It's too good not to replay to celebrate 100 episodes, so here is our dear friend and supporter again, Chris Wark.
Have you heard of the Beat Cancer Mindset? This episode with our guest, Chris Wark of Chris Beat Cancer, discusses the profound impact of adopting lifestyle changes, maintaining a positive attitude, and making informed diet choices. Our guest, initially overwhelmed by his diagnosis, shares how he turned his life around with the help of God leading him to resources like George Malkmus' book "God's Way to Ultimate Health."
Listen in as Chris shares his transition toward healing and what he found to be core principles like juicing, exercise, and the crucial act of forgiveness. Faith played a pivotal role, and we dive into how personal motivations and a strong will to live can turn adversity into an opportunity for personal growth and intentional living.
We also discuss the creation of the "Beat Cancer Kitchen" cookbook, the emotional and spiritual journey of facing a life-altering diagnosis, emphasizing the importance of a support system, and the impactful work with the HealingStrong organization.
Whether you're currently facing cancer or looking to prevent it, this episode offers practical advice, encouragement, and a wealth of resources to support your healing journey. Tune in for stories of hope, resilience, and the powerful mindset that can help you beat cancer.
Connect with Chris Wark:
Blog: www.chrisbeatcancer.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/chrisbeatcancer
Facebook: www.facebook.com/chrisbeatcancer
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
Please consider supporting our mission by becoming a part of our Membership Program, as a monthly donor.
When you do, you will receive additional resources such as: webinars, access to ALL our past and most recent conference videos, downloadables and more, as a bonus.
To learn more, head to the HealingStrong Membership Program link below:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My situation may be my fault.
It's probably my fault.
I'm okay with it being my fault, right, I'm okay with it.
I forgive myself for mymistakes and I'm going to change
my life.
I'm going to do everything inmy power to help myself get
better.
And so, doing everything inyour power and not making any
(00:21):
excuses and embracing thejourney these are all these
again components of what I callthe B Cancer Mindset Just
embracing this new season oflife.
It's a healing adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
The number one network ofholistic cancer support groups
in the world.
Each week, we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host, stagefour cancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Everybody I've ever talked to that is dealing with
cancer.
I said have you ever read ChrisWark's book?
Oh yeah, they all know aboutyou.
I can't tell anybody about youthat doesn't already know about
you, other than people who don'thave cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well mission accomplished.
In the cancer world, sort of.
You know, there are thousandsof people diagnosed every day,
every single day, and so it's abig mission really to reach
those people who are newlydiagnosed and they're lost and
they're confused and they needencouragement and hope and they
need to understand that theirchoices matter.
(01:33):
The choices that they make canaffect their future, can mean
all the difference betweensurvival and death, and that's,
you know, regardless of thetreatments they do, it's the
choices they're making in theirpersonal life, their diet and
lifestyle choices, and theirattitude and their, their
spiritual choices.
(01:54):
All of these things are sopowerful.
Most of them cost nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange and make different
choices right, break your badhabits and start doing things
that are really good for you.
So it's a big, it's a bigmission.
I'm I I love hearing that.
It makes me feel really goodwhen I hear that someone said,
(02:14):
hey, I told somebody about yourbook and they already knew about
it.
You know, whatever it's like,that's great.
You know, I'm reaching thepeople that I'm trying to reach,
but it is, you know, it's justa constant stream right of newly
diagnosed people every singleday, and then, of course you got
the whole, the whole othergroup of people that don't have
cancer, but they're on the path.
You know what I mean they're.
They're they're headed downcancer road with their diet and
(02:38):
lifestyle eating too much junkfood, too much fast food,
processed food, meat, dairy,sugar, salt, smoking, cigarettes
, taking pharmaceutical drugs,drinking too much alcohol,
living in a state of bitternessand anger and resentment, envy,
jealousy, prejudice All of thesethings right.
(02:59):
All of these things contributeto disease and a short life.
So I'm trying to reach thatgroup of people too, right
People?
who do not have cancer, but oneout of every two men, one out of
every three women are predictedto get it in their lifetime.
So if you're not serious aboutcancer prevention, boy, you
should be.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
When I got my diagnosis that I had stage four
melanoma, I did what every goodAmerican does you Google about
it.
It was not a good thing.
I found out I had just a monthor two to live.
So I'm thinking, oh my gosh,I've got to make all these
videos for my kids for theirwedding day or graduations or
whatever it is.
It's a little bit overwhelming.
(03:40):
You've been tagged, you've gotcancer, and what are you going
to do about it?
So I went through the operation, got that taken care of, and
they were shocked that it hadn'tspread.
But then, after that, I startedGoogling.
You know some answers and ofcourse, you came up with the
Square One program that you'vegot, and so I went through that.
(04:01):
And that's quite amazing.
You're a researcher by nature,I take it.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I know, I didn't used to be.
I was not a researcher beforecancer.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I was not.
You know, I was in real estateand I'm a musician.
And so you know, in the daytimeI was out working on houses and
renovating houses and trying tobuild a business in the real
estate investing world, you know, sort of being a landlord and a
maintenance man and everything.
(04:36):
And then at night I wasspending two or three, four
nights a week, you know, writingmusic and playing shows and
going on tour and playing inother cities.
You know, it's just that's whatI was doing, I wasn't
researching anything.
But then the cancer diagnosis,you know, just completely
derailed my life.
And I read one book, god's Wayto Ultimate Health, by George
(05:00):
Malcomus, that was sent to me bya friend of my dad.
George Malcomus, that was sentto me by a friend of my dad, and
that book completely, you know,sort of set me on a new path
because it opened my eyes tothis world of health and healing
, natural healing, holistichealth and raw food and juicing
(05:22):
and the concept that I calloverdosing on nutrition, which
is taking massive, radicalaction and just flooding your
body with as much good stuff aspossible every day and trusting
that in that process you arefacilitating life and health and
healing and vitality.
And so it started with one book, and then it was another and
another, and another and another, right, because I was just
(05:43):
wanting to learn more and moreand more, because now I actually
had a reason to research,because my life was at stake,
right, and I also was dealingwith fear.
You know, like, is this right?
I want to make sure that I'mdoing the right thing.
So I was looking for moreconfirmation.
You know that it wasn't justsome quack dude and made up
story about healing cancer orsomething you know.
(06:05):
But I found, yeah, just tons ofbooks and resources.
Back then the Internet wasn'thelpful.
Back then there was no socialmedia, there was no YouTube, so
it was just books and somecassette tapes and some VHS
tapes Dr Wayne Day and DrRichard Schultz, you know, and
some of these old school cancerhealing folks that were very
(06:29):
well known in the community, inthe alternative cancer community
, which was very small and itwas mostly just a word of mouth
type community, right?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Most people thought of them as like tree huggers and
just kind of crazy people,right For sure, I thought of
them as like tree huggers andjust kind of crazy people, right
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And when I converted to a raw food diet which I did
overnight after reading George'sbook I found a raw food support
group in Memphis.
Someone told me oh, there's araw food group.
You know, they meet once amonth.
It's like raw people that eatraw food.
And I'm like, oh, wow, okay,and I went to that meeting and I
went a few times, but it wasjust weird.
(07:06):
The people weren't friendly.
It was just very awkward andnot very helpful or encouraging.
But I quickly realized that theraw food diet was a diet for
weirdos and sick people.
It wasn't hip or cool.
Like I said, there was no.
Like I said there was noinstagram or facebook.
There were no.
(07:27):
Like beautiful, you know youngpeople on the beach showing off
their you know raw food recipesand bikinis or whatever.
You know what I'm saying likethat's, that's what it is now,
now that you know it's just beenall polished up and it's much
more attractive.
But back then it was like, yeah,fringe, weirdo diet for sick
(07:47):
people.
So I loved the idea and I wasso curious and excited to see
what would happen if I radicallychanged my diet and just
started eating whole food,unadulterated, straight from
nature, organic of course.
And if that's all I ate, whatwould happen?
So that part was kind of easy.
(08:09):
I felt like, I mean, I had themotivation because I had cancer
and I was sick, but I also wasreally curious and excited
because it just seemed sodifferent, like a sort of a fun
experiment.
So that's where it started andthe research started there,
right, and it was just mereading more and more.
It started and the researchstarted there, right, and it was
just me reading more and moreand more.
And then there was a certainpoint where I researched enough
(08:30):
that I felt like, OK, I'm good,you know, like I know what to do
, I'm doing it, I'm doing asmuch as I can each day and I
really can't do any more thanI'm doing.
And I have to be OK with andcomfortable with the fact that
I'm doing enough.
Right, like I go to bed atnight, I know I've done enough
(08:50):
for today and I can't worryabout, oh, what if I'm not doing
enough?
Doing enough, you know, becausethat's a common fear.
And again, there weren't thatmany resources back then too,
and I kept finding the sameinformation, like, from book to
book to book, it would just belike raw foods, juicing, right,
exercise, uh, lymphatic massageor skin brushing, rebounding,
(09:11):
you know, and forgiveness, right.
And so it was these themes.
They're just recurring themesfrom all of the survivors books
that I found and, uh, doctorsand experts in the holistic
health world.
They're all saying the samethings.
So eventually it was kind oflike, ok, I've got the common
threads are obvious here.
(09:32):
I just, you know there's littleopinions and little different
ideas here and little supplementideas and different things you
know, out there in the therapiesthere.
You know I can still learnabout it, maybe try.
But I had the core foundationalprinciples of health and
healing.
That's what I focused on.
So from there, you know, I justcreated a plan.
I worked the plan, I stuck withit, just took care of myself
(09:55):
and, day by day, worked onchanging my life and the diet
and the exercise is the easypart.
The hard part is your mindset.
You know, catching yourselfwhen you're thinking negatively
and choosing to think positively, catching yourself in a state
of fear and stopping and givingyour fear to God and saying I'm
not going to be afraid, I trustyou, right, just like laying
(10:17):
your fear down at the feet ofJesus Right, he's on the throne
Like I was doing that and thattook time.
That's.
That is a mental discipline,right, it's a habit.
And negativity and pessimismand being judgmental and
critical these are all badhabits, right?
They're bad thought patterns,they're bad thought habits and I
(10:38):
had to really work to breakthose and even today I wouldn't
say that I've totally brokenthem.
I still am tempted to thinknegatively and critically and
things like that.
But anyway, I got a lot better.
And then choosing to forgiveeveryone who hurt me was a big
part of it too is just combingthrough my life and giving all
of my hurts and all of that toGod and, just one by one,
(11:01):
forgiving every person from mypast who had hurt me in some way
, whether it was a big way or alittle way, it didn't matter
Like there was no one, no personwas off limits.
I decided on forgiving everyoneand I worked through that one
by one.
You can't do it in one sitting.
You can get a lot done in onesitting, but daily, in prayer or
just as I was going through myday, and I would remember a
(11:24):
person or an event or whatever,I would just deal with it and
say God, you know what they did.
You know how I feel about it andI'm choosing to forgive them
because I never have I've neveractively said I forgive Jack or
whatever, right for this.
So now I'm saying it, I'mmaking it official, because we
(11:45):
often think that just moving onis sort of like forgiveness.
But it isn't.
You know, we all move on sortof and try to forget when people
hurt us, so we just kind offorget it, move on from it.
You know whatever, but the painis still there, it's still
lingering and the bitterness isstill lingering.
The resentment may still belingering and forgiveness is an
(12:06):
active choice.
You know you have to choose todo it.
It's not a feeling right, it'sa choice.
So you know, one by one, Iforgive everyone who'd hurt me.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That Jack.
He offended me too.
He's something.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, he's a real jerk.
So those are the things thattake time, that you have to work
on every day.
And you know, shameless bookplug.
That's what this book's about.
Beat Cancer Daily.
It's about working through thedaily changes, the mindset, the
attitude, the faith, forgivenessand the practical stuff like
(12:38):
diet and lifestyle changes, likethat's a daily devotional that
I wrote.
You know the person that readsthat book.
You just read one page per dayand every day I'm trying to do
my best to encourage you andinspire you and give you
practical information to helpyou survive and thrive.
So that came, you know, as asort of companion to the first
book and I wrote it just becauseI realized, you know, somebody
(12:59):
can read my book and they cantake a lot of notes and they can
do, you know, get busy, butthey're not going to read my
book every day and the cancerjourney is it's just one day at
a time.
You know it's like every day youneed a little bit of
encouragement.
You know it's, it's easy.
You got to remember tosurrender your fear to God.
You got to remember to chooseto think positively.
(13:21):
You got to remember to.
You know it's more that yourthought life and your emotional
life.
That needs constant monitoring.
Right, you can lock in on thediet and just repeat it every
day.
That's like I said.
That was the easy part waschanging my diet, and so the
hard part is everything else.
You know, the physical stuff'seasy, that's the mental,
emotional, spiritual stuff.
(13:42):
That's the hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Well, let's speak to the three people who don't know
who you are.
Perhaps they just got diagnosedwith cancer and of course
they're facing the fear now andthe unknown, because they
haven't done all the reading ofthe books and the research and
stuff.
But can you go back to when,just before you were diagnosed,
you were kind of flying high,things are going great.
And then all of a sudden youwere kind of flying high, Things
(14:04):
are going great, and then allof a sudden you get the
diagnosis.
I mean I want people to knowthat you're also human.
I mean they see you as havingall these answers now, but you
had to go through that samejourney and you faced the fears
and all kinds of stuff.
Can you kind of speak to that?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I mean it was terrifying.
I'm not a superhero guy.
I have a lot of information inmy brain now because it's been
17 years, right, 10 years ofreally intensive research and
then living through it, and allthat leading up to the starting
of the blog and writing my firstbook.
So, yeah, I think when peoplefind me, they think, oh, I can
(14:39):
never be like Chris or whatever,and you don't have to be Like,
you don't have to become me, youdon't have to write books or
start a blog or be a publicfigure, you just have to get
well.
Right, that's all you need toworry about is getting well.
What all I'm trying to do isbring information and the
resources and encouragement,inspiration and hope to people,
(15:01):
to patients especially, and theright resources that they can
use to help themselves surviveand thrive, and so I think it's
so important that you number one, absolutely.
You have to believe that you canget well.
You have to want to live.
You have to get very clearabout why you want to live.
(15:21):
Do you want to live, yes or no?
Do you want to get well, yes orno?
Why do you want to get well?
Why do you want to live?
You've got to be very clearabout these things.
If you're not sure, then spendsome time thinking about it
right.
Figure out what do you have tolive for.
Is it your kids, your grandkids, great grandkids?
(15:44):
Is there a mission in life youhaven't accomplished?
Are there goals or dreams thatyou haven't even started working
on?
But you gotta figure that out.
You gotta get real clear,because that's going to help you
.
That will propel you forward.
That'll be your motivation anddetermination, like why do you
want to live?
What do you have to live for?
And then, once that'sestablished, you also have to
(16:04):
believe you can get well.
Those two things go hand inhand.
If you have a strong will tolive and you believe you can get
well, that will propel youright.
That is the fuel in your enginethat will keep you on track,
(16:25):
because there's a lot oftemptation and there's a lot of
discouragement and frustrationalong the way.
That can easily get you offcourse.
If you're not really clear onwhy you're doing what you're
doing, why you're eating so muchfrickin broccoli, you know what
I'm saying.
Yeah so you got to, you got toknow why you're doing it.
And so what I'm talking about Icall it the beat cancer mindset
.
It's a personal responsibilitymindset where you accept full
responsibility for your life andyour health and your situation
(16:46):
and you're willing to look inthe mirror and say you know what
?
This may be my fault, mysituation may be my fault.
It's probably my fault.
I'm okay with it being my fault.
Right, I'm okay with it.
I forgive myself for mymistakes and I'm going to change
my life.
I'm going to do everything inmy power to help myself get
better.
(17:07):
And so, doing everything inyour power and not making any
excuses and embracing thejourney these are all these,
again, components of what I callthe beat cancer mindset Just
embracing this new season oflife.
It's a healing adventure.
You know, here we go All right,we are on an adventure.
(17:27):
There's a funny expression.
It's like you know, vacationplus catastrophe equals
adventure, and it's the samekind of thing.
Right, you're not on vacation,but you can.
You can shift your mindset toany catastrophe in life, any
(17:48):
tribulation, obstacle.
You can look at it negativelyand say this is bad, this is
going to be hard, I don't wantto do this, or you can just flip
a switch and say you know what,here we go.
This is an adventure.
It may be tough, but we'regoing to do this thing, we're
going to get through it.
And believing that you can getwell means seeing yourself well
on the other side of it.
(18:08):
And there's something that'seven more important not only
believing that you can get well,but believing that your life
will be better after cancer thanit was before.
I mean, that is huge, and I cantell you, if anyone is looking
to me for inspiration, I cantell you, without a doubt, my
life is much better, infinitelybetter, after cancer than it was
(18:32):
before.
So cancer was not a life enderfor me.
It felt like it at the time.
The diagnosis felt like theworst thing in the world and my
life is over.
But it wasn't.
It was just a massive wake-upcall, the divine tap on the
shoulder.
By the way, this belief wasrooted in Scripture.
Romans 8, 28 says God works allthings for the good of those
(18:54):
who love him and are calledaccording to his purpose, of
those who love him and arecalled according to his purpose.
So if you're, if you arewilling to exercise your faith
and believe that that promisefrom scripture is true, that God
works everything for your good.
That means he works the badthings for your good, right?
He takes the bad thing and hetwists it and he uses it to
(19:17):
produce something good out of it.
Like you know, when a tree diesand you know a plant dies, it
drops all this seed on theground.
You're like, oh, the plant'sdead, but the seed will take
root and grow and then you'vegot a new harvest the next year.
That's just one of the laws ofnature.
I had a very shallowunderstanding of these things in
(19:38):
2004 when I was first trying tofigure out how to survive, but
I did believe that God was goingto work it for my good.
I didn't know that my lifewould be better after cancer,
but I believed he would work itfor my good.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
One thing I noticed that people have in common who
have had cancer and are thrivingis it's almost like their life
is in color now, as opposed toblack and white before, because
you realize I mean anybody theirlife could end before the sun
sets from all kinds of stuff.
But once you have cancer itbecomes more real and you're
like my gosh, I got to doeverything on purpose.
(20:11):
I have to be intentional aboutwhat I do and you start thinking
about not just wasting yourdays, but how can I give back,
how can I make life better forothers?
So it's like been across theboard, I've noticed that's such
a great analogy.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
It's like the Wizard of Oz.
You know when it goes from blackand white to color.
Yeah, it's true, there's arichness to life that manifests
after a cancer diagnosis.
Sometimes it doesn't, and thatdepends on the patient, right,
it depends on their mentalityand their outlook.
But I'd say, most of the timeit's like a hard reset and when
(20:47):
you reboot you realize howprecious life is.
You know how much you have tobe thankful for in the middle of
the scariest adversity, right,you realize how good your life
is and how much you had takenfor granted.
That is transformative.
You just realize, yeah, oh mygosh, you know, I like to say
(21:09):
that cancer just cuts your lifein half.
Right, and you got the BC andthe AD.
You got BC before, d afterdiagnosis.
And you realize that yourpriorities are completely
different after diagnosis.
And everything you cared aboutbefore the diagnosis, most of
that you stop caring about.
(21:30):
You know.
You stop caring about fame orfortune or success or material
stuff, and all you care about,really you know this the the
healthy person has cares abouteverything.
The sick person only caresabout one thing and that's
getting well, right, you know.
And then, beyond that, yourfamily and and just basic, just
(21:51):
getting your basic needs met,and everything else is like who
cares?
Who cares, I just want to getwell, and so that's that's
definitely the mindset that Iwas, that I had for sure.
I just let a lot of things go.
I was like I don't care.
You know what's the point.
What's the point in holding onto resentment or bitterness or
anger.
Let it go, it's just going todrag you down anyway.
And so I focused on gratitudeand joy, and gratitude is a
(22:14):
superpower.
If you understand how toharness gratitude, it's just so
powerful.
You know it's all throughoutthe Bible.
You know it's just like givethanks to the Lord, for he is
good, his love endures forever.
I mean, if you're justconstantly giving thanks to God
for the good things in your life, you got to identify the good
things and say thank you, thankyou that I can get out of bed,
(22:39):
thank you that I can feed myself, thank you that I can get out
of bed, thank you that I canfeed myself, thank you that I
can see.
I had a friend, dear friend, whohas passed away now, that I
used to go to church with, andhe played guitar on the worship
team with me.
His name was Billy Littlejohnand he was blind.
He was a blind man and anincredible lead guitar player
and he was blind.
Blind and I would often go pickhim up and bring him to church
(23:00):
or to practice for the team andI just got to be very close with
him and he was just such suchan incredibly enthusiastic and
grateful and joyful man.
He was blind, you know.
I had to lead him, lead him bythe hand, up the stairs in the,
the door, through the sanctuaryonto the platform to his chair.
(23:21):
You know, I mean, like, justthink about just one thing that
you have to be thankful for isyour eyesight, and there's so
much more.
So I can spend all day countingmy blessings and when something
happens that I don't like, injust a moment I can stop and
start counting my blessings andI'm over it.
You know, whatever was makingme angry or frustrated, or
(23:44):
irritated or unhappy, I can juststop and be like wait a second.
Let me just take stock realquick of all the good stuff I've
got going in my life and itoutweighs the bad.
A thousand to one.
You know, probably more thanthat who loves me.
I've got a home, you know, food, money to pay the bills, on and
on and on, even if I have ahealth problem.
(24:05):
I.
That's one.
One of the many lessons thatcancer taught me, and I think a
lot of people do learn that uhis how to focus on the good
things in their life and notdwell on the bad things and the
scary things.
In some cases certain patientswill, uh will really go down
that that um wormhole ofdiscouragement and despair and
(24:25):
depression, and it's really hard, it's really sad to see and
it's hard, it's heartbreaking,but sometimes they just become
more angry and more bitter andum more unhappy.
I don't know how to snapsomebody out of that condition.
Yeah, but it is, you do see itsometimes, especially when the
doctor gives them a diagnosisbitter and more unhappy.
I don't know how to snapsomebody out of that condition.
Yeah, but it is, you do see itsometimes.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Especially when the doctor gives them a diagnosis of
you know, six months orsomething, and that's all they
think about, and of course, thebody just starts shutting down
because it hears your mind.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And treatments are so brutal that a person who is
really optimistic and and is inthe right mindset in the
beginning of the cancer journeycan get worn down over time.
They're just tired of suffering, and I understand that.
I really do.
I understand that there's onlyso much suffering that one
person can endure and still staypositive and hopeful,
(25:13):
especially when it's sufferingaccompanied with bad news
constantly and a bleak, hopelessoutlook for medical
professionals.
And so I'm trying to reachthose people too, because I've
interviewed a number of patientswho've healed against the odds.
Dozens and dozens of patientswho healed against the odds all
types and stages of cancer, someafter they were sent home to
(25:36):
die right in the worst possibleposition to be in.
Gone through all the treatments, they failed, gone, you know,
get your affairs in order andpeople got well.
So, chris Beat Cancer ifanybody doesn't know anything
about my website, it's not justa bunch of me I've interviewed
tons of doctors, tons of expertsand researchers.
(25:57):
Interviewed tons of doctors,tons of experts and researchers
and, in holistic, long-termsurvivors who have healed
against the odds and haveincredible, inspirational
stories, and a lot of thembetter than mine.
Right, I had surgery.
So people can say, oh, you hadsurgery, but there are people
who yeah, who've had notreatments and healed.
There's others that have had allthe treatments and they failed
(26:19):
and they still got well, and soif that doesn't give you hope
and inspiration and show youthat healing is possible, I
don't know what else to do.
You know it's like I think weneed to believe each other.
You know it more now than everin human history.
Do we actually need to listento each other and stop listening
to authorities who are, youknow, have perverse incentives,
(26:41):
and those incentives are almostalways money and control and
power Under the guise of we are,we have, you are protecting you
, we have your best interest atheart.
We are the health authoritiesand the reality is we just need
to listen to each other andbelieve each other and trust
each other and share information.
That's that's helping andworking, and we can get through
(27:04):
anything as humans, you know.
As people.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
To me it sounds like I mean, you're a man of faith,
you believe in jesus as yoursavior, but like before you had
cancer, before you had thediagnosis, it's like most of us
you believe in god, but you kindof have the reins and then all
of a sudden, when the cancerhits, suddenly you give the
reins over to God and it takesit in a whole different
direction.
Now you're a spokesman andchanging people's lives for
(27:36):
health and helping them to thinkbetter about things, and you're
basically saving lives is whatyou're doing, because God's in
control.
Now, right?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, it's Jesus take the wheel, which is funny
because the guy who wrote thatsong is actually marrying my
cousin.
No, he and I.
His name's Brett James and yeah, so he's actually getting
married to my cousin Melody verysoon, so he and I will be
related, which is kind of funnyand cool.
But yeah, but that's true forsure.
(28:02):
I was a believer before I gotcancer.
I was really.
I'm really thankful that I wasreally plugged in and to church
and had a lot of credible peopledisciple me and speak into my
life and really strengthen myfaith in the years leading up to
my cancer diagnosis I'd sayabout four years before my
diagnosis.
In that time I really grew alot as a believer in my faith
(28:24):
and so it really prepared me forwhat was coming.
But then when it happened, thenI had to really get you know.
It was a major faith testBecause you know, faith's pretty
easy when your life's good.
You know and a lot of people,they don't even really need God,
right, they don't think theyneed God because they've got
(28:45):
food and clothing and shelterand friends and you know loved
ones.
So like what do I need God for?
Like everything's going good.
It's only when you run into it.
You know when yourcircumstances get out of your
control, then human nature is tobe like reach out for help.
You know in your soul, in yourspirit, you know there's, you
(29:07):
desperately need help and it'sout of your control.
And that's when you find peoplewho are not believers or who
are just maybe they believe butthey don't really act like you
know, they're not reallyactively pursuing a relationship
with God.
That's the big wake-up call forthem to be like okay, if God,
if you're there, I need help.
Like no, I need help.
Bad, I'm willing to do anything.
(29:28):
I'll change everything.
Like you know, help me.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
We find it in the valleys, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah, and so of course, that was.
It was really intense and Ijust had to really surrender in
a deeper way and decide do Ibelieve all of this for real?
Right, do I believe it for real?
And I was living my life like Idid, but it was just another
level of faith that was required.
(29:54):
You know, like, am I reallygoing to cast my cares on him,
like it says to?
Do I cast your cares on him?
Give god your fear and yourworry, am I?
really going to do that, yeah,I'm going to do it.
You know, am I really going toquote scripture over my life and
and search the bible right andread and research the bible and
find the promises of god andgrab a hold of them, say these
(30:16):
are for me?
You know, I'm claiming thesepromises.
You know, one of my favoriteverses that I quote all the time
is Psalm 34, 19,.
Righteous may have manyafflictions, but the Lord
delivers them from them all.
Some versions say the righteousmay have many troubles, you
know, but when I found thatverse I was like, yes, this is
my banner over my life righthere.
(30:38):
This is the verse for me rightnow and I'm going to believe
that it's true, that he is goingto deliver me.
And I had to just dwell on thatand meditate on it and just
repeat it and remind myselfconstantly.
This is a promise for me andthat's something that anyone can
do.
I don't have any special giftof faith.
There are things in my lifethat I'm thankful for that
(30:58):
prepared me for the diagnosisthat anyone can do.
I don't have any special gift,you know, of faith.
You know there are things in mylife that I'm thankful for that
prepared me for the diagnosis,but one of them was being an
only child helped.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, it helped Because when you're an only
child, you know you'reindependent, yeah, and you don't
have siblings, you knowpressure from siblings to do
things.
You don't feel the need atleast me, I don't feel that.
I never felt the need toconform.
So I've always been anonconformist, always charted my
own way in the world and wasnever interested in fitting in,
(31:31):
and so when it came time to sayno to chemotherapy, it was hard,
but it wasn't that hard.
Right, because I was.
I was comfortable doing italone, without people
understanding.
I had very little support in thebeginning.
That's why I love HealingStrong so much, because it's
like the support group that Iwish I had had when I was
diagnosed, because I didn'tagain.
(31:52):
I just didn't have one.
I had my mom and eventually mywife came around and I found a
naturopath and I found anintegrative MD and that was
about it.
I didn't have any cancerbuddies at that time.
So it was just a very, verysmall little group of support,
but it was mostly just every day, just me and jesus.
(32:12):
Okay, he's pretty good support.
Yeah, that was it.
I mean, that's how I felt, likeit's just me and you, jesus, I
ain't got nobody else.
Yeah, everybody thinks I'mcrazy, so I need a little help.
I need some direction.
You might have to carry meacross the beach like the
footsteps call.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I can relate a lot to you because I grew up in church
and I believed in God and infact I played bass on the
worship team and things aregoing great.
No big deal in my life.
They make me stress out oranything, and I was always happy
.
And then, of course, thediagnosis.
And suddenly God was more realto me, even though I thought he
was extremely real, but then hecame even more.
(32:54):
So he kind of humbles you whencancer hits.
Not that I didn't think I was aproud person, but I was.
Yeah, well, obviously I was too, because I got more humble.
And the thing is I was yeah,well, obviously I was too
because I got more humble.
And the thing is, I was onradio at the time and I thought
you know, all I do is just makesarcastic jokes.
People laugh, I'm breakingtheir day a little bit.
I don't really have a lot ofvalue.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
But then when I?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
was talking about my cancer and I joke about it.
I even had a little segmentcalled Tumor Humor.
I can laugh at my have cancerand I was giving up until I saw,
you know, jim Mann was, youknow, making fun of his own
cancer and had a great attitude.
And so he was, you know, as oneguy goes on.
So I decided to have a goodattitude and now he's thriving.
(33:36):
I'm like I can use just aboutanybody.
Obviously, you can use a donkey, you can use any of us, and in
fact I think I sold at least 200of your books because people
are constantly calling andsaying what is that book?
I do forgive you for not givingme royalties, because I have to
.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Believe me, my royalties are very small.
That's what you get when you doa book deal.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I appreciate you taking the time out.
I know you do interviews allthe time.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Where do you go from here?
Well, I've got a cookbookcalled Beat Cancer Kitchen and,
yeah, we're really excited.
It's full color, beautiful, 125recipes all plant-based, whole
food, plant-based recipes.
We're really excited about it.
I mean, there's just so manyincredible delicious recipes.
My wife and I are she's aco-author, we worked on it
(34:26):
together and yeah, that'sexactly what I need.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I need someone to tell me exactly what to do in
the kitchen, because I'm notyeah, we are.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
My audience has been begging for a cookbook for years
.
I'm just like, oh, I don't wantto write a cookbook.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You know, it just seemed like a lot of work and
but we got it done Well I timeand I'm I'm really glad that you
are closely related to healingstrong.
It's a great organization andit's it's kind of the way I'm
giving back.
There was not a group in myarea so I thought I'm not really
a leader, but I jumped in andbecame a leader and I'm actually
learning from the groupprobably more than they're
(35:00):
learning and we've always worked, yeah, yeah, and of course,
they all know who you are.
They've all read your book.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
And look, can I just say you're making my point like
we learn from each other.
Yes, you know, that's the thing.
It's like we don't need leaderstelling us everything we need
to know and do Right, we justneed to get together Right.
Everybody brings a level ofexperience and expertise to the
table.
Yeah, I mean I've learned somuch.
(35:26):
I mean everything that I know.
I didn't just learn it from thetrees, I learned it from other
people.
I learned it from othersurvivors and doctors and
scientists.
That's where I learned from,and I didn't learn it from
politicians.
I didn't learn it from the CDC,so I learned it from real
(35:47):
people who care and have nomotives other than helping
others.
And so thank you for being aHealing Strong leader, jim.
It's just so awesome that youdo that, and I just love the
organization.
I love everybody involved withit.
It's just such a great thingand I'm excited.
We're talking about Susie and Ihave been talking about, you
know, expanding Healing Strongand doing something that serves
(36:10):
people on an even higher level.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And so you got a beautiful family, two little
daughters, right?
How old are they now?
Man?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
they're not even little anymore, no, 16 and 13.
Oh no, so 13.
Oh no.
So the 13 year old still gotsome growing to do, but the 16
year old she's like full grownman.
Yeah, I mean, she's just ayoung lady now and it's like I
love her so much.
They're both just such greatkids and fun and funny and
beautiful and smart and they'rejust.
(36:38):
You know, and when I had cancerI had no children.
Yeah, and that's really onething that kicked my butt into
gear was I wanted to be a dad.
I didn't know how much time Ihad left right, and so I asked
my wife if we could start afamily, and she made the
courageous decision to say yes,she loved me so much.
You know it gets me teared up,but yeah, she loved me so much
(37:00):
that she was willing to start afamily, not knowing if I would
be around to help, you know,raise this child.
And then our, we got pregnant,like right away.
Her family is fertile, and so,a year after my diagnosis, I was
back in the hospital holdingthis beautiful baby girl wow,
yeah, that probably helped youmentally that.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Oh yeah, to be around .
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Oh yeah, I mean, that's how I got something else
to live for.
Yeah, and I'll close this looptoo, because I know we're about
to wrap it up.
But what I had to live for inthe beginning was my wife, my
mom and my dad.
That was it, right.
I got very clear I have to livefor these three people.
I've been with my wife for sixyears.
(37:48):
We dated for no eight years,because we dated for six years
and we were married for two atthat time.
So it was like I'm a pretty bigdeal to these three people.
Right, I couldn't say thatabout anybody else, but I'm a
pretty big deal to my parentsI'm their only child and to my
wife and we've been togethereight years.
I've got to live for thesepeople.
(38:08):
I couldn't bear the thought ofthem putting me in the ground.
It was just the pain of thatwas so, oh my gosh, it was
heartbreaking to think aboutthat.
And then, you know, maren, ourfirstborn, came along and I was
like, okay, now I've got fourpeople to live for.
So people to live for, you know.
So you know, full circle on theuh, find your reasons to live.
(38:29):
Those were mine, those weremine.
And then we had mckenzie.
Uh, three and a half yearsafter that and by that time I
was, you know, pretty close tobeing out of the woods, you know
, because that was four and ahalf years after my diagnosis,
mckenzie, so I was almost at thefive-year mark at that point,
so the stakes were much lowerwhen she came along.
But yeah, those were the twobiggest blessings of the cancer
(38:50):
journey was the kick in thepants to be a dad.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, I have a McKenzie too.
I have a McKenzie, Michaela,Michael and Mason.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Oh, look at that All the Ms.
We've got three M Micah is mywife and then two, Maren and
Mackenzie are the daughters.
Yep, I'm the oddball.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Well, for people to get a hold of you, obviously
they just go to crispycancercomand you can spend days there
listening to videos, differentthings.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah, it's a free site.
There's tons of articles andvideos and the very first post
on there is how to get started,like where to start, because
it's a lot of information tonavigate.
So I try to give people a sortof a straight path to kind of
get to the most importantinformation first and get
through that and get busychanging their life.
(39:34):
And of course, the books arethere for that and I have a
course called Square One that'sthere for that too.
To help people really changetheir life.
You can do it Again, I'll sayit I said at the beginning help
people really change their life.
You can do it Again, I'll sayit I said at the beginning.
I'll close with it the mostpowerful things you can do to
change your life, to affect yourfuture, to drop your risk of
(39:58):
dying, to increase your risk ofsurvival, the most powerful
things you can do are almost allfree.
They cost you nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange your diet.
Cost you nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange your diet, exercising
faith, forgiveness.
These are things that cost most.
Most of them cost nothing.
Eating healthier doesn't reallycost more money If you don't,
if you stop eating out and stopbuying, you know, sugary drinks
and all this kind of stuff, andcoffees and all that you find
(40:20):
you have.
You have enough money to buyorganic produce.
So that's uh, that's uh, Ithink, a really powerful
revelation that I hope peoplewill get a hold of is the most
powerful things that you do costyou nothing, and healing
happens at home.
So, whatever therapies youchoose, it's what you're doing
between between the officevisits, between the treatments
(40:41):
that's going to make all thedifference in survival and
healing.
So I'm here we, you know, I'mhere to encourage people to do
that.
That's going to make all thedifference in survival and
healing.
So I'm here to encourage peopleto do that.
That's what our community is.
We're just encouraging peopleand loving on them and
supporting them.
It doesn't matter if they dochemo or don't do chemo.
It doesn't matter If you'regoing through cancer.
We just want to give you toolsand resources and encouragement
to get through it, survive andthrive.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Chris, thanks for being on this podcast.
And thanks for being on thispodcast and thanks for all you
do.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Thank you, jeff.
You've been listening to the IAm Healing Strong podcast, a
part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(41:25):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(41:48):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(42:12):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
(42:34):
Healing Strong podcast.
My situation may be my fault.
It's probably my fault.
I'm okay with it being my fault, right, I'm okay with it.
I forgive myself for mymistakes and I'm going to change
my life.
I'm going to do everything inmy power to help myself get
better.
And so, doing everything inyour power and not making any
(00:21):
excuses and embracing thejourney these are all these
again components of what I callthe B Cancer Mindset Just
embracing this new season oflife.
It's a healing adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
The number one network ofholistic cancer support groups
in the world.
Each week, we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host, stagefour cancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Everybody I've ever talked to that is dealing with
cancer.
I said have you ever read ChrisWark's book?
Oh yeah, they all know aboutyou.
I can't tell anybody about youthat doesn't already know about
you, other than people who don'thave cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well mission accomplished.
In the cancer world, sort of.
You know, there are thousandsof people diagnosed every day,
every single day, and so it's abig mission really to reach
those people who are newlydiagnosed and they're lost and
they're confused and they needencouragement and hope and they
need to understand that theirchoices matter.
(01:33):
The choices that they make canaffect their future, can mean
all the difference betweensurvival and death, and that's,
you know, regardless of thetreatments they do, it's the
choices they're making in theirpersonal life, their diet and
lifestyle choices, and theirattitude and their, their
spiritual choices.
(01:54):
All of these things are sopowerful.
Most of them cost nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange and make different
choices right, break your badhabits and start doing things
that are really good for you.
So it's a big, it's a bigmission.
I'm I I love hearing that.
It makes me feel really goodwhen I hear that someone said,
(02:14):
hey, I told somebody about yourbook and they already knew about
it.
You know, whatever it's like,that's great.
You know, I'm reaching thepeople that I'm trying to reach,
but it is, you know, it's justa constant stream right of newly
diagnosed people every singleday, and then, of course you got
the whole, the whole othergroup of people that don't have
cancer, but they're on the path.
You know what I mean they're.
They're they're headed downcancer road with their diet and
(02:38):
lifestyle eating too much junkfood, too much fast food,
processed food, meat, dairy,sugar, salt, smoking, cigarettes
, taking pharmaceutical drugs,drinking too much alcohol,
living in a state of bitternessand anger and resentment, envy,
jealousy, prejudice All of thesethings right.
(02:59):
All of these things contributeto disease and a short life.
So I'm trying to reach thatgroup of people too, right
People?
who do not have cancer, but oneout of every two men, one out of
every three women are predictedto get it in their lifetime.
So if you're not serious aboutcancer prevention, boy, you
should be.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
When I got my diagnosis that I had stage four
melanoma, I did what every goodAmerican does you Google about
it.
It was not a good thing.
I found out I had just a monthor two to live.
So I'm thinking, oh my gosh,I've got to make all these
videos for my kids for theirwedding day or graduations or
whatever it is.
It's a little bit overwhelming.
(03:40):
You've been tagged, you've gotcancer, and what are you going
to do about it?
So I went through the operation, got that taken care of, and
they were shocked that it hadn'tspread.
But then, after that, I startedGoogling.
You know some answers and ofcourse, you came up with the
Square One program that you'vegot, and so I went through that.
(04:01):
And that's quite amazing.
You're a researcher by nature,I take it.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, I know, I didn't used to be.
I was not a researcher beforecancer.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I was not.
You know, I was in real estateand I'm a musician.
And so you know, in the daytimeI was out working on houses and
renovating houses and trying tobuild a business in the real
estate investing world, you know, sort of being a landlord and a
maintenance man and everything.
(04:36):
And then at night I wasspending two or three, four
nights a week, you know, writingmusic and playing shows and
going on tour and playing inother cities.
You know, it's just that's whatI was doing, I wasn't
researching anything.
But then the cancer diagnosis,you know, just completely
derailed my life.
And I read one book, god's Wayto Ultimate Health, by George
(05:00):
Malcomus, that was sent to me bya friend of my dad.
George Malcomus, that was sentto me by a friend of my dad, and
that book completely, you know,sort of set me on a new path
because it opened my eyes tothis world of health and healing
, natural healing, holistichealth and raw food and juicing
(05:22):
and the concept that I calloverdosing on nutrition, which
is taking massive, radicalaction and just flooding your
body with as much good stuff aspossible every day and trusting
that in that process you arefacilitating life and health and
healing and vitality.
And so it started with one book, and then it was another and
another, and another and another, right, because I was just
(05:43):
wanting to learn more and moreand more, because now I actually
had a reason to research,because my life was at stake,
right, and I also was dealingwith fear.
You know, like, is this right?
I want to make sure that I'mdoing the right thing.
So I was looking for moreconfirmation.
You know that it wasn't justsome quack dude and made up
story about healing cancer orsomething you know.
(06:05):
But I found, yeah, just tons ofbooks and resources.
Back then the Internet wasn'thelpful.
Back then there was no socialmedia, there was no YouTube, so
it was just books and somecassette tapes and some VHS
tapes Dr Wayne Day and DrRichard Schultz, you know, and
some of these old school cancerhealing folks that were very
(06:29):
well known in the community, inthe alternative cancer community
, which was very small and itwas mostly just a word of mouth
type community, right?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Most people thought of them as like tree huggers and
just kind of crazy people,right For sure, I thought of
them as like tree huggers andjust kind of crazy people, right
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And when I converted to a raw food diet which I did
overnight after reading George'sbook I found a raw food support
group in Memphis.
Someone told me oh, there's araw food group.
You know, they meet once amonth.
It's like raw people that eatraw food.
And I'm like, oh, wow, okay,and I went to that meeting and I
went a few times, but it wasjust weird.
(07:06):
The people weren't friendly.
It was just very awkward andnot very helpful or encouraging.
But I quickly realized that theraw food diet was a diet for
weirdos and sick people.
It wasn't hip or cool.
Like I said, there was no.
Like I said there was noinstagram or facebook.
There were no.
(07:27):
Like beautiful, you know youngpeople on the beach showing off
their you know raw food recipesand bikinis or whatever.
You know what I'm saying likethat's, that's what it is now,
now that you know it's just beenall polished up and it's much
more attractive.
But back then it was like, yeah,fringe, weirdo diet for sick
(07:47):
people.
So I loved the idea and I wasso curious and excited to see
what would happen if I radicallychanged my diet and just
started eating whole food,unadulterated, straight from
nature, organic of course.
And if that's all I ate, whatwould happen?
So that part was kind of easy.
(08:09):
I felt like, I mean, I had themotivation because I had cancer
and I was sick, but I also wasreally curious and excited
because it just seemed sodifferent, like a sort of a fun
experiment.
So that's where it started andthe research started there,
right, and it was just mereading more and more.
It started and the researchstarted there, right, and it was
just me reading more and moreand more.
And then there was a certainpoint where I researched enough
(08:30):
that I felt like, OK, I'm good,you know, like I know what to do
, I'm doing it, I'm doing asmuch as I can each day and I
really can't do any more thanI'm doing.
And I have to be OK with andcomfortable with the fact that
I'm doing enough.
Right, like I go to bed atnight, I know I've done enough
(08:50):
for today and I can't worryabout, oh, what if I'm not doing
enough?
Doing enough, you know, becausethat's a common fear.
And again, there weren't thatmany resources back then too,
and I kept finding the sameinformation, like, from book to
book to book, it would just belike raw foods, juicing, right,
exercise, uh, lymphatic massageor skin brushing, rebounding,
(09:11):
you know, and forgiveness, right.
And so it was these themes.
They're just recurring themesfrom all of the survivors books
that I found and, uh, doctorsand experts in the holistic
health world.
They're all saying the samethings.
So eventually it was kind oflike, ok, I've got the common
threads are obvious here.
(09:32):
I just, you know there's littleopinions and little different
ideas here and little supplementideas and different things you
know, out there in the therapiesthere.
You know I can still learnabout it, maybe try.
But I had the core foundationalprinciples of health and
healing.
That's what I focused on.
So from there, you know, I justcreated a plan.
I worked the plan, I stuck withit, just took care of myself
(09:55):
and, day by day, worked onchanging my life and the diet
and the exercise is the easypart.
The hard part is your mindset.
You know, catching yourselfwhen you're thinking negatively
and choosing to think positively, catching yourself in a state
of fear and stopping and givingyour fear to God and saying I'm
not going to be afraid, I trustyou, right, just like laying
(10:17):
your fear down at the feet ofJesus Right, he's on the throne
Like I was doing that and thattook time.
That's.
That is a mental discipline,right, it's a habit.
And negativity and pessimismand being judgmental and
critical these are all badhabits, right?
They're bad thought patterns,they're bad thought habits and I
(10:38):
had to really work to breakthose and even today I wouldn't
say that I've totally brokenthem.
I still am tempted to thinknegatively and critically and
things like that.
But anyway, I got a lot better.
And then choosing to forgiveeveryone who hurt me was a big
part of it too is just combingthrough my life and giving all
of my hurts and all of that toGod and, just one by one,
(11:01):
forgiving every person from mypast who had hurt me in some way
, whether it was a big way or alittle way, it didn't matter
Like there was no one, no personwas off limits.
I decided on forgiving everyoneand I worked through that one
by one.
You can't do it in one sitting.
You can get a lot done in onesitting, but daily, in prayer or
just as I was going through myday, and I would remember a
(11:24):
person or an event or whatever,I would just deal with it and
say God, you know what they did.
You know how I feel about it andI'm choosing to forgive them
because I never have I've neveractively said I forgive Jack or
whatever, right for this.
So now I'm saying it, I'mmaking it official, because we
(11:45):
often think that just moving onis sort of like forgiveness.
But it isn't.
You know, we all move on sortof and try to forget when people
hurt us, so we just kind offorget it, move on from it.
You know whatever, but the painis still there, it's still
lingering and the bitterness isstill lingering.
The resentment may still belingering and forgiveness is an
(12:06):
active choice.
You know you have to choose todo it.
It's not a feeling right, it'sa choice.
So you know, one by one, Iforgive everyone who'd hurt me.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That Jack.
He offended me too.
He's something.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, he's a real jerk.
So those are the things thattake time, that you have to work
on every day.
And you know, shameless bookplug.
That's what this book's about.
Beat Cancer Daily.
It's about working through thedaily changes, the mindset, the
attitude, the faith, forgivenessand the practical stuff like
(12:38):
diet and lifestyle changes, likethat's a daily devotional that
I wrote.
You know the person that readsthat book.
You just read one page per dayand every day I'm trying to do
my best to encourage you andinspire you and give you
practical information to helpyou survive and thrive.
So that came, you know, as asort of companion to the first
book and I wrote it just becauseI realized, you know, somebody
(12:59):
can read my book and they cantake a lot of notes and they can
do, you know, get busy, butthey're not going to read my
book every day and the cancerjourney is it's just one day at
a time.
You know it's like every day youneed a little bit of
encouragement.
You know it's, it's easy.
You got to remember tosurrender your fear to God.
You got to remember to chooseto think positively.
(13:21):
You got to remember to.
You know it's more that yourthought life and your emotional
life.
That needs constant monitoring.
Right, you can lock in on thediet and just repeat it every
day.
That's like I said.
That was the easy part waschanging my diet, and so the
hard part is everything else.
You know, the physical stuff'seasy, that's the mental,
emotional, spiritual stuff.
(13:42):
That's the hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Well, let's speak to the three people who don't know
who you are.
Perhaps they just got diagnosedwith cancer and of course
they're facing the fear now andthe unknown, because they
haven't done all the reading ofthe books and the research and
stuff.
But can you go back to when,just before you were diagnosed,
you were kind of flying high,things are going great.
And then all of a sudden youwere kind of flying high, Things
(14:04):
are going great, and then allof a sudden you get the
diagnosis.
I mean I want people to knowthat you're also human.
I mean they see you as havingall these answers now, but you
had to go through that samejourney and you faced the fears
and all kinds of stuff.
Can you kind of speak to that?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I mean it was terrifying.
I'm not a superhero guy.
I have a lot of information inmy brain now because it's been
17 years, right, 10 years ofreally intensive research and
then living through it, and allthat leading up to the starting
of the blog and writing my firstbook.
So, yeah, I think when peoplefind me, they think, oh, I can
(14:39):
never be like Chris or whatever,and you don't have to be Like,
you don't have to become me, youdon't have to write books or
start a blog or be a publicfigure, you just have to get
well.
Right, that's all you need toworry about is getting well.
What all I'm trying to do isbring information and the
resources and encouragement,inspiration and hope to people,
(15:01):
to patients especially, and theright resources that they can
use to help themselves surviveand thrive, and so I think it's
so important that you number one, absolutely.
You have to believe that you canget well.
You have to want to live.
You have to get very clearabout why you want to live.
(15:21):
Do you want to live, yes or no?
Do you want to get well, yes orno?
Why do you want to get well?
Why do you want to live?
You've got to be very clearabout these things.
If you're not sure, then spendsome time thinking about it
right.
Figure out what do you have tolive for.
Is it your kids, your grandkids, great grandkids?
(15:44):
Is there a mission in life youhaven't accomplished?
Are there goals or dreams thatyou haven't even started working
on?
But you gotta figure that out.
You gotta get real clear,because that's going to help you
.
That will propel you forward.
That'll be your motivation anddetermination, like why do you
want to live?
What do you have to live for?
And then, once that'sestablished, you also have to
(16:04):
believe you can get well.
Those two things go hand inhand.
If you have a strong will tolive and you believe you can get
well, that will propel youright.
That is the fuel in your enginethat will keep you on track,
(16:25):
because there's a lot oftemptation and there's a lot of
discouragement and frustrationalong the way.
That can easily get you offcourse.
If you're not really clear onwhy you're doing what you're
doing, why you're eating so muchfrickin broccoli, you know what
I'm saying.
Yeah so you got to, you got toknow why you're doing it.
And so what I'm talking about Icall it the beat cancer mindset
.
It's a personal responsibilitymindset where you accept full
responsibility for your life andyour health and your situation
(16:46):
and you're willing to look inthe mirror and say you know what
?
This may be my fault, mysituation may be my fault.
It's probably my fault.
I'm okay with it being my fault.
Right, I'm okay with it.
I forgive myself for mymistakes and I'm going to change
my life.
I'm going to do everything inmy power to help myself get
better.
(17:07):
And so, doing everything inyour power and not making any
excuses and embracing thejourney these are all these,
again, components of what I callthe beat cancer mindset Just
embracing this new season oflife.
It's a healing adventure.
You know, here we go All right,we are on an adventure.
(17:27):
There's a funny expression.
It's like you know, vacationplus catastrophe equals
adventure, and it's the samekind of thing.
Right, you're not on vacation,but you can.
You can shift your mindset toany catastrophe in life, any
(17:48):
tribulation, obstacle.
You can look at it negativelyand say this is bad, this is
going to be hard, I don't wantto do this, or you can just flip
a switch and say you know what,here we go.
This is an adventure.
It may be tough, but we'regoing to do this thing, we're
going to get through it.
And believing that you can getwell means seeing yourself well
on the other side of it.
(18:08):
And there's something that'seven more important not only
believing that you can get well,but believing that your life
will be better after cancer thanit was before.
I mean, that is huge, and I cantell you, if anyone is looking
to me for inspiration, I cantell you, without a doubt, my
life is much better, infinitelybetter, after cancer than it was
(18:32):
before.
So cancer was not a life enderfor me.
It felt like it at the time.
The diagnosis felt like theworst thing in the world and my
life is over.
But it wasn't.
It was just a massive wake-upcall, the divine tap on the
shoulder.
By the way, this belief wasrooted in Scripture.
Romans 8, 28 says God works allthings for the good of those
(18:54):
who love him and are calledaccording to his purpose, of
those who love him and arecalled according to his purpose.
So if you're, if you arewilling to exercise your faith
and believe that that promisefrom scripture is true, that God
works everything for your good.
That means he works the badthings for your good, right?
He takes the bad thing and hetwists it and he uses it to
(19:17):
produce something good out of it.
Like you know, when a tree diesand you know a plant dies, it
drops all this seed on theground.
You're like, oh, the plant'sdead, but the seed will take
root and grow and then you'vegot a new harvest the next year.
That's just one of the laws ofnature.
I had a very shallowunderstanding of these things in
(19:38):
2004 when I was first trying tofigure out how to survive, but
I did believe that God was goingto work it for my good.
I didn't know that my lifewould be better after cancer,
but I believed he would work itfor my good.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
One thing I noticed that people have in common who
have had cancer and are thrivingis it's almost like their life
is in color now, as opposed toblack and white before, because
you realize I mean anybody theirlife could end before the sun
sets from all kinds of stuff.
But once you have cancer itbecomes more real and you're
like my gosh, I got to doeverything on purpose.
(20:11):
I have to be intentional aboutwhat I do and you start thinking
about not just wasting yourdays, but how can I give back,
how can I make life better forothers?
So it's like been across theboard, I've noticed that's such
a great analogy.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
It's like the Wizard of Oz.
You know when it goes from blackand white to color.
Yeah, it's true, there's arichness to life that manifests
after a cancer diagnosis.
Sometimes it doesn't, and thatdepends on the patient, right,
it depends on their mentalityand their outlook.
But I'd say, most of the timeit's like a hard reset and when
(20:47):
you reboot you realize howprecious life is.
You know how much you have tobe thankful for in the middle of
the scariest adversity, right,you realize how good your life
is and how much you had takenfor granted.
That is transformative.
You just realize, yeah, oh mygosh, you know, I like to say
(21:09):
that cancer just cuts your lifein half.
Right, and you got the BC andthe AD.
You got BC before, d afterdiagnosis.
And you realize that yourpriorities are completely
different after diagnosis.
And everything you cared aboutbefore the diagnosis, most of
that you stop caring about.
(21:30):
You know.
You stop caring about fame orfortune or success or material
stuff, and all you care about,really you know this the the
healthy person has cares abouteverything.
The sick person only caresabout one thing and that's
getting well, right, you know.
And then, beyond that, yourfamily and and just basic, just
(21:51):
getting your basic needs met,and everything else is like who
cares?
Who cares, I just want to getwell, and so that's that's
definitely the mindset that Iwas, that I had for sure.
I just let a lot of things go.
I was like I don't care.
You know what's the point.
What's the point in holding onto resentment or bitterness or
anger.
Let it go, it's just going todrag you down anyway.
And so I focused on gratitudeand joy, and gratitude is a
(22:14):
superpower.
If you understand how toharness gratitude, it's just so
powerful.
You know it's all throughoutthe Bible.
You know it's just like givethanks to the Lord, for he is
good, his love endures forever.
I mean, if you're justconstantly giving thanks to God
for the good things in your life, you got to identify the good
things and say thank you, thankyou that I can get out of bed,
(22:39):
thank you that I can feed myself, thank you that I can get out
of bed, thank you that I canfeed myself, thank you that I
can see.
I had a friend, dear friend, whohas passed away now, that I
used to go to church with, andhe played guitar on the worship
team with me.
His name was Billy Littlejohnand he was blind.
He was a blind man and anincredible lead guitar player
and he was blind.
Blind and I would often go pickhim up and bring him to church
(23:00):
or to practice for the team andI just got to be very close with
him and he was just such suchan incredibly enthusiastic and
grateful and joyful man.
He was blind, you know.
I had to lead him, lead him bythe hand, up the stairs in the,
the door, through the sanctuaryonto the platform to his chair.
(23:21):
You know, I mean, like, justthink about just one thing that
you have to be thankful for isyour eyesight, and there's so
much more.
So I can spend all day countingmy blessings and when something
happens that I don't like, injust a moment I can stop and
start counting my blessings andI'm over it.
You know, whatever was makingme angry or frustrated, or
(23:44):
irritated or unhappy, I can juststop and be like wait a second.
Let me just take stock realquick of all the good stuff I've
got going in my life and itoutweighs the bad.
A thousand to one.
You know, probably more thanthat who loves me.
I've got a home, you know, food, money to pay the bills, on and
on and on, even if I have ahealth problem.
(24:05):
I.
That's one.
One of the many lessons thatcancer taught me, and I think a
lot of people do learn that uhis how to focus on the good
things in their life and notdwell on the bad things and the
scary things.
In some cases certain patientswill, uh will really go down
that that um wormhole ofdiscouragement and despair and
(24:25):
depression, and it's really hard, it's really sad to see and
it's hard, it's heartbreaking,but sometimes they just become
more angry and more bitter andum more unhappy.
I don't know how to snapsomebody out of that condition.
Yeah, but it is, you do see itsometimes, especially when the
doctor gives them a diagnosisbitter and more unhappy.
I don't know how to snapsomebody out of that condition.
Yeah, but it is, you do see itsometimes.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Especially when the doctor gives them a diagnosis of
you know, six months orsomething, and that's all they
think about, and of course, thebody just starts shutting down
because it hears your mind.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And treatments are so brutal that a person who is
really optimistic and and is inthe right mindset in the
beginning of the cancer journeycan get worn down over time.
They're just tired of suffering, and I understand that.
I really do.
I understand that there's onlyso much suffering that one
person can endure and still staypositive and hopeful,
(25:13):
especially when it's sufferingaccompanied with bad news
constantly and a bleak, hopelessoutlook for medical
professionals.
And so I'm trying to reachthose people too, because I've
interviewed a number of patientswho've healed against the odds.
Dozens and dozens of patientswho healed against the odds all
types and stages of cancer, someafter they were sent home to
(25:36):
die right in the worst possibleposition to be in.
Gone through all the treatments, they failed, gone, you know,
get your affairs in order andpeople got well.
So, chris Beat Cancer ifanybody doesn't know anything
about my website, it's not justa bunch of me I've interviewed
tons of doctors, tons of expertsand researchers.
(25:57):
Interviewed tons of doctors,tons of experts and researchers
and, in holistic, long-termsurvivors who have healed
against the odds and haveincredible, inspirational
stories, and a lot of thembetter than mine.
Right, I had surgery.
So people can say, oh, you hadsurgery, but there are people
who yeah, who've had notreatments and healed.
There's others that have had allthe treatments and they failed
(26:19):
and they still got well, and soif that doesn't give you hope
and inspiration and show youthat healing is possible, I
don't know what else to do.
You know it's like I think weneed to believe each other.
You know it more now than everin human history.
Do we actually need to listento each other and stop listening
to authorities who are, youknow, have perverse incentives,
(26:41):
and those incentives are almostalways money and control and
power Under the guise of we are,we have, you are protecting you
, we have your best interest atheart.
We are the health authoritiesand the reality is we just need
to listen to each other andbelieve each other and trust
each other and share information.
That's that's helping andworking, and we can get through
(27:04):
anything as humans, you know.
As people.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
To me it sounds like I mean, you're a man of faith,
you believe in jesus as yoursavior, but like before you had
cancer, before you had thediagnosis, it's like most of us
you believe in god, but you kindof have the reins and then all
of a sudden, when the cancerhits, suddenly you give the
reins over to God and it takesit in a whole different
direction.
Now you're a spokesman andchanging people's lives for
(27:36):
health and helping them to thinkbetter about things, and you're
basically saving lives is whatyou're doing, because God's in
control.
Now, right?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, it's Jesus take the wheel, which is funny
because the guy who wrote thatsong is actually marrying my
cousin.
No, he and I.
His name's Brett James and yeah, so he's actually getting
married to my cousin Melody verysoon, so he and I will be
related, which is kind of funnyand cool.
But yeah, but that's true forsure.
(28:02):
I was a believer before I gotcancer.
I was really.
I'm really thankful that I wasreally plugged in and to church
and had a lot of credible peopledisciple me and speak into my
life and really strengthen myfaith in the years leading up to
my cancer diagnosis I'd sayabout four years before my
diagnosis.
In that time I really grew alot as a believer in my faith
(28:24):
and so it really prepared me forwhat was coming.
But then when it happened, thenI had to really get you know.
It was a major faith testBecause you know, faith's pretty
easy when your life's good.
You know and a lot of people,they don't even really need God,
right, they don't think theyneed God because they've got
(28:45):
food and clothing and shelterand friends and you know loved
ones.
So like what do I need God for?
Like everything's going good.
It's only when you run into it.
You know when yourcircumstances get out of your
control, then human nature is tobe like reach out for help.
You know in your soul, in yourspirit, you know there's, you
(29:07):
desperately need help and it'sout of your control.
And that's when you find peoplewho are not believers or who
are just maybe they believe butthey don't really act like you
know, they're not reallyactively pursuing a relationship
with God.
That's the big wake-up call forthem to be like okay, if God,
if you're there, I need help.
Like no, I need help.
Bad, I'm willing to do anything.
(29:28):
I'll change everything.
Like you know, help me.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
We find it in the valleys, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah, and so of course, that was.
It was really intense and Ijust had to really surrender in
a deeper way and decide do Ibelieve all of this for real?
Right, do I believe it for real?
And I was living my life like Idid, but it was just another
level of faith that was required.
(29:54):
You know, like, am I reallygoing to cast my cares on him,
like it says to?
Do I cast your cares on him?
Give god your fear and yourworry, am I?
really going to do that, yeah,I'm going to do it.
You know, am I really going toquote scripture over my life and
and search the bible right andread and research the bible and
find the promises of god andgrab a hold of them, say these
(30:16):
are for me?
You know, I'm claiming thesepromises.
You know, one of my favoriteverses that I quote all the time
is Psalm 34, 19,.
Righteous may have manyafflictions, but the Lord
delivers them from them all.
Some versions say the righteousmay have many troubles, you
know, but when I found thatverse I was like, yes, this is
my banner over my life righthere.
(30:38):
This is the verse for me rightnow and I'm going to believe
that it's true, that he is goingto deliver me.
And I had to just dwell on thatand meditate on it and just
repeat it and remind myselfconstantly.
This is a promise for me andthat's something that anyone can
do.
I don't have any special giftof faith.
There are things in my lifethat I'm thankful for that
(30:58):
prepared me for the diagnosisthat anyone can do.
I don't have any special gift,you know, of faith.
You know there are things in mylife that I'm thankful for that
prepared me for the diagnosis,but one of them was being an
only child helped.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, it helped Because when you're an only
child, you know you'reindependent, yeah, and you don't
have siblings, you knowpressure from siblings to do
things.
You don't feel the need atleast me, I don't feel that.
I never felt the need toconform.
So I've always been anonconformist, always charted my
own way in the world and wasnever interested in fitting in,
(31:31):
and so when it came time to sayno to chemotherapy, it was hard,
but it wasn't that hard.
Right, because I was.
I was comfortable doing italone, without people
understanding.
I had very little support in thebeginning.
That's why I love HealingStrong so much, because it's
like the support group that Iwish I had had when I was
diagnosed, because I didn'tagain.
(31:52):
I just didn't have one.
I had my mom and eventually mywife came around and I found a
naturopath and I found anintegrative MD and that was
about it.
I didn't have any cancerbuddies at that time.
So it was just a very, verysmall little group of support,
but it was mostly just every day, just me and jesus.
(32:12):
Okay, he's pretty good support.
Yeah, that was it.
I mean, that's how I felt, likeit's just me and you, jesus, I
ain't got nobody else.
Yeah, everybody thinks I'mcrazy, so I need a little help.
I need some direction.
You might have to carry meacross the beach like the
footsteps call.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I can relate a lot to you because I grew up in church
and I believed in God and infact I played bass on the
worship team and things aregoing great.
No big deal in my life.
They make me stress out oranything, and I was always happy
.
And then, of course, thediagnosis.
And suddenly God was more realto me, even though I thought he
was extremely real, but then hecame even more.
(32:54):
So he kind of humbles you whencancer hits.
Not that I didn't think I was aproud person, but I was.
Yeah, well, obviously I was too, because I got more humble.
And the thing is I was yeah,well, obviously I was too
because I got more humble.
And the thing is, I was onradio at the time and I thought
you know, all I do is just makesarcastic jokes.
People laugh, I'm breakingtheir day a little bit.
I don't really have a lot ofvalue.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
But then when I?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
was talking about my cancer and I joke about it.
I even had a little segmentcalled Tumor Humor.
I can laugh at my have cancerand I was giving up until I saw,
you know, jim Mann was, youknow, making fun of his own
cancer and had a great attitude.
And so he was, you know, as oneguy goes on.
So I decided to have a goodattitude and now he's thriving.
(33:36):
I'm like I can use just aboutanybody.
Obviously, you can use a donkey, you can use any of us, and in
fact I think I sold at least 200of your books because people
are constantly calling andsaying what is that book?
I do forgive you for not givingme royalties, because I have to
.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Believe me, my royalties are very small.
That's what you get when you doa book deal.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I appreciate you taking the time out.
I know you do interviews allthe time.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Where do you go from here?
Well, I've got a cookbookcalled Beat Cancer Kitchen and,
yeah, we're really excited.
It's full color, beautiful, 125recipes all plant-based, whole
food, plant-based recipes.
We're really excited about it.
I mean, there's just so manyincredible delicious recipes.
My wife and I are she's aco-author, we worked on it
(34:26):
together and yeah, that'sexactly what I need.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I need someone to tell me exactly what to do in
the kitchen, because I'm notyeah, we are.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
My audience has been begging for a cookbook for years
.
I'm just like, oh, I don't wantto write a cookbook.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You know, it just seemed like a lot of work and
but we got it done Well I timeand I'm I'm really glad that you
are closely related to healingstrong.
It's a great organization andit's it's kind of the way I'm
giving back.
There was not a group in myarea so I thought I'm not really
a leader, but I jumped in andbecame a leader and I'm actually
learning from the groupprobably more than they're
(35:00):
learning and we've always worked, yeah, yeah, and of course,
they all know who you are.
They've all read your book.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
And look, can I just say you're making my point like
we learn from each other.
Yes, you know, that's the thing.
It's like we don't need leaderstelling us everything we need
to know and do Right, we justneed to get together Right.
Everybody brings a level ofexperience and expertise to the
table.
Yeah, I mean I've learned somuch.
(35:26):
I mean everything that I know.
I didn't just learn it from thetrees, I learned it from other
people.
I learned it from othersurvivors and doctors and
scientists.
That's where I learned from,and I didn't learn it from
politicians.
I didn't learn it from the CDC,so I learned it from real
(35:47):
people who care and have nomotives other than helping
others.
And so thank you for being aHealing Strong leader, jim.
It's just so awesome that youdo that, and I just love the
organization.
I love everybody involved withit.
It's just such a great thingand I'm excited.
We're talking about Susie and Ihave been talking about, you
know, expanding Healing Strongand doing something that serves
(36:10):
people on an even higher level.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And so you got a beautiful family, two little
daughters, right?
How old are they now?
Man?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
they're not even little anymore, no, 16 and 13.
Oh no, so 13.
Oh no.
So the 13 year old still gotsome growing to do, but the 16
year old she's like full grownman.
Yeah, I mean, she's just ayoung lady now and it's like I
love her so much.
They're both just such greatkids and fun and funny and
beautiful and smart and they'rejust.
(36:38):
You know, and when I had cancerI had no children.
Yeah, and that's really onething that kicked my butt into
gear was I wanted to be a dad.
I didn't know how much time Ihad left right, and so I asked
my wife if we could start afamily, and she made the
courageous decision to say yes,she loved me so much.
You know it gets me teared up,but yeah, she loved me so much
(37:00):
that she was willing to start afamily, not knowing if I would
be around to help, you know,raise this child.
And then our, we got pregnant,like right away.
Her family is fertile, and so,a year after my diagnosis, I was
back in the hospital holdingthis beautiful baby girl wow,
yeah, that probably helped youmentally that.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Oh yeah, to be around .
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Oh yeah, I mean, that's how I got something else
to live for.
Yeah, and I'll close this looptoo, because I know we're about
to wrap it up.
But what I had to live for inthe beginning was my wife, my
mom and my dad.
That was it, right.
I got very clear I have to livefor these three people.
I've been with my wife for sixyears.
(37:48):
We dated for no eight years,because we dated for six years
and we were married for two atthat time.
So it was like I'm a pretty bigdeal to these three people.
Right, I couldn't say thatabout anybody else, but I'm a
pretty big deal to my parentsI'm their only child and to my
wife and we've been togethereight years.
I've got to live for thesepeople.
(38:08):
I couldn't bear the thought ofthem putting me in the ground.
It was just the pain of thatwas so, oh my gosh, it was
heartbreaking to think aboutthat.
And then, you know, maren, ourfirstborn, came along and I was
like, okay, now I've got fourpeople to live for.
So people to live for, you know.
So you know, full circle on theuh, find your reasons to live.
(38:29):
Those were mine, those weremine.
And then we had mckenzie.
Uh, three and a half yearsafter that and by that time I
was, you know, pretty close tobeing out of the woods, you know
, because that was four and ahalf years after my diagnosis,
mckenzie, so I was almost at thefive-year mark at that point,
so the stakes were much lowerwhen she came along.
But yeah, those were the twobiggest blessings of the cancer
(38:50):
journey was the kick in thepants to be a dad.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, I have a McKenzie too.
I have a McKenzie, Michaela,Michael and Mason.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Oh, look at that All the Ms.
We've got three M Micah is mywife and then two, Maren and
Mackenzie are the daughters.
Yep, I'm the oddball.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Well, for people to get a hold of you, obviously
they just go to crispycancercomand you can spend days there
listening to videos, differentthings.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah, it's a free site.
There's tons of articles andvideos and the very first post
on there is how to get started,like where to start, because
it's a lot of information tonavigate.
So I try to give people a sortof a straight path to kind of
get to the most importantinformation first and get
through that and get busychanging their life.
(39:34):
And of course, the books arethere for that and I have a
course called Square One that'sthere for that too.
To help people really changetheir life.
You can do it Again, I'll sayit I said at the beginning help
people really change their life.
You can do it Again, I'll sayit I said at the beginning.
I'll close with it the mostpowerful things you can do to
change your life, to affect yourfuture, to drop your risk of
(39:58):
dying, to increase your risk ofsurvival, the most powerful
things you can do are almost allfree.
They cost you nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange your diet.
Cost you nothing.
You just have to be willing tochange your diet, exercising
faith, forgiveness.
These are things that cost most.
Most of them cost nothing.
Eating healthier doesn't reallycost more money If you don't,
if you stop eating out and stopbuying, you know, sugary drinks
and all this kind of stuff, andcoffees and all that you find
(40:20):
you have.
You have enough money to buyorganic produce.
So that's uh, that's uh, Ithink, a really powerful
revelation that I hope peoplewill get a hold of is the most
powerful things that you do costyou nothing, and healing
happens at home.
So, whatever therapies youchoose, it's what you're doing
between between the officevisits, between the treatments
(40:41):
that's going to make all thedifference in survival and
healing.
So I'm here we, you know, I'mhere to encourage people to do
that.
That's going to make all thedifference in survival and
healing.
So I'm here to encourage peopleto do that.
That's what our community is.
We're just encouraging peopleand loving on them and
supporting them.
It doesn't matter if they dochemo or don't do chemo.
It doesn't matter If you'regoing through cancer.
We just want to give you toolsand resources and encouragement
to get through it, survive andthrive.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Chris, thanks for being on this podcast.
And thanks for being on thispodcast and thanks for all you
do.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Thank you, jeff.
You've been listening to the IAm Healing Strong podcast, a
part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(41:25):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(41:48):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(42:12):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
(42:34):
Healing Strong podcast.
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