Hi friends. I am so excited you're here and I'm even more excited to have this interview be the first interview podcast, um, that I am. Presenting to everybody. I cannot wait for you guys to hear the story of Cissy Carroll. She is the guest on today's show. She is an amazing woman. She has had, um, cancer. For over eight years.
She actually got diagnosed when her baby, her son was only four months old and they told her she had such a small percentage of living past five years. She is now going on eight years. She beat all the odds. Um, and she's incredible. She never just stopped living her life, which I think is. One of the most impressive and inspiring things about her.
There are many by the way, but I just love that her, her zest for life, it never left. She never let this diagnosis slow her down. Um, and she says a thing on this interview, which you'll hear, but she just kept planning things with her family and so she knew, you know, I just. I'm, I gotta be around cuz I've got these plans and I love that so much.
Um, and recently she received another diagnosis, um, and was given six months. I think we are around four months into that six months. But one of sissy's old friends. Actually gifted her and her family a vacation and all expenses paid vacation. All the planning was done, right. The hotel, the car, they had photographs done on the beach.
It was, it was incredible. And, This is how incredible Sissy and her husband, I have to give Jason a huge shout out as well. Um, they're both just incredible human beings and because of this amazing gift that they received, they both decided that they wanted to do the same thing for. So many families who are going through something like this, so their foundation, I urge all of you listening to Please Go Give, take the Trip Foundation, give them a follow if you can.
They're on Instagram and Facebook. Um, donate if you can. They're looking for. Obviously monetary donations, but you can also donate your time. You can donate your resources. They are looking for different kinds of people to donate, such as photographers or car services or hotels, anything like this to. Be able to gift a young family who is suffering from terminal illness one last trip.
It's all about long lasting memories for them. Um, and we actually featured them. I own a Business Ladies Lifestyle Network and at each one of our social events, we feature a local charity and we were blessed enough to have. Jason and Sissy and their son there with us, um, and just telling us how quickly this has grown and how dear it is to them.
You can tell just by the way that they speak about it, how excited and really dedicated to this cause they are. So I just wanted to give you guys a little information and, uh, just give you, you know, such some insight into this, this incredible woman, this incredible family, and this incredible foundation that will now be a legacy, um, for their son.
And I just, I love it so much. I hope you all enjoy this interview. I hope you find something inspiring. Um, sissy and Jason, when they were presenting at our event, they were saying, you know, she actually, I. Has the chance and has had the chance for years to live like she's dying. And so they have had just the most incredible last several years.
And it really, really spoke to me and I know it spoke to all of the women at our event. Um, they were all these posts being made that they are taking that trip with their family or they're taking that leap in their job or. Whatever it may be. And so I really hope that you guys find this interview as inspiring and impactful as I have.
And, um, like I said, please, please, please, if you can go, give, take The Trip Foundation, any sort of support, it would mean everything to this amazing family. Without further ado, here is Sissy Carol.
Okay. Hey everybody. Who is tuning in? I am so excited. I have Cissy Carrol here. She is the founder of Take the Trip Foundation. Um, she is an amazing woman and she is here to share her story. Um, she has a lot going on. She has had a lot going on for many years. Um, but everything that she has had thrown her way, she has taken it with grace and she is just accomplishing so many amazing things.
Um, so Cissy, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. I am so excited to have you on, and I would love it if you would just tell everyone a little bit about. You, you know, just, yeah, what do we need to know about you? And then, you know, fill us in on when you got diagnosed and all of those, all of those things.
Okay. I'll try to make this a little brief for y'all because it, it gets lengthy. Um, I was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. By the way, no stigma. Anybody can get lung cancer, whether you have lungs. If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. So I was diagnosed back in 2015, which was four months after my son was born.
Wow. So I had a four month old, and then they told me basically you have less than five years to live. And they said, well, you have a one in. 1% chance will live five years, 1%. So, um, five years came, six years came. Seven years came. And we are coming up on eight years. Um, which is so wonderful. I never thought I would see my son go to kindergarten.
Yeah. And they told me, they said, you'll never see him go to kindergarten. They'll never see you play sports. Like you won't get to see 'em grow up at all. And fortunately, I've been. Granted time, God has given me time for those gifts. Yeah. And they were wrong. You know they were wrong. How did you feel? You know when they're like 1%, like in your head, were you like, you know, I'm gonna be that 1%, or, you know, cuz when doctors took phone number, it's, it's like, okay, you know, you assume that they know everything and what they're saying is true, you know?
But, Well, when I got the call to confirm, cause they have to go in remove, well there was also brain tumors cuz it had metastasized to my brain. Okay. So they had to remove a large, um, oh, it was a golf ball sized tumor. And after that test came back, of course it came back as cancer came from the lung. Um, so when they called me to gimme their results, it's kind of like, Like a punch to the gut.
Yeah. You, you pick up the phone and you know who's calling and you know what they're gonna say. But to hear it is just a completely different world. Yeah. Different world. Um, so, you know, that happened and I didn't, I planned on fighting, you know, I definitely wasn't gonna give up, but my fighting led to living like, I'm gonna live, I'm gonna live, live, live until I can't live anymore.
Yeah. So that's what we've been doing. We, we just plan things and plan things and plan things so that I can't stop. Yeah. Now, recently I was, um, diagnosed again, rediagnosed, when they put me on hospice. Instead, I had less than six months to live, and that was about three months ago. So half of that line's gone.
Um, and, and we'll see what happens. Yeah. Right now I'm planning on, you know, the worst Yeah. When you're getting things ready and getting ourselves prepared and doing all the things you don't think about doing. Right. You know? Yeah. Um, but. I'm very blessed to have had this time. I'm very blessed to have had my husband by my side the whole way.
And your son? My son Jackson. Yeah. They've really saved me. So what do the doctors say, right? Like they clearly you had, you're still here, it's been much longer than five years, you know, are they like, Are they so just surprised Are they, are they crediting to kind of how you handled the situation and, and you started fighting and the way you started, you know, living your life and doing all of the things, like what do they have to say to you?
Because that's a scary thing to tell someone and it doesn't come true, you know, and you're like, okay. I mean, I literally had one of my physicians say to me, you know, you. You should have six months, less than six months left. But one of them said two to three short months and then they said, but you haven't been typical this entire time.
Right. Nothing about your case is typical. I don't think anything I have done has helped you any further along than the things you have done. I still going to the gym, still doing wanted, wanted to do going places I wanted to go. Um, still living your life. Yes, absolutely. Do not wait till you have an expiration date to start living your life.
Cause it is so worth it. And, and you just really never know. You know, I, I mean, I think like how. It must feel right to kind of them give you this date. They did the same thing, uh, with my grandfather a couple years ago, and they were completely wrong, but in the opposite direction. They said he had like three months and he had like four days.
Oh gosh. It was a huge shock to all of us, you know? But I, if you, you know, I wonder, obviously, I don't know how that feels to be given that time for that, just something like that. It's your life, you know? But, To then beat the odds, you know, like you had a 1% chance and then you just so completely flew past those five years.
And I think it's so important that you weren't like, oh, I'm just like not gonna do anything. Like, you know, I'm, I'm gonna be safe about everything. It's like, no, I still got up and went to the gym. I still went out with my friends. I still went to the karaoke bar. I still had my exactly. Margarita if I wanted it, you know?
I wasn't celery juicing, I didn't do all the, all the crazy holistic things they just, they say to do, because I did the doctor steps, you know, I was in chemo every three weeks. I did brain radiation like a lot. I had over 50 tumors in my brain at one time. Oh my goodness. Um, yeah. So I've had whole brain radiation.
So what is that? They just basically, I. They built a mask on your face. Okay. It's like a hard plastic mask. It kinda looks like a Jason mask. Um, but it's got holes in it so you can breathe. Yeah. And then they put you in this machine and they just have to zap like their whole head. Wow. 15 times. 15 days in a row or something.
And you can only have it once. Okay. As messes you up cognitively and using your digits and just, just random things, executive functions that you. You rely on so much, but you don't realize how much, how important they're totally. For you, it's like, you know, you appreciate things so much more. I feel like once you've gone through something like that, or there's a chance of, you know, it not working properly or something.
Mm-hmm. You know, I mean, I feel like you must wait. You know, they always say like, every day is a gift, and it really is true, right? Like any person could, heaven forbid, get in a car accident tomorrow and bam, get on, right? Like there is no, nobody knows when the time is. Even if you h hear from doctors something, it's like you just, there's no 100% like this is the day, you know?
And so I think that, There's that whole thing, you know, like wake up every day is a gift and it is so true. But I feel like you really wake up and live like that. Like that you live that as your truth. You know? I'm like, I woke up this morning. I literally woke up this morning. So many blessings. Yeah, so many blessings have been bestowed against me, and I'm just thankful for the time.
It could be worse. I could have. Like you said, done a car wreck last year. Never seen, never knew. It was kinda, never gotta say my goodbyes, never gotta take the trip, buy the shoes, eat the cakes. Like all the things that I believe in. Yeah. So my, um, family and I, we have always traveled like every, within every six months we would pick a trip and just go on it.
Mm-hmm. Just have the memories. That's amazing. Mm-hmm. Well, so speaking of the trip mm-hmm. I would love for you to tell everybody a little bit about how your trip was gifted to you guys, and then how that inspired you to mm-hmm. Founder of Take the Trip. I would love like, kind of just give us a little background on that, like how this person who did gift you the trip, how they found out about your situation and, and all that stuff.
So probably in March I was, you know, all of her social media and all my friends had reconnected with me that have been friends forever. And one of these guys I haven't talked to in about 15 years, and he was still living in South Carolina where I knew him. And he had connections. He made it all happen.
He booked the flights, he booked the hotel, he booked their ho, the dinner reservations. They took care of it all. And it was just, They gave us a photo shoot on beach and I got all dressed up and it was beautiful. It was beautiful and relaxing and we were so honest and vulnerable with each other that those are, those are things you can't ever take away from me.
No, and I've seen those pictures and they are, they're stunning. Thank you. They're just, you guys look so just happy and peaceful and. Just like in the moment in those pictures, you know, you can tell that like you were just really cherishing that time. Like it shows through the photographs. It does, it does.
It really does. And I think that, I think that Hill Jackson will remember that. Although he is only seven, I think he'll remember this trip. And remember the Pina Coladas? Cabana? Cabana? I don't know. We did have, oh my gosh. Gosh. Gonna remember that. Yeah. Fun. Is that. You know, oh my gosh. That's his favorite. I love that.
How that can happen. India. So we got the trip, they gave us a trip. We went down there. We, we met the owners of the hotel. We met, um, donors of the restaurants and the beach service. And they were like, we have to do this for someone else. Like, I didn't wanna extend the trip because we didn't, it's not like we didn't have the means to do it.
Yeah. So I just did it because out of the kindness of their heart. Yeah. So I'm like, we, we have to repay this. So my son and Jason were laying in bed and he was talking about we're gonna pay it forward, we're gonna start a foundation. So it was really, I'm the inspiration. But Jason is really the front runner in this foundation.
He is the c e o and founder. And, uh, he is, he's just great. He has done the whole thing from scratch. And we're up. We are gonna have our website live tonight. Yay. And we're giving away our first trip, um, may the 17th. Oh my goodness. It's really happening so fast. Oh my gosh. So, And that's such a testament, you know, it is such a testament to how important this is.
You know, I've never heard of a foundation or a charity that does something like this, but when we were talking about it, I was like, how this is incredible. You know, like how, how has it taken until now for this to come about? But it was just, you know, meant to be something. And I think too, for your husband to.
To have this and create a legacy for you guys is just, this will live on mm-hmm. Forever. You know what I mean? I think it will. I really do like that. Oh my gosh. I just got goosebumps. Oh, that's less, it's a week away. A week and a day. Yeah. No, we just talked to the guy and it's gonna be on Facebook tonight or Instagram.
You'll see it. Make sure you follow us at the. Take the T Foundation or take the tre foundation.org. Um, both on Facebook, Instagram. All the things. I'll also, yeah, I will also, um, put your Instagram, your Facebook, your website and everything in the show notes. We'll link it in there. So anyone who's listening to this, you can go and just find it directly there.
You definitely wanna follow on Instagram and Facebook. You guys have such a huge online community, it's pretty impressive. Well, and I actually have to hand that off to my friend Andrea. She has. Just nonstop. She, I have this Sissy Strong shirt that all my friends sold for me back eight years ago. Yeah. To raise funds and now everybody wants one.
And tomorrow's actually. Yeah, that's okay. Tomorrow's actually sissy day, so we're gonna have.
Hundreds of people walking around. I love with sy shirts on. Oh my gosh. Are you guys gonna wear them to the event? We're we're, we're gonna be at event. I'm gonna, yes. We're definitely gonna wear them. The ones that have them? Yes. That's amazing. So does the family know who you are gifting this first one to?
Do they know already or is it a surprise? No, they actually just found out it was via Zoom. Um, and there's a little special surprise. I love that. So make sure you watch it. It's gonna be exciting. Oh my gosh. So like, people can watch when these families are finding out. Um, some of them, I think some of them will be publicized, some of them will.
It's really dependent on the patient. Yeah. What and what they want. That's so sweet. Cuz it's like you guys are taking everyone kind of on the journey with you, you know, and mm-hmm. And getting to see the reactions of these families and just, you know, I'm sure each family who gets this is just so taken aback.
You know, it's such a nice, wonderful thing to be able to do and mm-hmm. Make those memories, you know, that's, that's all we have anyways, are our memories. And so to do that, it's just, ugh, it's so special. I am well, The wonderful thing about this one is, I think one of, one of my favorite things is we told his wife that he was the one, he's the one that's sick, but we told his wife that she would be taking a photo shoot and getting her hair and makeup done, and she was thrilled.
She was just crying and she was like, I've never had a photo shoot. Like I'm always the one behind the camera. Yeah. So that just. Many of us moms are, I feel like, you know, always behind the camera. That's a note for all the men listening take. That's right. Mother's Day. Yeah. Mother's Day is coming up and take pictures of mamas and their babies cuz we don't have enough of 'em.
Never, never enough. Oh man, that is so sweet. Well, I, yeah, I don't want to pry too much into that cuz I definitely wanna see, I wanna see it on your guys' social media that you post. Yes, definitely. So our goal, I didn't, I don't need to have this party on, our goal is to, uh, gift a trip to families, to young families with children because children get doted on so much, you know, when they're sick and.
There are these foundations. Of course, you know, the giant, um, make A Wish is, is making everybody's dreams come true. But who, who's taking care of dad? Like those are the people that really need to know that, that their family is gonna have these memories forever. Yeah. For sure. And you're right. You know, and thank God there are foundations for, for children, you know, of course.
But the parents need some love and, you know, taken care of too. And I feel like we forget that a lot, and especially in this society, you know, we're all just so consumed with, with our kids and being the perfect mom and doing the perfect thing and packing the perfect lunch and you know, like it gets to be so much.
And then, At the end of the day, you're just like, whew. Like I'm a person too, you know? And then add on something like a terminal illness or something, and it's just like, I'm sure a thousand times more difficult at the end of the day. You know? We all kind of have that, that burnout.
So I just wanted to follow up. I know I can't keep you for much longer, but is there anything that you want, anyone who you know, maybe does have a terminal illness or. Is kind of in the same boat. Is there anything you want to say to them?
Is there any advice you wanna give? What you know, anything you would like to say? Oh, makes it hard talking to my tendered spirits out there. But I know, um, you know, my motto has been, I think I told someone else, I think I stole this from pray, eat, love, or eat, pray love, or whatever it's called. Yeah. Um, so.
Buy the shoes, take the trip and eat the cake. Just always. And I, I think about that when I was putting down cheesecake the other night. Cause I was like, man, I don't need this whole thing but I'm doing it. Um, so yeah, just keep on living. Do, do everything. Don't wait for the money to be there. Don't wait for the time to be there.
Make time, money, money will work itself out and. Just, just live and take lots of pictures. Yeah, take lots and lots of pictures. If you are a survivor right now and you have a terminal illness or some sort of illness that's gonna take your life at some point, um, I wanna meet, I'd love for you to put something in an application, your young family.
Um, hopefully you have a couple kids. I can have a picture of them too, and. Just please send an application on the website and that's at, um, take the trip foundation.org again. Um, and if anybody else out there is touched by this story or touched by there are other stories that will be out there, um, please donate.
Uh, if you could forward $25 a month, that would be crucial to these families. So just anything else. Okay. And that's helped take the Trip Foundation as well. That's amazing. Okay. Well sissy, you know, I am so inspired by you and your story, and I'm just really, really grateful to have had this opportunity.
I'm grateful to have the opportunity tomorrow. You know, with our event, we have like over 50 people coming. Wonderful. Um, so far. Yeah. And. You know, if anyone here listening is inspired, we would love for you to share this. And like she said, check out, take the Trip Foundation. Even if you know someone who is terminally ill and you wanna submit them for this.
You know, there's people sometimes I think, don't do things for themselves. They, they feel like, oh, you know, like you said, you have the means to do it, but. You still went on this trip, right? It wasn't like, oh wait, we didn't have the means, so it was just so nice. He sent us on this vacation. It's like, mm-hmm.
This guy wanted to do that, you know? Yeah. And, and it's like, you, this foundation wants to do this, so don't take the joy and the gift away from the giver. You know? There are people that this is just so important to them to be able to help and right. So if you know someone who's like, would never submit themselves or their own family, I think that it is nominating them, nominate them.
That's the word. Absolutely. Thank you citizen. A message. Gimme a, gimme a little blurb about it. Tell me about it. And we could reach out to them ourselves. That's incredible. Well, you're incredible and I thank you so, so much for being here and. I'm just, I'm so inspired by you and I know that everyone who hears this and knows you and knows your story and, and knows your zest for life, that's the thing about you, is you have this very, you have like this light, you know, everyone's nowadays always talking about their vibration and, and all of that stuff, and yours is on a very, it's on a higher level, you know, and I think that that's very impactful for people to see.
And thank you. Yeah, I just, I thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow, girl. I really, I look forward to see you tomorrow night. All right. Have a great evening. If you don't have your ticket yet, make sure you grab one. Yes, have tomorrow night. All right, girl. I will talk to you later on. Thank you. Okay.
Bye-Bye.