40-Jenny Bradley - Living With Breast Cancer & Thriving

Is it possible to LIVE with cancer?  The answer is YES! 

Today's podcast guest is Jenny Bradley, and she has been living and thriving with cancer for quite a number of years.  Proving that cancer does not have to be a "life sentence".  She's living her best life giving back to other cancer patients and proving that life does go on even after a diagnosis.

In her own words:  "I’ve been living with cancer for at least 7 years.  I was diagnosed 5 years ago, and misdiagnosed for 2 years before that.  But that bump didn’t get there overnight.  So I’ve probably been LIVING with cancer for a decade or so."

Connect with Jenny Bradley on her website:
https://shrinkthemutant.com/

Suggested Resource Links:

• Shrink The Mutant School
• Riordan Clinic (Kansas)
• Instagram - Shrink the Mutant
• Psalm 23 (New International Version)

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Transcript

Ivelisse Page: 0:06

Hi, I'm Ivelisse Page and thanks for listening to the Believe Big podcast, the show where we take a deep dive into your healing with health experts, a integrative practitioners, biblical faith leaders, and cancer thrivers from around the globe. Welcome to today's episode on the Believe Big podcast. My name is Ivelisse Page and today's episode will help you find more peace as an advocate for yourself as a cancer patient or a loved one on their cancer journey. We are speaking to cancer thriver Jenny Bradley. Jenny has been thriving with cancer since her diagnosis in 2017. She is passionate about guiding fellow cancer patients into more peace and less overwhelm during their cancer journey through her coaching and courses. She is a certified holistic cancer coach, a certified culinary nutrition expert, and a licensed pastor who helps others confidently advocate for themselves. Jenny lives in the middle of the USA with her husband Mike, and their cute little dog named Poppy. Welcome Jenny to the show.

Jenny Bradley: 1:29

Thank you. Hopefully we won't hear any of the cute little dog, Poppy.

Ivelisse Page: 1:33

They always like to be included.

Jenny Bradley: 1:34

That's right, that's right. Yes, thank you for having me. It's a true honor that you invited me here. First of all, if I can say this, I love the Believe Big organization and what all you guys do. I am a recipient of one of the Mistletoe grants years ago, and the care and courtesy in which anyone that I've ever interacted with at the Believe Big organization has ever interacted with me, has always been just so peace giving and calm and helpful. So I just love, love, love all that you guys do and how you lead in this space and how you take care of the cancer patients that are coming to you looking for guidance. So thank you. Thank you for all you do.

Ivelisse Page: 2:22

Aw. Thank you Jenny, that's so kind of you to say. Thank you. So I know you have many health tips, so can you share your favorite one with us?

Jenny Bradley: 2:31

Yes, it is really simple. It's to just start. I think that sometimes we get really bogged down by thinking that we have to have everything 100% ready to go, or 100% done a certain way when really it's more about like, if walking is really important in my cancer journey, then I just need to start by putting on those shoes, and then I just start by getting myself out the door. And I just start by walking to my mailbox. It doesn't have to be that the plan is I do the whole entire thing. The plan is I take that very first step, or even on switching your overall meal diet plan or the doctor that you're going to. It's about making that first call or making that first switch of your food, right? So to me it's all about just take that very first step. Or for some of us, it's that next step, right? Like that what is that next best step for me as the individual in that scenario. So just start. That's my tip.

Ivelisse Page: 3:34

That's a great idea. Sometimes we can feel like you can be overwhelmed with so many choices that are out there. And so almost like peel things like a layer of an onion. Okay, this is what I'm gonna do first, second, and don't let it paralyze you. I love that. So start, that's a great bit of advice. So you were diagnosed with breast cancer, so what type were you diagnosed with and how did you discover it?

Jenny Bradley: 3:57

So I was actually misdiagnosed for two years before I was diagnosed. I had a bump on my chest, and when I would go to the doctor and be seen and palpated and whatnot, she literally said to me, I'm not worried about this being cancer. You're young, and just let me know if something about it changes". And because it was a doctor literally in scrubs and her name embroidered on them and all the fancy things, right? Why wouldn't I have believed her at the time? Growing up everything that I understood about that world was like, that person is the expert, right? So, honestly, I just wasn't worried about it at that point. Like the doctor said, it's not a big deal. She thought it was a lipoma, which is a fatty mass. And then the second go around of all that, she said that same thing, I'm not worried about it being cancer, but I'm going to send you to a breast specialist who can cut these out because they cut them out all the time so you'll get a better aesthetic outcome. So because it was not like an emergent thing, there was no rush in the doctor's office coordinating the schedule of it. So it literally was like a couple more months later until I could get in. And when I went in, my husband happened to go with me because we thought that we were gonna be scheduling a little mini procedure. And so we were just there together to coordinate life and really truly no idea that it could even really possibly be cancer. And when that particular surgeon that is a breast specialist took one look at my chest, like, before she even touched me when she looked at it, she said, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I think this is cancer and we need to do a biopsy. So we talked through the business of it just a little bit, and at the time, I didn't have all of this integrative complementary knowledge with me or behind me. And for me in that moment, it was just about the task and the business okay, what's the next step in this moment? And through the discussion of it, I did not feel rushed or pressured by that particular doctor, but my husband and I felt like, okay, let's just go ahead and get the answer then. So I went ahead and I had a biopsy, like literally the doctor walked me from that exam room across the hall to a procedure room. I had a biopsy right then and there. And so I found out a couple of days before Christmas I got a phone call. I knew from that phone call it was a carcinoma and it was a breast carcinoma, and then they were gonna have to send it out for further testing to get all of the nitty gritty pathology details, right? And so I didn't know until New Years that it was hormone receptor positive and HER2 negative. So it's invasive ductal carcinoma, ER PR positive, HER2 negative, and in my case, it is slow growing and I have been dealing with it like you mentioned, since 2017. Really, I had it for years before that. And then really when I talk to doctors about the timeline of how big it already was, even in 2015, 2016, and 2017. We figure, and doctors agree with me on this, that I probably had cancer over 10 years. I have been living, and I say that in all capital letters, living with cancer for probably a decade. And thriving, and now there's so many things that I do to support myself in thriving. We are all individual, we all have bioindividuality, different biochemistry, and not all cancer cases are the same.

Ivelisse Page: 7:35

I wanna go back to that, when your doctor said that it's not cancer and you waited. Okay knowing what you know now, what should you have done or what should someone do If they have a lump and their doctor says, oh, it's fatty tissue, it's a cyst. What would be the safest thing to do?

Jenny Bradley: 7:52

In my personal opinion, I would go get some sort of noninvasive scan, like a thermography type of scan, Get a set of data if you can. And I know that there is not one 100% foolproof scan. But get, start getting some sort of data on board. And of course, also whatever your version of getting a second opinion is. And for some people that second opinion is data, from a scan. There's so much referring in the conventional oncology world, so I don't know that I could have scheduled my own surgeon appointment., However, that doesn't mean that I couldn't have gone to a different either practitioner in the office I was already in or whatnot. And just get a second opinion overall. I wasn't having any pain. like There was nothing else about my life that I would've put two and two together and thought oh yeah, this is what cancer looks like, sounds like, feels like. I think also so much of what people in America at least think we have a picture of what cancer is supposed to look like by what we see images on TV or social media looking like when someone is really sick from treatments. I've never lost my hair. There's different things associated to what cancer is really like versus what treatment is really like.

Ivelisse Page: 9:10

So what did you do for your treatments?

Jenny Bradley: 9:12

Good question. So in my particular case, chemo and radiation was not recommended for me, and that was through multiple doctors, multiple oncologists, surgeon, et cetera. The first initial conversation after diagnosis after the phone call was, we're gonna have a meeting in a conference room. And so it was my husband and I and the doctor for her to draw out a map for us. And as soon as she said the chemo and radiation would not be recommended in my particular case, I threw up my hands like a touchdown, and said Hallelujah! Because that was a battle I was preparing in my mind that I was gonna have to use my emotional energy to talk to her about, like, I'd like to wait on that and do other things first. And then surgery has always been an ongoing conversation, but in that initial moment, she said that she did not wanna operate on it for at least six months. She wanted for me to shrink it. And that, by the way, is why I started my Instagram account called Shrink the Mutant because it's shrinking the tumor. I did all kinds of complementary alternative therapies that first six months, and my tumor shrunk 20% without any chemo, radiation, surgery, or typical oncology pharmaceuticals that are used in breast cancer. So I did high dose IV vitamin C, infrared saunas, coffee enemas, immediately radically shift my nutrition and did all kinds of things intentionally dumping in all the nutrients that I could get that could fuel my body to let my body do what it needed to do to help heal the cancer. And then different off-label drugs and whatnot.

Ivelisse Page: 10:55

And they're all individualized,

Jenny Bradley: 10:57

Yes.

Ivelisse Page: 10:57

So you know everyone, even though you're sharing, this is what you did for your breast cancer, as everyone knows on when I speak about treatments and things like that, that it really is individualized. And you worked with a fantastic integrative practitioner, Dr. Tims, we know him very well at the Riordan Clinic, and they do a great job of evaluating you as an individual from your intake form to your blood work, to pathology, all of that. So that's really important to note as well. On your website, you mentioned 5 under 40. What exactly does that mean and how did it apply to you?

Jenny Bradley: 11:31

Okay, so 5 under 40 anybody that wants to search it, could look up#5under40, use the numbers, don't spell it out. Essentially it is only 5% of those of us that are diagnosed with cancer are under the age of 40 when we're diagnosed. So anyone 39 and under in medical world of oncology is considered a young adult. So even though I was in my thirties when I was diagnosed, I was considered a young adult in cancer world.

Ivelisse Page: 11:59

I didn't realize that I was 37. I would not have considered myself as a young adult. I would've thought 30 under.

Jenny Bradley: 12:06

And you were only a part of the five percent. Yeah.

Ivelisse Page: 12:08

Wow. As someone who has been on a cancer journey for many years, I'm sure you've learned a lot, thankful for what you do on your website. And we're gonna put the link so that people can find you and ask more questions and resources that you have, so that they can easily find that in our show notes. But what might be some things that you can quickly share? About having cancer that you think people might not know and should?

Jenny Bradley: 12:31

I think overall it's to start with your own mindset and what do you think about your own body and your own cancer case. And for me that started with, I believe that God designed our bodies to heal. And one of the things that always reminds me of that if I get a nick on my hand, I love watching it scab over and heal because my body innately knows to do that. So there is something about having a mindset that I'm designed to heal and healing is in process. Cancer is not a sentence, it's a word. And you can go down that line of cancer doesn't have to mean it's a death sentence for all people that get diagnosed. There's so much that we can do to support ourselves, and you don't have to go about it the same way that somebody else goes about it. I guess maybe if there's one of the themes of today is you are your own unique individual. And so to find the people that best fit you and what you want out of this to create your own care team around this. And that there are all kinds of options out there, and for those of us that do naturopathic, integrative, care as patients, one of the things I've learned about that too is there's always something else to try. That's one of the really neat things about an integrative and naturopathic approach is, guess what? There's something else to try. And, p.s. when we talk about treatments a bit ago I've done mistletoe, I've done helleborus, I've done ozone, and I've also had a cryoablation procedure, which I always want people with breast cancer to know about because it's not talked about in the standard of care world as much. It is done by MDs, but cryoablation is the freezing of your tumor from the inside out.

Ivelisse Page: 14:16

That's amazing. I had never heard of that. So I've heard of ablation for like lung cancer and other things, but not cryo. We'll definitely have to do a podcast on that one.

Jenny Bradley: 14:24

Yeah.

Ivelisse Page: 14:24

Those are some great therapies that you were able to discover and be a part of. Being your own advocate can be difficult and being a caregiver can be difficult. And so to say caregiver, how would you say would be the best thing they could do to help their loved one on their cancer journey?

Jenny Bradley: 14:41

Cancer is prevalent unfortunately in our western world and I will get a message that says, hey Jenny, my so and so just got diagnosed with cancer. What can I do to help them? And I realized that I was coming across that question so often that I was giving the same answer over and over again. And it became this idea to me of doing something specific has been the most helpful for me as a cancer patient. I think there's this automatic knee jerk reaction to say to the cancer patient, just let me know if I can help. Unfortunately, what that does is that puts the burden on the cancer patient and I know it's well intended and well meaning. I have a little formula on my website that you can get this on, but essentially it's name, a specific task that you can do for them on a specific day in a specific timeframe. So an example would be, would it be helpful to you if I went and picked up your groceries on Wednesday or Thursday this week in the afternoon. There's something that you can do specific that isn't a general, call me when you know. There's so much that my brain is over capacity when I'm diagnosed with cancer. I think that's pretty common for most people. If other people know that we're diagnosed with cancer, people want to help, which is so wonderful and it's so loving. But I can't figure out 20 different things for 20 different people to do. I need those people to tell me what they're capable of.

Ivelisse Page: 16:07

And I think on the other side of it, I know for me, one of the things I struggled with was I didn't wanna put people out.

Jenny Bradley: 16:13

Yes.

Ivelisse Page: 16:13

I felt like I was inconveniencing them. They're busy families and I was really grateful that a friend set up lots of helping hands for me.

Jenny Bradley: 16:21

Yes.

Ivelisse Page: 16:21

And that had a schedule that I would tell her what days I wanted meals, what type of meals, what even ingredients. And so that was really helpful. And there's also other websites that also include rides for your kids and childcare and those kind of things as well. So true, be very specific. Maybe have a friend that can oversee that aspect so you're not getting flooded with so many calls all the time. So that's great advice. And so you're a certified nutrition expert. Can you talk about some of the most important things that you learned about food and food choices in your cancer experience?

Jenny Bradley: 16:57

Yeah. I think, there's two buckets if we wanna think about this. There's the bucket of what do I need to take away and what do I need to add? So one of the things to take away are things that are inflammatory. So, inflammatory causing foods, drinks, ingredients, and what can you add in? You can start adding in more veggies. Eat the rainbow, we like to say. And what we mean is, fill your plate as much as you can with fruits and vegetables, and then, let's reduce the ultra packaged foods, the ultra processed foods. Let's get more and more of those out of your daily diet. Not everyone that is on a cancer journey is gonna have the same dietary needs. And so that's another thing I think we all need to understand. Like I feel like there's such a desire that we all just want the one answer. If we could all just follow this one plan. There's not gonna be a one and only diet that every single person with cancer is gonna need to follow. So to me it's more about reducing inflammation and adding in whole food nutrients.

Ivelisse Page: 18:04

Do you have a favorite recipe or two that you can share with us?

Jenny Bradley: 18:07

Overall, I love using drinks as a way to get in simple, quick nutrition. So I love having matcha. It's very easy to make at home. It can be a part of a morning ritual. It helps me slow down in my mornings and be present. So matcha is the whole entire green tea leaf ground up. So it's also very important to get organic and ceremonial grade. But green tea, as we know, has really great anti-cancer benefits. And I know that a lot of times people have a hard time with the very earthy flavor, so I like to add cinnamon and vanilla extract and coconut butter to mine. It becomes a nice creamy matcha latte for me.

Ivelisse Page: 18:51

Love it.

Jenny Bradley: 18:51

So that's one quick recipe. Yeah. Around the holidays for meals, I know that can be a really stressful time for anyone on a health journey that is really working with a medical diet. What I have learned to do for myself is, If I'm not the one in charge of the meal, if I'm showing up somewhere I end up trying to bring some things that I know that I can eat. But this year if we're gonna have Turkey, we're gonna have the highest quality turkey that we can, and reduce any of the inflammation. So I want the highest quality turkey, to me that means organic. No antibiotics were used on it. I believe with poultry in America, they don't actually use hormones, but that's not to say it's not in other parts of the process. Personally for me, I'm looking for food that is no antibiotics, no added hormones, organic, absolutely as much as possible. And I think also people forget that organic means more than just not having some pesticides on it. It means a whole list of things that they can't put on it. And it cannot be genetically modified organism. There's a lot, of benefit to focusing on getting organic as much as possible.

Ivelisse Page: 20:09

And so to switch a little bit here, you're a licensed pastor. How did that play a role in your life or how does it play a role in your life as a cancer thriver.

Jenny Bradley: 20:18

So I have essentially known since I was a teenager, that I was called into ministry and it's been the majority of my adult career life has been in full-time ministry, working with students and, college ministry and younger. I was telling you earlier about that very first initial breast specialist. I have very vivid memories of sitting on that exam table with the paper, crinkling. And in my mind, just thinking about various scriptures. I'm so thankful that I have committed scripture to memory because it's a way that I can rehearse God's peace in a moment without needing any other exterior tools. In that moment I was rehearsing various scriptures and then that kind of cast the light on what the rest of my cancer journey has looked like in the sense of faith has played a very big role. It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter what treatment you're choosing. It doesn't matter what type of cancer you have. Having a diagnosis like cancer is hard. But having an eternal perspective brings a peace, a peace that passes understanding. So that's some of it for me. We could probably have a whole other podcast just about that topic too.

Ivelisse Page: 21:32

That's true. I actually thought about that day, even through my cancer journey and even now, like I know faith definitely played a huge role in mine as well. And unless someone has really experienced that, it's really difficult to explain how, just saying scripture out loud, really fills your entire being with peace. And, I always feel like none of us know what our expiration date is. none of us know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds it.

Jenny Bradley: 22:01

Yep.

Ivelisse Page: 22:01

And so I find this peace in knowing that no matter what we're going through, whether it's cancer or difficult situation in our lives, we know that we don't have to carry it. And he carries it for us. And I think that's where we release those burdens. And I know I was doing that on a daily basis and my friend said, picture of a backpack Ivelisse, and all these worries and fears and anxious thoughts and things that come to you, put it in that backpack. And at the end of the day, just imagine taking off that backpack and throwing it at the foot of the cross, because you're not meant to carry it. He's carrying it for you. And it just brought such relief, or that footprints in the sand poem that said, when I saw one set of footprints, it's when you carried me. And When we are weak, He makes us strong. And so I, I really, love what you shared about that and it really plays a huge role in making the process not as difficult as it could be.

Jenny Bradley: 22:55

One of the places that I use that too, on scan days and while you're waiting on scan results. But in the moments of being in the machines, I know can bring a lot of intrepidness to people. So I don't know if you know this, but in breast MRIs, which is the type that I get, we have to lay face down so we cannot see out of the machine at all.

Ivelisse Page: 23:17

Oh my goodness.

Jenny Bradley: 23:18

And you can have your arms up above your head but also you can ask to have your arms at the side. So all you can do is think, and in those times, I meditate. A lot of times I meditate on Psalm 23 and I picture, what does that meadow look like? What does that stream look like? What does it look like for a gentle shepherd to be coming by and making sure that I'm okay. That's one of the ways that I have peace in my cancer journey is by knowing what tools to pull out at which times, when there's nothing else to do, but be lost in your own thoughts. I meditate on scripture.

Ivelisse Page: 23:58

I love that. And I can't believe our time is already up. But I would love to close with, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners that I may not have asked you that you feel would be good to share?

Jenny Bradley: 24:10

I love being able to support fellow cancer thrivers. I have lots of resources on my website and you can connect with me on Instagram at Shrink the Mutant. But on my website, shrinkthemutantschool.com, I have resources for tips on peace. I have how to find a naturopathic or integrative oncologist. I have tips on how to do a fundraiser, anti-cancer drinks, anti-cancer meals, all kinds of stuff. So I really try to be a resource for other people going through the journey. So hopefully somebody listening can find one of those helpful in their moment of need.

Ivelisse Page: 24:49

Thank you so much for being on, sharing your story, being so open, and it's amazing that in the midst of this, that you are serving other people. So that's just a great testament as to what you're doing is working so that you have the energy to do that, and then also who you are as a person. So thank you so much for joining us.

Jenny Bradley: 25:08

Yes, thank you for saying that.

Ivelisse Page: 25:16

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