Leave A Light On Podcast
Welcome to "Leave A Light On Podcast," the podcast that brings you inspiring stories of ordinary people overcoming extraordinary challenges in their lives. Join us as we delve into the lives of individuals from all walks of life, exploring the adversities they face and the resilience they demonstrate in overcoming them.
In each episode, we'll introduce you to a new guest—a parent, a teacher, a healthcare worker, a student, a veteran, or perhaps your neighbor next door. Through heartfelt interviews and candid conversations, we'll uncover the personal battles they've fought, whether it's overcoming illness, navigating through loss, breaking free from addiction, or facing societal barriers.
From tales of triumph over adversity to stories of perseverance in the face of hardship, "Leave a Light On Podcast" celebrates the human spirit and the strength found within each of us. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and most importantly, you'll be inspired by the resilience and determination of these everyday people who refuse to be defined by their struggles.
So, tune in and join us on this journey of hope, empowerment, and the celebration of the human spirit. Because in the end, it's the stories of everyday people that remind us all that we are capable of overcoming anything life throws our way.
Leave A Light On Podcast
S2 Ep11 - Sam and Jett's Journey: Finding Hope When Doctors Said "Impossible"
"You don't know my God." These powerful words from fifteen-year-old Jett Dow capture the extraordinary spirit of resilience that has defined his battle against stage four brain cancer.
When doctors discovered a massive tumour and cyst crushing Jett's brain stem in October 2022, they delivered the devastating news to his mother Sam: her son had hours to live. She faced an impossible choice—attempt a risky surgery or come say goodbye. What followed was a journey that defied every medical prediction and statistic.
Through emergency neurosurgery, 33 rounds of radiation, and 170 rounds of chemotherapy—which Jett remarkably took as oral shots rather than through a port—this teenager has consistently surprised his medical team. Two years past his initial diagnosis, when most patients with his condition don't survive, Jett continues to thrive. Despite permanent blindness, he's returned to school, enjoys swimming, the gym, and has visited every Disney park worldwide (twice!).
The conversation reveals not just a medical miracle, but the profound wisdom of a young man who told his devastated mother to "cry when I'm gone and enjoy now." Sam shares raw, honest advice for parents facing similar battles and the friends who want to support them. Her perspective on what truly matters—making memories over possessions, blocking out opinions, and cherishing every moment—resonates long after the episode ends.
Jett leaves us with a powerful message for anyone facing seemingly impossible odds: "Sometimes the statistics do turn on you and you are the 70%, but don't stop believing that you won't be the 30%." His story reminds us that defiance, faith, and unwavering determination can sometimes rewrite even the most certain medical predictions. Subscribe now and share this episode with someone who needs to hear that hope exists even in the darkest moments.
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Hello, welcome to Leave a Light On Podcast, a show that looks to tackle the everyday struggles in our everyday lives. It's time to shed some light on it. Leave a light on podcasts, not a licensed mental health service. It shouldn't be substituted for professional advice or treatment. Things discussed in this podcast are general in nature and may be of a sensitive nature. If you're struggling, please seek professional help or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Speaker 4:Here's your hosts. Yo hello, good day welcome, hello, boyd-y.
Speaker 1:Hello Shane. How are you, mate Good bud good, good, how's your? Day been.
Speaker 4:It's been good. Thank you. Welcome to another episode of Leave a Line On podcast. Yeah, boy, actually, you know what I've been wanting to do, do and I think this is a good episode to do it Is I've missed this song, or this little intro that we've done, because I just feel like today's guest Also just would love this, because it literally embodies them. Is this guy? Yes, 100% Like gotta get into it, son, let's go, just make sure. Yeah, yeah, I feel so gangster when I hear this. Welcome to another episode. Yeah, I feel so gangsta when I hear this Welcome to another episode. Thank you, boydie, for joining me.
Speaker 1:No problem.
Speaker 4:Shane, thanks for having me. Yeah, today is probably just. Oh man, I keep saying this.
Speaker 5:It's the best episode.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's the best, every episode is the best episode.
Speaker 1:It's really just. I think confronting is probably one word. It's also inspiring.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I will also start by saying if you're a parent, this one could be very hard for most parents out there. So if anything in this episode does trigger you in any way, please, like we've always said in our intro, reach out to Lifeline. It's 131114. And yeah, just getting assistance that you may need.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because, yes, it is. It's confronting, it's confronting yeah 100% From a parent's point of view. I was sitting there going, oh my God. I can't even believe that she's gone through this God. I can't even believe that she's gone through this.
Speaker 4:So today we have the. Well, today's episode is all about two people but one being the main character, but it also turned out to be two. Yes absolutely so. We have Sam Dow, who is our mother, and then we have Jet Dow. Jet is 15 years old and Jet is actually has been diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, otherwise known as glioblastoma is the real technical name for it and how's this Okay?
Speaker 4:So Jet was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer in October 2022. October 2022, he was diagnosed with this and I'm reading directly from a medical journalist here that says that if a person has glioblastoma, doctors estimate that they will survive 12 to 18 months. So he's already kicked that goal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's already two years.
Speaker 4:His story is incredible.
Speaker 1:It's phenomenal.
Speaker 4:It's inspiring. He is honestly the coolest little dude as well. Yeah, absolutely, and humble, very humble.
Speaker 1:I just kind of every time I think about him, I'm just like this guy is an inspiration. There's just no other words for him. And his mum is just next level for a parent that has had to deal with what she's had to deal with by herself. She's just amazing.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. But yeah, I mean, it's just I can't, he's just the coolest dude as well, 100%, and he's really just got the best outlook on life.
Speaker 1:Like we've always said on this podcast, it's about finding the best outcome, you know, and finding those challenges and beating them and, you know, setting goals and moving forward. And um jet is definitely um, you know, the poster boy for that, because he's there to, you know, move on, and he's already kicked one goal where he should have only been here for 18, up to 18 months, and it's been two years now and he's, you know, the next big hurdle is for five and he just said to us before he left he'll still be here in five years.
Speaker 1:So, just he's so amazing. Yeah, he is, he really is. Every time I think about it, you just get tingles and yeah, yeah. And even when you hear his mum talking, it's just what they went through and how they found out about what he has. It was just wow.
Speaker 4:It's a beautiful story.
Speaker 3:A beautiful story, beautiful story.
Speaker 1:And just how resilient you have to be as a parent when you hear that about what's happened to their child is just next level.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the one thing I also love about doing this podcast is when you meet people like this they really just inspire you to do more with your life 100%. And yeah, you really need to try harder and refocus as well, like when you start, you hear like what now is important, considering to what it was before. Yeah, it's just. It really just realigns the value of what we sometimes consider valuable in our life. So, without further ado, let's get into the episode and let's get into the episode and let's get them to tell the story because you know they'll tell it better than we ever would.
Speaker 4:So, without further ado, I give you the episode today Sam and Jet. Sam and Jet.
Speaker 3:Just waking up in the morning in the B well, quite honest with you, I ain't really sleep. Well, you ever feel like the train of thoughts been derailed? That's when you press on, lean in half the population, just wait to see me fail. Yeah right, you better off trying to freeze hell. Some of us do it for the females and others do it for the reason what I do it for the kids.
Speaker 4:Life through the time we're in on Every time you fall, it's only making your chin strong and I'll be in your corner, like nick baby, till the end of when you hit the shore, from that big leg until the referee rings the bell. Sam, jet, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. So good to have you driving all the way from the central coast to join us. Thank you, sam, thank you jet. Obviously, mom and son um, yeah, it's really. I've known you guys for a while now. It's been awesome, obviously, for me to have the privilege really to just watch what's unfolded, which we'll get into a little bit later, but thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 6:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, jet, 14 years, well, almost 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15, yeah, 15 years old. You have lived quite a life already at 15 years old. Hey, yeah.
Speaker 1:Just a little bit, just putting it lightly, hey, just a tiny bit.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let's ask you a few questions. You're 15 years old. What does 15 years old look like for you in terms of what do you enjoy doing? What's your?
Speaker 5:hobbies. What do I enjoy doing?
Speaker 4:I like, I enjoy swimming the gym, yeah, gym you're buffed up quite a bit since I last saw you you like your 4x4ing as well, don't you?
Speaker 5:yeah.
Speaker 4:I've seen a few posts that moms put up where you've had the privilege of going with some of the hardcore 4x4 enthusiasts. Yeah, hey, you've been in some cool vehicles what's been your favorite, my favorite yeah like experience.
Speaker 5:Yeah, um, there's like this blinder vent that gets held and um it's for blind people who can't drive and we get a drive on a racetrack. I hit 120 in a Honda Jazz. What?
Speaker 6:A Honda Jazz and I was sitting in the back with another friend.
Speaker 1:Darren, and you were scared.
Speaker 6:I'm like how are blind people driving a hundred and something kilometers and they can't see it?
Speaker 5:was terrifying. And I'm 15, so I'm underage.
Speaker 1:Anyways, yeah, I'm the eastern creek, oh, eastern Creek, yeah, oh, wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4:Most people wouldn't even have gone 120Ks in their whole life, let alone 15 years old.
Speaker 6:And there were people there with zero vision driving. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, zero.
Speaker 4:Wow, I mean geez. What an experience like to feel it and then to just not know where you're going either. I would have my foot ready on the brake. I'm sure you would have as well.
Speaker 6:Well, it was in learner driver's car, so the person sitting next to them was a driving instructor, so they could overtake if we were going to die.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't think I've ever felt a car shake so much though Honda.
Speaker 4:Jazz yeah, that's so cool though.
Speaker 6:And then you did Porsche laps too. Oh yeah, you got in a Porsche.
Speaker 5:Yes, yeah, I was in the passenger seat and going 200 around corners? Yeah, hold on.
Speaker 4:So is it the car that you enjoy or is it the feeling of adrenaline when you're like this is cool, base, yeah, yeah, because I know one of the cool things that obviously you've done In this last year Is that you've gone to every disney world in the world yeah, yeah and universal, and universal so you're an adrenaline junkie, which is just obviously insane at 15 I mean most 15 year olds I think would be, but you're just you're living that adrenaline junkie for sure.
Speaker 4:What would you say was your favorite Disney that you went to?
Speaker 5:Definitely the ones in America.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, the original one in Florida.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 6:California's the original yeah.
Speaker 4:Is California the original? Yeah, I thought Florida was the original.
Speaker 6:That's why they've got the teeny, tiny castle. Oh okay, okay.
Speaker 4:Because I've been to the Florida one.
Speaker 5:That's the biggest one in the world. That's the biggest one, yeah.
Speaker 4:That's got the seven parks Four.
Speaker 6:Oh, and then three water parks.
Speaker 4:Yes, and the three water parks.
Speaker 6:So we did eight days straight and we've just booked and we're doing two weeks.
Speaker 4:Yeah, wow, how nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you go on all the crazy rides, all of them. You're the man.
Speaker 4:Love it, it's great, can we come with you? Yeah, do you have a favorite ride? Yeah, One that like stands out the most.
Speaker 5:My favorite rides are probably at Universal.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 5:And my favorite by far would probably be the Velocicoaster in.
Speaker 6:Florida.
Speaker 1:Velocicoaster yeah, sounds scary enough, can I be?
Speaker 6:inappropriate.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 6:So to give you some sense of the force of the Velocicoaster, every time we'd launch I had to put my boobs back in my bra because they were not in there, that's how long?
Speaker 3:you spend upside down.
Speaker 6:That's intense. And the G-force is. We had to get clearance for Jet to be able to ride it because of the G-force, you couldn't feel your feet.
Speaker 5:Yeah, what yeah?
Speaker 1:wow.
Speaker 3:That's nuts.
Speaker 1:Do you know what? Enjoy it while you're young, because I was the same. I loved all of those crazy rides. But when I've got a bit older, now, when I take my boys on there, I'm like, oh God, I don't feel very well. I'm 42, but I'm just like, oh God, it doesn't feel like it did when you were younger.
Speaker 4:Hey, Jess, do you think that mum actually enjoys the pox more than you do? Yeah, I reckon she does.
Speaker 5:I'd probably say it's a yeah equal 50-50?.
Speaker 4:Equal, yeah, equal.
Speaker 6:I like that Good answer still get nervous and I tend to hold his chest, which is so stupid. You're upside down doing 100 and something.
Speaker 1:Ks an hour, I'm not going to be able to hold you. He's coming out. If you're coming out, yeah, and the Velocic.
Speaker 6:Poster you don't have anything over your shoulders. It's just but the G-Force keeps you in your seat.
Speaker 5:So while we're, doing like tours and stuff. I we're doing like tours and stuff. I've got my hands up and almost falling out of the seat.
Speaker 4:That's nuts. I mean, amusement parks are just the funnest, aren't they?
Speaker 1:Yes, I love it. It's so much fun.
Speaker 4:Anyone who doesn't like an amusement park is living a boring life.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and honestly, you cross, like Disney, people will say why, why Disney? And you go in and, honestly, the rest of the world doesn't exist. Yeah, it's like it's just a whole, it's like a special, it's a bubble, spectacular, yeah, magic bubble.
Speaker 4:And everyone is happy and everyone is so helpful and there's like you just don't go in there and there's no farts, there's no like nonsense and things like that. Everyone is just the happiest place on earth.
Speaker 6:honestly, yeah, it truly is. Yeah, and I mean the banks love it too, because it's like ting ting ting Tap and go all the way Tap, tap, tap.
Speaker 4:It's the happiest place on earth, except for your bank account.
Speaker 1:The bank account's crying.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that's cool, sam, let's go to you. Obviously, you're Jet's mum. What do you do for?
Speaker 6:work. I'm a behavioural therapist and I own my own company, and I work with gorgeous little people that find the world quite challenging.
Speaker 4:So your background is with people who have… yeah in teaching and then with kids who have disabilities or struggles when it comes to learning.
Speaker 6:Yeah, which I kind of feel was a blessing because obviously when we hear Jet's story, I was already in that world, so it wasn't a complete smack in the face and had a lot of contacts. But yeah, I work with little people that need help. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:All right. Well, now that we've gone there and you said Jet's story, I'm going to start this off by just saying quickly and I've said this to you before this but Jet, you are an inspiring little dude At 15 years old. Honestly, I am at a loss for words when I try and tell people about your story and the things that you've walked through. And I will tell you this because when I try to tell Mick, when we try to line you guys up originally for an episode, and I said we've got to get Jett and Sam on the podcast, and Mick was like, oh why? And I was like, well, you know he's just had a really incredible life and you know he's gone through this really traumatic experience and it's brain cancer, and he's like, oh okay, and I'm like, but it's just, but he's kind of come through and it's like, oh okay, I can't tell this story. He's going to tell this story. So it's an incredible story to tell. And so I just want to honor you right at the beginning of this podcast and say that you are an incredible dude.
Speaker 4:I know Mick will agree with me. From the moment you've walked in here you've had a smile on your face. You're bringing such joy into the room and everything you've said, which has been not a lot, let's be honest. You've been a man of very few words, but everything you've said has just been so profound. You really are an inspiring little dude and I really feel that you have such a broad scope for how you're going to influence people around you. So I just want you to take that and not have to just like be like, oh, they're just telling me this, because I really want you to take that and not have to just like be like, oh, they're just telling me this, because I really want you to honestly yeah, hear that.
Speaker 1:And if I can share my story, when I called and spoke to your mum, I was in the car driving to an appointment and I literally had to stop and pull myself together before I went into my appointment because your mum had me in tears and I'd only been on the phone towards the 10 minutes and I was like, oh my God, yes, you need to come and see us, like now.
Speaker 6:Yeah Well, I think also because you're a dad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well that's true.
Speaker 4:So you're just like.
Speaker 6:I'm so grateful this didn't happen to my son. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, let's get into the story. Yeah, 100%. So, jed, 15 years old, didn't it for you? Yeah, 13-year-old kid going to school, interacting with your mates, having fun. Yeah, having fun. It was pretty normal, right.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hating, school.
Speaker 1:Hating school, being dragged out of bed every morning like I have to do with my children.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there were inclinations up until this point that something was wrong. Is that right?
Speaker 5:Yeah, what were some of these things that you felt were not right with you? My vision was beginning to go.
Speaker 6:I could barely bend over Headaches for months. Yeah, headaches were terrible.
Speaker 5:Cramping, yeah, cramping.
Speaker 6:And also he became… Not anxious, but anxious and emotional. But couldn't understand why he was feeling like that.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, well, Grandma was on the plane with him.
Speaker 4:Grandma was on the plane with you, okay, oh yeah, he didn't fly by himself yeah, okay, and then?
Speaker 6:they took him to Mackay Hospital and unfortunately the MRI machine was down.
Speaker 1:Oh good.
Speaker 6:And they checked his eyes and they're like his eyes are fine, which his eyes are fine, but it's the optical nerve that's not fine. And they just said to mum no, he's a good, healthy kid, he's okay.
Speaker 1:Go and have a holiday.
Speaker 6:Yeah. And then mum's like, well, we need to have the MRI. So mum took him home that night and he ran into a wall, he ran into the fridge and mum's like, yeah, something's really really wrong yeah. And took him back to the hospital, and then they didn't have the staff and my mum got being a nurse herself, got a little bit frustrated over that and, magically, staff were found. So that was on the 1st of October 2022.
Speaker 4:Remind me not to mess with your mum.
Speaker 6:Yeah, Well, if it wasn't for her, Jet would be dead today.
Speaker 4:Yeah, october, 22nd October.
Speaker 6:First, the first 2022. Yeah.
Speaker 4:What a day in the life of Jet huh.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So you went in for the MRI. Mum was here. In fact, mum was here and mum was. You were getting your hair done in the morning.
Speaker 6:Well, yeah, because I'd been at work all week and I went and got my hair done. Because I'm a single mum and I don't ever really get to go to hairdresser and at that stage, life was normal. Yeah Well, everyone I told was real crazy, so life was normal.
Speaker 4:So life was normal, so there wasn't an issue.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So you were just going and doing your normal routine, as any person would.
Speaker 6:Yes, and then?
Speaker 4:And then it all changed.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah. So Jet was having his MRI, Mum gave me a call to say Sam, listen, something's not right. He's been in it for too long and I was like mum, this it will be okay, Also because I didn't want anything to be wrong.
Speaker 6:Of course not, and she's like, sam, you're going to have to leave the hairdresser, go home, like something is not going to be okay. And then I did. I left the hairdresser and got home and I remember just walking around the house going, no, everything's going to be okay, and a pediatrician from Mackay base hospital called and that was a hard moment. I remember she just rang and she introduced who she was and she just she's like have you got someone with you? And I'm like no. So I quickly ran down to my friend's house just my neighbor and she said to me that they had discovered a large mass in Jet's head and also the cyst which has left him blind, and they didn't know how long he had to live because of the size of the tumour, and asked if I would like him to have a surgical procedure to have it removed or if I would like him to wait in Mackay Hospital to come and say goodbye to him. And it was a classic moving moment.
Speaker 6:I remember screaming like screaming like as if I was getting murdered, screaming and just crying and my friend Kiara had to take the phone and take the phone call. And then, when I obviously stopped crying, I was able to talk to her and she just said that yeah, the size of the mass and I mean at that stage I don't know if it's cancer- because, it could just be a tumour a benign tumour but they said because of the size, the positioning, that he didn't have long to live.
Speaker 6:And I had to say goodbye to my little boy who was very medicated at that stage.
Speaker 5:Oh, I was feeling good.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 5:He was on fentanyl and he was as high as a kite.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:But I had to say goodbye to him and I would say, as a mum, that's literally the worst nightmare saying goodbye to your child.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, like, what do you say? What was I going to say, what did you even say? So I didn't actually say goodbye to him. No, because, like what do you say my wife's going to say? What did you even say? So I didn't actually say goodbye to him. No?
Speaker 6:I don't really remember.
Speaker 1:You just would have jumped on the positive mum bandwagon.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I was just like I love you and I can't wait to see you and Grandma's with you, uncle Matt's with you. They gave him a helicopter because he had to fly on. I think we went on like four different helicopters. Care Flight took him from Mackay to Townsville, which is about a three and a half hour flight.
Speaker 4:Because they didn't have the facilities at Mackay had they.
Speaker 6:No, mackay can't do brain surgery and I, yeah, I just said to him when you wake up I'll be there. And I remember hanging up and just literally think that may be the last time.
Speaker 4:I ever talked to him. Well, I mean, yeah, I remember you were saying that you didn't know at that stage that he was going to Brisbane.
Speaker 6:Well, he was meant to go to Brisbane.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 6:So when I got to the airport we booked a flight to Brisbane and then obviously, whatever happened in the scheduling of the hospital and also the Brisbane team didn't feel that they could manage Jet's case, they transferred him to Townsville. So when you're standing about to board a plane and then all of a sudden they're like, really sorry, the paediatrician rang and they're like we're sending him to Townsville and I have to give a shout out to Qantas. I'd never paid for that extra flight, they just swapped it over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well.
Speaker 6:Air hostess gave up her seat and I got to Townsville and….
Speaker 1:Literally dropped to the middle of nowhere to find your baby.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I've never been to Townsville so I didn't even really know what kind of, and I'm from the country and I've lived in remote parts of New South Wales and.
Speaker 6:Western Australia and I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to be a little country hospital with GPs pretending to be brain surgeons, which I can explain more of that story. But we, when I turned up, jet was still in surgery for about three hours and when they came out, that was actually the funny part. So it was a huge surgery team and the first thing I did was ask them for their qualifications Are you legit? Yeah, well, they obviously told me that Jet was alive and they removed the cyst. So the tumour was still there because it was too big to do in one surgery.
Speaker 6:But they had to take out the cyst. They had to remove the fluid out of the cyst because that's what was crushing his brain, and if you crush your brain, stem it's goodbye.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they said I had hours to live.
Speaker 6:I actually asked them. I said what would have happened if he didn't go blind? And they said he would have just been running around and just collapsed and that would be it.
Speaker 4:So in actual fact, when you think of it like that, your blindness was actually your saving grace.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I think that's why you're not angry about being blind Tate yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah If he didn't go blind, a hundred percent he would have died whilst he was in the Whitsundays.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Definitely that's unbelievable, and I mean, one of the interesting things that you told us before this Jet was that originally it was you had days to live and then you had to get on a helicopter and that went from days to hours.
Speaker 6:Yeah, Well, your brain doesn't like pressure, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I mean that's insane when you think of it, because you literally you went from cutting your time almost not even half. It was even less.
Speaker 6:And that's what I said to the team in Townsville. I'm like let's get him back on a plane and Westmead like we live.
Speaker 6:next, to one of the best kids' hospitals in the world. And that's when I'm like, well, are any of you even qualified to do this? And they, because they've kept in contact with all of us and they said hands down, that is the best question they've ever been asked by a parent. And Jet's surgeon I mean, he's intensivist used to be the head intensivist for Westmead down here for years, yeah, and his brain surgeon was the leading brain surgeon in Dubai and the Mayo Clinic and had just and Brazil.
Speaker 6:And Brazil and had just relocated to Australia.
Speaker 4:Unreal.
Speaker 6:And, yeah, the second surgery, which was 12 to 14 hours, I asked him. I said, do you? Because I mean they were reluctant to do it because of the size of the tumour and the location and he was like, yeah, I'm going to give this a go. And he fully removed Jet's brain tumour. After the surgery he came out to my mum and my grandma and he said I'm going to give this a go and he fully removed Jett's brain tumour.
Speaker 5:After the surgery he came out to my mum and my grandma and he said I can't say this, but I got it. But then I didn't really understand that.
Speaker 6:I was like well of course you got it, but now I live in the brain cancer world If most, most people.
Speaker 1:Wouldn't have got.
Speaker 6:Yeah, most people don't have that success rate where it's fully removed. And if that had happened and it wasn't removed, yeah, he wouldn't be sitting here today.
Speaker 1:And so what is officially your diagnosis? Jen from the doctor.
Speaker 5:Like the name of the brain tumour, it's a neuroepithelial brain tumour with a Patsy 1 variant.
Speaker 6:A grade 4.
Speaker 1:Grade 4, yeah, okay.
Speaker 6:But yeah, there's only 70, actually there's more people now, but at the time he was diagnosed there was only 70 people in the world with his brain tumour type.
Speaker 1:And you said you were only one of the youngest children to have it.
Speaker 6:Yeah, with that type of tumour. Yeah, but there's sadly, they're popping up more and more now.
Speaker 1:Yeah right.
Speaker 4:Is there any indication of what causes it? No, no.
Speaker 6:No, I've gone crazy trying to figure that out. That was just unfortunate.
Speaker 4:So, jed, let me ask you this question how did I mean? Obviously you had said you were drugged up, but how did you feel being told that you had to go into surgery?
Speaker 5:Well, at first, when they told me that they had found a large mass in my brain and I just laid in the hospital bed screaming I don't want to die.
Speaker 4:So yeah, and then you obviously got told that you need to go in for surgery urgently yeah and um.
Speaker 5:then there was the wait for the helicopter to come, which was cancelled twice because people were like had one lady went into labour, and I think that was it.
Speaker 6:No, that was on the way home.
Speaker 5:No, that was oh really there as well. Yeah, twice.
Speaker 6:The joys of rural areas.
Speaker 1:There was other people more important than that right at that time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and what was going through your mind at this stage.
Speaker 1:Well, mum's not here. That's the first. Yeah, because you didn't have mum.
Speaker 4:You obviously had gran and you had your uncle.
Speaker 5:Yeah, after that they hooked me up to some cannulas and stuff and they started giving me fentanyl. So I was feeling real good, so you were good then.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and also because they needed him not to move, or stress so they had to pretty much comatose him. Yeah, and the thing is, though, for anybody, you don't want to sit in a helicopter pondering your death.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 6:And also any longer. He would have lost his vision completely forever. So they had to keep his brain very stable.
Speaker 4:Okay, so you were not allowed to move much during this period, or Nope?
Speaker 6:He was strapped in. I've got photos. Yeah, he was strapped. That's the in-look.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 4:What did it feel like when you came out of that first surgery? What was your thought process then? Obviously, mum was there now, so you'd seen her.
Speaker 5:I remember going into the surgery.
Speaker 6:Well, he actually didn't see me because he had zero vision for about six weeks. Okay, he was darkness. Yeah, yep.
Speaker 5:I remember going into the surgery. I remember putting a mask on and getting told to count to five. I got to two. To five I got to two.
Speaker 6:Do you even remember when I was there?
Speaker 5:I remember the day before the second operation and, yeah, I don't really remember much.
Speaker 6:He had drains from his brain coming out which were constantly leaking, and he had cannulas in his throat.
Speaker 5:Like I've still got like scars.
Speaker 6:Yeah, he was a sick little boy. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't a typical brain Like you hear of people having brain surgery and they're out of hospital three days later. Jet was in hospital for months.
Speaker 4:I think you said eight weeks. Yeah, yeah, eight weeks, that's a long time to was in hospital for months. I think you said eight weeks. Yeah, yeah, eight weeks. That's a long time to be in hospital dude A long time In intensive care yeah.
Speaker 5:The days started to merge. Yeah, just so long.
Speaker 4:I can imagine he would have got itchy feet just being like I want to get out of this place.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and then he had so many complications and his brain kept swelling. And one of the things I said to them is like, because Jet had a massive egg on the back of his head full of fluid and, if not, they had to put a shunt in it, which is a permanent fluid release which I just didn't want another surgery and I didn't want a shunt if we could avoid it.
Speaker 6:And I said to our neurologist, I said what do we do to avoid it? And he's like well, jet needs to walk a couple of k's a day, but that's not not going to happen. And Jet's like what did you say, jet? You were like hell. No. And he was walking, so he had zero vision. He was walking and he was so tiny, then kilometers around town.
Speaker 5:Four k's a day in a hospital.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, okay, just walking around and we got all the fluid out of his brain.
Speaker 4:Wow, do you know why that is the case? Why the walking drained the fluid.
Speaker 6:Because you're laying down, your body doesn't naturally have the up and down to naturally drain it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and also because it was spinal fluid and it was just getting stuck.
Speaker 6:Yeah, oh, wow, yeah right.
Speaker 1:So the movement helped.
Speaker 6:So, yeah, we naturally our spinal fluid moves up and down. Yeah, Sorry.
Speaker 1:So yeah, we naturally our spinal fluid moves up and down.
Speaker 6:sorry because of obviously gravity, but when you're laying in a bed, there's no gravity. So I mean they were laughing. They're like he's not going to do that.
Speaker 5:And Jet's like yes, I will.
Speaker 6:Watch me. And he had all his head wrapped up and because of all the drains coming out of his brain, his head was sideways. It wasn't a good look, but everybody knew us very well in Townsville Hospital because we did laps.
Speaker 5:My favourite thing to do was to walk down to Ronald McDonald and borrow all the chips.
Speaker 6:And the icebox.
Speaker 4:Borrow all the chips. Yeah, good old.
Speaker 6:Ronald McDonald house. They're a saviour.
Speaker 4:Yeah, obviously in the beginning stages doctors were not very hopeful when it came to Jets, how long Jet was going to be still with us, which would be incredible to hear for any obviously parent.
Speaker 6:Yeah, when you get taken to what you were saying before a quiet room. So mum and I were asked to come for a meeting and the nurses stayed, or he was in intensive care, so the nurses stayed with Jet and they sit you around the table and you've got all the surgeons and the intensivists and the social workers and you're just like this is going to be good.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I remember directly asking is he going to die? And yeah, I remember our incredible intensivists who we love and adore, still and still talk to him and he just said he's got grade four brain cancer, sam.
Speaker 5:Meanwhile I was on fentanyl and I saw bananas eating him. Yeah, but I was watching bananas and reindeers walk around my room.
Speaker 6:He's like Mom, there's like reindeers next to the nurse. I'm like, okay, darling, so I'm like there's no rain, but anyway, he was getting too high so they had to take him a fentanyl. That was a very sad day.
Speaker 4:So yeah, you were in this room and obviously the news wasn't good.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and we're in there for quite a while and just asking I guess, how long have I got? What is it going to look like when he dies? And they're so beautiful. I actually don't know how they do their job and they can't give you an exact answer, but every doctor, when they say just enjoy the time you've got left, it's just like damn.
Speaker 3:Wow and.
Speaker 6:I remember we walked out and mum's like you're going to have to suck this up, sam. Like you cannot go out like this in front of Jet. But Jet knew because he had no vision and he can read emotions now by the way we breathe. And I walked out and I remember I just cradled him and I said what do you want to do when this is all over?
Speaker 5:And I said I want to go to Disneyland, and he goes. I want to redo every Disney in the world, yeah, and I'm like done.
Speaker 6:And I started searching that day because I thought if I don't have something to focus on, I'm literally going to go insane.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 6:And I remember when he would sleep, I'd just stare at him and I cried myself to sleep, probably for about six months, just because you try to imagine a world without your child, and because it's been he and I since he was being two, like literally he and I, and I'm just like like here's my world and he's also such a beautiful person Some people are saying to the doctors why does this happen to the good kids?
Speaker 1:Like why?
Speaker 6:does this not happen to the kids that are out there stabbing people, and it's just unfair.
Speaker 5:Do you remember what I told you that night, when I caught you crying?
Speaker 6:No, well, yeah, I don't know. You've said a lot of things.
Speaker 5:Tell us, I told you to cry when I was gone and to enjoy now.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow, yeah, that's wise words, dude. That is wise words, honestly.
Speaker 6:Yeah, he's just like mom. You need to stop crying and just cry when.
Speaker 3:I go and I stopped crying.
Speaker 6:Well, as far as he knows, but I stopped crying in front of him. Yeah, no, he's actually. We could create a quote book. You should create a quote book.
Speaker 4:That would be the top of the list, for sure.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Along with. I remember I asked you this question before, but when the doctors came to you, jet, and they said to you obviously you need to change, this is not looking good.
Speaker 5:And you said that your response to them was Well, I tried to look them dead in the eye. I probably looked in the complete opposite direction. But I told them you don't know, my God. And personally, I'm a Christian, so yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So that was huge for you, yeah, yeah, and that's what you've leant on, and you stood by and look at you today. That was two years ago almost yeah.
Speaker 6:I mean they also told us because Jet had once he had his two surgeries and then had to learn to walk again. And when we eventually got back home to Newcastle, so Jet went straight to John Hunter and we have a fabulous oncologist there and he organised. So Jet had the 33 rounds of radiation at the MARTA and then had to do the 170 rounds of chemo.
Speaker 4:Which you said to us before this is the most you can have.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that much radiation on your brain is not good.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it turns the cancer into KFC Kentucky Fried Cancer.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so when Jet was, because they make him a big sticker chart for the kids.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Because when you go into radiation oncology, it's typically thankfully elderly people or people my age and above.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 6:We didn't see any other children at the time, but all the radiographers, they love the kids.
Speaker 3:It's heartbreaking but they love the kids.
Speaker 6:And they made a huge sticker chart and they made him an extra big one, obviously because he couldn't see it and he would make jokes about it being KFC Kentucky Fried Cancer. Yeah, I was offering the doctors.
Speaker 5:KFC being KFC Kentucky Fried Cancer. Yeah, I was offering the doctor's KFC.
Speaker 6:But yeah, no, it's not good to give your brain that much radiation. And they told us that he would have significant deficits in his learning, and that has not happened, and so that's another thing that he has defied the odds with.
Speaker 4:I feel like everything that they've told you you've defied. Yeah, he's done the opposite.
Speaker 6:And even one of our appointments last year. They just reminded me to sit in reality and just because I was like, no, we're going to be fine. But as we know the statistics, with brain cancer is one in five kids will die. Oh, cancer is one in five kids will die. Oh, sorry, four in five kids will die within five years and with brain cancer it's within two.
Speaker 1:But you're over that too, you're over that too.
Speaker 6:You're over that too, mark, yeah, do you know what the sucky thing is, though? Like we celebrate that, but most people die within five years. So you sit and you're like, yes, we've hit two years.
Speaker 4:but then you're like no, you've got to go for five. Go for five.
Speaker 6:Yeah, but then I'm like, have we only got three left?
Speaker 4:But I will say this if I know anything from the story that we've just discussed is Jet loves being told what he can't do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then he does the opposite.
Speaker 6:Well our oncologist. He said someone has to be that one.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, Absolutely yeah when they told me that 70% die from this cancer and I said, well, I'm going to be the 30.
Speaker 4:Yeah, good on you. Yeah, that's amazing yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah and Frank, anyone who has brain cancer a kid with brain cancer on the Hunter would know Dr Frank. And yeah, I remember him sitting when we first got into John Hunter and he said to Jet, I'm going to save you. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, why tell him this when we've just been told he's going to die? And then I thought actually no, I just need to listen to him yeah, we need some hope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 100%, actually. No, I just need to listen to him. Yeah, we need some hope. Yeah, yeah, 100% yeah, and I think God might be on your side, my friend.
Speaker 4:God's always on your side. You knew that from the very first moment. It's an incredible story Every time, an obstacle has just been placed in front of you. Jet, you've just hurdled it.
Speaker 6:Well, you need to tell them how you took your chemo Jet, because this is very uncommon too, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Don't tell me you swigged it.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yes, he did, I drank it what.
Speaker 5:Have you ever tasted death?
Speaker 6:No. He drank it out of a shot glass. Yeah, what.
Speaker 5:So I'll never drink again. But I'll never drink why.
Speaker 6:It was so Frank sorry Dr Frank, I should say had a wild idea to give Jet what you usually get in a drip in a glass to see if it would cross the brain barrier. Yeah, the blood barrier, yeah, so that's the sucky part of brain cancer is because it's so hard for the chemo to get to the brain Right.
Speaker 1:So he drank it. So can you describe what that even tastes like Death.
Speaker 5:Death, all the chemicals in the world and just close your nose. Like this cancer was no, not this cancer. This, like the chemo, was actually designed to kill people back in World War II.
Speaker 4:Yes, and you are swinging it to save your life.
Speaker 6:So he took one as a tablet and then the other one he took as a drink and as a mum walking down there 170 times to make your child drink something and if he vomited we had to start again. So he kind of and he was still a little boy then but he would take it in a shot glass and that's why he said he'll never be able to take shots again.
Speaker 4:Not a bad thing, and I'm like, yes, not a bad thing. Yeah, not a bad thing.
Speaker 6:But he would sit and I would watch him do it and then put his because he was in a shower chair, because he was still obviously as he's now still blind. So you can't do that standing up I loved that thing and then throw his head up in the shower just to try and keep it down. I tasted a little bit of it and I would say it was a combination of, like Drano peroxide, chlorine and petrol. Oh yeah, unbelievable. And do you know?
Speaker 4:what there wasn't he and petrol, oh yeah, unbelievable and do you know what there wasn't.
Speaker 6:he did that 170 times. There was not a single day he was angry at me, he nothing.
Speaker 3:And he's just like I have to do this and so you didn't, you drank it every day.
Speaker 1:You didn't have?
Speaker 6:Oh no, he'd have it, he'd have it. Yeah, so he didn't. No, so he it every day. You didn't have.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, you'd have it, he'd have it yeah, so he didn't know, so he didn't have it through a port.
Speaker 6:Okay, I'd have five five days on and then two weeks off, yeah, off, and then back on again. Yep, okay. And so after we had to go to the hospital every round and go to the pharmacy at the hospital and get his big pack and had to be administered. That was a crazy thing. I couldn't touch him, I couldn't use his toilet, I had to use purple gloves. That was a crazy thing. I couldn't touch him, I couldn't use his toilet, I had to use purple gloves.
Speaker 6:If he vomited. We needed those psychotonic kits, but then he's drinking it. I'm like, I can't like. You can't touch him, I can't touch him, but hey, that's going down his throat. Good luck, mate.
Speaker 5:Have fun.
Speaker 6:But he's here today and his cancer hasn't returned. So technically he's considered to have brain cancer for five years. That's the medical understanding and then after five years he goes into remission.
Speaker 4:Yeah, unreal.
Speaker 6:You're unbelievable, You're unreal dude.
Speaker 4:What does life look like for you now?
Speaker 5:Jet. You're back at school, which is insane. I'm sure you love that.
Speaker 6:No, but what happens, Jet, when you don't go to school for two years?
Speaker 5:You actually start to really enjoy it. You want to go to school.
Speaker 1:Because you don't want to go and have chemotherapy.
Speaker 5:Yeah, Well, because I'm blind, I can't read anymore. I'll probably never drive.
Speaker 6:You definitely will never drive.
Speaker 5:Legally.
Speaker 6:We have a bit of a joke about what we want to do to the RMS. So Jet has memorised the vision board because he's had to do that stupid chart so many times and he can't read it yeah. You tell them what you want to do.
Speaker 5:Oh, I want to do the test online and then I want to walk in, get my license and get my cane out and walk out.
Speaker 4:You should do that and I'm like, maybe not, it's the government. What are they going to do?
Speaker 3:Good on you.
Speaker 6:I reckon we could give it a go, and he makes jokes that one day he'll drive with his cane out the window, and but I mean, the sad thing is his mates are getting their licences now. And as a mum, I have to stand in the background and watch that and because Jet's incredibly kind. He congratulates them and loves them, but it sucks.
Speaker 1:It sucks. Do you know the good thing? You'll actually never have to drive and you can always be in the backseat and someone gets to drive you.
Speaker 6:Well, we were just in America and in San Francisco they had those self-driving cars everywhere and I'm like come on, australia, get on board.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean honestly, I think about that story that you just said now about getting a driver's license and I think what a silly thing, when you think about, obviously, the value of someone's life, you get to spend time with Jet and for all aspects of life, I mean, you get to do most things with him still. Yeah.
Speaker 6:Well, we said goodbye to a number of people, little people, last year. Jet's the only one alive in his little group that we did treatment with and I remember saying to Jed's mum I'm like I just I hate that this was before Jed passed away. And I said to her I hate that Jed's blind. And now I look, because I mean obviously we all talk about just the horrible things our children go through.
Speaker 6:And then when Jeddy passed away, I thought she would do anything to have a blind child anything because he's gone. And little Imogen, who Jed's treatment protocol. She was born with brain cancer and she died last year at three years old. But we believe that and her dad is the pastor at Jet's sister school and we truly believe that Imogen hung around to give Jet his treatment plan.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 6:Because it kept her alive for three years and she was never meant to stay alive and that's what I say to Imogen's mum and dad is that your baby saved my baby.
Speaker 4:It's, yeah, it's crazy when you think of things like that.
Speaker 6:Little Imogen is, and I know they're going to listen to this. Little Imogen will be with us forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's your angel.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and she was a sassy little three-year-old. Gosh, she was a gorgeous kid, and she had never known anything other than brain cancer.
Speaker 1:Born with it.
Speaker 6:They discovered it a few days old.
Speaker 4:Wow, yeah, okay. So what does life look like now for you, jet, in terms of what are your goals for the future? What do you want to achieve?
Speaker 5:Keep on achieving.
Speaker 4:Keep ticking those boxes.
Speaker 6:What do you want to do after school? You do have a plan.
Speaker 5:Oh, yeah, I want to. After I finish, like, year 12, I want to go Into university and I want to study business. Yeah, any particular business that?
Speaker 4:you want to go into university and I want to study business. Good on you, yeah, any particular business that you want to go into.
Speaker 5:Still trying to figure that out.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I want him to go and be a business development manager for Disney.
Speaker 4:Why not I?
Speaker 6:figured, we've done every Disney in the world twice now. So we're experts, Make some changes.
Speaker 1:I think that's awesome dude.
Speaker 4:Well, that's amazing. I mean, Jet, again, your story is just phenomenal. Sam, as a parent, your story is phenomenal. You guys are really shining lights when it comes to just defying the odds. You are, jet, you are the definition of defiance. Honestly, and no matter what anyone tells you, you keep going my God is bigger or my God is stronger, it doesn't matter what you guys say, you stand on that belief and that's amazing. And then you just keep defying the odds. You keep proving everyone wrong, whether it be a doctor who keeps telling you that that's not the case and the statistics tell you otherwise. Like you're, like no, it doesn't matter what they say, I'm going to be the one that does make it or defies it. You really are the definition of defiance and resilience.
Speaker 4:So really, from our side, congratulations, dude, you are amazing. I'm so humbled that we get to sit here and hear your story and just get to share it with the world, because it really is such an inspirational story. And from yours, sam, as a mum, to go through what you've gone through and still, you know, have a smile on your face, like you say. And just even that line that you said, jet, where you said to mum like don't need tears now, you can have tears when I'm gone, like that is such a beautiful moment and something that I don't think I've heard a child even think of. Yeah, it's just, you're far beyond your years and I think it goes to show when someone meets you and they interact with you. Just the incredible kind.
Speaker 6:Well, even before his surgery, he just said to me if I go, mom, it was just, it was time for me to go home.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and.
Speaker 6:I'm like hell. No, you are not going home, you are not going to heaven, mate you are staying right here.
Speaker 4:That shows you still got a lot to do, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, like when people ask me how, like, how did I get through my chemo? I said I went hard. I mean no, I go hard.
Speaker 1:Or I go home. Good man, yeah Good on you.
Speaker 4:Sam, from you, I'm going to ask you any advice that you have through a parent who's going through what you're going through or went through.
Speaker 6:Well, first thing is we know our children better than any single person in the world, and it doesn't matter how many years someone goes to university. You know your kid and stand your ground.
Speaker 5:Listen to your mom. Yeah, listen Should always listen to your mother.
Speaker 6:Yeah. And then the second thing. I mean this has been two years and I would say it's two years of daily trauma, and one minute you're planning your child's funeral and their speech and then the next minute you're trying to figure out when they go back to school and where are they going to go to university, and oh, it screws with your head like just to have that constant to and fro, yeah.
Speaker 6:And then last year we obviously went to every Disney and Universal in the world and I mean, people have said to me I was crazy. They're like why would you spend, like honestly, my whole savings on travelling the world? And I look back, I remember when they told me that Jet was going to die, you literally I would have packed up my whole house, everything he owned, everything I owned, and put it in a box and all literally and you don't understand until you hear it. But all you literally have is what you've done together and I would spend the money that I spent last year over and over again so much so we've just booked another trip to Disney because, yeah, it's literally over like one phone call your entire life Change Got chipped upside down, yeah and little things that I used to be worried about, literally.
Speaker 6:Do not faze me anymore. No, the little things, oh yeah, what people think about me, who cares, like who cares, yeah, and then when you have a sick child, everyone has an opinion and it's really hard to block out the noise.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we've had people tell them.
Speaker 6:No, yeah, so we're, yeah, just people having an opinion, we just block out the noise and move forward. Yep, and people do it in love, but it's unless, of course, you're living it. You just don't know. And people say to me, like what do we say to somebody, to a mum or a dad, when this happens? And I'm like, don't ask, what can we do? That used to almost trigger me because I couldn't even think of what I'm doing for me, let alone what you can do what you can do for me yeah.
Speaker 6:So I would often people say, what can you do? And I'm like you just knock on the door and you walk in the house. Just be there and start cleaning start cooking, buy groceries but don't message them and go. What can I do Because that? Oh, that's so hard. Can I do because that?
Speaker 1:oh, that's so hard.
Speaker 5:And.
Speaker 6:I would just be like nothing, because I literally couldn't had nothing to give.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had nothing to give.
Speaker 6:And that's actually important because, as a mum of a really well, terminally sick child, you have nothing to give, like you're in survival mode for a really long time and I mean, if it wasn't for my mum, who's kind of like shared care with Jet. She's helped me raise Jet so I can have my business and yeah, like it's just your community around you, but just having people who don't demand anything.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, I have friends that just jumped into bed with me and then would just let me just cry, yeah but yeah. People saying just be positive, I wanted to bash them in the head.
Speaker 3:Can we all be positive?
Speaker 6:It's like please yeah, like don't tell and everything's going to be okay. Sam, you don't actually want to be told that, you just want someone to go. This is so crap.
Speaker 4:Or just someone to just take a bit of the load.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or just say nothing, Just to listen, yeah.
Speaker 5:Don't even need to talk.
Speaker 4:Just be there in the vicinity in case you need to just offload.
Speaker 6:So that would be. My recommendation is don't text someone. What can I do?
Speaker 1:Just do it.
Speaker 6:They're probably struggling just to get out of bed. Yeah absolutely and coordinate that and yeah, we're just blessed to have incredible doctors. That saved my son.
Speaker 3:It.
Speaker 1:And yeah, we were just blessed to have incredible doctors that saved my son. That's incredible and I think hats off to you, sam, because I have children and I can't even come to terms with even having to have that conversation or getting that phone call or going into the quiet room about your kids, because you would rather it be. I'm sure you've had the moment where you'd rather it be you 100 times over and I don't want it to be Jet, but unfortunately you didn't get to decide that.
Speaker 1:And these are the cards that you got dealt with and you just have to deal with them the best you can, and I don't really think we're ever equipped to deal with that.
Speaker 6:No, and we don't want to equip people. No, absolutely not no, and I mean Jet's lost his childhood, so he now lives in an adult world.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 6:I mean when you start talking about palliative care and all the damage to his body with the chemo, and he should have been learning how to use Snapchat and annoying people but he's missed all that.
Speaker 3:Making TikToks.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so I have a really healthy, well-adjusted child because he doesn't use social media.
Speaker 1:Perfect, don't worry about you doing the same on my show. I wish one of my boys didn't use social media. Perfect, don't worry, bud, you didn't miss out on much, trust me. I wish one of my boys didn't have social media. It would be so much easier.
Speaker 4:So there are some advantages, absolutely All right, jet, your time to shine, bud. Obviously, you've been shining this whole episode, but I get, obviously, honor to leave you with leaving the last word for today for those listening. There's one thing you want people to hear, one thing that you want people to hold on to hear. Listen, remember, from this episode, last word is yours, bud. You're an inspiration and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you, because I think it's got big things and I think business is only a small part of it. I'm going to say that Same.
Speaker 4:So last word for today, jet, I'm going to leave this to you.
Speaker 5:I've got two.
Speaker 4:Go.
Speaker 5:Okay, Go Disneyland Also. I get that sometimes that the statistics do turn on you and you are the 70%, but don't stop believing that you won't be the 30%.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, I love that. Defy the statistics. Yeah, absolutely, I love that. Defy the statistics. Yeah, 100%, yeah, well, dude, you live that every day of your life.
Speaker 1:So congratulations, continue to do that, my friend, continue to do it.
Speaker 4:I can't wait in three years' time to get you back on this podcast.
Speaker 6:Should we finish school and be an adult?
Speaker 4:Finish school. Tell me your story even more and how much you just keep defying those odds. Enjoy Disneyland. Yes, absolutely Enjoy Disneyland.
Speaker 1:I wish I could be coming with you. We could carry your bags. Yeah, I love roller coasters. That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 4:Yeah me too.
Speaker 1:Maybe we could do it for a podcast. Yeah, let's do it, we'll do a podcast from Disney.
Speaker 3:Let's do it.
Speaker 4:Perfect, yeah, jed. Thank you so much, sam, thank you so much for joining us, thanks for having us. We really appreciate you and, yeah, if anyone wants to get hold of you, Sam, we'll put your resources on our page, whether that be for your business or personally. Maybe you might find they want to reach out and just ask for some advice.
Speaker 4:Yep happy Good, yeah, but Jed, can't wait to have you back on this podcast again. Thank you, guys for joining us. If you want to reach out on our socials, it's leavealightonpodcast. Actually, it's not, it's leavealightonformentalhealth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been a little change. It's still the same one.
Speaker 4:On Instagram, on Facebook, go check it out, and then it's leavealightonpodcastcomau. Thank you for joining us guys, keep well, keep safe and don't forget leave a light on.
Speaker 2:Hey, thanks for listening. We hope you've managed to gain some insight from today's episode. Jump onto our socials and reach out, and until next time, wherever you are, let's leave a light on.