Les Shapiro & Vic Lombardi – Health Update

Our Unstoppable podcast hosts, Les Shapiro and Vic Lombardi, are fighting the cancer fight. Both of them. What are the chances? In this chillingly honest six-month checkup, they get intimate about the last thing they want from their loved ones and the things that drive them crazy about having to live inside bodies they no longer recognize. What happens when your body is incompatible with your chemotherapy treatment? The side effects of fighting cancer aren’t what many of us think. As much as cancer affects you physically, it is the mind games that wear you down. “I’ve changed my diet,” says Vic. “I’m exercising harder than ever. Why can’t I stop coming back for tests?” he wants to know. For his co-host, Les, shame is the issue. “I didn’t want to show weakness,” he admits. “I wanted to be the exception. It turns out I’m not the exception.” Our hosts have told the stories of unstoppable athletes and Olympians holding medals in gritty thumbs-up poses who talk in fighter metaphors. Their biggest fear? That after the the arduous journey through chemotherapy, radiation, and reoccurrence, this disease will kill the storytellers. Many cancer stories are lost. It’s easy to shy away and to shut down. Our two cancer warriors are here to make sure that does not happen. They shy away from nothing as they tackle the hard-hitting questions others are afraid to ask. Which is why they invited their oncologist to this episode. And because coincidence looms larger than life, both are being treated at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Les’ oncologist, Dr. Ross Camidge, Professor of Medicine-Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is no stranger to cancer, either. Dr. Camidge discusses with Les why his recent radiation treatments went sideways because of “The Shapiro Effect,” and the breakthrough program they started — making Les the first patient in the world to use this pioneering double-barreled medical approach. For anyone who wants to feel validated in their fears about the mental warfare that knows no rest, this podcast is like a 911 call from the cancer trenches. It is the stories that terrify and sadden us that can open us to questions that can inspire and transform our lives. How long do I have? That is the question our podcasts hosts keep asking themselves. And what is next for them? “I’m going lease to lease,” says Vic. That’s his next move as he awaits the next round of results. If only cancer would shut up for a day or two. #UnstoppablePodcasts