Hello friends, and welcome to this week’s episode of the Essential Strength Podcast!  This is episode 11 and I had the pleasure of speaking this week with one of my best friends and fellow physical therapist Shai Sewell. We talked about his experiences as a physical therapist working with cancer patients, and also about what he learned from the time his mother spent battling cancer, and how her spirit and fight informed his decision to pursue this unique career and become an advocate not just for his patients, but for the professionals working to serve this population.

We cover a lot of ground during this conversation, but in the end all of us, and all of you listening, will be touched by cancer if you haven’t been already. It could be a parent, a friend, or it could be you. Cancer is indiscriminate and unpredictable. Gaining an understanding of how best to provide support for a loved one, to be an advocate, to put yourself in the best position and create the best personal health you can while you have the opportunity, there are so many valuable insights to be gained from today’s conversation and I am so grateful to have friends who are doing such incredible work.

I hope you enjoy today’s episode with Dr. Shai Sewell and gained some valuable insight what life for cancer patients and their families is really like. What kind of strength it takes not just to fight this disease, but to maintain some quality of life. The strength it takes to live each day knowing it could be the day your cancer comes back. And the strength to show up and provide support and care for your loved ones battling cancer but also to continue to care for yourself and your mental and physical health. 

Rather than give you all a list of action steps to take following today’s episode, I just want to leave you with my three biggest takeaways:

1. When you are caring for and supporting a friend or family member battling cancer, remember that they don’t want to be a burden, they want you the be there for them when they need it, and that means not being there when they don’t. You have to care for yourself too.
2. Try not to dread the mundane, every day chores in your life, because those mindless, routine tasks are often the most physically and emotionally taxing for someone with cancer or another chronic illness.
3. Don’t confuse simply being alive with truly living

Until next time - we wish you STRENGTH and GOOD HEALTH

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