Beards on the Street
Parry Ward and Aaron Pehrson, two Real Estate agents in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a team at Century 21 Everest called "The Luxury Agency". Beards on the Street is two seasoned agents chatting about Life Experiences, Love, Family, Friends and of course the Utah Real Estate Market conditions. Parry and Aaron primarily focus on a system coined "My Top 50" based around showing up for the people in there sphere consistently and with purpose.
Beards on the Street
Beards On The Street Episode 25 - Navigating Life and Cancer with Courage: Court's Story of Battling Breast Cancer and Embracing Family Love
When the vibrant hues of fall in McCall, Idaho, fade into the stark reality of a life-altering diagnosis, how does one navigate the shock and the shift? In this deeply personal episode, I sit with my beloved relative through marriage, Court, whose journey with advanced breast cancer at the tender age of 30 is both harrowing and inspiring. Weaving through the events of an ordinary week juxtaposed with the extraordinary challenge of facing mortality, Court opens up about the emotional toll of uncertainty and the resilience required to embrace each day with her young family. Her bravery is palpable as she recounts the moments leading up to and following her diagnosis, painting a portrait of courage that's bound to touch every listener deeply.
Then, we venture beyond the emotional landscape into the physical trials that cancer treatment entails. Court walks us through the aftermath of radiation therapy, the skin burns and rashes that are its hallmarks, and the transformation her body undergoes through mastectomy and reconstruction. The conversation shifts to the often-overlooked aftermath of such invasive procedures—the painstaking process of physical therapy, the battle against nerve damage, and the pursuit of regaining what was lost. Her anecdotal reflections on life post-surgery serve as a raw and honest testament to the unseen struggles that trail behind closed doors. Through Court's narrative, we gain a profound understanding of the complex journey that individuals with breast cancer face, marked by resilience and an unwavering spirit.
you, you, you, you, you, hey, hey, hey everybody, welcome to Beards on the Street. And boy am I excited about this episode. I got one of my favorite people in the studio today and it's going to be really cool, really really cool. What do you think? Court?
Speaker 2:I think that maybe you need to lower your expectations, but it's going to be pretty good.
Speaker 1:Not going to lower my expectations. Sorry, they are what they are.
Speaker 2:So, uh, I don't know if I'll have to live up to then. Yeah, well, you're going to?
Speaker 1:be just fine, that's me. So, uh, welcome guys. It's been another week and, uh, man, there's been a lot of things going on this week. So, uh, I'm just going to, I'm going to blast through a bunch of our stuff because I want to get to Court and talk about her cause and it's really close to my heart because I'm actually related to this gal in a roundabout way, but I love her to death. Family for life. That's right. Family for life. And we'll bring Turkey to the movie theater. There's a story behind that.
Speaker 2:Should have brought it this morning, but I'll think that would have actually been really funny, or at least a chicken Right yeah.
Speaker 1:Sorry, right, okay, guys. So really quick. Just a couple quick announcements Again. Jump on and check out our newsletter on the website and, really quick, we've got a really cool. It's called the pumpkin patch and we're sponsoring a table or a booth or whatever you want to call it there and we've got tickets that came with the booth and we want to give them away. So if anybody out there, it's on October 9th, it's at the Bastion Agricultural Center in South Jordan and we've got tickets we want to give away. You just got to call us and tell us that you need them. It's going to be really fun for the kids. Bring the kids out. They can get their face painted, they can get some candy, you know, I think they actually get a pick of pumpkin. I'm not sure if they even get to actually paint the pumpkin, but they can do that at home if they can't. So that's going to be fun. I know, court, you're coming out to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you better be there.
Speaker 1:I'll be there. Oh, don't you worry, I'll be there. So you know, guys, really quick, we talk about this every single week, but jump on our website luxury realty agency. We've got we've got our our mixers advertised on there. We've got our newsletters. Everything that we do starts at that, at that website. So jump on there and also subscribe to our YouTube channel, because we want to grow that. So, anyways, check all that stuff out.
Speaker 1:And a couple of quick things that happened this week or since the last episode. I had some clients that really, really cool people that that actually bought me a bottle of 27 year old red breast. For you guys that don't drink, that means that this, this, this red breast whiskey, irish whiskey, sat in a cask for 27 years. Yeah, and it's so good. So, anyways, I got my buddy up there. He bought me this and the presentation, the way that I'm in the box that comes in, it's so cool. But we, we took them to brunch last Sunday and tried the red breast. It was amazing. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:Also, this week, I jumped on a private plane and and flew up to McCall, idaho, with a buddy of mine and I just wanted to kind of share. I can't remember the name of this lake, but, holy cow, beautiful, beautiful place. And then yesterday I went up to get my boat and this is up on trappers loop guys, the leaves are changing. You better go up and check them out. They were so, so pretty. They're bright, bright, reds, oranges, really, really cool. And hey, to top the day off, got to see a rainbow. You were living your best life, I know.
Speaker 1:Whiskey boats McCall Idaho private plane, I mean it's can't get much better than that. Hey, you know it's hard being me All right guys. So enough of that business. I want to get to this young lady right here. So a little bit of history. Courtney is the niece of my wife, yep and Kord. I hope you're okay with this, but you can say whatever you want, okay. So Courtney found out what about a year ago?
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually it's been a year.
Speaker 1:It's been a year, yep, that she had breast cancer. Yep Advanced breast cancer.
Speaker 2:At 30.
Speaker 1:At 30. With four kids, four kids at home, like talk about getting punched right in the face. Tell me I before I even get into this, just just if you want to, and if you don't, just tell me that you don't want to.
Speaker 2:I'm an open book.
Speaker 1:Tell me your feelings when, when that first, like that first, punch in your face, what was your? Were you in denial? Were you? I mean, tell me what your thoughts were.
Speaker 2:Well, I actually thought I was going today because of the way that they do it. My appointment was was on a Thursday and so I had to wait over the weekend to even get my results back. So I walked into the mammogram and they were like well, you have cancer, but we don't know how bad.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was nice of them, yeah, I was like super yeah, really nice.
Speaker 2:And then I left and I went home and I just debated whether or not I was like going to leave my kid, like it was a total mental trip for that whole weekend because they didn't give me my results back until Monday. So it just it puts you through a head trip. Because I'm like okay, are my kids going to need a new mom, as my husband going to get remarried? You better get remarried, because these kids need a mom and it was just.
Speaker 1:Those are crazy, crazy thoughts.
Speaker 2:I know, from like one extreme to another, and then I'm like, okay, well, if I'm going to die, did I like live my life in the way that I wanted to? What are people going to think, like, say, at my funeral? But then, at the same time, you have to have hope and you have to be positive and think that it is going to work out and it is going to be fine. So it's just this. It was just a mental battle for a few days, but then they got back to me on Monday and I didn't die, obviously.
Speaker 1:So thank you for not dying. Yeah, what an emotional roller coaster that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was crazy. I can't even imagine. I mean literally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're just so many highs and lows.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and you know about it too right. It's like sometimes, when you die, you don't know that you're going to die, right. But, you're presented with this information and you can't help but sit there and stew and your thoughts for days on end. So hard.
Speaker 1:What can you do? You know it's. It's Lisi and I, not to get off topic, but we, lisi, watched a movie last night. Can't remember the name of it, but it was about this lady that that had lung cancer.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And she had a celebration of life before she died, or a wake before she died. I love it. It was really cool. I love it, and and I missed the whole first part of the movie, so so forgive me, but they, they all dressed up in Shakespearean clothing. It was actually really cool.
Speaker 2:I think that's how it should be done.
Speaker 1:I think so too.
Speaker 2:You might as well have a party before you go out. You know what, when I die, I don't want.
Speaker 1:I don't want the wake thing and that I just want a big ass party at a bar with lots of people drinking Irish whiskey.
Speaker 2:Okay, great.
Speaker 1:And that's it Okay, simple.
Speaker 2:I can, I can provide that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you find out you got breast cancer, you freaking. Have a freak out for a minute, which who wouldn't?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And life gets back to somewhat normal. What did you do? Now, I know that you had to go in, and, and why don't you talk about just a little bit about the process?
Speaker 2:Okay. So I was diagnosed in July and then from July until August they had to do a lot of additional testing to see if I had do chemo. I kind of got the better end of the stick. I didn't actually have to do chemo upfront, which was a miracle in itself because it was within a millimeter of leaving my ducks, and had that happened Seriously?
Speaker 1:that's called master size, right when it it goes out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, yeah, advanced, I don't know that I don't know.
Speaker 1:actually, don't quote me on the lingo, I just stay in my lane. I try not to ruin everyone else's, but so you got lucky you don't have to do chemo, but you did have to do radiation.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So in August yep, August I got a double mastectomy and then I had to recover from that. You can't. I had four little kids at home, all under the age of five. So not being able to lift was kind of tricky, because I how do you do that when your youngest is how old? At the time, my youngest was eight months old, so I had a five.
Speaker 1:She's the cutest little thing is about her sassiest little thing. She is.
Speaker 2:She's the best, so we have a.
Speaker 1:we had a five year old, her oldest Jack he is. He is such a cool kid.
Speaker 2:The oldest I'm. They all fit their their roles very, very perfectly. So he had a five. He was well, I guess he was six, so a six, a. How old was Teddy? Six, three, two and an eight month old, so two. What were you guys?
Speaker 1:thinking.
Speaker 2:Well, we weren't. And then also it was like it, honestly, was like divine intervention. That sounds weird, but like I don't believe in coincidences, we weren't supposed to have Isabella, our last one Right, and I was tapped out at three Right, and somehow, some way, we ended up with the fourth. I still don't know how.
Speaker 1:Then you find out you have breast cancer and then you have a double mastectomy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then you can't lift anything.
Speaker 1:You got an eight month old baby that wants to be held all the damn time.
Speaker 2:Yep, always. And so then recovered from that. Yeah, then what happened? And then I did radiation in November for a month and then what was that like?
Speaker 1:Just brief description.
Speaker 2:You go in every day. I like took my goals off from the waist up. You go in every day. You lay yourself on a table and they just radiate the part of your. So I was radiated like this whole section, okay, and it essentially just burns your skin. It burns like the micro cells that are in there that cause the cancer to get.
Speaker 1:Does it?
Speaker 2:hurt. It doesn't hurt when you're getting it done, but it was like a sunburn, okay, and then I had like rashes all under my armpit and it just, and then eventually your skin shrinks and so my skin on this side is like really not cute, which guys let's talk about this really quick and again, I know it's kind of personal, but I mean a mastectomy.
Speaker 1:So they're, they took everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I have no, no nipples, no, nothing. So they like completely carve out.
Speaker 1:Hardly any skin, because she's skinny as can be.
Speaker 2:Well, they save some skin, but it's literally just my chest wall and then my skin and then there's now an implant. So in March I had reconstruction surgery where they take the expanders, what they call it. So I have to have an expander in for a while to stretch your skin out Got it. And then they take those out and put an implant in.
Speaker 1:So now I have an, and, according to Alicia, those expanders weren't very comfortable.
Speaker 2:They hurt so bad.
Speaker 1:Wow, but when you think about it, guys, you're stretching your skin.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's pretty bizarre.
Speaker 1:Also, you can have boobs.
Speaker 2:I know, but at this point I'm like shoot, just take him out, like no it's fine. But yeah, I mean that that essentially was what happened. So here we are now. I just had my six month post up for my reconstruction appointment yesterday Okay, starting physical therapy, because my left arm just doesn't work the way that it should, so, so nerve damage. Yeah, I got nerd nerve damage and then I can't move my arm Like it doesn't move just because this radiated side is so tight, got it, so my range of motion is really off.
Speaker 1:So can they stretch that back out and they think you're, you're going, you're good?
Speaker 2:Ideally I have a three month process and then if that doesn't work then we go back into other options. Got it yeah?
Speaker 1:So I kind of know how that feels, kind of because I had surgery on my shoulder and they somehow damaged a nerve or pissed off a nerve lack of better words, yeah and so I'm numb basically from my elbow all the way down through my pointer finger and my thumb. It's so weird.
Speaker 2:Yes, my whole back. This is all numb.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you can't when it's when it's numb, like me, trying to pick up something is funny. You should demonstrate no, no, no, so, anyway. So. So now you, you clean bill of health, yeah.
Speaker 2:So now I just go in for scans every so often. I have to pay pretty close attention to like my body and all the things, because if it comes back it just kind of comes back with vengeance and it won't come back as breast cancer, it'll come back with something else, so like in your blood or in your bones or like so. So how often do you get checked? So right now I'm every six months, so I have another few months before my next one and then I go yearly for three years and then I go is that right? Yearly for three years and then I go every other year or something like that.
Speaker 1:I don't know. There's some schedule. Thank God Chad didn't have to marry somebody else, so you, the kids that have mom.
Speaker 2:I know right. I know I'm like my husband still has a wife, my kid still have the mom Right. I don't know, maybe maybe it would have been better for them. I don't know, but I'm still around, absolutely not Still around.
Speaker 1:Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Speaker 2:They don't got to deal with me for the rest of their lives Not going to happen.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've been through this big total tipped on your head yeah, craziness, yeah, and I know that during that you actually flew. They invited you out to, I believe, california, yeah, and you flew out there for talk about that. What was that? There was some kind of a program that you were a guest on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I Right in the middle of this guys I had.
Speaker 1:Four kids cancer, mastectomy radiation, and she gets on a plane and flies out to try to what Bring bring other people up. I think it was seriously.
Speaker 2:three weeks after my surgery and some of the women that I grew up with at home, some of like my leaders in my sphere of influence they put on this party called the pink party and they do it every other year and they raise money for breast cancer research and they donate it to the local hospital there. And she asked if I would come out and speak at it. So I did, and they raised over $140,000. Holy cow. Just in like that two hour time span to donate to Sutter Hospital and Roosevelt California so.
Speaker 1:That is amazing it was crazy.
Speaker 2:It was really fun. Actually. It like got my mind off all the things and it was fun to be like a part of a community effort to raise money for something that, like, actually affected me personally, so it was really cool.
Speaker 1:That is awesome. Yeah, so without giving too much away from that, because what you're doing now kind of mirrors that, correct?
Speaker 2:It's similar. I I'm not necessarily raising money, but I think the Well why?
Speaker 2:not Well, I mean, I can and I might, but what I'm trying to do, I learned through this whole process that you don't have to have cancer, right, to be going through something hard. Right, and everyone goes through hard things, and it's not our job to sit here and compare one person's hard to another, because someone will always have it harder than you. That is just part of life, right? And if we sit here and say like, oh well, my heart is not as hard as theirs, then we're not giving ourselves enough credit for the things that we're going through, and then also, that doesn't allow other people to be able to help you in the way that you need to be helped. Right, got it. So the whole idea is that, like your, hard is hard, and so I'm throwing a party in October.
Speaker 2:It's called the pink party guys called the pink party because of breast cancer awareness month, but I want to make 32 baskets for women going through hard things and it doesn't have to be cancer, just someone in my same stage of life that's going through something hard, whether it's financial, emotional, physical, mental, like it literally doesn't matter what it is. Yeah, and 32, cause I'm turning 32.
Speaker 1:So I'm just making a great number yeah, right, so talk to me about these baskets, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's a few people that have already donated to the basket. So we have like hydro drug, clean, simple eats, just ingredients. A whole bunch of small businesses around here, cozy, confidence, sylvie, the haircut box there's just a whole bunch of small businesses that have donated to these baskets. Okay, and then if you come to the party, you can it's kind of like a favorite things party, like you let people do it Christmas time or you bring like your favorite thing to the party, yep. So just people are going to bring whatever they want.
Speaker 1:And you'll just distribute them out in these baskets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the whole idea is to come together to make the baskets at the party and I'll have like other stuff there.
Speaker 1:But and then the 32. People that you're going to give those to. How are you picking them? I'm just curious, where are they coming into the mix?
Speaker 2:So that's nomination based. So I have a Google doc that I has made and people can just go in there and nominate and as of yesterday, it was just people from Utah so that I could hand deliver them. But there's been so many people that want to nominate someone who doesn't live in Utah.
Speaker 1:Which is fine, yeah, which is great. You can mail it to them.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that's, that's what we're doing now. Like there's so many people.
Speaker 1:Or maybe mail it to the person that nominated them, if they live in the same area, and let them deliver it, yep.
Speaker 2:So literally anyone can be nominated as long as you're. I did narrow down the age group to women under 45 just because it's closer to home, Right.
Speaker 1:And so how do people, how can, how can our people nominate somebody?
Speaker 2:So I have a link in my Instagram account and you just go in under my. I hate when people say like link in my bio, but that's the reality of it, so her Instagram account is court.
Speaker 1:C-o-u-r-t.
Speaker 2:Yep Under score. Under score Hills H-i-l-b-s.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 2:Yep, so you can go in there and nominate literally whoever you want. You can nominate multiple people, like I would love to make more than 32 baskets, but that's just my goal, right? So the more the merrier.
Speaker 1:And now let's get back. So this event is gonna be held on October 24th, 24th, and it's at it's at the Azalea Event Center.
Speaker 2:It's in South Jordan.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so super, so anybody can show up.
Speaker 2:Anyone can show up. It's from 7 to 10 pm.
Speaker 1:Okay, yep, anybody can show up, bring your, bring your items and donate and help them put these baskets together. Yep, anybody out there that that that knows of somebody that's in need and and hurting, and whether it's cancer or loss of a kid or spouse or divorce?
Speaker 2:Divorce. There are just so many different things that people go through and I don't know. I just it opens your eyes to a whole different world of being able to be there for people, no matter their circumstances.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, guys, did I tell you she's freaking amazing? Oh gosh, yes, I did. I warned you. I mean, everything that she's been going through and all she can think about is how to help other people. That's pretty amazing, I.
Speaker 2:I mean you would do the same. You just you would like you're put in a position where you're forced to think outside yourself. You start because if you're, if you stay focused on you, and it is really hard and I've had to learn to be my own advocate and to stand up for myself and to process the hard that I am going through and that's been a whole learning process also. But as you do that, you learn how to be there for other people. You just learn empathy.
Speaker 1:And, quite frankly, it makes you a much happier, totally, totally Fuller person, 100%. You know us doing all this stuff that we've been doing. You know these different sponsorships for, for with our mixers and whatnot. It's awesome.
Speaker 2:It's so fun.
Speaker 1:It is fun. Yeah, it's so cool to to. You know, I have such a gifted life and such excess of everything that it's really really cool to to give back.
Speaker 2:It is cool, and then it gives you the opportunity to create that community as well that you wouldn't otherwise have, right? So you're connecting, you're being able to help someone else and it just creates this community and a sense of belonging a sense of belonging to.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so any ideas for these baskets, anything that you want to maybe throw out there, that that.
Speaker 2:I mean whatever you like, right, I'm like whatever you, if you're going through something really hard.
Speaker 1:I'm like it could be a gift card. It could be a tree.
Speaker 2:It could be a book, a book, it could be, seriously, the list is endless. It could be a gift card to Starbucks, it could be a pair of socks, like honestly, whatever. It could be a chapstick, whatever makes you happy when you're having a hard day. If someone were to show up to your door and bring you that item, a song, bring that, yeah, a playlist. I'm like, if you don't want to bring something that's actual, doesn't have to have monetary value.
Speaker 2:No, I'm like make a playlist, that would be awesome. Wow, yeah, whatever you want.
Speaker 1:This is going to be actually really cool.
Speaker 2:It will be really cool.
Speaker 1:I can guarantee you that Lisa and I will be there. You know that I mean two.
Speaker 2:There will be three of us. They will for sure be there. For sure there will be three and Turkey.
Speaker 1:Aaron will come. Oh, by the way, aaron can be on today, guys. I didn't mean to exclude him, but Aaron will be there for sure, and my team will be there.
Speaker 2:Bring the Turkey and you can come.
Speaker 1:Turkey. So we have it, yep, and our shoes, and your shoes, because we may need them.
Speaker 2:You may? I always leave my shoes Right.
Speaker 1:I'm not possibly need your shoes. Yep, alright, man, I'm excited, this is going to be fun. Okay, come it is, it's going to be fun.
Speaker 2:They also have permanent jewelry, so if you and Lisa, I want to matching bracelet like there's your chance.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, I mean what is permanent jewelry?
Speaker 2:They just take like chains, like uh, like this Okay. And they kind of solder it together so that it can't come off. Oh, you can get best friend bracelets, right BFFs for life.
Speaker 1:We'll just get a nose thing or that.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know if they can solder into your nose, we can try.
Speaker 1:Well, they could stick it in and then do something on the backside where you can't take it out.
Speaker 2:I mean, if that's what you want especially if you got something. Yeah, I mean I'm probably going to stick to the bracelet, go ahead. You crack me up, I'll record you, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, so you heard it, man, we're. We want to support this cause, we want to support this young lady right here and uh, you know you can always reach me, uh, direct message me, you know, call me, Whatever it is, if you want to, if you want to get involved, get involved, I would.
Speaker 2:I mean, I am no pressure, but like pressure, you know and I've actually got some really cool people.
Speaker 1:I've actually already reached out to court that have some have some cool stuff. I I thanks. I know some people that have. They've written books, children's books, about loss, just really fun stuff.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yeah, anything that can bring some perspective, anything that can bring some comfort, anything that can bring joy, like truly the basics, the basics.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I like it. Yeah, okay, alrighty, well, I am, I'm totally in. Okay, I think it's awesome. Thanks, I'd be totally in anyways.
Speaker 2:You know like you have to be because you're family. But thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Well, so that's about it, guys. I'm I'm getting the heck out of here because you know my life's so rough after hearing all that. That. I'm jumping on a plane and flying to Newport. Sweet Right, today, today. Have the best To stay on a yacht.
Speaker 2:Bring some sun back with you.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, it's supposed to be coming.
Speaker 2:It's supposed to warm up next week.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I hope.
Speaker 2:I'm bringing it back.
Speaker 1:I hope that we're not even though I love fall. I hope that summer. I mean, I can't believe that I had to go get my boat because they're locking the gate on Sunday and it's like come get your boat or it's going to be locked in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Cause like tomorrow's winter here so right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not okay. I like the leaves, I like all the change, but I love summer, yeah, and I think the older I get I thought I would never say this, but the older I get I think the less I I like the cold Should move to Arizona.
Speaker 2:No, oh, kay, no, no, no, scratch that Me. And Lysie will move to Arizona.
Speaker 1:No, can't have her, she's mine.
Speaker 2:Okay, fine, yep.
Speaker 1:I think maybe go with people down there. Okay, a buddy of mine has a house in Cape Creek, so we'll go there, okay. Yeah, it's got a swimming pool for the winter, for the winter, okay.
Speaker 2:Deal. That's a good compromise, right.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, we're in All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for tuning in and remember, jump on the website, call me, email me, do whatever it is you got to do to to participate in this. This is a good one. Love you, guys. Thanks so much for watching and have a fantastic.