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Fight Breast Cancer at Susan G. Komen's More Than Pink Walk on October 26 · The iHeart SoCal Show

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Speaker 1: Hi, It's Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart So
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Speaker 1: Cal Show, all right.
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Speaker 2: So the end of this month, Sunday, October twenty.
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Speaker 1: Six, thousands are coming together at the LA State Historic
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Speaker 1: Park for the annual Susan G Coman More Than Pink
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Speaker 1: Walk to raise crucial funds to fight breast cancer and
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Speaker 1: for breast cancer awareness. And no one knows more about
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Speaker 1: that than Nicole Delansky, who's on with us. She's a
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Speaker 1: busy working mom who's also thankfully a breast cancer survivor.
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Speaker 1: Diagnosed back in twenty twenty three. Nicole underwent multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation,
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Speaker 1: all the terrible stuff, but now is transitioned to preventative
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Speaker 1: drug therapy, which she'll talk all about. And she's part
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Speaker 1: of the La Chapter of Coman's advisory board and their
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Speaker 1: board chair. And she's got a big old team walking
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Speaker 1: on Sunday, October twenty six that she'd love for you
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Speaker 1: to join and support.
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Speaker 2: So Hi, Nicole, Hi, Lissa.
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Speaker 3: So happy to be here.
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Speaker 2: Well, Nicole, and so impressive.
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Speaker 1: I was looking on the website coman dot org slash
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Speaker 1: Ella County Walk, and I could see already you got
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Speaker 1: your team's looking healthy A lot of people walk on
0:59
Speaker 1: your team. You've got a chunk of money already raised,
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Speaker 1: so yeah, you're doing it.
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Speaker 3: Yes, we've got So last year was my first walk
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Speaker 3: because it was my first what I call cancer versaries,
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Speaker 3: So it was one year from my diagnosis date, and
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Speaker 3: I was just feeling like the experience was already kind
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Speaker 3: of slipping away from me and life, busy, life was
1:18
Speaker 3: moving on. I'd finished like the majority of my treatment,
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Speaker 3: and I was just looking for an opportunity to just
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Speaker 3: connect with community and people who understood the experience. And
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Speaker 3: so last year I went by myself, by just a
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Speaker 3: little old me fundraising with a group of friends who
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Speaker 3: did the walk with me, and we had so much
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Speaker 3: fun last year that we decided to form a team
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Speaker 3: called the Tired APS Moms Association, which I hope other
1:44
Speaker 3: folks can relate to. And you know, not only are
1:47
Speaker 3: we tired and you know moms who have got busy lives,
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Speaker 3: but were also just tired of the fact that every
1:54
Speaker 3: year is another year where our friends and family are
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Speaker 3: affected by breast cancer. So you know, we're tired in
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Speaker 3: a lot of ways. But we're using the walk to
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Speaker 3: spread the good word and get people together and hopefully
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Speaker 3: raise some good money to fight this disease.
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Speaker 1: Well, and you say, you're you know, you're a tired
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Speaker 1: mom and obviously probably exhausting to go through what you
2:15
Speaker 1: went through. And also pretty much everyone that I know,
2:18
Speaker 1: we're tired of talking about cancer and even tired of
2:21
Speaker 1: doing these walks, having to do these walks, you know,
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Speaker 1: I mean, wouldn't it be incredible if in our lifetime
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Speaker 1: we could just get rid of this thing?
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Speaker 3: Yeah?
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Speaker 2: You know, it's one thing to do.
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Speaker 1: These walks who support you know, friends, family, people that
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Speaker 1: you love, or just even total complete strangers. But to you, now,
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Speaker 1: it's so personal because it happened to you. Breast cancer
2:39
Speaker 1: happened to you.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it also happened seemingly out of the blue.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I just my quick backstory is I my
2:48
Speaker 3: cancer was detected early on, thank god, But it was
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Speaker 3: by way of just an annual screening though, you know,
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Speaker 3: for anybody who is delaying those checks. You know, that's
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Speaker 3: part of why I love being involved with this group,
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Speaker 3: is just to promote early detection and awareness. But I
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Speaker 3: had no no history of health issues. I had no
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Speaker 3: history of breast cancer in my family. I don't have
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Speaker 3: one of the genetic variants that predisposed me to the disease.
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Speaker 3: So you know, I think when people are affected by
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Speaker 3: this disease, they think to themselves, well, there must be
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Speaker 3: some you know history or and it's and it's and
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Speaker 3: it is true in some cases, but certainly not in
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Speaker 3: all cases. So yeah, I'm an example of just not
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Speaker 3: not having any of the quote unquote warning signs and
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Speaker 3: yet having the benefit of getting it detected early through
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Speaker 3: annual screenings, which I'm super grateful for.
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Speaker 1: No cole can I ask how young were you when
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Speaker 1: you got diagnosed then? Because it was recent obviously, but
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Speaker 1: how young were you?
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Speaker 3: So I'm forty seven, almost forty eight now, and I
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Speaker 3: was detected at forty five, which I kind of get
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Speaker 3: a giggle out of people saying, well, you're young for that,
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Speaker 3: which which is like, you know, forty five and young.
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Speaker 3: I don't know how often you say that in the
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Speaker 3: same sentence, but you know, young for breast cancer detection
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Speaker 3: and honestly getting younger, which is part of why we're
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Speaker 3: shining a light on early detection and awareness. And yeah,
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Speaker 3: forty five and it's gone by fast, almost two year
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Speaker 3: cancer versary from my diagnosis in October twenty twenty three.
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Speaker 1: And so that was a mammogram that revealed that your
4:22
Speaker 1: annual mammogram YEP.
4:24
Speaker 3: A mammogram and also an ultrasound. So just through other
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Speaker 3: annual screenings, that was made clear that I had dense
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Speaker 3: breast to which depending on you know, what your doctor recommends,
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Speaker 3: also requires some additional screening through an ultrasound, And so
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Speaker 3: I happened to have both scheduled on that day. The
4:45
Speaker 3: crazy part is I had a morning appointment. I was
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Speaker 3: patting myself on the back for having you know, scheduled
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Speaker 3: my mammograms. And it turns out I was diagnosed that day.
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Speaker 3: And I wasn't even the first breast cancer diagnosis in
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Speaker 3: that office on that day. Bread cancer diagnosis before noon
5:03
Speaker 3: on a random Thursday, you know. And two years later,
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Speaker 3: here we are being part of a group that of
5:08
Speaker 3: course nobody wants to be a part of. But right
5:10
Speaker 3: right it is, you know, huge in number.
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Speaker 1: Well in the self exams we could do anytime, all
5:15
Speaker 1: the time, and I'm gonna do it right now while
5:17
Speaker 1: I'm talking to you. I hope that's not weird talking
5:19
Speaker 1: about you know, self exams are important. Self exams. We
5:23
Speaker 1: can do them Yep, it does count one of them. Anyways,
5:26
Speaker 1: we can do them anytime, probably not when you're ovulating,
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Speaker 1: but the annual mammograms are so so crucial, and like
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Speaker 1: you said, if you have dense breasts, as do I.
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Speaker 1: Last year I had a couple of lumps removed. Thankfully
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Speaker 1: they turned out to be benign, but still just always scary.
5:40
Speaker 1: But when we get the clean bill of health, you're like, who,
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Speaker 1: all right, I'm.
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Speaker 2: Good for a year. But within that year, like a lot,
5:45
Speaker 2: a lot can happen.
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Speaker 1: So you have been just fine until forty five, and
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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, there's one screening everything changed.
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Speaker 1: So so what happened after the diagnosis and how how
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Speaker 1: was your journey you know, to where you are now?
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Speaker 3: It was it felt like time had stopped. As soon
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Speaker 3: as I heard the words, I'm sorry to tell you,
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Speaker 3: but it looks like cancer, which were the exact words.
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Speaker 3: I'll never forget them. And certainly, you know, you go
6:10
Speaker 3: into a period of shock and then you mobilize. It's
6:12
Speaker 3: like what do I do next? Then you talk to
6:16
Speaker 3: somebody who's been through it before. They say, oh, you
6:18
Speaker 3: need a care team, you need an oncologist, you need
6:20
Speaker 3: a radiologist. You need a surgeon, and so I leaned
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Speaker 3: on friends who had been through similar situations and contacted
6:28
Speaker 3: my doctor and got a care team together. And my
6:31
Speaker 3: specific diagnosis, you know, because breast cancer is not a monolith,
6:35
Speaker 3: it's an umbrella of diseases. And so my specific cancer
6:39
Speaker 3: type and the stage it was in required me to
6:42
Speaker 3: have surgery to remove the light of lumpectomy. Some people
6:46
Speaker 3: choose to have a single or double mistectomy with reconstruction,
6:49
Speaker 3: so it really just depends. In my case, it was
6:51
Speaker 3: a lumpect to me, and subsequent surgery is just to
6:56
Speaker 3: ensure that the margins that were clear, meaning that the
6:59
Speaker 3: doctor got all of the can be detected in that area. Yeah. Yeah,
7:03
Speaker 3: And then in my case, moved quickly to chemotherapy, so
7:07
Speaker 3: you know, had four rounds of chemo. You would be
7:11
Speaker 3: amazed at the technology now that allows you to try
7:14
Speaker 3: to save your hair cold capping. You know, it's a
7:17
Speaker 3: whole new world. You scratch the surface and you learn
7:20
Speaker 3: so much in such a short period of time. And
7:23
Speaker 3: then after chemo, I had radiation and now I'm on
7:27
Speaker 3: drug therapy. So it's very common after my cancer type
7:31
Speaker 3: to you know, go on various hormone blocking an aromatase
7:36
Speaker 3: inhibitor therapy. So right now I'm on a drug until
7:39
Speaker 3: twenty twenty nine that is designed to, you know, reduce
7:44
Speaker 3: the amount of estrogen and progesterone in my body to
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Speaker 3: limit my chances of recurrence. So each one of those
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Speaker 3: stages comes with like different challenges, and you know, certainly
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Speaker 3: has been educational and challenging in a lot of ways.
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Speaker 3: But right now I am no cancer detective. I'm feeling great.
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Speaker 3: And part of the reason why I'm chatting with you today,
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Speaker 3: and part of why I am connected to the Coman
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Speaker 3: Foundation is that now that I'm on the other side
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Speaker 3: of a lot of the big stuff that I experienced
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Speaker 3: over the last couple of years, I'm just looking for
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Speaker 3: ways to help give back and hopefully raise some money
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Speaker 3: for a good cause.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, God, bless you can. I just do this right now,
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Speaker 1: because it must feel good to be on the other side,
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Speaker 1: right thank you?
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Speaker 2: Oh, like, thank goodness, you know, it's feel good.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we're not carrying signs of their face
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Speaker 1: in a past tense, you know, because we're going to
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Speaker 1: see a lot of that out the more than pink
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Speaker 1: walk on the twenty six and that's you know, it's
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Speaker 1: everyone there to share a little bit of everything in
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Speaker 1: terms of what they feel, how they feel, who they're honoring,
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Speaker 1: or what they're going through. I mean, it's survivors, it's
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Speaker 1: family members, it's friends, it's a memory of so it's
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Speaker 1: all that stuff.
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Speaker 2: So you said you walked last year by yourself.
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Speaker 1: So now your team, and I saw inline you raised
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Speaker 1: like well over five thousand dollars by the way, so
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Speaker 1: it's another clappity clap. Yeah, right, how.
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Speaker 2: Big is your team?
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Speaker 1: And can anyone join the the TAMAS. I mean, I
9:00
Speaker 1: don't want to get in trouble for staying on the radio,
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Speaker 1: but yeah, the Tired Ass Mom's Association Team, your team,
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Speaker 1: TAM Tired Ass Mom's Association Team.
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Speaker 2: That's right, the TAMAS.
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Speaker 3: Please find us, Please join us for about seven fundraisers
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Speaker 3: accounting and if you just want to, if you just
9:19
Speaker 3: want to come find our table. We'll be there early
9:22
Speaker 3: and enjoying some breakfast and snacks and we really want
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Speaker 3: to like listen. Having breast cancer is a you know,
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Speaker 3: devastating experience no matter what stage you're in, and it's
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Speaker 3: very personal. Some people choose to you know, go through
9:38
Speaker 3: their treatment and get past it and not share it
9:41
Speaker 3: very wide and you know, process what's happening to them
9:44
Speaker 3: on a personal and very private level. And then there
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Speaker 3: are people that are feeling alone and seeking community, people
9:52
Speaker 3: who have been touched by this disease and want to
9:55
Speaker 3: get out there in the community and connect. And that's
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Speaker 3: really the point of this walk, so that you feel
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Speaker 3: like there's a place for you, a place for your
10:03
Speaker 3: allies to go, and a place to learn more about
10:06
Speaker 3: Susan g Coman and what they're trying to do to
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Speaker 3: help make breast cancer a footnote in medical history. So
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Speaker 3: you know, if you want to join us, I would
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Speaker 3: love it. You don't have to be a tired APS mom,
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Speaker 3: by the way, you can be someone who loves someone
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Speaker 3: who loved the tired APS mom and will be there
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Speaker 3: for you and hopefully we meet some great people.
10:26
Speaker 2: And how was it having a family? You know, you
10:28
Speaker 2: have two boys.
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Speaker 1: How is it dealing with having breast cancer while still
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Speaker 1: having to raise boys and you know, run your family?
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Speaker 3: Great question. You know, it's interesting when I first got diagnosed,
10:39
Speaker 3: I was reluctant to tell them because I didn't want
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Speaker 3: them to be afraid. And my boys are they're ten
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Speaker 3: and twelve. They're in fifth grade and seventh grade, and
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Speaker 3: this was two years ago, and so I didn't I
10:52
Speaker 3: wasn't sure what they would think about their mom being
10:56
Speaker 3: quote unquote sick, or having to have procedures in the
10:59
Speaker 3: hot fittal or potentially losing my hair to chemotherapy. And
11:03
Speaker 3: my first instinct was not to tell them. I wanted
11:05
Speaker 3: to protect them from worry and protect them from fear.
11:09
Speaker 3: And what I realized is my personal choice was I
11:13
Speaker 3: didn't want to hide it from them, and I certainly
11:16
Speaker 3: didn't want to be whispering about my experience in my
11:19
Speaker 3: own home with the kids, and so I just made
11:22
Speaker 3: the choice to involve them and be very pragmatic about
11:25
Speaker 3: what was happening and let them know Mom was going
11:28
Speaker 3: to be okay, but I was going to have to
11:29
Speaker 3: go through some challenges. And I'm so glad that I
11:32
Speaker 3: made that decision. These kids are incredibly resilient. It gave
11:35
Speaker 3: them an opportunity to support me, you know, and be
11:39
Speaker 3: a part of the recovery experience, and they just impressed
11:45
Speaker 3: me every step of the way. My husband was amazing also,
11:49
Speaker 3: and it was just wonderful to be able to, you know,
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Speaker 3: nobody wants to go through this experience, but to have
11:54
Speaker 3: the support network that I had inside my home really
11:57
Speaker 3: helped me get through. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Sure, and now you're like, and now you have it'd
12:00
Speaker 1: be nicer to me, darn it, because I've been through a.
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Speaker 3: Hell exactly when I'm when I'm tired, you got to
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Speaker 3: let me sleep in.
12:06
Speaker 1: And you gotta be nicer to mom, darn it. So
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Speaker 1: will they all be there walking with you on the
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Speaker 1: twenty six. We'll be there.
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Speaker 3: Last year, I brought my eldest. His name's Mac and
12:15
Speaker 3: he came and you know, one of the more touching
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Speaker 3: moments was they have these signs that you pin onto
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Speaker 3: your shirt and it says who are you walking for?
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Speaker 3: And he kind of scuttled off with a little pink
12:25
Speaker 3: marker and he wrote my Mom. And when I saw
12:28
Speaker 3: him put it on, it still brings me to tears.
12:31
Speaker 3: But he it gave him an opportunity to get out
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Speaker 3: there and understand that what was happening to Mom was
12:38
Speaker 3: happening to a community of people. And I think it
12:40
Speaker 3: really made him feel good to be able to show
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Speaker 3: up and do the walk with.
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Speaker 1: Us and support you for sure. And Nicole, how do
12:47
Speaker 1: you feel this Ison' J. Comman Foundation helped you get
12:49
Speaker 1: through your breast cancer.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. Interestingly, I'd always known about Coleman. It was kind
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Speaker 3: of in my mind this, you know, it's kind of
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Speaker 3: only game in town in terms of really raising money
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Speaker 3: for breast cancer research and getting the word out there.
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Speaker 3: And but it's like, you don't know you need you
13:09
Speaker 3: don't know you need a foundation like that until you
13:11
Speaker 3: need it. And so, you know, obviously, they put on
13:15
Speaker 3: this walk every year, and it was grateful for the
13:17
Speaker 3: opportunity to get out there. It also allowed me to
13:20
Speaker 3: connect with the executive director of our LA chapter, Yolanda,
13:25
Speaker 3: and after the walk, she and I got to know
13:27
Speaker 3: each other and I told her I was looking for
13:29
Speaker 3: an opportunity to give back. And so now I'm on
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Speaker 3: the advisory committee. I'm the board chair for LA all right,
13:37
Speaker 3: and yeah, and so so we meet, you know, every month,
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Speaker 3: and we get together to find ways to spread the
13:45
Speaker 3: good word. And you know, I think providing giving back
13:49
Speaker 3: to the community when that gave me the support I
13:52
Speaker 3: needed when I needed it. It just feels like a
13:55
Speaker 3: full circle moment. And I can't I can't think of
13:57
Speaker 3: any other organization I'd want to do with.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look at you, a local gal, and now
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Speaker 1: you're paying forward to help others who God forbid are
14:06
Speaker 1: dealing with this.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. And once you make the decision to be public
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Speaker 3: with your story, it's incredible how many people find you
14:15
Speaker 3: and share their story with you. And you know, every
14:18
Speaker 3: phone call I get or every email I've received in
14:21
Speaker 3: the last you know, two years since I've been open
14:24
Speaker 3: about my experience just brings me closer to community, and
14:29
Speaker 3: you know, it helps us feel stronger together, just helps
14:32
Speaker 3: us feel like every stage of this experience, we know
14:35
Speaker 3: who we can rely on to hear everybody's individual experiences,
14:39
Speaker 3: we can share resources and direct each other to resources
14:43
Speaker 3: as needed, and it's just really been rewarding. But I
14:47
Speaker 3: do also want to say it's also an intensely personal
14:51
Speaker 3: decision to share and be open about it, and creating
14:56
Speaker 3: a safe space for people to do that, I think
14:57
Speaker 3: is really important. And I think the walk that I
15:00
Speaker 3: think the walk does that.
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Speaker 1: Sure, sure absolutely coman dot org slash La County Walk,
15:05
Speaker 1: by the way, Coman with a k coman dot org
15:08
Speaker 1: slash La County Walk for all the information. If you
15:11
Speaker 1: also have questions about brust cancer and need assistance, you
15:13
Speaker 1: can also call eight seven seven go coman k O
15:17
Speaker 1: M E N. And if you want to support Nicole,
15:20
Speaker 1: you sound so amazing. I hope I get a chance
15:21
Speaker 1: to meet you in personally, give you a big hug
15:23
Speaker 1: and I high five and all the stuff.
15:25
Speaker 3: I wise, likewise, look forward to seeing you guys soon.
15:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna have an iHeart team out there as well.
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Speaker 1: So and again, if you want to read more about
15:33
Speaker 1: Nicole's story Nicole Delansky, she's part of the TAMA, the
15:36
Speaker 1: TAMA Club t a m A the Tired Ass Moms Association,
15:40
Speaker 1: her group for looking for you know, donations and looking
15:44
Speaker 1: for more people too. If you want to join Nicole
15:45
Speaker 1: or support Nicole and her friends out there, please do so.
15:48
Speaker 1: Look for TAMA or under Nicole Delansky and support in
15:52
Speaker 1: any way that you can. But of course we'd love
15:53
Speaker 1: to see folks out there in droves, thousands of people,
15:56
Speaker 1: a sea of pink and people out there for a
15:58
Speaker 1: very important reason Sunday, October twenty six at the La
16:01
Speaker 1: State Historic Park in downtown LA for the Susan g
16:04
Speaker 1: Coman More Than Pink Walk, because it is more than
16:07
Speaker 1: just a color. The color has done so much in
16:10
Speaker 1: terms of awareness, but this is also about real people's
16:13
Speaker 1: stories and supporting people like you who went through it,
16:16
Speaker 1: who went through the battle and thankfully came out on
16:18
Speaker 1: the other side as a survivor.
16:20
Speaker 2: And thank you for sharing your very inspiring story.
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Speaker 1: And we can't wait to see out there Sunday, October
16:26
Speaker 1: twenty six, woo.
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Speaker 3: Thank you so much, look forward to it.