March 25, 2025 • 30 mins
CRC Survivors speak: Jonathan Shaw, Shannon Davidson and Brianna Mercker all share their stories of battling and surviving colorectal cancer - which continues to grow as a leading cause of cancer deaths in our country.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Jesson and McIntyre with Seattle Voice Your Community Boys,
presented by iHeartRadio Seattle. And this month is Colorectal Cancer
Awareness Month, and I think it is extremely important to
not only educate people, but share the stories of those
who have encountered this and survived it. And we do
know people have been lost due to colorectal cancer. And
so I'm very, very very pleased to be joined right
(00:27):
now by a survivor, Jonathan Shaw.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you. And I'd like to start from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is your story of not just fighting through it,
but surviving and thriving afterwards. How did you get diagnosed
in the first place.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
My diagnosis was about a year ago.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It was March twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I received my diagnosis as a result of the kalonoscopy,
which is common way that people find out. I got
that kalonoscopy because I had had some symptoms related, you know,
with my cancer diagnosis. And it's a stage three correctal
cancer that I that I have for four or five
(01:09):
months before you know, I went in and.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Got the Klonosky I was sometimes noticing.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Blood when would go to the bathroom, and you know,
I just I just kind of kept putting off doing
anything about it. And I happened to mention it to
a friend of mine on a walk and he said,
you know you better, you know you better go check
that out. So it's it's good. I mean, I am
grateful that he galvanized me into action to just go
ahead and get the klonosity that I've done. I've really
(01:35):
been procrastinating it for a while. I'm glad I finally
did it when I did. But my message now to
all friends and family is like, hey, learn from my experience.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And don't delay. I mean, even if you don't.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Have symptoms, you know, once you're eligible, go ahead and
just get that schedule. You did it in It's it's
such an amazing screening procedure anyway, you know, I went
and had got that done and they said, yeah, you
know you do have a growth. We're gonna we're gonna
get that biofs. Even quickly they turned around and told me, okay,
that is cancer. So then from there things kind of
(02:08):
moved quickly into a treatment process.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
With with Fred hutch here in the Seattle area. They've
been an amazing care provider throughout experience. I've gone through
kind of a standard process. Refer to it as the
three act play of cancer treatment right where in my case,
and this order will vary with with with folks that
I started with radiation last May, and then I proceeded
(02:32):
onto you know, chemotherapy, which you know is hard.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
And then the third act was surgery here in January
of this year. So how about a month to recover
from that. And at this point I'm done with scheduled
treatment and you know, feeling great. Yeah, And now it's
just from here on out, it's just a stands every
six months to make sure you know, I'm okay. So yeah,
(02:57):
surviving and thriving and feeling good.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That is one Jonathan Shaw, thank you so much for
just sharing that. You make it very relatable, and I
think one of the things that's important, at least for
me as someone who has not dealt with coloratal cancer
in my immediate family. I don't have many close people
to me who have dealt with it. There is a
stigma when it comes to getting checked out. People are
hesitant to get a kolonoscopy or even talk about it.
(03:19):
I mean, you just said that you were talking to
a friend on a walk and that's what galvanized you
to go.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Get checked out.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And I feel like if we share with each other
a little bit more will become less hesitant to take
care of ourselves.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I agree, totally agree.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, I think there is a stigma there. Yeah, I
mean I've had the symptoms for a while and it's just,
you know, a lot of times it's not really an
opportunity and sort of like conversation to bring these things up.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I am glad I brought up to a friend. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Jonathan Shaw here with me, Jasmine McIntyre. This is see
how the voice presented by iHeart Radio and Jonathan. Now
that you're looking ahead, I know that I know a
lot of people who have had different kinds of cancers.
But looking ahead, now you know what's your outlook. You
survived and you beat it in what I would consider
a short time considering how many people, how many months,
(04:10):
sometimes years, people have to fight something. Did it change
your outlook on life as a whole?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You know, yeah, it absolutely did. And that's one of
the I think one of the interesting paradoxes of getting
hit with a you know, a diagnosis like this that
can be fatal. I mean it does for me certainly,
really impacted my outlook on life. I feel like I
actually have a much more positive viewpoint on life having
(04:37):
kind of come face to face with my own mortality
and for myself, you know, I'm living very healthy, you know,
I've switched to an extremely healthy diet and it's positive,
like I'm having a lot of fun, you know, with
very healthy smoothies and just a healthy approach to diet.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And exercise, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And along with that, you know, I've really gotten plugged
into our local community of my fellow survivors and tribers
in the correctal cancer sort of community and just amazing
people right who are right now, we're all very busy
focusing on advocacy and awareness because this is a course
co directal cancer Awareness Month, And for me, that's and
(05:14):
I think for a lot of you know, cancer survivors,
an incredibly positive way to turn my experience into something
where I can hopefully help others. If there's any way
I can help anybody, you know, avoid what I went
through or get comfort and knowledge and tips from my experience,
you know, I have a cousin who got a similar
diagnosis to mine just a few months ago, so I'm
(05:36):
kind of playing a shirpo role to her now, guiding
her through the process.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you know, for me that now is just.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Something I feel like it's really important for me to do.
Makes me feel great.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I feel like.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I'm doing something to help folks based on my own
heart experience. So so yeah, that that really, it really
has been a paradoxically kind of a shift towards I
think a more positive and engaged of you on life
than I had. So making the most of it.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Here, Well, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You're paying it forward to not just yourself but other people.
So that's a beautiful way of looking at it. Jonathan
Schild joining me, j Justman McIntyre here first Seattle Voice,
your community Voice. And I know that we talked about
some of the advice that you had given was to
you know, get checked out, pay attention to any symptoms,
get checked out anyway when you come of age.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But for those who you know are.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Are still hesitant, maybe don't have symptoms, are of age
and put it off like you said you did yourself,
what would you just tell them about the actual procedure
of getting checked out itself, because I think people get
nervous around colonoscopies.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, And I know this comes up
a lot. I mean it's uh, you know, I know,
it can be a hassle and the liquid that you
drink and everything.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Is not so pleasant.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, the prep right, Yeah, I mean I think what I.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Would say is, yeah, the whole prep experience, it's definitely annoying.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, my.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Hates to make this sound extreme, but that just it
really appales in comparison to basically losing a year of
your life to cancer treatment and you know, and everything
that goes along with chemos So you know, in screening
through uh, you know, this process absolutely can.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Reduce the risk of needing to go through the treatment process.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
So I would say, yeah, you know, definitely a hassle,
but certainly worth it when you consider, uh, just everything
that goes along with cancer treatment. Now, I mean, the
great news is cancer treatment is more effective than it
ever has been. There's been amazing advances in cancer treatment.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Just in the past five years. But still, you know,
you don't want to go through it.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
I mean, trust me, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Went through it. It just eats up a lot of your.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Time, right, and that's just way, way more than bean
the time spent on preparing for the klonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So and the other thing is I would.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Say, hey, you know, get streamed dot org and very
simple your l to remember. Get streamscreen dot org. You
can visit that site and there's there's things you can
check if it's hard for you to get into a
klonoskity just around assessing your risk. There's ways, you know,
there's there's ways you can assess risk that you know,
if you're not able to get into a Klonosky right
(08:13):
way that there's there's other ways you can kind of
start that process. So I would encourage folks to at
least start with that, with that website, to just start
to assess their risk.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That is great advice. And I will share my own
story with you. It was with a breast cancer scare.
I was at my regular doctor and she said I
had had one lump found when I was twenty two,
just got off my parents insurance, so that was fun.
But anyway, my regular doctor visit, she told me, well,
you should get an ammogram your due and I was like, no, no,
(08:45):
I hate that, and I called him bovie smashed. I
was like, I don't like that, and she goes, you
know what you're gonna not like even more than that cancer,
Go get checked.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And she was so direct, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Exactly what you But I did it because of her.
And then I had an irregular mamogram so and I
will tell you, luckily it was not cancer, but that
peace of mind afterwards. Whether I had something, you could
come up clean in a mammogram, but that peace of
mind afterwards is like nothing else that you will feel
because the you know, at least for me when I
(09:17):
had an irregularity, it was very scary for those two
weeks that I had to wait. And if you don't
have any symptoms and you are of age to get
a kolonoscopy, do it just for the peace of mind
if nothing else. It is exactly a preventive health is healthcare.
And you shared with me, so I wanted to share
with you as well, but it was because of that doctor.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just didn't want to do it. I'm like, no,
I'm not taking a day off.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Far.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
I love that example totally.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, I love it both.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Of us putting that out there. But Jonathan Shaw, Thank
you so much for your time. I am so pleased
to be talking to so many of you today and
I just really appreciate you putting yourself out there for
this and bringing awareness to it, and also for living.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
You did it, you survived, you kicked it as let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Love it judgment totally agreed.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Thank you, Okay, thank you so much. Joining me now
is Shannon Davidson. Shannon, thank you so much. As I
had mentioned to Jonathan Shaw who he just talked to,
this is a story. This is an episode dedicated to
your stories during Coloractal Cancer Awareness Month, and that is
where I'd like to start off with you today.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And one thank you for joining me.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So where do things start for you when it came
to your diagnosis?
Speaker 7 (10:35):
So things started for me roughly in the summer of
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
I was twenty four years old.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
And had experienced some DEI issues like changing bowel habits,
some pain in my abdominal region, and.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
A lot of unexplained weight loss.
Speaker 7 (10:55):
And I went to the doctor and for the longest
time we thought it was an abscess, and it was
an absess but little did we know that the absess
was actually caused by the tumor, which was rectal cancer.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
At the time, we thought it was stage three. That
it turns out.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
We found more recently within this past year that it
has been stage four.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
So that's kind of the introduction to my story.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
The introduction, and so from twenty twenty three to now
where are you?
Speaker 7 (11:24):
So I am still undergoing treatment as we just recently
figured out that I am stage four. So in twenty
twenty three we kind of went forward with treatment as such.
We started with surgery because that abscess and.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
The tumor caused major, major blockages in my intestines.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
So that's when I had my first surgery and when
I became an ostomate.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
That's when my part of my.
Speaker 7 (11:54):
Colon and my larger intestine were pulled out and used
to make an me And now I live permanently with
an ost tome bag where that's where I.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Essentially get rid of any stool or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (12:11):
And after that we kind of treatment that has followed.
I had eight realms of chemotherapy and then the chemotherapy
was the.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Drug full sphere and ox or five FU.
Speaker 7 (12:26):
It's a combination of five chemotherapy drugs in one and
I had eight.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Sessions of that, and then we kind of.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Geared up to have me go through radiation, but the
abscess kind of created a bit of an infections inside
of me, and that infection hadn't resolved, so they decided
to forego radiation just to kind of hopefully clear up
that infection. That was roughly around twenty twenty four, So
(13:01):
January February of twenty twenty four is when I figure
finished chemotherapy and was initially starting to go into radiation.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Wow, we geared up to go into radiation, so those
who are really quick because I'm.
Speaker 7 (13:15):
So young, and because it was such a aggressive cancer.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It was really fast growing. My doctor said it.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
Couldn't have been there more than a month or two.
So based on you know, my symptoms and how large
the tumor it was and how you know the spread
and stuff like that, they knew that we needed to
kind of as aggressive as the tumor was, we needed
to be just as aggressive in treatment.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
So they geared up to radiation, but they decided not.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
To go with that because radiation can sometimes have a
little bit more damage in infected areas and areas that
aren't necessarily healed internally, and instead of radiation, I was
sent over to another surgeon. Initially, all my treatments was
through Swedish and then I was sent to another hospital
(14:08):
called Virginia Mason and they decided to have me go
through something called a protectomy or a Barbie butt.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Procedure where my.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Where my butthole or amus was removed surgically and essentially
kind of stitched over with some skin.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Wow, and then I also had a hysterectomy.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
At that time.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
They said that that was the.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
Most recommended recommended course of action because the infection and
the margins of the tumor were somewhat positive closer to
my uterus. So this was just all kind of out
of a very safety and precautions of trying to make
sure that that cancer was not going to come back.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Shannon, that is a lot to go through at such
a young age that you are, and you sound so strong.
I know that we don't know each other as people,
but you sound extra xtremely strong. I'd imagine that hopefully
there's some mental side of therapy or people around you
that you have a strong support system from the mental.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Side of that.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
I'm really lucky on that side. I've been seeing the
same therapist since I was in high school, and I
was already seeing her when I was diagnosed, and so
we just kind of continued with our treatment and actually
upped our treatment schedule and talked quite often throughout.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
This, and she was a huge part in humunicating my sanity.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
On top of that, I had a really great family.
They've all been really helpful in just kind of being
there for me throughout this, and I've had a lot
of friends show up for me, which I know isn't
always the case. I know a lot of people have
friends that ghost them, and I'm really lucky that I
didn't have that experience. So that's been a big part
(15:55):
of my confident.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, it's amazing too.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And also these are not comfortable conversations that have so
I just have to tell you how grateful I am
on behalf of the audience listening as well for you
to talk about it. And there's a stigma when it
comes to any kind of illness.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I guess I can.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Say, but specifically, you know, colorectal cancer. I think a
lot of people also equate it to a man's disease
because of prostate cancer, and those are completely two different things.
And so I mean, what what prompted you to be
able to even talk about this.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
I think one of the biggest things was.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I just saw how much same and how much it
affected my own life and how young I am.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
And it just it scared me. And you know, usually
I had somebody say the same thing.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
When I told them, you know what cancer I had,
They said, oh, it's not an old man's disease, and
I was like, yeah, you would.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Think so, huh. Yeah. My biggest thing is if it
could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
I you know, before all of this, I was relatively healthy.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I you know, never had had any chronic illnesses.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I had always had great blood work, and so cancer
was the absolute last.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Thing that we thought it could be.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
And I just keep thinking of how many people could
be in the same shoes as me, and not wanting
to talk about this because I you know, I didn't
wait too long to talk about it, but I still
wasn't you know, it wasn't the first thing on my mind.
You know, the first day I started having symptoms, I
wasn't like, hey, you know, I'm having some trouble with
(17:29):
my poops. That's not necessarily what everybody starts a conversation.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
With, right exactly, That's what Jonathan said.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
It's not something that comes up easily in polite conversation.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
No exactly, But sometimes it's what the conversation that needs
to be had had, because it's the silence that kills.
When we don't talk about it, it allows our cancers
to grow and to spread and metasticize and to continue
to destroy more and more parts of our bodies and
to take more lives, specifically young lives, because we don't
(18:02):
expect it to be cancer, and we don't get tested,
you know, for coorectal cancer, you don't recommended screening.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Agesn't until forty five. I was twenty four though I
had twenty years right that I couldn't have been screened.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
So the whole reason for me to share my story
is because, well, people my age can't really get screened
unless they have symptoms, and they don't know what those
symptoms are, so I kind of have to share them
or else, you know.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
What if somebody I know had something.
Speaker 7 (18:30):
Similar to me and ended up being diagnosed with coorectal cancer.
And I didn't say, you know, something about my symptoms
and I could have you know, prevented them from you know,
being diagnosed later or something like that. That's kind of
where I've been coming from and.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
All of this well, that's what the show is dedicated to.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I'm doing the whole month of March dedicated to co
directal cancer awareness because it is not talked about. So
thank you so much for your time and for your
courage to put it out there too.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I know that it's not easy to talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You were a really, really strong person and your voice
is extremely important.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So thank you for being on Seattle Voice.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Again.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
This is Justin and McIntyre with Seattle Voice, your community
voice here presented by iHeartRadio in Seattle, and right now
I am joined by Brianna Merker.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Brianna, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 8 (19:18):
Always happy to connect and share my story and information.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's what this episode is dedicated to, is your story.
So I'm going to ask you to open up and
start us at the beginning of yours.
Speaker 8 (19:29):
Oh yeah, the beginning. So twenty eighteen Spring April, and
I was preparing to celebrate my twin son's third birthday
and getting ready to celebrate my own birthday later that month.
I would be turning thirty nine and was surprised to
add a new milestone to that busy month of April
(19:52):
to receive a stage four corectal cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
I was a total shock to.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Me and my family. I had no family history and
was otherwise healthy, active, and yeah, just had some minimal
symptoms that could easily be associated with other things. As
I mentioned, I had two young kids that came as
a package deal. It was really easy for me to
(20:21):
lose my pregnancy weight, but I was nursing two babies
and weight loss and explain weight losses a symptom, and
I was fatigued. I was very tired around twin toddlers,
and that is another common symptom. So I just really
didn't know anything different.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
The kind of.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Trigger for me to share with my doc actually in
an appointment around something totally different as a side.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Note, was like, hey, Doc, I'm noticing some.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
Changes with my normal bathroom habits.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I'm feeling like I need to go all the time.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
But nothing much is coming from that. I am experiencing
like regular occurrences of severe nausea and cramping that just
don't seem to go away. So I'm super fortunate that
my doctor wasn't dismissive, especially for me being a.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Relatively new mom and experiencing.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Lots of changes to my body and hormones and mental
health and all the things that many young moms are
dismissed when they present these kinds of symptoms and changes
to their to their doctors. So I'm really glad that
mine was not dismissive and helped me get to the
root cause of what was going on, ultimately referring me
(21:43):
to get a cool anoscopy, and that's what sound and
identified the fact that I had a gulf ball sized
tumor in my rectum.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's the start of the story. That's just the start.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
Just to start, I went through a year treatment, very
aggressive treatment, and twelve rounds of chemo radiation to the pelvis,
multiple surgeries. A liver ablasion is a liver is where
my metastasis lives. And I am extremely, extremely fortunate that
(22:17):
after that year of treatment, I have been without disease.
I just celebrated, thank you so much. I just celebrated
my six year, hitting the six year mark without disease
in my body, which is a huge milestone and frankly,
very uncommon following a.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Stage four diagnosis.
Speaker 8 (22:39):
The trends are and odds are not in your favor.
And I am very lucky to have responded well to
treatment and be here to tell my story and also
share the story of a lot of friends that I've
made in this community that are no longer here to.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Share their story.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
So that's what motivates me to.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Raise awareness.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
I was totally surprised as a twenty eight year old
to receive this diagnosis and.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Didn't think that it was common, And people my age
and now have learned that this is the new feast
for this disease.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
I know you're you've been speaking with other community members
that are also under the screening age of forty nine.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
And I'm sorry, under the age of forty five. Yeah,
and you got it.
Speaker 8 (23:36):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Yeah. It's impacting more and more young people.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
At alarmingly growing rates.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So it is, it is, and I think that's more
reason for people to be aware of symptoms. I mean,
I can write things off to stress and this and that,
and I had a bad pizza the other day or
something right like totally this is and so people need
to pay attention to their bodies, especially under the age
of forty five.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
Yeah, most definitely. I mean the concerning thing is, most off,
the common symptom is no symptom at all, and most
often symptoms aren't presenting until there's already a pretty big
problem going on.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
So that is tricky. But yes, paying attention to.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Your body, feeling comfortable, looking at what's coming out in
the toilet, and making sure to like normalize this idea
that everybody poops, everyone has a cool one.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
It's okay to talk about it.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
It's okay to reach out to your doctor if things
are looking or feeling different, not to be you know,
shy about that and reserved. It's there's a lot of
stigma associated with poop.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And it's not easy to talk about.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
But it's but we just have to embrace it. It
just has to be a normal part of the conversation.
And it's just it's it's too risky. There's too many
lives that are at state to ignore it.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
I think Jonathan said, you know, it's it doesn't come
up in polite conversation it's it's not a regular conversation
you have. But what urged him to get checked out
is that he was on a walk with a friend
and just mentioned that something wasn't right, and his friend
pushed him to.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Get checked out.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Now, I talked to my girlfriends about stuff, but I
don't see myself bringing that.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You know, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Luckily, I haven't experienced anything like the three of you have.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
But it's still I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
How can people have that conversation and who should they
have it?
Speaker 8 (25:32):
With a great question, I mean, I think with your
immediate family first and foremost, it's also important to share
and know about your family history with any medical conditions,
but also with getting kolenocopies. With knowing a family history,
if there is a correctal cancer or even of poll
ups that are frequently found in plenocopies, that can be
(25:55):
a warning sign. If you're a family member regularly has
ups that are found, then they should be also paying
attention and getting screened, perhaps even earlier than the recommended
age of forty five. But you know, I've heard also
of friends in the community that were like nervous about
(26:15):
sharing with their partner about what they were experiencing or
that they were seeing blood when they went to the bathroom.
And it's just you should share whatever's going wrong and
with your loved ones so that they know and can
help look out for you, and also that they can
encourage you to advocate for yourself and they can also
(26:37):
help to advocate for you.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
You mentioned a friend to me via email, someone that
you had met through Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer.
She was a committee member, Meredith Pyro. I just wanted
you the opportunity to share a little bit about her.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Yeah, she was a wonderful woman, SeeMe age as me
when she was diagnosed, also at thirty eight, also within
a month's time for my diagnosis. So we started out
kind of in similar trajectories but ultimately ended with a
very different fate. And unfortunately she passed from the disease
(27:14):
in twenty three.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
And she just was a super vibrant woman that had
her whole life out of her. She had a successful career.
Speaker 8 (27:25):
She was super engaging and interested and wanting to raise
awareness to after her diagnosis. She thought extremely valiantly. She
showed up to the walk after being a part of
the planning committee and planning our annual walk.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
She showed up.
Speaker 8 (27:46):
She was so determined to be there with her family
and support system. They pushed her in a wheelchair and
she participated in the lock and then entered office directly falling.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So it's heartbreaking but also motivating.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
To share her story and know that there's wonderful people
that are are.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Being lost to this disease.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
And like I mentioned, I'm one of the very lucky
few to beat the odds, and I think it's important
to celebrate that and share that story to provide hope
for others that have a metastatic correctal cancer diagnosis. It
doesn't have to be a life sentence or a life
ending sentence.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
But the reality is is that there.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
That is a possibility, and it's not fair and we
we need to That's why we need to talk about poop,
not to make light of.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
It, but it's just it's so important.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
That's normalizing it though, just like it's a part of
everybody's every day. Everybody was a childhood book, exactly, everybody
has a call in Like it's just yeah, it has
to be normalise and we have to do more to
draw attention to the fact that it's now the number one.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Well, it's the number two cause of cancer deaths in.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
The United States, but it's number one for men under
fifty and it will it's number two for women under fifty,
but it will soon be by the time of twenty thirty,
which is just around the corner, the number one cancer
killer for men and women under fifty, and so it's yeah,
it's lesser known but really important.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
The stakes are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
High, they absolutely are.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I could talk to you for an extremely long time,
but I'm going to let you get back to your
family and just want to thank you, Brianna so much
for your time and for connecting me with your community
and allowing me to connect your community to all of
us listening today.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
So thank you, yeah, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You've been listening to Seattle Voice, presented by iHeartRadio Seattle.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm Jessaman McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
For show ideas or to find out how your voice
can be heard, email Seattle Voice at iHeartMedia dot com.
This is Jesson and McIntyre with Seattle Voice Your Community Boys,
presented by iHeartRadio Seattle. And this month is Colorectal Cancer
Awareness Month, and I think it is extremely important to
not only educate people, but share the stories of those
who have encountered this and survived it. And we do
know people have been lost due to colorectal cancer. And
so I'm very, very very pleased to be joined right
(00:27):
now by a survivor, Jonathan Shaw.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you. And I'd like to start from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is your story of not just fighting through it,
but surviving and thriving afterwards. How did you get diagnosed
in the first place.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
My diagnosis was about a year ago.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It was March twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I received my diagnosis as a result of the kalonoscopy,
which is common way that people find out. I got
that kalonoscopy because I had had some symptoms related, you know,
with my cancer diagnosis. And it's a stage three correctal
cancer that I that I have for four or five
(01:09):
months before you know, I went in and.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Got the Klonosky I was sometimes noticing.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Blood when would go to the bathroom, and you know,
I just I just kind of kept putting off doing
anything about it. And I happened to mention it to
a friend of mine on a walk and he said,
you know you better, you know you better go check
that out. So it's it's good. I mean, I am
grateful that he galvanized me into action to just go
ahead and get the klonosity that I've done. I've really
(01:35):
been procrastinating it for a while. I'm glad I finally
did it when I did. But my message now to
all friends and family is like, hey, learn from my experience.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And don't delay. I mean, even if you don't.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Have symptoms, you know, once you're eligible, go ahead and
just get that schedule. You did it in It's it's
such an amazing screening procedure anyway, you know, I went
and had got that done and they said, yeah, you
know you do have a growth. We're gonna we're gonna
get that biofs. Even quickly they turned around and told me, okay,
that is cancer. So then from there things kind of
(02:08):
moved quickly into a treatment process.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
With with Fred hutch here in the Seattle area. They've
been an amazing care provider throughout experience. I've gone through
kind of a standard process. Refer to it as the
three act play of cancer treatment right where in my case,
and this order will vary with with with folks that
I started with radiation last May, and then I proceeded
(02:32):
onto you know, chemotherapy, which you know is hard.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
And then the third act was surgery here in January
of this year. So how about a month to recover
from that. And at this point I'm done with scheduled
treatment and you know, feeling great. Yeah, And now it's
just from here on out, it's just a stands every
six months to make sure you know, I'm okay. So yeah,
(02:57):
surviving and thriving and feeling good.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That is one Jonathan Shaw, thank you so much for
just sharing that. You make it very relatable, and I
think one of the things that's important, at least for
me as someone who has not dealt with coloratal cancer
in my immediate family. I don't have many close people
to me who have dealt with it. There is a
stigma when it comes to getting checked out. People are
hesitant to get a kolonoscopy or even talk about it.
(03:19):
I mean, you just said that you were talking to
a friend on a walk and that's what galvanized you
to go.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Get checked out.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And I feel like if we share with each other
a little bit more will become less hesitant to take
care of ourselves.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I agree, totally agree.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, I think there is a stigma there. Yeah, I
mean I've had the symptoms for a while and it's just,
you know, a lot of times it's not really an
opportunity and sort of like conversation to bring these things up.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I am glad I brought up to a friend. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Jonathan Shaw here with me, Jasmine McIntyre. This is see
how the voice presented by iHeart Radio and Jonathan. Now
that you're looking ahead, I know that I know a
lot of people who have had different kinds of cancers.
But looking ahead, now you know what's your outlook. You
survived and you beat it in what I would consider
a short time considering how many people, how many months,
(04:10):
sometimes years, people have to fight something. Did it change
your outlook on life as a whole?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You know, yeah, it absolutely did. And that's one of
the I think one of the interesting paradoxes of getting
hit with a you know, a diagnosis like this that
can be fatal. I mean it does for me certainly,
really impacted my outlook on life. I feel like I
actually have a much more positive viewpoint on life having
(04:37):
kind of come face to face with my own mortality
and for myself, you know, I'm living very healthy, you know,
I've switched to an extremely healthy diet and it's positive,
like I'm having a lot of fun, you know, with
very healthy smoothies and just a healthy approach to diet.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And exercise, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And along with that, you know, I've really gotten plugged
into our local community of my fellow survivors and tribers
in the correctal cancer sort of community and just amazing
people right who are right now, we're all very busy
focusing on advocacy and awareness because this is a course
co directal cancer Awareness Month, And for me, that's and
(05:14):
I think for a lot of you know, cancer survivors,
an incredibly positive way to turn my experience into something
where I can hopefully help others. If there's any way
I can help anybody, you know, avoid what I went
through or get comfort and knowledge and tips from my experience,
you know, I have a cousin who got a similar
diagnosis to mine just a few months ago, so I'm
(05:36):
kind of playing a shirpo role to her now, guiding
her through the process.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And you know, for me that now is just.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Something I feel like it's really important for me to do.
Makes me feel great.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I feel like.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I'm doing something to help folks based on my own
heart experience. So so yeah, that that really, it really
has been a paradoxically kind of a shift towards I
think a more positive and engaged of you on life
than I had. So making the most of it.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Here, Well, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You're paying it forward to not just yourself but other people.
So that's a beautiful way of looking at it. Jonathan
Schild joining me, j Justman McIntyre here first Seattle Voice,
your community Voice. And I know that we talked about
some of the advice that you had given was to
you know, get checked out, pay attention to any symptoms,
get checked out anyway when you come of age.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But for those who you know are.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Are still hesitant, maybe don't have symptoms, are of age
and put it off like you said you did yourself,
what would you just tell them about the actual procedure
of getting checked out itself, because I think people get
nervous around colonoscopies.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, And I know this comes up
a lot. I mean it's uh, you know, I know,
it can be a hassle and the liquid that you
drink and everything.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Is not so pleasant.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, the prep right, Yeah, I mean I think what I.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Would say is, yeah, the whole prep experience, it's definitely annoying.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, my.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Hates to make this sound extreme, but that just it
really appales in comparison to basically losing a year of
your life to cancer treatment and you know, and everything
that goes along with chemos So you know, in screening
through uh, you know, this process absolutely can.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Reduce the risk of needing to go through the treatment process.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
So I would say, yeah, you know, definitely a hassle,
but certainly worth it when you consider, uh, just everything
that goes along with cancer treatment. Now, I mean, the
great news is cancer treatment is more effective than it
ever has been. There's been amazing advances in cancer treatment.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Just in the past five years. But still, you know,
you don't want to go through it.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
I mean, trust me, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Went through it. It just eats up a lot of your.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Time, right, and that's just way, way more than bean
the time spent on preparing for the klonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So and the other thing is I would.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Say, hey, you know, get streamed dot org and very
simple your l to remember. Get streamscreen dot org. You
can visit that site and there's there's things you can
check if it's hard for you to get into a
klonoskity just around assessing your risk. There's ways, you know,
there's there's ways you can assess risk that you know,
if you're not able to get into a Klonosky right
(08:13):
way that there's there's other ways you can kind of
start that process. So I would encourage folks to at
least start with that, with that website, to just start
to assess their risk.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That is great advice. And I will share my own
story with you. It was with a breast cancer scare.
I was at my regular doctor and she said I
had had one lump found when I was twenty two,
just got off my parents insurance, so that was fun.
But anyway, my regular doctor visit, she told me, well,
you should get an ammogram your due and I was like, no, no,
(08:45):
I hate that, and I called him bovie smashed. I
was like, I don't like that, and she goes, you
know what you're gonna not like even more than that cancer,
Go get checked.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And she was so direct, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Exactly what you But I did it because of her.
And then I had an irregular mamogram so and I
will tell you, luckily it was not cancer, but that
peace of mind afterwards. Whether I had something, you could
come up clean in a mammogram, but that peace of
mind afterwards is like nothing else that you will feel
because the you know, at least for me when I
(09:17):
had an irregularity, it was very scary for those two
weeks that I had to wait. And if you don't
have any symptoms and you are of age to get
a kolonoscopy, do it just for the peace of mind
if nothing else. It is exactly a preventive health is healthcare.
And you shared with me, so I wanted to share
with you as well, but it was because of that doctor.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just didn't want to do it. I'm like, no,
I'm not taking a day off.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Far.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
I love that example totally.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, I love it both.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Of us putting that out there. But Jonathan Shaw, Thank
you so much for your time. I am so pleased
to be talking to so many of you today and
I just really appreciate you putting yourself out there for
this and bringing awareness to it, and also for living.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
You did it, you survived, you kicked it as let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Love it judgment totally agreed.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Thank you, Okay, thank you so much. Joining me now
is Shannon Davidson. Shannon, thank you so much. As I
had mentioned to Jonathan Shaw who he just talked to,
this is a story. This is an episode dedicated to
your stories during Coloractal Cancer Awareness Month, and that is
where I'd like to start off with you today.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And one thank you for joining me.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So where do things start for you when it came
to your diagnosis?
Speaker 7 (10:35):
So things started for me roughly in the summer of
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
I was twenty four years old.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
And had experienced some DEI issues like changing bowel habits,
some pain in my abdominal region, and.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
A lot of unexplained weight loss.
Speaker 7 (10:55):
And I went to the doctor and for the longest
time we thought it was an abscess, and it was
an absess but little did we know that the absess
was actually caused by the tumor, which was rectal cancer.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
At the time, we thought it was stage three. That
it turns out.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
We found more recently within this past year that it
has been stage four.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
So that's kind of the introduction to my story.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
The introduction, and so from twenty twenty three to now
where are you?
Speaker 7 (11:24):
So I am still undergoing treatment as we just recently
figured out that I am stage four. So in twenty
twenty three we kind of went forward with treatment as such.
We started with surgery because that abscess and.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
The tumor caused major, major blockages in my intestines.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
So that's when I had my first surgery and when
I became an ostomate.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
That's when my part of my.
Speaker 7 (11:54):
Colon and my larger intestine were pulled out and used
to make an me And now I live permanently with
an ost tome bag where that's where I.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Essentially get rid of any stool or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (12:11):
And after that we kind of treatment that has followed.
I had eight realms of chemotherapy and then the chemotherapy
was the.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
Drug full sphere and ox or five FU.
Speaker 7 (12:26):
It's a combination of five chemotherapy drugs in one and
I had eight.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Sessions of that, and then we kind of.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Geared up to have me go through radiation, but the
abscess kind of created a bit of an infections inside
of me, and that infection hadn't resolved, so they decided
to forego radiation just to kind of hopefully clear up
that infection. That was roughly around twenty twenty four, So
(13:01):
January February of twenty twenty four is when I figure
finished chemotherapy and was initially starting to go into radiation.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Wow, we geared up to go into radiation, so those
who are really quick because I'm.
Speaker 7 (13:15):
So young, and because it was such a aggressive cancer.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It was really fast growing. My doctor said it.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
Couldn't have been there more than a month or two.
So based on you know, my symptoms and how large
the tumor it was and how you know the spread
and stuff like that, they knew that we needed to
kind of as aggressive as the tumor was, we needed
to be just as aggressive in treatment.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
So they geared up to radiation, but they decided not.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
To go with that because radiation can sometimes have a
little bit more damage in infected areas and areas that
aren't necessarily healed internally, and instead of radiation, I was
sent over to another surgeon. Initially, all my treatments was
through Swedish and then I was sent to another hospital
(14:08):
called Virginia Mason and they decided to have me go
through something called a protectomy or a Barbie butt.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Procedure where my.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Where my butthole or amus was removed surgically and essentially
kind of stitched over with some skin.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Wow, and then I also had a hysterectomy.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
At that time.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
They said that that was the.
Speaker 7 (14:33):
Most recommended recommended course of action because the infection and
the margins of the tumor were somewhat positive closer to
my uterus. So this was just all kind of out
of a very safety and precautions of trying to make
sure that that cancer was not going to come back.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Shannon, that is a lot to go through at such
a young age that you are, and you sound so strong.
I know that we don't know each other as people,
but you sound extra xtremely strong. I'd imagine that hopefully
there's some mental side of therapy or people around you
that you have a strong support system from the mental.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Side of that.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
I'm really lucky on that side. I've been seeing the
same therapist since I was in high school, and I
was already seeing her when I was diagnosed, and so
we just kind of continued with our treatment and actually
upped our treatment schedule and talked quite often throughout.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
This, and she was a huge part in humunicating my sanity.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
On top of that, I had a really great family.
They've all been really helpful in just kind of being
there for me throughout this, and I've had a lot
of friends show up for me, which I know isn't
always the case. I know a lot of people have
friends that ghost them, and I'm really lucky that I
didn't have that experience. So that's been a big part
(15:55):
of my confident.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, it's amazing too.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And also these are not comfortable conversations that have so
I just have to tell you how grateful I am
on behalf of the audience listening as well for you
to talk about it. And there's a stigma when it
comes to any kind of illness.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I guess I can.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Say, but specifically, you know, colorectal cancer. I think a
lot of people also equate it to a man's disease
because of prostate cancer, and those are completely two different things.
And so I mean, what what prompted you to be
able to even talk about this.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
I think one of the biggest things was.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I just saw how much same and how much it
affected my own life and how young I am.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
And it just it scared me. And you know, usually
I had somebody say the same thing.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
When I told them, you know what cancer I had,
They said, oh, it's not an old man's disease, and
I was like, yeah, you would.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Think so, huh. Yeah. My biggest thing is if it
could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
I you know, before all of this, I was relatively healthy.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I you know, never had had any chronic illnesses.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I had always had great blood work, and so cancer
was the absolute last.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Thing that we thought it could be.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
And I just keep thinking of how many people could
be in the same shoes as me, and not wanting
to talk about this because I you know, I didn't
wait too long to talk about it, but I still
wasn't you know, it wasn't the first thing on my mind.
You know, the first day I started having symptoms, I
wasn't like, hey, you know, I'm having some trouble with
(17:29):
my poops. That's not necessarily what everybody starts a conversation.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
With, right exactly, That's what Jonathan said.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
It's not something that comes up easily in polite conversation.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
No exactly, But sometimes it's what the conversation that needs
to be had had, because it's the silence that kills.
When we don't talk about it, it allows our cancers
to grow and to spread and metasticize and to continue
to destroy more and more parts of our bodies and
to take more lives, specifically young lives, because we don't
(18:02):
expect it to be cancer, and we don't get tested,
you know, for coorectal cancer, you don't recommended screening.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Agesn't until forty five. I was twenty four though I
had twenty years right that I couldn't have been screened.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
So the whole reason for me to share my story
is because, well, people my age can't really get screened
unless they have symptoms, and they don't know what those
symptoms are, so I kind of have to share them
or else, you know.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
What if somebody I know had something.
Speaker 7 (18:30):
Similar to me and ended up being diagnosed with coorectal cancer.
And I didn't say, you know, something about my symptoms
and I could have you know, prevented them from you know,
being diagnosed later or something like that. That's kind of
where I've been coming from and.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
All of this well, that's what the show is dedicated to.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I'm doing the whole month of March dedicated to co
directal cancer awareness because it is not talked about. So
thank you so much for your time and for your
courage to put it out there too.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I know that it's not easy to talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You were a really, really strong person and your voice
is extremely important.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So thank you for being on Seattle Voice.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Again.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
This is Justin and McIntyre with Seattle Voice, your community
voice here presented by iHeartRadio in Seattle, and right now
I am joined by Brianna Merker.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Brianna, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 8 (19:18):
Always happy to connect and share my story and information.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's what this episode is dedicated to, is your story.
So I'm going to ask you to open up and
start us at the beginning of yours.
Speaker 8 (19:29):
Oh yeah, the beginning. So twenty eighteen Spring April, and
I was preparing to celebrate my twin son's third birthday
and getting ready to celebrate my own birthday later that month.
I would be turning thirty nine and was surprised to
add a new milestone to that busy month of April
(19:52):
to receive a stage four corectal cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
I was a total shock to.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Me and my family. I had no family history and
was otherwise healthy, active, and yeah, just had some minimal
symptoms that could easily be associated with other things. As
I mentioned, I had two young kids that came as
a package deal. It was really easy for me to
(20:21):
lose my pregnancy weight, but I was nursing two babies
and weight loss and explain weight losses a symptom, and
I was fatigued. I was very tired around twin toddlers,
and that is another common symptom. So I just really
didn't know anything different.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
The kind of.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Trigger for me to share with my doc actually in
an appointment around something totally different as a side.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Note, was like, hey, Doc, I'm noticing some.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
Changes with my normal bathroom habits.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I'm feeling like I need to go all the time.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
But nothing much is coming from that. I am experiencing
like regular occurrences of severe nausea and cramping that just
don't seem to go away. So I'm super fortunate that
my doctor wasn't dismissive, especially for me being a.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Relatively new mom and experiencing.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Lots of changes to my body and hormones and mental
health and all the things that many young moms are
dismissed when they present these kinds of symptoms and changes
to their to their doctors. So I'm really glad that
mine was not dismissive and helped me get to the
root cause of what was going on, ultimately referring me
(21:43):
to get a cool anoscopy, and that's what sound and
identified the fact that I had a gulf ball sized
tumor in my rectum.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's the start of the story. That's just the start.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
Just to start, I went through a year treatment, very
aggressive treatment, and twelve rounds of chemo radiation to the pelvis,
multiple surgeries. A liver ablasion is a liver is where
my metastasis lives. And I am extremely, extremely fortunate that
(22:17):
after that year of treatment, I have been without disease.
I just celebrated, thank you so much. I just celebrated
my six year, hitting the six year mark without disease
in my body, which is a huge milestone and frankly,
very uncommon following a.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Stage four diagnosis.
Speaker 8 (22:39):
The trends are and odds are not in your favor.
And I am very lucky to have responded well to
treatment and be here to tell my story and also
share the story of a lot of friends that I've
made in this community that are no longer here to.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Share their story.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
So that's what motivates me to.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Raise awareness.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
I was totally surprised as a twenty eight year old
to receive this diagnosis and.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Didn't think that it was common, And people my age
and now have learned that this is the new feast
for this disease.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
I know you're you've been speaking with other community members
that are also under the screening age of forty nine.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
And I'm sorry, under the age of forty five. Yeah,
and you got it.
Speaker 8 (23:36):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Yeah. It's impacting more and more young people.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
At alarmingly growing rates.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So it is, it is, and I think that's more
reason for people to be aware of symptoms. I mean,
I can write things off to stress and this and that,
and I had a bad pizza the other day or
something right like totally this is and so people need
to pay attention to their bodies, especially under the age
of forty five.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
Yeah, most definitely. I mean the concerning thing is, most off,
the common symptom is no symptom at all, and most
often symptoms aren't presenting until there's already a pretty big
problem going on.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
So that is tricky. But yes, paying attention to.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Your body, feeling comfortable, looking at what's coming out in
the toilet, and making sure to like normalize this idea
that everybody poops, everyone has a cool one.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
It's okay to talk about it.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
It's okay to reach out to your doctor if things
are looking or feeling different, not to be you know,
shy about that and reserved. It's there's a lot of
stigma associated with poop.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And it's not easy to talk about.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
But it's but we just have to embrace it. It
just has to be a normal part of the conversation.
And it's just it's it's too risky. There's too many
lives that are at state to ignore it.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
I think Jonathan said, you know, it's it doesn't come
up in polite conversation it's it's not a regular conversation
you have. But what urged him to get checked out
is that he was on a walk with a friend
and just mentioned that something wasn't right, and his friend
pushed him to.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Get checked out.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Now, I talked to my girlfriends about stuff, but I
don't see myself bringing that.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You know, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Luckily, I haven't experienced anything like the three of you have.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
But it's still I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
How can people have that conversation and who should they
have it?
Speaker 8 (25:32):
With a great question, I mean, I think with your
immediate family first and foremost, it's also important to share
and know about your family history with any medical conditions,
but also with getting kolenocopies. With knowing a family history,
if there is a correctal cancer or even of poll
ups that are frequently found in plenocopies, that can be
(25:55):
a warning sign. If you're a family member regularly has
ups that are found, then they should be also paying
attention and getting screened, perhaps even earlier than the recommended
age of forty five. But you know, I've heard also
of friends in the community that were like nervous about
(26:15):
sharing with their partner about what they were experiencing or
that they were seeing blood when they went to the bathroom.
And it's just you should share whatever's going wrong and
with your loved ones so that they know and can
help look out for you, and also that they can
encourage you to advocate for yourself and they can also
(26:37):
help to advocate for you.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
You mentioned a friend to me via email, someone that
you had met through Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer.
She was a committee member, Meredith Pyro. I just wanted
you the opportunity to share a little bit about her.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Yeah, she was a wonderful woman, SeeMe age as me
when she was diagnosed, also at thirty eight, also within
a month's time for my diagnosis. So we started out
kind of in similar trajectories but ultimately ended with a
very different fate. And unfortunately she passed from the disease
(27:14):
in twenty three.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
And she just was a super vibrant woman that had
her whole life out of her. She had a successful career.
Speaker 8 (27:25):
She was super engaging and interested and wanting to raise
awareness to after her diagnosis. She thought extremely valiantly. She
showed up to the walk after being a part of
the planning committee and planning our annual walk.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
She showed up.
Speaker 8 (27:46):
She was so determined to be there with her family
and support system. They pushed her in a wheelchair and
she participated in the lock and then entered office directly falling.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So it's heartbreaking but also motivating.
Speaker 8 (28:03):
To share her story and know that there's wonderful people
that are are.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Being lost to this disease.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
And like I mentioned, I'm one of the very lucky
few to beat the odds, and I think it's important
to celebrate that and share that story to provide hope
for others that have a metastatic correctal cancer diagnosis. It
doesn't have to be a life sentence or a life
ending sentence.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
But the reality is is that there.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
That is a possibility, and it's not fair and we
we need to That's why we need to talk about poop,
not to make light of.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
It, but it's just it's so important.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
That's normalizing it though, just like it's a part of
everybody's every day. Everybody was a childhood book, exactly, everybody
has a call in Like it's just yeah, it has
to be normalise and we have to do more to
draw attention to the fact that it's now the number one.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Well, it's the number two cause of cancer deaths in.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
The United States, but it's number one for men under
fifty and it will it's number two for women under fifty,
but it will soon be by the time of twenty thirty,
which is just around the corner, the number one cancer
killer for men and women under fifty, and so it's yeah,
it's lesser known but really important.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
The stakes are.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
High, they absolutely are.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I could talk to you for an extremely long time,
but I'm going to let you get back to your
family and just want to thank you, Brianna so much
for your time and for connecting me with your community
and allowing me to connect your community to all of
us listening today.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
So thank you, yeah, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You've been listening to Seattle Voice, presented by iHeartRadio Seattle.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm Jessaman McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
For show ideas or to find out how your voice
can be heard, email Seattle Voice at iHeartMedia dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.