Breast Cancer Survivor (and caregiver), Ginny Brant, Shares her Path to Healthiness.

Christmas gift why not the one with the chicken under the tree and leaving irrevocably as Christmas gifts for chicken maybe it's not the gift for your family but it is the perfect gift for poor family ninja chicken can break the cycle of poverty for poor family yes chicken chickens and provide nourishment for family and they can sell those eggs at the market for income when you donate a chicken or any other gospel for Asia. 100% of what you give goes to the field and get the ball went gospel fundraiser to support family. Jesus family this Christmas, give them six explanation see chickens and camping. This is October is breast cancer awareness month and so Ginny did Brent has graciously agreed to come back and talk a little bit about this. Her journey with this. She was on several months ago with her new book is called unleash your God-given healing and Ginny welcome back to the show.

While it's great to be here and I'm happy to talk about that because I would love to help. Some women even come and avoid this journey before I get into this did your book unleashing your God-given healing is did this come out of your journey from from breast cancers that would would spark okay good for me on a quest to figure out what caused it, and what I'm gonna do to help my doctors to beat the cancer and so it certainly did I learn from my check that good people need to know this because some of the same mistakes I made are the same mistake a lot of people are making will knowledge is power and we are all about equipping educating the family caregiver and this is the disease I don't have the steps in front of the Ginny but this is a disease that affects the enormous amount of one admin one and eight women one and eight at estimating well. I've had several friends that have gone through this. It's a tough thing. We had a lady on the show several months ago.

Schedule special needs son and she was dealing with all this stuff that had some kind of tumor situation going on they were doing. They were in the throes of better than she got the news for herself that she had to deal with breast cancer so I it's it's there, and so this month we take time out as a nation really worldwide to recognize the journey that so many have to take and the steps are being taken. So take us back to.

Do you have start off with this on and you I want you to share anything you're not comfortable sharing. But was this a historic event in your family did you have a history with this resist, come out of the blue with while it might not train my family but my mother got it at 82 years old and she died four months after she died that I found a lump in my breath so it was really wrought. I was still grieving her loss.

When I found it, though, it really began the history in our family, but the doctor at cancer treatment of American Chicago texted me because there are eight risk factors for breast cancer. And when I didn't have one at them. They feel it must be genetics so they did expand for genetic testing. Nothing shout at so I had no risk factors and no genetics, and that put me on the quest to find out what, if something caught in just happen you know so that's why I went on the quest and did all the research and you know just studied and read medical journals and went to cancer convention.

No red books by doctors who were experts in cancer and I started connecting the dots and saying okay I'm seeing some things here. Yes, there is a reason I got a breast cancer had no risk factors or genetic for this you don't mind I feel queasy asking this, but how old were you when you were diagnosed with this was the queasy asking the woman over. She wasn't out because I'm her at today is my birthday and I just turned a little bit is your birthday. I knew it was your birthday so happy birthday auntie John. You can sing to her. I was all about and just wish you a very happy birthday. Thank you for your good birthday but a risk factor 60 and is where the risk really increase if not that you can't get it before but it darts to rapidly increase when you get 60 and up because your immune system is aging. Of course we discussed before all the things you can do so. Your immune system doesn't age as much like diet and exercise and hydration and sleep so you know they're throwing things you can you can do but I with 58 so I was close to a risk factor on that one. But the doctor said technically you don't have that that risk factor obesity. If the number one risk factor for all cancer and I did not have that risk factor, but in my research I learned that the more fat cells you have estrogen stored in those fat cells and so we don't want to get overweight because of the risk factor for any cancer and that if caught me, even though doctors that I wasn't overweight to lose an additional 15 to 20 pounds because I was up 30 pounds from when I got married will why did I need that extra weight. Not doing any good. The issues that virtually every caregiver deals with this is excessive weight gain is when the landmines are put in my book 7 figure limits and I assort up pretty until Jada got so big list shoe prints and dry concrete and also I break it up broke my family tree took two dogs to bark at my picture fell off the wall. No III know that there'll think for me, Ginny, that I saw a lady pushing her elderly mother in a wheelchair that the that the hospital the other day and the woman that was pushing her mother taking care of her mother as I heard when they were checking it just unit yourself to the loser as her daughter but she was morbidly obese and the mother was risky and frail, but this girl was morbidly obese and I was just like the heart without enough so I know that that this is the problem for so many family caregivers, and so many family caregivers or women and if there overweight. Guess what, this is the suspect a risk factor yes is a risk factor and so this is why so important for you to come on and talk about this because there would been right now that are listening there thing okay I would ready to do so would you do, you said you were 30 pounds overweight, but you cannot hide this is not bad. We were all skidding when we got married yeah you know what what are one body.

Some people need 5200 pounds overweight for their blood sugar in their blood pressure isn't impacted. In my case I think it only takes 20 or 30 pounds, so it was not needed. In my case either and I did for the moment. They said you have cancer that kind of curtailed my appetite. If you know what I mean when you start eating things that aren't high in the car and you start eating healthy things then automatically I started losing weight, but I also do some intermittent fasting where I don't eat until 10 or 12 in the day and I finish at 6 o'clock at night and I don't eat again until the next morning I drank water but I'm not taking in any calories because it allows your body to lose weight and it allows your body to go into autophagy, which is where your body starts killing off those cells that could become cancer cells. What sort of things to do this to your diet and the oxidants berries that can this thing berries are anticancer, but the American Cancer Society even said that back in the 1991 the best things you can do to avoid breast cancer if you eat cruise for press vegetable because they contain fell for thing, and that lowers your estrogen load and a lot of cancers are estrogen fat in men as well. Mendicant breast cancer are 90% estrogen fat and that should not be.

But if you eat these cruciferous vegetables and things like flaxseed, you're going to lower that estrogen load and that can help you to reduce your risk for breast cancer so I have a smoothie recipe in my book that banana chocolate blueberry smoothie that helps your brain. It helps your heart.

It reduces your risk for cancer and it contains two servings of cruciferous vegetables as well as the ground flaxseed so both of those are actually a lot of a lot of 900 been in my home and I've made a form and I said you know I can drink that I can drink the chocolate and banana covers a multitude of things. All I can say, and I can't find anything to conquer it as well at the chocolate. And this is rocket cow. The really healthy chocolate that covers the other things in there that you might not want to eat so I have a lot of cancer patients that can drink it. A lot of people doing it just to be healthy and I think I drink math and I drink it every day and I can't drink something I don't like it that way without would look to the cruciferous vegetables. Well, I put in things like kale, I will put in arugula. I can put in cabbage but I alternate between KL and arugula and all different kinds of green love start detail by the way I make pretty good stab at it. It's is different, but I'm making good stab salad are really good you put no and different things in the right dressing you know you have to make it so it's palatable for you, but it just get back to the weight per minute and I said estrogen stored in fat South, but when your body is overweight, the stress on your cortisol levels also increases estrogen if your blood sugar is not below that you know A1c that 5.7 then your estrogen levels go up when your blood sugar goes up people having you know, high blood sugar is a prevalent problem in this country. If you get your weight down your blood sugar in your blood pressure. They got that in your estrogen load may follow if the estrogen load over a lifetime that is driving the cancer we have to look at everything that adds to that estrogen load so your book basically is a journey through all of this of rediscovering how you can take a little bit more control of your health when you went through this when you got this diagnosis.

The slower life you spend a few moments with to where I'm going with this, as we traveled on the road take us that moment when you got the diagnosis was stating I just lost my mother and into the journey with her. My sister not valid and there was no way I wanted to go through what I saw her go through and here they prepare me that I'm gonna go through it and I'm like this just can't be so, but thinking here that you don't have the risk factor or the genetics I mean anybody would say will open what a concept. If I don't find out what caused it and identify some factors.

How can I stop it from coming back the Dawn Kellett McKay what you sister. Hope this affect her did she did so I wouldn't tell her until the genetic test came back because yeah I was very concerned about my sister hearing the news. After she lost my mother and then she finds out her only sister has. I mean, that's scary.

So I waited until the Pope came back and said it wasn't genetic because you know then I can so don't worry it. It's not an automatic bank, will you, there's no need to create more stress. We need to have some more data when you are sure Matt by the way, when you would. The doctor told you this for you with your husband at the time or you buy yourself a how that work.

I went by myself. I would buy myself each time they gave me the bad news. I just happen to be by myself the next week they told me it was aggressive and in the next week is when they told me from the MRI. It appeared it was all over my body and so each time I Bad news. I happen to be by myself which is not the way we we planned it, but my husband has a full-time job so yeah that was with them, asking the reason I'm asking this is because a lot of people do have very, very scary. Diagnosis there alone.

What I would like for you to tell what did you what was a car ride home like what was it like when my husband picked me and thought I would get bad news and we drove straight to the Atlanta airport because we were going for a second opinion.

Once I thought it was aggressive if that was our cue get a second opinion so we hopped on that airplane. We were both in shock and then we got up to see TCA.

It took them five days to do a second opinion and to tell us you know it may not. It is aggressive your life is in danger. Every weapon of mass destruction can be brought out to save your life. However, it may not be all over your body that what we saw with we think is inflammation that was from a bad biopsy so I just had to get the you know not so good luck that the biopsy went bad and and through a debris of inflammation all over my body, which was not good but at least it wasn't cancer all over my body played a good source. Since this is bad biopsy by the white, not cancer. Yeah. And when I finally confirm that and I would know for the shore until the surgery. When they finally can you know that it is not all over your body. Then I knew I would have more of a chance of living a stage IV cancer aggressive. They can only extend your life okay if they can beat it and so you might live an extra year or two, but then you're gonna die from all the mean other than have to keep treating you and your gonna die from either the chemical the cancer whichever comes first. So you know to know that it wasn't all over your body net.

I had a chance a better chance of living so that was a big huge relief. I did not want the chemotherapy. But as I said in the book I figured out how to get through it. How to use exercise and water and diet and sleep in all these things in nourishing my got to make the prognosis better and I went through with flying colors, which is rare for what I got what I want your listeners to hear it.

Some things that just help every body avoid breast cancer. Things that people don't know like you know you heard the president this week was on vitamin D because of the coronavirus and even Dr. found she was using vitamin D but it's recommended to avoid cancer and in breast cancer there is a critical research that shows it lowers your risk for breast cancer if you will keep your vitamin D level high. Through this vitamin D 25 hydroxy blood test that your doctor can do on you. Even my three doctors told me if you had your levels between 70 and 90. You might have gotten cancer in the first place. I'm like wow wish I'd known that, so it's important to know it was a little tardy, but if you got if you are a caretaker and you're taking care of him one day in and day out. Hey, get those vitamin D levels up. You've Artie got stress you've Artie, confined in you know you're already having enough struggle get those vitamin D levels up and another thing that's important. It was a shock to me when I got to see TCA in Chicago.

They said we had them send up your mammogram from your previous years. It was messed on to mammogram. If cancer was there two years ago and it got met why because I had dense breast 40 to 50% of women had dense breasts. I did not know it now. The radiologist have to tell you, but if you're not telling you when you go for your mammogram. I want every woman to ask this question, do I had dense breasts and if they tell you you do. You have to realize you need to really do the self check keep those doctors appointments every year you're not appeal to depend on the mammogram. It itself to diagnose like someone who doesn't have dense breath and they do have a 3D mammogram now so that's a little more accurate but my doctors don't even trust that for me, though you have to look at the self checks are important. There gonna pull out an MRI for me from now on almost every year, the have to do that because I had dense breath and I had aggressive breast cancer.

But what I'm saying it these self checks are important because I found mine by accident but if yourself for checking every month and you have an aggressive cancer. By the time you get back around that doctors appointment.

It could have grown out and got into your lymph nodes by then because it's aggressive so I really recommend the self checks. A lot of women find their breast cancer because of the self checks 72% of caregivers don't see their own doctor and the vast majority of caregivers, over 60%, 65% of or limit the more more men that are doing this, but if you got that many women out there who are taking care of someone else in the stress you know you've done that you did it was you did this yes is is is unrelenting and and without mercy. Then you cut that with the fact that they're not seeing the doctor regularly. This is why John the show because I want people to understand how you can take charge of this even while you're dealing with all the caregiving stuff you you you got to do these things take care of your own needs. That's right, you do the last few minutes I want you to say something I don't I don't rehearse questions and things with folks because I just felt like it's is just comes across to cable news.

This is where we just have a conversation we just did a justices couple caregivers sit around talking about her own health.

Would you like to say to husbands who are picking their wife up at the doctor after hearing the news like that and take them to the airport like your husband did to me. What would you want to say to those men out there who are trying to care for their wives in getting this kind of diagnosis. What are some things you'd like to share with them, love them unconditionally. I have to tell you that I mean after I left every hair on my head and I was a little bit left weight.

My eyebrows were gone. Okay my head and looked at me every morning I would wake up at me with a honey, you're still the most beautiful woman east of the Mississippi River. Now I'm getting worried about what those women look like Brianna's hot but the point is, he left me anyway. Unconditional love helps you to heal. If you sense that that person doesn't love you because you don't look as good.

I mean that's that's tough that unconditional love and I think of the of the women who don't have a husband to pick them up there alone in this world and you would need your church family and other friends to come around. You sit with you during chemo and a different person sit with me. My husband couldn't fly to Chicago for every chemo had a former principal fit with me. I had some friends from college a week from Wheaton College come and sit with me during my chemotherapy. It was an all day marathon. You know, so I think it's important that the husband do it, if at all possible. But they are at their working family needs to be with you when you go to that chemotherapy so that your mind is occupied on positive things and not just sitting there and sulking the whole time that positive attitude that love knowing someone loves you and care it makes a difference.

Your mood seems low mood swings that this you know I went to a lot of fear of waking up and saying a honey do I really have cancer or this is just a nightmare that I can't wake up from that he would he would lift me up, and I'm not the kind of person to stay down very long and I used exercise to keep my moods because that serotonin goes off when you exercise I kept busy. I kept busy, praying, studying his word concentrating on the good things and singing, laughing all the things lift your mood. I mean, it makes chemical Glock in your body that help you from becoming depressed but you have to learn that you cannot ride the roller coaster ride of emotions and just let it get out of control. The whole time because your body is set to heal. When you calm the emotional brain by using prayer by using his word meditating on his work, gratitude, and looking for all the good things that happened along the way. You will will put the book is called unleash your God given and the author is Ginny death Brent and see it. Little Carolinians. We were just grateful that she chemo so during this month of breast cancer awareness, but this is good to be this every month is an opportunity for you to take control of your health. This is Ginny's message that it's there. The past is there.

She's laid up for you. Would you take advantage of the dinner book today and start becoming healthier as you serve as a caregiver.

Caregivers big better caregivers. Ginny Brett.com G in the NY BRA entity.com Ginny, thank you so much for being part of the show because a quick break will be right back is caregiver.com speed Rosenberger your help somebody walk for the first time I've had the privilege many times through our organization. Standing with hope when my wife Gracie gave up both of her legs follow this horrible Rick that she had as a teenager and she try to save them for years and if it just wouldn't work out and file. She relinquished that while this is that I'm not heavy legs anymore. What can God do with that and then she had this vision for use in prosthetic limbs as a means of sharing the gospel to put legs on her fellow amputees and that's what we been doing now since 2005 was standing with hope.

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