Speaker 1: I just started slurring my words a little bit, A
Speaker 1: gate or a limp started developing, just intense chest pain,
Speaker 1: and I remember just having these tiny little pimples. My
Speaker 1: bones were literally aching, my scalp is tingly, and my
Speaker 1: face feels.
Speaker 2: Not lumps and bumps in my neck.
Speaker 1: I would describe it as like an elephant city. I
Speaker 1: never felt that dream like something just didn't feel right, uncertainty.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if I could describe it.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: It almost just felt like I was I wasn't living isolation.
Speaker 3: I stopped once to the doctor. I stopped trying to
Speaker 3: find treatments. Nothing was working.
Speaker 1: Breakthrough.
Speaker 2: You couldn't imagine that anyone could be alive and have
Speaker 2: a mutation in that gene.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren bright Checko, host of Symptomatic, a medical mystery podcast.
Speaker 1: Every episode we investigate the medical mysteries behind someone's truly
Speaker 1: baffling symptoms, revealing how the quest for answers transforms the
Speaker 1: lives of everyday people. Am I just a person who's sick?
Speaker 1: Is that all I am?
Speaker 2: Can I fight this? Can I beat this?
Speaker 4: It's almost like I was a different person.
Speaker 3: I'm dying here.
Speaker 1: Let's try something else.
Speaker 4: How do I live.
Speaker 1: And this year Symptomatic is bigger than ever, making connections
Speaker 1: across the country. We took our show on the road,
Speaker 1: getting to know some of the most innovative doctors in
Speaker 1: their fields. Today we're recording from the twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: as CO annual meeting talking about breast cancer.
Speaker 4: Often patients will say to me, I don't care what
Speaker 4: happens to my body. I just want to live. Hold on,
Speaker 4: I care what happens to your body, because in six
Speaker 4: months you're going to be really mad at me when
Speaker 4: you start to be a person again, your whole self,
Speaker 4: if the first thing you think of when you walk
Speaker 4: out of the shower is your breast cancer.
Speaker 1: We featured a doctor turned patient leading groundbreaking disease research,
Speaker 1: giving millions access to treatment options they never thought possible.
Speaker 2: For every patient like Gary, for every patient like Kyla
Speaker 2: who's getting ready to go off to college, because we
Speaker 2: discovered a drug to save her life just before she
Speaker 2: would have passed. And each one of those patients has
Speaker 2: just led us to say, we are so happy we
Speaker 2: did this for them, But how many more they're out there?
Speaker 2: And so Grant and I launched this nonprofit called Every
Speaker 2: Cure and we are on a mission to unlock.
Speaker 3: The life saving potential of every FDA approved medication to
Speaker 3: treat every disease that it possibly can.
Speaker 1: And we're also catching up with some old friends. Hey Athena, Hey,
Speaker 1: so good to see you. Good to see you too, Lauren.
Speaker 4: I'm so excited to be back here.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it's been this long. You were our
Speaker 1: second episode. It was twenty twenty two. Yeah, really good
Speaker 1: to be able to do this follow up from such
Speaker 1: a good place. I'm happy to report that I'm in
Speaker 1: the best health, probably of my life, and we're making
Speaker 1: some new friends, like Jose who, through his unique experiences,
Speaker 1: leads by example for others facing their own struggles.
Speaker 3: I volunteered as a counselor for ten years, and you know,
Speaker 3: the kids are always so grateful to the counselors there.
Speaker 3: But like, if these kids are doing it, and then
Speaker 3: why can't I am? So they look at us and
Speaker 3: reverse like, oh, they're older, they're living with what I have,
Speaker 3: they're successful, then I can do it too.
Speaker 1: Since launching Symptomatic, we've been thrilled to see how the
Speaker 1: show resonates so deeply with everyone. We're so proud of
Speaker 1: the supportive community our audience and doctors have built, and
Speaker 1: we're excited to see it continue to grow. Join us
Speaker 1: for all new episodes of Symptomatic, where we delve into
Speaker 1: the medical unknown and bring light to the mysteries of
Speaker 1: chronic illness.
Speaker 2: My name, my name.
Speaker 4: My name is Kelly Athena.
Speaker 3: And for nineteen years, for fifteen years, over twelve years,
Speaker 3: I suffered with a mysterious illness.
Speaker 1: I struggled with misdiagnoses of.
Speaker 4: A previously undiagnosed disease.
Speaker 1: An unknown disease. This is Symptomatic. Listen on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories that matter
Speaker 1: to you.