April 10, 2025 • 18 mins
Amy Hughes, DO, is an oncologist at Mission Cancer + Blood, UIHC, and the founder and Chair of Amadora Legacy Project. She is a finalist for the Character Award.
Amadora Legacy Project Website: www.amadoralegacyproject.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmadoraLegacy
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/lovelegacy
Instagram: www.instagram.com/amadoralegacyproject
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me today is
Doctor Amy Hughes, who is a doctor at Mission Cancer and Blood,
(01:33):
and she is the founder and chair of Amadora Legacy Project.
Welcome. Thanks for joining me, Amy.
Thank you.
Amy, before we jump into the amazing work you're doing.
What else should we know about you as a person?
That's a really broad question.
I know that's
I it's intentional to see what what emerges for folks.
(01:53):
I am I'm a wife and a mother of three.
I'm a I'm an athlete.
I'm a nature lover.
I don't know how to be bored.
I don't know how to sit still.
So usually it's, if I do have quote unquote
free time, there's usually something else
that I'm working on from that perspective.
So I'm very well-rounded.
I like to do everything from reading to crafting.
(02:15):
And everything
between I love it
and being outside and being physical and being active.
I feel like you need a write
a book to help us all understand
how we can step into more of that lifestyle.
So obviously you have been nominated for the Character Award
through the Inspiring Women of Iowa event by greater,
by the Greater Iowa Girl Scout organization.
(02:36):
Talk to us about the work you do and the
I mean, there's so much that we can talk about.
I know in the short amount of time we have
and what's what's really driving your mission.
Yeah.
So I, I'm obviously by nature of my job,
I'm around cancer patients, you know, day in and day out.
And I, I've been in the field for almost 20 years now.
(02:58):
But even before that I was involved.
I was, in high school, I was a hospice volunteer.
So I was already around cancer even at a really young age.
I had some family members
who had cancer that I helped take care of.
And so I, I was so familiar with sort of that process
and how things unfold as the disease progresses.
So it was
(03:18):
it was kind of a natural
fit for me
from my childhood to go into the oncology world as an adult.
And it's one of those things where day in and day out,
when you're when you're seeing patients and you're
walking this journey with them, that is, quite frankly,
sometimes the hardest decision
making that they'll ever have to make in their life.
(03:40):
And it is eye opening, right?
It,
it reinforces the fact
that they have the mindset
that I think everybody should have,
which is it's not about money.
It's not about your car.
It's not about how much you own.
It's about your connections and your relationships and
and all those networks that you kind of support yourself with.
(04:02):
And so I just really,the the more that I was part of those,
that that part of life where we were approaching end of life.
The more I was seeing regret from patients
and from their family, regret of,
you know,
I wish I would have done X with my life or I wish I would
wish I would have told
somebody how I felt about them, things like that.
(04:23):
And it kind of reminded me back to, when.
So my grandmother had Alzheimer's.
And when I was a young teen, she they didn't live near by us.
And so by the time they moved back toward us
and I was, you know, through the teen phase of
I only want to be with my friends,
I really missed out the opportunity to hear her stories.
(04:45):
And she had this incredibly rich background.
You know, her parents immigrated.
So there's just all of these pieces that I felt like,
oh my gosh, I really wish I had those stories,
and I wish I could hear her laugh.
And and so I was facing the same discussions with my patients
and, you know, particularly young patients where they have kids
and they're worried that they won't be remembered.
(05:07):
They're worried that their kids won’t
remember their voice or remember their body mannerisms.
And so that's really what triggered Amadora Legacy Project.
It was sort of a culmination of my own experience.
And then witnessing
over and over again
all of these patients and their families
and what they're going through.
So our mission with Amadora is to capture
(05:28):
the life stories of of individuals with life limiting illnesses.
And we believe that it is the biggest gift of love
that you can give to a participant and their family members,
because it's the it's the gift that keeps giving, right?
You can keep it forever.
You're two generations down
the road, can know who their great grandfather was.
(05:48):
So it's, it's been a passion project for me.
It's I still work
full time in the oncology world,
so I have a busy daily schedule anyway.
But for me, it's worth it to put in the after hours
or the weekend work,
because I see such tremendous value on the other end of it.
Yeah, yeah.
(06:08):
How many families have you been able to support and capture
their stories?
So we we
officially got our 501c3 in September of 22,
and we have filmed 39 participants so far.
Yeah. And they've reached anywhere.
Our youngest was 26 and our oldest was 92.
And I tell you, he had some great stories.
(06:29):
Great stories.
I mean, it was like he was born around the time of penicillin.
Sure. Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
So it's it's really and frankly, it's really special for me.
And I've been able to do some of the interviewing myself.
And they happen to sometimes be my patients.
And it's really special to be able to hear
a totally different side of a patient
(06:50):
that I would have never had exposure to.
It's just a really unique opportunity.
It's been wonderful.
There's something that feels incredibly sacred about that.
You know, I think any time that we are able to hold space
and to hear people's stories and, and, you know, and when we
I just had this situation actually come up,
(07:10):
with a client we're working with is,
you know,
when you're, when you are in the family,
sometimes you have dynamics at play,
sometimes you have roles that people fall into
and that there can be a lot of value
to having somebody from the outside
pull those stories out that might be harder for them
to share, right, directly with the family members.
(07:31):
That's not always true,
but certainly certainly that can be the case.
Yeah. It's absolutely true.
And, you know,
we we give our participants,
so we typically film in their own homes.
That's where most people choose to film.
We have professional videography team.
We have trained legacy coaches
who kind of facilitate the interview.
Yeah.
And we always give participants the opportunity if they want to
(07:52):
that toward the end of the video,
if they want to leave a direct message
to family members individually, then they have that opportunity,
which has been
really beautiful,
to be able to see those messages come to fruition.
And then they feel like,
hey, I said what I feel like I needed to say.
I got to share these stories.
I got to share these words of wisdom.
They share messages about, you know, when they're with their
(08:13):
their children will eventually get married down the road
and they can,
you know,
say what they would have normally said if they were there.
It's just it's really incredible.
It's really unique.
Yeah.
That, no, that that is that is amazing.
I have so many like, there's so much I want to talk about
with you.
I love talking about it, so.
(08:35):
No, I think it's so beautiful.
And, you know,
that's something that my, my dad has always been really
passionate about is like, record the stories, you know, and it's
and it's that idea of almost like a living will, right?
Like, this is what I want you to know about who I am
and what my legacy is.
And here's the message that I want to share with you.
Yes, absolutely.
So you, you have this incredible opportunity
(08:58):
to be present and witness folks at incredibly vulnerable times.
And obviously,
like it sounds, it's clear that this has been a mission of yours
from a very young age.
It's just evolved.
Who is somebody who inspires you?
You know, you've you've been nominated.
And I'm always curious to know, like,
(09:18):
who's somebody who inspires the person
who's inspiring other people.
Yeah.
For me, it's not
I could honestly not ever tell you one individual person
because for me, it's I don't get inspired by celebrities.
I don't get inspired by that.
What I get inspired by are the people on the ground, right?
The people who
(09:39):
step outside of their comfort zone
and embrace their their talents
and their gifts and are willing to be maybe a little
in an uncomfortable situation
to make this beautiful thing happen. Right.
So it's like women who are in a pretty male dominated field,
but are willing to step outside of that box and be like,
no, I have a seat at the table
(09:59):
because I have these great ideas and this, this program
I want to create. Right.
So those are the people that I really feel inspired by.
Yeah.
And I will tell you, I, I am frequently inspired
by cancer patients. Honestly. Sure.
And I say that because there's one in particular
that I can absolutely think of not very long ago.
And what struck me so much about it was that
(10:22):
she had unfortunately received
some pretty unfortunate news from me,
and she was explaining to her daughter
about the fact that we didn't have treatment options left.
And what really struck me is that she was sitting there
telling her daughter, it's okay, it's
okay, because we have had so much time together
and she's not very old,
(10:42):
but we had this wonderful time together,
and we're going to continue to make these wonderful memories.
And what she said was
that not everybody has the opportunity to die well.
And I was like, oh, that's amazing, right?
Because in her mind, dying well was
she had the opportunity, she knew it was happening
and she had the opportunity
to stop and focus on
what was the most important
(11:04):
and purposely make time for those relationships.
Yeah. Which some people don't have the opportunity to do.
So it was a really unique perspective of,
you know, most people
when they get an advanced cancer
diagnosis, of course, it's
traumatic and understandably just it's an upheaval.
And here was this woman with a very unique,
opposite perspective of, but I know when my time will be done.
(11:27):
And I have the opportunity to do all these things
that I wouldn't necessarily be doing
if I was just sort of busy living my life
and not realizing that this was happening. Right.
I it was really fascinating to me. Yeah.
What? Yeah.
So those people inspired me
because I again, it comes back to that refocusing of
what's the most important thing in life. Yeah.
(11:49):
Which is so easy,
I mean, part of it is I think to lose sight of.
it’s how our brain is wired to be like,
don't think about your mortality.
Like if you yeah, you dwell on it. That can get overwhelming.
But if you can use it to drive your sense of purpose and,
and clarity around what's important to you,
yeah, that can be incredibly powerful.
But you know, think about it too.
Well, and think about it too, from the perspective
I actually really believe, so I agree with you.
(12:11):
The end of life is very hard for people to talk about
and to think about, but the reality is, is that the biggest gift
you can give your your loved one
and your family is the gift of preparation, right?
So yeah, I don't know when something’s going to happen to me.
You don't know. Right.
And so to be already prepared with, you know, here's
where you find my financial accounts
(12:33):
and here's what you do with, you know, X, Y and Z.
If something happens to me, I think is phenomenal.
It's a huge gift because it takes a tremendous burden
off of the family for down the road. Right.
So I, I across the board,
I wish that we didn't have so much stigma attached
to the whole end of life process,
because I think we could make it so much better,
and it happens to all of us.
(12:54):
I was going to say, and it's inevitable.
I mean, it's literally
the only thing that is true that everyone will experience,
and ignoring it
or denying it doesn't mean it's not going to happen.
I assume that that comes into a lot of your work
as a death doula.
We were privileged to interview, a number of different
people in end of life, on our show.
(13:15):
And it was just fascinating, this idea of all the things
you don't even realize, like,
yes, there's the,
coming up with the funeral accommodations, all of that.
But there's the do
you have the password to their phone to get their photos?
Exactly.
Do you know
you know, all of the different, like, accounts they have?
Do you, do you know what their preferences are?
(13:36):
And I, I understand the discomfort
and I love that language of
that's one of the greatest gifts you can give is.
Yeah, that preparation because the you're the,
those who are left behind are going to be in a tough spot
for so many.
Yeah. Right.
And so how do you take one thing off their plate.
(13:57):
Yeah.
And that's obviously you know
we'll never take away grief, right.
That's a natural part of the human emotion.
But if we can lighten that or if we can help them process
through that with, with taking away
some burdens that don't need to be there.
I think that's that's huge, right.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I think it's just
whether it's recording a video for your legacy
(14:20):
so that they remember
visual and audio, whether it's writing letters for some people,
whether it's filling out,
you know, all the documents about where to find things.
I think all of those pieces really come together
just to sort of make it as easy as possible
when you're facing things like the end of life.
Yeah, yeah.
It's, Yeah.
(14:40):
I mean,
it's to your point,
we might not be able to make it better,
but maybe we can make it not worse.
Sometimes that's how I view situations.
It’s kind of a strange way to say it, but it's like, well,
how do we make it not worse?
Like, let's not add more to the plate
or to the burden and so and yeah, go ahead.
Yeah.
Well, I was just gonna say, and I should point out too, that.
(15:00):
So with Amadora,
we started obviously in the cancer world
because that's sort of my nature.
But we thankfully
because we're public nonprofit,
we were able to expand to include so ALS,
Huntington's, Parkinson's, these other life limiting diseases.
That has really been wonderful
to be able to open the door to as many people as possible.
(15:20):
And we hope to continue to expand on that, too.
But, so it's not just a matter of, you know, the cancer world.
We want to include all of these other things, too.
Yeah. What's the significance of the name?
Yeah.
So the the name Amadora in Italian means gift of love.
And because of my Italian heritage,
my grandmother with the Alzheimer's, we
(15:41):
we were really beautifully able to just tie it in together
with that.
I love that
I love that Amy, for people who are listening to this
or who you know, for those who will be exposed to your story,
through the incredible event and being recognized,
what what is one message you would love to leave people with?
And I know that's a big thing, but like in this, in this moment,
(16:05):
this is it. It's the one. No no no no.
But but if there was, you know, if it's like,
this is just one thing
I would like you
to think about today in a way that maybe you haven't.
What would that be?
Yeah, yeah, I, I think it still comes back for me.
It really still comes back to the,
don't worry
about how much money you're making or how many cars you have.
(16:28):
Right.
It's it's really
I want people to be able to truly focus on human connection.
I think that's how our world gets nicer and better.
Yeah.
That we communicate with each other
and we take care of each other
and we use service for each other.
So I think that's my biggest thing, is
I just really want people to to recognize that life is short,
(16:48):
some is shorter than others that we don't know when will happen.
Yeah.
And so focusing on those human connections I think is huge.
And that's the most important thing I love that. Yeah.
So for people who are listening
who might want to reach out or learn more about the efforts
you're doing,
or maybe
think about contributing,
what's the best way for them
to learn more about the organization.
(17:11):
So you can certainly go to the website Amadora Legacy
Project dot org.
They
the other thing is through Facebook or through Instagram
or even LinkedIn,
we do have pages on each of those platforms as well,
which will give direct access to us.
We have both our phone number, email,
all of that listed on the website.
(17:31):
I'm happy to to answer any questions that anybody would have.
It's I love to talk about it
because I just think it's so important.
So I'm I'm free and available whenever.
I, I love it.
Thank you so much for the work you do.
And you know, know this is the what I, what I,
what I so appreciate is and we all make impact
(17:52):
and and the work you're doing allows others to continue
to increase their impact as well. Right.
It's a ripple of impact that, that, that this
that your organization is doing.
So congratulations on your nomination for the character award.
And thank you for taking time to talk to me today.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
(18:13):
The 2025 Inspiring Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(18:35):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me today is
Doctor Amy Hughes, who is a doctor at Mission Cancer and Blood,
(01:33):
and she is the founder and chair of Amadora Legacy Project.
Welcome. Thanks for joining me, Amy.
Thank you.
Amy, before we jump into the amazing work you're doing.
What else should we know about you as a person?
That's a really broad question.
I know that's
I it's intentional to see what what emerges for folks.
(01:53):
I am I'm a wife and a mother of three.
I'm a I'm an athlete.
I'm a nature lover.
I don't know how to be bored.
I don't know how to sit still.
So usually it's, if I do have quote unquote
free time, there's usually something else
that I'm working on from that perspective.
So I'm very well-rounded.
I like to do everything from reading to crafting.
(02:15):
And everything
between I love it
and being outside and being physical and being active.
I feel like you need a write
a book to help us all understand
how we can step into more of that lifestyle.
So obviously you have been nominated for the Character Award
through the Inspiring Women of Iowa event by greater,
by the Greater Iowa Girl Scout organization.
(02:36):
Talk to us about the work you do and the
I mean, there's so much that we can talk about.
I know in the short amount of time we have
and what's what's really driving your mission.
Yeah.
So I, I'm obviously by nature of my job,
I'm around cancer patients, you know, day in and day out.
And I, I've been in the field for almost 20 years now.
(02:58):
But even before that I was involved.
I was, in high school, I was a hospice volunteer.
So I was already around cancer even at a really young age.
I had some family members
who had cancer that I helped take care of.
And so I, I was so familiar with sort of that process
and how things unfold as the disease progresses.
So it was
(03:18):
it was kind of a natural
fit for me
from my childhood to go into the oncology world as an adult.
And it's one of those things where day in and day out,
when you're when you're seeing patients and you're
walking this journey with them, that is, quite frankly,
sometimes the hardest decision
making that they'll ever have to make in their life.
(03:40):
And it is eye opening, right?
It,
it reinforces the fact
that they have the mindset
that I think everybody should have,
which is it's not about money.
It's not about your car.
It's not about how much you own.
It's about your connections and your relationships and
and all those networks that you kind of support yourself with.
(04:02):
And so I just really,the the more that I was part of those,
that that part of life where we were approaching end of life.
The more I was seeing regret from patients
and from their family, regret of,
you know,
I wish I would have done X with my life or I wish I would
wish I would have told
somebody how I felt about them, things like that.
(04:23):
And it kind of reminded me back to, when.
So my grandmother had Alzheimer's.
And when I was a young teen, she they didn't live near by us.
And so by the time they moved back toward us
and I was, you know, through the teen phase of
I only want to be with my friends,
I really missed out the opportunity to hear her stories.
(04:45):
And she had this incredibly rich background.
You know, her parents immigrated.
So there's just all of these pieces that I felt like,
oh my gosh, I really wish I had those stories,
and I wish I could hear her laugh.
And and so I was facing the same discussions with my patients
and, you know, particularly young patients where they have kids
and they're worried that they won't be remembered.
(05:07):
They're worried that their kids won’t
remember their voice or remember their body mannerisms.
And so that's really what triggered Amadora Legacy Project.
It was sort of a culmination of my own experience.
And then witnessing
over and over again
all of these patients and their families
and what they're going through.
So our mission with Amadora is to capture
(05:28):
the life stories of of individuals with life limiting illnesses.
And we believe that it is the biggest gift of love
that you can give to a participant and their family members,
because it's the it's the gift that keeps giving, right?
You can keep it forever.
You're two generations down
the road, can know who their great grandfather was.
(05:48):
So it's, it's been a passion project for me.
It's I still work
full time in the oncology world,
so I have a busy daily schedule anyway.
But for me, it's worth it to put in the after hours
or the weekend work,
because I see such tremendous value on the other end of it.
Yeah, yeah.
(06:08):
How many families have you been able to support and capture
their stories?
So we we
officially got our 501c3 in September of 22,
and we have filmed 39 participants so far.
Yeah. And they've reached anywhere.
Our youngest was 26 and our oldest was 92.
And I tell you, he had some great stories.
(06:29):
Great stories.
I mean, it was like he was born around the time of penicillin.
Sure. Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
So it's it's really and frankly, it's really special for me.
And I've been able to do some of the interviewing myself.
And they happen to sometimes be my patients.
And it's really special to be able to hear
a totally different side of a patient
(06:50):
that I would have never had exposure to.
It's just a really unique opportunity.
It's been wonderful.
There's something that feels incredibly sacred about that.
You know, I think any time that we are able to hold space
and to hear people's stories and, and, you know, and when we
I just had this situation actually come up,
(07:10):
with a client we're working with is,
you know,
when you're, when you are in the family,
sometimes you have dynamics at play,
sometimes you have roles that people fall into
and that there can be a lot of value
to having somebody from the outside
pull those stories out that might be harder for them
to share, right, directly with the family members.
(07:31):
That's not always true,
but certainly certainly that can be the case.
Yeah. It's absolutely true.
And, you know,
we we give our participants,
so we typically film in their own homes.
That's where most people choose to film.
We have professional videography team.
We have trained legacy coaches
who kind of facilitate the interview.
Yeah.
And we always give participants the opportunity if they want to
(07:52):
that toward the end of the video,
if they want to leave a direct message
to family members individually, then they have that opportunity,
which has been
really beautiful,
to be able to see those messages come to fruition.
And then they feel like,
hey, I said what I feel like I needed to say.
I got to share these stories.
I got to share these words of wisdom.
They share messages about, you know, when they're with their
(08:13):
their children will eventually get married down the road
and they can,
you know,
say what they would have normally said if they were there.
It's just it's really incredible.
It's really unique.
Yeah.
That, no, that that is that is amazing.
I have so many like, there's so much I want to talk about
with you.
I love talking about it, so.
(08:35):
No, I think it's so beautiful.
And, you know,
that's something that my, my dad has always been really
passionate about is like, record the stories, you know, and it's
and it's that idea of almost like a living will, right?
Like, this is what I want you to know about who I am
and what my legacy is.
And here's the message that I want to share with you.
Yes, absolutely.
So you, you have this incredible opportunity
(08:58):
to be present and witness folks at incredibly vulnerable times.
And obviously,
like it sounds, it's clear that this has been a mission of yours
from a very young age.
It's just evolved.
Who is somebody who inspires you?
You know, you've you've been nominated.
And I'm always curious to know, like,
(09:18):
who's somebody who inspires the person
who's inspiring other people.
Yeah.
For me, it's not
I could honestly not ever tell you one individual person
because for me, it's I don't get inspired by celebrities.
I don't get inspired by that.
What I get inspired by are the people on the ground, right?
The people who
(09:39):
step outside of their comfort zone
and embrace their their talents
and their gifts and are willing to be maybe a little
in an uncomfortable situation
to make this beautiful thing happen. Right.
So it's like women who are in a pretty male dominated field,
but are willing to step outside of that box and be like,
no, I have a seat at the table
(09:59):
because I have these great ideas and this, this program
I want to create. Right.
So those are the people that I really feel inspired by.
Yeah.
And I will tell you, I, I am frequently inspired
by cancer patients. Honestly. Sure.
And I say that because there's one in particular
that I can absolutely think of not very long ago.
And what struck me so much about it was that
(10:22):
she had unfortunately received
some pretty unfortunate news from me,
and she was explaining to her daughter
about the fact that we didn't have treatment options left.
And what really struck me is that she was sitting there
telling her daughter, it's okay, it's
okay, because we have had so much time together
and she's not very old,
(10:42):
but we had this wonderful time together,
and we're going to continue to make these wonderful memories.
And what she said was
that not everybody has the opportunity to die well.
And I was like, oh, that's amazing, right?
Because in her mind, dying well was
she had the opportunity, she knew it was happening
and she had the opportunity
to stop and focus on
what was the most important
(11:04):
and purposely make time for those relationships.
Yeah. Which some people don't have the opportunity to do.
So it was a really unique perspective of,
you know, most people
when they get an advanced cancer
diagnosis, of course, it's
traumatic and understandably just it's an upheaval.
And here was this woman with a very unique,
opposite perspective of, but I know when my time will be done.
(11:27):
And I have the opportunity to do all these things
that I wouldn't necessarily be doing
if I was just sort of busy living my life
and not realizing that this was happening. Right.
I it was really fascinating to me. Yeah.
What? Yeah.
So those people inspired me
because I again, it comes back to that refocusing of
what's the most important thing in life. Yeah.
(11:49):
Which is so easy,
I mean, part of it is I think to lose sight of.
it’s how our brain is wired to be like,
don't think about your mortality.
Like if you yeah, you dwell on it. That can get overwhelming.
But if you can use it to drive your sense of purpose and,
and clarity around what's important to you,
yeah, that can be incredibly powerful.
But you know, think about it too.
Well, and think about it too, from the perspective
I actually really believe, so I agree with you.
(12:11):
The end of life is very hard for people to talk about
and to think about, but the reality is, is that the biggest gift
you can give your your loved one
and your family is the gift of preparation, right?
So yeah, I don't know when something’s going to happen to me.
You don't know. Right.
And so to be already prepared with, you know, here's
where you find my financial accounts
(12:33):
and here's what you do with, you know, X, Y and Z.
If something happens to me, I think is phenomenal.
It's a huge gift because it takes a tremendous burden
off of the family for down the road. Right.
So I, I across the board,
I wish that we didn't have so much stigma attached
to the whole end of life process,
because I think we could make it so much better,
and it happens to all of us.
(12:54):
I was going to say, and it's inevitable.
I mean, it's literally
the only thing that is true that everyone will experience,
and ignoring it
or denying it doesn't mean it's not going to happen.
I assume that that comes into a lot of your work
as a death doula.
We were privileged to interview, a number of different
people in end of life, on our show.
(13:15):
And it was just fascinating, this idea of all the things
you don't even realize, like,
yes, there's the,
coming up with the funeral accommodations, all of that.
But there's the do
you have the password to their phone to get their photos?
Exactly.
Do you know
you know, all of the different, like, accounts they have?
Do you, do you know what their preferences are?
(13:36):
And I, I understand the discomfort
and I love that language of
that's one of the greatest gifts you can give is.
Yeah, that preparation because the you're the,
those who are left behind are going to be in a tough spot
for so many.
Yeah. Right.
And so how do you take one thing off their plate.
(13:57):
Yeah.
And that's obviously you know
we'll never take away grief, right.
That's a natural part of the human emotion.
But if we can lighten that or if we can help them process
through that with, with taking away
some burdens that don't need to be there.
I think that's that's huge, right.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I think it's just
whether it's recording a video for your legacy
(14:20):
so that they remember
visual and audio, whether it's writing letters for some people,
whether it's filling out,
you know, all the documents about where to find things.
I think all of those pieces really come together
just to sort of make it as easy as possible
when you're facing things like the end of life.
Yeah, yeah.
It's, Yeah.
(14:40):
I mean,
it's to your point,
we might not be able to make it better,
but maybe we can make it not worse.
Sometimes that's how I view situations.
It’s kind of a strange way to say it, but it's like, well,
how do we make it not worse?
Like, let's not add more to the plate
or to the burden and so and yeah, go ahead.
Yeah.
Well, I was just gonna say, and I should point out too, that.
(15:00):
So with Amadora,
we started obviously in the cancer world
because that's sort of my nature.
But we thankfully
because we're public nonprofit,
we were able to expand to include so ALS,
Huntington's, Parkinson's, these other life limiting diseases.
That has really been wonderful
to be able to open the door to as many people as possible.
(15:20):
And we hope to continue to expand on that, too.
But, so it's not just a matter of, you know, the cancer world.
We want to include all of these other things, too.
Yeah. What's the significance of the name?
Yeah.
So the the name Amadora in Italian means gift of love.
And because of my Italian heritage,
my grandmother with the Alzheimer's, we
(15:41):
we were really beautifully able to just tie it in together
with that.
I love that
I love that Amy, for people who are listening to this
or who you know, for those who will be exposed to your story,
through the incredible event and being recognized,
what what is one message you would love to leave people with?
And I know that's a big thing, but like in this, in this moment,
(16:05):
this is it. It's the one. No no no no.
But but if there was, you know, if it's like,
this is just one thing
I would like you
to think about today in a way that maybe you haven't.
What would that be?
Yeah, yeah, I, I think it still comes back for me.
It really still comes back to the,
don't worry
about how much money you're making or how many cars you have.
(16:28):
Right.
It's it's really
I want people to be able to truly focus on human connection.
I think that's how our world gets nicer and better.
Yeah.
That we communicate with each other
and we take care of each other
and we use service for each other.
So I think that's my biggest thing, is
I just really want people to to recognize that life is short,
(16:48):
some is shorter than others that we don't know when will happen.
Yeah.
And so focusing on those human connections I think is huge.
And that's the most important thing I love that. Yeah.
So for people who are listening
who might want to reach out or learn more about the efforts
you're doing,
or maybe
think about contributing,
what's the best way for them
to learn more about the organization.
(17:11):
So you can certainly go to the website Amadora Legacy
Project dot org.
They
the other thing is through Facebook or through Instagram
or even LinkedIn,
we do have pages on each of those platforms as well,
which will give direct access to us.
We have both our phone number, email,
all of that listed on the website.
(17:31):
I'm happy to to answer any questions that anybody would have.
It's I love to talk about it
because I just think it's so important.
So I'm I'm free and available whenever.
I, I love it.
Thank you so much for the work you do.
And you know, know this is the what I, what I,
what I so appreciate is and we all make impact
(17:52):
and and the work you're doing allows others to continue
to increase their impact as well. Right.
It's a ripple of impact that, that, that this
that your organization is doing.
So congratulations on your nomination for the character award.
And thank you for taking time to talk to me today.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
(18:13):
The 2025 Inspiring Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(18:35):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
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