May 31, 2023 • 29 mins
Simon Davies: Executive Director, Teen Cancer America
Now in its tenth year, Simon leads Teen Cancer America, the only national charity in the USA working directly with hospitals to advise, support and fund them in the development of specialized facilities and programs for adolescents and young adults with cancer. The charity is built on the successful model of Teenage Cancer Trust, UK where Simon was Chief Executive Officer for 13 years before launching Teen Cancer America in 2012.
His early career was in the management of substantial social and health care services in the fields of Learning Disability and Mental Health. He has been awarded an honorary Doctorate in Education by the University of Coventry, UK for his service development work and the advancement of professional education in the field of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer. Simon has developed an international reputation for success in bringing about change within traditionally structured health systems.
Now in its tenth year, Simon leads Teen Cancer America, the only national charity in the USA working directly with hospitals to advise, support and fund them in the development of specialized facilities and programs for adolescents and young adults with cancer. The charity is built on the successful model of Teenage Cancer Trust, UK where Simon was Chief Executive Officer for 13 years before launching Teen Cancer America in 2012.
His early career was in the management of substantial social and health care services in the fields of Learning Disability and Mental Health. He has been awarded an honorary Doctorate in Education by the University of Coventry, UK for his service development work and the advancement of professional education in the field of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer. Simon has developed an international reputation for success in bringing about change within traditionally structured health systems.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to CEOs shoj with Chiles.We get around. That's right. Can
you please introduce yourself to the peopletuning in right now and what we have
to discuss today. Hi there,my name is Simon Davies and I'm the
(00:25):
executive director of Team Cancer America.You have such a scintillating voice. I
must say, where are you from? Exactly? Well, I'm from the
UK. I guess you've probably gotthat already. Spend most of my life
in London. But if you reallywant to get Granula, a little East
coast town called Felixstowe. Wow,It's it's just so proper, and you
(00:50):
know, UK is such I've onlybeen in the UK ten minutes on a
transfer over to a plane, buti wanted to go and explore. So
I'm excited to have you here today. My name is Sketch and I'm walking
through the Team Cancer America essentially likea breakdown with you right what it is
about and who's behind it. AndI've actually never been able to lend myself
(01:12):
to this, so going into thisdiscussion with you, I was very excited
in the setup of it because it'sfor a great cause. It's bigger than
you and I it's for Team CancerAmerica. Can you break down what Team
Cancer America is for somebody who maynot be familiar with it? Sure?
I think the easiest way is justto imagine or even remember. You know,
(01:34):
when you're a teenager or even ayoung adult, and obviously the time
that you're going through then is changinganyway, lots of things going on in
your life, and then you geta diagnosis of cancer, which in itself
is a terrible thing and something that'schallenging to deal with. But then when
you get to hospital, if you'rea teenager, let's say seventeen eighteen,
(02:00):
you might likely be treated in apediatric hospital. And pediatric hospital the average
age is six and most of thepeople in there will be much younger than
you, and that sense of isolationexists for those people going into that setting
with all the Disney wallpapers, andthat's kind of stuff that you expect.
And then if you're in your earlytwenties and you go into a hospital,
(02:23):
the average age of a cancer hospitalis sixty and so as a young adult,
you're there in amongst old people,many of whom are dying, and
this is equally challenging and depressing,and so the whole ethos of Team Cancer
America is to create programs and spacesthat bridge that gap, that is a
(02:44):
place for young people to be,that has staff who understand young people,
and most important of all that thereare other young people that you can build
that camaraderie with. And as youknow, there's nothing more important than your
peer group at that age and withTeam Cancer America and all the things that
are also going on within the venue. Right where where is it located at?
(03:06):
Oh? Actually, we're right acrossAmerica, right right, But the
original headquarters. Oh so, theoriginal headquarters for ten Council America is Las
Nice. We were based in LosAngeles, but then you spread all over
the country and set up to helpall the other teams around in every pretty
much in every city. Are youin every state? We're in about twenty
(03:30):
two states, wow, and that'sabout forty cities. The principal is is
to try and get this facility inevery major cancer hospital in America. My
sister is a pediatric nurse, soI can relate to. Fortunately, none
of my family had to endure thechallenges of somebody having cancer in our family.
(03:53):
We have other ailments like drinking toomuch. But you know that's besides
the point let's get into I wantto discuss. You know, it was
brought to my attention Simon, Ican call you Simon about the the the
WHO being involved with this and thiswas surprising to me. I mean,
obviously I know a lot of celebritiescontribute and lend themselves to the cause,
(04:15):
right yeah, But to learn aboutwhat's really going on with Roger Daltry and
Pete Townsend from the WHO partaking innot only like contributing to Teen Cancer America,
but also giving away signed guitars andwhatnot and doing concerts for the teens.
The teens are also writing music anddoing stuff, according to Christine Briggs.
(04:36):
Shout out to Christine Briggs, who'salso heavily involved with this cause.
Christine, Yes, so can youtell us a little bit more. This
is one of the questions I wantedto ask you what motivated Roger Daltrey and
Pete Townsend of the WHO to startup Team Cancer America. What was it?
Well, you know, actually thestory goes right back to the UK
because I was the chief executive ofthe Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK,
(05:00):
which was the predecessor of Teen CancerAmerica and Roger Daltrey in Pete townshend were
already involved in that and had beensince the nineties, and it really came
about initially through Roger Daltry's doctor,doctor aj And Whitson, who was the
founder of the charity, but alsohe motivated Roger to sort of think about
this issue. And Roger was inparticular really got captivated about this and feels,
(05:28):
I think most both of them dofeel very passionately about the fact that
really their success and everything that theyhave earned in their lifetime is down to
young people, and it's young peoplethat have made the who and this is
their way of giving back now beyondthat, and Roger in particular has really
become an ambassador for this. He'snot just a guy who raises money and
(05:50):
gives away signed guitars, right,Here's a guy who is really passionate about
this. He spends time going tosee young people and he really engages and
is very very strong publicly about tryingto create this change. So he's been
at it for over twenty wow.I mean, it's just so just reading
(06:11):
this question and reading the side inthe about us and the vision and the
mission. But you're saying Roger andPete they started Team Cancer America. They
started it themselves, like there wasno the idea, and then the funding
and then it getting Obviously they broughtin other people, but it was essentially
their baby. Absolutely. They'd seenthe success of what was happening in the
(06:33):
UK. They wanted to bring itover here. They invite myself and Rebecca
Rostein, who's the chairman of ourcharity has been integral to the charity success,
to start this thing up and getit going over here in the US.
And their commitment again to American youthwas because American youth made them as
successful as British youth. They muchto that, I see. So they
(06:56):
just wanted to do this. Theysaw there was a gap and they needed
to change, and so they establishedTeam Cancer America. They raised the first
million dollars for it themselves and gavethat to the charity to get it started.
I was very fortunate that they offeredme the opportunity to come here.
And you've been on it since thebeginning, since the beginning. Were you
(07:17):
in the band at all? Didyou play with did you tour with them
at all? You know I couldn'tsing or play a note save my life.
Can't carry a tune, Simon,Come on, you talk so eloquently,
so articulately. Maybe I could dosome poetry for him or something,
some spoken word, yeah, somethinglike that. But I do you know,
I've been involved since two thousand inthe whole set up doing in the
(07:38):
UK. But two thousand and twelvewas when we set it up in America.
Wow, we haven't looked back sincethen. That's a decade, a
great journey in a decade, It'sbeen a decade, which love saying that
word. This perfect time to celebrateten years. That is such a fortunate
and blessing to have with the whowith Roger and Pete And were you guys?
I just have to know this personally. Were you guys friends before?
(08:00):
Like did you how did you getinvolved? How did they come to you?
Simon? I'm this is just me. No, No, that's fine.
I mean really I got involved becauseI was running the charity in the
UK and they were so a partof it. But I would have to
say that over time, you know, I've got to know them both,
but particularly Roger because Roger, youknow, he'll call me up day or
night and say what's going down?You know how you know what progress are
(08:24):
we making? What are we doing? What more can I do? He's
involved, he checks in and sohe and I have really become friends over
time, and we strategize together evenabout you know, what's the best thing
to do, how can we useyou know, Roger's influence. You know,
we went to DC one year andspend some time with some people in
you know, Bipartisan Group and Congress, and you know, you can't be
(08:46):
having a spokesperson. Is it surrealto be in business with Pete Roger?
I mean does it make you Doyou ever have those moments where you're like,
wow, you know what I mean? Or is it just you're just
so used to it by now?No? No, I mean I never
quite get used to it. Imean we're blessed. You couldn't ask for
two better founders and ambassadors and Rogerand particularly because he's so out there,
(09:11):
typical lead singer, you know,very creative. You know, there are
many situations where we've been at showsor things that where they've they've been raising
money for us, and you lookaround you think, wow, you know,
I've got the who playing this forus? Yeah, as it's happening,
and that's extraordinary. Yes, nota personal level. You know,
Roger calls me. It's like havinga friend called me, you know,
(09:35):
and he wants to get business done. So great, let's move on to
(10:15):
the next question here. Can youexplain what the charity does and why it's
needed Simon? Please? Yeah,Well, I started to just give you
the picture from a young person's perspectiveabout being isolated in these inappropriate settings.
You don't want to be with Disneywallpaper and little kids, and you don't
want to be with adults where youknow, most of them in their sixties
(10:37):
and you're out of touch with them. You need your own space, and
you also need teams that understand whatyou're doing. You know, what you're
going through, not just the cancer, but they need to understand how psychologically
this is a young adult, howthey think they're exactly you know. And
so what we do is we workwith both pediatric and adult hospitals to bring
(11:00):
those medical and pediatric teams together,and your sisters and nurse will understand,
Yes, there are adult cancers thatappear in pediatric age group, and there
are pediatric cancers that appear in theadult age group, and so they need
to they need to bring their expertisetogether. So we provide them with a
platform, we give them strategies,we help them develop that, and we
(11:24):
also lead them towards building a particularspace within a hospital as well that's very
teen friendly as computers and PlayStations andkind of stuff that young people are going
to want. You got it,all of that, And so we bring
them to a point where their leadershipand them are committed to this, they
want it to happen. And thenwhen they're ready, they can apply to
(11:46):
us for money and then we givethem hard cash to develop the teams and
to develop these physical spaces as amazing. So we kind of take with a
journey between us and the hospitals becausequite often, although you would think that
it's a simple thing to you andme, and when I speak to many
people in general public, they think, well, of course, young people
(12:07):
want something different, and they aredifferent, and they're very unique and individualized.
When you're a teenager, you know, and in every walk of life,
you know, we treat them differently. You know that their schooling and
their their education is different. Youknow the way that the commercialized world adapts
to them is different. Even thecriminal justice system treats them different. Y.
(12:28):
Yeah, in the health system,they're kind of nowhere to be found
there. They're in this no man'sland type of area. So what we're
what we're really doing is buildings.I think we're kind of changing the structure
of the way absolute system. Well, you're implementing their own unique atmosphere,
not only their atmosphere of what they'regoing to be around every day while they're
(12:50):
there and enduring the travel, thejourney, but as well as trying to
be sympathetic to their their feelings,their mental state as well. All of
that. You know, the psychologicalimpact is really critical. You know what
it's like as a teenager, We'regoing through changes anywhere. There's hormonal stuff
going crazy. You know, Ithink I'm still am a teenager next year,
(13:13):
and you know, critical time foreducation and employment, so all that
stuff gets disrupted. So that's allthere, And then on top of that,
you have these complexities of the cancersnot necessarily fitting where they are.
So if they have an adult cancerand they're in a pediatric center, then
the pediatric doctors may not be quitesure how to deal with that. And
if they're a pediatric cancer in anadult hospital, they might be think it's
(13:37):
scratching their heads, are not quitesure how to deal with that. So
we're trying to bring them together.And as well, I have to say,
I'm sorry to say that the youngpeople have not been surviving or their
improvement in survival has not been asgood as younger or older age groups historically,
and that's been shown. So whatwe're trying to do is say,
(13:58):
let's let's get that expertise together,so it's a clinical as well as you
know, the research as well.We want to make have research the specific
to this age group, right,I mean, let me give you just
one example, please. Breast canceris obviously very common. We know about,
we know a lot about. It'sbeen around for a while, been
around for a while. But whatthey're finding now is that the effect of
(14:20):
some of the types of breast canceron younger people is more aggressive. Is
it because they're younger? Oh well, let's not get too deep into it.
The why, I don't know.Could it could be, because that's
the thing about cancer, it's sostealthy, it's so what's the word I'm
looking for Simon, what's an articulateword that you would give cancer in your
(14:41):
own in your own experience of seeingit all this, you know, it's
I don't know I should complement it, but it's a very smart disease.
What it does is it it behavesdifferently in different people, right, people
with different ethnicities are affected differently bysome of it. And also you know
the treatments, how people react tothe treatments. Treatments are incredibly toxic.
(15:03):
So even if you survive the cancer, you've been through a lot of toxic
treatments, and so the long termeffects of that can be very difficult.
Can I quickly share with you,Simon that I did state earlier that none
of my family fortunately had to dealwith this. I will quickly interject that
my uncle Jerry passed away from pancreaticcancer at seventy eight years age. Now
he wasn't my real uncle. Iwas content to call him my uncle.
(15:26):
Yeah, but anybody in my familywere Mexican. When it comes down to
the aggressiveness that you were speaking onwith the different types of cancer, just
out of curiosity, what is likesome of the most aggressive and then what
is some of the most not soaggressive that you've seen almost put into remission.
Right, what can you tell usa little bit just about that before
we move on to the other questionshere. I mean, there's a to
(15:48):
give you an example of a particularlyaggressive and difficult cancer that affects young people
more than any other age group.Off geo sarcoma, which is a bone
cancer, very rare. It's quiteoften difficult to diagnose in the early stages,
so late diagnosis happens, and thenthe cancer itself is very aggressive.
The treatments have to be very strong, very brutal, and toxic in order
(16:14):
to try and cure that, andthat could end up with you know,
obviously young people not surviving. Sothat's a challenging one for example, Right.
And then there's a thyroid cancer forexample. It's one where with you
know, good treatment and good andappropriate surgery, there's a higher chance of
remission in that. Although I'm alwayshesitant to kind of say those things because
(16:34):
you don't want to give people,of course, but what you've seen,
what you've seen in you're over adecade and being with the with the Teen
Cancer America, I'm sure you've you'vewitnessed quite a bit let's move on to
the next question, if you're okaywith that. Simon, it seems as
though teen Cancer America is trying tochange traditional healthcare structures and it's creating a
(16:55):
new model. Yeah, tell usmore about the new model and the structure
even that you are pretty much explainingthat right now, But dive deeper into
this whole new mode we're going into. You've got to think, you think
about the health system, and thisis you know, general public will understand
this that both children's hospitals and adulthospitals have kind of grown up in silos.
So sometimes they're on the same site, sometimes they're either side of town,
(17:19):
and so what they've created there isdivisions between the two, and so
transitions between the two are very difficultto manage, and quite often even communication
and collaboration between the two is difficult. So what I'm talking about in terms
of changing the structure is you haveto change that way of even thinking to
(17:41):
say, look, there has tobe a collaborative process here between pediatric and
adult experts. They're all important,they're all really critical to success, you
know, but we really have tobring them together to bridge that to make
the transitions okay, and to dothe very best we can to increase those
(18:02):
chances of better outcomes than survival.Well, you guys are certainly merging the
greatest minds together and across the country, said twenty two so far in twenty
two two states. Yeah, sowe we're up to by the end of
this year. Well, I've gotforty eight programs that we've been in.
We've got going which we're very,very proud of in ten years. We
(18:26):
should go over fifty next year,and I think we'll be into the early
fifties next year. That represents tome, and this is only a guestimate
because always merging and stuff like that, but that represents to me about a
quarter of the USA. Wow,So I think there's about two hundred that
are needed in the US. That'sbeautiful, and so you know we're about
(18:48):
a quarter. They were way therein ten years and that's been kind of
like startup mode. So I'm reallyconfident that we can drive this further forward,
and the more money that we get, the fast so we can go
right because we have the model.We know what works. Yeah, you
already have the system put in place, just need more people to jump on
board. Yeah, right, Ihear you. There are some of the
(19:08):
biggest and best hospitals in the worldlike MD Anderson and Memorial Sloan Cattering and
here in UCLA. But you know, we're also needing to be in every
community hospital in every city. Soit's not just the big boys, it's
not just the coastal cities, it'severywhere. It needs to be everywhere.
(19:34):
You also run a music education program. We break it down for us,
mister Simon, so as you canimagine musics in our DNA and so we
were always conscious that this was areally important feature of young people's lives,
and we felt that during treatment,we know that many young people were sort
(19:56):
of using music really as a therapy, you know, for just getting through
time. I do it every day, your favorite song, you know,
whatever gets you through the night typeof thing. You know, it's important.
So we wanted to engage them inmusic. And my colleague Hillary Gan,
who works with a guy called KenleyMattis, she was previously working at
UCLA and had developed this idea ofa music education program that actually enabled young
(20:21):
people to not just like have aguy come in and play the guitar and
listen, but actually take part inmaking their own music, whether they had
any skill at all, and ajam session, like a jam session,
they would find out what their genreof music was they're interested in. It
could be rap, it could beblues, whatever you know, and then
to help them to write that musicand to make it and to record it,
(20:44):
and to record it to a reallystrong professional level. And Kenley is
a master of this art. Andwe developed this program which began very softly
in la and we got it goingand some young people given us this great
feedback about how much this helped themduring their journey, and then subsequently we
(21:06):
got them through the pandemic, wethought, well, we got to try
and do this digitally. And sonow we've got young people all across the
country who are taking part on thisprogram doing jam sessions together and music together.
It's really it is hot thing itis. Any good bands get behind
us. We've had Portugal in theman. Oh yeah, I wanted to
(21:27):
get into that. Oh I reallywanted. Let's let's name a few can
we can? We can? Ibreak this down with you together, Simon.
So you have had fantastic artists joinyour fundraisers and engage with your program
Eddie Vetter, Yeah, the FooFighters, Yeah, Ed Sheeran, Green
Day, Pink Portugal, the Manas you just said, just to name
(21:48):
a few, and of course Peteand Roger behind the whole thing from The
Who, which is I mean,you have like a like a small army
of these fantastic musicians taking part inthis. Please tell us more. Well,
you know, one thing that it'sreally handy to have Roger Dolter or
Townsendings is pretty difficult to turn themdown if they give you a call and
(22:08):
say they're going to come and helpme at one of our shows. So
these artists, who obviously respect TheWho is one of the greatest rock and
roll bands of all times, theywould be accurate. You know, I'm
not going to find it easy tosay no. The reason I said yes
to doing this is I was like, oh, yeah, okay the Who.
I'm reading more about this and talkwith you. And then when Briggs
(22:30):
was like, well, he's sopolite and he's from the UK, and
I was like, I can't waitto talk to this guy. He's going
to have a great action, butplease continue on. Well, you know,
and that's not to say that thesepeople have come, you know,
We're not getting them to come kickingand screaming. You know, these guys
want to get involved. And whenRoger, you know, tells them about
what it is, it makes somuch sense. Yeah, and we run
(22:52):
these amazing shows that you know werun every year and tell us about the
shows, well, we just it'sactually an exclusive experience back We call it
a backyard show, but actually it'sat one of our our the home of
one of our board members. Sowhen we have about a thousand people come,
it's a big backyard to a properstage. And this year we had
(23:18):
we had Billy Idol, had JohnFogerty from Credence clear Water Revival play,
we had Green Day, we hadThe Who, and then Eddie Vede came
on stage and join with the Who. It's an amazing night as you can
imagine. I just can't even imagine. How was the crowd that the crowd
receiving it? I mean, Ilove it. I mean because where we're
(23:40):
going to get that chance and you'reupfront with these people, right, and
we split that. The benefit ofthat goes to a UCLA autism program as
well as us, so we splitthat. But it's a beautiful fundraiser and
it raises will probably raise over fivemillion between the two charities, so it's
a it's an incredible thing. Ijust wanted to say one more thing about
(24:00):
the music program because that's a differenttype of engagement which is much more personal
for the artists and Portugal and theman, for example, who got close
to a young guy actually who passedand didn't make it through his cancer journey.
They helped him. They've come backand they've done sessions with young people.
They just did one this week wherethey were just engaging with them and
(24:22):
helping them make their music in avery discreet, quiet, beautiful way.
And we really appreciate that. Sketch. You've got the sketch a madic podcast.
Well, we've got a podcast too. You know. Through our music
program, we got a relationship withPantheon Group, who run a lot of
music podcasts, and they've been helpingus produce a podcast which is listening to
(24:47):
the stories of young people and knittingthat in with the music that they're making.
One more time, very cool Pantheon. Pantheon, which is a music
podcast company, they've been helping usto develop a podcast which is telling the
stories of individual cancer patients along withthe music that they're producing on our music
(25:11):
education program. And it's very cool. That's amazing. We've even now just
made a vinyl of twenty of theirsongs. Oh aren't printed on vinyl,
got on wax. Wow, that'samazing. It's not a commercial thing.
We wanted it to be a giftfor them and for their families. So
the vinyl really is it's to say, here's to celebrate what you've done,
(25:36):
like kind of like a plaque.Absolutely, in fact, we can get
them made into the discs if theywant it. I think you should,
and that vinyl will be there foreverand if it and you know, if
the young person doesn't make it,what a beautiful legacy for their parents and
their families. Is there any DJ'sinvolved, like God DJing on turntables?
Any of the teens DJ because youknow everybody's a DJ. Now Caitlin's in
(25:56):
here with her, she's a DJ. She didn't even know she was a
DJ. I mean, every acouple of the young people themselves have turned
into DJ. Yes, that's prettycool, that's what I'm saying. Yeah,
I myself came from a DJ background, and you know, if there's
any a chance I can DJ forTCA, which is Team Cancer America.
I would love to lend myself tothat. We would love that. We
would love that. And sure,I mean that music program could lend itself
(26:18):
as well, yea, and thosesorts of skills because we're trying to teach
them production skills and but yeah,it would be great. And that's what
it brings me to this question righthere. How can the iHeart audience help
you? Well? I am anI Heeart employee as well as Caitlin and
I we're all I'm sure we're allhands on deck for the TCA crew,
you know what I mean. Soif there's any a chance that the teens
(26:40):
would like to learn about radio andstuff like that, they should have their
own little radio station up there?Did they have their own little radio station?
You know that's been a dream ofmine. So you tell me how
to do that. I'll do theimaging, you know, I love that,
love to know. I think there'sso many opportunities for that. So
clearly, I Heeart is a beautifulrelationship and generate some interest in any of
your work, you know, whetherit's broadcasting or your networks with with the
(27:06):
artists, et cetera that you have. And yeah, sure I've got you
down now because you said it saidyou're going to be You're going to be
our next DJ tutor. That's forsure. It is anyway. But yeah,
from a niheart listener point of view, listen, everybody out there,
thank you so much for listening tothis show and for hearing the stories about
(27:29):
Team Cancer America. But you know, there are several things you can do.
You know. One is this isa message for change here, you
know, so we're doing something that'sabout creating change within these hospitals. But
actually what would be great would beto develop a demand for this change.
You know. So we're doing we'rekind of being reactive to what the issue
(27:49):
is. But actually any of youout there could start to look around at
your own hospitals and say, well, what have we got one of these.
We've got up a special program foryoung people. Ask the question and
see if you can get some influencegoing, and any hospital can phone us
and we'll be there to help themin a second. So you know,
that's a piece of doesn't cost much, just you know, just find out
(28:10):
what's going on. Of course,you can raise money for us. We
always want more money. Hitching ona party. Yeah, have a party,
do whatever you want to do inany small way. You know,
we're grateful of to receive income fromany source and just engage with us.
You know, we're a very opencharity. As you know, we have
lots of music connections. You know, we're interested. You know, maybe
(28:33):
you have ideas about how we cando better, so you know, feel
free to contact us. The websitedetails are there for you and Team Cancer
America dot org. And I'd likeyou to say it one more time.
You can get to us any timethrough Teamcancer America dot org. We're really
open to speaking to you guys andseeing how you can engage and help us
with our courts. Thank you,Simon. It's been such a pleasure and
(28:57):
very insightful and enlightening sitting here withyou and learning so much in a short
amount of time. I could literallyI'd like to go and have lunch with
you and just sitting and just hearyou talk. I mean, your voice
is so it's like butter, andI think you should have a part
Welcome to CEOs shoj with Chiles.We get around. That's right. Can
you please introduce yourself to the peopletuning in right now and what we have
to discuss today. Hi there,my name is Simon Davies and I'm the
(00:25):
executive director of Team Cancer America.You have such a scintillating voice. I
must say, where are you from? Exactly? Well, I'm from the
UK. I guess you've probably gotthat already. Spend most of my life
in London. But if you reallywant to get Granula, a little East
coast town called Felixstowe. Wow,It's it's just so proper, and you
(00:50):
know, UK is such I've onlybeen in the UK ten minutes on a
transfer over to a plane, buti wanted to go and explore. So
I'm excited to have you here today. My name is Sketch and I'm walking
through the Team Cancer America essentially likea breakdown with you right what it is
about and who's behind it. AndI've actually never been able to lend myself
(01:12):
to this, so going into thisdiscussion with you, I was very excited
in the setup of it because it'sfor a great cause. It's bigger than
you and I it's for Team CancerAmerica. Can you break down what Team
Cancer America is for somebody who maynot be familiar with it? Sure?
I think the easiest way is justto imagine or even remember. You know,
(01:34):
when you're a teenager or even ayoung adult, and obviously the time
that you're going through then is changinganyway, lots of things going on in
your life, and then you geta diagnosis of cancer, which in itself
is a terrible thing and something that'schallenging to deal with. But then when
you get to hospital, if you'rea teenager, let's say seventeen eighteen,
(02:00):
you might likely be treated in apediatric hospital. And pediatric hospital the average
age is six and most of thepeople in there will be much younger than
you, and that sense of isolationexists for those people going into that setting
with all the Disney wallpapers, andthat's kind of stuff that you expect.
And then if you're in your earlytwenties and you go into a hospital,
(02:23):
the average age of a cancer hospitalis sixty and so as a young adult,
you're there in amongst old people,many of whom are dying, and
this is equally challenging and depressing,and so the whole ethos of Team Cancer
America is to create programs and spacesthat bridge that gap, that is a
(02:44):
place for young people to be,that has staff who understand young people,
and most important of all that thereare other young people that you can build
that camaraderie with. And as youknow, there's nothing more important than your
peer group at that age and withTeam Cancer America and all the things that
are also going on within the venue. Right where where is it located at?
(03:06):
Oh? Actually, we're right acrossAmerica, right right, But the
original headquarters. Oh so, theoriginal headquarters for ten Council America is Las
Nice. We were based in LosAngeles, but then you spread all over
the country and set up to helpall the other teams around in every pretty
much in every city. Are youin every state? We're in about twenty
(03:30):
two states, wow, and that'sabout forty cities. The principal is is
to try and get this facility inevery major cancer hospital in America. My
sister is a pediatric nurse, soI can relate to. Fortunately, none
of my family had to endure thechallenges of somebody having cancer in our family.
(03:53):
We have other ailments like drinking toomuch. But you know that's besides
the point let's get into I wantto discuss. You know, it was
brought to my attention Simon, Ican call you Simon about the the the
WHO being involved with this and thiswas surprising to me. I mean,
obviously I know a lot of celebritiescontribute and lend themselves to the cause,
(04:15):
right yeah, But to learn aboutwhat's really going on with Roger Daltry and
Pete Townsend from the WHO partaking innot only like contributing to Teen Cancer America,
but also giving away signed guitars andwhatnot and doing concerts for the teens.
The teens are also writing music anddoing stuff, according to Christine Briggs.
(04:36):
Shout out to Christine Briggs, who'salso heavily involved with this cause.
Christine, Yes, so can youtell us a little bit more. This
is one of the questions I wantedto ask you what motivated Roger Daltrey and
Pete Townsend of the WHO to startup Team Cancer America. What was it?
Well, you know, actually thestory goes right back to the UK
because I was the chief executive ofthe Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK,
(05:00):
which was the predecessor of Teen CancerAmerica and Roger Daltrey in Pete townshend were
already involved in that and had beensince the nineties, and it really came
about initially through Roger Daltry's doctor,doctor aj And Whitson, who was the
founder of the charity, but alsohe motivated Roger to sort of think about
this issue. And Roger was inparticular really got captivated about this and feels,
(05:28):
I think most both of them dofeel very passionately about the fact that
really their success and everything that theyhave earned in their lifetime is down to
young people, and it's young peoplethat have made the who and this is
their way of giving back now beyondthat, and Roger in particular has really
become an ambassador for this. He'snot just a guy who raises money and
(05:50):
gives away signed guitars, right,Here's a guy who is really passionate about
this. He spends time going tosee young people and he really engages and
is very very strong publicly about tryingto create this change. So he's been
at it for over twenty wow.I mean, it's just so just reading
(06:11):
this question and reading the side inthe about us and the vision and the
mission. But you're saying Roger andPete they started Team Cancer America. They
started it themselves, like there wasno the idea, and then the funding
and then it getting Obviously they broughtin other people, but it was essentially
their baby. Absolutely. They'd seenthe success of what was happening in the
(06:33):
UK. They wanted to bring itover here. They invite myself and Rebecca
Rostein, who's the chairman of ourcharity has been integral to the charity success,
to start this thing up and getit going over here in the US.
And their commitment again to American youthwas because American youth made them as
successful as British youth. They muchto that, I see. So they
(06:56):
just wanted to do this. Theysaw there was a gap and they needed
to change, and so they establishedTeam Cancer America. They raised the first
million dollars for it themselves and gavethat to the charity to get it started.
I was very fortunate that they offeredme the opportunity to come here.
And you've been on it since thebeginning, since the beginning. Were you
(07:17):
in the band at all? Didyou play with did you tour with them
at all? You know I couldn'tsing or play a note save my life.
Can't carry a tune, Simon,Come on, you talk so eloquently,
so articulately. Maybe I could dosome poetry for him or something,
some spoken word, yeah, somethinglike that. But I do you know,
I've been involved since two thousand inthe whole set up doing in the
(07:38):
UK. But two thousand and twelvewas when we set it up in America.
Wow, we haven't looked back sincethen. That's a decade, a
great journey in a decade, It'sbeen a decade, which love saying that
word. This perfect time to celebrateten years. That is such a fortunate
and blessing to have with the whowith Roger and Pete And were you guys?
I just have to know this personally. Were you guys friends before?
(08:00):
Like did you how did you getinvolved? How did they come to you?
Simon? I'm this is just me. No, No, that's fine.
I mean really I got involved becauseI was running the charity in the
UK and they were so a partof it. But I would have to
say that over time, you know, I've got to know them both,
but particularly Roger because Roger, youknow, he'll call me up day or
night and say what's going down?You know how you know what progress are
(08:24):
we making? What are we doing? What more can I do? He's
involved, he checks in and sohe and I have really become friends over
time, and we strategize together evenabout you know, what's the best thing
to do, how can we useyou know, Roger's influence. You know,
we went to DC one year andspend some time with some people in
you know, Bipartisan Group and Congress, and you know, you can't be
(08:46):
having a spokesperson. Is it surrealto be in business with Pete Roger?
I mean does it make you Doyou ever have those moments where you're like,
wow, you know what I mean? Or is it just you're just
so used to it by now?No? No, I mean I never
quite get used to it. Imean we're blessed. You couldn't ask for
two better founders and ambassadors and Rogerand particularly because he's so out there,
(09:11):
typical lead singer, you know,very creative. You know, there are
many situations where we've been at showsor things that where they've they've been raising
money for us, and you lookaround you think, wow, you know,
I've got the who playing this forus? Yeah, as it's happening,
and that's extraordinary. Yes, nota personal level. You know,
Roger calls me. It's like havinga friend called me, you know,
(09:35):
and he wants to get business done. So great, let's move on to
(10:15):
the next question here. Can youexplain what the charity does and why it's
needed Simon? Please? Yeah,Well, I started to just give you
the picture from a young person's perspectiveabout being isolated in these inappropriate settings.
You don't want to be with Disneywallpaper and little kids, and you don't
want to be with adults where youknow, most of them in their sixties
(10:37):
and you're out of touch with them. You need your own space, and
you also need teams that understand whatyou're doing. You know, what you're
going through, not just the cancer, but they need to understand how psychologically
this is a young adult, howthey think they're exactly you know. And
so what we do is we workwith both pediatric and adult hospitals to bring
(11:00):
those medical and pediatric teams together,and your sisters and nurse will understand,
Yes, there are adult cancers thatappear in pediatric age group, and there
are pediatric cancers that appear in theadult age group, and so they need
to they need to bring their expertisetogether. So we provide them with a
platform, we give them strategies,we help them develop that, and we
(11:24):
also lead them towards building a particularspace within a hospital as well that's very
teen friendly as computers and PlayStations andkind of stuff that young people are going
to want. You got it,all of that, And so we bring
them to a point where their leadershipand them are committed to this, they
want it to happen. And thenwhen they're ready, they can apply to
(11:46):
us for money and then we givethem hard cash to develop the teams and
to develop these physical spaces as amazing. So we kind of take with a
journey between us and the hospitals becausequite often, although you would think that
it's a simple thing to you andme, and when I speak to many
people in general public, they think, well, of course, young people
(12:07):
want something different, and they aredifferent, and they're very unique and individualized.
When you're a teenager, you know, and in every walk of life,
you know, we treat them differently. You know that their schooling and
their their education is different. Youknow the way that the commercialized world adapts
to them is different. Even thecriminal justice system treats them different. Y.
(12:28):
Yeah, in the health system,they're kind of nowhere to be found
there. They're in this no man'sland type of area. So what we're
what we're really doing is buildings.I think we're kind of changing the structure
of the way absolute system. Well, you're implementing their own unique atmosphere,
not only their atmosphere of what they'regoing to be around every day while they're
(12:50):
there and enduring the travel, thejourney, but as well as trying to
be sympathetic to their their feelings,their mental state as well. All of
that. You know, the psychologicalimpact is really critical. You know what
it's like as a teenager, We'regoing through changes anywhere. There's hormonal stuff
going crazy. You know, Ithink I'm still am a teenager next year,
(13:13):
and you know, critical time foreducation and employment, so all that
stuff gets disrupted. So that's allthere, And then on top of that,
you have these complexities of the cancersnot necessarily fitting where they are.
So if they have an adult cancerand they're in a pediatric center, then
the pediatric doctors may not be quitesure how to deal with that. And
if they're a pediatric cancer in anadult hospital, they might be think it's
(13:37):
scratching their heads, are not quitesure how to deal with that. So
we're trying to bring them together.And as well, I have to say,
I'm sorry to say that the youngpeople have not been surviving or their
improvement in survival has not been asgood as younger or older age groups historically,
and that's been shown. So whatwe're trying to do is say,
(13:58):
let's let's get that expertise together,so it's a clinical as well as you
know, the research as well.We want to make have research the specific
to this age group, right,I mean, let me give you just
one example, please. Breast canceris obviously very common. We know about,
we know a lot about. It'sbeen around for a while, been
around for a while. But whatthey're finding now is that the effect of
(14:20):
some of the types of breast canceron younger people is more aggressive. Is
it because they're younger? Oh well, let's not get too deep into it.
The why, I don't know.Could it could be, because that's
the thing about cancer, it's sostealthy, it's so what's the word I'm
looking for Simon, what's an articulateword that you would give cancer in your
(14:41):
own in your own experience of seeingit all this, you know, it's
I don't know I should complement it, but it's a very smart disease.
What it does is it it behavesdifferently in different people, right, people
with different ethnicities are affected differently bysome of it. And also you know
the treatments, how people react tothe treatments. Treatments are incredibly toxic.
(15:03):
So even if you survive the cancer, you've been through a lot of toxic
treatments, and so the long termeffects of that can be very difficult.
Can I quickly share with you,Simon that I did state earlier that none
of my family fortunately had to dealwith this. I will quickly interject that
my uncle Jerry passed away from pancreaticcancer at seventy eight years age. Now
he wasn't my real uncle. Iwas content to call him my uncle.
(15:26):
Yeah, but anybody in my familywere Mexican. When it comes down to
the aggressiveness that you were speaking onwith the different types of cancer, just
out of curiosity, what is likesome of the most aggressive and then what
is some of the most not soaggressive that you've seen almost put into remission.
Right, what can you tell usa little bit just about that before
we move on to the other questionshere. I mean, there's a to
(15:48):
give you an example of a particularlyaggressive and difficult cancer that affects young people
more than any other age group.Off geo sarcoma, which is a bone
cancer, very rare. It's quiteoften difficult to diagnose in the early stages,
so late diagnosis happens, and thenthe cancer itself is very aggressive.
The treatments have to be very strong, very brutal, and toxic in order
(16:14):
to try and cure that, andthat could end up with you know,
obviously young people not surviving. Sothat's a challenging one for example, Right.
And then there's a thyroid cancer forexample. It's one where with you
know, good treatment and good andappropriate surgery, there's a higher chance of
remission in that. Although I'm alwayshesitant to kind of say those things because
(16:34):
you don't want to give people,of course, but what you've seen,
what you've seen in you're over adecade and being with the with the Teen
Cancer America, I'm sure you've you'vewitnessed quite a bit let's move on to
the next question, if you're okaywith that. Simon, it seems as
though teen Cancer America is trying tochange traditional healthcare structures and it's creating a
(16:55):
new model. Yeah, tell usmore about the new model and the structure
even that you are pretty much explainingthat right now, But dive deeper into
this whole new mode we're going into. You've got to think, you think
about the health system, and thisis you know, general public will understand
this that both children's hospitals and adulthospitals have kind of grown up in silos.
So sometimes they're on the same site, sometimes they're either side of town,
(17:19):
and so what they've created there isdivisions between the two, and so
transitions between the two are very difficultto manage, and quite often even communication
and collaboration between the two is difficult. So what I'm talking about in terms
of changing the structure is you haveto change that way of even thinking to
(17:41):
say, look, there has tobe a collaborative process here between pediatric and
adult experts. They're all important,they're all really critical to success, you
know, but we really have tobring them together to bridge that to make
the transitions okay, and to dothe very best we can to increase those
(18:02):
chances of better outcomes than survival.Well, you guys are certainly merging the
greatest minds together and across the country, said twenty two so far in twenty
two two states. Yeah, sowe we're up to by the end of
this year. Well, I've gotforty eight programs that we've been in.
We've got going which we're very,very proud of in ten years. We
(18:26):
should go over fifty next year,and I think we'll be into the early
fifties next year. That represents tome, and this is only a guestimate
because always merging and stuff like that, but that represents to me about a
quarter of the USA. Wow,So I think there's about two hundred that
are needed in the US. That'sbeautiful, and so you know we're about
(18:48):
a quarter. They were way therein ten years and that's been kind of
like startup mode. So I'm reallyconfident that we can drive this further forward,
and the more money that we get, the fast so we can go
right because we have the model.We know what works. Yeah, you
already have the system put in place, just need more people to jump on
board. Yeah, right, Ihear you. There are some of the
(19:08):
biggest and best hospitals in the worldlike MD Anderson and Memorial Sloan Cattering and
here in UCLA. But you know, we're also needing to be in every
community hospital in every city. Soit's not just the big boys, it's
not just the coastal cities, it'severywhere. It needs to be everywhere.
(19:34):
You also run a music education program. We break it down for us,
mister Simon, so as you canimagine musics in our DNA and so we
were always conscious that this was areally important feature of young people's lives,
and we felt that during treatment,we know that many young people were sort
(19:56):
of using music really as a therapy, you know, for just getting through
time. I do it every day, your favorite song, you know,
whatever gets you through the night typeof thing. You know, it's important.
So we wanted to engage them inmusic. And my colleague Hillary Gan,
who works with a guy called KenleyMattis, she was previously working at
UCLA and had developed this idea ofa music education program that actually enabled young
(20:21):
people to not just like have aguy come in and play the guitar and
listen, but actually take part inmaking their own music, whether they had
any skill at all, and ajam session, like a jam session,
they would find out what their genreof music was they're interested in. It
could be rap, it could beblues, whatever you know, and then
to help them to write that musicand to make it and to record it,
(20:44):
and to record it to a reallystrong professional level. And Kenley is
a master of this art. Andwe developed this program which began very softly
in la and we got it goingand some young people given us this great
feedback about how much this helped themduring their journey, and then subsequently we
(21:06):
got them through the pandemic, wethought, well, we got to try
and do this digitally. And sonow we've got young people all across the
country who are taking part on thisprogram doing jam sessions together and music together.
It's really it is hot thing itis. Any good bands get behind
us. We've had Portugal in theman. Oh yeah, I wanted to
(21:27):
get into that. Oh I reallywanted. Let's let's name a few can
we can? We can? Ibreak this down with you together, Simon.
So you have had fantastic artists joinyour fundraisers and engage with your program
Eddie Vetter, Yeah, the FooFighters, Yeah, Ed Sheeran, Green
Day, Pink Portugal, the Manas you just said, just to name
(21:48):
a few, and of course Peteand Roger behind the whole thing from The
Who, which is I mean,you have like a like a small army
of these fantastic musicians taking part inthis. Please tell us more. Well,
you know, one thing that it'sreally handy to have Roger Dolter or
Townsendings is pretty difficult to turn themdown if they give you a call and
(22:08):
say they're going to come and helpme at one of our shows. So
these artists, who obviously respect TheWho is one of the greatest rock and
roll bands of all times, theywould be accurate. You know, I'm
not going to find it easy tosay no. The reason I said yes
to doing this is I was like, oh, yeah, okay the Who.
I'm reading more about this and talkwith you. And then when Briggs
(22:30):
was like, well, he's sopolite and he's from the UK, and
I was like, I can't waitto talk to this guy. He's going
to have a great action, butplease continue on. Well, you know,
and that's not to say that thesepeople have come, you know,
We're not getting them to come kickingand screaming. You know, these guys
want to get involved. And whenRoger, you know, tells them about
what it is, it makes somuch sense. Yeah, and we run
(22:52):
these amazing shows that you know werun every year and tell us about the
shows, well, we just it'sactually an exclusive experience back We call it
a backyard show, but actually it'sat one of our our the home of
one of our board members. Sowhen we have about a thousand people come,
it's a big backyard to a properstage. And this year we had
(23:18):
we had Billy Idol, had JohnFogerty from Credence clear Water Revival play,
we had Green Day, we hadThe Who, and then Eddie Vede came
on stage and join with the Who. It's an amazing night as you can
imagine. I just can't even imagine. How was the crowd that the crowd
receiving it? I mean, Ilove it. I mean because where we're
(23:40):
going to get that chance and you'reupfront with these people, right, and
we split that. The benefit ofthat goes to a UCLA autism program as
well as us, so we splitthat. But it's a beautiful fundraiser and
it raises will probably raise over fivemillion between the two charities, so it's
a it's an incredible thing. Ijust wanted to say one more thing about
(24:00):
the music program because that's a differenttype of engagement which is much more personal
for the artists and Portugal and theman, for example, who got close
to a young guy actually who passedand didn't make it through his cancer journey.
They helped him. They've come backand they've done sessions with young people.
They just did one this week wherethey were just engaging with them and
(24:22):
helping them make their music in avery discreet, quiet, beautiful way.
And we really appreciate that. Sketch. You've got the sketch a madic podcast.
Well, we've got a podcast too. You know. Through our music
program, we got a relationship withPantheon Group, who run a lot of
music podcasts, and they've been helpingus produce a podcast which is listening to
(24:47):
the stories of young people and knittingthat in with the music that they're making.
One more time, very cool Pantheon. Pantheon, which is a music
podcast company, they've been helping usto develop a podcast which is telling the
stories of individual cancer patients along withthe music that they're producing on our music
(25:11):
education program. And it's very cool. That's amazing. We've even now just
made a vinyl of twenty of theirsongs. Oh aren't printed on vinyl,
got on wax. Wow, that'samazing. It's not a commercial thing.
We wanted it to be a giftfor them and for their families. So
the vinyl really is it's to say, here's to celebrate what you've done,
(25:36):
like kind of like a plaque.Absolutely, in fact, we can get
them made into the discs if theywant it. I think you should,
and that vinyl will be there foreverand if it and you know, if
the young person doesn't make it,what a beautiful legacy for their parents and
their families. Is there any DJ'sinvolved, like God DJing on turntables?
Any of the teens DJ because youknow everybody's a DJ. Now Caitlin's in
(25:56):
here with her, she's a DJ. She didn't even know she was a
DJ. I mean, every acouple of the young people themselves have turned
into DJ. Yes, that's prettycool, that's what I'm saying. Yeah,
I myself came from a DJ background, and you know, if there's
any a chance I can DJ forTCA, which is Team Cancer America.
I would love to lend myself tothat. We would love that. We
would love that. And sure,I mean that music program could lend itself
(26:18):
as well, yea, and thosesorts of skills because we're trying to teach
them production skills and but yeah,it would be great. And that's what
it brings me to this question righthere. How can the iHeart audience help
you? Well? I am anI Heeart employee as well as Caitlin and
I we're all I'm sure we're allhands on deck for the TCA crew,
you know what I mean. Soif there's any a chance that the teens
(26:40):
would like to learn about radio andstuff like that, they should have their
own little radio station up there?Did they have their own little radio station?
You know that's been a dream ofmine. So you tell me how
to do that. I'll do theimaging, you know, I love that,
love to know. I think there'sso many opportunities for that. So
clearly, I Heeart is a beautifulrelationship and generate some interest in any of
your work, you know, whetherit's broadcasting or your networks with with the
(27:06):
artists, et cetera that you have. And yeah, sure I've got you
down now because you said it saidyou're going to be You're going to be
our next DJ tutor. That's forsure. It is anyway. But yeah,
from a niheart listener point of view, listen, everybody out there,
thank you so much for listening tothis show and for hearing the stories about
(27:29):
Team Cancer America. But you know, there are several things you can do.
You know. One is this isa message for change here, you
know, so we're doing something that'sabout creating change within these hospitals. But
actually what would be great would beto develop a demand for this change.
You know. So we're doing we'rekind of being reactive to what the issue
(27:49):
is. But actually any of youout there could start to look around at
your own hospitals and say, well, what have we got one of these.
We've got up a special program foryoung people. Ask the question and
see if you can get some influencegoing, and any hospital can phone us
and we'll be there to help themin a second. So you know,
that's a piece of doesn't cost much, just you know, just find out
(28:10):
what's going on. Of course,you can raise money for us. We
always want more money. Hitching ona party. Yeah, have a party,
do whatever you want to do inany small way. You know,
we're grateful of to receive income fromany source and just engage with us.
You know, we're a very opencharity. As you know, we have
lots of music connections. You know, we're interested. You know, maybe
(28:33):
you have ideas about how we cando better, so you know, feel
free to contact us. The websitedetails are there for you and Team Cancer
America dot org. And I'd likeyou to say it one more time.
You can get to us any timethrough Teamcancer America dot org. We're really
open to speaking to you guys andseeing how you can engage and help us
with our courts. Thank you,Simon. It's been such a pleasure and
(28:57):
very insightful and enlightening sitting here withyou and learning so much in a short
amount of time. I could literallyI'd like to go and have lunch with
you and just sitting and just hearyou talk. I mean, your voice
is so it's like butter, andI think you should have a part
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!