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Genetic Testing And The Weight Of Knowing: What You Need To Prepare For · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices.
• 0:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you very much for joining us.
• 0:06
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• 0:23
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• 0:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So we want to thank you one and all.
• 0:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If this is your first time with us, welcome to the Voices for Voices family.
• 0:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And if you've been with us, welcome back.
• 1:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You're always part of the Voices for Voices family.
• 1:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So yeah, we're at 600 episodes.
• 1:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Pretty wild to think that that's where we're at.
• 1:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And that we've made it this far.
• 1:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh we're gonna talk about genes, uh, not actual kinds of jeans uh you know that we would wear.
• 1:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Sometimes we have heard uh of you know certain certain diseases, certain things that uh really affect the genes of a person, and it could be passed down genetically from you know parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.
• 2:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And there are a lot of a lot of good uh good organizations that do this work, uh, where they do you know different testing for certain genes.
• 2:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And that's a topic we're we're gonna talk about today.
• 2:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh it's very intriguing and life-changing as we think about this.
• 2:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You might say, well, what's the big deal?
• 2:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Well, let's think about it.
• 2:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's say family member, a parent, grandparent, you know, sometimes diseases and different things, they they skip a generation, and some are just continuous uh through through generations.
• 3:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Each generation has the ability to have that impact them uh and and so knowing, so we select and say, yeah, we want to know if we have this particular gene.
• 3:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Um maybe it's a cancer gene or a particular type of cancer gene, and a family member goes and gets tested, and let's hypothetically say they find out that they don't have the gene, and so you know it's a huge sigh of relief because our mental health probably between the time of submitting the test and then getting the results, the mental health of like anxiety, the stress, um, burnout, you know, just thinking about it, ruminating over what could be something that is passed down through each generation of our family, and we don't have control over that.
• 4:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh we don't.
• 4:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We don't have control over whether genetically speaking the gene is passed down, and that we have it in our family, or we don't.
• 5:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's just it's very, very again, it as you know, somebody who has and continues to battle mental illnesses on a day-to-day basis, uh it can be huge, a huge weight lifted off knowing in this hypothetical example that our family doesn't have this particular gene.
• 5:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so while cancer or other diseases might not be passed down genetically, doesn't mean that we still might not get a particular cancer, particular disease.
• 6:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That our family, your family might not have that particular gene, doesn't mean a hundred percent one way or another, just like and so we say, All right, we you know, we dodged a bowl that we know, thank goodness that that our uh our family doesn't have that gene.
• 6:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so these organizations that do this work, it's very important work.
• 7:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We've come a long way to be able to get to this point to be able to do particular testing like this, and then mentally on the other side of things, loved one, parent, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, great grandparents, grandparents, uh what if they go and get tested?
• 7:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And in this hypothetical example, the gene testing comes back positive, meaning the family member who got tested has a particular gene, and then you think about mentally how's that gonna affect us both individually and as a family?
• 8:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Very serious stuff, right?
• 8:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is this is it doesn't get more serious than this.
• 8:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean, you're literally literally talking about genes that we don't have control over, and we don't have control over a whole lot, anyways, but we have even less control over the genetics that come throughout our family, our families, and so then we think about that mentally.
• 9:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you're the family member that gets that testing done and finds out, oh, I got this gene.
• 9:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now what?
• 9:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Well, there's gonna be a whole lot of stress and anxiety because at that point, do you tell the rest of the family?
• 9:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Do you share that information with them?
• 9:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or don't you?
• 9:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so literally the balance of life genetically speaking, in this example has a lot of lot of impact on a lot of people.
• 10:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So it's again, it's one thing to go and get tested, and I think it's just like a mouth swab.
• 10:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I don't know that it's incredibly invasive.
• 10:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Don't quote me on this, I'm going off of kind of first person information.
• 10:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so that's what I have been briefed on.
• 11:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so let's say you or I we we go, we get tested, and say, I want to know.
• 11:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I want to know.
• 11:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And before that, we would potentially think, I wonder how much longer I have to live on earth.
• 11:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What what am I here for?
• 11:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What am I here to do?
• 11:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Why am I still here?
• 11:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so many other people aren't.
• 11:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Why am I still here?
• 11:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And then to find out we we have a particular gene that for all intents and purposes, any day could activate, and our life can change on a on the dime.
• 12:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So I come back to the question.
• 12:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If we do the testing and say, you know what?
• 12:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I want to know.
• 12:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I want it'll better prepare me.
• 12:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Whatever the reasons are, doesn't doesn't matter.
• 12:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It it's your choice.
• 12:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's what you want to do, that's what I want to do, then those are our choices that we're able to do.
• 12:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Able to make, let me say, that way.
• 12:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And that's some very serious stuff.
• 12:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Right?
• 12:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What would you do?
• 13:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Well it maybe you've already done this, I don't know.
• 13:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you've already done if you've already done like a genetic testing for certain things.
• 13:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Right?
• 13:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Did you tell them, hey, I'm gonna go get tested for this particular gene?
• 13:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If not, then it weighs even heavier on us if we get that positive result.
• 13:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Because if we didn't tell anybody we got tested, and then we get that positive, then what do we do?
• 13:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Do we tell?
• 13:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Do we share?
• 14:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it's not as easy.
• 14:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I don't think it's as easy of a question.
• 14:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean, yes, we would like to be uh we would like to to know certain things, but if we're the one that got tested, if we didn't tell anybody we got tested, we got that weighing on us, especially if the result comes back positive, or we let everybody know in our family, and that comes back positive.
• 14:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So you say, okay, we do this test this genetic testing, and I don't know what the time the exact time frame is.
• 15:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if it's two to four weeks?
• 15:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if it's four to eight weeks?
• 15:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if it's one to three months, whatever that is, if we've shared with our family, yeah, I'm gonna go get tested for this, whatever this may be.
• 15:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Could be a particular cancer or cancer in general.
• 15:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Then we we have this situation where other family members start asking us, did you get the results?
• 15:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Did you find out?
• 15:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Do you have the gene?
• 15:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Do you not have the gene?
• 15:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So, from that mental perspective, no matter which way we decide to do the testing, to not do the testing, to tell, not to tell.
• 16:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But if we say, Yeah, I did the testing, and I'm gonna find out in this period of time, within this period of time.
• 16:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Could be a month, could be two weeks, could be three months, I don't know.
• 16:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Whatever it may be, it comes, I guess.
• 16:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And we've told our her family am I gonna plan a big dinner or uh hey everybody come over to the house this date and time.
• 16:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I have some news to share.
• 16:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean I I'd be beside myself that's kind of how I found out like my dad had cancer.
• 17:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We knew he had one to it wasn't feeling good, went to the hospital, certain tests were done, and came back, and so we were at my my my my sister and I were called and asked to come stop by the house, and that's how we were told.
• 17:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So the whole genetic part.
• 17:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You know, that you're on that drive over.
• 17:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Oh my gosh, what is it?
• 17:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Is it yes, is it no?
• 17:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If we know what it's about, then there's a whole nother set of thoughts that could ruminate in our mind on the drive over or taxi over, or Uber over, or walk over, whatever the transportation is.
• 18:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And then we find out, yes, we do have that gene in our family, and my dad, my mom, your dad, your mom.
• 18:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so this so this is a heavy topic, so that that that's number one.
• 18:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Because nobody's God here on earth right now.
• 18:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: None of us are, no matter how much we think we are, uh.
• 19:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: However, with this genetic testing for certain diseases, certain likelihoods, you name it, for whatever that is, if I'm the one that is getting tested and it comes back positive, whether I've told what family or not, it's a huge deal.
• 19:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean, think about it, it'd be in the back of our minds every single day.
• 19:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When am I gonna wake up and start feeling the effects of whatever disease or whatever we were tested on?
• 19:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So it's heavy, heavy stuff.
• 20:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So I just want to say whether we decide to do a particular genetic testing or not, whether we decide to tell our family that we're doing it or not, and if we do it, and we tell our family and they know we're we're getting the test done, it's heavy, life-altering, life-changing.
• 20:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Could change the course of our life, of maybe it's particular type of work we do, whether we want to travel, well, it could it impacts so much, and so part of it is like, all right, well, I'm glad I know.
• 21:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: At least I know this.
• 21:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But what if it's another disease that becomes active?
• 21:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Not the one that got tested, even though, in this hypothetical example, like, oh, I thought it was gonna be this because this particular thing was tested for genetically, and come to find out, I got that.
• 21:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh it and and so that's what I mean.
• 21:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: No, nobody's got.
• 21:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean so I I just wanted to do this particular show because it's life change.
• 22:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Life-changing, life-altering.
• 22:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh it's out there.
• 22:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Organizations do that.
• 22:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I think it's good to have that option if somebody wants to do that particular testing.
• 22:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or if they don't, it just comes down to I guess personal preference.
• 22:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Everybody has their personal preference, and so we have to we have to honor that.
• 22:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If somebody wants to do that testing or similar testing, and then let's just think about like we have a sibling, like I do, and hypothetically, like the family does a testing, and then I'm like, I don't want to know the answer.
• 23:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But maybe my sibling, my sister does, or your sister, or your brother, or you know, would they want they want to know, but you don't, or maybe vice versa, maybe you want to know and they don't.
• 23:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean, talk about things that we would carry with us each and every day.
• 23:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And so there's so many, there's just so many things that we learn about it each and every day.
• 23:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it's our hope and our prayer to each and every one of you that if this particular genetic testing or something similar, if we have family that does that testing, uh then it's up to us if we want to know the answer or if we don't.
• 24:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I mean for me, I don't know.
• 24:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I I I would have to see.
• 24:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I can think about things you know both ways, and how they could be beneficial or not beneficial either way.
• 24:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is a heavy topic and something I hadn't really thought about, and it sure is heck deals with our not only our physical health, but our mental health.
• 25:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Because we could say, Oh, it came back.
• 25:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: No, oh, thank goodness, and then maybe a short period of time passes, and something else, some other type of disease or illness comes over us, and we might think, oh my gosh, we had this testing about this particular area, this particular thing, this disease, this illness, and the answer was no, and then I turn around and now I have this other disease or illness.
• 26:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So again, it's it's something we need to we need to think about.
• 26:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Another thing as we wrap wrap this particular episode up.
• 26:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I don't know what the I know there's a particular name for it since we're talking about you know kind of medically medical things.
• 26:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh I've I've read certain news stories about how right like sometimes if a person goes in for like a surgery or a transplant, like a kidney transplant, or liver, or whatever that may be, they're I think I don't know if it's always, but I I think there's you know potent the dependent the potentiality, if that's a word, uh that we might need like a blood transfusion, like we lose certain blood during a particular surgery or procedure.
• 27:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And and and so you know, we get our we get these, we get this testing, right?
• 27:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If we get like an annual physical with our doctor, a lot of times there's you know blood work that comes with that, and so it's that whole other thing of do I want to know, do I want to go get that blood work done or not?
• 28:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you for joining us.
• 28:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Give us a big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, reshare, repost.
• 28:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Share the Voices for Voices podcast with 25 contacts in your phone.
• 28:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We'll see you next time.
• 28:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's celebrate all the voices in the world and let's be a voice for not only ourselves, but those in need.
• 28:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bye for now.