OVERCOMING THE LIFE LONG CHALLENGES OF DIABETES

Show Notes

On this episode co-host Stephanie Sanders joins Ray in studio as they hear from their daughter, Emily Rose Hill as she unpacks what its like to overcome the difficulties of type one diabetes. Listeners learn critical insights for overcoming the challenges of chronic disease as well as gain tips for navigating the highs and lows of diabetes.

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Each episode is hosted by Ray Sanders, an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years of experience in both print and broadcast media.

As a CEO, he has grown multi-million-dollar organizations, led an award-winning financial institution, served in a nonpartisan role with the United States Senate and pioneered international efforts to bring clean water to remote regions of the world.

Sanders is the founder of Coaching Leaders an executive coaching and business consulting firm that provides CEO’s with valuable input from a team of seasoned business leaders who have served at the highest level within successful multimillion-dollar organizations.

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Ray: 00:08

Hello, everyone. I'm Ray Sanders, and you're listening to the Ray Sanders Leadership Podcast. My favorite cohost is in studio. Do you care to guess who it is? Well, let me just give you a hint.

Ray: 00:21

It's my girlfriend of 36 years and wife of 33, none other than the lovely, the beautiful, miss Stephanie Sanders. Stephanie, thanks for being

Stephanie: 00:32

here today.

Ray: 00:33

Hi. You are my favorite cohost.

Stephanie: 00:38

I'm glad to be here.

Ray: 00:39

As if that weren't special enough, we have in studio all the way from Ogden, Utah, hot off the movie set, the beautiful and enchanting, miss Emily Rosehill, otherwise known as my 5th child and third daughter.

Emily: 00:53

Hey, guys. How's it going?

Ray: 00:55

Emily, it's so fun having you back here with us. You and your husband, who took you away from the family, are here for a visit, and we wanted to make sure we captured this opportunity to let people kinda hear your story. It's an interesting story, one that, hasn't always been a bowl of peaches.

Emily: 01:14

No. Not at all.

Ray: 01:16

But we're gonna unpack that in a minute, but there is somebody else in studio. If you happen to be watching through, YouTube, there's a guy in the studio that you need to know about, and he's kind of our mascot here on an inside look. You can't seem if you're just listening, but if you're watching via YouTube, mister Honey Bear, mister Honey Bear is here. He is our toy poodle, and he just can't seem to be getting enough of Stephanie. So he had to be on the show today.

Ray: 01:44

So, you know, when she's on, something tells me Honey Bear will be too. But anyway, Emily is here today to talk about what it's like to live and navigate the challenges of chronic disease. Now if you're out there listening and you're someone that is like me who pretty much hasn't struggled with anything other than stupid things that you've done, one of which is, believe it or not, break my arm riding a bull or, you know, falling off of ladders or hit my thumb with a hammer or something like that. Pretty much self inflicted stupid stuff. It's sometimes it's hard to relate to people that live a life that's constantly a challenge.

Ray: 02:22

And, you know, we're coming off of a time, when we just had the Olympics, and it's you see all these outstanding physically fit amazing athletes, and then it's followed by the the, Paralympics. Yeah. And then you see the people that really inspire you. Mhmm. And you realize, man, these people are something else.

Ray: 02:43

Well, Emily Rose, her story involves type 1 diabetes. And we kinda wanna unpack what that's like. A lot of folks have some, misconceptions about what type 1 diabetes is. They mix it up with type 2 diabetes.

Emily: 02:59

Oh my goodness.

Ray: 03:00

But I thought, you know, what might be kinda neat, Emily and Stephanie, is if we kinda just told the story. And so, Stephanie, if, you know, you kinda lean into the mic there, why don't you just kinda tell folks kinda when we started realizing something was up with Emily, and it was when she was very young and, what, 2a half, 3 years old?

Stephanie: 03:21

3 years 3.

Ray: 03:22

3 years old.

Stephanie: 03:23

Mhmm.

Ray: 03:23

We started noticing some things about her that really became real alarming.

Stephanie: 03:29

So she was 3 years old and 3, almost 4.

Emily: 03:33

We put that in there.

Stephanie: 03:34

Mhmm. And Sofia had just, had strep, and so I kept thinking that, Emily was probably about to get strep.

Ray: 03:45

Sofia is her younger sister. Yes.

Stephanie: 03:47

Yeah. And so I kept my eye on her, but at the same time, it was right around Christmas, and so we were really busy. And, the older kids were helping take care of Emily. But I would make dinner, and Emily would go say she needed to go to the bathroom, and then I would realize she's not at the table. And I would go look for her, and she would be on the couch or somewhere asleep.

Ray: 04:19

Mhmm.

Stephanie: 04:20

And so, I would be I would be thinking, what is going on? And so that caught my attention. And so that went on for a couple of days, and then she started, getting just a little more lethargic and not looking exactly right. And so,

Emily: 04:39

the dark circles under my eyes, I remember seeing pictures, looked very sick.

Ray: 04:44

One more thin. It's like we thought she was in a growth spurt. We thought she was growing, and maybe she was just getting skinny. But she was usually

Stephanie: 04:52

had a distended stomach. Mhmm. And so, one evening when things started getting really bad, I gave her a a bath, and I just took her in and gave her a bath. And I thought that she had a really bad headache. She had other things that were going on and but when I saw her in the bathtub, I thought something is really, really wrong with my child.

Stephanie: 05:17

Something is desperately wrong. And so and she fell asleep again in the bathtub. And so And

Emily: 05:26

I was wetting the bed. I mean, there was

Stephanie: 05:28

things that

Emily: 05:28

I just don't normally I didn't normally do.

Stephanie: 05:31

Yeah. She she didn't wet the bed anymore, but she had wet the bed, like, twice, and she was and she slept through that. And she also could get a drink by herself, and so she was probably going to get a drink at the refrigerator much more often than what we even knew because she would just go fill up her cup.

Ray: 05:54

We didn't know at the time. These were kind of classic signs.

Stephanie: 05:57

But we didn't know to

Ray: 05:59

Constant thirst, urination, loss of weight, and the eyes in the dark spots, and really getting to the point of being very lethargic. And we we got to the point of they were like, something is not right. Is it the flu? Is it strep? Mhmm.

Ray: 06:14

And I'll never forget what happened next.

Stephanie: 06:17

Yeah. So the next morning, I immediately made her an appointment to the pediatrician, and so we took her. And Ray and I went together because we had used a Google doctor the night before. And and then and we knew that something was probably really bad.

Ray: 06:37

When you say Google doctor, you mean, like, doctor Google? Exactly. We we went online. We didn't really know. I didn't really have a clue that this is the news we were about to hear was about to hit us in the face.

Stephanie: 06:47

Right.

Ray: 06:47

So we we take her into the office. The doctor gives her an examination, takes blood test.

Stephanie: 06:55

No. He wants to he wants her to go urinate. Yeah. And so, I take her in there, and she does. And I am wanting him to swab her throat because I'm thinking strap strap.

Stephanie: 07:09

Please let this be strap. And he doesn't even do that. When he sees Emily, he immediately just wants her to he just wants to catch her urine and test it. And it was so off the chart, he couldn't even, test it in his office. So before he came in to the room with us, he already had her set up at Baptist Hospital.

Ray: 07:38

Right. And and was concerned I can't remember if it was then that they did the blood test or later at the hospital.

Stephanie: 07:43

Was at the hospital. Okay.

Ray: 07:43

It was later at the hospital. That's when they did the blood test. But what I do remember, the more you learn about diabetes, they have ways of testing your blood sugar. And, basically, Emily's blood sugar was off of the chart. Mhmm.

Ray: 07:58

There was no there was no reading. It was just high. Mhmm. Like, 525 or whatever would be high.

Stephanie: 08:05

Well, in the office, the highest that it could be is 600. Okay.

Emily: 08:09

And

Stephanie: 08:09

so she was well above 600.

Emily: 08:12

So, like, keep in mind, folks, the average blood sugar stays within 80 to 120. Yeah.

Ray: 08:18

So

Emily: 08:18

80 to 120.

Ray: 08:19

And so and what this means is and we didn't know it at the time, bottom line is her body had lost the ability to process sugar. And your body has a hormone called insulin that basically breaks down that blood sugar and allows that blood sugar to get into, your body's, your bloodstream. It's in your bloodstream, but it allows your cells to absorb the energy that the glucose is.

Emily: 08:46

Right.

Ray: 08:47

But for whatever reason, we now have learned that the pancreas, the, it's I I would I would say,

Emily: 08:55

oh, yeah.

Ray: 08:55

We're basically attacked, and their job is to tell the body how to process this insulin. And I like to put it this way, it's like trying to put a square peg into a round hole.

Stephanie: 09:06

Mhmm.

Ray: 09:06

And the sugar literally is a square cube, and it's it's kind of like trying to get into the the body. And it can't get in because it's not shaped properly, and the insulin, for lack of a better term, rounds it off and lets it get in into the body the way it's supposed to be. And in Emily's case, the sugar was building up into her body, and so these this sugar count was off the chart beyond 600. Like you said, a lot of times, it's anywhere from 80 to 120. And, ultimately, what can happen here is that you can become go into ketoacidosis, which can cause coma, which she was in.

Ray: 09:43

It becomes an emergency, and you can actually die from this basically an overdose of sugar.

Stephanie: 09:49

Mhmm.

Ray: 09:50

And we had no idea at the time. We've since learned all of this as well. And so the doctor walks back into the office. I'm thinking, okay. We're gonna you know, he's gonna send us home.

Ray: 09:59

We're gonna hydrate. We're gonna do whatever. And he says, I need you to take Emily to the emergency room at Baptist to have you, set up with the doctors there. She has diabetes, and it's an emergency. She needs to go now.

Stephanie: 10:14

He says you you have one of 2 choices. Either I'm gonna call an ambulance or you're or you're going to go now. Yeah.

Ray: 10:22

Yeah.

Stephanie: 10:22

That was our choices.

Ray: 10:24

And I you know, it's kind of a blur at this point. And here she is, your 3 year old, blonde hair, blue eyed little girl, and your world just starts spinning out of control. And you're thinking, no, not my my child. And if you're out there and you've you've ever had a diagnosis of cancer or leukemia, you know what we're talking about. If you've had a loved one that's had this diagnosis, you just you don't wanna believe it.

Ray: 10:47

And I really mean this, and I've been through a lot of my life if you've ever heard my story. My my my own father trying to take my life and the life we grew up with with kids. I will tell you even to this day, and I hope it I hope it's never gets worse because this was terrible. I described this as the worst day of my life. And so the doctor says you've gotta get her to the hospital immediately, so I take him away my arms.

Ray: 11:10

We get out to the car. She's starving to death because her body can't get the energy she needs. She eats. Her body then tries to get rid of it by, asking for more water. The water is trying to flush out the sugar.

Stephanie: 11:23

Well,

Ray: 11:24

then your bladder's full, so you try to urinate, but you're getting zero benefit of what the food you're eating. Right. So as much as you're eating, you're not getting any benefit from it. So you're literally diabetes is a disease where you literally starve to death. Mhmm.

Ray: 11:39

You're starving yourself to death. And until not until 1925 Yep. Was insulin invented. And when you, were diagnosed with diabetes before 1925, it was a death sentence.

Emily: 11:52

Slow, terrible death. Terrible, terrible. And then they would say that the treatment back then was to not give the patient any food. So think about that. That's crazy.

Ray: 12:04

Yeah. And so you literally are just starving to death, not only from the disease, but then in those days, they tried to cut back. Well, what they're trying to do is keep your blood sugar from rising. So at the end of the day, diabetes is this this constant 247 every minute, every second of the day of trying to balance your blood sugar, finding somewhere between 80a150 if you're lucky Mhmm. And sometimes going higher.

Ray: 12:30

And then the other side of that is going getting too much insulin and going way, way low and passing out from that kind of a hypoglycemic moment. Mhmm. But but getting back to the story, we we load up, and I'm she's starving. Daddy, I'm hungry. I'm hungry.

Ray: 12:46

And so I, I do what any dad would wanna do. I was totally ignorant, didn't know. Well, I take her to McDonald's and I get her a a, vanilla ice cream. The absolute stupidest worst thing I could have done, but in some ways, I'm glad I did. But I'm glad we're on our way to the hospital because I could have killed her.

Ray: 13:04

And I get there, and the thing that is just horrible is they take her in immediately. They rush her in. They this 3 year old little girl, strap her into this I don't know what you call it. Not really a gurney, but bottom line is they they put one arm one way. They put the other arm another way, strap her arms down, and literally just start stabbing her with IVs and and needles and taking her blood sugar.

Ray: 13:27

And she's crying out to me, daddy, daddy, make them stop. Make them stop. What are you gonna say?

Stephanie: 13:32

Yeah. But it is the only thing they can do because she's so dehydrated at that point, they can't they cannot even find a vein. Right. So it is a a horrible, horrible thing to watch, but at the same time, it's it's the only thing that's gonna save her life. Yeah.

Stephanie: 13:48

Right. It has to be.

Ray: 13:49

It has to happen, but it doesn't mean it's not any more horrifying as if for a daddy to watch somebody basically torture your daughter and then to have her look over at you with her eyes and make them stop. Mhmm. And it's just it just crushed me. Yeah. I mean, it was beyond pitiful.

Emily: 14:06

Yeah.

Ray: 14:07

And they're using, you know, the lancets that you look more like a dug on buoy knife, and they're they're, like, draining her, and it's touch and go. We don't know what's gonna happen. And then walks in a guy,

Stephanie: 14:20

you

Ray: 14:20

know, we get emotional thinking about this doctor that's been a big part of our life is doctor Domek. And so many people have learned who doctor Domek is, and he has made life so much better for so many. The calming force that walks in the room and says, we're gonna get this. We're gonna be okay. And he's become a lifelong friend of our family and someone that we cherish very dearly.

Ray: 14:43

He and his wife, Sharon, are truly angels here on earth. And she started to get better. There's no cure for diabetes. No. So when I say better, I mean better in that moment.

Ray: 14:57

Meaning, she wasn't gonna die at that moment, but we were gonna fight for another day, and doctor Domic had her under control.

Stephanie: 15:05

Mhmm.

Ray: 15:06

And you wanna

Stephanie: 15:07

So immediately you're educated in what to do.

Ray: 15:15

It's not it's not easy. No. So I don't know if you guys wanna talk about any more about the hospital stay, but I wanna talk about something after the hospital stay.

Stephanie: 15:22

Okay. Yeah. Go for it.

Emily: 15:23

Do you

Ray: 15:23

wanna say something about that? So, I mean, friends and family and everything, we we start to see our little girl coming back. She's starting to get nutrition. I can't remember how many days we're in the hospital, but

Emily: 15:34

Just one.

Stephanie: 15:34

Because it's because doctor Domet, he does not want you to have to his goal is that you only stay in the hospital for one day if he can get you under control, and then he has everybody that is gonna be taking care of the child. You go get educated the next day. Yeah. So we gotta care of him.

Ray: 15:53

We gotta crash, you know, crash course in how to deal with diabetes. Our world is spinning. You if you think I'm foggy about all this, you're absolutely right because I'm still traumatized by it. But, anyway, I remember, we're loading up and we're in a and, we're heading home, and I get a phone call. To this day, I'll never forget.

Ray: 16:12

I get a phone call. A friend of mine calls me and says, hey. I saw where you called. I was calling you back. And I said, hey, Gary.

Ray: 16:18

I didn't I didn't call you. He says, no, man. I kinda right here. You called me. He says, I didn't call you.

Ray: 16:23

He said, well, that's odd. He said, hey. What's up? And I said, well, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. I said, I'm leaving the hospital, and my 3 year old little girl was just diagnosed with diabetes.

Ray: 16:34

And, man, I'm my world is out of control, and I'm just really sad and upset. And the phone call was quiet. And Gary said, hey, man. I don't know if you know this, but my daughter was diagnosed at 3 with diabetes.

Stephanie: 16:49

Mhmm. And He said, I know why why I'm calling you.

Ray: 16:53

Yeah. I know why I'm calling you, and, now I know why I'm calling you. And my daughter was diagnosed at 3 with diabetes, and I just I just want you to know that you're gonna get through this. Yeah. You're gonna get through this.

Ray: 17:06

And that was the beginning of so many, I'm just going to call it what it is, supernatural encounters along the way. And as terrible as this thing is, there's been amazing things that have happened along the way, but you did that was not an accident. And there was a dad who got the news about his daughter. It sound like I'm making it all about me. I'm just the one watching, but I'm just trying to relate to the parents out there.

Emily: 17:35

Yeah.

Ray: 17:35

For sure. It's it's it's terrible. It's just terrible. And so we get home, and it's a whole new day, our our way we cook, the way we live. And not only were are we fighting sugar highs Yeah.

Ray: 17:50

Now we're fighting sugar lows. Yep. So that's the story.

Stephanie: 17:55

Yes. And the whole the whole way we eat, every everything that we brought into the house was different.

Emily: 18:04

Yeah.

Stephanie: 18:05

So We changed everything. And but I do wanna bring this up. The other thing that was really hard during that time was that Emily was so young, she couldn't tell us how she felt. Yeah. And I think that parents that have young children, when they're diagnosed young, that is one of the really, really hard things is that they they can't tell you how they feel and a lot of times with diabetes they go off of how they feel if they're high or low.

Ray: 18:32

And that's that's a point that we need to make here. It used to be type 1 diabetes was referred to as juvenile diabetes because it was more likely than not that you would, contract this disease. And they don't know if it's most they mostly think it's inherited. There's there's a lot of different ways that they you can contract it, but pretty much, it can be inherited. And we Stephanie participates in a study down in Dallas, that they're trying to discover the roots and the why behind diabetes.

Ray: 19:01

We have since learned that she carries the antibodies that, contributed to Emily's diabetes. I don't bring that up to be ugly. That's just a fact. And, it used to be known as juvenile diabetes, but truth of the matter is you don't have to be a juvenile to get type 1 diabetes anymore. No.

Ray: 19:17

Type 1 diabetes is more common among younger people, and type 2 diabetes is a different type of of diabetes, and you don't have to necessarily have injections. You can actually take a pill for that. Type 1 diabetes, you have to have injections. You are dependent upon insulin injections for the rest of your life and trying to figure out just how much insulin to take at the just right time based upon the number of carbs you've had and protein and exercise and how hot you are and whether or not you're having your womanly cycle and whether or not you're mad at your boyfriend or girlfriend or your husband or your dog or whoever. It's it's you basically become your own pancreas.

Ray: 19:56

Mhmm. And, there are a lot of advancements that have been made since 1925. Thank god for the men that discovered diabetes. They tested dogs. Honey bear, maybe you're here in honor of those puppies.

Ray: 20:06

Mhmm. They tested it on dogs, but, Emily, I think it'd be good for everybody if you do kinda describe to people what is type 1 diabetes and, fill people in on exactly what it's like to have it.

Emily: 20:20

Goodness. So diabetes so I'm just so everybody knows, I'm married. So, diabetes is my second spouse. It's the best way I like to describe it now.

Ray: 20:34

Which one's worse? I'm curious.

Stephanie: 20:35

Oh my gosh. You're terrible.

Emily: 20:37

You're terrible. But diabetes in a lot of ways, it's amazing because it's grown me in ways that I think nothing else could have. But then, I mean, the seasons that I've gone through with it, Terrible. Like, at the end of the day, like, that's that's the best word I can describe is I mean, there I I didn't even want to take care of myself because I thought, what is the point if this is the rest of my life?

Ray: 21:07

So describe what it means terrible. How does it affect you? How does it affect your body? You've had it since you're 3.

Emily: 21:13

Yeah.

Ray: 21:13

You're pretty well used to being feeling bad, but what are some of the symptoms that you deal with?

Emily: 21:20

So symptoms as far as I mean, my blood sugar, especially, through my hormonal changes and puberty, I could literally do everything right. I could try my hardest, and my blood sugar would still be either too high, too low, just never good enough. And so a lot of, I guess, my childhood was figuring out how to be okay with the highs and the lows and understand that it's just it's just the day.

Stephanie: 21:52

It's just not an exact sign. Right. That's what I would always say. This is not an exact sign.

Ray: 21:57

Tell people what it's like when your blood blood sugar is high.

Emily: 22:00

So when my blood sugar is high, and this is very much just dependent on the person. I know a lot of different diabetics have different symptoms, but for me personally, I am thirsty as all get out. I get nauseous, headaches, body aches. Sometimes I sweat for no reason. My heart is racing.

Emily: 22:22

There's a lot of other things, but those are the main ones that really affect me if I'm not, you know

Ray: 22:26

And left unattended without insulin, you could go into a coma and

Stephanie: 22:30

Yeah.

Ray: 22:31

That would be Easily. Yeah. And and it can spike and go fast. Ketoacidosis, one of the ways that you can test that, you know, obviously, you can test your sugar, but a lot of people are aware of the keto diet

Stephanie: 22:43

And

Ray: 22:43

you can get keto, strips.

Stephanie: 22:45

Mhmm.

Ray: 22:46

And you can test

Stephanie: 22:47

the

Ray: 22:47

amount of, protein that you're spilling out of your, urine with those strips. And then those, a lot of times, will tell you if they're dark. It's like, man, you are really, really sick. Yeah.

Stephanie: 23:01

I could tell if Emily was in we just called it keto in our house. We just shortened it Mhmm. Just when she would come into a room because she just had that smell on her. There's just a lot of people call it a sweet smell, but to me, it was

Ray: 23:17

Kinda fruity.

Stephanie: 23:18

Yeah. But for me, it was a sick smell. Mhmm. Emily just would smell sick, and I would say you are in keto. Yeah.

Stephanie: 23:25

So we gotta get you out fast.

Ray: 23:27

So then there's the other side, and that's the lows. But I I wanna try to give people an idea. So let's just imagine that you and I are healthy and our blood sugar is running between 80 and a 100, a 120, somewhere in there. We go and we have a hamburger fries and a soda pop.

Stephanie: 23:47

With ketchup.

Ray: 23:48

With ketchup.

Stephanie: 23:49

Yeah.

Ray: 23:49

And your body recognizes this really pretty much as I'm gonna simplify it with as proteins and carbohydrates. And those carbohydrate heart carbohydrates are, transferred into glucose, and that glucose gets into your bloodstream and is burnt as energy. Protein too, but

Stephanie: 24:07

And some fiber. And some fiber.

Ray: 24:09

So we're we're simplifying. Mhmm. And the bottom line is my body my pancreas says, hey. We got a lot of blood, sugar in the blood. We need to give it a shot of insulin, and so my my pancreas shoots insulin into my bloodstream.

Ray: 24:22

Mhmm. And it my it's a miracle. It's amazing. I don't know how it works.

Emily: 24:26

God's designed.

Ray: 24:27

God's designed. Our pancreas knows how much insulin to give us to neutralize or reshape the way I said it earlier, reshape that sugar at the just right level

Stephanie: 24:37

Mhmm.

Ray: 24:37

To get it into our body so that our body can absorb it. Now if our body doesn't doesn't burn it,

Stephanie: 24:43

it

Ray: 24:43

turns it into fat. We know what happens there at all. Right? Well, in Emily's case and a lot of other type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics, their body doesn't do that and so they have to have some outside source. And in this case, it's an artificial hormone that, that's now produced insulin.

Ray: 24:59

It comes in different forms, and you can get that through an injection.

Emily: 25:03

Yep.

Ray: 25:03

And and it's a ratio of knowing. So, like, give an example. If you eat so many carbs, how many units of insulin do you give yourself based on carbohydrates?

Emily: 25:12

Right. So everyone's different and, you really I mean, we have gone through years of trying to find the best, I call it, algorithm for me, especially with my health care team. And so, let's say I'm gonna eat 20 grams of carbs and then give myself 2 units of insulin.

Ray: 25:30

So give an example of something that has 20 grams of carbs.

Emily: 25:34

Let's do an apple.

Stephanie: 25:35

That's what I was gonna say.

Ray: 25:36

Okay. An apple. So you're eating really healthy.

Emily: 25:38

Yeah. So

Ray: 25:38

so you have an apple. We go and we eat an apple. No big deal.

Stephanie: 25:42

Right.

Ray: 25:42

You eat an apple, you're going, okay. I had an apple. What else have I been doing today? Right. I've gotta get out either a needle and inject myself or thank God we have now an an insulin pump.

Ray: 25:54

But you just can't eat an apple.

Emily: 25:56

No. I have to think about every lick, nibble, and bite that goes into my mouth, and sometimes drink. You gotta think about

Ray: 26:04

that too. If you have if you had a standard Coca Cola.

Emily: 26:07

Oh my word. Don't even. Yeah. Those are

Stephanie: 26:09

doesn't drink Coke.

Ray: 26:10

Well, I know. But if she did Yeah. I'm gonna

Stephanie: 26:12

I'm trying

Ray: 26:13

to, you know, people are out there listening. They're like

Emily: 26:15

Yeah.

Ray: 26:16

I haven't I've stopped by the the convenience store. I had to pick up a soda pop. And

Emily: 26:20

An average soda pop would raise my blood sugar about 200 points.

Stephanie: 26:25

200 points. At least at least. That was that is how our life changed. Like, we never went to Sonic and just got a Slush anymore. We never went and got an Icee.

Ray: 26:37

We have 6 kids, and so everybody's like, no more Icee? Thanks, Emily. And so there's all of that. But so bottom line is your your part your head is probably spinning at this point, and that's part of what we want you to experience because this is what the diabetic the the diabetic lives every day, and you can kinda get on top of it. But let's just say this, it is exhausting.

Ray: 27:00

Exhausting. Yeah. And you have to kind of become your own pancreas. You have to think like a pancreas.

Stephanie: 27:06

Mhmm.

Ray: 27:06

And so you're constantly battling that. And when she was younger, it was injections, and we'd have to draw insulin. We'd have the sticker. We'd have to poke her. But now we have, the the the technology.

Ray: 27:18

There's a lot of insulin pumps out there, and we have not only that, but also devices that monitor our blood sugar.

Emily: 27:25

CGMs. Those are awesome.

Ray: 27:26

CGMs. I kinda call them a bionic pancreas. I don't know if that's fair.

Emily: 27:31

Yeah.

Ray: 27:31

Now that's not exactly like, oh, you just install it, and it's like getting a

Stephanie: 27:37

No.

Ray: 27:37

You know, something put into your car. You know, you have a dual exhaust. No. That's not what it is. This is ugly as well.

Ray: 27:46

You have to put it into your body. You have to push it in with a needle that's very ugly. It's under the skin, not just for the pump, but also for the,

Emily: 27:55

the

Ray: 27:56

the sensor. And so then you're wired up. You look like you're carrying around a beeper or pagers as some people may call.

Stephanie: 28:03

A lot

Ray: 28:03

of people may not even know what that is anymore. But you're you're wired for sound. You got tubes hanging off of you.

Emily: 28:08

Yep. Yep. It's not

Ray: 28:09

like you're just gonna go jump rope or go run through the woods, you know. Mm-mm. You got all these wires hanging off of you. Feeling is somewhat normal, but even that can get out of whack.

Stephanie: 28:19

Oh, it does.

Emily: 28:20

I mean, the best way I can describe walking around with an insulin pump is it's a portable IV. That's what you're walking around with 247. So imagine, you know, being a little kid and your arm kinda just matches up with the door handle just perfectly to your room. So you walk into your room and your little tube gets caught on that door and that thing pops out.

Ray: 28:41

Right out.

Emily: 28:41

Oh my goodness. I can't tell you how many times that would happen as a kid.

Ray: 28:45

So I wanna come back to the difference in type 1 and type 2. Yeah. But since we're talking about the insulin pump, you know, it's it's interesting being out in public, and we cheered it. We've seen some we have athletes. We're big University of Oklahoma football fans.

Ray: 29:01

There's been some players that have diabetes. We we could tell you all the movie stars. Yeah. The the Jonas Brothers.

Emily: 29:08

Yeah. Wow, dad.

Ray: 29:09

There's a lot

Emily: 29:09

of not

Ray: 29:10

all of the Jonas Brothers. Nick.

Emily: 29:11

Right? Yeah. Nick Jonas.

Ray: 29:14

But different people have diabetes, and they wear the insulin pumps. They're becoming more and more recognizable. Mhmm. But it's not funny, but it's kinda aggravating. Tell people some of the experiences you have.

Ray: 29:26

It's not like it's not bad enough to have diabetes all Right. Anyway. But you've been, like, called out by people thinking

Emily: 29:31

Singled out, put down. Oh, yeah.

Ray: 29:33

Tell them.

Emily: 29:34

So one incident is what I like to call them, was actually not too long ago. I was at Target. I was running around actually grabbing some snacks. So I think I was about to go on a road trip, and, you know, I had, like, apples and a ton of different stuff in my cart, but anyhoo, so I get in line to check out, and I run into a Karen Oh, gosh. As the youngsters know.

Emily: 29:57

And I am just standing there minding my own business, and this lady just blankly says, are you recording? Excuse me? Are you recording? And I I turned around and said, ma'am, what? How how can I help you?

Emily: 30:11

What's wrong? And she says, you're recording. You've been walking around recording people. I've seen you. I've been watching you.

Ray: 30:18

Like, you had an undercover mic with all your

Stephanie: 30:20

Yeah.

Emily: 30:20

And so I I said, ma'am, I really don't know what you're talking about. And she said, I can see it plain as day on your back. I see the mic pack on your back. And I I oh my goodness. So many thoughts were running through my mind in that moment.

Emily: 30:37

But one, it was really interesting. The lord was kinda like, listen. When they point the finger at you, you point the finger up to me. So I allowed this to happen, and it's for a reason. So, anyways, moving on.

Emily: 30:51

But I I tell her, I was like, ma'am, this is an insulin pump. I'm a type 1 diabetic. I'm not recording you. Promise. And she doesn't really say a word.

Emily: 31:02

She just kinda looks at me with a blank face and then goes and switches lines, actually, so she didn't have to stand behind me anymore.

Ray: 31:09

So am I.

Emily: 31:11

So that's just one story. There are plenty, plenty others, which is really sad. I kinda like to use the term don't judge a book by its cover. Oh my goodness. Especially going through the TSA, that has been the we've had some moments.

Emily: 31:26

Brutal brutal stuff. But, yeah, that's just one story. I have I have a lot in my pocket for sure.

Ray: 31:32

And that's just on top of everything else you deal with. Now now you mentioned something that I think it's worth pointing out. You mentioned your faith. And you really have had a lot of questions for God,

Stephanie: 31:44

but

Ray: 31:45

you also give God a lot of credit for getting you through.

Emily: 31:47

Yeah.

Ray: 31:48

Your mother and I certainly do. Let's touch on that, and then I wanna come back to type 1, type 2. But what role has your faith played in managing dealing with diabetes?

Emily: 32:02

So, one, I just want all the listeners out there to understand I'm not perfect, and I haven't always had this mindset and heart towards diabetes. At one point, I thought it literally was a curse over my life. I thought I was getting punished for something. I didn't know what. But as I got older, I started to realize, wow.

Emily: 32:26

The lord allowed me to have this, and I say I say allow to have, not give. He didn't give this to me. He allowed it. Mhmm. He allowed it to happen because he knew with it, I would further his kingdom more than I would without.

Stephanie: 32:42

Mhmm.

Emily: 32:43

It took me a while to get to that point in my life. I've had this for almost 18 years.

Ray: 32:49

Mhmm.

Emily: 32:49

Almost 18 years. That is crazy to say out loud. And I think to pain connects us to each other, but then also the lord. There were days where I literally would have to pray for strength to put a needle in my arm or leg or like, lord, I just don't wanna do this anymore. Like, I need you to come and intercede on my behalf.

Emily: 33:13

Give me the strength. I don't want my strength. My strength is weak compared to your strength. I want you. So, yeah, it it's really strengthened my relationship with the lord in that way.

Emily: 33:24

Something that could've easily made me turn away from him has really just turned me more towards him. So

Ray: 33:31

You know, one of the things that I'll never forget, you know, I'll re I remember where I was sitting, and I remember it was years ago, and the Olympics were on. And you came to me and you said, dad, why did God give me diabetes?

Stephanie: 33:43

Mhmm.

Ray: 33:45

Oh, man. If you're a parent out there and you have a child that has a handicap or any kind of special challenge, you wanna talk about a tough one? It's like, well, let's just pick up the phone and call God right now. I have a few questions myself.

Emily: 33:58

Yeah.

Ray: 33:59

And I had a presence of mind that I told you. I said, you know what? I said, those little girls are watching in gymnastics and they're on the Olympics. They're special, and they have the strength to to do what they they do. And all I can tell you is is that you're special and that god must have known that you can handle this, and he's gonna give you the strength

Stephanie: 34:18

to

Ray: 34:18

be the little girl that he wants you to be. One of the things I that bothers me is sometimes when I help you hear people say this, they say, well, I think God's given you this so you can just relate to other people. How cynical to think that God wants to give people stuff so they can help other people that are stuck with stuff. That's I just don't see how a loving God would do that. And I and I think that while he allows it

Emily: 34:44

Mhmm.

Ray: 34:45

He guarantees and we live in a fallen world. Disease is a part of what we recognize. We're all gonna die somehow, someway, some at some point.

Stephanie: 34:52

Mhmm.

Ray: 34:52

I'm not and we have trust me. We we know I've gone on a 40 day fast. Mhmm. You know, when we believe that God can heal. Mhmm.

Ray: 35:01

He had just chosen not to heal. We've now on a 40 day fast expecting these types only come out through prayer and fasting. That's just our faith background. That's what we believe. We believe in healing.

Ray: 35:12

We've seen people be healed, but you have not been.

Stephanie: 35:15

And

Ray: 35:15

I remember on the 40th day holding in my arms thinking, Lord, are you gonna heal us within the next few hours? Because we've been praying and asking for you to heal Emily, and I lost £40 in 40 days. And I was believing, and and it didn't happen. You wanna talk about being upset and frustrated, and I'm shaking your hand at God. But what we've learned is and your mom's been on a journey with her health too.

Ray: 35:39

Somewhere along the way, we recognize that god is with me. And all I can say is this, this is the best I've got and I'm not speaking for you, is that it's better within than without him.

Emily: 35:49

Absolutely.

Ray: 35:50

And whether you believe in him or you don't, I can just tell you, I I don't know how we get through it. I know he can, but he's chosen not to. And whether it's conversations or how he's made you stronger, but this I know, This I know. God doesn't waste pain.

Emily: 36:06

No. Not at all.

Ray: 36:08

And with all the pain that you have been through and the pain that people with, cancer go through, breast cancer, and leukemia, and all the ugly diseases that are out there, I just want people to know that it's not wasted. You're an inspiration. I I don't understand always how you're an inspiration. I don't know how it's not wasted, but the only thing that gets me through it is is trusting that it's that it's not it's not wasted. Mhmm.

Ray: 36:36

And we've had special encounters. I mean, we've had times when Emily has been asleep at night. That's one of the times, you know

Emily: 36:45

Before CGMs, I might wanna add to all those diabetics out there. I mean, I grew up in a culture where CGMs weren't really a thing. Pumps were even pretty new, especially at my age. I was, I I think, one of the first in Oklahoma, actually, as a 5 year old to be put on an insulin pump.

Ray: 37:04

It wasn't FDA approved. We got approval for you to be on it.

Emily: 37:07

Right. So that's that was, I think, the game changer for me personally. So for parents out there, I know it's expensive. I know it's hard. If if you can somehow, someway, at least get your child on a CGM.

Ray: 37:21

Tell them what a CGM is.

Emily: 37:23

So a CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. So instead of, you know, pricking your finger 10 to 15 times a day

Ray: 37:30

Terrible.

Emily: 37:32

You literally just have a little wearable device that tracks your blood sugar and, gives you a reading every 5 minutes. And you can look at that reading on your mobile device. So it's really cool. Highly recommend it. Highly, highly, highly recommend it.

Ray: 37:49

I I wanna say this now before I forget. If you're listening today and you're thinking, oh my goodness, my child's been diagnosed with diabetes. I've been diagnosed with diabetes. We just wanna give you the opportunity. If you go to our website, in inside look dot com, in inside look dot com, there's a there's a section there to contact us.

Ray: 38:06

And if you just wanna, send your information to us, we'll get it to Emily. And I promise you, she'll reach out to you. She'll email you, and she'll talk to you about the journey she's been on. We're not saying that she's got it all figured out, but she can certainly share share her story with you. And we'll just make that available to you if you wanna go to an inside look.com and contact us, and we may mention that a little later.

Stephanie: 38:27

If I wouldn't have had, some parents reach out to me at the very beginning, I would not have had just those little special things told to me of how to take care of Emily better.

Ray: 38:40

Insanity.

Stephanie: 38:41

Well and they just gave me

Emily: 38:43

all those little special tips. Yeah. Tips and tricks, really. Honey is now I say honey is great. I absolutely cannot stand to eat honey now.

Emily: 38:53

I oh my goodness. I cannot do it. But so, like, as a kid, if my blood sugar was just dropping really fast, we could not get it up. We've had the juice boxes. You know, we've had the cookies.

Emily: 39:03

We've tried everything to bring it up. We've taken the pump off. Mhmm. You know, we've unhooked. The only thing, typically, that would bring my blood sugar up was a spoonful of honey.

Emily: 39:15

Sometimes 2, sometimes 3. But once you hit that, it was kind of the last resort thing, and it always brought it up.

Ray: 39:21

And the thing about Honey is is that if she's somewhat conscious or unconscious

Stephanie: 39:25

Mhmm.

Ray: 39:26

You can put that in their mouth, and they won't choke. Yeah. And it'll it'll absorb pretty immediately. That's the thing about honey. We learned that from an older diabetic who who taught us that trick.

Ray: 39:36

And so if you're out there and you have diabetes, you may carry hard candy or peppermint stuff. You may carry glucose tablets. A little packet of honey can go a long ways. I know you're sick of it, but it's a god given special thing.

Emily: 39:48

Yeah.

Ray: 39:49

That's a it's a it's a great tip. While we're at it, I wanna come back to type 1, type 2. But tell us other tips. What are some other tips?

Emily: 39:58

Oh my goodness. I could write a book.

Stephanie: 40:00

The little 4 ounce juice boxes. Boxes that don't have to be refrigerated.

Emily: 40:05

Yeah. Those are

Stephanie: 40:06

awesome. With you.

Emily: 40:07

Mhmm. I would say, like, I'm I have more advice than tips in general, but, so heat, cold, and heat, of the outdoors really does affect our blood sugar, even hours after you've been in it. So there have been 2 times in my life where I've been outside in a 100 degree weather for, you know, all day, and I would have a seizure, by the by the end of the day, in the evening while I was sleeping. So, there's that. And then also I've been in the cold all day long on a film set, actually.

Emily: 40:43

And I had a seizure because I didn't and this this wasn't even that long ago. So keep that in mind. I mean, I'm constantly constantly learning things about this ever changing disease.

Ray: 40:55

Ever changing. Within the year, this happens. So we're we get a phone call. They're up in the mountains of Oregon shooting a movie.

Stephanie: 41:01

Utah.

Ray: 41:02

Utah. I said Oregon, Ogden. This was Yeah. In Utah. And they can't get her to respond, and they're struggling with getting her conscious and what do they do.

Ray: 41:13

And talk about try to maintain your composure, be calm knowing that your daughter may not come out of it. But the team was there. Heston was there. Everybody pulled it together. The Lord was there.

Ray: 41:24

Thank goodness.

Emily: 41:25

Yeah.

Ray: 41:25

And and it happens. It sucks, but it it happens. And even your age, and you try to get everything right. And then

Emily: 41:31

sometimes everything correct. I had alarms, set to wake up in the middle of the night just to check. I had food sitting right by me. I had my, blood sugar meter right next to me. I mean, I I was doing everything I possibly could, and that's another thing that I I would want to instill in someone who's newly diagnosed is there will be times where you do everything and it still doesn't matter, and that's okay.

Emily: 41:56

There's always an antidote. There's always something to fix the problem. If you're low, you'll be okay. If you're too high, you'll be okay. There's always an antidote.

Stephanie: 42:06

And, one thing I was gonna say is that you are, like, one of the most responsible diabetics that I know of. And so

Emily: 42:15

I tend to grow into that.

Stephanie: 42:16

But it but if these things happen to you, and you're so responsible, then it it really is gonna happen.

Ray: 42:26

The thing about diabetes, and this is probably a a good way to compare type 1 and type 2, People tend to if they have type 2, they don't have they're not insulin dependent. That's the word I would say. They they can they can take tablets that will

Emily: 42:42

adjust their their needs. And it's reversible, I might add. Type 2 diabetes is reversible. You can you can not have it anymore.

Ray: 42:50

Lose weight. Yeah. Get in shape.

Stephanie: 42:52

A lot

Ray: 42:52

of times people get get in a in a position to where they're just not taking care of themselves. But here's what they do. They ignore. Oh, I rock it around 230, 250, sometimes 300 blood sugar. And, you know, I'm I'm doing fine.

Ray: 43:04

And what they're not realizing, that's like sending razors into your bloodstream, and you're discarding the inside of your your blood vessels, and you're building up scar tissue.

Stephanie: 43:14

Mhmm.

Ray: 43:14

And, ultimately, you know, those stories you hear about people losing limbs, their extremities, their toes, their feet, their hands, their kidneys, their eyes, It's because people don't take care of and keep those blood sugars down, and they're destroying their body literally from the inside out. And it's a slow, miserable death. And there's no way to reverse it because your body's so jacked up. And that's the thing I would actually say that maybe a gift that Emily has given all of us is that we've learned to to eat better, and some of the trashy stuff that we put in our bodies are doing just that. They're trashing our bodies.

Ray: 43:46

And because of Emily, we are now, you know, healthier, but if you're a type 1 or a type 2 diabetes diabetic, for heaven's sake, you can do this.

Stephanie: 43:56

Mhmm.

Ray: 43:57

So what are what are tips? What are some of the, Instagram websites? Where are some of the places you go for input?

Emily: 44:04

Oh, that's so interesting. Okay. So I have a few, we call them Instagram influencers. You those young kids again. You guys know what I'm talking about, That I follow, I it's kinda hard for me to name them off the top of my head if I'm honest.

Emily: 44:19

Beyond type 1 has been one resource. I think I think they started their nonprofit up. Nick Jonas actually started up this nonprofit, I think back in 2016, 2015. They just have a lot of great insights, resources, especially for newly diagnosed, diabetics. So that is one website that I would check out.

Emily: 44:41

I may at the end of the, podcast, I I'll have a little link down below where everybody can

Ray: 44:46

And what's the guy's name? The the Beatty's or whatever?

Emily: 44:50

Yeah. The the Beatty's guy. That's what that's his Instagram handle. That's great. Beatty's.

Emily: 44:54

Yeah. The Beatty's.

Ray: 44:55

I love him. He's a he he's fun. Okay. Well, anything else you'd say about the difference in type 1 and type 2?

Stephanie: 45:02

No. I don't

Emily: 45:03

think so. I think you you nailed it.

Ray: 45:04

Okay. And then tips. We talked about honey. We we talked about recognizing the impact that weather, hot and cold plays on you.

Stephanie: 45:12

We we let Exercise. Exercise. Water. Water. Yes.

Stephanie: 45:16

Water.

Emily: 45:17

Please, for the love. I'm not even the best at this. I'm trying to get better. But water our organs, guys, need water more than anything really aside from insulin. Our our body really does need water more than most people do.

Emily: 45:34

So staying hydrated.

Stephanie: 45:36

Yeah. That's one thing whenever you would go high, I would say, oh, you're not drinking enough. I'm drinking enough water. You're not drinking enough. We've gotta get water into you.

Stephanie: 45:45

Yeah. And that's one thing I don't think that newly diagnosed, people realize is that they have to just up the water intake hugely. Yeah.

Ray: 45:58

So while we're on tips, one of the things before we started the show today that you said you wanted to be sure and bring up is and this is I think this qualifies as a tip, is the power of a team.

Stephanie: 46:11

Yeah. Yeah.

Ray: 46:12

We call it team Emily. Yeah. And, we've been a part of the team Emily, team for quite a while.

Emily: 46:18

Yeah.

Ray: 46:18

We've added a new member to the team, mister Hesto. Mister Hesto, he's he's the the resident team member for you now. Oh, yeah. He does a lot for you and takes care of you.

Stephanie: 46:28

She's the head team member now.

Ray: 46:30

And, he's

Stephanie: 46:30

taking her on.

Ray: 46:31

And he's we're we're blessed by having him in your life and couldn't think of anybody better to help, help you along in that regard. But talk about this dynamic of a a team.

Emily: 46:44

So growing up, so, like, keep in mind, I was, you know, number 5 out of 6 kids. I was the only one to have diabetes. So all my I mean, statistically, guys, that's insane. Typically, there's at least 2 other, kids in the family with diabetes at the number of kids that we have. Mhmm.

Emily: 47:03

And so my siblings did an awesome job, especially my older brother, Joshua. Shout out to you. Mhmm. Coming alongside me as well as my parents, but I'm talking about siblings. Joshua would help me put in the pump sites.

Ray: 47:17

Mhmm.

Emily: 47:18

If if my parents ever had to go out of town due to work, Joshua or Lorna Lane really were the 2 that would keep me alive until my parents got back.

Ray: 47:28

Those 2. And then some of the others, they're just looking at you, and they'd pass out because they can't handle it. But, you know, Lorna Lane, your oldest oldest of our siblings, and Josh, they've somehow they just could handle it.

Stephanie: 47:38

And I think that they all were so good about looking at Emily, knowing Mhmm. If her eyes look funny. We all know the signs to look for if she was high or low. And, they they were all very, very helpful in constantly making sure if Emily was good.

Ray: 48:01

I I wanna say this. We never let really anything slow us down. You and I as a couple, we never let our kids slow us down. We didn't let we don't we've never let any of our life challenges slow us down. We're fighters.

Ray: 48:14

We really haven't let diabetes be an excuse. We're like, you know what? It's just part of who we are. It's part of of us. It's gonna it's a character builder, and and we're gonna we're gonna do what we need to do with it.

Ray: 48:25

And so, you know, diabetes is just part of life, and we make it happen Yeah. Regardless. We don't we don't we don't make an excuse. We don't make it a crutch.

Emily: 48:37

Now but we are cautious. We're wise in the choices that we make. So, if I'm gonna go on a hike or I'm gonna go do something outdoors, I'm not just going, not thinking that diabetes is gonna hold me back. I plan and I'm and I execute the plan. Yeah.

Emily: 48:54

So that's, you know, bringing extra snacks, making sure I'm hydrated. I mean, it's planning. You become an expert at planning your everyday life.

Ray: 49:02

Thinking ahead. Yeah. You know, one of those little packets, goo?

Emily: 49:05

Yeah. Goo, energy, little packets. Those things are

Ray: 49:07

a good one.

Emily: 49:08

Awesome.

Ray: 49:08

And I'm famous for saying this to the family is that diabetes is not mind over matter. Yeah. You cannot and Emily, she gets her daddy she has her daddy's attitude about you can do anything if you think you can. Diabetes will win if you think that you can just think your way through it or push your way through it. Your body cannot overcome diabetes by I think I can.

Ray: 49:33

I think I can. You need to respond. You need to have a plan.

Emily: 49:37

Right.

Ray: 49:37

If you're high, you need to know what to do. If you're low, you need to know need to know what to do. But, you know, it's a big deal. So having a team, this is this is if you have a loved one who has diabetes, you're on the team. You're you're you're part of the team.

Ray: 49:51

You're not setting the bench. You're part of the team.

Emily: 49:54

Mhmm. Absolutely. And that's what I think really pushed me forward and kept me from really a lot of bad situations was knowing, even when I don't wanna do it, somebody's gonna come and help me, and that's okay. And it's okay to need help. It's okay to want help.

Emily: 50:15

I think too, like, that mindset of Ray Sanders of I think I'm gonna do it, and I can do it by myself. That's that's what really I I got from my dad, so it's kinda funny. But I had to overcome that mindset even of humbling myself and realizing, no. I need help, and that's okay, and I'll be healthier for it. So

Ray: 50:37

Okay. Let's kinda wrap this thing up. I have Mhmm. A couple of things I wanna say. What have you learned from diabetes?

Emily: 50:48

That's a hard it's such a hard question because man. I've learned how resilient I can be. Mhmm. I've because there were days where I thought, okay. I I just don't want I've told this you guys this before.

Emily: 51:12

I just don't I wanna break. I don't wanna do this anymore. That's how

Ray: 51:16

give up.

Emily: 51:17

Yeah. I wanna give up. I just wanna be done. I mean, the lord you know, we only get one one life here on earth. Why is it that this had to be my life?

Emily: 51:27

You know? Mhmm. But the lord really, really has shown me though that it's through this that and I know you said earlier, you know, god wouldn't, use this to help people necessarily. That's not the kind of god he is. But in my experience, when I'm out and about and I see somebody with a CGM on their arm or, a pump site or they're taking their blood sugar, I feel connected to that person.

Ray: 51:52

Sure.

Emily: 51:53

And so it's always cool. If you're a diabetic out there, definitely, if you see another one, go up and talk to him. It it connects us in ways. The other day, this is crazy, I ran into a 65 year old man with the same exact insulin pump on his hip as me. And so I I ran up to him with my mask on, of course, and I said, well, look at us.

Emily: 52:15

We're we're we're matching. And it was a great conversation. And so it it's learned me how to, it's taught me, excuse me, how to connect with people and that that's a gift from the lord. It's taught me how strong I can actually be. It's taught me to be responsible, resilient, a lot of different things.

Ray: 52:37

Say it this way. It's a platform.

Stephanie: 52:41

Mhmm. Yeah.

Ray: 52:41

It's a way for you to connect.

Stephanie: 52:43

Yeah.

Ray: 52:43

I don't think I don't think that you're necessarily cursed.

Emily: 52:46

No. No. No.

Ray: 52:47

You're allowed to have it, but now that you've been allowed to have it, it becomes a platform for all kinds of things, strength, resilience, empathy.

Emily: 52:55

Yeah.

Ray: 52:55

How to care for people no matter what they have.

Emily: 52:58

Right.

Ray: 52:58

It's changed my perspective on life. I tell you one thing. It makes me appreciate the fact that I don't have it.

Stephanie: 53:04

Mhmm. Yeah.

Ray: 53:05

I don't know how you do it. You're an inspiration to all of us. You're everyone in the family. We've always said that you're the the youngest 30 year old, and we know. But, you are an inspiration.

Ray: 53:18

And if you're out there listening, don't ever think that you're not an inspiration. You're a fighter. You can do this. We believe in you. Others believe in you.

Ray: 53:29

You inspire us by by what you're doing.