Discover the incredible journey of resilience and love on this special episode of Sylvr Tea New Me, where I sit down with my younger sister, Donna Walker. Together, we recount the emotional and challenging road we traveled during my fight against breast cancer. Donna’s unwavering support, from attending appointments to documenting our journey through her photography, brought light to our darkest moments.
We also bring attention to the critical need for open conversations about breast cancer, particularly within the Black community, where mortality rates are distressingly higher. Highlighting the importance of emotional support and early detection, we introduce the innovative Maker Street Studios, a creative haven for content creators. Donna emphasizes how sharing survival stories can foster a supportive community and improve the quality of life for those affected. Don't miss this heartfelt discussion filled with valuable insights and practical tips designed to inspire and inform.
Discover the incredible journey of resilience and love on this special episode of Sylvr Tea New Me, where I sit down with my younger sister, Donna Walker. Together, we recount the emotional and challenging road we traveled during my fight against breast cancer. Donna’s unwavering support, from attending appointments to documenting our journey through her photography, brought light to our darkest moments.
We also bring attention to the critical need for open conversations about breast cancer, particularly within the Black community, where mortality rates are distressingly higher. Highlighting the importance of emotional support and early detection, we introduce the innovative Maker Street Studios, a creative haven for content creators. Donna emphasizes how sharing survival stories can foster a supportive community and improve the quality of life for those affected. Don't miss this heartfelt discussion filled with valuable insights and practical tips designed to inspire and inform.
Hi, my name is Sherry and welcome to my podcast, silver Tea. And today my podcast is about family and support, and I have a special guest, my younger sister, donna Walker. She was a great part of my whole process, from the beginning to the end. She went with me for my first appointment. It was the first one. I was trying to remember if it was mom. I think mom went on the second appointment, I think it was. I think I remember going to the appointment when the doctor needed to tell you a lot of information about your diagnosis and what the next steps were, because, remember, I recorded information. To be honest, I don't know if that was the first, yeah, and, uh, what the next steps were. So because, remember, I recorded, yeah, information, so, but I, to be honest, I don't know if that was the first, yeah, that's what I'm trying to remember, or was this one later on, but I was there from the beginning, yeah, so she was there, she was, she was a great help.
Speaker 1:
Donna donna showed up. She went with me, uh, for my, my chemo treatment, and no, she didn't go for the radiation treatment, but she was there for my chemo treatment and it was, and I have to say, well, it had to be tough seeing your sister in that condition, but donna's the photographer, so she was taking pictures, she was making the best of it, so I'm gonna post some pictures right here so you can see some pictures she took of me when I was going through my chemo treatment that day. And so I just want to ask Donna a couple of questions. So, donna, what are your thoughts on this podcast? Well, sister, thank you. First, I want to say thank you for allowing me to come on to your podcast to bring my perspective on this wonderful podcast, to bring my perspective on this wonderful podcast.
Speaker 1:
I feel like you are doing an excellent thing by sharing your experience as a breast cancer survivor. Because you may not have mentioned it before, but I'm going to say it Sherry's pretty much an introvert, and so she likes to keep to herself. But for her to actually feel like that she likes to keep to herself, but for her to actually feel like that, she needs to speak to the world, that you need to speak to the world about your experience, because sherry's very compassionate. If if she hasn't mentioned that either, I'm gonna tell you she's very, very, very compassionate. She's one of those who could cry because there's a dog on the side of the road that need help. But my sister's very compassionate and so, um, because of that, she, she wants to make sure that others yeah, you know others want who either is um have gotten the news, like you got the news who have, who are currently going through treatment or who have come out as survivors, that you want to share information to help people along each step of that path, so they know that they're not alone. They know that there are people out there who have gone through the same situation that they are currently going through or have completed, and there is a resource they can always come to your podcast and see how you are managing at the stage that you are, and you also talk about what happens or how it works for you during the actual process of getting the treatments. So I am so proud that you want to do this. I'm super excited and happy that you are doing this because it shows that you have a new appreciation for life and that you also want to make sure that you are giving back. You know some people may want to crawl into a corner and curl up and don't want to see the, you know, just go into a shell, but you have decided to go a whole different direction. You decided that you wanted to open up a part of your life because it's going to be a benefit to someone. So I really love the podcast. We need to talk more about it. So, yeah, I'm glad you said a couple of those things and it sounds like you've been watching my podcast.
Speaker 1:
So, with those podcasts that you're looking at, can you tell me which one was your favorite one? And if you notice, because I have to say I am the film editor, so I'm growing at the same time as learning. So I want to know what donna is. A professional? She's a professional to me. I want to know what are you seeing with the growth so far with my four podcasts? So I just want to make one correction. I know I'm sorry, I may not be a professional, but I am a perfectionist, which is also a whole other problem. We're not even going to talk about that. But so I have seen all of your episodes and I don't have a favorite because I like them all. I mean because they all have they all stand on their own merits about what it is that you have experienced and what you want to share, yeah, and that will help someone else who's, you know, may not understand.
Speaker 1:
You know what happens when you get chemotherapy or the radiation I think it was the one I remember. Yeah, you talked about one where you got radiation and the effect that it has on your skin. Yeah, one where you got radiation and the effect that it has on your skin, yeah, so because of that, I think that you know it's good to that. You shared that because someone else could learn from that. And you've also talked about, you know, your, your cause. I think in that same episode you talked about your moisturizing treatment. Yes, you know, I think that was great.
Speaker 1:
You, um, and I'm trying to remember all because you just shared so much good information about, like, uh, the services that are available to those who are going through cancer treatment, because there are programs available to uh those people, to to the ones who are going through this, and because there are programs available you don't have to really worry about. You know how are you going to, um, do the next thing, like I, I need to get up and go to the grocery store, or I need to go cook, or I need to go do something I need. I need to go to the gym or whatever the services are that I think you you talked about in that one episode. I think that's great, because some you know who knows what people will remember when they are going through the process. I'm sure that they're being told about it, but then you know who's going through the process. I'm sure that they're being told about it, but then you know who's thinking about oh wait, you said what now? Oh, sorry, I was thinking about my problem. Yes, somebody to help them through that process.
Speaker 1:
Because you definitely talked about some of the organizations that are out there that I mean. They were wonderful organizations. I didn't even mention another one that was so helpful to me. So I mentioned that one because I really, really want people to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And then there's, you're not alone, there's somebody with you. There's not just your family and your friends, but you also have organizations that know that there are women and men that need that kind of support when they're going through this and they follow you from the beginning and beyond with giving you services. So I'm glad you mentioned some, some of those things. So, donna, I want to ask you another question because I was going on, I was looking up information and I found this information about one out of eight women in the United States are going to be developing breast cancer in their, in their in her lifetime.
Speaker 1:
In general, we don't talk enough about what's going on in our lives, and I'm not sure if it's just like past hurts, it's past experiences or history, or you, you, you fill in the blanks as to what it might be, but I think it's something that we all need to break out of. We all need to realize that we are helpers one to another. How can we be helpers to each other If we talk about what we're going through? I know, I know, know. No, I don't want you all up in my business. I can hear it already but all up in your business is going to help me or someone else to um, to overcome some situation that they're going through. It may minimize a situation that they might be entering into they. It just may help them to see a way out and escape. So, no, I don't know, I don't think we're talking about it enough. I think we need to stand at the high heels. We need to be.
Speaker 1:
You know days gone by, you know you had the town crier. We need someone to talk about this information so that way others will see that there is survival through it, there is support through it, that there is help through this, you know, even for emotional help, because it's not, you know it's, it's a physical thing. So you really, I know, I remember that you went through a lot of physical fatigue and pain and a lot of pain and, uh, just a lot, yeah, authorized a lot of things that the body, physical body, went through. But there's that emotional side of things that you know you have made mentioned to me at one point that my grandson he was so cute, my grandson, I brought him over to visit her one day. This is, um, I think I can't remember what she was in. She had gone through or was in the process of chemotherapy, yeah, and so when I brought him over, it just lifted her spirit. So I know that you know there there's emotional health and we can talk about things like what are ways to lift your spirits when you are going through the chemotherapy and you feel you feel so alone, you feel beat down, you feel you know, just like you can't do this anymore, that no one cares or no one is really understanding your process. There's a whole emotional side of things. I think that you know we can. You can probably talk somewhat about ways to overcome those emotional um depths as you, as you go through these things. So, yeah, we just need to talk about it. Yeah, you're right, because it in this research it said 40 percent. The breast cancer death rates are 40. 40 percent higher among black women than white women. What's that number? Again, 40, what? Breast cancer death rates are 40 percent higher among black women than white women. Four zero, four zero. That's a big percentage.
Speaker 1:
And I I'm, I'm telling you when I go out and I talk me and donna, we went for a podcast meetup and I just mentioned what my podcast was about and I was talking to a young lady and she goes oh yeah, my grandmother has and she's 91, my aunt has it, and I was thinking why don't they? And that wasn't the first time. I talked to somebody else. Same thing. She was telling me oh, this person, my sister, and I'm thinking how come? I am just now hearing this. I know some people that have, but I just didn't know that many of us are having and dying from breast cancer.
Speaker 1:
Right, because we don't talk about it. We don't talk about it, no, or maybe we don't talk about we don't talk about it, no, or maybe we don't talk about it, uh, loudly. There may be some oh, like that conversation and passing, oh, my grandmother, my mother's uh, my mother's sister, whomever had it in their family, and that's as far as the conversation goes. It's not that you, you know, and I understand we didn't really know her, you didn't know her, but it's just like, if there is um more conversation on social media, it's a it's a hard topic. It is to really try to to get out into the world, but it's.
Speaker 1:
I think it's a needed topic. Yeah, without doom and gloom. Yes, I think we can. We can talk about it. We can talk about the you know the stresses and you can talk about, yeah, yeah, the disappointments that you the stresses and you can talk about. Yeah, yeah, the disappointments that you may have because you're trying to understand why, why me? You know you're definitely asking yourself that question, right? So you know, there's just there, there's just more conversation that's needed in order to help prop people up and let them know that, um, there is survival through this.
Speaker 1:
Yes, it's actually good to see me, other me out there talking about it, and not just I. I know about somebody that I want to hear what, what are you doing like? How are you surviving? How's your life? What's what's happening? How can you improve it? I definitely have been through some stuff going to the gym, I go to the gym, I go walk and I I changed my eating. I try to eat differently. I actually forced some food on my family members, but that's okay, I'll be like look, try this, I'll try something new. But i'm'm trying and I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying this quality here and I'm reaching for it and I would like to see other people reach for it and that's why I'm trying to share so they can have that quality of life. That's great. When I was listening to you talk, you were talking about we're not talking about it enough were talking about we're not talking about it enough.
Speaker 1:
Well, in in this stats they talk about, we have four million cancer, cancer survivors in the united states right now. I four million, four million survivors, survivors. You would think that there were more, more podcasts or conversation on social media about cancer survivor and what they're surviving cancer. So I'm four million people, four, sherry, thank you. Yes, four million people. Sherry, thank you, you're welcome, and I just want to share my experience because I I'm among those four million people. So here I am today trying to help the ones. That that was 4 million.
Speaker 1:
They are estimating. Let me see, they're estimating that they're going to have 310,000 new cases of invasion breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. Wait, I'm sorry, pause, one minute. 300,000 people, 300,000 plus people, are going to be diagnosed, people being men, that has cancer, but we're talking 300 plus thousand. Yes, just breast cancer diagnosed yearly. Yes, and this this year alone, 2024. This is 2024. Yes, in 24, this is just the estimating for this year in all the united states.
Speaker 1:
So I want to be there to for them to see. Oh, there's somebody out here and they talking about what they, what they doing, or what they did, or how, how life is for them now, after they been through the, the cancers not the cancer, but the but the chemo treatment, been through the radiation treatment, they, they gonna, they are past that point. So what are you doing now? They don't want to know that. So that's why I'm sharing this information and my sister is great because she's helping me with it. She, she's there with all my questions and she's there with all my questions she don't know answers to. She's like, oh well, let me look that up. That's what the internet, mr google, yes, and she definitely helps me out, because sometimes I don't understand all that technical lingo that's going on on the internet. So Donna helps me with those answers.
Speaker 1:
The answer today is no longer a terminal diagnosis. It's not that you're going to necessarily pass away from it because there are treatments in place. Necessarily pass away from it because there are treatments in place and you know, and there are scannings in place, as sherry reminds you at the end of her podcast, to get your scannings, because that that is preventative maintenance and that is early detection. So that way, um, you know, we can, we can beat, we can live with through the process of being cancer free. Breast cancer death rates have slowly decreased since 1989, for an overall decline of 43% through 2021. Now, that's interesting. And why is that happening? This is part due to a better screening and early detection efforts, increased awareness and continually improving treatment options. I really like that. Donna brought that up because we did see a decrease in people dying she talked about. A lot of people are not dying anymore because we have treatments and we and early detection, early detection, absolutely. People are living, living and getting through cancer, but we still need to be on top of our preventive care. So, uh, there's a lot of good stuff in here.
Speaker 1:
I want to actually talk about breast cancer for men. 2800 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year Scary In America and approximately 530 of them will die. Now I don't really know what the process is For men to get their breast cancer, their screenings done, but I'm assuming you go to the doctor and you complain to the urologist I believe is the one that you go to. I will look that up and I think that they probably start with their, mostly because men don't have the same urgency of screening, because they don't have the same numbers of people being diagnosed with cancer or getting breast cancer. I think they probably wait. It's probably why you know their rate of death is what it is, because we we are recommended to get screened every year.
Speaker 1:
Men don't have this recommendation. Men don't know that they should be having their breasts looked at. Yeah, so, um, they probably only respond when they feel something different Either something hurts or something feels don't feel right, or sometimes their partners will recognize that there's a difference in the breast, and then they will go to the doctor and sort of find out what this is. Because I know with my husband I'd be like what's that mark over there on your arm? Wait, you got like this little knot on your back, what's? I mean? I'll be watching. Okay, everything. Yes, I I ain't mad at you. You want, you want to make sure they get that detection, or detection, get it taken care of quickly, get that screening. So I mean, breast cancer is serious. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women in the United States. I would say you go, get your screenings done. And so here's, here's a little. I want to.
Speaker 1:
I want to ask Donna a question, cause I know Donna is starting, she's in the beginning stages of starting her own business, and I would like to know what is her business about and where is she at in the business scheme of things? What is she? Is it she got her bill? I mean, what's going on, dom? Tell us about your business. Yeah, really. So I thought we were just talking about you and your process of, you know, managing a life after cancer. I wasn't really myself, but thank you for the opportunity. I do want to.
Speaker 1:
Just, I want to say that, since you have decided that you were going to pursue podcasting and that you were, you know you wanted to just do something different in your life. That's going to be, you know, like a help to someone, cause I think, I think we all want to leave behind a legacy, a legacy where you know we've touched others lives, we've helped someone through whatever the situations may be. We all want to leave a legacy of something good, nothing bad. We want good, like exactly, um, but you know I, because you're doing this is it was like the timing was sherry went through her um cancer diagnosis and treatment well before I decided that I wanted to do this business that I'm, that I'm trying to start right now, um, anyone watching who have seen me on other podcasts know that I am starting a content creation studio and it's more. And when I say content creation, it's more for photography, it is for video, it's for um podcast studios.
Speaker 1:
So anyone, any podcaster who's looking for a space in order to, uh, to create their student, their podcast excuse me, um, it is. It's a space where I want to allow um, small entrepreneurs who have wares or products that they can come and do a pop-up shop in. We also want to also make space for anyone who wants to do a small workshop or a small seminar. So I like being in that supportive role, that role that sort of helps someone else to launch their thing. And so this business that I'm, that I'm putting together, um, it will do that very thing, cause I've always wanted to be.
Speaker 1:
You know say this real quick when I was younger, way back when I was younger, um, I wanted to uh, be a, I wanted to open up a finance firm. I had no idea what that meant, but I know that I wanted to open up a finance firm where I wanted to be a lender. I wanted to because once again, that's me in a role to support people trying to get a look, get their business off the ground or get their, their products or whatever it is that they want to do. They're small, they don't have a lot of resources. I wanted to be a lender. That didn't pan out because I never did pursue it. But from that, you, from that you know it still. It helped me to realize and recognize that I still like being in that role, that supportive role of helping people to to like a launch a springboard to a launching pad, and so this business of content creation studio I am still in that supportive role where people can come um, I will have, like, my podcast studio is going to be set up with all the necessary equipment in order for anyone to create their podcast.
Speaker 1:
It can probably also double as a photographer room, depending on how well it's set up. Um, but yeah, I just you know, I thank you for this opportunity. We we are at the very beginning stages. I am working on a podcast of my own that's going to sort of talk about where I am thus far, like what, what was my, my um news, or my impetus, or my what, what caused me to to get out there now? And so there were some some. Uh, there's a path that I've taken. There are a few roadblocks that I encountered along the way and trying to decide what it is that I wanted to do. So that's coming, so I'll talk more about that, but thank you for this opportunity. We've signed the lease and we're just waiting and we're just doing all the preparatory work that needs to happen before we can open.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so do you mind? I mean, I know you don't want to get too much out right now, but can you share the name of your business or you're not ready to do that yet? Oh, yes, I've already put it on social media, so it's out in the world now. Okay, so the name of my business or my studio is called maker street studios, so maker street studios is a name that, um, I probably should google before I bought the, the, the url, the address, because there was another one, but they didn't spell it the same way.
Speaker 1:
But, anyway, I'm the first Maker Street Studios with an S in the US. There's one over in another country, but, yeah, maker Street Studios, because I feel like it is a place for makers and their content makers, content creators, so Maker Street Studios is the name of it. Okay, we had a wonderful guest today and they're content makers, content creators, so Maker Street Studios is the name of the business. Okay, we had a wonderful guest today. I want to thank you, donna, again for coming out and, ladies and gentlemen, I want to say this very important message Early detection is the best detection, so please get your annual mammograms done. Until next time, ladies and gents, have a nice couple.
