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The Mindset That Cancer Couldn’t Take: Choosing Your Response | Diana Fritz · More Than Before

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And it's came back and started to spread again.
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Late 2022, my doctor of nine years called me and said, Diana,
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we've been fighting to save your eye.
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It's time to shift, to fight for your life.
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Welcome back everyone. Today's guest is someone whose
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story doesn't just inspire, it also slows you down and
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recenters you. She's an executive leader, a
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woman of faith, a mom, and the author of Uniquely Imperfect,
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Uniquely Qualified. But what makes her story
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powerful isn't her resume, it's how she's chosen to show up.
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Throughout her life. In difficult times, she's walked
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through adversity most people have hoped they would never
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face. And instead of letting it define
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her, she's allowed it to refine her, shaping how she leads, how
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she serves, and how she shows up for other people.
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She doesn't just talk about courage.
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She walks the walk. She lives it.
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Diana Fritz, welcome to More Than Before.
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It's such an honor to have you on today.
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Nathan, it's great to be here. That was that was a humbling
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introduction, so thank you. Well, you humble.
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I, I feel like you humble a lot of people when it comes to a lot
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of aspects of your life. You're, you're very
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accomplished. You've done many things in your
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life. You have worked yourself up the
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corporate ladder. You are a mom who's raised two
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really great boys, great marriage.
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Like there's a lot of things in your life that you have really
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focused on and I think you run the race of life well.
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And so I'm excited to learn from you, to learn about your story.
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I'd love to kind of jump back into the origin story of who
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Diana is. You grew up in Pennsylvania,
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right? What was what was life like as a
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little girl in Pennsylvania? Yes, I, I grew up in
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Pennsylvania. I was born in Allentown.
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So if you know the Billy Joel song Allentown, right, you can
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put a song to that. And my family was a really
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strong connection growing up. So we lived about a few hours
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from my grandparents house and most weekends or weeks during
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the summer we would spend time on their farm and spend a lot of
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time with with my grandparents, which was a blessing and my
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cousin. So the whole connected family
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was a big deal. My parents great.
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You know, people of faith also believed in working hard.
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So I, you know, my kids look at me when I say, you know,
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Saturday doing chores on the weekend.
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I'm like, you have no idea. I would get up at like I'm on
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Saturday and go out and like pick like strawberries.
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They would plant thousands of strawberry plants and and
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whatever it was right like you that you have a whole different
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thing that you miss, but lots of lessons around hard work and,
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you know, family and just being together and appreciating each
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other. When you, when you think of
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home, when you think of those earlier years of life, like
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what's, what's the vivid memory that sticks out to you?
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Like I, I love the strawberry farm, like the picking
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strawberries because I can, I can see my red hands.
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I can smell the stems of the strawberry because everyone
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always thinks like they think about the strawberry itself, but
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they don't think about the stem of the strawberry.
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Like that's, that's really what you start to smell after hours
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of picking strawberries. I'm, I'm curious, what are some
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more of those memories of your youth that you remember of
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going? Like what really takes you back?
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Yeah. You know, it's a lot of my
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memories that are probably the most vivid are at my
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grandparents, like, farm and, you know, Sunday dinners where
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everybody, the whole extended family would come over after
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church and sit around the big table, have dinner together,
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play games afterwards. Or those holidays like
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Thanksgiving and Christmas, similar cadence, similar thing
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there. So just a lot of connectedness
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and spending time together and you know, we have lots of good
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stories around, you know, our, I mean, it would be our great
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grandmother would be there, right?
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So she would pretend she would play games with us and we know
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she couldn't play the game right, but we would play along,
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right. And so it's just fun, you know,
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just to get together with my family today, like I was in
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Pennsylvania over Christmas with my brother and his wife and my
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sister and her husband and all their kids and my parents.
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And just, you know, you kind of talk about those memories and
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those laughs that you've had over the years.
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My grandparents are gone, at least that side of the family.
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I still have a grandmother that's 90 that's still alive.
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But there's just so many memories that spark you back to
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those to those roots, right? And to what you remember about
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learning about family and you know, the legacy that you know
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our grandparents left for us. I love that it's, it's funny
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because this last Christmas with our kids, I was thinking about
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that of like the traditions that we grew up with and all the
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things that we remember, you know, you know, all the things
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that our parents did to create a special atmosphere during
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holidays specifically. And I was, I was taken back a
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moment because I, I thought about it and I was like, Oh,
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it's now my turn to start either continuing those traditions,
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things that maybe I hold dear that were, that were magical to
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me. Do I continue those with my kids
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or do I shift them and do do a different thing?
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And so it's kind of interesting as, as you were kind of
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mentioning that. So it's like, oh, that's, that's
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interesting because now you're kind of in the phase of, you
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know, your kid, your boys are getting older and you're
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thinking back and you're going, wow, like those were the
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memories. And there's always like the
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question of like, I wonder, I wonder what they're going to do.
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I wonder, I wonder how they'll continue.
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You want tradition. You're kind of in the middle of,
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of, of both of those dynamics, which is really, which is really
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cool. Your grandparents were a
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powerful teaching moment in your life.
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I'm curious, what were some of those powerful teaching lessons
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that you remember? What, what that was your grandma
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or whether that was your grandpa?
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What, what? What were the powerful lessons
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that you remember and still carry on today?
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No, my grandmother Jean is some I wrote a chapter in the book
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about her because often times, you know, people will mention in
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well dynamic, we hear your story and how you are striving to be,
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you know, courageous and a victor, not a victim through
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this cancer journey. But how did you learn that
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right? What's the foundation?
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And faith is a big part of that foundation.
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And my grandmother was like my example of Jesus on earth.
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She was beautiful woman. She laughed, she smiled, she
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loved everybody. And so even if somebody would
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harm her, offend her, she was still going to find the best in
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them. And we just said, you know, so
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many stories and memories of of her and the example of faith
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that she sat. And I can remember at her
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funeral, I was standing beside the casket just kind of holding
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her hand. And people came up to me and
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said, Diana, you have her smile. And I, I've never heard that or
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remember that being mentioned to me before.
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But that made me pause. And then I went, OK, I am
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honored with that compliment. And that is a legacy of hers,
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right, that I can work on continuing right to shine
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through that smile. So, so there's a scenario about
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my, my grandmother, my grandfather worked really hard.
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He often did 2 jobs to take care of.
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He had five, five boys and then, you know, farm and plenty of
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grandkids. And he was always a great
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supporter of, of work. And I remember one of my last
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conversations with him before he passed away, I forget what we
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were talking about, but I would get, you know, critiqued
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sometimes as like a, an executive and a mom of, you
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know, Diana, you work too much, right?
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Or that type of thing. And I was talking about that
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with them. And he said, well, I would get
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told that too, but I would just say when you would like to pay
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my bills, you can critique. I like that.
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That's pretty funny. It is, it is funny because
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everyone is always has something to say, but not everyone has the
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full context of everything going on.
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You know, my wife and I were, we were just talking about this
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last night because we're thinking, you know, there's
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things that we'd like to shift around in life.
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There's things that we would like to do differently, but we
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just can't. Like if we, you know, if, if we
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did specifically what we want, we would not survive.
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We'd lose the house. Like, and yes, there is an
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element of trusting God in that, but there's also an element of
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wisdom in that of going well, maybe that's not the wise thing
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to do that specific thing to maybe maybe it's a few years out
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or maybe it's a decade out from from implementing those changes.
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So personality wise, who were you as a as a young girl?
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Like were you the bubbly girl? Were you studious?
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Were, I mean, I know you were an athlete, used to play
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basketball. What, what kind of what kind of
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person were you growing up? Like?
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What was your, what was your demeanor?
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Especially I know that you're a disc certified personalities
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person. So, so you recognize
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personalities probably better than most people.
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Who are you as a kid? Well, I was a middle child.
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So I I think that is kind of interesting.
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And there's a lot of studies, right, that say the middle child
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is the one often trying to be the peacemaker, right, and
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connecting everybody together. And I am on the disk profile.
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I'm an S, right? I'm the study, the the one that
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wants team and everybody to get along.
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So I find that kind of interesting because I've been
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probably living that. I certainly did have moments.
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I was, you know, as a middle child, I would get jealous of
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things that my sister got to do or my brother, right?
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So I always had my moments there.
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But I was often the peacemaker, the one trying to smile, make
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people laugh and bring some calmness, I would say, to
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different things happening within, across life as an
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athlete. I, you know, basketball was my
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favorite sport. I played soccer too.
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And my coach was really great at challenging us to be good
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teammates, to hold each other accountable and to be committed
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and to work on that mental toughness and mental resilience.
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And so he had, there's many great lessons there.
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But I, to me, it was always important that the team won and
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that the team did well together. He wanted to graduate high
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school when I was supposed to. I was determined to graduate a
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year early when I was 16. And you know, if you see Diana,
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you know, you could hit the thousand point list and that
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type of thing. And I was like, I really don't
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care about that. That was not really that
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important to me. Which ties to DISC as well,
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right? I want the team to win, right,
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So that those are just some Nuggets, I suppose, if who I I
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was that is a younger, younger child or athlete and what stands
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out to me now looking back. Yeah.
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What? What do you what did you dream
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of doing when you were a kid? That, that always makes me
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laugh. I think I had a few things.
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One was to be a singer, which I can't really sing, so that's
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good. And the other one was like a
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professional basketball player that was kind of out there.
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And then I, I think the third thing was I just always had this
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idea of showing up like in a big office building in a suit,
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right? Like just having that type of,
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you know, persona. I I hate to wear suits now, but
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I I don't mind showing up in in different spaces but.
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So you you graduate high school. How does how does the next steps
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of your life start to send you into a trajectory of success and
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really achievement? Because you really started to do
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some pretty amazing things and climbing up the corporate ladder
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like you, it's quite amazing. Your resume.
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How did you get to, you know, being an executive, being a
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president of a company? You know, I never, I mean, I
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didn't think that's where I was going to be right when I left.
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I graduated high school. I, I went to college early
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because I wanted to play basketball.
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And so I went to Messiah College in Grantham, PA, which is where
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my sister was. And I tore my ACL within a few
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weeks after the team was solidified and that type of
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thing, which that's, you know, a knee injury, that's A season
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ending injury. And I still, you know, use that
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time to connect with the team and be a part of the team.
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And I then retore the same ACLA year later when I was on the
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team again. But I was that helped me to
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connect with people within the athletic department and other
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coaches that changed, helped me to identify a major.
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So I have a mate, had an undergraduate degree in exercise
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science, which before that I was kind of undecided.
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I do nothing with that degree today, but it connected me to
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the next step in the journey and I think that's what's important.
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I don't think many people think, well, I have a degree in this
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right? It limits me.
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We can learn many lessons, don't matter what role or job we're in
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that can apply to the next one. We just have to make the most of
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what we have in front of us. I was at the time like reading a
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Victor Frankel is a man search for meaning when I was first
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injured. And so that was a really
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impactful book for me where I thought, you know, tearing my
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ACL was like a knock, you know, knock your socks up a moment,
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right, for me, which little did I know, like that was nothing.
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But then it felt big. But then I and his quote, you
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know, no matter what happens to me, nobody can steal my freedom
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to choose how I respond. And that has been a key thing
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lesson that I learned from there, right?
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My mindset, how I respond, nobody can take that from me.
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I can not be able to play college basketball, but I still
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need to choose how I respond and how I show up.
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And that was a key life lesson, right?
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Because I've needed that multiple times since then.
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So then I, I graduated from Messiah with a degree in
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exercise science. I was intending to go to Temple
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University in, in Philadelphia for a grad assistantship and to
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do a master's in athletic administration.
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I wanted to be an athletic director.
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And that fell through kind of at the last moment.
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So my advisor who was also somebody I had gotten to know
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due to my, my knee injury, he connected me with Palm Beach
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Atlantic, which is in West Palm Beach, FL.
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They had an opening for a sports information director as like an
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internship, but you could also get your masters.
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They would pay for your masters. So that was my shift from
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Pennsylvania to Florida. And that was a great four years,
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like working there, traveling with sports teams and getting my
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master's degree. And then I ended up moving to
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Daytona Beach, FL and interviewed for for a few jobs
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within athletic departments, but nothing really worked out.
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And so I just switched and went, OK, well, what can I do?
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Right? So I started as an American
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Express financial advisor, which they pitched at me as it's a
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great way to help people. OK, It's, it's, you know, it's
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pretty hardcore phone sales to get you to help somebody.
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But I did that for a little while.
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I learned a lot about, you know, selling in tough conversations
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and presenting, but it wasn't for me.
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And then but I met somebody doing that and that led to a
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conversation and shifting me over to work for DME, which was
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a direct marketing company. And so that's really like during
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that time frame, I was also very much into continuing to develop
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myself. So John Maxwell content were
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important to me. And so that began a 17 year
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career at a company which within a few years I was a part of the
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executive team. And then as the company spun off
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and created an automotive division, then I was had the
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opportunity to be a part owner and a part of that executive
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team. And just beyond that journey and
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my learned quickly that I had a passion around the people.
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And so I whether it was customers or employees.
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And so I always looked for ways to bring professional and
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personal development into my team and into my workplace and
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just looked for ways to, you know, serve people.
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I, you know, when I think back through that journey and that 17
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years or after, I haven't, I haven't submitted many resumes
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to apply for a job. A lot of them have just come to
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me because of the work I was doing and the, and what I was
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just giving my best at what I was doing.
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And it led to God putting the next step in front of me.
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So that, that I feel, is an incredible blessing as well.
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Well, I love, I love it because I think a lot of us want to plan
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every single step. We have the big vision of what
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we want to do. And your story really is one of
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just going to the next thing that the next thing that seems
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like it's almost the obvious thing in in hindsight, it is.
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But in the moment, you're kind of taking a constant step of
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faith, Like all of the things that you've done have been a
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constant step of faith of going, OK, Lord, if this is what you're
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calling me to, then then I'll step forward and I will be
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faithful, but be faithful to me as I step forward.
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And this faithfulness, it continued over and over and
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over. And it's funny too, because I
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love that you bring up the Viktor Frankel book because it's
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truly incredible book. I find it fascinating that you
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read it at such a young age. I think I read Viktor Frankel's
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Man Search for Meaning when I was in my late 20s, and I
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struggled to get through that book.
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It took me probably a good three years to read it.
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And when I say read it, I mean, I kept reading the same
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paragraph over and over and over.
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And I was like, I do not understand anything that he's
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talking about. And then one day, it was just
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out of the blue. It was a Sunday morning.
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I picked up the book and I read it from cover to cover and I was
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like, this is amazing. And, and you, you pulled out the
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one thing that I always like to pull out of that book, which is
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the idea that you get to define the reality of what you're going
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through, that circumstances are going to happen to you, but you
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have to choose that. So I, I am mesmerized that you
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read it, one, at such a young age, but two, that you had the
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wisdom to really take that and start to apply that into your
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life and to, and to think through that.
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So you're on this stratosphere movement?
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Of of success in business and life.
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You've got two young kids at the time and then all of a sudden
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you have something happen that really seems to derail life.
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Tell tell everyone a little bit about what that was and how did
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that start to shift perspective for you?
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Yeah, no. And I, I, so I just want to
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mention first, so I, I didn't have a choice but to read that
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book because it was a requirement in my English
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literature class. Just, you know, I didn't have a
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choice. I had to read.
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We're going to say that you just picked it up one day.
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You saw and you just called me. So now my it'll 12 years ago
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actually. So this is my anniversary month
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of finding out that I had a rare form of cancer near my left eye.
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So it was 12 years ago in January, and at that time I was
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a single mom. Had to make a tough decision to
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step away from the married situation because that was what
21:06
was healthier for my boys and for me.
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And I was an executive and we were also working on positioning
21:13
the company for sale. So if anybody has gone through
21:17
that, you have your day job as the executive and then you have
21:21
your night job prepping all the content that's needed for those
21:24
that are working to sell your company.
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And then a mom of two young boys, so about two and four and
21:30
a half. So I had a lot of hats to wear.
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I you know, I wish I could, I wish we were doing the name of
21:39
the urgent care doctor that I went to see him for a sinus
21:43
infection. He looked at my left eye, which
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at that time I had a left eye. I don't have one now.
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The little pink chronicle which is in the corner of your eye was
21:55
bumpy. And he challenged me to go to an
21:58
ophthalmologist and I was like, OK, in my head, I, I don't have
22:02
time for this, but I would. And I'm thankful I did because
22:07
otherwise the cancer would have continued to grow and I wouldn't
22:10
have known it. The doctor I, I met, Doctor Hal
22:14
Kushner, is a Vietnam prisoner of war and a dear front, but he
22:20
was the one that first diagnosed the cancer.
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And then he sent me quickly to Baskin Palmer, which is in
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Miami. So that's four hours from me.
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And I found out quickly it was going to lead to multiple
22:33
surgeries. This wasn't going to be, this
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isn't, you know, when it's a rare form of cancer, there's not
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a lot of treatment out there, right?
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You need to go to the number one place in the world and be
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flexible. So that wasn't, you know, what I
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was expecting to do that year. I turned 40 that year and I had
22:51
all these plans of things that I wanted to do a missions trip, be
22:54
a better mom. Cancer wasn't wasn't there,
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right. But I was reminded quickly,
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right of that Viktor Frankel. No matter what happens, I still
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get to choose like how I respond.
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And it made me go from OK, why, why me God to OK God.
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Like, why me? Like who do you want me to meet
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in these hospitals, in these walls and these doctors offices?
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Because otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?
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I can't just walk into University of Miami or Sylvester
23:27
Health or Baskin Palmer without a without AID in a batch, right?
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So who do we get to go blast together?
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I had so many people that stepped in to help me with my
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kids. My parents took them for about a
23:40
month when I was having multiple surgeries because I didn't want
23:44
to scare them. They were little and I knew I
23:47
wasn't going to look great, right?
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I look like a battered wife. I had my eye closed, like almost
23:54
stitched shut for four months that year.
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And so that was different getting used to live with one
24:01
eye and it, you know, I guess it prepared me for today.
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And then I went about five years cancer free and you know, life
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felt kind of normal. I remarried during that time
24:13
frame. My kids were getting older and
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so that was good. And I was about ready to
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celebrate the five year mark and I felt a bump near my left eye
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and went down to see the doctors quickly.
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We operated quickly and felt like everything was we were good
24:30
and the we still were retaining the eye.
24:33
But then in 2021, it's came back and started to spread again.
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And in was late late 2022, but my doctor of nine years called
24:42
me and said, Diana, we've been fighting to save your eye.
24:46
It's time to shift to fight for your life.
24:49
And that, you know, will make anybody go OK.
24:53
And it was one of my worst fears.
24:55
Like when I first found out I had cancer near my head.
24:58
I was, is it in my brain? Like that was that was one of
25:01
the first questions I asked when I was in Miami.
25:04
And here it had grown behind my eye and it was resting and
25:07
aligning of my brain. But we, you know, navigated
25:12
through, I did some, you know, I've gone through, I don't know,
25:16
multiple surgeries, different variations of chemo.
25:19
And the surgery was like a 10 hour, 10 to 12 hour surgery to
25:25
remove the eye with four different surgeons.
25:28
And I can remember processing that.
25:31
It was going to be Easter weekend and I was going, OK,
25:34
God, I have never not been with my children on Easter.
25:39
And I just got that subtle reminder, OK, but like I died on
25:44
a cross for you on Easter. Like this is you can do this,
25:48
right? And so I'm like, OK, humbling,
25:52
we can do this. So so now I have this unique
25:56
look about me. A skin flap from my leg is what
25:59
covering up where my eye was. And you know, I, I'll have
26:05
people ask, well, Diana, why don't you hide that?
26:08
Or why don't you wear a, you know, a pirate patch or
26:13
something like that? I did.
26:16
Make me a pirate. I could and that was actually
26:20
one of the jokes I had had. I'm like, OK, God, I can be a
26:22
pirate. Like if you want my eye like I
26:24
can be, I can be a pirate. But there's nothing comfortable
26:27
about wearing a pirate patch all the time.
26:29
So I have just been, you know what?
26:32
This is who I am and he can use my scar to to shine.
26:36
And it's certainly something that sparks discussion, so.
26:41
How has, how has that impacted your boy as they perceive people
26:49
and how they value people? Because it's something that I'm
26:53
always trying to teach my children.
26:54
You know, there's, there's people that will see walking
26:56
down the street and maybe they have an amputee arm or maybe
27:00
they're missing a leg or maybe, you know, there's, there's
27:02
something off. You know, we, we, we have a, a,
27:06
a common mentor who said, you know, kids, kids on the
27:08
playground are the meanest because they find anything and
27:11
then they create a song about it, right?
27:13
Like, and it's, it's, it's not that they're trying to be mean,
27:17
it's just kids tend to pick out the things that are different.
27:21
They, they, that, you know, God creates us in different ways and
27:24
things differentiate us from other people.
27:26
And so I'm curious, how has that impacted the way that your boys
27:31
see the world just based off of having a mom who's gone through
27:34
that? Yeah, no, you know, children
27:39
have a skill of curiosity and they ask questions that adults
27:45
won't ask, which I really tried to embrace that and connect to
27:52
that. Because when we lose our
27:56
curiosity, we actually, we're missing out right on connecting
28:01
with people or potentially we get, you know, we get furious
28:05
instead of getting curious, right?
28:06
So I, I really work hard to, you know, when kids are looking at
28:12
me funny, I'll pause and say hi, how are you right?
28:15
And smile at him and let them ask me questions.
28:20
And I'll, you know, say to my, you know, preschoolers that I
28:23
see every week at Chapel, you know, when you see me, be
28:26
thankful you have two eyes. I'm thankful I have one.
28:30
And we'll just go through this little banter.
28:33
My children have like watched that.
28:35
So the majority of their growing up years, they saw I worked to
28:39
be a mom that stayed positive. I didn't want to be a victim.
28:42
I wanted them to see that you can navigate through adversity
28:45
and you can do it with a smile, right?
28:48
And I think one of my blessings, right, is when they're with some
28:59
their, of their friends and their mom will say, you know, I
29:02
asked, I asked Grayson about how you're doing and he mentioned
29:06
that you're just always so positive and strong and you
29:09
still show up. And so I love that because he
29:12
probably doesn't ever tell me that directly, but to hear that
29:16
indirectly, OK, I'm doing that. They also are will come to hear
29:23
me speak when they have an opportunity to and they'll
29:27
critique me, which is fine. And or I'll ask them like, you
29:31
know, what story should I tell? What do you think is most
29:33
impactful? And to make them a part of the
29:36
story or the, the journey they are very aware of when we're
29:42
walking around like mom, they're really staring at you.
29:46
And I'll just came to laugh and, you know, smile and it, and it
29:49
makes me look for opportunities to talk to people.
29:55
But I also have on my list, I have a, my marketing team is
29:59
working on some stickers for me to just give to people that
30:02
stare at me. Just get on something so that
30:04
they can use and why. Like, I mean, I don't mind.
30:08
I might as well use the, the stairs to help him pull them.
30:13
So. I was, I was thinking of like,
30:16
man, what would be a really great sticker that you can hand
30:19
to someone who's just staring at you?
30:20
I was thinking of like it, it costs a lot of money to look
30:24
this beautiful. Something something like it's
30:29
not natural or I don't know. They I love the the sense of
30:35
levity that you have about about life, because I think levity
30:39
really is important because we really do take ourselves too
30:43
seriously. We take life too seriously.
30:45
I think God has a sense of humor in a lot of things.
30:48
When we look back on life and we kind of point to things and we
30:50
go, yeah, I see what you were doing there.
30:52
I can I can kind of see the laugh line that goes through out
30:55
there. How How is humor and levity
30:59
helped you to really connect with people throughout your
31:02
life? Well, I mean, it's, it has
31:06
helped me a lot. I think when I think through
31:09
being younger, my grandmother just, she laughed a lot, right?
31:13
She laughed at all different things.
31:14
And so she was known for her laughter.
31:16
You could hear her laughing like forever away, right?
31:20
And so that that's been a huge impact on me with my, my journey
31:26
with cancer, you know, even when I had an eye and it was all
31:29
bruised, my husband, who is my friend at the time, what he
31:36
would get the worst stares because people thought he was
31:38
beating me, right? So we would because I'd be all
31:41
bruised and battered and we would just have fun with that,
31:45
right? Like in this small and laugh
31:47
because why not laugh at it, right?
31:49
Why not laugh at it? I when I had my surgery, I also
31:56
lost my sense of smell because they, they took out my olfactory
32:00
nerve because they think that's how the cancer may have traveled
32:03
like behind to my brain. So I didn't have much smell and
32:10
I was helping my son with his homework and flipping the pages,
32:15
right. And I'm flipping the pages into
32:17
my blind spot because I can't really see the wall to the left.
32:21
And there's a candle over there and I'm flipping and I'm like
32:25
burning his homework, but I can't smell it.
32:28
And so finally he, he realizes what's happening.
32:31
He's like, mom, you're like burning my homework.
32:34
And we just laughed about that, got the fire out.
32:38
And I was like, well, then I, I bet your teacher has never
32:41
gotten an e-mail. My mom burnt my homework like I
32:44
am sure she's. So I, I sent her the e-mail and
32:48
I was like, I'm sure you've never received this e-mail, but
32:51
hopefully it makes you laugh and we're going to send you what's
32:53
left of the homework. So you believe it.
32:57
So it's really what happened. But it's, it's so funny.
33:01
I love that my, my mother during like COVID stuff, she lost her
33:07
senses, She lost smell. And it's interesting because
33:12
sight was also something that there was a moment where was it?
33:16
No, it was hearing. She had like a really bad
33:19
tinnitus and she started to lose hearing.
33:22
And it was probably, it's probably like 6 months or
33:26
something like that, where she just, it was really hard for her
33:29
to hear things and it really challenged her to be
33:34
appreciative of the senses that she had.
33:38
And I'm curious for you, what has that taught you?
33:41
Because I think, you know, a lot of people look at the visual
33:44
pieces and they go that, you know, the visual thing is that,
33:47
you know, the greatest loss. But when you talk about losing
33:50
your sense of smell, using part, losing part of your sight, you
33:53
know, we, you know, we joke about that, you know, the candle
33:55
and, and burning the homework. But there's also something to
33:58
that of going, there's a visual aspect that can kind of be scary
34:02
too of like, well, what if? What if?
34:05
And obviously you don't want to go down that, you know, train of
34:08
thinking. But I'm curious, what has all of
34:12
this taught you about appreciating the most basic
34:16
things, like a sense of smell or the sense of sight?
34:19
Yeah, no, I mean, it's I use it as a reminder, as I mentioned
34:26
with kids right when they asked me, you know what happened to
34:29
you. I'm like, well, I want you to
34:30
remember whenever you see me, right?
34:32
To be really thankful you have two eyes.
34:33
I can still see with one, but if you ever want to feel like what
34:37
it's like to be me, I'll bring a patch in for you to wear for the
34:40
day. But how God made us is
34:43
incredible. Like just how you know your two
34:46
eyes like work together to coordinate everything.
34:49
It was often harder for me to navigate with one eye when 12
34:54
years ago when the left eye was still there, but it was closed.
34:57
So it was stitched shut and it was trying to work, but it
35:01
couldn't work right that I couldn't open.
35:03
That was almost harder for me to to navigate through because it
35:07
was the body knew it was still there.
35:10
Which is amazing on its own to think through how we all all
35:14
work when the smell piece. I wasn't really expecting Susan
35:20
to lose my smell when I went in for surgery.
35:24
I knew I was losing an eye, but that's been kind of interesting
35:29
to navigate through. Lots of laughs too, right?
35:31
I do. People will ask me, do you still
35:33
taste? I still taste.
35:35
I often taste what I can't smell.
35:41
So if somebody sprays a Cologne, normally you would smell it in
35:45
your nose. I'm going to feel it in my mouth
35:47
and the skin flap is going to light up because of the
35:50
different sensation, right? Who knows why, right?
35:54
But it just has remember, right? Like, I mean, it's pretty
35:58
amazing how God's made us and how our body adapts and to just
36:02
be thankful for you know what you have.
36:05
I have to be conscious, right? I'm not.
36:09
I have a blind spot, so if I'm walking beside people, I could
36:13
run into them going into big crowds that I'm not used to
36:16
being around people. I used to just walk with
36:19
confidence through the crowd. Right now I'm going to approach
36:22
it a little differently than I did, but maybe it makes me pause
36:25
more. I don't know.
36:28
Well, I love it. It reminds me of a, of a mentor
36:31
of ours that says walk slowly through the crowd.
36:34
And I, I am curious about this because you are.
36:40
It's funny because as a, as a supportive personality style, as
36:44
someone who likes to navigate the world with maybe a little
36:47
bit more caution, you're also highly driven.
36:51
You, you have a drive about you to achieve, to run to the next
36:56
thing to go. I mean, countless times in your
36:58
life, God has caused you to pause, even even throughout
37:04
your, your, your battle with cancer, like you are still
37:09
working. You were getting treatment and
37:12
your boss had to tell you that you needed to take a break.
37:17
I'm, I'm curious, what is the drive right now that you're
37:22
moving towards what, what inspires you?
37:25
What gets you up in the morning and says, yes, I'm excited for
37:28
this day because of this? What are you driven towards
37:32
right now? No, I think it's probably I'm
37:36
going to give you a simple answer is probably what it's
37:38
been since I was in, in college, right?
37:42
My desire, right, is to add value to people and make a
37:47
positive impact. And so that seems really broad,
37:51
right? But it certainly helps for
37:52
perspective because I, you know, look in the morning and say, OK,
37:58
God, who, where do you want me to add value to today?
38:02
And who like who is you know what, what's there?
38:05
And sometimes I don't always I reflect back on that.
38:08
I don't always get to do that everyday, right?
38:10
We all get busy and distracted with different things.
38:12
But when you approach your day with I'm working to add value to
38:18
people, it's not as much about me, right?
38:22
It's about where I'm best skill to add value to people and make
38:27
an impact. That does work against me
38:30
sometimes, right? Because I place others right and
38:35
their priorities above mine. And that's a fine balance,
38:40
right? And that's where I been working
38:44
through going, OK, gosh, like what, what, what do you have for
38:48
me today, right. Not necessarily what does
38:50
everybody need for me today, but what, what do you have for me
38:53
today? And to work to advocate that way
38:56
with his priority versus mine or the people around me.
39:00
I love that perfection is something I think as human
39:04
beings we like to have in our life.
39:06
We're always moving towards perfection.
39:08
We want to be perfect, we want to look good.
39:10
We don't want other people to talk about us and it in a
39:13
negative way, and perfection can really cause us to stumble a
39:17
lot. I'm curious.
39:19
You've said that imperfection is actually a qualifier versus it.
39:27
Let me think about that. That imperfection can actually
39:30
qualify someone rather than disqualify, because I think a
39:34
lot of us think that if we have an imperfection, it's going to
39:37
disqualify us from being able to do something.
39:40
Why is that important for people to understand that our
39:44
imperfections can actually qualify us for more than what we
39:48
think? You know, I, it was a great, you
39:53
know the title to the book, right?
39:54
Uniquely imperfect, uniquely qualified.
39:57
And that title came from some discussion with Roddy and a few
40:02
others and looking at when I knew I was going to be
40:08
navigating through this journey, I, I didn't want to spend six
40:14
weeks away from home and radiation treatments in Miami.
40:17
Like what was I going to do? I wasn't working.
40:20
Get up, go to radiation and have a whole day.
40:22
And I, you know, went to my doctor and said, well, what can
40:25
I do? Who can I help?
40:27
Do you have patients I can talk to?
40:29
Like, how can I serve? And he looked at me like I was a
40:32
bit crazy at 1st and he's like, Donna, you need to heal.
40:35
But then a few weeks later he called and he's like, Diana, I
40:39
have a patient that needs to undergo a similar surgery and he
40:43
needs somebody to talk to. And that like sparked me to go,
40:47
OK, I, I have this unique journey around me, but it
40:52
uniquely qualifies me to help somebody else that's going to go
40:56
through a similar journey. And so whether it's a, a
41:01
disability, it's a something you've gone through.
41:05
It's you're, you're, I have a unique look right there.
41:07
I'm not going to find many people that look like me, but if
41:11
I can learn from it, if I can let it refine me and not define
41:16
me, then I can help somebody else that is going to go through
41:20
a similar adversity or challenge.
41:23
I can help them to move forward. And that has been a big
41:30
motivator for me, right? It's not about me, right?
41:33
This is a way for God to use my scars to help somebody else.
41:39
I also get that I have this unique look.
41:41
So I can go to the grocery store, I can go to a restaurant.
41:44
They're going to Remember Me. My kids like, oh, wait.
41:48
And but that means I have to be a high bar, right?
41:50
I can't be the grumpy person walking in the door.
41:53
They're going to Remember Me, right?
41:54
I am not in the people pile. I am unique looking.
41:58
So with that comes, you know, some unique accountability I
42:03
suppose, in terms of how I should have.
42:07
I love that they're going to, they're going to Remember Me.
42:10
It's, it's such a it's such a beautiful, really gift that God
42:15
has given you that no matter where you go, people are going
42:18
to remember you Kind of goes back to the Viktor Frankel piece
42:21
of you get to choose how you define how people are going to
42:25
remember you, right. The life is life is going to
42:27
hit. You know, just recently I was
42:30
reading the story of Corey Tim Boom and just even her story and
42:35
how, how the choices that we make and how we respond are so
42:42
important. You know, early on.
42:44
I'm I'm curious because when people get a diagnosis like what
42:47
you got, I'm I'm curious, what is something that you wish
42:51
people had told you like within the first few months of your
42:56
diagnosis? That's an that's an interesting
43:03
one to think about. Within the first few months, I
43:09
suppose one of the things that I'm much more aware of now that
43:13
I wasn't as much then was how much what we eat, the things we
43:21
eat, right fuel cancer, right? Like so processed carbs and
43:27
really help sugar, right, fuel cancer in your body.
43:31
That wasn't anything that a lot of people were talking to me
43:34
about then, right? It was all about, well, let's
43:36
cut it out and let's, you know, cut the cancer out, remove it
43:40
and and keep you moving forward. But what I put into my body
43:46
wasn't anything that I was really being made to aware of
43:49
then. I'm very conscious of it now.
43:51
And I eat differently. I also, I, I probably am more
43:57
physically fit than I was when I was a college athlete because I
44:02
know that you know what I eat? My spiritual health, my physical
44:06
strength. Like those are things I can
44:08
control and influence, and those help me to fight cancer.
44:13
I love that. Oh man.
44:15
Big, Big Sugar is going to start coming after me now.
44:21
Oh, yeah. It's, it's so hard because there
44:24
are so many things that are in our food, not even just like
44:28
the, the natural food, but just so many things that are added to
44:32
our foods that are so unhealthy for us and yet they're so
44:37
addictive. I, you know, what I love about
44:41
your story is the aspect of faith.
44:44
Faith is such a huge component of your story, from a young girl
44:50
to even where you are right now. I'm curious, how has your faith
44:55
changed over the years? You know, like maybe when, when
44:59
did you really start to own your faith?
45:01
When did it become your own? And you started to walk with it,
45:04
and you started to develop and have a relationship with Christ.
45:08
When did that happen, and how did the difficulties that you've
45:12
walked through in life really strengthen your faith?
45:17
That those are great questions. To think I grew up like in the
45:21
church, right? So it becomes like a emotion
45:25
that you grow through maybe not necessarily a relationship at
45:31
that point. I had great examples, right,
45:33
with my parents and grandparents.
45:35
But I think when I was in college and I had that that knee
45:39
injury that I wasn't expecting that challenged my faith a
45:44
little bit more to make it personal and to process and to
45:49
learn from it. I still, I found some of the
45:54
things I wrote, I have still have journals from that point in
45:56
time. And it's interesting to look at,
45:59
you know, the letters I wrote before surgery and gone, OK,
46:01
God's like maybe I didn't pause and listen to you.
46:05
And, and then as I, you know, navigated through college, you
46:09
know, I graduated from college and graduated from my masters
46:12
and you have that element of you wanting to control what happens
46:16
next versus allow God to guide what happens next.
46:19
So I've made some decisions because I wanted to control
46:23
them, control the outcome, not necessarily because that's where
46:27
I felt like God was leading. We all made those right?
46:30
And we can all probably look back and go, OK, I, I probably
46:34
could have paused a little bit. So I would say that I have
46:39
multiple scenarios over life have helped me to mature through
46:41
that. I think within the cancer
46:44
journey, that's an area. That's been.
46:49
A little bit easier for me to rely on God and His guidance
46:55
because it's well beyond anything I can control, right?
47:00
I know that I need to look to Him for guidance and to walk
47:07
with Him right on the journey and allow that to happen in that
47:13
been refined a lot like in in the faith journey and I have how
47:16
many people you know, challenge and go OK, but Diana, you're
47:20
you're a good person. Like why did this happen to you?
47:23
And I well, I thank you. I appreciate that you think I'm
47:26
a good person. I'm far from perfect, but I
47:30
don't you know, God never promised us that life would be
47:34
easy. He just you promised you'd be
47:36
with us and it would work to the you know, all things work to the
47:39
good right of those that that love him.
47:42
And there's been a lot of good that has come out of this cancer
47:48
journey and these tough things happening.
47:50
And so that is yes, my faith has been tested more than ever, but
47:58
I don't how many people look at me and like a Dinah without.
48:04
Let me give a context that I was speaking to a group of
48:07
physicians, like a medical society group, and I didn't talk
48:12
about my faith a whole lot. I just talked about a few
48:14
segments of it. And the gentleman stayed at the
48:17
end and he's like a patient wouldn't be able to stand and
48:21
share like you are doing today without the foundation that you
48:25
have. And that's right, I would say, I
48:30
mean, there's many people that probably have a faith
48:33
foundation. They went to church.
48:35
They haven't figured out how to make it theirs right and to make
48:38
it a real like foundation in a way of living.
48:42
And I, you know, I pray in a hope that it doesn't have to be
48:46
an adversity like mine that helps him to get grounded.
48:50
I. It's I love.
48:52
What you say about that, of just having it be the foundation, and
48:59
if the foundation isn't strong, then you can't build on it.
49:03
And whatever you build on it anyway, if you even if it's not
49:06
strong, if you build on it, it's going to fall eventually.
49:09
But you, you said something that was that is really key, I think
49:12
that a lot of people might miss. And I'd love for you to maybe
49:15
even lean into it a little bit more, which is this idea that
49:18
you're not, you're not alone. You know, God is with you as you
49:22
walk through this, but it's also important to know that you're
49:25
not alone in everything that you do.
49:28
There are always people that are around you.
49:30
I think sometimes we tend to seclude ourselves.
49:33
We remove ourselves from things and we go, well, you know, I'm
49:37
I'm alone and you know, there aren't people around us when
49:40
when there's plenty of people around us who want to be there
49:42
for us that want to get involved.
49:44
How important is community and being intentional with building
49:49
that community around you you? Know I I.
49:55
Can think through different spots in my journey so when I
49:58
was just first diagnosed with cancer, I was maybe this is a
50:04
mom thing, but we want to take care of everything on our own,
50:07
right We were like invincible and I had to allow people in to
50:13
help me right I, I couldn't do it all right so community is
50:17
really important in that aspect. It was also important to me.
50:21
I was asking for help for people I wanted to be able to return
50:24
the favor right. You don't want to be the one
50:26
that's always drawing on the bank account and never putting
50:29
anything back in. And so that was always a balance
50:33
for me. I had to do it differently,
50:34
right? I, I couldn't necessarily be the
50:36
one helping them with their kids when they were helping you with
50:39
mine, but I could later in life, right?
50:42
Like I, it doesn't have to be in that moment, right?
50:44
It's making sure you continue that community.
50:48
One piece, though, I just watching how maybe we define
50:53
community, but it doesn't really feel like real community to me
50:57
is whether it's like social media or things like that.
51:00
And and I have learned greatly that in my problems or in my
51:05
praises right to go to God first and review it with Him.
51:13
Before making it public, whether it's.
51:16
A true community of people that are really close to me or that
51:19
social community that maybe isn't really that real.
51:24
To go to your source, go to him first to review it and refine it
51:29
before you put it out there. That has helped me tremendously
51:34
to just gain his perspective before I try to put it out
51:38
there. I love that you use the refining
51:43
piece because. It kind of, it kind of takes me
51:45
where I really was interested in you with with this idea of more
51:48
than before. I love the refining moments of
51:50
life. I think life is kind of this
51:53
huge fire that heats up and it causes us to be morphed into
51:59
something else. So we get to choose whether we
52:01
go willingly or whether we fight it.
52:05
There's a term Konsugi. Konsugi, right?
52:11
That is a, is a, is a term that you've used.
52:13
It's a Japanese term. I'd love for you to describe
52:17
that for everyone of why that is so important to be morphable in
52:23
life. How has that term played out in
52:27
your life and how do you encourage others to do the same?
52:33
You know that term. I hadn't heard it and I was
52:37
serving at church. I was determined to serve at
52:42
church as soon as I could after my surgery, even on I was home
52:46
for the weekend from radiation treatments and I would show up
52:49
and serve and do coffee and Donuts, whatever.
52:51
And I was asked, you know, Diana, you have every reason for
52:54
us to take you off the list. You know, you don't need to
52:57
serve right now. And I just looked at the the
53:00
lady and I said, but I, I want to serve because there are so
53:04
many people that don't because they use an excuses, use
53:08
excuses. And I want to show them you can,
53:10
you can still show up, right? And I had somebody walk over to
53:14
me when I was serving at the coffee and Donuts counter one
53:17
day. And they said, Diana, you remind
53:19
me of that Japanese form of art, Konsuki, because it is taking
53:25
broken pieces and of pottery and then putting them back together
53:31
into a beautiful piece of art, like using gold and to refine it
53:35
and put it back together into something beautiful.
53:38
And that's what you're doing. And so I, I made me pause and
53:43
tear up. And then I went and looked it up
53:45
and I was like, you know what? That I love that.
53:48
But that's a reminder for all of us, right?
53:51
We can take our scars. They may not be visual like mine
53:55
or are tough situations, right? And those can be refined and
53:58
made into something beautiful that helps somebody else or may
54:03
let you know God be the Potter, inform us and make us into
54:07
something beautiful. Many blessings can flow out.
54:12
It's so good. I love that you bring up the.
54:14
Potter, it's it, it's, it's a beautiful picture.
54:18
And we get to choose whether we're malleable, whether we're
54:22
workable clay or whether we decide to get hard.
54:25
And if we if, if we're not malleable and we get hard, then
54:31
we tend to have to go through that breaking period, you know,
54:35
and, and having to be re put back together.
54:38
No matter what you're, you're going to be morphed into
54:40
something. It's whether or not you choose
54:42
to go through the process willingly or whether you're kind
54:46
of dragged through Diana. I have loved our time together.
54:50
I have one more question here for you before we wrap up.
54:53
But for all of you guys that are listening, if this episode
54:56
resonated with you, I want to encourage you to connect with
54:59
Diana Fritz at like she is just a powerhouse.
55:01
She's amazing. You've hurt her heart.
55:04
You can find her on LinkedIn and you can learn more about her
55:07
leadership, her coaching, her speaking, her amazing book
55:11
uniquely and perfect, uniquely qualified.
55:14
Whether you're navigating leadership or adversity or a
55:17
season of maybe asking of man, what what should I do right now?
55:22
More is being expected of me. Her work is truly a powerful
55:26
reminder for all of us that our imperfections don't disqualify
55:31
us, but they actually prepare us for something great that God is
55:33
doing. Diana the the show more than
55:38
before came out of this idea that I've always had as a kid
55:41
where I couldn't figure out why people just didn't want to get
55:43
better. Why, why don't people want to
55:45
improve? And so I, you know, I played
55:49
around with this idea for a long time and more than before just
55:51
kind of came out. But this concept has really
55:54
become more than before and it's truly grown in its concept of
56:01
it's bigger than me. It's bigger than than anything
56:04
that we could possibly like put our fingers on.
56:06
But I'm curious for you, when you hear the phrase more than
56:09
before, what does more mean to you right now as you've gone
56:14
through life, as you've experienced different things, as
56:17
you've had miracle after miracle that has that has impacted your
56:21
life? What is more now to you than
56:25
before I you? Know, I think.
56:29
It you gain such perspective right?
56:32
Whereas before, right, the I always want like it could be
56:36
certain things, right or something financial or this
56:43
great trip or that what somebody else has, right?
56:46
And you realize when you navigate through those things,
56:50
right, that's not really more right like you, you just gain a
56:55
whole different perspective of what truly more is and and what
57:02
the. Broader, I think the I'm.
57:05
Trying to think about this for my children, right?
57:07
Like what we're here for and what the big picture is, right?
57:10
And you see, you just gain greater perspective as whereas
57:13
before I would have had a totally different lens, right,
57:17
of maybe material things, right? But that's not more right.
57:21
And so perspective shifts that for me.
57:26
I love that it's. So beautiful.
57:28
I thank you so much for jumping on Diana.
57:31
You have such a beautiful story. Reach out, connect with her.
57:35
She is just such a wealth of knowledge, but also she is just
57:40
such a kind person. So I've just loved having you on
57:43
all of you out there. Make sure that you share and
57:46
like this episode. Leave us a review.
57:49
We'd love to know what you thought about it.
57:50
And until next time, remember to be more, see more, and
57:53
experience more than before.