My Race Against Death - An Inspiring Fight Against Illness and The Journey to Empower Others - Shoba Rao : 123

When life handed Shoba Rao the toughest of challenges at just 22, a battle with kidney failure, she didn't just face it—she became her beam of hope. Shoba's narrative is not just about surviving; it's a deep exploration of how illness can redefine one's philosophy of life, highlighting the profound impact of resilience and self-advocacy.

She rises with even greater determination, embracing her experiences to transform her perspective and empower those around her. We discuss the essential role of support systems, the emotional labour of caregivers, the unique ways we each respond to life's adversities, the cathartic process of writing her story and the importance of instilling hope and advocating for others facing the darkness of illness.

Her book "My Race Against Death: Lessons Learned From My Health Struggles" offers a matter-of-fact view of cancer treatments and living life to the fullest despite the disease as seen through the eyes of an India native who is now a San Francisco Bay Area company executive.

Join us as we celebrate Shoba's remarkable voyage.

To connect with Shoba: https://www.shobarao.com/

Transcript

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Daniela SM 0:04

Hi , I'm Daniela . Welcome to my podcast , because everyone has a story , the place to give ordinary people , stories , the chance to be shared and preserved . Our stories become the language of connections . Let's enjoy it . Connect and relate , because everyone has a story . Welcome my guest , Shoba Rao .

Daniela SM 0:29

Shoba is a viewed novelist , amongst many things . At just 22 years old , shoba had a battle with kidney failure , and that was just the beginning . She rises with even greater determination , embracing her experiences to transform her perspective . We discuss the essential role of support systems , the emotional labor of caregivers , the unique ways with each response to life adversities , the cathartic process of writing her story and the importance of instilling hope and advocating for others facing the darkness of illness . Shoba also explains what was the cause of her issues , as it is very similar to nine episodes ago from Yang Huang . It is super interesting to hear this . It was a pleasure to have Shoba on the show . She is full of compassion and her strengths is inspiring . Shoba lives in San Francisco with her husband , so let's enjoy her story . Welcome Shoba to the show .

Shoba Rao 1:46

I think my story would help people because of the lessons I have learned while going through my health hurdles , and I also hope it will inspire people to advocate for themselves , for their health , and look after their health and fight whatever comes in their life .

Daniela SM 2:05

I'm glad that you're saying that . I feel that I want to advocate , but it feels like I'm the only one and maybe I'm acting crazy , but it's true that we are the only ones who have to do that .

Shoba Rao 2:14

Yes , I mean , if we don't do it for ourselves , who will ?

Daniela SM 2:17

Yes , that's true . So , Shoba , when does your story start ?

Shoba Rao 2:20

When I was diagnosed with kidney failure I was 22 years old . I would say my story starts from there . That was a big shocker , because at 22 you're not really thinking about health . Pretty much you feel you're invincible . Our life just goes on . I had just started my career after finishing my bachelor's in engineering . I was an electrical engineer . I had joined a firm , it was just . Everything was looking very good when I was diagnosed with kidney failure . Both my kidneys had failed .

Daniela SM 2:52

Were you not feeling well , or did suddenly something happen ? Or how did you not score that ?

Shoba Rao 2:57

I was going with my friends one day and I felt like there was something wrong with my body because I was feeling very weak and fatigued . I thought , okay , maybe I should do a test to find if everything was okay . And I told my parents . So we immediately went for a blood test , just quickly checked to see if everything was fine , and obviously it wasn't . My hemoglobin was very low when we started checking it out . It finally pointed to kidney failure . So it took us , I would say , three to four months before I got diagnosed actually with kidney failure . So this again goes back to looking after yourself . I thought , okay , there was something wrong when I was hiking one day and I said , okay , let us go and check it out . And that's how we found that I had kidney failure . That was the beginning of my story .

Shoba Rao 3:46

After the kidney failure , one year later I got a kidney transplant . Kidney failure itself was very tough , as we all know , but I didn't go through any major dialysis , though I was just chugging along because my mother was ready to donate as soon as she learned I got kidney failure . She was ready to donate one of her kidneys , but we thought we will try some other treatments to see if something can be done about it . One year we tried . Nothing helped . Finally , my mother donated . She was 54 years old then and I was 23 and she donated one of her kidneys to me and I went through a kidney transplant . Here I am , 25 years later , with the transplanted kidney still in me .

Daniela SM 4:30

So you tried other things , but you didn't have to go through dialysis .

Shoba Rao 4:33

Yes , I did do like maybe two , three dialysis , which they do before a transplant . Okay , but I didn't have to be on fully on dialysis for a long period just because I had someone ready to donate First thing that happened in my life in terms of health . So I had the kidney transplant and then I would say I think within three months after the transplant , I came to the USA . I was all this happened in India , by the way , which is where I'm originally from . I used to be an Indian citizen then and then I moved to the US Somewhere around three months later . I really wanted to get away from it all .

Shoba Rao 5:12

When you go through a transplant , there are a lot of people around you . Some people look at you with pity , some people look at you with sympathy . You know they're like , oh my god , that's such an engage . Look at her . I just wanted to get away from it all . That's one of the reasons . As soon as this opportunity to come to US came up at work , I immediately grabbed it and I said I'm going and in fact , even at work , everyone was worried to send me because it was just three months after my transplant . Yes , that's true . I mean , it's a liability for them to send me right . I insisted . Luckily I had my bosses who were very accommodative they're very nice to me and I came to the US and I was working here in Texas , in US , close to a year . I was working here . Initially it was a bit rough , but somehow I got my footing . That's when I decided to get married with a friend of mine from college days , from my bachelor days .

Daniela SM 6:16

He was also in the States . He was also in the States .

Shoba Rao 6:19

At that time we had studied together in engineering and a very good , close , nice friend , one of my best friends . So it feels good when you marry a very good friend of yours and that was one of the best moments of my life . We were in love and then we decided to get married . So in 2000 , when I was 25 years old , I got married and then I moved to the Bay Area in the US . I have been here for the past 23 years , from 2000 in the Bay Area . I got married . I came here wonderful life when I was 30 years old .

Shoba Rao 6:57

Seven years after my transplant , one day I found blood in my urine . Then I rushed to my doctor . The good thing is , because of the transplant I was constantly in touch with a nephrologist , which is a kidney doctor . He gave medications . Nothing worked . Then we did a scan and then he found out there was a tumor in the ureter of my native kidney . So just to give you an idea of what that means when we do a transplant , the doctors usually don't remove the original kidneys , so they leave those kidneys inside , unless it is infected or something , and they just put one more kidney in you . They kind of make space by moving other organs and they squeeze in one more kidney . And it so happened that I got a tumor in the ureter , which is just a tube that runs between your kidney to your bladder , through the urine comes out . So in one of my original kidneys , which was my kidneys there was cancer , and it was stage three cancer .

Shoba Rao 8:05

At that time you know what the severity of the disease did not actually sink in . It took me a while to even get over that . When you're 30 years old , you're like , yeah , okay , it's something wrong . Okay , let's just remove the kidney , it's okay , it's anyway not useful , I don't mind , just take it out , I'll be fine , that's . That's the way I was thinking . I had a massive surgery because of the way my transplanted kidney was and all these other things . The doctor had to do a lot of acrobatics to get that thing out of me . After this massive surgery it took me a few weeks to recover , and this is where American medical system also plays in right . So here it's all about insurance . They don't want to keep you in the hospital for too long . They will immediately send you home . It was a shocker to me . This was my first experience with system here , when compared to how it's treated in India . You have heard of different stories . I'm sure you will know how it varies right from country to country .

Daniela SM 9:03

Yeah , and I live in Canada , which is similar system in a way , so I understand what you're talking about , right ?

Shoba Rao 9:09

yeah , so I was just sent home with a lot of tubes hanging everywhere . I was like , oh my god . Then , you know , I was very naive . I didn't even know things properly . After the surgery was done . I thought it was all over .

Shoba Rao 9:25

But then , two weeks later , my surgeon , who is my urologist that's the surgeon who does all that so he said , oh , just go and visit an oncologist , which is actually the cancer doctor . I did only did the surgery . Go and find out what are the treatments you have to go through . I was like , oh my god , my husband and I , we went to the doctor . I still remember we were sitting there at the waiting room . I said you know , there's something called chemotherapy . I think they do something called chemotherapy . That's the one where you lose your hair . Oh , okay , I'm like . Then he said I don't think they're going to give you that . I think you should be fine . Yours is all gone , they have taken out everything . I don't think you , they don't give you such treatments . We just didn't know what to expect . The oncologist was very nice and she's still my doctor . She's very sweet . She looked at me and she said wow , this is a very complicated case because you have a transplanted kidney . Therapy we give you actually affects your kidneys . So we have to be very careful with what you give you . I want you to go and get an opinion from Stanford Hospital , where I have my professor , who I think is more knowledgeable in this , because your case is very unique , and in Stanford University , like three , four doctors , they came together . They came up with a treatment plan .

Shoba Rao 10:50

I am in general a happy , go lucky person , doesn't mind what happens in my life , I just go along with whatever comes in my life . So I just took it in the stride . I took off from work , finished chemo . After that I was pretty good . Life was very good , I should say .

Shoba Rao 11:11

After that particular cancer happened , I went back to work immediately after three , four months . One thing here I wanted to tell everyone is , you know , resilience . I think that matters in life , regardless of whatever life throws at us . One thing I was personally determined was that it should not affect the way I want to live my life , and I was very clear . I wanted to be a career woman . I wanted to be very good in whatever I am doing as well . Three months I am done . I'm like , okay , I'm going back to work now . I just got to get back and I continued with my career . I was at that time an engineer . I went and finished my masters in electrical engineering from Stanford University . So just life went on for seven years I would say wonderful life . I roamed everywhere . We traveled a lot , me and my husband , to various countries .

Shoba Rao 12:11

Most cancer patients when you ask them , we say we have a new normal . The new normal includes various scans that you go through in your life every few months Just to ensure there is no recurrence . The doctor advice you to keep scanning yourself every three months initially , and then every six months after three years and then every year after five years . That's kind of the regimen most of the doctors follow . There is a new normal in your life where , yeah , life keeps going , you enjoy everything in life , but somewhere in the back of your brain there is always a fear lurking oh my God , what happened If it returns back ? Right ? And every scan , where is that fear ? But then ? So what I did ?

Shoba Rao 13:02

I took my life in segment of three months or in segment of six months . So whatever I plan , I won't plan beyond three months . Most of us when we say , oh , I'm going on vacation , I think we have booked for a cruise one year from now . We have vacation two years from now . I never did that . My vacations will be immediate . As soon as I get a scan done . Everything clear , okay , let's go somewhere before the next scan comes .

How Cancer Changes Perspective

Shoba Rao 13:36

Interesting , yes , I think people who have gone through cancer and who go through scans will most probably understand what I'm saying and how it affects your life . It changes your perspective because you plan everything in segments .

Daniela SM 13:52

Were you a long planner in the past Because you said that you were resilient and an optimistic person in general ? Yes , but you feel like you used to be like it's okay , we can do it in a year from now .

Shoba Rao 14:04

I was almost always kind of an impulsive person , I should say , and not really a very long-time planner . That said , when it comes to my career or some other things , I did have long-term plans . I knew , okay , this is where I wanted to go , this is how I wanted to be . After cancer , my perspective changed . I'm going to live life like today is my last day , one day at a time . You realize the importance of saying I love you to people who you love .

Shoba Rao 14:34

You realize that when you are stuck in a traffic going to work , that you don't have to really get frustrated because you will be maybe a few minutes late , but the person who actually was in that accident , let's say , has a bigger problem to solve . That person is actually the one who is suffering , not you . You are just stuck in the traffic because of an accident on the road and you'll be a few minutes late . So your whole perspective changes on life and how you view it . Another key thing which changed was any problem I have . I always ask the question is it a matter of life and death ? If not , I'm not going to worry about it , it doesn't matter . Once you have tasted death you have been close to death you say okay , okay , now I've seen this . Other things actually doesn't matter . You realize how silly some things could be right , shobha .

Daniela SM 15:28

You come from a country that is very holistic . If you hear the readings of yogis , this is the way they think . Some people have to go through illness to learn this and some people read books , or just happens to be like that . Have you met other people , perhaps , that have the same situation as you , but they don't have this optimistic , or this view or this perspective have changed as much as for them , that's for you , I think so because , I mean , I am part of various support groups and I've met a lot of people over the years , right , who have gone through similar situations as me .

Shoba Rao 16:04

I think the personality matters , personality of whoever . It is like how you have been from childhood . See , there are people who actually go to the other extreme From being positive , they become very depressed , they go all the way negative . Oh my God , why did this happen to me ? You can just go into a shell .

Shoba Rao 16:22

To me , from what I have seen , two things One is your inborn personality . Another is your situation and how you grew up . Those things matter . I had a good childhood , I should say . I'm surrounded by a lot of support . I have been lucky that way . Family with two sisters and a very supportive husband and my parents , especially my mother and my father , was a role model for me for positivity and service both . I guess that molded me to think in this angle . It is not easy again to be positive , because there are times when I have gone into depression as well , but I pull myself out every single time and it's very short lived . It varies from person to person and how they view life and how they have been from childhood . I think that is where the variation is .

Daniela SM 17:19

And you know it's normal to accept that things are not how you want it or they're not happy or that something hurts . You're not supposed to always say that everything is wonderful , but the important part is to come out how long it takes every time right . Sometimes it takes you longer .

Shoba Rao 17:37

Yes , and also I think let's say , when you're suffering , when you have issues , the more your life comes to normalcy after something , the more you are getting away from that . It's easier for you to get out of depression . When you are feeling low , it is easier to come out of it , but initially it is not . It takes a longer time and again that varies from person to person . Let's face it . It's easier said than done to say be positive . You are being positive , right . It is not easy when you are facing something .

Daniela SM 18:13

So you have to deal with your feelings , but what about the feelings of the people that are closer to you ?

Shoba Rao 18:18

Yeah , yeah , in fact in my book I added a chapter later on about caregiving . It is very tough on the people around you . Any disease , especially major ones like cancer or heart disease , or it's a matter of life and death . It is not easy for people around you . Personally , since I have not been a caregiver to somebody , I cannot speak for them . But , that said , I have spoken to my husband a lot about these things . From what I have heard , he says every time when you go into that surgical room you don't know how I am when I'm sitting outside waiting for you to come out . Right , it takes a toll on the caregivers too . People surrounding the emotional toll . I feel sometimes it's more on them , and there are a lot of families which break up because of grief when there is a death and because of a major health hurdle like cancer . When those things happen , it's not easy for everyone to cope and be there for each other . It's not at all easy .

Daniela SM 19:24

Yes , the other part is also what you say . What can I support it is exactly .

Shoba Rao 19:31

I think you hit it on the hit the nail on the head . When someone faces a very grave illness , it is not surrounding them . Sometimes we don't know what they are looking for , we don't know how to talk to them , and especially if they are in a shell right now . I have written a book , so I'm okay , I'm talking to you openly about it , but I never talked about it for so many years because I feel like people don't understand what I have been through , Even if I tell them they wouldn't understand .

Shoba Rao 20:00

It's not easy to empathize because unless you have been in those shoes , it's not easy for you to understand . That's what I used to feel and I used to say , like , why waste my energy in talking to them Because they're never ? They're anyway not going to understand . And if they say , oh no , you know what , don't worry , it's going to be fine , they're like that's shallow . I don't want to listen to that . I'm not saying it's wrong , I'm just saying it's very tough for a person who has not been in those shoes to understand what it is . That's my perspective , In fact , in my book . That's why I have a chapter which says how , what you should be talking to a cancer patient , how to interact with them for a third person , right ? So don't , I'd say , don't , tell me this , don't . And don't talk about someone who recovered a lot , who was like , oh look at that person . I know my friend who runs marathons despite going through chemo . We don't want to hear , because everybody's journey is different , so you have to be very careful when you talk to a cancer patient .

Daniela SM 21:13

So you don't want to hear about that .

Shoba Rao 21:14

Maybe you want to hang around with people that have cancer so that you can have a better communication or you don't , because then it brings you down too , yeah , but I think it is better to hang around with people who have cancer , because you all understand each other well and so far I think again , again , it's all an individual perspective . It is from person to person . So I have been in various Facebook support groups . This is where I say , oh , I'm going through this , I'm feeling very low today , my treatments or my side effects are these things . Then there will be somebody who will immediately say , oh , I understand what you're saying , this is what I went through . Then you're like , oh , yeah , yeah , okay , there was somebody who has gone through all that already . They know what I'm talking about , right , so you do get that support .

Shoba Rao 22:02

We all know that when we are faced with illness , it takes time to come to acceptance . First , you start with denial . You go like , oh , no , no , wow , wow , why did I get this ? This is not me . Then you get anger . So these are the various phases , ideally . You start with denial , then you're angry at yourself and God and what not , like why did I get this ? And finally you end up with acceptance , where you accept okay , this is what I have gotten . I got to fight it , I have to come out of it . And if you are in that acceptance period , it's easy for you to interact with other cancer patients . You know , okay , there are others who can support me . You're able to understand each other , but if you are in the face of anger and denial , you really don't want to hear about others as you which is what you were saying you're like , I don't want to know , it's going to depress me more . I don't even want to go there . I see , I see . Yeah , it's like the various phases in your emotional makeup and your mental makeup that you go through , which varies again from person to person . The amount of time you are in one particular phase . It varies . My standard is pretty high since I got kidney failure at the age of 22 .

Shoba Rao 23:19

It doesn't end with just one cancer . So after seven years I got my second cancer , after the first one , where during one of my regular scans , my doctor found a cancer in my bladder and I was diagnosed with bladder cancer . Oh my goodness , having gone through the first one , I would say , yeah , not bad , I breezed through it . Here comes the important part of my advocacy , because I wanted to know why all this happened when I went through literature . By then , internet had everything at the tip of your hands . This was in 2012 .

Shoba Rao 23:59

So when I started searching , I found a paper where there were set of women in Belgium who took a herb a Chinese herb because of some mix up and they ended up getting kidney failure , followed by cancer in the rurator and then bladder cancer . I was like , oh wow , this cannot be a coincidence . And then I started finding out if there was a correlation to what I was getting , to . What they were seeing went back to my past , I think from the time I was like seven years old .

Shoba Rao 24:31

I was taking a herbal concoction for a skin disorder in India . I started then searching the internet to see what are the herbs that are there in that concoction and , interestingly , one of the herb was the same family as the one those women took , and that was the reason for my kidney failure at 22 , followed by these cancers , because you have skin problems . Yes , I had a skin disorder called vitiligo , which has like white patches that you get . Yeah , you talked about India being holistic . Yes , it is . We believe in a lot of traditional medications , herbal medications . As you know , everything natural need not be safe .

Daniela SM 25:16

Yes .

Shoba Rao 25:17

It can , because natural herbs are a lot more potent than the synthetic medications you might be taking . Once I found that , I immediately spoke to my doctor and I removed the other kidney . After finding out that it was the herb , then at least it gave me a relief In a sense . I knew exactly why I had all these diseases , so I thought , okay , I was done . I was like yes , now I know . Now I have removed everything . Unfortunately , it's irreversible .

Shoba Rao 25:49

Whatever herb caused , it is caused already . Nothing can be done about it . But you know what ? Life is not as easy for me . So two years later , I got another cancer we want my liver which is a very , very rare aggressive cancer . It's only 200 people have gotten it or something . It's like very rare Really .

Shoba Rao 26:10

Luckily , because I was being followed up with scans for my other cancers , I found it early enough . I went through a surgery to remove that and then I had to go through chemotherapy again and after finishing that chemotherapy , end of 2015 , we found one more lesion . I went through a massive liver surgery for that , but it turned out to be benign , which is good news . But the bad news is I went through a massive surgery . It took me a while to recover from that . The good thing is , I did not stop working through any of these . As I said , that is one place where I found solace . There is some distraction for me . Yes , I can keep working and I didn't want this to affect my life . I said I will keep doing what I'm doing till the end , whatever happens .

Daniela SM 26:58

And the medication that you were taking . You took it all your life , or it was just a period of time ?

Shoba Rao 27:03

Oh , the herbs , yes , the herbs the herbs I took till the day my kidney failure was found Okay .

Daniela SM 27:09

So it was from since you were seven until you were 22 ? Yes , oh , wow .

Shoba Rao 27:13

After my latest surgery , where it was turned out to be benign touch wood . Till now I have been in remission and I published my book earlier this year , as I told you . So I thought this is a story I wanted to tell the world . Nice , I hope it will help someone in this world in their fight with all the lessons I have learned in my journey .

Daniela SM 27:37

Well , I think that you will also help people like me that haven't gone through it . If you have somebody close by that has it . You don't know how many questions you can ask , because maybe they don't want to be asked more questions . But while you're explaining this , we can have a different perspective , also to understand the patient , because you understand somebody sick or poor that person and they don't want a PT . But you don't know what's going on , you don't know how to help , so you stand back . You know ignore and it's just . There's a lot of feelings that goes with it for lack of ignorance and lack of communication . I guess yes indeed , Indeed .

Shoba Rao 28:16

Yeah , and that's exactly the reason why I wrote the chapter in my book .

Lessons From a Cancer Survivor

Shoba Rao 28:21

After I published my book , one of my acquaintances she did talk to me . She said I just came through the book and as soon as I saw the chapter , that was the first one I read on how to talk to a cancer patient , what to talk to them , because I think one of her friends was just diagnosed with cancer . Their whole group of friends . They were wondering what to do . They were like lost . She was very happy when she got the book . She's like okay , this tells me exactly what I have to do . I think that's very important for most people . That's one of the takeaways from the book and I really want people to know that .

Daniela SM 28:55

Yes , after your checkup and you're doing well , you're still thinking about okay , where are we going to go , where are we going to travel ?

Shoba Rao 29:01

Yep , I plan everything after a scan .

Daniela SM 29:05

I don't think it will ever change , but mostly you plan travels or you plan something else .

Shoba Rao 29:10

How do I put it ? The new normal involves a scan being part of your plan every time , Not just travel like planning some event or something I have to call folks . Then it's always between two scans .

Daniela SM 29:24

I see , if you have to do a checkup every three months , when do you start worrying ? Like the first ones you have to check up , you're like , okay , I'm good , let's do things . And then one month have passed , two months have passed before the third one , when do you start worrying again ?

Shoba Rao 29:40

Yeah , so that was a while back . Right now I'm on a longer period of . Luckily it's like every nine months I do a scan , no , but when you are in every three month mode , I have to plan something . It will be immediately after the scan because you know everything is fine . I've got three months before I have to worry if something happens . The more you move away from the scan periods let's say , when it becomes eight months or nine months or something like that that means you're moved away from your disease , the stronger you get mentally . Actually , right now I'm in that time where , especially after telling my story to the world and after publishing my book , I feel like it is what it is . I should not think about it too much . I just go ahead , live my life . Yeah , if something happens , it happens . Everybody knows , people around me know I think my mental makeup has changed now . It took me this long . That said , I have come to a point where I feel like , okay , keep living , keep living , keep living my life . It becomes part of my life .

Daniela SM 30:43

Now , if something happens , well , a lot has happened to you . Yes , you do have to be adapted . Yes , exactly . So that's where I am now , and Shobha talking about your book . When do you think , okay , I need to write a book . What happened ? How was that moment ?

Shoba Rao 31:00

I think it was a . In fact , just after my second cancer is when some of my friends were telling okay , you know what . You need to write a book . Just because you have been so resilient , I think it will help people . But even then I was lazy . I was like I'm really not a writer , not , I'm more of a speaker . Actually , I do give speeches a lot , but I don't write . When I got my third cancer , I go like , oh , okay , who knows how long things are going to be . I need to have a legacy . I want to really help people . I really wanted to get out and that is when I started .

Shoba Rao 31:42

But it took me a long time to actually finish writing it . It is the book captures the lessons I have learned and the way I have put it . Like every chapter , I put a subtitle with a lesson as to what I've learned . So it took me a while . And another thing is when you're writing about what happened before , you're going through those emotions , right . So I really didn't want to do it , but I should say it has been cathartic and it has been good . Now it took me , I would say , at least four , five , five , six years before . The book is 145 pages . It's really not a big book , but that said , it took me that long to finish writing just because I took time to write it .

Daniela SM 32:26

So you are resilient and also thinking about service . Even though you're going through all these for yourself , you think I want to help other people . That's amazing , oh thank you .

Shoba Rao 32:37

I don't think I'm different from other patients . To be frank , I'm sure most of them are there for advocacy . For the moment you go through something like this , I think they all start advocating .

Daniela SM 32:48

I don't think that everybody will think like that , that the people are consider about the others , maybe some people's softwares .

Shoba Rao 32:54

Possible , the mental makeup of that person . Really for me , though , I really want to help out . I do volunteer , try to give my time as much as possible wherever I can to help out .

Daniela SM 33:07

And when you have to make these conversations with other people cancer patients do they want to hear ? This happens to me and look how well I have done ? Is that how you approach it or you do it in a different way ?

Shoba Rao 33:20

I mean , I really speak to cancer patients . Somebody refers them to me mainly because they feel like I have gone through all that . But what I tell them is try to give them hope . Number one you say , okay , see , if I was able to come through it , you should be able to also . So let's look at it together . And if they're going through treatments , I understand the side effects . I've gone through so many chemotherapies . So I tell them how to counteract the side effects and how to go through it emotionally . Just keep fighting . Also , give them hope . There is always light at the end of the tunnel , don't worry , you will fight through it . It's giving hope pretty much .

Shoba Rao 34:01

So your book is mostly for whom my book is for ? I would say everyone , the reason being number one for people going through adversities . For them I have given the lessons on how to key takeaways from my book , which is right on the top , is , like I'm not my disease , so I just want people to know that they should not make the disease their definition . They are a lot more than that For anybody who is facing especially cancer , but also any other major adversity in life , and also to be their own advocate , because you have to go find yourself , fight for yourself . Don't expect someone else to do it for you .

Shoba Rao 34:38

The second part of my audience , which I told about the chapter where I tell them how to talk to cancer patient , is one where I want them to understand what a cancer patient goes through , and I have written the book in a very matter of fact way . It is not about emotions or like a soft story saying , oh , I've gone through this . That is not what my book is about . It is not about a spiritual journey . It includes a lot of medical terms as well as an emotional picture as well as a story . It is written in a story format of how my life went through so that it will keep the audience engaged but at the same time make them understand how people face adversities for the general audience to be inspired . Wonderful , and so what is the name of your book ? The book is my Race Against Death , my Race Against Death .

Daniela SM 35:32

Wonderful , yes so , shobha , thank you so much for sharing your story and really inspiring . I appreciated the lessons . I'm sure that other people will get that message as well . Thank you , daniela .

Shoba Rao 35:43

Thanks for having me . No , thank you , it was lovely meeting you . I'm very glad to share my story .

Daniela SM 35:47

Thanks , I hope you enjoyed today's episode . I am Daniela and you were listening to , because Everyone has a Story . Please take five seconds right now and think of somebody in your life that may enjoy what you just heard , or someone that has a story to be shared and preserved . When you think of that person , shoot them a text with the link of this podcast . This would allow the ordinary magic to go further . Join me next time for another story conversation . Thank you for listening . See you soon .