March 24, 2026 • 34 mins
Ellie survived pediatric cancer. Hallie lived it as the sister of someone who almost didn’t.
In this episode, they open up about what cancer really did to their lives—from both sides of the story. The fear, the growth, the moments that stuck with them long after it was over.
But they didn’t stop at surviving it. They turned everything they went through into something bigger—creating a fundraiser that won their Dallas chapter and raised over $120,000.
This isn’t just a story about cancer. It’s about what happens after… and how two people took something painful and turned it into real impact.
Presented by Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer.
Kids Shouldn't Get Cancer But When They Do... YOU Can Help!
Visit wokc.org/donate to donate today.
Make sure you follow us!
Instagram: @wokc
Facebook: Wipe Out Kids Cancer
X: @wipeoutkdscancr
In this episode, they open up about what cancer really did to their lives—from both sides of the story. The fear, the growth, the moments that stuck with them long after it was over.
But they didn’t stop at surviving it. They turned everything they went through into something bigger—creating a fundraiser that won their Dallas chapter and raised over $120,000.
This isn’t just a story about cancer. It’s about what happens after… and how two people took something painful and turned it into real impact.
Presented by Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer.
Kids Shouldn't Get Cancer But When They Do... YOU Can Help!
Visit wokc.org/donate to donate today.
Make sure you follow us!
Instagram: @wokc
Facebook: Wipe Out Kids Cancer
X: @wipeoutkdscancr
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hi, everyone, Welcome back to another episode of Kids Beating
Cancer with Wipeout Kids Cancer. My name's Emily Hernandez and
I'm on the Young champions Board and today I'm joined.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
With Haley Tillery and Ellie Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So from my understanding, you guys know each other, do
y'all want to get a little bit into that and
tell us how Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Of course. I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Leukemia when I was eight years old in twenty seventeen,
and right when I got diagnosed, the doctors introduced me
to Haley's sister, who was one year in front of
me in treatment, and they thought I could use the
perspective on what it would be like to see another
patient kicking cancer's butt and to inspire me to go
through my treatment.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
So, like Ellie mentioned, my sister had the same type
of cancer as she did. Aubrey was diagnosed in twenty sixteen.
June of twenty sixteen, actually coming home from a summer camp.
Which is interesting because part of the reason me and
Ellie are such good friends now is because we go
to a summer camp called Camp I Hope Together. It's
a week long camp and it's for cancer patients and
(01:16):
survivors and their siblings. It's an absolute blast. I've made
some really great friends there. But yeah, me and Ellie
just kind of saw each other so much and got
really close and we just haven't stopped hanging out.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
That's awesome. So Ellie, I'm going to start with you.
Do you want to speak a little bit about your
diagnosis and how you felt when you first found out,
and maybe how your family also felt, if you know.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
The first way that I've originally got the symptoms was
I started having really bad back pains and it was
really weird because I'd never experienced anything like that before.
And so I went to my pediatrician and he kept
brushing it off, saying, oh, no, you're fine, you stood
up too fast, And eventually, once I started passing out more,
(02:02):
he still kept brushing it off.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You're not hydrated enough.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You just need to drink more water, go slow. And
my mom, with her super spidy senses, did not believe
that was correct, and so she kept saying, no, let's
get some blood tests. And when my pediatrician finally agreed,
he was like, oh, you were right, And so then
a couple days later, I was in the hospital and
started my two and a half year journey with leukemia,
(02:27):
and that kind of turned our world upside down for
a little bit. And I've made so many good friends
and had so many experiences.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
From that, but it was just such a shock initially.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And I missed about all of third grade. And eventually
we went on to make a Wish trip to Hawaii,
so that was really fun, the Disney resort Alonni, and
I've had a lot of positive experiences and ways that
I've been able to give back to the people that
poured so much into me.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Do you have any fond memories that you remember.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I remember my brother, who was probably seven at the
time that we went, maybe a little younger. We all
got to meet Malana, and he was absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Star struck with her.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
He was so in love. He loved watching the movies
before we went, and as soon as we saw her,
his eyes were just little hearts and.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It was so adorable.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
He gave her a big hug, and it was just
so sweet to see how much care they gave us
and just how well they took care of us while
we were there.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
My sister actually also did her make a Wish strip
in Hawaii. I think My favorite part, even though I
wasn't hugely good at it, was learning how to surf.
We kind of joked about it and my family because
I was better at the actual surfing part and like
standing on the board, but whenever I was kind of
done right in the way that I would just fall off,
(03:54):
and my sister would actually like get off and like
lay down and then like get herself in the ocean
very grace, and I would just surf and then fall.
But hey, I was better at the surfing part, so
we'll take it. Yeah, it was a lot looking again exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So you mentioned that your sister was diagnosed. How did
you feel when you first found out and do you
remember your parents' emotions?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, so I probably had a pretty unique experience in
that department because, like I said, my sister was at
summer camp. We go to a church camp called a
Camp Bridge Sport, and I like, we love it so much.
But she went to the camp nurse with like a
really high fever. My mom was freaking out. She were like,
(04:39):
that's crazy, like something's wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
We all away from home.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
So I was at home with my mom okay, and
my sister was at camp okay, But my mom went
rush to camp to pick up my sister take her
straight to the hospital. She was going so fast she
actually got pulled over, which was an extra part to
the experience. She did get let off without a ticket,
which is nice, I know, very thankful. But I ended
(05:06):
up getting dropped off at a friend's house while she
was on the way to pick up my sister from camp.
So I stayed with their babysitter who was there. The
friends weren't home, they were on vacation, by say with
I guess their house sitter, and watched Hotel Transylvania. Remember
that night very well, but for me it was really
(05:29):
scary because I would just got like I said, I
was watching Hotel Transylvania, and then I got a FaceTime
call from my sister with like, you know, all the
wires and things, and it was just like, man, like
my sister's in the hospital, like I don't I didn't
fully understand, and then they told me it was leukemia,
(05:49):
and I'd like, I don't even know how to explain
how I felt like. I felt like my world was
ending almost because being so young, you don't hugely understand,
and so I was like cancer, like that's that's that's
something people survived exactly like I was like, oh no,
(06:12):
but she ended up surviving, thankfully. But yeah, finding out
was just really really scary, especially finding out virtually alone,
like I had my friend's house sitter, but it's not
the same as like a parent or being there with
your sister, like I found out that she was really
sick over a FaceTime call, which is a little rough, but.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We may do.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, So I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but
my sister was about nine when I was diagnosed. I
was six, about to turn seven. So it was really
hard to do it and go through all of that
so young, when I didn't really understand anything. Elie, what
was it like for you with all the diagnosis and
(06:56):
that it's.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Really hard to put into words the feeling that you
get when you're diagnosed with cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I originally didn't find out until I woke up in
a hospital web I was told I was just coming
in for some tests, and my parents had secretly packed
a suitcase and put it in the back of the car,
and they said, if all goes well, then we'll just
send you home, and if it doesn't, then you'll be
staying here for about a week and the test didn't
(07:24):
go well, and so I woke up in hospital bed
with my family surrounding me and a lot of stuffed animals,
and they told me I had cancer. And I had
only had a friend's sister that had had cancer and
a couple of years ago. I didn't really know what
it was. I didn't know what it looked like. And
(07:45):
I was told I was gonna start losing my hair.
I had to get a port put in to administer
all the medication. I had to start taking many, many
pills a day, and for me, I had never swallowed
a pill before. Like the worst sickness I'd ever had
was like strep throat, And this was a whole new
ball game.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
So we.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Had to pretty much learn how to deal with that,
me not being able to swallow hills because they were
so massive, and I was just so scared of everything,
and so that was a whole battle. And dealing with
just losing your hair is scary too, because no seven
eight year old wants to lose the thing that like
(08:30):
so many girls like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, that was like you're saying, how long were you
in the hospital for?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I was in the hospital for a week, and then
everything else I could take from home, and then after
that I could I would come I think once a
week to get like spinal.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Taps and just retest for everything. And it slowly phased
out from there and that lasted for two and a
half years.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Mmm.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
So for those that don't really know what like a
port or a spinal taps are, I know that previous
people have talked about it on this podcast. If you
want to kind of give kind of like I guess,
for dummies explanation of it, if you can, I think.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, So, a port is like a little device that
goes under your skin around your heart. It's I think
of it like a little pincushion. It's like a small
metal circle and there's a tube that connects to your
heart where the doctor will put in a needle into
the little circle and then the medicine will go.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Through the circle through the tube to your heart to
pump it to the rest of your body.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And the way they do that is so that way
they don't have to put in an ivy every time,
and you won't get all bruised up from having so
many pokes and prods, and it makes it a lot
easier to get all the medication you need.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I can add on to the port situation a little
bit because what people don't always realize is that having
a port comes with a lot of other things. Like
one of the major ones for my sister is you're
not supposed to get it wet. I can't remember if
that's is that like chlorinated water too.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Or just natural water. I think it was both.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I remember having to put plastic wrap over myself if
I ever wanted to get in a pool, and anytime
there's ever a lake, I just couldn't get in.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, okay, yes, because we love going tubing in like
San Antonio and Camal River, all of those fun stuff.
And we went with my sister and we like had
to be really careful about it. We're just like, you
cannot let it get under the water, be so careful. Thankfully,
(10:36):
it was okay and it did not. But there's a
lot of things like that when you have cancer. Well
I guess it was my sister, but where not just
with the port, but like your immune system gets really compromised,
so you can't really go to school. So my sister
stayed home and I remember being slightly jealous because she
(10:57):
got to take the star test in our kitchen wearing
pajama and I had to go to school. But it's fine.
But the school really rallied behind her, which meant a lot.
She still has a poster on her bedroom door with
all the signatures from people that made a sign for her.
We got all kinds of like baskets and stuff from
(11:18):
loved ones. It just like gave us a really big community,
which was really nice. Do you have anything like that
with your school or community?
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So there's this program called the Monkey and My Chair program,
and it's where the school will get this like life
size or to a young child, like a third grader
life size monkey, and they'll name it your name, and
they'll put it in your chair in the class and
the whole class will take care of it. So mine
was Ellie Monkey, and Ellie Monkey would go to gym, class,
(11:51):
to art, even just regular school and lunch and recess,
and so it was a way for the classmates to
take care of me while I was gone. And they
still would remember me and love me and take care
of me even when I couldn't be there, and they
would take pictures and send them to me, and it
would make me feel really included in the class.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I've never learned of that. That's so sweet.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, it's called the monkey in my Chair program.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
But do you think I'm pretty sure having like that
community rally behind you is like a really big thing
for you. And I think a lot of people may
not understand. You know, some people don't know where to
go from that, like oh, I'm so sorry, or I
don't know what to do. But that was something that
was a big gesture for the school to do, and
I think that's a you know, how big to you guys?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Do you think is that for that community?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It was so important it feeling not alone was probably
the biggest thing you can do for a cancer patient
going through that, and just you can't physically relate to
them because you don't if you don't have cancer, you
don't have cancer, And just the way to make them
feel included was so so special.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Yeah. I had something similar with my sister where we
would talk a little bit before she came back to school,
and I remember her saying that she was really scared
that she was going to be known as like cancer
girl and that that would be what defined her when
she was like I do so many other things, Like
I do dance, and I'm like at school, I have
all these fun things. But she was kind of scared
(13:25):
of the idea of being cancer girl and being known
for cancer, especially with not having all the hair and
all of that. And I think having the community of
like coming back to school, there was like a poster
with her name on it, and like they got like
the whole school to sign it. There was like multiple
(13:45):
things just there for her. Everybody kind of knew about
her situation, but like in a good way. Like it
wasn't like they knew her because she had cancer. They
knew her because she was Aubrey and they knew that
Aubrey had cancer. And I think that was one of
the most powerful things, was knowing, like people know her
not just because of the diagnosis, and like they're loving
(14:05):
her and supporting her because she's Aubrey and because Aubrey
has leukemia, but not because like it's a girl with leukemia.
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, with you, did you kind of have Eli the
same experience or kind of when you went back to school,
was did you have kind of that idea of, Oh,
I don't want people to know or I don't want
people to treat me differently. How was your experience if
that was it similar or Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I missed just about my whole third grade year, and
when I started coming back, I would come back for
half days and it was really nice to be able
to phase that in. But again, I was just so
scared because I hadn't been around people in so long,
and these friends that I used to have had a
whole year to bond without me. But something that really
(14:53):
helped me a lot was my teacher at the time.
She was also battling cancer at the same time, and
so what she would do is she had a little
bubble around her desk. She would get painter's tape and
make a square where no one could cross it, and
it was her desk and my desk in the bubble.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And so it made me.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Feel really included because she was the one that helped
me try to swallow hills for the first time, and
she gave me a little bracelet that says, uh, be brave,
I think. And she was just so involved with my
cancer journey and to have her with me as I
transitioned back into school was so so magical.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Oh wow, I bet that lies.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, do you still talk? Y'all still close? Do y'all
keep up with each other?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
She ended up passing away in twenty twenty two from
complications with uh her kidneys, But I am still best
friends with her son, and we actually ended up doing
a fundraiser together this past year and with uh her parents,
uh so my friend's grandparents.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
We all did that together and that was super special.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Do you want to tell us a little bit more
about that fundraiser that you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
The fundraiser itself is called Student Visionaires of the Year.
It's through an organization called Blood Cancer United, and it's
a seven week philanthropic leadership development program where high schoolers
from all over the nation assemble multi generational teams to
compete with the other teams in their area to raise
the most money for Blood cancer. And so Haley and
(16:31):
I led.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
A team this year.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Our team was Blood Sweat and Cures, and we competed
in the twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Six Dallas chapter for Student Visionaires of the Year and
ended up winning.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Yes, we were there, very thankful for that. We raised
one hundred and twenty eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty
one dollars. I think or just about that much, which
was like we said, we won, which we were really happy.
It was genuinely like the life changing thing I've ever done,
getting to turn probably one of the most painful parts
(17:05):
of my life into something that's you know, powerful and
like helping change the lives and more cancer patients. I
think she mentioned this earlier, but it was really like
getting to give back to the people that gave so
much to us was just really meaningful and powerful and
kind of turning like our pain into purpose. And my
(17:27):
sister Aubry ended up being one of our team members.
We had about sixteen sixteen, yeah, sixteen team members, and
every single person on our team had a connection to
blood cancer, and all of them but one. We're in
our neighborhood community, which really puts it into perspective of
like leukemia is the most diagnosed cancer in youth patients.
(17:50):
And it was both beautiful and terrifying that we had
that many people that were able to connect this mission
and want to be a part of it, and we
are so thankful to all of them, but it is
just was the most crazy experience. One of our events,
we hosted a music festival at the Granada Theater from
twelve to six on February twenty second, and we had
(18:14):
like five different bands and the entire thing, all of it,
everything we made was donated towards Blood Cancer United and
supporting blood cancer patients. That's a specific thing we chose
to focus on. They have three pillars, advocacy, research, and
patient support. And having been Eli being a patient and
(18:34):
my sister being one, we knew how important patients having
resources just like this podcast is is for them, and
so we figured that's where we would want our funds
to go towards. And yeah, we ended up choosing patient
support and winning the competition with one hundred and twenty
eight thousand something.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So exciting.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
So we all the leaders of y'all were the leaders
of the that division, right that won?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Yes, man, Yes, Yes, we led Team Blood Sweaton Cures. Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
There's around seventy chapters in the United States, and we
competed in the Dallas chapter and there was about twenty
teams in Dallas, and so we let our team and
competed against the rest of their.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Oh wow, so do you kind of want to walk
us through kind of well, how did y'all even do
the music festival that sounds really cool. Was it a
good turnout? How was that for you guys?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, planning started about a year ago, so the actual
campaign we can't accept funds until the seven week period,
but we started.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Planning almost a year ago.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The festival started two years ago by a Lake Highlands
High School alumna and her family just had this huge
vision of what it could be, and so teams in subsequent.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Years decided, hey, we want to keep this going.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
We want to grow it even bigger because it already
had that solid foundation, and so we took it this
year and grew it as much as we could and
put our own little spin on it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We had survivor speakers.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Silent auction, really amazing bands, some concessions, and merchandise T shirts.
It was so amazing to see both how our community
wanted to get involved with like sponsorships and just outreach,
and then also just two all came.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We had pretty good turnout. It was really cool to see.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Yeah, on the I want to add a little on
the music festival that like, we had so many people
tell us that we cannot believe this was hosted by
high school students because several of our bands, we had
one named Danny Joseph. He's incredible and he was a
finalist on the Voice last year, so like he's pretty
big name. We have Charity Eden, who's an incredibly popular
(20:55):
Taylor Swift cover artist and she's a really great artist
on her own as well. She's like Doble. Yeah, a
lot of our silent auction items were really good too.
I'm trying to think of what we had. We had
lots of sports memoribile yeah, so sign things.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Nice, like just a lot of experiences that really the
community donated.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Like we had.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
All we did is out like some simple outreach and
community really pulled through for us.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah. We had like a Chanel I think bag something
oh that might not be door bag, and like a
Gucci bag donated all kinds of like fancy things. It
was a really great, fantastic event that we're really proud
of putting on. And yeah, especially the like outreach and
impact it had. Like she said, we had a pretty
(21:43):
good to turn out and just like we we gave
a couple of speeches to open and close the night,
and I remember just like looking out and I'm like this,
like these all these people like they're here for the event,
that like we put on, Like.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
How how did you feel having that community, your community
rally behind not only something that you put so much
work into alongside Haley, but you were able to see
everything come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
How did that feel for you?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It was so surreal just to think that I could
go from being a bald kid in a hospital bed
to doing something so big and much bigger than any
of ourselves. One of my favorite things was at the
end of the festival, this four year old with very
fresh cancer girls came up to me and gave me
the biggest hug and she said, I have a port too,
(22:36):
And it was so sweet because just to see how
this girl I didn't even know was so touched by
something that we did was.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So so special.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And to have some of my teachers, my friends, my bandmates,
my people haven't seen in years come back to support
me was so awesome and just really like really touching.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
So all that money did y'all raise from one event
or did y'all do multiple other little things?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
No?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
So we had several smaller events. We had a couple
like give back nights at restaurants. We had an event
at Vector Brewing, which is a little restaurant local to us,
which we had a band there, and we were just
collecting donations, selling shirts and tickets for the festival, and
a lot of it came from sending out letters and
(23:28):
emails and just kind of talking about it. We were
on the news one day, which was exciting, just kind
of getting our name out there as much as possible.
I think we ended up totaling the numbers and our
outreach was like around two million people that had been
seeing our efforts and stuff. I mean, at least that
doesn't even count the people watching the news. At that point.
(23:52):
We reached a pretty big audience, which I am super
proud of.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Do you have any advice for anybody out there maybe
going through the same thing or knowing someone super close
also going through the same thing.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So being a sibling, I didn't completely go through it,
but I learned a lot still And I think the
thing I apply most to my life now is that
you know what it was like to be in that instance,
and you know what it was like to be that support,
so like to get that support, and I think like
(24:26):
I've tried to make it a big part of my
life and being that support for other people, So like
only people that have gone through an experience like this
know what it's like, and so I think doing your
best to reach out to people, find ways to make
an impact. It does not have to be our fundraising
thing because that was crazy and so much work, but
(24:49):
it was amazing. But finding ways to support people because
like the support you receive while you are in treatment
or have a sibling and treatment is really one of
the time you will receive the most goodness. And I
think being that goodness and being that support and someone
else's life, whether they be affected by cancer or just
(25:10):
need a little support, like trying to take that and
who helped you into helping others, is really a great
thing you can do.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, the biggest thing I would say is for people
that are going through something like this right now. I
know when I was sick, I had a lot of
guilt on just so many people were pouring so much
resources and effort and time into me, and I felt
guilty for not allowing them to care for other people
(25:41):
like they normally would. And I just want to say
it's okay that you need help, and it's okay to
accept the love that people are giving you, and you
can always turn it around when you are in a
better place to be that help for other people kind
of like Haley said, and just really it's okay that
(26:02):
people want to love on you and want to care
for you and.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
You it doesn't make you any.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Less of a caring and thoughtful person, and you just
that's what you need right now, and you can always
help other people when you are able, but it doesn't
have to be right now.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You can accept the help.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Whenever you said that you were guilty of having. You know,
all these people care for you and like your parents
and all that, I'm pretty sure you're probably talking about
them as well, or just in general. We had an
episode with our siblings and kind of how one of
them kind of was jealous that their parents were giving
all their time to you know, the one with cancer,
(26:41):
and you know they talk through it and everything. So, Hayley,
did you ever feel like, you know, I know you're
seeing her perspective of you know, she felt guilty for that,
even though like it's not anything to be guilty for,
it's just your normal human emotions as a sibling, did
you ever feel anything with that whenever the your sister
had cancer.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, I'm not proud of it, but there was a
couple of things. I'll try and share two stories real quick.
The first one was right after she was diagnosed. Obviously,
it was a very stressful time for my parents, so
they didn't have the time to plan me a birthday party.
But she was diagnosed in I think late June of
(27:22):
twenty sixteen. My birthday is July tenth, and so it
just fell timing that they couldn't like plan out this
birthday party. I was really excited because I wanted to
go to this place called Sweet and Sassy. You can
make like body scrubs and all this fun stuff, and
I was so excited, but it didn't end up happening,
and I was kind of down because I'm like, man,
(27:42):
I'm not gonna have a birthday party. And my best
friend's family threw me a surprise birthday party, and I
think that was like exactly what I needed, because like
I was feeling a little jealous, and I'm like, like,
I get at my sister's sick, but like, you know,
I'm turning steven. It's a big deal can handtime birthday.
And I think I was like a little bit hurt,
(28:03):
but like having that community like help out was a
big one. And then this one's a little more recent.
One of the things my sister did while I think
it was right after she was secured from cancer, but
I'm not completely sure. She went on a ski trip
with this place called Sunshine Kids. They do a lot
(28:23):
for kids with cancer. But she got this like private
lessons for a week out like the skiing, and I
had never been before, and we ended up going skiing
with a bunch of friends. And at this point I
had gone skiing once or twice, but always like I
(28:44):
would have lessons like the first two days and like
a group lesson, and then I would go out with friends.
And we ended up going skiing with some really good friends.
And like, my sister had had a week of like
really good private lessons and then had been skiing several
times after that, and I'd only been like twice with
like solid lessons but not like crazy private ones, And
(29:08):
so we were going skiing and everyone was so much
better than me, and I remember I was like, well
freaking I didn't get the chance to have a private
like lessons for a week, but whatever, I'm like, well,
it's because her desired candler, that's why. But but I
ended up getting over it and now I can ski well.
(29:29):
But it was a little bit upset because I there
was literally a run that we were all going down
where my friends like grew up skiing, they've like always
done it, And it was two of our friends, my sister,
and then my friend's dad, and so my friends and
my sister all went down and the dad was waiting
(29:49):
for me, and we ended up having to link arms
and roll down the mountain because it was too steep
and I couldn't do it. And I remember being pretty jealous,
and I'm like, well, she got a whole week of
ski leg listen to herself. I'm like, well, shall hot leukemia?
So maybe earned it, But I was pretty jealous.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Yeah, I mean that shows a lot like we hear,
you know, working in this industry, we hear a lot
that it affects the whole family, you know, the whole
family kind of gets sick in a sense. So is
there anything you guys before we head out that you
want to talk about kind of how did it change
from you know, what life was before the diagnosis and
(30:30):
after maybe family dynamics or even with yourself, Ellie, if
you want to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yeah, So I have two younger brothers.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
One is.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
About two years younger than me and one's about six
years younger than me. And my youngest.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Brother was too little to remember anything. He was about
two when I was diagnosed, so he was just happy.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
There's a picture of me when I was bold and
I had this little plastic hair like care sit. It
had like a curling iron and like fake blow dryer
and all that stuff, and he was trying to curl
my non existent hair and it's really sweet.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
But my middle.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Brother, he was about five when I was diagnosed, and
he got pretty jealous, kind of like Hayley said, just
and understandably so, just that I was getting all the
attention and the stuffed to animals and the food and
the and the love and the check ins, and so
it was hard for him to kind of get over that,
(31:34):
and I think that caused a lot of like resentment
to build up, because to me, it was.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Like, why are you mad at me?
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I didn't do anything to you, But to him, it
was like, you're stealing my parents, you're stealing my friends,
You're stealing everything. And so it's taken a lot of
time to get over that. But I think the older
we get, like, the more it's okay, it's become So
if anyone relates to that at all, just know that
it'll get better with time. Time will heal something like that,
(32:05):
because even when you don't think it immediately, you do
love each other and it's that bond, is there?
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Okay, Well, listening and talking to me has been very
inspiring before we head out. Is there any any last
things y'all want to say to anybody out there, siblings, parents, yourself.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Yeah, to all my siblings out there. I think the
biggest thing is just understanding that, like what you're feeling
is valid, Like it sucks like you are getting less attention,
so it does, like feeling jealous or angry, it's completely
fair because like you are experiencing less but just also
(32:48):
be gracious and understand it, like you aren't getting less
attention because they love you less or anything. You're getting
less attention because they're having to deal with saving your
siblings life and it can be very difficult, but like
you are valid, Like don't feel guilty or like angry,
Like it's just a tough thing to go through, and
(33:10):
just try and take what you feel and use it
to help other people and help other people see that
they are seen and valid, and just keep that kind
of cycle going.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Ellie, Yeah, patients, don't be afraid to take what you
need and don't feel guilty that you are getting so
much more attention and maybe resources.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Than people like your siblings or your friends.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Because you are going through a hard thing and it
is okay to need those things and it doesn't make
you any less capable of a person to need that support.
It's just the phase of your life you're in right now,
and you will come out stronger because of it, and
you're gonna be able to make such an impact in
other people's lives once you get better. So just you
(33:57):
will get through it and just love yourself.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Well, this has been such a great podcast, best one
yet for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, thank y'all so much for coming. I
know you've inspired not just us, but everyone out there
who's listening. This has been Haley and Ellie and we
will see you next time on Wipe Out Kids Cancer
podcast Kids Beating Cancer.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Bye.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Thank you,
Hi, everyone, Welcome back to another episode of Kids Beating
Cancer with Wipeout Kids Cancer. My name's Emily Hernandez and
I'm on the Young champions Board and today I'm joined.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
With Haley Tillery and Ellie Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So from my understanding, you guys know each other, do
y'all want to get a little bit into that and
tell us how Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Of course. I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Leukemia when I was eight years old in twenty seventeen,
and right when I got diagnosed, the doctors introduced me
to Haley's sister, who was one year in front of
me in treatment, and they thought I could use the
perspective on what it would be like to see another
patient kicking cancer's butt and to inspire me to go
through my treatment.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
So, like Ellie mentioned, my sister had the same type
of cancer as she did. Aubrey was diagnosed in twenty sixteen.
June of twenty sixteen, actually coming home from a summer camp.
Which is interesting because part of the reason me and
Ellie are such good friends now is because we go
to a summer camp called Camp I Hope Together. It's
a week long camp and it's for cancer patients and
(01:16):
survivors and their siblings. It's an absolute blast. I've made
some really great friends there. But yeah, me and Ellie
just kind of saw each other so much and got
really close and we just haven't stopped hanging out.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
That's awesome. So Ellie, I'm going to start with you.
Do you want to speak a little bit about your
diagnosis and how you felt when you first found out,
and maybe how your family also felt, if you know.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
The first way that I've originally got the symptoms was
I started having really bad back pains and it was
really weird because I'd never experienced anything like that before.
And so I went to my pediatrician and he kept
brushing it off, saying, oh, no, you're fine, you stood
up too fast, And eventually, once I started passing out more,
(02:02):
he still kept brushing it off.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You're not hydrated enough.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You just need to drink more water, go slow. And
my mom, with her super spidy senses, did not believe
that was correct, and so she kept saying, no, let's
get some blood tests. And when my pediatrician finally agreed,
he was like, oh, you were right, And so then
a couple days later, I was in the hospital and
started my two and a half year journey with leukemia,
(02:27):
and that kind of turned our world upside down for
a little bit. And I've made so many good friends
and had so many experiences.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
From that, but it was just such a shock initially.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And I missed about all of third grade. And eventually
we went on to make a Wish trip to Hawaii,
so that was really fun, the Disney resort Alonni, and
I've had a lot of positive experiences and ways that
I've been able to give back to the people that
poured so much into me.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Do you have any fond memories that you remember.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I remember my brother, who was probably seven at the
time that we went, maybe a little younger. We all
got to meet Malana, and he was absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Star struck with her.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
He was so in love. He loved watching the movies
before we went, and as soon as we saw her,
his eyes were just little hearts and.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It was so adorable.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
He gave her a big hug, and it was just
so sweet to see how much care they gave us
and just how well they took care of us while
we were there.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
My sister actually also did her make a Wish strip
in Hawaii. I think My favorite part, even though I
wasn't hugely good at it, was learning how to surf.
We kind of joked about it and my family because
I was better at the actual surfing part and like
standing on the board, but whenever I was kind of
done right in the way that I would just fall off,
(03:54):
and my sister would actually like get off and like
lay down and then like get herself in the ocean
very grace, and I would just surf and then fall.
But hey, I was better at the surfing part, so
we'll take it. Yeah, it was a lot looking again exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So you mentioned that your sister was diagnosed. How did
you feel when you first found out and do you
remember your parents' emotions?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, so I probably had a pretty unique experience in
that department because, like I said, my sister was at
summer camp. We go to a church camp called a
Camp Bridge Sport, and I like, we love it so much.
But she went to the camp nurse with like a
really high fever. My mom was freaking out. She were like,
(04:39):
that's crazy, like something's wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
We all away from home.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
So I was at home with my mom okay, and
my sister was at camp okay, But my mom went
rush to camp to pick up my sister take her
straight to the hospital. She was going so fast she
actually got pulled over, which was an extra part to
the experience. She did get let off without a ticket,
which is nice, I know, very thankful. But I ended
(05:06):
up getting dropped off at a friend's house while she
was on the way to pick up my sister from camp.
So I stayed with their babysitter who was there. The
friends weren't home, they were on vacation, by say with
I guess their house sitter, and watched Hotel Transylvania. Remember
that night very well, but for me it was really
(05:29):
scary because I would just got like I said, I
was watching Hotel Transylvania, and then I got a FaceTime
call from my sister with like, you know, all the
wires and things, and it was just like, man, like
my sister's in the hospital, like I don't I didn't
fully understand, and then they told me it was leukemia,
(05:49):
and I'd like, I don't even know how to explain
how I felt like. I felt like my world was
ending almost because being so young, you don't hugely understand,
and so I was like cancer, like that's that's that's
something people survived exactly like I was like, oh no,
(06:12):
but she ended up surviving, thankfully. But yeah, finding out
was just really really scary, especially finding out virtually alone,
like I had my friend's house sitter, but it's not
the same as like a parent or being there with
your sister, like I found out that she was really
sick over a FaceTime call, which is a little rough, but.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We may do.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, So I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but
my sister was about nine when I was diagnosed. I
was six, about to turn seven. So it was really
hard to do it and go through all of that
so young, when I didn't really understand anything. Elie, what
was it like for you with all the diagnosis and
(06:56):
that it's.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Really hard to put into words the feeling that you
get when you're diagnosed with cancer.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I originally didn't find out until I woke up in
a hospital web I was told I was just coming
in for some tests, and my parents had secretly packed
a suitcase and put it in the back of the car,
and they said, if all goes well, then we'll just
send you home, and if it doesn't, then you'll be
staying here for about a week and the test didn't
(07:24):
go well, and so I woke up in hospital bed
with my family surrounding me and a lot of stuffed animals,
and they told me I had cancer. And I had
only had a friend's sister that had had cancer and
a couple of years ago. I didn't really know what
it was. I didn't know what it looked like. And
(07:45):
I was told I was gonna start losing my hair.
I had to get a port put in to administer
all the medication. I had to start taking many, many
pills a day, and for me, I had never swallowed
a pill before. Like the worst sickness I'd ever had
was like strep throat, And this was a whole new
ball game.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
So we.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Had to pretty much learn how to deal with that,
me not being able to swallow hills because they were
so massive, and I was just so scared of everything,
and so that was a whole battle. And dealing with
just losing your hair is scary too, because no seven
eight year old wants to lose the thing that like
(08:30):
so many girls like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, that was like you're saying, how long were you
in the hospital for?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I was in the hospital for a week, and then
everything else I could take from home, and then after
that I could I would come I think once a
week to get like spinal.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Taps and just retest for everything. And it slowly phased
out from there and that lasted for two and a
half years.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Mmm.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
So for those that don't really know what like a
port or a spinal taps are, I know that previous
people have talked about it on this podcast. If you
want to kind of give kind of like I guess,
for dummies explanation of it, if you can, I think.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, So, a port is like a little device that
goes under your skin around your heart. It's I think
of it like a little pincushion. It's like a small
metal circle and there's a tube that connects to your
heart where the doctor will put in a needle into
the little circle and then the medicine will go.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Through the circle through the tube to your heart to
pump it to the rest of your body.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And the way they do that is so that way
they don't have to put in an ivy every time,
and you won't get all bruised up from having so
many pokes and prods, and it makes it a lot
easier to get all the medication you need.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I can add on to the port situation a little
bit because what people don't always realize is that having
a port comes with a lot of other things. Like
one of the major ones for my sister is you're
not supposed to get it wet. I can't remember if
that's is that like chlorinated water too.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Or just natural water. I think it was both.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I remember having to put plastic wrap over myself if
I ever wanted to get in a pool, and anytime
there's ever a lake, I just couldn't get in.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, okay, yes, because we love going tubing in like
San Antonio and Camal River, all of those fun stuff.
And we went with my sister and we like had
to be really careful about it. We're just like, you
cannot let it get under the water, be so careful. Thankfully,
(10:36):
it was okay and it did not. But there's a
lot of things like that when you have cancer. Well
I guess it was my sister, but where not just
with the port, but like your immune system gets really compromised,
so you can't really go to school. So my sister
stayed home and I remember being slightly jealous because she
(10:57):
got to take the star test in our kitchen wearing
pajama and I had to go to school. But it's fine.
But the school really rallied behind her, which meant a lot.
She still has a poster on her bedroom door with
all the signatures from people that made a sign for her.
We got all kinds of like baskets and stuff from
(11:18):
loved ones. It just like gave us a really big community,
which was really nice. Do you have anything like that
with your school or community?
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So there's this program called the Monkey and My Chair program,
and it's where the school will get this like life
size or to a young child, like a third grader
life size monkey, and they'll name it your name, and
they'll put it in your chair in the class and
the whole class will take care of it. So mine
was Ellie Monkey, and Ellie Monkey would go to gym, class,
(11:51):
to art, even just regular school and lunch and recess,
and so it was a way for the classmates to
take care of me while I was gone. And they
still would remember me and love me and take care
of me even when I couldn't be there, and they
would take pictures and send them to me, and it
would make me feel really included in the class.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I've never learned of that. That's so sweet.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, it's called the monkey in my Chair program.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
But do you think I'm pretty sure having like that
community rally behind you is like a really big thing
for you. And I think a lot of people may
not understand. You know, some people don't know where to
go from that, like oh, I'm so sorry, or I
don't know what to do. But that was something that
was a big gesture for the school to do, and
I think that's a you know, how big to you guys?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Do you think is that for that community?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It was so important it feeling not alone was probably
the biggest thing you can do for a cancer patient
going through that, and just you can't physically relate to
them because you don't if you don't have cancer, you
don't have cancer, And just the way to make them
feel included was so so special.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Yeah. I had something similar with my sister where we
would talk a little bit before she came back to school,
and I remember her saying that she was really scared
that she was going to be known as like cancer
girl and that that would be what defined her when
she was like I do so many other things, Like
I do dance, and I'm like at school, I have
all these fun things. But she was kind of scared
(13:25):
of the idea of being cancer girl and being known
for cancer, especially with not having all the hair and
all of that. And I think having the community of
like coming back to school, there was like a poster
with her name on it, and like they got like
the whole school to sign it. There was like multiple
(13:45):
things just there for her. Everybody kind of knew about
her situation, but like in a good way. Like it
wasn't like they knew her because she had cancer. They
knew her because she was Aubrey and they knew that
Aubrey had cancer. And I think that was one of
the most powerful things, was knowing, like people know her
not just because of the diagnosis, and like they're loving
(14:05):
her and supporting her because she's Aubrey and because Aubrey
has leukemia, but not because like it's a girl with leukemia.
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, with you, did you kind of have Eli the
same experience or kind of when you went back to school,
was did you have kind of that idea of, Oh,
I don't want people to know or I don't want
people to treat me differently. How was your experience if
that was it similar or Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I missed just about my whole third grade year, and
when I started coming back, I would come back for
half days and it was really nice to be able
to phase that in. But again, I was just so
scared because I hadn't been around people in so long,
and these friends that I used to have had a
whole year to bond without me. But something that really
(14:53):
helped me a lot was my teacher at the time.
She was also battling cancer at the same time, and
so what she would do is she had a little
bubble around her desk. She would get painter's tape and
make a square where no one could cross it, and
it was her desk and my desk in the bubble.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And so it made me.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Feel really included because she was the one that helped
me try to swallow hills for the first time, and
she gave me a little bracelet that says, uh, be brave,
I think. And she was just so involved with my
cancer journey and to have her with me as I
transitioned back into school was so so magical.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Oh wow, I bet that lies.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, do you still talk? Y'all still close? Do y'all
keep up with each other?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
She ended up passing away in twenty twenty two from
complications with uh her kidneys, But I am still best
friends with her son, and we actually ended up doing
a fundraiser together this past year and with uh her parents,
uh so my friend's grandparents.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
We all did that together and that was super special.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Do you want to tell us a little bit more
about that fundraiser that you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
The fundraiser itself is called Student Visionaires of the Year.
It's through an organization called Blood Cancer United, and it's
a seven week philanthropic leadership development program where high schoolers
from all over the nation assemble multi generational teams to
compete with the other teams in their area to raise
the most money for Blood cancer. And so Haley and
(16:31):
I led.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
A team this year.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Our team was Blood Sweat and Cures, and we competed
in the twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Six Dallas chapter for Student Visionaires of the Year and
ended up winning.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Yes, we were there, very thankful for that. We raised
one hundred and twenty eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty
one dollars. I think or just about that much, which
was like we said, we won, which we were really happy.
It was genuinely like the life changing thing I've ever done,
getting to turn probably one of the most painful parts
(17:05):
of my life into something that's you know, powerful and
like helping change the lives and more cancer patients. I
think she mentioned this earlier, but it was really like
getting to give back to the people that gave so
much to us was just really meaningful and powerful and
kind of turning like our pain into purpose. And my
(17:27):
sister Aubry ended up being one of our team members.
We had about sixteen sixteen, yeah, sixteen team members, and
every single person on our team had a connection to
blood cancer, and all of them but one. We're in
our neighborhood community, which really puts it into perspective of
like leukemia is the most diagnosed cancer in youth patients.
(17:50):
And it was both beautiful and terrifying that we had
that many people that were able to connect this mission
and want to be a part of it, and we
are so thankful to all of them, but it is
just was the most crazy experience. One of our events,
we hosted a music festival at the Granada Theater from
twelve to six on February twenty second, and we had
(18:14):
like five different bands and the entire thing, all of it,
everything we made was donated towards Blood Cancer United and
supporting blood cancer patients. That's a specific thing we chose
to focus on. They have three pillars, advocacy, research, and
patient support. And having been Eli being a patient and
(18:34):
my sister being one, we knew how important patients having
resources just like this podcast is is for them, and
so we figured that's where we would want our funds
to go towards. And yeah, we ended up choosing patient
support and winning the competition with one hundred and twenty
eight thousand something.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So exciting.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
So we all the leaders of y'all were the leaders
of the that division, right that won?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Yes, man, Yes, Yes, we led Team Blood Sweaton Cures. Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
There's around seventy chapters in the United States, and we
competed in the Dallas chapter and there was about twenty
teams in Dallas, and so we let our team and
competed against the rest of their.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Oh wow, so do you kind of want to walk
us through kind of well, how did y'all even do
the music festival that sounds really cool. Was it a
good turnout? How was that for you guys?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, planning started about a year ago, so the actual
campaign we can't accept funds until the seven week period,
but we started.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Planning almost a year ago.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The festival started two years ago by a Lake Highlands
High School alumna and her family just had this huge
vision of what it could be, and so teams in subsequent.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Years decided, hey, we want to keep this going.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
We want to grow it even bigger because it already
had that solid foundation, and so we took it this
year and grew it as much as we could and
put our own little spin on it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
We had survivor speakers.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Silent auction, really amazing bands, some concessions, and merchandise T shirts.
It was so amazing to see both how our community
wanted to get involved with like sponsorships and just outreach,
and then also just two all came.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We had pretty good turnout. It was really cool to see.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Yeah, on the I want to add a little on
the music festival that like, we had so many people
tell us that we cannot believe this was hosted by
high school students because several of our bands, we had
one named Danny Joseph. He's incredible and he was a
finalist on the Voice last year, so like he's pretty
big name. We have Charity Eden, who's an incredibly popular
(20:55):
Taylor Swift cover artist and she's a really great artist
on her own as well. She's like Doble. Yeah, a
lot of our silent auction items were really good too.
I'm trying to think of what we had. We had
lots of sports memoribile yeah, so sign things.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Nice, like just a lot of experiences that really the
community donated.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Like we had.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
All we did is out like some simple outreach and
community really pulled through for us.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah. We had like a Chanel I think bag something
oh that might not be door bag, and like a
Gucci bag donated all kinds of like fancy things. It
was a really great, fantastic event that we're really proud
of putting on. And yeah, especially the like outreach and
impact it had. Like she said, we had a pretty
(21:43):
good to turn out and just like we we gave
a couple of speeches to open and close the night,
and I remember just like looking out and I'm like this,
like these all these people like they're here for the event,
that like we put on, Like.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
How how did you feel having that community, your community
rally behind not only something that you put so much
work into alongside Haley, but you were able to see
everything come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
How did that feel for you?
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It was so surreal just to think that I could
go from being a bald kid in a hospital bed
to doing something so big and much bigger than any
of ourselves. One of my favorite things was at the
end of the festival, this four year old with very
fresh cancer girls came up to me and gave me
the biggest hug and she said, I have a port too,
(22:36):
And it was so sweet because just to see how
this girl I didn't even know was so touched by
something that we did was.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So so special.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And to have some of my teachers, my friends, my bandmates,
my people haven't seen in years come back to support
me was so awesome and just really like really touching.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
So all that money did y'all raise from one event
or did y'all do multiple other little things?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
No?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
So we had several smaller events. We had a couple
like give back nights at restaurants. We had an event
at Vector Brewing, which is a little restaurant local to us,
which we had a band there, and we were just
collecting donations, selling shirts and tickets for the festival, and
a lot of it came from sending out letters and
(23:28):
emails and just kind of talking about it. We were
on the news one day, which was exciting, just kind
of getting our name out there as much as possible.
I think we ended up totaling the numbers and our
outreach was like around two million people that had been
seeing our efforts and stuff. I mean, at least that
doesn't even count the people watching the news. At that point.
(23:52):
We reached a pretty big audience, which I am super
proud of.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Do you have any advice for anybody out there maybe
going through the same thing or knowing someone super close
also going through the same thing.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So being a sibling, I didn't completely go through it,
but I learned a lot still And I think the
thing I apply most to my life now is that
you know what it was like to be in that instance,
and you know what it was like to be that support,
so like to get that support, and I think like
(24:26):
I've tried to make it a big part of my
life and being that support for other people, So like
only people that have gone through an experience like this
know what it's like, and so I think doing your
best to reach out to people, find ways to make
an impact. It does not have to be our fundraising
thing because that was crazy and so much work, but
(24:49):
it was amazing. But finding ways to support people because
like the support you receive while you are in treatment
or have a sibling and treatment is really one of
the time you will receive the most goodness. And I
think being that goodness and being that support and someone
else's life, whether they be affected by cancer or just
(25:10):
need a little support, like trying to take that and
who helped you into helping others, is really a great
thing you can do.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, the biggest thing I would say is for people
that are going through something like this right now. I
know when I was sick, I had a lot of
guilt on just so many people were pouring so much
resources and effort and time into me, and I felt
guilty for not allowing them to care for other people
(25:41):
like they normally would. And I just want to say
it's okay that you need help, and it's okay to
accept the love that people are giving you, and you
can always turn it around when you are in a
better place to be that help for other people kind
of like Haley said, and just really it's okay that
(26:02):
people want to love on you and want to care
for you and.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
You it doesn't make you any.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Less of a caring and thoughtful person, and you just
that's what you need right now, and you can always
help other people when you are able, but it doesn't
have to be right now.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You can accept the help.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Whenever you said that you were guilty of having. You know,
all these people care for you and like your parents
and all that, I'm pretty sure you're probably talking about
them as well, or just in general. We had an
episode with our siblings and kind of how one of
them kind of was jealous that their parents were giving
all their time to you know, the one with cancer,
(26:41):
and you know they talk through it and everything. So, Hayley,
did you ever feel like, you know, I know you're
seeing her perspective of you know, she felt guilty for that,
even though like it's not anything to be guilty for,
it's just your normal human emotions as a sibling, did
you ever feel anything with that whenever the your sister
had cancer.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, I'm not proud of it, but there was a
couple of things. I'll try and share two stories real quick.
The first one was right after she was diagnosed. Obviously,
it was a very stressful time for my parents, so
they didn't have the time to plan me a birthday party.
But she was diagnosed in I think late June of
(27:22):
twenty sixteen. My birthday is July tenth, and so it
just fell timing that they couldn't like plan out this
birthday party. I was really excited because I wanted to
go to this place called Sweet and Sassy. You can
make like body scrubs and all this fun stuff, and
I was so excited, but it didn't end up happening,
and I was kind of down because I'm like, man,
(27:42):
I'm not gonna have a birthday party. And my best
friend's family threw me a surprise birthday party, and I
think that was like exactly what I needed, because like
I was feeling a little jealous, and I'm like, like,
I get at my sister's sick, but like, you know,
I'm turning steven. It's a big deal can handtime birthday.
And I think I was like a little bit hurt,
(28:03):
but like having that community like help out was a
big one. And then this one's a little more recent.
One of the things my sister did while I think
it was right after she was secured from cancer, but
I'm not completely sure. She went on a ski trip
with this place called Sunshine Kids. They do a lot
(28:23):
for kids with cancer. But she got this like private
lessons for a week out like the skiing, and I
had never been before, and we ended up going skiing
with a bunch of friends. And at this point I
had gone skiing once or twice, but always like I
(28:44):
would have lessons like the first two days and like
a group lesson, and then I would go out with friends.
And we ended up going skiing with some really good friends.
And like, my sister had had a week of like
really good private lessons and then had been skiing several
times after that, and I'd only been like twice with
like solid lessons but not like crazy private ones, And
(29:08):
so we were going skiing and everyone was so much
better than me, and I remember I was like, well
freaking I didn't get the chance to have a private
like lessons for a week, but whatever, I'm like, well,
it's because her desired candler, that's why. But but I
ended up getting over it and now I can ski well.
(29:29):
But it was a little bit upset because I there
was literally a run that we were all going down
where my friends like grew up skiing, they've like always
done it, And it was two of our friends, my sister,
and then my friend's dad, and so my friends and
my sister all went down and the dad was waiting
(29:49):
for me, and we ended up having to link arms
and roll down the mountain because it was too steep
and I couldn't do it. And I remember being pretty jealous,
and I'm like, well, she got a whole week of
ski leg listen to herself. I'm like, well, shall hot leukemia?
So maybe earned it, But I was pretty jealous.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Yeah, I mean that shows a lot like we hear,
you know, working in this industry, we hear a lot
that it affects the whole family, you know, the whole
family kind of gets sick in a sense. So is
there anything you guys before we head out that you
want to talk about kind of how did it change
from you know, what life was before the diagnosis and
(30:30):
after maybe family dynamics or even with yourself, Ellie, if
you want to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yeah, So I have two younger brothers.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
One is.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
About two years younger than me and one's about six
years younger than me. And my youngest.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Brother was too little to remember anything. He was about
two when I was diagnosed, so he was just happy.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
There's a picture of me when I was bold and
I had this little plastic hair like care sit. It
had like a curling iron and like fake blow dryer
and all that stuff, and he was trying to curl
my non existent hair and it's really sweet.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
But my middle.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Brother, he was about five when I was diagnosed, and
he got pretty jealous, kind of like Hayley said, just
and understandably so, just that I was getting all the
attention and the stuffed to animals and the food and
the and the love and the check ins, and so
it was hard for him to kind of get over that,
(31:34):
and I think that caused a lot of like resentment
to build up, because to me, it was.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Like, why are you mad at me?
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I didn't do anything to you, But to him, it
was like, you're stealing my parents, you're stealing my friends,
You're stealing everything. And so it's taken a lot of
time to get over that. But I think the older
we get, like, the more it's okay, it's become So
if anyone relates to that at all, just know that
it'll get better with time. Time will heal something like that,
(32:05):
because even when you don't think it immediately, you do
love each other and it's that bond, is there?
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Okay, Well, listening and talking to me has been very
inspiring before we head out. Is there any any last
things y'all want to say to anybody out there, siblings, parents, yourself.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Yeah, to all my siblings out there. I think the
biggest thing is just understanding that, like what you're feeling
is valid, Like it sucks like you are getting less attention,
so it does, like feeling jealous or angry, it's completely
fair because like you are experiencing less but just also
(32:48):
be gracious and understand it, like you aren't getting less
attention because they love you less or anything. You're getting
less attention because they're having to deal with saving your
siblings life and it can be very difficult, but like
you are valid, Like don't feel guilty or like angry,
Like it's just a tough thing to go through, and
(33:10):
just try and take what you feel and use it
to help other people and help other people see that
they are seen and valid, and just keep that kind
of cycle going.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Ellie, Yeah, patients, don't be afraid to take what you
need and don't feel guilty that you are getting so
much more attention and maybe resources.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Than people like your siblings or your friends.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Because you are going through a hard thing and it
is okay to need those things and it doesn't make
you any less capable of a person to need that support.
It's just the phase of your life you're in right now,
and you will come out stronger because of it, and
you're gonna be able to make such an impact in
other people's lives once you get better. So just you
(33:57):
will get through it and just love yourself.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Well, this has been such a great podcast, best one
yet for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, thank y'all so much for coming. I
know you've inspired not just us, but everyone out there
who's listening. This has been Haley and Ellie and we
will see you next time on Wipe Out Kids Cancer
podcast Kids Beating Cancer.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Bye.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Thank you,
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