a woman by the name of Brene brown burn
a brown once made the statement when
we’re going through life’s biggest
challenges life’s biggest struggles the
two most powerful words in the world are
me to me to tell you guys a little story
when I was 26 years old a couple years
out of college about like most 26 year
olds trying to figure out my career that
finished with school just live in life
going on dates hanging out with friends
nothing really out of the ordinary I was
in Ann Arbor Michigan on a Saturday
night shooting pool three guys and three
girls having fun hanging out typical
Saturday night all of a sudden suddenly
the worst pain of my life the worst pain
of my life flips on like a light switch
what it felt like
is someone literally took a knife and
violently stabbed me
directly in the left testicle again I’m
playing pool I have no idea what’s going
on in my body I dropped the pool stick
out of my hands I doubled over in vain
my friends looked at me and said Johnny
you can’t even stand up you’re in pain
we’ll pick you up and carry to the car
and drive you’re the hospital and I
looked at my friends that’s a pretty
ignorant 26 year old and said I’m fine
guys I’ll figure this out it’s Saturday
night don’t worry you guys have fun I
don’t want to ruin Saturday night for
you and what I did very stupid but it’s
the truth I literally started waddling
like this out of the bar and I wanted
all the way down the street people were
staring at me and I wattle all the way
back to my car I finally found my car
and I open the car doors and I swing my
legs up and in only to realize that my
legs are locked in this position I
literally can’t reach the pedals I
such pain I’m almost crying in pain and
I’m alone I’m thinking what do I do yeah
drive the only thing I can do is I’ve
actually start to push on my quads
trying to get my legs down to reach the
pedals and minutes go by and I finally
get my legs down and I can try the car
and see grab the steering wheel
not long after I’m in the hospital and
I’ve got a doctor looking at me in the
eye saying really sorry kid you’re in
your 20s this is not what I want to tell
you but you have advanced cancer and as
we all know those words immediately your
life changes so quickly what I found
myself was immediately in treatment my
cancer had started in my left testicle
and spread up into the pelvis abdomen
behind the kidneys almost to the lungs
and immediately went into surgery they
had to cut the left testicle out that
was the first step the second step I had
the bank’s sperm because most of us are
going to be sterile and unable to have
our own children and the third step I
had a surgical implant called a port
that was surgically implanted into the
side of my arm and a catheter line ran
through the vein all the way to my heart
and then they sewed it up and that was
the access port for chemo every day and
my chemo therapies were in general
Monday through Friday every day for
about eight hours a day of chemo crazy
side effects on chemo like numbness in
your fingertips and your toes really
affects your capillaries the chemo you
would have mouth sores in my throat
sometimes the size of my pinky nail
obviously fatigue sometimes you throw up
you’re sick you’re tired there’s a lot
of mental and physical challenges that
come along with chemo but I was very
lucky I was able to get through that I
scanned me after about six months of
chemotherapy everything looked clear and
at that point mentally and physically
I’m really knocked down
but I’m slowly starting to build back up
and about a year later at 28 years old I
did a checkup cat scan and what I had
was recurrence which means the original
tumor comes back and it was a secular
cancer but this time for tumors behind
my kidney sort of near my spine so at
that point we had to go immediately into
surgery did an 11 inch vertical incision
through the abdomen pretty much from the
sternum down to the pubic bone human
body is amazing I rable to withstand
cuts surgeries like this they took all
my internal organs the liver the kidneys
the intestines the stomach completely
outside the body push them all the way
to the side to get to the tumors cut out
the four tumors
put all the organs right back in stitch
the stomach muscle and then about sixty
staples vertically up and down as you
might imagine I was not in the gym that
night it took a while to build back up
and slowly get stronger again but the
important part is when you’re all this
time in the Cancer Center going through
roughly two years of treatments you have
so much time to look around and see
where the cracks are in the system who
better to find ways to make the cancer
world and system better for those who
fallow then those who’ve already been
there those who’ve already lived through
it those who’ve already smelled it
seeing the sights read books there watch
movies there you literally live in the
hospital
for many of us for years right you can’t
help but see what goes on and as I’m
walking in many days on chemo with my V
Pole and walking down the hallway to the
bathroom leaving my room you can’t help
but look in the other rooms and see
who’s behind the glass and walk back to
your own room you see again who’s behind
the glass and you see so many people are
isolated and alone and scared
most people are all alone and scared and
anyone who works and
hospitals and with people with cancer is
aware that that’s the harsh reality that
that’s what happens so looking at how
people are isolated and alone and scared
with no one to talk to then also being a
young adult survivor who wanted to find
a way to give back and look for a crack
in the system I tried to put two things
together and what we created was a way
to inspire and to motivate and to help
the people who are fighting cancer by
creating a buddy system of support the
crack in the system the crack was
isolation the crack was why are people
alone
why don’t they know people like them why
are they so nervous going into this what
if they knew somebody who’s actually
already been there who’s beaten the same
form of cancer who wants to talk to them
help them motivate them encourage them
inspire them help them cross that finish
line because they already have how do we
create that solution how do we bridge
these two worlds so we created an
organization to solve this problem
it’s called emmerman angels there’s
about 8,000 volunteers who are cancer
survivors and family members who have
already been through a specific journey
with cancer and now they’re on the other
side and we’ve recruited them we’ve
trained that we brought them into our
system and then we find people who are
fighting cancer today maybe diagnosed
this morning and buddy the best
volunteer angel that we know is the most
similar with that person who’s brand new
so nobody has to fight cancer alone ever
it’s free these are volunteers they do
this because they care and they’re
grateful and they want to give back so
let me give you a couple examples of our
idea someone named Ally
for through this Burbank California
gets diagnosed with parotid gland cancer
usually not before usual overall inside
of her of her face she is worried about
surgery in this figure she’s worried
about the animal and fro unable to have
children she’s worried about finding job
different and confident enough to go on
a job interview all of these issues that
Emily asked we don’t run when another
girl has this New York we said about 30
years old when I was trying for I had
the exact same bottom line cancer and
get in a bet there and get lost my hair
and chemo but here’s a picture today I
will have you through this it’s a base
time they can email to context even they
can travel they would like to visit each
knowledge and inspiration to someone
like Emily in Burbank another example of
our one-on-one peer mentoring program is
when the spouse is is suffering through
the cancer experience sometimes we have
somebody who is fighting cancer who is
60 and we match them to a survivor but
their spouses this is the hardest thing
in the world
getting them to treatment emotionally
dealing with it myself helping them stay
positive understanding all this all
these ins and outs of life that are so
hard maybe making sure the kids are okay
all those challenges we got a hook that
spouse up the caregiver with another
caregiver that can say I’ve gone through
this as well my spouse went through the
same thing five years out of you I have
so many tips so much knowledge this
worked this doesn’t work I can help you
get through this trust me there’s a
finish line trust me
life will get better I’m gonna help you
stay positive when you need me
get there a third application of what we
do at everyman angels is a satyr one of
course but when someone loses someone to
cancer maybe it’s a child and a
ten-year-old child gets diagnosed named
Robbie with leukemia and after a
two-year battle ravi and michigan
doesn’t make it those parents are
isolated scared they don’t know even who
to talk to and their friend and family
network who really emphasizes who really
understands we need to get Robbie’s
family and parents matched with another
set of parents that may live in Miami
who say we lost a child to leukemia as
well at the same age 10 years ago we’ve
been there if thought our lives were
over we stuck out this marriage we got
through it here’s how we did it and year
one here’s how it wasn’t here – and
you’re four and you’re five these
parents essentially give a road map I
give a road map they’ve been there they
walk this walk they can say there’s hope
and there’s knowledge then you need to
know to get you to a better place and
what I’ve learned personally with people
in this situation what generally happens
is that they’ll say the thought of
getting 50% happy again after losing a
spouse or a child sounds like a dream an
unrealistic dream ten years later 15
years later what you hear from these
people is that they’re 95 percent happy
ninety-five percent when you’re in it
it’s unimaginable it’s completely
unattainable in our minds ten years
later twelve years later with a lot of
hard work and a lot of therapy and a lot
of emotional evolution these people say
they’re 95% happy that gives so much
hope so much strength and so much
encouragement to those families who are
just starting this journey
so in summary is burn a brown one said
we go through life struggles the two
most powerful words in the world are me
too this is what people need in the
cancer world they need to connect the
opportunity to connect with someone like
you who is farther along who can look
you in the eye and see me – it gets
better
that’s how we build hope that’s how we
build knowledge and strength and help
every single family across this world
cross that finish line and know that
life is worth living there’s a light at
the end of the tunnel and that’s what
emmerman angels mission is to do bridge
this cancer world thank you [Applause]