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Speaker 1: And you know this child, this woman has done drugs

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Speaker 1: and stuff while pregnant. There are inherent risks and danger

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Speaker 1: and the developmental possibilities and deficiencies for this child. Are

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Speaker 1: you wild add to that at this point?

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Speaker 2: At that point, yes, I was like this, this is

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Speaker 2: this is happening. The term for this is NAS. It

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Speaker 2: stands for neonatal abstinence syndrome. So this is kind of

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Speaker 2: the umbrella term that covers any child that's exposed to

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Speaker 2: opioids in utero. And there's not a ton of research

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Speaker 2: on that. And we had this feeling in our heart

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Speaker 2: that so.

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Speaker 1: You're willingly adopting a child that might be messed up?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he needs a homesick Why wouldn't you want.

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Speaker 1: This is a little rhetorical, but why would you want

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Speaker 1: a baby that you know is going to have all

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Speaker 1: ten fingers, all ten toes and no problems? Would that

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Speaker 1: be easier?

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Speaker 2: You never know what's going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

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Speaker 1: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, and

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Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. And I've been a football coach and inter

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Speaker 1: City Memphis and somehow that last part well, it led

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Speaker 1: to an oscar for the film about our team. That

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Speaker 1: movie is called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will

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Speaker 1: never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in

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Speaker 1: nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on

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Speaker 1: seeing it in Fox, but rather by an army of

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Speaker 1: normal folks, US people like you and me, just saying

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Speaker 1: you know what I can help. That's what Gabby Laurent,

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Speaker 1: the voice you just heard, has done. You just heard

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Speaker 1: her incredible adoption story, but wait until you hear about

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Speaker 1: her life and death battle right before this, and yet

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Speaker 1: she still adopted a child in need after it. I

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Speaker 1: cannot wait for you to meet Gabby right after these

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Speaker 1: brief messages from our general sponsors. Gabby Laurent, Is that right, Laurent?

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Speaker 2: That's right, you got it.

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Speaker 1: It's it's l a u r e n t and

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Speaker 1: it's French, so it could be Laurent. But you say Laurent.

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Speaker 3: We like to say I should have paid Laurent.

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Speaker 1: Well, I went to school in Oxford, which is in

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Speaker 1: the county l a f A y e t t E.

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Speaker 3: Now, how would you say that word Lafayette?

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Speaker 1: Right, It's Lafayette?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 1: No, right, oh, my gosh. Right right. You got to

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Speaker 1: be careful with these frenchy words when they become American

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Speaker 1: because we will screw them up.

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Speaker 3: But I'm really thankful for it because my maiden name.

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Speaker 2: Do you want to know?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hooker who hooker h o O k er as

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Speaker 1: in Gabby. If it was French, should be Gabby the hooker,

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Speaker 1: that would be bad. Yeah, okay, we're not going to

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Speaker 1: go there. Clearly that is that was my life. That

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Speaker 1: was your life. I bet, oh, I bet high school

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Speaker 1: was rough, wasn't it. I bet the dudes were coming

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Speaker 1: up with all kinds more middle school. Yeah, we all

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Speaker 1: probably more mature than us. We would have been doing

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Speaker 1: it all the way through college. All right, Gabriel the

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Speaker 1: rent you were from Oakridge, Tennessee. Why does Oakridge, ten

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Speaker 1: See ring a bell to me? Oakridge? What about Oakridge?

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Speaker 2: Do I want to know?

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Speaker 1: There's something about Oakridge.

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Speaker 2: It's a secret It's a secret city, the secret city

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Speaker 2: part of the Manhattan Project.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what part of it?

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Speaker 2: It is where they do some things with some different

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Speaker 2: like elements, and it has to do a nuclear thing.

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Speaker 2: And all of my friends have released secret jobs that.

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Speaker 1: Do they really? Is that for really? Currently?

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Speaker 2: Currently and they.

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Speaker 1: Won't talk about it. They cannot, They cannot talk about

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Speaker 1: the secret thing. Why Oakridge of all places, I wonder.

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Speaker 2: Because there was there was nothing there.

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Speaker 1: So the government came deep secret there.

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Speaker 3: They said, we're going to buy your land from you

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Speaker 3: old farmers.

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Speaker 2: You don't have a choice. They bought the land and

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Speaker 2: because it was close enough to Knoxville that they could

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Speaker 2: get to the railroad to ship things out to like

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Speaker 2: Los Alamos in New Mexico and back. Really, they just

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Speaker 2: really need a lot of space to maybe do experiments

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Speaker 2: that it wouldn't be near a large Do you think.

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Speaker 1: That the aliens are in Oakridge?

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Speaker 2: Not in Oakridge?

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Speaker 1: You don't think so?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 1: No, no, you sure even the underwater ones are talking about nowadays. No,

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Speaker 1: he's underwater aliens in UFOs. You sure they're not sure?

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Speaker 1: How do you know?

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I mean it could be like a fifty four an

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Speaker 1: Oakridge that we don't even know about the area when

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Speaker 1: I moved.

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Speaker 2: So I'm really not from Oakridge. I've only lived there

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Speaker 2: for four years. And when I moved there, all of

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Speaker 2: my friends that I made grew up there. They always

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Speaker 2: joke about it. They think it's so funny. When they

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Speaker 2: were in high school, they would always say, we're from Oakridge.

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Speaker 2: We glow.

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Speaker 1: Because the secret stuff. All right, So we got Gabby

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Speaker 1: Laurent from Oakridge living under a veil of government secrecy. Yes,

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Speaker 1: but that's not why you're here.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: You wrote a book, Wrinkle Gosh, Wrinkles, Welcome at Cancer

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Speaker 1: Survivors Memoir. And when I look at you, I don't

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Speaker 1: see someone that looks like they're old enough to be

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Speaker 1: a cancer survivor. So we've got to got to get

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Speaker 1: into that a little.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but first before we go there and why you're here,

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Speaker 1: which which is really an uplifting story that I'm going

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Speaker 1: to get to. You didn't grow up in Oakridge. Where

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Speaker 1: did you grow up? Tell me about you?

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Speaker 2: So? I grew up in Madison, North Carolina. Huh, you've

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Speaker 2: never heard of it. Sounds a lot like Oakridge, Like Oakridge,

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Speaker 2: except no secrets and glowing, no secrets. It's a town

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Speaker 2: of about two thousand, so very working class, lower to

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Speaker 2: upper middle class. Everybody there was involved in farming, tobacco.

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Speaker 2: Just not a lot going on. Yeah, just country roads.

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Speaker 1: Take my mom and dad.

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Speaker 2: Mom and dad. So my dad grew up in Stokes County,

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Speaker 2: North Carolina. Of course, he right. So there's towns called

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Speaker 2: like Rural Hall and Fancy Gap, you know, these cute

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Speaker 2: little names.

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Speaker 1: Also, any place called Possum Trot. By a chance, there's

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Speaker 1: a Possum Trot in Texas, and we're going to do

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Speaker 1: a story on that spoiler alert about a church that

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Speaker 1: had two hundred people that adopted seventy seven children from

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Speaker 1: foster care in Possum Trot, Texas. Beautiful and basically eradicated

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Speaker 1: the need for foster care in their little town. But

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Speaker 1: it was Possum Trot. So I'm feeling a lot like Madison,

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Speaker 1: North Carolina.

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Speaker 2: Right. And my grandparents they lived in Stokes County and

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Speaker 2: they lived really close to Have you ever heard of

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Speaker 2: like Maybury? Oh no, oh yeah, like the real Maybury

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Speaker 2: mount Airy, North Carolina.

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Speaker 3: But Maybury's based on right, So I was always.

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Speaker 1: In any Griffith show they sometimes refer to mount Airy.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, as if it's another city near Maybury. Right.

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Speaker 2: It's awesome, It's really sweet. And I really, as a child,

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Speaker 2: was confused because everybody there was so kind. Everybody in

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Speaker 2: that area was just like on the show, and I

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Speaker 2: thought I was there. I thought I was in the show.

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Speaker 1: Really it felt that way, felt that way. Did go

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Speaker 1: change your tires or your oil?

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Speaker 2: No, but you could go to the Snappy Lunch. Really,

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Speaker 2: there's a real snappy lunch there.

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Speaker 3: No come on, yes, no kidding, chop sandwich.

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Speaker 1: You'll ever have did the sheriff we are going?

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Speaker 2: I don't remember, but you can go there now, and

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Speaker 2: you got to go one day. But you can ride

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Speaker 2: in like the sheriff truck around or the car around

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Speaker 2: town is so cute.

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Speaker 1: That's awesome. So you grew up small town Norman Rockwell

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Speaker 1: painting well.

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Speaker 2: Everybody else was like that, but my home was really

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Speaker 2: different because I don't know if you can tell.

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Speaker 3: I am a Latina lady. My mom is from Costa Rica.

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Speaker 2: My dad instead of going to college, he got into

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Speaker 2: Western Carolina and he was going to go to college,

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Speaker 2: but all of a sudden he took a diversion and said,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to buy this old retired tobacco farm for

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Speaker 2: nothing and just have a house there and work at

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Speaker 2: this coal powered steam station in North Carolina. And that's right,

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Speaker 2: that's where I grew up. A buddy of his said, hey,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to go on a short term mission trip

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Speaker 2: and you're my grandpa was a plumber, electrician, can fix anything.

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Speaker 2: My dad followed in his footsteps, can do anything. One

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Speaker 2: of those guys right, he said, you would be really useful.

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Speaker 2: Can you come? And my dad is like, what okay?

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Speaker 2: So just you know, when you're young and you just

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Speaker 2: have no response, illuild a roof for Sureton. Here's the thing. First,

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Speaker 2: he goes to Guatemala, then he goes to Honduras. When

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Speaker 2: he's in Honduras, he meets this family and they say,

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Speaker 2: we love you if you ever go to Costa Rica,

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Speaker 2: let us know because we think that you would just

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Speaker 2: love our family there and especially our cousin. No kidding,

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Speaker 2: no kidding. This is late seventies for real, for real,

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Speaker 2: So this is like letter writing time. This is how

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Speaker 2: they had communicate. So finally he gets an opportunity to

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Speaker 2: go to Costrica. He remembers these people. He sends them

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Speaker 2: a letter and it's like I'm going to Costrica and

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Speaker 2: they say, great, we're gonna We're gonna hook you up somehow.

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Speaker 2: They arrange it to where my mother goes to the

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Speaker 2: church where he's working. They're like putting electrical in and

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Speaker 2: putting a roof on and comes to pick him up

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Speaker 2: to bring him to my grandparents' house because you can't

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Speaker 2: get around, you know, there's not even road signs. It's impossible.

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Speaker 2: She brings him back, sits down, has a meal with

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Speaker 2: this family. My mom's kind of the only one that

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Speaker 2: can really speak English. My dad is like an amateur photographer,

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Speaker 2: and he's taking pictures of all the flowers. And at

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Speaker 2: the end of this meal, he says, hey, I would

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Speaker 2: love to send you these photos that I took. Could

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Speaker 2: I have your mail an address? So he did. He

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Speaker 2: sent her the photos and my mom opened them and

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Speaker 2: loved them. So she wrote him on that note back

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Speaker 2: and then they just started writing love letters back and forth,

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Speaker 2: which finally turned into long distance phone calls. I was

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Speaker 2: expensive back then, too, very expensive, early eighties, And eventually

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Speaker 2: they were like, this is the one, this is my person.

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Speaker 2: And they went through so much to be able to

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Speaker 2: get married, and then she eventually moved to North Carolina

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Speaker 2: to be with him.

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Speaker 1: That is a beautiful love story. But here's the question,

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Speaker 1: what does a woman from Costa Rica think when she

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Speaker 1: arrives in how area North that had to have been

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Speaker 1: culture shocked huge, and did people in that area look

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Speaker 1: at your dad and your mom and go like, that's

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Speaker 1: not normal. Yes, was that a issue.

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Speaker 2: It was hard. It was really hard for my mom

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Speaker 2: because you know, everyone in Madison, so the town where

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Speaker 2: I grew up in where they lived, is Madison, and

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Speaker 2: it was very much there's white people and there's black people,

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Speaker 2: and there's nothing else.

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Speaker 3: So to bring a Latina woman there, that's just so different.

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Speaker 2: And my dad was like the sweetheart of the area

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Speaker 2: and everybody loved him, and the vibe was a little

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Speaker 2: bit like maybe they wanted a hometown girl to have

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Speaker 2: one of the sweethearts of the area, do you know,

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Speaker 2: I get it. But it was love and it was

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Speaker 2: meant to be and they have the most precious marriage

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Speaker 2: you would ever encounter to this day.

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Speaker 1: To this day, what was Costa Rica back back then?

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Speaker 1: It's all it's still I mean, they have cities, but

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Speaker 1: there's a large, large portion of that place is still undeveloped.

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Speaker 1: I've never been there, but I'm told it is absoluutely beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Do you do you and your parents and your family

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Speaker 1: go back and forth.

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Speaker 3: Yes, we would go a lot as kids. We would

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Speaker 3: try to go.

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Speaker 2: That had to been so cool so cool. I couldn't

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Speaker 2: see it as cool because I wanted to do the

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Speaker 2: things that the like cool kids at school did, like

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Speaker 2: go to the beach with all my friends, and my

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Speaker 2: parents were like, we need to save money to fly

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Speaker 2: five people to Central America. And I couldn't see that

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Speaker 2: for the beauty that it was until I was older,

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Speaker 2: because you know, you never want what you have, you

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Speaker 2: want the other things, right, But.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, their love was just so.

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Speaker 2: So pure and beautiful and really the bedrock of our life,

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Speaker 2: you know, as a little family. To see what my

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Speaker 2: mom went through and that transition culturally, like you said,

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Speaker 2: she gave up everything, her language, her culture, her food.

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Speaker 3: She didn't know what her last name meant for years.

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Speaker 1: She didn't know what her last name meant, right.

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Speaker 3: Because it doesn't translate really in Spanish. It's another word.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So she was just like, oh, that's what this

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Speaker 2: last name is. Cool.

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Speaker 1: Wow, So I say, you grew up, That's how I

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Speaker 1: grew up. Do you see yourself as Rachel?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 1: Okay, So was that an issue there for you?

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Speaker 2: It was really hard And I write about that in

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Speaker 2: the book that probably the hardest thing was in middle school,

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Speaker 2: boys would walk up behind me and they would touch

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Speaker 2: my back and say, oh, I thought it was gonna

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Speaker 2: be wet.

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Speaker 1: Are you kidding?

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Speaker 2: And they would run behind me and go pesos, pesos pasos.

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Speaker 1: Through all the way through school.

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Speaker 3: Probably sixth through seventh grade.

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Speaker 2: Was the worst time.

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Speaker 1: What how'd that affect you?

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Speaker 2: It made me work so hard? Really, yes, I was like,

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Speaker 2: y'all are going to be mean to me, and I'm

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Speaker 2: going to be the best student in the class. I

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Speaker 2: was top dog.

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Speaker 1: They would touch your back and say, I thought it

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Speaker 1: was going to be what you know. It's a shame

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Speaker 1: because kids in late elementary and middle school, I'm pretty

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Speaker 1: convinced they don't intrinsically think that, but they get it

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Speaker 1: at the dinner table, which indicates that your parents probably

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Speaker 1: thought some of that too. From therapiers.

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Speaker 2: It's really sad. But but I couldn't hear them. I

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Speaker 2: could only hear my mom's voice in my head, which

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Speaker 2: was just she would always tell me I was the

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Speaker 2: most beautiful girl in the world.

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Speaker 1: That's awesome. So I tell you grew up.

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Speaker 3: That's how I grew up. And my dad was also

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Speaker 3: a pastor, so he worked at the coal plant and he.

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Speaker 1: Was to see a pastor before we went to go Rica.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no.

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Speaker 1: So he became a pastor.

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Speaker 3: Became a bi vocational pastor.

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Speaker 2: So he pastored a small church and he went to work,

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Speaker 2: you know, the normal forty hours a week.

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Speaker 1: What denomination?

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Speaker 2: Just independent, just no kidding.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So that's how you.

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Speaker 2: Come up, That's how I grew up.

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Speaker 1: You go to college, what do you do?

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Speaker 2: So I, even though I lived in North Carolina and

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Speaker 2: have all these great universities to choose from, I chose

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Speaker 2: to go to like a tiny liberal arts school named

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Speaker 2: Gardner Webb University.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, perhaps I've heard of Gardner Webb.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, really really small. And my parents were super kind

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Speaker 2: and they I worked really hard to get a lot

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Speaker 2: of scholarships, and they said every semester if I did

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Speaker 2: not get a C, like if I only made a's

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Speaker 2: and b's, they would pay my student loans back.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: So of course I wasn't going to make a thief.

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Speaker 2: What a gift. I'm so thankful for that. I mean,

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Speaker 2: my dad was like cutting timber off of the farm

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Speaker 2: to pay for my school.

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Speaker 1: Wow. And what's your degree in psychology? Of course it is.

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Speaker 1: Why wouldn't it be all right? So and then you

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Speaker 1: graduate and go back or.

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Speaker 2: Go, And I meet my husband at college of course

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Speaker 2: at Gardner Webb. He was a couple of years older.

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Speaker 1: Than the name Joseph Joseph and is uh, it's Joseph's story.

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Speaker 2: So Joseph's only child and he's from Seymour, Tennessee. So

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Speaker 2: once we started dating, got married, we both completed master's

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Speaker 2: programs at Gardner web so that we could go for free,

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Speaker 2: which was really nice. And his was in an NBA.

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Speaker 2: In mind was school counseling great?

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Speaker 1: And where do you go to?

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Speaker 2: So then he gets a really great job offer from

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Speaker 2: someone that he worked for at a Toyota dealership in Knoxville,

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Speaker 2: and he said he's opening up a new dealership. He

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Speaker 2: really wants Joseph to come work there, and so he

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Speaker 2: drug me across the mountains because I am a Carolina

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Speaker 2: girl and I wanted to live there. Yeah, so we

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Speaker 2: had to make that move, you know, when there's an opportunity,

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Speaker 2: and where he's an only child, it was great to

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Speaker 2: be closer to his parents.

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Speaker 1: I think now's a good time. That sets up sets

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Speaker 1: us up perfect. That's who you are, yes, that's where

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Speaker 1: you are. And so now you and your husband have

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Speaker 1: started your lives with your degree from good blue collar

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Speaker 1: loving backgrounds, and you're on the road.

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Speaker 2: Yes.

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Speaker 1: So here is what you wrote me, okay, which I

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Speaker 1: want you to know. Broat lumped my big goofy self

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Speaker 1: when I first read it. Hey Bill, I wrote a

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Speaker 1: memoir to inspire, hope and remind people that miracles happened daily,

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Speaker 1: and to reiterate your message that no one goes at

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Speaker 1: it alone. I was diagnosed with AML leukemia in twenty fifteen.

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Speaker 2: Were you married twenty twelve?

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Speaker 1: Twenty twelve, three years after getting married, far too young

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Speaker 1: for whatever that is. I was diagnosed with AML leukemia

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00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,479
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen. I was twenty six years old. The

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Speaker 1: cancer made itself known in blood work completed by your obgym.

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Speaker 1: I went from graduating with a master's degree to pregnant

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Speaker 1: with cancer in a month. No doctors knew what to

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Speaker 1: do with me, so we took the only course of

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Speaker 1: action that could lead to life for both of us.

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Speaker 1: I started chemotherapy at seventeen weeks of pregnancy. God carried

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Speaker 1: us through. Lewis is a healthy eight year old and

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Speaker 1: I am in remission, vibrant and full of life. We

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00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,879
Speaker 1: grew our family through adoption and brought home our Jack.

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Speaker 1: He is the collateral damage of the opioid crisis, exposed

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Speaker 1: in utero to apply of substances. I thought many feelings

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Speaker 1: of hate in my heart for the damage done to

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Speaker 1: his brain because of the choices his birth mom made.

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Speaker 1: I realized, through writing my book Wrinkles Welcome, a cancer

360
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,720
Speaker 1: survivor's Memoir, that we were both fighting our separate bottles

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00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,240
Speaker 1: in the pregnancies of our children, leukemia for me, addiction

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00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:29,919
Speaker 1: for her. Wow, And now a few messages from our

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00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,320
Speaker 1: general sponsors. But first, the Army currently has thirty four

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00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 1: premium members and we're hoping to grow it to one hundred,

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00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,160
Speaker 1: and we hope you'd be open to becoming one. By

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00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,880
Speaker 1: becoming one, for ten bucks a month or one thousand

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00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:47,399
Speaker 1: dollars a year, you can get access to cool benefits

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00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,600
Speaker 1: like bonus episodes, a yearly group call, and even a

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00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:56,359
Speaker 1: one on one call with me. You're so lucky. But frankly, guys,

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00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,679
Speaker 1: premium memberships really are about helping us to grow this

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00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 1: army that we believe our country desperately needs right now.

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00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,880
Speaker 1: So I hope you'll think about it. We'll be right back.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to unpack this, and there's a lot

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Speaker 1: to umpact. First, what happens when a young pregnant woman

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Speaker 1: gets cancer? What are your choices? Because I got to

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Speaker 1: believe whatever the treatment for cancer is affects embryo or

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Speaker 1: the baby, right, So how's that? How's that? I mean?

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Speaker 1: I would imagine very few listeners right now have ever

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Speaker 1: experienced or even know anybody, because you're too young to

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Speaker 1: get cancer at that age, and then to be pregnant

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Speaker 1: and all of that. So when that happened, I can

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Speaker 1: only fathom the shock and the tears and the calling

383
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 1: mom and dad and your new husband and now your

384
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 1: wonderful new life is completely thrown up on sage. You

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Speaker 1: go from an expectant parents to your first child, all

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Speaker 1: the excitement of life and the richness that has to

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Speaker 1: offer to wha am Okay? So I can only imagine that.

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Speaker 1: But then you have to deal with it, and you're

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Speaker 1: not evenly dealing with it for yourself, but now you

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Speaker 1: have a human being inside of you. So I'm just

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Speaker 1: curious what are the choices?

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Speaker 2: So it depends on where you are in the pregnancy

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Speaker 2: when you get the diagnosis, and they couldn't we caught

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Speaker 2: it as early as humanly possible. We watched it go

395
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 2: from weird bloodwork to okay, this is leukemia, to now

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Speaker 2: we know it's AML leukemia, which is like the bad one.

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Speaker 1: That's my question. AML. They got a lot of acronyms

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Speaker 1: for came you MLS the one?

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Speaker 3: It's the one you really don't want to get that one.

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Speaker 1: What's the survival? Right?

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Speaker 2: So here's the problem. Like you said, the average person

402
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Speaker 2: that gets AML is a seventy year old white man.

403
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 2: So the statistics on that are a five year life expectancy,

404
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,520
Speaker 2: but they're already seventy seventy so the data is probably skewed. Yeah,

405
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 2: and we can talk about it later. There's new data

406
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 2: that's come out in the last two years that.

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Speaker 1: You're not a seventy year old white man, you're a

408
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Speaker 1: twenty six year old half a spanar half white. I

409
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Speaker 1: guess that's what you call it. That's weird.

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Speaker 2: It's weird, it's real weird.

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Speaker 1: So uh So, the truth is because seventy year old

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Speaker 1: white guys get this and they have a five year

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Speaker 1: life execstasy, well even if they didn't have this, they

414
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Speaker 1: probably have a five year life inspect So there's no data.

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Speaker 2: There's no data, and there's no data. I am the

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Speaker 2: only person who has had that. Within AML, there are

417
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Speaker 2: like five different subtypes, so for the one that I

418
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 2: have is technically called AMML, and I really am the

419
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 2: only person to have ever had dis cancer with pregnancy

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Speaker 2: at the same time.

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Speaker 1: So like in the history of medicine, Yes, why aren't

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00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 1: you special?

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00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,400
Speaker 2: Away told me so, so you know we.

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00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 1: Lived near not well, that means that the doctors don't

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Speaker 1: know what the hell to do either.

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Speaker 2: They're lost exactly. So I mean, you're a unicorn, a unicorn,

427
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 2: a true unicorn. So the doctors they say, listen, we

428
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 2: cannot treat you here, like there is no one in

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00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 2: Knoxville that is even remotely able to help you. You're

430
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 2: going to need to go to Emory or Vandy. And

431
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 2: I was like, you know, I'm new to Tennessee. I'm like,

432
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Speaker 2: what are you talking about? And I said, is there

433
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Speaker 2: any way that I can go to Wake Forest? Because

434
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Speaker 2: I'm hearing these names and I'm thinking, must be a

435
00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,120
Speaker 2: university Nashville.

436
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:58,360
Speaker 1: Vandy's Nashville, right, Emory is Atlanta, I thing, but Forest.

437
00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 2: To Carolina's exactly really close to our.

438
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Speaker 1: I'm curious, did anybody ever bring up Saint Jude in Memphis.

439
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 2: I was too old.

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00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,920
Speaker 1: Oh that makes sense, Okay, go ahead. So because they

441
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,199
Speaker 1: specialize in like cancers, nobody even has ever heard of that.

442
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: No one ever supposed to get I just.

443
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 2: Which all my ecologists were saying. You know, I was

444
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 2: at twenty six, closer to eighteen than the seventy year olds, right,

445
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 2: so maybe it would have I don't know.

446
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 1: But anyway, anyway, Wake Forest, Wake.

447
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 3: Forest, they call. They say, yes, we have a leukemia floor.

448
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 3: Bring her on. So I get this call from a

449
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,120
Speaker 3: nurse and she's.

450
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 2: Like, bring enough stuff for a week, bring a book,

451
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 2: bring sheeks a week.

452
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,159
Speaker 3: And I'm thinking, okay, we're there for seven months.

453
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: Let's just not say a week. I had feel right now.

454
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 2: So we pack up all our stuff, we take our

455
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 2: dog to my in laws, and we go to North

456
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 2: Carolina and we check in and we're in this room

457
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 2: smaller than this room, with my intake on collogists, my husband,

458
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 2: and my parents. And she says, listen, we reached out

459
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 2: to ten different special like the most high up leukemia

460
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 2: doctors you can think of, ten different people. We said,

461
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 2: this is the case, what do you recommend? And they

462
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 2: gave ten different answers.

463
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 1: Because nobody knew, right, because.

464
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 2: You're a unicorn, because I'm unicorn.

465
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: Because if a unicorn showed up out here, we wouldn't

466
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: know what to do with it.

467
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:19,160
Speaker 2: You wouldn't.

468
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 3: So the sweet sweet oncologist who had previously been a pediatrician,

469
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 3: which does not happen.

470
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: That's a miracle, because you're pregnant.

471
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 2: Because I'm pregnant, she says, you've got three options. One,

472
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,959
Speaker 2: we can terminate the pregnancy. Two, you can forego chemo,

473
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,440
Speaker 2: which means like you don't have any and deliver the

474
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 2: baby as soon as we can. He'll be fine, and

475
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,439
Speaker 2: you will probably die a month later because leukemia will

476
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,640
Speaker 2: have progressed so far, because that's the problem with AML,

477
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,919
Speaker 2: it's too fast. Oh it rolls, it's on. Or the

478
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 2: third option was start chemo and hope for the best.

479
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,479
Speaker 1: When you do kimo and you're pregnant, that's your baby's

480
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 1: getting kimo too.

481
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 2: So they said there, they couldn't even tell me what

482
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 2: could happen to him. The closest thing they could say

483
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 2: is maybe he'll have heart problems, maybe his appendages won't

484
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 2: exactly be right. But they didn't know, and she said,

485
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,240
Speaker 2: you have five minutes to make your decisions.

486
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 1: That I would. I'm so glad. I was just about

487
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 1: to I'm putting myself in your shoes. And I'm like, okay,

488
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 1: is it now time to gather a family circle of

489
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 1: kumbaya and all have a decision.

490
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,440
Speaker 2: But I sat there on the table and I closed.

491
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 2: My husband's right next to me, My parents are over

492
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,120
Speaker 2: here sitting down. I can hear my mom crying because

493
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 2: I'm not her princess. You know, I've got two brothers,

494
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 2: I'm in the middle. I'm the princess of the family,

495
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,679
Speaker 2: and this is thinking about your daughters.

496
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 1: Worse, I don't I will start crying. Just I'm not

497
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: doing that. Yeah.

498
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 3: So I closed my eyes and I prayed.

499
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:11,919
Speaker 2: And the only reason we found out that I had

500
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 2: leukemia is because of the pregnancy and going to the

501
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 2: doctor and having blood work. Yeah.

502
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 1: If you would not have had that, theater never known,

503
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: and as fast as this thing goes, you probably would

504
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: have died.

505
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 2: Probably. So I had to give him a chance, because

506
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 2: he saved my life already, So I had to give

507
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 2: him a chance.

508
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 1: So one was off the table.

509
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,679
Speaker 2: One's off the table, and he deserves a mother. So

510
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna just die. I was gonna fight.

511
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: I know now that he is healthy, Yes, I can't

512
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: help but go back to that minute and think, this

513
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: doctor just said his appendages could be my stub, his

514
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,440
Speaker 1: heart could be mussed up. What if you had survived.

515
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 1: I know this had to have been part of the calculus. Okay,

516
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: I do this. I survived, but now I have damaged

517
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: this human being.

518
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 2: I was not a safe place.

519
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: The guilt.

520
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 3: Still think about it.

521
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: Do you that you made a selfish decision that.

522
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 2: Maybe something's going to pop up?

523
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 1: You know, oh that he's not through it, so you

524
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 1: carry concern and worry. Yeah, bless your heart. So when

525
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: you made this decision, in fact, hey, here's your life,

526
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 1: here's your baby's life. Everything was good or a day ago.

527
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: Now you have to make a life that decision for

528
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 1: both you and this child in five minutes. I mean,

529
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: that's a nightmare. I have a recurring weird dream. I

530
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: can't even believe I'm thinking about this. I'm going to

531
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: tell you, but I am. I have this recurring weird

532
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: I'm a puzzle guy. I love puzzles. I do three

533
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 1: puzzles every morning before I get out of bed. One

534
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 1: is wordle. You never do wordle. I did, but it's

535
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 1: on New York Times thing. I love it. Another is

536
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: a crossword puzzle that is only six by six dolls,

537
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,160
Speaker 1: but it has a clock and you try to do it.

538
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 1: You try to solve it before one minute. And then

539
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: another is this new word puzzle that they give you

540
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 1: all kind of jumbled up pieces of words and you

541
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: got to make five words out of them and you

542
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 1: make little words. It's awesome. I love it. Anyway. I'm

543
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: a puzzle guy, and I think it's either really like

544
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,600
Speaker 1: when Ebenezer Scrooge thought the first ghost of Christmas Price

545
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,479
Speaker 1: was indigestion. So maybe my dream indigestion. I don't know,

546
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 1: or maybe I'm just weird. But I have absolutely had

547
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: this dream many occasions that someone was holding either Lisa

548
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: or my children captive and I had a minute to

549
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 1: solve a puzzle. If I didn't solve it by a minute,

550
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: that they would go. And it's a stressor I know

551
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: where it comes from. It's stress, it's business. It's everything

552
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: I've got going on my life and feeling constantly under

553
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: the gun to get things done. That's what's manifesting this nightmare. Stream,

554
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: But I do have that yours was real. You had

555
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: a five minute decision to make a life and death

556
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: decision about you and that child. And when you made

557
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: that decision, how did your parents and your husband react?

558
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 1: They had to have felt the same stress.

559
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 2: Yes, the feeling I was feeling for my baby, I mean,

560
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 2: my mom was having for me. It was just a

561
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 2: big circle of naturally.

562
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what did they say when you made your decision?

563
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: And finally, and what did the doctor say? What was

564
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 1: the reaction to None of these three options are good.

565
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 1: I'm choosing this one because it's my personal decision for

566
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: me and my baby, full well knowing the risk. Did everybody?

567
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 3: I mean, so what I said was it was so strange.

568
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 2: I closed my eyes to pray, and when I opened

569
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,320
Speaker 2: my eyes, everybody is just looking at me, waiting because

570
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 2: it was my decision, and I said, let's do it.

571
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,720
Speaker 2: But I want everyone in this room, everyone in this hospital,

572
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 2: to go into this with a positive mind that this

573
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 2: is going to work. And I don't want to hear

574
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 2: any negativity from anyone that it's not going to work.

575
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 2: We all have to believe that this is going to

576
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 2: work for it to work, she said, this is going

577
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 2: to be the framework that we go from. Let's get it.

578
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 2: Let's go.

579
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: Wow, that is too heavy for a twenty six year

580
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 1: old kid. We'll be right back. So you roll.

581
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 2: So we go up to the city and you have

582
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 2: closed for a week, got close for a week. Luckily

583
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 2: my parents went to Target and got me some more

584
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 2: underwear and shirts and snacks, and of course, you know,

585
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 2: people wanted to give us things. So it was just

586
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,240
Speaker 2: an onslaught of crossword. You would have loved it. Crossword

587
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 2: puzzles and suduko and all these things. And we get

588
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 2: up to the room and my real main doctor on

589
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 2: the floor comes in, doctor Powell, And I said it

590
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 2: just something came over me and I said, tomorrow's mark

591
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 2: seventeen weeks.

592
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 3: Can we please wait till tomorrow?

593
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 2: Please get me one more day where my baby is

594
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 2: not going to be affected by chemo when they knew

595
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 2: they needed to start it that second. And he gave

596
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 2: me that. I begged, and he just saw this fear

597
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 2: in my eyes, I think, and thought, let me give

598
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 2: her a little control over this out of control situation.

599
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 2: And it really just, I don't know, made me feel better.

600
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 2: So then, yeah, yeah, it was a gift for me.

601
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:28,960
Speaker 2: So we started started the next day, started this insane

602
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 2: chemo that like a pregnant nurse can't even administer because

603
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 2: it's so dangerous. And I'm pregnant, and my husband they

604
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 2: hooked me up and he every time they would start

605
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 2: a new bag of chemo, he would pray over that

606
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 2: bag that that bag would do its job and nothing else.

607
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 2: And it was a miracle. And the craziest thing is

608
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 2: the whole time. So Lewis had three rounds in utero,

609
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 2: three rounds of key them in.

610
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: What do you mean Lewis did?

611
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 2: Baby?

612
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:06,280
Speaker 1: I know who Lewis. I know who Lewis is.

613
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 2: What do you mean he like like when he's in

614
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 2: You had.

615
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:14,359
Speaker 1: Three rounds while practice? Yes, yes, you all had them.

616
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 2: We had them.

617
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:15,600
Speaker 1: Yeah.

618
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 2: And I was just like this, Like I was never

619
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 2: throwing up the things that the things that you see

620
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 2: in the movies about the girl has the cancer in

621
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,240
Speaker 2: high school walk you remember, you know all these things.

622
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 2: It was not like that. I was like this, Like

623
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,239
Speaker 2: my husband and I were just hanging out eating cheeseburgers,

624
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,560
Speaker 2: watching Gilmore Girls, just just in Heaven.

625
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 1: Everything about this story has been great until you said

626
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls that's terrible. You like Gilmore Girls too? All right,

627
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 1: well this after room being Cassius, are not.

628
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 2: Nashville? Did you ever watch Nashville?

629
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:01,359
Speaker 1: Yes? Popular that I watched it once and that was it.

630
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 2: We watched you know who? You know. What you remind

631
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 2: me of is we watched a lot of Friday night lights.

632
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:10,080
Speaker 1: Oh for goodness gracious. Okay, So anyway, how long did

633
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 1: this go on? Seven months?

634
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 3: It was all our My whole cancer experience was seven months.

635
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 1: But you gave birth.

636
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,759
Speaker 2: They gave birth a month early. So what the thing

637
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 2: was You could have come at any time. We didn't

638
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 2: know what was going to.

639
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: Happen, because all this could like spur it.

640
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,440
Speaker 2: It could Yeah, the chemo, they don't know what it's

641
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,440
Speaker 2: going to. Could it break down something in there that's

642
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,280
Speaker 2: holding them in and it just comes too who knows.

643
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 2: But also when you have chemotherapy, you have chemo for

644
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 2: like a week and then like a week later you

645
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 2: bought them out with all your white blood cells and

646
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:44,360
Speaker 2: you have nothing.

647
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, because they're killing everything.

648
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,479
Speaker 2: Killing everything, so I would have no way to fight

649
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 2: off an infection, any kind of germs. We had to

650
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 2: be super careful for the first month, like when I was.

651
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 2: The word is nutro phoenic when you don't have any

652
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 2: neutro fills in your to fight off any infection. I

653
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 2: couldn't even touch anyone us. I couldn't touch no. I

654
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 2: couldn't if I went out into the hallway, I had

655
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,920
Speaker 2: to wear a mask. I couldn't have like live flowers

656
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 2: in the room. I couldn't touch mail, I couldn't put

657
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 2: my fingernails. I couldn't eat honey, black pepper fruit with

658
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,279
Speaker 2: the seeds on the outside because they're never clean. Like

659
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:25,960
Speaker 2: I had to make sure everything that I ate and

660
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:27,840
Speaker 2: everything I did was going to be safe for me

661
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 2: and the baby. Wow, yuckuck Yeah, because like you think.

662
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:35,879
Speaker 1: It's just going to be a weird question. But since

663
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: you said food, did you have cravings while you were

664
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: pregnant like a lot of people do even with chemo.

665
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,759
Speaker 3: I really want to eat a lot of cheeseburgers, Is

666
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 3: that right?

667
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 2: I was, like there was a Wendy's right down the street.

668
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 2: My husband would walk there, come back and bring me

669
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 2: a cheeseburger. I think it was maybe, you know, having

670
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,760
Speaker 2: low iron with all the chemo therapy.

671
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 1: Maybe when Lisa was pregnant with mix R fourth, she

672
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:03,720
Speaker 1: had a big thing sonic cheeseburgers, actually, and I bet

673
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 1: I ate Sonic two or three times a week for

674
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: about four months to where I almost can't stand the

675
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: smell of a Sonic burger now because she overdid the

676
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: Sonic thing. But I get the cheeseburger thing. I don't

677
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 1: know why that was that, but boy, she was all

678
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:24,439
Speaker 1: about a cheeseburger. And I mean multiple cheap breakfast, lunch,

679
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:28,800
Speaker 1: and dinner sometimes with Sonic. Yes, it's disgusting, but anyway,

680
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 1: so cheeseburgers, cheeseburgers.

681
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 2: But yeah, I you know, was just bald and pregnant,

682
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:35,280
Speaker 2: and I lived.

683
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 1: In a were you bald? Did you lose your hair?

684
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:38,400
Speaker 2: Did? So?

685
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:40,640
Speaker 3: I was a major unicorn at that point.

686
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: Because a twenty six year old, bald, pregnant chick. So

687
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 1: you give birth?

688
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 2: Give birth?

689
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: I have to ask you. You guys had to have

690
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 1: been freaked out praying that this child came out.

691
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 2: Yes, And I was so tired.

692
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 1: Oh you were beating up and you had.

693
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 2: To go through earth.

694
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,800
Speaker 3: Yes, And here's the thing we had to time.

695
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 2: I had. If you have AML, you have a certain

696
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 2: number of chemotherapies you have to have in a certain

697
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 2: window of time for it to work. Okay, don't get

698
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 2: them in a certain amount of time. There's a high

699
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,280
Speaker 2: chance it's going to come back later. So we're working

700
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,839
Speaker 2: with this timeframe. I can't deliver while I'm mutropenic. What

701
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 2: if he comes when I'm mutrorepoenic on his own? You know,

702
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,440
Speaker 2: there are all these questions, Oh gosh, what if he

703
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 2: comes at twenty six weeks. I knew every stat in

704
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,479
Speaker 2: my head of Okay, if he comes at this time,

705
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 2: he's probably going to be blind. If he comes at

706
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 2: this time, he's probably going to have these issues because

707
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 2: any premature baby born.

708
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: You know, was your husband prepared for all that too?

709
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 3: I mean you weren't at all. We just had to

710
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 3: go one day at a time, no, did you.

711
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 1: I was a little oblivious as a young father. Candidly,

712
00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:59,240
Speaker 1: I didn't know what Lisa knew and felt I didn't

713
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 1: understand it. I was too young, I was too immature. Whatever.

714
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:07,879
Speaker 1: Do you think he was in the same mind or

715
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,799
Speaker 1: was he more He's also worried about well, you see

716
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I mean he was well, it was Joseph.

717
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 2: I mean there were times where the fear in his

718
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 2: heart was like he was going to lose both of us, right,

719
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,120
Speaker 2: you know, so it was really hard for him. Had

720
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,240
Speaker 2: to have Yeah, but he I mean he was busy

721
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 2: every day with like insurance, calling all these people on

722
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,760
Speaker 2: the phone, making sure that everything is you can imagine

723
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,759
Speaker 2: that is a crazy world when you have cancer in

724
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 2: insurance is pushing back.

725
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:38,719
Speaker 1: We had to have a strength, a different kind of

726
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 1: strength than you did, still an uncommon strength.

727
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 2: Very uncommon. And he's six foot four and he had

728
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:48,319
Speaker 2: to sleep on this tiny little bed that we would make,

729
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 2: he would make and you know, take apart every morning.

730
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:56,919
Speaker 2: And he never complained once. Just with me. Another love story,

731
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:57,800
Speaker 2: another love story.

732
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 1: So you get birth, give birth, and Lewis pops out good.

733
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 2: It's just so soft. It's just the softest thing because

734
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 2: he was a month early, so he wasn't developed like

735
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:14,000
Speaker 2: his muscles you know that you would build up in

736
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,399
Speaker 2: that last month of pregnancy. And they let me hold

737
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 2: him for a few seconds and then they had to

738
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,239
Speaker 2: whisk him away to the nick you and he was

739
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 2: there for six days. That's not too bad. A blessing.

740
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,319
Speaker 2: Nick you babies are a blessing because they learned how

741
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,320
Speaker 2: to sleep on the schedule. And I was trying to

742
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:36,760
Speaker 2: take care of my body. I could not under any circumstances.

743
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 2: I could not have a C section if I because

744
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 2: because three weeks later I was not going to have

745
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:44,400
Speaker 2: an immune system.

746
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: Oh.

747
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 2: So they were very much like, you have to get

748
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 2: him out this way. We cannot cut you over if

749
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 2: he was.

750
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,400
Speaker 1: Breached or something. Just the way it's going to be.

751
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 2: He was, which means like he was sunny side up,

752
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 2: like his face was facing the wrong way, and he

753
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,960
Speaker 2: really got stuck and had to use the salad tongs,

754
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,399
Speaker 2: you know, to get him out. And they said, if

755
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 2: you don't get him out in this push, you're gonna

756
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 2: have to have a sea section. And you cannot have

757
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,879
Speaker 2: a sea section. And I had remembered this one old

758
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,920
Speaker 2: friend that texted me the night before and she said,

759
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,319
Speaker 2: I'm praying that you have supernatural, superhuman strength tomorrow because

760
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,080
Speaker 2: it was planned, the induction was planned, and in that moment,

761
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 2: I remembered her prayer for me, and I pushed and

762
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 2: he came out. Really is it is a miracle.

763
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,320
Speaker 1: Okay. So he went to Nikou for six days.

764
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,439
Speaker 2: We take him back to my parents' house. We had

765
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 2: decided that Joseph would be the primary parent with him

766
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:51,239
Speaker 2: at my parents' house and take care of him, and

767
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 2: then I would go back to the.

768
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 1: Hospital because you still had treatments.

769
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,040
Speaker 2: I had two more rounds of chemo to go after

770
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:02,799
Speaker 2: just having had a baby, sikes. So he's jumping in

771
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,240
Speaker 2: the fatherhood first child. Not alone. I mean, my parents

772
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:10,799
Speaker 2: are their support, but that's not still alone. I'm sure

773
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 2: he felt alone, right, And then we had organized like

774
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 2: I had a friend for each session to come spend

775
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 2: the night with me so that I wouldn't be alone

776
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 2: in the hospital room alone. And that was a huge

777
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 2: blessing too. But it was the dark and lonely time

778
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 2: of my cancer journey because when I was pregnant, I

779
00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:35,560
Speaker 2: had this thing to hope, this thing to fight for,

780
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,479
Speaker 2: this baby to think about. When we just thought about

781
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 2: this baby we're going to bring home, and we weren't

782
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 2: thinking about that we were in the hospital that I

783
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:46,840
Speaker 2: was getting chemo. It was just it almost when we

784
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 2: look back on it, it seems like it happened to

785
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:53,880
Speaker 2: someone else because we just My body just protected Lewis.

786
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 2: But when Louis is gone, when Lewis is gone, I'm alone.

787
00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 2: I was going to nurse, nursed so I had to

788
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,400
Speaker 2: pump and dump every three hours. Giving they What they

789
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 2: did was they held back a little bit on the

790
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 2: previous two rounds of chemo. They thought about Lewis. They

791
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 2: were like, we are going to consider him, but once

792
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 2: they got him out, they were like, we're gonna blast you.

793
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:18,560
Speaker 1: You're about to get ooped ooped.

794
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,280
Speaker 2: So I would get a bag of chemo by myself,

795
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 2: didn't have anyone there to pray with me. It was

796
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,799
Speaker 2: just me, and three hours later I would just pass out.

797
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,279
Speaker 2: I mean it was the most exhausting feeling I've ever

798
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 2: felt in my life. It would just literally make me

799
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:39,920
Speaker 2: go to sleep. And I it worked. It worked.

800
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:45,200
Speaker 1: I'm here and through this you decided from the letter

801
00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: you sent to me to write Wrinkles Welcome, a cancer

802
00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: survivors memoir. How long after all of this did you

803
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 1: write this?

804
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,680
Speaker 2: So I blogged because this was, you know, twenty fifteen.

805
00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:00,800
Speaker 2: Blogging was very popular, and I'm from this small town

806
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 2: with a robust rummill.

807
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 1: It was a really good way for you to tell everybody,

808
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:09,960
Speaker 1: this is what's really going on.

809
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:12,359
Speaker 2: Yes, I was like, I'm going to control the narrative here,

810
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:13,799
Speaker 2: this is what's happening, and.

811
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 1: Don't listen to what Barney's talking about.

812
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:17,840
Speaker 2: No, just this is real, this is what's happening. And

813
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 2: it was like a really therapeutic outlet for me. And

814
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 2: because I did that so much, everybody always said, you've

815
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,240
Speaker 2: got to write a book, You've got to write a book.

816
00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking when I when I am I gonna

817
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 2: write a book, I'm like knee deep in you know,

818
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:31,800
Speaker 2: dirty divers.

819
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 3: So yeah, so that was always in the back of

820
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:35,680
Speaker 3: my head.

821
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 2: I never grew up thinking I'm gonna write a book

822
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 2: one day, but this story had to be told. I

823
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 2: had to do it, you know.

824
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:51,520
Speaker 1: And that concludes part one of my conversation with a Gabby,

825
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,319
Speaker 1: and you don't want to miss part two. That's now

826
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 1: I'm able to listen to as we dive into our

827
00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:01,000
Speaker 1: adoption story together. Guys, we can change the country, but

828
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: it starts with you. I'll see in part two.

829
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 2: H