love that, others focused. Even our interviewtodaymaybe there's someone watching who'sgoing through something. Maybe they'll bereminded that they have the power tochoose the right attitude no matter what they're going through.yeah, which is awesome. Well we love what you're doing, we love that you didn't give up andthat you are nowothers focused in doing what you're doing.And on my channel on How To Cook That wehave a special way of saying thank youto people who we think are doingamazing things. Cool!So we have one more question for you doyou prefer Milky Way or Butterfinger?Butterfinger! Butterfinger.Ok well i have here for you today agiant we can get this off a giant aButterfinger bar!This is great. So you can try and pick it up if you like.See if you can spin that on your finger. This is no joke, this is heavy! No this is no joke thisis actually a real giant Butterfinger. That is awesome, you just made my day!Great, well we'll get you to open itup i don't think you'll be able to bite it.This really is a giant Butterfinger. It really is a giant Butterfinger, that's right.This is what it's all about right here!That's really good. Be inspired to dogiant thingsTastes just like a Butterfinger. Subscribeto How To Cook That for more cakeschocolates and desserts.Click here for the giant chocolate barseries, here for the recipe and here formy YouTube channel. Share this video witha friend!Make it a great week and I'll see you onFriday.I'm shocked that you made it so accurate!\n"