Speaker 1: Follow Cheeky's and Chill on Amazon Music. Just head to
Speaker 1: Amazon dot com slash Cheeky's and check out even more
Speaker 1: podcasts by Michaultura throughout Hispanic Heritage month. Listen to my
Speaker 1: latest episode of Cheekys and Chill on Amazon Music. At
Speaker 1: Amazon dot com slash Cheeky's and listen to Cheeky's and
Speaker 1: Chill on Amazon Music, or ask Alexa to play Cheeky's
Speaker 1: and Chill on Amazon Music. I'm actually getting my first
Speaker 1: mamogram tomorrow.
Speaker 2: When they first told me that they had found something,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, not for me. It's not cancer,
Speaker 2: It's probably a cyst. It's probably something else. Doesn't run
Speaker 2: in my family. I am thankful that all I had
Speaker 2: to lose was my right breast and not my life.
Speaker 2: I mean, that is a gift.
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, Happy October. Today marks the first Monday of October,
Speaker 1: which is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Women tell this
Speaker 1: something we talk about a lot here on Cheeky's and
Speaker 1: Chill because it is something that is very important to me.
Speaker 1: And today we're going to be hearing from a breast
Speaker 1: cancer survivor. I've said this before, but I think we
Speaker 1: learned by listening to other people's experiences. So I'm hoping
Speaker 1: you all take something away from today's conversation. This is
Speaker 1: Cheeky's and Chill. Today's guest is Christina Guerrero. She's a storyteller,
Speaker 1: pop culture expert, and a television host. You may have
Speaker 1: seen her on E Entertainment, where she was the very
Speaker 1: first Latina correspondent. So welcome Christina, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, No, thank you so much. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming on, taking the time and also
Speaker 1: being so open about your story. I'm going through a
Speaker 1: few things and we'll talk about that later. As I
Speaker 1: was reading about you and your story, one thing that
Speaker 1: that caught my attention was that, and I totally understand
Speaker 1: as well as far as like how being a Latina
Speaker 1: wasn't like a cool thing, it wasn't celebrated.
Speaker 2: It is so interesting because you know, I grew up
Speaker 2: in the eighties and nineties and I grew up in
Speaker 2: a really small cow town in Washington State where it
Speaker 2: wasn't celebrated. It wasn't anything that people were wanting to
Speaker 2: throw around or like be proud of it. And I
Speaker 2: just feel like, you know, I had a lot of
Speaker 2: mixed messages. Be proud of who you are, but don't
Speaker 2: be too proud of who you are. You know, be
Speaker 2: proud of where you come from, but don't speak Spanish.
Speaker 2: You know those kinds of things. Now it brings me
Speaker 2: so much joy. It gives me a depth in ways
Speaker 2: that other people just can't understand. It connects me to
Speaker 2: my ancestors, it connects me to my people. It's a
Speaker 2: beautiful thing. I love my culture.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, I totally get that. That's how I
Speaker 1: felt before. It was like, oh, don't speak Spanish. The
Speaker 1: more English you can speak, the better, especially when I
Speaker 1: was like going to school and stuff. My first language
Speaker 1: was Spanish because my grandparents they raised me, so then
Speaker 1: having to go to school and learn English, and then
Speaker 1: after I learned English, it's like, Okay, don't speak Spanish.
Speaker 1: I kind of forgot how to speak the correct you know, Spanish,
Speaker 1: I guess the proper way.
Speaker 3: So I totally get that. Now we're on top.
Speaker 1: Now it's like everyone wants to be a Latina, which
Speaker 1: is cool.
Speaker 2: I'll take it. And we've made it so cool. It's like,
Speaker 2: come on the other side, we're we're having a good
Speaker 2: time over here.
Speaker 3: Yes we are. There's a lot of flavor over here.
Speaker 1: So when did this, like I want to become a
Speaker 1: television host happen? Or did it just happen by accident
Speaker 1: or you always knew? You know.
Speaker 2: It's so interesting because I get asked that question a lot.
Speaker 2: And I was just back home in Washington, in my
Speaker 2: small little cowtown, and I was amazed to myself. I'm like,
Speaker 2: how did a little girl who was dark and grenuda
Speaker 2: and you know, dirty and running around poor? My dad
Speaker 2: was an alcoholic and in jail. My mom was on
Speaker 2: welfare and food stamps. And I look at that time
Speaker 2: and I'm like, how did I believe the I was
Speaker 2: meant to do something beyond the small town that I
Speaker 2: was raised in. And I just have to give it
Speaker 2: to God. I just have to give it to God.
Speaker 2: It was a divine purpose for me to I don't
Speaker 2: believe God was like, we want you to be an
Speaker 2: entertainment host. I believe that God gave me a voice
Speaker 2: and a purpose to reach people. And I believed it.
Speaker 2: I thought somebody has to do it, why can't it
Speaker 2: be me? And I never wavered from that, and I
Speaker 2: just I went to school. I hustled. I worked hard.
Speaker 2: I did jobs for free, and I just worked my
Speaker 2: way all the way up the ladder until I realized
Speaker 2: my dreams. And then when I realized my dreams, I.
Speaker 3: Was like, oh, it happened.
Speaker 2: I did it. No, I'm here now.
Speaker 3: What that so awesome?
Speaker 1: Was?
Speaker 3: You work so hard?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But I've always loved talking to people. My mom
Speaker 2: would always tell me you talk too much. Stop talking
Speaker 2: to strangers. I love talking to people, and so I
Speaker 2: had an innate sensibility for performance, and then I was
Speaker 2: such a curious little girl. So I just put the
Speaker 2: two together, and being a TV host was the perfect
Speaker 2: job for me.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. I think you're amazing at it. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you're a storyteller. You're a storyteller, and that's People always
Speaker 1: ask me, like, how do you get people to talk
Speaker 1: to you? Or sometimes like I can go somewhere random,
Speaker 1: they don't know who I am or anything. We just
Speaker 1: start talking and they tell me their whole life, and
Speaker 1: there I am giving them advice and then I tell
Speaker 1: them my whole life, and I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, I just love talking to people.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's part of like what I meant
Speaker 1: to do is just inform people you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, yeah, it's the human connection, right, relating to
Speaker 2: people on the same level. Right, you're this like huge
Speaker 2: superstar and have had this extraordinary life. But like if
Speaker 2: we get back down to just the human experience, my
Speaker 2: story and your story and the story of the person
Speaker 2: who just got on the city bus, or the story
Speaker 2: of the person who is standing in the welfare line,
Speaker 2: or where all of our stories are kind of intertwined,
Speaker 2: and that's the human connection, I believe.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I completely agree with you. Absolutely, I love that
Speaker 1: because that's what it is. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: we're all equal. It's just you know, we're doing different
Speaker 1: things in the world, but we're all equal. So yes,
Speaker 1: I love that and I completely agree. And now talking
Speaker 1: about storytelling, you were telling your story. I saw that
Speaker 1: about a month ago. Was it a little bit over
Speaker 1: a month that you were talking about what you were
Speaker 1: going through? How did that feel? Did you feel the
Speaker 1: need to share it? Did you think about I'm going
Speaker 1: to keep this to myself ever or did you always
Speaker 1: know I want to talk about this and be open
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: I've always been a very open book. The nature of
Speaker 2: our business is to connect to people and to relate
Speaker 2: to people, and then a lot of people just kind
Speaker 2: of know who we are. So I've always felt like
Speaker 2: I had a platform to be able to share my story.
Speaker 2: But before I shared my story, I needed to process
Speaker 2: everything that was happening. I could not do it in
Speaker 2: real time. And so I always knew that this was
Speaker 2: going to be a great opportunity for me to connect
Speaker 2: to people, to hopefully inspire people, to educate people. But
Speaker 2: while I was going through it, I kind of talk
Speaker 2: about in my documentary, I was just walking through molasses.
Speaker 2: So I was just walking in this really kind of
Speaker 2: out of body experience. I had to still go to work.
Speaker 2: I have two little boys. I have to get to school.
Speaker 2: I have to get to soccer practice. I have to
Speaker 2: pay bills, I have, you know, to get dinner on
Speaker 2: the table. Oh, and then I'm going through cancer and
Speaker 2: then my life is completely changing, and then I might die,
Speaker 2: and then I might not be here for my boys,
Speaker 2: and then I'm going to lose a part of my body.
Speaker 2: So I was just I was on autopilot for a
Speaker 2: very long time. And I know a lot of people
Speaker 2: process not like on Instagram and publicly in real time.
Speaker 2: I just I couldn't. I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you were documenting everything? Was it first and
Speaker 1: foremost for yourself? And then you decided to say I'm
Speaker 1: going to share this, or because it was your husband,
Speaker 1: right who was recording everything for you?
Speaker 2: I was recording some stuff. He's the one who produced it,
Speaker 2: but he recorded some stuff as well. Okay, he's a
Speaker 2: filmmaker and I'm a storyteller. I'm a journalist, and Sour
Speaker 2: even though we were processing on this like really crazy level,
Speaker 2: we are both storytellers, and so, you know, we knew
Speaker 2: that we wanted to document it. I didn't know at
Speaker 2: that point what I would do with it. Maybe it
Speaker 2: was just going to be meet for me one day
Speaker 2: to you know, kind of look back and see all
Speaker 2: the craziness that was happening. But the way he sees
Speaker 2: life as a filmmaker and the way I see life
Speaker 2: as a journalist, everything is in story form. So we
Speaker 2: kind of we just kind of proceeded that way.
Speaker 3: Does breast cancer run in your family?
Speaker 2: Okay, let me tell you this. It was a huge shock.
Speaker 2: I go get my mammogram every year when I turned forty,
Speaker 2: because that's just like what you're supposed to do right.
Speaker 2: I've been in this business a long time. I report
Speaker 2: on breast cancer awareness every October. I do an interview
Speaker 2: on somebody. I never think it's for me. It's for
Speaker 2: somebody else because it doesn't run in my family. But
Speaker 2: I still, you know, my due diligence. I go get
Speaker 2: my mammograms so I can tell people I do it,
Speaker 2: you should do it too, right. And so when they
Speaker 2: first told me that they had found something, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: not for me. It's not cancer. It's probably a cyst.
Speaker 2: It's probably something else. Doesn't run in my family. And
Speaker 2: they said, yeah, we don't think that it's anything either,
Speaker 2: and they did some more tests. It should take two
Speaker 2: days to get the results. It took six weeks to
Speaker 2: get the results. Because it's such a rare form of
Speaker 2: breast cancer, they didn't know what it was. So when
Speaker 2: I got that information, I was shook. Doesn't run in
Speaker 2: my family. I'm forty three years old, I'm very healthy.
Speaker 2: This is not happening to me. This is not in
Speaker 2: the cards, This was not in the plan. To get
Speaker 2: that news turned my world upside down. Getting that news,
Speaker 2: finding out it was an aggressive form of breast cancer
Speaker 2: that it was a rare form of breast cancer. Had
Speaker 2: I not gone to go get my mammogram, I would
Speaker 2: have died.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: I say that dramatically because I can't even stress to
Speaker 2: you how important early detection is. Again, I wasn't doing
Speaker 2: it because I was like earlier detection. I was doing
Speaker 2: because I'm like I tell other people to do it,
Speaker 2: I should do it too. Also, I need my medication refilled,
Speaker 2: so I'll just do it all at the same time.
Speaker 2: My doctor tells me, if we don't get this out
Speaker 2: of you, it will kill you. Wow. I've got two
Speaker 2: little boys at home. I've got my whole life ahead
Speaker 2: of me. We run our lives moving at a pace
Speaker 2: that is fast and quick, and we're not taking care
Speaker 2: of ourselves. We're not thinking. And when we run our
Speaker 2: lives like that, we miss right. Things fall through the cracks,
Speaker 2: We miss things. Had I missed this, I would have died.
Speaker 1: How did your voice take it? Did you take a
Speaker 1: while to let them know?
Speaker 2: I have little boys. So my little boys, I have
Speaker 2: a ten year old and a three and a half
Speaker 2: year old, and they just knew that mommy needed to
Speaker 2: get better, that there was something going on, and the
Speaker 2: doctor needed to take care of me so that I
Speaker 2: could be around for a really long time. And so
Speaker 2: I've been really grateful to shield them from kind of
Speaker 2: everything that's happening with my documentary. Though. My husband and
Speaker 2: I said, you know, when they're of age, we can
Speaker 2: break this to them and show them what I was
Speaker 2: going through, you know, for them to kind of see
Speaker 2: how it all unfolded. But for now, for now, I mean,
Speaker 2: had I had to go through chemo or have blast
Speaker 2: my hair or some of the other side effects that happened,
Speaker 2: then we probably would have told them, but we were
Speaker 2: able to shield them from that thankfully.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably best for sure. And like you said,
Speaker 1: you guys have it in a documentary and well, from
Speaker 1: what it seems like, your husband was very supportive, and
Speaker 1: I think that makes a huge difference as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, no, he it's hard. He's funny. It's not funny.
Speaker 2: Cancer runs in his family. And I had just told
Speaker 2: him a couple of weeks before, go get checked. Cancer
Speaker 2: runs in your family. You're gonna get cancer. Go get checked.
Speaker 2: And then I'm the one who gets cancer. So unfortunately,
Speaker 2: he's very familiar with it. He is a great caretaker
Speaker 2: and he took really good care of me, so I
Speaker 2: was very thankful for that.
Speaker 3: To your husband, it's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's great. But I you know, it's interesting because
Speaker 2: and I hope, I hope people still are listening. It's
Speaker 2: not a sexy topic, right, It's not a sexy topic
Speaker 2: to talk about breast cancer. It's like, oh, one of
Speaker 2: those things then one of those things you have to do,
Speaker 2: or one of those things somebody else is going through,
Speaker 2: one of those things that will happen to somebody else.
Speaker 2: And I'm just here to say that it can happen
Speaker 2: to anyone. And as I know who your audience is,
Speaker 2: breast cancer is the number one killer of Hispanic women.
Speaker 2: And that is because I believe we are not educated.
Speaker 2: We don't maybe value our health as much as we should.
Speaker 2: We are taking care of everybody else, and we're not
Speaker 2: thinking in those terms. You know. I talk to my
Speaker 2: sister who's older than me. She's like, Oh, I've been
Speaker 2: meaning to get a mammogram. I'm like, what are you
Speaker 2: waiting for? But like there's like something in our culture
Speaker 2: that's like we get dit beaties and heart disease. Cancer
Speaker 2: doesn't happen to us, you know, and so it's happening
Speaker 2: to our people. It's happening to our women, our moms,
Speaker 2: our grandmas, our sisters, our cousins, and we need to
Speaker 2: we need to be aware of it.
Speaker 1: We need to be aware and also responsible, you know,
Speaker 1: because I think as Latinos we feel like, oh we're fine,
Speaker 1: especially a lot of men and women as well. There
Speaker 1: it's like the last thing you do. You just have
Speaker 1: to feel completely sick in order to say, okay, now
Speaker 1: I'm really going to the doctor. But you felt complete,
Speaker 1: you felt fine, you know, and yeah, you were just
Speaker 1: doing your the routine of like okay, you got to
Speaker 1: do this. Yeah, And that's exactly what happened with me
Speaker 1: because I'm actually getting my first mamogram tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yay, hear that?
Speaker 3: Thank you?
Speaker 1: Because before been was like okay, until you turn forty.
Speaker 1: Now they're saying to do it as early as thirty five. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I am thirty eight, and I've had breast surgery
Speaker 1: like breast augmentation and breast reductions and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And my gynecologist has you know, they do the little
Speaker 1: you know, the check or whatnot, and I've had lumps
Speaker 1: and stuff and.
Speaker 3: She's like, I think it's car tissue. And then I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: now it's growing.
Speaker 1: So I went to the doctor last week and some
Speaker 1: other stuff came up, and like you said, it's not
Speaker 1: a sexy it's not a sexy conversation, but it's a
Speaker 1: conversation that we need to have. Like I'm very good
Speaker 1: with every February, I get my PAP smear and I
Speaker 1: get all that stuff checked, I get check for STDs,
Speaker 1: the whole thing. But I was kind of bleeding. I
Speaker 1: was spotting a little bit. I'm like, something doesn't feel right.
Speaker 1: And I've had cys and my ovaries and stuff, and
Speaker 1: now I have pulyps or something like that and the
Speaker 1: lining of my uterus and I have to get it
Speaker 1: like surgically removed. And I have all these like stuff
Speaker 1: going on on my breast, and I'm just like, what's happening.
Speaker 1: I had a meltdown last week because I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, like i feel fine, I'm working like this
Speaker 1: is you know, And I'm like, wait, if I'm not okay,
Speaker 1: if I'm not healthy, I can't do everything I do.
Speaker 1: I can't help the world. So I have to put
Speaker 1: myself first. But it was definitely something that I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm so glad we're having this conversation to
Speaker 1: be able to help other women and say, hey, if
Speaker 1: they've never gotten a mammogramm aror they don't go get
Speaker 1: their pap smear or just like the routine checks. It's
Speaker 1: so important, ladies, it really is.
Speaker 2: Also, it's like, no, that can't possibly be anything. I'm fine,
Speaker 2: I feel fine putting things off, like when I get
Speaker 2: really sick, then I'll go take a look at it.
Speaker 2: So just something that i'll share with you and with
Speaker 2: your legions of fans. But I also had a breast
Speaker 2: reduction two years ago, and so when I first got
Speaker 2: when she was like, oh, there's something here, we're going
Speaker 2: to go look at it. I was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: it's scar tissue. I already know it. It's all good.
Speaker 2: It's scar tissue. And they're like, you know what, You're
Speaker 2: probably right, that makes sense. It tracks now. I could
Speaker 2: have left it at that and just been like, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's what it is. I just know because I know
Speaker 2: better than everybody else. But I was like, she's like,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to let you leave until we do
Speaker 2: more tests. I was like, oh, okay, let's do more tests,
Speaker 2: and then I find out it's an aggressive form of
Speaker 2: breast cancer that had I not taken care of it
Speaker 2: when I did, would have killed. I'm so happy to
Speaker 2: hear that you're going to go take care of yourself.
Speaker 2: This like brings me so much joy and really like
Speaker 2: putting this out there, my story and the way in
Speaker 2: which I'm doing it is like, I am not the
Speaker 2: person cancer is going to come and get That is
Speaker 2: what I told myself. So somebody out there right now
Speaker 2: is listening and they felt a lump or something's not
Speaker 2: right or whatever, and they're like, oh, it's fine. I'm
Speaker 2: here to tell you go get yourself checked out. Yes,
Speaker 2: please get yourself checked out. It could save your life.
Speaker 1: I'm so nervous, and I'm so scared, to be honest,
Speaker 1: to get a mamogram because I have a friend that
Speaker 1: said it really hurts because I have implantsed. So she said, okay,
Speaker 1: that it hurts. It's uncomfortable. I don't know, you tell me,
Speaker 1: but I know I have to do it.
Speaker 3: But I'm a little scared.
Speaker 2: I know, you know what. Honestly, I've heard that a lot.
Speaker 2: I've heard that from a lot of women who are like, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't want to do it because I hear it hurts.
Speaker 2: It doesn't hurt. It's a little uncomfortable, it's a little
Speaker 2: bit of pressure, it's a little awkward, you know, and
Speaker 2: the whole scheme of things. It really doesn't hurt. It's
Speaker 2: a little uncomfortable. But so is a pap smear. So
Speaker 2: is it is life? I promise it's nothing to be
Speaker 2: scared of. I've done it every year since I turned forty,
Speaker 2: and one way that I kind of remember that it's
Speaker 2: time to get it, so I don't forget it as
Speaker 2: I always go on my birthday or like my birthday month.
Speaker 2: It's a gift to myself that I know that I'm okay.
Speaker 2: So I always go in October to get my mammogram
Speaker 2: and my paps mayor both of them are super important.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, Okay, that's good. It's like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: a gift. This is the gift for myself, peace of mind.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna they get it exactly.
Speaker 3: Okay. I love that.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna do it scared even if I am,
Speaker 1: it's like whatever, but now I feel better.
Speaker 3: Now I feel better. Is it a long process?
Speaker 2: It's not you're in there for fifteen minutes. It's easy, breezy.
Speaker 2: It's it's really not hard. You go in, they check
Speaker 2: one side and then they check the other side, and
Speaker 2: then they do some some pictures. Nothing like sexy. There's
Speaker 2: no like sexy cleavage pictures or anything like that. There's
Speaker 2: just no Instagram. And yeah, there's no filters.
Speaker 1: I know, like shit, okay, okay, awesome, all right, so
Speaker 1: it's not too crazy long. I was like, oh am,
Speaker 1: I going to be in there for hours because pap
Speaker 1: smears are so uncomfortable, but they're super quick, and it's
Speaker 1: just like, oh my gosh, they are they gonna grab
Speaker 1: my freaking uterus. But it's important, it's it's okay. So
Speaker 1: many things in life, like you said, are are uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was gonna say it's in and out, but
Speaker 2: then that seems really inappropriate when we're talking about.
Speaker 1: True You're right, And it also made me hungry now,
Speaker 1: like I want some in and out in and out sounds.
Speaker 3: I'm always thinking about food. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Anyways, that's hysterical. And so how are you feeling.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling. I'm feeling better.
Speaker 1: There is a little like a little lump or bump
Speaker 1: that is kind of concerning me on my left breast.
Speaker 1: But the good thing is I'm going tomorrow, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, what.
Speaker 3: Did I think about it?
Speaker 1: Well, because my grandmother she had cancer, I believe twice
Speaker 1: and now she's in remission. But I have to take
Speaker 1: care of that even more so. And my mom had
Speaker 1: a lump as well and it was benign, but they
Speaker 1: had to remove it.
Speaker 3: So I have to. It's important.
Speaker 1: It's important, I think just whether like you said, whether
Speaker 1: it runs in your family or not, to definitely go
Speaker 1: get tech.
Speaker 3: But I'm feeling good. I'm feeling better.
Speaker 1: I do have pain in like my ovaries and stuff,
Speaker 1: but I can't wait. I'm like, I just want to
Speaker 1: get that all situated and you know, and hopefully move
Speaker 1: on with my life, you know. And just now I
Speaker 1: caught it and that's a good thing that I went right.
Speaker 2: And what a gift to yourself to be able to like,
Speaker 2: what if it's nothing, great, let's find out it's nothing.
Speaker 2: What if it's something, let's take care of it. You know.
Speaker 2: For me, it was an aggressive form of breast cancer.
Speaker 2: It was a rare form of breast cancer. I had
Speaker 2: a lumpectomy that didn't work because it still was spread.
Speaker 2: I had to have one of my right breasts removed.
Speaker 2: Was traumatizing. It was traumatizing, it was emotional. It's still gone.
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, I'm like, I am alive,
Speaker 2: I am healthy, i am grounded, I'm blessed. I am
Speaker 2: thankful that all I had to lose was my right
Speaker 2: breast and not my life.
Speaker 3: I mean, that is again, absolutely, and I love the
Speaker 3: way you see it.
Speaker 1: See this is where I'm like, Okay, you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: it's nothing, but if it is something, then I can
Speaker 1: grab on from your strength. And you have really like
Speaker 1: made me feel like okay, because I I've been very emotional.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just like, what's going to happen, but hey,
Speaker 1: we'll cross that bridge when we get there. And speaking
Speaker 1: to people like you and listening to women that are
Speaker 1: so strong and like, okay, you're also in the entertainment
Speaker 1: industry and you're like, okay, God has given us this
Speaker 1: voice and this platform to share these stories and to
Speaker 1: hopefully help other people and not just women, if not
Speaker 1: men too, Like it's important for men, the guys that
Speaker 1: listen to Chigi's and Chill you guys go also get
Speaker 1: your checkups, and it's something that we need to prioritize
Speaker 1: and we don't do that enough.
Speaker 2: So absolutely, I hope men like they tuned in because
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, these two chicks are going to be
Speaker 2: talking about boobies and then yeah, we like school them
Speaker 2: with some go to see your doctor.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely absolutely, I was going to ask you how long?
Speaker 1: So now you're you're good, You're fine, you feel good now.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So after I had my mystectomy, I had to
Speaker 2: go through six weeks of radiation and I did that,
Speaker 2: and for right now, I am clear. I do have
Speaker 2: to continue to go have checkups and do cet scans
Speaker 2: and just make sure that this little bugger doesn't try
Speaker 2: to come back.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'll eventually have reconstruction. I lost my breast,
Speaker 2: but you know it's I can have reconstruction and I
Speaker 2: can have a brand new boob that is going to
Speaker 2: be like brand new. I'm going to look like a
Speaker 2: hot twenty two year old.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, when win, I don't recommend going about
Speaker 2: getting boobs by getting cancer, but hey, if I have
Speaker 2: to go through cancer, I might as well get a
Speaker 2: new boob in a.
Speaker 3: See I love your attitude.
Speaker 2: Yes, we have to find levity and really hard, hard
Speaker 2: things like that's kind of one of those things that
Speaker 2: got me through is laughing and finding joy and finding
Speaker 2: humor in life, because what's the point otherwise.
Speaker 3: Right, Absolutely, I agree.
Speaker 1: So after going through everything and now, thank goodness, you
Speaker 1: are good, what did you learn? Basically, like, how did
Speaker 1: this make you a better person? You know, is there
Speaker 1: something that you thought you needed to learn or you
Speaker 1: have learned or yes?
Speaker 2: No, absolutely. People have been so gracious and kind and
Speaker 2: have sent words of encouragement, and you know, a lot
Speaker 2: of times they say, I'm so sorry that you had
Speaker 2: to go through this, and I appreciate that. I'm so
Speaker 2: grateful that I went through this. I'm also grateful that
Speaker 2: I lived right Like it would be a bummer if
Speaker 2: it was not good news. But I'm so grateful that
Speaker 2: I went through this because I think for me, this
Speaker 2: was an opportunity to realize what's important in life. Right
Speaker 2: any of us are chasing after something that is not
Speaker 2: going to fulfill us, whether it's a job or a career,
Speaker 2: or money or a car or like what this showed
Speaker 2: me is the most important thing in my life is
Speaker 2: My today is my babies, my kids, my family, and
Speaker 2: like those are real, real things and the jobs they
Speaker 2: will come and go and the opportunities they will come
Speaker 2: and go. And for me, it grounded me in a
Speaker 2: way that I've never been grounded. It put me in today,
Speaker 2: put me in the moment because I was like always
Speaker 2: thinking like what's next, what's next, what's next? Well, what
Speaker 2: if there's no what's next? Because I didn't take care
Speaker 2: of myself. So right now is all I have. And
Speaker 2: for me, that is like the biggest gift that I
Speaker 2: could have been given.
Speaker 1: Yes, because we get so caught up, like you said,
Speaker 1: especially being in the entertainment industry or just in anything.
Speaker 1: You don't even have to be in an entertainment industry,
Speaker 1: like you are caught in the rat race of life
Speaker 1: and not really focused on what's in front of you,
Speaker 1: you know. And I always say this, I'm like, stop
Speaker 1: and smell the roses. I'm like literally stop and be like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, what a nice bush of roses. Smell them,
Speaker 1: like appreciate these things, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: I totally, I totally get what you're saying. And I
Speaker 1: think that that that's awesome that you feel completely grounded
Speaker 1: and and yeah, I mean, I'm happy to know that
Speaker 1: you're good and you're you're gonna be here for many, many,
Speaker 1: many many years with your boys and hopefully see their
Speaker 1: children and everything. So I am I'm happy. I'm glad
Speaker 1: that I was able to talk to you and that
Speaker 1: you are so open to share this, and that you
Speaker 1: share this on your social media because it is becoming
Speaker 1: more and more common, especially now even in girls. A
Speaker 1: friend of mine got breast cancer at thirty two, you know,
Speaker 1: and breast cancer didn't run any family. Yeah, so young,
Speaker 1: and she's think goodness, she's good, but still like she's
Speaker 1: another another woman that it's like, Okay, hey, we got
Speaker 1: to remind each other and ourselves that we have to
Speaker 1: do this and put ourselves and our health as a
Speaker 1: priority in our life.
Speaker 3: Share your social media with us, please, okay.
Speaker 2: And my Instagram is at Christina Guerrero. You can watch
Speaker 2: my entire mini documentary. I mean, it's so weird because
Speaker 2: it's fifteen minutes long, which in Instagram time might as
Speaker 2: well be like a thousand years, and its entirety is
Speaker 2: on my Instagram and it'll make you cry. I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna say it it's going to make you cry, but
Speaker 2: I also hope that it brings you some joy and
Speaker 2: some inspiration at the same time and some hope. So
Speaker 2: that is that is my hope for anybody who happens
Speaker 2: to watch it.
Speaker 3: Awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you again, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking the time. I feel like my heart needed needed
Speaker 1: to speak to you. So everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1: I'm a true and firm believer in that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what, God, you are in control, you know why,
Speaker 1: and I trust your plans better than mine. So I'm
Speaker 1: speaking to you, and it just so happened to be that. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is cancer Awareness month and I'm going through something
Speaker 1: and I feel better now. To be honest, I'm not
Speaker 1: even joking. I feel like, Okay, everything's gonna be okay
Speaker 1: no matter what.
Speaker 2: SA men, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: And here you guys know that I always leave you
Speaker 1: with a quote, a motivational quote.
Speaker 3: Every week.
Speaker 1: So the quote for the week is, I refuse to
Speaker 1: let this world crumble my character. I am the author,
Speaker 1: I am the story, I am the hero. I will
Speaker 1: write myself. So that is a quote, you guys for
Speaker 1: today's episode. Please please please even if you don't do
Speaker 1: it for yourself, do it for me. Go get yourself checked,
Speaker 1: be responsible. Please you guys, Thank you so Muchristina, thank
Speaker 1: you so much again. Do you need advice on love, relationships,
Speaker 1: health emails? I'm so excited to share with you that
Speaker 1: my Cheeky's and Chill podcast will have an extra episode
Speaker 1: drop each week. I'll be answering all your questions. Just
Speaker 1: leave me a voice message.
Speaker 3: All you have to do is go.
Speaker 1: To speak Pipe Slash Cheeky's and Chill Podcasts and record
Speaker 1: your questions.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to hear from you.
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