Latest / Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin / Episode 4: The Veterans Cancer Crisis Nobody's Talking About

Transcript

Episode 4: The Veterans Cancer Crisis Nobody's Talking About · Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you know a veteran, you might want to watch this. Hello,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Francine Juleen here, and welcome to Parents Talk. We're going
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to do something a little different today. I'm here with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: my two fellow veterans, and we're going to talk about
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: something that's very important to the veteran community. And Well,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to the families and even parents of veterans. I have
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: with me Jody Martin, who is my fellow children's author,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Soldier Mom, and a member of Children's Authors Unite. And
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: our special guest today is Ashton Kroner. And I am
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: going to let Ashton explain this wonderful project and this
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: amazing challenge that she and her husband are setting out
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on in June. Ashton, tell everyone all about yourself.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, first of all, thank you for having me. Jodi,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: it's a pleasure to be able to meet you. So
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: my name is Ashton. I am a Marine Corps veteran.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I served in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then I'm also
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the co-founder and current chair for the Veteran Cancer Network.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: We started this actually recently. We started it in 2025.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: And it stems from our own personal kind of growth.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: My husband, he's a late-stage cancer survivor. He's also another
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Marine Corps veteran. And he was diagnosed with stage three
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: testicular cancer whenever he was 34 years old. And it
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: was a challenge just to be able to get that diagnosis.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: And through that, you know, over the last couple of years,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: we kept on asking ourselves is, you know, why did
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: this happen? And what can we do in order to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: be able to, you know, help with this particular cause,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: you know, whenever it comes to veterans getting cancer? Veterans
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: historically are more prone to cancer diagnosis, and that's because
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: of toxic exposure and history. But with the post-9-11 generation,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: they're actually more prone to being able to get it
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: at a younger age, case in point, my husband. So
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: we started the Veteran Cancer Network basically wanting to be
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: the resource that we wish that we had when we
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: were going through his chemotherapy. And we wanted to focus
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: on the entire family because we know that when it
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: comes to medical diagnoses.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: It is a challenge for the entire family. You know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: it impacts everybody. And so that is our goal there.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: And one of the things that we're working on is
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: reducing the stigmas whenever it comes to cancer. A lot
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: of people think of that Hollywood version of cancer that,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: you know, you're immediately going to go through this, you know,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: horrific experience. And yes, it is horrific at times, but
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: there's also a lot of hope and healing that can
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: happen during that timeframe as well. But we also wanted
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to talk about, you know, age and screening specifically. And so,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: This summer, my husband and I are going to embark
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: on probably the toughest journey that we've ever had outside
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of cancer. And we're going to be bicycling from northeast
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Florida to the Green Cove Springs area, all the way
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: up to Washington, D.C., to talk about cancer and early
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: detection and the importance of getting screened.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: That is a long bike ride. But before we get
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: into that bike ride, I want to ask Jodi, how...
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: You were an officer in the Army, and how big
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: an impact would it have on our veteran community to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: get this testing early?
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Well, it would be huge. I was sitting there just
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: completely acknowledging what Ashton was saying as far as, you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: as a military member who did multiple tours overseas, both
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: in Iraq and Afghanistan, as Ashton did, we were exposed
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: to toxins we didn't even know, right? I will say
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: that over the years, VA has gotten, I won't say better,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: but that's the word I'm going to use, better about
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: more quickly recognizing that there are things that we don't
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: see when we're deployed that can affect our health. They're
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: still not perfect at it. It still takes a very
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: long time for them to say, OK, your deployments or
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: your time on a ship or in a desert or
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: wherever that may be could have affected your health. And
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: this is how it's being connected. So if there's testing
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: out there that we can say, hey, get this early
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: and often because you were exposed to burn pits, whatever
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: that may be. I think that would save a tremendous
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: amount of struggle that some of our guys and gals
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: are going through to try to find the right testing
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: to let them know what's going on with their bodies.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, Ashton, you have been collecting signatures. Did you get
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: all you needed? And what were those signatures for?
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: So through this, we wanted to basically get the American
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: public behind us. And so we created a petition on change.org.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: talking about the issues at hand whenever it comes to
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: veterans getting, you know, getting screening. And so through our,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you know, through our endeavors, you know, we've encountered a
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: lot of, basically a lot of people that are saying, yes,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I want to be able to support, but they didn't
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: know how, which is why we created the petition in
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the first place. But we are a little over 9,000 signatures.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: So a fun little story. We, my husband and I,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: we're getting ready to train this last Saturday for We
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: were going on a 60 mile bike ride and we
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: woke up that morning and there was a little over
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: 700 signatures and the change.org petitioners, actually the people that
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: actually work behind the scenes and, and, you know, getting
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: this website up and going. They had reached out a
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks beforehand and they said, Hey, we really
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: believe in your mission. You know, how can we support you?
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: And would you be interested in having that elevated, you know,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: through like an email campaign or put on, you know,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: their website and so forth.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: And we're like, yeah, sure.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Well, We woke up Saturday morning. There was only 700 signatures.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: And we rode for about four and a half hours. Sorry,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: not miles, but four and a half hours. And all
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, I'm starting to get da-ding, da-ding, da-ding,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: all these notifications. And in the matter of a two
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: and a half hour period, we had over 1,500 additional signatures.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And it's just kind of, you.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Know, exploded.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: So we don't have a number that we're trying to reach.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: What we do is have it as a date, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: so we actually go on our bike ride June 13th.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: And so we want to be able to collect as
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: many signatures prior and during the ride. So when we
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: get to Washington, D.C. and we start talking and educating
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: members of Congress and the Senate. about the issue of
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: early cancer detection for our veterans is we want to say, hey,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the American public is behind us, which right now we are.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're getting.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Overloaded with just the amount of love and support saying, hey,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I've known somebody that's had cancer or we need to
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: do better for our veterans.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: It's just been an outpouring.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: But on our website, the VeteranCancerNetwork.org, you can go on there.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: You can find our petition on there and be able
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: to sign it. I would love to be able to
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: go to D.C. and say that we have 15,000 signatures
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: or 20,000 signatures. And I think that we'll be able
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to get, you know, get that with the support of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the community.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: How can we help besides just signing the petition? Is
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: there any other way we could help you achieve your goal?
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that my husband and I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: are doing is we have our own podcast and we
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: want to be able to elevate, you know, people's stories,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: not just, you know, veterans that are going through cancer
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: or have gone through cancer, but their caregivers, their family members,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: you know, because we understand that it is a family battle.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And the importance of doing that is, you know, because
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: it's scary getting that diagnosis. You know, I remember when
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: my husband was going through that and he had texted
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: me saying, hey, you know, I have cancer. And I'm
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: like looking at my phone like, what did he just
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: text me? It immediately kind of put us into a
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: completely different stratosphere, you know, of the unknown.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: And we didn't really know how to navigate that. And so.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: We want to share that story, not just ours, but
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: others as well, you know, and talking about, you know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: what does that screening process look like? What does chemo
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: look like or radiation, you know, and what is life
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: after chemotherapy look like or after a cancer diagnosis? Because
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: we don't want people to sit there and think that
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: it is a, you know, diagnosis that's going to end
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: their life. And in some cases, it does happen, don't
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: get me wrong. But There is so many advances whenever
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: it comes to medical technology and the science behind there
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: that people are living full and healthy lives afterwards. And
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: so we're wanting to normalize that conversation and let people
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: know that cancer isn't as scary as Hollywood makes it
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: out to be. Along that, we also highlight resources as well.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: And so if you know veterans, you know caregivers, you
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: know a resource, we would love to be able to
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: engage and start normalizing that conversation. along with, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: being able to just support us by following us on
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: social media. You know, obviously I will never not say
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: no to money because, you know, right now we are
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: 100% self-funded, but really just getting that, you know, that
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: message out there and letting people know that there is
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: a resource out there for them. And then sharing our,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you know, sharing our mission.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I just read Jodi's newest book of being in service.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: And it's a children's book. Jodi, you wrote about how
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: kids could be in service. How do you think a
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: kid could help with Ashton's mission?
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Well, I will say this, Ashton. I write a lot
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: about how service affects the family, right? The family serves
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: right alongside. They feel it in different ways, obviously. They're
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: not actually putting boots on the ground. But in the
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: case of a diagnosis like this, again, the family is serving.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: So when I think about, let's say something happened to
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: me and what my kids could have done at that time,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: especially when they were little, they're all grown up now,
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: so it's a little different. But if they were littles,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: there's things that they could do. One, they can rally
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: around their parents, right? They can show love and service
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: through helping out whoever is in the room, that's sick.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: It could be male, female. In this case, it's your husband.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: But they also can share with their classmates, share with
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: the school. You never know when you open up those doors,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: those kids go to school and they say, hey, my
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: dad's sick. You know, what if somebody at school, for
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: whatever reason, is struck by that and they want to
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: do a funding, right? A donation kind of event. So Also,
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: it raises awareness, right? Again, there's all the parents that
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: are involved with the school, with the kids. There's just
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: so many things that they could do just by not
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: being scared by the cancer diagnosis. Like you were saying,
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: it's not as scary as it may seem. Maybe first off,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: I would imagine. But there are things that the kids
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: could do. And that also helps them go through the
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: healing process by just talking about it. That's what I
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: would think.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: It helps reduce the stigma. Like Ashton started from the
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: very beginning, there's a stigma, especially for those of us
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: who are in the military. We're taught to, well, shake
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: it off. You know, suck it up and run. Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: And I think that the kids could help alleviate some
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: of that by saying, it's okay to be vulnerable. It's
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: okay to be sick. Let us help take care of you.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Kids are so resilient. I'm always amazed at how well
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: they can adjust and how positive an outlook that they have.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: There have been times that I've had a very difficult
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: situation going on. And when my kids were little, they
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: would just say something or hug me or whatever. And
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: it was a simple gesture and it went a long way.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: I do want to ask Ashton a question because you
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: were saying a few things that I thought would really
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: resonate with different groups that I'm associated with, veterans groups. Um,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: so if other veteran groups want to get involved, so
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Francine and I both, and maybe you're part of it,
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Salty Women's Veterans Facebook group, right?
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Love them.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: Have you shared with people groups like that of what's
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: going on? Because as we know, this affects us all.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: I don't think we could ever go in service and
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: come out like not affected by something, right? So I'm
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: just wondering, is there some way that, like, I can
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: even share, because I come from a very heavily veteran
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: family as well. They would all love to participate, sign
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: a petition at the very least, because that costs them nothing, right?
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: You know, I will say, yes, I have shared on some,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you know, some of the pages. I know the Service
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Women Who Serve page, you know, Mary Ellen Salzano, she's
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: always sharing, you know, what we have going on. I share, actually,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: it's very interesting. Veterans Um, they are hard to deal
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: with at times. And I could say that because I
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: am one, you know, but, um, you know, it's, it's
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: interesting because I can sit there and share a message
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and depending on, you know, who is commenting, like I've
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: had people say, Oh, you know, I, I think it's, uh,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of, you know, you, you were just
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: building something that the.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: VA is already doing.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, yes, I am, you know, but
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, there's people that don't
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: use the VA, you know, only 9 million veterans are
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: using the VA. And so, There's a little bit of
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: that cynicism at times as well, whenever it comes to
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: these groups. And the Salty Woman Veterans page is definitely
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: like that's why I love them so much is because,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: you know, you could sit there and have a really
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: heavy day and then go find a completely inappropriate meme
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: in that group or, you know, some commentary. Um, but
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: it's interesting, you know, the, the groups that we put out,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: you know, put out for and everything, uh, you know,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: some of them are, are so incredibly supportive and other
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: ones are like, you know, this is just another nonprofit
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: and I get it. You know, like I said, it's
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: no hard feelings on that one or, you know, even worse,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: you know, I have veterans sitting there saying, well, I
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: just don't want to know. I'm like, well, what do
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you what do you mean you don't want to know?
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: It's like, I just don't want to know if I
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: have cancer. You know, it's like, well, that's interesting, because,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: you know, it's easier to treat somebody in stage one
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: or stage two versus stage three and four. You know,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you want to know, you know, earlier on so
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: you can get treated? And they were like, no, I
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: think I would just rather be surprised, you know, surprised
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: about it. And so that actually was very, very surprising
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: to me. And I got that a lot in these
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Facebook groups that are, you know, focused for veterans. Um,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: but yes, when it, when it comes to veteran organizations,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: wanting to be able to help the ones that truly see,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: you know, a need and, you know, an understanding of,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: of what we're trying to do here. I mean, it's
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: just natural. We want to be able to uplift those
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: groups to that collaboration. I know we use that word
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: a lot in a lot of these different groups, but, um,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: that is the only way for us to really be
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: able to get our message out there is by sharing
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: what others are doing and trying to kind of have
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: that crossover message, you know, on all, all these platforms. Um,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: But yeah, our biggest thing that we, you know, we're
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: looking for is people coming out, looking at our social medias,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: following us, because we're giving, you know, we're giving good
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: advice on there, you know, looking out for some of
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: the symptoms of, you know, these various cancers or where
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: we're going to be at on our bicycle ride. You know,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: we would love for, you know, the Salty Woman Veterans Group,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you know, to come cheer us on when we're in
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: certain towns, you know, going up the coast, because we
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: want to talk to veterans locally. We want to uplift them.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: We want to hear about their businesses. We want to
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: hear about these nonprofits or for-profits. healthcare programs, we want
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: to hear for them to help highlight the work that
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: they're doing as well, because in turn, it's going.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: To help us.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: I'm really kind of taken aback. Francine, you're muted. I'm
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: really kind of taken aback by some of the feedback
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: that you got on the cancer diagnosis, diagnoses. Because I
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: guess on one hand, as a veteran, we tend to go,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: we don't have any emotions. The I get what I get, right?
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: But on the other hand, if you have ever known
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: somebody who's had a diagnosis that had something to do
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: with their service, it changes your outlook. So I think twofold,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: you're hitting people that have not been affected by it
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: in any way yet. And I think those are the
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: people that are giving you the feedback you're getting. The
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: other ones are that, well, there's three. the people that
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: have already had a diagnosis in their life of some sort.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: So they're open to it and much more in tune
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: with that. And lastly is the group that they don't,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: they don't know to even be aware of it yet.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: So you just by getting out there and letting them
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: know that this is available and that you can send
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: them to other resources, whether it's the VA or other
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: supportive areas, you know, in a month, in a year,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: in two years, they're going to be like, Hey, I remember.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: And they're going to come back. So, You're planting the
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: seeds for something that could also continue to grow. So
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: even though you're getting some very few negative feedback, I
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: think what you're doing is incredible and it's going to
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: get bigger because the diagnoses aren't going away. So thank you.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: And I find it, I mean, it's definitely interesting that
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: you say that because when I start sharing facts and statistics,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: that's when people actually start listening. So just to kind
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: of throw, and it's kind of the boring part of
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the conversation, but, you know, one in three males and
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: one in four females are going to have cancer in their,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: you know, cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. But with the
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: veteran population, you're 30 percent more likely to get cancer.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: And that's because of the exposures, you know, from all
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: the way even from boot camp where you're stationed at,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: you know, just everything in general. And that goes with
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: anybody that is in a particular job field where you're
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: going to have, you know, these different types of exposures.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Firefighters are right along with us, the first responder community
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: in general.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: So.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, it's, it's going to impact somebody that,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: you know, in your life. I mean, heck there's three
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: of us here. If we have one more female, guess what?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: We are more likely to, you know, have one of
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: us in, in this, uh, in this room right now talking.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: And getting cancer.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: So, um, we want to, you know, sit there and
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: tell people like, Hey, you don't have to use us.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: You can use whoever you want, you know, for, you know,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: for your resources, just that we're here in case you
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: need us. You know, we want the resource to be
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: available for you because that's what we wanted when we
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: were going through it.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I think the biggest resource you're providing is going up
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to Washington as an advocate for the rest of us.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: So how can we support that trip?
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: So first of all, my husband and I, we have
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: a couple of donors that are helping fund us, but
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: predominantly it's coming from our own pockets. So we are
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: looking for places along the route that we can lay
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: our heads each night. We have a safety vehicle, so
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: we're going to need at least two rooms and a shower,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: preferably a shower because it's going to be hot and
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: stinky in June and my husband and I have to
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: kind of live next to each other. But trying to
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: find somewhere that we could sit there and lay our heads,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: whether it's a hotel or somebody's couch or whatnot along
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the route, that's going to be really helpful.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: Meals as well.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Like I said, there's at least three or four of
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: us that are going to be biking or on with
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: the safety vehicle, and so we want to be able
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: to provide for them as well. But the biggest thing is,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: you know, prayers, riding bicycles, you know, on the road is,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: you know, a relatively dangerous, you know, endeavor at times. So,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: you know, just keeping us in our thoughts and prayers,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: you know, at absolute minimum, you know, and just letting
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: people know that we're going to be going into, you know,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: these towns. You know, we have a couple of stops
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: along the way that we're looking for organizations that we
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: can reach out to. I know Savannah, Georgia is our
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: very first stop that we're going to be stopping in.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: So absolutely, we would love to be able to say hi.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: But we want to be able to sit there and again,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: highlight those towns and what veteran resources are available, what
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: veterans are available. businesses are there. Same thing with healthcare
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: and so forth. But Savannah, Georgia, Beaufort, South Carolina, Jacksonville,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: North Carolina, and Washington, DC, those are our big days
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: that we want to be able to hear from the
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: community and let them know like what their needs are,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: you know, because when we're going up to DC, yes,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: we are going to be talking to, you know, the
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: You know, the leadership over, you know, on the Hill
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: about this issue. We want to educate them, you know,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: on that there is a real issue whenever it comes
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: to veterans getting screened. Right now, the average age to
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: start screening is 45, and that's for colon and rectal cancer.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Most people, you know, are getting cancer, you know, like
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I said, younger and younger. But those screenings don't start
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: until 45. And so utilizing like the multi-cancer early detection
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: blood tests or the MSED for short is a way for,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: you know, doctors to be able to get a little
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: bit more time and, you know, another opportunity for them
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: to be able to get screening.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: And we want that in the VA.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: You know, we want to utilize AI services and being
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: able to help with proper diagnosing to, you know, get
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: them to the MSED test for, you know, screening.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot that we're trying to be able
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: On the VA side of the house, but then on
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the civilian, this is where I think civilian healthcare workers
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: can really help because if anybody has ever been to
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: the doctor, Francine, Jodi, please step in. But have you
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: ever been asked, have you served in the military? I mean,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: usually you don't, and that's a whole factor. I mean,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: we get asked, do you feel safe at home? Do
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: you have You know, do you have food in your belly?
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Do you have, you know, like a, you know, do
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: you have somewhere to lay your head at night? But
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: they're not asking those factors of, you know, have you
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: served in the military? What were you exposed to? Because
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: that goes right back to your health as well. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: so we're looking for civilian health care partners to start
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: asking those questions to identify veterans because 60 percent of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: veterans don't use, you know, the VA. And that's where
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: most of the civilian, you know, civilians think that we're
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: going for health care. And that's that's not the case.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: You are absolutely correct. And, um, I mean, I do
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: a mix. There are certain things I go to the
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: VA for, right. Cause you know, I have my disability
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: as well. So I go there for care, but I
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: also have a civilian side and I make sure I
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: share with them my military experience because I mean, I
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: just don't know how things are connected. And, um, I'm
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: a pretty smart gal and can look, you know, I
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: do my own research, but something like this really opens
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: my eyes.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: You know, that's not an uncommon thing. In fact, a
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: lot of the veterans that we're encountering aren't utilizing the VA.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: They're diagnosed outside of the VA. And I think that's
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: also part of the problem as well is, you know,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: when we look at, you know, the signature injury right
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: now for post 9-11 veterans is PTSD and TBI. for
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: those that have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. But there
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: is not really a full system of people, you know,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: identifying as veterans that are getting cancer. You know, we
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: have those that go through the civilian health care and
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: they get reported, you know, cancer to.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: The state CDC.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: For those that are active duty, they go on the
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: military side of the house. They have their own reporting.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: And then the VA has their own reporting that they're
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: sitting there looking at. None of those systems are talking
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: to one another. So how can you identify an issue
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: if you can't even get a proper read on what's
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: happening in the community? And that goes even beyond cancer
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: as well. Who knows what all type of misdiagnostics is
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: happening because of service-related risks?
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Well, and I'm going to give you a case in point. Now,
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: this is not cancer, but it's the same kind of story.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: So my mom, who served 20 years in the military
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: as well, was just recently diagnosed with ALS. Did you
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: know ALS diagnoses are tied directly back to surface? It's
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: something that the VA has put together, and you're considered
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: 100% disabled if you get that diagnosis. So when I
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: think about cancer, and if you've served, why isn't the VA.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: Connecting that immediately.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Well, and it's interesting when you talk about the VA
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: in general, you know, a lot of people use it
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: for the benefit side, you know, their VA rating to
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: get compensation. uh, cancer is not one of those things
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: that you can get, you know, you can get it
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: for TDIU, but once you are cured in remission, you know,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: then that, that actual rating goes away. You can get
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: it for like secondary. Um, but cancer is one of
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: those lifelong things. You're more likely to get cancer again
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: and to have your benefits stripped away from you, um,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: because you are feeling better, you know, really isn't, you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: isn't an appropriate thing. Cause I mean, again, you're going
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: to have lifelong, you know, issues usually from your either
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: chemo or your, your radiation. And I think that's a,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: That's another gap that, you know, hopefully the Veteran Cancer
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Network is going to be able to invest some time
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: in once we get the screenings figured out.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I want to circle back because while you were all talking,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I had this wonderful idea coming back to how the
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: kids could help. What if it's the end of the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: school year and I know kids are going to not
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: be doing a whole lot after school's out? And you're
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: going to be riding through their towns during this time.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: What if you put out your schedule ahead of time
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: to let everyone know and almost make it like a
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: big parade where they could cheer you on as you
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: go through their towns?
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, that would be fantastic. Our route is planned, by
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: the way. We know exactly what day and what town
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: we're going to be in. I'll have to ask my
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: husband to see if he put it on the website,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: but it should be if not, you know, it should
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: be on there relatively soon. But yes, we would love that,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: you know, and going back to how the kids can help,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: you know, and I saw this when my husband was
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: going through his infusion program. You know, there's a lot
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: of families that are out there that they're in those
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: hospital rooms by themselves, you know, and you get this
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: with the, you know, a lot of the elderly, you know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: elderly community as well. I mean, isolation is a real,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: you know, real issue, but within the veterans, you know, especially,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of them, they're doing this infusion
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: treatment themselves. And so I know it's, I know a
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: lot of people, you know, when we were on deployment,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: we would get those handwritten cards from like the third
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: graders and fourth graders.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, I loved those.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, we get so many of them. You know,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: you feel bad that you couldn't write back to them. But,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: you know, that really does work, you know, and whenever you're,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: you know, having those long infusion. I mean, you're talking
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: about eight hour days of just sitting in a chair. Um,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: you know, so we would love to be able to,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: you know, share that with the oncology centers that, you know,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: we're partnering with, that we're working with, um, being able
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: to get those handwritten letters, you know, heck, even if
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: just send them to my house, we'll sit there and
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: distribute it to, you know, the oncology. Um, but then,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: you know, going back to what Jodi said about, you know,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: other kids not knowing what other kids are going through,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: you know, whenever it comes to the family. So my
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: husband and I, you know, we were, um, you know,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: obviously very young. Our son was very young at the
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: time he was in, you know, first grade. And, you know,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: he was going to school like, you know, everything was
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: hunky dory and normal and everything, even though we weren't
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: home for weeks at a time. Um, and so, you know, having,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: you know, kids just, you know, they're resilient, they're great
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: and everything, but, you know, just being friendly, you know,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: cause it's, it's hard, you know, to sit there and
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: be like, oh, so-and-so's dad has cancer.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: You don't talk to them.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: You know, that is, you know, very demoralizing for kids,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: you know? So just, you know, going out and doing
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: regular fun things, you know, make, you know, treating them
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: normal too. Like we lost, you know, people, you know,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: like they, they stopped talking to us because they didn't
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: know how to talk to somebody with cancer. And that
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: went the same with our kid as well. So just
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: having that normal conversation, it's like, hey, you want to
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: come play? You want to come over to our house?
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we might say no, you know, because there's something
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: going on. But, you know, just being there for your
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: community whenever you get a diagnosis, you know, that is,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: you know, unfavorable to the family, you know, just treat
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: them normal. And kids are so great about doing that
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: the majority of the time.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I think it depends on how the parents teach them.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, they model, they model everything. So the kids
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: learn by seeing what their parents are going through. And
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: quite frankly, there might be those periods where they're all
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: about to have a meltdown. But then they all might,
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: you know, rally. So there are going to be those moments.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: But I agree with Ashton that sometimes just some normalcy
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: goes a long way when you're going through something like that.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: First of all, I had a question, the bike ride
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: that you guys are getting ready to do. I know
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: you have your route picked. Are you guys going to
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: be doing any live podcasting or live streaming? Like maybe
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: showing your bicycle ride, almost getting run over, you know, whatever.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: So we actually, uh, we, we, we are going to
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: be doing some, uh, you know, live recording, you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we're going to be doing it during,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: cause if people are, you know, texting and that kind
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: of stuff while we're doing, I don't know if we're
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: going to be able to read and write at the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: same time, but we will try our best.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: You know, I, I am, if anything, uh, you know,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: hardheaded on that one. Oh, good idea. Actually, we do
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: have some of those. But yes, no, we are going to.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Be doing updates, you know, along the route every day,
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: we're going to be posting a new video, it's probably
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: not going to be our edited versions that we normally have,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: it's just going to be us raw me red face,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: most likely sweaty and gross, talking about how I'm regretting
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: my decisions. But, you know, at the end of the day,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: you know, we that is the whole reason we are
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: doing this is we want to bring awareness on this issue. And,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: you know, our big thing is we want to be
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: able to in each town be able to find a veteran,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: a veteran organization, a business, to talk with us you
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: know share what they're doing you know has cancer impacted
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: their life has it not you know it doesn't matter
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: it doesn't even have to be about cancer just letting
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: people know that hey we're in this town and we
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: want to support them and we want others to support
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: them too that would.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: Be amazing that would be just like i was just
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: envisioning what you were saying you get to a town
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: maybe there's a restaurant that's veteran owned.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Right and you go there.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: Whatever that is you're highlighting, I just think that's fantastic.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: And that's something that we definitely need help with.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: If there is, and we'll put all of the stops,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: you know, in the days on our website, I'll make
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: sure that's on there. You know, if, if there are
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: people that want to, you know, host us or come,
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: you know, talk, come talk with them, if we have availability,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: we would love to be able to do that, but
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: just send those recommendations over to us. And then I'll
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: reach out or somebody from my board will reach out
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: so we can talk with them. Cause This is what
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: this is all about is that community and, you know,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: showing how the veterans can come together and hopefully kick
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: cancer's butt.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you'll get a lot of feedback from
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: once you put out the schedule and you say, hey,
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: we're going to be in your town. And you'll find
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: ways that people are supporting you in those small but
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: big ways. Right.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: What is your website? So if somebody's watching, they could
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: go check out your website.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: It's VeteranCancerNetwork.org and all of our socials are on there.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: It's spelled exactly as it sounds. So VeteranCancerNetwork.org, you can
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: go on there and, you know, you can follow us
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: on all of our socials. We're on all of them
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: to include TikTok. I've yet to actually be comfortable doing
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: any lives on there, but maybe one day.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: But yeah, we're all on there.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Facebook and LinkedIn, those are probably our more popular ones.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: And then we're on, our podcast is on all Apple, Spotify,
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: All the platforms.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: I need to find you on LinkedIn.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: Yes, please do. Veteran Cancer Network.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: VeteranCancerNetwork.org.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: I have a quick question about the petition. So you
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: have about 9,000 signatures right now, right? Correct. And on
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: the Veterans Network that you just talked about, we should
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: be able to find a link to sign the petition. Correct. Yeah.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: So on our, on our website, you know, you can
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: go on there and they have an area for the
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: petition on there. It's on the top, very top bar.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: They also have like the donate has the, it talks
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: about pedal for impact. You know, it talks about just
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: the ring, just ring the bell initiative as well. That's
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: one of our fundraisers. So all of that is on
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: our website and you can, you know, follow, follow our
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: journey on there as well.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Okay. Perfect.
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: That helps me. Cause I'm going to go out and sign.