Live Strong With Leila Washington

Today, I have the honor of introducing you to a new friend and sister in Christ, Leila Washington.

Leila and I share something that neither of us would have chosen, but now use to help others. We are both cancer survivors. We also share something much greater: a deep faith that reminds us hope is always stronger than fear.

Today, Leila serves with the LiveStrong program through the Montgomery YMCA in Montgomery, Alabama.  This program is about helping others regain strength, improve their health, and rediscover hope after cancer. Her story is one of perseverance, faith, and a heart for encouraging others who are walking a similar path.  

I think that like me, you'll find her journey to hope inspiring and encouraging.

You can learn more about livestrong by visiting: 

https://ymcamontgomery.org/programs/outreach/livestrong/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello, friends. I'm your host, Dr. Dave Leighton, and thank you for joining me on Our Journey to Hope. This podcast is a place where together we explore how to discover, sustain, and sometimes regain hope. Wherever you're listening, let's take a deep breath, open our hearts, and continue this journey towards hope. And remember, no one walks alone. In today's episode, I'm speaking with a new friend and sister in the Lord, Leela Washington. And I'm also joined by her husband, Tommy, but he's sitting over in the corner. We're not going to let him talk today, unless, of course, he really wants to jump in there. But Leela and I share that we are both cancer survivors. But more than that, we understand the importance of hope, especially when it comes to facing life's challenges. And I'm going to let Leela tell us about herself. Hello, Leela.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Hey Dave. Thanks for having me. So I was added, I think the first and foremost uh thing that I need to share is that I was, I became a Christian, added to the Lord's Church back in 1984, I think I calculated yesterday, so when I was about 16 years old. I was about 23, I want to say, 24, and then we married a couple years later, and that's uh 32 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

32? Outstanding. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

God is good. Uh we've got two amazing uh grown sons, 30 years old and 27, a lovely daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. And I've worked for the Y. That's a kind of a big thing in my life um since 2012. A little bit about me.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Okay. That's great. Um I I made the statement that um you and I shared that we were both cancer survivors. Do you mind telling us a little bit about your cancer journey?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Not at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Now if I remember it was lymphoma.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yes, Hodgkin's lymphoma, to be specific.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Okay, so wait a minute. Hodgkin's lymphoma?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Hodgkins.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Okay, my daughter had non-Hodgkins. Now I don't know the difference, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Well Hodgkins, um, I remember you saying that about your daughter before in a previous prior discussion, but um so Hodgkins is it's um, I'm not sure. It's it's known for the Reed, I think it's the Reed Sternberg cells. It's a particular type of cell. And a lot of kids get it. It's actually more popular. Well, I don't I think popular is a positive word, but it's more common, I guess you would say amongst children, but um, I can't really share my story without sharing part of my brother's. My brother um was diagnosed with it, so our my family's first close-up experience with cancer was through my brother. He was 29. He was actually the first one to be added to the Lord's Church and converted most of us. Um yeah, and he yeah, and he um I don't know if you know Willie Franklin. He was a um a speaker for the Lord's Church. He lives in Texas, but what was his name?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Willie Franklin. Oh, I know Willie very well. Oh yeah, I've known Willie way back in the 80s, back in San Antonio. Oh, yeah, when well.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Cool, wow. So you probably met him before maybe before Joe did, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Well, and actually he was in Sierra Leone with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Kay and Larry Little.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

And uh that was back, oh, that was back in the mid-70s.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

So we've known him that long.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

So I don't I'm guessing, so Joe graduated high school, it was like 78, and he got a we were from the Philadelphia area, and he got a full right scholarship to the University of Wyoming. And so that was a big deal for my family. He was the first one to go to college, the first one to graduate from college. Um, and you know, my mom was none of us are really thrilled about him going clear across the country to the University of Wyoming. That's where he chose. There were some other colleges scouting him, but that was the place that he wanted to go. And, you know, it's it's interesting when you think about it, uh, because um he ended up being added to the Lord's church there. That's where Willie had come one night to speak to the players. Um, because you know, Willie being having been a pro football player, and I guess he won around that was part of his evangelism, and he spoke to um the group, which included my brother, um, his fiance at the time, who is now Pam Franklin, and um his roommate. And so, and then I don't know if it was that evening or shortly thereafter, they all got baptized. And so, but um, I didn't want to go too far off this topic of the cancer journey, but um, I guess you could say maybe within the next 10 years, five, six, seven years, um, Joe had actually, you know, met somebody different, you know. Um he and Pam broke up. She was um she and Willie had eventually gotten engaged and married, Pam and Willie.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

And so So he had met Willie.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I'm sorry, go ahead and they had all met Willie, and so uh, but you know, Willie and Pam ended up getting married, you know, and then um they became missionaries in New Guinea, Papua New Guinea. And so then Joe had met a young lady at school, Diane, who had also become a new Christian, and they ended up getting married. So they all ended up together, actually, eventually in Papua New Guinea.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

And they were Joe and Diane were there for about five years, and then um he developed he had malaria twice while he was there. And they actually had their first daughter there, and she developed malaria as a baby. But long story short, he ended up developing this cough, and so um Diane's father was a radiologist and he took an x-ray and they that's how they found his cancer.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

And so, but anyway, he fought it for five years, um, and unfortunately he passed away from it in at 34 and 1995, the year after Tommy I got married.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

You know, it's amazing. Um even from 1995 to today, the advances in cancer diagnosis as well as treatment have just taken leaps and bounds, and that helps a lot. It's it's it's it's just not the death penalty it used to be. Exactly. It's still serious, and obviously they take very good care of it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Exactly. So uh then six years later my mom got cancer and she passed away within six months. And then um 2013, that was 2001. 2013 I get my diagnosis. So, you know, looking back, you know, her my mom's brother, so my uncle Joe passed away from treatment related to cancer in the 80s. My brother Joe died in the 90s, my mother gets diagnosed 2000, dies 2001, and then here I am, 2013.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, so it wasn't a huge surprise. I mean, when it was diagnosed, it were your thoughts might have been, uh I might get this.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

So yeah, I I I wanted to explore a little bit. What was some of your thoughts when the doctor says, here's the diagnosis.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

I thought I was gonna die. I thought that's what was coming. You know, I three relatives and I was not I shock and awe, you know. The whole um Tommy wasn't amazing, I don't want to get choked up.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Well, listen, every time I take the journey, I understand that. Well, uh that that's good to know because a lot of times folks will say, wait a minute, and I and I experience this as well. I'm a person of faith. Why am I feeling um concern or doubt or fear or whatever the emotions that are running through there? I'm a person of fear. What's going on with this? And I think uh, well, uh and I've said it on several podcast episodes, the um nurse that was caring for me in the hospital, I she and I talked about fear I was feeling, and she said, Welcome to the human race, because it's an emotion. And and so anyway, I I think all of us experience that initially. Of course we do. Now are face to face with our mortality. Exactly. So that yeah, that's But then you took a deep breath.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It took some months, but yes, uh it took I you know, I was kind of in that fear stage for a long time. Uh just the anticipation of everything, not knowing um, even though I had an inclination I might at some time, but I had also had an inclination or a thought I really think God put in my heart that you know he's bigger than this.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

You know, despite having lost my family members, that he is truly bigger than this. And um when my mom was sick, I was in her kitchen and I was looking out the window. She wanted me to prepare something to eat for her. And she was actually trying really hard with nutrition, but they had already given her a very late-stage diagnosis. But when I'm looking out the window, looking at what I normally took for granted, right? This neighborhood that I grew up in, and but the beauty of it and and and just the way the sun was shining and the trees and just the whole scene, and I thought, God is bigger than cancer, you know. So um if I ever got this, I think that if I was able to use some natural things that he's created, okay, that I could survive. And so um when I was diagnosed, when I got my finally got my diagnosis, I had symptoms for a long time, and I just had really didn't have any idea what was going on. So when I got that diagnosis and I was shocked, I let my doctor know that I had been another naturopathic doctor who was really good that we lived um near before we moved. We were in Charlotte. This he was in Connecticut, where we had lived prior. And um he said, Well, you know, he knew that I thought he was smart. He said, You think I'm smart? I've got to introduce you to this other doctor that I know who is a survivor himself. He's um Dr. James Belanger, he's located in actually in the Boston area of Massachusetts, and um he was right. And so, you know, I was of course seeing my oncologist and and getting the diagnosis and the scans and the stage and all that, and what they wanted me to do. And he just went right along with that. He was able to diagnose or able to prescribe um all these supplements that helped. Like sometimes, you know, you have the chemo with the cancer, right? And the chemo can't get into the cell, whether it's dormant or just something about you know the cancer, that's that's cancer's job. I've heard it called the emperor of all diseases, where it it just can push the chemo back out of the cell, all these crazy tricky things. And so he was able to prescribe supplements that could help the chemo to work better.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

And help the body to be able to sustain the side effects as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

And that that that's right. You're you're you're pumping poisons into the body. So taking care of the body is as important as the treatment, it is part of the treatment, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

And so um yeah, that and then to that to me that was answered prayer. So that gave me a lot of hope. A lot of hope because I just believed in the things that God made. I just feel like there's people that you know have to know how to use those things because MDs aren't always trained out.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

So there was a point. You said it w you know you were having kind of the shock from the diagnosis for a few months. Um what helped you turn the corner on that?

SPEAKER_02 12:08

So for me it had to get worse before it got better because even though I'm taking the supplements and I'm all excited and I get this great scan, it was like after two rounds, I had to go every two weeks, and I did that for two months. They took another scan, and it had gone from, I kid you not, a great fruit-sized tumor.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Um, and it had two uh lymph node involvement. So one went down and the uh up down my lung and the other one up to my collarbone. That's how they diagnosed the tumor was at my collarbone. And uh it was nearly gone. But my fear, see, I I I don't have a lot of patience. So I wanted it as big as it was, I was hoping it would be gone. I was working so hard trying to do everything I could. And the the fear started to overtake me, like there's something in this thing is wrong. And I it's weird, uh I had this thought that I that I made it angry. Later in my journey of of uh treatment, my the radiologist said the exact same thing. He said, You made it angry. So that wasn't, you know, but it was fortunately after the tumor was pretty much gone already, so but I still had to get the radiation at the end. But yeah, so uh at that point I had gotten scared, and you know, my son, both my sons were trying to be really positive. Tommy was positive the whole time, and and I just it was such a battle, but it it stems from things that I had gone through earlier in my life. You know, that I didn't have that inner confidence, faith, what whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

You had already seen two times where it was not, you know, and that I understand.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

But then one other thing that really helped too was my naturopathic doctor. It had started to come back. So the next scan showed that it was coming back.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

And um he said, Well, you know, your treatment, uh the one what they wanted to do next, he said, it's a good it could be a good treatment, but you don't know that it's for you. And so he facilitated this test that they do in Greece. RGCC um is the name of the company in Greece. They don't do it here. Um, they have offices that facilitate it. There's one in Colorado, there's one in the Maria, Georgia area. He has access to this test, and so he facilitated it for me, and it found a chemo that killed my cancer cells really well. So we did that. They didn't my oncologist team though didn't want to do it. They fought me on it, and um and so I didn't worry about it, and um we met with the one who was the head of the stem cell transplant because they were already on that track. They already wanted to make sure that I did that.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

So Wells was ex extensive.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

It was, yeah. But so but this this treatment that came up good in the test gave me my first clear scan.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

And so, and then I still proceeded with the after that treatment I proceeded with the stem cell and then the gradient.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

So that was since 2013?

SPEAKER_02 15:03

2014 was the crux of mine.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Okay. But here you are now. These years later, you look you know, for all appearances, healthy and thank you. All of that. So, uh, you seem to be doing well. I know you're active. And I kind of wanted to transition um that you're very active in a program, and you spoke about it the other night when when uh we were at the Women of Hope meeting. Uh tell us about that major activity and how you're involved in it.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

So Libstrong, it's basically a program that I went through when I was in treatment. They called it the Cancer Wellness Program. It was you know back in 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. But a few years later they ended up changing the name to Lib Strong. Um that's from I can't even think of his name now, um, the cyclist Lance Armstrong. And um he uh was the head the CEO basically of that company. Um so different leadership now within that company, but um it's it's it exists pretty much all around the country in different whys. They call it Live Strong for the Y. Um, not sure if they operated any other fitness facilities or um medical So is is it uh a YMCA program? It's yes, it it's it's it's in the Y. Yes, the Y utilizes the program. It's called Live Strong at the YMCA.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Um and you can be anywhere from newly diagnosed all the way into years in remission to participate. You just have to have a degree of decondition. You know, like you need to you need to exercise. There's some people who come into it that you know, if they're in treatment, they're very leery, whether they've exercised or not. There's people who have who are in pretty good standing with their health, but they've never exercised or they haven't done it in so long. And just a lot of the time, you know, when you've gone through cancer, you're not sure what you can do, especially if it's during treatment. So um so yeah, we take them as long as they have a medical clearance. And then it's a free of charge program, but it lasts only 12 weeks. It's basically enough to get someone off and running.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

And then at the end of that 12 weeks, um we give them a 50% off uh first year discount at the Y.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Okay, now now what's your role?

SPEAKER_02 17:23

So I basically coordinate the program. I I I pretty much do everything that you can in this program. I you know, I I get to um booth on the ground as part of the why I go to the Limited Vote meeting to spread the word about the program. So kind of recruiting, you know. Um I do what I can as far as raising funds, but um my director of healthy living, Brandon Maddox, is actually more the go-to guy for that. And he he's established all of that, the financial aspects, and just laying the ground before I got there. And so um yeah, I spread the word, um, I you know try to help recruit people, and then I do the intakes so one-on-one, one at a time, I have appointments with participants and we go over their health history. There's some forms they fill out about that and their fitness um goals, any restrictions, things of that nature, and then and then we'll do um once I do all those the first date of the program, we'll all get together and and they get to know each other. It's more of a social like icebreaker.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Okay, sure. Some support from within that. Now, so you tailor the program, whatever, the regimen of it for that individual, because yeah, there'll be different levels of fitness or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

The best we can, there's because it's up to twelve participants, okay, and it's always more than just a few.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Um uh, you know, it's more like group exercise.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

So and but there's two trainers to twelve participants, so you know, we do go around and uh the first thing we do is introduce them to the machines in the fitness center.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Okay, so you have a physical aspect of it, then you also have a nutritional aspect of it, and then there's a social aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yeah, and it's primarily exercise and social, and then once we get them acclimated to the machines and whatnot, then we start introducing group exercise like formats, class formats, you know, like dance. Um, we'll have a little bit of a weight training, different classes that way. Um, just to add some more flavor to it, because you know, it can get pretty monotonous if you stay in the fitness center for more than a few weeks. So and then we start introducing guest speakers, and that's when we talk about nutrition and um massage therapy and lymphedema and all you know, all those different things.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Well, is there excuse me, is there uh like a website or Facebook page that folks can go to if they want to learn more about it?

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Definitely have a website, it's on um ymc at montgomery.org.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Well, I want to transition and kind of get your thoughts about hope. When someone talks about that word hope, how do you understand that concept? It it's about hope, helping folks understand hope, both from a secular perspective as well as a spiritual perspective.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

I think you know you have to have a purpose, you know, and so and you have to believe that you can achieve it. I mean, it sounds blase, but I mean um for me I I found a lot of purpose in in leading this program, you know, because I my brother brought the gospel to all of my family, you know, all but one obeyed. So that was what six out of seven people in my family have obeyed to become members of the church. And um and so you know, I I felt I guess I kind of feel like I'm giving back and not just to my participants who I love dearly because I I really, you know, as a survivor, you know too, we can really relate on that level, and it's it's hard for people outside to to be able to relate. It's almost like they don't know how or they don't want to.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Um, but um I'm drawing a blank.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Well, I like I like what you said. You said purpose and you said giving back. I I found in my journey, um the idea of giving back. Most of the volunteers that I work with either are former patients or had a relative that was uh in fact I don't know any that aren't one or the other. And so that compelled them to want to do that. Uh it was that way in my case. And uh then the idea of purpose, um I I teach people about hope. I say it's a forward looking concept. And the more of a f future view that you have, the greater your hope. If if I don't have a view of the future, well I have no hope. And and you use the word purpose because That's kind of a foundation for somebody having a view. I've got something I'm working with and all of that. So those are good those are good strong words to support that.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Well, and even thinking about uh you know, when I was in school, I went to school for health education and promotion. I graduated a couple of years ago, but they talk about the blue zones and everybody's most people have heard of the blue zones and the blue the blue zones.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Blue zones.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Different parts of the world where people live past the hundred, centuries.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

And there's the habits that I think there's eight habits if I remember correctly. And one of the habits has to do of course, nutrition is one, activity and exercise is another. Um, and but social, the social aspect and one and also another one is having a purpose. And it's almost like you have to believe, you know, that you're gonna live a long time or that you know you just live like you're going to, you the way you take care of yourself, how you interact, you know, what you what makes you feel important, things like that and useful.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

I can absolutely identify with that. When w in the cancer center, we don't have televisions and anything like that going on. Partly because you know that we don't want other patients disturbed, but also because we want to keep it a positive environment.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

And and we, you know, attitude about it is so important. It really is. Um, I'm I did a podcast a few weeks ago talking about Dr. Avery. Dr. Avery wears crazy socks.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I've heard of him.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

I haven't met him, but I've heard uh that that's just part of him. He wears crazy socks. And uh when I was in treatment, uh I went in for uh my regular appointment with him, and I brought him a pair of sky blue socks with rubber chickens on them. And he says, I'm gonna wear these next time you come in, and he did. And uh so yeah, it's just the mental aspect, and it's not mind over matter, but it it just supports it. If if I'm giving up, then I'm giving up. And uh so it's important. Uh Dr. Avery's Avery's words to me at the diagnosis was um that I had less than a month to live, but then he said, but we know how to treat this. So in the same breath, there was the here's the bad news, but here's something to think about. And uh so yeah. And and I'm a researcher, so as soon as I found out the diagnosis, I started researching it. And when he described the protocol I was going to be going through, you know, it's following best practice. So yeah, all of that's important. Okay, great. Where do you see yourself going in the future speaking about hope, having a future concept?

SPEAKER_02 24:43

I would love that. Yeah. Tommy and I have talked about, you know, going places and and teaching various topics, you know, but I I'd love sharing my story. I really do. I just feel like, however, you know, as a survivor, you want to help others to do the same.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

I it it I I tell people, you really do need to look at something like this as a gift. If we have the perspective of, okay, Lord, how can I use this to glorify you, to help others, whatever the case may be, um that that's to me a very healthy and positive reaction that I like to foster in people. Do something with this. It has opened doors for me that I would never have thought about the starting of the podcast, the books I've written, the opportunities to speak, all of that. So yeah, it's amazing. Anything else you want to add? You've been a wonderful guest, so I didn't want to shut you off.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

No, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

I think it's just really important that folks that listen to this show that are having their hope challenge that they hear from real people. You know, they they listen to me enough. So I love to have folks come in and say, well, this is what I experience. And hopefully somebody else is going to be out there going, okay, I think I can do this. So all right. Thank you, Leela. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. Well, friends, thank you for walking this journey with me. Until next time, let's keep moving forward together towards hope. If this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who may need hope today and remind them no one walks alone. And remember, in all things, we give glory to God our Father.