Dec. 27, 2023

THE POWER PANTALOONS With Tonya Baillargeon

THE POWER PANTALOONS With Tonya Baillargeon

THE POWER TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE AFTER CANCER! In Episode 59 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (LINKS IN THE COMMETNS) titled, “THE POWER PANTILOONS”, my special guest is Tonya Baillargeon, a now 17-year cancer survivor is a cancer survivorship specialist and coach (like me) Working together with your oncologist's treatment plan, she's determined to help you vanquish fear, reshape your mindset, and unleash your inner warrior. Tonya's goal? To help you not just endure, but flourish. With her by your side, you're not just surviving cancer, you're conquering it. Tonya’s visualized putting on her WONDER WOMAN (underwear) Pantaloons for strength and hope to carry her forward. WHAT IS YOUR SUPERHERO UNDERWEAR? Come listen, download, share and review this inspiration and helpful show.

Mentioned Resources 


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About the guest – Tonya Baillargeon

• Tonya is on a mission to help a million people revolutionize their cancer journey, moving them from mere survival to full-on thriving. She's your go-to guide, helping cancer survivors adopt the winning mindset, build a powerhouse support team, and explore effective alternative wellness modalities. Working hand-in-hand with your oncologist's treatment plan, she's determined to help you vanquish fear, reshape your mindset, and unleash your inner warrior. Tonya's goal? To help you not just endure, but flourish. With her by your side, you're not just surviving cancer, you're conquering it. 

• Hello Magical world changers! Introducing Tonya, Holistic Cancer Wellness Guide CEO of the Gingered Rose LLC. She teaches survivors how to obtain the right mindset, create their power support group and add alternative wellness modalities to use in addition to what their oncologist recommends.

•  Today we are going to have real talk about hair loss, hydration and other changes you might experience while navigating a cancer diagnosis and 3 actionable steps you can take to empower yourself while you help harmonize your mind, body and spirit during this challenging time.  

• In this interview, you will realize that you aren’t alone in your journey and the issues that you are dealing with are not unique and there is support available for you!

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.

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Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, welcome to the Shining Brightly Show. It's

Howard Brown:

Howard Brown. It's your maestro, it's your holiday Maestro. We're

Howard Brown:

here right before Thanksgiving. And you'll hear this episode a

Howard Brown:

little after as we head into the holiday season. But I've got an

Howard Brown:

unbelievable guests as I always do. But welcome, Tonya.

Howard Brown:

Baillargeon. hard to pronounce your name a little bit, but

Howard Brown:

you'll correct me. Welcome to the show. So happy you're here.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Thank you so much, Howard for having me. It's

Tonya Baillargeon:

Tonya Baillargeon, but

Howard Brown:

large and is that French? Or what is maybe in

Howard Brown:

French? Yeah, French Canadian. All right. So I was there a

Howard Brown:

little bit there. But thank you for that. So I'm just so happy

Howard Brown:

to have you on the show. Because you and I have a lot of

Howard Brown:

alignment there. And we're going to talk about that in a second.

Howard Brown:

But let me introduce you a little bit to the audience here.

Howard Brown:

And so, I want to tell you, Tonya is on a mission to help

Howard Brown:

millions of people revolutionise their cancer journey, moving

Howard Brown:

them from mere survival to full on thriving. Oh, I love that.

Howard Brown:

Because we're all trying to kind of evolve clay trying to put

Howard Brown:

Humpty Dumpty back together again. Sorry to interrupt. She

Howard Brown:

is your go to guide for helping cancer survivors adopt a winning

Howard Brown:

mindset. Build a powerhouse support team, explore effective

Howard Brown:

alternative wellness modalities, but that working hand in hand

Howard Brown:

with your oncologist treatment plan, and she is determined to

Howard Brown:

help vanquish the fear. reshape your mindset. Unleash your inner

Howard Brown:

warrior, your goal to help not just have you endure but

Howard Brown:

flourish. With her by your side. You are not thriving cancer, you

Howard Brown:

are conquering it. That's incredible. It's just

Howard Brown:

incredible. That's you know, people need that and from me

Howard Brown:

personally being I two times stage four cancer survivor.

Howard Brown:

We're just trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, and

Howard Brown:

put together our lives. Some people, it's just getting one

Howard Brown:

step out of bed each day, other people are running marathons.

Howard Brown:

And everything in between. Right, Tonya?

Tonya Baillargeon:

Absolutely. So shows your own pace. Exactly.

Howard Brown:

So share something outside that bio that that we

Howard Brown:

might not know about you that you want the audience to hear.

Tonya Baillargeon:

I will be celebrating 17 years in March.

Tonya Baillargeon:

cancer free. Whoa,

Howard Brown:

that gets an Amen and hallelujah. Oh my God,

Howard Brown:

that's terrific. 17 year survivor in March. That's just

Howard Brown:

that's the goal is to keep on living. Oh, thank you for

Howard Brown:

sharing that. That's absolutely incredible. And a testament to

Howard Brown:

your mental toughness and your, your your well being and as well

Howard Brown:

as being able to just power through and build your life back

Howard Brown:

up again. It's just beautiful. And so let's let's dive right

Howard Brown:

in. So take take me back to about March of 2007.

Tonya Baillargeon:

And March 27 2007. Did date Yeah.

Howard Brown:

So let's start there. What's going on there? So

Tonya Baillargeon:

a friend of mine took me to my doctor

Tonya Baillargeon:

appointment. I you know, she just knew she knew I had no

Tonya Baillargeon:

idea, right? And my doctor said the dreaded words. Nobody wants

Tonya Baillargeon:

to hear you have cancer. Her lips moved, but I didn't hear

Tonya Baillargeon:

anything else. Because I was just overwhelmed by the news,

Tonya Baillargeon:

right? Like nobody expects that diagnosis. Even if you think you

Tonya Baillargeon:

have it, you just kind of stop in your tracks.

Howard Brown:

So tell everyone what your diagnosis was

Tonya Baillargeon:

a carso sarcoma of the uterus. So a lot

Tonya Baillargeon:

of people don't know, but a healthy uterus is only four

Tonya Baillargeon:

ounces. When they ended up taking mine out. It was over 10

Tonya Baillargeon:

pounds.

Howard Brown:

So that was filled with fluid and tumour. Yeah.

Howard Brown:

Wow. Now were you at a gynaecologist or yet a lady

Howard Brown:

doctor yet you're who you were. And they they, they take out a

Howard Brown:

sample it goes to pathology and right away they knew what your

Tonya Baillargeon:

Oh, it was? Absolutely not. So for me. There

Tonya Baillargeon:

were no markers in my blood. My pap smear came back, fine or

Tonya Baillargeon:

inconclusive. They did ultrasound, the trans vaginal

Tonya Baillargeon:

ultrasound, all of that came back fine or inconclusive. They

Tonya Baillargeon:

did what's called a Sano histogram, where they inflate

Tonya Baillargeon:

the uterus with saline and the image that came back

Tonya Baillargeon:

inconclusive. They actually had to do a DNC they had they had to

Tonya Baillargeon:

scrape the uterine lining to find the cancer. And there was

Tonya Baillargeon:

over 10 pounds of cancer in my body. And everybody assumes you

Tonya Baillargeon:

right everybody assumes the markers are in the blood, not

Tonya Baillargeon:

always, not always know that that is true. I can tell you

Tonya Baillargeon:

with colorectal cancer, you know the, the big towel is blood in

Tonya Baillargeon:

the stool, and I had none of that. None of that had it all.

Tonya Baillargeon:

So I had maybe a little irritable bowel, some cramping,

Tonya Baillargeon:

but nothing that bothered me, I just went on with my day. So

Tonya Baillargeon:

sometimes they don't know until they go in, right? I was not

Tonya Baillargeon:

told until my colonoscopy so you know, getting that waking up

Tonya Baillargeon:

from the colonoscopy going. Doc's everything okay, no, I

Tonya Baillargeon:

found something. And when they find something, it's really,

Tonya Baillargeon:

really bad news. So you're sitting in the doctor's office,

Tonya Baillargeon:

your girlfriend is stunned. You're you didn't, you didn't

Tonya Baillargeon:

hear the what they said, when you finally got the diagnosis.

Tonya Baillargeon:

After she said that I had cancer. I didn't hear anything

Tonya Baillargeon:

else that she said, But my friend happens to be an RN. So

Tonya Baillargeon:

she was able to catch all all of the information. And when we got

Tonya Baillargeon:

back to her house, she sat me down in her her room, and she

Tonya Baillargeon:

said, Okay, today's the day that you're allowed to be mad at God,

Tonya Baillargeon:

have all the hissy fits that you want, scream, be depressed, do

Tonya Baillargeon:

all all of that right now. But tomorrow morning, we're going to

Tonya Baillargeon:

wake up and we're going to kick cancers butt.

Howard Brown:

Wow, that's a good friend. What's her name?

Tonya Baillargeon:

Her name is Madeline.

Howard Brown:

Let's shout out to Madeline because that's a

Howard Brown:

beautiful friend and a beautiful care partner to at least sit you

Howard Brown:

down in fact that she was an RN and of training and all that.

Howard Brown:

Because cancer diagnosis is confusing. It's complex. It's

Howard Brown:

life changing. And my friend I will share that Lee Silverstein

Howard Brown:

is a fellow stage four colon cancer. And he ran a podcast

Howard Brown:

over 200 episodes called we have cancer because it's not just

Howard Brown:

you. It's your family and it's your friends and we we as a

Howard Brown:

community have cancer. So you know that very, very well. Now,

Howard Brown:

you did the schedule you write for surgery, or did you do other

Howard Brown:

treatments first or do you have to do chemo or radiation?

Tonya Baillargeon:

Yeah, the first thing was the

Tonya Baillargeon:

hysterectomy. Six weeks after the diagnosis, I had a total

Tonya Baillargeon:

hysterectomy. The surgery ran long. Because I'm overweight.

Tonya Baillargeon:

The gynaecologist had had a problem but no complications. I

Tonya Baillargeon:

did make it through. Okay. And then I had an appointment with

Tonya Baillargeon:

an oncologist. And he talked about a chemotherapy radiation

Tonya Baillargeon:

sandwich. And I literally looked at him and I said I'd I'd rather

Tonya Baillargeon:

have the tuna. That sounds disgusting. But obviously, we

Tonya Baillargeon:

went ahead and did that. Most chemotherapy, everybody

Tonya Baillargeon:

understands that you go into like a little room and you have

Tonya Baillargeon:

an IV. And it's you go and you leave, right? For me. The

Tonya Baillargeon:

cisplatin, the the treatment was I was actually going to have to

Tonya Baillargeon:

have what's called rescue drugs. before, during and after the

Tonya Baillargeon:

chemotherapy. And because because of how long that took, I

Tonya Baillargeon:

actually had to be inpatient for four days a month for my

Tonya Baillargeon:

treatments. So I did three of those. And then I took a little

Tonya Baillargeon:

break. And then I had five and a half weeks of radiation, took a

Tonya Baillargeon:

little break, and then had another three rounds of chemo.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Wow.

Howard Brown:

Susan, for a second. Sure. I guess. The fact

Howard Brown:

is, is that wow, first of all, this is platinum very toxic. I

Howard Brown:

know that for sure. Because I've had it, it's very toxic. And

Howard Brown:

also then radiation which I've had full body radiation as well,

Howard Brown:

no fun. And you're doing this as an inpatient, because they're

Howard Brown:

doing it as slow drip, and they're actually preparing your

Howard Brown:

body to take it and then also to prepare to actually deal with it

Howard Brown:

while it's inside of you. And your job is actually to get the

Howard Brown:

chemo out by sweating and peeing and, and breathing. That's the

Howard Brown:

way that it actually, you know, goes through your blood system

Howard Brown:

and does its thing. And then the radiation was obviously to

Howard Brown:

shrink the tumour and then you did another set of of chemo. But

Howard Brown:

then you had the surgery where they actually did the removal of

Howard Brown:

the first surgery was first Oh, they did that first and then

Howard Brown:

you're doing this after post Okay, I did make

Tonya Baillargeon:

sure even though so when they did the

Tonya Baillargeon:

hysterectomies, they removed five lymph nodes, and all my

Tonya Baillargeon:

lymph nodes came back fine. But they wanted to take the

Tonya Baillargeon:

precaution to go ahead and do this radical treatment because

Tonya Baillargeon:

of the amount of cancer that I had in my body.

Howard Brown:

Right? They don't know when they removed from

Howard Brown:

surgery if they've gotten it all all, even the baby micro cells

Howard Brown:

and all that. So I've been there when they took out, you know,

Howard Brown:

and all the cancer out of my abdomen and pelvis and then

Howard Brown:

poured hot chemotherapy in there which was radical, you know, in

Howard Brown:

March of 18, and still kind of a crazy surgery. So Alright, so

Howard Brown:

now you're you're healing and you're repairing after that,

Howard Brown:

because this is all happening in a six month period. And so it

Howard Brown:

was a 10 month period. Okay, so what happens next?

Tonya Baillargeon:

Then they sent me back into the world,

Tonya Baillargeon:

right like just like yours On, all your treatment is done, you

Tonya Baillargeon:

go back into the world. But while I was going through all of

Tonya Baillargeon:

that, I incorporated a whole bunch of alternative wellness

Tonya Baillargeon:

modalities. And I had a frank conversation with my oncologist.

Tonya Baillargeon:

I'm like, Listen, I want to do I want to do aromatherapy I want

Tonya Baillargeon:

to do herbalism I want to do flower essences I want to do.

Tonya Baillargeon:

He's like, you can stop right there. As long as you don't put

Tonya Baillargeon:

it in your mouth. I don't care what you do. So I said, okay, so

Tonya Baillargeon:

no, no, no teas, no herbal teas. He said, No. And I said, why?

Tonya Baillargeon:

And he said, because it may counteract the chemotherapy. And

Tonya Baillargeon:

I was like, okay, but that to me was enough alignment with what I

Tonya Baillargeon:

wanted, like, because I feel you have to have your whole entire

Tonya Baillargeon:

medical team has to be in alignment with you, right? You

Tonya Baillargeon:

don't want anybody mourning you. While you're standing there. You

Tonya Baillargeon:

don't want people giving you expiration dates. Obviously, you

Tonya Baillargeon:

want them to be honest with you, but your mindset is such a huge

Tonya Baillargeon:

part of your recovery of you have you're transitioning

Tonya Baillargeon:

through this trauma time.

Howard Brown:

Right. So I agree, I will tell you that when I went

Howard Brown:

through my first cancer in 1989 1990, the talk of holistic

Howard Brown:

medicine and mindset wasn't there, you know, before the

Howard Brown:

internet before we had cell phones, and before we really had

Howard Brown:

computer use, wasn't there this time around, you know, you know,

Howard Brown:

26 years later, much more much more open. Not all doctors but

Howard Brown:

but doctors to that. And we the patients living on the front

Howard Brown:

lines, I will tell you that, you know, we were using THC gummies

Howard Brown:

to combat nausea, you know, appetite and sleep way before

Howard Brown:

the doctors actually then set Oh, that's an okay idea. You

Howard Brown:

know, we're doing things that we got to solve first, sometimes.

Howard Brown:

So sometimes they don't come along too soon. But I'm glad you

Howard Brown:

got alignment with your doctor that it helps when you're on the

Howard Brown:

same team, and you're pulling the same way. So I'm glad that

Howard Brown:

helped. Now, tell me about this statement here. And I know it's

Howard Brown:

the name of your podcast as well. The power pantaloons and

Howard Brown:

tell me how Wonder Woman plays a role in this.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Every day, I had just one item on my to do

Tonya Baillargeon:

list. And that was I visualised putting on a pair of Wonder

Tonya Baillargeon:

Woman's underwear because Wonder Woman doesn't die. So that was

Tonya Baillargeon:

me, the act of physical representation of me deciding to

Tonya Baillargeon:

live every day, right? Yeah, so like, it's powerful, right. And

Tonya Baillargeon:

there were days that definitely didn't happen. But I would say

Tonya Baillargeon:

like 98 99% of the reason. The days I did actually manage to do

Tonya Baillargeon:

that, and because my survival rate was about 5%, I credit this

Tonya Baillargeon:

one activity, with 95% of the reason I made it through.

Howard Brown:

Wow. So that was your mindset. That was your

Howard Brown:

visualisation. And you are basically saying, Oh, I'm

Howard Brown:

putting on Wonder Woman's underwear. Okay. And that's

Howard Brown:

going to basically that's amazing. Really, you know, I

Howard Brown:

think about it, you know, of me putting on my Men's depends my

Howard Brown:

big boy pants, you know, before I go, you know, on a big trip or

Howard Brown:

something like that, but you were putting on Wonder Woman's

Howard Brown:

pants, your big girl pants there and that carried you through

Howard Brown:

that's that's that's mindset. That's it really is. It's mental

Howard Brown:

toughness, but that's visualisation that you

Howard Brown:

transformed into your own version of Wonder Woman. I

Howard Brown:

applaud that.

Howard Brown:

Yeah, absolutely. We all do, right. Everybody who gets this

Howard Brown:

diagnosis makes a decision, whether they make it overtly or

Howard Brown:

or subconsciously, and how they handle everything in their

Howard Brown:

treatment. And depends on that one decision, right? Like, you

Howard Brown:

know that some people choose not to be an active participant in

Howard Brown:

their treatment. I've seen it happen. Yeah, that's it's sad,

Howard Brown:

but you can't control that decision for somebody else. You

Howard Brown:

can only work on your own.

Howard Brown:

Absolutely. So now carry me forward. So some of the big

Howard Brown:

lessons that that you took away and carried forward.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Nothing puts you in a state of gratitude for

Tonya Baillargeon:

all of the time you have left faster than having an expiration

Tonya Baillargeon:

date put in your face. Not nothing gets you clear with who

Tonya Baillargeon:

you are, what you want in life, and what kind of person you want

Tonya Baillargeon:

to be faster than a death sentence.

Howard Brown:

Yeah, absolutely. I'll take a quick timeout and

Howard Brown:

say, you know, we got cancer screening week coming up in

Howard Brown:

December 4 through the night, go get screened, go get you know,

Howard Brown:

go get check. You're not your optimal you if you If you don't

Howard Brown:

so and we put it off during COVID, so the ability to get

Howard Brown:

your, your mammogram, go get your prostate checked, if you're

Howard Brown:

a guy, go get your colonoscopy, right, go go to your lady

Howard Brown:

doctor, you know, go to the dentist, right? Please, please

Howard Brown:

go check, get your checks, take care of seriously self care and

Howard Brown:

self love. So I would agree with that. And so you walk alongside

Howard Brown:

of cancer patients, caregivers and their families tell me about

Howard Brown:

how that evolved.

Tonya Baillargeon:

So last year, I ended up with another cancer

Tonya Baillargeon:

scare. Why walking through that, it sort of was like a lightbulb

Tonya Baillargeon:

moment for me. Like, I felt like divinity was like, Excuse me,

Tonya Baillargeon:

ma'am. We gave you all of this intimate knowledge on how to

Tonya Baillargeon:

help somebody transition through this devastating diagnosis, and

Tonya Baillargeon:

you're not doing anything with it. And I was like, Ah, yes. All

Tonya Baillargeon:

right about that. So we're going to do something about that. And

Tonya Baillargeon:

I started my podcast, and I started working with survivors

Tonya Baillargeon:

and caregivers, building mindset, building their support

Tonya Baillargeon:

networks, building boundaries, like because some people just

Tonya Baillargeon:

have to be politely excused from your life, because they're not

Tonya Baillargeon:

in alignment with where you are as a person, whether they can't

Tonya Baillargeon:

handle your diagnosis, or whatever the reason is, it's

Tonya Baillargeon:

time for them to be away for a little while, or forever, right?

Tonya Baillargeon:

Like you make those decisions, and then to how to listen to

Tonya Baillargeon:

your body to intuitively choose what kind of alternative

Tonya Baillargeon:

wellness modalities that you want to use, while you in

Tonya Baillargeon:

addition to what your oncologist is telling you to do. Because I

Tonya Baillargeon:

think Mind, Body Spirit, they have to be together, because it

Tonya Baillargeon:

is a disease that ravages your mind, body, and spirit. So you

Tonya Baillargeon:

have to use all the tools in your toolbox to, to work through

Tonya Baillargeon:

and

Howard Brown:

use all the tools in your toolbox, I would say

Howard Brown:

that, it's really important to have someone be able to walk

Howard Brown:

alongside of you. And being that I'm in the colon cancer space I

Howard Brown:

call in town. That's what we do with patients, caregivers and

Howard Brown:

families. And we get make sure that you're you're educated as a

Howard Brown:

patient, and you actually have the support that you need. And

Howard Brown:

that's important, because that's what you do as well. And that's

Howard Brown:

a form of mentorship. And it's a really, it's a very important

Howard Brown:

skill. But I have to tell you that when I came into colon

Howard Brown:

cancer, I didn't know anything. But I was already a cancer

Howard Brown:

veteran, when I would did lymphoma in 1989 99. It was a

Howard Brown:

deer in the headlights, I really didn't know what was going on.

Howard Brown:

This time around, I was still a deer in the headlights, but my

Howard Brown:

learning curve was much faster. And you know, I reached out to

Howard Brown:

his people that were 510 15 steps ahead of me. All right,

Howard Brown:

that had already walked that path. Now I wasn't going to walk

Howard Brown:

the same path necessarily, but similar path. And they were

Howard Brown:

telling me kind of what to expect and how to deal with

Howard Brown:

things and how to get educated. And that was invaluable. Because

Howard Brown:

instead of it being a big mystery, or something that's

Howard Brown:

just a big black hole or fear, I was able to then use their

Howard Brown:

knowledge to make better decisions. And there were just

Howard Brown:

days that they call me and I just didn't get out of bed and

Howard Brown:

they were like, Yeah, you're getting out of bed, and you're

Howard Brown:

walking the dog. And then you're having a bite of egg and cheese,

Howard Brown:

and then you can go back to bed. And so they were many

Howard Brown:

cheerleaders as well. And that's important. And I do that as well

Howard Brown:

like you, I do that still I still I mostly with a lot of men

Howard Brown:

in the colorectal cancer space. But they all want to get to

Howard Brown:

where we are, right we want to get to no evidence of disease or

Howard Brown:

remission. And that's that's the end game is to get your life

Howard Brown:

back. Now, that's a survivorship so a whole nother thing, right?

Howard Brown:

To get your to be able to then put the pieces of your life

Howard Brown:

back, you know, your career, your finances, your family, your

Howard Brown:

relationships. That's also a whole nother game as well. So

Howard Brown:

it's really important. So tell me about some of the workshops

Howard Brown:

that you that you offer.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Well, right now what I'm promoting is

Tonya Baillargeon:

medical binder, right? So somebody asked me what what what

Tonya Baillargeon:

did you do with with chemo brain and I was like, you know, that's

Tonya Baillargeon:

a really good point. So I built myself a medical binder so that

Tonya Baillargeon:

every time I went to a new doctor for whatever right blood

Tonya Baillargeon:

we're all of it was put in there. So when they asked me

Tonya Baillargeon:

well, what medication are you on? I didn't have to remember

Tonya Baillargeon:

it. My portable brain dead. It's all there. So that's one of the

Tonya Baillargeon:

things that I offer. I do one on one, coaching, I do group coach

Tonya Baillargeon:

coaching, and I am building a course that will be done based

Tonya Baillargeon:

on the seasons. I know that sounds a little a little odd but

Tonya Baillargeon:

based on the seasons where you're talking about breathwork

Tonya Baillargeon:

and meditation Asian connecting with nature, aromatherapy. You

Tonya Baillargeon:

know, stuff, nutrition, nutrition, let's talk about

Tonya Baillargeon:

nutrition for a second. Because for me, like mindsets right here

Tonya Baillargeon:

and getting your food right is right here, because making your

Tonya Baillargeon:

body into a more alkaline place is super important because

Howard Brown:

I think that, you know, what they throw so much

Howard Brown:

cancer can't survive in an alkaline place. So, yeah,

Howard Brown:

information at you. And to keep track of it is is a task. So

Howard Brown:

having that binder is really important. My caregiver, you

Howard Brown:

know, mom did it the first time and my wife, Lisa did it the

Howard Brown:

second time, but you got to keep track of it, because they asked

Howard Brown:

you the same questions like 500 times, right, and you got to

Howard Brown:

know your answers and, and then getting yourself to a place of

Howard Brown:

good physical activity, good sleep, good nutrition is all

Howard Brown:

part of the equation. And also, I have a thing that I call my

Howard Brown:

happy place, my happy place happens to be the stress free

Howard Brown:

zone on the basketball court, lots of people, you got to find

Howard Brown:

that place where you're, you don't feel like a cancer

Howard Brown:

patient. So it could be cooking, it could be travel, it could be

Howard Brown:

music, it could be art, it could be meditation, I don't place

Howard Brown:

judgement on that find one. So find a happy place, and you

Howard Brown:

should definitely go there. Now very, very important to do that.

Howard Brown:

And listen, you know, when you're in treatment, right of

Howard Brown:

chemotherapy, and you're in radiation, or you've just had

Howard Brown:

surgery, you've got to allow your cells chances to heal. That

Howard Brown:

healing is really, really, really, really important. The

Howard Brown:

other thing is, is that we live in the cancer world, at least I

Howard Brown:

know you and I do is that the stage four cancer world is not

Howard Brown:

kind. So people die all the time. And it's not that they

Howard Brown:

didn't have a will to live, it's just that their cancer burden

Howard Brown:

became too great. And God called them to heaven. And so that is a

Howard Brown:

part of unfortunately, the world that we both work in each day.

Howard Brown:

It's hard. It

Tonya Baillargeon:

is hard. It is

Howard Brown:

what? So it's really a great service that you

Howard Brown:

offer. How do how are people responding, and when you see

Howard Brown:

them, because you have to keep it private, but you're seeing

Howard Brown:

people grow. And one baby step to big, big, big steps. When,

Tonya Baillargeon:

you know helping somebody at the

Tonya Baillargeon:

beginning, which is mindset, right? Finding their own version

Tonya Baillargeon:

of Wonder Woman, whether it's that man or their grandmother,

Tonya Baillargeon:

because she you know, was the most stubborn person on the

Tonya Baillargeon:

planet, right? Like so once you find the person or the essence

Tonya Baillargeon:

of the happiness or the strength or whatever it is that you think

Tonya Baillargeon:

that you need to get through this, helping them discover

Tonya Baillargeon:

which role model has that and then how to just draw on that.

Tonya Baillargeon:

So grandma's apron, like, go get an apron, like you can

Tonya Baillargeon:

physically go get an apron that represents that or you can just

Tonya Baillargeon:

visualise it. And it's remarkable to see how the how

Tonya Baillargeon:

easy it becomes for people to do that. Yeah, no, no really,

Tonya Baillargeon:

really, really important.

Howard Brown:

. Well, here we go. This is the part of the show

Howard Brown:

that I want to actually shine the spotlight on you. This is

Howard Brown:

the shining bright the spotlight. For those of you

Howard Brown:

listening, I have my white magnetic glasses on and I'm

Howard Brown:

shining it on Tonya. And I would love to tell people how they

Howard Brown:

should best get a hold of you. And I know you have a freebie

Howard Brown:

for the audience to take advantage of. And then wrap up

Howard Brown:

the show with some inspiration for us. And then throw it back

Howard Brown:

to me.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Sure, so you can reach me at link tree slash

Tonya Baillargeon:

Tonya Baillargeon it's right behind me. So li n k t

Tonya Baillargeon:

r.ie/TONYA Baillargeon. That's how you get a hold of me. What

Tonya Baillargeon:

was the next question I've already forgot. That's okay.

Howard Brown:

You you have a giveaway? Oh,

Tonya Baillargeon:

yes, I do. So I have a giveaway that is the

Tonya Baillargeon:

two essential oils that I used while I was going through chemo

Tonya Baillargeon:

every day and that you absolutely should use not only

Tonya Baillargeon:

for stress reduction and anxiety relief, but actually to help

Tonya Baillargeon:

keep you in a calmer state. So that's the thing that I will be

Tonya Baillargeon:

giving you today.

Howard Brown:

That's awesome. So we'll make sure those links are

Howard Brown:

in there and they can get to your website and now be able to

Howard Brown:

to get a hold of you. Share some inspiration with me inspire us.

Tonya Baillargeon:

So whether whether you think that Confucius

Tonya Baillargeon:

said it or Henry Ford said it because they both said it.

Tonya Baillargeon:

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.

Tonya Baillargeon:

That's, you know that like that is my favourite quote and that

Tonya Baillargeon:

really like the mindset piece Is that That's where it comes from

Tonya Baillargeon:

for me. Yeah, just aside.

Howard Brown:

well, first of all 17 years, I'm at four. So I'm

Howard Brown:

behind you a little bit, but we're with you together.

Howard Brown:

Congratulations on that. Congratulations. Also that

Howard Brown:

you're helping so many cancer patients, caregivers and

Howard Brown:

families take the next step. I think that's the most important

Howard Brown:

thing. So this has been the shining brightly podcast show.

Howard Brown:

I'm Howard Brown, you can get a hold of me at shining

Howard Brown:

brightly.com Learn about my podcast here, my speaking and

Howard Brown:

also my advocacy and my book, as well. And just you know, the

Howard Brown:

lesson that I share with everyone is that if we try to

Howard Brown:

shine brightly, just a little bit each day, for ourselves, for

Howard Brown:

others in our communities, the world will be a better place.

Howard Brown:

Thanks for watching and listening. Till next time. Thank

Howard Brown:

you