Episode 56

CANCER SCREEN WEEK – DECEMBER 4-9, 2023 With Howard Brown

CANCER SCREENING SAVES LIVES. Stop what you are doing and schedule a breast, cervical, lung, prostate, colorectal cancer screening today! In Episode 56 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled “CANCER SCREEN WEEK is DECEMBER 4-9, 2023! I MC a solo show about the importance of cancer screening. The statistics are insane! Especially for underserved populations. Young onset cancer is on the rise in colorectal cancer. Like me a cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship can change your life and can affect your family, work and future. I support cancer research and screening! GO GET SCREENED – CANCER SUX and we need you to be healthy to shine brightly for yourself, others and in your communities!

Mentioned Resources -

https://www.cancerscreenweek.org/

https://www.cancer.org/

https://www.gene.com/

https://www.optum.com/

https://standuptocancer.org/

https://shiningbrightly.com

About the guest – Howard Brown and Cancer Resiliency - As his successful career was unfolding, Howard inspired all those who knew him by beating stage IV cancer twice. Even though doctors warned him that he likely would die, Howard nevertheless conquered particularly aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma early in his career and in recent years overcame advanced metastatic colon cancer. Now, he uses his experience as a national cancer advocate, spokesperson and resiliency coach to shine a light on cancer prevention, early diagnosis, precision medicine and patient centricity. He has been recognized for his service by many organizations, including the Colon Cancer Coalition, ColorectalCancer Alliance, Stand Up to Cancer, Man Up to Cancer and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Colontown.org. He also was selected to participate in the Scientist-Survivor program of the American Association of Cancer Research as an advocate mentor.

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

Website

Http://www.shiningbrightly.com

Social Media

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howard.brown.36

LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36


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#gcancer #screening #cancerscreenweek #americancancersociety #genentech #optum#standuptocancer #breastcacner #cervicalcancer #lungcancer #prostatecancer #colorectalcancer #coloncancer #life #death #healthcare #motivation #education #inspiration #podcast #download listen #share #reveiw #shiningbrightly

Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard brown. It's the shining brightly

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show, you get me solo today, and I have a very important show and

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message to shout out to all of you. And December 4 through the

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eighth is cancer screen week, the website's cancer screen

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week.org. And it's very important cause for me, I'm an

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ambassador for the second year in a row. And I take that role

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and responsibility very seriously. As many of my

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listeners and audience know, I'm a two time stage four cancer

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survivor. And if I would have been screened maybe at age 40,

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or 42, for colorectal cancer, I might have not had it or I might

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have had a stage one or stage two instead of a stage three and

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then metastatic stage four diagnosis. So screening saves

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lives. It's affect cancer screening saves lives. So I want

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to give a shout out to the partners that make this

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possible. The American Cancer Society, really important

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organisation, great support, great data, great info, please

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check them out. Genentech, pharmaceutical part of the Roche

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family. Thank you for your sponsorship. optimum, optimum

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health, as well. Thank you for your sponsorship is such an

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important message to get out and really important. And lastly,

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Stand Up to Cancer. Really important, great organisation.

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Maybe you've seen the commercials or seen people stand

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up at baseball games and tell them who they're standing up for

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either a cancer caregiver or a cancer patient, or someone that

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has passed away. And very, very important. So on this website,

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you will have guidelines. There's a screening options,

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help you find location from where you live, and lots of

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other additional resources. Now getting into cancer screening,

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I'm going to talk about a couple of the different cancer diseases

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and some of these just astonishing numbers.

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Astonishing. Alright, let's start with breast cancer. So for

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women and men, okay, you can schedule on Mr. graphy test. You

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can certainly go see your doctor and you can actually feel for

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lumps. But just this year 240,000 People were diagnosed

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with breast cancer women 500 Men 42,000 people died from breast

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cancer. So early screening can help save lives. I'm going to

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keep repeating it. Now. Cervical cancer. I don't have those

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numbers with me but going to get a pap smear going to your lady

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doctor women going to get checked. Very important to go

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see your gynaecologist and keep up with that as well. Next lung

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cancer here in the US 238,000 diagnosis this year, and 127,000

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deaths. So obviously, smoking doesn't help that so if you can

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stop smoking might be able to hopefully avoid avoid lung

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cancer, but it's affecting people of all ages as well. And

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then prostate cancer for men. So go see your doctor, get a

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prostate exam 34,000 deaths this year for prostate cancer, one in

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four men will develop prostate cancer over a lifetime. These

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are big numbers. This is a serious issue. Now colorectal

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cancer near and dear to my heart. Okay, these are worldwide

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numbers first 2 million people will be diagnosed this year with

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colorectal cancer 930,000 worldwide deaths in the US

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155,000 People will get diagnosed 52,000 deaths. It's

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just unbelievable. $23 billion dollars will be spent on

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treating colorectal cancer patients. That's a last year's

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number $23 billion. So I will tell you that young onset

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colorectal cancer meaning under the age of 50 is on the rise. So

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getting screened is really important as a couple of ways

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for that as well. There's something called a faecal immune

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test, which is pooping in a cup. You might have seen the

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cologuard commercials from exact Science, and that's another poop

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in a cup and sent to a lab. And upon a positive screening of

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those, they'll refer you to the gold standard a colonoscopy.

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Now, a colonoscopy can save your life, it can clip a polyp, and

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then come back in five years, or it can determine earlier stage

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colorectal cancer, which is potentially more treatable and

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can save your lives. These numbers are absolutely

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astonishing. So the mission of colo of cancer screen week,

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okay, is always the first week of December every year. And it's

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the goal to have people be aware and go schedule that appointment

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to go get screened. During the pandemic, people did not go get

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screened, or they put it off or they forgot about it. They

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delayed it. Because access to hospitals and doctors offices

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were much more limited. Well, that's not the case. So cancer

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screenings, particularly in underserved populations,

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disparities, okay, African American population in colon

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cancer are the least diagnosed because they are the least

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screened. So really important that underserved populations,

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build more trust with the healthcare system. And people in

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remote locations, or have financial difficulty are

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supported to go get screened. Really, really, really

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important. So going back to my story. So these last seven

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years, I went in for my 50 year old colonoscopy in June of 2016.

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And 50 was the screening age. Now it's 45. Unless you have

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family history, or you have symptoms, so for colon cancer,

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that's a big tell his blood in the stool, but it could be

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bloating, could be irritable bowel syndrome, it could be

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cramping, it could be sore back. It's actually misdiagnosed more

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than you think. So I went in for my colonoscopy, and I'm in

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pretty good shape. And I wake up and I asked the doctor,

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everything's good, right doc, and it wasn't. I had an eight

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and a half centimetre tumour in my cecum which is the connection

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to my large and small intestine. And that led set me on a course

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of getting hemicolectomy which is called a colon resection 13.1

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inches of my colon were removed 10 days later, they aren't

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messing around and then taking out margin and live lymph nodes,

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one of those lymph nodes was positive. And for protective

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measures, you start chemotherapy. I don't want

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anyone to have to go through surgeries and chemotherapy. I

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know I can't stop it. But it's a horrible existence. So you get

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that cancer diagnosis that and I got it now for a second time

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lightning struck twice with me as I was diagnosed with stage

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four T cell non Hodgkins lymphoma. And miracle number one

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a bone marrow transplant saved my life in 1989 for my twin

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sister, shout out to you CJ, thank you. Thank you I got my

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life back. But at age 50 I was back in therapies and surgeries

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and clinical trials. And unfortunately, I failed all

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those options. cancer spread to my liver to my stomach lining.

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It's called the omentum and the peritoneum and my bowel. And I

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found help through online resources. Colon town for my

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wife as a caregiver and me as a patient helped me get the

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information and the support and walk alongside of me during my

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time of need. And I qualified for a surgery called

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cytoreduction hyper intrapreneurial chemotherapy.

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They basically cut me from chest to pelvic bone and my surgical

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oncologist removed all the dead and live cancer cells that they

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could see in my abdomen and pelvis. including removing my

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peritoneum and my omentum which are the stomach linings,

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including shaving my liver, including removing my

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gallbladder and including actually doing lots of surgery

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on my on my bowel 13 and a half hour surgery I woke up in the

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ICU and press the morphine drip button.

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And then with all that scar tissue, I did not get a clear

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scan until about a year and a half later, where I was actually

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told I was no evidence of disease on September. 20th of 19

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of 2019. So I had to wait a while. And I'm proud to say now

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that I am four years, no evidence of disease on my way to

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five years of remission. But there are still so many people

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that are going to get diagnosed. And there are so many people

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that are going through treatment. And there are people

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are going to die. Because their cancer burden became too great,

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and they got called to heaven, and you don't know your number.

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So I look in the mirror every single day and say, I am

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blessed. I am grateful. And I am damn lucky to be alive. And how

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can I help people every single day. And I give a speech that

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says getting up again. We all get knocked down in life, and in

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business and in family and in me and others with health. But we

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must get back up again. And again. We must learn and not

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walk in that darkness for too long. If you don't know where to

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turn, call me. I'll help you get help. I'll get you resources.

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Get you a nurse navigator or a social worker or a buddy a

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mentor match. It's really important that we support each

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other. So answer screen week.org It's an awareness. It's a

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resource that I am shouting out at the top of my lungs and

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sharing all over social media the first week of December. Go

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get screened. Make that appointment today. It's so

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important and if you need help reach out so cancer screen week

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again our partners in American Cancer Society, Genentech

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optumhealth and Stand Up to Cancer. Please, I beg you go

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make that appointment, go get screened. I don't want you to

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have to go through what I and others go through when we get

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told that we have cancer. So breast cancer, cervical cancer,

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lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, go get your

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heart checked, go to the damn dentist. This is serious

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business. If you're not your optimal health, you cannot lift

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yourself up you cannot lift up others so this is a short show

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direct and to the point and you've been listening in or

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watching shining brightly. And if we choose to shine brightly,

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just a little bit each day for ourselves, for others in our

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neighbourhoods in our communities in the world. It

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will be a better place for all so I will put on my shining

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brightly sunglasses. And I'm now shining for you. Go get

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screened, cancer screened weak.org

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