Beyond the 5 Years

Beyond the Five Years with David Wishart

Kate Belany and Ron Belany talk with David Wishart, a father of two and competitive cyclist, about his stage four colon cancer diagnosis, the treatment journey that followed, and the importance of building a care team he could trust. David shares how subtle changes in his cycling performance and abdominal discomfort led to urgent testing, how he sought care at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and how he navigated surgery, chemotherapy, recovery, family life, and the emotional aftermath.The conversation offers candid reflections on self-advocacy, asking for help, cancer-specific social work support, and finding a sense of normalcy after treatment. David’s central advice: build a team you believe in, trust them, and keep asking questions.

Key topics

• David’s life before diagnosis, including parenting a young child and training as an endurance cyclist
• The early signs he initially explained away: fatigue, reduced cycling power, and abdominal cramping
• How urgent scans and a colonoscopy led to his stage four diagnosis
• Why David and his family sought a second opinion and moved his care to Memorial Sloan Kettering
• His treatment experience, including colon and liver surgery, a hepatic artery infusion pump, and FOLFOX chemotherapy
• Treatment complications, recovery challenges, and the importance of close medical monitoring
• How David and his wife made specific requests so friends and family could offer practical support
• The role of cancer-focused social work in helping the family process treatment and talk with their young child
• Living with uncertainty after hearing “no evidence of disease”
• David’s advice to build a trusted care team and stay engaged by asking questions

Ryan Carron on stage four cancer, self-advocacy, and rebuilding with a team

Kate and Ron talk with retired Navy captain and helicopter pilot Ryan Carron about his stage four cancer journey, the long road to diagnosis, and how he rebuilt his care around a team-based approach. Ryan also shares how mindset, fasting, ketogenic nutrition, and integrative therapies became part of his routine, and how those lessons shaped both his recovery and his work with MedTops. We discuss what happened when a lesion was repeatedly dismissed, why Ryan pushed for a biopsy and second opinions, and how military culture can make it harder to advocate for yourself. The conversation also gets into his daily "flight schedule" for healing, the role of meditation and gratitude, and how his experience with medical error inspired him to build checklist-driven tools for healthcare.

Key topics

• Ryan shares his background as a retired Navy captain, helicopter wing commander, helicopter pilot, and entrepreneur behind MedTops.
• He describes a 10-month stretch of being told his lesion was likely an infection before a civilian biopsy confirmed stage four skin cancer with bone involvement in his skull.
• Kate and Ron compare notes on the shock of being diagnosed alone and the loss of control that comes with hearing stage four.
• Ryan explains why he stopped chasing a single "silver bullet" and instead built a care team that included conventional doctors, a naturopathic doctor, a dietician, and a mental health professional.
• He describes shifting from "Ryan 1.0" to "Ryan 2.0" by rethinking stress, diet, alcohol, overwork, and balance.
• In this episode, Ryan outlines his nutritional approach, including a ketogenic diet, fasting, and the moment he realized a vegan diet and juicing were making him weaker.
• He shares how he used hyperbaric oxygen, ozone therapy, infusions, and high-dose vitamin C as part of his integrative care.
• Ryan talks about the importance of mindset work, including meditation, intentional breathing, grounding, cold therapy, sunlight, and gratitude journaling.
• He explains how a recurrence after a stressful period led him back to surgery and 33 rounds of radiation, eventually with proton therapy after advocating for it.
• Ryan shares the origin of MedTops, which grew out of a family tragedy involving medical error and now focuses on checklist-driven safety tools for healthcare teams.

In this episode, Kate Belany and Ron Belany talk with Amanda Webb, an avid runner and mother who was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer during the third trimester of pregnancy at age 36. Amanda shares how a false positive prenatal test, persistent advocacy from her care team, and fast-moving treatment at UCSF led to a diagnosis and plan within days.
The conversation focuses on what helped her stay grounded through inpatient chemo, childbirth, surgery, and more chemo, plus the mindset shifts and support systems that carried her forward.

• Amanda describes life in early 2021 during the pandemic in San Francisco, including a move to a bigger apartment and the decision to start a family.
• She explains the symptoms she had before diagnosis, including frequent bowel movements, blood, and not feeling empty after using the bathroom, which were previously dismissed as anxiety.
• A prenatal blood test showed a high probability of trisomy 13, but follow-up testing confirmed the baby was healthy.
• Because of the false positive, UCSF investigated further and found liver growths, which led to a colonoscopy, liver biopsy, CT scan, and eventual stage four diagnosis.
• Amanda shares the shock of hearing the diagnosis while hospitalized and waiting for biopsy results, and how her husband joined her for his birthday at the hospital.
• She talks about shifting quickly into action mode, trusting her UCSF team, and choosing not to spend energy on Dr. Google or second opinions.
• Treatment began with inpatient chemotherapy at 31 weeks pregnant, with fetal monitoring and coordinated OB and oncology care.
• After three rounds of chemo, Amanda delivered Levi by C-section when her water broke early, then resumed outpatient chemo two to three weeks later.
• She explains how running, walking, and time outside helped with stress management and gave her a sense of normalcy during treatment.
• Amanda discusses the role of support, including family, friends, an oncology social worker, therapy after treatment, and a morning rosary ritual.
• She describes surgery after tumor board review, including a combined colon and liver resection, followed by five more rounds of chemotherapy.
• Now in survivorship, she shares her monitoring routine, including scans every six months and quarterly blood tests for circulating tumor DNA.

Beyond the Five Years with Albee Shanefelter

Kate Belany talks with Albee Shanefelter about living with stage four prostate cancer, surviving multiple brain surgeries, and rebuilding life around treatment, recovery, and purpose. Albee shares how he moved from shock and fear to a practical framework built on nutrition, sleep, service, movement, and mental wellness. This episode is especially useful for anyone facing a serious diagnosis, supporting a loved one, or looking for a more sustainable way to think about resilience. Albee also explains how he built his book, Be Strong, Be Well, Be Kind, as a personal playbook for living well through chronic and incurable conditions.

Key topics

• In this interview, Kate Belany introduces guest Albee Shanefelter, a stage four prostate cancer survivor, multiple brain surgery survivor, adaptive golf player, and bestselling mental wellness author.
• Albee shares that he had already been living with trigeminal neuralgia and other chronic issues for years before his cancer diagnosis, which made the news devastating but also clarifying.
• He explains that skipping PSA screenings during COVID allowed the cancer to progress silently and spread widely across his skeleton.
• Albee and Kate discuss the emotional shock of hearing doctors say he needed to get his affairs in order and the importance of refusing to accept the first prognosis as the final word.
• He emphasizes self-advocacy, second opinions, and speaking with the right specialists instead of assuming one provider has expertise in everything.
• Albee describes choosing a treatment plan centered on hormonal therapy and bone strengtheners, while declining the most aggressive chemotherapy path at first.
• He shares the role of nutrition, including a long period of eating only vegetables, and says planned recovery time or "smart breaks" helped him stay present for his family.
• He lays out his "live better dashboard" framework, which focuses on inputs, recovery, activities, spiritual life, mental wellness, and outside forces.
• Albee says sleep is one of his biggest non-negotiables, along with service, movement, and spiritual practice.
• The conversation covers how social connection, especially coffee groups and community support, helps him avoid isolation and stay grounded.
• Albee explains how his book grew out of his own notes and recovery process, and how he uses it as a battle-tested reference for managing appointments, decisions, and setbacks.
• He also discusses adaptive golf as both a physical outlet and a community where he can be himself, including competing in disabled golf events.
• Later in the episode, Albee recounts a more intense treatment stretch that included surgery, radiation, six months of chemo, and targeted immunotherapy, ultimately reducing the disease significantly.
• The interview closes with Albee’s message that stage four is not a death sentence, plus his advice to his younger self to keep going and trust resilience.

Sophie Umhofer shares the full arc of her stage four bowel cancer journey, from vague early symptoms and delayed diagnosis to palliative chemotherapy, a trial-phase immunotherapy approach, and ultimately no evidence of disease. The conversation also explores the emotional toll of hearing a prognosis measured in months, the impact of a BRAF mutation, and the role of stress management, rest, and support in getting through treatment.This episode matters because it shows how diagnosis can be missed when symptoms look ordinary at first, and how persistence, specialist care, and emerging immunotherapy can change the path forward.

• In this episode, Sophie shares how her first signs were easy to overlook

- random vomiting, severe anemia, and fatigue that felt normal while caring for two young children.

• Her diagnosis took nearly a year to unfold

- initial blood work, diet changes, endoscopy, stool tests, and an eventual colonoscopy that found a tumor at age 36.

• We discuss the shock of learning it was stage four cancer, not Crohn’s disease

- the scan and consultation process led to a devastating diagnosis before the family had any real answers.

• Sophie explains how surgery came first because the tumor was obstructing her bowels

- this was followed by FOLFOXIRI chemotherapy for a BRAF-mutated cancer with a very poor initial prognosis.

• The mental strain was heavier than the physical strain

- she describes panic about not living to 40, preparing her husband and children, and trying to organize family life in case she did not survive.

• Her first chemo worked briefly, then failed

- scans and CEA blood markers improved at first, then the cancer grew again and the treatment became too toxic to continue.

• Immunotherapy became the next option because of her MSI status

- her oncologist arranged compassionate use access to dual checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

• She describes immunotherapy as night and day compared with chemo

- she could drive herself to appointments and function far better, though she later developed adrenal insufficiency, a permanent autoimmune side effect.

• A PET scan later showed no active cancer

- what still appeared on CT scans turned out to be dead tissue, leading to a liver resection and confirmation that she was cancer free.

• Sophie reflects on motherhood, support, and community

- her daughter understood more than her son at the time, and friends and family showed up in uneven but meaningful ways.

• She talks about the personal changes that helped her cope

- probiotics, fermented foods, vegan eating, meditation, breathing work, visualization, and learning to manage stress differently.

• Her biggest takeaway is to ask for help sooner and rest more

- especially when side effects become severe, before they spiral into something harder to manage.

Beyond the Five Years: Roz Trego on caregiving through stage four colon cancer

Kate Belany speaks with Rozalyn Trego, an early intervention specialist and stage four colon cancer caregiver, about what it takes to live inside a long cancer journey and keep showing up anyway. Roz shares the shock of diagnosis, the rapid-fire medical decisions, and how community, research, and relentless advocacy became the difference-makers. This conversation is especially useful for caregivers navigating stage four cancer, because it gets specific about what helped in real life: asking better questions, finding the right doctors, managing work and caregiving, and learning to pivot when the plan changes.

Key topics

• Roz describes life before diagnosis as a young couple in their 30s buying and fixing up a nearly 100-year-old house, working hard, taking trips, and thinking about starting a family.
• She recounts the day Jake’s pain escalated into an ER visit, after earlier misdiagnosis and long-standing GI symptoms that had been brushed aside.
• The diagnosis came fast: stage four colon cancer with a tumor in the colon and multiple liver lesions, leading to urgent surgery, a colostomy, chemotherapy, additional resections, and later reversal surgery.
• Roz talks about the shock of hearing “stage four,” and how her response was to research nonstop because learning became the one thing she could control.
• She explains how caregiving reshaped the marriage dynamic into patient and caregiver for long stretches, especially as Jake struggled with depression and physical exhaustion.
• Community became essential, from family and friends to colon cancer support spaces and practical help like meals, gas cards, lawn care, and housekeeping.
• Roz shares how Colontown helped her connect with other patients, caregivers, and doctors, and how she used it as a filtered, fact-based space for colon cancer support.
• She and Kate compare notes on how many patients, including Jake and Ron, choose not to absorb prognosis details, while caregivers often become the researchers and advocates.
• Roz reflects on balancing work and caregiving, using her job as an early intervention specialist and her workplace community as both support and a mental reset.
• The conversation digs into caregiving burnout, the need to fill your own cup, and the challenge of sustaining hope over a five-year journey that is more marathon than sprint.
• Roz explains how she learned to advocate harder with doctors, especially because Jake was young and was often being judged against standards for much older patients.
• She describes leaving an oncologist who offered only chemo, then moving through Ohio Health, Ohio State, Cleveland Clinic, and MSK in search of more creative, multidisciplinary care.
• A major section of the discussion focuses on liver transplant for colorectal metastases, including why they pursued it, the recurrence statistics they weighed, and why it finally felt like a hopeful path.
• Roz closes by saying she would tell her past self and other caregivers: you can be brave, you can do hard things, and community matters.

Discover:
Keep Showing Up documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pHNIp0ZZY

Ron Belany talks with Jake Trego about living beyond a stage four colon cancer diagnosis, from the shock of diagnosis through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, ablations, an HAI pump, and a liver transplant. Jake also shares how his wife Roz, his community, and a simple mantra helped him stay grounded through five years of treatment and uncertainty. In this episode, Jake gets honest about the physical toll of treatment, the emotional weight of survivor’s guilt, and the importance of talking openly about fear instead of carrying it alone. The conversation centers on resilience, marriage, vulnerability, and the power of showing up one day at a time.

• Jake describes life before diagnosis at 33, when he was active, married to Roz, playing basketball, and ignoring abdominal pain until it became too severe to dismiss.
• He shares the emergency room visit that led to a scan showing a mass on his descending colon and spots on his liver, resulting in a stage four colon cancer diagnosis.
• Ron and Jake discuss the isolation that can come with a young adult cancer diagnosis, especially when it is hard to find peers going through the same thing.
• Jake explains the first surgery, the colostomy used to get him to chemotherapy faster, and how the tumor shrank by 50 percent after the first six rounds.
• He walks through the long treatment arc, including another surgery, six more rounds of clean up chemo, several liver ablations, intravenous chemo, SBRT, Y90 radiation, and roughly 40 total rounds of chemotherapy.
• Jake credits Roz as a major reason he is still alive, describing how she tracked appointments, asked questions, managed details, and advocated for better options like the HAI pump at Ohio State.
• The conversation highlights community support, from Venmo and GoFundMe help to blue porch lights for colon cancer awareness, police checking in, and fans sending him baseball hats.
• Jake talks about mindset: keeping a goal-oriented focus, drawing strength from people who believed in him, and using the phrase “keep showing up” as a daily reset.
• He opens up about therapy, anxiety, depression, and the moments when fear surfaced during arguments or low points in treatment.
• Jake explains how he reframed his medical devices and side effects as burdens turned into blessings, focusing on what they were doing to keep him alive rather than only on what they took away.
• He discusses survivor’s guilt after losing friends and a college roommate to cancer, and how that grief became another source of motivation to keep going.
• The episode closes with advice Jake would give his younger self: talk to your wife, be the husband, and show appreciation for the caregiver carrying a second burden.

Discover:

Keep Showing Up documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pHNIp0ZZY

Marcus Tankard shares the story of his stage four colorectal cancer diagnosis, the treatment decisions that changed his outcome, and the mindset that helped him keep going. This conversation centers on advocacy, faith, community, and the practical ways he and his family adapted through chemo, radiation, surgery, and recovery. We discuss Marcus’s path from diagnosis in 2021 to being clear today, plus the role of his wife, his support system, and the habits that helped him stay mentally grounded. If you want a candid, hopeful account of what long-term survival can look like, this one is full of hard-won insight.

• Marcus shares his pre-cancer life in missions, journalism, ministry, marriage, and fatherhood before moving to Houston.
• He explains how he dismissed blood in his stool as hemorrhoids, a delay that led to a stage four colorectal cancer diagnosis after colonoscopy and biopsy.
• We discuss why he sought a second opinion at MD Anderson and why his original plan of 12 rounds of chemo was replaced with a more measured approach.
• Marcus describes the physical toll of chemo, including neuropathy, nausea, hair loss, and a severe reaction to anti-nausea medication.
• He talks about advocating for himself, saying no when treatment was too much, and taking time to mentally prepare before each round.
• We discuss the importance of a strong village, especially his wife, family, and friends who showed up in practical ways.
• Marcus shares how faith, therapy, and intentionally focusing on peace helped him manage the emotional side of cancer.
• He explains the lifestyle changes he made, including diet, exercise, blood pressure monitoring, and choosing long-term goals to stay focused.
• Marcus walks through radiation, APR surgery, and ending up with a permanent colostomy and what that adjustment has meant day to day.
• He closes with the mindset he would give his past self: you are okay, breathe, do the thing, and don’t let cancer tell you how to live.

Beyond the Five Years with JJ Singleton

Kate Belany and Ron Belany speak with JJ Singleton, a 10 plus year stage four colon cancer survivor, about the realities of diagnosis, failed treatments, clinical trials, and the mindset shifts that helped him keep going. JJ also shares how advocacy, therapy, and community became essential parts of surviving long term and finding purpose beyond treatment.This conversation is especially useful for anyone facing cancer, supporting someone through it, or trying to understand what clinical trials really look like in practice. It is honest about the physical and emotional toll, while also offering practical hope.

Key topics

• In this episode, JJ Singleton shares how his diagnosis came after months of symptoms he kept brushing off, including abdominal pain, blood in his stool, fatigue, and rapid weight loss.
• JJ explains how, at 27, he did not think colon cancer was possible and why the diagnosis hit hard but also made sense of everything that had happened over the previous months.
• We discuss the aggressive first stretch of treatment, including surgery, a long hospital stay, and 12 rounds of FOLFOX chemotherapy.
• JJ describes the difference between what people expect chemotherapy to feel like and how cumulative toxicity actually affects the body over time.
• He talks about the recurrence in his abdominal wall and lymph nodes, and how hearing the word incurable was harder than hearing the original diagnosis.
• JJ shares the frustrating reality of having to go through FDA approved treatments before being able to access a clinical trial because of insurance coverage rules at the time.
• We discuss the emotional low point of his journey, including hopelessness, isolation, and suicidal thoughts during a prolonged period of being unable to eat normally.
• JJ explains how therapy helped him realize the cancer was not his fault and that he was not a burden to the people trying to help him.
• He reflects on the importance of letting people back in, even in small ways like watching movies together, talking sports, and rebuilding a sense of normal life.
• JJ walks through his experience with Keytruda, long term treatment, and how clinical trials gave him both access and hope when other options had failed.
• We discuss how advocacy became therapeutic for him and led to work with Man Up to Cancer, Fight CRC, the Colon Cancer Coalition, Stupid Cancer, SWOG, and medical data work.
• JJ offers practical advice for people who feel overwhelmed, especially around finding community, avoiding isolation, and being willing to ask for help early.

Beyond the 5 years with Kathryn White

In this episode, Kate and Ron speak with Kathryn White, a stage 4 colon cancer thriver, author, podcaster, and cancer coach. Kathryn shares the full arc of her diagnosis, treatment, recurrence, and the mindset shifts that helped her move from survival into a more grounded version of thriving. The conversation focuses on colon cancer symptoms, self-advocacy, the emotional impact of prognosis, and the practical tools Kathryn uses now, including journaling, yoga, movement, and boundary-setting around negativity.

Key topics

• In this episode, Kathryn explains how her cancer story was shaped by family history, starting with her father’s stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis when she was 22.
• She describes life before diagnosis as nonstop and overloaded, teaching full-time while raising two teenage boys, single parenting much of the time, and caring for her mother.
• Kathryn walks through her early symptoms, including left-sided pain, extreme fatigue, thin dark stool, and severe abdominal cramping that was initially dismissed as constipation.
• The discussion highlights how long it took to get taken seriously, and how important self-advocacy became when doctors were reluctant to discuss cancer because of her age.
• Kathryn shares how her diagnosis was made through a combination of ultrasound, MRI, colonoscopy, and surgery, with cancer found in the colon, liver, and lymph nodes.
• She explains why she chose not to hear prognosis numbers, saying she and her husband decided to focus on a 100 percent chance of living each day rather than statistics.
• Kathryn reflects on the emotional impact of hearing stage 4 and describes how her oncologist’s compassion and continuity of care helped her feel seen rather than reduced to a number.
• She talks about what supported her during treatment, including limiting negative influences, leaning into movement, and later building routines around journaling, walking, yoga, and reflection.
• Kathryn also shares the reality of recurrence, including a lung metastasis years later, and how different delivery of bad news changed the emotional weight of that moment.
• The episode closes with her distinction between surviving and thriving, and how living with cancer means staying engaged with life while managing uncertainty.

Discover:

Kathryn White Cancer Coaching

https://kathrynwhite.coach/