Gary Forbes shares his extraordinary journey from NBA player to founder of Sole Survivors, discussing how living with Type 1 diabetes shaped his mission to empower others with chronic conditions. Learn how his basketball career insights now fuel his advocacy work and innovative approach to healthcare challenges through storytelling, representation, and community building.
Gary Forbes, Former NBA Player, Founder, The Sole Survivors
Megan Antonelli, Chief Executive Officer, HealthIMPACT
Welcome 0:01 Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't. As we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Janae sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS, deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
Megan Antonelli 0:30 Hi everyone. Welcome to Digital Health talks. This is Megan Antonelli, and I am so excited to be here today with Gary Forbes. I could give Gary a long and amazing introduction, but I want to let him do it himself. I am thrilled to have met him recently. He is a former MBA player and the founder of the Gary Forbes Foundation, and now working on this amazing company that is so well aligned with the work that we're doing here at Health Impact called Soul survivors. Hi, Gary, how are you today?
Gary Forbes 1:02 How you doing? Thank you for having me
Megan Antonelli 1:05 absolutely so tell our audience a little bit about your background, and you know your journey from NBA player to founder of soul survivors.
Gary Forbes 1:14 Yeah. So I was born in Panama, moved to Brooklyn, New York when I was around four years old, fell in love with the game of basketball, and, you know, that was it. You know, that was the spark club for, you know, my passion for doing something, and I wanted to become a basketball player and an NBA player. So something that I wrote down and plan a was to make the NBA Plan B all the way to Z, was to make plan a work. So that was my, my passion, my drive, and, you know, to accomplish that dream was was an amazing feat. I think it's something that I I kind of thank my dad for giving me the vision of optimism, or the characteristic of optimism and kind of stubbornness as well, because you need those kind of things to overcome certain challenges. And I've had some. I've had a few. Being a type one diabetic. I'm one of three players to have ever played in the NBA with type one diabetes. So So that alone, now that I look back at it hindsight, it was a testament to just, you know, resilience and optimism and just hard work. Absolutely,
Megan Antonelli 2:32 I was just watching. And I know we were talking a little bit, you have a little boy. I have two big boys, but I was just watching, I think it was Derek Jeter on, you know, sort of being, you know, the the resilience required to kind of fail 70% of the time, you know, and, and, you know, in baseball, certainly in basketball, you know, you want to make every shot, but there's a lot, a lot that you miss. And to get to that level of performance, you've got to see a lot, which is, you know, going to equip you very well for launching a digital health startup, kind of, you know, model within healthcare, because it's not, it's not an easy space. But tell us a little bit about, you know, the you know, I know that you have, you are type one diabetic, you know? What was that like, being in the MBA and having to manage that,
Gary Forbes 3:23 obviously, I was very fortunate to have, you know, my dad, who was also a type one diabetic, but he was an Olympic lifter, worked on a Panama Canal, was a cyclist, so I never looked at having or managing type one diabetes as a as a crutch. It was almost like a springboard to, you know, to do great things. It's like, I have diabetes and I'm doing, you know this. So, you know it, I had a chip on my shoulder. It was something that I hid due to, you know, the, I guess, stigma and, you know, the way people have a perspective of, you know, people living with diabetes, and what they can and can't do, but that you know, all those experiences you know, playing overseas, playing in the NBA, going through all the different experiences that I did, it led me to create the social survivors platform, which is a comic book platform series about children with chronic health conditions, but they're superheroes. So I took my experiences from traveling all around the world, meeting different people, you know, friends, family, I believe in the in the I guess in the world of health, everyone knows somebody with something. We're like one degree or two degrees separated. We either know a friend or a family member, someone with cancer, diabetes, autism, and I thought that, you know, this sense as being in our, you know, human experience, we should kind of know about it, bridge the gap of, you know, awareness, you know, continue to fund research and, you know, empower families and children that are going. Through these challenges.
Megan Antonelli 5:02 Yeah, that's so important. And, I mean, basically, so you're, you're taking the diabetes and, you know, to your experience, it's like your superpower in some way, to, you know, sort of overcoming that and then putting it into this comic book series, which is awesome. And you know, for anyone who hasn't, hasn't seen it, you can go to the website soul survivors, and it is an amazing series of books that really highlights, you know, puts these children in these in these roles, and it is available on the website and all that so, and it's great in terms of the response. Have you done, you know, have you done any, like readings, taking it to classes and seeing what the kids are, yours, yours is a little young, but I'm sure, yeah, but, but tell us a little bit about that. Yeah,
Gary Forbes 5:47 since launching my first volume in 2023 I've been to several schools to do book readings, you know, presentations and things like that. I've had it at a one library in Miami, which is a great turnout, a book signing, and I've sold in different, you know, different areas. The goal now is to obviously expand and scale the the knowledge of sole survivors and to empower pretty much the world. This is, like a global impact. We I did a research the other day, is around 300 to 400 million children around the globe that are, you know, managing chronic health conditions. So this is something that I intend to, you know, reach the masses and kind of bridge that gap, like I said, of awareness, you know, and empower people. I would like I said I was very fortunate to have the not to not have the, oh, woe is me. You know, feel bad for me as I kind of even the the verbiage in the soul survivors. I don't call it an illness. I don't call it a disease. I call it a health challenge, so it's something that I'm trying to, you know, change, you know, everyone's mindset, and as well as educate, you know, the world, besides empowering,
Megan Antonelli 7:10 yeah, well, it's so important, and I think especially, especially with children, and then also, you know, certain communities in terms of that, both, as you mentioned, stigma of health, but also fear. You know, of what does it mean to have a certain condition or a chronic illness? And you know, the fact is, as you said, everybody does at some point either come in contact with or unfortunately, have their own illness. So making ourselves more comfortable with that and putting that in the dialog is so much more, you know, the more we talk about that, especially with young children, the better. So I think it's such a great, you know, mission and vehicle for doing that, because it is, it's so hard. I mean, I think, you know, I think back to when I was a kid. I mean, we had, of course, Sesame Street, and we had Electric Company, and there were some science and, you know, remember Mr. You know, Mr. Peabody, where you learn that, but there's not that much of that in culture now. There, frankly, is a lot of Marvel, a lot of superhero, and a lot of, you know, super athletes, and it's a lot of looking at, you know, these people here and forget, as you get into social media, and, you know, social, where everyone is just, you know, sort of perfect and and amazing. So this, you know, this idea of being able to give kids something to identify with and making, you know, it normal as it is, right?
Gary Forbes 8:33 Yes, yes. That's the, that's the whole point is to, you know, just continue to raise awareness. Is something that's in our everyday experience. I've had a couple of occasions where people said, Oh, you don't look like a diabetic, or, you know, Oh, you shouldn't eat this. And it's not, you know, I don't look at that stigma that's just, you know, kind of, in a sense, kind of ignorance. They just don't know. And it's my, you know, I'm in a space where that I can educate, especially children, my idea is that if I can plant this seed at a very, you know, early age, when they're sponges, by the time they get to adults, the world and health and wellness will be totally different because they have, you know, these, you know, figures that, you know, representation in a positive way.
Megan Antonelli 9:22 Yeah, no, so important. And, you know, forget that it is also books and reading and being involved in that which they're not doing enough of. Either from what I from what I can tell, both my own firsthand experience and what I managed together online. Tell me a little bit about, you know, when you think back as a diabetic in the NBA, you know, what did that look like? I mean, was it, you know? I mean, I know you sort of conquered it, but in terms of the, you know, management of it, or how you also were able to kind of turn it into your superpower.
Gary Forbes 10:01 If you like, I was super fortunate, you know, playing in the NBA. This is like a billion dollar, you know, company, and I had team doctors and trainers who were really, really good at, you know, making sure I had the, you know, right products, right medications, right type of treatments, food, rest and all these different things. And I think for me, having basketball or something as a passion, something that I love, it took it took my mind away from whatever pressures that there may be of managing type one diabetes. And there are, there are challenges, but I think having something that was outside of the norm, I guess, in the sense and I'm living it, you know, it really took took away that, I guess, just thinking about, you know, managing type one diabetes and, or the usual people, I mean, usual things that you know, people think of what will happen, you know, if this, you know, if I don't do this or I do that, so all these different, you know, challenges that the mass majority of people that are dealing with these challenges, I didn't have to, you know necessarily, that,
Megan Antonelli 11:10 right? Because you had those that help with, like diet and nutrition, and certainly expert professional. You know, not everybody gets unfortunately, but yes, but certainly learned a lot from that. I am sure, in terms of there, it's not just diabetes, you you also have super superheroes with other chronic illnesses. What are some of the other illnesses?
Gary Forbes 11:37 So, yeah, there's a representation of autism, Crohn's disease, cerebral palsy, tuberous sclerosis, leukemia, mental health condition. And the goal is to create a superhero for every single childhood health challenge, or kind of how challenge that there is creating health, health Marvel world. So to, you know, just to have these different organizations and have this representation of a superhero, I think that I don't know, probably you could agree with me. It's like, when you look at these commercials about, you know, a child being diagnosed with, you know, diabetes or cancer, it's kind of like the sad kind of story and and not saying that it's not, but I don't think there's enough representation or highlights of the, you know, the ones that do overcome or, you know, power, you know, empower, well, on the
Megan Antonelli 12:38 power you Know, the power of both positivity and having that positive modeling is so important, you know, in healthcare and and everything, right? And how have you kind of developed the characters, and where do you see them going, sort of, you know, I mean, what is, is it a Ultimate Universe with lots and lots of stories. Or what's the vision? The
Gary Forbes 13:04 vision is for it to just have to be a world of its own, to have the communities. You know, the communities help create this, this universe. I got the concepts I created, the concepts from, kind of like my childhood characters that I kind of created in the in the scope of Thundercats, you know, Robocop, the TV show, dinosaurs, cat. It was kind of like it's, if I had to do a comparison, there's, I mean, not really a comparison, but if I had to do it's like a mixture between X Men, Captain Planet and Harry Potter, in a sense, like little mixture of those. I love it, and I see the My vision is for these characters to, you know, take on the life of his own. I envision apps, video games, toys, merchandise, clothing, and especially in the world of health, health and tech, it's, it's it. This is a perfect, you know, vehicle for to, you know, carry out the missions of these organizations well,
Megan Antonelli 14:15 and I know, and we talked about this a little bit, I mean, just back to that sort of education piece. And, you know, both the education and the identification, then, of course, the the misinformation that's out there. I mean, as kids get a little bit older, and they have that independence and the autonomy to be searching for things and and stuff, but to have that sort of reinforced, you know, particularly some of the mental health challenges and such like, you know, where there is a lot of education about it. But is it in children's hands? Not at all, and is it, you know, sort of accessible to them? So I just, I see so many places where, you know, certainly, like in a children's hospital, in a pediatrics Hospital, where the, you know, clinicians could use this as tools, you know, whether it's in book form or apps, and to have the. As you know, whether they become kind of, you know, personal avatars, or, you know, you know, the ability to do that, that could be great.
Gary Forbes 15:08 Yeah, that's the, that's the vision. The vision is also to, you know, to have these, you know, these characters be pretty much the, you know the face of these organizations. And like you said, it can be something that's, you know, pretty much, to have a mind of its own. The characters, I think, will be something that can and can change the stigma, I guess, in the sense of what these what these organizations represent, and it removes, I think, the fear, you know, in health and wellness, because I'm sure it is a lot, especially, you know, parents dealing with children and chronic health condition space, absolutely,
Megan Antonelli 15:57 yeah. And I think also in the game with certain communities. I mean, you mentioned that you were an immigrant and you came to Brooklyn, and I think the, you know, there's a long history of the African American black communities in this country and not having a trust, you know, built with the American healthcare system for very good reasons, and there's a lot that we have to do to kind of overcome that. So are there particular areas in the book that you're addressing those disparities and that kind of education?
Gary Forbes 16:28 I'm also, in a sense, not putting race and like, kind of, you know, in that space, because I think none of these health challenges care, if you're you know, white, Asian, you know, African American, Latino. Every one of these health challenges affects everyone, obviously more so in certain certain spaces. But I wanted to kind of more So highlight you know, everyone, every child, every you know, type of family, and empower the conversation so that you know the you know the people or the families that are in these other pros communities now have a voice of representation, because now it's just talked about so much, right? Good,
Megan Antonelli 17:15 good. Yeah. I think that's also really important. And I think that you know, just the representing the diversity that this does happen to everyone. Everyone goes through it. You know, when it comes to, like, with autism and some of the other mental health conditions, challenges, the health challenges, as you said, what are some of the areas that you explore. Like, do they go through kind of adventures? Are they, you know, what are their experiences within the book that are vehicles for, for educating, right? So
Gary Forbes 17:53 I did like, so my thing is more so like, on building community and teamwork, so I have them. It's called the confidence quest. It's got the name soul survivors, kind of playing on words soul being the only one, which, you know, I've known from experience. I play, I've always been the only one with type one diabetes or chronic health condition on a team. And I'm sure you know, when these children in the hospital, they feel like, you know, they're by themselves. They're alone. So that's where the name soul comes from. And they're also sneaker heads, so, you know, from the sole of their feet. But they go through this confidence quest to kind of prepare for the real challenges that's going on in Galaxy three, where they live, at where they where they all live, and, yeah, it's about teamwork, and learning about each other and the group of social survivors and to become sole survivors. So I'm obviously being an athlete big on teamwork, and I know how much that plays a role in winning. And I think if these children can learn about each other and learn about their conditions, and have you know signals or signs for when something is going wrong, or to make sure you know each of their you know teammates or you know friends are good, I think it builds a different space. I have a vision of, you know, the child who's either getting bullied in school from, you know, having leukemia in his hair, or his or her, his or her hair is falling out. Now he or she is the cool kid in class, because soul survivors is on TV, and, you know, they have superpowers. And now, you know, it kind of changes the narrative of of these health challenges. And, you know, it's like, like, it's education piece, you know now, like I said, is if you're, if you're learning about these health challenges at a very young age, you have a different perspective when you get older.
Megan Antonelli 19:48 For sure. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, I mean, it's also the name of just, it sounds like a really good video game, encourage kids play video games, but it. Sound like a great, you know, game for them to be playing. And that idea of the confidence quest and the challenge could be really, I, you know, it can I can see it. I can see the vision. So, and, you know, I think as healthcare, also for our kids, goes more virtual, that ability to make that engaging. I mean, I was actually on a virtual appointment with my son this morning, you know, it was very early in the morning, and he, you know, wrapped up in his blanket, like looking at the phone and talking to the doctor. But, you know, about 15 minutes in, he's like, you know, but if it was maybe a bit more dynamic, if there was someone, you know, he might have stayed more engaged. I mean, I was lucky to get the 15 minutes, but his ability to kind of gamify that, gamify health, education, through these characters, I think, is really an exciting one. That's the goal. Tell us a little bit about what that you know, what that journey is going to look like. What does that business model for you look like? What are you looking for from other businesses now?
Gary Forbes 21:06 So in the stage of now looking to partner with certain companies, one of the things that I'm adding to the social survivors platform is a one stop online marketplace that offers a wide range of products, from custom apparel with the social survivors, characters, to specialize health tools, educational resources. And the goal in that space is to, you know, create a community and members, and you know, continue to raise awareness, empower families that are going through these health challenges. And we're in a stage right now of raising capital to, you know, to perform these tasks, to hire and expand kind of the scale of the company, to reach, you know, the world, and that's going to take, you know, a lot of work. You know, a lot of experts in certain areas, in the games, the game areas I see, you know, sole survivors in the app, you know in the app. And having these augmented reality characters change how health and wellness is viewed, especially for children like you said, you know your son, you know only having like a 1510, to 15 minute, you know, attention, you know, to the doctor. And, you know, I'm, I'm big on kind of simplifying health and wellness. You know, drink, drink, you know, good water, eat, healthy exercise, get some sleep, and, you know, you know, take some vital minerals, and you'll be alright.
Megan Antonelli 22:37 Yeah, no, back to the basics. And that's, you know, you know, I'm a lot older than you, but, you know, when we were kids, that's what the message was, and it was pretty simple. And now, you know, it's, now, do I have to take creatine? Do I do my should I do my pre workout? You know, the decisions get bigger and more complicated. And you know, they should just drink water and, you know, get good sleep and better place. But there's, you know, everybody's got something to sell but and to our kids, but it is not always for the best, but this is, and I love it. I think you know, in terms of that, you know, the pivot, the expansion from the books to the So, the digital health, approach to education with the kids, there's, there's a lot of potential to that. And I, you know, I imagine, you know, you've got a good, good network built around all the teams you've played for, and even globally, that there's the opportunity to translate and get it, get it across to all those hands as well. In terms of what we like to talk about here in, you know, sort of that digital health space, but we always like to talk about the good things happening in healthcare. And sometimes, depending on what's going on in the world, it can be harder to find the good things happening in healthcare. But when you see, when you look into the healthcare space, especially coming from your background, right? A patient athlete, you know, with great care. What is, you know? What are some of the things that you see that are encouraging, that kind of excite you about getting into the healthcare space
Gary Forbes 24:14 now, being on the outside, not being an athlete, not having those, you know, those trainers and team doctors. It is different, you know, just even going, you know, getting insurance or, you know, going to the doctor, it's a lot different. But I just recently went to the Vive conference in Tennessee and to see all of the, you know, the Health Tech, and you know, being able to be at your be at your home, and be able to virtually speak to a doctor, or, you know, AI kind of generated doctor, it's, it's very interesting. And I do hope that you know, all these things lead to a positive, a. Effect. But the world is literally, you know, just, you know, flipped and changed. You know, my grandmother. You know, my grandmother passed away recently. She was till 92 and she was, you know, she was in a time where, you know, they she rode horse and buggies, and now, you know, where, having a doctor's meeting, you know, through this virtual kind of, you know, tools. It's very, very unique. It's very, you know, interesting. It's very cool to see, you know, I just hope to for these different, you know, this health challenges, for there to be a positive effect, you know, using, you know, technology, you know, hopefully technology and nature, can, you know, mix and, you know, be able to, you know, make good decisions. And you know, for these, you know, patients that are going through these challenges 100%
Megan Antonelli 25:52 Yeah, no. And I think that's what I love about soul survivors, is it's keeping that, you know, healthcare story so human and that, you know, and then there's this potential for the technology to really amplify it and make it accessible for so many people. And that's, you know, and that's, I think, the power of tech makes the access question so or challenge. It addresses the Access Challenge. There's still the question and the, you know, time will tell, and we have to make sure it does work from the quality perspective, right? But certainly with you know, the more simple you keep it, the better. So well. Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure. I am so excited to see what you're doing and to feature sole survivors at health impact. I think for those who haven't heard, our focus in June is going to be around superheroes of healthcare, so there's nothing you know. Sole survivors is going to be a great story, and I can't wait to share it with our audience there as well. So thank you everyone for joining us today, and Thanks Gary for being with us.
Gary Forbes 26:58 Thank you. Thank you. And don't forget to go on the website, www, dot, www. Dot, the soul survivors, s, O, L, E, S, u, r, v, I, V, O, R, s.com,
Megan Antonelli 27:09 perfect. Thank you so much. And of course, as Gary said, follow them there. Go check it out, and you can join us at Health Impact live. And until next week, Megan Antonelli, reminding you that the future of healthcare is being built today, one innovation at a time.
Thank you 27:28 Thank you for joining us on digital health talks, where we explore the intersection of healthcare and technology with leaders who are transforming patient care. This episode was brought to you by our valued program partners, automation anywhere, revolutionizing healthcare workflows through Intelligent Automation, netera, advancing contactless vital signs, monitoring elite groups delivering strategic healthcare. IT solutions, sell point, securing healthcare, identity management and access governance. Your engagement helps drive the future of healthcare innovation. Subscribe to digital health talks on your preferred podcast platform. Share these insights with your network and follow us on LinkedIn for exclusive content and updates. Ready to connect with healthcare technology leaders in person join us at the next health impact event. Visit Health Impact forum.com for dates and registration. Until next time this is digital health talks, where change makers come together to fix health care.