Wesley Knight  0:00  
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Tanya Flanagan  0:19  
Good morning, and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started. You to

Tanya Flanagan  0:46  
Good Morning Las Vegas. Good morning Nevada, and welcome to another edition of the scoop with me. Tanya Flanagan, as always, I want to thank you for waking up early on a Sunday morning to participate, to listen to the conversation and see what we're talking about. As I've talked about many times before, breast cancer is something that is near and dear to my heart as a three time breast cancer survivor. And we are in October, which means we are in breast cancer awareness month, which is for me, a very big deal. And I think for a lot of families in Nevada and across the country, it's a very big deal. So today I wanted to get this month of conversations I usually devote the month of October to bringing heightened awareness to breast cancer by having a variety of conversations on the issue, to share information, to enlighten, to encourage, and I'm kicking off the month of the conversation with the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network. And I'm delighted to welcome to the show Angie Doyle and Gabby Sandoval, who are both senior development managers with the American Cancer Society. And I thought, why not talk about the work being done in the community to help families to get the month started, and also to provide you with information and let you know how you can engage, how you can make a difference, and just who's at work for families who are dealing with breast cancer, who's at work for you on the front lines. So without further ado, let me say good morning, and welcome

Angie Doyle  2:15  
to you. Angie, good morning. Great being here. Thanks for having us. Thank you for

Tanya Flanagan  2:21  
taking the time and good morning. Gabby, good morning. Thanks for having us. Thank you for coming before we dive into the subject matter. It's just a little bit about who you are, so the listening audience gets to know you better and understands the passion of what's brought you into this space of work. So Angie, who you know, what's your story? What's your background?

Angie Doyle  2:40  
So I have been fairly new to American Cancer Society, but I focus on making strides the breast cancer fundraiser that American Cancer Society does throughout the country. My aunt passed from complicate. She had breast cancer that moved to her liver, and she ended up passing from that so, you know, it was, it's always hard, and, you know, she made decisions and to not be treated and things like that, but it was still hard on the family. And you know, it's just important for me to raise the awareness and let people know that early detection is really your best case scenario to surviving any type of cancer. So I think for us, that's always like a really important statistic that we like to share with people, because one in six women will, you know, be diagnosed with breast cancer, and one in three people, on average, get diagnosed with cancer throughout their lifetime. So you know, it's it affects most people in some way, shape or form.

Tanya Flanagan  3:43  
I think it's really alarming when you hear the numbers, because every so often, I've always, I always say there's always someone in your circle who has either been diagnosed with breast cancer or you know someone who has been whether it's your immediate circle, but here is no someone, right? And so every so often, the numbers are shared. So one in six women diagnosed with breast cancer, and let us add men can also get breast cancer, and then one in three people diagnosed with some type of cancer. That is staggering. When you really think about you could stand between two people and the you know, there you are, 123, lined up, and one of you will have some type of cancer. What's always been weird for me is being the girlfriend in the group, who actually is the girlfriend who's the cancer survivor, and because I started the journey at 32 so at such a young age. But before we get into the weeds of what we're going to talk about on the show today, I want to give Gabby some time to I want you to introduce yourself and share with the listening audience. You know who you are, your background and what brought you into the work that you do with the American Cancer Society. Amazing.

Gabby Sandoval  4:51  
Thank you. So I've been with the American Cancer Society for two years now, and I actually did go to UNLV, and I was part of zeta tell. Alpha, and our fundraiser was breast cancer education and awareness. So I was already kind of introduced to the American Cancer Society. I oversee our game changer Gala, which doesn't focus only on breast cancer, but all cancer. But I do have a story also. So my grandma, when I was eight years old. She was 54 she died from breast cancer. She had a lot of lumps in her breasts, and she had gone multiple times to get them checked out. And every time it was, oh, it's It's nothing. It's like, not a problem. Don't worry about it. So she got a new bump, and she was like, oh, it's been fine. I'm not gonna go check it out, and by the time she checked it out, stage four, there was nothing they could do. She lived a couple more months and passed away. So my she never met she never saw my aunt get married. She never met her her daughter. So it's really sad to think that if you actually just go, even when you think that you don't have to, that it can really make a difference. My sister, she had a lump a couple years ago, and she was like, Oh my God, because of our history, and she went and got it taken care of, and it was luckily, thank God, nothing. But it's just knowing that and being exposed to that you really are like, Okay, I'm going to go do the screenings. I'm going to make sure I take all of the steps to be the best for myself and my family.

Tanya Flanagan  6:26  
Yeah, and you gave me goosebumps for a moment when you said, you know, for so long, she had these lumps in her breast, and it was nothing but 54 and I understand the weight of that pain, because my story is that my mother passed away from breast cancer that metastasized to her liver and then her bones, and she was 58 so there's so much life that you miss when someone passes away so young, and so much is left to be experienced as a family that they're not a part of, and it's either they don't know or in My I think in my mom's case, at that point, treatment just hadn't advanced enough to necessarily and then, as a black woman, as an African American woman, breast cancer, historically, has had a different journey in trying to us the world, trying to arrive at a treatment course that works. You know, for so long, so few women participated in studies or had proper access due to whatever the restrictions were where they lived, access to care, having quality conversations with their doctors about what was happening, or getting told, Oh, it's nothing, you know, you're overreacting, or you're too young to worry about it yet. Or because, you know, for a long time it would start getting a mammogram at 40, and it wasn't you know, you weren't seeing the cases. And now, even though we're seeing fewer women dying from breast cancer, the statistics are telling us that we're seeing a higher rate of incidence of breast cancer among women, which is equally alarming, that even if I'm glad to know we're living longer, that I'm frightened to know that we're having even more cases occurring with people, so

Angie Doyle  8:04  
just a lot. And I think as women, we tend to not take care of ourselves first. We put everybody in front of us. So making sure you're getting those tests and you're doing your preventative things, I think, are really important, and then you can advocate for yourself from there. But I think sometimes that's hard, as you know, we tend to, yeah, and you made the greatest I'm young. I don't need to do this right now, or, you know, I have other I'm taking care of, you know, my family, my kids, my parents, whatever

Tanya Flanagan  8:31  
you have to be helping to be here for the family and for your kids. And you made the excellent point at the beginning of the show, where you mentioned early detection and how important it is. And Gabby, you alluded to that too. The diligence that we need to take when you find something, you you see something it concerns, you going to see a doctor getting it taken care of being proactive, you know, with regard to your to your health care, you mentioned the Making Strides Against Breast cancer walk. And we're in October here in Nevada. So I know what's coming up, and talk a little bit about what that is and how people can engage around this walk.

Angie Doyle  9:09  
Yeah, so our walk this year is on October 19, Sunday, Sunday morning. Registration starts at 7am so bright and early you guys, you know, people can come out walk and still have their day left. It's at Red Rock resort and casino this year has it, and it has been in the past previous years. It's a 5k walk, you know, that does fundraising for breast cancer research, and, you know, all things breast cancer, but it's the biggest walk in the country that raises funds for breast cancer. So there's walks happening all over the country this time of the year, and you know, it's just a really great way to come out support community. If you're a survivor, it's a great way to meet other survivors, and like you know, under be able to make those connections and those friendships and share your story with other. People who have similar stories, and, you know, support or walk for somebody you know who is fighting or has fought, the fought. And you know, really, really, you know, be there for them in that moment and and still have a good time while, while you're out there.

Tanya Flanagan  10:14  
So I think I'm going to take a point of privilege, because I usually, you know, I'm super in some ways, I'm quiet about things. I'm going to take a point of privilege and share that I'm excited because I'm actually this year's honoree, yes, ma'am, for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks. So I am, as a three time breast cancer survivor, the honoree this year. And I do have a team. I named my team, Team rack pack. I surveyed some girlfriends, and I was like, I need a cool name for my team. And so they came back with all these names, from rag pack to boobs and chestnuts or something crazy. And then there was breasties and besties. And so all these names came up, and there was something else that was like a play off of the Raiders. And that was kind of cute too. So I had all these really cute names, and I kind of went through the list and kept putting it, putting it out there, until we dwindled it down. And rack pack was kind of cute to me, because it was like a play off of the rack of the Rat Pack. And so very vagacy, very historic, and yet I thought it was kind of a cool play on words. Yet it related to breast and so that was the name that we went with, that I went with, but it's going to be a fun event. It's October 19, as Angie has mentioned, it's going to start early in the morning. The weather is beautiful this time of year, so coming out and getting involved is a great thing to do. And I would invite anyone who is looking for a team, feel free to go on the website and find team. Rec pack. Bring out your pink put your tutus on, spray paint your hair, whatever you want to do. Paint your face. Bring some cupcakes. Eat them early in the morning, you'll have 5k distance to walk them off. So what is that? Three miles? Three miles to walk off any fat that you consume that morning. And I think mostly it's all about the community and the camaraderie and the relationships that are built. So I have a lot of people who are looking forward to it, and I want to say thank you for your longevity, because it's not easy, if we have you know that portion of the conversation with the way things have changed, nonprofits are transitioning what the pandemic did to outreach and engagement, and it's not easy. So I tip my hat to you that you're still here, working on behalf of the community and doing what you do, and staging a walk that allows people near and far to engage. And I think some people even like when you can't get to the actual location, don't they kind of walk in their own communities, or the sort of walk in place where you do make the decision, if you want to to donate to support, because it is the dollars that make a difference in being able to do the research and run the studies and try to find additional treatments and and things that will give people a better quality of life and prolong their days.

Angie Doyle  13:11  
So yeah, and you can walk. If you can't come to the walk, you know, we would love for you to walk wherever you are, definitely, and then, you know, if you it's definitely family friendly, and would want everyone to come out and really enjoy that the morning with

Tanya Flanagan  13:26  
us, and where's the best place to go. I'm gonna let you guys share that. If someone does want to sign up or find out more about it while we're talking about it, if you want to show I'm pretty sure it's on the website, but I will let you share the website information.

Angie Doyle  13:39  
The website's making strides. Las vegas.com and they can or.org sorry, making strides las vegas.org and they can go there. You can register for an existing team or create your own team. You can also register as an individual. There is no cost to register. So you can just register and come out and walk and support. But as you said, you know, the fundraising is an important part of the walk. You know, all funds are earmarked and go towards breast cancer research. So it is important, you know, the early detection and, you know, making sure that treatments and all of that were, you know, learning more all the time, and it's getting better and better as you know, their survivor rates increased so dramatically over the past 20 years. So it's really made, made really great advancements. So, and this is our 26th walk here in Vegas. Wow. A lot

Tanya Flanagan  14:30  
of times people ask the question, when these types of events occur, the money that's raised, is it used here in Nevada, or is it part of a pool that's just used nationwide by the American Cancer Society, because your reach is exponential.

Angie Doyle  14:44  
It is part of the larger pool. So it's national. Can you

Tanya Flanagan  14:48  
talk a little bit about some of the programs that the American Cancer Society has going on, in addition to making strides? Because I just want to make sure people get a comprehensive look at what you guys are doing and how you've stayed so relevant on. All these years to helping families and fighting against cancer.

Gabby Sandoval  15:03  
Yeah, I would love to so obviously, we have our events in Las Vegas. We have our gala, we have a young professional like fork cancer event. We have d1 basketball coaches put on by Coach Kruger as our chair coaches versus cancer golf tournament. It's like a three day tournament. We have our making strides walk, and then we finish off the year with construction versus cancer. That goes towards pediatric cancer. But we have amazing programs nationally as well. So we have a one 800 number that you anybody can call. People with cancer can call caregivers if you're worried about anything, and they have that's 24 hours, seven days a week, on holidays, always available. And they have so many resources. If you don't want to talk to somebody, you can go to cancer.org, and they have all of that information also online. There are statistics, there are there's I actually was just looking at the website, and I came across a matching for trials. So it's basically, if I have a friend, his mom, sadly has breast cancer treatment hasn't been working, she doesn't want to do the treatment anymore. And so I was like, you should look into this trial matching, because it will see what you can do that's different than what you've been doing that might be able to help. And then I love the American Cancer Society, because we have so many pillars. So we have research, we have patient support, we have advocacy, and so we can advocate for biomarker testing being under insurance, which is so important, because sometimes you need to get that biomarker testing of your blood to see what actually would help. So you're not just doing radiation or chemo and really putting your body through it, but you're actually doing a targeted treatment that can really help. So I love all of the different things that we offer, and it's really for everybody, for not just people with cancer, but if you're wondering about it, or if you are supporting somebody who has it, and you just need to talk to somebody, they're there to just really talk to you.

Tanya Flanagan  17:13  
I have a question, because you, as you talked about biomarker testing, and as we know with cancer as a whole breast cancer for me in my history. But different segments of the population have different histories and what they respond to and how they're treated. And when I was first presented with conversation about biomarker testing, I thought it was great, like a wonderful concept to look at different ailments that affect different segments of the population, not even just with cancer, right? Even though most of the conversation is centered around cancer because it's generally so deadly. But other things are this slow, ticking time bomb, whether it's diabetes or it's hypertension, whatever it may be, but looking at it based on people, culturally and how biomarker testing can be used, is, is that happening, or is that an area of conversation in the American Cancer Society, space of Using biomarker to look at Hispanic populations, Asian American populations, African American, Native American, to see how different diseases affect different groups of people and what types of treatments. You know, is it used differently in different cultural spaces, or is it right now so new that it's just biomarker testing as a whole, and if you ask for it, and you qualify for it, or you can afford it, biomarker testing can be done to see what will work for you. Because, like with breast cancer, for a long time with African American women, they were triple negative, right? And so you just had this, this tch approach to treating it, but you didn't know what it was doing. Was it helping? If you were triple positive, then the taxoterra, carboplate and Herceptin approach is good for you because it was going to work. Yeah.

Gabby Sandoval  19:09  
So I think that on the advocacy side, they really focus on, like advocating to the lawmakers about getting it under insurance. But I think on the research side, I think that's definitely something that if they aren't looking into, I'm sure they're considering it once they get past that first, like block. But I know we do a lot of research on every single ethnicity, every single how it affects races. Like I know that with the colon cancer in young people, how it's having an uprise. I know that we are like doing research in that so I think one thing about us being national is we maybe don't know everything off the top of our head, but the great thing is, is that we can reach out to our patient support department and to our research department and find all of that out. And if you have ample time, you can look on. Cancer.org, and you can probably find all of that information there. I just spent 30 minutes the other day, and I only got through one section. So there's so much information, and it's all amazing, but you'll need some time to look into it.

Tanya Flanagan  20:13  
Yeah, I know there's a lot of information out there, and it's something that when you're in the space, you do a lot of reading so you can understand what's happening to you or what's happening to your loved one. Having just finished the 83rd session of the Nevada State Legislature, biomarker testing did come up. It did not go as far as probably hoped. It was a bill that was on my desk. It was a bill that did not make it out for a lot of different reasons, but it was a conversation in the hallways at the state building talking about the benefits of biomarker testing so understanding that what it pertains to will continue to live on, and we'll keep talking about it and trying to see how it works. Like I said, I just thought when the conversation was brought to me, this could be huge in terms of treating people medically, to look at what works to fine tune medical treatment for people who are affected with a variety of diseases with different cultural backgrounds and histories. And so I thought it was a phenomenal concept, and look forward to seeing what does develop on the front lines with regard to the biomarker testing option? So definitely, in the space of breast cancer, though, there's Broca testing. So for people who are familiar with that, or aren't familiar with that, let's talk a little bit about the specifics of Broca testing as it relates to breast cancer. Just a little. Can we talk about that a little bit?

Angie Doyle  21:41  
Yeah, I do know that which has made advancements as well. If you come from a history of breast cancer, you're allowed to test for this gene earlier, whereas before, you were saying you couldn't get a mammogram covered by insurance until of a certain age, right? So some of those conversations, and some of that is now no longer. You can get the testing done earlier. And I think the BROCA testing you can do is really early, like, you know, you can have breast cancer now in your 40s, and have young children, girls that are already tested for this, so that, you know, they can make decisions when they're young as well, to determine, you know, their course of action on you know, if they have this gene, how they want to proceed, which, you know is, is just all about the research and learning more. As you know, we learn more about the disease as a whole. I think the

Tanya Flanagan  22:32  
neat thing about that is the work that you do with making stress against breast cancer walk allows for these, for families, to be supported in these phases, I'm sure, for the upcoming event in October, later on this month, there are some pretty awesome sponsors. So like, what does it look like? How does the community come together to make this happen? Because a lot has to go into walk route. I mean, is it qualifying? Some people run it. And for I know, with some of these types of events, it becomes a qualifying marathon type of is that the case with the American Cancer Society, or is it mostly just about fun and coming

Angie Doyle  23:07  
together? It's mostly about fun and coming together in community. It's not like a sanction 5k so people do run it. I would say the majority do walk with their families. We do have a survivor tent, so if you're if you want to attend and you're not able to walk for whatever reason, you can stay back and and, you know, allow your family to walk and wait for them to come back as well. But, yeah, there's no qualifying. It's, it's not like a sanction full but you're welcome to run if you want. But I will say the majority do walk with their with their families throughout the route.

Tanya Flanagan  23:41  
So what kind of other things will be going on? I mean, that morning, like, is there costumes, like, people, like, there's always, I'm trying to want to make sure I get a good idea, too, of what to expect. Some what, what someone should expect to see. Like, what is balloons? Is it Yes? Like, Is there music out there, like dancing, like breakfast. I mean, you've got this mountain backdrop. You're gonna have a blue sky. Hopefully there won't be. There may be some clouds in the sky, but maybe there won't be. But just, you know, the brisk, fresh morning air, families, kids, people out from all backgrounds, everywhere. It's just, I envision just a super fun morning for people to come out and have a good time around a great cause to make a difference. You know, if you feel like giving, you know, a few dollars, yay, or several, few dollars. But you know, just what's it been like? It'll be my first one. I mean, full disclosure, I did a lot of Susan G komen ones in May, but I have never been able to do an American Cancer. Society wouldn't, mostly because on Sundays, I go to church and your voice is always on Sunday morning. And so it conflicted with my going to church. I never was able to do this a lot. And this year, I decided that, yeah. Yes, I'm gonna do it so

Gabby Sandoval  25:01  
well. Thank you for taking time out of your church time. Thank you. You're welcome Absolutely. I can say that I have not only gone as an employee, but I have also gone a lot as a zeta volunteering and just I've done the walk a couple of times myself. So I can say it's always a really, really fun energy. Most people like dress up, which is really fun. Last year, this woman had the largest fake, like constructed glitter breasts, and I absolutely loved it. Everybody stopped her to take pictures with her. We have this huge pink chair that usually comes out. That's a great photo op there. Our sponsors will have different booths, and you can visit the booths. We'll have a booth. Our advocacy department will have a booth if you want to ask biomarker testing questions at that at that booth, but it's a lot of fun stuff, and usually at our events, we will have like a wall of hope. So if you want to honor somebody, you can do it there. And so I would say, try to get there a little bit before the walk so you can see everything, because after you're going to be exhausted and you're going to want to leave, so get there early to see all of the booths and to visit with everybody. And if you see me or Angie, which you probably don't know what we look like, but we'll wear our name tags, you can stop and say hi to us and talk to us, and we can answer any questions.

Angie Doyle  26:24  
We will probably be the only two people not in pink so that you can find us.

Tanya Flanagan  26:28  
Angie, every time I see you, you are in pink, so I can imagine that you won't be in pink on that day. I'm excited. I talked to someone the other day. She was a member of the links organization, and so they have a team. So I know a lot of groups in the community are getting excited. They're getting ramped up for the event later on this month, they have teams. I'm a member of Alpha Kappa, Alpha Sorority Incorporated, so I'm reaching out to my sorority sisters and asking them to engage and be a part of it, and the Las Vegas chapter of the girlfriends to be supportive. And so just really calling on, honestly, using this time to call on all organizations in the city who are looking for a way to get back, and a lot of times the youth programs or have hours of community service to do, and it's another way for them to give back and just to engage around a positive cause for a great outcome. So I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be fun. I'm delighted to be the honoree, so we're delight.

Gabby Sandoval  27:27  
Are you guys doing like group outfits?

Tanya Flanagan  27:31  
Well, my team as also in my other hat, as a Nevada state legislator, I have called upon Nevada state legislators to participate and support, and I like for people to know they're out there working, you know, they're in the community, they're everyday people, just like you and me. And so I told them to wear identifiable if they want to identifiable campaign church or whatever it is that they want to do, or hats or whatever it is they would do. I had a question the other day, would I have team T shirts? So I think maybe, if you're not like an elected official who happens to be walking with me, I might design some t shirt, because I have a little time left, and get everyone a t shirt that says something fun.

Gabby Sandoval  28:18  
It's got to have your name, yep, and

Tanya Flanagan  28:21  
you know, something else, even more clever, I don't know what yet, but we'll work on it. Yeah. So it's in the works. I have to contact someone who does T shirts for me and see what he says he can do. Well, we are almost at the end of the show, folks. I hope you find the information useful. I hope you think about coming out and joining us on October 19. Sunday, October 19 at Red Rock resort and casino for the Making Strides Against Breast cancer walk. The American Cancer Society does this walk every year. It's been going on for the 1226, see, I wanted to make sure you caught that number and it stuck with you, so ramped it up. But thanks for tuning in. Thank you, Angie, thank you, Gabby, for all the work you do. The website one more time.

Angie Doyle  29:05  
So the American Cancer Society websites, cancer.org and or you can go to making strides las vegas.org, for the walk. Information, perfect.

Tanya Flanagan  29:13  
Thank you once again for tuning in to the scoop with me, Tonya Flanagan, right here on 91.5 KU NV jazz and more. We'll see you next week, here for another show, same time, same station, stay safe. I want to thank you for tuning into the scoop with me, Tonya Flanagan, and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y, A F, l, a n, a G, A N. You can also find me on Instagram at Tonya almonds, Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.

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