October 26, 2025 • 18 mins
Bershan Shaw wasn‘t born a warrior—she became one. In 2009, after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and given a death sentence, Bershan decided to change her life. She shares some affirmations and tips. Also she has her URAWarrior App available now.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Doctor Wendywall Show on KFI AM
six point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Well,
my next guest is motivating and shaping and helping and
prodding a lot of people in America, and she's doing
it with a smile on her face and so much optimism,
(00:21):
despite the fact that she became a coach and motivational
speaker because a trauma that happened to her. I would
like to welcome Bershon Shaw. How are you, Bershon?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Oh? Yes, good, how are you? Thank you? Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So you really came into this world of sharing your
light with other people because of a threat that your
light was going to be dimmed. So let's take us
to the beginning. What happened in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So in the beginning, right, I got diagnosed with stage
four breast cancer. But it started in two thousand and seven, right,
So in two thousand and seven I got diagnosed. I
didn't do chemo, I did radiation, and then two years
later it came back and it was stage four.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Okay, we want to remind everybody there's no such thing
as stage five cancer. Okay, No, for Exactyes, right, So
let's talk about emotionally what you went through when you
first heard that news.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You know, I was devastated, young, thirty years old. You
don't think that the doctors are going to tell you
it's terminal breast cancer. Because I had a bad back
and my back was hurting, and so everything I tried
to do exercises, go to chiropractice, go to all these doctors,
(01:53):
and no one could figure it out until the doctor said,
let's do an MRI. And I remember to this day
I was going to get the results, but I just
thought it was a slip disc. And you know, they
were going to give me some painkillers and the doctor
told me to sit down. Oh, and you know no
one wants to hear sit down, And he said, you know,
(02:13):
this is different than we thought. This isn't a slip disc.
This is terminal breast cancer. It spread throughout your body.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
WHOA, so it already metastasized.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It metastasized.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Okay, yes, and you're a young woman getting this news,
and I'm sure it's emotionally devastating. Spoiler alert to anybody listening.
This is back in two thousand and nine. I don't
know if you checked your calendar, this is twenty twenty five.
This is not on tape.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
She's here, she's here with us.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yes, I'm here, you're talking. Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So what did you do?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
What were your treatments? How did you figure this out?
And how did this inspire you to help others?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know? Oh God, this is a journey. So I
remember to this day. I went out into the hallway.
I just said, give me a minute. Because I didn't.
I was so stunned. I went into the hallway, I
got on my knees and I just prayed, and I said, God,
I know this is not my journey and my time.
If you keep me alive, I will motivate people all
around the world. If this is my calling, I know
(03:21):
I'm not supposed to go. I know I have a
bigger calling, and here I am. And like literally I
changed my mindset because at first I was depressed, mad, angry,
just like why me? But then something clip and it's
like as days went by, I wasn't getting sick, I
(03:42):
didn't die. They gave me three months. They said, you know,
your best chances are probably ninety days. Wow, ninety days
went one hundred and twenty days went two hundred days
and I was still there, and I said, change your mindset,
get busy living, not dying.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
No every day count brishan.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I heard an interesting sentence today that I loved from
a medical doctor and he said, you know, every cell
in your body is eavesdropping on your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
M yep, I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And so what did you change in your thoughts that
you attribute to your miraculous healing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I told myself I am healthy, I am powerful, I
am worthy, and I deserve to live literally those four
things every day, seven to ten times a day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And we don't want to mislead people. You also sought
medical treatment.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, yeah no, I didn't
just do affirmations and medical yeah. I mean I did chemo,
I did radiation, but I changed my diet right so
I would eat meat, beef, and lamb. I took all
of that out. I went vegan. I went vegan. I
started exercising. I started doing manifestations every day, positivity meditation,
(05:08):
like literally I did it three sixty wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So when did you start to feel like, okay, this
is going to work.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I'm starting to beat this.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You know, probably year two and this is funny because
I did a clinical trial with Johns Hopkins and the
doctor said she wanted me to be a keynote speaker.
And this was like now, fifteen years ago. I wasn't
a speaker. I knew nothing about this, but I had
written this speech and it took me all day to
(05:44):
write it, and then when I got in front of
the people, I tore the speech up. I said, I
wanted to be authentic and real. And I remember saying this,
I'm not a statistic, and neither are you. Every day
count don't be a statistic, and you're not dead until
the day you are really dead. And I think something
(06:04):
just clicked and I was like, I'm living.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You certainly are now tell me about you know what.
I'm a professor of health psychology, and one of the
things that there's a lot of research to support is
that the more friends and yes, of course romantic relationships
are important, but the more social support in general that
we have, the better our health. What did you have
in terms of social support?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, You're exactly right, community, friends, family, people coming
to visit me, you know, friends going out to watch
comedy shows. Like I said, I'm going to get busy living.
So I would go to exercise, I would go walking
with friends and laughing and talking. And that's the thing
(06:53):
we are now. We're lonely. You know, we've gotten away
from community.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Oh have we ever? Have we ever?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And many people don't have the tools to just reach out. Like,
for instance, this week, I went through a little EBB
and flow happened. You know, I just felt a little
down for a couple of days, and rather than I
noticed myself not getting through my to do list, laying
around just feeling kind alone. And I started just calling
and texting girlfriends. It's like I scared up a circle
(07:20):
of friends and we're planning a retreat in January. Now
we're busy, right, But.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
But you know, you have to recognize it in yourself
when those moments happen, to know, oh I need some
social support.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I shouldn't be alone right now.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, yes, I can't be alone. And so that's
what we have to get back to human connection, calling someone,
going over to see a friend, going for a walk,
going to the gym, going out to eat, like get
don't do it alone because it doesn't work. You spiral
in your thoughts so.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
When we come back, we have to go for a break.
Now I want to talk. I know that you coach people.
You're a motivational speaker and specifically to women, but also
all humans on the planet. When we come back, will
you share some of your wisdom with us, like one
of the five things you tell everything everybody they need
to do in their list.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Okay, hang on.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
My guest is Bershon Shaw. You can find her on Instagram.
She's actually all over the internet, a motivational speaker, business coach,
women's advocate, and author who overcame stage four breast cancer
and is healthy and vibrant today. Brashonshaw you can find
her on Instagram. She's a motivational speaker, a business coach,
(08:35):
women's advocate. But I wanted to have her on because
I wanted to hear, as you just heard about her
journey having been diagnosed with terminal stage four breast cancer
that had metastasized, to get to a place of health
and vibrancy and share it with us all. Breshon, are
you completely cancer free now?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well? Yeah, I mean they say once you're stage four
because that metastasize, there's no such thing. My doctor believes
that cancer free is not the word. I am in remission.
She believes that, like you know, you're in remission. Everyone's
in remission once you have cancer. So yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You know, I often teach my students that we all
have cancer cells in our body at all times.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
We do, but we also.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Many people are very lucky enough to have really good
cancer fighting genes or strong immune systems to be fighting
it off as we go along. So it's like, in
a way, we're all we all have cancer.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Think yeah, because it's just cells that need tate, right,
So exactly all in our body. Yep. And so I'm
considered no evidence of disease.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Wonderful. That's the best news I heard today. Okay, so
let's get to it. What are some of the things.
First of all, what are the things people most often
present to you as sort of you know, life problems
that they're looking.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
For your advice on.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
You know, the biggest thing is probably depression. Depression and loneliness.
Those are the two. And let me tell you what
I didn't tell you, doctor Wendy is from all of this,
I started an app, a mental health app called You
Are a Warrior.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
How does the app work?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
What does it do so.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You spell it the letter. You are a wa R
R io R. It's a community. It's people sharing their
warrior stories because we all have a story, whether it's
substance abuse, depression, anxiety, loneliness. People get on and share.
We have live coaches, we have AI warrior coaches, and
we have daily motivation all the things that healed me
(10:44):
and all the things that I needed to get better.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
So we are suffering from an epidemic of isolation, an
epidemic of isolation, and especially with gen Z. I saw
statistic recently that gen Z spends less than one thousand
hours a year actually talking to another human.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
All right, and oh wow.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So the young people we really need to reach out
to more than anything. If you could give us some thoughts,
some of your wisdom on the best ways we can
treat whether we're somebody experiencing isolation or where somebody who
has some social support around us that needs to pull
more people into the tribe. What's some advice you have?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I would say, you know what, go and have real
fun with people. I know it's hard to put the
phone down. I know that is just, but go and
do some activities. Go bike, riding together, go bowling together,
gen z, go to a walk, go to a dance party.
Stop just being on your phone looking on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
(11:52):
like Snapchat, like really, get to know someone, go eat
pizza together. Like that's advice because people are really suffering
in silence, and in order to get over this, we
have to do the work, we really do.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It has to be on us.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
But I do want to say to people who do
have your regular group of friends and your family and
your neighbors, look around you. There are people at your work,
there are people in your exercise classes, there are people
at your church. There are people who don't have anybody,
and it's your job to bring them back to the
dinner table. You know, when I was a kid, you know,
(12:32):
we grew up military in my household, and so we
were always on navy basis. And my mom, you know,
it's like being a single mom when you're a military
wife because the guys are all gone, and she had
to get social support. So one place, when we moved
to a new place, she joined and adopt a grandmother program,
which was adorable. We had this little old lady over
(12:53):
every Sunday for dinner and my mom would take her
out a couple times a week. She came to our
school place, and you know, she did have any family
in town.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And I thought, why don't we have stuff like this anymore?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, I love that. I love that the treat
what we need.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
We need to adopt a graand Bear.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Let's put that on our app.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If you're over seventy five and you want some young
people around you, join her app. We'll connect to you, right,
and let's talk a little bit about wellness. You know
it is Breast cancer Awareness month. You are a miracle story,
both a medical miracle story and a mental health story.
What advice would you give people women specifically during Breast
(13:34):
cancer Awareness Month?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Check your boobies. Yeah, go and get mammograms. Don't be afraid. Right,
chancer is in a death sentence unless you want to
ignore things, don't do it. Go and check your breast,
but also understand your breast yourself. Just know your body.
(13:59):
Check it monthly. I do it. I raise my arm
in the shower and I checked myself monthly.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah. They say do it on your the day of
the month, that's your birthday, so you won't forget. So
I'm April thirtieth, So I do it on the thirtieth
of every month, and that reminds me. I like that.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Oh okay, I like that, Okay, okay, I'm going to
do it in twenty second. I like that. Yeah, so
you'll forget check your breath and know yourself. That's so important.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And there are certain populations. As a health psychology professor,
the research shows that certain populations African American women, Latino
women are.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Less likely to go.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Partly this is because of economics and not having health
insurance that will cover it. But if people reach out,
there is a free mammogram everywhere, and is.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
A mammogram everywhere? Yes, please repeat that, yes, yes, yes, And.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
I want to remind you that there is a cure
for cancer. It's called early detection. H if you know,
you're a miracle story Sean. But if breast cancer is
detected at stage one, it's got like a ninety nine
percent recovery rate, So.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It really does.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, we've made.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Such advances, So it's really up to the public to
women to get out there and not be afraid of
this kind of information. And let's dispel some myths. Mammograms
don't give you radiation they don't give you breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Okay, you're not right, they don't.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You know some people are afraid of the tests themselves, right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, it gets sick. You won't you won't.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You also changed your diet enormously. What was your diet
like before you had were diagnosed with cancer?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Well, you know, when you're young, you eat everything pizza, burgers, fries,
and you just think that you're invisible. Nothing happens. But
you know, I got to tell you, eating eating healthy
just makes me feel great. I eat berries, blueberries, blackberries,
raspberries every day, I juice, I eat veggies, salads. I mean,
(16:06):
it just really makes you feel good. And I don't
really drink. I don't drink anymore.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I don't like I started to get nasty headaches
and I drank delicious wine my whole life.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
HiT's so sot, I know, but as you get older,
you're like, my house comes first. So I don't really
drink and I feel good every day.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, we're so happy for you, brashn. I think it's
wonderful news. Can you give us information about where people
can find you and find out more about the app?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yes? Thank you so On Instagram LinkedIn everywhere you spell
my name b E R s h A N. That's
the first name, last name Shaw Shaw. And the app
it's in the app store, Google Store. But you got
to write it all together, the letter you, the letter R,
the letter A warrior, W A R R io R
(16:59):
and it's everywhere. Right. It's a community of support because
we all have a warrior story. I want a place
where we can normalize mental health and we can share
and talk and get and just get support. And that's
what we're doing. We're starting a You Are a Warrior movement.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And you know what I tell my students is that
if you have this idea of the stigma around bad
mental health, you might have a believe in mythology that
you're either quote unquote crazy or not, when actually mental
health is a lot like physical health. You can get
a cold, it can last a few days. We call
that situational depression, right you can. I mean it's not
(17:37):
like literally, at any given time, probably twenty five percent
of the American public is experiencing some kind of mental
health issue.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But it's not lifelong.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
It's not always a personality disorder that you know characterizes
them forever. It's just something you get and then you
get better.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's it. Then you get better exactly. I love how
you put it.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yes, I love that you get better.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well. Thanks you for support and get that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yes, thank you so much for joining us for Shan Shaw,
and that brings the Doctor Wendy Walsh Show to a close.
If you miss any part of it, remember you can
log onto the iHeartRadio app at any time download all
the past shows.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
They're all there.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Thanks for being with me every Sunday evening. You're listening
to The Doctor Wendy Waalsh Show and KFI AM six
point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to the Doctor Wendywall Show on KFI AM
six point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Well,
my next guest is motivating and shaping and helping and
prodding a lot of people in America, and she's doing
it with a smile on her face and so much optimism,
(00:21):
despite the fact that she became a coach and motivational
speaker because a trauma that happened to her. I would
like to welcome Bershon Shaw. How are you, Bershon?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Oh? Yes, good, how are you? Thank you? Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So you really came into this world of sharing your
light with other people because of a threat that your
light was going to be dimmed. So let's take us
to the beginning. What happened in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So in the beginning, right, I got diagnosed with stage
four breast cancer. But it started in two thousand and seven, right,
So in two thousand and seven I got diagnosed. I
didn't do chemo, I did radiation, and then two years
later it came back and it was stage four.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Okay, we want to remind everybody there's no such thing
as stage five cancer. Okay, No, for Exactyes, right, So
let's talk about emotionally what you went through when you
first heard that news.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You know, I was devastated, young, thirty years old. You
don't think that the doctors are going to tell you
it's terminal breast cancer. Because I had a bad back
and my back was hurting, and so everything I tried
to do exercises, go to chiropractice, go to all these doctors,
(01:53):
and no one could figure it out until the doctor said,
let's do an MRI. And I remember to this day
I was going to get the results, but I just
thought it was a slip disc. And you know, they
were going to give me some painkillers and the doctor
told me to sit down. Oh, and you know no
one wants to hear sit down, And he said, you know,
(02:13):
this is different than we thought. This isn't a slip disc.
This is terminal breast cancer. It spread throughout your body.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
WHOA, so it already metastasized.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It metastasized.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Okay, yes, and you're a young woman getting this news,
and I'm sure it's emotionally devastating. Spoiler alert to anybody listening.
This is back in two thousand and nine. I don't
know if you checked your calendar, this is twenty twenty five.
This is not on tape.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
She's here, she's here with us.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yes, I'm here, you're talking. Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So what did you do?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
What were your treatments? How did you figure this out?
And how did this inspire you to help others?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know? Oh God, this is a journey. So I
remember to this day. I went out into the hallway.
I just said, give me a minute. Because I didn't.
I was so stunned. I went into the hallway, I
got on my knees and I just prayed, and I said, God,
I know this is not my journey and my time.
If you keep me alive, I will motivate people all
around the world. If this is my calling, I know
(03:21):
I'm not supposed to go. I know I have a
bigger calling, and here I am. And like literally I
changed my mindset because at first I was depressed, mad, angry,
just like why me? But then something clip and it's
like as days went by, I wasn't getting sick, I
(03:42):
didn't die. They gave me three months. They said, you know,
your best chances are probably ninety days. Wow, ninety days
went one hundred and twenty days went two hundred days
and I was still there, and I said, change your mindset,
get busy living, not dying.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
No every day count brishan.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I heard an interesting sentence today that I loved from
a medical doctor and he said, you know, every cell
in your body is eavesdropping on your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
M yep, I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And so what did you change in your thoughts that
you attribute to your miraculous healing.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I told myself I am healthy, I am powerful, I
am worthy, and I deserve to live literally those four
things every day, seven to ten times a day.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And we don't want to mislead people. You also sought
medical treatment.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, yeah no, I didn't
just do affirmations and medical yeah. I mean I did chemo,
I did radiation, but I changed my diet right so
I would eat meat, beef, and lamb. I took all
of that out. I went vegan. I went vegan. I
started exercising. I started doing manifestations every day, positivity meditation,
(05:08):
like literally I did it three sixty wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So when did you start to feel like, okay, this
is going to work.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I'm starting to beat this.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
You know, probably year two and this is funny because
I did a clinical trial with Johns Hopkins and the
doctor said she wanted me to be a keynote speaker.
And this was like now, fifteen years ago. I wasn't
a speaker. I knew nothing about this, but I had
written this speech and it took me all day to
(05:44):
write it, and then when I got in front of
the people, I tore the speech up. I said, I
wanted to be authentic and real. And I remember saying this,
I'm not a statistic, and neither are you. Every day
count don't be a statistic, and you're not dead until
the day you are really dead. And I think something
(06:04):
just clicked and I was like, I'm living.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You certainly are now tell me about you know what.
I'm a professor of health psychology, and one of the
things that there's a lot of research to support is
that the more friends and yes, of course romantic relationships
are important, but the more social support in general that
we have, the better our health. What did you have
in terms of social support?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, You're exactly right, community, friends, family, people coming
to visit me, you know, friends going out to watch
comedy shows. Like I said, I'm going to get busy living.
So I would go to exercise, I would go walking
with friends and laughing and talking. And that's the thing
(06:53):
we are now. We're lonely. You know, we've gotten away
from community.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Oh have we ever? Have we ever?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And many people don't have the tools to just reach out. Like,
for instance, this week, I went through a little EBB
and flow happened. You know, I just felt a little
down for a couple of days, and rather than I
noticed myself not getting through my to do list, laying
around just feeling kind alone. And I started just calling
and texting girlfriends. It's like I scared up a circle
(07:20):
of friends and we're planning a retreat in January. Now
we're busy, right, But.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
But you know, you have to recognize it in yourself
when those moments happen, to know, oh I need some
social support.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I shouldn't be alone right now.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, yes, I can't be alone. And so that's
what we have to get back to human connection, calling someone,
going over to see a friend, going for a walk,
going to the gym, going out to eat, like get
don't do it alone because it doesn't work. You spiral
in your thoughts so.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
When we come back, we have to go for a break.
Now I want to talk. I know that you coach people.
You're a motivational speaker and specifically to women, but also
all humans on the planet. When we come back, will
you share some of your wisdom with us, like one
of the five things you tell everything everybody they need
to do in their list.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Okay, hang on.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
My guest is Bershon Shaw. You can find her on Instagram.
She's actually all over the internet, a motivational speaker, business coach,
women's advocate, and author who overcame stage four breast cancer
and is healthy and vibrant today. Brashonshaw you can find
her on Instagram. She's a motivational speaker, a business coach,
(08:35):
women's advocate. But I wanted to have her on because
I wanted to hear, as you just heard about her
journey having been diagnosed with terminal stage four breast cancer
that had metastasized, to get to a place of health
and vibrancy and share it with us all. Breshon, are
you completely cancer free now?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well? Yeah, I mean they say once you're stage four
because that metastasize, there's no such thing. My doctor believes
that cancer free is not the word. I am in remission.
She believes that, like you know, you're in remission. Everyone's
in remission once you have cancer. So yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
You know, I often teach my students that we all
have cancer cells in our body at all times.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
We do, but we also.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Many people are very lucky enough to have really good
cancer fighting genes or strong immune systems to be fighting
it off as we go along. So it's like, in
a way, we're all we all have cancer.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Think yeah, because it's just cells that need tate, right,
So exactly all in our body. Yep. And so I'm
considered no evidence of disease.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Wonderful. That's the best news I heard today. Okay, so
let's get to it. What are some of the things.
First of all, what are the things people most often
present to you as sort of you know, life problems
that they're looking.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
For your advice on.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
You know, the biggest thing is probably depression. Depression and loneliness.
Those are the two. And let me tell you what
I didn't tell you, doctor Wendy is from all of this,
I started an app, a mental health app called You
Are a Warrior.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
How does the app work?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
What does it do so.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You spell it the letter. You are a wa R
R io R. It's a community. It's people sharing their
warrior stories because we all have a story, whether it's
substance abuse, depression, anxiety, loneliness. People get on and share.
We have live coaches, we have AI warrior coaches, and
we have daily motivation all the things that healed me
(10:44):
and all the things that I needed to get better.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
So we are suffering from an epidemic of isolation, an
epidemic of isolation, and especially with gen Z. I saw
statistic recently that gen Z spends less than one thousand
hours a year actually talking to another human.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
All right, and oh wow.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So the young people we really need to reach out
to more than anything. If you could give us some thoughts,
some of your wisdom on the best ways we can
treat whether we're somebody experiencing isolation or where somebody who
has some social support around us that needs to pull
more people into the tribe. What's some advice you have?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I would say, you know what, go and have real
fun with people. I know it's hard to put the
phone down. I know that is just, but go and
do some activities. Go bike, riding together, go bowling together,
gen z, go to a walk, go to a dance party.
Stop just being on your phone looking on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
(11:52):
like Snapchat, like really, get to know someone, go eat
pizza together. Like that's advice because people are really suffering
in silence, and in order to get over this, we
have to do the work, we really do.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It has to be on us.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
But I do want to say to people who do
have your regular group of friends and your family and
your neighbors, look around you. There are people at your work,
there are people in your exercise classes, there are people
at your church. There are people who don't have anybody,
and it's your job to bring them back to the
dinner table. You know, when I was a kid, you know,
(12:32):
we grew up military in my household, and so we
were always on navy basis. And my mom, you know,
it's like being a single mom when you're a military
wife because the guys are all gone, and she had
to get social support. So one place, when we moved
to a new place, she joined and adopt a grandmother program,
which was adorable. We had this little old lady over
(12:53):
every Sunday for dinner and my mom would take her
out a couple times a week. She came to our
school place, and you know, she did have any family
in town.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And I thought, why don't we have stuff like this anymore?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, I love that. I love that the treat
what we need.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
We need to adopt a graand Bear.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Let's put that on our app.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If you're over seventy five and you want some young
people around you, join her app. We'll connect to you, right,
and let's talk a little bit about wellness. You know
it is Breast cancer Awareness month. You are a miracle story,
both a medical miracle story and a mental health story.
What advice would you give people women specifically during Breast
(13:34):
cancer Awareness Month?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Check your boobies. Yeah, go and get mammograms. Don't be afraid. Right,
chancer is in a death sentence unless you want to
ignore things, don't do it. Go and check your breast,
but also understand your breast yourself. Just know your body.
(13:59):
Check it monthly. I do it. I raise my arm
in the shower and I checked myself monthly.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah. They say do it on your the day of
the month, that's your birthday, so you won't forget. So
I'm April thirtieth, So I do it on the thirtieth
of every month, and that reminds me. I like that.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Oh okay, I like that, Okay, okay, I'm going to
do it in twenty second. I like that. Yeah, so
you'll forget check your breath and know yourself. That's so important.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And there are certain populations. As a health psychology professor,
the research shows that certain populations African American women, Latino
women are.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Less likely to go.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Partly this is because of economics and not having health
insurance that will cover it. But if people reach out,
there is a free mammogram everywhere, and is.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
A mammogram everywhere? Yes, please repeat that, yes, yes, yes, And.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
I want to remind you that there is a cure
for cancer. It's called early detection. H if you know,
you're a miracle story Sean. But if breast cancer is
detected at stage one, it's got like a ninety nine
percent recovery rate, So.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It really does.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, we've made.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Such advances, So it's really up to the public to
women to get out there and not be afraid of
this kind of information. And let's dispel some myths. Mammograms
don't give you radiation they don't give you breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Okay, you're not right, they don't.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You know some people are afraid of the tests themselves, right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, it gets sick. You won't you won't.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You also changed your diet enormously. What was your diet
like before you had were diagnosed with cancer?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Well, you know, when you're young, you eat everything pizza, burgers, fries,
and you just think that you're invisible. Nothing happens. But
you know, I got to tell you, eating eating healthy
just makes me feel great. I eat berries, blueberries, blackberries,
raspberries every day, I juice, I eat veggies, salads. I mean,
(16:06):
it just really makes you feel good. And I don't
really drink. I don't drink anymore.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, I don't like I started to get nasty headaches
and I drank delicious wine my whole life.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
HiT's so sot, I know, but as you get older,
you're like, my house comes first. So I don't really
drink and I feel good every day.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, we're so happy for you, brashn. I think it's
wonderful news. Can you give us information about where people
can find you and find out more about the app?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yes? Thank you so On Instagram LinkedIn everywhere you spell
my name b E R s h A N. That's
the first name, last name Shaw Shaw. And the app
it's in the app store, Google Store. But you got
to write it all together, the letter you, the letter R,
the letter A warrior, W A R R io R
(16:59):
and it's everywhere. Right. It's a community of support because
we all have a warrior story. I want a place
where we can normalize mental health and we can share
and talk and get and just get support. And that's
what we're doing. We're starting a You Are a Warrior movement.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And you know what I tell my students is that
if you have this idea of the stigma around bad
mental health, you might have a believe in mythology that
you're either quote unquote crazy or not, when actually mental
health is a lot like physical health. You can get
a cold, it can last a few days. We call
that situational depression, right you can. I mean it's not
(17:37):
like literally, at any given time, probably twenty five percent
of the American public is experiencing some kind of mental
health issue.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But it's not lifelong.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
It's not always a personality disorder that you know characterizes
them forever. It's just something you get and then you
get better.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's it. Then you get better exactly. I love how
you put it.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yes, I love that you get better.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well. Thanks you for support and get that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yes, thank you so much for joining us for Shan Shaw,
and that brings the Doctor Wendy Walsh Show to a close.
If you miss any part of it, remember you can
log onto the iHeartRadio app at any time download all
the past shows.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
They're all there.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Thanks for being with me every Sunday evening. You're listening
to The Doctor Wendy Waalsh Show and KFI AM six
point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
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