THE POWER TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE AFTER CANCER! In Episode 59 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (LINKS IN THE COMMETNS) titled, “THE POWER PANTILOONS”, my special guest is Tonya Baillargeon, a now 17-year cancer survivor is a cancer survivorship specialist and coach (like me) Working together with your oncologist's treatment plan, she's determined to help you vanquish fear, reshape your mindset, and unleash your inner warrior. Tonya's goal? To help you not just endure, but flourish. With her by your side, you're not just surviving cancer, you're conquering it. Tonya’s visualized putting on her WONDER WOMAN (underwear) Pantaloons for strength and hope to carry her forward. WHAT IS YOUR SUPERHERO UNDERWEAR? Come listen, download, share and review this inspiration and helpful show.

Mentioned Resources 

• Linktr.ee https://linktr.ee/tonyabaillargeon
• WEB https://www.gingeredrose.com/
• GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1867548616949289
• IG https://www.instagram.com/thegingeredrose/
• Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@tonyabaillargeon?lang=en
• FB Biz: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094476301751

Let’s CONNECT Personal

• Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonya-baillargeon-a-a-b-ca-62b202a3/ 
• FB https://www.facebook.com/TonyaMBaillargeon/
• FREE GIFT:
• Top 2 Essential Oils YOU should use to reduce anxiety and stress
• https://www.gingeredrose.com/free-gift-opt-in

About the guest – Tonya Baillargeon

• Tonya is on a mission to help a million people revolutionize their cancer journey, moving them from mere survival to full-on thriving. She's your go-to guide, helping cancer survivors adopt the winning mindset, build a powerhouse support team, and explore effective alternative wellness modalities. Working hand-in-hand with your oncologist's treatment plan, she's determined to help you vanquish fear, reshape your mindset, and unleash your inner warrior. Tonya's goal? To help you not just endure, but flourish. With her by your side, you're not just surviving cancer, you're conquering it. 

• Hello Magical world changers! Introducing Tonya, Holistic Cancer Wellness Guide CEO of the Gingered Rose LLC. She teaches survivors how to obtain the right mindset, create their power support group and add alternative wellness modalities to use in addition to what their oncologist recommends.

•  Today we are going to have real talk about hair loss, hydration and other changes you might experience while navigating a cancer diagnosis and 3 actionable steps you can take to empower yourself while you help harmonize your mind, body and spirit during this challenging time.  

• In this interview, you will realize that you aren’t alone in your journey and the issues that you are dealing with are not unique and there is support available for you!

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

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#power #pantalloons #cancer #wellness #journey #17year #suvivor #coaching #healthcare #motivation #education #inspiration #podcast #listen #download #share #review #shiningbrightly

Hello, welcome to the Shining Brightly Show. It's

Howard Brown. It's your maestro, it's your holiday Maestro. We're

here right before Thanksgiving. And you'll hear this episode a

little after as we head into the holiday season. But I've got an

unbelievable guests as I always do. But welcome, Tonya.

Baillargeon. hard to pronounce your name a little bit, but

you'll correct me. Welcome to the show. So happy you're here.

Thank you so much, Howard for having me. It's

Tonya Baillargeon, but

large and is that French? Or what is maybe in

French? Yeah, French Canadian. All right. So I was there a

little bit there. But thank you for that. So I'm just so happy

to have you on the show. Because you and I have a lot of

alignment there. And we're going to talk about that in a second.

But let me introduce you a little bit to the audience here.

And so, I want to tell you, Tonya is on a mission to help

millions of people revolutionise their cancer journey, moving

them from mere survival to full on thriving. Oh, I love that.

Because we're all trying to kind of evolve clay trying to put

Humpty Dumpty back together again. Sorry to interrupt. She

is your go to guide for helping cancer survivors adopt a winning

mindset. Build a powerhouse support team, explore effective

alternative wellness modalities, but that working hand in hand

with your oncologist treatment plan, and she is determined to

help vanquish the fear. reshape your mindset. Unleash your inner

warrior, your goal to help not just have you endure but

flourish. With her by your side. You are not thriving cancer, you

are conquering it. That's incredible. It's just

incredible. That's you know, people need that and from me

personally being I two times stage four cancer survivor.

We're just trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, and

put together our lives. Some people, it's just getting one

step out of bed each day, other people are running marathons.

And everything in between. Right, Tonya?

Absolutely. So shows your own pace. Exactly.

So share something outside that bio that that we

might not know about you that you want the audience to hear.

I will be celebrating 17 years in March.

cancer free. Whoa,

that gets an Amen and hallelujah. Oh my God,

that's terrific. 17 year survivor in March. That's just

that's the goal is to keep on living. Oh, thank you for

sharing that. That's absolutely incredible. And a testament to

your mental toughness and your, your your well being and as well

as being able to just power through and build your life back

up again. It's just beautiful. And so let's let's dive right

in. So take take me back to about March of 2007.

And March 27 2007. Did date Yeah.

So let's start there. What's going on there? So

a friend of mine took me to my doctor

appointment. I you know, she just knew she knew I had no

idea, right? And my doctor said the dreaded words. Nobody wants

to hear you have cancer. Her lips moved, but I didn't hear

anything else. Because I was just overwhelmed by the news,

right? Like nobody expects that diagnosis. Even if you think you

have it, you just kind of stop in your tracks.

So tell everyone what your diagnosis was

a carso sarcoma of the uterus. So a lot

of people don't know, but a healthy uterus is only four

ounces. When they ended up taking mine out. It was over 10

pounds.

So that was filled with fluid and tumour. Yeah.

Wow. Now were you at a gynaecologist or yet a lady

doctor yet you're who you were. And they they, they take out a

sample it goes to pathology and right away they knew what your

Oh, it was? Absolutely not. So for me. There

were no markers in my blood. My pap smear came back, fine or

inconclusive. They did ultrasound, the trans vaginal

ultrasound, all of that came back fine or inconclusive. They

did what's called a Sano histogram, where they inflate

the uterus with saline and the image that came back

inconclusive. They actually had to do a DNC they had they had to

scrape the uterine lining to find the cancer. And there was

over 10 pounds of cancer in my body. And everybody assumes you

right everybody assumes the markers are in the blood, not

always, not always know that that is true. I can tell you

with colorectal cancer, you know the, the big towel is blood in

the stool, and I had none of that. None of that had it all.

So I had maybe a little irritable bowel, some cramping,

but nothing that bothered me, I just went on with my day. So

sometimes they don't know until they go in, right? I was not

told until my colonoscopy so you know, getting that waking up

from the colonoscopy going. Doc's everything okay, no, I

found something. And when they find something, it's really,

really bad news. So you're sitting in the doctor's office,

your girlfriend is stunned. You're you didn't, you didn't

hear the what they said, when you finally got the diagnosis.

After she said that I had cancer. I didn't hear anything

else that she said, But my friend happens to be an RN. So

she was able to catch all all of the information. And when we got

back to her house, she sat me down in her her room, and she

said, Okay, today's the day that you're allowed to be mad at God,

have all the hissy fits that you want, scream, be depressed, do

all all of that right now. But tomorrow morning, we're going to

wake up and we're going to kick cancers butt.

Wow, that's a good friend. What's her name?

Her name is Madeline.

Let's shout out to Madeline because that's a

beautiful friend and a beautiful care partner to at least sit you

down in fact that she was an RN and of training and all that.

Because cancer diagnosis is confusing. It's complex. It's

life changing. And my friend I will share that Lee Silverstein

is a fellow stage four colon cancer. And he ran a podcast

over 200 episodes called we have cancer because it's not just

you. It's your family and it's your friends and we we as a

community have cancer. So you know that very, very well. Now,

you did the schedule you write for surgery, or did you do other

treatments first or do you have to do chemo or radiation?

Yeah, the first thing was the

hysterectomy. Six weeks after the diagnosis, I had a total

hysterectomy. The surgery ran long. Because I'm overweight.

The gynaecologist had had a problem but no complications. I

did make it through. Okay. And then I had an appointment with

an oncologist. And he talked about a chemotherapy radiation

sandwich. And I literally looked at him and I said I'd I'd rather

have the tuna. That sounds disgusting. But obviously, we

went ahead and did that. Most chemotherapy, everybody

understands that you go into like a little room and you have

an IV. And it's you go and you leave, right? For me. The

cisplatin, the the treatment was I was actually going to have to

have what's called rescue drugs. before, during and after the

chemotherapy. And because because of how long that took, I

actually had to be inpatient for four days a month for my

treatments. So I did three of those. And then I took a little

break. And then I had five and a half weeks of radiation, took a

little break, and then had another three rounds of chemo.

Wow.

Susan, for a second. Sure. I guess. The fact

is, is that wow, first of all, this is platinum very toxic. I

know that for sure. Because I've had it, it's very toxic. And

also then radiation which I've had full body radiation as well,

no fun. And you're doing this as an inpatient, because they're

doing it as slow drip, and they're actually preparing your

body to take it and then also to prepare to actually deal with it

while it's inside of you. And your job is actually to get the

chemo out by sweating and peeing and, and breathing. That's the

way that it actually, you know, goes through your blood system

and does its thing. And then the radiation was obviously to

shrink the tumour and then you did another set of of chemo. But

then you had the surgery where they actually did the removal of

the first surgery was first Oh, they did that first and then

you're doing this after post Okay, I did make

sure even though so when they did the

hysterectomies, they removed five lymph nodes, and all my

lymph nodes came back fine. But they wanted to take the

precaution to go ahead and do this radical treatment because

of the amount of cancer that I had in my body.

Right? They don't know when they removed from

surgery if they've gotten it all all, even the baby micro cells

and all that. So I've been there when they took out, you know,

and all the cancer out of my abdomen and pelvis and then

poured hot chemotherapy in there which was radical, you know, in

March of 18, and still kind of a crazy surgery. So Alright, so

now you're you're healing and you're repairing after that,

because this is all happening in a six month period. And so it

was a 10 month period. Okay, so what happens next?

Then they sent me back into the world,

right like just like yours On, all your treatment is done, you

go back into the world. But while I was going through all of

that, I incorporated a whole bunch of alternative wellness

modalities. And I had a frank conversation with my oncologist.

I'm like, Listen, I want to do I want to do aromatherapy I want

to do herbalism I want to do flower essences I want to do.

He's like, you can stop right there. As long as you don't put

it in your mouth. I don't care what you do. So I said, okay, so

no, no, no teas, no herbal teas. He said, No. And I said, why?

And he said, because it may counteract the chemotherapy. And

I was like, okay, but that to me was enough alignment with what I

wanted, like, because I feel you have to have your whole entire

medical team has to be in alignment with you, right? You

don't want anybody mourning you. While you're standing there. You

don't want people giving you expiration dates. Obviously, you

want them to be honest with you, but your mindset is such a huge

part of your recovery of you have you're transitioning

through this trauma time.

Right. So I agree, I will tell you that when I went

through my first cancer in 1989 1990, the talk of holistic

medicine and mindset wasn't there, you know, before the

internet before we had cell phones, and before we really had

computer use, wasn't there this time around, you know, you know,

26 years later, much more much more open. Not all doctors but

but doctors to that. And we the patients living on the front

lines, I will tell you that, you know, we were using THC gummies

to combat nausea, you know, appetite and sleep way before

the doctors actually then set Oh, that's an okay idea. You

know, we're doing things that we got to solve first, sometimes.

So sometimes they don't come along too soon. But I'm glad you

got alignment with your doctor that it helps when you're on the

same team, and you're pulling the same way. So I'm glad that

helped. Now, tell me about this statement here. And I know it's

the name of your podcast as well. The power pantaloons and

tell me how Wonder Woman plays a role in this.

Every day, I had just one item on my to do

list. And that was I visualised putting on a pair of Wonder

Woman's underwear because Wonder Woman doesn't die. So that was

me, the act of physical representation of me deciding to

live every day, right? Yeah, so like, it's powerful, right. And

there were days that definitely didn't happen. But I would say

like 98 99% of the reason. The days I did actually manage to do

that, and because my survival rate was about 5%, I credit this

one activity, with 95% of the reason I made it through.

Wow. So that was your mindset. That was your

visualisation. And you are basically saying, Oh, I'm

putting on Wonder Woman's underwear. Okay. And that's

going to basically that's amazing. Really, you know, I

think about it, you know, of me putting on my Men's depends my

big boy pants, you know, before I go, you know, on a big trip or

something like that, but you were putting on Wonder Woman's

pants, your big girl pants there and that carried you through

that's that's that's mindset. That's it really is. It's mental

toughness, but that's visualisation that you

transformed into your own version of Wonder Woman. I

applaud that.

Yeah, absolutely. We all do, right. Everybody who gets this

diagnosis makes a decision, whether they make it overtly or

or subconsciously, and how they handle everything in their

treatment. And depends on that one decision, right? Like, you

know that some people choose not to be an active participant in

their treatment. I've seen it happen. Yeah, that's it's sad,

but you can't control that decision for somebody else. You

can only work on your own.

Absolutely. So now carry me forward. So some of the big

lessons that that you took away and carried forward.

Nothing puts you in a state of gratitude for

all of the time you have left faster than having an expiration

date put in your face. Not nothing gets you clear with who

you are, what you want in life, and what kind of person you want

to be faster than a death sentence.

Yeah, absolutely. I'll take a quick timeout and

say, you know, we got cancer screening week coming up in

December 4 through the night, go get screened, go get you know,

go get check. You're not your optimal you if you If you don't

so and we put it off during COVID, so the ability to get

your, your mammogram, go get your prostate checked, if you're

a guy, go get your colonoscopy, right, go go to your lady

doctor, you know, go to the dentist, right? Please, please

go check, get your checks, take care of seriously self care and

self love. So I would agree with that. And so you walk alongside

of cancer patients, caregivers and their families tell me about

how that evolved.

So last year, I ended up with another cancer

scare. Why walking through that, it sort of was like a lightbulb

moment for me. Like, I felt like divinity was like, Excuse me,

ma'am. We gave you all of this intimate knowledge on how to

help somebody transition through this devastating diagnosis, and

you're not doing anything with it. And I was like, Ah, yes. All

right about that. So we're going to do something about that. And

I started my podcast, and I started working with survivors

and caregivers, building mindset, building their support

networks, building boundaries, like because some people just

have to be politely excused from your life, because they're not

in alignment with where you are as a person, whether they can't

handle your diagnosis, or whatever the reason is, it's

time for them to be away for a little while, or forever, right?

Like you make those decisions, and then to how to listen to

your body to intuitively choose what kind of alternative

wellness modalities that you want to use, while you in

addition to what your oncologist is telling you to do. Because I

think Mind, Body Spirit, they have to be together, because it

is a disease that ravages your mind, body, and spirit. So you

have to use all the tools in your toolbox to, to work through

and

use all the tools in your toolbox, I would say

that, it's really important to have someone be able to walk

alongside of you. And being that I'm in the colon cancer space I

call in town. That's what we do with patients, caregivers and

families. And we get make sure that you're you're educated as a

patient, and you actually have the support that you need. And

that's important, because that's what you do as well. And that's

a form of mentorship. And it's a really, it's a very important

skill. But I have to tell you that when I came into colon

cancer, I didn't know anything. But I was already a cancer

veteran, when I would did lymphoma in 1989 99. It was a

deer in the headlights, I really didn't know what was going on.

This time around, I was still a deer in the headlights, but my

learning curve was much faster. And you know, I reached out to

his people that were 510 15 steps ahead of me. All right,

that had already walked that path. Now I wasn't going to walk

the same path necessarily, but similar path. And they were

telling me kind of what to expect and how to deal with

things and how to get educated. And that was invaluable. Because

instead of it being a big mystery, or something that's

just a big black hole or fear, I was able to then use their

knowledge to make better decisions. And there were just

days that they call me and I just didn't get out of bed and

they were like, Yeah, you're getting out of bed, and you're

walking the dog. And then you're having a bite of egg and cheese,

and then you can go back to bed. And so they were many

cheerleaders as well. And that's important. And I do that as well

like you, I do that still I still I mostly with a lot of men

in the colorectal cancer space. But they all want to get to

where we are, right we want to get to no evidence of disease or

remission. And that's that's the end game is to get your life

back. Now, that's a survivorship so a whole nother thing, right?

To get your to be able to then put the pieces of your life

back, you know, your career, your finances, your family, your

relationships. That's also a whole nother game as well. So

it's really important. So tell me about some of the workshops

that you that you offer.

Well, right now what I'm promoting is

medical binder, right? So somebody asked me what what what

did you do with with chemo brain and I was like, you know, that's

a really good point. So I built myself a medical binder so that

every time I went to a new doctor for whatever right blood

we're all of it was put in there. So when they asked me

well, what medication are you on? I didn't have to remember

it. My portable brain dead. It's all there. So that's one of the

things that I offer. I do one on one, coaching, I do group coach

coaching, and I am building a course that will be done based

on the seasons. I know that sounds a little a little odd but

based on the seasons where you're talking about breathwork

and meditation Asian connecting with nature, aromatherapy. You

know, stuff, nutrition, nutrition, let's talk about

nutrition for a second. Because for me, like mindsets right here

and getting your food right is right here, because making your

body into a more alkaline place is super important because

I think that, you know, what they throw so much

cancer can't survive in an alkaline place. So, yeah,

information at you. And to keep track of it is is a task. So

having that binder is really important. My caregiver, you

know, mom did it the first time and my wife, Lisa did it the

second time, but you got to keep track of it, because they asked

you the same questions like 500 times, right, and you got to

know your answers and, and then getting yourself to a place of

good physical activity, good sleep, good nutrition is all

part of the equation. And also, I have a thing that I call my

happy place, my happy place happens to be the stress free

zone on the basketball court, lots of people, you got to find

that place where you're, you don't feel like a cancer

patient. So it could be cooking, it could be travel, it could be

music, it could be art, it could be meditation, I don't place

judgement on that find one. So find a happy place, and you

should definitely go there. Now very, very important to do that.

And listen, you know, when you're in treatment, right of

chemotherapy, and you're in radiation, or you've just had

surgery, you've got to allow your cells chances to heal. That

healing is really, really, really, really important. The

other thing is, is that we live in the cancer world, at least I

know you and I do is that the stage four cancer world is not

kind. So people die all the time. And it's not that they

didn't have a will to live, it's just that their cancer burden

became too great. And God called them to heaven. And so that is a

part of unfortunately, the world that we both work in each day.

It's hard. It

is hard. It is

what? So it's really a great service that you

offer. How do how are people responding, and when you see

them, because you have to keep it private, but you're seeing

people grow. And one baby step to big, big, big steps. When,

you know helping somebody at the

beginning, which is mindset, right? Finding their own version

of Wonder Woman, whether it's that man or their grandmother,

because she you know, was the most stubborn person on the

planet, right? Like so once you find the person or the essence

of the happiness or the strength or whatever it is that you think

that you need to get through this, helping them discover

which role model has that and then how to just draw on that.

So grandma's apron, like, go get an apron, like you can

physically go get an apron that represents that or you can just

visualise it. And it's remarkable to see how the how

easy it becomes for people to do that. Yeah, no, no really,

really, really important.

. Well, here we go. This is the part of the show

that I want to actually shine the spotlight on you. This is

the shining bright the spotlight. For those of you

listening, I have my white magnetic glasses on and I'm

shining it on Tonya. And I would love to tell people how they

should best get a hold of you. And I know you have a freebie

for the audience to take advantage of. And then wrap up

the show with some inspiration for us. And then throw it back

to me.

Sure, so you can reach me at link tree slash

Tonya Baillargeon it's right behind me. So li n k t

r.ie/TONYA Baillargeon. That's how you get a hold of me. What

was the next question I've already forgot. That's okay.

You you have a giveaway? Oh,

yes, I do. So I have a giveaway that is the

two essential oils that I used while I was going through chemo

every day and that you absolutely should use not only

for stress reduction and anxiety relief, but actually to help

keep you in a calmer state. So that's the thing that I will be

giving you today.

That's awesome. So we'll make sure those links are

in there and they can get to your website and now be able to

to get a hold of you. Share some inspiration with me inspire us.

So whether whether you think that Confucius

said it or Henry Ford said it because they both said it.

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.

That's, you know that like that is my favourite quote and that

really like the mindset piece Is that That's where it comes from

for me. Yeah, just aside.

well, first of all 17 years, I'm at four. So I'm

behind you a little bit, but we're with you together.

Congratulations on that. Congratulations. Also that

you're helping so many cancer patients, caregivers and

families take the next step. I think that's the most important

thing. So this has been the shining brightly podcast show.

I'm Howard Brown, you can get a hold of me at shining

brightly.com Learn about my podcast here, my speaking and

also my advocacy and my book, as well. And just you know, the

lesson that I share with everyone is that if we try to

shine brightly, just a little bit each day, for ourselves, for

others in our communities, the world will be a better place.

Thanks for watching and listening. Till next time. Thank

you