What if you were told you had only one year to live? Join us as Trent Brock returns (Episode 22 original story) to share his awe-inspiring journey through severe medical challenges, including a groundbreaking hip implant procedure, cancer survivor of multiple cancers. Despite facing multiple surgeries and life-threatening infections, Trent's story is a powerful testament to the unbreakable human spirit. His emotional and mental resilience, bolstered by unwavering self-belief and a robust support system, offers invaluable insights into overcoming the most daunting obstacles life can throw at us.
Ever wondered how cutting out negativity can transform your life? Explore the incredible benefits of eliminating toxic influences and immersing yourself in positive content. From uplifting music to inspiring self-help materials, discover how these changes can revolutionize your mental and emotional well-being. Hear personal tales of how prioritizing personal health over societal expectations and trusting in a higher power can lead to profound personal growth. This episode isn't just for those facing health challenges; it's a universal guide for anyone looking to overcome adversity and achieve personal triumphs.
Navigating life's challenges demands self-awareness and consistent mental reinforcement. Listen to how self-discovery and understanding your triggers can better equip you to handle adversity, whether it’s business pressures or serious health issues. Embrace the importance of a supportive environment and the continuous journey of personal growth. Hear compelling stories of resilience, the critical role of consistent therapy, and the significance of genuine connections within a community. This episode illuminates the path to turning personal pain into empowerment and living a life full of purpose and authenticity.
What if you were told you had only one year to live? Join us as Trent Brock returns (Episode 22 original story) to share his awe-inspiring journey through severe medical challenges, including a groundbreaking hip implant procedure, cancer survivor of multiple cancers. Despite facing multiple surgeries and life-threatening infections, Trent's story is a powerful testament to the unbreakable human spirit. His emotional and mental resilience, bolstered by unwavering self-belief and a robust support system, offers invaluable insights into overcoming the most daunting obstacles life can throw at us.
Ever wondered how cutting out negativity can transform your life? Explore the incredible benefits of eliminating toxic influences and immersing yourself in positive content. From uplifting music to inspiring self-help materials, discover how these changes can revolutionize your mental and emotional well-being. Hear personal tales of how prioritizing personal health over societal expectations and trusting in a higher power can lead to profound personal growth. This episode isn't just for those facing health challenges; it's a universal guide for anyone looking to overcome adversity and achieve personal triumphs.
Navigating life's challenges demands self-awareness and consistent mental reinforcement. Listen to how self-discovery and understanding your triggers can better equip you to handle adversity, whether it’s business pressures or serious health issues. Embrace the importance of a supportive environment and the continuous journey of personal growth. Hear compelling stories of resilience, the critical role of consistent therapy, and the significance of genuine connections within a community. This episode illuminates the path to turning personal pain into empowerment and living a life full of purpose and authenticity.
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Speaker 1:
Welcome to. It's the Human Experience Podcast Hosted by Hazel Brown, a healthcare leader, wife, mom and career coach. If you're big on authenticity, personal development, perseverance and transparency, you're in the right place. Get ready to be uplifted, inspired and empowered as you become fearless in pursuit of the life you desire and deserve. Our goal is to help you level up by creating a safe space to learn and reflect, while listening to transparent stories from our host or successful professionals and business owners who've agreed to share the parts of success that typically gets X'd out on social media, because that's the part you need to see and hear the process. Go ahead and subscribe. You don't want to miss out on these transparent stories and discussions that reveal highs, lows, aha moments and nuggets that'll help you to grow and glow.
Speaker 2:
Hey, hey, hey. You are now tuned in to the it's the Human Experience podcast. Today I have Trent Brock back again, season four. Trent was on in season two of the podcast and he dropped all the gems in terms of his perseverance and really holding on to grit to get him to where he is today and, of course, as we're talking through self-doubt, self-worth and just making sure that we reach self-actualization and live the life that we know we're deserving of, who else would I bring back to season four other than Trent, trent, welcome.
Speaker 3:
Oh, wow, that is an introduction. Thank you so much for having me back. You know, I'm very, very honored to be back here with you today.
Speaker 2:
Yes, awesome, catch us up to speed. How has the journey been when we think about just fighting everyday problems? Right, it's hard, but I could only imagine, like the grit that you've had to have, the resilience that you've had to have, and I think that for me, I'm excited because sometimes it's not worth the squeeze, but I can see that you know it's worth the squeeze. Sometimes we don't want to put all that elbow grease into the squeeze. But tell us a little bit about the journey and where you are today.
Speaker 3:
Got the largest, most complex hip implant ever done to date in the world, with procedures that have never been done. You know, I'm kind of a guinea pig deal and you know, just to just to kind of give people an idea, just real quick, right, this is what my hip looked like with the surgery. Everything's backwards so you can see. That's how much of my hip is gone. When they took this little wire thing out it got to that, so it got that much shorter with that shoe I had shown you and they did the implant recently. It was a one-of of a kind deal, right. Nobody in the world I could find to do it, except this one guy that specialized in it.
Speaker 3:
This is what a normal hip implant looks like. Okay, Just a little ball. This is what mine looks like. Okay, You've got the spine there. All the, all the stuff these are rods going all the way across me uh, screws, these are in my spine. Uh, 18 hours of surgery the first day, like six or seven the next day massive deal. So I just want to give everybody a little background synopsis of what it is. So how am I doing today?
Speaker 1:
Well, I'm doing pretty dang good.
Speaker 3:
Actually, when I got the hip surgery, you know it was good, everything was fine. I came home about a month and a half later I started feeling sick the fever, the chills, all the stuff. We couldn't figure it out. We thought that I had. I was just having kind of a. My body's trying to get used to it Took a couple months and we figured out I had a freaking infection again. My inflammatory markers were 75 times higher over the normal limit Crazy. They had to go in, take everything out, redo everything in October. And this is where the head game for me started and we can talk about that in a minute. So I had to fight through all that and the medication and all that stuff. But you know, last couple of months I'm, you know, from two crutches for five years never told me I'd walk again ever in New Zealand I'm a one crutch. Now you know I'm walking like from here to the living room.
Speaker 3:
You know I'm getting there and so you know this big journey of you know five years ago, when this all started. It's kind of you know in the rear view mirror, almost you know all the stuff with it. It'll always be there, right? But yeah, yeah. So hopefully that kind of gives everybody a little bit of quick intro of who I am, where I am.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I love that, trent, because I think what you really were able to share in your journey is how you can be told that you have one year to live and all of these things are happening. And here you are, five years later, but within that, it sounds so cute on the outside, like, okay, they tell you something, they tell you you only have one year, but you make up in your mind that I'm going to beat this. But it really takes so much emotional resilience, it takes so much just self-belief and it also takes a lot of rest and support to get you to the other side of that. And so I really would love to hear, like the mindset shifts you had to make and how you're able to hold yourself up in those difficult times of hearing these different things. And you're thinking to yourself God, I'm trying my best, I'm fighting, I'm giving it everything I have, but I'm still getting sucker punched, I'm still getting told this. And how do you stand up when you know you're giving it everything you've got, but life is still lifing?
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah, man, there's so much involved in all that. Let me just start with the beginning and try to keep it simple. So in the beginning, when I was diagnosed with the hip cancer thing, the first deal right, it was this saga of you know. They would start to make the implant, create the implant. It'd take a couple months because it's public health care and all that deal. When they were ready it wouldn't fit because the cancer had progressed. So the NAS started over the third time through. Okay, they just said look, it's too far gone, we're going to have to cut the leg off. And I lost it. You know, I lost it and by that time I had gotten a little smarter and I had my parents on the phone in the States, you know, in New Zealand.
Speaker 3:
When I was in New Zealand with the doctors and my dad just stepped in and he said look, my son's a fighter, he's not a quitter. You leave that leg, he will make this thing work. We don't care. And the doctor's like well, you know, 99% of the people get their leg removed and it's going to be a harder life without it. It's going to be tough on them, the leg's not going to work, it's going to be shorter than the other, he's going to be handicapped, blah, blah. My dad said we don't care, you can't grow a leg back, cut it off later, leave it.
Speaker 3:
You don't know, my son, it all starts with that decision, and so I made that decision, and then I'm like, ok, well, what's my why? My why is I can't die on my folks? Well, how am I going to do this? So I started changing my diet and my exercise routine and those things. Those things are if you're going to do them or you're not. You know the thing with, like, the mindset, though that's the real challenge.
Speaker 3:
You know, I had two years of these guys, you know, telling me following what they said to do. I just listened to the doctors and I thought you know what? They don't know me. They know me for 10 or 15 minutes. It's time for me to take back control of my life and I'm making choices. These guys aren't going to speak over me anymore. I'm going to take their expert information as advice as part of it, and I'm going to speak over me anymore. I'm going to take their expert information as advice as part of it, and I'm going to make my own decisions. I'm going to be in control of this and the stuff that I can't control. I'm going to put myself in the best position that I can. So when those things out of my control are there, I'm right for it. I'm in the right spot, I've done what I needed to do and God's grace is going to have to come in. That's where grace and faith come in, you know.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for sure. That grace and faith part. I think that that is something that is hard to speak on, right. I think we simply say have faith. You know, believe like buy the belief from someone else if you need to, but when you're in it, it's not that easy, right. It's like oh my God, I believe you. God. I know that I heard something, I know that this is real, but how can I stand up in making this thing actually happen, because sometimes it's larger than us and it's out of our scope. So how do you believe in the midst of all of that?
Speaker 3:
Well, I'll tell you, you know, I'm practical, I'm facts based. My normal perspective is even pessimistic, and we label that as I'm a realist, right With people that are a dreamer. So I'm already going in a little bit half empty, just because the way I'm wired up. Okay, I it took me from the time I made that decision what I would do. I would go to work, I do my thing. You know that was it. Outside of work. I was doing anything I could to try to better my chances for the day.
Speaker 3:
And you know, when you have already got this ingrained in your head for two years of these guys and everything that you've seen and have happened is bad, it is very hard to stop that train, turn it around and get it going again. So I began by just starting to cut out negative stuff in my life right, including friendships, some friendships that were not, you know, positive for me. You know I'm, all you know, watching the news or, or this or that or whatever. Cut out the negative stuff. And then the mind right, the mindset stuff it was.
Speaker 3:
I was listening to self-help stuff. I was listening to sermons that I could find positive, uplifting music, and here's what I would do If I found something that resonated with me. I put it on repeat and I listened to it over and over and over and I would fall asleep, listen to it, play it all night, get in there somehow. Whatever it does, wake up, listen to it and eventually what will happen is you know, and I'm like, my measuring point is when I wake up in the middle of night, and that's the first thing that comes to my mind, or it wakes me up thinking about that, or I wake up and I'm singing that song, you know, or I'm saying something, then it's in me, then I know. But that took me probably nine, 10 months to get to that point.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, wow, it's so interesting because I think that, as you speak, I kind of think through my own journeys of when life is lifing and I have to trust God to really get me to where I need to be mentally so that I can do whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing in that moment and be the person that I know he put me here to be. What I've learned is that I had to get out my way. I feel like that, saying people say it but they don't really explain it in the sense of getting out your way from the perspective of if you're working in flesh, you're thinking about what other people will think if you do something that is against the grain and it's not perceived as normal right. And when you're working in spirit, it's like I'm going to live if I'm using you, for example. So, whatever it is that I have to do, if I have to call another doctor, despite that, people say, maybe get two different opinions, I'm going to get a million, I'm going to move, I'm going to do this, I'm going to reach out to these people and I'm not going to care how I'm perceived, because I'm more in concern about my life than I'm in concern of what other people think about me, and I think that what you talk about in terms of being mindful of what you're putting into your spirit, into your mind, into your soul, in terms of what you're consuming, is also very important, not just from an intake perspective, but from a mental perspective, because those things can either cause you to start believing the negative things that other people are kind of throwing out and what doctors and society is saying, because they're going through things from a textbook perspective and though we're talking in this instance about cancer like this goes with everything. You're going to hear feedback about what you can and cannot do, based on what statistics have shown and what people have seen.
Speaker 2:
But the reality is, if you see, it is because it's possible, and in that instance things still happen. But you also have to make sure that you move out your way and you're able to say I've done everything seemingly possible to be able to get the results that I'm trying to get, and when you do that, then you're able to start to see things clear up a little bit for you, despite the fact that sometimes there still will be roadblocks. But I think that that's so important because people don't talk about all of the different things and lumps and bumps and things that come in the way that you still have to overcome even when you're out of your way. So if you're in your way, on top of life's ups and bumps and dumps, it is a disaster zone.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, people are their worst enemy A lot of them, right. You know they're harder on themselves and me or themselves than they are, than they are to others. You know, I was kind of like that, you know I did everything for everybody in my business and everything like that, and life actually kind of knocked me upside the head and said, hey, man, you need to start thinking about yourself a little bit.
Speaker 2:
I think that's really important, like really thinking about yourself, what you want in your life, and making sure that you understand yourself.
Speaker 2:
I think things that you said in this conversation that we didn't really hone in on is the fact that you described who you are as a person. So that means that you've taken time to reflect to know who you are, and until you do that, you don't necessarily know who you are and how you're going to handle pressure, how you're going to handle problems, and it's important to really understand, like your triggers. Like you said, you know sometimes I could be a little bit negative here, there, or the way that I'm wired, and so when you know that you know you need to equip yourself with those positive self-help books, with those positive people, you know you need to cut out the negative folks, because if you already have a little bit of that wired within your system, if you don't make sure you have the army behind you that you need to get you to where you need to be, then you're not going to be in for a treat, and so I think it's important that we touch that, because that's an important part about reaching our goals.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely, absolutely. You know it's. It's that old thing you know about. You know, one bad apple ruins the cart Right. It never. It never happens the other way. It's so much easier for one person to bring everything down, you know, than for one positive person to try to bring everything up.
Speaker 2:
I think it's just like it's just gravity that holds it all down. And the reality, though, trent, is because most of the times, we ourselves are holding on by a string. So many things have already piled on top of us in that moment to make us feel like this is hard and you're still holding on to faith the size of a mustard seed, if you will so that one bad apple coming in is just like I can't even hold on anymore. I was already giving it everything I got.
Speaker 3:
It got really tough on me towards the end of last year. I was in the middle of trying to sell my business. Super stressful, the buyer, the guy that we negotiated with you know, there was a, there was a lot of back and forth and it took. It took about six months. There was some screw ups with some of the numbers, not necessarily related to him, just in general, and it was a nightmare. It was so tough. And then, you know, I had this hip surgery.
Speaker 3:
I was in recovery from that, feeling terrible. I I mean I felt like I had like the worst flu. I mean my fever was up to like over 102. Then I'm like chills with, you know, like long johns in a sweatsuit on two or three blankets. You know couldn't eat headaches, it was an infection and we couldn't figure out what it was. You know they even missed. I went and took a blood test, sent it up to Mayo. They didn't get one of the tests, the one that I needed, in the results. They didn't see it. I didn't know, we didn't catch it, we didn't think anything was wrong and it just turned into this perfect storm.
Speaker 3:
I just, you know, with all the other things going on, you know that I had. It was just it was too much man, and I started, I started feeling myself just falling, you know. So we did that and then I, you know, of course, I had to have another surgery but they were able to leave some of the screws, that the one shot deal, but they took out everything else they could. So we started all back over and then they put me on these antibiotics for a three month deal that were the worst, like of all the medication, everything that I've taken, the worst side effects of everything.
Speaker 3:
The physical stuff, you know I was. It gave me hot and cold flashes, achy headaches, blurry vision. I mean it just goes on and on. But the mental, you know I was already. I was already, you know, on edge, you know, starting to get my anxiety, starting with the worry, you know, and it just multiplied. I mean this stuff, suicidal thoughts came back, you know the, you know just the depression. It put me in depression. I went into. I've had it a few times in the past.
Speaker 3:
I know how it goes, you know clinically, you know diagnosed, unfortunately, and man, it happened and it was tough and I had to go back to those things that we talked about, right, and it was really hard. I mean, I was doubting Should I? I did the wrong thing. I shouldn't have done this. I should have stayed where I was. I wouldn't be going through all this. This is terrible. Still, at the end, they weren't sure that, you know, doing the surgery, cleaning it out, doing the stuff, put me on the invites they still weren't sure, right, we don't know. You know you're getting the blood test back and the markers are all over the place and it's just not looking good, right, I mean I'm just thinking well, worst case scenario, they're going to have to cut this leg off. And then what was it all worth? Yeah, no. Did I waste my faith? Have I wasted my time? Have I wasted my my? You know all this pain and effort and time in my family. If I put them through this for nothing, it's heavy. Yeah, very hard.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I think for me, like when you share all of that, the things lot of times, like I'm going to Trent Brock coaching down at the bottom, what happens is, I feel like people tend to get the testimony at the end and how holding your mind in a place to where it allows you to be able to overcome something like this several times in terms of what you've gone through it brings you to the point where now you're the thought leader, you're the expert, you are the person that someone can buy faith from, in the sense of maybe you don't believe it for yourself, but you're going to borrow faith from someone else. But we don't like talking through the process that you have to go through to get there, and I think it's important that you share as transparently as you have, because many times you'll just go on Trent's website and you will see Trent overcame cancer four times. Trent told he'll live one year, but now he's here year five and that person looks at it as you just swallowed a magic pill. It's just something easy that they're going to be able to withstand. But we don't talk through the process of what people actually have to go through to get to the point to be a thought leader. There are going to be some tests that happen, many tests that happen throughout the process. You're going to have to believe.
Speaker 2:
The one thing that I try to tell myself and I'm going to ask you what you do when I'm going through the process is, I try to say to myself well, hazel, how can God trust you to help other people if you don't want to do it for yourself? So you don't want to go through this, but you want to be the expert to teach people how to do this. So, like, how can you skip the process? But you're the expert. It don't work that way, honey, and I have to constantly remind myself that you are being tested.
Speaker 2:
Are you going to pass this test? Are you going to fold? And so I kind of remind myself that this is not an anomaly to me. This is the experience through life, and if we want to get to the other side, we're going to get tested again, because there are going to be new challenges there and there are going to be more people to pull across the finish line, and you can't pull those people across if you've never been there yourself. And so I think that's the hard part about all of the things we have to go through to be that thought leader. But what do you do in the midst of the muck to hold yourself accountable? To get to the other side.
Speaker 3:
I'll tell you, I was so worn out, I was just like I don't want to do this again. I know what it's like to have a hip infection for two years and the short leg. I cannot go back to where I was. I have to move forward and I just, you know, I had to go back to what worked for me before and that was total renewing, trying to renew my mind Right, just hammering in. You know those, those podcasts, you know that positivity, the self-help, the miracles, the people make it through this, all that stuff over and over and over.
Speaker 3:
And you know, and I physically felt horrible, right, and I'm trying to recover from this surgery, I'm on these antibiotics in my mental health, you know, if I don't have my mind muscle going and I'm we're all, I'm in trouble. You're anyone's in trouble? Right, because that's my weapon, man, and I'm in trouble. Anyone's in trouble, right, because that's my weapon man, that's my weapon, you know. And I'm like, oh, and I have to break it down right Into sizable, manageable chunks and I go back to I'm just got to try to win today, literally, literally. I was counting the days on the calendar. I was going to be on on the on this antibiotic medication, right, and I'm just like, ok, we're halfway there, we've made the turn. But you know, it's just, and I, and I knew, I knew the medication is causing it. It's going to be over, this is temporary.
Speaker 3:
You know, you felt like this before and you got through it before and just little by little, right, and you cannot, you know, curl up and you know, knock it out of bed and feel sorry for yourself. You got to just, even when you don't want to, even when you don't feel like it, you have to go through the motions. You know like they, you know like I mean, I go, I go to a counselor, but you know, for, for everything that's happened, and here's the thing, right, don't get cocky, don't think you can stop going because everything's going good, cause then when it starts going bad, you ain't going to be ready. You have to keep the consistency, right.
Speaker 3:
You know, and I'm asking my counselor what you know, I'm just, this is going, this is dragging on, and oh, I'm just, you know. And she said, look, you just keep going, you keep going through the motions, you keep doing what you're supposed to be doing. I'm like, but I'm not even here, I'm not even present, like I go to the gym and you know I can't, I'm just like it. You know maybe 20 or 30 percent of my, what I'm, what I'm expecting of myself, and and you know, she just says but you're there, yeah you're showing up you're showing up.
Speaker 3:
You're showing up man, and that's. You know, some days it's just, it doesn't matter what's going on on the inside. You're showing up, and that tells me that you aren't done fighting.
Speaker 2:
I love it, just show up, even if it's 20 percent. And I think it's important too that you talk about like therapy. Like for me, there's been moments that I've been in therapy, therapy. Then I come out of therapy because I think I'm good and then it starts piling up again and you're like, oh, sweetheart, it's time to go back to therapy. But it's to your point. Maybe that's your like your preventative health, to where you never let go of it. Right, because life happens and you will find yourself in situations and I feel like it's important to call out, even when you're winning, you need therapy, because that comes with different things too.
Speaker 2:
I'm sure even now, as you've persevered through this, you'll have all sorts of people reaching out to you to try to be a part of what it is that you've done. And you're thinking to yourself can I trust this? What should I do? Like who has my best interest at heart? And that's a whole different piece. That we don't realize is an issue that you're worried about getting to the end. And you get to the end and there's these new people waiting for you to embrace you. But everyone's intentions are not pure, so you got to navigate that and it's like man. God, I need to get back in therapy because I need to make sure that I have all the clarity I need to be able to walk this next road, and so I love that you shared that.
Speaker 2:
I feel like you dropped so many gems and I feel like people can definitely pick up from the things that you've been sharing, regardless of where they are in their journey, because we are all going through the human experience in one way, shape or form, and it's so funny. Something that you said reminded me of a saying that my mom would say is sometimes in life, you don't know what to do to be right, and you don't. But I think to your therapist point. You just show up and give yourself the grace that you are still showing up despite what you're going through. You're still fighting for who it is that you know you are destined to be. You're still fighting for the future, you and so I love that, and I would say where can the listeners find you? But I do see that you have your website listed, which is TrentBrockCoachingcom, so definitely check Trent out there, but where else can the listeners find you?
Speaker 3:
Well, I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram. I got it. You know, I've got quite a few YouTubes out there and if you want to know which one I am, I'm this guy right here. I'm doing this victory because you know what we're winning.
Speaker 3:
We're still here. We're still here, right. So you know, I really kind of moved into, you know, the now that I've sold the business, you know I need something to do. I've got too much energy to sit around and so I've kind of moved into a bit of the coaching thing and I'm developing some courses and things about being your own patient self advocate Out there. It's so different, it's so cool now to to hire an independent advocate to help you and everything. I believe that you need to teach the person the skills to do it themselves. It's that old proverb thing right About like give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime. Right, and that's where I'm at. Let me help you get some of the skills to prevent the pitfalls that happened like that have happened to me Genuinely. I just like to help people. You know, that's all I wanted.
Speaker 2:
I love it. I love too, and how you share the evolution of where you are now, where you've used the pain to position you into power, and that you're also using that experience to help other people to be able to fight and live the life that they know they're deserving of living, because there's still so much more life to live. And I think being able to overcome all the things that you've had to overcome kind of teaches you more about the importance of life and what really matters, right. So it's also helping to shape and change the way people look at life, separate from overcoming a diagnosis, and so I love that for you, and I know that they'll be in good hands when they reach out to you, because for me it's all about that authenticity as well as that sincerity, and so I really wish you well and thank you so much for dropping the gems on the podcast.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much for having me, hazel, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
We hope you caught all those gems. So here for all of it. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss a gem. Write a review so that we know to keep bringing you episodes like this. And check us out online at itsthehumanexperiencecom to keep up with us. Keep growing and glowing. Catch you on the next episode.
