Live from the Hearts & Hope Gala (Part 1)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:08] Speaker B: My name is Nancy Farrow, also known as Mama Lou, and I'm the founder of Epic Experience. Epic Experience mission is to empower adult cancer survivors and thrivers to live beyond cancer. I hope that as you listen to campfires of hope, you living beyond cancer, you find hope, healing and empowerment. Through stories and education, we aim to guide those impacted by cancer and more importantly, offer love and support to anyone out there who needs it. This is beyond Cancer. [00:01:15] Speaker C: Hello everyone, this is Gail AKA Sunshine. And tonight I'm coming to you live from the Four Seasons Denver, where we are holding the 14th annual EPIC Experience Hearts and Hope gala. So our format tonight is going to be a little different because we're live and I'm also going to interview a variety of people to talk to them about their experience with cancer and their connection with Epic Experience and the difference that Epic Experience has made in their life. So we already have our first guest who is Zach Bai. Zach, thank you very much for joining us. [00:01:46] Speaker D: Yes, thanks for having me. [00:01:47] Speaker C: If you can first just tell us a little bit about yourself. And I always ask guests this on the podcast. Tell us one fun fact. [00:01:53] Speaker D: Sure. So my name is Zach Bai. I am here tonight. I am the the host of the event, the emcee of this event. I'm the auctioneer of the event. I host a four hour sports talk radio show on 143 the Fan, which is our ESPN affiliate here in Denver. This is that job is what brought me here to Denver from upstate New York. And a fun fact about myself would be I, so I'm 38 years old. I grew up in the late 90s and 2000s, and I grew up without a TV in my home. My mom was super religious. I'm not, I don't happen to be very religious, but my mom was super religious. And when my dad moved out when I was seven, she said, hey, we're not, by the way, like he took the tv, we're not replacing it. And so I grew up quite literally like a someone, you could say like a 1950s kid. Even by the 60s, most American homes had television and we, ours did not. So I grew up reading the paper, listening to the radio like it was like quite literally, like it was in the late 1940s because even by the end of the 50s, TVs had been popularized. So I grew up without one. So when I went to school, I didn't have a lot of frame of reference that a lot of the kids in school had. And I was outside playing and not inside watching a tv. So that would definitely. And that drew me to radio. [00:03:20] Speaker C: I was just gonna say, I bet that's what drew you to radio. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:23] Speaker D: And by the time I was 15 years old, I'm calling into local sports talk shows. And by the time I was 18, I was on national radio as a caller, you know, so I was just sort of drawn towards that because of that lack of the, you know, tv. [00:03:36] Speaker C: Right. So how many years have you done this now for Epic Experience? [00:03:40] Speaker D: This is my third year hosting this event. [00:03:41] Speaker C: And what is it that keeps drawing you back? [00:03:44] Speaker D: The people. And I see the ripple effect throughout the year of where the money that's raised on this night, it sort of reverberates and will reverberate throughout 2026. And I've got to know Colin Farrow a little bit and he was, he's a listener to the radio show. And it just, we became friends and it became like a bit of a partnership. And yes, it's my third year. [00:04:13] Speaker C: I'm curious, what kind of ripple effects do you see, like throughout the year? [00:04:16] Speaker D: Yeah, well, I hear about them on this night, you know, like and chatting with people that are going to camp and hearing the profound impact that it's had. Like how often do, does one single night, can one single night change, like in the most literal sense, someone's life. [00:04:38] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:04:39] Speaker D: And when you hear those stories repeatedly and I, and I also feel like it's a under discussed but super relevant topic. It's adult cancer survivors, you know, and child cancer. Yes, that, that deserves, it's, it's a light and attention and raising funds as well. But there's for some reason I feel like it's in, it's in our culture's blind spot in terms of widespread discussion. We don't talk about it as much, you know. [00:05:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:18] Speaker D: And so, yeah, rambling a little bit. [00:05:22] Speaker C: Yes, that's right. So do you do the MC benefit auctioneer? Do you fill that role with other organizations? [00:05:29] Speaker D: Yeah, so I was, I was recruited to. It was about three or four years ago. I was recruited by someone who does this all the time and it makes their living this way. And they listened to me on the radio and they said, hey, you would be great at this. And so he trained me, recruited me, trained me. And it can be very lucrative if you do this, you know, enough and fill your weekends this way. I discovered after doing it a handful of times that I did not like being away from my family on Saturday evenings and so many of them. And so ultimately made the decision for me that fortunately enough, my Job takes care of my family. And it was excess. That was fun, but I don't. I didn't need the money, and so I stepped away from it because it was a better move for my family. Me and my family. [00:06:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:06:21] Speaker D: So I do. I have come back and done this. Just this event, because of my relationship with Colin and because of sort of how the cause has sort of sunk its teeth into me a little bit. [00:06:35] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:06:35] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:06:36] Speaker C: So over the three years, is there one. I don't know, impression, one lesson, one takeaway that you've gotten from interacting with all of these survivors? [00:06:48] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of takeaways, and I'll walk away with a few more tonight. I know I will. After hearing folks speak and just having conversations with people and what EPIC has meant for their life, I would say the one speech that really kind of. Kind of knocked me over was. Was. And I think it's Denny. He spoke three years ago. [00:07:15] Speaker C: Yes. [00:07:15] Speaker D: And he looks different now. He looks so much. He looks so good. And. But in that moment, I mean, there was like a. Like an insane vulnerability that, like, I got emotional, and it really. It was just profound. [00:07:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:29] Speaker D: And that's one that I remember. And then. And then, you know, the other thing is, like. And maybe this is saying too much, but every year, they do the memoriam. [00:07:40] Speaker C: Yes. [00:07:41] Speaker D: And who's been lost. And it's like seeing Mama Lou, like, share some of those stories of, like, this was a person, this moment in time changed that person's year, had an impact on their life. And. And it's deep. [00:07:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:58] Speaker D: It's. It's powerful, you know, and so. Yeah, those are a couple things that have sort of either stayed with me or shaken me. [00:08:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. I would definitely agree. I remember Denny's speech. And every year, hearing the memoriam is tough. [00:08:14] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:08:14] Speaker C: You know, it's going to happen because we're dealing with cancer survivors and what cancer is, but it's still rough. [00:08:19] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:08:20] Speaker C: Well, I always end the podcast with this very serious question. Marshmallows over a campfire, Slow and steady or flaming crispy? [00:08:31] Speaker D: Slow and steady, for sure. [00:08:33] Speaker C: Can you back it up? Do you have a. Do you have a rationale behind that? [00:08:36] Speaker D: No, it's just. It's. It's just a preference. And I. Well, you know, I don't like tasting the char in my mouth as much. It's just a little bit more enjoyable. Try to find that sort of balance of, like, I want it to feel the flame, but I don't want it bathing in the flame. [00:08:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Zach, thank you so much. Thank you for what you do for. We'll see you out there tonight. And I really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you. All right. [00:09:00] Speaker D: Appreciate you. [00:09:00] Speaker C: Take care. We're going to have our next rotation, so thank you. Thank you, thank you. All right, next we have someone coming on, but since I usually lead the podcast, but I don't ever share anything about myself, so in between, I'm going to share little snippets. So my snippet for right now is that this week I went to camp. It's my 10 year anniversary. I went to camp 10 years ago this week, and I'm obviously still here volunteering because it absolutely changed my life. So that's tidbit number one. Now we're going to have Nancy Farrow. [00:09:42] Speaker A: Hi, sunshine. Hello. Hello. [00:09:44] Speaker C: So those of you who know Epic Experience also know Nancy as Mamaloo. So if I call her Mama Lou at some point, that's why Nancy Farrow or hey, you. Or hey, you. Yeah, that's true. So first, can you, for those who don't know, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and one fun fact? [00:10:01] Speaker A: Oh, golly. My name is Nancy Farrow. At camp, everybody knows me as Mama Lou. I have a son that happened to have cancer in 2007. And I saw the impact that it had, and I thought I need to help others move on from a cancer diagnosis by doing crazy fun stuff and just reaching beyond. So I founded epic experience in 2012 with Abby and an incredible young woman who was a PA at Huntsman Cancer center in 2012. And a fun fact, a fun fact. I and 2014, I believe a show reached out to us called Dare Me for Charity. And they're like, we're going to put you on tv. And it was going to be a reality show and it's going to raise so much money for Epic Experience. And you have to jump off a fifth story building. [00:10:55] Speaker C: Oh, my. [00:10:55] Speaker A: Yes. And I was like, okay. But I can get a bunch of other people to do it. I don't have to do it. Long story short, the guy comes in, no, you have to do it. You're the founder. And I'm like, wingman, who is now in charge, would not do it. And said he would quit his job because he would not do it. [00:11:13] Speaker C: Oh, my God. [00:11:14] Speaker A: And so I did it into a big, like, stunt balloon. [00:11:18] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. [00:11:19] Speaker A: And from a lift that took you up shaking to five stories. And yep, I. [00:11:26] Speaker C: And you did it. [00:11:27] Speaker A: I did it. And it was an Adrenaline rush like no other. The show went nowhere. We never saw any money and. Oh, well. [00:11:33] Speaker C: But you jumped off the five story building. [00:11:35] Speaker A: I did, and it was fun. [00:11:36] Speaker C: And that was one and done. I love it. [00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:39] Speaker C: Well, you just alluded to a question I wanted to ask you. You wanted to help people live beyond. So I'm wondering if you can expand on that. I mean, to me, that's the thrust of this organization is that tagline beyond cancer. So can you kind of give us a little bit more of the backstory on how you came up with that? [00:11:55] Speaker A: So. So when Michael, our oldest son, was diagnosed cancer's heart. He's 23. And for us, and I think for every most people that I've met, you go through it, you do your surgeries, you do your treatments, whatever that may be. And then all of a sudden it's like, what next? What's happening? Follow ups. And the anxiety kind of came then. And Michael, all of a sudden he's 24 and quit his job and he's a hot mess. And he's like, I'm going to this camp. And I'm like, no, you're not. You know, you're getting a job. I was gonna start being tough. And he did, and it came back and it changed his life. And so I thought, well, I can do this. I've done a little bit of this in my career, a little bit of that. And the most wonderful couple, Mark and Amy Wilhelm, who owned the 7W, which is been home to camp, said, yeah, okay, Nancy, start it and you can use the ranch. So really, that's how it started. [00:12:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:55] Speaker A: So when my friends were all talking retirement when I was 56, I said, oh, no, I'll start a nonprofit. So. And it's been in a magical, incredible experience, meeting incredible people like sunshine that fill my cup. Way more hope than theirs. [00:13:14] Speaker C: Well, and that leads into the next question I want to ask you. So you've. That's 14 years of camps, right? 700 plus people. And I know you haven't been to all the camps, but you've met just [00:13:25] Speaker A: about all of them. [00:13:26] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:13:27] Speaker C: Can you think of stories that really inspired you, of people living beyond cancer? [00:13:33] Speaker A: I always come back to one. And it was a camp. I want to say it was 20, 19. We now have two of these amazing camps, Campers on our board of directors, and they were amazing. Most everybody in the camp was young, 45 or younger. One day it was a winter camp and I came into the lodge and they were cracking up, just laughing, like belly laughing. And I'm like, what are you guys talking about? And they're like, we're writing our obituaries. And in the real world, people would go, the what? [00:14:05] Speaker C: Yeah, right? [00:14:06] Speaker A: And it's like. Like, no, it was magical because they had the freedom to sit there and go, I want this person, and you need to tell jokes when I die. And unfortunately, I mean, there were three people there with stage four cancer, and they did indeed die not long after camp, and campers went to their services. But giving them the freedom just. It sounds silly. Just to have the free freedom to talk about all the things that come with cancer diagnosis is. [00:14:36] Speaker C: Is amazing. A huge gift for me, it's a huge gift. As a camper, I can say that. I mean, laughing about these things that other people may not laugh at. [00:14:46] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:46] Speaker C: But you can. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Is. [00:14:48] Speaker C: It was freeing. [00:14:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:51] Speaker C: I mean, it was really. [00:14:52] Speaker A: And it's okay to laugh. [00:14:53] Speaker C: And it's okay to laugh. [00:14:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:56] Speaker C: This is the 14th gala also, right? [00:14:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:59] Speaker C: Is that right? So can you tell us any fun stories from previous galas? Do you have any memories? [00:15:04] Speaker A: The first one, that's always the one with the most stories. So it was great. And we did it at a hotel in Denver, not where we are now, Four Seasons Denver. Shout out to them because they've been incredible for, I think, 10 years now. But we did it. And I was like, I'm not big into spending money on decorations and this and that. Everybody, everything had to go, and my goal was $25,000. So the decorations were from the dollar store, glass vases. And you went in the room and it was a sea of red roses. And as you look closer, you saw they were all plastic, but they were red. But they were red. So the first entry was like, wow. Then it was like, oh, wow. [00:15:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's great. I love it. [00:15:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it was fun. [00:15:55] Speaker C: And I know this is probably a hard question to ask, but, I mean, you have been around. You have interacted with hundreds upon hundreds of survivors. Is there a lesson that you've come away with from interacting with people that just for everyone, something that's a life lesson for anyone, 100%. [00:16:15] Speaker A: It's like, don't be the person that's not following up with what a doctor says. Don't be the person that's like, well, gee, I feel off, but I don't want to ask because it's silly. Nothing is silly. And I've watched too many people wait and they don't ask. I helped somebody once years ago who? It was a friend of a friend and he had been diagnosed, lived in Michigan, but he was out in Colorado and said, well, they said, I think I have cancer. And he was 60 years old. And I go, well, you do or you don't, right? And he goes, but I need follow up. So I have wonderful people that helped me in contacts at University of Colorado Cancer center. And got him in quickly got him in. And he came in. He asked me to go to the appointment with him, which I had not been at since my own son. [00:17:07] Speaker E: Son. [00:17:07] Speaker C: Oh, God. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Hearing he had cancer. So it was a little. [00:17:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:17:11] Speaker A: Ptsd, but I sucked it up. And we're sitting there and the doctor is like, tops in his field. Pancreatic cancer. They looked at him, they're like, you have stage four pancreatic cancer. Wow. You know, we need to admit you today. We need to get you started. We're going to start treatment tonight. He was. John was like, well, my daughter's getting. Getting married in June. He goes, my goal is to get you to June. [00:17:37] Speaker C: Oh, gosh. [00:17:39] Speaker A: And he wasn't hearing it because we talk about at camp when we first hear these words, everybody's like, they hear Charlie Brown. So they. Unfortunately, he did not listen to the doctor. He said, I have my business. I gotta get back. I gotta clean some stuff up. And Michigan, but then I'll come back. And he came back a week later, but that much time and where he was, they could only do one round of chemo and he died within three weeks. And so I would just tell people, if you're told something, a job is not important. Your family is. [00:18:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:18:19] Speaker A: Your friends are, but a job is not important. [00:18:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:18:23] Speaker A: And not that he would have survived, but I. Hopefully he would have been at his daughter's wedding. And that broke my heart. So I will push a lot of people. It's like, no. So I'm still nudging today. [00:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Last question again, very serious. [00:18:45] Speaker A: This is the hardest question. [00:18:46] Speaker C: It is the hardest question. Marshmallows over a campfire. Slow and steady. Flaming crispy. [00:18:51] Speaker A: I always go for slow and steady, and it ends up flaming crispy. [00:18:55] Speaker C: Yes, I am with you on that. [00:18:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:18:58] Speaker C: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it and enjoy the gala. It's going to be a great night. [00:19:10] Speaker E: Thank you for listening to this episode of Campfires of Hope Living Beyond Cancer. For more information about Epic Experience and our programs or to donate, please visit our [email protected] Music for this podcast is provided by Moonshiner Collective. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us so we can share our story with more people. Also, be sure to subscribe wherever you get podcasts so you'll know when new episodes are released. We hope you come back and join us for our next episode. [00:19:46] Speaker B: Please. [00:19:47] Speaker A: Still, I mean bright and woke, we will rise once again.