WEBVTT - Prioritize Yourself (w/ Ananda Lewis) 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:05.360 Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Wherever you may be, 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:08.840 you are tuned in to the Vitamin D Podcast with 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.040 me your host, Dawn Day. I'm here to help you 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.640 shine a light on your life, get that spirit to 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.079 spread off the ground of your soul and find that 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.360 voice that you know is sitting in the back of 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.200 your throat but just can't seem to find its way out. Sometimes, 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:25.360 when we're trying to get that spirit to grow, just 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.520 adding deposits to your life bank account, you realize that 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.400 for whatever reason, you've got to go ahead and change 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.839 it up. Maybe some cattle came out and trampled your fields, 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.400 Maybe there was a drought, maybe there was a flood. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.200 Whatever it was, though, you have the option to get 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.480 up and find another plot to grow on. When those 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.720 times come up, it can seem like the world rending. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.760 It feels it's worse sensation and when everything's feel as 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.760 though it's going backwards. But those same moments are opportunities 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.160 to create something that is closer to your vision. Now, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.120 with that being said, I had the opportunity to sit 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.280 down and talk with none other than Ananda Luis, the 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.280 television host, a carpenter, former model, and social activists came 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.560 on the show to talk about her life, her fight 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.360 against breast cancer, and for a woman's health, about getting 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.480 involved in your own health, understanding that you have a 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.920 part to play in your own life, how to check 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.119 yourself before you wreck yourself, and just trusting yourself more 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.200 in gentle The amount of discipline I have to have 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.640 now doing the protocols, doing the treatments, committing to all 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.399 the hours a day being away from my child. I 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.480 could have spread that out across like ten years and 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.440 done it in a more balanced, you know, a little 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.840 bit out of time way. Now I have to concentrate 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:37.880 it in you know, four or five months, and really 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.360 hit it hard. You're in for a special treat So, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.760 without further ado, it's time for your dose of vitamin D. 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:49.040 Get your vitamin D right with me, and get excited 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:57.560 about Hello. Good morning, good morning. How are you doing. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.640 I'm good, I'm good. Sorry for all the scramble again here. 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.680 I don't know what happened with the technology. I was 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.880 blaming on technology. I'm grateful that you arrived. And here's 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.640 the thing. I knew that we were going to encounter 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.320 each other. I didn't know when, and I say that 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.640 because Porsha Scott, she's my agent, so years ago and 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.000 I remember I think she said that you were decorating 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.080 or you were put the count and renovations with her, Yeah, 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.920 painting and helping her with some upgreating. Just hearing her 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:33.799 name fills my heart was joy love and it's so interesting. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.600 And then I, um, I saw your video and I 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.360 saw your story and I said, oh, this is how 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.680 we're going to connect. It'll be it'll be this, it'll 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.480 be this, It'll be magical. So first of all, thank 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.280 you so much, thank you for you being you. Oh well, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.600 you're welcome my own. That's the thing. I could say, 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.040 you're welcome for kind of what I have to do. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.640 But I appreciate the acknowledgement. Yeah, you know, because I 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.400 think sometimes we forget to do us, and sometimes doing 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.520 us as being uncomfortable and and this this stage that 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.800 you're you're experiencing right now and being able to come forth, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.359 it means a lot for someone like me, because as 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.440 you come from someone like you is exactly why I 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.200 did it. Other women who looked like me, who you know, 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.720 we reflect each other in the world. I needed you 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.200 to hear what I did wrong, so you could avoid 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.640 some of these mistakes. You know, the pitfalls are important 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.640 to share. Hello, and it's how you put the pieces 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:33.840 back together right, Yes, yeah, always, So I want to 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.360 I want to pay a beautiful picture with you today. Um. 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.560 And you know many people will know you and recognize 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.720 your face, your voice, your energy, whether it's on MTV, 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.200 whether we're watching teams, some just the host with them. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.400 Most that was the aspiration for every little black girl 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.600 was like, oh my gosh. In the music industry, I 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:58.480 can do that. So cool. Um, But I came across 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:00.640 I I've run the digital cons and for all of 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:05.080 Steve Harvey FM loved it too. I saw your video 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.920 of and you came forth to say how you've been 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.960 diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, and immediately it struck 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.520 a chord because my mother passed away from stage four 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:19.920 breast cancer. Wow when this was back in but she 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.640 was first she I didn't think about it. She was 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.760 pretty much sick my entire life. My mother had fake 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:27.919 hair down her back. I remember as a kid, I 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.240 was like three years old, and I remember seeing her 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.360 in the mirror and cutting her hair off. I remember 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.960 going to school, but my mom that strength that you 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.960 exhibited in that video, and you said like, I'm doing 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.120 this for my son. I'm speaking like there was not 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:47.000 an option of not to fight. Yeah. Yeah, as long 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.560 as you're live, if you're drawing breath, there's something you 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.479 can do, and you better do it. Hello, you know, 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.719 I mean, listen, we know this life is temporary. I 0:04:57.760 --> 0:04:59.880 hope we all understand that. By now, I mean we 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.640 that enough experience with it. We are born, and we live, 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:05.760 and then we die. That is the nature of the 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.200 human bodies that we get to inhabit. Right. I believe 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.840 we are the light within the body that goes on. 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.080 But I also think while we're here having this experience, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.480 we need to keep some things in perspective. We're not 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:20.880 going to live forever no matter what we do, what 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.400 our options are. For me anyway, what what I look 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.880 at as my choices and my control, my authority in 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.159 my life is how I live while I'm here. Um. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.520 And even when you confront something, uh, you know that 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.520 typically is scary that happens in your body, like a cancer, 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.680 And I stay typically scary because I haven't really been 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.120 assaulted by the fear. I understand it to be. What 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.760 is normally, Um, how people are, you know, how people 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.680 receive it. It wasn't my particular experience, and that probably 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:50.920 helped me with how I handled it. But when when 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.840 that typically happens, we get thrown off, you know, we 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.919 start forgetting what we know. Uh. What I have always 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.920 known up until the point of diagnosis and asked it 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.279 is that I don't come from here, right, and that's 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.359 not to do some weird like where aliens descended on 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.560 the planet. I don't believe that. But my spirit doesn't 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.280 come from here. I get to go, you better say, 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.560 get to leave and go somewhere else. I came from 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.360 somewhere else. This is a temporary situation and how you 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.560 choose to live it is a testament of who you 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.039 are and what you believe. And I don't believe in 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:33.000 abandoning my fundamental understanding of myself, my God, my experience 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.560 just because something looks scary or you know, gives me 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.719 a challenge for me, that's the double down time. But 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.280 did I believe this before? I better believe it even 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.599 more wholehearted me. How I better go even harder on 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.840 it now. And because this is the test of what 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:52.159 it really is, right, So I don't know. Definitely, this 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:58.000 experience has caused me to uh amplify my understandings and 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.920 get real clear on things, real fast. But it also 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.000 has just fortified what I have always known to be true. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:05.760 You know what I knew to be true back then 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:07.560 in those days when you watch me on TV. The 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.840 reason I was able to get through some of those challenges, 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.360 it's the same thing. I know who I am, and 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.680 I know what I can do, and even knowing that 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.000 isn't gonna save my life forever, I get that, right, 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:20.840 But in the context of what I'm dealing with, I 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.520 absolutely know that there are things that I have control 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.560 over that I can do differently. There are reasons that 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.960 this happened in my body, and it's not some weird, 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.880 scary mystery. It's a process, and every process can be reversed. 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.560 That's what I believe. And you know what stands out 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.320 to me so much is that as you speak on 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.800 that and this decree that you've made over your life, 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.840 is that you've chosen to walk in your authority. You 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.640 chose and you you made a choice. And I think 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.560 when we're looking to spare, we looking confusion, we feel 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.000 like we're lost it's because we don't have a choice, right, 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.840 or we don't have enough information. Yeah, we just don't know. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.960 Fear is a lot of time based on that you 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.400 cannot see, just don't know. It's the fair of the unknown. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.520 We don't know what's gonna happen next. I knew what 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.080 was gonna happen next. I had to do what I 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.840 knew to do next, so there was no unknown, and 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.560 I knew that if my body started this process, there's 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.320 an environment in my body that I somehow contributed to. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.240 Not saying it's all my fault. But you know, when 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.840 we talk about blame and fault, I think we've gotten 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.120 this to this place where we don't want to be 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.760 blamed for something, right. But I look at it as well, 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.320 if you blame me, that means it's my responsibility. When 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.360 something is my responsibility, I control it. I like controlling things, 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.840 So I think responsibility is a really powerful place to 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:41.720 come from. And it's a good way to switch that 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.360 blames thing. Right, if somebody blames you for something and 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.720 you switch it to okay, let's let me play along, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:49.640 all right, I did do that. Now what can I 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.240 do to get myself out of it? Then? You have 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.480 a place to start from instead of being stuck it. Well, 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:56.520 they're blaming me, they're staying into my fault. Okay, what 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.840 if it is? So? What what if it is? That 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.280 means you can do something? And and so when I 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.520 looked at it like that, when I said to myself, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:05.760 this happened for a reason, I might be part of 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:07.880 that reason. I might be a huge part of that reason. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.760 When you look at how cancers or any other chronic 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.280 illnesses start in the body, they start with an environment 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.040 that's been created. We're we're we're in control of these bodies. 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.160 What you put in your mouth, the energy you allow 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.280 yourself to be around, how you speak to people, how 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.400 you allow people to speak to you, all of that matters. 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.760 And so if you look at all those things as 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.680 different variables creating this environment, you understand that you have 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.920 some authority there. So when I walk in that authority, 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.120 it's because I know it to be true. It's not 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.160 a false sense of understanding or a game on playing 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.319 in my mind. I create my future with exactly how 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.559 I think, what I choose to do. If I get 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.520 up and work out, as opposed to getting up and 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.840 having a cup of coffee. That makes a difference in 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.840 my body, those little changes, right, my body can't take coffee. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.000 I wouldn't have known that until I have this experience 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.400 and did all the testing that I've done. I used 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.199 to drink eight cups of coffee the day just to 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.920 get through the day, like most people do. That was 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.520 creating an acidic condition in my body I had no 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.200 awareness of. But it doesn't matter if you know it 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.520 or not. Your body's gonna do it right. Your awareness 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.520 doesn't matter. Do your body. Um, So those little things 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.400 have gone such a long way for me. And when 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.520 I saw the difference that I could make in the 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.920 environment in my body, uh, I knew I I could 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.040 do something other than what they were telling me to 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.760 do to start to fix this problem. Now is that 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.000 all I had to do. No, But if you don't 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.160 even start there, if you don't even start with inability 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.160 to do your part and a desire to do your 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.360 part and understanding that you have a part to play, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.920 then you're just lost in fear and and the lack 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.280 of belief in what you can do because you're not 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:52.000 aware of it. So awareness, to me is absolutely at 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.439 the beginning of all this now and That's why I 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.360 encourage women who I who I talked to, and subsequently 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.800 I've met a lot of women who are also going 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.440 through breast cancer fight right now, and we share information 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.800 and that the first thing we talk about is what 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:08.920 are you doing? Like, what are you taking, what are 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.400 you how are you detoxing? And in addition to what 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:13.800 your doctors saying, which I'm all for doing what it 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.800 is that's comfortable for you, of listening to your doctor 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.440 and do what they say, is that that's good. So 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.160 in addition to that, what else are you doing? Because 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.480 more and more, you know, best cancer centers around the 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.160 country are acknowledging that when a patient fasts before chemo, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.280 or when a patient takes CBD before chemo, whatever the 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.840 things that they're acknowledging are, they know that there's an 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.000 impact being had. And so even if it's a little 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.560 bit of a help to me, that's help still as 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.839 a build And even as you're saying that I can 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.680 hear ice cube in my ear, check yourself before you 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.280 wreck yourself, and that awareness is tapping in and say one, 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.199 let me assess, am I feeling differently? But that whole 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.280 notion of go go go, whether that coffee was so 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.480 you can stay up for this thing. When did I say, 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:02.840 wait a minute, stop, pause, yes, let me do a 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.080 simplature check. So what was what was that experience? What happened? 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.280 When was your moment that you decided to pause and 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:13.200 to literally check yourself. I think it was in the biopsy, 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.320 because you know, I had been refusing the mamograms for years. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.400 Did your mother have of cancer? My mother had breast 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.560 cancer thirteen about thirteen years ago, and I went through 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.720 her journey with her. She opted standard care um and 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.679 did all the things they told her to do, and 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.880 I looked from you know, outside, because I was in 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:34.920 the experience with her, but I wasn't her, and so 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.240 I was still looking from outside, looking at her experience 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.760 and knowing I saw her do mamograms my whole life. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.040 You know, she did them for almost thirty years, just 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.079 like she was told to. The radiation exposure was different 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.000 with them because the machines were different. But I didn't 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.080 know that at the time. I saw her doing mamograms 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.760 all this time, and I saw her still getting breast cancer, 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:58.080 and I knew as I mean, it's pretty common knowledge 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.960 that radiation and the human body is not a good 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.880 A right can cause cancer. We hear the extremes of 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.480 like nuclear power plant problems where people have fall up 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.120 with these smaller amounts of exposures to radiation also can 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.960 cause problems. I knew that, and I directly connected her 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.600 diligence with her mamograms to her getting breast cancer. Now 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.520 that's not a completely incorrect line of thinking. Where I 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.200 wish I had understood better. And one of the biggest 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.600 reasons I wanted to share that part of my experience 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.200 with with other women, um and I guess people in 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.200 general because men get breast cancer too, was because my 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.760 thinking was often this way, we need to do ramograms 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.880 even though there is this small amount of exposure to radiation, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:46.360 because the risk out or the reward outweighs the risk. Right, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.120 The risk of that little bit of radiation is nothing 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:52.400 compared to the reward of finding out what's going on 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.680 in your body so that you can be proactive, maintain 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.000 more control, and not find out about something when it's 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.520 further down the I know I'm lucky in the sense 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.320 that I didn't wait until it was a stage four right, 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.760 because that's a harder process to deal with in the 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.800 body a stage three isn't great, so it's in my 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.959 limbs and that does make it more difficult. There are 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.120 more things you have to do. There's a deeper dig uh. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.400 And I wish I had found it earlier. I would 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.520 have if I'd been doing mamograms. And that's the part 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.480 I needed women to understand. Yeah, there's a risk, but 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.080 there's a way bigger reward. And it's so interesting because 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.440 I had to, Um, it's a conversation that maybe isn't 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.280 talked about too much. And as I was looking at 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.600 your video and you said wow, I never said that 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.920 I was loud because your your emotions were enraged. And 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.000 I just think of like the shame aspect because like 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.120 even though I said with my mother, I still did 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.840 not undersunderstand the gravity of what breast cancer was, even 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.400 at three years old, even at the point when I 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.040 was in eighth grade, even to the was last point 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.520 when I was in school, like just when I graduated. 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:58.800 Oh we went to Howard together as well, we're both alone. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:04.440 So I had said, I know, yes, Um, So it 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.000 wasn't until and I think, like you said that awareness 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.880 but having that conversation, but when I hear you say 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.600 that I knew the next step. I'm looking at myself 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.720 and when I was twenty five, my mother had first 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.520 um I think she was probably thirty, yeah, thirty five 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.360 because I was a few years old when she had it, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.480 so she how many years that's from somethody pretty much 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.200 my entire life, because let's see, probably from eight eight 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.600 and she passed away in twelve. She had went into 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.480 a remission for a few years, and it came back 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.280 in two thousand and eight, and the doctors were coming 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.320 in and they're like, oh, you know, the students and 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.960 so forth, because she was doing well. But it's interesting 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.240 what you said, and I'm sure that this play is 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.080 a part and some of the other things that you 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:52.040 talked about, which stress would do, because once life came, 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.040 she lost. I think my mother had lost her fight 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.040 in a way, her sense of going and why and 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.480 how you said that fight for your son. My mother, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.440 Janice Hill did everything for her daughter. She lives for us, 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.160 and I think we got to the point that she 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.320 just got tired. Yeah, well that happens. But I think 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.040 as beautiful is that what you said and how you're saying, 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.000 how you know the next step? We'll speaking to someone 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.520 like me. I didn't know what the next step was. 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.120 I'm like, I'm twenty five. Do I go ahead and 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.960 get that mammogram? Because again that exposure and who do 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.680 you talk to year olds now who has the insurance 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.920 to say, Hey, I'm stepping into a mammogram? Yeah? Not Nie, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.600 Well what did you decide? Well, when I was in 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:37.760 New York site, I was working at w B L 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.280 S and I remember it was right before I moved 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.480 out to l A, and they had a program set 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:45.160 up and they knew that since I was high risk 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.560 since my mother had it three times. My grandmother had 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.840 ovarian cancer at a cousin that had kidney cancer, so 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:55.880 that cancer, Jean, It's surrounding um my oldest aunt breast cancer. 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.400 And I found out my youngest aunt, who died months 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.440 after my other, had breast cancer as well. So it 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.399 was a situation where they said, hey, you need to 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.640 go just get checked. And so since then, I've had 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.600 a mammogram once each year. But I didn't know. I 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.240 don't know if I really know how to properly do 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.960 the assessment. And so that's what I was wondering. Did 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.080 you feel a pain, How did you know? That something 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.760 was going on. I had. I had discharge out of 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.359 my right nit bul right side is where everything's happening 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.440 for me, um, and I had a not right kind 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.240 of above into the right right about here on my breast. 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.919 And you know what's funny is even with those symptoms, 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.720 I was like, it's fine, it's left over from breastfeeding. 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.119 I breast spent my son for three years. And you know, 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.800 this was the way after three years. But we tend 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.919 to tell ourselves it's okay. We gotta keep going. For 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.360 all those reasons that you mentioned that your mom Janice, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:01.080 did she put her children first? All mothers did, I 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:05.040 know do that? And it's just an instinctive. That's what happens. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.000 When the baby comes back your body, you go and 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.400 even you know when you have however, you have your baby, um, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.240 this this maternal instinct kicks in and you will give 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.480 your life for this child. You will put down everything 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.000 you need to, you will do whatever. And part of 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.120 where I think we need to come to some better 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:24.040 balance as women as mothers on that is continuing to 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.359 keep ourselves on that top list of priorities, because if 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.480 we're not healthy and we're not okay, we can't be 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.480 here for them. So as much as my son is 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.640 my motivation, my own life is my motivation too, because 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.400 without me being here, I can't take care of him, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.359 and it's difficult to do because it's our instinct, you know, 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:49.600 it's our fundamental instinct as moms to prioritize our kids. 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.960 And that's not a bad thing. It only becomes a 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.840 dangerous thing for ourselves when we get lost and way 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.320 down at the bottom of that list. And I absolutely 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.399 did that to myself. I mean, yes, I was against mamograms, 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.520 but also once I found that lump, and once I 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.760 had that discharge and got serious about let me go 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.880 check this out, I lost my insurance for other reasons. 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.440 And so insurance becomes an issue for a lot of women, 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:14.840 even a woman you know, like me, who from the 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.159 outside you would think I got what stuff altogether and 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.439 at least I have my insurance covered, right, That's not 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.160 always the case. So, I mean, there are so many 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.040 reasons that can come up in the life of a 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:30.199 woman when it comes to her care, her care of 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.159 her health, of her breast or her body, for overies 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.840 of her womb, all these different parts that we have 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.840 as women. That need special care. Uh. And I really 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.720 just want to encourage women to not let anything stop 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.080 you from taking good care of yourself because you're the priority. 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.520 You know, nothing else matters if you don't prioritize yourself. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.640 And yeah, I get to learn that the hard way, 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.000 but I only have to learn it once right, it 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.520 will not happen. And it's so beautiful because you know, 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.080 sometimes we look at life and we'll see all these 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:00.880 great things that I have, and then you wonder why 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.800 all these backwards You're like, oh my gosh, everything keeps 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.880 going wrong. But when you turn it around and how 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.720 you say, like changing your perspective or realizing even something 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:14.880 I study improv at the Groundlings, it's amazing. I love 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.720 it if that whole notion of someone blames you for something. 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.080 And just like the Groundlings has taught me, it's a 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.239 it's a matter of a yes, and how do we 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.280 grow and build upon from this? So let me receive 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.200 because if I'm blocking, which I feel like stressed us 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.760 any type of attention, nothing is moving, Toxins aren't moving 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:39.399 out of your body appropriately. Um stuck and and understanding 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.240