In the short documentary, you can witness Shan’s emotional and moving story of how she lost her hands, legs, and half her face in a matter of days after contracting a rare bacterial infection. Almost overnight the 34-year-old mother and businesswoman became a quadruple amputee.
The first episode of The Shan Show welcomes Costa Carastavrakis, a man who went from being addicted to crystal meth to a successful author, comedian, actor, a multiple Ironman Athlete and motivational speaker, now 13 years clean. Costa is an inspiration coming from a different perspective of adversity – drug addiction. A story no less motivating. The two share their stories and perspectives in this charming, yet impactful first episode of The Shan Show.
From a young age Costa battled addiction from cigarettes and alcohol to eventually drugs in his early 30’s. Brought to his knees by a crippling crystal meth addiction he eventually found a path of recovery. With it came a new quest; to create the best version of himself.
Through constantly renewed health goals and small daily improvements, he transformed himself into an athlete, writer, and speaker with a purpose. His first book, “I am Costa: From Meth to Marathons” will be available later this year and is a memoir on personal health and transformation. In his humorous and original style, he brings light to the darkness of addiction and shows that true body mind and spirit recovery is possible for anyone. His book and message are about celebration of individuality and diversity. For Costa, being himself and accepting himself became a matter of life and death.
His passion is igniting others to create and own their own transformation to a healthy life. His purpose is to carry a message of hope to the still-suffering addict as well as one of caution with growing issues of addiction affecting many in society today from drugs, to work, social media, food and others.
Costa has successfully launched a multimedia career with the success of his talks, TV appearances, and his first book published by Bookstorm Publishers.
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Following the national success of episode 1 Shan released episode 2 with her cousin Natalie Nicholson. Natalie is a survivor and a fighter of the scars that can’t be seen on the outside, but which are bared on the inside: the scars of mental health. In this episode of The Shan Show, you can see the two family members, who grew up like sisters, talk about Natalie’s struggle with suicide and depression.
Mental health has always been a global issue and in recent years the numbers have increased drastically, in particular in 2020 with the Corona Virus pandemic and individuals feeling isolated at home. Suicide is a common factor of kids being bullied in schools, which is why Natalie discusses starting a life coaching practice in which she helps kids and teens who suffer from bullying in their schools. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds but the younger generation is facing a new type of bullying, cyberbullying, which takes place on all forms of social media.
Shortly after launching his own campaign #MeAndMyScars, South African radioman, Doug Anderson, aka the ‘Voice on Wheels’, appears as a guest in The Shan Show’s 3rd episode to share his story of him and his scars.
Born with Spina Bifida, Doug has had a total of forty-nine surgeries to date. His many surgeries have left many physical, emotional, and psychological scars. He has first-hand experience in being judged for the way you look and how people react to scars. He knows what it feels like to be teased, mocked and even insulted for his disability. He has experienced first-hand how these reactions from society at large do damage to one’s confidence, self-worth, and self-love. Doug has also been a victim of bullying which has contributed to his emotional and psychological scars which were a recurring topic in The Shan Show.
In this episode of The Shan Show you can witness two individuals who are both warriors on a mission to make a positive change in the world, in their own way.
On 22 April 2021, The Copperlake Bar and Grill in Broadacres kindly hosted the exclusive screening of Shan’s short documentary and episode 1 where Shan was accompanied by loved ones, family, supporters, the crew, her TV show guests and media. 
We invite you to view and share the short documentary of Shan’s life and all The Shan Show episodes far and wide at no cost.
A special thank you to The Shan Show’s production team.
This could not have been made possible without you.
Director – Warren Bleksley
Producer – Greg Nefdt
Content Producer – Tamaryn Nicholson
Co-ordinator – Robert Nicholson
Make-Up Artist – Storm Stocker of Taken By Storm
Production Crew – Blond Productions, Alfa Cam and Blade Studios
Logo Design – Eden Michelle
Legal – Richard Moerman
Event Venue – Copperlake Breweries
The Shan Show Guests – Costa, Natalie, Zola, Megan, Doug and Shannon
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