Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to a very special episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: And this is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Speaker 1: I think many of you probably know my story and
Speaker 1: the significance of October first for me, eleven years ago,
Speaker 1: I walked in and had my very first mammogram as
Speaker 1: an assignment, a work assignment. So I went into a
Speaker 1: Mamma van in the middle of Times Square or a
Speaker 1: segment on Good Morning America, just to show women that
Speaker 1: getting a mammogram isn't that scary, it isn't that painful,
Speaker 1: and so much so that I was willing to do
Speaker 1: it on live television. And I thought I was doing
Speaker 1: it as a public service for other women who might
Speaker 1: find their breast cancer. Well, it turns out a few
Speaker 1: weeks later, I myself, on October thirtieth, was diagnosed ultimately
Speaker 1: with stage two invasive breast cancer, and that led to
Speaker 1: a series of doctors' visits and surgeries. But I ended
Speaker 1: up with a double mistectomy. I had six months eight
Speaker 1: rounds of chemotherapy, I had several reconstructive surgeries, and today,
Speaker 1: eleven years later, I can proudly say that my cancer
Speaker 1: is in remission and that I've had many many blood
Speaker 1: tests over the years, and so far, so good on
Speaker 1: those tumor markers. But it is something that I will
Speaker 1: always remain vigilant about and certainly something that I will
Speaker 1: continue to advocate because other women, all the women out there,
Speaker 1: need to know. And this is a great reminder October.
Speaker 1: First make those mammogram appointments, check in with your doctor.
Speaker 1: Make sure you're taking care of yourself so we can
Speaker 1: take care of all the people we love in our lives.
Speaker 1: Because I know so many of us women are thinking
Speaker 1: about our children, are thinking about the other people in
Speaker 1: our family, making sure they're taking care of it. So
Speaker 1: often we forget about taking care of our own health.
Speaker 1: So please everyone in this month of October, remember to
Speaker 1: make your appointments and to keep them and not just once.
Speaker 1: This is something that we hope women can do every year.
Speaker 1: The recommendation finally is bad down to the age of
Speaker 1: forty and that is when women, that is when the
Speaker 1: American Cancer Society and other organizations recommend that women start
Speaker 1: getting that baseline mammogram. And right now, just to give
Speaker 1: you a few statistics at the seriousness of this disease.
Speaker 1: Just last year, the American Cancer Society estimates that about
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand women in this country were diagnosed with
Speaker 1: invasive breast cancer, and many people have heard the statistic,
Speaker 1: but one in eight women in this country in their
Speaker 1: lifetime will be diagnosed with breast cancer. And among those
Speaker 1: of us who were diagnosed with early stage breast cancer,
Speaker 1: thirty percent of us will go on to have metastatic
Speaker 1: or stage four breast cancer. And these are serious numbers
Speaker 1: that women need to be aware of. The Other one
Speaker 1: that I always try to let women know. They think, well,
Speaker 1: I don't have any family history. No one I know
Speaker 1: in my family has had breast cancer. You know what,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter, because more than eighty percent of
Speaker 1: all breast cancer patients did not have family history, and
Speaker 1: that was my history as well. Actually come from a
Speaker 1: very large family. My mom is one of nine, my
Speaker 1: dad's one of six. No one when I was diagnosed
Speaker 1: had breast cancer, including all the cousins that I can't
Speaker 1: even count at this point. So I really had this
Speaker 1: false sense of security that somehow I couldn't possibly become
Speaker 1: a breast cancer patient. And so that work assignment I
Speaker 1: had eleven years ago saved my life and in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and October first
Speaker 1: saved my life, so please everyone remember that. And as
Speaker 1: we start off on this very special edition of Amy
Speaker 1: and TJ, I want to let everyone know that early
Speaker 1: detection saves lives and that there have been so many advancements,
Speaker 1: so many new drugs, so many new treatments available to women,
Speaker 1: that whether you're diagnosed at stage zero or stage four,
Speaker 1: not only can you live longer, but you can live better.
Speaker 1: So bottom line, this is not your grandmother's breast cancer.
Speaker 1: Breast cancer today is so much more manageable. There are
Speaker 1: so many advancements in treating and in testing. And get
Speaker 1: this statistic right now, after five years, ninety nine percent
Speaker 1: of early stage breast cancer patients are still alive. We
Speaker 1: have improved survival rates and we have improved the quality
Speaker 1: of life. That is a reality for so many breast
Speaker 1: cancer patients and survivors. There are options even having a
Speaker 1: double mistectomy knowing that you can have reconstruction afterwards. These
Speaker 1: are really hard and tough surgeries to have, but thank
Speaker 1: god they're available because esthetics are important. How you look
Speaker 1: and how you feel are a big part of this
Speaker 1: breast cancer journey. And then we have physical therapy options
Speaker 1: to help recover from the reconstructive surgeries. And while mental
Speaker 1: health support is such an important part of this journey,
Speaker 1: and we are talking about it and we are providing
Speaker 1: it for women like me and for so many others
Speaker 1: who have been diagnosed. So today, what we have with treatment,
Speaker 1: it's just so personalized. It's specialized. It's not a one
Speaker 1: size fits all.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I was told even when I was diagnosed that if
Speaker 1: I had gotten my cancer five years earlier, ten years earlier,
Speaker 1: my treatment would have been completely different. I would have
Speaker 1: had really, really tough chemo. Instead, I got targeted chemo.
Speaker 1: And so we have treatments that are for every individual's
Speaker 1: unique needs, and that leads to more effective and more
Speaker 1: targeted treatments with a better recovery. And that's just a
Speaker 1: remarkable thing. And I've always said that there is a
Speaker 1: cure for cancer. It's called cash. You know, we can
Speaker 1: encourage and contribute whatever we can to so many incredible
Speaker 1: organizations that are doing the work, the research work that
Speaker 1: is needed to try and cure this disease. I applaud them,
Speaker 1: I support them, and I urge anyone who has a
Speaker 1: favorite charity that they believe in that they support to
Speaker 1: give when you can, but especially in this month, as
Speaker 1: we remember how important it is. We're going to be
Speaker 1: speaking with someone who is currently fighting this disease, someone
Speaker 1: who you know and probably someone who you love. We're
Speaker 1: going to be speaking with actress Nicole Eggert, the beloved
Speaker 1: Baywatch star, about her courageous battle with breast cancer. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about her journey of becoming her own advocate,
Speaker 1: and she will tell us how facing cancer and fighting
Speaker 1: cancer in the public eye has transformed her entire perspective
Speaker 1: on life. It happens to so many of us who
Speaker 1: have fought this disease and lived with this disease, and
Speaker 1: she'll talk about how important it is to normalize this disease,
Speaker 1: to talk about it, to remove the stigma around discussing
Speaker 1: breast cancer. We want to welcome Nicole Eggert to the podcast.
Speaker 3: Welcome Nicole, Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: We all fell in love with you in Charles with
Speaker 1: Charles in Charge and then with Baywatch later. So your
Speaker 1: face is a very familiar one, a beloved one for
Speaker 1: anyone of a certain age, for sure, but you have
Speaker 1: been obviously in the headlines again with your breast cancer battle.
Speaker 1: You announce in December of last year that you have
Speaker 1: been diagnosed with a rare form of stage two breast cancer.
Speaker 1: So my first question is how are you doing? Where
Speaker 1: are you in your journey and just let us know
Speaker 1: how you are right now.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm good and a journey it has been. I
Speaker 4: will tell you that. Yeah, I was diagnosed with stage
Speaker 4: two to then find out later it was much more
Speaker 4: advanced than that. So it's been a roller coaster ride,
Speaker 4: it really has. I did eight months of treatment. I
Speaker 4: just had a mes ectomy six days ago.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Wow, I did.
Speaker 4: And I will go back on treatment and and then
Speaker 4: do some more imaging and see where we're at and
Speaker 4: make sure.
Speaker 3: That that that that.
Speaker 4: That silly stuff didn't travel anywhere, and you know, that's
Speaker 4: just sort of the the hardest part for me anyways,
Speaker 4: is that gray area of not really knowing what's going on.
Speaker 4: For So when I started chemo, I felt really confident
Speaker 4: because it was like, we're taking action, We're doing something.
Speaker 4: This is you know, what I've chosen, this is how
Speaker 4: I'm going to come at it. And you know, it
Speaker 4: was a mission and we were it was war mode.
Speaker 4: But when you stop and you're just like waiting and
Speaker 4: you know all of that, it's it can really it
Speaker 4: can really mess with you. So that's that's when I
Speaker 4: have to really rely on like meditation and being happy
Speaker 4: and reading my affirmations and you know, really focusing on
Speaker 4: living fully and in the moment. And I'm here. I'm
Speaker 4: here and I'm fighting and I feel good. So, you know,
Speaker 4: it is what it is.
Speaker 3: Day by day?
Speaker 5: How do how do you you kind of hit on
Speaker 5: it there, but just daily these days as you sit
Speaker 5: around and you wait, how do you feel physically? I
Speaker 5: assume some days are tougher than others, but generally speaking, generally.
Speaker 4: Speaking, I feel good. I you know, I changed. I
Speaker 4: do a lot of supplements and things that help along,
Speaker 4: you know, that help fight cancer. I focus on the
Speaker 4: foods that fight and stay away from the ones that
Speaker 4: contribute to so I feel good, you know, health wise. Honestly,
Speaker 4: going through chemo is tough on the body. It's tough
Speaker 4: on the bones and the muscles. So I do get
Speaker 4: stuck a little bit and I have trouble sometimes, you know,
Speaker 4: getting moving, But I just keep keep going and just
Speaker 4: keep I figure the more I move and the more
Speaker 4: I do it, the easier it's going to get. And
Speaker 4: you know, I just spent time in New York, which
Speaker 4: was a huge test because OI did that push me?
Speaker 4: You know, I thought I walked and did stairs here
Speaker 4: in Los Angeles. I mean, you know, there's nothing like
Speaker 4: a day in New York to really put la people
Speaker 4: to shame on what they think are stairs and walking.
Speaker 4: So you know, and I did great, and I came
Speaker 4: back feeling fantastic. And it's I think it's you know,
Speaker 4: pushing yourself. For me, it's pushing myself and just seeing
Speaker 4: how far I can go every day.
Speaker 3: And I think it keeps me going.
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, having something to do other than going
Speaker 1: to the doctor or worrying about a pet scan or
Speaker 1: your latest blood test results is key when you're not
Speaker 1: only fighting it, but then living in that gray area,
Speaker 1: waiting for it, hoping that it doesn't come back, all
Speaker 1: of those things that anyone who's gone through breast cancer
Speaker 1: understands intimately and uniquely. But Nicole, I actually wanted, if
Speaker 1: you could, to take us back to last year and
Speaker 1: how you found your cancer because this month, as you know,
Speaker 1: I credit this month was saving my life for sure,
Speaker 1: because that's what prompted my mammogram which led to my diagnosis.
Speaker 1: But you found your cancer through a self exam, had
Speaker 1: you had a baseline mammogram before. Just walk us through
Speaker 1: how you found your cancer, because this is so important
Speaker 1: for any woman and certainly some men out there who
Speaker 1: are listening.
Speaker 3: Very diligent about my mammograms.
Speaker 4: I happen to be somebody who has very dense breast
Speaker 4: to shoe, so it was missed in the mammograms. That
Speaker 4: does not mean that you should skip the mammograms. Let
Speaker 4: me just start there. Mammograms are very important. I was
Speaker 4: doing mamograms and ultrasound, but it wasn't detected. I felt
Speaker 4: a throbbing one day, and so when I got in
Speaker 4: the shower, I did a self exam and I felt
Speaker 4: it and it was large, and I my heart stopped.
Speaker 4: I just I couldn't believe that I didn't know that
Speaker 4: that was there this whole time. Had I been doing
Speaker 4: self exams, which I wasn't, I would have known it
Speaker 4: was there sooner. So that you know, that is my
Speaker 4: message to do it all, to do all of the things,
Speaker 4: because different bodies are different. And I know somebody with
Speaker 4: dense breast tissue who was just detected early from a mammogram,
Speaker 4: so you know, it just depends where it's hiding. Everybody's
Speaker 4: different there. Mamograms are super important, All of it is
Speaker 4: super important. Going to your gynecology appointments and having them
Speaker 4: do a self exam is very important. And the only
Speaker 4: reason I hadn't done that in a while. I did
Speaker 4: it in the beginning of the pandemic and my doctor
Speaker 4: left and I was lazy about finding a new guynecologist,
Speaker 4: and I just went for ultrasounds on my pelvic area instead,
Speaker 4: and I just kept saying, I'll get to it, I'll
Speaker 4: get to it. Had I had done that, they would
Speaker 4: have felt it. There's all these you could have, should
Speaker 4: have would have. So my takeaway is do them all.
Speaker 4: Just do them all monthly. Not the mammograms monthly, obviously,
Speaker 4: but the yearly mammograms, the monthly self exams.
Speaker 3: I say, feel yourself up. That's my little reminder.
Speaker 4: Don't forget to fill yourself up, because you have to
Speaker 4: get to know your body and be aware.
Speaker 1: And Nicole, I hate that you just called yourself lazy,
Speaker 1: because that is what we do, right. We blame ourselves
Speaker 1: for what's happened. And I just want to make you
Speaker 1: feel a little bit better, because when I got diagn
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the radiologist took my two fingers and
Speaker 1: when they found one of the lumps, and she put
Speaker 1: it onto my breast, and clearly I then felt the
Speaker 1: mass that was there, and she said, you've never felt
Speaker 1: this before. And I had not ever done a breast
Speaker 1: self exam because I didn't think it could happen to me.
Speaker 1: And I would just say to you that you sound
Speaker 1: like you were way ahead of me and a lot
Speaker 1: of other women in terms of the proactiveness you were
Speaker 1: taking with your health. And I would just say, I
Speaker 1: bet you were busy. I bet it wasn't just that
Speaker 1: you were lazy. I bet you were rightly busy, Nicole, right.
Speaker 4: I guess I should choose my words carefully. I procrastinated
Speaker 4: on it because of yes, life and other things getting
Speaker 4: in the way. And let's face it, the guy inn
Speaker 4: ecologist is not the most fun place to go. So
Speaker 4: I had procrastinated a bit on it. And yeah, and
Speaker 4: you have to. And I didn't do self exams because
Speaker 4: I had implants and so that there was scar tissue,
Speaker 4: and so I always felt like, oh, my guide in
Speaker 4: college is she knows the difference between what's a lump
Speaker 4: and what the scar tissue is and you know all
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 3: So I didn't do it.
Speaker 4: I kind of steered away from it, thinking I didn't
Speaker 4: want to freak out about something that wasn't there, and
Speaker 4: I'll leave this in the hands of the professionals. But
Speaker 4: that is if I could take all of that back.
Speaker 3: I would.
Speaker 4: You definitely need to fill yourself. You definitely do, men
Speaker 4: and women.
Speaker 1: I'm curious everyone reacts differently to getting that diagnosis, and
Speaker 1: I think it's a shock for just about everybody who
Speaker 1: gets it. Can you talk a little bit about what
Speaker 1: your emotions were like when you got the diagnosis and
Speaker 1: who you relied on for emotional support, because yes, we've
Speaker 1: got to take care of the physical when you're dealing
Speaker 1: with cancer, but the emotional response is just as huge.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's the worst feeling I've ever felt
Speaker 4: in my life. It was heart stopping, dread, nightmare. This
Speaker 4: can't be just going, you know, not being able to
Speaker 4: hear or see or focus properly. And at first I
Speaker 4: really kind of just went into myself because I suddenly
Speaker 4: felt very alone. I felt like, this is it. Nobody
Speaker 4: can do anything for you. This is you and your body,
Speaker 4: and this is what you have to deal with. It
Speaker 4: was I very much felt isolated alone, and then when
Speaker 4: I decided to start talking about it, that the entire
Speaker 4: the entire community just put their arms around me and
Speaker 4: reached out to me. People I don't even know, I
Speaker 4: speak to all the time now I haven't even met
Speaker 4: in person yet, just lifting me up and letting me
Speaker 4: know I was going to be okay, and telling me
Speaker 4: their story and really making me not feel lonely, making
Speaker 4: me feel you know, surrounded and hugged, and it was.
Speaker 4: It made all the difference. It just really changed everything.
Speaker 4: It started making me be able to research what I
Speaker 4: was dealing with because I couldn't even I wouldn't even
Speaker 4: look at the paperwork. I wouldn't go online. I didn't
Speaker 4: want to do any of it. I didn't want to
Speaker 4: talk about it. I was so scared of it. And
Speaker 4: it made me be able to start researching, like what
Speaker 4: can I do to help myself?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: You know, what am I going to go through?
Speaker 4: You know, and asking people their their experiences and sort
Speaker 4: of picking certain people and saying I want to have
Speaker 4: that experience, so then picking their brains, What did you do?
Speaker 4: How did you handle this? And just sort of making
Speaker 4: a game plan, And it was a really good distraction
Speaker 4: for me to start thinking of all the things I
Speaker 4: can do.
Speaker 3: How do you prevent neuropathy?
Speaker 4: How do you you know, not lose your eyebrows and
Speaker 4: your eyelashes?
Speaker 3: You know, how do you just all the other things?
Speaker 3: What do you eat? What do you not eat? So
Speaker 3: sort of like controlling the controllables.
Speaker 4: And that got me into a place of with a
Speaker 4: lot of like work with healers and breath work and
Speaker 4: meditation and a shaman and my family, I got to
Speaker 4: a place where I just really was ready to fight
Speaker 4: and go forward. And I knew being negative and I
Speaker 4: knew being scared wasn't going to heal me.
Speaker 5: I know you don't like the word and we don't
Speaker 5: like the word lazy.
Speaker 6: But what tough love.
Speaker 5: Because a lot of people, a lot of women, are
Speaker 5: in that place you were at, possibly to where you're
Speaker 5: Sometimes you just think, Okay, this can't happen to me,
Speaker 5: or you think, oh my god, I'm so paranoid. This
Speaker 5: is going to happen to me. And sometimes you all
Speaker 5: have talked about it, and Robot has talk to me
Speaker 5: about it. Here plenty that sometimes they women will overcorrect
Speaker 5: or take an aggressive action that maybe is not necessary
Speaker 5: because they're worried about what may come. But for you,
Speaker 5: what was it you said you were diligent about the
Speaker 5: mammograms and some of the self exams. Did you have
Speaker 5: a family history, did you have friends? What was it
Speaker 5: that made you always be so diligent that? And I'm
Speaker 5: sure other women would appreciate hearing that.
Speaker 4: Well, both of my parents did have cancer, but neither
Speaker 4: was breast cancer, and I don't know, I'm not aware
Speaker 4: of any breast cancer history in my family, but so
Speaker 4: I've always been slightly paranoid of it, and you know,
Speaker 4: dreading it a bit because it not only because both
Speaker 4: my parents had it, but because so many people have it.
Speaker 4: It's it's one in eight women are getting breast cancer,
Speaker 4: so it's it's more common than uncommon, And so I
Speaker 4: was always worried about it. Plus having the implants, and
Speaker 4: I think that knowledge is key. Those tests are scary.
Speaker 4: You have to put your big grown up pants on
Speaker 4: and you have to go do it, and you you know,
Speaker 4: the scariness of the testing and getting a results is
Speaker 4: nothing compared to having to go through treatment and fight
Speaker 4: this when it's gone too far and you ignored it
Speaker 4: or you know, procrastinated on it, so you know, you
Speaker 4: just you have to. It's just one of these things
Speaker 4: in life. It's just one of these grown up adulting
Speaker 4: things you have to do. You have to go get
Speaker 4: it done, and it's worth it, and early detection is everything.
Speaker 4: My journey would have been so much easier had I
Speaker 4: done the self exam and caught this earlier. But we
Speaker 4: caught it and we're working on it, and that's just
Speaker 4: you know, it's just what you have to do. You
Speaker 4: have to do it, and you shouldn't be over You
Speaker 4: have to live in the moment. You have to be reasonable.
Speaker 4: You can't overshoot. Like I literally on the operating table,
Speaker 4: my surgeon and I were going back and forth about
Speaker 4: double misseectomy or single, and I was really pushing for
Speaker 4: the double, and he said, I know you want the double,
Speaker 4: but we also need to get you back into treatment,
Speaker 4: so let's do the single. Let's do the single. It
Speaker 4: will keep your immune system up higher than if we
Speaker 4: take both. You'll be able to get into treatment quicker,
Speaker 4: we have less chance of infection and a quicker healing
Speaker 4: time you can get back into treatment, and then when
Speaker 4: we reconstruct this one, we will take the other one
Speaker 4: and we'll reconstruct them at the same time, and then
Speaker 4: you'll have new boobs that aren't trying to kill you.
Speaker 4: And you know that's you know, I could have said, no,
Speaker 4: do both, do both, and he said you could do both,
Speaker 4: and then we find out later it traveled and we
Speaker 4: didn't get to it in time, and it's growing and
Speaker 4: you know, so you know, you don't want to you
Speaker 4: don't want to be hasty, you want to be careful.
Speaker 3: But you have to go with your gut.
Speaker 4: You have to go with your heart. There's no black
Speaker 4: and white, there's no yes and right or wrong. It's
Speaker 4: it's really like your own personal journey, and everybody's so different,
Speaker 4: and you have to believe in your doctors and trust
Speaker 4: in your doctors and what you're doing in your journey
Speaker 4: and what you've chosen, and you've got to go You've
Speaker 4: got to go in and just got to go for it.
Speaker 1: Nicole. You make so many good points, because when you
Speaker 1: get diagnosed, it's bizarre how many choices are in front
Speaker 1: of you. And you have to be comfortable with who's
Speaker 1: guiding you. In those choices, because each choice affects the
Speaker 1: next one, as point out, and you're learning all of
Speaker 1: this in warp speed while you're dealing with the probably
Speaker 1: the greatest trauma you've ever experienced in your life to
Speaker 1: this point. So I applaud you for sharing your story
Speaker 1: because it's important that other people see the paths that
Speaker 1: women choose and they can make the best decisions for
Speaker 1: themselves because each cancer is different, one size doesn't fit all,
Speaker 1: and so those are all really important things to remember.
Speaker 1: But also, you didn't have family history. I didn't have
Speaker 1: family history, and it's always worth repeating for women out
Speaker 1: there listening. Eighty more than eighty percent of breast cancer
Speaker 1: patients have zero family history. People, I think women think
Speaker 1: I thought I was protected to a degree because I
Speaker 1: didn't have history in my family, and that's just a huge,
Speaker 1: huge false piece of information. So I think it's important
Speaker 1: to recognize that anyone can have breast cancer, and especially
Speaker 1: if you don't have family history, don't think you're immune
Speaker 1: to it. That's a really important lesson to learn, I think,
Speaker 1: and hopefully you don't have to do it the hard way,
Speaker 1: and the earlier you catch it, the better, as you
Speaker 1: have of surviving it. I know that you mentioned this
Speaker 1: gray area and you had a lot of women go
Speaker 1: through this. I did chemo and then I had my surgeries.
Speaker 1: I did the mistectomy first, but you now have potentially
Speaker 1: more surgeries and more testing to be done. What are
Speaker 1: you looking at next? Have you had the pet scan?
Speaker 1: Are you willing to share any of your next steps
Speaker 1: with us?
Speaker 4: Well, my next step is to get the pathology report
Speaker 4: back from my mes ectomy and then meet with my
Speaker 4: doctors and see what the next best treatment is. I
Speaker 4: will go back into some sort of treatment for three
Speaker 4: months and then do the scans after three months of treatment,
Speaker 4: see if it's showing up anywhere, hopefully it's not, and then.
Speaker 3: Then we discuss what we do from there.
Speaker 4: You know, it's very much like people ask me about
Speaker 4: reconstruction and what are you going to do?
Speaker 3: What size? Which one are you gonna do?
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my gosh, you know, I'll be lucky
Speaker 4: to get to that bridge.
Speaker 3: Like I right now, my next steps are treatment. What
Speaker 3: is going to be my next treatment?
Speaker 4: So and for now I have, you know, like a
Speaker 4: fifteen dollars fake boo by wear, So.
Speaker 3: That's my reconstruction for now. And I feel good about it.
Speaker 4: I go, you know, so it's very much just one
Speaker 4: step at a time. But now it's healing and then
Speaker 4: getting back into some sort of treatment, whatever that is.
Speaker 1: And you know what this is the other thing. You know,
Speaker 1: your life goes on while you're dealing with all of this,
Speaker 1: and you've been very vocal about the fact that you're
Speaker 1: a single mom and you have a little one still
Speaker 1: at home who relies on you, and you gotta work,
Speaker 1: and so your life doesn't just stop when you get
Speaker 1: breast cancer, and it can't for a lot of women
Speaker 1: who need to pay the bills, and there are a
Speaker 1: lot of bills that get wrecked up when you're dealing
Speaker 1: with this, and you've been busy. You just were walking
Speaker 1: a red carpet after Baywatch. Moment in the sun. Tell
Speaker 1: us about your latest project and how you've managed to
Speaker 1: keep this all going at the level you've been doing
Speaker 1: it at while you're battling breast cancer. That's remarkable.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it gives it gave me a purpose
Speaker 4: to get up and do something and to push myself.
Speaker 4: My thirteen year old definitely keeps me on my toes
Speaker 4: and definitely still has all the same demands as if
Speaker 4: I didn't have the diagnosis. The documentary we started before
Speaker 4: the pandemic, So it's this labor of love that we've
Speaker 4: been doing, and it just was getting so close to
Speaker 4: the end, and it was the exciting part. And it
Speaker 4: was the wrapping it up and the selling of it
Speaker 4: and the premiere of it and all of that stuff,
Speaker 4: so and then the promoting of it.
Speaker 3: So it was it gave me life.
Speaker 4: To be honest, I would much rather be busy and
Speaker 4: I have my weekly podcast. I think that for me,
Speaker 4: keeping myself busy and distracted and living and thinking of
Speaker 4: the no thing, it really is much better than sitting
Speaker 4: and always researching and always feeling all the pains and
Speaker 4: thinking of, you know, the pains. So it really sort
Speaker 4: of helps me to just like keep living my best
Speaker 4: life through it all, because I think that's what's going
Speaker 4: to get me through.
Speaker 1: That's definitely going to get you through. And what do
Speaker 1: you want you know, I'm sure when you went back
Speaker 1: and you actually watched the labor of love that you
Speaker 1: put together over the last several years, what do you
Speaker 1: hope viewers take away from the docu series? What do
Speaker 1: you want them to remember most about it just give
Speaker 1: us a sense of what viewers will get when they
Speaker 1: watch it if they haven't already.
Speaker 3: Well, the nostalgia is always great, right.
Speaker 4: It takes you back to a time you can remember it, music, visuals,
Speaker 4: it all takes you back to a time and it
Speaker 4: was it was a happy time for most of us.
Speaker 4: So the nostalgia's there, that escapism is there, But you
Speaker 4: get to really meet the people who were just these
Speaker 4: spaces in these bathing suits, and you get to hear about,
Speaker 4: you know, their real personal journeys and not the same
Speaker 4: stories that have been regurgitated over and over in every
Speaker 4: magazine and interview to date.
Speaker 3: It's it's different.
Speaker 4: It's not the same pictures, it's not the same stories.
Speaker 4: It's just a deeper, more personal conversation and nothing's off
Speaker 4: the table with any of the cast. And so I
Speaker 4: think you really get to learn who who people are,
Speaker 4: for who they are instead of just that beautiful face
Speaker 4: of that beautiful body in that bathing suit. And a
Speaker 4: lot of people have a really amazing journey that they
Speaker 4: have to share, and so it's really work. It's really
Speaker 4: great to let them speak and give them the platform
Speaker 4: to tell their story.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not lost on me that Baywatch was
Speaker 1: so much about boobs. I mean, it just really was right,
Speaker 1: the slow mode, the bouncing, the bouncing chest of the women,
Speaker 1: and now we're talking about your boobs again, but in
Speaker 1: a different way. I don't know if that irony was
Speaker 1: lost on you as well.
Speaker 3: I said it so many times.
Speaker 4: Irony was not lost on me that I had no
Speaker 4: hair and I'm getting rid of my boobs, like and
Speaker 4: I'm promoting Baywatch like life, Life is funny. Life likes
Speaker 4: to play jokes, so you know, I definitely found the
Speaker 4: humor in that, and it made me laugh. And I
Speaker 4: think it was, in a weird way helpful because I
Speaker 4: didn't have to like live up to any image. I
Speaker 4: didn't have to be like, this is me at fifty two,
Speaker 4: completely healthy and just you know, compared to at least
Speaker 4: like you know, to me, it was it took a
Speaker 4: weird pressure off of like what I look like and
Speaker 4: how I was presenting myself because I don't really have
Speaker 4: a choice in the matter right now, So.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I try to find the humor in everything. But I'm
Speaker 4: glad that you that you thought that too. A lot
Speaker 4: of people, I think are afraid to say that, well,
Speaker 4: I mean maybe a.
Speaker 2: Funny to me.
Speaker 1: No get you get to a point where we're like,
Speaker 1: you know, I know, I just being anyone in a
Speaker 1: publica You're talking about something that seems so personal and private,
Speaker 1: and you're like, well, you know what the good thing
Speaker 1: is if the more we talk about it, the more
Speaker 1: we make it something that people think about that women
Speaker 1: aren't afraid to talk about, because imagine what life would
Speaker 1: have been like for you or for me going through
Speaker 1: this if we didn't have someone else to look to
Speaker 1: to say they did it, and if they can do it,
Speaker 1: I can do it the power of one other woman's
Speaker 1: story and make it. You do feel alone when you're diagnosed, oddly,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that we know the numbers and we
Speaker 1: know so many women go through this. Somehow, when it
Speaker 1: happens to you, you feel so alone. You feel like
Speaker 1: you're the only person in the world going through it.
Speaker 1: Has it been hard for you to share your story?
Speaker 1: I don't think people realize how difficult it is. No
Speaker 1: one wants to be pitied, No one wants to be
Speaker 1: thought of as sick or weak or less then, and
Speaker 1: when you share your story, those are real fears.
Speaker 3: You're right.
Speaker 4: But for me, I had I kept so much childhood
Speaker 4: trauma bottled up inside of me for so long, and
Speaker 4: not that long ago if it finally had released it
Speaker 4: and really had been working on always sharing and being
Speaker 4: open and honest and you know, all of these things,
Speaker 4: and when I got the diagnosis, they're just after you know,
Speaker 4: after I processed and everything, there was no way I
Speaker 4: was going to keep it private or keep it to myself.
Speaker 4: I feel like keeping things made me sick, and you know,
Speaker 4: that's how I just personally feel about it. And I
Speaker 4: wasn't going to.
Speaker 6: Hide it.
Speaker 4: And I didn't want people when they were to run
Speaker 4: into me or see me to feel uncomfortable and not
Speaker 4: know or feel like should they say something?
Speaker 3: Should they not? I wanted people.
Speaker 4: To know that that's what they were dealing with when
Speaker 4: they were going to see me. And I had questions
Speaker 4: and if other people high questions, you know, if we
Speaker 4: can help each other and just compare stories, you learn
Speaker 4: so much that way, you really do. You at least
Speaker 4: I learned so much by talking to other women, And
Speaker 4: so for me, keeping it private wasn't really an option
Speaker 4: because I wanted other people to feel like, Okay, we
Speaker 4: can ask her. We can talk, we can listen to her,
Speaker 4: and you know she can ask us. And I wanted
Speaker 4: it to be on the table.
Speaker 1: I totally get that. I totally get that. And how
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned that, Yes, you've lived a lot
Speaker 1: of life, You've had a lot of childhood trauma, You've
Speaker 1: done a lot of it in front of the entire world.
Speaker 1: But getting this diagnosis and going through what you've already
Speaker 1: been through, knowing the road you have ahead of you,
Speaker 1: how has your life changed in terms of perspective and
Speaker 1: how you look at yourself and the world around you.
Speaker 4: So many ways? And I know you can attest to this.
Speaker 4: The fearlessness that I have, I just that's what.
Speaker 3: Can bring it. What can you do to me?
Speaker 4: You can't. There's not much you can do to me now.
Speaker 4: So I'm not afraid of very much anymore. Whereas before
Speaker 4: I was, you know, pretty guarded and insecure, a bit
Speaker 4: of an introvert, I'm not that anymore. I'm no longer
Speaker 4: afraid to advocate at all about anything for myself, which
Speaker 4: I had an issue I had a problem with before.
Speaker 3: I feel like the happiness that I feel.
Speaker 4: Is unparalleled, and I don't I can't really explain that
Speaker 4: it's a hard one to put into words of the
Speaker 4: happiness you can feel because you begin to appreciate things
Speaker 4: so differently. Just I just look at life so incredibly different,
Speaker 4: and I don't want to waste moments. I don't want
Speaker 4: to waste moments being angry or upset over things that
Speaker 4: really just don't matter. I've become And not that I
Speaker 4: was judgmental at all before, but I am just so
Speaker 4: much more accepting of everything without a second thought. You know,
Speaker 4: like everything seems so much more beautiful than it did before.
Speaker 4: You know, more things are beautiful than not to me now.
Speaker 4: And in a weird way, it has changed my life
Speaker 4: for the better and it's really made me stop and
Speaker 4: you know, reevaluate what's important here? What what are we
Speaker 4: worrying about? What are we doing? What are we enjoying?
Speaker 4: And what are we not enjoying? And I think that
Speaker 4: that's really like it's been really life changing.
Speaker 3: It just has changed everything.
Speaker 1: And Nicole, it is not weird at all for you
Speaker 1: to tell me, you know.
Speaker 3: You know what else I want to say?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what else really was a big change
Speaker 4: is I love my body, whereas before I really would
Speaker 4: have complained about all the weight I put on from chemo.
Speaker 4: I'm going to put on like over forty pounds in
Speaker 4: a short period of time from the steroids.
Speaker 3: I wasn't mad at it at all.
Speaker 4: I was thinking my body for getting up and working
Speaker 4: for me and fighting for me and letting me live
Speaker 4: every day. And it really changed my perspective on my
Speaker 4: body and my body image. And that was huge for me,
Speaker 4: because all of a sudden, I wasn't going, oh my god,
Speaker 4: you know, I don't fit into this, I don't fit
Speaker 4: into that. I was like just thankful that I had
Speaker 4: this vessel, no matter you know what it looked like,
Speaker 4: and even now with one boob, you know, it's just crazy.
Speaker 4: You just have this new appreciation for it. And I
Speaker 4: felt like that was that was something I didn't expect
Speaker 4: and was really important.
Speaker 1: I know, the gratitude for all the things that maybe
Speaker 1: you would have actually been annoyed about suddenly just it's
Speaker 1: it is life changing in every way. And people don't
Speaker 1: realize when you're on chemo. People think, you know, not
Speaker 1: everyone gets that Gaune. Look, I gained weight. A lot
Speaker 1: of women gain weight on chemo because you're you're yes,
Speaker 1: the steroids and also you're nauseated and so you're eating
Speaker 1: a lot of carbs, and you can't work out the
Speaker 1: way you did before because you're exhausted. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's so many things that happened that are surprising sometimes
Speaker 1: when you're going through this, But I love your perspective
Speaker 1: and it is one of those things where you're actually
Speaker 1: in a weird way. Well, I will just say this,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be who I am today. I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: where I am today without the cancer, and it changes
Speaker 1: you for the better in a lot of ways. And
Speaker 1: I remember my oncologie is saying this to me when
Speaker 1: I first got diagnosed. She said, of all the women
Speaker 1: who I have treated, when they come back after they're
Speaker 1: in remission, not a one of them, with some perspective,
Speaker 1: would give it back because they wouldn't be who they
Speaker 1: are today without that journey. And I know that sounds
Speaker 1: crazy and weird and bizarre, and I've kind of always
Speaker 1: joked them still not in that place where I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have given it back, because I think I still would,
Speaker 1: because come, you know, you can finish your treatment and
Speaker 1: you can be in remission, but you'll always live with
Speaker 1: this diagnosis, because there's always the fear of recurrence. So
Speaker 1: how have you changed your life for the better? And
Speaker 1: what advice would you give women who are going through
Speaker 1: who are maybe a year behind you, or who have
Speaker 1: yet to be diagnosed. What would you say to them?
Speaker 4: I would say to them to you know, first of all,
Speaker 4: just be okay with it somehow. Whatever that is for you.
Speaker 4: A lot of people, you know, faith is a big one.
Speaker 4: Whatever that is for you. For me, that's you know,
Speaker 4: I'm spiritual. I believe you rely heavy on your faith
Speaker 4: and believe in the science.
Speaker 3: If you're going to go to the.
Speaker 4: Science route, which I chose to do because it's what
Speaker 4: I believe in, you've got to believe in it and
Speaker 4: go for it. You have to you have to trust,
Speaker 4: and you have to know that you're where you're supposed
Speaker 4: to be. And that might not sound fun and it
Speaker 4: might not make sense in the moment, but we're all
Speaker 4: where we're supposed to be for whatever reason. And like
Speaker 4: you said, I think that there's this you'll do.
Speaker 3: It's just it's.
Speaker 4: Life changing and you'll never be the same and there
Speaker 4: is no looking back. And yeah, we can worry about
Speaker 4: reoccurrence and all of that, but we can also not
Speaker 4: have had it and still worry about occurrence. So it's
Speaker 4: you know, we're living in a world filled with it.
Speaker 4: And I think that technology and the science have progressed
Speaker 4: so much that you know, the success rate is much
Speaker 4: higher than it used to be. This is not a
Speaker 4: death sentence by any means like what it used to be.
Speaker 4: And you know, to just try to find that light,
Speaker 4: try to find what makes you happy, try to find
Speaker 4: whatever it is that works for you. And I know
Speaker 4: that everybody's so different. For me, like being bald was amazing,
Speaker 4: so I embraced that. I always wanted to be bald.
Speaker 4: I thought it would be for like a movie part
Speaker 4: or something like that, but not so lucky there was
Speaker 4: from this, but I was like excited about that in
Speaker 4: a weird way because I didn't have to do my
Speaker 4: hair anymore. And it feels so good to drive with
Speaker 4: the windows down and no hair.
Speaker 3: Ah, guys, it's amazing. So it's like finding those things
Speaker 3: that are just that do make you happy.
Speaker 4: And you know, and believing and choosing how you're going
Speaker 4: to move forward, not being afraid of it, taking it
Speaker 4: on and.
Speaker 3: Just believing, believing in it and.
Speaker 4: Trying to be as happy as you can through it,
Speaker 4: because sad bodies don't heal.
Speaker 1: That's such a good point, Nicole. I just really want
Speaker 1: to thank you for being so open and so forthcoming,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, and everyone's got their own level
Speaker 1: of comfort in terms of sharing their story, but it
Speaker 1: is so powerful when women choose to do so, especially
Speaker 1: someone who's as beloved as you are and as well
Speaker 1: known as you are. It's just it makes a huge
Speaker 1: difference in so many women's lives. You'll never know how
Speaker 1: many women you've helped and maybe even helped diagnose, convinced
Speaker 1: to go get that mammogram or to do that self
Speaker 1: exam whose lives you've actually saved by sharing your message.
Speaker 1: So I want to thank you. We want to thank
Speaker 1: you for being that person and being willing to be
Speaker 1: put in the spotlight and scrutinized in a way for
Speaker 1: your choices, because that's all a part of this as well,
Speaker 1: when you come out publicly with this disease. But Nicole,
Speaker 1: we are wishing you the very best. I know you're
Speaker 1: going to have a beautiful, beautiful life, and I know
Speaker 1: how you're living is proof right there that you have
Speaker 1: You've beaten cancer by how you live. That's how we
Speaker 1: beat cancer. So congratulations on all you've done, and we
Speaker 1: wish you nothing but health and happiness.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Thank you, and thank you for everyone that reaches out
Speaker 4: and shares their story as well, because it's helped me
Speaker 4: immensely and you as well.
Speaker 3: And yeah, we got this, We really do.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of you have followed our podcast
Speaker 1: for some time, and if you remember January seventeenth, there
Speaker 1: was an episode that if you haven't listened to, I
Speaker 1: hope you do. It's titled LFG, which means lets fing
Speaker 1: go right kind of yea, let's they're gonna blee me
Speaker 1: out anyway, Let's can go. That is the mantra of
Speaker 1: the woman who is sitting in the studio with us
Speaker 1: right now. Her name is Morgan Mitchell, and she is
Speaker 1: one of my best best friends. And I'll sum up her,
Speaker 1: uh her journey pretty quickly, and then I'll let her
Speaker 1: give you an amazing update that we cannot wait to
Speaker 1: share with everybody. My dear friend, Morgan Mitchell diagnosed with
Speaker 1: stage four metastatic breast cancer. Did I mention this is
Speaker 1: not your grandmother's breast cancer? Diagnosed at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty eight. December first, she will celebrate seven years fighting
Speaker 1: stage four metastatic breast cancer. And she is not only surviving,
Speaker 1: this girl is thriving. She is a badass. She says
Speaker 1: LFG every time she goes into her infusion chair, and
Speaker 1: she's ready for it. She does million dollar, multimillion dollar
Speaker 1: deals from that chemo chair. And she is really one
Speaker 1: of one of my heroes, someone who I look to,
Speaker 1: Gosh when I think I'm having a tough day or
Speaker 1: I don't think I can do something, I think, you
Speaker 1: know what what Morgan's doing. And if Morgan can do
Speaker 1: what she's doing, all of us can do a little
Speaker 1: bit better each and every day. So Morgan, welcome back
Speaker 1: to the podcast.
Speaker 7: Ah, thank you guys, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Morgan's moving today and she stopped
Speaker 1: in the middle of her move to come back into
Speaker 1: the iHeart Studios to give us some really amazing news
Speaker 1: because so much of so much of what we talk
Speaker 1: about with breast cancer. It can be sad, it can
Speaker 1: be scary, but there is so much hope and that
Speaker 1: is what I love about your story. So tell me,
Speaker 1: first of all, how you're doing right now, Morgan, what
Speaker 1: your treatments are like, and how you're physically feeling.
Speaker 7: Physically, you know, you just keep rolling with it. Exhausted,
Speaker 7: but you put one foot in front of the other
Speaker 7: and just get her done. The move's going great.
Speaker 8: We have painters painting the second bedroom a color pink
Speaker 8: because my.
Speaker 7: Husband and I are actually expecting. So that is the
Speaker 7: big news.
Speaker 2: We're so excited.
Speaker 1: Wait say it again for everyone. You are expecting a
Speaker 1: baby girl.
Speaker 8: Yes, when January fifth is her induction date.
Speaker 7: We're so excited.
Speaker 8: Like you had mentioned, Damie, seven years battling this disease.
Speaker 8: Every three weeks, I'm going in for immunotherapy and so
Speaker 8: things are going great.
Speaker 7: Really excited to actually be on this baby journey with
Speaker 7: the surrogate. And who would have thought I would have
Speaker 7: been here?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so many women And you know, I was told
Speaker 1: I had already had two daughters, so it was not
Speaker 1: the same. But I was told you were out of
Speaker 1: the baby making business the moment I got diagnosed and
Speaker 1: I had a couple weeks with it, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to harvest eggs and then Chimo began. So a lot
Speaker 1: of women in your position are put into a very
Speaker 1: tight window. Make your decision. Do you want to harvest
Speaker 1: your eggs to give yourself the opportunity to have a
Speaker 1: baby because you're by you can't you are it's not advised.
Speaker 1: I should say that you can do whatever you want.
Speaker 1: And some women have made that choice to go ahead
Speaker 1: and get pregnant, but you're told that it's not in
Speaker 1: your best interest.
Speaker 8: Yeah, for stage four breast cancer specifically what I have,
Speaker 8: it's estrogen positive. The answer is hell no, like you
Speaker 8: will not be having a child otherwise you will ultimately
Speaker 8: probably meet your demise. So my husband and I when
Speaker 8: I was first diagnosed, we had twenty four hours to
Speaker 8: make that call of IVF or not, and so really
Speaker 8: really excited that. Bob, my husband, pushed me to do that.
Speaker 8: So we did freeze eggs. We put that on pause
Speaker 8: so that we could have a backup plan. And now
Speaker 8: today we made embryos during COVID and really started pushing
Speaker 8: ahead to try to create this family for us.
Speaker 1: It's a remarkable thing to think about. You are dealing
Speaker 1: with an illness, like a diagnosis, like it's almost like
Speaker 1: worst case scenarios. Stage four. You're twenty eight, you're just
Speaker 1: starting your life, and now you have twenty four hours
Speaker 1: to decide what you're gonna do with your eggs. How
Speaker 1: did you What were those twenty four hours like grueling?
Speaker 7: I didn't sleep. I don't know how you don't sleep.
Speaker 8: I mean they immediately put me on letrasol and started
Speaker 8: the estrogen treatments, and basically they give you estrogen, but
Speaker 8: they suppress your estrogen to basically harvest the eggs within
Speaker 8: two weeks. So with stage four, you met or I
Speaker 8: met a bunch of different oncologists and they gave me
Speaker 8: two weeks. They said, you have two weeks till we
Speaker 8: put you on treatment and we get you on a
Speaker 8: care plan. So if you can sneak in one round
Speaker 8: of IVF, so one shot to get eggs within that
Speaker 8: two weeks, we'll let you do it. But it was
Speaker 8: super controversial seven years ago, like my fertility doctor and
Speaker 8: my oncologists were fighting, and I got off the meds,
Speaker 8: then I went back on the meds.
Speaker 7: Then I got off the meds, and I went back on.
Speaker 8: And I'm just grateful that we were able to get
Speaker 8: four and a half, which fertility science blows my mind.
Speaker 8: But from the four and a half eggs, once they
Speaker 8: were fertilized, we were able to get two healthy embryos.
Speaker 1: All right, So we have Morgan here in the studio,
Speaker 1: but just as exciting, we actually have the woman who
Speaker 1: is making this baby journey possible for you. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you introduce her because this is a really special
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get emotional, special and beautiful relationship that the
Speaker 1: two of you have. But I really would like for
Speaker 1: you to introduce to our listeners this incredible woman who
Speaker 1: is changing your life.
Speaker 7: Yeah, she is truly one of my guardian angels. Prior
Speaker 7: to her, my husband and I.
Speaker 8: Actually had two match breaks that were just devastating on
Speaker 8: this sergacy journey, and I remember just getting those quiet
Speaker 8: moments with Bob and just being like she's around the corner.
Speaker 7: She's around the corner.
Speaker 8: And without further ado, I wanted to introduce Sarah from Wisconsin.
Speaker 7: She is amazing.
Speaker 8: I will let her kind of share a little bit
Speaker 8: about maybe why she kind of put her name in
Speaker 8: the hat too.
Speaker 1: Yes, Sarah, welcome to the podcast, and congratulations and thank
Speaker 1: you for what you're doing. And this isn't your first
Speaker 1: time being a Sarahgate for a breast cancer patient. Which
Speaker 1: is just a remarkable thing. You're a registered nurse, you're
Speaker 1: a mom yourself, tell us, tell us why you're doing this.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So when I first started nursing, I actually met
Speaker 2: a nurse that was a second time, Sarahgate, and I
Speaker 2: remember just thinking to myself like, wow, like what a gift.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love being a mom, and to be able
Speaker 2: to share that with somebody that isn't able to accomplish
Speaker 2: that the traditional way would just be such a blessing
Speaker 2: to myself. So in a way, it was like a selfish,
Speaker 2: like I want to do this to help somebody kind
Speaker 2: of thing. And then the first time I did it
Speaker 2: was back in twenty twenty, and I remember laying there
Speaker 2: with my husband and I'm like, hey, remember when we
Speaker 2: first started dating and I said that this was going
Speaker 2: to be a thing that I do. He's like yeah.
Speaker 2: It was like one thirty in the morning. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: well I'm going to sign up now it's time and
Speaker 2: he's like, all right, whatever whatever you do, like I'll
Speaker 2: support you through it. And then kind of the same
Speaker 2: second time around, it was the same little like intuition.
Speaker 2: We were driving down one of our back roads here
Speaker 2: in Wisconsin right after we moved, and I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: I think it's time, like I'm ready to jump on
Speaker 2: the journey again. And the feeling's right, So the timing's
Speaker 2: got to be right there.
Speaker 5: I have to I have to get into this a
Speaker 5: little bit more, because, yes, what kind of human being
Speaker 5: Like It's hard for most of us to fathom you
Speaker 5: being willing to put yourself. It's not just a one
Speaker 5: off thing, and it happened. It takes a week in
Speaker 5: you are putting yourself, your body, your entire family, your household,
Speaker 5: through your family, you have a family of your own,
Speaker 5: You're putting everybody has to be along that journey. I
Speaker 5: don't completely comford that type of human being, to be
Speaker 5: honest with you, I just.
Speaker 6: Don't get what it is about you.
Speaker 5: And you even told your husband now now husband, when
Speaker 5: you were dating that you were thinking about this. I
Speaker 5: am still trying to understand if you can help expound
Speaker 5: a little bit helpless and me, I just don't get
Speaker 5: or you just built this way, or because this is
Speaker 5: such a sacrifice and to get your entire family to
Speaker 5: go along with the sacrifice seems just like a huge
Speaker 5: mountain to climb.
Speaker 2: You know what, I have always been like just a
Speaker 2: helper by nature. That's kind of how I've always been.
Speaker 6: You can help somebody move, Sarah, Well, you know.
Speaker 2: What, Like I said, the greatest gift that I think
Speaker 2: I was ever given was the chance to be a mom.
Speaker 2: And I think that anybody who wants that chance should
Speaker 2: be allowed to have it, like regardless of a diagnosis
Speaker 2: that stops them from doing it the traditional way. So
Speaker 2: if I can help, like, yeah, sign me up, let's
Speaker 2: figure it out, let's make a plan. And then my
Speaker 2: family is kind of the same way. I just with
Speaker 2: my daughter. I told her, I'm like, hey, this is
Speaker 2: this is something that I'm going to do. And actually
Speaker 2: she was so mad. She was like, but I want
Speaker 2: a sibling, Like this isn't this isn't okay. And so
Speaker 2: we had to have a conversation like no, sweetheart, like
Speaker 2: mommy is not going to bring any more babies into
Speaker 2: our lives, but I want you to be a part
Speaker 2: of bringing babies into other people's lives. And she was
Speaker 2: a huge part in my first and my second journey.
Speaker 2: She actually came out the for the first journey when
Speaker 2: we met the couple and we did the medical screening
Speaker 2: and then she gave me majority of my shots throughout
Speaker 2: both of the journeys, So she was like super supportive
Speaker 2: there and she's just she loves to brag about it.
Speaker 2: She is remarkable herself.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, can you put into words what
Speaker 1: Sarah is giving you and what it was like to
Speaker 1: meet her and to know that this woman is completing
Speaker 1: your life and your family.
Speaker 8: Just going straight forward, Amy, No, I can't put it
Speaker 8: into words. This was something that I never thought would
Speaker 8: be an option for my husband and I. Once we
Speaker 8: got diagnosed, it was like, oh, a figment of our
Speaker 8: imagination or that would be nice, honey, but no, we've
Speaker 8: got to focus on you. And it's just the greatest
Speaker 8: gift of all time to be able to become parents.
Speaker 1: What was it like when you met Sarah in person?
Speaker 1: Because I know you guys have met face to face.
Speaker 1: In fact, you were just on a zoom doctor's appointment
Speaker 1: with her.
Speaker 8: Yes, yeah, Oh, Sarah's awesome. I mean when we met,
Speaker 8: we met them in New York, so her and her
Speaker 8: husband flew out and they came for the screening at
Speaker 8: Cornell and we did sushi and we just had a
Speaker 8: blast and it was like meeting old friends, but also
Speaker 8: a very weird dinner conversation because you're like, I know
Speaker 8: everything about you because you're given profiles.
Speaker 7: Of each other.
Speaker 8: But it was a really, really blessing to meet Sarah live.
Speaker 8: And then obviously I've met her kids through FaceTime as well,
Speaker 8: and we've got a trip planned with her daughter. We're
Speaker 8: gonna go make some baby quilts in Texas with my mom.
Speaker 1: Wow, Sarah, Well, first of all, how are you feeling?
Speaker 1: And you just had the doctor's visit today, So what's
Speaker 1: the latest. What are you hearing about little baby baby Morgan.
Speaker 1: We don't have a name for the baby girl yet,
Speaker 1: or at least it's not being revealed yet, but tell
Speaker 1: us what the doctor's visit's like and how you're doing.
Speaker 2: Sure, I'm feeling great, other than I've caught a cold
Speaker 2: from my nine year old that so lovingly shared it,
Speaker 2: so I'm fighting that a little bit, but really feeling good.
Speaker 2: Like the second trimester is treating me very well. Baby
Speaker 2: girl is super strong in there. I think she is
Speaker 2: the strongest baby that I've carried. She kicks hard, she
Speaker 2: kind of she's feisty. It's kind of funny because like
Speaker 2: the ultrasounds that we've gone to and even just today
Speaker 2: at the appointment, the doctor was trying to find her
Speaker 2: heartbeat and she's got the doppler on my belly and
Speaker 2: little girls just moving around the whole time. Like she
Speaker 2: was like, no, I was comfortable. I don't want you
Speaker 2: poking at me. Yeah, So she's feisty in there is
Speaker 2: this kind.
Speaker 5: Of a dating situation to where you all had to
Speaker 5: make sure you were write for each other. I know
Speaker 5: from your in Morgan you make sure that she gets
Speaker 5: screened and have to go through a lot, but also
Speaker 5: for you, Sarah, did you have to make sure this
Speaker 5: was someone in a family that you wanted to.
Speaker 6: Be on board with.
Speaker 2: Yes, So that is kind of something that I tell
Speaker 2: other people that asked me about Sarah Gacy and like
Speaker 2: what it's like, what would you recommend for like a
Speaker 2: future Saragate. The relationship that you form is very strong
Speaker 2: or it can be depending on what, like what you
Speaker 2: want what they want. So looking for a match is
Speaker 2: like it really is looking like for a relationship. I
Speaker 2: describe it sometimes as like a match dot Com, Like
Speaker 2: you have a profile, they have a profile. Then you
Speaker 2: interview each other and kind of decide like can we
Speaker 2: develop a relationship with them. And as soon as I
Speaker 2: opened up Bob and Morgan's profile, like I knew I
Speaker 2: had actually been sent to profiles that day and I
Speaker 2: was opening them both up at the same time. And
Speaker 2: as soon as I opened it up, I was like,
Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't even look at the other one because
Speaker 2: I just had this such a strong feeling that like,
Speaker 2: this was it, this was our match. And I read
Speaker 2: through the other one, and then I read through Bob
Speaker 2: and Morgan's and I called my husband over and I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: you get to look at these two, but I think
Speaker 2: I've already made my decision.
Speaker 6: The same with you.
Speaker 5: How was it in picking her? And it can I asked,
Speaker 5: as well, is it I assume it's not a lot
Speaker 5: of people out there like Sarah. I sure there are some,
Speaker 5: but it can't be just the whole host of plethora
Speaker 5: of options necessarily out there. And then once you start
Speaker 5: whindling down and this person, how many options, how many
Speaker 5: Sarah's did you have to choose from necessarily once you
Speaker 5: got it down to a small number.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a great question. So I went through an agency.
Speaker 8: I had another breast cancer patient actually love her she's
Speaker 8: like a day trader power broker and built out a
Speaker 8: full Excel spreadsheet. So I just took the three agencies
Speaker 8: that she liked the most and we interviewed them and
Speaker 8: spoke to them. So the agency served us several matches,
Speaker 8: and I think at the beginning I had mentioned a
Speaker 8: few match breaks. So Bob and I had matched with
Speaker 8: other women that we had liked and for various reasons.
Speaker 8: One was a family issue, one unfortunately was a breast
Speaker 8: cancer kind of pre diagnosis where she was diagnosed with dcis.
Speaker 1: She actually got the screening in order to become your
Speaker 1: Sarahgate and found out then, yeah, I mean, and that's
Speaker 1: a remarkable thing to have happened totally.
Speaker 8: And so having both of those experiences, says I wrote
Speaker 8: back to our agency and I was like, we need
Speaker 8: to find.
Speaker 7: Somebody special, like super special.
Speaker 8: So then we were really open to working with somebody
Speaker 8: that had done this before.
Speaker 7: Because the two other women prior, while they were lovely,
Speaker 7: I just.
Speaker 8: Was like, I need somebody that I is like a
Speaker 8: ride or die, and I met that with Sarah.
Speaker 1: You say, ride or die, I'm curious the relationship is
Speaker 1: what it is now, what happens after the baby is
Speaker 1: born Morgan with Sarah, I hope she.
Speaker 7: Becomes an auntie.
Speaker 8: I mean, I'm from the Midwest, so I'm like game
Speaker 8: on for you know, the cheese Kurds in the Wisconsin
Speaker 8: State Fair, like, we're coming to visit. I have two brothers,
Speaker 8: and so Sarah's just going to be added into the family.
Speaker 1: You don't have a sister, and so now you're gaining
Speaker 1: a sister of swords, Sarah. I mean, how you go
Speaker 1: into this, having this conversation ahead of time, how much
Speaker 1: the parents to be are willing to have you and
Speaker 1: their lives or not? How important was that or is
Speaker 1: that to you, Sarah? When you take on a family
Speaker 1: and you just to do this.
Speaker 2: So for me, I felt like it would be a
Speaker 2: lot more difficult if the family didn't want to be
Speaker 2: involved afterwards. It would just feel very transactional. And that's
Speaker 2: not what I went into this for. I wanted to
Speaker 2: build a relationship. And my first journey ended with we
Speaker 2: have an extended family that lives in Boston, and I
Speaker 2: am very close with baby's mom. Actually reached out to her.
Speaker 2: She was super excited that I was going to be
Speaker 2: on this podcast, and the same thing that is It's
Speaker 2: the same thing that I want for Bob and Morgan
Speaker 2: and us is to have an extension of our family
Speaker 2: in New York or New Jersey, depending where they're at.
Speaker 2: And I think that I feel like I found that
Speaker 2: with Morgan. I absolutely would love to maintain our relationship
Speaker 2: and let it continue to grow and blossom. And I
Speaker 2: feel just very blessed to be a part of this.
Speaker 2: But I also know that going into this, that's that's
Speaker 2: their decision. If they want to continue that relationship afterwards,
Speaker 2: that's totally going to be up to them. And I
Speaker 2: think that that's also an important thing to know, Like
Speaker 2: being a surrogate, is there are boundaries like this is
Speaker 2: this is a family, Like they may decide that they
Speaker 2: they are busy and whatever and thank you so much
Speaker 2: for this gift, but that's it, and vice versa. You
Speaker 2: can have a whole you can gain a sister, which
Speaker 2: is what I hope that we will continue to let
Speaker 2: our relationship blossom and grow. And I would absolutely love
Speaker 2: to be an anti to a little buddy.
Speaker 1: I mean, with so many tough stories out there, like
Speaker 1: this is such a beautiful one. Like I don't think
Speaker 1: people realize like how special this is until you've had
Speaker 1: to walk this road and when your options are gone
Speaker 1: and someone comes in like this, I mean, Sarah, it's
Speaker 1: just it's such I know, you know how beautiful it is,
Speaker 1: but my god, it's just I'm so happy to be
Speaker 1: able to I think people think of sarrogacy and they
Speaker 1: it sounds so clinical, but this is so personal and
Speaker 1: it's so emotional and it's and it's beautiful. Sarah, I
Speaker 1: don't know the answer to this. Do you have a
Speaker 1: connection to breast cancer? The fact that you've now you're
Speaker 1: now a surrogate for the second woman who's dealing with
Speaker 1: breast cancer? Is that just coincidence or happenstance?
Speaker 2: I would say a little bit. I have always felt
Speaker 2: like a like a strong desire to try and do
Speaker 2: whatever I can to help like fight against that, whether
Speaker 2: it be like walking in a five k to help
Speaker 2: raise awareness. And I think another strong pool for me
Speaker 2: was they've had so much taken away from them that
Speaker 2: this is just one more thing and I just I
Speaker 2: feel like that's just so unfair and if I could
Speaker 2: make it a little bit better for them, I that's
Speaker 2: that's my draw to that. Right after my second journey
Speaker 2: I actually was pumping and donating milk, and I got
Speaker 2: to donate to a mom that found out she had
Speaker 2: breast cancer during her during her pregnancy, and I was
Speaker 2: able to get her through the last two months of
Speaker 2: her baby's first year of having breast milk available to them.
Speaker 2: So it's just I just feel like it's I think
Speaker 2: that's my draw is. I think it's just so unfair
Speaker 2: and something that's while men can get breast cancer too,
Speaker 2: like I think it's something very like, very female, and
Speaker 2: I just I think it's that That's just it. I
Speaker 2: just want to do whatever I can to help support
Speaker 2: something that was taken away unfairly.
Speaker 1: Wow, TJ, you want to say out loud what you
Speaker 1: just said to Morgan because I was thinking it Sair.
Speaker 6: I I don't know of your I whispered it to her.
Speaker 5: I was trying to to have it on Mike, but
Speaker 5: as you were talking, I just lean over to Morgan said,
Speaker 5: where did you find this?
Speaker 6: Lady?
Speaker 5: Like, It's just I'm sorry. We deal in news. We're
Speaker 5: doing news every single day, and you are out there,
Speaker 5: plenty of you and folks like you are out there,
Speaker 5: and we, unfortunately all of us fail at night giving
Speaker 5: enough of a platform to folks to show that there
Speaker 5: are good folks. We know they're good folks. They live
Speaker 5: next door to us, we know that, but for some
Speaker 5: reason we highlight some of the most negative stories and
Speaker 5: it's just a relief and it just feels great to
Speaker 5: be able to This isn't a sad No breast cancer.
Speaker 6: It's supposed to. Yes, it's sad.
Speaker 5: It's taking lives and it's changed people's lives, But damn,
Speaker 5: this is not supposed to be a sad podcast right now.
Speaker 5: This is wonderful. And we love Sarah. We love Morgan here,
Speaker 5: and I didn't think about this until we started this,
Speaker 5: but we love her, and by extension, you are providing
Speaker 5: something to somebody we love that's going to extend our
Speaker 5: love and our family here. So for that, we say
Speaker 5: thank you, Sarah, and we hope to meet you at
Speaker 5: some point down the line.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. I mean, I knew Morgan had said
Speaker 1: so many nice things about you, Sarah, and I had
Speaker 1: read your profile, and I you know, you were showing
Speaker 1: me things about her from the beginning, but I think
Speaker 1: you undersold it. I mean, this woman is a saint,
Speaker 1: This woman, Sarah should be canonized. I mean, I am
Speaker 1: blown away at your generosity and your I mean, we
Speaker 1: know nurses are the best. I mean, anyone who's ever
Speaker 1: battled any kind of sickness found themselves in a hospital
Speaker 1: know the value of nurses. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people learn that during COVID as well. But my god, Sarah,
Speaker 1: you take it to a whole other level. I'm just curious.
Speaker 1: This is your second time? Is this your last time?
Speaker 1: Being as Sarah good? I mean, once is more than enough.
Speaker 1: Twice is remarkable. Are you done at this point?
Speaker 2: So? I have made a clause where this would be
Speaker 2: my last journey unless Bob and Morgan or the other
Speaker 2: family decide they want siblings, I would carry for them again.
Speaker 2: But finding a new family and building that whole relationship again.
Speaker 2: My heart is so full with the two families that
Speaker 2: I will absolutely help them continue to grow their families.
Speaker 2: But that would that would be it for me.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's still a very remarkable offer. Morgan.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you're like, yeah, I know her, duh.
Speaker 1: I've been telling you about her, But to hear her
Speaker 1: say that, and I know she said that's you just
Speaker 1: I mean, can you I asked before can you put
Speaker 1: into words? But that's I don't have.
Speaker 3: Words to say.
Speaker 8: How remarkable that is, Saint Hood you said it, But
Speaker 8: I just I hope that we can get to that
Speaker 8: point to do siblings. My siblings and my family are
Speaker 8: everything to me, and I know that we would want that.
Speaker 8: But again, with breast cancer and with all this stuff,
Speaker 8: it's one step that it's time and it might just
Speaker 8: be one baby and that's okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and right now you're painting that room pink. I
Speaker 1: love to hear that, you know. And I was telling
Speaker 1: Morgan Sarah, I don't know if you follow this at
Speaker 1: all either, but kind of cool. Just recently, Olivia Munn,
Speaker 1: we all know she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but
Speaker 1: she just announced the birth of her baby daughter via asarrogate.
Speaker 1: So you're starting to hear these stories where there is
Speaker 1: so much hope about how long you can live, how
Speaker 1: well you can live, that this is now possible. I
Speaker 1: don't remember hearing that much about this or these types
Speaker 1: of stories even five years ago, certainly not ten years
Speaker 1: ago when I was diagnosed, or eleven years ago at
Speaker 1: this point. So the advances and the advanced mins that
Speaker 1: have been made to allow this to be possible for
Speaker 1: so many different reasons. Is such a sign of hope
Speaker 1: and there is ho Do you feel hopeful, Morgan.
Speaker 8: I'm super hopeful. I know that I'm going to make
Speaker 8: it to my daughter's graduation. I know that I'm going
Speaker 8: to make it to our wedding, and after that, you
Speaker 8: know I'll send her on her way.
Speaker 7: But I've never been filled with such hope.
Speaker 8: They're now looking at stage four breast cancer like it's
Speaker 8: ra or ms, and you go in for your infusions
Speaker 8: and you learn to live with it. It is tough,
Speaker 8: but I can't wait to have a baby in my
Speaker 8: arms and have one more thing and one more child
Speaker 8: to be fighting for my life, to stay alive and
Speaker 8: really live on to help.
Speaker 1: Her as well. TG. I know you probably weren't surprised
Speaker 1: to hear when Sarah described what baby girl Odell was
Speaker 1: like in utero, kicking, moving around a lot, high energy, just.
Speaker 6: To be still.
Speaker 5: Morgan, Please, I thought I had the wrong friend when
Speaker 5: you first introduced me to her. I'm like, which one
Speaker 5: was the one you said had metastatic because it was not, Morgan.
Speaker 5: She's got more energy anybody in the damn room. You
Speaker 5: are the most. I always say it. You're the most upbeat, positive,
Speaker 5: happiest person I have ever been around. Is not despite anything.
Speaker 5: If nobody had any clue but you were going through,
Speaker 5: they would say that about you. And it's just it's
Speaker 5: always remarkable. And now here Sarah is and at all
Speaker 5: everything is coming together, everything matches. This is wonderful. Looking
Speaker 5: forward to graduation, siblings, This is just hopeful. So it's
Speaker 5: a breast cancer episode, yes, but man, there is so
Speaker 5: much hope and so many stories like yours.
Speaker 6: Morgan. I just you are remarkable in this one. Here,
Speaker 6: Oh my goodness, is Sarah? This?
Speaker 5: Sarah Lady? Where'd you get this one? This is absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 5: So Sarah, really we hope to meet you. No, we
Speaker 5: will meet you at some point down the road, for sure,
Speaker 5: But this is just wonderful to finally get to see
Speaker 5: you and talk to you face to face in this way,
Speaker 5: at least via zoom today.
Speaker 1: Sarah, we cannot thank you enough for what you're doing
Speaker 1: for one of our very best friends in the world
Speaker 1: and her husband, Bob, whom we love. And we're going
Speaker 1: to run the Chicago Marathon with actually in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. Yes, so we love Morgan and Bob and
Speaker 1: we can't wait to meet the little one that you're
Speaker 1: carrying with Sarah. Again, we can't thank you enough for
Speaker 1: what you're doing for her and being on a podcast
Speaker 1: and spreading this important message that there are possibilities, there
Speaker 1: is hope. There is so much love out there, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it happens and it's learned from something as terrible
Speaker 1: as cancer. But there are good things that come out
Speaker 1: of bad situations, and this is clearly one of them.
Speaker 5: Can I ask both of you all and has to
Speaker 5: be talked about. I don't want to act like it's
Speaker 5: not there, but should this be a thing that's available
Speaker 5: to more women dealing with breast cancer? And that we
Speaker 5: have to be real here. This is for a lot
Speaker 5: of folks cost prohibitive, right. There's cost involved in everything
Speaker 5: you were doing before you even met up with a surrogate.
Speaker 5: What can you say to folks, or to the industry,
Speaker 5: or to even a health insurance company, what should we
Speaker 5: be doing to make sure something like this is an
Speaker 5: option for more people?
Speaker 8: Sarah, I'd love your take as a nurse, specifically for
Speaker 8: me on the patient's side, is I'm thankful during COVID,
Speaker 8: my husband and I were able to live in the
Speaker 8: cat Skills and live well blow our means to safe
Speaker 8: and I wish that insurance covered more, especially with a
Speaker 8: breast cancer diagnosis. If I were able to prove that,
Speaker 8: I wish they would have covered more of my journey
Speaker 8: in fertility and sergacy and agencies are expensive, they're lawyers,
Speaker 8: they're different, you know, program people that you're all paying for,
Speaker 8: So it makes sense. And ultimately, like Roebek said, she'd
Speaker 8: mentioned Cash's king and there's a solution. So there are
Speaker 8: lots of different organizations that you can donate to grant programs.
Speaker 7: But I don't think it's enough.
Speaker 8: And if more and more young women are getting diagnosed
Speaker 8: with breast cancer, which we know unfortunately is on the rise,
Speaker 8: it's only going to be kind of the next layer
Speaker 8: of advocacy required.
Speaker 2: Then I agree wholeheartedly with everything that Morgan said. I
Speaker 2: don't think that people should be limited in their options
Speaker 2: to grow their families just based off of their income
Speaker 2: or their insurances. Luckily, this time around, like my insurance
Speaker 2: happened to be surrogacy friendly, but the last time around
Speaker 2: it was not. And to know that it costs like
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty dollars for me to have my
Speaker 2: own child and an astronomical amount of money to deliver
Speaker 2: someone else's. Like, nothing was different during my prenatal care.
Speaker 2: It was all the same, So why why the differential?
Speaker 1: Wow? That is that is significant? I mean, and this
Speaker 1: is the good news is more people are being diagnosed
Speaker 1: earlier and more women are living longer, and so this
Speaker 1: is going to be something that we continue to talk
Speaker 1: about and getting your story out there, Morgan, getting Sarah's
Speaker 1: beautiful story out there hopefully will raise awareness, get people talking,
Speaker 1: because this is something among the many things we need
Speaker 1: to do when it comes to funding breast cancer, not
Speaker 1: just it's not just about early detection. It's not just
Speaker 1: about treatment, but it's about how we live and how
Speaker 1: we're able to live and live longer in better lives. Sarah,
Speaker 1: thank you for being on the podcast. We really appreciate
Speaker 1: it was an honor, an honor to meet you and
Speaker 1: Morgan love you so much. Can't wait to be an aunt.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have a sister either, so I
Speaker 1: always will consider you mine and your little girl she's
Speaker 1: gonna be like an amy. Enough already enough, like stop,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to spoil the heck out of her
Speaker 1: and I can't wait. So remember any of you out
Speaker 1: there who were listening, if you have her too positive
Speaker 1: breast cancer, if you have an estrogen positive cancer, if
Speaker 1: your doctor told you as mine did to me, that
Speaker 1: you are out of the baby making business when you
Speaker 1: are diagnosed, Sarah GAC can be a viable option for you.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have one of those types of cancers,
Speaker 1: you may want to explore IVF or even natural conception.
Speaker 1: Those are very possible with certain types of breast cancer,
Speaker 1: so it's always important to ask your doctor what your
Speaker 1: options are and consider them before you start treatment. There
Speaker 1: are so many paths to parenthood, and it's important to
Speaker 1: make sure you ask and find out which one works
Speaker 1: best for you. Thank you all so much for joining
Speaker 1: us for this very special episode in honor of Breast
Speaker 1: Cancer Awareness Month. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks
Speaker 1: to our remarkable guests Morgan, Sarah, and Nicole Eggert for
Speaker 1: sharing their powerful stories and inside. Sometimes it is tough
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable. It is tough to tell your story,
Speaker 1: but it makes such a difference, and I really want
Speaker 1: to thank these women for putting their heart on the
Speaker 1: line and for letting you all into and become a
Speaker 1: part of their story. Because remember, breast cancer today is
Speaker 1: not what it was in the past. There are so
Speaker 1: many advancements in personalized, specialized treatments. Of course we've talked
Speaker 1: about and we'll continue to talk about early detection because
Speaker 1: that saves lives, and then supportive care. Every woman out there,
Speaker 1: every man out there who has breast cancer needs support.
Speaker 1: And we are seeing improved survival rates and improve quality
Speaker 1: of life for so many breast cancer patients and that
Speaker 1: is something to applaud and to celebrate. And I just
Speaker 1: want to remind all of you out there please remember,
Speaker 1: unfortunately you have to be your own advocate in some ways,
Speaker 1: and you need to have open conversations about breast cancer
Speaker 1: to help remove this stigma. We need to talk about
Speaker 1: these things so we can learn about these things, so
Speaker 1: that we can educate ourselves and the women and the
Speaker 1: people around us who we love. And part of advocating
Speaker 1: for yourself is educating yourself. So just please ask questions,
Speaker 1: be curious, bring someone with you to help ask those
Speaker 1: very important questions about what your options are when you're
Speaker 1: meeting with doctors, because one decision has an impact on
Speaker 1: the next one. When you're dealing with treating breast cancer,
Speaker 1: it's a lot to take in, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: of information out there and there is so much support.
Speaker 1: So for more information, for more support, here are a
Speaker 1: couple places you can visit. You can visit organizations like
Speaker 1: the National Breast Cancer Foundation, breast cancer dot org, or
Speaker 1: even the American Cancer Society. And I just want to
Speaker 1: say one of my favorites, I am an ambassador for
Speaker 1: this organization. I'm a huge fan of this organization for
Speaker 1: the work they do in trying to end breast cancer.
Speaker 1: That is a BCRF Breast Cancer Research Foundation. That is
Speaker 1: another incredible source for any of you out there for
Speaker 1: looking for more information. But the bottom line, together, we
Speaker 1: can all make a difference.