June 2, 2022 • 38 mins
Amy’s guest today is a dear friend from the music business: Lesly Simon! We are so thankful to have Lesly on sharing her breast cancer journey and the motto she adopted for herself the day her world changed: "This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before." - Maya Angelou
Lesly also spoke candidly about what it's like working for Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood and ended the chat doing '4 Things Gratitude' with Amy. We love Lesly's spirit and we hope by listening to her story it will: encourage us all to be proactive with our health, do self-exams, and life to the fullest each day.
Visit BobbyBones.com to see the LIMITED EDITION #PIMPINJOY line to help build a hero a home, or you can go to TheShopForward.com/pimpinjoy!
Best places to find more about Amy: RadioAmy.com + @RadioAmy
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, little food for yourself life. Oh it's pretty Bay,
It's pretty beautiful than that. A little month kicking four
(00:32):
Happy Thursday, Welcome to four Things. I'm Amy and I'm
sitting across my friend Leslie Simon, and I'm so excited
to have her on today. We're gonna talk about a
lot of different things, but mostly Leslie's cancer journey and
outlook on life. And I feel as though breast cancer
is something that gets a lot of awareness in October
(00:54):
because that's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But Leslie has been
kind enough to come on and share her story because
I think it's an important thing that especially women, but
even men can have breast cancer, need to be talking
about and doing self exams advocating for themselves. Leslie and
I were talking before we were started recording. Our friend Clia,
who is one of the founders of the Home Edit,
(01:17):
a design company based out of here in Nashville. Will
not design organizing company. They do design things. Now they
have their own product line at container store in Walmart
and all the things. But now they have their own
Netflix show. Like it's really taken off. But did you
just meet clear recently and you'll realize you'll both had
the same type of cancer. So Leslie was like, oh,
we have a mutual friend, Clia. And you know, Clia
(01:39):
had to advocate for herself and she's someone who now
is able to use her story and her platform to
get the word out and so I'm thankful to have
Leslie on to to share her story. But Leslie, I
pulled up your Instagram and I love the quote that
you have in your Instagram bio, which is a Maya
Angelo quote this is a wonderful day. I have never
seen this one before for and so why don't we
(02:02):
start with why that's something you have front and center
on your page. And I mean, I know this about you,
but that's because of your your outlook on life. But
share a little bit of that, and then your your
backstory and when you were first diagnosed and what that
looked like for you. So in two thousand and seventeen,
I found a lump in my left breast and I
(02:22):
found one a year before and it was a sist.
So when I went in to have my mammogram, you know,
I said there's something here and they said, yeah, there
is And they didn't see anything on the mammogram, said
they did an ultrasound, she showed said it was it
says she was very confident it was assist. She wanted
the radio'll just to look at it. Long story short,
it was a CIST. But when I left, of course
I googled, which I tell people now don't google, but
(02:46):
I googled what assists look like versus what a cancer
chamber looked like. And so when I saw that, I
was like, definitely this is a system. I'm not worried.
They asked, brighted it no big deal? Probably in April
of that of two thousand and seventeen, found one in
my left breast, and my husband and I were on
our way to Israel. We had this big trip planned
and and I just didn't want to mess with the trip.
(03:07):
And I was like, you know what, I've got my
mammogram schedule, and I get back. I'm sure it's another syst.
I'll just handle it when I get back. So we
went to Israel. We had this life changing experience together
in Israel, and then came back and went in for
my appointment. Nothing came up on the mammogram, so I
had the ultrasound and love and behold, as I'm watching
this ultrasound screen. I was like, that's not assist and
(03:30):
I knew. And so when I finished, you know, she said,
who do you want me to send your results too?
And I said, um, well, you also send them, you know,
to my going to colleges, but we also sent them
to my dear friend who is a surgeon in that hospital,
and they did. I went into his office and it
took about a week. I had a biopsy done like
(03:51):
a week later. They called and said, we want Robert
to come with you for the appointment. And they're like,
no worries. You know, we did this with everybody after
a bobsy But you know, when I OpEd in, it
was good for us. It was a dear friend, but
I mean he looked at us and was like, y'all
it's cancer. And really at that point, it was like
Charlie Brown's teacher was talking. I really don't remember anything
(04:12):
else that came up. I know I asked questions, but
I couldn't tell you what happened after those words came
out of his mouth. Because I think it's just so
incredibly jarring and shocking. I was forty five years old.
I mean, it was absolutely shocking to me to hear
those words. So we did the genetic testing to see
if I had any kind of genetic history, and I
(04:34):
was negative for every single one, and so it seemed
like a pretty cut and drag case. Um, I opted
to do a double mess ectomy and reconstruction, and then
they did what's called an onche type test, and in
that test, they discovered that I actually really needed to
do chemo. And truthfully, I mean, I mean, we thought
(04:54):
that chemo was an insrance policy. It was like, that's
just to make sure it never comes back. And so
I changed my quote. That's always been one of my
favorite quotes, to my Antelloy quote, and I changed that
the morning that I went in for the surgery for
my double in a sectony. Because I really had a
lot of fear going into the surgery, I compartmentalized very well,
(05:16):
so I kept working. I kept working, and then about
two days before surgery, I was having just panicking. I've
never been under. Was under for nine hours and they're
literally like removing all of the tissue from your breaths.
I mean, that's shocking what actually happens in that surgery.
So I changed my I changed my Instagram that day
(05:39):
and put that quote in because I just said, that's
how I have to live my life. I mean, there
really are no more guarantees, not that there ever were before,
but there's a real perspective shift when you have to
look at life in a different way. And I really
wanted it to be a positive perspective shift, because I
really felt like all the love and positive energy and
(06:04):
you know, this is in my life for a reason,
and I just want to make sure that I'm using
it for all of the right reasons. For I wanted
to get as much positive out of it as I could,
and also to understand that this is just part of
my path, you know. I mean, how do I make
the world a better place because of the experience that
(06:24):
I'm having. And so that's kind of where that quote
came from, and that was the start we really thought.
I mean, I finished my treatment in December of that year.
I saw you a lot during that time because I was,
you know, I was still going out on the road,
I was still doing all the things. I had to
take time off obviously for the surgery, but I mean,
even through chemo, I wanted as much normalcy as possible,
(06:45):
and work is where I've got a lot of that well,
and since you mentioned, we're share with people a little
about about what you do. When we first met years ago,
you were working for Sony, right, and so you've shifted
jobs since then. But to me, you've always been someone
that I've looked up to career wise, of like, I
love seeing women in the industry just killing it, and
(07:06):
you're one of those people. I remember early on we
went out to dinner one night and got to but
you were still with Sony and now you work with
Garth Brooks. Yes, so I was with Sunny UM I
was ahead of promotion for Arista Gosh. I was there
for thirteen years and then left there in two thousandsand
and sixteen and went to That was when Garth was
staffing his imprint um So. He had had his imprint
(07:29):
forever and then he had done different licensing deals with
different labels, and he decided in two thousand and sixteen
to staff his own imprint and came on board as
the general manager for both Pro Records and Gwendoline Records.
Windolin his tricious label and really overseeing the promotion and
marketing of the recorded music for them. But you know,
(07:50):
incredibly lucky to be a part of this extraordinary team,
especially with all of these new issues that I had.
I mean I was when I found out about the cancer.
I hadn't even been with them for a year. I
just even have this overwhelming feeling come over my body
because I remember what that was like for my mom
when she was diagnosed. I never personally had cancer myself,
(08:11):
but walking alongside it with my mom, I can I
only have that experience, and like, I don't know, I
just felt this feeling inside of me and these little
goose bumps because I remember my mom being so grateful
for her employment because she worked for a family friend.
She worked for her best friend's husband, who also happened
to be follow me here my sister's husband's dad, So
(08:35):
like it's very and then my father in law was
vice president at that company, so it's very tangled. But
also the support that you feel. And I guess I
got that feeling because I know not everybody has that,
and so it's this weird place of gratitude, but yet like, oh,
you know, just feeling for people that you know are
not in a similar situation. You know, I'm sure you
(08:58):
would have been taken care of wherever you were Leslie
because everybody loves you. But if you think about it,
how amazing it was that you got into that position
in two thousand and sixteen and then you you know,
you were in and you got your feet on the
ground there and they knew your value and they wanted
to come alongside and support you, and you had that
new family to help you along with the whole process. Truthfully,
(09:21):
I can't imagine being on the beginning of the journey
and really where I am now in this journey without
them because the support of Garthen, Tritia and everyone on
the team. I mean when I say lifted up every day.
When I woke up after nine hours in surgery, my
hospital room was looked like a flower store. And then
(09:42):
I came home and my home was like a flower store.
And it was just just this overwhelming amount of support.
I mean, Garth, every single time I spoke to him,
he would say, before anything, I would like want to
dive into work, and he say, hold on, how do
you feeling today? Every single conversation and started with him
stopping me to say how you feeling? How you doing?
(10:05):
And it was just so sincere and just there's so
many things along the way that I can't even imagine
having gone through the journey to where I am now
without that kind of support. And I'm with you. I mean,
I walk into that cancer center every time I have treatment,
and there are people that are that do not have
(10:25):
that same kind of support system, and it is one
of the things in my life that I'm so incredibly
grateful for. It's a shift in perspective. I mean, I
think I had gratitude before all of this, but the
level and the degree to which that changes and how
you want to change how you live your life after
going through this is really significant for me. And it's
(10:48):
just so much of that has to do with the
love and the support of my work team, my family,
my friends, I mean people that I went to high
school with or to junior high school with. I mean
people that have crossed my life in all different ways
over the last fifty years, just coming to say I
(11:10):
love you, We're here for you, whether it's a text
message or a social media message, or cards or gifts.
I mean, it's just it really does blow your mind
to see how people come and love and support and
pray and they're with you on the journey. Well, and
you're back and forth between Birmingham and Nashville because you
(11:31):
can work either place in Florida, yes, but you're primarily
in Birmingham with your husband, and I know that there's
something going on there, and we were talking about this
before we hit recorded, and I was like, Oh, I'm
going to shout you out because you're being honored at
a gala in Birmingham this year, the Hope Gala, which
there's a lot that they're doing in the community when
it comes to cancer care, but specifically there's something called
(11:52):
the Hope Lodge, and just share why that's important that
something like that exists. And I'm sure every community in
every it has their thing that could be helpful for people,
and people can just know to google different resources or
know how to support local resources that are really making
an impact for people that don't have necessarily the support
that you and I have. Absolutely well, first and foremost, um,
(12:15):
the American Cancer Society is where you do your research
if you have cancer. I always say, don't don't go
to Google and just type in, because God knows what
scary information you're going to get. But the real information
that really how I educated myself on my disease was
through the information I got from the American Cancer Society,
and it allowed me in the very beginning to get
(12:35):
a really good understanding of what I was dealing with
and to help me formulate the right questions for my doctors,
not only about my cancer but about my treatment. And
the Hope Lodge it really works in conjunction with the
American Cancer Society growing him as a really incredible robust
health care community, and we have fabulous hospitals. We have
Research Hospital at U A. B. I'm actually at St. Vincent's,
(12:58):
which is a different hospital. But when people come here,
I mean there are a lot of smaller towns around Birmingham, Alabama,
and also just in the southeast that don't have the
same type of medical services that we have here. And
so when anyone with cancer comes to Birmingham, if they
need a place to stay, it's not inexpensive to stay
(13:18):
in a hotel and to have, you know, all of
the expenses of living and then and then having your
caretaker with you when you're going through treatment. So if
someone is here at say Vincent's right UI D or
anywhere in treatment, they can actually stay at the Hope
Lodge with their caretaker for free, and that to me
is just one of the most special gifts that you
(13:40):
can give to somebody dealing with cancer, for them to
have a comfortable place to sleep and to not have
to worry about those added expenses. My cancer came back
and I found out in September of two thousand and
twenty one, So just for the fourth quarter of last year,
my expenses on top of what my insurance covered, were unbelievable.
(14:02):
And I don't know how someone does it if they
don't have great insurance, if they don't have um the resources,
it has got to be such an added stress, which
is exactly what you don't need. To sleep is critical
to your recovery. You have to be able to go
somewhere and rest. So what the Hope Lodge is providing
(14:22):
is just incredible and so extraordinary for people that are
going through treatment and that are in need and that
have the caretaker that needs to be there with them.
I mean a lot of them can't. They can't travel
on their own, they can't do it on their own.
(14:47):
I never thought it was coming back, so this summer.
It was actually right after Bobby's wedding, I came back
from Nashville and I called my doctor because I was
heading down to Florida last summer, and I just said, hey, no,
I've got this check up on Friday. Can we bump
into earlier in the week. I'm doing great, I feel great,
but I know I've got to come in and see you.
And he was like sure. And I went in and
(15:09):
we went through, you know, my physical checks, checking my
lived nodes, all of that stuff. Um, and he's like,
you look great. How do he feels? Like? I feel amazing.
Everything is going so well. I'm off of all medications
and I feel so good about it. And he's like, awesome.
So no news is good news, right, that's how we
do this. And I was like, yes, meaning I hadn't
gotten my cancer marker. All my blood work looked great,
(15:31):
and the only thing that was still outstanding was my
cancer marker, which is for me, it's the nine is
the protein marker that that reacts and shows if my
cancer is coming back. And and I was like, yeah,
no news is good news. See in six months. And
I left and I was on my way to the
airport to get on the plane and he called me
(15:51):
and he's got the phone. Right. I literally thought that
I had left my purse or my keys or something
at the doctor's office because I saw Alabama College pop
up on my phone and answered the phone and it
was my doctor. He said, have you gotten on the
plane And I said I haven't. And I said should
I not? And he said, well, your cancer marker has
(16:13):
gone up significantly. And I was in shock, and I said,
what do I need to do? I said, do I
need to stay here? And he said, well, I probably
can't get you in for scans until next week, so
I don't want you to cancel the TRUP and I
had left my car and at our house in Florida.
So I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go home.
I'm gonna go home to Florida. I'll get my car
(16:34):
and then I'll just come back whenever y'all tell me
you have me on the schedule. And they were able
to get me in at the beginning of the following week,
so I drove home and I actually started with cat
scans and a nuclear bone scan because at the time
insurance he had to have approval for insurance to cover
(16:54):
a pet scan, and so the cat scan came back
because they did a cat scan from here down and
then from here up and it was in my lymp
node right here, and it was almost as if where
the cancer was missed the cat scan. So everything came
back from and all the scans came back down there
like there's nothing there. I was like, there's something not right.
(17:17):
And Garth Interstia had helped connect me with another oncologist
who I was also communicating with via email, and and
one thing he had said to me was make sure
you're doing your own self checks, your own lymph node checks,
and so I asked him where to do that and
and he was like, you know, round your neck and
in your armpits. And so that night I started just
(17:38):
kind of feeling around here and I found this lump
in my neck, and so I called my oncologist office.
The other doctor had also told me about this really
unique test called signataria, and it's a DNA test that
actually sequences the DNA in your original trooper. Because all
of the pathologists, they keep the tumors in the hospital
in a path lab for ten years after your tumor.
(18:01):
So my original tumor that was removed was at the
hospital in Birmingham. They sent my tumor to California, they
DNA sequence that and then they can run They take
blood from you and they run your blood through this
test that ship tells them if any of the original
DNA from the cancer is present in your blood. And
(18:21):
so I was going in to have that test, which,
by the way, that is not a test that most
insurance companies cover. I still get emails that, you know,
about things not being covered, but it's a really important test.
And so when I went in for that, she said,
I want you to see the doctor. He needs to
check that lump that you found. And and this was,
by the way, like six weeks after they originally saw
(18:44):
my numbers go up. I mean, it's you're just going
through different tests and trying to figure out and when
we found that, he said, we have to have a
biopsy immediately. And so I went in for the biopsy,
and the biopsy showed not only was the cancer back,
but it had mutated into triple negative, which is more
aggressive than what I originally had, which is crazy. The
(19:05):
like hearing six weeks and it's like if something is
super aggressive, so much can happen in six weeks, right,
And you know, mercifully for me, where it was it
was growing so once we had the biopsy, then he
was able to order the pet scan. I went in
for the pet scan, and then the pet scans showed
where it was, so for me, it was in my
neck or in my limp nose. It's all in my
(19:27):
limp system, in my chest wall, but not not in
my organs, which is like the gift from God that
it's not in my organs. But we found out the
full diagnosis on the Tuesday after labor Day, and I
started came out on Friday. I did not have time
to think. I didn't have time to say, wait a second,
do I really want to do this. It was like
(19:48):
we gotta go, and we gotta go fast, and we started.
At that point what I thought was four rounds of
adrian eysin, which is what they called red devil. It
turned into seven rounds of Adrean mayacin, and by the
end my body started to reach a toxicity level that
was too much for me to take any more of that.
But then my cancer marker had had gone up and
(20:10):
then down, and then it started going back up again,
which I've discovered after really talking to my oncologist and
getting a better understanding, is you go through a line
of treatment, and you can stay on that line of
treatment until either the treatment stopped its working or your
body reaches the toxicity level that you can't do that
treatment anymore. And that's one line of treatment, and then
(20:33):
when you have to stop and move to a new one,
that's going into a second line of treatment. So, um,
we knew at that point I had maxed out on
the area myacin and that's when they switched me to
It's called the Lota, is the oral chemo that I'm
now on, which is a little easier than going in
and having an infusion. It's a little less on the
side effect front. I still get pretty tired and nauseous,
(20:57):
and you know all of those things. There's a handed
foots and drome that comes with this, so it's like
a chemical burn on your hands and feet when you
start to reach toxicity on this drug. But my cancer
marker dropped down and then the last two times it
went back up again. So now we are going in
for scans next week. I have blood work tomorrow to
see where my cancer marcus, and then next week I'll
(21:18):
have scans to see if we're gonna have to switch
to a third line of treatment. We mentioned one of
the drugs being called the Red Devil, which clear from
the home edit had posted that that's the cocktail she's
taking in and that when she gets done with it,
she's going to be working on a rebrand because I'm
right there with her. Yeah, you and I were gonna
(21:40):
have to come up with a new name for it,
because Red Devil is awful, but it's actually red. It's
as red as that wall behind you going into you,
and it's so toxic that the person who is injecting
it into you, they can't just put it in an
ivy bag and let it go in. They actually have
to sit there with you and put it in with
loves on because pant just take it through and I
(22:03):
V you have to take it through report It can
literally eat through tissues, and so it has to be
administered in a very safe way with somebody with gloves
on watching it go in and making sure that there's
no pain or burning as it goes in, because if
there is, then it could have broken through. I mean,
(22:23):
it's crazy that strong and that makes you feel that bad,
you know, is also what is killing those cancer cells.
You know. You mentioned having to do the self exam
on your lymph notes. First of all, I only hear
of self exams in the breast area, so I've not
ever thought about I don't know if that's something like
(22:44):
if you've previously had cancer, is that something we can
be doing and not obsessing over it by any means?
But I don't know why I would have cancer my
lymph notes. But also when it comes to self exams,
were you doing regular breast self exams pre the first
time you were diagnosed? I did it like a few
times a year, didn't do it all the time. And
then when I found the first one, which was the cyst,
(23:04):
I was a lot more diligent. So then I probably
started doing them once a month after the cyst. Okay,
so I'm gonna also back up the first time it
was a cyst, But then when you went back, they
thought it was a cyst again, right, Yeah, we all
thought it was assist just because I had just had
when it was in the same breast, it wasn't about
the same location, so I just assumed it was that.
(23:24):
I will say, when I went in from my kind
of collegey appointment and she felt it, she was like, well,
it feels a little different, but she didn't say what
she thought it was. She was like, we just need
to get an ultrasound in a mamogram. So I feel
like I can sense a person's demeanor change. I struggled
with infertility. I had seven miscarriages, and I watched ultrasound
(23:48):
technicians a lot, you know, when I was pregnant, and
then I could see the demeanor change when they lost
a heartbeat, even though I couldn't see the heartbeat necessarily,
when they were searching and they couldn't find it, I
could feel their energy changed with that sadness. And I
felt that same thing with the ultra sound technician when
she's um and I'm sure she knew it was cancer
(24:09):
when she saw it. I have a mammogram scheduled for June.
This is me being responsible, and again I'm thankful to
have the resources and insurance and I can sign up
for this sort of stuff, but I'm not diligent about
self exams admitting that I feel like, you know, I've
had Laura on Raise Bay Raised wife Bay, who you
(24:30):
know well, and of course after you know she was
diagnosed with breast cancer, and then a few other people
in my life kind of here and there I'm like, oh, yeah,
I need to do self exams, like you have these reminders.
Then there's also this weird I don't know how it
feels weird calling it arrogance, but in a way, I'm
just like, I'm not gonna get breast cancer. I was
(24:51):
the same way. And by the way, it's very normal
to feel that way. First of all, I mean, you know,
for me at the time, I was like, I'm forty
five years old, I'm young. I did have a family
history of cancer, but it just never crossed my mind.
It was like, well, that's not going to happen to me.
It's kind of like we always you know, I've got
teenage stepchildren in my life, and with teenagers, you know,
(25:11):
they're invincible. Nothing is going to happen to them. And
you're like, as the parent, you're constantly like, oh my gosh,
but what if what if they're like we're good, We're fine.
That's how I felt as it related to cancer. And
so right before I was diagnosed, the insurance companies had
decided that you if you did not have a family
(25:31):
history and you did not have Brocca, the Brocca gene
or some kind of genetic history, of cancer. Then you
did not have to get a mammogram every year. And
I remember my doctor in Nashville telling me, oh, you
don't have to get a mammogram. You only have to
do it every two years. And I was like, awesome,
that is great. And the only reason that I went
(25:53):
back a year later was because I had had the system,
because I had found something. Otherwise we wouldn't have even
scheduled a mammogram. We would have waited two years. Okay,
we'll see. Yeah. I was sort of patting myself on
the back for booking a mammogram now my yearly because
now that I'm forty, I am going to be doing
it every year. And so my hope in talking about
(26:14):
this in you know, early June and not in October
where you're seeing it everywhere, is that you know, we
will remember that we're not invincible and it can happen
to anybody, and we're not special. And the best thing
you can do is try to do the self exam,
so that way early detection can be a game changer.
(26:35):
When you're in the shower, just taking that opportunity to
do yourself exam and then book those mammograms, and then
when you finish that one whenever it's time, and they'll
allow you to book the next one. Go ahead and
just get it on the calendar. Make sure you're going
to your O, B, G U, I, N and Leslie I.
Just like I said, I have admired you for a
long time and just I'm thankful to have you on
(26:56):
so that people can just hear someone sharing their story
in you know, knowing that they're not alone. But then
also as a reminder to you know, listen to your self, listen,
pay attention to what's going around, like like even with you,
I think having to do that self exam on your
LEMP notes, and that's something you learned by researching it yourself.
Because I my mind is blown that the scans missed
(27:20):
that one section of your body where the cancer was.
Is that not crazy? It's crazy crazy. And if if
that doctor had not told me to check and I
had not checked, we would have waited. I was going
to go back in from my cancer marker, another cancer marker,
and late September, so we would have waited another month.
(27:40):
And by that time, because when you start the chemo,
your cancer markers, these hands are still growing, it's still
going up it takes a minute for it to start
to come down, and so it would have been even
worse had I not had we not discovered it when
we did. And again that was from me finding that
lemp node and calling and saying, I've got to it
in and see him to check this out. Another really
(28:04):
interesting thing about cancer is often, especially with breast cancer,
you don't physically feel bad. The only thing that makes
me feel bad right now is my treatment. The cancer
doesn't make me feel bad, and so it's really easy
to have cancer and not know that you haven't if
(28:24):
you're not doing things like so. And this isn't to
put fear in anybody, This is just, uh, I mean,
because there's the treatment is amazing and has come such
a long way. But just look out for yourself, you know,
take care of yourself. And that means women should be
doing breast checks all the time. Early detection is critical
(28:45):
for this disease and for breast cancer. And now, I mean,
I'm stage four metastatic. I'm going to have this disease
for the rest of my life. It is highly unlikely
that I will go into remission. What we are doing
is trying to manage the disease, and my goal now
is not to get rid of the disease. It is
to live as full of a life is humanly possible,
(29:06):
and to live every single day like it's my last day,
and be with the people I love, bring positivity into
my life and into the world, and just have fun
and be filled with joy. I mean, I've always loved
Pimp and Joy and what you all started, but it
is really about living that way when you realize, you know,
(29:29):
I have a disease that if we can just keep
it in my limpingeds and we can keep it at
bay and we can manage it, we're great. If it
goes into my organs, then it's a whole new process
and it's a lot harder, and so right now we're
just trying to keep it out of warrants. Well, I
(29:54):
feel like this is a perfect time for you to
share four things that you're thankful for, since you mentioned joy,
and gratitude is a big part of that. So I
am thankful for the people in my life more than anything,
Like that's my number one gratitude, and that is everybody,
from the precious woman that works at the grocery store
(30:16):
down the street to the ladies to take care of
my drackling. I mean, every person that passes your path
with good positive energy that we should all be grateful for,
because the more of that that goes around, the more
we spread, and then we can really really try to
have a positive impact, especially when there's a lot of negativity,
which we've all been experiencing these last few weeks with
(30:39):
just what's happening in the world and really these last
few years with COVID, But just being a light and
the people that are lights, that's my number one thing
I'm grateful for too. I'm just incredibly grateful for work
and being able to do something that gives me this
great sense of normalcy and so um I have all
of my work with Garthen Tricia, but of all, so
(31:00):
really started to discover the things that the my creative
outlets and I'm passionate about in homes and design and
all of that, and so being able to do those
things as well, you know, having the opportunity to explore that.
I think it's really important for people to follow their passions,
even if it's a sad hustle or whatever. Have your passion,
and I'm super super grateful from one I'm really really
(31:24):
grateful to be off chemo this week. Oh my god.
It was like my biggest celebration. I'd like texted my friends,
I'm like, god, I know, a week off the chemo.
What do I want to do? Yeah, because Martha's coming
to Birmingham this week, so I was like, I get
off chemo when my bosses are in town. I'm so
so happy. I mean, I'm so glad because that was
(31:45):
one thing I worried about, Like before we started recording,
I just was like, wait, how are you feeling today?
Because obviously if it was a bad day for you,
I would want us to get off zoom and record
another time. But you're like, it's my week off of chemo.
So we've planned this perfectly. And yeah, that's just a
huge testament to just how yeah, how amazing you feel
(32:07):
when you're not on it and how carrabb you feel
when you're on it. But that means it's doing its thing,
Like that's what it has to do to fight the cancer. Okay,
And so what is the fourth thing? The fourth thing
is my husband has been such a support system through
this because he understands that while we live in Birmingham
and we live in Florida for me for recovery, that
(32:29):
salt air and sun it's so restorative for me. And
so after treatment, i would go straight down to Florida
and I'd get up in the morning and walk on
the beach and meditate, like put a walking meditation in
and it just absolutely has been so healing. So the
Gulf and that salt water and salt air and sun
(32:49):
and sand has been just the most amazing thing to
help me through this illness. Well, thank you for sharing
those four things. I loved them all. And you know,
I know you mentioned been joy. So I'll just before
we wrap say that tomorrow at nine Central, so that'll
be on Friday, We'll be launching our Patriotic Pimp and
(33:10):
Joy line, which is what we do. You are wearing,
I'm going to send you one. Yeah, this is like
our flag sweatshirt. And this is what we do every
year leading up to Fourth of July where we partner
with building homes for heroes and pick one of the
veterans that they're building a home for or remodeling one
(33:30):
for to be more equipped to their needs. And this
particular guy that was in the Navy, he was in
Iraq and there was an I D And he's in
a wheelchair and noncommunicative, so his wife speaks for him
because he has a brain injury. But they're just instead
of building a house from the ground up, they're just
completely gutting their house and redoing it to fit their
(33:54):
current needs. So I mean, because the housing market is
totally crazy and they like where they are and so
different upgrades would be great in their home. And we're
just thankful for building homes for heroes and the work
that they're doing, and just as Pimp and Joy and
the Bobby Bones show coming alongside them and with the
Shot Forward and and helping contribute to this. So that's
(34:15):
going to be tomorrow on Friday. Will podcasts are weird
because people listen to things at different times. That tomorrow
is Friday the third, and we'll have the stuff up
for you know a little bit. But if you want
it in time for fourth of July, then you need
to order a S A P and you want it
to be a part of this campaign. But I have
a little Pimp and Joy card and I'm just gonna
read you know what is on the card, and the
(34:35):
Shot Forward puts it in the packages, so you'll have
a little explanation of what it is in case you
give it as a gift. But it says Pimp and
Joy is a celebration dedicated to people who are choosing
to find and spread joy in their daily lives, even
when facing challenges. The movement started with Amy from the
Bobby Bones Show and her mom Judy with the positive
Pimp and Joy message that she modeled so beautifully as
(34:55):
she battled cancer. Will you choose joy for yourself and
then spread joy to other? We hope. So we also
hope that wearing your Pimp and Joy gear will remind
you and also encourage you to choose and spread joy.
Thank you for your purchase and know that will make
a difference for a great cause. And the great cause
right now is helping this veteran and his family and
getting him in a home that will be better equipped
(35:17):
to his needs and their lifestyle. And it's a d
A certified and all the things. And you know, even
as I read this leslie about my mom, you know,
the positive Pimp and Joy message and how she modeled
it so beautifully as she battled cancer, I see that
in you. And so you're someone that is facing this challenge,
but you've modeled it beautifully and you're you went inward
(35:40):
and we're like, Okay, what am I gonna do with this?
And how am I gonna use it for good? And
you're not just sitting back and letting it control your life.
You're doing what you need to do to take the reins.
And you know it doesn't mean every day is easy.
I know it's not, but you're getting involved. You're making
a difference. I don't know if you ever thought you'd
be that involved with the American Cancer Society and not. Yeah,
(36:01):
and just the change in your local community in Birmingham
and you know, the Hope Lodge, And thank you for
being you and being awesome and sharing your story because honestly,
I feel like you're sharing it and speaking up and
getting vulnerable allows us to realize like, Okay, this really
is happening. It can happen to me, Like it's reminding
(36:22):
me when I need to maybe even get one of
those things and order it for my shower to hang up.
That just reminds me and shows me, walks me through
exactly how to do a breast exam and just have
it right there in my shower Yeah, You're amazing. I
love you. I'm so grateful to be on this with
you today and to be sharing any kind of positive message.
But I really, really, again appreciate all that you do
(36:45):
for people in need. I mean, I love what y'all
are doing for these heroes and building homes, and obviously
you're super involved with cancer and making an impact on
people who have it and bringing joy into their labs.
So thank you, thank you. Just one quick story about
my mom too, and how you can spread joy if
you happen to be like at the hospital, is you
(37:06):
know Leslie? And I mentioned that some people are there
alone and they don't have a great support system, or
people can't get off work or even with COVID there,
they have to be alone because there's certain rules. I
had to go by myself to every pet scan. I've
gone by myself. Now I'm so used to going by
myself that they've opened it up and I tell my husband,
I'm like, Okay, I got this. If you want to
(37:26):
come to the Dodger's appointment after the pet scan, you can,
But all the other things I'm doing by myself, well,
you just never know what someone is going through. So
I don't know if you're at an elevator at a
hospital or you're anywhere else, but you know, if someone's
at a hospital or doctor's appointment, you know they might
be going through a hard time. And that's one thing
my mom always did was she always talk to people
in the elevator and she just made it a point
to say hi to them, or compliment their scarf or
(37:50):
there maybe their wig or their outfit, or found a
way or their smile to just talk to them in
the elevator and give them like a little moment it
of of joy, a little sparkle of joy. I have
to say, the kindness of a stranger is one of
the greatest comness is that you can feel an experience. Yeah,
(38:10):
so just keep that in mind. And then Bobby Bones
dot com for this patriotic pimp and Joy line if
you want to check it out and see what they
look like. It's all high quality, super cute, adorable stuff
with a of the proceeds going to the cause. We
don't ever keep any of the money. Um. You can
also hit up the shop forward dot com. Slash Pimp
and Joy is another way to get there, and I'll
(38:31):
have it on my socials at radio, Amy and Leslie,
thank you again for for coming on. I just appreciate
it so much, and I hope I get to see
you soon and hug your neck like if you make
it through Nation Nashville in like three weeks, so okay,
place before all right, thank you, Hire Grey
Okay, little food for yourself life. Oh it's pretty Bay,
It's pretty beautiful than that. A little month kicking four
(00:32):
Happy Thursday, Welcome to four Things. I'm Amy and I'm
sitting across my friend Leslie Simon, and I'm so excited
to have her on today. We're gonna talk about a
lot of different things, but mostly Leslie's cancer journey and
outlook on life. And I feel as though breast cancer
is something that gets a lot of awareness in October
(00:54):
because that's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But Leslie has been
kind enough to come on and share her story because
I think it's an important thing that especially women, but
even men can have breast cancer, need to be talking
about and doing self exams advocating for themselves. Leslie and
I were talking before we were started recording. Our friend Clia,
who is one of the founders of the Home Edit,
(01:17):
a design company based out of here in Nashville. Will
not design organizing company. They do design things. Now they
have their own product line at container store in Walmart
and all the things. But now they have their own
Netflix show. Like it's really taken off. But did you
just meet clear recently and you'll realize you'll both had
the same type of cancer. So Leslie was like, oh,
we have a mutual friend, Clia. And you know, Clia
(01:39):
had to advocate for herself and she's someone who now
is able to use her story and her platform to
get the word out and so I'm thankful to have
Leslie on to to share her story. But Leslie, I
pulled up your Instagram and I love the quote that
you have in your Instagram bio, which is a Maya
Angelo quote this is a wonderful day. I have never
seen this one before for and so why don't we
(02:02):
start with why that's something you have front and center
on your page. And I mean, I know this about you,
but that's because of your your outlook on life. But
share a little bit of that, and then your your
backstory and when you were first diagnosed and what that
looked like for you. So in two thousand and seventeen,
I found a lump in my left breast and I
(02:22):
found one a year before and it was a sist.
So when I went in to have my mammogram, you know,
I said there's something here and they said, yeah, there
is And they didn't see anything on the mammogram, said
they did an ultrasound, she showed said it was it
says she was very confident it was assist. She wanted
the radio'll just to look at it. Long story short,
it was a CIST. But when I left, of course
I googled, which I tell people now don't google, but
(02:46):
I googled what assists look like versus what a cancer
chamber looked like. And so when I saw that, I
was like, definitely this is a system. I'm not worried.
They asked, brighted it no big deal? Probably in April
of that of two thousand and seventeen, found one in
my left breast, and my husband and I were on
our way to Israel. We had this big trip planned
and and I just didn't want to mess with the trip.
(03:07):
And I was like, you know what, I've got my
mammogram schedule, and I get back. I'm sure it's another syst.
I'll just handle it when I get back. So we
went to Israel. We had this life changing experience together
in Israel, and then came back and went in for
my appointment. Nothing came up on the mammogram, so I
had the ultrasound and love and behold, as I'm watching
this ultrasound screen. I was like, that's not assist and
(03:30):
I knew. And so when I finished, you know, she said,
who do you want me to send your results too?
And I said, um, well, you also send them, you know,
to my going to colleges, but we also sent them
to my dear friend who is a surgeon in that hospital,
and they did. I went into his office and it
took about a week. I had a biopsy done like
(03:51):
a week later. They called and said, we want Robert
to come with you for the appointment. And they're like,
no worries. You know, we did this with everybody after
a bobsy But you know, when I OpEd in, it
was good for us. It was a dear friend, but
I mean he looked at us and was like, y'all
it's cancer. And really at that point, it was like
Charlie Brown's teacher was talking. I really don't remember anything
(04:12):
else that came up. I know I asked questions, but
I couldn't tell you what happened after those words came
out of his mouth. Because I think it's just so
incredibly jarring and shocking. I was forty five years old.
I mean, it was absolutely shocking to me to hear
those words. So we did the genetic testing to see
if I had any kind of genetic history, and I
(04:34):
was negative for every single one, and so it seemed
like a pretty cut and drag case. Um, I opted
to do a double mess ectomy and reconstruction, and then
they did what's called an onche type test, and in
that test, they discovered that I actually really needed to
do chemo. And truthfully, I mean, I mean, we thought
(04:54):
that chemo was an insrance policy. It was like, that's
just to make sure it never comes back. And so
I changed my quote. That's always been one of my
favorite quotes, to my Antelloy quote, and I changed that
the morning that I went in for the surgery for
my double in a sectony. Because I really had a
lot of fear going into the surgery, I compartmentalized very well,
(05:16):
so I kept working. I kept working, and then about
two days before surgery, I was having just panicking. I've
never been under. Was under for nine hours and they're
literally like removing all of the tissue from your breaths.
I mean, that's shocking what actually happens in that surgery.
So I changed my I changed my Instagram that day
(05:39):
and put that quote in because I just said, that's
how I have to live my life. I mean, there
really are no more guarantees, not that there ever were before,
but there's a real perspective shift when you have to
look at life in a different way. And I really
wanted it to be a positive perspective shift, because I
really felt like all the love and positive energy and
(06:04):
you know, this is in my life for a reason,
and I just want to make sure that I'm using
it for all of the right reasons. For I wanted
to get as much positive out of it as I could,
and also to understand that this is just part of
my path, you know. I mean, how do I make
the world a better place because of the experience that
(06:24):
I'm having. And so that's kind of where that quote
came from, and that was the start we really thought.
I mean, I finished my treatment in December of that year.
I saw you a lot during that time because I was,
you know, I was still going out on the road,
I was still doing all the things. I had to
take time off obviously for the surgery, but I mean,
even through chemo, I wanted as much normalcy as possible,
(06:45):
and work is where I've got a lot of that well,
and since you mentioned, we're share with people a little
about about what you do. When we first met years ago,
you were working for Sony, right, and so you've shifted
jobs since then. But to me, you've always been someone
that I've looked up to career wise, of like, I
love seeing women in the industry just killing it, and
(07:06):
you're one of those people. I remember early on we
went out to dinner one night and got to but
you were still with Sony and now you work with
Garth Brooks. Yes, so I was with Sunny UM I
was ahead of promotion for Arista Gosh. I was there
for thirteen years and then left there in two thousandsand
and sixteen and went to That was when Garth was
staffing his imprint um So. He had had his imprint
(07:29):
forever and then he had done different licensing deals with
different labels, and he decided in two thousand and sixteen
to staff his own imprint and came on board as
the general manager for both Pro Records and Gwendoline Records.
Windolin his tricious label and really overseeing the promotion and
marketing of the recorded music for them. But you know,
(07:50):
incredibly lucky to be a part of this extraordinary team,
especially with all of these new issues that I had.
I mean I was when I found out about the cancer.
I hadn't even been with them for a year. I
just even have this overwhelming feeling come over my body
because I remember what that was like for my mom
when she was diagnosed. I never personally had cancer myself,
(08:11):
but walking alongside it with my mom, I can I
only have that experience, and like, I don't know, I
just felt this feeling inside of me and these little
goose bumps because I remember my mom being so grateful
for her employment because she worked for a family friend.
She worked for her best friend's husband, who also happened
to be follow me here my sister's husband's dad, So
(08:35):
like it's very and then my father in law was
vice president at that company, so it's very tangled. But
also the support that you feel. And I guess I
got that feeling because I know not everybody has that,
and so it's this weird place of gratitude, but yet like, oh,
you know, just feeling for people that you know are
not in a similar situation. You know, I'm sure you
(08:58):
would have been taken care of wherever you were Leslie
because everybody loves you. But if you think about it,
how amazing it was that you got into that position
in two thousand and sixteen and then you you know,
you were in and you got your feet on the
ground there and they knew your value and they wanted
to come alongside and support you, and you had that
new family to help you along with the whole process. Truthfully,
(09:21):
I can't imagine being on the beginning of the journey
and really where I am now in this journey without
them because the support of Garthen, Tritia and everyone on
the team. I mean when I say lifted up every day.
When I woke up after nine hours in surgery, my
hospital room was looked like a flower store. And then
(09:42):
I came home and my home was like a flower store.
And it was just just this overwhelming amount of support.
I mean, Garth, every single time I spoke to him,
he would say, before anything, I would like want to
dive into work, and he say, hold on, how do
you feeling today? Every single conversation and started with him
stopping me to say how you feeling? How you doing?
(10:05):
And it was just so sincere and just there's so
many things along the way that I can't even imagine
having gone through the journey to where I am now
without that kind of support. And I'm with you. I mean,
I walk into that cancer center every time I have treatment,
and there are people that are that do not have
(10:25):
that same kind of support system, and it is one
of the things in my life that I'm so incredibly
grateful for. It's a shift in perspective. I mean, I
think I had gratitude before all of this, but the
level and the degree to which that changes and how
you want to change how you live your life after
going through this is really significant for me. And it's
(10:48):
just so much of that has to do with the
love and the support of my work team, my family,
my friends, I mean people that I went to high
school with or to junior high school with. I mean
people that have crossed my life in all different ways
over the last fifty years, just coming to say I
(11:10):
love you, We're here for you, whether it's a text
message or a social media message, or cards or gifts.
I mean, it's just it really does blow your mind
to see how people come and love and support and
pray and they're with you on the journey. Well, and
you're back and forth between Birmingham and Nashville because you
(11:31):
can work either place in Florida, yes, but you're primarily
in Birmingham with your husband, and I know that there's
something going on there, and we were talking about this
before we hit recorded, and I was like, Oh, I'm
going to shout you out because you're being honored at
a gala in Birmingham this year, the Hope Gala, which
there's a lot that they're doing in the community when
it comes to cancer care, but specifically there's something called
(11:52):
the Hope Lodge, and just share why that's important that
something like that exists. And I'm sure every community in
every it has their thing that could be helpful for people,
and people can just know to google different resources or
know how to support local resources that are really making
an impact for people that don't have necessarily the support
that you and I have. Absolutely well, first and foremost, um,
(12:15):
the American Cancer Society is where you do your research
if you have cancer. I always say, don't don't go
to Google and just type in, because God knows what
scary information you're going to get. But the real information
that really how I educated myself on my disease was
through the information I got from the American Cancer Society,
and it allowed me in the very beginning to get
(12:35):
a really good understanding of what I was dealing with
and to help me formulate the right questions for my doctors,
not only about my cancer but about my treatment. And
the Hope Lodge it really works in conjunction with the
American Cancer Society growing him as a really incredible robust
health care community, and we have fabulous hospitals. We have
Research Hospital at U A. B. I'm actually at St. Vincent's,
(12:58):
which is a different hospital. But when people come here,
I mean there are a lot of smaller towns around Birmingham, Alabama,
and also just in the southeast that don't have the
same type of medical services that we have here. And
so when anyone with cancer comes to Birmingham, if they
need a place to stay, it's not inexpensive to stay
(13:18):
in a hotel and to have, you know, all of
the expenses of living and then and then having your
caretaker with you when you're going through treatment. So if
someone is here at say Vincent's right UI D or
anywhere in treatment, they can actually stay at the Hope
Lodge with their caretaker for free, and that to me
is just one of the most special gifts that you
(13:40):
can give to somebody dealing with cancer, for them to
have a comfortable place to sleep and to not have
to worry about those added expenses. My cancer came back
and I found out in September of two thousand and
twenty one, So just for the fourth quarter of last year,
my expenses on top of what my insurance covered, were unbelievable.
(14:02):
And I don't know how someone does it if they
don't have great insurance, if they don't have um the resources,
it has got to be such an added stress, which
is exactly what you don't need. To sleep is critical
to your recovery. You have to be able to go
somewhere and rest. So what the Hope Lodge is providing
(14:22):
is just incredible and so extraordinary for people that are
going through treatment and that are in need and that
have the caretaker that needs to be there with them.
I mean a lot of them can't. They can't travel
on their own, they can't do it on their own.
(14:47):
I never thought it was coming back, so this summer.
It was actually right after Bobby's wedding, I came back
from Nashville and I called my doctor because I was
heading down to Florida last summer, and I just said, hey, no,
I've got this check up on Friday. Can we bump
into earlier in the week. I'm doing great, I feel great,
but I know I've got to come in and see you.
And he was like sure. And I went in and
(15:09):
we went through, you know, my physical checks, checking my
lived nodes, all of that stuff. Um, and he's like,
you look great. How do he feels? Like? I feel amazing.
Everything is going so well. I'm off of all medications
and I feel so good about it. And he's like, awesome.
So no news is good news, right, that's how we
do this. And I was like, yes, meaning I hadn't
gotten my cancer marker. All my blood work looked great,
(15:31):
and the only thing that was still outstanding was my
cancer marker, which is for me, it's the nine is
the protein marker that that reacts and shows if my
cancer is coming back. And and I was like, yeah,
no news is good news. See in six months. And
I left and I was on my way to the
airport to get on the plane and he called me
(15:51):
and he's got the phone. Right. I literally thought that
I had left my purse or my keys or something
at the doctor's office because I saw Alabama College pop
up on my phone and answered the phone and it
was my doctor. He said, have you gotten on the
plane And I said I haven't. And I said should
I not? And he said, well, your cancer marker has
(16:13):
gone up significantly. And I was in shock, and I said,
what do I need to do? I said, do I
need to stay here? And he said, well, I probably
can't get you in for scans until next week, so
I don't want you to cancel the TRUP and I
had left my car and at our house in Florida.
So I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go home.
I'm gonna go home to Florida. I'll get my car
(16:34):
and then I'll just come back whenever y'all tell me
you have me on the schedule. And they were able
to get me in at the beginning of the following week,
so I drove home and I actually started with cat
scans and a nuclear bone scan because at the time
insurance he had to have approval for insurance to cover
(16:54):
a pet scan, and so the cat scan came back
because they did a cat scan from here down and
then from here up and it was in my lymp
node right here, and it was almost as if where
the cancer was missed the cat scan. So everything came
back from and all the scans came back down there
like there's nothing there. I was like, there's something not right.
(17:17):
And Garth Interstia had helped connect me with another oncologist
who I was also communicating with via email, and and
one thing he had said to me was make sure
you're doing your own self checks, your own lymph node checks,
and so I asked him where to do that and
and he was like, you know, round your neck and
in your armpits. And so that night I started just
(17:38):
kind of feeling around here and I found this lump
in my neck, and so I called my oncologist office.
The other doctor had also told me about this really
unique test called signataria, and it's a DNA test that
actually sequences the DNA in your original trooper. Because all
of the pathologists, they keep the tumors in the hospital
in a path lab for ten years after your tumor.
(18:01):
So my original tumor that was removed was at the
hospital in Birmingham. They sent my tumor to California, they
DNA sequence that and then they can run They take
blood from you and they run your blood through this
test that ship tells them if any of the original
DNA from the cancer is present in your blood. And
(18:21):
so I was going in to have that test, which,
by the way, that is not a test that most
insurance companies cover. I still get emails that, you know,
about things not being covered, but it's a really important test.
And so when I went in for that, she said,
I want you to see the doctor. He needs to
check that lump that you found. And and this was,
by the way, like six weeks after they originally saw
(18:44):
my numbers go up. I mean, it's you're just going
through different tests and trying to figure out and when
we found that, he said, we have to have a
biopsy immediately. And so I went in for the biopsy,
and the biopsy showed not only was the cancer back,
but it had mutated into triple negative, which is more
aggressive than what I originally had, which is crazy. The
(19:05):
like hearing six weeks and it's like if something is
super aggressive, so much can happen in six weeks, right,
And you know, mercifully for me, where it was it
was growing so once we had the biopsy, then he
was able to order the pet scan. I went in
for the pet scan, and then the pet scans showed
where it was, so for me, it was in my
neck or in my limp nose. It's all in my
(19:27):
limp system, in my chest wall, but not not in
my organs, which is like the gift from God that
it's not in my organs. But we found out the
full diagnosis on the Tuesday after labor Day, and I
started came out on Friday. I did not have time
to think. I didn't have time to say, wait a second,
do I really want to do this. It was like
(19:48):
we gotta go, and we gotta go fast, and we started.
At that point what I thought was four rounds of
adrian eysin, which is what they called red devil. It
turned into seven rounds of Adrean mayacin, and by the
end my body started to reach a toxicity level that
was too much for me to take any more of that.
But then my cancer marker had had gone up and
(20:10):
then down, and then it started going back up again,
which I've discovered after really talking to my oncologist and
getting a better understanding, is you go through a line
of treatment, and you can stay on that line of
treatment until either the treatment stopped its working or your
body reaches the toxicity level that you can't do that
treatment anymore. And that's one line of treatment, and then
(20:33):
when you have to stop and move to a new one,
that's going into a second line of treatment. So, um,
we knew at that point I had maxed out on
the area myacin and that's when they switched me to
It's called the Lota, is the oral chemo that I'm
now on, which is a little easier than going in
and having an infusion. It's a little less on the
side effect front. I still get pretty tired and nauseous,
(20:57):
and you know all of those things. There's a handed
foots and drome that comes with this, so it's like
a chemical burn on your hands and feet when you
start to reach toxicity on this drug. But my cancer
marker dropped down and then the last two times it
went back up again. So now we are going in
for scans next week. I have blood work tomorrow to
see where my cancer marcus, and then next week I'll
(21:18):
have scans to see if we're gonna have to switch
to a third line of treatment. We mentioned one of
the drugs being called the Red Devil, which clear from
the home edit had posted that that's the cocktail she's
taking in and that when she gets done with it,
she's going to be working on a rebrand because I'm
right there with her. Yeah, you and I were gonna
(21:40):
have to come up with a new name for it,
because Red Devil is awful, but it's actually red. It's
as red as that wall behind you going into you,
and it's so toxic that the person who is injecting
it into you, they can't just put it in an
ivy bag and let it go in. They actually have
to sit there with you and put it in with
loves on because pant just take it through and I
(22:03):
V you have to take it through report It can
literally eat through tissues, and so it has to be
administered in a very safe way with somebody with gloves
on watching it go in and making sure that there's
no pain or burning as it goes in, because if
there is, then it could have broken through. I mean,
(22:23):
it's crazy that strong and that makes you feel that bad,
you know, is also what is killing those cancer cells.
You know. You mentioned having to do the self exam
on your lymph notes. First of all, I only hear
of self exams in the breast area, so I've not
ever thought about I don't know if that's something like
(22:44):
if you've previously had cancer, is that something we can
be doing and not obsessing over it by any means?
But I don't know why I would have cancer my
lymph notes. But also when it comes to self exams,
were you doing regular breast self exams pre the first
time you were diagnosed? I did it like a few
times a year, didn't do it all the time. And
then when I found the first one, which was the cyst,
(23:04):
I was a lot more diligent. So then I probably
started doing them once a month after the cyst. Okay,
so I'm gonna also back up the first time it
was a cyst, But then when you went back, they
thought it was a cyst again, right, Yeah, we all
thought it was assist just because I had just had
when it was in the same breast, it wasn't about
the same location, so I just assumed it was that.
(23:24):
I will say, when I went in from my kind
of collegey appointment and she felt it, she was like, well,
it feels a little different, but she didn't say what
she thought it was. She was like, we just need
to get an ultrasound in a mamogram. So I feel
like I can sense a person's demeanor change. I struggled
with infertility. I had seven miscarriages, and I watched ultrasound
(23:48):
technicians a lot, you know, when I was pregnant, and
then I could see the demeanor change when they lost
a heartbeat, even though I couldn't see the heartbeat necessarily,
when they were searching and they couldn't find it, I
could feel their energy changed with that sadness. And I
felt that same thing with the ultra sound technician when
she's um and I'm sure she knew it was cancer
(24:09):
when she saw it. I have a mammogram scheduled for June.
This is me being responsible, and again I'm thankful to
have the resources and insurance and I can sign up
for this sort of stuff, but I'm not diligent about
self exams admitting that I feel like, you know, I've
had Laura on Raise Bay Raised wife Bay, who you
(24:30):
know well, and of course after you know she was
diagnosed with breast cancer, and then a few other people
in my life kind of here and there I'm like, oh, yeah,
I need to do self exams, like you have these reminders.
Then there's also this weird I don't know how it
feels weird calling it arrogance, but in a way, I'm
just like, I'm not gonna get breast cancer. I was
(24:51):
the same way. And by the way, it's very normal
to feel that way. First of all, I mean, you know,
for me at the time, I was like, I'm forty
five years old, I'm young. I did have a family
history of cancer, but it just never crossed my mind.
It was like, well, that's not going to happen to me.
It's kind of like we always you know, I've got
teenage stepchildren in my life, and with teenagers, you know,
(25:11):
they're invincible. Nothing is going to happen to them. And
you're like, as the parent, you're constantly like, oh my gosh,
but what if what if they're like we're good, We're fine.
That's how I felt as it related to cancer. And
so right before I was diagnosed, the insurance companies had
decided that you if you did not have a family
(25:31):
history and you did not have Brocca, the Brocca gene
or some kind of genetic history, of cancer. Then you
did not have to get a mammogram every year. And
I remember my doctor in Nashville telling me, oh, you
don't have to get a mammogram. You only have to
do it every two years. And I was like, awesome,
that is great. And the only reason that I went
(25:53):
back a year later was because I had had the system,
because I had found something. Otherwise we wouldn't have even
scheduled a mammogram. We would have waited two years. Okay,
we'll see. Yeah. I was sort of patting myself on
the back for booking a mammogram now my yearly because
now that I'm forty, I am going to be doing
it every year. And so my hope in talking about
(26:14):
this in you know, early June and not in October
where you're seeing it everywhere, is that you know, we
will remember that we're not invincible and it can happen
to anybody, and we're not special. And the best thing
you can do is try to do the self exam,
so that way early detection can be a game changer.
(26:35):
When you're in the shower, just taking that opportunity to
do yourself exam and then book those mammograms, and then
when you finish that one whenever it's time, and they'll
allow you to book the next one. Go ahead and
just get it on the calendar. Make sure you're going
to your O, B, G U, I, N and Leslie I.
Just like I said, I have admired you for a
long time and just I'm thankful to have you on
(26:56):
so that people can just hear someone sharing their story
in you know, knowing that they're not alone. But then
also as a reminder to you know, listen to your self, listen,
pay attention to what's going around, like like even with you,
I think having to do that self exam on your
LEMP notes, and that's something you learned by researching it yourself.
Because I my mind is blown that the scans missed
(27:20):
that one section of your body where the cancer was.
Is that not crazy? It's crazy crazy. And if if
that doctor had not told me to check and I
had not checked, we would have waited. I was going
to go back in from my cancer marker, another cancer marker,
and late September, so we would have waited another month.
(27:40):
And by that time, because when you start the chemo,
your cancer markers, these hands are still growing, it's still
going up it takes a minute for it to start
to come down, and so it would have been even
worse had I not had we not discovered it when
we did. And again that was from me finding that
lemp node and calling and saying, I've got to it
in and see him to check this out. Another really
(28:04):
interesting thing about cancer is often, especially with breast cancer,
you don't physically feel bad. The only thing that makes
me feel bad right now is my treatment. The cancer
doesn't make me feel bad, and so it's really easy
to have cancer and not know that you haven't if
(28:24):
you're not doing things like so. And this isn't to
put fear in anybody, This is just, uh, I mean,
because there's the treatment is amazing and has come such
a long way. But just look out for yourself, you know,
take care of yourself. And that means women should be
doing breast checks all the time. Early detection is critical
(28:45):
for this disease and for breast cancer. And now, I mean,
I'm stage four metastatic. I'm going to have this disease
for the rest of my life. It is highly unlikely
that I will go into remission. What we are doing
is trying to manage the disease, and my goal now
is not to get rid of the disease. It is
to live as full of a life is humanly possible,
(29:06):
and to live every single day like it's my last day,
and be with the people I love, bring positivity into
my life and into the world, and just have fun
and be filled with joy. I mean, I've always loved
Pimp and Joy and what you all started, but it
is really about living that way when you realize, you know,
(29:29):
I have a disease that if we can just keep
it in my limpingeds and we can keep it at
bay and we can manage it, we're great. If it
goes into my organs, then it's a whole new process
and it's a lot harder, and so right now we're
just trying to keep it out of warrants. Well, I
(29:54):
feel like this is a perfect time for you to
share four things that you're thankful for, since you mentioned joy,
and gratitude is a big part of that. So I
am thankful for the people in my life more than anything,
Like that's my number one gratitude, and that is everybody,
from the precious woman that works at the grocery store
(30:16):
down the street to the ladies to take care of
my drackling. I mean, every person that passes your path
with good positive energy that we should all be grateful for,
because the more of that that goes around, the more
we spread, and then we can really really try to
have a positive impact, especially when there's a lot of negativity,
which we've all been experiencing these last few weeks with
(30:39):
just what's happening in the world and really these last
few years with COVID, But just being a light and
the people that are lights, that's my number one thing
I'm grateful for too. I'm just incredibly grateful for work
and being able to do something that gives me this
great sense of normalcy and so um I have all
of my work with Garthen Tricia, but of all, so
(31:00):
really started to discover the things that the my creative
outlets and I'm passionate about in homes and design and
all of that, and so being able to do those
things as well, you know, having the opportunity to explore that.
I think it's really important for people to follow their passions,
even if it's a sad hustle or whatever. Have your passion,
and I'm super super grateful from one I'm really really
(31:24):
grateful to be off chemo this week. Oh my god.
It was like my biggest celebration. I'd like texted my friends,
I'm like, god, I know, a week off the chemo.
What do I want to do? Yeah, because Martha's coming
to Birmingham this week, so I was like, I get
off chemo when my bosses are in town. I'm so
so happy. I mean, I'm so glad because that was
(31:45):
one thing I worried about, Like before we started recording,
I just was like, wait, how are you feeling today?
Because obviously if it was a bad day for you,
I would want us to get off zoom and record
another time. But you're like, it's my week off of chemo.
So we've planned this perfectly. And yeah, that's just a
huge testament to just how yeah, how amazing you feel
(32:07):
when you're not on it and how carrabb you feel
when you're on it. But that means it's doing its thing,
Like that's what it has to do to fight the cancer. Okay,
And so what is the fourth thing? The fourth thing
is my husband has been such a support system through
this because he understands that while we live in Birmingham
and we live in Florida for me for recovery, that
(32:29):
salt air and sun it's so restorative for me. And
so after treatment, i would go straight down to Florida
and I'd get up in the morning and walk on
the beach and meditate, like put a walking meditation in
and it just absolutely has been so healing. So the
Gulf and that salt water and salt air and sun
(32:49):
and sand has been just the most amazing thing to
help me through this illness. Well, thank you for sharing
those four things. I loved them all. And you know,
I know you mentioned been joy. So I'll just before
we wrap say that tomorrow at nine Central, so that'll
be on Friday, We'll be launching our Patriotic Pimp and
(33:10):
Joy line, which is what we do. You are wearing,
I'm going to send you one. Yeah, this is like
our flag sweatshirt. And this is what we do every
year leading up to Fourth of July where we partner
with building homes for heroes and pick one of the
veterans that they're building a home for or remodeling one
(33:30):
for to be more equipped to their needs. And this
particular guy that was in the Navy, he was in
Iraq and there was an I D And he's in
a wheelchair and noncommunicative, so his wife speaks for him
because he has a brain injury. But they're just instead
of building a house from the ground up, they're just
completely gutting their house and redoing it to fit their
(33:54):
current needs. So I mean, because the housing market is
totally crazy and they like where they are and so
different upgrades would be great in their home. And we're
just thankful for building homes for heroes and the work
that they're doing, and just as Pimp and Joy and
the Bobby Bones show coming alongside them and with the
Shot Forward and and helping contribute to this. So that's
(34:15):
going to be tomorrow on Friday. Will podcasts are weird
because people listen to things at different times. That tomorrow
is Friday the third, and we'll have the stuff up
for you know a little bit. But if you want
it in time for fourth of July, then you need
to order a S A P and you want it
to be a part of this campaign. But I have
a little Pimp and Joy card and I'm just gonna
read you know what is on the card, and the
(34:35):
Shot Forward puts it in the packages, so you'll have
a little explanation of what it is in case you
give it as a gift. But it says Pimp and
Joy is a celebration dedicated to people who are choosing
to find and spread joy in their daily lives, even
when facing challenges. The movement started with Amy from the
Bobby Bones Show and her mom Judy with the positive
Pimp and Joy message that she modeled so beautifully as
(34:55):
she battled cancer. Will you choose joy for yourself and
then spread joy to other? We hope. So we also
hope that wearing your Pimp and Joy gear will remind
you and also encourage you to choose and spread joy.
Thank you for your purchase and know that will make
a difference for a great cause. And the great cause
right now is helping this veteran and his family and
getting him in a home that will be better equipped
(35:17):
to his needs and their lifestyle. And it's a d
A certified and all the things. And you know, even
as I read this leslie about my mom, you know,
the positive Pimp and Joy message and how she modeled
it so beautifully as she battled cancer, I see that
in you. And so you're someone that is facing this challenge,
but you've modeled it beautifully and you're you went inward
(35:40):
and we're like, Okay, what am I gonna do with this?
And how am I gonna use it for good? And
you're not just sitting back and letting it control your life.
You're doing what you need to do to take the reins.
And you know it doesn't mean every day is easy.
I know it's not, but you're getting involved. You're making
a difference. I don't know if you ever thought you'd
be that involved with the American Cancer Society and not. Yeah,
(36:01):
and just the change in your local community in Birmingham
and you know, the Hope Lodge, And thank you for
being you and being awesome and sharing your story because honestly,
I feel like you're sharing it and speaking up and
getting vulnerable allows us to realize like, Okay, this really
is happening. It can happen to me, Like it's reminding
(36:22):
me when I need to maybe even get one of
those things and order it for my shower to hang up.
That just reminds me and shows me, walks me through
exactly how to do a breast exam and just have
it right there in my shower Yeah, You're amazing. I
love you. I'm so grateful to be on this with
you today and to be sharing any kind of positive message.
But I really, really, again appreciate all that you do
(36:45):
for people in need. I mean, I love what y'all
are doing for these heroes and building homes, and obviously
you're super involved with cancer and making an impact on
people who have it and bringing joy into their labs.
So thank you, thank you. Just one quick story about
my mom too, and how you can spread joy if
you happen to be like at the hospital, is you
(37:06):
know Leslie? And I mentioned that some people are there
alone and they don't have a great support system, or
people can't get off work or even with COVID there,
they have to be alone because there's certain rules. I
had to go by myself to every pet scan. I've
gone by myself. Now I'm so used to going by
myself that they've opened it up and I tell my husband,
I'm like, Okay, I got this. If you want to
(37:26):
come to the Dodger's appointment after the pet scan, you can,
But all the other things I'm doing by myself, well,
you just never know what someone is going through. So
I don't know if you're at an elevator at a
hospital or you're anywhere else, but you know, if someone's
at a hospital or doctor's appointment, you know they might
be going through a hard time. And that's one thing
my mom always did was she always talk to people
in the elevator and she just made it a point
to say hi to them, or compliment their scarf or
(37:50):
there maybe their wig or their outfit, or found a
way or their smile to just talk to them in
the elevator and give them like a little moment it
of of joy, a little sparkle of joy. I have
to say, the kindness of a stranger is one of
the greatest comness is that you can feel an experience. Yeah,
(38:10):
so just keep that in mind. And then Bobby Bones
dot com for this patriotic pimp and Joy line if
you want to check it out and see what they
look like. It's all high quality, super cute, adorable stuff
with a of the proceeds going to the cause. We
don't ever keep any of the money. Um. You can
also hit up the shop forward dot com. Slash Pimp
and Joy is another way to get there, and I'll
(38:31):
have it on my socials at radio, Amy and Leslie,
thank you again for for coming on. I just appreciate
it so much, and I hope I get to see
you soon and hug your neck like if you make
it through Nation Nashville in like three weeks, so okay,
place before all right, thank you, Hire Grey
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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