I AM HealingStrong
Discover how to transform the most challenging chapter of your life with Jim Mann's inspiring podcast. As a stage 4 cancer survivor, Jim interviews famous musical artists like Tasha Layton, Ellie Holcomb, Katy Nichole, and Tim Timmons, as well as health influencers who beat incurable diseases like depression and addiction. Through humor and a renewed sense of purpose, guests courageously share their stories of overcoming the toughest times and learning to trust God. Tune in to Jim's powerful podcast to find hope and inspiration.
I AM HealingStrong
94: Colon Cancer & Conventional Treatments to Whole Food Healing | Alison Sabino
A HealingStrong Group Leader, Alison Sabino, shares her painful yet inspiring journey through cancer treatment and holistic healing. Ali opens up about her chemotherapy side effects, and the profound and pivotal moment she decided to stop traditional treatment. It will bring tears to your eyes.
Ali begins by sharing waking up on her 50th birthday, only to be rushed to the emergency room with excruciating abdominal pain. Ali recalls the shock when she received her cancer diagnosis, because she mentions not having any family history of colon cancer and how she led an active lifestyle.
Ali's story is a testament to the power of faith and holistic approaches. Ali went all in by adopting a whole food, plant-based raw diet and juicing, which brought significant improvements to her health in just ten days. With unwavering support from her husband, who embraced these lifestyle changes alongside her, Ali emphasizes the importance of kindness, compassion, and a strong will to live. We pray this episode blessed you and encourages you to continue your healing journey, and to get connected to a community who will walk alongside you. HealingStrong, a non-profit organization offers just that. We support individuals walking through a cancer diagnosis or chronic illness and provide resources for those facing such illnesses.
Contact Alison at:
kasabino@yahoo.com
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
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And at this point I still was just marching the line of Western medicine. This is what we do. So it was, you know. I had to get a port catheter put in and I had my first chemotherapy on August the 21st. It was horrible. I had the worst side effects that you can imagine. I was young, I was healthy, I was active, so I thought I had that on my side going into the chemotherapy. But, boy, it took me off my feet. And the next one I had two. So I had two of the 12 prescribed. The next one was on September the 11th, which happened to be mine and my husband's 24th wedding anniversary.
Speaker 1:So first it was my birthday and then it was my anniversary. So after that round of chemotherapy it was the symptoms were even worse and I woke up I think the next day. It was either September the 12th or the 13th, I'm not sure exactly what day, jim, but I told my husband. I said I don't want to do this anymore. It's going to kill me. And he like the relief, the tears, like he was so thankful because he said I think it's going to kill you too.
Speaker 2:He was so thankful because he said I think it's going to kill you too. You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization, the number one network of holistic cancer support groups in the world. Each week we bring you stories of hope, real stories that will encourage you as you navigate your way on your own journey to health. Now here's your host stage four cancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3:Happy to come and share another story from another person who was on a cancer journey and overcame this cancer. Her name is Allie Sabino. How are you doing, Allie?
Speaker 1:I'm doing great, Jim. How are you?
Speaker 3:Oh, I am splendid. Thanks for asking. You're there in Las Vegas. Yep, have you always been there?
Speaker 1:Nope, we are little nomads. My husband and I we actually met and married in Florida back in 1999, so it's been a while. And then we went from Florida to New new jersey, which is where he's from, for a little bit of a, and then we moved out to california and then to las vegas wow we've been here for nine years nine years.
Speaker 3:What part of florida uh, florida keys oh marathon yep so you go to the extremes yep we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1:You might as well do it extremely.
Speaker 3:That's right. Is he in the military or why?
Speaker 1:is he?
Speaker 3:No, neither one of us are military. No, we just Running from the law.
Speaker 1:I know Sometimes I feel like that, but no, we're not that spontaneous to out beat the law, that's good. We just go where there's opportunities.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that, I love the move. I don't like the moving process, but I like going somewhere and kind of starting over, so to speak. Yeah, because I don't have any friends anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1:We have friends all over now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I noticed most of my close friends, in fact, all of my close friends. They all move to other states.
Speaker 2:I'm like what did I say?
Speaker 3:But it gives me places to visit. That's right. They don't chase me off, so they might still like me.
Speaker 1:That's what my family always said is that if I keep moving, they always have a place new to visit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, who vacations in Vegas? You know?
Speaker 1:Not many.
Speaker 3:Wow, you kind of stay away from downtown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we hardly ever go. Locals don't go to the strip. Yeah, it's crazy, you know when family comes in town you're like, oh, we got to do the trip to the strip.
Speaker 3:And it's a process.
Speaker 1:It's just, you know, pack your patience.
Speaker 3:And they're probably always making a movie there, like so many movies, have that strip on there. Yeah yep so.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Even in my little town they make movies. I've had, you know, george Clooney has been here making movies and little Anderson, south Carolina. It's really crazy. It's awesome. Just thought I'd share that.
Speaker 1:Put you on the map.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he came to meet me. I think is what it was. Yeah, probably I'm sure, so your diagnosis was rather recent. It's not like 20 years ago or anything.
Speaker 1:Tell us what happened. So it was actually the early morning of my 50th birthday, july, the 11th 2023. I woke up and I rolled over and I told my husband I said you have to take me to the emergency room and he said he did not say anything, he just got up and he got dressed. So I must have had a look on my face that meant I meant business. So, uh off, we went the hospital's literally like seven minutes down the road, and there was no one there. I was the only person in the waiting room, which was uh weird, I thought I always think hospitals are supposed to be busy and uh bustling, but uh, that morning it wasn.
Speaker 1:They got me right in within five minutes. They had me all hooked up to my saline bag and given me some fluids, and then the on-call ER doctor ordered a CAT scan. I was having abdominal pains.
Speaker 3:She ordered a CAT scan with contrast pains.
Speaker 1:She ordered a CAT scan with contrast and so I got there around 6 am and by 7.05, I had the results. I had an apple core lesion in my descending colon, so they admitted me, and that's where my journey started. The ironic thing is that I hadn't had any symptoms, so it was a bit of a surprise.
Speaker 3:It was just a birthday present, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, happy birthday.
Speaker 3:So you were healthy all your life pretty much.
Speaker 1:Yep, healthy, active. No, you know, my husband and I own a small business out here that we work in. It's a very physical job. We're outside in the heat and in the cool, in the wind. I, you know, I was just living, we were living our best life and no symptoms at all, no family history of colon cancer. I had had some prior medical testing done back when I was 42, 43 ish Because I was having some, you know, you know, constipation, diarrhea, every now, you know, just every now and again Nothing, it was ruled as IBS gluten intolerance. After all these tests, I asked I even asked my doctor at the time for a colonoscopy and insurance wouldn't cover it because of my age and no family history and no symptoms of colon cancer.
Speaker 3:I wasn't showing any symptoms.
Speaker 1:So.
Speaker 3:You were too young, you were just a puppy.
Speaker 1:Yes, although now they've moved the testing age to 45. Fun.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's a great time. I remember my first one.
Speaker 1:I've had a couple now. So yeah, Not so much fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So now did you eat? Eat right? Or were you like a health nut as far as eating, or?
Speaker 1:I wasn't. I wouldn't say it wasn't like a health nut. I tried to make good choices. We're not big fast food people. Um, I did have probably a diet Coke problem, Not probably. I did have a diet Coke problem. Um, I would have probably considered myself a sugarholic. I like to eat my candy, but I ate salads for dinner. And you know I was a meat eater. Steaks on the grill, burgers, chicken that's not red meat, but still. But I didn't, I wasn't a McDonald's girl. I didn't do that. Yeah, but I didn't. I wasn't a McDonald's girl, I didn't do that stuff.
Speaker 1:But I didn't always choose healthy.
Speaker 3:Semi good. Yeah, better than most, because most people do like the fast food. Yeah, just for the convenience itself. Yeah, I just can't stomach it anymore. You know, the more I think about it, the more like oh. Me neither why did I ever eat that? Every once in a while when I'm starving, I remember wanting a quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's. It always hit the spot when I was starving and I was always starving, but I haven't had one for probably a decade now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's probably been that long for me that I've had McDonald's or Taco Bell. Um, you know, there was uh a place out here called um In-N-Out Burger. That I maybe maybe is a step above McDonald's, maybe two steps, but we would go there occasionally, not very often. Five guys, we would have a burger from five guys every now and again, but not we weren't weekly or daily. Uh, fast food people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we just got an In-N-Out burger. It opened last week in our town and I'm like I'm not going there.
Speaker 1:Don't do it.
Speaker 3:I'm the only person probably in my town that won't go there, but still Right. Don't don't do it. I'm a leader, that's why. So what did the doctor tell you to do? Did they set you up on a plan, on a protocol?
Speaker 1:So I had to have emergency surgery. I had a full bowel blockage, so it was very fast I got admitted and they wanted to do a surgery ASAP. And then my husband at the time was also talking to his cousin who was in New York. She lived in New York but she was an ER doctor, so he was trying to ask her questions that we needed to be asking on my end because things were just moving way too fast, Like they wanted to take me into surgery but they hadn't even consulted with a GI doctor yet. So things like that weren't happening at at the pace that we wanted. So we kind of took a timeout for a few minutes and the surgeon came and talked to me and he basically told me that they were taking me into surgery and that I was going to come out with either a temporary or a permanent bag. And he told me right then and there that it was cancer. I mean, it was, it ended up being cancer. But I was really upset because how did he know?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They hadn't been in there. There was no biopsy, that nothing had, you know, other than a CAT scan with it showing something inside of me. You know, other than a CAT scan with it showing something inside of me. So that was upsetting. But he was just one surgeon on the surgery team and he was not the surgeon who actually ended up performing my procedure. I feel like and I'll get into this in a little bit longer or more detail but I feel like the moment that I walked into that hospital, god was with me. He was clearing ways for me, he was putting people in my path that I needed to be put in my path and I give him, like all the glory, for everything that happened to me from the moment that I was admitted until today.
Speaker 1:He gets it all. He saved my life.
Speaker 3:So were you in the mindset, like most of us, that you know you pretty much trusted the doctors cause he had a lab coat or Yep yeah.
Speaker 1:I was a very you know, very much he was, he was the authority he knows best, but I didn't like the way he was approaching it. So you know, I, I guess I've always kind of been a person who, if it. So you know, I, I guess I've always kind of been a person who, um, if I didn't like what one person was saying, I would find somebody else who would maybe see things or help me understand things my way, so or not my way, but just maybe explain things better. So I was understanding, uh, the first doctor was not doing that, he was just very matter of fact this is what we're going to do.
Speaker 1:The GI doctor finally got involved and said you was just very matter of fact, this is what we're going to do. The GI doctor finally got involved and said you know, let's slow down, she is not at risk right now. She is not going to rupture no-transcript sigmoid colectomy after the stents put in so we can clean her out and see what we're really dealing with. So that was what my husband's cousin was telling us, that we needed a gi doctor involved at that time and thank thank god again it happened the way, uh, we were hoping that it would.
Speaker 1:So that was the first move. They put me into surgery and a stent was placed yeah, of course I don't want to come across.
Speaker 3:I probably should explain it more to people listening. But I mean, we're not bashing doctors, of course, but doctors are people. They're highly intelligent, you know, intellectually, and some of them just have good bedside manner and some of them do not, and they're like pretty much, just tell you a few things in big words and they move on Like just accept what I have to say. It's a personality thing, of course.
Speaker 1:I agree 100 percent. My surgeon. I feel like she was an angel put on earth and she walked beside me and she is fantastic. I love her and I will be forever grateful for her. And my oncologist he another angel put in my path. I will be forever grateful for him.
Speaker 3:Like again, just really really great human beings right and they were my doctors wow, yeah, so all this was, uh, about a year ago, that's yeah pretty recent yep.
Speaker 1:After my stint was placed, they cleaned me out for a 24-hour period and then I was gone. I was taken into surgery. They, they cleaned me out for a 24-hour period and then I was taken into surgery. They took me into my main surgery.
Speaker 1:She told my husband and I again that I may or may not come out with a bag, a temporary or a permanent colostomy bag. But her hopes was that I would not. But it was, you know, until she got in there she couldn't tell. She told my husband it would be about a three to four hour procedure, which ended up being six. And so they did a robotic assisted sigmoid colectomy and they took seven inches of my colon. And she told my husband I was still under anesthesia at this time, but she told my husband I came out without a bag and with that temporary or permanent she got me back together completely. So that was miracle number one. Miracle number two was she told my husband that in a surgery like this she is trained and required to take 12 lymph notes. Something in her told her to keep taking them and she took 34. Of those 34, one came back positive, and so my thing is that had she not taken that one, or kept going, kept going. Would she have missed it and would they have misstaged me?
Speaker 3:Hmm, 34, that's a lot.
Speaker 1:Again, I just think it was a divine intervention at that point.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it's a lot. I mean 34 lymph nodes, that's a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's a lot. I mean 34 lymph nodes, that's a lot. Yeah, did that take you?
Speaker 1:a while to recover from the lymph nodes. I think I'm still recovering from that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I do my lymphatic massages and my dry brushing every day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, I remember I had mine taken like in the back of my neck. Yeah, my lymph nodes, two of them were like under my skull, so they had to like kind of dig in there. It sounds kind of weird, but those took forever to heal and I thought, man, they just kept leaking and like oh, so gross.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:I remember at a I don't know if I should put this in or not but I remember sitting in a restaurant eating with a friend and I'm thinking, oh, what is that smell it's like? Is there like rotten food or something? And then I felt my neck being wet and that's what that horrible odor was coming out of my neck, I thought, oh my gosh, I hope he didn't smell that.
Speaker 1:It's crazy now that you I mean I learned so much about our lymph system since my forgery and the importance of keeping that fluid moving. Yeah, Because it's a waste system Like get it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's very unpleasant, so we do want to get it out, but yeah, yes, yes, it's like God knew what he was doing when he designed us.
Speaker 1:Isn't that weird?
Speaker 3:it was so weird like and he didn't have youtube back then to learn these things nope, all right, so let's go on with this after. Sorry, I had to get gross there for a while, but just I just remember that it came back to me, I know eventually. Eventually, you came across Chris Wark's program. How did you find out about that?
Speaker 1:So after I was released from the hospital, I met my oncologist on August the 3rd and he went over the prescribed or the recommended treatment for my type of cancer. That's when I found out my staging. So it was stage 3B adrenocarcinoma of cancer. That's when I found out my staging. So it was a stage three B uh adrenal carcinoma, colon cancer, and a preferred treatment was full Fox six. And at this point I still was just marching the line of Western medicine. This is what we do. So, um, it was.
Speaker 1:You know, I had to get a port catheter put in and I had my first chemotherapy on August the 21st to put in. And I had my first chemotherapy on August the 21st. It was horrible. I had the worst side effects that you can imagine. I was young, I was healthy, I was active, so I thought I had that on my side going into the chemotherapy. But, boy, it took me off my feet. And the next one I had two. So I had two of the 12 prescribed. The next one was on September the 11th, which happened to be mine and my husband's 24th wedding anniversary. So I had two of the 12 prescribed. The next one was on September the 11th, which happened to be mine and my husband's 24th wedding anniversary.
Speaker 1:So first, it was my birthday and then it was my anniversary. So after that round of chemotherapy the symptoms were even worse and I woke up I think the next day. It was either September the 12th or the 13th I'm not sure exactly what day, jim but I told my husband. I said I don't want to do this anymore. Fall through the 13th. I'm not sure exactly what age him, but I told my husband I said I don't want to do this anymore, it's going to kill me.
Speaker 1:And he like the relief, the tears, like he was so thankful because he said I think it's going to kill you too. Yeah, sorry, this gets me a little bit emotional, it's all right, um, and then on. So we started, started looking into options, like there has to be something else out there, and we came across this lady she is, she was an entrepreneur that we followed, jesse Lee Ward. She actually passed away. She was this, this gigantic personality, like she just was. I mean to know her, was to love her. She just had so much energy and she was fighting cancer herself and she was just screaming crispy cancer, crispy cancer.
Speaker 1:And so my husband came running in the room and he goes we got to look up crispy cancer, crispy cancer. I'm like crispy cancer. And so I pulled out my phone. I'm like do you mean crispy cancer? He's like, yeah, yeah, I think that's what she was saying. And that's how it was September the 15th, and that's the day we watched the first module and at the end of that 45 minutes, we were sold and we bought the program and we dove in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yep, and you went head first, didn't you?
Speaker 1:October 1st I started and I went 100% all in Wow, no, looking back.
Speaker 3:So you're telling me you wanted to live.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Yep. Which is something that Chris pushes. You know you gotta want to live in order to. You know, do this because it's not like. Eh, I'll do a little bit of it, that's not going to do it.
Speaker 1:When he says, I think he says like it's 100% as easy, 99% as hard. I was 100%, all in. We went back to my oncologist on September the 22nd and I told him that I didn't want to do any more chemotherapy. He said take two weeks and think about it. And we already had it made of our mind. But we said okay and we went back to him, uh, two weeks later and, uh, I had started the program in that timeframe. So I started on October the 1st. We went back to see him on October the 10th. At that point we had Chris's 20 questions for the oncologist and that we had picked out about five of those questions to ask him and made them unique to me and asked him and he was very honest with with us. Um, one of them I asked was the curative and palpatives and he said it's 50 50. And I'm like I don't really like those odds.
Speaker 1:Um so we told him what I was doing and he was supportive and said he would stay on with me for blood work and scan, but that that's all he could do. He can't. He's like I can't talk to you about carrots.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Quite often their hands are tied anyway. I mean obviously.
Speaker 1:But my blood work that I had had done on September the 20th, versus the blood work that he ordered on October the 10th were a night and day Like in just those 10 days of switching my diet to 100% whole food, plant-based raw diet. And juicing the change in my blood work was he was blown away.
Speaker 3:He was kind of on board. He just couldn't officially be on board, right.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:He even started drinking smoothies during this time, during this time of my visit, he told me well, turmeric and ginger and carrots, yeah yeah, yep, and your husband, is he kind of on the diet or?
Speaker 1:he's made a lot of changes yeah yeah, he's made a lot of changes. He's changed like to oat milk or to almond milk. He eats more like if I'm making a salad, he'll eat a salad, if I'm making a baked potato, he'll have a baked potato. He's still a meat eater. Doesn't eat it as often. I don't want to take that away from him. I try to buy good, organic meat.
Speaker 3:Do you eat the big salad that Chris has? It takes me an hour and a half to eat.
Speaker 1:Big salads, lots of fruit, lots of vegetables, I get all the time. You eat fruit? Yep, I eat fruit.
Speaker 3:But it's sugar. But it's.
Speaker 1:God's sugar.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:It's a little different. A little different yeah.
Speaker 3:And I know it's different. Well, I don't know anything, but I'm assuming it's different. If you're like diabetic, you know you want to. You know, not eat the high sugar fruit maybe the berries, the blackberries and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:But again, I'm no doctor. But I do have a cousin and this just happened. Well, in January, his A1c 12.3 and he's scared to death of needles. He was 59 and he's now 60 since this time, but he's scared, so scared of needles. It motivated him. We sent him a book or told him actually, uh, about a doctor who says she can reverse your diabetes just with your diet. And so he just. He's Italian, so he eats a lot of pastas and breads and stuff. But he threw all that aside and went total vegan and he is now, went back to the doctors, didn't do any kind of medication, supplements or anything like that. He just changed the diet and walked every day and it's down to 5.7, was normal, it worked, yeah, and he, he just cut out meat. I don't know he's gonna add it a little now that he's normal and see what it does, but but he's lost 40 pounds too, so that's a good thing I lost a bunch of weight and I wasn't trying to, but just part of it, right, your body just changes.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I'm a skinny guy and I lost 30 pounds just from stopping sugar.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Now I'm just a skinnier guy.
Speaker 1:Well, you're a healthier guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's for sure, yeah. So what are you doing now? Are you still on the same diet? Because it's only been less than a year now since you did that.
Speaker 1:Yep, so I am still doing the diet. I have incorporated some cooked vegetables into my life and it's funny because before all this happened, I would not eat onion cooked or raw Gross. I would not eat avocado, mushy green, yuck Peppers, bell peppers no way was I ever eating those and now I crave them.
Speaker 1:I crave all of those things so it's funny that as I detox this, you know out of me and started putting healthy into me what my body knew I needed. Um, but yeah, so I still eat whole food, plant-based. I just have some more cooked options into my life. I make the soup that I love. It's just, it's so good.
Speaker 3:Really.
Speaker 1:It's well, broth soup and with potatoes and carrots and celery and oregano. It's just so good, I crave it.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah. There's only one food on the planet that I've known of that I don't like, and that's a lima bean. I don't know why I have to hold on to that. I mean, I can learn to love it, but I want to hold on to something my mother always used to put that in vegetable soup. I never liked vegetable soup as a kid because lima beans were in there, and I can always taste them.
Speaker 1:I'm not a fan of lima beans either. Yes, you're right.
Speaker 3:I knew I liked something about you, my mother would just eat bowls full of it. That's just wrong, oh well, yeah, that would be wrong. Yeah, so obviously, and this is a common thread, of course people hear about Healing Strong through Chris' work, and that's how it happened to you, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you know, soon after I found crispy cancer in September, you know, within by the end of that month, I had heard about Healing Strong and I started researching because I'm like this is exactly what I was looking for A faith-based group of people who understand what I'm going through and support the decision I've made to do this holistically versus conventional treatment.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And so when I went on the Healing Strong website, typed in my zip code, there was no Las Vegas, las Vegas chapters. I'm like I live in a city of 2.2 million people and there's not one of these groups in the city crazy and it's so far outside of my wheelhouse that I'm like I can't start a group, no way. So I did it. I prayed, I prayed and prayed, and prayed, and prayed and finally, on November, the, I think, 15th I woke up and Healing Strong was the first thing I thought of.
Speaker 1:And I think God placed it on my heart to start a group, and so I did.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so you do that in person. Is it in person, okay?
Speaker 1:Right now we're in person. We meet the first Sunday of the month at one of the libraries here in Clark County. It's a small group still but it's growing and I just ask God to send the people that he needs to send to us. I don't want to pray for people to get cancer to come to that group. Like it's a weird, like I just want him to send the people who need it, whether it's cancer or whatever ever other disease or preventative measures they're taking, just to send those people our way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not good to pray for people to have cancer, but there are so many people out there unfortunately with cancer already, so just pray that those people find their way. I know my group. I've been doing this for a couple of years now and it's never really gotten past eight. It changes over. You get people come in and they just love it, and then all of a sudden you won't see them anymore. But yet you get new people coming in. So I have to learn names. We're starting over the curriculum all the time. Yep, you know, they just kind of filter through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're a group of five, including myself right now, but I have, I think, two more people coming this coming Sunday.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We'll see if they show up. I have another one who can't. She wants to come, but she has to wait for her mother, who's a snowbird, to come back to watch her seven-year-old son.
Speaker 3:Yes, are you like me where you're praying for someone to come and co-lead or take over? Yes, very much so. Me too. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I have to say the people that I've met in this group are just amazing people. Like God could not have picked better people to put in my path. Like they're just incredible human beings.
Speaker 3:Now, what would you say? You know I say this a lot in podcasts, but you know there are people listening for the first time. Perhaps they just got a diagnosis and they're nervous, they're scared. I mean, you know the feeling, we all know that feeling, unfortunately. What would you say to them to encourage them?
Speaker 1:Slow down, Take a breath. You have time. I feel like with my story, everything was being rushed. I felt like I was being rushed through everything and I didn't have a chance to think about other options.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:There's other ways. If you want to do chemo and radiation or whatever they're recommending, do that. If you're not sure, don't you have time? You have time to research some things.
Speaker 3:Yes, good advice. It's very common advice Slow down because you do want to speed up like oh, I'm going to die tomorrow. I got to do everything, yeah, and of course lots of doctors make you feel that way.
Speaker 1:I think that society is like that we were raised with oh my gosh, you have cancer. It's going to kill you, and that's not the case Most of the time. I know there is some really fast-moving cancers that are horrible, but most of the time you have a minute to breathe. And to get your head wrapped around this diagnosis. It's shattering. I could not comprehend what was happening. So when I told my husband I didn't want to do, chemo anymore and we were able to catch a breath.
Speaker 3:It helps Now describe your life before cancer and then after cancer. It's always an interesting thing for me what's the difference?
Speaker 1:So before cancer I was like I said, we were living our best life. We lived in Las Vegas, we loved to go out to nice dinners and have a glass or two of wine. We don't have children, so it was really just my husband and I, you know, we just worked and lived and whatever we wanted we did. We were both Christians, but I would say we were living a lukewarm Christian life, a foot in the world and a foot right with him. And after diagnosis I would say that we are, god, is our light, he is the one he is showing us the way. If we're making big moves, we're asking him first. He's just. He's given me this second chance and I know that it was him and he will forever get my glory and I will tell everyone. I know that he saved my life.
Speaker 3:Excellent. Your priorities change. You're more determined on hey, I have a purpose here. Obviously, god didn't take me out, so I still have something I'm supposed to be doing. That's how I think. Maybe I need to be doing something.
Speaker 1:That's what I ask my husband every day. I think I'm supposed to be doing something. He's like you are. You're sharing your story with whoever will listen. That's all that I've asked is for God to get the people in front of me that he needs me to share my story with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sometimes we try to make things to be bigger and better and whatever. We just need to get busy for God. But really we just need to be open and recognize when God brings an opportunity, whether it's just one person to talk to or you know a few people. Sometimes it might be a big thing, but for the most part it's just everyday experiences coming across people, because everybody's going through some kind of a journey. Nobody's got their life together, even though we we go through life thinking they don't have any issues, you know. But everyone has issues. Everyone's got problems that they're going through and everyone would love to talk to somebody about it.
Speaker 1:I found out I think that you're right. I think that everyone has problems, whether it's medical or, you know, physical, whatever. There's problems and as humans, we're supposed to be compassionate and extend kindness.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. If we want to be like Jesus, we stop for that one person and just talk to them like they're the only person in the room, which is hard to do because we always want to tell people what we're going through.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:But we need to figure out what people are going through and what they need.
Speaker 1:Right how we can help them, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and sometimes helping them is sharing our story, of course. So man. I'm glad I got life figured out. Took me forever.
Speaker 1:A little bit more enjoyable, doesn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:When you give it back to God? It does, it just makes things easier.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you don't have to worry about the small things, they're just small things. I found out he's kind of capable, yep, oh well. Well, allie, I really appreciate you taking the time out and sharing your story and I'm sure people are going to be encouraged by it, and maybe a few people will be like I do need to calm down and just let God speak to me, speak into my life Calm down, yep. Yeah, that's when we learn. Things is when we're going through valleys, not when everything's going fine.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I've had enough valleys, so I should be brilliant.
Speaker 1:Windsor's a big gallon too, so yeah, yes, it is. It's life-changing. It's changed me for the better.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I know that that sounds weird.
Speaker 3:No, no, I totally get that. Well, how can people get a hold of you?
Speaker 1:Just go to the website and look up Vegas Boots. Healingstronglasvegas1 at gmailcom is the email address, or they can go right through the Healing Strong website. And it's in Las Vegas. I'm the only one here.
Speaker 3:Well, next time I'm in Vegas which has been never so far I'll stop by.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll be here.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thanks, jim. You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization. We hope you found encouragement in this episode, as well as the confidence to take control of your healing journey, knowing that God will guide you on this path. Healing Strong is a non-profit organization whose mission is to connect, support and educate individuals facing cancer and other diseases through strategies that help to rebuild the body, renew the soul and refresh the spirit.
Speaker 2:It costs nothing to be a part of a local or online group. You can do that by going to our website at healingstrongorg and finding a group near you or an online group, or start your own, your choice. While you're there, take a look around at all the free resources. Though the resources and groups are free, we encourage you to join our membership program at $25 or $75 a month. This helps us to be able to reach more people with hope and encouragement, and that also comes with some extra perks as well. So check it out. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a five-star rating, leave an encouraging comment and help us spread the word. We'll see you next week with another story on the I Am Healing Strong podcast.
