We Have Cancer With Lee Silverstein

Howard Brown: 00:00:03

Hello, it's Howard Brown and welcome to the Shining

Howard Brown: 00:00:06

Brightly show your Maestro with the mic. Oh, it's Hockey night.

Howard Brown: 00:00:10

It's Hockey night tonight and my guest is Lee Silverstein.

Howard Brown: 00:00:14

Welcome Lee from the beautiful state of Florida. In Tampa.

Howard Brown: 00:00:18

What's going on?

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:19

Thanks, Howard. Excited to be here and get to

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:22

talk to you after having you on my we have cancer podcast a

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:28

couple of times. And I'm really excited to be here and yes, it

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:32

is Hockey night. And I'm going to have to catch up here on on

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:37

game five once we get off. And you know, my day my ever loving

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:43

Tampa Bay Lightning have dug themselves a little bit of a and

Lee Silverstein: 00:00:47

hopefully we'll pull it out tonight but it's

Howard Brown: 00:00:49

That's alright to come back kids they will see a

Howard Brown: 00:00:53

better position with my Boston Bruins you know up three to two

Howard Brown: 00:00:56

but you got to take care of business, you know. So if you

Howard Brown: 00:00:59

step up on the camera a little bit, I want to see the wardrobe

Howard Brown: 00:01:02

that we're wearing here. Oh, we got the HP strong going on the

Howard Brown: 00:01:06

drive back.

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:09

This is in my workout shirt rotation. The

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:13

folks at Planet Fitness know it well.

Howard Brown: 00:01:17

Yes, guy as well. So I love it. Well, thanks for

Howard Brown: 00:01:20

the walking billboard. We appreciate it very much.

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:22

Absolutely.

Howard Brown: 00:01:24

Tell my audience a little bit about you give me

Howard Brown: 00:01:28

your bio, your background and share with us.

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:31

Sure, so you know, we're I am 12 years a

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:38

little over 12 years into a stage four colon cancer

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:42

situation, I try to avoid that battle language and fight and

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:46

all that. Not a fan of that. So we'll call it a 12 year cancer,

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:52

colon cancer journey. And I was diagnosed and you know, you and

Lee Silverstein: 00:01:58

I have heard this story dozens of times, Howard, turn 50. And I

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:03

tell people, you know, my primary care physician was very

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:08

kind. And at 50 years old, he gave me a birthday present. He

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:12

didn't take the time to wrap it, he didn't put a bow on it. But

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:15

it was a gift to go get a colonoscopy. And you know, I'm a

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:19

good patient, I'm a I'm a patient, you know, I'm complying

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:24

patient with my doctor recommended something, I go do

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:27

it. And a lot was going on in my life that time. So I did

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:31

postpone it for a little bit. And I didn't have any symptoms,

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:35

and woke up to find out that I had stage two colon cancer. So

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:42

you know, we did the surgery, took out part of the colon and

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:47

talk to the oncologist. And he goes, Yeah, you know, stage two,

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:52

I almost feel like chemotherapy would do more harm than good at

Lee Silverstein: 00:02:55

this point. We'll just keep an eye on you. And they did a CT

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:02

scan just to kind of have a baseline. And I'll never forget

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:06

I had taken my girlfriend now wife at the time, Linda, on her

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:12

first visit to New York City. And we're walking through Macy's

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:16

Herald Square. And you know, the old line if the nurse calls.

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:21

It's good news. If the doctor calls. Well, you know, so I'm

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:25

standing in the middle of Herald Square, and the phone rings. And

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:29

I hear Lee it's Dr. Strausberg. And I'm like, Oh crap. And he

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:33

goes, Yeah, that CT showed a spot on your liver. When you get

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:37

back from vacation. We'd like to do a PET scan.

Howard Brown: 00:03:40

But enjoy the rest of your vacation. It's like

Howard Brown: 00:03:43

yeah, easy for you to say. Right.

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:45

So we do the get back to the PET scan and

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:48

nothing lights up. So he said, Well, you know, it must be. And

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:53

he described it with some word that had at least 12 letters in

Lee Silverstein: 00:03:56

it. I don't recall what it was, but said it was benign, likely

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:00

benign, so we kept an eye on it. Fast forward about a year and a

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:04

half. Linda became my wife. We went off on our honeymoon came

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:08

back and I looked at my phone and they're on my to do list is

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:14

six month checkup at the Moffitt Cancer Centre in Tampa, Florida.

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:18

I was like, Oh yeah, I gotta go do that. It was like, it was so

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:21

far in the back of my mind. Because, you know, we'd move

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:24

quick. We'd done you know, every six months, you didn't even

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:27

think about it. Right? So I go do the scan and the scan. He

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:33

says you know that spot on your liver? I'm like, Yeah, from over

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:37

a year ago because yeah, it's gotten a little bigger. Just to

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:40

be on the safe side. I'd like to do a biopsy. It's like, all

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:43

right. New Year's Eve. We had just bought our bottle of

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:48

champagne to celebrate our first New Year's Eve as a husband and

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:50

wife. We were two and a half, three hours from a nice dinner.

Lee Silverstein: 00:04:59

Very nice. Steak house, and four o'clock the phone rings. And it

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:04

wasn't the nurse. And I'll never forget Howard the exact words

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:08

that I heard on the phone, he said, Lee, it's Dr. Strausberg.

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:11

I hate calling you on New Year's Eve with this news. But your

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:15

biopsy came back positive for metastasis for colorectal

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:19

cancer. And I need you in my office on January 2. And that

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:26

started propelled us on the, you know, metastatic colon cancer

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:34

experience that I've been on since my initial diagnosis in

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:38

March 2011. With, you know, progression, stability,

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:43

progression, stability, never achieved any D, no evidence of

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:49

disease, but we'd go six months, nine months and things would be

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:54

stable. And then something new would prop up, as we commonly

Lee Silverstein: 00:05:59

refer to in the colon cancer community is we're playing whack

Lee Silverstein: 00:06:02

a mole, and currently back in chemotherapy for more

Lee Silverstein: 00:06:08

progression. And that's where I sit right now.

Howard Brown: 00:06:12

Well, I want you to repeat something that when we

Howard Brown: 00:06:14

met, okay, and I have to tell you, our stories are eerily

Howard Brown: 00:06:18

similar except that I was stage three out of colonoscopy at 50.

Howard Brown: 00:06:21

And again, we'll take a quick timeout. It's now 45. To go get

Howard Brown: 00:06:25

screened, okay. You listen, if you're 45, Go, Go call your

Howard Brown: 00:06:31

doctor, go get an appointment. If you do a colour guard or fit

Howard Brown: 00:06:35

test at home and it's positive, you're gonna have to go get a

Howard Brown: 00:06:37

colonoscopy anyways, it's good sleep, I gotta have my next

Howard Brown: 00:06:41

week. I have them every other year now. But go get screened.

Howard Brown: 00:06:44

Because unless you have family history or any type of symptoms,

Howard Brown: 00:06:47

and we know younger people are gonna get screened and save

Howard Brown: 00:06:50

yourself the pain that mainly go through with surgeries and side

Howard Brown: 00:06:53

effects and chemo and clinical trials and all the all the BS,

Howard Brown: 00:06:58

it's hard. I mean, we want to save you from that.

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:01

All those things are a whole lot worse,

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:03

worse than a colonoscopy.

Howard Brown: 00:07:05

absolutely

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:06

If youre nervous about a colonoscopy. Oh,

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:08

I heard this. I heard that. Whatever you heard, none of it

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:12

is as bad as going through what Howard and I have experienced.

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:16

And we when we put our families through and our caregivers, your

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:19

wife, Linda, my wife, Lisa, so I want you to tell me so because

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:22

you thought you know, you're retired now you did so many

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:25

podcasts for seven years over 200. And whatever, someone and I

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:28

got lucky, I don't know how many people got to be on twice. But

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:31

maybe because I had two cancers that are lymphoma, my hand

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:34

calling.

Howard Brown: 00:07:35

But but so so the doctor calls you and says you

Howard Brown: 00:07:38

have cancer. Tell the story about what Linda said to you.

Howard Brown: 00:07:41

And this is really endearing and how you got the name for your

Howard Brown: 00:07:44

website and your show.

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:45

Yeah, so thank you for bringing that up. You

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:50

know, I was lamenting, you know, the news and you know, on more

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:54

than one occasion and saying, you know, God, I can't believe I

Lee Silverstein: 00:07:58

have cancer. And she would stop me and she said, Sweetheart, we

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:03

have cancer. This doesn't just affect you. Right? It affects

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:07

all of us. And the long story of that was the podcast that I've

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:16

put on hiatus will say that I won't say I've shut it down.

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:20

It's still available out there. But the podcast originally was

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:26

the colon cancer podcast. And I was sitting in talking with some

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:30

friends and dear dear friend of mine said, Well, he's like you

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:34

do all these interviews is that all you talk about his colon

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:37

cancer. And I call it one of those lightning bolt moments

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:41

where you go, Whoa, I didn't even think you know, kind of hit

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:45

you. Right? And I was like, yes. So um, but we talk about being

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:49

caregivers and we talk about, you know, just life with cancer,

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:54

you know, maybe 15 20% of what I talk about with people, is colon

Lee Silverstein: 00:08:59

cancer specific. And he goes, Well, don't you worry that

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:02

someone who doesn't have colon cancer might benefit from

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:07

hearing your show, but they see quote, unquote, the colon cancer

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:10

podcast and they scroll past it. Like you're absolutely right. So

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:14

I work with a friend who's a marketing and branding

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:16

professional, and, you know, trying to rebrand this thing.

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:21

And I said, it came to me and said, it's exactly what Linda

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:26

said, it's we have cancer, right? And it's we not just us

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:31

in our caregivers, it's us in our families. It's us and our

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:36

community who doesn't know somebody that's been touched by

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:41

cancer, right? So you can make a case even though, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:46

hopefully you don't have it and you don't have any loved ones

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:50

who've had it. But I promise you, you know, somebody who's

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:54

been touched by it, so we're all touched by we all can say we

Lee Silverstein: 00:09:58

have cancer That's a part of our life.

Howard Brown: 00:10:02

100%. And listen, and I even sum it up even in a

Howard Brown: 00:10:07

nice tight bow is that fighting cancer, like living your life is

Howard Brown: 00:10:11

a team sport. And if it isn't a team sport, it needs to become a

Howard Brown: 00:10:15

team sport. Because we don't talk all about cancer, we just

Howard Brown: 00:10:20

spent the last half hour talking about hockey and catching up and

Howard Brown: 00:10:23

our kids and your grandkids and real life and real stuff that

Howard Brown: 00:10:26

matters. So yeah, cancer is 20% of it. But if we just want one

Howard Brown: 00:10:32

more second, one more day, to another week with our families,

Howard Brown: 00:10:36

and, you know, we'd prefer to move on and not have to deal

Howard Brown: 00:10:40

with this. But we do. And we these are the deck of cards that

Howard Brown: 00:10:42

we were dealt, we got to play out our hand. And that's

Howard Brown: 00:10:46

important. So when we say hashtag, go get screened,

Howard Brown: 00:10:49

hashtag go get screened. And again, I also expand that too,

Howard Brown: 00:10:52

because Mamography, prostate, your cardio, your nutrition,

Howard Brown: 00:10:57

your dentist, I don't really care, go, go, go keep up with

Howard Brown: 00:11:01

your health and keep up with your checkups. Because if you

Howard Brown: 00:11:03

can't lift yourself up, things can get dark. And that's where

Howard Brown: 00:11:07

shining brightly comes in. Because if you can lift yourself

Howard Brown: 00:11:09

up and shine your light to someone just like this might

Howard Brown: 00:11:11

affect someone listening to this podcast, you know, might go get

Howard Brown: 00:11:15

screened, might save them a whole lot of hell, you know

Howard Brown: 00:11:18

what, then you can lift up others. And that's what it's all

Howard Brown: 00:11:21

about in building that community. So I want to change

Howard Brown: 00:11:24

subjects for a second and talk about you know, you and I are

Howard Brown: 00:11:28

two guys with cancer and there was like no support out there

Howard Brown: 00:11:31

for us listen, hole in town and blue hope nation and fight CRC

Howard Brown: 00:11:36

and Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Poland cup. There's there's

Howard Brown: 00:11:40

resources out there, like nothing just for men, like the

Howard Brown: 00:11:44

like the pink and the breast cancer folks have had. And I

Howard Brown: 00:11:47

want to talk to you about a group Man Up To Cancer that

Howard Brown: 00:11:50

we're in. And we don't talk a lot of science there. But But

Howard Brown: 00:11:53

boy, do we talk a lot of support this man cave, this is howling

Howard Brown: 00:11:57

of the wolves that our good friend, Trevor Maxwell and Joe

Howard Brown: 00:12:00

Pollack and team have put together I have to tell you that

Howard Brown: 00:12:03

this, this idea has sparked a movement. You know, I just I

Howard Brown: 00:12:08

love I love it when you know, someone's in there and saying

Howard Brown: 00:12:11

I'm having problems talking to my kids and five guys jump in

Howard Brown: 00:12:14

there and support the hell out of somebody. And then they fight

Howard Brown: 00:12:18

over pineapple and pizza because you got to be stupid. But, but

Howard Brown: 00:12:22

tell me this because I really think that as men, we're not

Howard Brown: 00:12:28

that smart sometimes. But a really smart thing for any type

Howard Brown: 00:12:31

of cancer is to come on and join man up that cancer and be there

Howard Brown: 00:12:35

for the brotherhood and things like that. Talk to me your

Howard Brown: 00:12:38

thoughts

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:38

without a doubt. And you know, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:41

it dawned on me really early on, and I've been involved in all

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:44

the groups that you've mentioned, Howard. And I've been

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:47

to a number of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, conferences

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:51

and, and all that. And my wife, Linda came with me to a couple

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:55

of them. And I'm looking around I said to her, I was like,

Lee Silverstein: 00:12:59

where's all the dudes? You know, this, this conference? It's all

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:04

women, and maybe you know, 20 25%, guys, and as you and I both

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:09

know, colour, colorectal cancer strikes, men and women pretty

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:13

much equally, right? And you go on these Facebook groups through

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:17

these various organisations, and they are incredible, and they're

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:20

wonderful. But it's 90% women, right? And I remember

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:27

interviewing, and I think it was, I don't I don't want to say

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:31

who was because I might get it wrong. But one of the people I

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:34

interviewed on the podcast, guy said, Men don't want to sit

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:38

around in a circle and talk about their feelings. Right?

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:41

Especially in front of women. Right? And there was proven So

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:47

Trevor and Joe come up with this idea to create this private

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:52

Facebook group and this community called men up to

Lee Silverstein: 00:13:54

cancer. And it's amazing. What you see happening there is

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:02

what's not happening in these other groups, men being

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:06

vulnerable men saying I'm struggling, men, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:11

saying you know, I need help, which you do not see, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:17

and what, you know, whatever you want to, you know, frame the

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:20

reason as, I think it's just a gender thing that men don't want

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:26

to show vulnerability in front of in front of women So and, you

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:32

know, the group is open to all types of cancer doesn't

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:38

discriminate on sexual preference, gender, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:43

cancer type, religion and those things, everybody's welcome. But

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:47

the amount of vulnerable vulnerability that's expressed,

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:52

and the amount of support coming back to those of us, me

Lee Silverstein: 00:14:56

included, I have shared my struggles and my down days as

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:01

well, because even when we have an amazing support system like

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:07

you and I are blessed with, sometimes you just don't want to

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:12

burden them, you will, you know, you'd rather go to a neutral

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:16

party, if you will, right to share what's on your mind in a

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:21

safe space. And you talk about identifying an untapped need. In

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:28

this instance, Joe and Trevor, and all the guys that run this

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:35

group, they have absolutely hit it out of the park, and done an

Lee Silverstein: 00:15:39

amazing service for the men who are dealing with cancer.

Howard Brown: 00:15:44

Yeah, I couldn't say it any better. I mean, this

Howard Brown: 00:15:46

is like the I was never a fraternity brother. But this is

Howard Brown: 00:15:50

a fraternity. There's a bond that builds that people actually

Howard Brown: 00:15:54

there's mentorship going on. And again, I have a chapter in my

Howard Brown: 00:15:57

book on mentorship is leadership. It's basically being

Howard Brown: 00:16:01

a mentee, and being a mentor are selfless acts where you care for

Howard Brown: 00:16:06

one another and take interest in one another. And it's also part

Howard Brown: 00:16:10

man cave, there's sports, there's, there's booze talking.

Howard Brown: 00:16:14

But I gotta tell you, when someone raises the white flag,

Howard Brown: 00:16:17

boy, boy, two people come out in numbers, but also people share

Howard Brown: 00:16:21

their victories too. And it's not just for that. And there's,

Howard Brown: 00:16:26

it's really a very warm community. And I think that's

Howard Brown: 00:16:30

what surprises most people, because it's also a little bit

Howard Brown: 00:16:33

of a locker room and all that it's all that mixed into one.

Howard Brown: 00:16:36

And I've just, I'm just so pleased at the growth and the

Howard Brown: 00:16:41

support and that the shape is taking, because you don't know

Howard Brown: 00:16:44

when you first start something and you invite a few of your

Howard Brown: 00:16:47

friends. But I gotta tell you, there's people with, you know,

Howard Brown: 00:16:50

cancers that don't really want to talk about Brett mal breast

Howard Brown: 00:16:52

cancer, right, you know, testicular cancer losing and

Howard Brown: 00:16:56

not, you know, prostate cancer. I mean, there's all cancers are

Howard Brown: 00:17:00

welcome. And for those caregivers that are men as well,

Howard Brown: 00:17:04

that are taking care of folks, and there's something for

Howard Brown: 00:17:06

everybody. And listen, you don't have to be so vocal in there

Howard Brown: 00:17:10

too. You can just absorb and take in some of the great wisdom

Howard Brown: 00:17:13

that's being shared as well and many do. But for those that do

Howard Brown: 00:17:17

actually come out and get jump on a pot or a zoom and and go

Howard Brown: 00:17:20

for that support that way. There's a lot of benefits this

Howard Brown: 00:17:23

and then tell them about the the big retreat, they have the

Howard Brown: 00:17:27

gathering of the wolves in Buffalo.

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:30

Yeah, so they had the first one last year and

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:32

I wasn't able to go and they're doing it again this year at a

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:39

like a sleepaway camp ground it looks like just outside of

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:43

Buffalo, the weekend after Labour Day, and as soon as I saw

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:49

that, it was going to be happening again this year. I

Lee Silverstein: 00:17:56

couldn't sign up quick enough, right. And I'm really looking

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:00

forward to meeting a lot of these guys that you'll only know

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:04

through the screen. Right? And I know they had guys from

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:09

literally, you know, even I'm over from Europe. That's the

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:15

other thing about this group is you've got guys from all over

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:17

the world. Right. And, and just to go off on a little tangent. I

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:24

know when I was first diagnosed, Howard, you know, I wasn't shy

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:28

about looking for some sort of a in person support group. And all

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:34

I could find was breast cancer. Right? That's all that was out

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:38

there. Right. There were some caregiver groups. So again, you

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:44

know, they they've really fulfilled, fulfil that a need

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:48

here. And I just have so much admiration and respect for what

Lee Silverstein: 00:18:54

they've done with this community.

Howard Brown: 00:18:56

Listen, I think they had 60 They'll probably

Howard Brown: 00:18:58

have, you know, maybe he could be 80 or 100. You know, men

Howard Brown: 00:19:01

coming together. I know that they sit by the campfire,

Howard Brown: 00:19:04

everyone gets to, you know, share if they want to. There's

Howard Brown: 00:19:07

cheers, there's tears. There's tonnes of laughter It's a lot of

Howard Brown: 00:19:10

fun and bonding that happens with this and I gotta I gotta

Howard Brown: 00:19:15

see if I can get myself there too, because it's an

Howard Brown: 00:19:16

opportunity. I don't want to miss out.

Lee Silverstein: 00:19:18

And I understand there's a big US

Lee Silverstein: 00:19:20

versus Canada cornhole tournament. That's going on.

Howard Brown: 00:19:25

Boys will be boys. Competitive, right? Again, heavy

Howard Brown: 00:19:30

rock throwing, and it'll be a competition but the upper right.

Howard Brown: 00:19:33

So listen, sitting around watching guys playing cornhole,

Howard Brown: 00:19:37

or whatever type of Delta regular beverage you have.

Howard Brown: 00:19:40

There's nothing better. The nice summer of Buffalo, New York. So

Howard Brown: 00:19:45

don't tell me this. And we'll kind of we'll bring the show

Howard Brown: 00:19:49

wrapped up a little bit. But this is really important because

Howard Brown: 00:19:53

you and I know each other, and I'm dealing with the seven years

Howard Brown: 00:19:56

and then before I you know, you know 32 years ago I had my first

Howard Brown: 00:20:01

diagnosis of lymphoma and miracle, my twin sister was an

Howard Brown: 00:20:04

exact match. But you said to me, and again, I don't know if

Howard Brown: 00:20:07

people can actually realise this, you said that it's been

Howard Brown: 00:20:10

the best 12 years in the worst 12 years of your life. Talk to

Howard Brown: 00:20:15

me about that and tell people what that means.

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:17

I have said, I'll correct you. I've only said

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:20

it's been the best 12 years. I've not said it's been the

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:24

worst 12 years. And I say that Howard with no hesitation and

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:28

someone who listening is probably going fast catch stage

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:31

for cancer has been dealing with it for 12 years, is he flipping

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:36

out of his mind, these have been the best 12 years. But when I

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:41

stop, and I look at what's happened in my life, in the last

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:46

12 years, and I'll just briefly summarise it. I got a second

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:51

chance at love and met my wife and we just celebrated in

Lee Silverstein: 00:20:57

December, our 10 year anniversary, I got an amazing

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:01

new job. I saw two kids graduate college, get engaged, get

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:08

married, I've got five grandchildren. And bond you and

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:18

I share. So I'll drop a little drop a little Yiddish here. I've

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:23

seen so many symbols. And for our non Jewish friends, that

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:26

word means celebrations and happy occasions. I've seen so

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:31

many, you know, weddings, and like I said, grandchildren and

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:35

all of these things. And oh, by the way, I got cancer. And when

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:40

I compare the list of all the great things that have happened

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:44

in my life, and the one thing that sucks that I'll guess which

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:49

list is a whole lot longer, right? Does that mean the cancer

Lee Silverstein: 00:21:55

experience has been easy and without struggles? Absolutely

Lee Silverstein: 00:22:00

not. And when I'm sitting there the weekend after chemo, you

Lee Silverstein: 00:22:04

know, barely able to move off the couch. It you know, it

Lee Silverstein: 00:22:09

sucks. There's no other way to put it. But that doesn't change

Lee Silverstein: 00:22:13

how I feel about what's happened to me in the last 12 years. They

Lee Silverstein: 00:22:18

have with no doubt Howard, been the best 12 years of my life.

Howard Brown: 00:22:23

I appreciate that. Mazel Tov means congratulations,

Howard Brown: 00:22:28

because you mentioned besides, you know, getting a good job,

Howard Brown: 00:22:32

you mentioned life events and memories. Okay, that's what's

Howard Brown: 00:22:37

really important, okay, you don't even have 144 characters

Howard Brown: 00:22:40

to put on your tombstone, right? It's loving, you know, Husband,

Howard Brown: 00:22:44

Son, and Grandpa, you know, that's what's matters. And

Howard Brown: 00:22:47

that's what you that's why the list is so long. And I

Howard Brown: 00:22:50

appreciate that not not. And that's why I wanted you to say

Howard Brown: 00:22:53

that because I want people to understand that, besides those

Howard Brown: 00:22:57

life events, some of the most amazing people that an amazing

Howard Brown: 00:23:01

experience I have been able to have these last seven years are

Howard Brown: 00:23:05

because of that, right? I never would have been a book author, I

Howard Brown: 00:23:08

never would have been speaking on stages, I wouldn't have been

Howard Brown: 00:23:11

podcasting, we wouldn't have met Stacy hurt introduced us and

Howard Brown: 00:23:13

said you guys have to meet your stories are very similar. And we

Howard Brown: 00:23:17

just, we had to do it. But we both agree that Cancer sucks. No

Howard Brown: 00:23:22

doubt about it. There's nothing good about it. But we but the

Howard Brown: 00:23:26

good thing is that we have met some of the most amazing people

Howard Brown: 00:23:29

and had amazing experiences. Because I think that we are very

Howard Brown: 00:23:32

intentional. And we take our lives pretty seriously because

Howard Brown: 00:23:35

we know how vulnerable it can be 100%.

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:38

And, you know, then those are even things I

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:41

didn't even put on the list, Howard, you know, the

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:43

opportunity to meet so many amazing people like yourself.

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:47

The flip side is, and if you haven't experienced this through

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:52

the podcast, I know you have without the podcast, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:23:55

the challenges is when you go back and well, you know, you

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:00

know how many former guests are no longer with us. Right? And

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:04

that's, that's the yin and the yang of getting yourself very

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:07

involved in the cancer community is just by definition, there's

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:11

going to be lost there. But the amazing people who have touched

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:14

my life, and opportunities for speaking podcasts, and all those

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:19

things are also part of that list. And to your point about,

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:23

you know, memories, experiences, I put so much extra value in

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:28

those things. We go to concerts, we go on vacations, you know,

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:33

hey, let's go grab a beer at the local brewery. All these things

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:37

are just, you know, sitting on the couch and watching something

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:41

on Netflix with my wife. I don't even take that for granted.

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:44

Right. That to me is also a special occasion. I'm not shy

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:48

about telling people that we'll put music on in the house and

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:53

Linda and I will dance in the kitchen. Right? And because

Lee Silverstein: 00:24:58

that's what we love to do and That's just another way of just

Lee Silverstein: 00:25:02

celebrating our love and celebrating her life. And I and

Lee Silverstein: 00:25:07

I don't take any of that for granted whatsoever.

Howard Brown: 00:25:12

Listen, we both know many people that are still

Howard Brown: 00:25:14

in the battle. And in the stage for cancer world we do live with

Howard Brown: 00:25:17

death. And it's not that they gave up it's that the cancer

Howard Brown: 00:25:20

burden became too great. And then God called them and called

Howard Brown: 00:25:23

them up to heaven. And it is very tough. That is a very tough

Howard Brown: 00:25:27

about and they know about this whole thing. But the

Howard Brown: 00:25:30

appreciation that you expressed dancing with your wife in the

Howard Brown: 00:25:33

house, it's beautiful. Those are the beautiful moments so so the

Howard Brown: 00:25:36

I want you to put on your sunglasses now take off your

Howard Brown: 00:25:38

glasses. For those those that are listening and not viewing

Howard Brown: 00:25:42

this although to get to YouTube. We are wearing our shining

Howard Brown: 00:25:45

brightly sunglasses, because the shining brightly spotlight is on

Howard Brown: 00:25:49

Lee Silverstein, Lee, tell everyone how they can get in

Howard Brown: 00:25:53

touch with you. And then also give me some final comments. And

Howard Brown: 00:25:56

we'll call this a wrap shortly.

Lee Silverstein: 00:25:58

Certainly, so you can find me on Facebook, you

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:02

can find me on Instagram at Lee Silverstein and the

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:07

wehavecancershow.com website but if you just go on Apple podcasts

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:14

or Spotify and search, we have cancer podcast, you'll find a

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:18

back catalogue, as Howard mentioned of like 200 episodes,

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:22

we've interviewed patients, survivors, caregivers, medical

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:25

professionals around all kinds of cancer. And there's something

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:28

there for anybody that's been touched by cancer. And I greatly

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:33

appreciate Howard the opportunity to shine brightly

Lee Silverstein: 00:26:36

with you today. And share my story.

Howard Brown: 00:26:39

I love it. And so I this is Howard Brown and you

Howard Brown: 00:26:43

can always find me at shiningbrightly.com and Lee you

Howard Brown: 00:26:46

are a brother in arms and we join hands together we hope our

Howard Brown: 00:26:50

hockey teams win but but more than that, you you're a dear

Howard Brown: 00:26:54

friend and I think about you all the time and we you brought me

Howard Brown: 00:27:00

onto your show twice and we we watch out for each other and

Howard Brown: 00:27:04

that's that's that's what we do in this world is that we check

Howard Brown: 00:27:07

on each other that we watch out for each other so we will shine

Howard Brown: 00:27:10

brightly to make the world a better place for ourselves for

Howard Brown: 00:27:13

others in our communities, and keep shining always thank you.