Nov. 1, 2023

SURVIVING – PURELY OUT OF SPITE With Carl And Melissa Boehm

SURVIVING – PURELY OUT OF SPITE With Carl And Melissa Boehm

Episode Summary – RIP, RIP TATER CHIP SAYS CARL VERSIO 2.0! In Episode ## of the Shining Brightly Podcast show (links in the comments) titled, “SURVIVING – PURELY OUT OF SPITE” please meet Carl and Melissa Boehm. WE played a game of “he said – she said” on how they met as a couple and then telling his incredible story publicly for the first time of Carl, age 38, suffering a grand mal seizure and Melissa rushing him to the hospital. A stage IV terminal brain cancer patient that had massive surgery and chemotherapy. Carl 2.0 has a ZEST and POSITIVITY FOR LIFE that is so inspiring. Learn why Carl uses cold plunges 4 times a week to help him heal. Come feel the ENERGY, LOVE and RESILIENCE to get back up again and again.

Mentioned Resources

Carl Boehm on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004134766207

Help Support Carl and Melissa on Go Fund Me

https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-support-carl-and-melissa

About the guest – Carl Boehm has a story of inspiration to share. He is a brain cancer survivor after suffering a grand mal seizure. A tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as a grand mal seizure, causes a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. He was rushed to a local hospital by his wife Melissa. He had a craniotomy to remove a 3-inch peach sized tumor from his brain. He is currently in chemotherapy. Carl and his zest for life, shear resilience and exuberant energy are an inspiration for so many people to live his best life for himself and family every day.

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

Website

Http://www.shiningbrightly.com

Social Media

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howard.brown.36

LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36


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#brain #cancer #tumor #glioblastoma #seizure #caregiver #coldplunge #motivation #education #inspiration #podcast #listen #download #share #shiningbrightly

Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Show. It is shining so brightly because I have the most amazing

Howard Brown:

guests with the most inspirational stories ever and

Howard Brown:

today is no different. It is amazing. Welcome Carl and

Howard Brown:

Melissa Boehm. I'm so pleased to be with you. And we're going to

Howard Brown:

chat it up. How are you? Good. How are you?

Mellisa Boehl:

Good.

Howard Brown:

issa

Mellisa Boehl:

Well, I'll be learners, or you're gonna go

Mellisa Boehl:

first at a motorcycle dealership, and I couldn't see

Mellisa Boehl:

the showroom. But I can hear this voice over my cubicle wall.

Mellisa Boehl:

So. So I went, I popped my head up like a little prairie dog and

Mellisa Boehl:

had to go see who was at the counter speaking to the owner.

Mellisa Boehl:

And I started to just listen. And then he got the job. And

Mellisa Boehl:

then I couldn't stand him for a very long time. He was cocky. He

Mellisa Boehl:

was arrogant. I could not stand him and he tried like heck to

Mellisa Boehl:

get me to go out with them. And I said, Nope. And he said he'd

Mellisa Boehl:

never been turned out in his life. I said, Welcome to dating

Mellisa Boehl:

a woman.

Carl Boehl:

I had never been turned out.

Howard Brown:

Wow. So Oh, my God knew that. He said, No, you'll

Howard Brown:

get your chance. You'll get your chance. You'll get your chance.

Howard Brown:

Oh my god. So I didn't see that comment. All right. But you got

Howard Brown:

this booming voice. I mean, it's, you know, for radio. I

Howard Brown:

mean, it's got amazing voice. All right. So, Carl, you are

Howard Brown:

very you noticed her there was an attraction, but you got you

Howard Brown:

got kind of, you know, crashed and burned, man.

Carl Boehl:

You know, it was like the weirdest thing. I saw

Carl Boehl:

this tall, beautiful. vixen stand up and from behind this

Carl Boehl:

wall, and somehow inside of a building God part of the clouds

Carl Boehl:

and shining this light of like, Oh, hello, yeah. And I was I

Carl Boehl:

died. She knocked my socks off. She had a boyfriend at the time.

Carl Boehl:

I heard they were on the rocks a little bit. And I was like,

Carl Boehl:

here's the time when I swoop in real quick. And that makes me

Carl Boehl:

sound kind of bad. I've normally never do that. But this woman

Carl Boehl:

was like something else to me. So I was like, Listen, I got

Carl Boehl:

this, I got the chance to hurt away from the rocks. I was like,

Carl Boehl:

give me a chance. You know, let's go on a date. This week.

Carl Boehl:

I'm taken to dinner. And when I say laughed in my face, I mean,

Carl Boehl:

she literally laughed into my face like I've never had, I was

Carl Boehl:

like, Absolutely not. And then a few weeks roll by. And then I

Carl Boehl:

was like, come on, I said you give me one chance, you will not

Carl Boehl:

regret this, I promise you, I will show you the real me

Carl Boehl:

outside of these walls. And lo and behold, we go on our first

Carl Boehl:

date that happened to be with like, six or 10 of my

Carl Boehl:

girlfriends that I went to high school with not actual

Carl Boehl:

girlfriend, but like very close female friends that I've had for

Carl Boehl:

a very long time. And they all loved her. And she loved all

Carl Boehl:

them. And it was mutual respect and love. And I knew from the

Carl Boehl:

first I knew before we went on the date that I loved her. And

Carl Boehl:

that sounds crazy, but I already knew, like I was like, if I ever

Carl Boehl:

get a chance and people used to laugh me because they were you

Carl Boehl:

know, you know, they left me but I was like if I ever gonna

Carl Boehl:

change that woman. I would never squander it. And I honestly

Carl Boehl:

never have do this.

Mellisa Boehl:

There we are 10 years later,

Carl Boehl:

nine years later,

Howard Brown:

amen. Amen. So, you know, it's funny because

Howard Brown:

that happened to me. Alright, I'm coming off a cancer one

Howard Brown:

rehabilitating myself. And I see Lisa across the room, and I say

Howard Brown:

I'm gonna marry that girl. I told the guys like, What are you

Howard Brown:

talking about? You don't even know her. And 29 years later,

Howard Brown:

right known for 31 Now, it's an amazing thing when you know, you

Howard Brown:

know,

Carl Boehl:

I literally just knew, I mean, I was like out in

Carl Boehl:

the world do my thing mid to late 20s like out here just

Carl Boehl:

getting it. And sure enough, she knocked me off. She slapped me I

Carl Boehl:

couldn't believe it. I've never ever ever had a woman hit me

Carl Boehl:

like lightning before. I was just like, awestruck like oh my

Carl Boehl:

god who is this woman?

Howard Brown:

And he was a little more convincing obviously

Howard Brown:

so that's all right.

Mellisa Boehl:

Work to show me who he really was

Carl Boehl:

so bad when I said to her for her boyfriend but

Carl Boehl:

this do a live one five states away. They weren't even really

Carl Boehl:

dating. It wasn't like I was I like swept in like an eagle and

Carl Boehl:

just took her you know.

Howard Brown:

I love it. Alright, so let's but we're

Howard Brown:

gonna change up a little bit. I gotta set the tone here because

Howard Brown:

you've been through some tough stuff. So record rip. RIP and

Howard Brown:

rip tater chip. We're gonna hit it. We're gonna hit I love this.

Howard Brown:

Your energy is just, we're gonna amazing Alright, so I gotta read

Howard Brown:

a couple of this because this is like Okay, witness what got me

Howard Brown:

when we got introduced? Oh, we got a shout out to Shannon

Howard Brown:

Costello because she, we love you. We love Shannon. She's a

Howard Brown:

stage two colorectal cancer survivor, Mom of boys and great

Howard Brown:

person. She's awesome. So big shout out. All right, so here's

Howard Brown:

the call on your 38th birthday. You're a young man, you had

Howard Brown:

what's called the grand mal seizure. And your wife rushed

Howard Brown:

you to the hospital. Okay. And they found it says three peach

Howard Brown:

size tumours on your brain?

Carl Boehl:

Well, that was actually a mistake. There was a

Carl Boehl:

one three inch pizza size.

Howard Brown:

Alright, so you had you but still it's a big

Howard Brown:

tumour in your brain. Okay. Yeah. And then it shifted your

Howard Brown:

centre line a quarter inch bent, then you actually had to have

Howard Brown:

some pre ops. And you basically had no short term memory. And if

Howard Brown:

you say your last three years of your life, wow. And even, you

Howard Brown:

know, you're still dealing with you know, looking at pictures.

Howard Brown:

You don't remember you got this brain fog. I have it chemo

Howard Brown:

brain. It's PTSD. And, but there you are. You're just blacked

Howard Brown:

out. And thank God she took you in. It's really important. It's

Howard Brown:

important. And so most I'm gonna start with you first. I mean,

Howard Brown:

you found him at work.

Mellisa Boehl:

No, we were at home. I had gotten up to get

Mellisa Boehl:

ready for work. He had fallen asleep in the other room. And I

Mellisa Boehl:

came in it was his birthday. So I I just left him to sleep at

Mellisa Boehl:

night and I came in to wake him up wish him happy birthday. And

Mellisa Boehl:

I found him just after he had had a seizure. He couldn't talk.

Mellisa Boehl:

He couldn't move. All he could do was shake his head yesterday

Mellisa Boehl:

to answer my questions that I was asking him. And he he would

Mellisa Boehl:

just completely out of it. He was posturing. His arm was like

Mellisa Boehl:

this. And so he would be very combative. So I didn't call 911.

Mellisa Boehl:

I got it. I got got him up, got him ready, got it got him into

Mellisa Boehl:

the car. He finally came to a little bit of a

Carl Boehl:

Google research and hospitals where their star

Carl Boehl:

reviews. It's amazing that you thought like

Howard Brown:

You're a big guy. I mean, again, you actually got

Howard Brown:

him to take a few steps and get him into the

Mellisa Boehl:

coffee. I gave him a few minutes. I sat here

Mellisa Boehl:

and stared at him for a minute and then I figured if he came to

Mellisa Boehl:

he probably would be weirded out by that. So I just kept coming.

Mellisa Boehl:

As I was getting stuff gathered up to take to go to hospital. He

Mellisa Boehl:

started to come around a little bit. I got him into my jeep.

Mellisa Boehl:

Forgot masks ran back in and by the time I was coming back out

Mellisa Boehl:

within three seconds, he was already getting out of my jeep

Mellisa Boehl:

and trying to get back into the house. He had no idea what was

Mellisa Boehl:

going on. He didn't know what where we were going even though

Mellisa Boehl:

he had agreed to go to the hospital. And he was trying to

Mellisa Boehl:

get back in the house. He's like, where are we going?

Carl Boehl:

Then she got me Howard. She

Mellisa Boehl:

got I made him shake on it. I said we're going

Mellisa Boehl:

to the hospital this man even in psychoses won't back out of a

Mellisa Boehl:

handshake. So I got him to the hospital. And that's how I said

Mellisa Boehl:

You shook on it. And he agreed he pushed every button literally

Mellisa Boehl:

in my on my radio on the way there. It was like a six year

Mellisa Boehl:

old, just completely ridiculous. And he's like, where are we

Mellisa Boehl:

gone? Why? Why he had no concept of any thing that he didn't

Mellisa Boehl:

remember what happened to him?

Howard Brown:

Yeah, we do dumb stuff. My blood pressure went

Howard Brown:

like 247 over 150 and I drove myself to the emergency room we

Howard Brown:

do dumb stuff probably should have called 911. But you gotta

Unknown:

you know what's crazy is that I fell asleep one day.

Unknown:

And I woke up like three years later. And I was like what has

Unknown:

happened to my life.

Unknown:

He was fine. The night before he was he was he was some seemingly

Unknown:

normal but like I literally think

Carl Boehl:

there was a couple of things that led us directly

Carl Boehl:

into this though. So the Sunday before my birthday was on a

Carl Boehl:

Wednesday. So the Sunday before my birthday, we had got ticket

Carl Boehl:

to go to Chicago, the musical in Detroit. I stood up in the first

Carl Boehl:

or second act right in the middle of the afternoon, my wife

Carl Boehl:

threw money in her face and said, My Ubers here, I'm bored.

Carl Boehl:

I'm bored and walked out. And I would obviously never ever leave

Carl Boehl:

my wife in Detroit ever, because that's not something we do. And

Carl Boehl:

then I leaned over in front of her desk as I was walking

Carl Boehl:

through the office one day and I said, I'm gonna squeeze I'm

Carl Boehl:

gonna squeeze my brains out. I'm screaming. And the telltale sign

Carl Boehl:

was I wore a collared shirt in to my place of business

Carl Boehl:

backwards. And the GM I remember I remember this kind of like a

Carl Boehl:

little bit. I remember that he came over my desk two or three

Carl Boehl:

different times and was like, Hey, man, are you okay? And I

Carl Boehl:

was like, everything's fine. Like, leave me alone. And then

Carl Boehl:

the fourth time he came over, I threw my fist on my desk and I

Carl Boehl:

was like, What are you talking about? And he's like, Carl, are

Carl Boehl:

you fucking with me? And you said you're wearing your

Carl Boehl:

collared shirt backwards. Still in defiance? I pull my arms out

Carl Boehl:

of my shirt and I spin it around, and I realised that he's

Carl Boehl:

right. And I snatched my keys off my desk and I walked out of

Carl Boehl:

there was like, I don't know went home.

Mellisa Boehl:

But he didn't know how to get home. We live

Mellisa Boehl:

five miles from where we were when I couldn't get home and

Mellisa Boehl:

know how to get home.

Carl Boehl:

I couldn't get to work or from work. I was driving

Carl Boehl:

to Ann Arbour where I used to work for like five years, I was

Carl Boehl:

getting like halfway to in arbour going, Oh, my God, I

Carl Boehl:

don't work here anymore, and then driving all the way back to

Carl Boehl:

Lavonia like I would leave an hour early for work and be 10

Carl Boehl:

minutes late. Yeah. And it's a 10 minute drive.

Howard Brown:

So these are some telltale signs and things like

Howard Brown:

that. So you enter into the emergency room, and they're all

Howard Brown:

there and they take you in what happens next.

Mellisa Boehl:

They started to run some tests on they did they

Mellisa Boehl:

did blood work, and then they did a CT scan. And they came

Mellisa Boehl:

back and said there was a mask. We didn't know what it was. So

Mellisa Boehl:

then they scheduled the MRI and they took them down for the MRI.

Mellisa Boehl:

And that's when they came back, started shaking and back and

Mellisa Boehl:

told us that he has a huge tumour in his brain. The centre

Mellisa Boehl:

line of his brain was over here. So the tumour was almost to the

Mellisa Boehl:

left side of his brain. And his mother was there with us. And so

Mellisa Boehl:

we were just trying to process what they were saying. And then

Mellisa Boehl:

they actually sent him to by ambulance to a different

Mellisa Boehl:

hospital, one row of Beaumont did actually do the Korean

Mellisa Boehl:

economy, because where I took him was just a smaller hospital.

Mellisa Boehl:

So they weren't they didn't have the technology to do the

Mellisa Boehl:

craniotomy. So they transferred him there. And then that's when

Mellisa Boehl:

the surgery took place.

Howard Brown:

Same day.

Mellisa Boehl:

No, they actually scheduled it for the next day.

Mellisa Boehl:

But then they tried to push it back a day and my best friend

Mellisa Boehl:

and I went crazy

Carl Boehl:

on they actually had to take a day and show her how

Carl Boehl:

to move my arms and legs because they expected me to be paralysed

Carl Boehl:

from the neck down for the rest of my life. Yeah, yeah. So they

Carl Boehl:

showed her how to basically be like my caretaker for an entire

Carl Boehl:

day for an entire day before they were going back because

Carl Boehl:

they expect me to come out and be paralysed. And then she comes

Carl Boehl:

to sheet like we're talking one minute follows up one minute,

Carl Boehl:

Oh, stop. They were expecting me to be paralysed from the neck

Carl Boehl:

down for the rest of my life. And she said, Then, all these

Carl Boehl:

people run laughing and shit. And she comes in to the room and

Carl Boehl:

I was doing wheelies in my wheelchair, and she looks at the

Carl Boehl:

doctor and goes, well, he's not paralysed. He's like, Well, I

Carl Boehl:

guess not. Like, surgeon, we met by a surgeon, Dr. Jacobs, who

Carl Boehl:

are our first name dropping, we're not, but we've never had a

Carl Boehl:

surgeon. And he was like, he was like, like testing my arm

Carl Boehl:

strength testing my leg strength and was like, looking at my

Carl Boehl:

face. And like, you know, like, you're really he's like, here's

Carl Boehl:

your strong. And I'm like, Yeah, I always have been. He's like,

Carl Boehl:

No, you're like, really strong. And I'm like, you say it, like I

Carl Boehl:

shouldn't be. He's like, we don't have any faith grouping or

Carl Boehl:

anything. And I'm like, Yeah, then you actually say, hey,

Carl Boehl:

Alison, like I showed her face paralysis. And he's like, You

Carl Boehl:

should. He's like, we cut out a big movement portion of your

Carl Boehl:

brain. You should have weakness in one side of your body or

Carl Boehl:

something. He goes your frickin freak. I'm like, I'll take that.

Carl Boehl:

I'm a little freakish.

Howard Brown:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's Oh, my God. So that that

Howard Brown:

surgery, you stayed in the hospital a little time and then

Howard Brown:

did you have to do any rehab or a couple

Carl Boehl:

Couple of days? No,

Mellisa Boehl:

rehab was amazing. walk the halls with a

Mellisa Boehl:

walker. And then he didn't need it. So we just started picking

Mellisa Boehl:

it up and carrying it and they were laughing at him. But but he

Mellisa Boehl:

was a terrible patient because he was in front of the he wasn't

Mellisa Boehl:

the end of the hallway. They had to move in front of the nurse's

Mellisa Boehl:

station. He kept ripping us out.

Carl Boehl:

My IV looks great, right?

Mellisa Boehl:

Yeah, he ripped his catheter out. He Oh,

Mellisa Boehl:

everything. Oh, so they had to move him on his bed. I had to

Mellisa Boehl:

stand that his bed for six hours when they tried to get out of

Mellisa Boehl:

the bed.

Howard Brown:

Oh, you are a troublemaker Carl, you are just

Howard Brown:

a troublemaker, man.

Carl Boehl:

Oh, catheter was worse. Howard.

Howard Brown:

I know. I've been. I've been there. So alright,

Howard Brown:

Carl, this is for you. What is your driving force?

Carl Boehl:

Honestly, it's my support system. Now obviously, I

Carl Boehl:

myself feel like I deserve to live. That is my that is I'm

Carl Boehl:

fighting for myself above and beyond everything else. For my

Carl Boehl:

obviously my wife and myself and our wives together. That is my

Carl Boehl:

driving force. But really, it's my support system. I can't even

Carl Boehl:

tell you the people that have come out of the woodwork. And

Carl Boehl:

just like, friends wise, I put on my fundraiser like Lauren and

Carl Boehl:

Katie, we love you too. I can't even like we had her best friend

Carl Boehl:

and their husband put on a GoFundMe for like, we haven't

Carl Boehl:

done anything to for any of these events, or any of these

Carl Boehl:

things that happen. These people have just done this. And it's

Carl Boehl:

freaking. I mean, it's the most touching thing in the world and

Carl Boehl:

they with their support. With everybody's support coming in

Carl Boehl:

like this. I'm able to take a little bit of time off work and

Carl Boehl:

I can breathe a little bit easy. And I can pay for my

Carl Boehl:

chemotherapy medication without having to kill myself working

Carl Boehl:

5060 hours a week trying to just make ends meet, just to pay my

Carl Boehl:

chemo medication.

Howard Brown:

Right. I have to tell you so one of the things

Howard Brown:

that that you saw is that in your time of need, people came,

Howard Brown:

they came. They it was time to be selfish, and they came for

Howard Brown:

you and you I can tell it because you are grateful for

Howard Brown:

that because it's helped. And it just shows you that there is

Howard Brown:

love in the world. There is care.

Carl Boehl:

Yeah, I didn't realise how much I had touched

Carl Boehl:

people's lives and inspired people. And then once I started

Carl Boehl:

making my videos, and you know, doing so well through radiation,

Carl Boehl:

like I'm not joking, I was gassing up 89 year old people

Carl Boehl:

that were going through radiation, I'm like, go. I'm

Carl Boehl:

telling you, it went from being a bad thing that people were

Carl Boehl:

telling me, you know, this, you know, like, like, Miss Garcia

Carl Boehl:

used to bring her her granddaughter and her

Carl Boehl:

granddaughter was like, at her on her last day, they gave me a

Carl Boehl:

card. And I'm like, I'm not supposed to be a yellow card.

Carl Boehl:

And they were like, she was like, I want to let you know

Carl Boehl:

that you have absolutely changed his experience. We went from

Carl Boehl:

absolutely being scared and dreading this on our first day

Carl Boehl:

to meeting you and looking forward to coming and doing this

Carl Boehl:

on a daily basis. And they she's like, you've been her shining

Carl Boehl:

light and all this darkness. And my grandma loves you. And I love

Carl Boehl:

you. And we're here. Don't open it till July 7, we're dark

Carl Boehl:

radiation. We were like, Oh my God. Like we made such good

Carl Boehl:

friends and radiation that we like, still talk to them on

Carl Boehl:

almost a daily basis.

Howard Brown:

People it's that you let them in and they it's

Howard Brown:

amazing. But Carl, you're like a big teddy bear. You're such a

Howard Brown:

cheerleader. You're so high energy and you're still rooting

Howard Brown:

other people on even though you're going through, you know,

Howard Brown:

the toughest thing that's ever happened to you. So your tickets

Howard Brown:

through so post-operation, what's different? What do you

Howard Brown:

have to do different anything?

Carl Boehl:

I tell you what post operation I got a really good

Carl Boehl:

kind of like poem that I read and it says And it goes

Carl Boehl:

something like this I'm paraphrasing or something like

Carl Boehl:

this brain tumour, you know, I hate you. Because I may never

Carl Boehl:

know a day where I don't have to take a pill and may never know a

Carl Boehl:

day where I don't have a headache. But at the end of the

Carl Boehl:

day tumour, thank you for showing me how resilient I can

Carl Boehl:

be and what kind of fighter I truly am. So that's kind of

Carl Boehl:

that's kind of how I look at it. You know, I don't I'll take

Carl Boehl:

multivitamins, magnesium nootropics I'll take Tylenol.

Carl Boehl:

I'll take every single one of them every single day from here

Carl Boehl:

on out if I get another 20 3040 years on his body

Mellisa Boehl:

he appreciates like more now and family and to

Mellisa Boehl:

call myself crazy Carl

Carl Boehl:

2.0 I literally am. It's like It's like It's like

Carl Boehl:

this tumour has been pushed on my brain. And it's been killing

Carl Boehl:

my sense of self preservation. And I've been a wild child. I

Carl Boehl:

mean, it's like, Hey, Carl Hawk, this snowmobile off this 40 foot

Carl Boehl:

cliff. I'm like, Oh, for sure. No problem. Do it. No questions

Carl Boehl:

asked.

Howard Brown:

I want to tell you that I just got like, shivers

Howard Brown:

when you read that poem, because that's deep and it's meaningful,

Howard Brown:

and it's intentional, and it's authentic and I loved it. And

Howard Brown:

I'm going to actually include it in the show notes because it's

Howard Brown:

so strong. And it really is and listen, you are carl.to Dotto.

Howard Brown:

I'm Humpty Dumpty dot two Dotto. And it shows you that we can get

Howard Brown:

back up again. Okay, after major life threatening, you know,

Howard Brown:

stopping in our tracks and putting the pieces back together

Howard Brown:

again. And so where are you at today? What how is how are you

Howard Brown:

today? Emotionally, physically the

Carl Boehl:

weirdest thing in the world? Do you know what it's

Carl Boehl:

like to be a cancer patient and feel like a cancer survivor

Carl Boehl:

because that's how I feel. I almost feel guilty right now.

Carl Boehl:

Because I feel like I have survivor's guilt, but I'm still

Carl Boehl:

going through it. I tell you what, let me drop this bomb on

Carl Boehl:

you real quick. This is really really really good news and we

Carl Boehl:

just got it literally on Wednesday. Okay, my tumours

Carl Boehl:

shrinking? Yeah. We killed all the new growth. We killed all

Carl Boehl:

the new growth and we 50% Right the new tumour. My doctor, my

Carl Boehl:

oncologist and my doctors told me chemo is not going to kill

Carl Boehl:

this chemo is not killing it. I think what's making a difference

Carl Boehl:

for me is cold plunging. I torture my body I go to the gym,

Carl Boehl:

I workout I torture my body then I dip it in 4540 to 50 degree

Carl Boehl:

water on between three and four days a week three to five days a

Carl Boehl:

week for five to seven minutes every time we every time we do

Carl Boehl:

it.

Howard Brown:

First of all, let's honour that because I

Howard Brown:

always I made a little bit of a joke when I got some shrinkage

Howard Brown:

from George Costanza on Seinfeld. shrinkage is good for

Howard Brown:

us. We like shrinkage

Carl Boehl:

he won't let me talk about the shrinkage of both

Carl Boehl:

things, you know?

Howard Brown:

happen but anyways, you're gonna get

Howard Brown:

banned. So I have to tell you, we each have our own way and

Howard Brown:

things so I go on the basketball court I played for two hours

Howard Brown:

this morning. I'm the old guy You know, and I played great and

Howard Brown:

I got my sweat. I didn't get hurt. But I love it because you

Howard Brown:

found that these cold plunges, okay? Are Changing you

Howard Brown:

physically and emotionally, and you're dedicated to it. You're

Howard Brown:

dedicated to it. And I love that because anything that works, and

Howard Brown:

you believe it works, it works and it worked and it works. I

Howard Brown:

told

Carl Boehl:

people in radiation, I told people this, the power of

Carl Boehl:

the mind is incredible. I said, I'm telling you right now, going

Carl Boehl:

into radiation is going to be light work. It's not going to

Carl Boehl:

affect me at all. Sure enough, me and my wife going to

Carl Boehl:

radiation. It was light work. And it was nothing at all. I

Carl Boehl:

told my wife chemo is gonna be nothing. It's just a couple

Carl Boehl:

pills. Boom, there we go. Go to bed buys you buy and chemo has

Carl Boehl:

been nothing. So far. Chemo grew my air back where I lost them

Carl Boehl:

from radiation. I didn't get sick. I didn't throw up. I never

Carl Boehl:

got physically fatigued, I was never fatigued. It wasn't like,

Carl Boehl:

oh, I can go five steps. I can go 10 steps. It was like no, I

Carl Boehl:

bet you I could do laps around the hospital right now. Then

Carl Boehl:

we'll hit a badass workout chest and tricep neck and bicep grip

Carl Boehl:

and rip tater chip.

Howard Brown:

You're the Energizer Bunny. So I want to I

Howard Brown:

want to say that that up. So the icing is no joke because we

Howard Brown:

developed in colon town, okay, which is a support for patients

Howard Brown:

and caregivers, this icing protocol. And at first it was

Howard Brown:

developed to wear an ice cap to preserve your hair because chemo

Howard Brown:

is toxic and you lose your hair. And now that's extended to

Howard Brown:

wearing mittens and booties because your extremities from

Howard Brown:

toxic chemotherapy can actually give you peripheral neuropathy.

Howard Brown:

I have it and it your cold sensitivity, your numbness and

Howard Brown:

burning in the hands and feet to various degrees on the toxicity.

Howard Brown:

I believe that your cold plunging is absolutely helping I

Howard Brown:

no doubt no ill it's doing something it is it really is. So

Howard Brown:

I appreciate that now, so call it real. This is one of the

Howard Brown:

first times that you're sharing your story. We're going to go

Howard Brown:

public, we're going to spread this all over the place. What

Howard Brown:

keeps you going man,

Carl Boehl:

but you know what I tell you what it is. It is the

Carl Boehl:

love and support from my family. And, and really bringing

Carl Boehl:

everybody together. And finally, you know, and finally, and

Carl Boehl:

finally appreciating life on just just different differently.

Carl Boehl:

I wake up and I feel grateful every morning. You know? It's I

Carl Boehl:

like that I am living proof that no matter how bad it gets, no

Carl Boehl:

matter how bad it gets. I got here on shame. I dropped down

Carl Boehl:

me. I got pulled I had three to six months to live. And

Carl Boehl:

yesterday was my six month anniversary. I got told I got

Carl Boehl:

three to six months to live. And I took it like a savage. I lie

Carl Boehl:

snickered. And I said, that may be what your books say. But

Carl Boehl:

that's not what I'm going to show you. I'm telling you, Doc,

Carl Boehl:

if you want to dump on the guy to give it to you. And I think

Carl Boehl:

that's what really helps me push forward. Even in the face of

Carl Boehl:

adversity, even if even even when it's time to got to be the

Carl Boehl:

absolute worst. I have never my brother said, I hope that

Carl Boehl:

nothing bad ever happened to me, like what's happened to you? And

Carl Boehl:

I said, and I said why? And he said, because the way that you

Carl Boehl:

handled it was Savage. I'm gonna give you three words that I live

Carl Boehl:

literally live my life by can change it. I woke up and I was

Carl Boehl:

like, Oh my God, what has happened to my life? Where am I

Carl Boehl:

and what what the hell. And instead of kicking and screaming

Carl Boehl:

and throwing a fit, my brother was like, You got your brain cut

Carl Boehl:

out you had brain cancer. And I honestly I give myself five

Carl Boehl:

minutes. I give myself five minutes, I'll kick and scream

Carl Boehl:

and cry and throw a hole on bitch fit. And after five

Carl Boehl:

minutes, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say

Carl Boehl:

can't change it. Me and Melissa lost a son about seven years ago

Carl Boehl:

together. My dad got als about three and a half years ago. All

Carl Boehl:

right dog just passed away dog just passed away. So don't mind.

Carl Boehl:

Me live our life by two models. And the two models are the

Carl Boehl:

strongest things you can whether you're at the top of your life

Carl Boehl:

and living the best life possible or at the absolute rock

Carl Boehl:

bottom of your life. This too shall pass. No matter how bad

Carl Boehl:

things get. It doesn't matter how good things are. You're not

Carl Boehl:

going to have the best day of your life every single day of

Carl Boehl:

your life and you're not going to have the worst day of your

Carl Boehl:

life. Every single day of your life. It's just not going to

Carl Boehl:

happen. So this too shall pass. Enjoy your high a feeling good

Carl Boehl:

and enjoy the pain of feeling bad and when you're down it take

Carl Boehl:

that into why do you feel bad? Can't change it and change it

Carl Boehl:

Doesn't matter, no matter what I have brain cancer, no matter

Carl Boehl:

what this is the reality of my life from here on out, they say

Carl Boehl:

is incurable. They say, I'll have a tumour and the cancer,

Carl Boehl:

the rest of my natural life. That's what they claim. I'm here

Carl Boehl:

to prove them wrong. Period.

Howard Brown:

It's, it's, you're absolutely right. So we're dealt

Howard Brown:

art cards, I've gotten to stage four cancer type nation at 23.

Howard Brown:

And then again, at 53. And I'm breathing, and I'm making the

Howard Brown:

most of it. And I'm lifting myself up everyday, like, like

Howard Brown:

you do. And then we go lift up others. And we I to look in the

Howard Brown:

mirror every day. And we talked about this before, when we

Howard Brown:

talked prior is that I look and I'm say, I am blessed. I am

Howard Brown:

grateful. And I am damn lucky. I know you're damn lucky. And

Howard Brown:

we're going to lift ourselves up so that we can go lift each

Howard Brown:

other up. And I have to tell you, Melissa, as a care partner,

Howard Brown:

you are an angel on this earth. Okay, first of all, you saved

Howard Brown:

his life by getting his ass to the emergency room. There's no

Howard Brown:

question. All right, but also, you actually gave up everything

Howard Brown:

to make sure that he was going to survive. You were by his

Howard Brown:

bedside when he's ripping out catheters. And yes, I was trying

Howard Brown:

to tame this tiger, which is hard to do. But you do it.

Mellisa Boehl:

It was a job in itself.

Howard Brown:

I just want to tell you that from you know, my

Howard Brown:

wife and my parents or my caregivers, I can see it in you.

Howard Brown:

You are an angel on this earth, and really is. Yeah, so. So

Howard Brown:

again, that's why he's still here. And that's why you are so

Howard Brown:

strong together. And it's really important. So

Mellisa Boehl:

It brought us closer together.

Carl Boehl:

We are an unstoppable force. Yeah, I love

Howard Brown:

that I see the unstoppable t shirt. And I love

Howard Brown:

it. So it's great. Alright, so here's the part of the show. So

Howard Brown:

I put on my sunglasses, because the sun is shining brightly on

Howard Brown:

us. And on you guys. It's really amazing. And I want people to

Howard Brown:

say, how did they get in touch with you? Because they hear this

Howard Brown:

interview? And they say, Okay, can I donate to your GoFundMe?

Howard Brown:

We'll put the link in the show notes. And we'll put it up

Howard Brown:

there. What can you help other people which of course you can.

Howard Brown:

All right

Carl Boehl:

I would love to,

Howard Brown:

I appreciate that. So tell people how they should

Howard Brown:

get a hold of you. And then I want each of you to give me some

Howard Brown:

final thoughts as we close out the show.

Unknown:

Awesome. Y'all can reach out on my on my Facebook,

Unknown:

I'm sure Howard Howard will provide a link, I have a tick

Unknown:

tock. But Facebook is pretty much the best way to get a hold

Unknown:

of me. You could always write me, you can always my cell

Unknown:

phones, right on my Facebook, you can always call me or text

Unknown:

me. I'm ready to talk with anybody at any point in time.

Unknown:

I'm very positive. And I'm really I really, really, really

Unknown:

truly believe that this whole thing is all about your attitude

Unknown:

and all about what you take away from it. If you believe this

Unknown:

won't be anything, I won't affect your life. I promise you

Unknown:

it won't. And if you believe that this is going to be

Unknown:

terrible, and you think woe is me, how could this happen to me?

Unknown:

How can this then I promise you you're fixing to have a bad

Unknown:

time. You have to aim up. You can't ever put one foot in the

Unknown:

grave and dig down. You have to aim up. When the storm comes the

Unknown:

little birds, they look for shelter. But the eagle flies

Unknown:

above the clouds fly above the clouds have a positive attitude

Unknown:

about this. The only thing negative is your attitude. I

Unknown:

promise you, any other thing can be beat with your mind. This can

Unknown:

be beat with your mind. I have stage four brain cancer. And I

Unknown:

promise you you will have my word that I will beat this 100%

Unknown:

They say I am 100% terminal. I have a 5% chance of living

Unknown:

longer than 15 months and a 1% chance living longer than 24

Unknown:

They say I will make my 40th birthday. I can't makewait to

Unknown:

eat cake with my doctor.

Howard Brown:

Maybe we're gonna be in some cake. Oh, wait, that

Howard Brown:

was strong. You brought it all right, Melissa, some final

Howard Brown:

thoughts from you, baby.

Unknown:

I can't compare to what he had to say. But surely you go

Unknown:

first.

Howard Brown:

That's all right.

Unknown:

Just the positivity. I mean, he actually keeps me

Unknown:

positive. And I tried to do the same for him. But waking up with

Unknown:

him every single day he lets go. You know everything is about

Unknown:

your mindset. Be positive, be positive for your partner,

Unknown:

whoever you're caring for. Be positive with them for them.

Unknown:

They'll do the same back to you even though they might not be

Unknown:

feeling great that day. It's so helpful if you keep each other up.

Carl Boehl:

I feel good every day though. I'm on baseball.

Howard Brown:

Oh my god, that energy's below that. So I want

Howard Brown:

to go. Let's go. Come on, coach. All right. So I just want to say

Howard Brown:

I am grateful to have you your energy is just I'm feeling it.

Howard Brown:

I'm feeling like we can go conquer a mountain together. And

Howard Brown:

I'm just so pleased that we're sharing your story. So for those

Howard Brown:

that want to get in touch with me shining brightly.com You can

Howard Brown:

come hear me speak, hire me to speak. Come on and check out the

Howard Brown:

podcast. It's actually building up an incredible following over

Howard Brown:

20,000 downloads now it's inspirational, as you heard

Howard Brown:

today live and now on recording, and then also my advocacy and

Howard Brown:

the book, mentoring. We're gonna get you mentoring to Carl

Howard Brown:

through Imerman Angels. And so remember when we you shine

Howard Brown:

brightly a little bit each day, which we just did for ourselves,

Howard Brown:

for others and our communities. The world does become a better

Howard Brown:

place. Thank you too, so much. So a huge, huge hug. You guys

Howard Brown:

are the best I love it. And we're gonna see you soon and

Howard Brown:

we're gonna meet up because we're back on brother we'll come

Howard Brown:

on an update we'll certainly get an update when I beat this Yeah,

Howard Brown:

you're gonna keep shining brightly everyone. Love you all.

Carl Boehl:

Love ya.