1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:04,840 Welcome to Grounded Wellness, your go to podcast for 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,920 simplified and trusted information on how to live a 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,200 more non-toxic and holistic life. 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,040 We're your hosts. I'm Bethany McDaniel, founder of 5 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,480 Primarily Pure biohacking enthusiast and mom of three. 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,800 And I'm Courtney O'Connor, holistic esthetician with over 7 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,560 15 years experience in the healing power of touch and 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,080 holistic skin care rituals. In today's episode, I am so 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,680 excited to welcome our friend Taylor Duke, Functional 10 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,160 Medicine. As a Nurse practitioner. 11 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,320 Two years ago, Taylor was faced with a shocking and life 12 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,240 altering cancer diagnosis. She utilized a number of 13 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,280 different alternative practices and treatments in addition to 14 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,880 surgery to heal. In fact, she even shrunk her 15 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,520 brain tumor in half without chemo or radiation. 16 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,840 Taylor has such a heart for helping others experience deep 17 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,320 healing and also providing approachable advice on diet and 18 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,360 lifestyle. Her story is one that you will 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:56,960 never forget. Let's dig in. 20 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,040 Hey everyone, welcome back to Grounded Wellness. 21 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:08,040 We are here with Taylor Dukes, my good friend and functional 22 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,720 medicine provider and we're switching things up today. 23 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,600 We're having Taylor Dukes Wellness lemonade mixed with 24 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,400 matcha green tea. Cheers. 25 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,760 OK, so just to give everyone some background, Taylor and I 26 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:21,880 known each other for a while now. 27 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,840 We've met through our mutual friend Allison Evans, who is one 28 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,560 of the Branch Basics Co founders, and I know your story 29 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,600 very well at this point, but I'm so excited to talk to you about 30 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,160 it in even more detail and to share it with our community. 31 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,480 I'm so honored to be here. Yeah, thank you. 32 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,520 Getting into your background a little bit, we know that you're 33 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,560 traditionally trained as a nurse practitioner. 34 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,480 But before we get into your story, give us the Cliff Notes 35 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,240 on why you transitioned to functional medicine after 36 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,600 spending time in the world of conventional medicine. 37 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,640 So I always say, and people need to understand what conventional 38 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,160 and functional or integrative holistic medicine is in the 39 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,200 conventional medical model. It's our traditional doctors, 40 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,720 care providers, nurse practitioners, nurses. 41 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,720 And, you know, we're really good at diagnosing things as far as 42 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:11,120 coming up with a name for symptoms. 43 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,160 And we have prescriptions and we have diagnostic procedures, but 44 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,240 you don't really ask the why question of like, why is this 45 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:18,640 happening? And so that's the conventional 46 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:19,960 world. It's really, really great for 47 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,320 trauma emergency situations. But then the holistic, 48 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,520 integrative kind of functional side of care is more getting to 49 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,200 the root cause and asking the why question. 50 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,280 Like, yeah, you have all these symptoms, but why? 51 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,960 And so I got into this field not because I was smart, but because 52 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:35,800 I was sick. And I always say a lot of my 53 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,360 colleagues that got into this world, we didn't get into it 54 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,480 because we're like, let's be a trailblazer and be healthy and 55 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:41,960 be different. You know, we don't learn this in 56 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:43,240 school. We get into it because we're 57 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,240 sick and we're desperate and the medical system usually fails us. 58 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,080 And that was my story. And so I was sick, and that's 59 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,880 how I got into it. OK, So what happened all those 60 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:52,640 years ago? How did you get sick? 61 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,800 How did you get better? What did that look like? 62 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,240 Yeah, so I was a healthy kid growing up. 63 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,280 I grew up in, my mom was very healthy. 64 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,280 She had home cooked meals. You know, I was a traditional 65 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,200 college kid and, you know, like to eat out and do the whole fast 66 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:06,800 food thing, but I never had health issues. 67 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,160 And then after I graduated from nursing school, I had the 68 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,400 opportunity to do some medical mission trips abroad in both 69 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,080 Africa and Ecuador. And I started getting sick 70 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,760 abroad and I would have little symptoms like, you know, I, my 71 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,880 stomach wasn't well and I would just be like, oh, that's 72 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,520 traveler's diarrhea. That's normal. 73 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,840 You know, take my Cipro that my doctor prescribed, which is an 74 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,920 antibiotic to treat, you know, traveler's diarrhea. 75 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,800 But it was all these little things kept adding up. 76 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,720 And because I was there for a longer period of time, I just 77 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,360 kept getting sicker and sicker. And then when I was in Ecuador, 78 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:38,480 it was like getting to the point where I couldn't function. 79 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,000 I couldn't eat without being in pain. 80 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,720 And I ultimately ended my time there on that kind of medical 81 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:44,920 mission trip and got flown home to the States. 82 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,120 And that's when I think I realized I've always been really 83 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,600 positive and kind of like a power through kind of person. 84 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,560 And I couldn't. Like, I couldn't. 85 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,920 And it was so confusing because I was never the sick kid growing 86 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:56,000 up. So yeah, I just had a lot of 87 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,080 symptoms. I had tons of stomach issues. 88 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,160 My skin was a wreck. I never had preteen acne, but I 89 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,480 had inflamed cystic acne in my face and I had joint pain. 90 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,480 Like I didn't even know what my joints were like. 91 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,640 I'm like, you're not supposed to feel your joints at 22 years 92 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,200 old. And yeah, terrible joint pain. 93 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:14,840 I had days where I couldn't get out of bed. 94 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,720 It was, it was debilitating. And my hair was falling out. 95 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,480 I just had a myriad of symptoms and so I was going from 96 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,560 specialist to specialist, doctor to doctor and just kind of 97 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,200 bouncing around, you know, they'd all do different. 98 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,120 Well, let's order this test. This looks fine. 99 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:28,920 So let's move to this. We'll do this intervention. 100 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:30,920 Let's do a colonoscopy. We'll start you on this 101 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,400 medicine. And I just, I felt convicted 102 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,320 because here I am. I'm like a nurse, you know, I'm 103 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,480 a trained RN at this point, registered nurse and my whole 104 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,400 job and the purpose of my life is to advocate for my patients. 105 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,000 And I can't advocate for myself. I was just lost going from 106 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,120 doctor to doctor. And then I started to feel crazy 107 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,880 because I'm like, well, they say it's normal and looking back, 108 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,200 I'm like none of it was normal, but they just didn't have 109 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,320 reasons or answers for me. So they were just shuffling out, 110 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,280 let's try this prescription. Well, let's do this procedure. 111 00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,160 We didn't find anything. Let's do this and so. 112 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,160 Yeah, just matching up a prescription with a symptom and 113 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,280 trying to tackle it that way, Yes. 114 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:08,120 And so eventually I know that you fell into the world of 115 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,320 functional medicine. I How did that happen? 116 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,080 How did you find out about that? Yeah. 117 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:14,720 So I was going to doctor to doctor and specialist to 118 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,120 specialist and my mom who grew up really healthy. 119 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:18,800 And again, I was never the sick kid. 120 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,080 And she at that point in my life, my mom was living in Santa 121 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,920 Barbara and I was in Austin. And I remember she came to just 122 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:25,800 kinda like help me with stuff like clean my apartment. 123 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,280 And I was kinda telling her like mom, I'm not feeling good. 124 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,560 I'm not able to work like my mom was just like, this is not you 125 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,960 like what is going on. And when she came to see me, she 126 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:37,640 was like, I realized just how bad you were. 127 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,800 Like I couldn't even I would take naps in my car before I 128 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,000 would walk upstairs to my apartment. 129 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,720 Like that's how tired I was not normal. 130 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,840 So my mom was the one advocating for me to go see kind of one of 131 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:50,320 these naturopath Dr. whatevers. And I was like, that's hocus 132 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:51,600 pocus. That's woo woo. 133 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,560 I don't believe in that. There's no evidence behind that. 134 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,920 But I was also desperate. So I was like, fine, what do I 135 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:58,080 have to lose? What are they going to tell me 136 00:05:58,080 --> 00:05:59,520 to change my diet? You know what I mean? 137 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,800 And, and so anyway, she ended up finding a functional medicine 138 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:05,760 doctor in MD at that point in Austin. 139 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,000 And she did all this testing. She was asking me about like, 140 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,320 were you sick when you grew up? Did you have strep throat? 141 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,000 Did you get the HPV vaccine? I mean, she went through all 142 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,240 these different things that I'm like, I don't know, what does 143 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:17,600 that have to do? I'm sick now. 144 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,760 I wasn't sick then, but she kind of like tied all the pieces of 145 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:22,920 the puzzle together. She changed my diet, my 146 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,520 lifestyle. She finally had answers. 147 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,920 You know, she was like, you have parasite overload and you have 148 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,240 heavy metal toxicity. My mercury was off the charts. 149 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,440 And so she was able to give me answers finally. 150 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,360 And that's when I was just like, I went all in. 151 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,760 I was like, I'll change my diet, I'll do anything. 152 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,080 And I was able to get off all my medicine and which I think there 153 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,200 are times and places for medicine. 154 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,560 I'm not trying to be prideful and say, but I was thankfully 155 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,920 able to get off and I felt good. I had my life back, my energy 156 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,760 and I was good and I was convinced I was like this just 157 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:53,240 like saved my life and changed my life. 158 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,800 Yeah, it's amazing. And no other doctor I'm sure had 159 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,440 run those same types of tests as she did. 160 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,520 Yeah, and if anything, they'd be like, well, we don't really 161 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:01,880 know. And she had so many answers, 162 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,120 which was such a blessing. And it literally changed my life 163 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,520 so much so that I was like, I need to do this. 164 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,160 I need to figure out how I can help people in the way that I've 165 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,360 been helped. And so I went back to go get 166 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,000 like a nutrition certification. And I ended up being Amy Meyer. 167 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,200 She's a New York Times bestselling author and medical 168 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:19,800 doctor. And I was her nurse at her 169 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:21,920 practice for years. And I ended up going back to 170 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:23,960 nurse practitioner school because I'm like, I want to help 171 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,360 people heal how I did. You know, I felt amazing. 172 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,880 I was off these prescriptions. I changed my diet, gotten rid of 173 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,800 chemicals. I was mindful of what I was 174 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,200 putting on my body. And this is back in 2013 when it 175 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:35,960 wasn't, like, super cool. Yeah. 176 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,760 And so, yeah, it just changed my life and changed the trajectory 177 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:40,720 of my career. And I, you know, opened a 178 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,600 Wellness Center and started my private practice after I became 179 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,320 a nurse practitioner. And life was good. 180 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,880 I was like, I'm able to help people in the way that I was 181 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,240 healed. And I really believed in it 182 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,200 because not just changed my life, but I started seeing it 183 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:53,400 change thousands of other people's lives, that whole body. 184 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,480 Approach finally, like solving issues instead of just masking 185 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,200 symptoms. So that all happened about 12 186 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,200 years ago. Things were good. 187 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,240 You had a thriving practice, a family, husband, two kids. 188 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:09,960 And then about two years ago, you were given perv Ball when 189 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,640 you were gifted a preventative cancer scan that ended up 190 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,880 discovering a brain tumor. Tell us about that moment that 191 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,360 you were diagnosed with a brain tumor. 192 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,720 Where were you and what did that feel like? 193 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,320 It was almost two years ago, which is crazy in a few weeks 194 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,760 and we were on a family vacation. 195 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,040 I had done my preventative full body scan and I didn't think 196 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:31,640 anything of it. You know, I'm like, I have a 197 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,520 baby, I'm nursing at the time and I have a three-year old. 198 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,679 And we were at the beach in Texas and I was breastfeeding my 199 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,039 son on the beach. It was just a normal day and it 200 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:42,760 started raining and we were like, well, we have a bunch of 201 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:44,000 kids. We were with the cousins, which 202 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,360 was such a blessing. My mom, my sister were there and 203 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:48,880 we're like, let's take the kids to the aquarium. 204 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:50,720 We got energy to burn. And so we're on the way to the 205 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,600 aquarium, and I got an e-mail that basically said your ponuva 206 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,760 scan results are ready. And so I was like, gosh, I'm so 207 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:58,160 excited. You know, like, I have no 208 00:08:58,160 --> 00:08:59,920 symptoms. I'm not worried about anything. 209 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,680 I'm just excited to learn so that I can share with the world 210 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:06,680 and share with my patients. And I'll never forget, I opened 211 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:10,080 up the app and everything's either green, yellow or red. 212 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:12,080 And there was a red thing. And it said like, abnormal 213 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:13,600 finding with an exclamation mark. 214 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:15,480 And I remember feeling like, what the heck? 215 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:17,520 And no one had called me or anything. 216 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,440 And so I'm just open up the app and I see like, I don't even 217 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,920 remember exactly what I saw first, but I remember just 218 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:24,280 reading everything really quickly. 219 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,160 And we're driving to the aquarium and I'm like, my gosh, 220 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,800 they found a brain tumor. And I look at my husband and you 221 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,880 know, me, I'm like the biggest jokester ever. 222 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:33,760 And so my husband's like, no, you're kidding. 223 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,200 And I'm like, no. And so I'm scrolling and I'm 224 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,480 like, my God, there's a picture like this does not take a anyone 225 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,120 to like, my gosh, even if you're not a radiologist, you look at 226 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,000 my brain scan, which you probably have seen at this 227 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,440 point, I don't know if you have, but it's a huge white mass. 228 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,480 Like it does not take a trained eye to look and be like, that's 229 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,240 not normal. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, what 230 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:52,440 the heck? Didn't know what to make of it. 231 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:53,440 I didn't know what to think of it. 232 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,840 But the differential diagnosis, which it is a list of what it 233 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,720 could be. It said lymphoma, metastatic 234 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:05,240 disease, you know, glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, astrocytoma, 235 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,480 basically this whole list and a lot of it I didn't understand at 236 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,920 the time, but I know what a glioblastoma is. 237 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:11,880 And that's like one of the scariest types of cancer you can 238 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:13,320 get. I mean, people sometimes make it 239 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,480 months, maybe a year. Sometimes people don't make it 2 240 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,000 years. And so I, it was my stomach. 241 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,560 It just, I was so sick to my stomach. 242 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,840 I immediately called the company trying to get on the phone with 243 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:25,120 somebody. They're like trying to find 244 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,320 people that are practitioners. And so yeah, it was, it was 245 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:29,640 scary. And I felt like life just 246 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,080 stopped because I'm like, what, what just happened? 247 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,520 And I think the craziest part about this whole story is that I 248 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:37,280 never had symptoms. So I was also in denial because 249 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:39,240 I'm like, this isn't me. And then I'm going through my 250 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,200 mind. I'm like, OK, vision, hearing, 251 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:45,440 balance, personality, memory, seizures, like I had headaches, 252 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:46,920 nothing. I've never even had a headache 253 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,000 in my leg at this point. So I'm like, this is not me. 254 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,120 Like a little bit of denial, but a little bit of shock and like, 255 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,480 waste my life over. Like, am I gonna make it to next 256 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:55,360 year? So it was. 257 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,880 I can only imagine how shocking and jarring that must have been. 258 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,600 And I remember you even saying you thought like, this has to be 259 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,040 someone else's scam, like there has to be a mistake because like 260 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:08,760 you said, you had no symptoms. And typically people do have 261 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,080 symptoms at that point. So I know that there were a lot 262 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,800 of people, including first and foremost yourself, who were 263 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,520 shocked to find out that you had a brain tumor when you announced 264 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:25,520 that you had a brain tumor. But I also know that it all kind 265 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,920 of makes sense to you now cuz even though you are healthy, 266 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:32,960 there is a lot more to how brain tumors form and how that works. 267 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,520 Can you walk us through that? So I think and even to this day, 268 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,400 people that like I had already had an Instagram and A blog and 269 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,760 a thriving practice and Wellness Center at this point in my life. 270 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,320 And so people kind of look to me as like someone that can give 271 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,800 health advice. And I think it was like the 272 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:47,280 whole world was shocked, including me. 273 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,400 Like, I'm like, what? I have a brain tumor. 274 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,480 But what I've learned and even what my traditional, you know, 275 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,640 neurosurgeon and oncologist have said is that it usually takes 276 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,800 years for these tumors to form. And so I was told that it had 277 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:01,360 likely been there eight to 10 years. 278 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,760 Well, if you look back at my health timeline, that is when I 279 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,720 was really sick. And so basically my immune 280 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,720 system was suppressed. You know, come to find out and 281 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:10,320 what we know a lot, you know, I had Lyme disease. 282 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,720 I had, and I want people to hear me say this, just because you've 283 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:14,720 been diagnosed with these things does not mean you're gonna get a 284 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:16,960 brain tumor. There's a lot of fear, but it 285 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:18,400 was the perfect storm in my story. 286 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,840 You know, I had gut issues, I had Lyme disease. 287 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,240 I had mono at this time when I was really sick, thyroid issues. 288 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,800 I had the perfect storm and my immune system was suppressed and 289 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,320 that is what allowed these, you know, abnormal cells to keep 290 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,400 mutating and growing. And I also went through a lot of 291 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:34,840 trauma at this point in my life, which also suppressed my immune 292 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:36,600 system. People don't talk about enough 293 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,080 about how the body and how trauma, it's not just something 294 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,280 that affects us mentally, it's physically the body keeps the 295 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,480 score. And so my story was just the 296 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,920 perfect timeline. You know, these abnormal cells 297 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,480 started to mutate and grow and grow and then tumor formation. 298 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,640 And there's something called the cancer cascade. 299 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:56,200 And it's like the perfect storm. And we actually all at any given 300 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,280 point in time have circulating tumor cells, cancer cells, and 301 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,880 basically our immune system. The job, the way that God 302 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,680 designed our body is that it goes and takes care of those 303 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:07,120 abnormal cells. But when your immune system is 304 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,560 suppressed and it can't do what it's created to do, they get out 305 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:11,240 of control. And then it takes years for 306 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,640 tumors to form and then for people to become symptomatic. 307 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,480 So by the time someone finds a tumor, it's been years in the 308 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,360 making, right? It's not just like this happened 309 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,000 overnight. And that was my story. 310 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,720 And when people told me 8 to 10 years, I'm like, I didn't know a 311 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,800 lot about cancer at that time because this is all new to me. 312 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,880 But I would, I was able to look back and say that's exactly when 313 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,240 I was really sick. And it had been growing since 314 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,480 then. Now I think the question too is 315 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,240 like, would I have become symptomatic? 316 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,200 I don't know. Did it stop growing because of 317 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:37,920 my lifestyle? And I never would have known if 318 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:39,200 it weren't for this incidental thing. 319 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:40,600 I don't know and I don't have the answers. 320 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:42,880 I'm not God, but I'm just grateful we found it the way 321 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,360 that we did and was able to take action. 322 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:47,360 Absolutely. And I want to talk about what 323 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,560 you did do and your whole treatment protocol. 324 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:55,160 But first I I want to know what conventional cancer care gets 325 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,560 wrong. Like, walk us through why you 326 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,600 decided to not go the conventional route with your 327 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,320 treatment. The conventional cancer route is 328 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,040 surgery, chemo, radiation, immunotherapy, sometimes some 329 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,280 different clinical trial drugs and things like that. 330 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,520 And I am not against traditional oncology. 331 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:13,960 I think it definitely has its times and places for certain 332 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,800 types of cancer. But where I think our medical 333 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,440 system and the oncology system as a whole is getting it wrong 334 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,080 is no one's asking the why question like, why did this 335 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,440 cancer occur? And what can we do to change the 336 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,800 body to create an environment where cancer can't live in, You 337 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,640 know, and that's why recurrence is so high as you see someone go 338 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:32,520 into remission and they're healed and they ring the bell. 339 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,560 And then two to five years later it comes back and it might be in 340 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:38,560 a different organ. And I'm not negative and not, 341 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:39,680 I'm not trying to be pessimistic. 342 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:41,600 I'm just trying to be real and say that like, if you don't 343 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,480 address why the cancer occurred in the 1st place, then of course 344 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,480 it's going to come back. You know, you're, you have to 345 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,240 change the entire terrain of why the cancer occurred in the 1st 346 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,800 place and address any pathogens, the immune system, unresolved 347 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,880 trauma, exposure to certain things. 348 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:57,800 And so that's where I think our cancer system gets it wrong. 349 00:14:57,800 --> 00:14:59,600 I'm not against all conventional treatment. 350 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:00,920 I mean, heck, I had brain surgery. 351 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,160 That's a very conventional intervention. 352 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,840 I had surgery a year ago or last year, a year and a half. 353 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,560 But yeah, they don't ask the why question and they don't try to 354 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:11,120 prevent recurrence. Yeah. 355 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:12,800 And then they just are focused on kill, kill, kill. 356 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,760 Right. And I think that's so evident in 357 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,440 just the increase in cancer rates. 358 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,800 I mean, there's more awareness than ever, yet we are not seeing 359 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,040 an improvement and in fact, we're seeing the opposite. 360 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:26,280 And more funding, yes, like we have more and more dollars, but 361 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,280 the rates are. Off the chart, yeah. 362 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,480 And even in people in the most, right in the last four years, I 363 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,960 think there's been a massive increase in cancer rates in 364 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,240 young people. What do you attribute that to? 365 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:38,360 I think it's kind of a perfect storm. 366 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,880 And even with my story, I don't think it's just one thing. 367 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,080 I really think it's multiple drops in the bucket. 368 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,880 And what I mean by that is that this day and age, we have to, we 369 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:48,960 have to work on our health. Like we have to be mindful of 370 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:51,480 the products we use in our skin. We have to be mindful of what we 371 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,120 eat. Our food supply is not the same. 372 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:55,400 You know, we're constantly inundated with EMS and 373 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,760 technology like we were never created to do that. 374 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,360 We're all stressed and working at a pace of life that we just, 375 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,640 I don't think God created us to live at this pace at, you know, 376 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,640 the vaccine schedule changed in 1988 and a lot more vaccines 377 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,600 were added to that. You know, it's just, it's the 378 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,920 perfect storm of all the chemicals, the toxins, our 379 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,560 environment. But you know, very little 380 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:20,440 cancers actually are caused by genetic mutations and there are 381 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,160 cancers that are just not genetic component what we are 382 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,600 believed. That cancer is almost entirely 383 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,760 genetic, and that there's almost nothing we can do about it. 384 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,000 And then people feel doomed and it's like, I just got these 385 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,480 genetics and I'm like, no, actually you have the ability, 386 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,080 it's called epigenetics, to change the expression of your 387 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,200 genes through the lifestyle that you lead. 388 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,440 Now, we're not God, we're not control of everything, but there 389 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,400 are things that we can do. And I feel like now more than 390 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,640 ever, we have to make a conscious effort to take care of 391 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,400 ourselves and advocate for ourselves and minimize our toxic 392 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,840 exposure and. Fuel our bodies with healthy 393 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:53,200 foods because the government's not doing it. 394 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:55,320 Our doctors, sadly, they're just not trained. 395 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:56,880 I was trained through the same medical system. 396 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,320 They just don't know, You know, the textbooks are outdated. 397 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,760 The pharmaceutical companies have a big influence in what 398 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,240 even goes into those textbooks. So there's definitely a lot 399 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,280 wrong with the system. So what did you end up doing? 400 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,680 Yeah, I know you have. You have a whole care team. 401 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,359 How did you piece that together and what did that look like? 402 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,079 When I was first diagnosed, I, you know, we were on our family 403 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:20,400 vacation, which was a blessing. We were able to process. 404 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,520 I mean, I'm like, what the heck, You know, we were able to get in 405 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,160 with a neurosurgeon three to four days later locally to get 406 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,000 more advanced imaging to really look at what we thought it was. 407 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,520 And he was basically like, it doesn't look like leoblastoma, 408 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,800 but you have a huge tumor in your brain and it's a matter of 409 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,200 time before you come symptomatic. 410 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,560 But like, we don't have to do surgery tomorrow. 411 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:39,480 You know, this is a weird freak finding. 412 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,040 He was like, how? Big was the tumor. 413 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,240 It was the size of a plum when they took it out, which is huge. 414 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:45,880 And I think a lot of people, they think the tumor is just 415 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:47,840 sitting on your brain. It actually the kind that I had 416 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,080 grows within your brain. So it invades healthy brain 417 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,160 tissue. And so he basically was like, 418 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,320 get your affairs in order. I mean, it was, I was diagnosed 419 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:00,080 September. It was my son's 1st birthday, it 420 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,560 was Thanksgiving, Christmas, our wedding anniversary, my 421 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,040 birthday, all within three months. 422 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,360 And so it just felt like, Oh my gosh, you know, like this is a 423 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,600 lot. Were you pretty depressed? 424 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:12,960 Were you hopeful? Were you kind of going back and 425 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,600 forth between the two? I look back and I even I could 426 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:18,720 cry because I look back at stories and I'm like, and just 427 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,520 pictures and things that I posted and I'm like, I God just 428 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,640 gave me supernatural faith and hope beyond my circumstances. 429 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,800 Like it was not me. I like literally glory to God 430 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,440 because I think I was in go mode because I was like, I'm going to 431 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:31,320 live and I'm going to see my kids grow up and I'm going to 432 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:33,360 fight. But I also just by the grace of 433 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:35,160 God, I just was able to get by one day at a time. 434 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,120 And I had a lot of hard days. Like of course, I feared like a 435 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:39,920 song would come on and I'm like, Oh my gosh, am I going to be 436 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:41,400 able to be at my son's first dance? 437 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:44,560 You know, it was like it was a really hard time and life slowed 438 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,840 down and I really was able to focus on what mattered. 439 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,600 But we also had to, like, execute a living will and find a 440 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,120 surgeon and all these things. But I knew that the cancer 441 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:54,840 didn't happen overnight. And I did a deep dive on 442 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,880 integrative care. And I'd always known about Hope 443 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,480 for Cancer, which is, you know, an integrative holistic center 444 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,280 in Mexico, which sounds so sketchy, but it's not It's 445 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:04,760 amazing. It's this Christian healing 446 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,400 center. It's just so wonderful. 447 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,280 So I knew I was like, OK, it'd be awesome if we could shrink 448 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,360 this brain tumor, Lord willing. But if not, at least I can 449 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:17,280 prepare my body for surgery. And so I actually waited five 450 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,520 months before surgery. Not everybody gets to do that. 451 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,560 But again, because I wasn't symptomatic, I didn't feel like 452 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:24,160 I didn't want to rush into a decision and fear. 453 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,720 And I did. I slowed down, I prayed, I did 454 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,360 so much research and I found the perfect care team. 455 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:32,080 So I went there for two weeks. I flew to California to go see 456 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,760 Doctor Kennelly, who's still is my doctor that I call her the 457 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,600 quarterback on my care team. She just, I love her so dearly. 458 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,360 She just overseas my care. She's just such a good voice of 459 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:44,200 reason. And yeah, so she I established 460 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,680 care with her. I even changed my diet more. 461 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,840 I went into more of a metabolic ketosis and did all sorts of 462 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,600 therapies and that was five months leading up to surgery. 463 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,000 And then I found a brain surgeon out in Arizona. 464 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,320 And in those five months we were actually able to shrink my brain 465 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,760 tumor in half, which is truly a miracle. 466 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,160 Like it's unheard of. Like even people that do chemo 467 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,120 and radiation may not even have a treatment response. 468 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:07,480 So I mean, yes. And there are some days where 469 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,560 I'm like. I wish I just ate Whataburger 470 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,880 and did nothing and like, could just give all the credit and 471 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:13,680 glory to God, which it is him at the end of the day, right? 472 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:17,200 Like, but I really do think he's using my story to show people 473 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,920 that like taking an integrative approach, like there is purpose 474 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,280 to it, you know? And so, yeah, I was really 475 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:23,960 grateful. And then I had surgery a year 476 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,200 and a half ago, February 1st 2023, to remove it. 477 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,960 And was anyone in your life skeptical about the approach you 478 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,200 were taking or did? Was there anyone that 479 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,280 discouraged you from going that route? 480 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,360 You know, no, not that anyone that spoke up, I'm sure people 481 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,520 had those feelings and thoughts like I, I'm sure people did that 482 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,600 were close to us, but I think they trusted me enough to know 483 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,840 that like, OK, but some people, I did have a few people be like 484 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:49,120 you, you really need to get this out. 485 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,560 This is really serious. And I'm like, I know, but I'm 486 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,720 also, I probably had this for a long time and I'm not 487 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,320 symptomatic and I also didn't want to walk around with a brain 488 00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:58,960 tumor in my head. Like, of course, every time I 489 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,400 drove my kids, I'd be like, I don't have a seizure, you know? 490 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,760 But no one really, like, butted heads with me. 491 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,200 I think they just trusted me and knew that I was going to 492 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,440 ultimately get surgery. And I wasn't totally writing off 493 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,400 conventional. But yeah, no one said anything 494 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,080 to my face. Maybe a couple people were like, 495 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:14,800 that's crazy. I don't know that I'd do that. 496 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:16,960 It's incredible that you were able to shrink your tumor in 497 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,960 half by just utilizing natural and alternative therapies. 498 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,160 And I know you mentioned you were in ketosis, deep ketosis 499 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,880 for a lot of that time. What are some of the more like 500 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:33,040 advanced bio hacky alternative therapies that you used during 501 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,120 that time? Yeah, So I incorporated a lot. 502 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:37,000 I'm trying to think like, what would a day of my life and 503 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,880 treatment be like? And so I did ozone. 504 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,200 I did a lot more frequent coffee enemas rectal. 505 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:48,200 What kind of ozone, OK. Rectal ozone and then also I did 506 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,680 EBOO which is like ozone on steroids, basically filters your 507 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,120 blood and ozonates it. I did that. 508 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:55,920 I did something called Indo laser. 509 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,160 It's where you do Ivs and you basically send laser frequency 510 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,280 and light. I did. 511 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,440 I wore a red light helmet. For those of y'all that watched 512 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:05,440 my journey, I kind of shared a lot of it and still have a lot 513 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,560 of highlights on Instagram. It just would be like another 514 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:09,600 day in my office with my red light helmet. 515 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,040 I did molecular hydrogen oxygen therapy. 516 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,960 Gosh, I took I still do take quite a bit of supplements, tons 517 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,400 of supplements and then sauna. I just upped my detox. 518 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:22,920 Anything that helps support the immune system. 519 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:28,080 High dose vitamin Civ curcumin, IV artessinate, I mean literally 520 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,080 so many things. So red light bed, hyperbaric 521 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:35,080 oxygen chamber hyperthermia. So I did a lot, but I also in 522 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,800 addition to the herbs and all the therapies I did, I changed 523 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,280 my diet, I did all the supplements, I did all the 524 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:42,880 therapies. You know, I actually did a lot 525 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,280 of emotional and trauma work because that's part of feeling. 526 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,960 And I again, I had a lot of trauma in my life and so just 527 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,600 making sure that I was addressing that. 528 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,000 What else did I do? Oh, I did repurpose off label 529 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,400 drugs and medications, which not a lot of people know about this, 530 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,200 but there are FDA approved drugs that are not approved for the 531 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,160 purpose of certain cancers, but that can affect certain 532 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,360 metabolic pathways. And so for me, like I was on 533 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,480 several and I still am, I still do off label drugs. 534 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,160 So it's it's a drug that's approved, but it's just off 535 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:13,960 label for the purpose of why we're using it. 536 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,920 And so. And a lot of those will target 537 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,920 parasites, right? And those aren't something that 538 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,720 just any oncologist is going to prescribe. 539 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:23,920 No, they would actually think that's totally crazy. 540 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,040 Yeah. And but yeah, no. 541 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,960 And I still, you know, I'm on a fungal and a parasite protocol 542 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,280 because we know that I had a huge parasitic and fungal load, 543 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,200 which do stress and tax the immune system. 544 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,560 And if I want my immune system to be optimal to fight off any 545 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,200 abnormal cells. And that's the other thing 546 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:40,440 people ask me too. They're like, why? 547 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:42,480 You're cancer free. You don't have a tumor in your 548 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:43,680 brain. But it's like the recurrence 549 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,840 rate even of what I had is so high. 550 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:50,000 And so I'm, you know, I'm like, I'm preventing recurrence and I 551 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,000 am becoming even healthier. And again, I felt good, but my 552 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,720 immune system, there was something that was hindering and 553 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,440 suppressing. And then a lot of it's the Lyme 554 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,320 and coinfections that I've had for years too. 555 00:23:58,400 --> 00:23:59,880 Yeah. And I think you've mentioned 556 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,840 this either an e-mail or social, but you're the type of parasite 557 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,720 that that you had has actually been linked to brain tumors even 558 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,520 by the American Cancer. Society. 559 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,440 So there's something called I had multiple parasites, but one 560 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,480 of the parasites that we identified, I actually drew this 561 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,400 on my tap myself because I'm a provider. 562 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,320 And so I'm like, I ran the whole test and this is such a God 563 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,200 thing that I found this out. But basically there's a parasite 564 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,600 called Toxoplasma gondi that can cross the blood brain barrier 565 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,000 and the International Journal of Cancer and the American Cancer 566 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,360 Society link. When you have that positive in 567 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,600 your blood, the antibodies, you're more likely to have a low 568 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,080 grade glioma. And that's exactly what I had. 569 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:39,520 And it's young middle-aged people. 570 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,120 And so it's like, here's conventional treatment linking 571 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:44,080 this. And even a lot of people don't 572 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,840 know this, but EBV, Epstein Barr virus, mono, that's actually a 573 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,480 Class 1 carcinogen like that is a known cause of cancer. 574 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:52,800 Wow. So again. 575 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,920 I have EBV. Yeah, it's a lot of you're doing 576 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,040 all the things, yes, and but it's like you. 577 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,600 Have to help support your immune system and that's where ozone 578 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,560 and all these supportive therapies come into play. 579 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:06,360 Is there one or a few things that you feel like made just by 580 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:09,360 far the biggest impact on your healing out of everything? 581 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:11,520 You know, and it's the biggest question, the $1,000,000 582 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,680 question of like, Oh my gosh, what did Taylor do that shrunk 583 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,800 her brain tumor? And even Doctor Kennelly and I 584 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,920 will never know because we threw the whole kitchen sink at it. 585 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:20,960 And I don't want to guess. I don't want to know. 586 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:22,720 I'm just grateful that I am where I am. 587 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,320 But one thing I can say is that after brain surgery, I really 588 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,200 struggled with overstimulation and I think I realized the value 589 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,760 and importance of nervous system health, which is just a fancy 590 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,000 word for managing your stress and being at peace. 591 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,320 And just realizing, you know, like I owned 3 businesses at the 592 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,800 time and I think it was a crossroads in my life of just 593 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,640 like Taylor, just cuz you can do these things, should you? 594 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:47,800 You know, And I think also when you're given a terminal 595 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,480 diagnosis, I say that because I don't believe that yes, it's 596 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:51,920 life limiting for everybody and all that. 597 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,240 But I choose to live my life like I am healed and I am going 598 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,520 to live a long life. And mindset is important. 599 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,360 But it was very humbling. And it was really faced with, 600 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:00,760 like, how do I wanna spend my days? 601 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,120 Do I wanna spend them grinding? Or do I want to have flexibility 602 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:07,080 to make memories with my children and travel and go to 603 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,560 treatment facilities? And so, yeah, decreasing my 604 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,920 stress load was really, really big, especially after surgery. 605 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:14,520 I didn't have a choice. And you're recovering from brain 606 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,400 surgery. Like sounds, lights, 607 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,760 overcommitments, loud areas, airports, like it was just 608 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,920 overload. And it was things that I've 609 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,280 never struggled with. And so I feel like the biggest 610 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,960 thing that I've taken away is that stress and nervous system 611 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,080 health and trauma and emotional trauma can be really, really 612 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,240 big. And healing from any disease, 613 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,760 whether it's autoimmune, cancer, whatever it may be, it's just 614 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,240 important. Yeah, absolutely. 615 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,440 Especially like you mentioned in this world there is so much 616 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,680 stimulation from devices, from artificial light, so many things 617 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,280 like that everyone should be mindful of regardless of whether 618 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,280 or not you you have a diagnosis. You mentioned that recurrence 619 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,720 rate was really high for your particular type of cancer and I 620 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:01,360 think for a lot of types of cancers what what is the reason 621 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,920 for that? Because I think people just 622 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,600 don't address why it occurred in the 1st place. 623 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,160 You know, it kind of goes back to the terrain theory. 624 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,880 You have to take care of the terrain in which the cancer grew 625 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,280 in order to not prevent it to come back. 626 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,440 Because if you just throw chemo and throw meds and radiation, 627 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,480 then you know, like you're not really resolving, you're killing 628 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:18,760 it. But then some of those things 629 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,800 like, you know, there are certain cancer treatments like 630 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,800 brain radiation. We know that radiation causes 631 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,120 brain cancer, right? And it's such a high dose. 632 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,360 And so some of the treatments for cancer are actually some of 633 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:30,600 the known carcinogens. Of cancer. 634 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,160 Yeah, like tamoxifen, which I'm not saying it's bad, people need 635 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,000 at times and places to shut down estrogen, but it's, you know, a 636 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,320 lot of people are on tamoxifen and that's a Class 1 carcinogen. 637 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,840 So we have to think like, what is worth it? 638 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:43,560 And then what can we do harm with, you know? 639 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,800 And so, yeah, even when I shared like, hey, guys, I have no 640 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:47,480 evidence of disease, like per my scans. 641 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,200 And I still have clear scans and I still will do scans for the 642 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,040 rest of my life. Lord willing, we'll get further 643 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:54,320 and further out. We don't have to do them as 644 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,200 frequently. But even when I shared like I'm, 645 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:58,800 I'm healed, I have no cancer. People are like, well, 646 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,720 technically you still have leftover cancer cells, so you'll 647 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:02,800 never be cured. And I'm like, well, I don't 648 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,000 choose to live my life way. I believe I'm healed. 649 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,720 I have no evidence of disease. My, my, my scan says that my 650 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,120 doctor's in agreement and I'm walking in that freedom and 651 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:12,760 healing. Do you think that if you would 652 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,000 have kept going with all of the the full plan, everything that 653 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,000 you were doing that you might have been able to completely 654 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,400 shrink the tumor eventually and and not have the surgery? 655 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,160 Was that ever something you considered? 656 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,920 Yeah, you know, I, so here's the crazy thing is we actually 657 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,840 didn't find out that the tumor had shrunk until after surgery 658 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,600 because I did a pre op MRI like the day before surgery, so the 659 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,320 surgeon could map everything and get clear margins and know 660 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,160 exactly like blood vessels and everything. 661 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,680 And I didn't find out that it had shrunk until like a week 662 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:46,680 after brain surgery. I was getting all my medical 663 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,960 records and report. And so in my mind, I kind of 664 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,120 view that like that was God's plan. 665 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,400 I was supposed to get surgery and I wasn't supposed to find 666 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,560 out that it shrank. And honestly, we didn't think it 667 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,000 was cancer. We knew that it was a brain 668 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,920 tumor, but we didn't think that it was cancerous. 669 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,520 And so I'm really grateful that I did get clear margins because 670 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,920 prognosis and statistics show that when you get it out, your 671 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,760 survival rate is better. And so I don't know if it would 672 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,680 have fully shrunk and resolved. It could have, but that wasn't 673 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,200 my story. And I'm just, I'm grateful for I 674 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,360 know, you know and trust that the Lord has led me through all 675 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,760 the steps, even brain surgery that was so hard that I was 676 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:20,160 supposed to have that as part of my story. 677 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:24,520 So I know your brain surgery. Was successful, but also I can 678 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,000 imagine an extremely difficult thing to go through and you were 679 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,360 just mentioning to the crew offline that a chunk of your 680 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,760 brain is actually missing now. So what has recovery looked like 681 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,160 and what his life looked like since brain surgery? 682 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,360 Yeah, I don't think anyone prepare you enough for a brain 683 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:41,480 surgery. And you can't compare every 684 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:42,640 case. They're not the same. 685 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,640 You know, I was so fortunate I was out of surgery and in 686 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:47,320 recovery. And my husband, he said he'll 687 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,000 never forget. He almost cried because I was 688 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:50,640 talking. I knew where I was. 689 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:52,400 I was telling the nurses to get the catheter out. 690 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,840 I'm like giving nurses orders or nurse practitioner orders. 691 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:59,080 And you know, I was so fortunate I went to ICUI, got up and 692 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:00,960 walked to the bathroom. And I'm also, I'm a good 693 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,760 patient, but I must like, I know what it takes to get well and 694 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,680 get to a step down unit. And so I was like, I want to go 695 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,320 to the bathroom. This is good, Get my bowels 696 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,600 moving, you know. And so anyway, I went to the 697 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,840 bathroom and I was walking six hours after brain surgery and I 698 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,360 was discharged straight from ICU 24 hours later, which is also 699 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,600 kind of unheard of. My surgeon is amazing. 700 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,720 He has a little bit more or less invasive approach and that's why 701 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,400 I chose him in Arizona. But yeah, the recovery itself, I 702 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,400 mean, I didn't have to go to speech OT occupational physical 703 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:29,600 therapy. You know, some people have 704 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,240 paralysis on one side. You know, there's a lot of 705 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:34,960 variations of how someone can be after brain surgery. 706 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,040 So All in all limitations, I'm so blessed and everything's been 707 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,360 intact. But I'd be lying if I said it's 708 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,200 just been easy and it's all good because it's not. 709 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:43,640 It's drastically affected my life. 710 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:45,720 And you know, I struggled with insomnia. 711 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,160 I've never had sleep issues in my life. 712 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,920 You know, we traveled last summer and it was so hard for me 713 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,680 to sleep and over stimulation and sounds. 714 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:54,720 You know, I had to start wearing headphones in public and 715 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,080 traveling and even with my kids, you know, I have two young kids 716 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,160 and the dog would bark and I just, I couldn't proofread, 717 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,240 which is a huge part of my job, you know what I mean? 718 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,520 Proofreading content. And yeah, so a lot of things 719 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,160 felt overwhelming, but All in all, like I can function on a 720 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,000 day-to-day basis. I mentioned at the time, you 721 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,800 know, I did own several businesses and I was like, this 722 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:15,880 is too much. I can't do this. 723 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,880 You know, I have to heal. And they say the brain can take 724 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,560 a year to heal. And that's, that's pretty true. 725 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,200 And on par. I do pretty good. 726 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,240 I do pretty damn good. And I'm so blessed. 727 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:25,640 Yeah. Most people don't know. 728 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:26,760 Ever know. Yeah. 729 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:27,640 Ever. Unless. 730 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:29,400 Having not known your story, yeah. 731 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:31,760 And what are some of the things that you're doing now to 732 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:33,680 continue to support your nervous system? 733 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,840 I know we we've talked about it. We do a lot of the same things, 734 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:37,320 but. But tell our audience what you 735 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:38,480 do. Grounding. 736 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,000 Big fan of grounding. I noticed a big shift especially 737 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,760 when I travel. Travel days are still hard for 738 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,280 me. Just the lights, the sound, the 739 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:46,240 airport. Whenever there's a lot going on, 740 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,120 I have a hard time with my brain processing. 741 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:50,600 Like whenever there's a ton going on, it's just like whoa, 742 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,320 you know, like a kids birthday party. 743 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,080 I'm trying to watch my kids and so I noticed when I go. 744 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:56,520 Parent for sure. Really. 745 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,920 Especially I can imagine. Like see, and so many people say 746 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:00,760 this, they're like, welcome to my everyday life. 747 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,880 Like you were just. Running at such a high octane, I 748 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:08,320 mean, and you still are, but you're just so smart and so full 749 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:12,480 of energy, so vibrant that for you, I know you say like you 750 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,000 know, that you you've gone down maybe a few levels with certain 751 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,400 things, but I feel like you've probably just like normalized 752 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:20,440 leveled up. Yeah. 753 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,400 But yeah, so as far as like the nervous system, I will say 754 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,360 grounding is so big for me. That's the first thing I do when 755 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,200 I fly. It is like if I can get to water 756 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,000 like a river, a Creek, that's amazing. 757 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,000 If I can be at the beach to stay in the ocean. 758 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,000 Nothing resets me like that, but day-to-day, you know, just 759 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,320 grounding, getting morning sunlight, getting sunshine and 760 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,400 fresh air, taking what I call brain breaks. 761 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:41,840 You know my team like we'll be at a big team meeting. 762 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:43,200 I'm like I'll see y'all on Slack later. 763 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,200 I'm going to take a brain break. I'll go lay on my higher dose PM 764 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,520 if not and just just really calming. 765 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,600 I love baths are really grounding, you know, with Epsom 766 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:56,040 salt, magnesium sulfate and yeah just really trying to disconnect 767 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,360 too. That's really big for my brain. 768 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,360 I feel like this day and age we're all connected, whether 769 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,600 it's phones and apps and emails. And so for me just to have some 770 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,200 time to disconnect is and then let us not forget my favorite 771 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,800 thing ever, reflexology. I have my girl back home who 772 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,040 I've been seeing. I've actually saw her almost 773 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,160 weekly for two years prior to my diagnosis. 774 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:15,720 It was like an intuitive thing, I guess. 775 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,360 I mean, I saw her weekly during pregnancy and I just kind of 776 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,080 kept on. And my son's now 2 1/2 and I 777 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:22,480 love her and she's changed my life. 778 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,600 And so anytime I'm feeling overwhelmed or it's a big work 779 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:27,800 week or we've been traveling a lot, the first thing I do is go 780 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,040 see my girl and she gives me a massage. 781 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:31,400 Yeah. And I know you have your girl 782 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,160 here now too. Yeah, I have my girl here and I 783 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,520 saw from trip times in the last year or so. 784 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,000 Now I've started going to her SO and she's the girl. 785 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,120 It's not the fancy spa, but it gets the job. 786 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:43,200 Done. Yeah. 787 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:49,280 How do you ride the line between obsessing over preventing any 788 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:51,520 reoccurrence and just being aware? 789 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,360 So this is a good question and something I feel like I'm still 790 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:55,920 learning. I haven't perfected it. 791 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,240 And honestly, I'm not big on perfection anyway because if 792 00:33:58,240 --> 00:33:59,840 you're trying to be perfect, you're probably stressed and 793 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,760 trying to control everything. But I was definitely much more 794 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:04,760 motivated at first before surgery. 795 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:06,160 And again, I just was in go mode. 796 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:07,800 Like we got to get this done. I'm going to live a long life. 797 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,000 I've got it was like battle mentality, like I'm in a warrior 798 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,560 and I'm going to do this. And then I was really 799 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,040 disciplined after surgery. And it got to a point it was 800 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,080 about last summer that I was like, OK, I'm learning. 801 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,400 This is going to, this is not a Sprint, this is a marathon and 802 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,040 this is my life. And I'm going to have to have a 803 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,560 sustainable pace, you know? And so last summer, I wasn't in 804 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,320 perfect ketosis and checking my GKI and my blood sugar. 805 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,040 And you know what, I decided, you know what, I'm going to go 806 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,000 travel with my family. And we still eat clean when we 807 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:34,880 travel. It's not perfect, but we're 808 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:36,440 making memories and that's medicine too. 809 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,880 And so I kind of had to let go of that last summer. 810 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,560 I'm still disciplined and do a lot of my therapies, but you 811 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,440 know, there are days where I don't take my supplements and 812 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,159 that is OK. And I just start back the next 813 00:34:45,159 --> 00:34:48,199 day And I don't feel bad or guilty or shameful that I do 814 00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:50,080 that. And I think we've, we've done a 815 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,360 lot of trips and a lot of travel and that's been medicine and 816 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,880 healing for us too, even if it doesn't mean wearing my red 817 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,880 light helmet every day. And I feel like I'm passionate 818 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,920 about prevention and I'm motivated, but I'm also not a 819 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,440 slave to it and it's not my identity and something that 820 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,240 controls me. What about if someone is going 821 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:09,440 through conventional cancer treatment and maybe they feel 822 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,520 like that's their only option for whatever reason? 823 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:12,840 Or maybe it is their only option? 824 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,560 How can they still advocate for themselves? 825 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,240 Even being like a traditional oncologist and going that route, 826 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,120 what are some things that they can still do to support healing? 827 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:24,120 Yeah. So I think it depends on where 828 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:25,280 someone is in their cancer journey. 829 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,120 Are they on a surveillance? Are they in remission and are 830 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,600 they just getting scans? Which that is me right now. 831 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,240 I still see a neuro oncologist and a neurosurgeon. 832 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:34,600 You know, I'm not like, peace out. 833 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,880 I'm out. You know, it's really important 834 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:38,760 to maintain those relationships. I think some people go left 835 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,320 field and they're like, I'm never going to do a scan. 836 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,200 I'm never going to follow up. And I'm like, no, you need them. 837 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:43,560 You need to maintain that relationship. 838 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,720 I mean, everyone needs to do what they have peace about and 839 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,920 what their doctors say. It's a, it's a, you're 840 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,160 advocating for yourself, but also there's an expert that can 841 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:53,800 order scans, but it depends on and if you're in the thick of 842 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:55,640 treatment, I would definitely recommend. 843 00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:57,760 And there are times and places for conventional treatment, like 844 00:35:57,760 --> 00:35:59,920 hear me say that, you know, there are certain types of 845 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:02,600 cancer that respond amazing, certain types of breast cancer 846 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:04,960 that respond well to treatment, lymphoma, you know what I mean? 847 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,280 So I'm not saying don't do that, but maybe find someone that can 848 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,560 talk to you about diet and nutrition and what integrative 849 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,520 therapies. You know, I have several mom 850 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:16,560 friends in Fort Worth that unfortunately are all young moms 851 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,760 that have breast cancer and they've all done chemo and 852 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,760 surgery, but they've also gone to doctor Kennelly and Irvine 853 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:23,320 and done all the integrative stuff. 854 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,160 And even if they're doing conventional treatment, they can 855 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,920 still do ozone and high dose vitamin C and coffee enemas to 856 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,400 minimize side effects of their treatment and to support their 857 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,640 body going through it. And so I would just say find a 858 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:38,320 provider or a cancer advocate, Nisha Winters, who is amazing 859 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:39,880 and wonderful. She's who referred me to my 860 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:41,640 surgeon. She has a book called The 861 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:44,560 Metabolic Approach to Cancer and she has a whole list and 862 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:46,680 directory of cancer advocates that can help you. 863 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:47,560 OK. Yeah. 864 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,400 So I can see how it would be so important for someone to seek 865 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,240 out additional information and additional opinions even when 866 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:55,640 going through conventional treatment. 867 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,080 I mean, I have just heard horror stories from people who have 868 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,520 gone through cancer themselves or have a child that is going 869 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:04,800 through treatment. And they're spending a lot of 870 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,200 time in like the cancer wing of the hospital. 871 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,760 And just there's like bowls of candy around. 872 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,240 And oncologists are telling them it doesn't matter what types of 873 00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,600 foods you're eating, just that you're getting calories in, 874 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:19,320 which is which is nuts because you'd shared something with me 875 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,800 about what happened. Like when they scan for cancer, 876 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,320 they actually have you drink. Is it drinking a sugary drink or 877 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,520 so? This is interesting and I have 878 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:32,160 never done chemo or radiation so I can't speak to an actual 879 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:33,480 treatment floor. And actually a lot of brain 880 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,600 cancer patients will do. Some will do infusions but some 881 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,080 will do oral chemo. They take at home a pill, but 882 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,640 I've had so many friends, you know, and warriors text me like 883 00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:41,960 I can't believe that they're serving this. 884 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:43,960 This is the tray that they go around at the cancer treatment 885 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,160 center and it's like Cheez its and granola bars and Skittles. 886 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,000 And it's just to me, it's just sad. 887 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:50,840 You know, I feel like it's like, what the heck? 888 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:52,840 And I get it. And I have compassion and I 889 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,240 can't say that I know what it's like to go through chemo and not 890 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:57,160 have an appetite. Like I have compassion for 891 00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,600 people and but I'm like, let's get some creative ways of how 892 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,240 you can get nutrients in that can fuel you. 893 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,640 But yeah, so when most people ask their oncologist like, well, 894 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,000 does sugar affect cancer? And some will say yes, 895 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,760 especially in the brain world, a lot of even like traditional 896 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,040 neurosurgeons, neuro oncologists are saying, yeah, there is a 897 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,720 connection and ketosis can be helpful, but we're not sure. 898 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:18,680 There's not enough data. And I don't know. 899 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,200 I just don't know that that's being shown. 900 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:24,080 But with that being said, it's not hard for me and I don't want 901 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,080 to argue with anyone, but it's not hard to present the case 902 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,440 that the way that someone does a PET scan is you literally drink 903 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,840 a sugar solution and then cancer is like Pac-Man. 904 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,320 They eat up the sugar 1st, and so when they do the scan, you 905 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,800 see the places in the PET scan that light up and which shows 906 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,560 that it just absorbs the sugar. And so to me, I'm like, it 907 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:45,920 doesn't take this like really outside the box thinker to know 908 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,320 that like, well, if it's taking up sugar, wouldn't that mean 909 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,520 that's its food source, Right. Yes. 910 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:51,720 Yes, exactly. Yeah. 911 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,760 Seems very obvious, but maybe not to everyone. 912 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,440 Yeah, OK. You have also said in the past 913 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,200 that cancer is not a death sentence, which I love, but what 914 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,280 would you say to anyone who is struggling with a cancer 915 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,760 diagnosis right now and maybe feels like it is a death 916 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:09,320 sentence? First of all, I just want to say 917 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:10,640 I'm sorry. Like I've been there. 918 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,840 I'm not coming and talking to you from a place of you should 919 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,360 do this, you shouldn't do this. I'm opinionated. 920 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,800 I've been there and I'm just sorry. 921 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,360 Like it's really, really hard. And there are times where I do 922 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,840 grieve what my life looked like. And I do fear, you know, I would 923 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:26,360 be lying if I said that everything is rainbow 924 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,560 butterflies. And I have faith and hope every 925 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:30,560 single second of every single day because that's just not the 926 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,720 case. Like it just comes in, I'll, 927 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:34,760 I'll see a picture and I'm like, Oh my gosh, there are these 928 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:37,560 moments that trigger you, you know, And So what I will say is 929 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:39,560 grieve the life that you thought you were going to have. 930 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,000 And it's OK to be sad and it's OK to be scared, but don't stay 931 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,040 there and don't be stuck there. Continually renew your mind, 932 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:46,400 have hope. I don't know what that looks 933 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,400 like for everybody. For me, the Lord has given me 934 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,840 hope beyond my circumstances. And this world is not my home. 935 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,600 And there's a lot of sickness and brokenness and I can't wait 936 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,040 for heaven one day, but I want to live here now for my kids. 937 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,360 And so I would say, you know, just you do have to affirm 938 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,880 yourself and you do have to. Tell yourself that you can heal 939 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,640 because your body's listening. And I think one of the hardest 940 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,440 things is that, you know, you get a diagnosis, whether it's 941 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,760 finding a lump or getting a brain scan like me. 942 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,400 And then, Oh my gosh, I can't even like I can remember because 943 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,320 I know, but the pit in my stomach, the fear, the, it was 944 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:21,120 so crippling, the anxiety, you know, I remember what that felt 945 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,040 like. And so that you're scared, you 946 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,040 go to the doctor, they tell you you have cancer. 947 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,880 So now this is spoken over you and you start to believe it, and 948 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,400 you associate cancer with death, and then you start treatment and 949 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,680 you start losing your hair. And then you really are 950 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,640 identifying with like, death and cancer. 951 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:37,680 And I'm not saying that mindset's gonna carry you, but I 952 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:41,840 think that it really is. So that is so powerful and 953 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,320 resolving emotional trauma in your life that is so 954 00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:47,680 significant, you know, going to great measures to heal. 955 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,720 But you, you can heal. And I'm not saying that we're 956 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:51,280 gone. We can control everything. 957 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,640 But I do believe there's a lot we can do to either mitigate 958 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,680 treatments, side effects or, you know, Lord willing be that 959 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:00,440 taking an integrative approach. Yeah. 960 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:01,800 Absolutely. That's good advice. 961 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,800 We are going to switch gears to end this to a little bit of a 962 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:08,720 lighter note with some this or that questions. 963 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,040 Love it. Let's do the fun stuff. 964 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,400 OK, let's do it. All right, this or that. 965 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,160 Eggs or bacon? Bacon Veggie. 966 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,400 Burger or grass fed beef? Grass fed beef all day long. 967 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,360 Double beef, baby. Mocktail or cocktail? 968 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:26,240 Mocktail, hyperbaric chamber or eboo? 969 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,920 That's hard. I've done so much hyperbaric but 970 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,360 I'm claustrophobic lately and so I would have to say eboo. 971 00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:36,360 OK. Loungewear or dressing up? 972 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,800 Loungewear all day. Resistance training or power 973 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:41,480 walks? Resistance training. 974 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,840 Cold plunge or infrared sauna. I'm a sauna girl. 975 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,480 Guasha or facial cupping guasha. All right, love it that. 976 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:50,960 Was hard. Those are all my favorite. 977 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:52,720 Things answered them so quickly, I know. 978 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,280 I'm decisive, I'm decisive. But it didn't work. 979 00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:59,280 Thank you so much for coming on the show Taylor. 980 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,040 You are such a light to the world and have helped and 981 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,000 encouraged so many people and you continue to do so on all of 982 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,160 your platforms. Where can people follow along 983 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,360 with you and also purchase your amazing Wellness products? 984 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,280 Yeah, so you're sweet. I have a website. 985 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,400 I'm so passionate about educating people and I was 986 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:19,520 before cancer. It's just a different topic that 987 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,880 I focus on now. But website, 988 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,720 taylordukeswellness.com. I have an online store with a 989 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:27,600 lot of protein electrolyte supplements. 990 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,040 And stuff. I love the lemonade. 991 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:31,960 We just got caring away chatting. 992 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,200 We got bone broth protein. Protein. 993 00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,520 The chocolate and vanilla ones. Yes, it's so. 994 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:38,200 Good. The electrolytes are amazing. 995 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,400 I love the coffee Creamer. You're so sweet. 996 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,600 We got coffee. But yeah, so that's 997 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:45,280 shop.taylordukeswallness.com. And then I share a lot on my 998 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:49,400 Instagram, Taylordukeswallness. And yeah, I'm on the interwebs. 999 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,120 Yeah, check her out. She's a good one to follow along 1000 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:53,000 with. Yeah. 1001 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,400 So for any of y'all listening today, you guys can get a 15% 1002 00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:59,200 off discount code to anything on our store using the code 1003 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,280 primally pure. Thanks for coming on, Taylor.