September 10, 2025 • 25 mins
Glioblastoma: Brain Cancer Bringing awareness to this disease is the mission of Stepahnie West and her daughter Kendall Ankiel, who just happens to be MISS FLORIDA, Pre-teen, a barrel racer, and a football safety.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're tuned to Evergreen Media Network.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am Cindy Schwartz and this is our Veterans Vice
radio show.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
In your host, Ralph Nathan.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'll go hello everybody, and thank you so much for
being with us. I am very excited to share today's
show with you. Something happened a couple of weeks ago.
I'm talking to Patty Patrick McAllister that we have on
the air at least once a month, and he tells
me a absolutely phenomenal, beautiful story. You know, I'm a
(00:38):
very philosophical person. I believe in lemons and lemonade. When
God gives you lemons negative, what do you do? Squeeze them,
put sugar in, make lemonade the positive. And today's show
is a beautiful mother and a gorgeous young lady her
daughter who are unfortunately they received some lemons many years ago,
(01:01):
and they're here today to share with you how they're
taken a bunch of lemons and made one big bureau
of lemonade. So Patty, first of all, thank you so
much for taking the time to first of course, teaching
me about what we're going to talk about. And I
just thought of it. Cindy, we forgot to give you
(01:22):
a title for the show. We'll have to figure out something,
but I don't want to tell you what until Patty
introduces our guests. But Patty's the first, thanks for bringing
it to my attention, and second for being here and everybody.
Next week we have a Patty special. We're gonna call
next week the show, not today, next week's show. So
(01:45):
what have we learned? And Patty's gonna tell us about
the very interesting calendar periodical repetitive schedule. Unfortunately that it's
a fact, but it wasn't planned. And if you don't
know what I'm talking about, good, that means you've got
(02:07):
to turn in next week and when you when you
turn on, you'll be literally this is going to be
a hoa USA as to what has taken place. Okay,
Patty first, thank you, and Mike is yours?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, well, thank you so much. Ralph, I appreciate that
veterans and service members lend me your ears. Today's show
is more important to you than you might think. What
Kendall and Stephanie, Ralph and Cindy are going to be
(02:44):
talking about today is Glio Blestama. If you've never heard
of Glio blessed Tama. Don't worry. I had never heard
of it that I recalled until just about a week ago.
Although once I did some research, I realized, oh wait
(03:04):
a second, Yes, I have heard about this. So gleoblastemtoma
forgive me if I pronounce it incorrectly is a brain
cancer that some research suggests that across demographics, veterans and
service members are diagnosed with at higher rates than their
(03:27):
non veteran peers. Military dot Com and Public Health Watch
did a collaborative dive into the topic and reported in
twenty twenty two that glio blastoma is the third most
common cancer death among active duty service members. Further, the
(03:52):
collaboration reported that among posts nine to eleven veterans who
deployed to Iraq of God and some other locations were
diagnosed with gleo blastoma at a rate twenty six percent
higher than the general population. They used VA and National
(04:16):
Institutes of Health data for that study. Some of the
well known veterans who've developed the disease are Senator John
McCain who served in Vietnam, Senator Ted Kennedy, who served
in Europe during the Korean War era, and former Delaware
(04:38):
Attorney General Bo Biden, who served in Iraq in two
thousand and eight to two thousand and nine. Bo's father,
former President Joe Biden, is among those who've publicly attributed
high rates of LEO blastema among Post nine to eleven
(05:00):
service members and veterans to the military burn pits that
if you are a veteran, you are well aware of
the Military burn pits issue. The Promise to Address Comprehensive
Toxics Act of twenty twenty two, the Pact Act, as
we all know it, made gleio blastema a presumptive service
(05:24):
connected condition for a lot of the Post nine to
eleven veterans. Currently in Congress's HR thirty seven fifty two,
the Specialist fourth Class Keith Smith Gleo Blasphema Parity Act
of twenty twenty five, which would expand presumption to veterans
(05:47):
who were or likely were exposed to agent orange during
the Vietnam War. Florida Representative Sheila Cherepulus McCormick, whose district
is just south of the coverage area, introduced the bill
(06:07):
in June, so it's currently awaiting its first hearing in
the House Committee on Veteran Affairs. At its website. The
Glioblastoma Foundation reports symptoms of the disease can include persistent
headaches or neck paints, blurry or double vision, personality changes,
(06:32):
new onset seizures, speech difficulties, and difficulties with cognitive processes
such as reating, social cues, and executive functions such as
planning a shopping trip. If you're not currently enrolled for
(06:52):
VA healthcare, look up your County Veterans Service office and
make and appointment. The VA is not a do it
yourself project. This is an important topic to service members
and veterans, so please listen to these wonderful, wonderful folks
(07:15):
talking about it today. And with that, I am going
to clear the line and listen to the show.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Okay, Patty, thank you so much. You're you're a wonderful
to me. It's an honor to know you and to
the to the world. You are one wonderful asset you.
I'm sure single handedly you have helped us help a
lot of people out there, veterans and non veterans alike.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So thank you, thank you, enjoy your show.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So my pleasure is to introduce mom and daughter. Mom
is Stephanie Cunningham and uh, we talked about who you
brought other is, but we didn't talk about who is
Richie Cunningham your relative to No, you know who Richie
conm was?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
No? What was he was on with Fonzie?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
But just to clarify my my last name is Ankio West.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Oh wait a minute, and how did I get the name?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That was my late husband's name?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Okay, well then you were Cunningham either way. Okay, but uh, okay,
well enough of jokes. By the way they bombed anyway. Okay,
so now we have so okay, Stephanie, and you mentioned
the less the rest of your last night, see okay,
(08:51):
and your daughter is Kendall. Oh that's so that's why
I messed up. Okay? Oh no, no, I see it here,
I got it. I've read it wrong, my fault counter edit. Anyway,
I'm looking at a Kendle right now, and she is
wearing an absolutely beautiful white dress, and she has a
(09:14):
sash across her right shoulder going diagonally down to her
left side, and she's wearing a beautiful Tierra And what
does all that signify? Kendle? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So my title is called National American Miss Florida preteen.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, wow, here, here, here, you gotta have that now.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Now what does it mean by pre wait a minute,
preteen media or not even thirteen yet?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I am thirteen, but it falls between my birthdays in
February and it's January first, where the cutoff.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Is okay, good? So when were you h declared the
winner in this pageant?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was, what state? Are you representing?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Florida?
Speaker 5 (10:00):
So she's representing the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I was crowned back in July and I'll be going
to Nationals in November.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Oh wow, tell us a little bit about what is
the pageants all about.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The pageant is all about growing confidence and just having
young girls big with big dreams.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And what is your big dream?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, my big dream is my platform, Beauty for Brains.
When I was just seven months old, my dad was
diagnosed with brain cancer. He fought courageously for years, but
he passed away when I was seven years old. His
story is the reason that I do my work today.
I've gone to Washington, d C. Three years in a
row to speak to Congress about funding better brain cancer research,
(10:46):
research and treatment. I've interned at the capital twice to
help educate lawmakers about passing bills that support cancer patients
and families. And I've also ran multiple five k's for
brain cancer awareness. All of this is part of my platform,
Beautiful Brains, which I created in honor of my dad
and to hope and to make sure other families have
(11:08):
hope too.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Phenomen Now, when you went to Washington, you said you
also so you worked for a congressman or so when we.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Went to Washington, it was for the National Brain Tumor Society,
and that was head to the Hill where we got
to talk to lawmakers about Glioblastoma Day which is in
July and day July What July sixteenth?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Right, yes, July sixteen, Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And we also did the five K for Moffitt. So yeah,
that was I've done that three years in a row.
But my dad has also gone to that.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Wow, your family supporting the whole effort. Yes, go back
to stuff. I have to give you mom a lot
of credit because you know your mom knew you're dead
before you knew them, and you obviously had a big
heavy hand in teaching Kendall a lot about if I
got it. I hate to tell every it's a word
(12:06):
that might scare you when you hear glio blastoma bringing
into two words glio blastoma, and it's very easy. I
was taught a long time ago. If you can't say
the word breaking into two or three parts, and you
have no problem. So are you all forgive me? Because
I don't want to try not to touch on personal lives.
(12:27):
But are you all right if we talk a little
bit about your experience what happened with your husband? Yeah,
that's okay. Now you told me that your husband's name
was Mark, Yes, excuse me, is Mark. And he was
only twenty eight years old, I think when he was diagnosed.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, so our lives changed forever.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
October nineteenth, we had just come back from my son,
my ten year old son's football game, and out of nowhere,
he had a seizure. We actually were gem buffs, so
we were at the gym all the time. He was
very athletic, very fit. Hardly ever drank or even ate sugar.
(13:08):
I would do that stuff, he wouldn't, So he was
very physically fit. So the seizure caught just came out
of Yeah, it was off guard. Kendall, like she said,
was seven months old when that happened.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
He was.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He actually was holding her on the counter and I
heard her scream.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
I had my back towards him, and what happened is
when he had the seizure, he clenched her little arms. Oh,
so I had to pry those off. My ten year
old was had to hold her, brother had to hold her.
I called nine one one long story short, paramedics came.
I was a Department of Health nurse. I worked for
TB at the time, so I knew some of the
(13:48):
men that were there to pick him up. We went
to the local hospital and they ran a bunch of
tests and actually everything came back normal after.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The seizure, so they were going to release him.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Well I was, you know, after I could pull my
thoughts together, I thought maybe he was just so dehydrated
that he had because that can happen. Well, they were
just going to release him, and I said, no, he
needs he hid his head on the tile and he
had a bump so on and make sure he didn't
have a like a brain bleed. Yeah, And they went
ahead and did the CT scan and then that started.
(14:21):
We were there for a couple of hours and that's
when I just kind of I kind of knew, all right,
something's not right, because they were just going to let
us go. A couple hours go by, and then a
neuro team came in and sure enough they said they
saw a brain mass, a tumor the size of a
lemon oscar son ofm I. The neurosurgeon that came in
consulted with me. He had just actually ironically started the
(14:44):
local hospital two days prior he came from offit. So
we stayed locally and had that first initial surgery there.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Okay, so let's seek a break. Okay, I think, well
I need a break here, so we're going to take
a break. If you We'll be right back with Stephanie
who the mom, and Kendall the daughter, and I want
to hear more about it because I think it's our
job to share the good and the bad and the
ugly with the world because somebody else out there may
(15:16):
be in a situation that they'll remember, oh I heard
this on the radio two three years ago, and they
can hopefully say save a situation. So we'll be right
back everybody, our Veterans Voice Radio.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
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Speaker 3 (17:02):
Your I text dollars are welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And welcome back to our Veteran Zoys radio showing Ralph Nathan.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I'll go hello, We're talking to Stephanie and Kendall. Stephanie
the mom, Kendall the brains and the beauty behind it.
Literally what the show is all about. We're talking about glioblastoma,
which is a form of brain cancer. I'd never heard
of it before Patty Patrick Mcallison brought it to my
(17:31):
attention and I had to put Kendall and Stephanie on
the air because our job as our host of no
matter what the genre or subject is of our radio
shows or podcasts or TV shows, our job is to teach.
But nobody wants a lecture. They want stories. And literally,
(17:52):
I got two absolutely wonderful people here sharing their story.
It's sometimes a little difficult to share of these stories,
and I understand that, and that's why we took the break,
just so you know, and so they're sharing with you.
Stephanie's telling before the break told us about the beginning
of what without even getting to the climax of recognition
(18:17):
that it was gleo blastoma. So Stephanie, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
What I was trying to say is obviously you have
to advocate for yourself. They were just going to release him,
and so we ended up doing sane and having the
sort of the craniotomy locally, he and the craniotomy, so
he had his brain surgery.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Originally he was actually.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Diagnosed the old GEODENDROOMA, which is a grade too for
brain cancer.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
The graded.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So he ended up after that surgery he couldn't walk,
he couldn't speak. He ended up having to go to
a rehab for five months. So for five months I
had worked around the corner at the Department of Health
like I had mentioned as a nurse and the TV area.
So I would come at lunch and help him out
and give him bass and then afterwards I would pick
(19:06):
her up from daycare because at the time she was
only seven months old, and then we would go back
and spend as much time as we could. So from
seven months old, she's kind of been already exposed to
the whole. Doctors and nurses.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Pt all of that.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
So he was released five months later, and I would
say we probably lived back a normal life, back to
normal you could say, left side weakness.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We kind of dealt with that.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
But then his seizure started increasing in two thousand and
the end of twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Fifteen, and then moved the tumor.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
They did.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
They removed the tumor. It was it was a grade too.
At the time, we did not have radiation and chemo.
They said we didn't need it. Our life kind of
went back to normal. He was one of the managers
at Stanley Steamer. I was a Department of Health nurse.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
We actually Kendall and Mark had just like normal. Everything
was back to normal. And like I said, in twenty sixteen,
his behavior started becoming erratic. The seizure started increasing, and
at that time, like we did, stay local for everything.
They just kept giving him anti seizure meds. It was
(20:17):
very hot, and I had great insurance. I had state
government insurance, so there's no reason for all for me
not to go anywhere else. I ended up actually picking
up art, just packing up myself and we headed Tom Moffitt.
I didn't have an appointment in Tampa. I had done
some research and they were third in the nation. I
didn't have an appointment. I showed up like on a Wednesday,
(20:39):
and I went into the office and I said, something's
going on with my husband. They ended up the next day.
They got us in and they did an amrine. Sure enough,
he had a reoccurrence.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
So well he's there.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Well, yeah, so his tumor had come back. That's what
I was going to ask. So it grew back.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
Yeah, and they have a high risk anytime you have
I know a lot of people when they start doing
the research if you have a grade one or I'm
not trying to scare the others, but yeah, it is
a It can happen if it.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Better be prepared and shocked. Okay, let me ask you
a question. I'm not medically oriented. Cindy is much more
than I am. But they you said that he did
not have chemo and radiation the first time. Know would
he would he have not had additional recurrences had they
(21:26):
done performed the radiation of chemo or You'll never know.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Well, you'll never know because that's where the story kind
of there's a whole bunch to this.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Okay, but I will say I had well, I had that.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Tumor later on retested and later on it showed that
it did have astrocytoma, which was.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
A grade three.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
But back to back to twenty sixteen. He so within
three days he was back on the table and he
had a wake craniotomy.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
What's that means?
Speaker 5 (21:59):
So he was a wake while they did brain surgery.
And they do that because they're able to like do
you can move? They ask you to move and to
make sure his because the first time, like I said,
he couldn't move the left side.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It was like kind on the stroke.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
And honestly, we were discharged three days later and it
we just thought, okay, it was just had a recurrence.
It's it's a low grade. But when we got the
pathology results, it was not.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
It was a glia blastoma, which is a grade four.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Wow, grete four is not No, that's what you want.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
No, it's usually it's twelve to twenty four months as
the average lifespan.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
It's a death sentence.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Everybody just want to tell you, we're not trying to
scare you here. You know, if we tell you ahead
of time, don't get bit by a snake. But in
case you do, here's what to recognize, and here's what
you need to do with our purpose here is to
share with you their experience. Here's a wife and a
mother and a nurse that's telling you what they've gone through.
(23:00):
So when you recognize or you hear some of these symptoms,
don't go. Don't let somebody pooh pooh, don't let somebody
say don't worry about it or whatever. There's always something
more to it, even if you need that second opinion
or second location opinion. Pursue it well.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
With social media. Word got out.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
I shared our experience that he now had grade four
and this is where the doors open.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I received a phone call from Leela. She was a sister.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Her brother had just passed four months prior with the
same diagnosis leah blastoma. Sure enough, they lived on the
same street as children. Oh my, so they were childhood friends.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
And as we kept as the then I would receive
another phone call and from Josh. He actually he called
me himself. He was diagnosed with astrocytoma three and he
lived the road next over. So now you have now
I forgot if I told you, but Gleo is one
out of three hundred thousand, get this.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
It's very rare.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
So now you have three brain cancer, all childhood friends.
And you would think, okay, this has been since two
thousand and twelve, but I just recently received a phone
call July fourth, her husband was diagnosed with old geodendriema,
which is what my husband was diagnosed with.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Okay, we're going to need to take the halftime break.
We have four breaks, three breaks. This is the middle.
We'll be right back, everybody. I'm kind of tearing up.
Sorry about that, everybody, but it's a sad but beautiful
story because we're learning something from it. We'll be right back.
Our Veterans Voice Radio.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
It all sounds
Speaker 7 (25:17):
You're a
You're tuned to Evergreen Media Network.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am Cindy Schwartz and this is our Veterans Vice
radio show.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
In your host, Ralph Nathan.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'll go hello everybody, and thank you so much for
being with us. I am very excited to share today's
show with you. Something happened a couple of weeks ago.
I'm talking to Patty Patrick McAllister that we have on
the air at least once a month, and he tells
me a absolutely phenomenal, beautiful story. You know, I'm a
(00:38):
very philosophical person. I believe in lemons and lemonade. When
God gives you lemons negative, what do you do? Squeeze them,
put sugar in, make lemonade the positive. And today's show
is a beautiful mother and a gorgeous young lady her
daughter who are unfortunately they received some lemons many years ago,
(01:01):
and they're here today to share with you how they're
taken a bunch of lemons and made one big bureau
of lemonade. So Patty, first of all, thank you so
much for taking the time to first of course, teaching
me about what we're going to talk about. And I
just thought of it. Cindy, we forgot to give you
(01:22):
a title for the show. We'll have to figure out something,
but I don't want to tell you what until Patty
introduces our guests. But Patty's the first, thanks for bringing
it to my attention, and second for being here and everybody.
Next week we have a Patty special. We're gonna call
next week the show, not today, next week's show. So
(01:45):
what have we learned? And Patty's gonna tell us about
the very interesting calendar periodical repetitive schedule. Unfortunately that it's
a fact, but it wasn't planned. And if you don't
know what I'm talking about, good, that means you've got
(02:07):
to turn in next week and when you when you
turn on, you'll be literally this is going to be
a hoa USA as to what has taken place. Okay,
Patty first, thank you, and Mike is yours?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, well, thank you so much. Ralph, I appreciate that
veterans and service members lend me your ears. Today's show
is more important to you than you might think. What
Kendall and Stephanie, Ralph and Cindy are going to be
(02:44):
talking about today is Glio Blestama. If you've never heard
of Glio blessed Tama. Don't worry. I had never heard
of it that I recalled until just about a week ago.
Although once I did some research, I realized, oh wait
(03:04):
a second, Yes, I have heard about this. So gleoblastemtoma
forgive me if I pronounce it incorrectly is a brain
cancer that some research suggests that across demographics, veterans and
service members are diagnosed with at higher rates than their
(03:27):
non veteran peers. Military dot Com and Public Health Watch
did a collaborative dive into the topic and reported in
twenty twenty two that glio blastoma is the third most
common cancer death among active duty service members. Further, the
(03:52):
collaboration reported that among posts nine to eleven veterans who
deployed to Iraq of God and some other locations were
diagnosed with gleo blastoma at a rate twenty six percent
higher than the general population. They used VA and National
(04:16):
Institutes of Health data for that study. Some of the
well known veterans who've developed the disease are Senator John
McCain who served in Vietnam, Senator Ted Kennedy, who served
in Europe during the Korean War era, and former Delaware
(04:38):
Attorney General Bo Biden, who served in Iraq in two
thousand and eight to two thousand and nine. Bo's father,
former President Joe Biden, is among those who've publicly attributed
high rates of LEO blastema among Post nine to eleven
(05:00):
service members and veterans to the military burn pits that
if you are a veteran, you are well aware of
the Military burn pits issue. The Promise to Address Comprehensive
Toxics Act of twenty twenty two, the Pact Act, as
we all know it, made gleio blastema a presumptive service
(05:24):
connected condition for a lot of the Post nine to
eleven veterans. Currently in Congress's HR thirty seven fifty two,
the Specialist fourth Class Keith Smith Gleo Blasphema Parity Act
of twenty twenty five, which would expand presumption to veterans
(05:47):
who were or likely were exposed to agent orange during
the Vietnam War. Florida Representative Sheila Cherepulus McCormick, whose district
is just south of the coverage area, introduced the bill
(06:07):
in June, so it's currently awaiting its first hearing in
the House Committee on Veteran Affairs. At its website. The
Glioblastoma Foundation reports symptoms of the disease can include persistent
headaches or neck paints, blurry or double vision, personality changes,
(06:32):
new onset seizures, speech difficulties, and difficulties with cognitive processes
such as reating, social cues, and executive functions such as
planning a shopping trip. If you're not currently enrolled for
(06:52):
VA healthcare, look up your County Veterans Service office and
make and appointment. The VA is not a do it
yourself project. This is an important topic to service members
and veterans, so please listen to these wonderful, wonderful folks
(07:15):
talking about it today. And with that, I am going
to clear the line and listen to the show.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Okay, Patty, thank you so much. You're you're a wonderful
to me. It's an honor to know you and to
the to the world. You are one wonderful asset you.
I'm sure single handedly you have helped us help a
lot of people out there, veterans and non veterans alike.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So thank you, thank you, enjoy your show.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So my pleasure is to introduce mom and daughter. Mom
is Stephanie Cunningham and uh, we talked about who you
brought other is, but we didn't talk about who is
Richie Cunningham your relative to No, you know who Richie
conm was?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
No? What was he was on with Fonzie?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
But just to clarify my my last name is Ankio West.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Oh wait a minute, and how did I get the name?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That was my late husband's name?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Okay, well then you were Cunningham either way. Okay, but uh, okay,
well enough of jokes. By the way they bombed anyway. Okay,
so now we have so okay, Stephanie, and you mentioned
the less the rest of your last night, see okay,
(08:51):
and your daughter is Kendall. Oh that's so that's why
I messed up. Okay? Oh no, no, I see it here,
I got it. I've read it wrong, my fault counter edit. Anyway,
I'm looking at a Kendle right now, and she is
wearing an absolutely beautiful white dress, and she has a
(09:14):
sash across her right shoulder going diagonally down to her
left side, and she's wearing a beautiful Tierra And what
does all that signify? Kendle? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So my title is called National American Miss Florida preteen.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, wow, here, here, here, you gotta have that now.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Now what does it mean by pre wait a minute,
preteen media or not even thirteen yet?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I am thirteen, but it falls between my birthdays in
February and it's January first, where the cutoff.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Is okay, good? So when were you h declared the
winner in this pageant?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was, what state? Are you representing?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Florida?
Speaker 5 (10:00):
So she's representing the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I was crowned back in July and I'll be going
to Nationals in November.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Oh wow, tell us a little bit about what is
the pageants all about.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The pageant is all about growing confidence and just having
young girls big with big dreams.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And what is your big dream?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, my big dream is my platform, Beauty for Brains.
When I was just seven months old, my dad was
diagnosed with brain cancer. He fought courageously for years, but
he passed away when I was seven years old. His
story is the reason that I do my work today.
I've gone to Washington, d C. Three years in a
row to speak to Congress about funding better brain cancer research,
(10:46):
research and treatment. I've interned at the capital twice to
help educate lawmakers about passing bills that support cancer patients
and families. And I've also ran multiple five k's for
brain cancer awareness. All of this is part of my platform,
Beautiful Brains, which I created in honor of my dad
and to hope and to make sure other families have
(11:08):
hope too.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Phenomen Now, when you went to Washington, you said you
also so you worked for a congressman or so when we.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Went to Washington, it was for the National Brain Tumor Society,
and that was head to the Hill where we got
to talk to lawmakers about Glioblastoma Day which is in
July and day July What July sixteenth?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Right, yes, July sixteen, Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And we also did the five K for Moffitt. So yeah,
that was I've done that three years in a row.
But my dad has also gone to that.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Wow, your family supporting the whole effort. Yes, go back
to stuff. I have to give you mom a lot
of credit because you know your mom knew you're dead
before you knew them, and you obviously had a big
heavy hand in teaching Kendall a lot about if I
got it. I hate to tell every it's a word
(12:06):
that might scare you when you hear glio blastoma bringing
into two words glio blastoma, and it's very easy. I
was taught a long time ago. If you can't say
the word breaking into two or three parts, and you
have no problem. So are you all forgive me? Because
I don't want to try not to touch on personal lives.
(12:27):
But are you all right if we talk a little
bit about your experience what happened with your husband? Yeah,
that's okay. Now you told me that your husband's name
was Mark, Yes, excuse me, is Mark. And he was
only twenty eight years old, I think when he was diagnosed.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, so our lives changed forever.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
October nineteenth, we had just come back from my son,
my ten year old son's football game, and out of nowhere,
he had a seizure. We actually were gem buffs, so
we were at the gym all the time. He was
very athletic, very fit. Hardly ever drank or even ate sugar.
(13:08):
I would do that stuff, he wouldn't, So he was
very physically fit. So the seizure caught just came out
of Yeah, it was off guard. Kendall, like she said,
was seven months old when that happened.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
He was.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
He actually was holding her on the counter and I
heard her scream.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
I had my back towards him, and what happened is
when he had the seizure, he clenched her little arms. Oh,
so I had to pry those off. My ten year
old was had to hold her, brother had to hold her.
I called nine one one long story short, paramedics came.
I was a Department of Health nurse. I worked for
TB at the time, so I knew some of the
(13:48):
men that were there to pick him up. We went
to the local hospital and they ran a bunch of
tests and actually everything came back normal after.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The seizure, so they were going to release him.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Well I was, you know, after I could pull my
thoughts together, I thought maybe he was just so dehydrated
that he had because that can happen. Well, they were
just going to release him, and I said, no, he
needs he hid his head on the tile and he
had a bump so on and make sure he didn't
have a like a brain bleed. Yeah, And they went
ahead and did the CT scan and then that started.
(14:21):
We were there for a couple of hours and that's
when I just kind of I kind of knew, all right,
something's not right, because they were just going to let
us go. A couple hours go by, and then a
neuro team came in and sure enough they said they
saw a brain mass, a tumor the size of a
lemon oscar son ofm I. The neurosurgeon that came in
consulted with me. He had just actually ironically started the
(14:44):
local hospital two days prior he came from offit. So
we stayed locally and had that first initial surgery there.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Okay, so let's seek a break. Okay, I think, well
I need a break here, so we're going to take
a break. If you We'll be right back with Stephanie
who the mom, and Kendall the daughter, and I want
to hear more about it because I think it's our
job to share the good and the bad and the
ugly with the world because somebody else out there may
(15:16):
be in a situation that they'll remember, oh I heard
this on the radio two three years ago, and they
can hopefully say save a situation. So we'll be right
back everybody, our Veterans Voice Radio.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
I'm doctor Tim. I needus at Treasure Coast Dermatology. At
Treasure Coast Dermatology, we believe in the prevention and early
detection of skin cancer. We are medical doctors and we
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(15:51):
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Meet Henry Bach, patient of Florida I Institute.
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It could almost says like being born all over again.
When I coming here is like coming home. Everyone's so
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Are you ready to experience truly exceptional patient care?
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Florida I Institute.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Hey, did you hear the latest about our Florida High Woman?
Speaker 9 (16:36):
No?
Speaker 8 (16:36):
What?
Speaker 6 (16:36):
There's a new High Woman art gallery and Bero Beach
Really where eighteen seventy two Commerce Avenue?
Speaker 7 (16:43):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
When's it open?
Speaker 6 (16:44):
Seven days a week? Called ninety five four five five
seven six two two.
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Six for an appointment any time, No kidding, Just call
for your appointment nine five four five five seven six
two two six and then go to eighteen seventy two
Commerce Avenue.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
Oh that's good news. A member of the Itex trading community.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Your I text dollars are welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And welcome back to our Veteran Zoys radio showing Ralph Nathan.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I'll go hello, We're talking to Stephanie and Kendall. Stephanie
the mom, Kendall the brains and the beauty behind it.
Literally what the show is all about. We're talking about glioblastoma,
which is a form of brain cancer. I'd never heard
of it before Patty Patrick Mcallison brought it to my
(17:31):
attention and I had to put Kendall and Stephanie on
the air because our job as our host of no
matter what the genre or subject is of our radio
shows or podcasts or TV shows, our job is to teach.
But nobody wants a lecture. They want stories. And literally,
(17:52):
I got two absolutely wonderful people here sharing their story.
It's sometimes a little difficult to share of these stories,
and I understand that, and that's why we took the break,
just so you know, and so they're sharing with you.
Stephanie's telling before the break told us about the beginning
of what without even getting to the climax of recognition
(18:17):
that it was gleo blastoma. So Stephanie, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
What I was trying to say is obviously you have
to advocate for yourself. They were just going to release him,
and so we ended up doing sane and having the
sort of the craniotomy locally, he and the craniotomy, so
he had his brain surgery.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Originally he was actually.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Diagnosed the old GEODENDROOMA, which is a grade too for
brain cancer.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
The graded.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So he ended up after that surgery he couldn't walk,
he couldn't speak. He ended up having to go to
a rehab for five months. So for five months I
had worked around the corner at the Department of Health
like I had mentioned as a nurse and the TV area.
So I would come at lunch and help him out
and give him bass and then afterwards I would pick
(19:06):
her up from daycare because at the time she was
only seven months old, and then we would go back
and spend as much time as we could. So from
seven months old, she's kind of been already exposed to
the whole. Doctors and nurses.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Pt all of that.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
So he was released five months later, and I would
say we probably lived back a normal life, back to
normal you could say, left side weakness.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We kind of dealt with that.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
But then his seizure started increasing in two thousand and
the end of twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Fifteen, and then moved the tumor.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
They did.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
They removed the tumor. It was it was a grade too.
At the time, we did not have radiation and chemo.
They said we didn't need it. Our life kind of
went back to normal. He was one of the managers
at Stanley Steamer. I was a Department of Health nurse.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
We actually Kendall and Mark had just like normal. Everything
was back to normal. And like I said, in twenty sixteen,
his behavior started becoming erratic. The seizure started increasing, and
at that time, like we did, stay local for everything.
They just kept giving him anti seizure meds. It was
(20:17):
very hot, and I had great insurance. I had state
government insurance, so there's no reason for all for me
not to go anywhere else. I ended up actually picking
up art, just packing up myself and we headed Tom Moffitt.
I didn't have an appointment in Tampa. I had done
some research and they were third in the nation. I
didn't have an appointment. I showed up like on a Wednesday,
(20:39):
and I went into the office and I said, something's
going on with my husband. They ended up the next day.
They got us in and they did an amrine. Sure enough,
he had a reoccurrence.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
So well he's there.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Well, yeah, so his tumor had come back. That's what
I was going to ask. So it grew back.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
Yeah, and they have a high risk anytime you have
I know a lot of people when they start doing
the research if you have a grade one or I'm
not trying to scare the others, but yeah, it is
a It can happen if it.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Better be prepared and shocked. Okay, let me ask you
a question. I'm not medically oriented. Cindy is much more
than I am. But they you said that he did
not have chemo and radiation the first time. Know would
he would he have not had additional recurrences had they
(21:26):
done performed the radiation of chemo or You'll never know.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Well, you'll never know because that's where the story kind
of there's a whole bunch to this.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Okay, but I will say I had well, I had that.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Tumor later on retested and later on it showed that
it did have astrocytoma, which was.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
A grade three.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
But back to back to twenty sixteen. He so within
three days he was back on the table and he
had a wake craniotomy.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
What's that means?
Speaker 5 (21:59):
So he was a wake while they did brain surgery.
And they do that because they're able to like do
you can move? They ask you to move and to
make sure his because the first time, like I said,
he couldn't move the left side.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It was like kind on the stroke.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
And honestly, we were discharged three days later and it
we just thought, okay, it was just had a recurrence.
It's it's a low grade. But when we got the
pathology results, it was not.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
It was a glia blastoma, which is a grade four.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Wow, grete four is not No, that's what you want.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
No, it's usually it's twelve to twenty four months as
the average lifespan.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
It's a death sentence.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Everybody just want to tell you, we're not trying to
scare you here. You know, if we tell you ahead
of time, don't get bit by a snake. But in
case you do, here's what to recognize, and here's what
you need to do with our purpose here is to
share with you their experience. Here's a wife and a
mother and a nurse that's telling you what they've gone through.
(23:00):
So when you recognize or you hear some of these symptoms,
don't go. Don't let somebody pooh pooh, don't let somebody
say don't worry about it or whatever. There's always something
more to it, even if you need that second opinion
or second location opinion. Pursue it well.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
With social media. Word got out.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
I shared our experience that he now had grade four
and this is where the doors open.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I received a phone call from Leela. She was a sister.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Her brother had just passed four months prior with the
same diagnosis leah blastoma. Sure enough, they lived on the
same street as children. Oh my, so they were childhood friends.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
And as we kept as the then I would receive
another phone call and from Josh. He actually he called
me himself. He was diagnosed with astrocytoma three and he
lived the road next over. So now you have now
I forgot if I told you, but Gleo is one
out of three hundred thousand, get this.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
It's very rare.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
So now you have three brain cancer, all childhood friends.
And you would think, okay, this has been since two
thousand and twelve, but I just recently received a phone
call July fourth, her husband was diagnosed with old geodendriema,
which is what my husband was diagnosed with.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Okay, we're going to need to take the halftime break.
We have four breaks, three breaks. This is the middle.
We'll be right back, everybody. I'm kind of tearing up.
Sorry about that, everybody, but it's a sad but beautiful
story because we're learning something from it. We'll be right back.
Our Veterans Voice Radio.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
It all sounds
Speaker 7 (25:17):
You're a
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