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May 9, 2025 • 13 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's ato six at fifty five KRCD Talk station. Hope
everyone's having a happy Friday, please to Welcome to the
fifty five KRC Morning Show. Bill Potts. His background motivational speaker,
business leader, community builder. He's held executive roles at Ironman
Group and Clearwater Marine Aquarium, co founder and managing director
of marketing agency Remedy three sixty five lecturer at Tulane University.

(00:24):
In addition to being an Ironman triathlete, he is also
a five time cancer survivor and author of the book
We're talking about today, Up for the Fight. How you
to advocate for yourself as you battle cancer from a
five time survivor. Bill Potts, Welcome to the fifty five
KRC Morning Show. It's a real pleasure to have you
on this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh Brian, it's a pleasure to be on your show.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
And according to my producer, you and I have something
in common and that's lymphoma.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah we do, we do. Yeah, mine, I had stage
three lymphalma in two thousand and eight and then came
back in twenty fourteen, twenty nineteen, and twenty and twenty.
So we do have that in common and by the way,
congrats on your success with that.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, and I just recently had a CT scan, actually
two back to back. There were several months apart. My
lymph nodes did start growing back. I had retuction treatment
and I was able to keep it at bay for
about three three and a half years. But the scan
revealed that the nodes were growing a little bit. But
I've been given the option of just sort of taking
a weight and see approach, and that's currently where I am.

(01:31):
So I engaged in some dietary changes. I removed all
the sugar from my diet. I've reduced a lot of
the carbs for my diet, lost some weight, So I'm
not sure that's going to keep it at bay, but
I know there's a correlation between sugar and cancer. Whether
it's lymphoma related, don't know, but I was willing to
try that out and I feel a lot healthier for it.
So next scan taking place in June, and I'm hoping

(01:52):
that we don't see any more growth. But I know
there's treatment options out there for me. And you've obviously
been through that which particular respective you said stage three.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I had stage three non Hodgkin's lymphoma, So that's yeah.
I went through retuction as well, and there was recently
as four years ago, I went through a more harsh
treatment of chemotherapy treatment. So yeah, it's it's been interesting.
My wife jokes that it took me getting cancer five
times before I finally cleaned up my diet, but that

(02:26):
that does make a difference. So I am very very
strict on you know, fruits and vegetables. I limit dairy,
red meat, alcohols limited, and so I lean into as
healthy a diet as I can, like you do. And
also I lean into exercise because for me, I'm trying
always to be ready for when it comes back and

(02:49):
also do everything I can to lengthen the amount of
time before that happens.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Well, you got to be physically fit to do compete
in Iron Man.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Come on, Bill, Yeah, that's true. That was trying to
prove to my three kids that no matter what happens
to you in life, if you get focused and put
your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. And so yeah,
I taught them that lesson. Well, and a couple of

(03:17):
my kids followed in my footsteps on the triathlon stuff,
which is pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, what motivated you to be so open and share
your cancer journey with and of course write the book.
Up for the fight.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, it wasn't my idea. I actually was going through
a chemo er B treatment in September of twenty twenty,
and before that treatment, I'd had surgery to remove a
tumor below my right hip, and when I woke up
from the surgery, Brian, I had an emotional breakdown and
told the nurse that I was done. I wasn't up
for the fight anymore, that I knew what was coming,

(03:50):
and I'd had a great life and a great career
and a great family, and I was throwing in the towel.
So she called in the pastor at Mayo and we
came and talked about it for a while, about an
hour and a half, and she said, hey, Bill, let's
reconnect with the reasons why you should fight. And I
did fight for my family, fight for my friends, fight
for my meeting, for work, and also to fight to

(04:12):
make God proud. So I'd reset my mindset and was
really up for the fight. At the end of this conversation, Brian,
she leans into me and goes nos and noses says,
I got one more thing for you, Bill, like what
she goes. I want you to turn your pain into
purpose and write a book to help others. So I

(04:34):
thought about it for a few seconds and said yes,
reached out to a publisher who the CEO called and said,
do we want to do this book? I'm like, why
she goes. I lost one of my best friends to
breast cancer recently, and this is the book I wish
somebody had written for her. So we want to write
a book like What to Expect when You're Expecting, but
for cancer patients, with some stuff thrown in for the

(04:55):
friends and family of cancer patients as well, because it
will be meaningful and it will change lives and hopefully
save some lives. And so I wrote it while I
was going through treatment and was really thankful to get
that done and get it out.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, you mentioned the loss of hope and thrown in
the towel. How does one you know after you get
a cancer diagnosis? And of course some cancers are far
more aggressive than others. Some are caught far later after metastasization,
you know, stage four cancers and things like that, and
people only learn late in the process that they have
this progressive disease. Obviously there's going to be a problem

(05:30):
finding some hope amid all that gloom and doom? How
does one advocate for oneself? And and you know I've
always turned I have great family support. You know, I'm
I married out. I can't kicked my coverage with marriage,
and I get inspiration from my wife and for my
family and for my mom, and I try not to
even think about it. I just ignore it like it's

(05:51):
no big deal. It's like just part of my life.
But see, I've got I'm surrounded, and I also have
good doctors. So what does one do to advocate for
themselves amid all this?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I think that's by the way, I ticked my
coverage too with my wife, and I've got the same
family support. You know. For me, it's about treating it.
Advocating for myself is that I have to own my
own journey, meaning I have to be involved and my
family has to be involved in all these decisions from
where to go, to getting second opinions, to doing things

(06:21):
like you're doing, managing your diet and exercise all those things.
So the way I deal with it is I deal
with it a little bit like it's my job. So
it's my job when I'm going through it to get better. Now,
my job is to prevent it from coming back and
make sure I'm in good shape when it comes back.
And so a lot of folks look at the healthcare
journey as the doctors own it, and it's really not

(06:43):
the case. It's you own it. It's your life, and
so you have to be really involved in all those
decisions and understand what's happening and surround yourself with the
right team of doctors and the support that you need,
and then it's your journey, not somebody else's.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, how about practical stuff that folks can take to
make their treatment days more comfortable. Now, Fortunately, as you
probably know, retuction doesn't really come with a whole lot
of side effects, unlike chemotherapy, which has some profoundly negative
side effects. So along the lines is something more aggressive
in terms of treatment and more profound in terms of
side effects, chemo therapy. What what can folks do to

(07:20):
make that make it more comfortable or less painful in
their life?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I think first of all, you've got the emotional
and mental piece, which, as you know, even walking into
a retucentreatment, the emotional side of it. Oh and so,
and I actually actually had an antaplexics reaction to to
retucent time. So that, yeah, you know how scary that is.
You talking about waking up at what's going on? Until

(07:45):
that happened.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, they had to slow the drip down. They're trying
to get me in and out a little bit faster,
so they up the drip level. And man, I am
telling you that is the weirdest and almost awful sensation ever.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, it was. Yeah, it's pretty tough. So the way
it works for me is, yeah, a couple of days
before treatment, I'm kind of a mess and I don't
talk to anybody and just people just leave me along.
But when I get outside the doors of the cancer center,
my mind switches and now it's my job to get
this done. This is one step and healing. I also
always make sure I have somebody with me. I also,

(08:18):
as you know, it gets cold in there, make sure
I get a sweatshirt, ski cap, baseball cap, got some
water to drink. I don't The first time I went in, Brian,
I was so ignorant. I took my laptop. I was
planning to work, and so now I know if I'm
going in there, just plan to relax the best I
can and get through it, and I count up to

(08:41):
the halfway point. I went through generally, I'm somewhere around
twelve to fourteen treatments. I'll count up and then when
I get to the halfway point, I start counting down
and that helps me from mental side, you know how
much progress that I'm making.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Oh, that's an interesting way of looking at it. And
there are a lot of support organizations out there. Think
of the I feel so so terribly for someone who's
dealing with this problem. This is cancer diagnosis and being
alone in the world in that regard. I'm blessed to
have a family in support, you know, in my own home,
to help me deal with the problems associated with cancer,
mental and otherwise. But there are some great support groups

(09:17):
out there that can help out and have resources for
you and to interact with folks who are also struggling
like you.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, it's been remarkable for me. I leaned into the
Leukemia Lymphoma Society. I guide people to whatever cancer it is.
There's a national cancer nonprofit in the US that can
provide you support. I leaned into some Facebook groups for support.
I recommend professional therapy if you can get it. Somebody
listen to you. You do want to lean on your

(09:46):
family and friends, but you also need to lean on
outside support because there are things that you can share
with them that you might not feel comfortable with sharing
with your family. And you also, as you did too, Brian,
you've got to keep an eye on the family and
make sure that they okay. So part of my job
and my wife's job was to keep an eye on
the three kids and to make sure that they were
handling it well and to make sure they had the

(10:07):
support and resources they need to go through it too,
because the family goes through it and the friends go
through it, not just the patient.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, there's a certain degree of that. I can understand that.
And well, to the family and others that are struggling
with a loved one's cancer diagnosis, how do they help
and support that love them with, maybe how without overwhelming them?
I mean some people are like, oh my god, they
funnel over people and like, oh my god, anything I
can do for you, And sometimes that can be a

(10:34):
little bit troubling for the person who's dealing with the
cancer diagnosis.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, it's it's true. Sometimes your friends disappear. Sometimes they
lean in a little bit too much, and so there's
really a few things. Is number one, be present when
you're with them. Number two is ask them if there's
anything you can do for them, But not only that,
maybe suggest something that you can do for them and

(11:00):
see what they say. I don't know how you were
with people coming over to visit and food and things
like that, but that wasn't really working well for me.
I don't My sense of taste was kind of a mess,
and my sense of smell was kind of a mess,
and so you food tasted differently. And the best thing
that my friends have done for me, I'm sure for
you is to say, hey, can I come see you?

(11:23):
And then just sit there and talk about anything but
the cancer. Let's talk about Let's talk about basketball or
football or baseball, some of my passions. Let's talk about
your family. Let's talk about my family. But let's give
me a break from all the cancer talk, because I
get that enough.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, And everybody's curious because they love you. They just
want to know if everything's okay. And I get to
ask that question from time to time, and I don't
mind hearing the question to me. That's just a sign
of love, concern, and support, and that's what you expect
from friends. But I guess my symptoms and my treatments
weren't ever as bad as yours in terms of my
body's reaction to it. And I just really don't even

(12:00):
talk about it. Like I said, Bill, It's just part
of my life and I just accept it for what
it is. It's the hand that the cards that God
dealt me, and I'm happy to play with them. So
that's where I sort of get my optimism. You know,
it's kind of out of my hands. I just go
with the treatments and just enjoy and embrace the support
that's provided. And of course get a copy of the
book Up for the Fight, How to Advocate for Yourself

(12:22):
as you Battle Cancer. From a five time survivor, Bill,
I can't thank you enough for writing the book for
all of us out here who needs some resources and
guidance to help. And you obviously have been down this
road as a five time cancer survivor. That's truly amazing, Bill,
and congratulations on that. And I wish you all the
health and the best in the world.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, yeah, back at you. And this book has changed
my life in so many profound ways because now I
hear from cancer patients all the time, and I'm able
to mentor them and coach them to their journey. So
I've accidentally become an expert in a lot of other
different types of cancer than the ones I've had. So
if you need it, if you have anybody that needs
some coaching or whatever, Brian, just reach out.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Just reach out.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Bill.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
It's been a pleasure and congratulations. Obviously a very well
rated book on Amazon. You're almost at a full five
stars across the board and some really positive reviews from
folks in the medical profession. So well done, and thanks
for your time this morning. Bill, It's been a real
pleasure having you on the program.

Brian Thomas News

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