103 - Jessica Buscho on Being Active, Being Diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer, and Listening to Early 2000’s Emo Music

Cancer is a very difficult subject, especially when you or someone you know gets diagnosed with it. If you’re diagnosed, how would you go about telling your friends? What kind of help should you be asking for? How do you explain to your kids? For myself personally, it had been an incredibly difficult subject to approach. My mother passed away from cancer in 2010 and only recently I’ve been able to be more open to talking about hers and my experience. Talking about cancer simply sucks out all the air in the room and can make conversations extremely awkward. Many people avoid talking about their own cancer because they don’t want to be “pitied,” nor do they want to be viewed as simply a “host” of cancer. And for friends of people with cancer, its equally difficult to maneuver. Its not something you talk about everyday—so how do you respond? You might want to offer condolences, but it often comes off as trite and/or insincere. It might even sound like you’re more interested in the cancer than the person, which plays exactly into what the patient is afraid of. If you avoid talking about cancer, then it becomes an 800 lb gorilla and you risk coming off like you don’t care about the patient’s well-being at all. So where can we strike a good balance, and how can we support our loved ones if a family member gets diagnosed? To help us answer these questions, I’ve invited Jessica Buscho (twitter: @TenaciousJess, Instagram: @Tenacious_Jess) onto the show. She’s a friend of mine and probably top 20 when it comes to the most healthy, active, people I know. Last year, she was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer. So today we’ll be catching up on life, running, volunteering, early 2000’s emo music, and being outdoors. We then talk about her cancer diagnosis and how she’s had to adjust her life. We conclude by talking about things we can all do to support our loved ones and what we can do to prevent cancer and to spread awareness. Please remember to rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts to help others find our show. And as always, Stay Intelligent! If you’re interested in learning more about colorectal Cancer, please visit the Colorectal Cancer Alliance located at https://www.ccalliance.org/. There you can learn all about colorectal cancer, how you can get screened, and how you can support the cause. You can even rent a giant inflatable colon for corporate events to raise awareness. You gotta check it out, if nothing else but to see what a giant inflatable colon even looks like. An as an additional note, the actual quote I had in mind was: “Don’t pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men.” It was indeed uttered by JFK. Of course, he wasn’t the only one to say that. Similar quotes have been attributed to other figures, including 19th century bishop Phillips Brooks and even Bruce Lee. External Links http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9548 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillips_Brooks https://www.brucelee.com/podcast-blog/2017/10/25/69-the-easy-life https://www.ccalliance.org/ https://www.everykidinapark.gov https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2017/may/12/dean-karnazes-ultramarathoner-ancient-greek-spartathlon