Birmingham-based marketing expert Corbitt Chandler says he used to think 2016 was the worst year of his life.
It was the year an addiction threatened his marriage, an infection threatened his life, and a showdown with his personal demons threatened his faith.
“I was just mad at life,” said the founder and CEO of Apex Current. “I didn’t really want to live anymore. …I was like, I’m just going to blow up my life and lose everything. I got kicked out of my house, and the whole thing just destroyed me. It destroyed me to start thinking about legacy and how I wanted my daughters to grow up.”
The father of two girls, ages 4 years old and 2 years old, said he made an extremely difficult decision that led to a surprising revelation … and a powerful turning point that turned the worst year of his life into his best.
WATCH the inspiring Yellowhammer Film created by editor and director Aaron Spigner:
Q & A with Corbitt Chandler:
What is your connection to Birmingham?
CC: I grew up here so it’s my hometown. I moved out to Los Angeles after graduating college and lived there for more than a decade working before being recruited back for a vice president of marketing role at Iron Tribe Fitness.
What was life like in California?
CC: Living in L.A. was crazy. I worked in sports marketing and pretty much traveled the world. I went through a ton as well, but ultimately it all led to me meeting my wife Michelle, who’s from California, and having our first daughter born out there.
What are your wife’s interests?
CC: Michelle is a full-time rock-star mom, wife and interior designer. She runs her own independent design firm called Harper James Design and she also runs a charity called Flower Child Project.
How did you realize you had contracted meningitis?
CC: I felt a little sick with a headache during the week. I took some Benadryl to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I just remember feeling out of it and I just thought the meds were still kicking in, so I decided to workout — brilliant, I know. Then, driving to work, I had to cover one eye because my vision was impaired. I was at the office and had chills and finally was told to go home. When I got home and my wife saw me, she was pretty worried. We went to the doc and my fever was right at 104 degrees. They pumped me full of liquids with an IV, gave me meds and then ultimately sent me home, but said if I worsened to go straight to the hospital. I took a nap, woke up, ran into the door trying to go to the bathroom, and then nausea kicked in and we went to the ER. They did the spinal tap there and saw it was meningitis and sent me to the ICU.
What was it like for you in the ICU?
CC: I was in ICU for 7 days. They wanted me to stay longer so I literally had to muster everything in me to try and walk so they’d let me leave. I went in on August 11th, 2016. It was super weird being there. They took great care of me, but I realized how bad it was when I first got there and laid down and asked where the bathroom was and they handed me a bottle telling me you’re not allowed to get out of your bed in ICU. They had those things on my legs that every certain amount of minutes inflate to keep blood circulating. I had tons of needles stuck in me because veins collapse over time and they need to reposition the IV. I did a bunch of scans. The first few days were tough because they didn’t know if it was bacterial or viral. Bacterial is bad news bears and super contagious so I didn’t even know if I could see my kids again if I didn’t get better. Ultimately, after a few days, the results came back saying that it’s viral and it’s sort of a celebration, but you still feel like you’re dying so there’s that.
What was recovery like?
CC: As bad as ICU was, leaving was far worse. I get home thinking I’m going to be down for a couple weeks and it took me four or five months to start feeling close to normal. I could barely walk up the stairs or get in and out of my car. It’s hard to explain that to people especially when you’re in it. I went from being physically the strongest I had ever been to not being able to hold my kids. It was super weird. The funny thing is now I don’t work out nearly as hard. Really, I don’t work out hard at all. Physically, I’m much weaker. Part of what I do these days has more to do with discipline so I’m more focused on a very specific diet since I can’t train like I used to. My left arm never quite recovered from the nerve damage that was done so it still to this day has some deficiencies and coordination issues. Which used to frustrate the crap out of me, but now I just deal with it and it’s part of life. Which I, now, realize how crazy I sound doing those upside down push up things in the video. But, if you look closely, my left shoulder is wanting to collapse and I can only do like two now where I could do like 15 before.
What is your advice to anyone who is struggling, maybe fighting their own epic battle or feeling hopeless?
CC: A good plan executed violently today is better than the perfect plan next week! Just go and move forward. Other than physical dependency or illness, there really is not a good excuse for not taking control of your life. It’s in your hands, but no one’s going to give you permission. It’s up to you.
What is your advice to someone contemplating taking a risk like starting their own business?
That’s a great question! I’m still learning. I think the hard part as always is thinking about scale. I am passionate about the work. I love what I do, but as we grow it involves creating that scale and working on the business, not in it. That’s not my favorite so I really have to use my “why” to drive that.
What are some of your goals for Apex Current?
I think ultimately, it’s our mission: “Connecting Businesses with Their Audiences”. We run performance-driven ads utilizing data and analytics. Ultimately, we’re about getting our clients trackable results, but it goes both ways. To the buyer, we want to serve them ads they want to see when they want to see them. That creates a very positive environment for both parties. So, growing Apex to that end is the goal and that feeds my why of creating an amazing life for my girls and being able to give. So, from a giving perspective, that’s something that keeps me centered. It’s like: This is not about me. So, I’m doing that personally right now, but working on a plan for that to be an essential part of the business structure.
Editor’s note: Yellowhammer Multimedia recently became an Apex Current client.
Rachel Blackmon Bryars is managing editor of Yellowhammer News
