Episode Summary – A BLINK OF AN EYE – a cancer diagnosis can stop you right in your tracks! In Episode 67 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled “TIK TOK CANCER ADVOCACY” please meet my dear friend and fellow colorectal cancer survivor, Allison Rosen. Diagnosed as young onset age 32 with Stage II colon cancer she took her own journey and resilience and has become a beacon of hope and inspiration sharing her life and story as a young woman, ostomate, cat lover, dancer and patient / professional cancer expert. MILLIONS OF VIEWS ON TIK TOK TO HELP MOTIVATE, EDUCATED AND INSPIRE. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. DRESS IN BLUE AND GO GET SCREENED. Come download, listen, share and review this incredible story and show.

Mentioned Resources 

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicat380
• Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/alicat380/
• Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@allisonrosen4
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-rosen-ms-a89b9277
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARosen380

About the guest – Allison Rosen is a patient, community, policy, and research advocate for the collective adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer and colorectal cancer communities. She has worked in the world of Oncology for over 16 years. On June 7th, 2012, at the age of 32 after years of struggling with Crohn’s disease, her life was totally disrupted when a colonoscopy revealed Stage 2C colorectal cancer. She has now been cancer free for 11 years and volunteers her time on committees for young adult and colorectal cancer patients, with groups working on effective patient experience, social media, and outreach initiatives. She is active in policy work at the state and national level. She is a public speaker, board member, and volunteer for local, regional and national non-profits. Alison has deliberately chosen to dedicate her life - in and outside of her employment - to use her voice and platform to educate, advocate, and continuously learn how best to represent the collective cancer community Through her own experience at surviving Stage 2 colorectal cancer, Allison has experience on both sides of the fence, and works to bridge the gap between the healthcare system and the communities that it serves .

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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LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36

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#tiktok #socialmedial #awareness #cancerscreening #cancer #colorectal #youngonset #ostomy #dance #woman #men #minorities #patient #expert #colontown #healthcare #motivation #education #inspiration #podcast #download #listen #share #review #shiningbrightly

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Show. Oh my god, I have such an amazing show. I'm excited to be

unbelief. It is shining brightly in studio tonight. So I have my

really good friend, Allison Rosen with me. And Allison, how

are you?

I am great.

All the way from the huge state of Houston,

Texas, right. And I'm so excited to talk with you tonight. Let me

tell you a little bit about Allison. Allison. First of all,

she's been a friend of mine for five years. And she is actually

a stage two colorectal cancer patient, we're going to get into

that. And so we met through our personal advocacy for the cause.

And so we're that's what brought us together. But you do so much

more than that. You are really, God, you live this and you

breathe this so much, Allison, is that you're a patient, you're

actually in a community, the policy side of things, the

research side of things. Also being such a young, young adult

and getting it young onset. It's just amazing. Now, you've been

working in the oncology world for over 16 years. And at the

age of 32, after struggling with Crohn's disease, you got your

life totally disrupted disrupted. With stage two C

colorectal cancer, we're going to dive into being so young and

what that means. But now okay, not not beating the lead here,

but 11 years cancer free, I'm given that a big Amen. And, and

you volunteer your time for the awareness factor, and to educate

patients. But also you do this professionally, you go to work

every day for the American Cancer Society. And, and you

work in policy. You I know you're a well regarded speaker,

you're a board member, you're a volunteer, and you travel, and

you are lots of different, at least colorectal cancer events

and others, to be able to keep up, keep getting smart and be

able to share that knowledge. And so I'm just so thrilled to

have you on the show. And tell someone what do you what else do

you do for fun and what's what's interesting certain thing that

we may not know about you

Something interesting besides being a

survivor, I'm born in born and raised in Texas, I feel like it

was sort of meant to be that I would like to dance. So when I

was younger, I danced starting at five years old, all the way

until high school doing ballet tap jazz, point, all that sort

of stuff. And now on my weekends, most weekends, even

some weekdays I spend country western dancing. So I'm not

gonna say I'm an amazing dancer. I just love it so much to step

Polka waltz. Whatever is going on line dancing, I will do it.

It is there's a great dance community all over the world,

but especially in Texas, and Houston. And so I spend a lot of

my free time when I'm not travelling the world dancing,

because I absolutely love it.

And you have a couple of of guests that are live with you

and you love cats. Right? What are your cat's names?

I do. I have two cats that are rescues that are brothers all

over in Salem, and they are two years old. And when I started

working from home and decided to to get them, I always had one

cat growing up, but I wanted to so they would have each other.

If I was in front of a screen, they would be able to snuggle.

So half the time in the middle of the day I turn around, I look

and they're just you know, they're sleeping on my couch,

together. And just the cutest thing. And also, I think pets in

general, really are a support system. They love you

unconditionally. And so they are they're amazing.

I love it. I love it. So let's dig in a little bit

here. So, I mean, you got you had Crohn's disease now, did

that immediately turn into a diagnosis of colon cancer? Or

was it a little bit of a of a confusing path? Because most

people it's not always clear Crohn's doesn't always lead to

cancer. Oh,

no, of course not. So I had Crohn's starting

at 12. So I've been dealing with Crohn's disease for the majority

of my life, essentially still have it but I had been getting a

colonoscopy every year, I had been under some sort of

treatment for a long period of time in my my teens and 20s. And

then I always had been in remission for about five or so

years. Clean colonoscopies. No, no, no symptoms of Crohn's

really. So I was still having my regular screening, but I was

very aware of what was going on inside my my body so it was

about to be time for me to have my regular colonoscopy. So I

think it was six months out from my, my annual colonoscopy when I

started having symptoms that were unusual for me. So I felt

like food was stuck inside me. I was having abdominal pain,

really, I just, you know, the fatigue was really severe. I was

losing weight. I thought I was losing weight from doing Zumba

all the time because it's something else I love to do in

my free time workout and do Zumba and other other things. So

I was one of those people that was aware of my body and my

digestive, you know, habits and things change drastically. So I

talked to my doctor, and she says, Oh, let's do an x ray,

maybe you have a blockage. So we did an x ray in she thought it

was a blockage. So she gave me something to drink to

potentially clear it up. It didn't quite work. And it just

got worse. I went out of town for a bachelorette party and I

couldn't eat or drink. And I was on the side laying on the floor

in the bathroom and just in pain. So everyone was going to

wineries and doing fun stuff. And I was just like, it was bad.

So I came back when I got back to town. I talked to her and she

said okay, well, maybe we should move up your colonoscopy. So I

had that colonoscopy a few weeks. I don't know, like two or

three weeks later, I woke up from it. And she said, Well, I

found something growing inside you. I don't know what it is.

But it's blocking anything from moving down your colon. I don't

necessarily think it's cancer. But it's you know, I did a bunch

of biopsies, and I'll let you know, in a few days. So she used

the word cancer and she used it as I was waking up from the

anaesthesia. So I remember talking to my mom when I got

home and I'm like, did she say cancer, and you're at higher

risk of developing cancer when you have, you know, some of

these irritable bowel syndrome, but you're getting monitored so

often. And I had a clean colonoscopy a year and a half

earlier, the cleanest one I ever had in my life. So lo and

behold, a few days later, she called me and I worked in a

research like Cancer Research Lab across the street. She

called me she'd never called me to come for the results. She

called me to her office, and I was on the phone with my mom

crying. I knew my life was about to change. She put me in a room

and told me I had colorectal cancer. And I needed to find an

oncologist, a surgeon and a new GI doctor because she was about

to leave her practice. And so like My life flashed before my

eyes, I just was I knew my life was gonna change. She also said,

and this was something I heard from my oncologist later that

because the colonoscopy earlier had been cleaned. The last one I

had, it seemed like it was aggressive. So at that point,

she she urged me to find somebody soon so I could get my

my scan so they could see, you know, stage me and just sort of

get the the wheel moving and figuring out what was going on

what Twitter treatment I would need. And luckily being in

Houston and working in cancer research, I was surrounded by

some of the best medical institutions ever.

Yeah. So I mean, first of all, that it's just you

know, the the you are, as Lee Silverstein always said, we have

cancer diagnosis is just, it stops you in your tracks. And

you know, I've had it at age 23 with lymphoma, non Hodgkins

lymphoma, and now at age 50, after colonoscopy for colon

cancer, and you're 32 years old. You're just a young lady, you

know, your career is going, you know, you're dancin, right? And

you know, everything, then all your priorities just changed in

an instant, for sure. But

no, I say when she put me in that room, and she

put me in a room and she's like, I'll be right back, it was dark.

And then she told me and then she said, I'll give you a second

to, you know, to digest this and left the room. And I remember

very vividly, like my life flashing before my eyes. It was

like tunnel vision. And I was like, you know, at that point,

she didn't say anything about stage she said I cancer, and my

mom's a breast cancer survivor. So when I was a teenager, we

helped take care of my mom. And I saw everything she struggled

with. And it was just one of those moments that I'll never

forget that it just it every time I talk about it, I get a

little emotional. Because I had no idea what what my life was

going to be. I was finally, you know, I liked my job where my

career path was going, I was finally ready to settle down and

potentially meet somebody. And you know, and I knew my life was

gonna change forever at that moment. And no one at that act

didn't have kids. So I had no idea what that meant about

potential family planning or anything. It just it was the

uncertainty of hearing those words cancer and everyone that's

diagnosed with cancer. I know. And you know, like, it's just

like, it's a shock. You don't ever expect it. I mean, I was

doing everything right. I was getting my screening, and I was

taking care of myself and my body, but I still got diagnosed,

and what was the treatment that they had for your

play?

Yeah, so I mean, it was a whole I went and saw I

had three different opinions of surgeons because of my history

with Crohn's. One surgeon wanted to Take everything from my colon

and down out the other surgeon that maybe he could do it

laparoscopically. The other one said, Well, you know, we have to

wait until we go in. And so I got three different opinions

from three different doctors and the ecologist that I saw. They

were all they were all great. But the one that I ended up

going with it, MD Anderson said, You're not just a number, you're

young, you're healthy. Besides this, I want to make sure that

we give you the treatment that's right for you. And we take into

account what you want and your life. And so he just had that

empathy that I was looking for. And so I said, Okay, this is

where I'm going. And and so my treatment ended up being at that

point, at that time, standard of care, was five and a half weeks

of chemotherapy and radiation, surgery. And I had had multiple

surgeries, but the initial surgery did make a temporary

ileostomy and, and see what's going on inside. And because of

my history with Crohn's, my colon essentially just sort of

fell apart, inside. So I had a temporary ostomy made with a J

pouch internal, then let everything heal had

chemotherapy, again, had surgery to reverse that. And so I had a

J pouch for an extended period of time. But unfortunately, I

had infections and infections and more infections. And

ultimately, it led to my ostomy having another temporary ostomy

for a while. And after two years of having that temporary ostomy

having a heart to heart with my surgeon about making it

permanent, and taking the J pouch and everything else out

and sewing me up with what they call, you know, Barbie but

surgery essentially. So I had my ostomy made permanent, I think

it was about six or so years ago. And it was the best

decision I ever made. And if I knew what I know, now, I would

have probably had that surgery that asked me permanent ostomy

surgery first and save myself and my body a lot of pain, a lot

of struggle, and a lot of complications that I have now

due to you know, multiple surgeries and scar tissue and

all the other things that go along with, you know, being open

from top to bottom three times.

So you're living you're a young woman living with

an ostomy a permanent one. Did you have that conversation about

fertility? I am so lucky that in 1989 that my doctor Eric Rubin,

you know, I wasn't able to do chemotherapy because my liver

function was too too high. And he sent me to the cryogenic

centre. I had no idea deer in the headlights what I was doing,

but I did it. And then you know, roll the clock forward 11 years

later frozen sperm. And you know, in vitro fertilisation

with Lisa, my wife, you know, got us a miracle child, Emily.

And so where are those conversations happening with

you?

Great question. So I brought that conversation

up when I had my first appointment because I had

friends. I mean, I worked in oncology, right? So friends told

me talk about fertility, talk about psychosocial, all these

different things. So I brought it up. i He said, You know, I

said, Can you guarantee that my cancer won't progress or what

you know, in the time period, and no one can ever guarantee

that. But I chose to go and see a fertility specialist, I saw

somebody, I was supposed to have my eggs frozen, I had the

medicine ordered. And I was gonna wait, I think it's 10 or

12 days, they do it very, very fast for cancer patients. I was

gonna wait that time to freeze my eggs. But the night before I

was supposed to start my medicine, the first cycle my

medicine, I got really sick. Blood was essentially just

coming out in the toilet. And so I called my doctor and you know,

he said, I'm gonna leave the decision up to you. But But you

know, this is not good, you know, we probably need to start

your treatment sooner rather than later. And what ultimately,

we thought what's happening is my cancer was about to break

through the coolant wall. And if that had happened, I would have

gone to septic shock and died. You know, they can't guarantee

that would have happened, but the blood was just so severe. It

was the whole toilet. And every time I went to the bathroom, it

was a whole toilet and it was pain. And so that was one of the

hardest decisions I think I made throughout my whole cancer

journey because I love kids and I want kids in the future. But

ultimately, if I'm not here, my eggs aren't going to help

anybody. So I chose to start my treatment that next day

essentially. And now I can't have children because the

radiation, you know,

no, you can have children via adoption and via

surrogacy and you can so but right not naturally right now.

So I did this. These are the decisions that I don't think

people truly understand that have really long term effects.

You know, we have the side effects that are gifts that

keeps on giving. But you know, we're making decisions that have

Future ramification, okay, to the lifestyle we want to live,

you did choose to be a permanent ostomy to be able to, you know,

go and have treatment instead of actually preserving, you know,

your eggs. So these are real decisions. I want to take a

second and just say that, for those listening this, this,

we're gonna get into the cool part of advocacy and, and

patient expertise in a second on social media, because Allison's

just amazing. And she uses her dance skill. So amazingly well,

and I've got to participate. But this is serious business, right?

I have some statistics that 2.1 million people in the world will

be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, huge amount of

people, right 930,000 will die, most of those in the third world

will not get treatment, they will just die. Here in the US

the numbers around 153 255,000 People will get diagnosed and

53,000 will die. That means you got about 100,000 that are

actually going to be in treatment and living with

cancer. And we are living longer with cancer. And there are lots

of hope, you know, for the future, but the bottom line is

get screened, right don't get cancer don't have to go through

all the agony that we've had to go through the side effects, the

treatment, radiation, surgeries, chemo. So I put that out there

as to go get screened, go get a fit, test, go get a cologuard

test, go get your colonoscopy, and if you have family history,

okay. Or you actually have symptoms, raise your hand right

away. Right, raise your hand right away, go get screened. And

because we walk, you and I, we walk everyday with patients in

treatment. And we also we were our blue are good Colorectal

Cancer Awareness Month is March and I'm wearing my blue sneakers

right now. And we walk with patients every day that are in

the journey, but there are lots of our friends. And we've lost

many that lose their battle because their cancer burden is

too great. And they get called to heaven. And so we live in

this this this trichotomy of screening. Okay, treatment, and

then people passing so it's, it's where we choose to give

back. And I'm grateful for that. So the reason that, again, I

want you to hear Alison's story. Because this is a young woman's

story. This could be anyone's story. It could be your story.

My story, okay, being 50 years old when the screening age was

50 and getting screened, as well. If I was screened at age

40, it's a different conversation, no colon cancer,

earlier stage colon cancer. Instead, an eight and a half

centimetre tumour grows inside of me. And then I got to deal

with chemo and surgeries and clinical trials and metastatic

and, and hot chemo to try to cure me. So I wanted to ask you,

all right, is that first of all, you know, cancer is impacted

your life, but you've decided to actually put it and go push all

the chips back into cancer. Oh, come.

I mean, for me, I went through this diagnosis, I

went through it, I met a lot of amazing people, a lot of people

helped me. And I feel like I had to find a purpose. Like I was a

little lost, I'm not gonna lie, I went through treatment, I was

a little lost or trying to figure out my purpose I worked

in research still after. But I also like, wanted to find people

that understood me. I wanted to find a community. And when I

did, I got involved in advocacy. And so cancer did change the

whole trajectory of my career and my life, I found my family,

my blue family, as we call it. And I really realised that the

power of telling your story is so important. Somebody impacted

me by telling their story and, and connecting with me and

talking about their ostomy. I wanted to do the same for

others. I had to find a purpose in everything I went through.

And my purpose was to help others. And so I switched sort

of careers to work in public health and community outreach

and education. So I get educate people about exactly what you

just said, the importance of colorectal cancer screening. So

it was going in federally qualified health centres and

clinics and and talking about the importance of screening and

a lot of them are like, What do you know about the importance of

screening, and I showed a picture of me bald, I showed a

picture of me really sick during my treatment, and they're like,

that's you. And I'm like, Yeah, I went through it. So I know.

And I can tell you that I won't, won't don't want anyone else to

have to go through what I went through. So if I can help you

convince your patients or I can help anyone in the community.

Anybody gets screened by sharing my story, then I've done I've

successfully accomplished what I have my goal in life, my purpose

that I feel like I was put on this world for so being able to

do it for work and then being able to do it for advocacy is,

is super is fulfilling. It healed me slowly but surely as I

started doing advocacy and switching careers, it healed me

from everything that I went through. I mean, it was a long

process. You don't heal over Night, but really finding your

your your purpose and, and what makes you happy every day is

just the best thing in the world after you've gone through

something as horrific as cancer.

Thank you for sharing that. You know, many

people choose to keep their journey private. And I totally

respect that. Why did you share your cancer story on social

media? And especially on Tik Tok?

Great question. Well, so I started sharing a

little bit on little bit by little bit Instagram, Facebook,

Twitter, professionally. And then when they lowered the

screening age to 45. It was during COVID. And I had a lot of

time on my hands. And, and someone was I was very

motivated, because I talked to so many people, and they had no

idea that was lowered. And it's we worked really hard policy

wise to lower that age to 45. And that's five years earlier.

So I someone suggested, oh, you should go on tick tock and share

your story. And I was like, tick tock. I don't know. I think

that's just for younger people. So I scrolled on tick tock, and

I was like, Okay, well, you know, I can dance I can point I

can, you know, figure it out the trends. So, I got on started

sharing, and somehow it resonated and different videos,

especially one of me wearing my ostomy. And, and talking about

the importance of screening went viral. And so once things once

you feel like you're reaching people, and people are

commenting, thank you for sharing. Thank you for telling

me this thank you for you know, because of you I got screen,

then it motivates you to continue sharing. And so I

continue to share on tick tock, and now, maybe not every day,

but almost every day I post about the importance of

screening and early detection, I tell a little bit about my

cancer journey, I talk about the importance of clinical trials, I

talked about the myths and stuff that surround ostomies. And I'll

do it in sometimes I'll dance sometimes up pulling, sometimes

I'll, you know, do a trend that's going on. But I make

everything related to prevention, early detection,

treatment, you know, support, so that people understand they're

not alone. And, you know, I'll go live and talk about

colonoscopy prep tips. And it's the most popular, I will say,

people don't want to do a colonoscopy. And when I talk

about all the different I've had, I've had 30, maybe 35,

maybe even more than that colonoscopy is in my lifetime.

So I feel like I'm a pro at this point. So I know how to do it. I

know the different options. I know how to what clear liquids

to do. And you know, you can make it cold, you can use a

straw, you can, you know, all these different things. So I

want to share that knowledge with everyone else that might

not know, the screen ages 45 might not know family history is

important to talk about might not know the signs and symptoms,

and might not know that, you know, once you do a colonoscopy,

if everything's clear, and they find nothing, you don't have to

have another one for 10 years.

I exactly. So the fact is, is that I love this

because tick tock, Facebook, Instagram, they can become

viral. So it's shareable. So they're sharing that, and you're

the credible source, right? They they don't know if you have an

ostomy unless you show it and you have shown it, which is a

little daring and things like that, but it's who you are. And

it's authentic. And that's why I love it so much. Because the

ability to be able to share this and reach other populations. The

facts don't lie that the African American, Latino minority,

rural, poor find it, you know, financial communities get are

the least screened, and they're the highest diagnosed, we have

to go reach those communities. And if by chance, they're

actually on Tik Tok, and they actually get this message, maybe

it'll take some action. And so this is why it's exciting for me

because you've opened up kind of a whole new market, and you're

trying to remove a stigma of something that's not super fun

to talk about. But you're a young woman trying to live her

life. I'm a young guy, I'm a dad, I'm a husband. And we come

from different sides, but we're saying very similar messages is

that we care. Don't isolate, be selfish in your time of need,

get help. There's resources that we can connect you with. And I

love it when someone says thank you, I got my colonoscopy. Thank

you. I told my brother I told my sister or that you connected me.

Big shout out here. So we'll go through some of the org so we've

done some volunteers and when I call it you know, patient

expertise now. We are advocates, but we are now patient experts.

And so our friends at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance

Colorectal Cancer Coalition for screening, get your rear end

gear I use that all the time. Get your rear end gear, love

that tagline the tour to tush colon town which I'm the

chairman of the board. You know we walk with the patients once

you're diagnosed and the caregivers Fight CRC for some

policy and advocacy. There's other orgs. But we have a tight

group here we have the resources. Yeah, we need the

resource, colon cancer. And this was the shocking thing that came

out. I was just that the American Society of Clinical

Oncology, or gastrointestinal with you intestinal in San

Francisco. And what was the feature, the feature is that the

number one killer for men under 50, which is considered young

onset, and number two killer for women is colorectal cancer. So

it's growing, it could be diet, it can be lifestyle, it can be

head over January for family, but whatever it is, we've got to

get in front of this because it's only growing. And so it's

crazy. So tell me some of your favourite tick tock moments. I

mean, I've done a few with you. I cannot tell you their works of

of art. But I've been in there, I've tried to actually you know,

do the shimmy. Do the dazzle as best as I can. But you've got a

couple of good ones and tell me some of your most popular ones

that have went viral.

I think one of my most popular ones was surprising

to me, because it was the first time I ever showed my ostomy to

anybody other than my parents, and maybe a select few friends.

I showed my ostomy. I talked about how I'm not, you know, not

shy about it. This is what I have. I will not break this, you

know, I want to break this stigma that exists. And somehow

1.3 million people saw that. And it empowered me to do more

advocacy related to ostomies. But also share in the comments.

Were just like, Thank you, thank you for sharing. I have one, I

have one. Thank you, thank you. It was just, it was just

overwhelming. And it really filled my heart with joy that

that like I was being so vulnerable, but everyone was

receptive to it. And they were amazing. And not negative. You

never know when you're going to show something like that if

people are going to be negative and they were amazing and

accepting. And so it made me want to do more as far as

ostomies. You know, another one that's really exciting and

popular. And one of my favourites was when we were at

ally camp, I got the whole group to do a popular dance with me.

This is Ally campus and sort of a camp for advocates through the

Colorectal Cancer Alliance. We were all there. I asked him

anyone that wanted to do it, I taught a quick dance that was,

you know, one of the trends going on at that time. Everyone

lined up, and we did it. And it's just great. It the message

was you're not alone. Find your community. And you know, if you

need someone to talk to you, we're here, we're here for you.

I'm trying to think of some other ones. There's one that I

did with my dad. My dad's a doctor. So he was sort of acting

as you know, a doctor where I was saying, I have upset

stomach, you know, blood in my stool I was sort of acting out

or showing were in different parts of the house where the

symptoms were. And I was like, I was pointing to him, I was like,

talk to your doctor. But dad likes to make cameos everyone.

So mommy tic TOCs. And he loved it. And really, it's it's about

that it's about family showing my parents every once in a while

I'll they'll let me feature them and a little dance here or

there. But you know, it's just about trying to get there's

another one I did, I forgot. And there's another one I did at the

National colorectal cancer roundtable meeting, which is

patient advocacy organisations, advocates, providers, people

that work in the community together, I had a doctor do do a

dance with me and say You're my hero. So I like to highlight,

you know, healthcare heroes, patient heroes, survivor heroes.

And again, just colonoscopy I did share when Ryan Reynolds had

his colonoscopy a tip about their little clip of that. And I

gave a little commentary below it that also got I think six

hundreds, some some my 1000 views and you know, 50,000 I

think comments, which goes to show that just because you're a

celebrity, doesn't mean you shouldn't get screened, and he

had polyps, he had precancerous polyps, when he had his

colonoscopy, and he got it because he was doing a campaign

and he just turned 45. So just I mean, again, if you have a

colon, you're at risk, you need to get that screening doesn't

matter if you're famous and have all the money in the world. You

can also have precancerous polyps or polyps, and you need

to get that colonoscopy too. So I think that one was really

popular because again, everyone knows him. And it wouldn't if he

hadn't gotten it when he did. If you'd waited to five years to

totally turn 50 Who knows what would have happened? There might

be a totally different conversation

way different conversation. Instead he gets to

come back and three, five or even longer years. You know,

Chadwick Boseman. Okay, Hollywood, you know, superstar

hit it, you know, and, quite frankly, that that actually did

for a while have some impact in the African American community,

because he's a person of influence. And so this is what I

love is that the fact is, is that you take your camera and

you're at a country music concert. You're at the Astros

game. And sometimes you just go into your, your, your Tiktok

mode, and people get to know you. I know who you are, that

you're living your life, okay, as a cancer survivor as an

ostomate and as just a young woman that that's basically

rebuilt her life and dedicated it to informing others and

inspiring others and you inspire me all the time. I follow you

like crazy. I don't know if I could be the tic toc, queen that

you are, but it's just crazy cool, that we are friends and we

all do our part to move things together. So I'm going to

transition now this is called the shining brightly spotlight.

So I have sunglasses. All right. I don't know if you have yours

or do I do. Oh, I love it. We got blue ones. Okay, so we got

colorectal cancer blue marches. We got dressed in blue day.

Thank you. And Anita is there for that.

I have another one. Let me get that has a tag

on it. It looks alright, we got second. Fancy

blues. All right. So we're shining brightly right

now. I want to tell people how should they get a hold of you?

And if they want to reach you to come and speak and educate or

and then I'm definitely going to put all the links in the show

notes and on social media so they can follow you on all your

socials especially tick tock.

Yeah, I mean, they on tick tock Alison atll is

when Rosen for I'm on Instagram and Facebook Alley Cat 388 Li T

T three, zero. And then I'm on I mean, if you just Google Alison

Rosen colon cancer, I will pop up. If you message me on

Twitter. My guess x now is what it's called a rose in three ad.

Send me a message. I check my messages daily on Instagram, on

Twitter, on Facebook and on on Tik Tok. And so I'm always

available, willing to tell my story willing to help anyone

that needs support. I just got a message. It goes earlier today

someone asked about ostomy support. And I told them sent

them to a resource and a website. If I don't have the

answer, I will search and find the answer for whoever needs it.

I

love your amazing resource. All right, hit me up

with some inspiration to close out the show and kick it over

back to me.

I think my inspiration is you are your own

best advocate. And I want people to feel empowered to take

control of their life, their health, so that they can

potentially save their selves save their life one day. And the

other thing that I always say is you only have one life to live

so live life to the fullest. Love

that. So we'll take take the glasses off for a

second we're going to close out the show. So I'm going to give a

little bit of shout out to my partners on my front edge

publishing read the spirit magazine which I'm blogging in

weekly, and then amplify you which is my podcast house and

and speaker slam which is my my speaker, coaching group. Listen,

we if we shine brightly, just a little bit each day for

ourselves, and then go lift up others and then lift up our

neighbours in our communities the world become a better place.

That's my mantra. We have been with my Tiktok queen and dear

friend Alison Rosen. Thank you. Thank you. Amazing, amazing

show. And we're going to keep motivating, educating and

inspiring because that's what we do. Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much for having me and inspiring me

every day as well.