Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
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Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
From Diagnosis To Direction: Cara Lockwood On Taking Back Control
A routine mammogram, a life-altering call, and a decision that would shape everything that followed: who holds the wheel. Author Cara Lockwood joins us to talk about facing HER2-positive breast cancer, reclaiming agency, and transforming a frightening diagnosis into a blueprint for action, humor, and hope.
We start with the fog of early days—the “white room” where language blurs and time stretches—then move into the moment Cara decided cancer wouldn’t decide for her. She walks through the realities of standard of care, the personal calculus behind chemotherapy, and the filter that guided her choices: throw everything you can at the first fight and live without regret. Along the way, we unpack how to prioritize when energy is scarce, using the glass-versus-rubber-ball mindset to protect what truly matters and let the rest bounce.
The conversation gets real about relationships under pressure, the “pity and pivot” friends who fade, and the quiet heroes who check in without prescribing cures. We also lean into humor as legitimate medicine—from techno-symphony MRIs to awkward clinic moments—and the science-backed power of positive expectancy in recovery. Kara reframes the old war metaphor, treating the body not as an enemy but as a confused part that needs clear direction, compassion, and boundaries. It’s tough love paired with deep grace.
Cara’s new book, There’s No Good Book For This, But I Wrote One Anyway: The Irreverent Guide to Crushing Breast Cancer, blends memoir, practical guidance, and end-of-chapter pep talks that refill resilience when it runs low. If you’ve been navigating a new diagnosis, standing with someone who is, or just rethinking how you make hard choices, this one’s for you. Listen, share with someone who needs courage today, and if this conversation helped, subscribe and leave a review to help others find it.
Intro for podcast
Here is the link for Sunday's 4 pm Pacific time Zoom meeting
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and today we've got a very special guest. Her name is Kara Lockwood. And Kara is uh the best selling author of more than 35 books, including USA Today's Bestsellers That Take Over and I Do, But I Don't, which has become a lifetime original movie star Denise Richards. In 2023, during a routine mammogram, Kara was diagnosed with stage one HER-positive breast cancer. She fought back with a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and restructive surgery, reconstructive surgery, and she went into remission in 2024. Her latest book, there's no good book for this, but I wrote one anyways, The Irreverent Guide to Crushing Breast Cancer, in was just released in October 2025. So, Kara, I don't need to go any further than that. Uh, welcome to the show. It's so great to have you.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much, Joe. So great to be here. I'm really glad.
SPEAKER_02:35 books. You're quite a terrific writer. Um, what what all have you written about?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, mostly I'm a romance writer. So my first yeah, my first book I do but I don't was a movie on lifetime. And as you mentioned, and uh I also wrote a Hallmark movie, The Dater's Handbook, uh, that starred Megan Markle, uh the former Duchess. So uh Yeah, I've I've written uh romances for adults, for teenagers, uh, you know, all kinds. They all have uh happily ever afters, though, which is uh you know they always they always have happy endings, which is good.
SPEAKER_02:You hang out with Fabio?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, I I wish, but no.
SPEAKER_02:So it sounds like um a couple of years ago, you got hit upside the head with uh two by four. I I was sharing with you a little bit. I know I know that two by four.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's terrible, it hurts.
SPEAKER_02:You were just going through a routine uh scan and all of a sudden it came back and say we got a little issue here.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, exactly. I um, you know, cancer doesn't run in my family, uh, but like everyone, you know, I tried to check all the boxes of getting uh the scans uh and the colonoscopies when I needed. And uh this one uh just came back positive for cancer. And uh, like you said, just that two by four uh knocks you for a loop.
SPEAKER_02:You know, in my situation, I had a doctor tell me that you know this lump that was growing in my neck, and I thought, I'm a healthy guy, I'm a I'm into I'm all about health. This is you know, I do a podcast on health for years, and um I said, Well, you know, my body will figure this out, and thought it was just a swollen gland, whatever. By the time I go to the doctor, he tells me, Oh, well, you're so healthy, it's probably not cancer. And I sat there for nine months, sort of letting it grow, thinking that I had it under control. When you get hit with this, you realize that you're not in control of so many things, and yet you're completely in control. Yes, and uh that's kind of a strange conundrum, but yeah, it's so true. Why don't you tell us about your experience a little bit?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, you know, it's so interesting that you say that because um right after my diagnosis, I reached out to a counselor that I had gone to in difficult times. Uh, I had previously been divorced and just high stress times. Um, I feel like it's good to talk to somebody. And um, the first thing she said to me is that cancer doesn't get to decide. And it was just such a game changer for me because as you know, when you get a diagnosis like that, it just feels like cancer's in the driver's seat. You know, like uh you've got to go on all these doctor's appointments, you have to go to all these scans, you you you may have to do treatments that make you sick, or you know, it just feels like uh you're just along for the ride. But the the truth is, like you said, you're still in charge. You get to decide the treatments, you get to decide the doctors, you get to decide if you have treatment at all. I mean, that's still, you know, in your purview. Yeah. I mean, it's it's actually you you are still in the driver's seat. So I think that's just the most important thing to remember. You know, I I don't know if that's how you felt. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I I I've done over 20 episodes about my journey. Uh and and um one of the central themes of this is that you have to be your own advocate. And just about everybody that you talk to, and just about everything that's presented to you is gonna have some good and some bad. Yes, and you have to decide, you know, what's worth it and what's not. And you know, there really isn't any uh miracle cure for anything out there. Um, there's no cure for cancer, they don't have one, and everybody's cancer is unique to them, and so what worked for the person before you, you know, the doctor's gonna tell you they work off of what they call standard of care. Literally just check boxes off and and and yeah, get into a box, they go, here's what we're gonna do. But you have to decide, is that what I want? Is it worth it?
SPEAKER_01:Right. And and it's all so individual, just like you're saying, because I, you know, I would never judge somebody's uh decision to get chemotherapy or not get chemotherapy. I mean, it's just such a very, very personal decision. You're the one that has to live with the side effects, you're the one that has to live with uh, you know, the outcome, whatever that might be. Yeah, I know. I I I have uh uh you know recently grown back my hair, so it's just now this long.
SPEAKER_02:I love it, I love it. It's just starting to come back, just barely.
SPEAKER_01:Good, good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, I it and you know, it's funny because I come from almost 40 years of working with natural health answers, and I've I'm a formulator, I've been working with cannabis medicine, I've been doing all this natural stuff for so long that I I did judge people before. Yeah, when somebody's like, oh, I'm doing chemotherapy, I'm like, wow, why would you have to do that when you could do all these other natural things? Or I had radiation or I had surgery or I had whatever. And I tell you what, it's such a humbling experience that you get faced with your own mortality regardless of where you started or what you were. It doesn't yeah, it equalizes everybody. It does. And then you gotta really start thinking. And uh so you know, you you get hit with this, and um, you know, what was your what was your process? I mean, you know, for me it took me a minute to just even put my head around it, like yeah, you know, that was Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was uh I had just turned 50 and uh I just felt like I had so much more time to grapple with mortality. And and I don't I I also don't think even if you're 80, you probably think I have much more time to grapple with mortality. Like, why do I have to do it now? Yes, um, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's uh you know exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Well, because we're you know, when our time ends, nobody wants it to end. You know, it's it's it nobody nobody craves.
SPEAKER_02:You just wanted to keep on going.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, exactly. So when I first got my diagnosis, um I think, you know, I'm not alone in this. I I just didn't believe it. You know, it just was hard to to to process. I I went into what I call the white room, which was just like this this very safe space where nothing bad was happening, but I wasn't processing any information. Like uh I was on the phone with my radiologist who was giving me all of the details of everything they knew at the time of the biopsy, and uh, I wasn't digesting any of it. I I was there, I was saying yes, I was, you know, was nodding, I did not get any of it. Um, you know, and I I think it just took some time, you know. And I I don't know about you, but when you're living with that diagnosis, it sort of felt like um, you know, over the course of days or weeks, I would like wake up and have to remember and remind myself this terrible news. Like, oh no, you've got cancer.
SPEAKER_02:Like how how long did it take before it entered into your dreams? Yeah. Um it didn't for me for a while, like yeah, yeah. Yes, part of my reality.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, I think I haven't thought about that, but for me, definitely months. It was definitely months, and I think it was like no, because it was like a because I would be dreaming, wake up and then you know, await. I've got this, yeah. Oh no, this horrible thing's happening. You know, it's it's uh telling you breaking the news to yourself every day.
SPEAKER_02:It's terrible. Yeah. Well, you know, in my situation, I I've been surrounded by people that are healthcare professionals of all different types, from you know, physicians to uh naturopaths to herbalists to Reiki masters to, you know, you name it, all the way through from total woo-woo to you know, standard.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so, of course, everybody's got a suggestion for me.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, of course.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm sure you probably got that. Here's what you need to do. You need to talk about the kitchen, read that book, drink that tea, eat that fruit, whatever it is, you know. And I was like, all right, slow down, you know.
SPEAKER_01:I know, and everyone is so it's so well-meaning, but it is it is an information, it's it's an information overload, you know. And I think I think people are so eager to give you some some practical advice, like that's this is the thing you need to eat. This is the thing you need to do. You need to do, you know, meditation, you need to, you know, do all of these things, which are very good. But I think in that first, in the first few weeks, if not the entire time of treatment, uh, I think I think the biggest thing I struggled with was, you know, just my emotions, you know. I mean, you know, just the fear, um the the the sense of like my body's betraying me because uh, you know, like that that betrayal is so hard, hits so hard. Like I, you know, I never thought the enemy would come from within.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and and you know what? I I don't know if you came to this place or not, but I came to a place at first I started down that road where I'm in a battle, you know, against myself and how horrible that is, you know. Yes, you know, I don't want to hurt me, but but look what I'm doing, I'm gonna kill me. And yeah, I came to a realization after a lot of different trying and not trying, and you know, going down all these little different checkboxes, and I came to a realization that it wasn't a battle as much as I had part of my body that was confused, yeah, and it just didn't understand, it got lost, you know, the genetic curve got messed up, and it's just trying to stay alive, and that's all it doesn't hate me, it doesn't know me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. You yeah, that is such a good way of putting it. I I felt the exact same way. I I had to get to a point, I started seeing my body as a child, like me as a kid, and my brain as the adult, and my body was just a little kid, just doing what what it thought was so look at me. Look at me, I'm growing all these cells.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah, they're not such good ones, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it doesn't know. It's it wasn't intending, and I think that was so important to get to the like the forgiveness, let go of the anger, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Once once I realized yeah in that place of of trying to kill something like that, right? You know, the the whole notion of creating with your mind and and you know what is it that you're projecting? What are you thinking about? You know, I'm like, I can't be thinking about violence, you know. That's not right.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Like I I started thinking of myself as a very a stern parent, you know, like this is this is this is not the right thing to do. We're gonna do this instead. Like it's just it's a it's a distinct like direction into the right path, you know. Because I think you're right, like seeing seeing your body as an enemy, as something you have to destroy, you know, right?
SPEAKER_02:It's it's not gonna work. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's that's it's wild how um you know, when you're receiving all this information from people, did you go through a process of like who were you gonna like once I finally got it that okay, this is for real, I gotta jump in and get at this. It was already getting big when I I got my biopsy re result. And I'm like, okay, everybody I talked to, like, why did you wait so long? I'm like, I'm here now, let's go, you know. Right. Yeah, it is what it is. Don't chastise me for what I screwed up. I don't need that. I I just need to get going. And but you learn half you have to prioritize, like your priorities, everything changes. Like we go through life, and oh, this is important and that's important, and all these things are so important, and then all of a sudden, wham. How how did you adjust to let's just call them new priorities?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Um, I like to think there was a um old commencement address in the in the 80s, I think, by a CEO that talked about priorities being glass balls and rubber balls. Yeah, so so you you want to keep the like the glass balls are the most important things, family, uh, you know, whatever you think is most important in your life, and you don't want to drop those balls. And the rubber balls are like some deadlines and you know, things you can drop, they'll bounce back up. Um, but I think when you when you have cancer, you realize almost all the balls are rubber. Most of them are rubber.
SPEAKER_00:There's only a couple of glass ones.
SPEAKER_01:There's only really one or two that are glass. Like cancer is glass, you can't drop that one. Um, but the others, they'll bounce. Like, you know, you don't want to drop them all the time, but they'll bounce. So, and that is a complete shift. Uh, if it if there is a silver lining to cancer, it is like reprioritizing what's important for you, and it does it like immediately.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's really important for people that get diagnosed to realize that as you know, a lot of what the purpose of this podcast is for people to learn and to to benefit their lives. And I I've gained a lot of you know cancer patients as listeners as a result of a lot of the things I've talked about, and not yeah, we talk about all kinds of stuff, but there's there's a a theme that keeps coming back, and more and more people are coming back to me for you know, consulting and things like that, going, hey, you know, I heard this guest, or I heard you say this, uh, you know and and I I think part of that is like you're getting input from all these places, you're probably reading books, you're listening to videos, you're you're you got doctors telling you one thing, you got probably parents or loved ones telling you thing, you got, you know, how did you sort of I don't know, prioritize the value of input? Because that was a real hard one for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, it is hard because you're you are getting it from so many sources. Um, you know, for me, uh my my dad's a retired doctor. Uh he's a retired orthopedic surgeon. Um, and when it came to health and medicine, I I trusted his his advice more uh just growing up and you know um so um I I trusted when he when he suggested like you know, there were there were other people in my life, relatives and friends, who were like, maybe you don't want to do chemotherapy, maybe you know, you're sort of a borderline case, you might not need it. Like, you know, do you really need to go through this? You know, and my dad was like, look, you get one shot to throw everything you have at this monster, yeah. And so you throw everything you have at it.
SPEAKER_02:You don't let you gotta you gotta kill it now because if you don't, it's it comes back stronger, meaner, and smarter, and it's almost impossible second time around.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And so um that that bit of advice really, really resonated with me just because I had a you know deep trust in in my dad and what he recommended. But secondly, um I had uh very good friends who uh and my spouse as well, who um sort of have a perspective like um you don't want to live life with regret. Right. So combining those two of dad saying, you know, throw everything you got at it, and then friends and uh my husband saying, you know, just live your life without regret. Like, you know, you don't want regret. And that that resonated with me too. So in that case, I was like, I'm going full bore on this, everything I can right now. Um my hair will grow back later. I'll worry about it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that was the last thing I cared about. Exactly. I my wife was like, Oh, you know, you used to have such nice hair. I'm like, you know what, it'll come back or it won't. I right here, you know what I am? I have I have another day to live. That's what I have.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, exactly. So I I think you know, those filters are hard to to you know to to set for yourself, but ultimately, at least for me, there was just getting all that information, but the the challenge was getting to my inner um hard no and heck yes, yeah, you know, and that and so every time I heard something, I had to check in with myself. Is this is this a hard no? Is this a heck yes? Am I just not sure? And so my whole my whole focus was really trying to get to that that hard no, that heck yes. Like there's there could be no middle ground, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right. There's no wobblers here like you guys, yeah. You're either all in or you're all out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's interesting how we're walking sort of a parallel path. Did you find that relationships that you had sort of filtered themselves too? Like I found that a lot of people I thought I had a good relationship with turned out I didn't, and yeah, people I didn't know that they were so good turned out they were, and yes, fortunately, plenty that I thought were good were, but you know, you really when times get rough, that's when you really find out who's real and who's uh oh absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's so true. Um, I think it's true because cancer's terrifying, it's really scary, and it's not just scary for us, it's scary for people who know us as well. I mean, uh cancer is like sort of this horrible mirror that's held up to other people, like actually, death is coming for us all, by the way. We're all mortal, and uh this could come for you. Exactly, like this could come for you too. And so I found uh the people the people um I found that that it did filter people into people who were brave enough to to sit with me in the discomfort and to to face it and to be okay with facing it. Um and then there were people that like to make excuses and like to it it it's a it's something I call the pity and pivot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like the I'm so sorry for you. And hey, did you did you hear about the football game? Or did you think that's right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Let's go talk about something nice, right?
SPEAKER_01:Let's let's pivot right away from this. And then those same people just gently backed away. They didn't know. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Before you know it, they're like, Well, I haven't seen them for a while, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. But the people that surprised me, like you said, you know, I didn't even think they were they were um that close that we were their friendship was that close, they were the ones often that were like just and it was just a how are you? It was a it was a weekly check-in or a monthly check-in. There wasn't a hey, you've got to do this treatment or any kind of cure, yeah. Yeah, it was just like a how are you, how are you doing? I'm thinking about you. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Did you did you find um any people that um had survived cancer that came into your life or or that you already knew that were able to share their stories?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Um, I did meet people through other friends. Uh, you know, I think as as soon as you become diagnosed, uh at least for me, I realized uh in my network of friends, there were friends of friends and relatives of friends that there really is a club.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:There really is. And I I actually didn't know. I mean, you know, you kind of like distantly know, but they're they're friends of friends or you know, not really in your circle. And uh yeah, and so it turned out um cancer is just way more common than I ever thought. Yeah, and so I I did connect with other people going through um breast cancer at the same time I was um and and had very different experiences because as you said earlier, every every case is different, no matter if you have the same kind of cancer or not. Like it's it's it's very different journey. So, but yeah, and um I feel like there is a community and uh a network of definitely is, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I feel like I've sort of commandeered this conversation a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, I'm I love it. I love it.
SPEAKER_02:I want to hear about your book, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I I wrote there's no good book for this, but I wrote one anyway, The Irreverent Guide to Crushing Breast Cancer, uh, based on my experience. You know, it's a little bit memoir, it's a little self-help. Uh every chapter ends with a pep talk because I really feel like that's what you need more than anything during this journey.
SPEAKER_02:Um and I think your spirit up is huge, I think. I think you start getting depressed, then you know, you're I think your body responds to positive energy in a positive way. And you know, your body's busy putting itself back together every night. Yeah. Yeah. If you are giving it good things, it's like, all right, I can keep doing this. And if you start getting depressed, I don't know. I think it has another another response sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. I I I mean, there there have been studies that say if you if you go into a surgery believing you'll be fine and this will help you, that you you are fine and you have fewer complications than the person who doubts what they're doing and feels like it's gonna hurt them, then you know, they get they get poorer outcomes. Like, I mean, there there is scientific evidence that says positive thinking helps. And and that negative thinking can undermine your recovery and and I don't know if it can make you sick, but it it definitely can't help you get well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, I I there's a scale that says, is it gonna help me or not? And then it's not, is it gonna hurt me? It's if it's not gonna help me, I don't want anything to do with it. And right now, positive thinking can help you. It's not gonna hurt me, then what the heck, you know? Why wouldn't you exactly?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Yeah, and I I think a great part of or at least a huge part of positive thinking for me was humor and using humor. And uh there's a lot of humor in in the book. Uh I talk very, very candidly about my experiences in an MRI machine and and and other things that um that are funny.
SPEAKER_02:That machine is like a I'm not into techno music, but man, it's like a friggin' techno concert going on in there.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's the worst. It's so funny because I have never been claustrophobic in my life, but when I went into that MRI machine, I was like, oh no, that's a good choice. That's claustrophobia, excellent joy. I understand.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but but humor has such a uh so so many healing properties, I think. It it instantly uh lowers our both blood pressure. We we relax instantly. Uh it's it's hard to be afraid when you're laughing, you know? And and fear is such a big part of every stage of cancer and and fighting cancer. And so anytime you can undermine fear and the it's a good thing. So right.
SPEAKER_02:No, I couldn't agree more. I think humor is a powerful weapon or a tool, and it's you know, they're the old readers digest, you know, laughter's the best medicine. It's it's really true.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and I I think we have to sometimes give ourselves permission to laugh. I think sometimes we get um when we're going through something difficult, we think, yeah, is this not uh is this not appropriate?
SPEAKER_02:Well, guess what? You know, everything's funny.
SPEAKER_01:It is, it is because you know, life's a little absurd, and that happens completely absurd, yeah. The doctor's office and everywhere else.
SPEAKER_02:So if we can't if we can't laugh Milky Way and think about anything, and you go, oh, oh well, that's ridiculous. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, exactly, exactly. So might as well give your like endorphins a boost.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. I love that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I I don't know how you you felt about uh positive thinking. Was that something key for you?
SPEAKER_02:No, no, that's that's always been a part of my regimen, and I preach it, you know. We gotta, it's you are what you think about, you know. You you create your existence based on what you think about, and everything that you see in life started out as a thought. Yeah. So this is you know, I I had to take a beating for a minute. I says, Wow, I did this to me, and and I realized that I did, I I created this thing, and and it was a lot of bad choices over a lot of years, and whatever. I okay, well, it's now it's time to uncreate that and and let's create a new thing. And you know, I think ownership is important, and you can combine humor and ownership, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, oh yes, of course, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So that was kind of what I had to do is I had to swallow it and say, okay, you know, I did this, I I get it, but I don't have to beat myself up over it. Let's just get on to the fixing part, you know?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, I would say too, um, that definitely, you know, you can you can take accountability and responsibility, but at the same time, I would say um no one ever chooses cancer. So no matter so no matter what kind of behavior, even if you skipped your scan uh scans, even if you smoked every day, even if you even if you did all of the things you didn't do it for that purpose, right? Yeah, that was not your it was never your intent to get cancer. So I think we should show ourselves some grace, give ourselves the you know agreed, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, I I I'm right there with you. And and you know, the thing that's wild is these lessons, these profound lessons that you get about, you know, this hugely impactful subject, you can transfer to any element in life, really.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, yes, I it's so true. It it is so true because you you get such clarity, you know, um, through this, through this process. Like it's uh and and the and the lessons you learn about um what you can how tough you are, you know. I I think uh I think at the beginning before I had cancer, I sort of put people with cancer in a different group, in a like they're better than me, they're braver than me, they've they you know, they're stronger than me, they've they've gone through this. I I could never I could never do that, you know. But now I see, you know, from my own journey that anyone can do it.
SPEAKER_02:Like any remarkable what you're capable of when you're faced with a thing, you know. I have people all the time say, Oh, you're so inspirational, you're so strong. I'm like, you know what? I'll bet you if you were sitting in my chair, you'd be doing the same thing because you just you do what you need to do, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. I mean, the thing is, is if you don't have a choice, if your choice is death or this, I don't choose that. Yeah, sorry, yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 100%. Well, Kara, it's um you just released this book, it's only been uh a month or so that how's it doing?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, great, great, yeah. I think it's reaching a lot of people, and and for everyone uh purchased, I also donate one for someone in treatment.
SPEAKER_02:So that's beautiful, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And uh 50% of proceeds go to Susan G. Coman and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Because I I would like nothing better than for our club to be closed to new members forever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, let's put it out of business.
SPEAKER_01:I have a big fair. Let's let's put cancer in the history books so we only read about it in past tense, you know, like the plague. Let's do that.
SPEAKER_02:100%. And communicating about this is is critical. That's one of the reasons I I keep talking about it every chance I get, because truth is the the hospitals and the doctors and the medical schools are about 20 years behind the science, and it takes that long. For the testing and the trials and everything to get to where you can even take it. Like there were treatments that I wish I could have had access to, but they weren't proven yet. And they only let them do for this cancer and not that one. I'm like, I know it would work for me, but I couldn't, nobody would give it to me, you know? And I'm like, well, hopefully they'll catch up soon. And I think the talking about it, you know, even talking to doctors about sort of out-of-the-box things, they always said, I don't know about that, you know. And they weren't necessarily against it. They just would say, it's not in my box. I don't know it, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, and I, you know, I mean, you can't blame them because they're looking at like whatever true, whatever research is in front of them, and they can't just, you know, hand out their responsibility.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. My dad was charging too while he was alive, and you know, I I I lived my whole life, you know, growing up with his stories and his experiences and all of that. So wow. Well, listen, um I always try to tie up a conversation with a thought. And I know you've got a lot of thoughts wrapped up into this, but do you have a message that you would like to sort of distill this down for our listeners?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I would I would say that you're stronger than you think you are. And um I think uh it's it's like the Navy SEALs say, when you're when you think you want to quit, you're only 40% there.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. Yeah, no, that's that's that's powerful and huge. And you know, hopefully you don't have to look at the darkness at the end of the hallway to to find your strength, you know. Hopefully you can find it easier than that. Well, Kara, it's been uh a treat, it seems like we've been talking for three seconds. Yes, and I I my my invitation is is truly open. I definitely um would love to continue this conversation. Tell us a little bit about how people can reach you, um, find your book and all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, um, you know, the book is on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, but you can find it and me at Kara theauthor.com. So that's Kara with a C, theauthor.com. And uh yeah, you can uh follow me on social media there or drop me a line or or buy the book. There's also an audio book there too, if you're if you'd rather listen than read.
SPEAKER_02:Nice, fantastic. Well, I listen to a lot more books than I read, so I'll probably grab your audio book and and hear you out. I'd I'd love to share that experience with you and not have to go through it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. Well, good luck to you and and hope for continued continued good health.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, absolutely. I've already seen the end, and I'm I'm gonna be around for another 60 years, is my plan. Fantastic.
SPEAKER_01:That's fantastic news.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Kara. And um this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and I want to thank all of our listeners for making the show possible, and we will see you next time.
