Season 2 Episode 10: Dan Reilly’s Wake-Up Calls: Trauma, Transformation & Thriving After Cancer

What happens when your life unravels — not once, but three times? 

In this season finale of The Hurdle2Hope Show, I sit down with Dan Reilly: cancer survivor, father, banker, and author of Seize Your Second Chance. Dan takes us through the extraordinary wake-up calls that reshaped his life — from surviving a bank robbery and California wildfires to receiving a stage 3 esophageal cancer diagnosis. 

But this isn’t just a story about survival. It’s about the decision to live differently — to stop ignoring warning signs, to advocate fiercely for your health, and to find strength in the story you tell yourself. 

If you’ve ever felt like life knocked you down harder than you could stand, this conversation will remind you: you still get to choose what happens next. 

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 

• How Dan’s life changed after a bank robbery, wildfire, and cancer diagnosis 
• The signs and symptoms of esophageal cancer you shouldn’t ignore 
• What it means to seize your second chance — in health and in mindset 
• The emotional weight of surviving trauma 
• Self-advocacy and storytelling as tools for healing 

SHOW RESOURCES 

Website Daniel Reilly  

Book Seize Your Second Chance by Dan Reilly 
 

Subscribe to The Hurdle2Hope Show on YouTube 

Unexpected hurdles interrupt all of our lives. It is how you respond that will define your experience.

To find out how Hurdle2Hope can support you or your organisation please visit hurdle2hope.com.

I would love to connect with you, Teisha.

Also, are you following @hurdle2hope on social media... I would love to see you there!

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Transcript

Speaker: [00:00:00] Hey there, Teisha here, and welcome to The Hurdle2Hope Show. I'm just in the bush, behind our property. So the green land you see behind me is our property, which it's looking so beautiful and green at the moment, a quick introduction, because today's episode is quite, um, is a bit longer than normal. I speak to Dan Reilly, author of Seize Your Second Chance. It's an incredible conversation. I'm not gonna introduce Dan. I'll let him do that with you because he has gone through some incredible life changing moments in quick succession. And what that does is, changes your perspective on life and then prepares you for another massive unexpected hurdle. So enjoy this episode and I'll chat to you again from Daisy Hill when I finish my chat with Dan. 

Welcome to The Hurdle to Hope [00:01:00] Show. I'm your host, Teisha Rose, and this podcast, it's about acknowledging that unexpected hurdles interrupt all of our lives, but it's how you respond that will define your experience. Each week we'll be having real conversations with people whose lives have been interrupted.

And those who offer us support through our most challenging times, each reminds us that even in the darkest moments, hope is always there.

Teisha Rose: Hey, Dan, thank you so much for joining us here on The Hurdle2Hope Show. 

Dan Reilly: Thank you for having me. Honored to be here. 

Teisha Rose: I'm sitting here, as I explained before, in a caravan in sort of the southern part of Victoria on a hundred acres of land, but you are on the other side of the world 

Dan Reilly: Today I'm speaking to you from, mid southern state along the Eastern Sea [00:02:00] Board of the United States. I'm in North Carolina today. My wife and I, we are actually transitioning from the opposite side of the country, the west coast, in California. And, we're in transit. And, this week I have an opportunity to speak to you from my lovely hotel room. 

Teisha Rose: Well, that's, that's a step up from the caravan. So that's, so that's, 

Dan Reilly: I I was, I thought it was a step down. I, your, your property sounds fantastic. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The property's beautiful. The property's beautiful. We're, we're grateful. So that's good.

And, yeah, I'm real excited about our conversation because as the listeners know, I'm all about when life is interrupted, how we find ways to move forward. And what drew me to your story is your life has been interrupted in three massive ways in a really short period of time. So, yeah. Can you take us back the first one was in relation to a bank robbery, which, you [00:03:00] know, must have been absolutely terrifying.

So can you just, um, yeah. Chat to us a little bit about that. 

Dan Reilly: Sure. Uh, that day, uh, was just like any other day. There was no hint that that day would be any different than any other Saturday afternoon in September in 2017, the, the last 25 years mm-hmm. Uh, I have worked as a retail vice president in banking.

And that particular Saturday afternoon, about 15 minutes prior to closing, I noticed someone, uh, coming into the bank. Mm-hmm. Figured he was rushing to come in before closing. And I went to go, approach the person and, and greet him at the door in the lobby. And as I greeted him, he, , pulled out a firearm from a paper bag he was carrying [00:04:00] underneath his arm.

Teisha Rose: Oh my goodness. 

Dan Reilly: Very startling. Ugh. Um, it's not the first time that I've been inside of a bank that has been robbed with a, with a weapon or without a weapon, but this is the first time that I was face-to-face within three to four feet of the individual. Um, and having the weapon pointed directly at my chest, so, if he would've sneezed or coughed, he would not have missed, um, the gun was pointed directly at my chest that day, started out like any other, but by the end of the day, that day had changed everything for me.

I had an absolutely, different perspective, on life. Um, it was a terrifying moment. Uh, it wasn't, I wasn't the only one that was impacted. I had a, uh, I had a team, [00:05:00] uh, that was also very concerned about their, their own safety. Luckily, , it was over within five minutes. But the, and even though everyone was okay there, there was no physical, harm to any of us.

The emotional harm was left behind.

And, and, and we, we had, we had quite a bit to, uh, quite a bit to deal with, um, after that event. During that event, it was

almost what you see in the movies, just without, there was no violence, thank goodness. Um, but the image of, the intruder stopping at, in inside the lobby, um, and taking pause in front of me, , everyone in the bank, uh, got down. Uh, he made that announcement that this is a bank robbery. Everybody get down.

. As we were all, crouched down, on the floor. He proceeded then [00:06:00] to the cashier, and demanded cash. Um, it wasn't well thought out, on his end. Because the branch that I was managing at the time, the entire teller line, uh, was wrapped in bulletproof glass. Uh, okay. Um, so even though he was successful , in, uh, in walking away with his withdrawal, 

Teisha Rose: yeah, 

Dan Reilly: everyone else in the, in the bank was safe.

And he was eventually, , a arrested and charged, uh, but it wasn't for another, three or four months. So during that time that he was in the bank, a lot of fear. Uh, because you, your, your mind has a tendency to wonder what comes next. But once he left, then the team jumped into action and, uh, and followed security measures that we needed to, um, implement at that time.

Teisha Rose: My [00:07:00] goodness, that is so scary. And something we rarely have that, and we've got different gun laws and also of, in Australia, you know, the thought of someone having a weapon on them and being, getting into a bank that's just so frightening. So I can't imagine how that moment, would've impacted you and you said the shock afterwards, I imagine that would've been going home that night thinking what just happened?

Dan Reilly: That's right. I was, my wife had gone out of town, uh mm-hmm. That night to go visit family. Yeah. And I had the house to myself. I was planning on going to dinner with a buddy of mine. 

Teisha Rose: Yep. 

Dan Reilly: And he, he was also, uh, in banking. So when I, I called him and told him I was gonna have to cancel, he understood.

But after, after that incident inside the bank, I was there for about another three or four hours dealing with law enforcement and Federal Bureau Investigation, and local authorities were all on scene.

Um, and I went home later on that evening and I went to a house [00:08:00] that was totally empty and dark. I stopped off at the local, pizza place and picked up a large pizza is that I picked up, several bottles of wine and a, a couple, packs of, cigarettes and some bags of potato chips and a couple pints of ice cream.

And, , I sat down on the couch until about 7:00 AM so from about 8:00 PM to about 7:00 AM I consumed all of that. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, 

Dan Reilly: avoiding any contact with any individual. I didn't pick up the phone to call my wife and tell her what happened. I didn't tell my children. I didn't call my parents. I'm the oldest of six children.

I didn't call a single person. I just dealt with the incident that happened in quiet and isolation, which I I don't recommend, I'm not saying this because it, it helped me. I'm saying it, it's because it was the only [00:09:00] way at that moment that I knew how to deal with that trauma and that was to freeze and just relive it over and over in my head.

And one of the things I kept reliving was, what if things turned out differently? 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: What if I didn't come home? What would've happened? 

, And that, that night, I, I'm not, I'm not saying was helpful, but it did put things into perspective of what's really important to me in my life. And it got me thinking, wasn't the cure all, but it, it, it started, it started something deep inside that eventually bubbled up to the surface.

But this was just the beginning of that. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. And then you talk about later on, and I'm not sure [00:10:00] the timeframe you were caught up with the bush fires, is that right? In California, 

Dan Reilly: three weeks after the robbery. Oh, 

Teisha Rose: okay. Three weeks is went very close. 

Dan Reilly: The incident at the bank took place, mid-September and um, three weeks later, the beginning of October we were having a barbecue outside with friends. And I do remember smelling smoke outside. Uh, and I thought to myself how nice it was to smell smoke at this time of the year.

Little too early in the year. Not quite cold enough, but it was very windy that night. And it just never really registered what could be happening.

By the time we got home about 1230, we had fallen asleep about 130 in the morning.

My wife was woken up by neighbours that were driving throughout the neighborhood, blaring their car horns. Now, at first she thought that they were [00:11:00] just rowdy teenagers having a good time late at night. It turned out that they were very concerned neighbors trying to alert all of us to leave the area.

There was a fire just over the ridge that was, um, approaching very rapidly. As I'd mentioned, the wind was howling that night. 

And a fire and wind do not equal anything that's good. 

Teisha Rose: No. 

Dan Reilly: Um, and so it, it moved, uh, almost like the speed of sound is what it felt like. And before you know it, I was a, my wife, , she ran outside to find out what was going on.

Neighbors were already outside, communicating, and planning. And she ran back inside, woke me up, woke the children up. We packed, uh, whatever we could in the dark and in a panic and jumped in our vehicle and found our place in a [00:12:00] very long line of traffic. 

. We decided to go to my in-law's house, my sister and brother-in-law's house.

And they live maybe 10 minutes away. It took us 45 minutes to get there. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. 

Dan Reilly: Just in traffic. Yeah. Um, and so we, uh, evacuated our home, that October, uh, night. And we were, we evacuated for 11 days and during that 11 days, we were not permitted to return back to the community. We didn't know if the house was still standing.

We assumed that we had lost everything and we were planning accordingly. We, by the time that we got to my sister-in-law's house about two 30 in the morning, she already had a house full of people, some who had already lost their house. Their house was ablaze as they were driving out of their driveway to, to, to leave their, their property.[00:13:00] 

Um, so it was another very traumatic moment. Very devastating, filled with a lot of anxiety and fear, and the emotions were helplessness powerless, anxiety, anger, because this is happening to you and it's, it's not supposed to. Right? 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: , And so it was, um, it was reliving some of those same emotions and fears from just three weeks ago.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. But this time you're not alone on the couch. There's people everywhere though. But also probably feeding some of that anxiety 

Dan Reilly: that, that's right. This time it's, it wasn't about, plopping myself on the couch. It was, uh, it was survival, but a different kind of survival. When I had gotten home from the bank in incident, there was something in the back of my [00:14:00] mind trying to tell me, Dan, you're okay. You're alive. He's gone. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: During the fires, as we're on the run, as we are, are not quite certain whether or not our, our home is, is still standing, whether our, our neighborhood is still standing. Um, it was the survival of where do you find clean, fresh water when the store is sold out.

Where do you find energy to charge your cell phone so that you can stay connected to your network of people? Um, where do you go and sleep when all of the surrounding hotels within two hours are, are packed? Um, and there's no additional lodging.

My wife was on the phone, calling, um, looking for a hotel room. And, and we were very fortunate that we found [00:15:00] one, there was a cancellation at the last minute. It was the only hotel room, um, that was available within an hour from where we, we had lived. Um, and that was a small victory. So we, at least we had a place to rest our heads at night to regroup and replan and find out, find a new strategy on, on, where do we go.

What do we do starting tomorrow? 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. So that's, you know, 11 days is a long time, to be in that heightened state of stress. So what happened then? So you went back, did you, were you told that you could come back and go back to where your house was or is? So what happened there? 

Dan Reilly: So, um, well, , during that time, the community was, blocked off.

Uh, 

Teisha Rose: yeah. 

Dan Reilly: Um, we had, we had authorities, we had, uh, law enforcement, national Guard was on scene protecting properties, but also keeping [00:16:00] people away from, um, uh, dangerous or harmful areas. 

Um, and we were, we were glued to the news, um, as, as, as well as everybody else was during that time. Um, but before, before it all ended.

Luckily we had, we were staying with, with our friends, Heather and Greg, and Heather and Greg had a, , house far enough, uh, away where they were, um, not within the direct path of the fires, but still very concerning when you have burning ambers and ash in the sky. So once a day we would, uh, go on top of the roof and, uh, and spray the roof down, uh, with water and make sure that we had, soaked the area so that, the house didn't ignite while we were in it.

Um, so we stayed, uh, vigilant, but during that time, week two the air was very thick with [00:17:00] ash and toxins, and I had trouble breathing. Um, and so one night, um, I. went to the house, uh, Heather and Greg's house. and during dinner I had passed out at the dinner table. Now I thought I was just exhausted.

I thought I was just as tired as everyone else. My friend Greg thought something different and luckily, um, he's not a doctor, but he does have a, a, um, medical, uh, background and he noticed that I was passing out, but I was short of breath. And so after some discussions with, with myself, with my wife, with Greg's wife, and with Greg, the four of us decided I really needed to go, um, and get some metal medical attention.

Um, and we. We didn't find a, uh, a local, doctor's office. Actually, we didn't even find a doctor's office. It was [00:18:00] a, a local hospital about 45 minutes away because all the other hospitals were packed with people that I felt needed much more medical attention than I did. And so we ended up at the ER, the emergency room, um, at a small regional hospital.

And it turned out that after some tests, I was diagnosed with COPD. So I had, uh, I had trouble breathing, but it wasn't just from, the week during the fires. It was the way that I had taken care of myself over this previous years. 

And those are really the three wake up calls, the bank robbery, the California wildfire, and this new diagnosis that, that really scared me and put things into perspective and made me think that maybe I'm not invincible.

And uh, and that was quite [00:19:00] scary. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, very scary. And I mean, there's so much to unpack there because what I often talk about is resilience is the buildup of what you learn, you know, from often years before, not three weeks before, and , you are all of a sudden being through these massive, massive experiences, so close together.

But that wasn't the end though because your actual health condition that then required a lot more investigation. So you, and that became a massive part of what your story is now. So what was the next step? So I feel like I'm unpacking a a movie. So you follow up with doctors, but first of all, take us to how was your house and how was everything post when you finally got back to where your property was?

Dan Reilly: So after 11 days? Yeah. Um, with, with [00:20:00] no, uh, power going into the community at all, we were notified that it was okay to go back to the, uh, back to find out whether or not our house was still standing. Luckily, the house was still standing. , But, uh, uh, just two or three streets down is kind of where the fire had ended.

Wow. So, um, we were very fortunate and very blessed and we're very grateful that we were, that we had a house to go, uh, back to a lot of cleanup. Yeah. Um, but, but we got, we got back in there, and , after the cleanup, it was about six months later when I decided

I'm gonna make a change. Something clicked inside of me that said, you can either do one of two things. You can either panic and think about everything that's gone on in your life in the last six months, and just try to relive [00:21:00] it over in your head and get nothing from it, or do something different. Learn from it, and then share that with your children.

And so that's what, uh, eventually I decided to do. Um, it wasn't easy. 

Uh, after those three, um, wake up calls. I decided, my wife and I both decided to take our health into, consideration. And so we decided we're going to eat healthy. We decided to start with health because health is something that I knew I could control.

I couldn't control the intruder, I couldn't control the wildfires, but I can control to some aspect my health and how I am what I'm doing and, and participating, uh, in that. So we decided we're gonna eat a healthy dinner every night. And our healthy dinner was fish and [00:22:00] vegetables every night for a week.

We weren't gonna make any other changes to our lifestyle. Uh, we weren't gonna stop going out to dinner. We weren't gonna start working out. We were just going to eat fish and vegetables, uh, for a week. Um, and after doing that for a week, maybe even two weeks, I realized, well, that didn't work. And it wasn't a, it wasn't very fun either.

There was no fun in doing that. It was a chore that you just checked off on the list to say, Hey, I, I tried something. So it didn't work. My friend Greg, who, um, had helped during the, the fires, uh, had a friend who's a, a personal trainer and, uh, I decided to take my health a little bit more seriously, and I decided to meet him.

And we had a discussion about what a a, a weight loss program might look like. Um, I, at the time, [00:23:00] was 80 pounds heavier than I am now. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. 

Dan Reilly: Um, and I was not in good health. And I knew that I needed to do something different, but I was very afraid of the commitment that it was going to take because I have tried and failed in the past.

Luckily, uh, working with, um, my personal trainer, uh, ACE over the course of three years, I had lost, uh, uh, 70 pounds through working with him. And it wasn't a diet, it wasn't a plan, it wasn't a program. It wasn't a coaching, program. It was, um, doing basically what we're all supposed to do.

I weighed in every morning when I first woke up. I ate healthy throughout the day. I controlled what I ate and how much I ate. And I, was very active in the gym. Four days a week, maybe 45 minutes, 30 [00:24:00] minutes of, of, uh, strength training and 15 minutes of cardio. And it didn't happen overnight. , It took 18 months before I felt really good about myself.

Um, and the reason why I spend so much time talking about this event immediately after the three wake up calls is because this is part of that physical transformation that I went through that was getting me ready without even me knowing it, getting me ready for something even bigger. 

Teisha Rose: Mm-hmm. 

Dan Reilly: But right at that moment, that was all I could focus on was my small successes week after week.

And that, that helped. Yeah. Once I hit my, my weight loss goals and exceeded those weight loss goals. I knew that there was something different I was gonna have to do. I wasn't sure if [00:25:00] Ace, um, was gonna be able to help me, um, but I was ready to take on that next new challenge, whatever that was.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. And then for that, you are obviously in a good space with your health and that is, it's so important, and I talk about this with people, control what you can control. So if we look after ourselves, if we're doing that physically, that helps with your emotions, that helps with your mental strength, you know, and or so that.

Really positive, but that also helps you be more in tune with what might be wrong with your body, because it's not hiding. So I'm gathering from that, even though you are feeling really good and physically you are doing really well, you became a bit more in tune that things weren't right with your body.

Dan Reilly: That's right. The first time that I knew something was wrong was June of [00:26:00] 2022. 

We were having dinner. Uh, it was a late night dinner about 9:00 PM and I felt this persistent pain in my chest.

Um, again, I just thought it was, uh, muscle soreness from the gym. But one of the things that I noticed is that my arms started to tingle and feel numb after a bite of food that I had just swallowed. And I used to get this pain right in my midsection. And this one particular night, and this one particular moment, I jumped up from the dinner table.

Because the food had gotten stuck and I was having a hard time breathing. It was one of those, uh, evenings when I, I I, I remember telling myself, something's wrong. Don't ignore this. I happened to see a commercial on TV earlier that day, and the commercial was, this individual was [00:27:00] reporting back to the audience.

I'm so glad I contacted my doctor because if I didn't, and that just cycled through my thoughts in that moment, that evening. And so I asked my wife to, uh, take me to the emergency room. It was the tingling sensation, the numbness in my left arm and having trouble breathing. That made me decide, uh, I better get checked out.

And so went down to emergency room. Um, I'm there overnight, I'm being attended to. 

I honestly thought that I was potentially having a heart attack, or maybe this was a stroke of some sort coming on. I, because I thought those two things for many years when I was unhealthy. And so I spent the evening in the hotel room with no new diagnosis and no prognosis.

No [00:28:00] one knew what was wrong. Um, and so I was discharged about four 30 the following morning, and I went about my, my day. And after, uh, 48 hours, I didn't feel that same tightness in my chest. Um, there's still muscle soreness what I thought, but that same persistent feeling in my chest wasn't there. And so I carried on.

The next time I thought that something was wrong was in late October, early November, five or six months later, my normal gym routine was becoming unachievable. And I'm not a big guy. I don't press heavy weights. Um, but I was trying to build up my strength, but even my warmups became very difficult to complete.

So at age 52 years old at the time, and going to the gym four days a week for the previous four years, I thought maybe I was just overworking myself and I needed to [00:29:00] take a break. So I, I stopped going to the gym for the next two months. But that muscle soreness did not dissipate. It still lingered, which was unusual two months later to have that same muscle soreness.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, because I 

Dan Reilly: hadn't, uh, uh, been doing any exercising. And so I went to go see my doctor. I believe it was, um, late November, or, or early December, and I was being treated for acid reflux. That's what I was told, that that pain in my chest was. So I was, I was prescribed a PPI, which is just an over the counter medication, get it at the, um, local pharmacy.

And after a month of taking that, um, nothing changed. So I went back to my doctor again in January. And in January I was being treated for acid reflux. So first I was being treated for heartburn. [00:30:00] January, I was being treated for acid reflux. Again, it was a different PPI, uh, different medication, but still over the counter.

Um, and again, no success. At the end of February, I'm back in my doctor's office, and now I'm being treated for GERD, uh, gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease . Mm-hmm. Um, and at that time we had talked about, um, uh, being able to manage that through lifestyle changes. And I believe that I was also, prescribed, another, medication.

By mid-March. I am, I, I can't eat solid foods at all. Every time I would sit down, uh, to have a meal, I would take a bite of food. I would wait about maybe two minutes, and then I'd have to run to the restroom because I just couldn't pass that down. And so now I thought maybe I just had an [00:31:00] ulcer.

But, I had to pivot because I, solid foods were not working for me. And so through my weight loss journey, through my weight loss program working with ace, I learned how to meal prep foods, how to measure, um, how many, uh, um, calories and, um, protein, fats and carbohydrates and fiber I needed to get through a day, um, and still have plenty of energy left over.

So by mid-March when my body was shutting down and not allowing me to eat solid foods, I'm now living on homemade protein shakes. 

Teisha Rose: Oh. 

Dan Reilly: And I was living on about five or six of those a day. Um, very healthy.

But five or six of those a day for the next almost four months, that's what I was living on. And I, I, uh, during this time, I'm still communicating with my doctor.

I'm saying, Hey, doc, do people with acid reflux and heartburn, [00:32:00] uh, are they on liquid diets too? Is this normal? Um, I knew other people that suffered from these type the same types of symptoms, but didn't have, the same, complexity that I was going through. Um, and so I was very concerned, uh, and my doctor ignored me.

On, on multiple occasions, I was ignored by my primary care physician. Something in my gut said, you can't let this go. This is important. This is serious. Um, somebody needs to do something, whether that's me or the medical community. And so I didn't let this rest. I persisted and I went to go, uh, to see my doctor face to face and I told him I wanted to make sure that he understood I'm not eating solid foods.

I'm on a liquid diet. Only the medicines [00:33:00] didn't work. And something needs to change. And so he said that if I don't continue to take the medication that I'm prescribed, we will be forced to put a scope down your throat. You're not gonna like it. It's gonna be invasive. And I said, yes, that's exactly what I'm asking you to do.

Yes, fine. Go do that. So we scheduled an endoscopy on May 4th, 2020, and on May 4th after the endoscopy, when I finally woke up from, my, a sedatives. Mm-hmm. My, luckily my wife was sitting next to me and the gastroenterologist was the one that informed me that I had a four inch tumor in my esophagus that had been there for anywhere from one to two years.

Teisha Rose: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You know, [00:34:00] the, sorry, I'm just, I'm shaking my head because you think, of course, things aren't pleasant when you have to find out what's wrong. So to be saying to you, oh, it's gonna be invasive or not pleasant. And it's like, well, of course you know that. Thank goodness that was your response, because what about if someone else says, oh, I don't wanna be uncomfortable, and then don't do it.

Dan Reilly: And, and you know what? I am, um, the type of person that, in the past when, when, you know, your doctor says, um, there's nothing to worry about. And, and this is an exact, response from my doctor. I actually put it in the book, um, because I had asked, uh, during that time, I believe it was in March or April, I had a CT scan done and my doctor reported those results.

And his response was, CT scan is clear. Nothing more to do, exact quote, nothing more to do. 

Teisha Rose: Gosh. [00:35:00] 

Dan Reilly: Now, in the past I would've accepted that, but something was terrifying me because I knew deep down inside that my gut was telling me something different. The fact that I could not eat solid food did not give me any comfort that this, these symptoms were gonna go away.

And I'm a fighter. And I, I knew that I needed to, stand up and, uh, advocate for myself. I, I knew I had to do that, um, because we weren't making any forward progress. And so the gastroenterologist on May 4th diagnosed me with esophageal cancer. And it turned out, after the biopsy came back, it turned out stage three.

Stage three, so that was May [00:36:00] 4th. And on June 5th, I had my first round of chemotherapy. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. So that bit kicked in really quick, but a couple of things before we go on and just share a bit of that about that treatment, this is such an important message for anyone if you are not feeling something's right with your body and you're being told no, everything's okay, ALL clear here, if you don't feel like that, keep asking questions, keep getting tests, because at the end of the day, it's our bodies and the outcome is ours.

You know, if we don't get those answers, then we die 

Dan Reilly: 100%. And, I unfortunately, um, saw family members that, um, would not advocate and stand up and fight back when they were ill and when they were sick. Um, and if someone is not comfortable doing that, [00:37:00] that's okay. But ask for help.

A family member, a friend, uh, a mate, a spouse, a neighbor, um, or there are organizations out there that offer support groups. I'm a part of a, a patient advocate, uh, uh, a group. As a facilitator, we have support groups every month there are cancer creates community. I can't, I can't tell you how many people, how many connections I've made.

Um, just talking to other people, not just about esophageal cancer, but what their experience , was like when they were first diagnosed with lung cancer or breast cancer, um, or stomach cancer. Uh, and a, a lot of these stories are very similar. . I think I'm jumping ahead of myself because, I do want to, say is that this is why I do what I do.

Yeah. To share my story with others [00:38:00] because I want to hear other people's stories because it's that community, it's that connection. It's those stories that are gonna bring people together and help with whatever decisions that they're up against, uh, or challenges that they're up against. When I hear somebody, um, uh, say to me, you have to eat six to eight small meals a day, um, that was very helpful.

Uh, instead of trying to eat three big meals, two thirds of my esophagus is gone. A third of my stomach is gone, so my stomach now connects at my neckline from here, and I can only eat what fits in inside of an eight ounce coffee mug. Anything more than that, I have to wait an hour or two to, to eat more food, but I have to take in the same amount of calories as everyone else.

I just can't do it in large sittings. Um, [00:39:00] and so when we share those stories, we're able to, uh, share best tips and practices. And I do what I do to bring awareness to esophageal cancer. Um, I do what I do because I want to hear other people's stories, and I do what I do because I hope by sharing my story, I can help somebody else through their journey.

Teisha Rose: A hundred percent. And that's what this podcast is about. And I talk about, it's not just about, you know, I've got MS and stage four breast cancer, and it's not just about those, because you learn so much from other people's stories and even hearing your story about what it felt like and how you dealt with being held at gunpoint, you still learn from that.

Because we know that sitting on the couch by yourself with Comfort foods and drink is not the way to go. But we learn from that and we can share that. No, you need to get support from people who [00:40:00] don't add to your anxiety, but to help you to move forward. So that's brutal though. You know, your actual surgery and all.

So after you found out you had chemo, but then you had to go through surgeries as well, which would've been really tough on your body, thank goodness you were a lot healthier than you were previously.

Dan Reilly: Yeah. And, and that is, why I tell the story in the order that I do. Yeah. The three wake up calls, gave me, a moment to reflect and pause, make some adjustments in my life. And luckily I did because I had two thoracic surgeons and both surgeons said, um, that that transformation is what saved my life.

Wow. I, I lost, a total of, um, 75 to 80 pounds, before, going into surgery. Uh, well a couple years before I was diagnosed [00:41:00] actually. But, being in, being that healthy allowed the medical team to give me a heavy dose of chemotherapy, which they refer to as FLOT FLOT, and is a combination of four different chemo drugs that you receive all at the same time.

And so I, I was able to intake chemotherapy for a total of 36 hours. I would go in on Thursday morning, early 830, and I would, uh, get connected to my port. Um, and that would drip, uh, until about five o'clock in the evening. I would sit in the infusion center. Having different, treatments pumped in.

And I would sit there all day. Then before I left the infusion center by 5:00 PM uh, they would, um, then take a, uh, another treatment [00:42:00] and it was in the, uh, it was in a ball and I worn a little fanny pack and it tapped into my port. And that dripped overnight while I was sleeping. And I went back the following evening.

So on Friday evenings, I would go back to the infusion center to have it disconnected. So from Thursday morning to Friday evening, I was totally connected to chemo. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. 

Dan Reilly: . And, and so I did that every two weeks for five weeks before I went into surgery. So, I would go home after treatment on Friday evening.

I would jump into bed, not jump, I would crawl into bed. I had blackout curtains, uh, on the bedroom window, and I would, I would, uh, be in bed for four days. And it wasn't until the third day that I would start to rehydrate and maybe consume some calories, like a, uh, like a [00:43:00] Popsicle or an ice cream. Um, but it wasn't until the third day that I would try to get in some, hydration, typically water.

But, even a juice, um, like an apple juice, uh, was kind of helpful. Um, but with that treatment, the neuropathy on my tongue and in the, uh, joints of my jaw, uh, everything felt like it was just a brain freeze. Um. And I had neuropathy on my hands and in my feet. And so every time I would touch something, even if it was just a glass of lukewarm water, that was cold enough for it to feel like my hands were burning.

Um, and so I received five rounds of FLOT every two weeks starting June 5th. And it wasn't until the week after that first treatment that I was [00:44:00] able to eat solid food again. Oh. So from the early mid-March to early mid-June, I was consuming liquids only. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. Now, 

Dan Reilly: luckily, once I was able to take in some solid foods, then I did everything I could to put on weight before surgery, and I was able to put on 12 pounds, and my thoracic surgeon said he wished everybody would do that.

Knowing that. Our digestive, uh, system is going to be altered and I'm a, I'm going to lose weight after surgery. Um, which, which was the case. So August 25th I went into surgery. It was six and a half hours. It's called an esophagectomy, and that's where they move the stomach up through the diaphragm and it reconnects at the neck [00:45:00] line.

Some surgeries traditionally, they'll, uh, they cut this way. But mine was, minimally invasive. So I have 13 incisions. The largest is, in my back. Um, but all this is still numb two years later, um, I, it's almost like when your arm falls asleep and you get that tingling, numb, uh, sensation.

I have that all in this area. 

And I, I, I lost the muscles that push food down, through the gullet into your stomach. And now food just drops, uh, from, uh, just through gravity. So there have been some changes, , after surgery. But um, after surgery, about five weeks after surgery, we resumed another three rounds of chemotherapy.

I didn't have any radiation, so I had a total of eight rounds of chemotherapy and surgery. Uh, my [00:46:00] final treatment was November 3rd, 2023, six months after I was diagnosed, almost to the day I was diagnosed on May 4th, and my final treatment was November 3rd. By January, by the end of January, I was back at work.

Teisha Rose: Wow. That's quick. That's how, how did you cope with that emotionally? 

Dan Reilly: Um, it was, it was difficult. I, I wasn't ready to go back to work. Now, during that five rounds of chemo therapy, before surgery, I was still working. , I would take, uh, the Thursday and Friday off , and, and Monday. I would take Monday off.

Uh, but I was still working when I had my five rounds, uh, prior to going into surgery. Uh, and then the remaining treatment after surgery. I was not working. I spent that time, uh, going through treatment [00:47:00] and healing. I, I wish I would've taken a little bit longer, I wasn't ready to take on life's everyday challenges, , when I did.

But I told myself I needed to get up every day and move, and that helped. Yeah. And, and by , March, April, I was getting through my day, less tired than the week before. 

Teisha Rose: Okay. And so in terms of then treatment stops, so, and I understand a little bit about, like, I, I was stage four when I was diagnosed because it'd already spread to the liver and bones in remission now.

, And no evidence of disease, which is very good and exciting. so for you, stage three means it has. Spread a little bit, is that right?

Dan Reilly: I, I was diagnosed stage three because it was in my lymph nodes.

Oh, okay. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. [00:48:00] Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: , But it did not metastasize in other organs and we were very concerned that it was going to nest somewhere else. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: And I have a, a, a little node on my right lung, uh, that we were monitoring for a while. Uh, 'cause we weren't quite sure whether or not, um, because that node wasn't spotted until after surgery, so we were concerned about that.

But through, maintenance, we found out that it was, um, it's scar tissue. 

But, since treatment ended in, November of 2023, I've had multiple scans. My most recent blood work and scan was in May. And those results have come back clear. 

My thoughts are, I live, life every day as if, um, it. I have plenty of energy that it, that it's never gonna end. I, I, I choose to live that way every day. [00:49:00] Um, focusing on the things that matter most, which is not just my health, but the people around me, um, that, that love and care about me, my, my family, my friends, my community, others that I get an opportunity to talk to and meet and connect with.

So I believe that I, have an abundant life ahead of me. , 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Dan Reilly: But be before I got there. If we take a step back for a moment and a, after those three wake up calls, um, when I realized that Ace couldn't help me any longer because , I achieved the physical transformation that I had set out to achieve.

But what I had to work on next was my emotional transformation. And so I went to therapy, uh, because I believed I had PTSD, I was not sleeping [00:50:00] at night. I was, I had nightmares, I had anxiety that kept me awake, from the three wake up calls. And through, through that therapy, through that treatment, I learned to journal.

And it was very difficult to actually put pen to paper. 'cause when I started to do that, it made things real. And when it became real, it wasn't anything that I could avoid any longer. I couldn't bury it any longer. And because I learned to journal. I learned to, put those thoughts to paper and with help from a very talented team.

Um, those journals became the book that I just wrote, and the book really started from a love letter to my children, [00:51:00] and that I had written letters to my children throughout their life, pivotal moments in their life, um, when they turned 13 as they approach their teenage years.

And, what that was like for me in the decisions that a teenager may have to make, uh, over the next couple years. And so I, I wanted them to know that as difficult sometimes as life can be. If you need me, I'll be there. Um, I, I wrote another letter, uh, when they graduated high school, about how happy and proud I was of them, of all their great accomplishments.

And so this, these journals led me to decide that maybe I could put this into another letter to the kids, but what would that letter say? I thought maybe if I tracked and wrote down the lessons I was learning now, the [00:52:00] resilience and the reflection, and just trying to get it right to be that, that that good kind person that I, I always knew was deep down inside.

I wanted to leave those life lessons to my children because the universe was telling me I'm not gonna be around forever. It, it made me realize, you know what, we're all just human. None of us are gonna get out of this alive. So whether that's, whether that's today or tomorrow, or years down the road, I wanted to leave something behind for my children to remember me, a legacy of some sort, a playbook that they could go back and say, you know, when things got tough for dad, what did he do?

Let me go pull out his book and his playbook and they can resort to, you know, one or two takeaways that might help them get through their tough day [00:53:00] or their challenge or their struggle. So I wrote, I journaled, and because of that, I, I now don't have anything uncovered that I feel like I still need to explore about me.

Um, I'm learning every day, but I know who I am and because of that. I am in a much better place to be able to help those that seek some comfort or some guidance or some help, uh, when it comes to esophageal cancer or when it comes to just being a good, kind human. I think that we all have that in us. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, that's beautiful, Dan.

And I think what I love so much is there's so much at the moment about, you know, being more resilient, organizations wanting to be, you know, employees to [00:54:00] be more resilient. But what you are sharing there is you can't just flick that switch. It comes through reflection, learning, growing, evolving through some of these darkest moments.

And that's so beautiful as to what you've done. And just quickly though, the, your title of your book, it's Seize Your Second Chance, is that right? That's 

Dan Reilly: it. Seize Your Second Chance Yeah. 

Teisha Rose: Okay. And so for people, because I'll put the details in the show notes as well, how can people get hold of your book?

Dan Reilly: I appreciate that. You can go to, www.danielpreilly.com. And from that website there, uh, you can go to the Universal Link. You can get the book on, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, anywhere that you'd like to buy books, or eBooks. It's available in, hardcover, paperback, or ebook.

But also, even more importantly, if you go to the website, you'll be able to take a look. And then there's some resources on there too. So if you do know somebody who's struggling with symptoms [00:55:00] of, GERD or acid reflux or Barrett's esophagus. Um, there's some information on there that you can click on. You don't have to add your, uh, email or website address if you don't want to.

It's a very clean website. There's no ads. I don't collect your information, but go on there because people are telling me that they're finding information that are prompting them to have additional discussions with their doctor. And that to me is. A big victory. A big victory. And if you're interested, uh, in the book, you can actually click on there on the, on the link.

It'll give you the first 20 pages of the book. So it gives you a little sneak peek if you want to, uh, read a sample before considering to buy it. 

Teisha Rose: That's a great idea. So thank you so much and thank you so much for being vulnerable. Sharing what has been some huge, I mean, we've raced through it in this hour, but it's been some huge life changing moments.

But what I love is the healing you've done through that. And there's so many lessons [00:56:00] there for us, and we're, yeah, I'm just grateful that we've connected because my whole message is about hurdle to hope, and you've encapsulated that perfectly, Dan. So thank you so much for sharing your story. I've loved this conversation.

Dan Reilly: Thank you so much. It's been so much fun, uh, getting to do this with you today. 

Teisha Rose: Okay, so hopefully you enjoyed that chat. What an incredible story Dan has shared with us. Again, please visit his website, danielpreilly.com, spelled R-E-I-L-L y.com. All the links will be in the show notes below. But yeah, please, if you know someone dealing with esophageal cancer, again, share his details with them because what he's learned and what he's sharing will help others.

Other than that, this is the end of season two, so I can't believe it's gone so quickly, but I'm taking a [00:57:00] break and returning with season three, in a couple of weeks or so, I will yeah, hop onto Instagram @hurdle2hope

Remember, Hurdle2Hope® with number 2 and all the details will be there. . So enjoy the next couple of weeks. As always, if you can share season two with anyone you think will benefit from the incredible conversations I've had, if you've missed some of those conversations or you've been listening to them on your podcasting app, but wanna have a look at what my guests and I look like when we're chatting, but also Daisy Hill, please go to YouTube, subscribe to the channel @Hurdle2Hope.

Enjoy your next couple of weeks and we'll chat very soon. 

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