October 27, 2025 • 48 mins
From Pink Ribbons to Push-Ups--Meg Grunke of Survivor Fitness Foundation
Description: Welcome to an October episode of Inside the Moms Club where we sit down with Meg Grunke, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Survivor Fitness Foundation, who's on a mission to help cancer survivors reclaim strength, joy, and wellness after treatment--and we bring that same "mom-chic meets warrior" energy to the conversation. Whether you're a survivor, a mom, a coach-pitch parent, or just someone who believes that strength comes in all shapes (and pink shirts)--this one's for you.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inside-the-moms-club--4709676/support.
Description: Welcome to an October episode of Inside the Moms Club where we sit down with Meg Grunke, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Survivor Fitness Foundation, who's on a mission to help cancer survivors reclaim strength, joy, and wellness after treatment--and we bring that same "mom-chic meets warrior" energy to the conversation. Whether you're a survivor, a mom, a coach-pitch parent, or just someone who believes that strength comes in all shapes (and pink shirts)--this one's for you.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inside-the-moms-club--4709676/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome, Mom's Welcome inside the Mom's Club. I'm your host,
Monica Samuels, and I'm here with my lovely co host
and very good friend, Julie Orchid.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Monica, Julie, I am so glad you look sounds
so sarcastic. We're like, Hi, No, you.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Look really, I'm not no, I'm not sounding surprised. You
look great.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I know sometimes I shower.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Do you mind till you say, have a baseball hat on.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That's how I rolled into town yesterday, a.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Great hat that I'm jealous of. I want it.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Texas is for lovers, but as my you know, the
bonus of coming to LA's I get to see my
oldest daughter. Last night, she rolled in and she's like,
it's Virginia is for lovers. I was like, not today.
So we got that hat at Austin City Limits. It's
pretty fantastic.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Jealous you got to go to that. I didn't go
this year.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh well there's always next year.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
But you and I are going to go to Mumford
and Sons. We are concerts.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Absolutely, I am super super white.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
That's to be so watching me dance and you know,
having a big time.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm celebrating. Yeah, you want to know.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm excited her share with our audience because we'll tell
them this, tell them the story, and then tell them the.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I don't need to tell a long story, but I
will be celebrating. This has to do with our guests
today as well. I'm celebrating a clean mammogram six months
after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So we're very thrill. I'm so so so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I mean that's a weird feeling too, though, because you
have a little bit of survivor's guilt when you go
through something and then things are working out for you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I mean, you can't help it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
When you walk in and you see a lot of
people that are very, very sick, your perspective changes. I
have a lot of friends have been through it and
supported me, and you know, I'm super excited that today
we get to talk about a little bit of that
because the last eight months have been totally different than
what I had planned, and it's you know, it's it's awkward,
(02:06):
it's just a little bit weird. But I'm super thrilled
to promote good health.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I am too. I think this is a great, great
subject and guests and so let me without further ado,
I want to introduce her.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh you are right, let's shoe.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She She began her career in public relations, but later
joined her husband, a cancer survivor, in the creation of
Survivor Fitness Foundation, which focuses on the positive effects of
health and wellness for cancer survivors. Please welcome, Meg Grunky,
Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I'm so thrilled that you're here. And this is such
a great thing that you're doing. You know, as with
my father in law worked at M D Anderson as
a radiologist for years, so I saw my mother is
a cancer survivor of a very very rare form of cancer,
and so I got to see that that side of it.
But there's there's another side to it, and that is
(03:02):
when you're like Julie and you've gotten a good Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I didn't get a lot of questions about the treatment,
what happens afterwards, like how are you moving on? How
are we going to do life after? You know, you
feel to the gate, you got a race and get healthy,
and then you don't really hear much about afterwards what
are you going to do to keep that up exactly?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And so your husband Aaron is a cancer survivor. From
one understand, he had testicular cancer and he was twenty
three and without a couple of years after we were hurt.
We were told surgeries, treatment, but then you got to
the other side of it and then explained us what
(03:46):
happened and what inspired him to start Survivor Fitness Foundation.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah. Absolutely, And Julia, I do want to say congratulations
on a green bill of health. I know that that's
a lot the anxiety that comes around those regular checkups
and even though your doctors tell you that everything will
be fine, that doesn't make those appointments much easier. Oftentimes.
I'm so glad to hear that, and so glad you're
(04:12):
hopefully on the other side of things. So but yeah, So,
my husband, Aaron was diagnosed with an aggressive form of
testicular cancer at the young age of twenty one, went
through about two years of treatments and surgeries, and when
he was done with treatment about the age of twenty three,
he was told, you know you're healthy, now go live life.
(04:32):
You're fine. Just put cancer in the roo view mirror.
And he had gained a lot of weight, lost a
lot of strength, and really struggled mentally and emotionally with
what came text and when his doctors were saying go live, life,
move forward, he kind of stopped and said, what does
that mean? I have no idea what that means, and
really struggled with what that looked like for him, especially
(04:55):
as a young adult, especially as someone who said thought
and thought, you know, like, hey, I should be able
to figure this out on my own, but unfortunately he couldn't,
and he really struggled with that for a few years,
and luckily, by kind of happenstance, he was speaking with
a trainer one day about what he had been through
and what he was struggling with, and that trainer kind
(05:17):
of took it upon himself to help Aaron figure out
what life after cancer should look like, both physically, nutritionally,
and really that led into the mental and emotional part
as well. So he was kind of given the tools
to regain his health and that's where the idea was,
where survivor fitness was born. Aaron had struggled for a
number of years with really what to do, and when
(05:41):
he started kind of putting these pieces together and talking
to other you know, his doctor about it and some other
cancer survivors that he knew. Everybody shared the same sentiment
of yeah, I struggled with that too. I had no
idea what to do? You know, no one told me
what to do. How was I supposed to move forward?
You know? I well had brain fog? How do I
(06:01):
address all these things? And while they might have heard
go work out or you know, eat healthy, they weren't
really sure what to do or how to do that.
And so that's where the idea for survivor Fitness was born.
And so we started that a number of years ago
at this point, to help cancer survivors of all a date,
adult age ranges, all fitness levels, and all types of
(06:22):
cancer regained their health and wellness following treatment.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
How how old was he when he got the idea?
You know, I think because it's a pretty bold thing
to say, I'm going to start a foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, how old?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
He was about twenty five when he came home one
day and said, I, like, we had talked about it,
and he he's about twenty five. And then fast forward
a couple of years, he kind of molds on the
idea a little bit, and he was getting his NBA
had the opportunity to do an independent study class and
wrote up a business plan on this and talked to
(06:56):
some trainers in the area we were we were in
Nashville at the time, and he talked to some trainers
and they said, this is a great idea. Talk to
the physicians. This is a great idea. No one's doing this.
And so he came home one day and said, I
filed the paperwork and I was like, for what. So
that's where it started. And I was like, oh, okay,
we're really doing this. But it is It has been
(07:19):
such an obviously great idea that he had, and you know,
we're just really fortunate to see so many lives impacted
through such the you know, simple actions of fitness and
nutrition and mental wellness.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
So if you have a survivor and somebody comes to
your foundation and they want to sign up, what does
that look like?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
How long is it?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, people would probably have questions, you know, how
do I get on my feet again?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Give me an idea of what that looks like.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, So our program, so, as I mentioned, we had
the fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness program. Those can all
be done in conjunction or independently of each other. Given
the fact that a lot of cancer survivors when they're
done which treatment, are really starting to kind of try
and get back in the swing of things, and so
we certainly don't want to make piece programs on more
burdensome than they should be helpful, if you will. And
(08:11):
so for the fitness program, it's twenty four sessions one
on one with a personal trainer over the course ideally
of twelve weeks, so that's two sessions per week. Everything
is one on one with that trainer, and that trainer
really customizes your fitness program to you. So we've had
eighteen year olds come through the program, and we've had
(08:31):
eighty eight year olds come through the program, and so
clearly they don't need the same thing when it comes
to recovery. And so that's where that customization and individualized
support comes in and really working with people on their needs.
And then on the nutrition side, our participants received three
to five sessions with a dietician and typically that is
(08:52):
done with the fitness because obviously those go well hand
in hand. And then for mental wellness support, our participants
receive two three months of weekly therapy, meaning that they
can go every week for three months, they can go
every other week for three months. We really let them,
the participant and their therapists decide that together and really
(09:14):
make the best protocol for them at that point. So
when someone comes into the program, we have an intake
process that we go through and between our program coordinator
and that individual decide the best course of action for them.
And I should also mention that all these programs that
we do provide were fortunate to have great support of
(09:35):
the community and the communities. We work with numbers of businesses,
local businesses as well as businesses across the nation who
support Survivor Fitness to make these programs available at no
cost to anyone who comes through.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, and do the do doctors make referrals to you all?
Or like, how does that usually happen? Because we want
the whole We want the whole country. The reason you're
on here today is we want the whole country to
find out about Survivor Fitness Foundation. Not a lot of
people know about it and it's now it's really based
(10:09):
in Tennessee for the most part. Now it's virtual. You
can get it anywhere from what you what I understand, So,
what's the typical way that you identified you have you
have on colleges that you work with generally at this
point and they refer or how does that happen?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, as you mentioned, to our program. So we do
have in person locations that we work with fitness wise
throughout the state of Tennessee, which is where we started
and where we reside now, but we also provide virtual
programming to anyone across the country and that is actually
our largest growing market, if you will. Survivor Fitness is
(10:45):
a unique program in the fact of kind of what
we do with the individualized support. So we do we
have physicians on colleges, surgical centers, nurses who refer their
patients to our program all across the country and we've
been fortunate to grow in that aspect. But it's important
to note that you do not have to have a
doctor's referral to apply to be part of Survivor Fitness,
(11:08):
So anyone can hop on our website at Survivorfitness dot
org apply for the program. It's a quick application, just
asking kind of what you've been through, where you are now,
where you've been, probably you know, five to seven minutes
of an application, and then we set up the intake
process from there. We always circle back and get medical
clearance forms from the physicians and the surgeons. Just really
(11:29):
again dependent on the individual, but no anyone can come
to our website and apply for these programs, and yes
we do want everyone to apply. We have the ability
to support numbers more than we are at this moment,
and we're very fortunate we've been growing and growing. But
(11:50):
you know, the thought of any cancer survivor sitting at
home alone and wondering what do I be, like, how
do I move forward? That's hard and that's kind of
devastating and why we want to work so hard to
make sure that people know about the brokens that we provide.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I mean, first of all, your website is an incredible resource.
I can tell you that, you know, I have taken
the deep dive on it and it has so much information.
You are providing survivor stories on there and what's happened
with you know, some of the people who have applied,
and I can just personally tell you that not really
great at asking for help.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I was like to my daughter, just roll me in
the door. I'll be fine the next day, you know,
and get going. But you know, there's so much that
you go through, like I told you the plastic surgeon.
People called me, They're like, we'll give you a ride,
and I was like, what, Like, I mean, you're not
even thinking like that. And then the mental part of
it is depending on what you have. And I'm just
(12:50):
going to say this because a lot of people go
through it. Your body completely changes. And I'm only speaking
about my own breast cancer her diagnosis, and it's mentally
really something that you need to process. And the mental
part of this survivor fitness is, I think is huge.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Would I would absolutely agree because I know with my mom.
She had she had a form of cancer was called
epithelioid hamanngeolite, theoma. It's the it's the cancer of innerlining
of the blood vessels, and they only diagnose it five
hundred cases in the world every year. Most people die
within three years. She survived. Hers went away by itself.
(13:34):
She became a case study at MD Anderson and it
was a whole big thing. But I know mentally, and
she's now eighty seven, she was diagnosed when she was
fifty six. It's hard once you've had that something like
that that's so rare and so always fatal, I think
it's hard to get past that point mentally and emotionally.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
To tell your parents.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
It's a lot of PTSD that goes a lovel for her,
like every year, like okay, is this coming back? She
had to keep going back, came back to be tested
over and over again, you know, is lots of cat scans,
which took forever for the doctors to finally say, you know,
you are in remission and you don't have to come back.
So I'm I'm glad to hear that you added that
mental health piece because that was a lot on her.
(14:16):
We know that it was a lot on us as
a family too, which reminds me too, do you add
the family into this process too, because families go through
a lot as well. Do they have is our resources
that help them?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
We do not. Most there's a couple of different organizations
who are providing family support specifically for children and as
well that they can kind of different coping mechanisms that
they can really tap into if they if their parents
is diagnosed. So we do not at this point. What
we do love to see though, is when you know
(14:50):
mom or dad starts working out, maybe for the first
time or ever, that these kids dependent on their age
right coming along with them and working out alongside of
them once they get to the point that they can
do so, or maybe they sign up for a five
k together, or they do something that they've never done before.
I mean, we see a lot of parents who, you know,
(15:10):
they can't even play basketball with their kids. They can't
you know, run down the soccer field with their kids
because of potentially what they've been through, or the concerns
around potentially you know, some of the surgeries or treatments,
or maybe they get more winded more easily. There's so
much there that really having someone walk beside you and
(15:30):
help you understand like it's okay, Like you're not the
only one who's had this issue, right, And I think
a lot of time cancer survivors feel that way. I'm
not a cancer survivor myself, so I can't say that
I felt that way. But all the participants who we
speak too often say like, I'm sure I'm the only
one who's gained weight, and we step back and say, actually, no,
(15:53):
like a lot of our participants gained weight because of
the medications that they've been on, because of the seroids
or dependent on you know, just all sorts of things,
particularly a lot of breast cancer survivors looking at really
what that proper balance is between nutrition and fitness as
they come out. And you know, I'm not a physician,
but I can speak to what I've seen and the
(16:14):
research that I've read, and it really is such an
important factor for people to know that like they're not
on the right, that they are not the only person
sitting there wondering, you know, how do I do this?
Like that my doctor says I should work out, but
like I've ever been to a gym before, where do
I even start? Or my doctor says I should work out,
(16:36):
Like I used to be able to pick up twenty
five pounds and now I can barely pick up like
the can to open it and you know, make myself
a can of soup. And so it's really hard either way.
I mean, we see people struggle with this all the
time of what to do and how to do it,
and then you think adding your family into that, or
adding the workplace into it, depending on what you do
(16:57):
for a living, and it really just comes piles for
these individuals to try and figure it out, and instead
of being able to move forward, they just sit stagnant
because they don't even know where to start. And that's
what we really want to help people do is come
alongside them and show them it's just one foot in
front of the other and having someone walk beside you
(17:19):
and really show you that direction is critical and changing
really that trajectory of your health and wellness.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You're saying survivor fitness is kind of a one on one,
which I think is important because, like, you know, you
get a good diagnosis after you I mean, you know,
a good you know, getting out there again. I don't
know what I'm trying to say, but I'm trying to
say that, you know, if you get a clean bill
of health, good lord, that's another whole show brain fog
(17:49):
my gosh.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I was like, well it just happened, but a stroke, Yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Remember, we will have it. We will do a show
on that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
What I'm saying is a clean bill of health you
feel like, oh okay, even though I'm fifty four, maybe
I should act like I'm eighteen and get out there.
And I think people are intimidated and to get back
out and start working out again.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So is it one on one?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Everything that we do initially is one on one we
do have group workout classes and group fitness classes that
once people start in the program, when we are the
trainers do an assessment and really get that baseline for
where they are, and they start working out one on one,
they can funnel in and do these group workout classes virtually.
We have them virtually twice a week that they can
(18:33):
tap into for kind of like a third workout each
week and then continue on after their twenty four sessions
with that trainer is up. And then same thing on
the nutrition side, because people don't you know, you could
take Julie what you've been through and then take someone
who's been through the exact same situation and your bodies
don't respond the same. And so for us, you know,
(18:54):
we think about it as there's no one size fits
all when it comes to a cancer diagnosis, and that
includes deering treatment and after treatment. And that's why it's
so critical to take somebody and say, okay, you know,
where were you before, what were you doing before? What
gets you excited when you're working out? What challenges do
you face? And really you know, what are your personal goals?
(19:15):
Because you know nothing against group classes. I think that
group classes are great and have their place. I think
there's so much great community that comes along in group classes,
but I think that it's important that people have the
opportunity to figure out what really works for them and
having a trainer come alongside of them and saying like, okay,
let's fix that aspect, because, like you said, if you're
(19:37):
fifty four and you're working out besides you know, an
eighteen year old, but you might like try and prove
something and then all of a sudden you're out for
a week and a half because you try to prove
something you weren't quite ready to prove and that you know,
and that's that stinks, And that's not where we want
people to end up when they're trying to move forward,
is moving backwardsness.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And I'm a big fan of individual so so as
far as the virtual part, so it's on zoom if
you're doing it virtually, and.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Like I have a one of those mirror things, and
there's an option of then seeing you, and I don't
ever want that because I'm like, I don't want people.
I don't want them to see me. But this case,
you want the trainer's like you have a real trainer
right in front of you, but you don't what you
don't have a gym in your house. I'm like, what,
what equipment do you use? How do people navigate that
part of it?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Yeah, So so strength and resistance training is so important
for cancer survivors and really anyone in general when it
comes to health and business. And and so what we
do is we provide up to three pieces of equipment
for every one of our virtual participants and we send
that correctly to their home. And so we have so
that might be a pair of bands, a stability ball.
(20:52):
We typically use things that can kind of adjust in
weight as people progress or or resistance rather and so
that we can kind of progress them along as well.
And our virtual trainers are fantastic. We have a pocket
full of individuals who do only our virtual training, and
I think that that's worth noting too. So we have
affiliate trainers and dieticians as well as mental health therapists
(21:16):
that we kind of think of as just an extension
of our survivor fitness family. And so we have some wonderful,
wonderful virtual trainers who love to have this type of communication,
who love to get on and they're good at feeling that,
you know, awkward moments if you will. As you're sitting
there doing your exercises right watching you, they'll turn the
(21:39):
music on. And you know, personal training is personal, so
our trainers get to know you during that time, and
we really work also to make sure that it's a
good fit, not just from what they know and what
you've been through, but also personality wise, because you're going
to be sitting there with them for forty five minutes
to an hour or twice a week. Oh yeah, you
(22:00):
want to get along with them, and you're going to
share things with them, and so yeah, we have people
who love love this virtual programming and it's just as
beneficial as the in person. Of course, you don't get
all the equipment that you might get in person, but
there's still so much that you can do from your home,
and a lot of us have more equipment and tools
(22:21):
around the house that we might not realize that we have,
like stairs and things like that that we can utilize
during a workout, and so our trainers are really great
at tapping into that in addition to the equipment that
we said.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Oh yeah, well, like my aunt, she's eighty six now
and she's really into chair yoga. Yeah, just using a chair.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Well, and you think about like eighty six, and you know,
this is where we're really big on whether you're eighteen
or eighty eight, right, whether you've no matter what you've
been through, because at eighty six you got it. There's
so many things that involve squats if you will and
nobody at eighty six if you're like, can you do
any squats? Like I can't do any squats, But they
(23:02):
do squats every day. If they're still driving, they're getting
out and out of the car, if they're getting in
and off of their chair. You know, all sorts of
things that you do all throughout the day use different muscles,
and so at that point, a lot of it is
functional fitness, but you know, bone health and really learning
how to exercise your body at different ages can really
(23:25):
be pivotal to living a full and healthy life. Because listen,
if you've beat cancer, no matter how old you are,
you want to live and you want to be able
to go see your grandchildren or go on a walk
around the neighborhood or whatever that might look like for
you to bring you joy. And so it's really important
to you know, if cheer yoga is people love cheer yoga,
and people love all sorts of different things for every
(23:47):
activity level. And I just love. I love that an
eighty six year old is doing cheeri yoga because.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
We should do it in our hotel room.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Actually, do that.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Make you?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I want to know what.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Do your kids know about survivor fitness? What do they
say about it? What did they know about you know,
your husband? I mean, you know, do they speak about it?
I mean they obviously weren't around when he was diagnosed,
but how does this fit into your family? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And you all are inspiring on so many levels in
terms of making this happen. So yeah, what what do
they know about it and think about it?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Well? Thank you so much. I appreciate that. So, yeah,
we have almost nine year old twins, a girl and
a boy. They'll be nine. They're Christmas baby, so they'll
be nine on December twenty third. But you know, it's
been interesting to kind of bring them into our sphere
of survivor fitness, if you will. They asked why they
couldn't be on the interview tonight, so there. But you know,
(24:48):
if the Aaron fans are, diagnosis first came up when
we were actually had sports center on one morning and
they were sharing a story about a football player's parent
who was diagnosed, and so our kids started asking him
what is cancer? Who has cancer? All these questions and
they were only four years old, and so at that point,
and our son is very curious, and he said, we'll
(25:10):
have people all have cancer, and so we kind of
just jumped into the conversation. You know, he's four. He
only understood so much at that point, and so it
was very high level. Yes, your dad had cancer. He
is fine, he has been fine for a long time now.
And then so that kind of edged into them learning
a bit more about what we do. So I work
(25:32):
full time for the organization. Aaron serves on our board
of directors, so he has a separate job. So it's it's,
you know, kind of tying the two together. But I
do work from home, and so they get to see
a lot of survivor fitness and what we do, and
so they know we help cancer survivors and they've come
to we have some events that we do throughout the
year all over all over the place, especially in regards
(25:56):
to fitness, and we do some dinners and they don't
get to come to those, but the events that are
a little more family friendly. They get to come to
those and it's fun for them to see to see
things on a bigger level. So when they ask what
what mommy does for for work, they say that we
help cancer survivors. Yes, come to learn a little bit
(26:17):
more about that.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, that is that is great. Do you have a fan? Now?
I know you don't have a favorite survivor per se,
but you have a story that you want to share.
I mean, like, what's what's an example of this? This
is a huge this is a big success story that
I want to share with you to inspire you. If
you're a cancer survivor and you're interested in this, this
(26:39):
will give you some great hope that this is exactly
where you need to be.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, you know, I, as you said, I don't have
one favorite story. I do have one that I'll tell
you in a second, but before I tell you, like
an extreme story. I think it's so important for people
to as Julie you're saying, like, it doesn't matter if
you've had a surgery or you know, and I say
this in full quotation, marks is some people deal with
(27:03):
that survivor guilt, but you still oftentimes deal with a
lot of the mental and emotional and physical aspects as well.
And so you know, honestly, seeing people being able to
do activities that they loved that they thought they never
be able to do again bring so much story to
my day when I get an email that says, like,
I never thought I would be able to, you know,
(27:24):
coach my kids soccer again, and I'm able to not
only to do that, but I'm able to do so
much more. We had one lady who was doing like
kind of a couch to five K program and her
teenage son said, you know what, I'm going to do
this with you law and came alongside her and they
did it together. And so I love those. But one
(27:46):
particular story that is if I had a quick favorite,
this would be my favorite. A woman named Carol. She
was diagnosed with formasaracoma and what is had her right
side muscle removed the majority of her right side muscle
(28:07):
and so she really struggled with her balance. She really
struggled with all sorts of things, and her fall risk
was very high. And so that meant that when she
fell getting up was not just like you and I
get up off the floor. It was very She had
to have this very strategic manner of like crawling over
(28:28):
to an object and getting to a solid object and
pulling herself up. Now, if she fell, and like she
wouldn't let anybody pick her up because it was painful.
Her husband and one of her sons were the only
people that really knew the proper way to help her
get up, and she really struggled, struggled with this. Her
(28:50):
husband had to take a leave of absence and disability
from work because she wasn't able to be left at
home because if she felt she could potentially hit her head,
and unfortunately that happened. She at one point she hit
her head, had a concussion, broke some ribs and just
kind of things. We were not looking great, and we
had already been in contact with her at that point
(29:12):
and her doctor, her physician, her on colleges sorry, and
she had met with him and said, you know, when
we get to a certain point, I'm going to tell
you to sign up for Survivor Fitness because I really
think it would be helpful. And so we had spoken
and then she had this fall, so we had to
wait a bit longer, and in the interim she went
to physical therapy and I have great friends who are
(29:36):
physical therapists. I love physical therapists. But unfortunately, her physical
therapist did not really surf her in the best manner
as far as helping her overcome what she had gone through.
And that's not always, you know, oftentimes, right, this is
the issue, this is what they need to work on,
and so that's what they did. And unfortunately, at the
(29:56):
end of their sessions and their time together, she still
couldn't get up the ground. It was you know, this
is just the way your life is going to be.
And I'm so sorry, but this is just how it is.
Went back to her on collegist and our on collegist said,
remember how I told you about Survivor Fitness. I need
you to go back and sign up for this program.
So Carol came back to us and we talked through
(30:22):
a lot of things. And one of the things that
when I was talking with her trainer that we were
going to set her up with, Traynor said to me,
you know, we're going to work on all the things
that she does have, not the things she doesn't have.
And boy did they do that. It was six weeks
into it, but they worked and they worked, and Carol
(30:43):
really just dug in and gave her all. Was so
committed to herself, right to herself and to her family
and to she had a new grandchild, and she was
just very committed to saying like I am not going
to live my life like this. I'm going to make
this happen. And six weeks in, about six weeks in,
(31:08):
I get this phone call and it's her trainer and
Carol screaming and she's like, I did I did what
She's like, I got up off the ground by myself,
and I was like, I mean tears of joy and
something that we take for granted. It's like going one
day from being able to get up and off the
floor to the next day just being maybe not the
(31:30):
next day, but you know, almost not being able to
do so. And Carol has before that, it had about
a year before a diagnosis, tragically lost her son by
an impaired driver in a terrible car accident, and so
she had not only dealt with that, but then kind
of almost straight into she was still recovering and mentally
(31:52):
and emotionally dealing with that incident when she had her
cancer diagnosis, and one of her goals was to hide
Mount Kilimanjaro, not just for herself but for her son.
And she did that two years ago, and I know.
And so she went from not being able to get
up and off the floor to hiking Mount Kilimandar. She's
(32:14):
I think at this point now she's fifty seven to
fifty eight, maybe the older. I can't remember exact age
at this point. But she is such just a just
a testament to the joy and the empowerment that can
come from something so simple as someone saying to you,
we're not gonna focus on the cans. We're gonna focus
on the cans, and we're gonna make this happen together.
(32:37):
And I'm gonna hold your hand every step of the
way until it's time to let you go. And that's
what they did.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So that is my I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I can see why. I mean, I can honestly say
I don't think I could hike Mount kill Him and Jarrow.
I don't even know if I could make it, like
hike over to melt Colin. I don't even know. That's
not even gonna happen. So I am so that's an impressed,
have awesome story. Well, Meg, if you every everybody I
think needs a spat experience.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
To well, I mean fitness. They could add spot services
to you there.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, it'd be awesome. So yes, and so she may
have a favorite she may. Yes, Well she's about to
have a favorite because we have a new sponsor that
we're so excited about, Woodlock Resorts.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yes, and they were named the number one best all
inclusive resort in the US for twenty twenty five. And
they are now sponsors of our Zoomer Moms. Yes, and
we would now like to welcome into the show our
Zoomer Moms. Welcome, Zoomer Moms. Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Hello ladies. Well I'm going to introduce each one of
you and I want you to tell your name, where
(33:47):
you're from, a little bit about yourself, and do you
have a question for Meg Kathy, Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Speaker 7 (33:53):
Welcome. Thank you so much, Monica, I really appreciate it.
Wipe them back happy tears because what an inspirational show
this is. I'm a Kathy Ward. I'm from Plano, Texas.
My daughter just turned twenty six, my son's about to
turn twenty two. Oh, where does the time go. I'm
a former special education teacher and have also been elected
(34:16):
to a couple of offices, currently serve on a commission for
the governor here in the state of Texas. My goodness,
my mom's a cancer survivor. Unfortunately, my mom passed away
a few years ago and I miss her dearly, but
it was not from cancer. And one of the reasons
and this she had her cancer diagnosis my gounness thirty
(34:38):
five plus years ago, almost almost forty years ago now,
and she found a nutritionist in a little shopping strip
in Richardson, Texas, and learned so much about supplements. She
was a physical therapist, so she knew physically what to
do with herself and what not to do with herself
(35:00):
with her breast cancer diagnosis. And we feel like we
had my mom for all of those decades because she
chose to take care of herself with all of the
things out there. My mom was very open and willing
to learn about that. We feel like that helped keep
the cancer away. She never had cancer again after she
(35:22):
had that original diagnosis, but her body did go through
a lot of changes with chemo and radiation. She ended
up having allergies she had never had, and just a
lot of things she had to work through, and I
think of what a gift and an organization like yours
and your husband's would have been for her. But that
was back before the internet days. My question to you,
(35:43):
Meg is, Okay, we've all just learned about your fantastic
organization and what.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
You can do.
Speaker 7 (35:51):
If I'm trying to explain this to a friend who
maybe is saying, no, nothing's going to work, I don't
want to hear about anything going to do exactly what
my doctor says, and that's it. How what would be
the appropriate way for somebody like me to introduce your organization?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
That's a good question.
Speaker 7 (36:11):
A friend or a family member, good question.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
That is a great question. That's a great question. You know,
people kind of come at their own speace, if you will.
I think a lot of times when it comes to
a cancer diagnosis, there are people who get the diagnosis
and they apply to survivor Fitness at there. Right, They're
like that, I'm going to get through with this, and
whenever I'm done with all the things, I'm starting survivor Fitness.
(36:40):
And then there are people that come to us two
to three years later, right because after they've gotten it,
because they you know, want to do it.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
On their own.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Kind of make start and then kind might fall off
right So, you know, if they're on social media, I
tell people to tell them to follow us on Facebook
or follow us on Instagram because they'll get to see
diferent participants. Really the myriad of individuals that we work with,
and they might identify with one of those people. We've
(37:09):
got stories like Carols on our YouTube channel who kind
of talk about different people talking about what they've been
through and people who struggled with what to do after
people who again thought that they could could handle it,
or I just think for everybody, it's so individualized, and
(37:29):
like you said, some people aren't ready to hop right
in or think that they can do it on their own.
And you know what some people do and they have
great success on their own because they know what to do.
But we don't put a time cap a long time
cap if you will, on or sorry, rather a short
time cap on when people can apply after their received
kind of the all clear, they're done with their surgeries
(37:51):
and their treatments. If someone's on a maintenance medication, they
can apply or we can talk to them, you know,
have them reach out survivor fitness dot or email me,
and I'm happy to talk to those people because I
you know, I think that some people just need kind
of like to dip their toes in the water, maybe
sign up for a newsletter, you know, just kind of
learn a little bit more about what we do, and
(38:13):
hopefully they'll apply to the program or the programs when
they're ready. And typically I feel like that that's the
best way.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, that sounds good. Susan, welcome to the Mom's Club.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from,
and do you have a question for Meg.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Thank you very much for having me Meg, You're You're awesome.
I'm so encouraged, so enlightened by your presentation. My name
is Susan Dacak. I'm originally from back that Iraq. I
moved to the country to this country in nineteen seventy
eight and became a naturalized citizen in nineteen eighty five
on Flag Day. I earned my engineering degree in nineteen
(38:53):
eighty three and I've been working in the source system
and the rehabilitation of pipeline trensials technology ever since. My question,
my mom and I are cancer survivors, and my question
to you is do you see any kind of statistics
that shows people from that part of the world have
more of certain type of cancer than others. If you
(39:17):
don't know the answer, it's okay, that's not you know,
that's not what you're you've been talking about. But I
just want to know because I hear a lot of
people from that part of the world having a certain
type of cancer that other people here in the United States.
Speaker 7 (39:30):
Do not have.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I do not know the answer to that question. I'm
not familiar with those statistics and haven't dug into that
area yet, so I'm sorry I can't answer that.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
I think that something in the digestive system. I see
more of people in the Middle East, from the Middle
East than than here in the United States. And because here,
I think the top life and here you're you know,
people pay attention to drinking water and doing all kinds
of things. Over there, it's very very limited. When I remember,
(40:06):
when we go out, when we go to the stores
or whatever, we make sure we don't drink water that
day because there aren't any good bathrooms anywhere, So we
really overstress our digestive system. And that's why I was
asking if you knew anything about that.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
No, But I mean I think that. It's interesting really
all the statistics you know that are coming out even
in the United States about things that are going on
in the diagnosis ages of certain types of cancer is changing,
and I think it's important for everyone to really kind
of dig into, whether it be where you're from in
the area and kind of what your health history is
(40:42):
with your family, so that you can understand really how
that might impact you.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, it's great to learn how to get an the
other side cure cancer, but preventing cancer and understanding a
lot more about it. Interesting that you brought that up, Susan,
because when my mother grew up in Appalatia and Kentucky
and when she got her cancer, which was so rare,
the doctor said, I like, is this hereditary? And he said, no,
(41:08):
we think it's environmental. Oh so yeah, but yeah, I'm
it's a good point. You know, it's good to know.
Let's hope that we get to a place where we
don't have cancer.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
That would be that would be.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Out of business, I would be would be.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Right, So exactly, deb welcome to the Mom's Club. Tell
us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and
do you have a question for Meg.
Speaker 6 (41:36):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited
about this topic. Unfortunately, I am a survivor as well.
My name is Dev Miles. I'm from Austin, Texas, originally
a Midwest transplant.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
I have two kids.
Speaker 6 (41:52):
I'm a recent empty nester and this program is fabulous.
I'm wondering how you're scaling it because I could literally right.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Now tell five friends.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
Unfortunately, but this program is fantastic. I think I've been
through a lot of this and I think you guys
have so many the right components, and I'm just wondering
how you're going to scale because the virtual and or
multiple locations and all of this stuff, like how you're
(42:26):
going to do that? And if you want to talk
a little bit about your fundraising so that if people
watch this week and you know, help help the organization, well.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
Thank you, I appreciate that. So virtual right now, yes,
is the way we scale for right now. If any
trainers are out there people interested, you know, our trainers
get their Cancer Exercise Special certification so that they have
a more in depth understanding and we often have people
who reach out and so that's how we've been able
(42:56):
to scale virtually, and we are we're looking at kind
of what what city is next and really tying in
a bit more into the health systems as we do
that a bit more strategically. To be quite frank we
work very well with the health systems in the cities
where we physically are located now and then we have
great partnerships with different health systems outside of the state
(43:18):
of Tennessee as well. People referring individuals to the program
we do. We are a nonprofit. We are five oh
one C three. We put through everyone who applies to
our program at no cost to them, but through different corporations,
grant funding, individual donors were fortunate to be able to
(43:38):
continue providing these programs and so we're so grateful to
do that. We've had some different like companies come along.
There's Noble, who is a fitness brand. During the month
of October they ran a campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness
Month and use part of the sales that they've had
(43:59):
to contribut to Survivor Fitness. So I am always open
to fundraising. I will never do that a way, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Really.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Yeah, that's that's really how we're looking at scaling, because again,
our goal is to make sure that every cancer survivor
has the support that they need right and that no
one's sitting at home alone wondering what's next. So we're
kind of looking at strategically how to do that and
to do it in the best way possible to serve well.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
We absolutely love this, Meg, and thank you so much
for joining us. Now tell us if you're interested, If
you're a cancer survivor and you're interested in the program, yeah,
if you want to get involved and help, as you said,
fund or support this, where can we find you?
Speaker 4 (44:40):
So Survivor Fitness dot org is our website, and then
we are Survivor Fitness Foundation on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
and YouTube as well. So Survivor Fitness Foundation, And as
Julie said, whether you're a cancer survivor or not, we
do have a lot of resources on our website, recipes,
(45:00):
we've got participants stories, we have different health and wellness
topics in our blog if you follow us on social media.
We host wellness workshops once a month and they're free
to people anywhere and everywhere. So, whether you're a cancer
forever or not, if the topic's applicable to you, register
for it. Sign up and I'm Kathy that's a good
(45:22):
way for people to dip their toes in as well,
is just sign up for these free resources that are
out there. Because you know, people are moving their body
and starting to take that control of their health and
their life. It's such a powerful tool and anything that
we can do to help with that, we we would
love to.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Your empathy is off the charts. We cannot thank you
enough for coming today much.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yes, now, Julie, if you decide to do it virtually,
I mean, I wouldn't mind taking an exercise class.
Speaker 4 (45:50):
With you, just so.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
We've been partners in exercise before.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yes, apparently, so I guess you have to do it
ninety days before it becomes.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
I have it.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Okay, I'll make a commitment with you. I absolutely Heaven
knows I need.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
Yeah, if we can have a trainer, you know, come
in and do some exercise work with you both, right,
that would may can figure out. But if your bodies
and your personalities is you're working together for that.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah, that would help both. Well. Thank you again so much,
and we want to thank you for having our Thank you,
and we want to thank our sponsors. We want to
thank special thanks to our Zoomer's Mom sponsor Woodlock Resort
for helping make this episode possible. With sixty seven years
of heartfelt hospitality and three amazing properties, including one of
(46:39):
the top destination spas and family resorts in the US,
Woodlock is truly where a tradition meets tranquility. So discover
the perfect getaway ladies at Woodlock dot com. And you
know what makes the perfect resorts stay even better, Julie
tell me because New Calms. Oh yes, new Calm spelled
(47:00):
and you cl m. It's the number one stress release
and sleep app. Although it's also great for focus because
the other day I had to read a book like
really quickly to interview someone and it no no, actually
I like me. Yeah, I did the old fashioned way,
but I listened to the app and it really made
(47:20):
a difference. It's a great app. Again, it's spelled newcom
nu CLM. You can find it in the app store.
Check it out and if you sign up put Mom's
Club in the code at check out, you get fifteen
percent off every month.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Of your subject love a discount. Yes, it's great.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Well check us out on our website inside the Moom's
Club dot com or where everywhere, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. You
can see clips from the show. You can see me
make a complete fool of myself. I don't know. Whatever
you want to do. Check us out Inside the Mom's Club.
I can't believe this has been a really informative, wonderful show.
I can't believe it's already over, Julie. It goes by
(47:59):
so fast. But what is our motto, which I think
is so important, particularly on a show like today, What
is our motto? Our motto is if you don't laugh sometimes.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
What you are gonna cry, right, So keep laughing.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
Outsie moms.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
We will see you next time Inside the Mom's Club.
Welcome, Mom's Welcome inside the Mom's Club. I'm your host,
Monica Samuels, and I'm here with my lovely co host
and very good friend, Julie Orchid.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi Monica, Julie, I am so glad you look sounds
so sarcastic. We're like, Hi, No, you.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Look really, I'm not no, I'm not sounding surprised. You
look great.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I know sometimes I shower.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Do you mind till you say, have a baseball hat on.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That's how I rolled into town yesterday, a.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Great hat that I'm jealous of. I want it.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Texas is for lovers, but as my you know, the
bonus of coming to LA's I get to see my
oldest daughter. Last night, she rolled in and she's like,
it's Virginia is for lovers. I was like, not today.
So we got that hat at Austin City Limits. It's
pretty fantastic.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Jealous you got to go to that. I didn't go
this year.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh well there's always next year.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
But you and I are going to go to Mumford
and Sons. We are concerts.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Absolutely, I am super super white.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
That's to be so watching me dance and you know,
having a big time.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm celebrating. Yeah, you want to know.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm excited her share with our audience because we'll tell
them this, tell them the story, and then tell them the.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I don't need to tell a long story, but I
will be celebrating. This has to do with our guests
today as well. I'm celebrating a clean mammogram six months
after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So we're very thrill. I'm so so so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I mean that's a weird feeling too, though, because you
have a little bit of survivor's guilt when you go
through something and then things are working out for you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I mean, you can't help it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
When you walk in and you see a lot of
people that are very, very sick, your perspective changes. I
have a lot of friends have been through it and
supported me, and you know, I'm super excited that today
we get to talk about a little bit of that
because the last eight months have been totally different than
what I had planned, and it's you know, it's it's awkward,
(02:06):
it's just a little bit weird. But I'm super thrilled
to promote good health.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I am too. I think this is a great, great
subject and guests and so let me without further ado,
I want to introduce her.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh you are right, let's shoe.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She She began her career in public relations, but later
joined her husband, a cancer survivor, in the creation of
Survivor Fitness Foundation, which focuses on the positive effects of
health and wellness for cancer survivors. Please welcome, Meg Grunky,
Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I'm so thrilled that you're here. And this is such
a great thing that you're doing. You know, as with
my father in law worked at M D Anderson as
a radiologist for years, so I saw my mother is
a cancer survivor of a very very rare form of cancer,
and so I got to see that that side of it.
But there's there's another side to it, and that is
(03:02):
when you're like Julie and you've gotten a good Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I didn't get a lot of questions about the treatment,
what happens afterwards, like how are you moving on? How
are we going to do life after? You know, you
feel to the gate, you got a race and get healthy,
and then you don't really hear much about afterwards what
are you going to do to keep that up exactly?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And so your husband Aaron is a cancer survivor. From
one understand, he had testicular cancer and he was twenty
three and without a couple of years after we were hurt.
We were told surgeries, treatment, but then you got to
the other side of it and then explained us what
(03:46):
happened and what inspired him to start Survivor Fitness Foundation.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah. Absolutely, And Julia, I do want to say congratulations
on a green bill of health. I know that that's
a lot the anxiety that comes around those regular checkups
and even though your doctors tell you that everything will
be fine, that doesn't make those appointments much easier. Oftentimes.
I'm so glad to hear that, and so glad you're
(04:12):
hopefully on the other side of things. So but yeah, So,
my husband, Aaron was diagnosed with an aggressive form of
testicular cancer at the young age of twenty one, went
through about two years of treatments and surgeries, and when
he was done with treatment about the age of twenty three,
he was told, you know you're healthy, now go live life.
(04:32):
You're fine. Just put cancer in the roo view mirror.
And he had gained a lot of weight, lost a
lot of strength, and really struggled mentally and emotionally with
what came text and when his doctors were saying go live, life,
move forward, he kind of stopped and said, what does
that mean? I have no idea what that means, and
really struggled with what that looked like for him, especially
(04:55):
as a young adult, especially as someone who said thought
and thought, you know, like, hey, I should be able
to figure this out on my own, but unfortunately he couldn't,
and he really struggled with that for a few years,
and luckily, by kind of happenstance, he was speaking with
a trainer one day about what he had been through
and what he was struggling with, and that trainer kind
(05:17):
of took it upon himself to help Aaron figure out
what life after cancer should look like, both physically, nutritionally,
and really that led into the mental and emotional part
as well. So he was kind of given the tools
to regain his health and that's where the idea was,
where survivor fitness was born. Aaron had struggled for a
number of years with really what to do, and when
(05:41):
he started kind of putting these pieces together and talking
to other you know, his doctor about it and some other
cancer survivors that he knew. Everybody shared the same sentiment
of yeah, I struggled with that too. I had no
idea what to do? You know, no one told me
what to do. How was I supposed to move forward?
You know? I well had brain fog? How do I
(06:01):
address all these things? And while they might have heard
go work out or you know, eat healthy, they weren't
really sure what to do or how to do that.
And so that's where the idea for survivor Fitness was born.
And so we started that a number of years ago
at this point, to help cancer survivors of all a date,
adult age ranges, all fitness levels, and all types of
(06:22):
cancer regained their health and wellness following treatment.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
How how old was he when he got the idea?
You know, I think because it's a pretty bold thing
to say, I'm going to start a foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, how old?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
He was about twenty five when he came home one
day and said, I, like, we had talked about it,
and he he's about twenty five. And then fast forward
a couple of years, he kind of molds on the
idea a little bit, and he was getting his NBA
had the opportunity to do an independent study class and
wrote up a business plan on this and talked to
(06:56):
some trainers in the area we were we were in
Nashville at the time, and he talked to some trainers
and they said, this is a great idea. Talk to
the physicians. This is a great idea. No one's doing this.
And so he came home one day and said, I
filed the paperwork and I was like, for what. So
that's where it started. And I was like, oh, okay,
we're really doing this. But it is It has been
(07:19):
such an obviously great idea that he had, and you know,
we're just really fortunate to see so many lives impacted
through such the you know, simple actions of fitness and
nutrition and mental wellness.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
So if you have a survivor and somebody comes to
your foundation and they want to sign up, what does
that look like?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
How long is it?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, people would probably have questions, you know, how
do I get on my feet again?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Give me an idea of what that looks like.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, So our program, so, as I mentioned, we had
the fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness program. Those can all
be done in conjunction or independently of each other. Given
the fact that a lot of cancer survivors when they're
done which treatment, are really starting to kind of try
and get back in the swing of things, and so
we certainly don't want to make piece programs on more
burdensome than they should be helpful, if you will. And
(08:11):
so for the fitness program, it's twenty four sessions one
on one with a personal trainer over the course ideally
of twelve weeks, so that's two sessions per week. Everything
is one on one with that trainer, and that trainer
really customizes your fitness program to you. So we've had
eighteen year olds come through the program, and we've had
(08:31):
eighty eight year olds come through the program, and so
clearly they don't need the same thing when it comes
to recovery. And so that's where that customization and individualized
support comes in and really working with people on their needs.
And then on the nutrition side, our participants received three
to five sessions with a dietician and typically that is
(08:52):
done with the fitness because obviously those go well hand
in hand. And then for mental wellness support, our participants
receive two three months of weekly therapy, meaning that they
can go every week for three months, they can go
every other week for three months. We really let them,
the participant and their therapists decide that together and really
(09:14):
make the best protocol for them at that point. So
when someone comes into the program, we have an intake
process that we go through and between our program coordinator
and that individual decide the best course of action for them.
And I should also mention that all these programs that
we do provide were fortunate to have great support of
(09:35):
the community and the communities. We work with numbers of businesses,
local businesses as well as businesses across the nation who
support Survivor Fitness to make these programs available at no
cost to anyone who comes through.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, and do the do doctors make referrals to you all?
Or like, how does that usually happen? Because we want
the whole We want the whole country. The reason you're
on here today is we want the whole country to
find out about Survivor Fitness Foundation. Not a lot of
people know about it and it's now it's really based
(10:09):
in Tennessee for the most part. Now it's virtual. You
can get it anywhere from what you what I understand, So,
what's the typical way that you identified you have you
have on colleges that you work with generally at this
point and they refer or how does that happen?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, as you mentioned, to our program. So we do
have in person locations that we work with fitness wise
throughout the state of Tennessee, which is where we started
and where we reside now, but we also provide virtual
programming to anyone across the country and that is actually
our largest growing market, if you will. Survivor Fitness is
(10:45):
a unique program in the fact of kind of what
we do with the individualized support. So we do we
have physicians on colleges, surgical centers, nurses who refer their
patients to our program all across the country and we've
been fortunate to grow in that aspect. But it's important
to note that you do not have to have a
doctor's referral to apply to be part of Survivor Fitness,
(11:08):
So anyone can hop on our website at Survivorfitness dot
org apply for the program. It's a quick application, just
asking kind of what you've been through, where you are now,
where you've been, probably you know, five to seven minutes
of an application, and then we set up the intake
process from there. We always circle back and get medical
clearance forms from the physicians and the surgeons. Just really
(11:29):
again dependent on the individual, but no anyone can come
to our website and apply for these programs, and yes
we do want everyone to apply. We have the ability
to support numbers more than we are at this moment,
and we're very fortunate we've been growing and growing. But
(11:50):
you know, the thought of any cancer survivor sitting at
home alone and wondering what do I be, like, how
do I move forward? That's hard and that's kind of
devastating and why we want to work so hard to
make sure that people know about the brokens that we provide.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I mean, first of all, your website is an incredible resource.
I can tell you that, you know, I have taken
the deep dive on it and it has so much information.
You are providing survivor stories on there and what's happened
with you know, some of the people who have applied,
and I can just personally tell you that not really
great at asking for help.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I was like to my daughter, just roll me in
the door. I'll be fine the next day, you know,
and get going. But you know, there's so much that
you go through, like I told you the plastic surgeon.
People called me, They're like, we'll give you a ride,
and I was like, what, Like, I mean, you're not
even thinking like that. And then the mental part of
it is depending on what you have. And I'm just
(12:50):
going to say this because a lot of people go
through it. Your body completely changes. And I'm only speaking
about my own breast cancer her diagnosis, and it's mentally
really something that you need to process. And the mental
part of this survivor fitness is, I think is huge.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Would I would absolutely agree because I know with my mom.
She had she had a form of cancer was called
epithelioid hamanngeolite, theoma. It's the it's the cancer of innerlining
of the blood vessels, and they only diagnose it five
hundred cases in the world every year. Most people die
within three years. She survived. Hers went away by itself.
(13:34):
She became a case study at MD Anderson and it
was a whole big thing. But I know mentally, and
she's now eighty seven, she was diagnosed when she was
fifty six. It's hard once you've had that something like
that that's so rare and so always fatal, I think
it's hard to get past that point mentally and emotionally.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
To tell your parents.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
It's a lot of PTSD that goes a lovel for her,
like every year, like okay, is this coming back? She
had to keep going back, came back to be tested
over and over again, you know, is lots of cat scans,
which took forever for the doctors to finally say, you know,
you are in remission and you don't have to come back.
So I'm I'm glad to hear that you added that
mental health piece because that was a lot on her.
(14:16):
We know that it was a lot on us as
a family too, which reminds me too, do you add
the family into this process too, because families go through
a lot as well. Do they have is our resources
that help them?
Speaker 4 (14:27):
We do not. Most there's a couple of different organizations
who are providing family support specifically for children and as
well that they can kind of different coping mechanisms that
they can really tap into if they if their parents
is diagnosed. So we do not at this point. What
we do love to see though, is when you know
(14:50):
mom or dad starts working out, maybe for the first
time or ever, that these kids dependent on their age
right coming along with them and working out alongside of
them once they get to the point that they can
do so, or maybe they sign up for a five
k together, or they do something that they've never done before.
I mean, we see a lot of parents who, you know,
(15:10):
they can't even play basketball with their kids. They can't
you know, run down the soccer field with their kids
because of potentially what they've been through, or the concerns
around potentially you know, some of the surgeries or treatments,
or maybe they get more winded more easily. There's so
much there that really having someone walk beside you and
(15:30):
help you understand like it's okay, Like you're not the
only one who's had this issue, right, And I think
a lot of time cancer survivors feel that way. I'm
not a cancer survivor myself, so I can't say that
I felt that way. But all the participants who we
speak too often say like, I'm sure I'm the only
one who's gained weight, and we step back and say, actually, no,
(15:53):
like a lot of our participants gained weight because of
the medications that they've been on, because of the seroids
or dependent on you know, just all sorts of things,
particularly a lot of breast cancer survivors looking at really
what that proper balance is between nutrition and fitness as
they come out. And you know, I'm not a physician,
but I can speak to what I've seen and the
(16:14):
research that I've read, and it really is such an
important factor for people to know that like they're not
on the right, that they are not the only person
sitting there wondering, you know, how do I do this?
Like that my doctor says I should work out, but
like I've ever been to a gym before, where do
I even start? Or my doctor says I should work out,
(16:36):
Like I used to be able to pick up twenty
five pounds and now I can barely pick up like
the can to open it and you know, make myself
a can of soup. And so it's really hard either way.
I mean, we see people struggle with this all the
time of what to do and how to do it,
and then you think adding your family into that, or
adding the workplace into it, depending on what you do
(16:57):
for a living, and it really just comes piles for
these individuals to try and figure it out, and instead
of being able to move forward, they just sit stagnant
because they don't even know where to start. And that's
what we really want to help people do is come
alongside them and show them it's just one foot in
front of the other and having someone walk beside you
(17:19):
and really show you that direction is critical and changing
really that trajectory of your health and wellness.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You're saying survivor fitness is kind of a one on one,
which I think is important because, like, you know, you
get a good diagnosis after you I mean, you know,
a good you know, getting out there again. I don't
know what I'm trying to say, but I'm trying to
say that, you know, if you get a clean bill
of health, good lord, that's another whole show brain fog
(17:49):
my gosh.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I was like, well it just happened, but a stroke, Yeah, we.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Remember, we will have it. We will do a show
on that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
What I'm saying is a clean bill of health you
feel like, oh okay, even though I'm fifty four, maybe
I should act like I'm eighteen and get out there.
And I think people are intimidated and to get back
out and start working out again.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So is it one on one?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Everything that we do initially is one on one we
do have group workout classes and group fitness classes that
once people start in the program, when we are the
trainers do an assessment and really get that baseline for
where they are, and they start working out one on one,
they can funnel in and do these group workout classes virtually.
We have them virtually twice a week that they can
(18:33):
tap into for kind of like a third workout each
week and then continue on after their twenty four sessions
with that trainer is up. And then same thing on
the nutrition side, because people don't you know, you could
take Julie what you've been through and then take someone
who's been through the exact same situation and your bodies
don't respond the same. And so for us, you know,
(18:54):
we think about it as there's no one size fits
all when it comes to a cancer diagnosis, and that
includes deering treatment and after treatment. And that's why it's
so critical to take somebody and say, okay, you know,
where were you before, what were you doing before? What
gets you excited when you're working out? What challenges do
you face? And really you know, what are your personal goals?
(19:15):
Because you know nothing against group classes. I think that
group classes are great and have their place. I think
there's so much great community that comes along in group classes,
but I think that it's important that people have the
opportunity to figure out what really works for them and
having a trainer come alongside of them and saying like, okay,
let's fix that aspect, because, like you said, if you're
(19:37):
fifty four and you're working out besides you know, an
eighteen year old, but you might like try and prove
something and then all of a sudden you're out for
a week and a half because you try to prove
something you weren't quite ready to prove and that you know,
and that's that stinks, And that's not where we want
people to end up when they're trying to move forward,
is moving backwardsness.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And I'm a big fan of individual so so as
far as the virtual part, so it's on zoom if
you're doing it virtually, and.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Like I have a one of those mirror things, and
there's an option of then seeing you, and I don't
ever want that because I'm like, I don't want people.
I don't want them to see me. But this case,
you want the trainer's like you have a real trainer
right in front of you, but you don't what you
don't have a gym in your house. I'm like, what,
what equipment do you use? How do people navigate that
part of it?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Yeah, So so strength and resistance training is so important
for cancer survivors and really anyone in general when it
comes to health and business. And and so what we
do is we provide up to three pieces of equipment
for every one of our virtual participants and we send
that correctly to their home. And so we have so
that might be a pair of bands, a stability ball.
(20:52):
We typically use things that can kind of adjust in
weight as people progress or or resistance rather and so
that we can kind of progress them along as well.
And our virtual trainers are fantastic. We have a pocket
full of individuals who do only our virtual training, and
I think that that's worth noting too. So we have
affiliate trainers and dieticians as well as mental health therapists
(21:16):
that we kind of think of as just an extension
of our survivor fitness family. And so we have some wonderful,
wonderful virtual trainers who love to have this type of communication,
who love to get on and they're good at feeling that,
you know, awkward moments if you will. As you're sitting
there doing your exercises right watching you, they'll turn the
(21:39):
music on. And you know, personal training is personal, so
our trainers get to know you during that time, and
we really work also to make sure that it's a
good fit, not just from what they know and what
you've been through, but also personality wise, because you're going
to be sitting there with them for forty five minutes
to an hour or twice a week. Oh yeah, you
(22:00):
want to get along with them, and you're going to
share things with them, and so yeah, we have people
who love love this virtual programming and it's just as
beneficial as the in person. Of course, you don't get
all the equipment that you might get in person, but
there's still so much that you can do from your home,
and a lot of us have more equipment and tools
(22:21):
around the house that we might not realize that we have,
like stairs and things like that that we can utilize
during a workout, and so our trainers are really great
at tapping into that in addition to the equipment that
we said.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Oh yeah, well, like my aunt, she's eighty six now
and she's really into chair yoga. Yeah, just using a chair.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Well, and you think about like eighty six, and you know,
this is where we're really big on whether you're eighteen
or eighty eight, right, whether you've no matter what you've
been through, because at eighty six you got it. There's
so many things that involve squats if you will and
nobody at eighty six if you're like, can you do
any squats? Like I can't do any squats, But they
(23:02):
do squats every day. If they're still driving, they're getting
out and out of the car, if they're getting in
and off of their chair. You know, all sorts of
things that you do all throughout the day use different muscles,
and so at that point, a lot of it is
functional fitness, but you know, bone health and really learning
how to exercise your body at different ages can really
(23:25):
be pivotal to living a full and healthy life. Because listen,
if you've beat cancer, no matter how old you are,
you want to live and you want to be able
to go see your grandchildren or go on a walk
around the neighborhood or whatever that might look like for
you to bring you joy. And so it's really important
to you know, if cheer yoga is people love cheer yoga,
and people love all sorts of different things for every
(23:47):
activity level. And I just love. I love that an
eighty six year old is doing cheeri yoga because.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
We should do it in our hotel room.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Actually, do that.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Make you?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I want to know what.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Do your kids know about survivor fitness? What do they
say about it? What did they know about you know,
your husband? I mean, you know, do they speak about it?
I mean they obviously weren't around when he was diagnosed,
but how does this fit into your family? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And you all are inspiring on so many levels in
terms of making this happen. So yeah, what what do
they know about it and think about it?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Well? Thank you so much. I appreciate that. So, yeah,
we have almost nine year old twins, a girl and
a boy. They'll be nine. They're Christmas baby, so they'll
be nine on December twenty third. But you know, it's
been interesting to kind of bring them into our sphere
of survivor fitness, if you will. They asked why they
couldn't be on the interview tonight, so there. But you know,
(24:48):
if the Aaron fans are, diagnosis first came up when
we were actually had sports center on one morning and
they were sharing a story about a football player's parent
who was diagnosed, and so our kids started asking him
what is cancer? Who has cancer? All these questions and
they were only four years old, and so at that point,
and our son is very curious, and he said, we'll
(25:10):
have people all have cancer, and so we kind of
just jumped into the conversation. You know, he's four. He
only understood so much at that point, and so it
was very high level. Yes, your dad had cancer. He
is fine, he has been fine for a long time now.
And then so that kind of edged into them learning
a bit more about what we do. So I work
(25:32):
full time for the organization. Aaron serves on our board
of directors, so he has a separate job. So it's it's,
you know, kind of tying the two together. But I
do work from home, and so they get to see
a lot of survivor fitness and what we do, and
so they know we help cancer survivors and they've come
to we have some events that we do throughout the
year all over all over the place, especially in regards
(25:56):
to fitness, and we do some dinners and they don't
get to come to those, but the events that are
a little more family friendly. They get to come to
those and it's fun for them to see to see
things on a bigger level. So when they ask what
what mommy does for for work, they say that we
help cancer survivors. Yes, come to learn a little bit
(26:17):
more about that.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, that is that is great. Do you have a fan? Now?
I know you don't have a favorite survivor per se,
but you have a story that you want to share.
I mean, like, what's what's an example of this? This
is a huge this is a big success story that
I want to share with you to inspire you. If
you're a cancer survivor and you're interested in this, this
(26:39):
will give you some great hope that this is exactly
where you need to be.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, you know, I, as you said, I don't have
one favorite story. I do have one that I'll tell
you in a second, but before I tell you, like
an extreme story. I think it's so important for people
to as Julie you're saying, like, it doesn't matter if
you've had a surgery or you know, and I say
this in full quotation, marks is some people deal with
(27:03):
that survivor guilt, but you still oftentimes deal with a
lot of the mental and emotional and physical aspects as well.
And so you know, honestly, seeing people being able to
do activities that they loved that they thought they never
be able to do again bring so much story to
my day when I get an email that says, like,
I never thought I would be able to, you know,
(27:24):
coach my kids soccer again, and I'm able to not
only to do that, but I'm able to do so
much more. We had one lady who was doing like
kind of a couch to five K program and her
teenage son said, you know what, I'm going to do
this with you law and came alongside her and they
did it together. And so I love those. But one
(27:46):
particular story that is if I had a quick favorite,
this would be my favorite. A woman named Carol. She
was diagnosed with formasaracoma and what is had her right
side muscle removed the majority of her right side muscle
(28:07):
and so she really struggled with her balance. She really
struggled with all sorts of things, and her fall risk
was very high. And so that meant that when she
fell getting up was not just like you and I
get up off the floor. It was very She had
to have this very strategic manner of like crawling over
(28:28):
to an object and getting to a solid object and
pulling herself up. Now, if she fell, and like she
wouldn't let anybody pick her up because it was painful.
Her husband and one of her sons were the only
people that really knew the proper way to help her
get up, and she really struggled, struggled with this. Her
(28:50):
husband had to take a leave of absence and disability
from work because she wasn't able to be left at
home because if she felt she could potentially hit her head,
and unfortunately that happened. She at one point she hit
her head, had a concussion, broke some ribs and just
kind of things. We were not looking great, and we
had already been in contact with her at that point
(29:12):
and her doctor, her physician, her on colleges sorry, and
she had met with him and said, you know, when
we get to a certain point, I'm going to tell
you to sign up for Survivor Fitness because I really
think it would be helpful. And so we had spoken
and then she had this fall, so we had to
wait a bit longer, and in the interim she went
to physical therapy and I have great friends who are
(29:36):
physical therapists. I love physical therapists. But unfortunately, her physical
therapist did not really surf her in the best manner
as far as helping her overcome what she had gone through.
And that's not always, you know, oftentimes, right, this is
the issue, this is what they need to work on,
and so that's what they did. And unfortunately, at the
(29:56):
end of their sessions and their time together, she still
couldn't get up the ground. It was you know, this
is just the way your life is going to be.
And I'm so sorry, but this is just how it is.
Went back to her on collegist and our on collegist said,
remember how I told you about Survivor Fitness. I need
you to go back and sign up for this program.
So Carol came back to us and we talked through
(30:22):
a lot of things. And one of the things that
when I was talking with her trainer that we were
going to set her up with, Traynor said to me,
you know, we're going to work on all the things
that she does have, not the things she doesn't have.
And boy did they do that. It was six weeks
into it, but they worked and they worked, and Carol
(30:43):
really just dug in and gave her all. Was so
committed to herself, right to herself and to her family
and to she had a new grandchild, and she was
just very committed to saying like I am not going
to live my life like this. I'm going to make
this happen. And six weeks in, about six weeks in,
(31:08):
I get this phone call and it's her trainer and
Carol screaming and she's like, I did I did what
She's like, I got up off the ground by myself,
and I was like, I mean tears of joy and
something that we take for granted. It's like going one
day from being able to get up and off the
floor to the next day just being maybe not the
(31:30):
next day, but you know, almost not being able to
do so. And Carol has before that, it had about
a year before a diagnosis, tragically lost her son by
an impaired driver in a terrible car accident, and so
she had not only dealt with that, but then kind
of almost straight into she was still recovering and mentally
(31:52):
and emotionally dealing with that incident when she had her
cancer diagnosis, and one of her goals was to hide
Mount Kilimanjaro, not just for herself but for her son.
And she did that two years ago, and I know.
And so she went from not being able to get
up and off the floor to hiking Mount Kilimandar. She's
(32:14):
I think at this point now she's fifty seven to
fifty eight, maybe the older. I can't remember exact age
at this point. But she is such just a just
a testament to the joy and the empowerment that can
come from something so simple as someone saying to you,
we're not gonna focus on the cans. We're gonna focus
on the cans, and we're gonna make this happen together.
(32:37):
And I'm gonna hold your hand every step of the
way until it's time to let you go. And that's
what they did.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So that is my I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I can see why. I mean, I can honestly say
I don't think I could hike Mount kill Him and Jarrow.
I don't even know if I could make it, like
hike over to melt Colin. I don't even know. That's
not even gonna happen. So I am so that's an impressed,
have awesome story. Well, Meg, if you every everybody I
think needs a spat experience.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
To well, I mean fitness. They could add spot services
to you there.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, it'd be awesome. So yes, and so she may
have a favorite she may. Yes, Well she's about to
have a favorite because we have a new sponsor that
we're so excited about, Woodlock Resorts.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yes, and they were named the number one best all
inclusive resort in the US for twenty twenty five. And
they are now sponsors of our Zoomer Moms. Yes, and
we would now like to welcome into the show our
Zoomer Moms. Welcome, Zoomer Moms. Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Hello ladies. Well I'm going to introduce each one of
you and I want you to tell your name, where
(33:47):
you're from, a little bit about yourself, and do you
have a question for Meg Kathy, Welcome to the Mom's Club.
Speaker 7 (33:53):
Welcome. Thank you so much, Monica, I really appreciate it.
Wipe them back happy tears because what an inspirational show
this is. I'm a Kathy Ward. I'm from Plano, Texas.
My daughter just turned twenty six, my son's about to
turn twenty two. Oh, where does the time go. I'm
a former special education teacher and have also been elected
(34:16):
to a couple of offices, currently serve on a commission for
the governor here in the state of Texas. My goodness,
my mom's a cancer survivor. Unfortunately, my mom passed away
a few years ago and I miss her dearly, but
it was not from cancer. And one of the reasons
and this she had her cancer diagnosis my gounness thirty
(34:38):
five plus years ago, almost almost forty years ago now,
and she found a nutritionist in a little shopping strip
in Richardson, Texas, and learned so much about supplements. She
was a physical therapist, so she knew physically what to
do with herself and what not to do with herself
(35:00):
with her breast cancer diagnosis. And we feel like we
had my mom for all of those decades because she
chose to take care of herself with all of the
things out there. My mom was very open and willing
to learn about that. We feel like that helped keep
the cancer away. She never had cancer again after she
(35:22):
had that original diagnosis, but her body did go through
a lot of changes with chemo and radiation. She ended
up having allergies she had never had, and just a
lot of things she had to work through, and I
think of what a gift and an organization like yours
and your husband's would have been for her. But that
was back before the internet days. My question to you,
(35:43):
Meg is, Okay, we've all just learned about your fantastic
organization and what.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
You can do.
Speaker 7 (35:51):
If I'm trying to explain this to a friend who
maybe is saying, no, nothing's going to work, I don't
want to hear about anything going to do exactly what
my doctor says, and that's it. How what would be
the appropriate way for somebody like me to introduce your organization?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
That's a good question.
Speaker 7 (36:11):
A friend or a family member, good question.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
That is a great question. That's a great question. You know,
people kind of come at their own speace, if you will.
I think a lot of times when it comes to
a cancer diagnosis, there are people who get the diagnosis
and they apply to survivor Fitness at there. Right, They're
like that, I'm going to get through with this, and
whenever I'm done with all the things, I'm starting survivor Fitness.
(36:40):
And then there are people that come to us two
to three years later, right because after they've gotten it,
because they you know, want to do it.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
On their own.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Kind of make start and then kind might fall off
right So, you know, if they're on social media, I
tell people to tell them to follow us on Facebook
or follow us on Instagram because they'll get to see
diferent participants. Really the myriad of individuals that we work with,
and they might identify with one of those people. We've
(37:09):
got stories like Carols on our YouTube channel who kind
of talk about different people talking about what they've been
through and people who struggled with what to do after
people who again thought that they could could handle it,
or I just think for everybody, it's so individualized, and
(37:29):
like you said, some people aren't ready to hop right
in or think that they can do it on their own.
And you know what some people do and they have
great success on their own because they know what to do.
But we don't put a time cap a long time
cap if you will, on or sorry, rather a short
time cap on when people can apply after their received
kind of the all clear, they're done with their surgeries
(37:51):
and their treatments. If someone's on a maintenance medication, they
can apply or we can talk to them, you know,
have them reach out survivor fitness dot or email me,
and I'm happy to talk to those people because I
you know, I think that some people just need kind
of like to dip their toes in the water, maybe
sign up for a newsletter, you know, just kind of
learn a little bit more about what we do, and
(38:13):
hopefully they'll apply to the program or the programs when
they're ready. And typically I feel like that that's the
best way.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, that sounds good. Susan, welcome to the Mom's Club.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from,
and do you have a question for Meg.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Thank you very much for having me Meg, You're You're awesome.
I'm so encouraged, so enlightened by your presentation. My name
is Susan Dacak. I'm originally from back that Iraq. I
moved to the country to this country in nineteen seventy
eight and became a naturalized citizen in nineteen eighty five
on Flag Day. I earned my engineering degree in nineteen
(38:53):
eighty three and I've been working in the source system
and the rehabilitation of pipeline trensials technology ever since. My question,
my mom and I are cancer survivors, and my question
to you is do you see any kind of statistics
that shows people from that part of the world have
more of certain type of cancer than others. If you
(39:17):
don't know the answer, it's okay, that's not you know,
that's not what you're you've been talking about. But I
just want to know because I hear a lot of
people from that part of the world having a certain
type of cancer that other people here in the United States.
Speaker 7 (39:30):
Do not have.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I do not know the answer to that question. I'm
not familiar with those statistics and haven't dug into that
area yet, so I'm sorry I can't answer that.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
I think that something in the digestive system. I see
more of people in the Middle East, from the Middle
East than than here in the United States. And because here,
I think the top life and here you're you know,
people pay attention to drinking water and doing all kinds
of things. Over there, it's very very limited. When I remember,
(40:06):
when we go out, when we go to the stores
or whatever, we make sure we don't drink water that
day because there aren't any good bathrooms anywhere, So we
really overstress our digestive system. And that's why I was
asking if you knew anything about that.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
No, But I mean I think that. It's interesting really
all the statistics you know that are coming out even
in the United States about things that are going on
in the diagnosis ages of certain types of cancer is changing,
and I think it's important for everyone to really kind
of dig into, whether it be where you're from in
the area and kind of what your health history is
(40:42):
with your family, so that you can understand really how
that might impact you.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, it's great to learn how to get an the
other side cure cancer, but preventing cancer and understanding a
lot more about it. Interesting that you brought that up, Susan,
because when my mother grew up in Appalatia and Kentucky
and when she got her cancer, which was so rare,
the doctor said, I like, is this hereditary? And he said, no,
(41:08):
we think it's environmental. Oh so yeah, but yeah, I'm
it's a good point. You know, it's good to know.
Let's hope that we get to a place where we
don't have cancer.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
That would be that would be.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Out of business, I would be would be.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Right, So exactly, deb welcome to the Mom's Club. Tell
us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and
do you have a question for Meg.
Speaker 6 (41:36):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited
about this topic. Unfortunately, I am a survivor as well.
My name is Dev Miles. I'm from Austin, Texas, originally
a Midwest transplant.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
I have two kids.
Speaker 6 (41:52):
I'm a recent empty nester and this program is fabulous.
I'm wondering how you're scaling it because I could literally right.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Now tell five friends.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
Unfortunately, but this program is fantastic. I think I've been
through a lot of this and I think you guys
have so many the right components, and I'm just wondering
how you're going to scale because the virtual and or
multiple locations and all of this stuff, like how you're
(42:26):
going to do that? And if you want to talk
a little bit about your fundraising so that if people
watch this week and you know, help help the organization, well.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
Thank you, I appreciate that. So virtual right now, yes,
is the way we scale for right now. If any
trainers are out there people interested, you know, our trainers
get their Cancer Exercise Special certification so that they have
a more in depth understanding and we often have people
who reach out and so that's how we've been able
(42:56):
to scale virtually, and we are we're looking at kind
of what what city is next and really tying in
a bit more into the health systems as we do
that a bit more strategically. To be quite frank we
work very well with the health systems in the cities
where we physically are located now and then we have
great partnerships with different health systems outside of the state
(43:18):
of Tennessee as well. People referring individuals to the program
we do. We are a nonprofit. We are five oh
one C three. We put through everyone who applies to
our program at no cost to them, but through different corporations,
grant funding, individual donors were fortunate to be able to
(43:38):
continue providing these programs and so we're so grateful to
do that. We've had some different like companies come along.
There's Noble, who is a fitness brand. During the month
of October they ran a campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness
Month and use part of the sales that they've had
(43:59):
to contribut to Survivor Fitness. So I am always open
to fundraising. I will never do that a way, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Really.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Yeah, that's that's really how we're looking at scaling, because again,
our goal is to make sure that every cancer survivor
has the support that they need right and that no
one's sitting at home alone wondering what's next. So we're
kind of looking at strategically how to do that and
to do it in the best way possible to serve well.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
We absolutely love this, Meg, and thank you so much
for joining us. Now tell us if you're interested, If
you're a cancer survivor and you're interested in the program, yeah,
if you want to get involved and help, as you said,
fund or support this, where can we find you?
Speaker 4 (44:40):
So Survivor Fitness dot org is our website, and then
we are Survivor Fitness Foundation on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
and YouTube as well. So Survivor Fitness Foundation, And as
Julie said, whether you're a cancer survivor or not, we
do have a lot of resources on our website, recipes,
(45:00):
we've got participants stories, we have different health and wellness
topics in our blog if you follow us on social media.
We host wellness workshops once a month and they're free
to people anywhere and everywhere. So, whether you're a cancer
forever or not, if the topic's applicable to you, register
for it. Sign up and I'm Kathy that's a good
(45:22):
way for people to dip their toes in as well,
is just sign up for these free resources that are
out there. Because you know, people are moving their body
and starting to take that control of their health and
their life. It's such a powerful tool and anything that
we can do to help with that, we we would
love to.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Your empathy is off the charts. We cannot thank you
enough for coming today much.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yes, now, Julie, if you decide to do it virtually,
I mean, I wouldn't mind taking an exercise class.
Speaker 4 (45:50):
With you, just so.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
We've been partners in exercise before.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yes, apparently, so I guess you have to do it
ninety days before it becomes.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
I have it.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Okay, I'll make a commitment with you. I absolutely Heaven
knows I need.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
Yeah, if we can have a trainer, you know, come
in and do some exercise work with you both, right,
that would may can figure out. But if your bodies
and your personalities is you're working together for that.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah, that would help both. Well. Thank you again so much,
and we want to thank you for having our Thank you,
and we want to thank our sponsors. We want to
thank special thanks to our Zoomer's Mom sponsor Woodlock Resort
for helping make this episode possible. With sixty seven years
of heartfelt hospitality and three amazing properties, including one of
(46:39):
the top destination spas and family resorts in the US,
Woodlock is truly where a tradition meets tranquility. So discover
the perfect getaway ladies at Woodlock dot com. And you
know what makes the perfect resorts stay even better, Julie
tell me because New Calms. Oh yes, new Calm spelled
(47:00):
and you cl m. It's the number one stress release
and sleep app. Although it's also great for focus because
the other day I had to read a book like
really quickly to interview someone and it no no, actually
I like me. Yeah, I did the old fashioned way,
but I listened to the app and it really made
(47:20):
a difference. It's a great app. Again, it's spelled newcom
nu CLM. You can find it in the app store.
Check it out and if you sign up put Mom's
Club in the code at check out, you get fifteen
percent off every month.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Of your subject love a discount. Yes, it's great.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Well check us out on our website inside the Moom's
Club dot com or where everywhere, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. You
can see clips from the show. You can see me
make a complete fool of myself. I don't know. Whatever
you want to do. Check us out Inside the Mom's Club.
I can't believe this has been a really informative, wonderful show.
I can't believe it's already over, Julie. It goes by
(47:59):
so fast. But what is our motto, which I think
is so important, particularly on a show like today, What
is our motto? Our motto is if you don't laugh sometimes.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
What you are gonna cry, right, So keep laughing.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
Outsie moms.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
We will see you next time Inside the Mom's Club.
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