Ep. 10 - Overcoming Chemo For Life: A Mother's Victory with Leisha Bejarano

Medical gaslighting is a silent threat to patient survival. When persistent symptoms are written off as stress, mental health issues, or routine complications, the delays in proper testing can allow aggressive diseases to progress unchecked. For many individuals, getting answers requires fighting past institutional dismissal before getting a proper look at what is actually happening under the hood. We sit down with Leisha Bejarano, Founder of the NWA Ladies Social Collective, to hear her firsthand account of navigating a late-stage health crisis while raising a large family.

We get into the realities of pushing for a gastroenterologist referral after a year of agonizing stomach pain was misattributed to an IUD and psychiatric issues. Leisha opens up about the sudden trauma of receiving a stage four colon cancer diagnosis at age 38, navigating 18 months of intensive chemotherapy and targeted radiation, and the mental toll of initially being told she would be on chemo for life. She shares how professional counseling and building a massive grassroots women's network in Northwest Arkansas provided the critical infrastructure she needed to survive. The discussion highlights the reality that clinical treatments are only half the battle; structural support networks and emotional processing are what keep a patient grounded when the prognosis turns dark.

Navigating a severe diagnosis forces an immediate renegotiation of family logistics, employment security, and personal boundaries. True advocacy means being honest with your support network about what you actually need, even when you lack the energy to articulate it. Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of patient rights, the vital role of local non-profit resources, and why you must never let a medical professional override your knowledge of your own body.

If you care about patient self-advocacy, oncology survival stories, and the power of local community building, you will get a lot from this conversation. Please make sure to subscribe and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. What is one area of your health or life where you know you need to stand up and advocate for yourself more aggressively? Let us know in the comments below.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hey there and welcome to Hope Unscripted, a podcast of Hope Cancer Resources. I'm Jamie Dietrich and I'm Brittany Harmon, and we're so glad you're here. Now let's talk about hope, healing, and the journey unscripted.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Welcome back to the Hope Unscripted podcast. I'm Brittany Harmon along with my co-host Jamie Dietrich and Lisha Beharano. Beherano. And today we are going to continue our talk about June being National Cancer Survivors Month.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

All right. I am. Perfect. Well, let's just take a minute and just kind of get to know you a little bit. So tell us a little about you and about your family and just tell us about Leisha.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah. So I am I transplant to Northwest Arkansas. I came out here towards the end of COVID in 2020 and was rebuilding with my family. I had just been through kind of a rough um separation. And this was kind of my fresh start out here in Northwest Arkansas. And I have my five kids out here with me. Yeah, they ranged from um, well, actually, I had my fifth when I was out here. So I had my four kids with me. Okay. Um, and at that time I had um a three-year-old up to a, I think he was about 12. So yeah. So it was I was really excited about the move. I absolutely loved the area and was excited to come out here and have a fresh start. Where did you move from? San Diego. Oh, big transition. Yeah. How did the kids feel about it? It was. Um, they they love it out here. We we love being outside at the river and the creeks and hiking. So it was a good move. Good. Awesome. I'm a sang.

unknown 1:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

What are some things that bring you joy and just keep you grounded?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Um, well, it's definitely my children. I mean, I I've been a stay-at-home mom a good chunk of my adult life, and so I've I've poured into them a great deal and just getting to to see all the amazing things they do. They're all pretty successful in their own right, and it's it's fun to be their mom. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

I love that. So Alicia, you have been using the services at Hope Cancer Resources for some time now and kind of have your own cancer journey of things that have um transpired in your life. And so let's go back to the beginning and just tell us a little bit about your diagnosis and how everything started and kind of where you are today.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Sure. So I had been dealing with some stomach issues for over a year. And since I had had my my fifth baby, I after I had him, I decided I was all done. So I went ahead and um I got an implant so that I couldn't have any more, any more um babies in IUD. And we thought at first that it was just I was having complications with that. I was certain that was it. So I went back to my OBGYN and just told him I need to get this thing out. Um, I'm having some issues. He tried telling me he didn't think that's what it was, but we couldn't figure out what else it would be. So I was just adamant that I wanted it out. And um, we actually had an exploratory surgery after that, and they cleaned out my uterus, and we thought that okay, hopefully that was it, no more issues. But I continued having pain and I um kept going back to the doctor. I finally got them to give me a referral to a gastroenterologist. But by that time I was in so much pain, I um it was my second emergency room visit that we discovered um the mass that was in my colon.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

That's just such an important thing that having to advocate for yourself at the doctor. Because I and I get it, I appreciate all the doctors who do all these amazing things, but it is hard to figure out something like that, and especially you were 38 at the time, so that was very young. Um, but you do you have to push hard.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Yeah. Yeah, I really did. And um it that was something that I had to really work through because you want you want to think that doctors are gonna figure it out and um give you the best chances. But I did struggle a little bit with some doctors, and um so then when we did figure out what was going on, it was a lot of disbelief that I could have been in the care of multiple physicians and and not found it.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

So now you talking about having some pain and discomfort, like how long did that go on?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Oh, it was it was over a year, but it was very confusing because of um having having the baby that I had having little Liam. He's um four now. I love that name. And thank you. Yeah, and so it there's just a lot of confusion and uncertainty, and we we tried multiple things and was it consistent also, or did it kind of come and go? Um, it was fairly consistent. I mean, I I had bathroom issues, and that's not a fun topic. Um but that's part of it. You I started having um struggling going to the bathroom, and um, so that's when I was very adamant with my um primary care doctor. I need to see a gastroeneurologist. And um I won't share any names because I'm not about that they're not trying to get doctors in trouble. But I but I do, I would just share that um one of the hardest parts about trying to get diagnosed was at one point I was even told, well, maybe we just need to get you in to see a psychiatrist, and then maybe your stomach issues will alleviate. And I think that was one of the points where I went, okay, no, this isn't okay. Like I really needed um some help.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

And so I think that's a really good point. We hear that a lot of the encouragement of advocate for yourself because you're the only one that knows what you're feeling in your body and that something's wrong. And so sometimes like relaying that to someone else is really hard. So it sounds like you you really went to bat for yourself and yeah, advocated to get more in-depth.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Absolutely. And I think having being a mom of five and being at doctor's offices quite a bit, having children, that was one thing that I learned that I I really did have to stand up for myself and say, hey, I know my body, and I know this isn't right and this isn't normal.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Especially at that point, even through five babies, you know that's going on. Yeah, you know your baby, you know your body. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

So, real quick, when you were diagnosed, uh, it was stage four.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Is that what so originally in the hospital, um the the mass in my colon almost ruptured my colon, it was very large. Um so originally they saw a tiny spot on my lung, and my oncologist that I met at the at the emergency room that ended up being my oncologist throughout my my journey, she wanted to be hopeful. She told me, you know what, it could that little spot on your lung, it it could be nothing. So they originally staged me three, but within a week or two of getting out of the hospital and getting those results on my lung back, we knew that it was four.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah. And just imagine, you know, if you didn't advocate for yourself the way that you did, and you would have taken that step back and thought, okay, it it's not what I think. I'm, you know, gonna try the psychiatrist route or another route, right? And more time went by. But you know, after a year and you're being diagnosed and it's essentially stage four. Yeah. Like that that's a lot. Yeah. How did you feel in that moment? And and what was that like for you and your family?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Um, I think it was a mix of emotions. At first I was shocked. I mean, the experience of being in the hospital was traumatic in its own right because I had all my little my kids at home and I was um leaning on family and community to really step in and and help with my children since I was a stay-at-home mom at that point. I was doing all of the the hard work with the kids, and my husband's wonderful. I'm not saying he wasn't doing that, but like he had work. I mean, he was working and transitioned back in him. Yeah. It was. And and I think it was it was shock. It was um, what does this mean when you know that it's at a late stage, you automatically go to the worst case scenario and you just start thinking what I mean, almost like getting your your affairs in order, like it feels that serious when you first hear, but you want to hold on to hope because at the same time you know how many people are counting on you being a mom of five and um my my family and kind of community, like yeah, and I didn't it's weird because you don't want to let anyone down. It's such a a strange feeling. Like you feel like you have to fight and you have to be positive and you have to have the right things to comfort other people while you're still trying to navigate your own emotions.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

How how are your children during that time, especially your oldest ones? I mean, they are they're clearly aware of what's going on. That's that's hard.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah, I think that they were probably the ones that I tried the hardest with to be okay. So even though um in my mind I didn't, I so I had a senior, he was a well about to be a senior in high school. Gosh, sometimes my memory is not that I'm like, wait, let's look at a junior. Okay, so so he was a junior and um he had a lot going on. He was getting his driver's license, he was doing all these fun, amazing things, and I was just trying to figure out if I was gonna make it. And so I can remember he actually got his driver's license while I was in the hospital. My my dad took him and my mom and dad took him to get his driver's license. And I can that was one of I had a lot of fuzzy moments in the hospital, but I can remember him coming in and sharing he got his driver's license, and that was my moment. You start realizing all the these moments that you you want to be here for. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Well, grateful that your parents were able to help him do that too, because that kind of I'm sure that took a little bit of pressure off of him and some type of normalcy during that time because, like you said, you don't know what was about to happen during that. How long were you in the hospital for?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

10 days.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, I was in the hospital for 10 days. And I I have a month. I did. It felt like a really long time. I was kind of in and out. Um, and there's some people I didn't even remember came to visit me. I mean, it really is a blur when you're like kind of in and out of anesthesia. And at one point I had to get a tube put down to suction some stuff out, and I can just remember being very, very out of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yeah. And and needing I just want to be out of it in that moment for sure. And I can say that. So after surgeries and things like that, you started going to was it Highlands for your oncology? Yeah. And then what did your treatment stage look like after that?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So I got my port put in, which I still have. Um, I got some good news I might be getting that out soon. So I'm excited about that. But um, we got my port put in right away. Um, and as soon as I had healed up from the because I had to have a colon um resection. Yeah. And they took a good chunk of my colon out. And then I think I had one. Um, you have them under your are you have them all over in one of my lymph nodes. There we go. Thank you. Um, so one of my lymph nodes was cancerous, and so that's when they started taking it more seriously that it it could have spread. Yeah. Um, but sorry, it got off.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

No, you're good. So we were just talking about so your treatment stage, like chemotherapy, radiation, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

So I started chemo, and actually the first few months of chemo that I did, they actually came back and they deemed it unsuccessful because the spot on my lung um grew a little bit. Yeah. So the fact that it grew, they knew that that wasn't going to be the right concoction for me. So we had to go back to the drawing table and and start a new treatment. Um, that was a little bit of a blow because I think originally I really wanted to be in control. Like that's and I'm finding out that that's pretty normal. Oncologists have to deal with that. I I had to look back and kind of laugh at some of my views when I started treatment. I kind of let um my sweet oncologist, Dr. Porta. I was very firm with her that I was only gonna do this amount of chemo, but that if I'm doing it, I'm I'll do three months and I I can remember her being so kind and so patient. Yeah, but she was like, we will see. But I mean, I really I had to just get to a point where I realized um I had to trust my oncologist, and that's hard. Yeah, especially because um nowadays I think everybody has an opinion about cancer and how it should be treated, no matter if you have been through 10 years of school or whether you've just done some research online. It's very common for people to think they have all the answers. And I was getting a lot of that. And um, I had to come to the realization that I I stayed with my oncologist because I trusted her. I knew that she wanted what was best for me, and she had the knowledge to to to give me the best, um, the best options moving forward. And I I trusted her to do that, and it ended up being more than three months of chemo. I was on chemo off and on for a year and a half. Um, I had a colon resection, a long wedge surgery, 18 months of chemo, and five targeted radiation treatments.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

To get to where I am today.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And all of that was in a year and a half. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, it was a lot. So somewhere along that journey of all those things going on, you found hope cancer resources. I did. You met Shauna. So tell us a little bit about that and um the counseling and just how Shauna was able to help you.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah, so um I had started at the Rogers Um Highlands, and there was a really sweet lady that was doing therapy there through Hope Cancer Resources, but I only got to see her a couple times and then she left because she was having a baby. And I was really bummed because I I really liked her. But um, so then I went a few months and my husband kept kind of nudging me, like, are you gonna reach back out? I know that you were bummed that the lady you saw left, but I'm sure there's somebody else. And at the time I was just a little down and just didn't know if like I really wanted to tell my story over again and have to start rebuilding another relationship with a therapist. But I got to a point where I I know I knew I needed it. Like I just I had to just bite the bullet and say, okay, I I know I need the help. Um and so I reached back out and I that's when I met Shauna and I started going to the facility in Springdale. And um yeah, I just she she's made such an impact this last year. I I I genuinely don't think I would be where I'm at today without Shauna's help. She's just helped me work through so many emotions, and she's really good about understanding that yes, cancer was the main reason why I was seeing her, but life goes on even in the midst of cancer. And she really helped me um sort through a lot of different things and just give me hope that um I could be in a good mental state and not be constantly doing this up and down that is really what cancer feels like. It's just a constant up and down, and I really appreciated her for that.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

So now that you've you've done your 18 months, you do you did say you still have your port in? Do you have to do any type of like I know my aunt is in remission, but she does the immunotherapy treatment still and things like that. Are those anything that you have to do as well?

SPEAKER_00 16:10

So I wasn't a candidate for immunotherapy, um, which that was another hard knock because so many people um are are really doing so well with that. So I was hoping that I would be able to go that route. That wasn't a route I could go. So um I was originally told I was gonna be chemo for life, and that was a really hard blow. That was also one of the reasons why I really um needed Shauna as much as I did. Um I couldn't process what that would look like. Um, because chemo takes so much out of you. And I think that having an end date was like, okay, if I can do it this many more months, or I can do it. But when they when I had a reoccurrence in my lung and they told me chemo for life, that was just devastating. Um, because it really felt like my my days were gonna be numbered because I wasn't gonna be able to do it forever. Um, and Sean actually helped me work through that. And I I got to a place where my blood work and everything was was doing, I was responding so well to the treatment that I had. And then when I did the radiation, I think that was like the final thing that really took care of the spot on my lung. And I made the choice to step back from chemo. And um, I took the summer off first, and then I was gonna go back and start again. I went back and did a treatment and I kind of fell apart. And I because I'd spent the summer with my kids and it was so fun and I got to feel good. Yeah, I got to be normal again. And um, so I went back and talked to my oncologist and kind of told her what I was was going through mentally and emotionally. And she said, Okay, well, let's try it. If this is how you really feel and that let's let's um let's stop. And I I was shocked. I didn't think I was gonna hear that because I was kind of always the one pushing, like, come on, I could stop, right? And um, and my oncologist said, I I think you're doing really well. Your blood work looks really good. I think that if if you feel this strongly about it, that we should go ahead and let you try. And my last chemo treatment was I think it was maybe September of Yeah, of last year.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

So that's a long game.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

So I've yeah, so I've you've done this well. I've almost been NED for a year.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

That's amazing. Yeah. So when you hear that word survivorship, what does that really mean to you at this point? Because you've come you've come through a lot in just such a short amount of time. I think three years, that seems like nothing.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah. So survivorship to me, um, it's it's a mix of emotions because being a part of I can't I feel like I'm a part of the cancer community, even though it's kind of virtually when when I found out about my cancer, I've always been the type that I when I know what I'm gonna have to go through, I want to find other people that have been through it and I want to hear their stories and I want to know how they did it. And um, so I I did that and I I got online and I joined some support groups and you hear so many different stories, and you just don't. I feel incredibly blessed. I don't know why I my body responded to treatment as well as it did, and why some people don't. That's hard. Um, you want to think that there's just this perfect that you just do this, this, and this, and you get better, but it doesn't always work that way. So I think that some days I have a heavy heart for those that I've met that haven't had the same um good response to treatments, or those that weren't able to continue the treatments because they were just too harsh on their body. And um, survivorship to me means really appreciating every day and um getting to sit with my kids and told myself it wasn't a cry. Um getting to sit with my kids and and share the things that you thought you'd have forever to to share. And I think when you realize that you you may not, that it really it makes you take every day not more seriously, but just it you want there to be purpose behind your words and your actions. And I think that in a way that's the the gift. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

We we've talked to a lot of people that the perspective does to definitely changes after that. And um, our CEO Chuck, he's always really good about when he talks to somebody around that's who has a cancer story, and you see everybody raise their hand because either a loved one, mom, sister, brother, friend, I mean, there's so many people who have the similarity, little bitty pieces, but everybody's journey is so different at the same time. So we just appreciate you it's a lot. It can be heavy, so we appreciate you being so open about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

So Alicia, a minute ago you mentioned your port and that you got good news that it may be coming out.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, uh I don't know if it's completely just because they have no worries or so. My port um didn't always give great blood return. So I I have to use my arms when I go um for my checkups and they do my blood work. Um, I use my arms because they I have had issues with it giving blood. But I so it's a mixture of I think it wasn't working that great in the first place. And since I there's no treatments on the horizon as of right now. So um I'm yeah, that was one of those things. It was so weird, like the little things that that end up mattering to you that you don't think are gonna matter. But for for some reason, the thought of never getting it out really bothered me. Um, I mean, at this point, I'm kind of used to it. My my four year old will bump up against it or push on it and ask me questions sometimes. And um, the idea of getting it out, it kind of feels like a Maybe I am putting this behind me. Like maybe this, maybe I don't have to put any more. Yeah, yeah. So that's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

I was about to mention that about victories or milestones kind of along the way. It definitely sounded like you had some major setbacks. But now hearing this sounds like a milestone or victories. So tell us a little more about that.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yeah. I mean, I I think that once I realized that I at least had a few years ahead of me. I think I got through the point of thinking, I may not see my son graduate or I may not. I mean, that in the beginning, that's all it was. I wanted to make sure I saw him graduate. I wanted to make sure I wanted to be old enough that my youngest would remember me. And gosh, that's a hard one. Just thinking, okay, if I can make it a few years, yeah, that's then at least he'll have memories and not just pictures. But okay. But um, once I got past that and I realized, you know what, I could, I could maybe beat this. Like I didn't know if that was even a thing at first. I mean, stage four cancer, you think there's no hope, but that's not true. And that's another thing I want people to know that that's not true. Because if you aren't familiar with cancer, if you your only knowledge is the distant relative or the the friend in high school you rarely talk to, and that's all that you've ever heard. A lot of times you think you're you're done, that your life is over, and that's not true anymore. There's so much, um, so much going on in medicine now that it's it is grown significantly. So there is hope, and I think that's an important thing to remember. Um, but yeah, I think one of the things I'm really proud of is once I realized I was I had some time left, um, I started pouring back into a group that I had started years prior. Um, it's called NWA Ladies Social Collective, and we just recently got our nonprofit status a couple months back.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Which is really exciting. Um, and we're all about helping um build community for women across all generations. So we have ladies from right out of high school all the way up into I think one time we celebrated a lady was turning like 93 at one of our meetups, and we're really just big on providing community and um just helping women build bonds over deeper things. I mean, we have small groups that are starting now. There are women that are um maybe recently retired or empty nesters, or um it's there's so many different groups. I mean, there's there's art groups, there's um walking groups. It's just and it's really all about helping women find ways to connect with other women in their community. And then we try around and do some volunteerism um as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

So you let us know when you're ready to volunteer if you will find a project. Yes, we would love to. Yeah, I would love to.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

That that sense of community too. That's an extra family for you on top of that, and and going through your journey and having that support with these ladies that you've never met before. And as somebody who you said it, so I'm allowed to say it. Transplant for Northwest Arkansas. But that's what I feel like a lot of these newer women are, and it is hard to I'm born and raised here, so I'm used to it. But if I wasn't, and I had no idea what I was walking into, something like that could be really beneficial.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, I mean, it's it's a very close-knit community here, even though it's growing and growing. I mean, there are so many people who have been here forever. And I think that coming here, I knew since I was already going through a big transition, um, coming out of a relationship and having four kids at that time, I knew I wasn't going to thrive here without community. Yeah. And it started very organically. It was started as a supper club with a handful of ladies, and it's it's grown to over 12,000 women online. Um, and we have hundreds of women that get together in person locally. And they they were a huge support system for me. They brought meals, um, I mean, just prayed for me and comforted me. They were there for my my family. Um the ones I was closest to would swing by and pick up a kid and and take them out to have some fun, just to kind of keep their mind off of what was going on. And um, at that time in my life, I I needed them way more than they needed me. And and um, it was it was very special to get to see just how much community makes a difference when you're going through something well so hard.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

You mentioned your husband and then having the new baby. How how long had you been married before you got diagnosed?

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Okay, so that was a hard one. Yeah. Um, so it we were actually we'd been together a couple years, but it was our first year of marriage. So we were newlyweds. Um, my husband had just taken a local job at a startup restaurant. He's been a chef for many years. He's amazing. But he was starting a new job and he actually was let go at the time because he chose to stay in the hospital with me when I got my cancer diagnosis, which was another just layer of hard on top of all of this. But it was a blessing in disguise because I needed him um really for everything. He was my biggest support system. He, as Lyser shared, he's a chef. So I lucked out big time there with, I mean, he kept me fed, he kept me um motivated, he would pack my bags for me for chemo. Um, and he was there with me most of the time, especially the first six months. Um, took me to all my appointments and just I couldn't have done it without him.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

We've heard some of that too. Um work is hard. It's hard when you're going through cancer, it's hard as a spouse because you want to make the best decisions. But as an employer, I you go back and forth. It's like, yeah, what are you supposed to do in that moment? So that's it's devastating that he was let go, but it does sound like it was a blessing overall.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Yeah, and it ended up leading to um him getting recommended for the job he's at now. So it it really did all work out. And so thanks, babe. Thanks, Brent. Thanks, Aray.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

When you want to cook for us, let us know. Well, ladies, we are coming uh to time. And so to wrap this up, Alicia, is there any final advice or words that you would give um to other people on our cancer journey as um National Cancer Survivor Month, we're celebrating in June. And just anything around that that you would like to share?

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah, I think that um really looking into your resources and especially places like Hope Cancer Resource, I know that having Shauna and being able to go to her and really pour my heart out and not have to worry about if I was hurting her feelings or if she was she was gonna be worried about me. I mean, I having that outlet is so important. And then also keeping people around you, it's easy to become a hermit because you're kind of the elephant in the room. Once you get a cancer diagnosis, even the people that care about you, you can see it on their face. It's like they are worried about how you're doing and and what what they could do to help you. But I think you have to be willing to kind of sit with yourself and know what you really need from people, and then be willing to share it because you'll get a lot of let me know if you need help. And when you're when you're going through something that traumatic, you don't really even have it in you to tell people what you need. So I think um just taking the time when you need it and then being really honest with people. If you don't want to talk about it, there were days I didn't want to talk about it, or there were days that I felt like sharing. And I think just knowing that most people are trying their hardest to meet you where you're at, but that's a struggle. I mean, so if people are quiet and you miss them, reach out, let them know you miss them. If um if there's certain things you don't want to talk about, I used to people used to always tell me things like, don't wear a wig, let your real hair show, things like that. And it was kind of weird. Like there, it's like just let people know where you're at. If I if I was having a day where I just felt horrible and I wanted to wear a wig, I didn't want to hear don't wear wig. Like I mean, I think just just letting people know where you're at, the struggles you're having, that openness really will come back um to be a positive thing for you because then people can help you where you really need the help.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Well, I know that we appreciate you sharing your incredible story. I know it's a lot and it's heavy, and we're thinking about you. I know Shauna is because she's the best, but we really appreciate you coming on with us and having this discussion to go. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. And and I hope it helps and helps people realize they're not alone out there. And um, it gets better. It can definitely get better.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

And thank you all for joining us again for another Hope Unscripted podcast. We hope you'll continue to like, subscribe, and tune in next time. Thanks.