What Olympian David Smith Taught Us About Living Whilst Facing Death

In 2024, Jake and Damian met the remarkable Olympian David Smith MBE at Fearne Cotton's Happy Place Festival and held an audience of 300 people spellbound. David had a terminal cancer diagnosis — and a message about how to live that neither of them has forgotten since. This week, they share a voice note David recorded from his hospital bed after becoming a full quadriplegic with recent news he has just months left to live, where he speaks about dancing with life, finding beauty in stillness, and why the journey — not the destination — is everything. Jake and Damian reflect on David's three guiding values of compassion, curiosity and courage and why so many of us wait for the worst news of our lives before we start truly living. If you've never heard the full episode with David Smith, it's Episode 215 — and this conversation is the perfect place to start. Please donate to Ed Jackson’s Go fund me for David Smith here .It is raising money to help fund the treatment, care, equipment, rehabilitation and wider support Dave needs, while also helping to ease some of the pressure on him and his family. Find David on Instagram: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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What Olympian David Smith Taught Us About Living Whilst Facing Death is an episode from The High Performance Podcast by High Performance.

This episode is 30:50 long.

This episode was published on Apr 8, 2026.

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