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Adaptive Humans™ is the podcast for real talk and intentional growth. Hosted by Jami de Lou, each episode blends meaningful stories with practical tools you can use in your next meeting, tough conversation, or high-pressure moment—and just as easily in everyday life. Together, we’ll explore how to work with emotions instead of against them, bridge differences with respect, and steady ourselves when stress runs high. With signature segments like Beyond the Bio, Brave Enough Moment, and Just Be Reset, this podcast invites you to practice adaptability in the moments that matter most.
Adaptive Humans™ | Season 2, Episode 4
When Your Body Interrupts the Plan
Guest: Dacia Heck | Air Date: March 17, 2026
Jami de Lou (00:08)
Welcome back to Adaptive Humans. I'm your host, Jami de Lou.
Around here, we return to three anchors: how we navigate our emotions, how we adapt across differences, and how we steady ourselves when stress or triggers show up, because that's what helps us stay human when life gets real.
A quick content note for today. This episode includes discussions of cancer, medical trauma, and grief. If that's a tender subject for you, please do take care, pause if you need to, and come back when you're ready. I will also say, to keep things light, you might hear us talk about poop once or twice during this episode.
It's mid-March, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. You may have seen blue ribbons around, or statistics shared online when you're scrolling. Maybe you scrolled past something that feels distant, like that's not me, not about me. Or you may have seen another young actor who has recently passed away from colon cancer far too soon.
But today isn't about a ribbon or a person you've watched on TV.
It's about what happens when your body interrupts the plan. What it does to identity, to leadership, to how we define competence, to how we make decisions under pressure.
In our last episode, we named decision debt. We talked about the accumulation of unmade, deferred, and reactive decisions that build when capacity is overtaxed. We talked about how invisible load doesn't just slow decisions, it compounds them.
Today's conversation is what decision debt looks like when the stakes are not a strategy meeting or a quarterly review. It's what happens when the body becomes the constraint, or when someone you love goes through it. When the decisions that get deferred are the ones about your own health. When the signals are there and the system keeps reframing them into something more manageable.
And we talk about what leadership looks like on the other side of some of these hard things.
My guest today is Dacia Heck, a senior leader in customer success, operations, and organizational strategy. After losing her sister to early-onset colorectal cancer, Dacia transformed her grief into action. She co-leads the GH Foundation, advocating for early detection and empowering people with the knowledge to advocate for their own health. With colorectal cancer now the leading cancer killer of men and women under the age of 50 in the United States, her mission has never been more urgent.
Dacia, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for joining me today.
Dacia Heck (03:14)
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Jami de Lou (03:16)
Yes, I know so many people will get so much out of this conversation. So I'm excited for us to dig in. Beyond the Bio is where we meet the human behind the title or what they do for work.
I know that working hard is a theme throughout your life. And one of the things listeners might not know about you is that you graduated from college in three years, but instead of accelerating into the next thing, you actually took six months off. What did you do with that time and what did you learn from it?
Dacia Heck (03:50)
After graduation, I started with Anderson Consulting, and my start date was about six months after my graduation date. So I took the time to really enjoy spending time with family and friends. After our discussion a few weeks ago, I was actually thinking back about that period of my life. And one of the jokes my brother-in-law would share is that during that time, their couch had a permanent imprint of me, because of how much time I spent on it. I moved back in with my parents and essentially couch surfed with family and friends during those six months and just really enjoyed my life. Because I had gone so strong in college. Graduating in three years, spending summers working, going to school, taking a lot of credits each semester. So the way life turned out 20-plus years later, I look back with fond memories and really wouldn't trade that for the world.
Jami de Lou (04:55)
So being a hard worker, knowing that you took this time and then sort of catapulted yourself into a career and a life that has had lots of windy roads, I'm certain many of our listeners can relate. How easy is it to ignore your own needs when you're working hard and maybe even putting your team at work first?
Dacia Heck (05:17)
I think this is such a relatable thing, especially for women in the workforce. We tend to put family and work first above our own selves. And it's something that we need to start paying attention to. We need to pay attention to our body, our own needs, because things aren't guaranteed. Our health, our lives, tomorrow isn't guaranteed. And it is so easy to just put everything before us.
I know it may sound cliche. But it is a life experience that I know for me personally, it was something that I heard about and I realized, yeah, that's not me, that's just somebody else who's trying to put their lives first. And my world came to a crashing halt in a moment, in hours, and I realized that it's not somebody else. It can be me. Work and life can really change on a dime. And it is all too easy to fall into the trap of putting everybody else first and not really paying attention to your own body and your own needs.
Jami de Lou (06:38)
Yeah, and I so appreciate you saying that. So easy until you're faced with something traumatic or hard, right? And when you know it can flip on a dime, it reframes things. But sometimes people haven't experienced that. And in some ways I want to say, God bless you for not having had that experience yet, but it can happen.
And a part of what we're going to talk about today is tied to your sister's story. Before we get into her diagnosis and what happened to her, in the spirit of honoring your sister, tell us a little bit about who she was. What do you want people to know about your sister as a person before the diagnosis?
Dacia Heck (07:21)
My sister was my oldest sister. She was compassionate. She had two children and was a local pharmacist. And whether it was her personality, her job, I live in a city and maybe that's part of it, but when we were out and about, people knew her. People talked to her. She seemed to know everybody. She worked out all the time, she was at the gym, she was a runner. She knew people in the community. We couldn't go anywhere without her talking to somebody. And that's who she was.
We're going to talk about her diagnosis and how that's changed me and how it's changed our family. But it's something to remember. I don't want what is driving my foundation, what drives me today, to be overshadowed by who she was.
Jami de Lou (08:41)
Yeah. And she was your big sister. And to so many people in her community, she was the pharmacist who ran eight miles a day, who was highly active, engaged with her family, her kids, and the community. Someone who in many ways should have had every advantage when it comes to recognizing your own symptoms.
One of the things we want to talk about today is that even with all the education and a medical-affiliated background, sometimes when it comes to things around GI health, we can miss or ignore signs that might be there. What does it do to your understanding of control over our circumstances when someone who seemingly was doing everything right, who was in the medical field, still didn't catch it in time? And maybe for listeners' sake, can you share a little bit about how her diagnosis came to be, to help people understand how quickly things can change?
Dacia Heck (10:03)
I try to be open about her diagnosis and how it came to be just because I think it's so important to share her story, because it's not a unique story. It is a story that at the time I had never heard, but now through years of advocacy work, it is not unique. And it is something that is so important for folks to hear and to start speaking up if they have symptoms.
My sister was 43 at the age of diagnosis. She was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer. The day she was diagnosed, her oldest daughter remembers her running that morning. She was working out. She went to work. She started bleeding. She never ran a day of her life again. She never worked again. She went to the emergency room, had 17 units of blood transferred within 24 hours. Her tumor ruptured. She went into emergency surgery. She was diagnosed with stage four cancer. She had lesions throughout her body, in her lungs, her uterus, her liver, her brain. It was everywhere.
I look back now and think: she ran so much and she had lesions in her lungs. It's just astounding to imagine what she did with the amount of cancer in her body. A superwoman, in hindsight. But these stories aren't unique. She was 43. Screening age was 50 at the time. It's now 45 for folks of average risk, important to note. She was in great shape. She wasn't a drinker. She wasn't a smoker. She was healthy, active, fit. She wasn't the stereotypical colorectal cancer patient. And it is important to note that there aren't necessarily stereotypical signs. This can impact anybody.
Jami de Lou (12:16)
Yeah. And I think we talked about how easy it is, and maybe even more so if you are deemed really active and healthy, that you might brush off something feeling wrong or off, and that other stressors can explain it away.
What does it mean that her body was signaling, and the signals kept getting reframed as something else?
Dacia Heck (12:57)
In hindsight, as I've learned more, there were signs. At the time, they were brushed aside. The summer before my sister's diagnosis, my mom had some health issues. My sister was diagnosed in December. In October, my sister had said to me on a call that with all the stress of my mom's health issues, she had lost 15 pounds. My sister was already very fit and very thin. I know now that that was a sign, but given her fitness level at the time, it wasn't a moment where anyone would say, wow, you must have cancer.
I knew for a long time that my sister thought she was lactose intolerant, and maybe she was. But now I hear folks say that with colorectal cancer, people will often think they're lactose intolerant or have those kinds of symptoms. These little things, in combination, added up. Standing alone at 43 and in great health overall, they didn't register. But in hindsight, we always have 20/20 vision.
Jami de Lou (14:35)
One of the things we talked about is this idea of what's happening with your digestive system, and the discomfort of talking about poop, and yes, I just said poop on a podcast.
We can sometimes ignore or be uncertain about what our bodies are telling us. And I know, just for a second, to share my own experience with listeners: I had digestive issues including lactose intolerance in my 20s and all these different challenges. Oftentimes doctors were putting it off, saying it's stress or this or that. I finally got one doctor along the way in my 30s who started doing more thorough testing, but no one was talking about a colonoscopy.
I happen to have very limited medical history. My mom was adopted at birth. I have very little on my birth father's side. And so it makes it a little bit harder. But thankfully, in my later thirties, I had a really great primary care physician who, when I advocated for myself, advocated with me. We got access to a colonoscopy earlier. And they did find polyps and were able to remove them.
And I think one of the things we haven't gotten into yet is that colon cancer is one of the most preventable cancers if polyps are caught early. So sometimes because this is a topic of digestion that we don't want to speak about, we're ignoring symptoms tied to something so preventable and so treatable with access to care.
Could you talk a little bit about the importance of polyp history specifically, for listeners?
Dacia Heck (16:44)
Definitely. It is so important to talk about your family history. And I'm so glad you mentioned not only colon cancer, but having a family history of polyps. That is such an important thing, because if you have a family history of polyps, you may need to be screened potentially earlier than folks of average risk being screened at 45. It's not just family history of colorectal cancer. It's family history of polyps. They lead to cancer. And as you mentioned, colorectal cancer is the most preventable cancer if caught early, with a very positive prognosis at early stages.
People don't like the word colorectal cancer. People don't want to say rectal. I have friends in this community. It's a terrible community to be part of. Nobody wants to be in it, but once you're in it, there are amazing people. I hear stories of how people react to hearing rectal cancer. It's just astonishing.
That's why we're here today talking about poop and rectal cancer and colon cancer, all the things nobody wants to talk about, but it's so important. Please, if you have a family history of polyps or colon cancer or rectal cancer, talk to your GI or your PCP. When you go in for your annual physical, say: I have a family history of these things. Find out when they recommend screening.
Jami de Lou (18:39)
Yeah. And for anyone not as familiar, your PCP is your primary care physician and your GI is your gastrointestinal doctor, who your PCP can refer you to. And even just having conversations with family members, maybe they don't know about polyps, maybe they're not aware of their own circumstances.
If you have a loved one who is older and has never had a colonoscopy, it's never too soon to have that conversation. Especially if they're already at the age of 45, which is the general current starting point, though that can be adjusted depending on risk factors and symptoms. What we want people to take away is: if you're having symptoms, talk to your doctor. You don't have to accept being written off because you're not old enough. Am I summarizing that right?
Dacia Heck (20:06)
Yes, exactly. When in doubt, talk to your doctor. Don't be shy. Don't feel like you're not old enough. Don't feel like nobody's going to listen. And if you don't feel heard, talk to another doctor. Advocate for yourself. That's something the foundation really stresses. You are your own best health advocate. If a doctor is brushing off symptoms that feel important to you, get a second opinion. Your health is important and your voice deserves to be heard.
Jami de Lou (20:57)
And I hope that came through in the story I shared about my own experience. The early doctors were not paying attention and were writing it off in different ways. And thankfully, with a different primary care doctor, I was able to find out that I did have polyps and get them removed.
So I think this is a moment that leads us into our Brave Enough Moment. The Brave Enough Moment is where we take a step before you can see the whole horizon.
When I think about the brave enough moment, there's probably a million things we could talk about in your story and your sister's story. But I'm thinking about your advocacy work and how it started. I know you began doing some work under a larger organization and really wanted to find a way to make more direct impact. When did you know you needed to build something of your own, and how did you get started with the foundation?
Dacia Heck (22:07)
While my sister was sick, I started doing research for organizations that focused on colorectal cancer and started volunteering, because I knew that I'm a person who takes pain and turns it into action. I am most at peace when I am busy.
I worked with some colorectal cancer organizations. And after some time, my co-founder of the foundation and I really sat back and said, what's important to us? We kept coming back to the stigma. The stigma around GI health, the stigma around why folks aren't talking to their GIs, why they aren't talking to their doctors about their symptoms. And so that's where the foundation was born.
There are amazing organizations that focus on colorectal cancer and supporting people after diagnosis. Our focus is really on breaking the stigma and targeting what we call the pre-community, targeting folks who haven't been diagnosed, to get them talking about things like poop and get them comfortable talking with their family about GI disease, about family history, about symptoms. Being comfortable advocating for themselves. That's why we started this organization. Our motto is destigmatizing GI health conversations, because ultimately our goal is to break stigma.
Jami de Lou (23:47)
I'm curious, what does stigma around colorectal cancer actually look like? Not in theory, but when you're really faced with it, seeing people's faces, their reactions. What is the stigma?
Dacia Heck (24:02)
I think the stigma shows up in a lot of things. Stigma is folks not wanting to get a colonoscopy because they don't want a camera being put up their back end. Saying the words poop, there's stigma in that.
I have a t-shirt that says, check your colon. And I have worn it, and people will make comments about how brave I am for wearing it. I am shocked by those reactions. I've worn it in a workplace and somebody made a comment of, is that a message? And I just kind of think, I don't even see it anymore as sending a message. To me it's just: get screened, check your colon, it's important, it will save your life. That's a stigma that I've now gotten so used to that when I see the reactions, it actually makes me happy, because that's what we're going for. We're trying to get folks to react, to start realizing that these conversations aren't as uncomfortable as they think.
There's a lot of stigma. There's cultural stigma. We're trying to break it down and also make it something fun. Our organization actually has mascots. We have a poop mascot, a colon mascot, a plunger and Miss TP, which is toilet paper. And ultimately our goal is to connect with folks, make them laugh, and get the message out that GI health is important. It's okay to talk about poop. It's okay, if you've had abnormal symptoms for a long time, to go talk to your doctor.
Jami de Lou (26:06)
The other thing I wanted to ask about is what do people under 50 need to understand that they don't really get right now?
Dacia Heck (26:15)
As of January, the American Cancer Society has shared that colorectal cancer is now the number one cancer killer of men and women under 50 in the United States.
It's something that the colorectal cancer community has been talking about for years. The prediction was that by 2030 it would reach number one. I was actually looking something up last week and I saw something from last year that said by 2030 it's going to be number one. And as of January 2026, it's already there. We hit the 2030 projection four years early.
So it is now my personal mission to knock it out of the number one seat, as I like to say. I say that with a lot of trepidation, because I don't want any cancer to be the number one cancer killer. But ultimately it is something folks probably don't know. And it's not an old man's disease. That's what I thought when my sister was diagnosed. I had heard of colorectal cancer, I just thought it was for old people. You screened at 50, she was 43. The notion that she had stage four colorectal cancer was so foreign to me. But if I can share anything, that's the number one thing. It is now the number one cancer killer for men and women under 50.
Jami de Lou (27:55)
Yeah, I think that's such an important thing for people to know. And especially given what we've been talking about, I completely get it that you don't want any cancer to be in the number one spot. But for it to move that progressively, and for something that, with early diagnosis or early removal of polyps, doesn't even have to become cancer, right? It is one of the cancers they understand most. They know how it works. It is so preventable. So we're just going to keep hammering that home.
Jami de Lou (28:42)
And it's worth saying that neither one of us are medical professionals, just as a disclaimer. But with what you know through the foundation and your advocacy work, the screening guidelines now recommend starting at 45 for average risk. But you've been clear that 45 is not a magic number. How has your family adjusted to the risk factors and different needs based on their proximity to your sister?
Dacia Heck (29:08)
As you mentioned, I am not a medical professional by any means. But screening age for average risk is 45. If you have a history of colorectal cancer or a history of polyps, you definitely need to talk to your GI. I have had three colonoscopies at this point. My nieces, who are my sister's daughters, will start screening at the age of 25. My sister was 43 at the age of diagnosis. However, given the stage of progression, her surgeon recommended they start at 25.
There's a saying that it's 10 years before the age of diagnosis of cancer. And that might be true for some. But talk to your GI. Don't just assume it's 10 years. I'm just going to follow that guideline, because it's not always the case.
Jami de Lou (30:07)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. If we could move a little bit into the life and work aspect of navigating a diagnosis in your family, you talked about having a boss when your sister was diagnosed who was really supportive and what a difference that made for you at the time, and didn't make you feel like your circumstances were a liability. How did that become a template for how you show up for your team as they navigate all kinds of different circumstances in their lives?
Dacia Heck (30:43)
Yeah, definitely. I had the privilege of working in a company that allowed me the space to be present for my sister and her family during her treatment. I worked remotely during that time. Upon my sister getting lesions in her brain, she needed 24-hour care. My nieces were young, 12 and 16 at the time. My brother-in-law was working. I was fortunately able to move in with them. My husband would drive back and forth on the weekends, and my parents lived off the block. So it was kind of an all-hands-on-deck family affair.
To this day I am beyond grateful for that time. I would trade anything to not have gone through that experience, but I will share that those four months of my life were probably the best of my life. I know that sounds weird to listeners. But being in that moment, I would not have changed anything about it. I would change having to be there. But I am so grateful to have worked in a company that allowed me that space and understood that while my work is important, my family was more important, and gave me that time and that space.
Jami de Lou (32:23)
When I play that back, I think there's a connection to the Brave Enough Moment and how this all came to be, this idea of taking steps when you can't see what's around the corner. You have this four-month window to be there caring for your sister. And when you anchor back to the brave enough moment of even deciding after college that you're going to take a break, where you got to spend some of that time with her, there are these threads throughout your life where the choice could have been a million other things and you still made the choice to show up for yourself or for your loved one.
And a lot of us are being forced into choices now, especially those of us of a certain vintage of life, where you're facing caregiving in a different way, whether that's for a sibling, a parent, a loved one of some kind. The idea of making that choice and showing up, and then having that support, can help us as we talk about what it takes to lead others and be a good colleague and frankly be an adaptive human. Is that a thread you've ever thought about?
Dacia Heck (34:35)
I appreciate that, actually. I really haven't thought about that, so thank you. Sometimes you have to hear the replay of your life and you're like, yeah, that did connect. And as I mentioned at the onset, just as I thought about our conversation earlier, I thought back to some of the words my brother-in-law used to tease me about so much. Now I'm so glad I spent all those nights on my sister's couch and made my permanent imprint on their couch as they were recently married, the younger sister just moved in while she was couch surfing after college.
But turning back to how it's really changed me as a leader. I see the role model that my boss at the time and the company, I still work for the same company, really helped form who I am now and how I lead my team. I really try to ensure that I lead with the same compassion. While we have a job to do and work to get done, I really want to help ensure that I'm leading by example. I try to help my team realize that we're people first. That's what matters. At the end of the day, they come to their position, they come to the job, with all these things behind them, their family, their friends, whatever their circumstance is. That's what's important at the end of the day. And I want them to show up and be their best selves at work, and that needs to also reflect them being whole outside of work.
I'm sure I'm fallible at times. But this journey with my sister, just seeing how quickly life changes, and seeing the lives that changed from my sister's experience, our lives are changed forever. And so I try to remember that even at work, and try to remember that while we're there for a purpose, our work isn't everything. What truly matters is everything they have outside of work.
Jami de Lou (37:38)
Well, thank you so much for sharing your sister's story with us and for trusting me and this space to share not only her story, but more about how people can learn about early detection, the risks of colorectal cancer, and the impacts we're seeing in people under 50.
This actually leads us to the third segment, which is our Just Be Reset. Just Be Reset is where we take time to consider how we can ground ourselves and take a moment to breathe, to release, to reset. With a topic like this that can feel heavy, and even for you as many times as you may have told this story, it can affect you in different ways.
We both know that careers can be very demanding. The advocacy work is also demanding. And that journey with grief, when you layer all of those things on top, it can take a lot from us. By your own account, you've shared that it's easy to get caught up working long hours. How do you help yourself reset? What do you do to take breaks?
Dacia Heck (39:18)
I probably don't practice all that I preach, but one thing I love to do is travel. My husband and I have started going to Italy for a month each year. We've worked from there, but that has actually been a really great reset. We are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work remote. So that is my reset.
Jami de Lou (39:46)
It's a beautiful country to reset in.
Dacia Heck (39:49)
It really is. And we're taking Italian lessons, so it's just another thing on the pile.
Jami de Lou (39:53)
That's fun. And actually, a lot of people don't realize this, but learning a new language does something specific to your brain. It forces you to think in a different way, not just on autopilot. There's actual research around how travel, and especially being in a different cognitive environment, neurologically helps with reset. So the reset is real and it's not just because it feels good.
Dacia Heck (40:27)
Yeah, and actually we find that with the time change, it's really nice because we work in the dark and then we're out all day. It really helps us reclaim the daylight. And I think that shift really, really helps a lot.
Jami de Lou (40:51)
That's awesome. So I'm curious, how can someone who maybe doesn't see the lack of boundaries needed bring this into focus? We know that seeing it and changing it aren't the same thing. You've even said yourself it gets hard. What's like one small thing that kind of helps shift that boundary into focus to allow for those resets in the day to day?
Dacia Heck (41:20)
I'm probably not the right person to ask that. I have a really hard time with boundaries. I tend to let things blur a lot. If you ask my husband, he would say, what boundaries? But I'm going to give the answer of really trying to find the one thing that's important to you. For me, it's my family. Over the last eight years, my direct and extended family have really become what matters most. Really trying to find those moments we can spend time together. So even if it means I have my laptop open during a family event, just having that time, that's my reset. That's what I find value in.
Jami de Lou (42:15)
Yeah, well, I appreciate your honesty because I think a lot of people will relate to that. It's not easy to set boundaries all the time with a really demanding, busy career and family life. So one of the things I try to do on each episode is share some kind of reset we can do in the moment. I'd like to take us through a box breathing exercise.
Box breathing is where you breathe in for four slowly, hold your breath for four, exhale slowly for four, and then hold at the bottom of that exhale for four. And what I love to share is that it doesn't have to be something overtly visible. So if you're open to it, I'll demonstrate the more noticeable version and you can do it like you're sitting in a meeting and chaos is around you but you just need to reset. Ready?
So we're going to go in for four, hold for four, out for four, and hold for four.
[Box breathing exercise]
So what I did was noticeable. In for four, hold for four, exhale through my mouth for four, hold for four. But my point is to show people this does not have to be overtly apparent to everyone around you. Box breathing is one of many types of breath work that can be a simple, short thing you do to help recalibrate yourself and reset your nervous system in a moment of stress. Between back-to-back calls, when you need to settle yourself live with people around you. How did that feel for you?
Dacia Heck (45:05)
I love it. I actually was at a taping of Kelly and Mark, and they had somebody doing breathing on the show. So I do it now at night when I go to sleep, because I don't sleep well. So anyway, that was great. I should try it more during the day. I never do it during business hours and I'm going to start.
Jami de Lou (45:37)
I'm glad you said that, because actually probably the time I do the most box breathing is also at night. Insomnia just tries to be the thing that won't let go. So I often do box breathing when I'm lying in bed to try to relax, because being so focused on the breath starts to calm me down. So I think that's a very common place for it, and I'm glad you shared that.
Regulation and breath work are meant to make advocacy possible, including advocacy for yourself. Dacia, I just want to say thank you so very much for sharing your story and journey with leadership and advocacy work, and for honoring us with your sister's story and the impactful work you're doing through the GH Foundation.
As we're wrapping up, I'd love to do a lightning round that helps our listeners as they digest this episode and consider ways to listen to their own bodies, advocate for themselves, and consider how they partner and lead others at work with more humanity. Does that work?
Dacia Heck (46:43)
Great, sounds good.
Jami de Lou (46:46)
A symptom people normalize for too long is...
Dacia Heck (46:51)
Blood in their stool.
Jami de Lou (46:53)
Good one. A sentence everyone should feel comfortable saying to their doctor is...
Dacia Heck (47:00)
Something doesn't feel right in my body.
Jami de Lou (47:02)
Absolutely. One myth about colorectal cancer I'd retire today is...
Dacia Heck (47:08)
Only old people get it.
Jami de Lou (47:10)
Yes. The statistic I can't stop thinking about right now is...
Dacia Heck (47:16)
Colorectal cancer is the number one cancer killer for men and women under 50 in the United States.
Jami de Lou (47:24)
So important. A leadership value this experience sharpened in me is...
Dacia Heck (47:30)
Leading with compassion is important, and leading by example is even more important.
Jami de Lou (47:35)
Yes, so important. Dacia, thank you again for your honesty, for the work that you're doing, and for trusting me and this conversation so that we could share it with others. I feel like as March being Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, anything we can do that raises awareness and reduces the stigma is so important. I'm here to be with you in ending that stigma. So thank you again for joining me today.
Dacia Heck (48:10)
Thank you. I really appreciate it. And thank you so much for shining the light on this important topic.
Jami de Lou (48:17)
I'm so grateful to have Dacia on the show today. And what I hope you all take away and really hear is this: your body is not separate from your ambition. It is not an inconvenience to override. It's information.
Emotional intelligence helps us name what's true. Cultural intelligence reminds us not everyone has equal access to screening, medical advocacy, or family health history. And nervous system regulation gives us just enough steadiness to ask better questions instead of shutting down.
Because this episode is airing during Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we've linked to the Graham Heck Foundation and Project Blue in the show notes.
May this episode help even one person get early screening for polyps or advocate differently for themselves with a doctor. We will have moved the needle of eradicating colorectal cancer.
Think about how we can be driven in our work and living a dynamic life without stopping to listen to our bodies or recognize potential symptoms. If you want to take a simple step this month, you can wear blue, share accurate information, say the word poop, have the uncomfortable conversation, or schedule a screening. Don't be afraid to talk about polyps.
Prevention is not panic. It is agency. Take a breath, make the appointment, advocate for yourself. I know I am here to tell my own story of early detection and removal of polyps because I advocated for myself, even with limited family history. And if this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs the reminder that their body is not the enemy.
Adaptability isn't about pushing through. It's about listening sooner.
Until next time: I am brave, I am enough, I am brave enough, and so are you. This is Adaptive Humans. Real talk, intentional growth.